Combining my passions

As you may know, my other passion in life is music, especially singing and guitar. So just for fun, here's a little video of me combining my two passions. This song is one that is sung by one of the main characters in The Ransomed Returning, and is important to the plot. Here's a snippet from the book, so you'll understand:

The watcher turned to face the door, but he didn't leave.
 
"Isn't that why you're here?" Hannah asked. "To find out about this freedom I can offer you?"
 
"Of course not. You are a renegade. You don't have anything to offer me."
 
"I see."
 
The watcher did not move. He tipped his head back a little and a shudder ran through him. Hannah wondered if his master was speaking to him. The thought made her shudder as well.
 
A song popped into her head, and the Spirit stirred her heart. She spread her hands flat against the slab and closed her eyes and quietly began to sing. "Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling, from glen to glen and down the mountain side. The summer's gone and all the roses falling—"
 
He struck her, and her head cracked against the wall. "Do not sing in my presence," he said.

The Ransomed Returning online launch party!

Today we are celebrating the release of The Ransomed Returning all day long on the Defenders of the Covenant page on Facebook!

Roomies: A Defenders of the Covenant short story

 

Pop over and join us! There are videos, quizzes, games, prizes, and fun stuff. And everyone who parties with me today can get a free Defenders of the Covenant short story!

There will be activities all day from 10am-8pm, so come on over and say hello!

Exciting News!

I am so pleased to announce the release of  

The Ransomed Returning

Book 2 in the Defenders of the Covenant Series!

After a lifetime of comfortable slavery, freedom isn't always easy to bear. Over a year after the emancipation of Earth, Peter Halstead—older brother of Derek, the hero of the emancipation—has been delivered from his long servitude to the invaders. But reminders of his bondage remain. Black cities still dot the globe, with the alien bureaucrats still in charge. Goods are still being shipped from Earth to the alien planet Nebkiriv, but worst of all, Zion wants to negotiate a trade agreement with the cursed invaders. Peter can see only one way to come to terms with the loss of his freedom and his youth for so many years. Revenge. When Zion is struck by a rogue invader attack vessel, Peter's resolve is further hardened and he seeks out others who want revenge as much as he does. Meanwhile, Hannah, Derek, McKenzie and the rest of the defenders of Zion scramble to find the source of the attack and unravel the conspiracy behind it before Earth becomes subject to its enemies once again.

You can get it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Smashwords!

To celebrate, I am holding an online launch party next Tuesday, Feb. 11, all day long! There will be fun, prizes, free books, and virtual cookies, so come join us!

Also, in celebration of the release of Book 2, Defenders of the Covenant is currently on sale for just $2.99 for your Kindle or Nook.

Hannah and her friends have been warned about the danger lurking outside of their secret refuge from the alien invaders who devastated the Earth years before. Their leaders have raised them in the Latter-day Saint faith, teaching them to trust God, but when McKenzie and her rebellious boyfriend, Jeremy, decide to run away, Hannah and Derek follow, determined to bring their friends home. Once outside, the four teens soon realize they cannot return to the refuge without endangering everyone there. Captured, enslaved, and separated, Hannah, Derek, and McKenzie each learn the unique role they must play in liberating the Earth. The friends must battle with android soldiers and attack vessels, and face their own inner struggles to overcome the invaders. After all, not even an alien invasion can stop the work of God.

Commitment

You've probably noticed that all I've been posting here lately are One Word Interviews. I really love those. I hope you do to. I think it's a fun way to introduce you to authors and their books.

My original intent was to post an interview every other week and my own posts every other week. That hasn't worked out so great. I'm keeping up with the interviews, but not with my own posts.

So, I am committing myself to posting on this blog every week, either an interview or some other post. I can do it!

Some important things have happened since I sort of fell of the blogging bandwagon.

I finished the second first draft of my third Defenders novel, Shattered Skies, at the end of June! (I call it the second first draft because I wrote it once, then wrote the whole thing over again from scratch. Sometimes it's just better that way.) I wrote it in only 6.5 months, compared with 15 months for my previous two books, so I felt good about that.

Unfortunately, my publisher decided to pass on my second Defenders novel, The Ransomed Returning. That was a rather hard blow. I have been waffling about what to do with it and Shattered Skies, but in the same sense of commitment I am taking with this blog, I am going to have The Ransomed Returning out by the end of November, and Shattered Skies by next summer. So watch for more information on that!

I published a collection of short stories, Ripped and Other Adventures. It contains nine previously published shorts and one all new novella, Sofie and the Night Eagle. It's gotten some great reviews so far. Check it out!

I also started to work on the first draft of a new LDS science fiction novel, tentatively title The Glory of the Stars.

So my writing goals for the next few months:

• Publish The Ransomed Returning
• Read-through and edit Shattered Skies for beta readers
• Finish first draft of The Glory of the Stars
• Keep up with blogging

No problem, right?

What have you been up to lately?

Getting Back Into It

I finished my revision of my second novel, The Ransomed Returning! I needed to cut it from 122K down to 100K. It came out at 91K! I could hardly believe it when I finished typing up all my changes and checked the word count. Phew! Who knew I had so much fat in there to cut?

I'll read over the whole thing after I let it sit for a week or two, and I think I'll find it a stronger novel than it was before. This was a fairly new experience for me. I've never had to cut so radically or revise so extensively. Of course, this is my first novel after a decade of short stories, so I guess that's to be expected.

Now that I'm done with that, I'm ready to get back to work on my third book, Shattered Skies. I'm nearly done with it, but it's been six weeks since I looked at it. It taking some effort to get back into it, to figure out where I am and where I was going. Fortunately, it's another sequel to Defenders of the Covenant, so I have been working with the same characters during the revision. That makes it easier. Still, I'm having a bit of trouble getting my head around the story again. Re-reading a few chapters and looking over my notes will be helpful. Daydreaming about the fabulous ending I'm almost at is good too. Other than that, I just have to dive right back in and see where it takes me.

What are your suggestions for getting back into a story you've set aside for a while?

Out of the Comfort Zone

Well, I survived teaching at Write Here in Ephraim. I think it went pretty well. I felt like I was talking too fast, and didn't know if I made sense half the time, but the people attending seemed to like it all right. I think. That was my Science Fiction and Fantasy class. I took a lot of what I said from the Writing Speculative Fiction posts I did. Only one person came to my Finding Time to Write class, but she and I had a nice discussion.

It was good for me to get outside my comfort zone like that and stretch myself a bit. I think I learned more about how to make a presentation interesting and how to get people involved. I'll do even better next time.

Another stretching moment came this week when I submitted my second novel (a sequel to Defenders of the Covenant) and she politely asked me to cut it by 20k words if possible. Really? 20,000 words is a whole lot to come out of a novel! But I want to see it published, so I am taking the challenge. Yesterday, I started hacking. And hacking. And hacking. It got it down by 26K! That should give me the room to add what I need to put all the pieces back into a coherent whole again. You know what? I think it's going to be a better novel for it.

What have you done to step outside your comfort zone lately?

The Revising Routine

I've been revising my novel, The Ransomed Returning. I should finish up in the next couple days. It's an exciting time, I think. I like revising. But here's how my routine usually goes:

First, In the morning I type up all the changes I made the day before. I love my book! I love the changes! I love my freakin' awesome betas!

Next, I print out the chapters I want to work on that day. I pull up the critiques and make notes on the printout of all the comments and suggestions from the betas. Depression sets in. This book stinks. I'll never be able to fix it. I might as well just save time and delete the whole thing right now. (Okay, I'm exaggerating. A little. I have to admit it was worse with the earlier chapters than it has been with the later ones.)

I get over myself and get to work. I like what I'm doing. Revising is fun. It makes the story so much better. Pretty soon...I love my book! I love the changes!

I LOVE my freakin' awesome betas!

Then I have to work on the next few chapters...

So, I guess you could say it's going well. Do you have revising ups and downs? Or is it just me?

Some Early Endorsements for my Novel

First I have to say WOW! I got a personal record number of comments on my rebellious post. Thanks everyone for weighing in with your thoughts. I really appreciate that. All I know for sure is, it's gonna be a fun ride whatever happens.

I've received some feedback from a few readers of my latest novel. I'd thought I'd share their endorsements with you:

"Nice job. I really liked it. And I'm not just saying that because I'm your husband." --My Husband

"This book is awesome! And I'm not just saying that because you're my mom." --My Son

"It's really good. I loved the characters. It flows very well. I couldn't put it down. And I'm not just saying that because I'm your daddy. (And p.s. I liked the 'holy crap!' line.)" --My Dad
(Yeah, I like the "holy crap!" line too.)

Seriously, I do believe and cherish the praise and positive feedback from the people I love. Thanks, fam! You're the best!

Now, all you other beta readers--do your worst!

Plowing Through

I'm more than half-way through revising my novel. I hope to be done by the end of the week. It's been fun. Really. I kind of like revising. I've noticed a few things:

I don't attribute dialog often enough. I know it's bad to have too many dialog tags, but I've found passages of lengthy dialog with no attributions even though there are more than two people in the conversation. I've had to throw in a few well-placed "he said"s.

My characters chuckle a lot. *sigh*

My characters also sigh a lot.

I love my characters even with all the chuckling and sighing.

I have more trouble with scenes from my female POV characters than the male ones. Is that weird?

It's easier to point out problems in someone else's book than to spot them in mine. (This must be like the beam in the eye problem.)

Overall, I'm feeling pleased both with what I've written and what I'm changing. I will be excited to have others take a look at it. Wish me luck!