Friday, November 30, 2012

Lookit! Lookit!

Yup, I was sweating it these past few days but the label on the right does not lie - I made my 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo. I am slightly disappointed that the story I had planned to do wasn't the one I ended up working on; however, that story is still there in my head and I think it will evolve better once I can focus on it and not a deadline.

What I ended up working on is a paranormal romance involving an entirely new world of shifters, meaning these have nothing to do with The Other Half or There's a Fine Line. Entitled Embrace the Wolf, it centers around a young woman who was forcibly turned and then traumatized by a rogue pack. After living alone and in wolf form for nearly five years, she meets a pack totally unlike what she's seen before which enables her to heal. Doesn't hurt that the alpha is attractive and has an enticingly delicious scent, either. This story will not go on Literotica as it isn't suitable for that audience. It's not going to be an erotic story and it does have some dragons lurking in some corners. It may go on Amazon as a self-published story unless I decide to shop it around to some publishers. I'm not sure yet.

The Bokkenrijder Curse is not getting cancelled. It is still a project near and dear to my heart but I was simply overwhelmed by Felicity's story and how easily it flowed. Once Fine Line is through, I will return to the Bokkenrijders.

Which brings me to my final point. With two projects on the horizon that are unsuitable for Literotica publication, I'll be taking a short hiatus from the site (unless something just begs to be written). Fine Line should wrap up 99% of the loose ends from both of the stories in that world, leaving only a few tales that could be told but aren't necessary to enjoy the original stories. I'm not completely leaving the site, but I have stories that want to be written that simply aren't a good fit for such a site. Just bear with me. :)

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

TaFL Ch12 is Live

This chapter of There's a Fine Line sees a return to the darker side of the story and I fear there's little light in sight for some time. Things are moving towards the end but there's plenty of drama left before we get there. Though there's more to come, this is a major turning point in the story, both for our couple and for the plot.

This was a difficult chapter for me to write. When you've reached the end, you'll understand just how difficult. I fought writing it for a couple of weeks. I tried everything I could NOT to write this chapter even though I knew it had to be written. My beta readers agreed with me that it was necessary though none of us liked it. Oh the joys of doing the painful things in order to enjoy the happier times even more.

Unfortunately, NaNo is causing issues with my posting schedule and Chapter 13 could be delayed. I'm hoping by no more than a week or so but I can't be certain. I'm hoping to have a chance to work on it during the month but I simply don't know. Working on three stories at once may well make my head explode. lol

On the NaNo front, I've given in and accepted that I'm writing two stories instead of one. The first is The Bokkenrijder Curse, an alternative history, urban fantasy story with elements of mystery, and the second is tentatively titled The Lone Wolf, a paranormal romance about a turned wolf trying to find her place in the shifter world. The two combined make up my word count since I've been alternating writing one then the other since Day One. If I'm going to work on both, I might as well count both. Yeah, I'm a rebel.

Thank you to everyone for their support on NaNo. I appreciate it greatly!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Wednesday Teaser & NaNo Update

First off, even though I'm in the midst of NaNoWriMo, There's a Fine Line will post next week as scheduled. Mainly, this is due to the fact that this chapter has been finished for about three weeks. Therefore, you all get a lovely teaser on schedule! Check out THIS SNIPPET and see what you think. I have to warn you, however, that again this is the nice part of the chapter. Blake gets his hands on Mathewson in the main portion of the chapter and it's not a pretty sight. Yes, there'll be a disclaimer and if you're not up to reading about physical torture, I'll ask that you skim most of the mid-section of the chapter. Blake's a good guy, for the most part, but he's a dark, scary vamp who takes few shortcuts in getting the information he wants.

As for the NaNo Update, I'd like to take a moment to squeal like a teenaged girl at a Justin Bieber concert. Part of NaNo is a project called 30 Covers in 30 Days where they get professional artists to volunteer to knock out the cover art for a chosen synopsis per day. The art isn't for publication purposes since it's not the proper size, etc, but it's cool to get nonetheless. They pick 3 synopses per artist and I was thrilled to get chosen to be one of those three. Then today I got the email saying my NaNovel was chosen to get a cover. Imagine the squee! The following is the blurb about the artist who designed the cover for my NaNovel,  The Bokkenrijder Curse:
Alberto Rigau was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Exposure to his father’s architectural practice motivated an early freelancing career which later transformed into Estudio Interlínea and the publishing imprint Editorial Revés. Alberto’s work has been recognized by the American Institute of Graphic Arts, exhibited in Puerto Rico, the United States, Portugal and Spain, and published in various magazines and books. He currently lectures on design thinking methodologies and creativity as a tool to ignite meaningful cultural experiences.
And now, the cover he created:
I like it. I think it fits. I did a little dance around the house. XD Now to get back to writing it!

Enjoy the snippet!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Back from the Trip from Hell

As most folks know, the daughter and I were stranded in NYC during Hurricane Sandy. We'd gone up to see The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway and drool over the exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art. Only one goal was accomplished. We did get to see Phantom (which was beyond awesome, btw), but the Metro system was shutting down on Sunday and we didn't want to get stranded at the Met so decided to forego the museum. We were scheduled to fly on Monday out of LaGuardia. Yeah, that wasn't happening. Sandy decided to flood LaGuardia with a crap-ton of water and cut their power. Cue a change of airports. We decided to try JFK and managed to fly out on Wednesday, two days after our scheduled return. All in all, however, the trip was lovely and we remained safe, dry, and with power so the only thing we were out was extra money.

While we were gone, There's a Fine Line Chapter 11 posted to Literotica. It was a few days early since I submitted it on the Thursday before we left, but it was either that or be late. Really late with the storm running through. I also posted it to the blog but couldn't figure out how to post links from the phone so I just published the file and left it there. For those who wanted to read it on the blog and aren't subscribed to the story's page, Chapter 11 can be found in THIS direct link.

Now that I'm back and all is well, NaNoWriMo has pounced and I'm brain dead from the stress and travelling. Don't expect the word count to jump any time soon until I have the opportunity to decompress, do the laundry, put away the souvenirs, and generally get back into the groove of things. I really hope I don't accomplish that just as the Thanksgiving holidays roll around and hubby wants us to drive to Oklahoma to spend the holiday with the in-laws. *sighs* Hurrah.