Down With the Sickness, and 10 Day Book Update!

I'm dead. Not actually, but I might as well be. I got a really bad stomach-ache and nausea for about six or so hours, during which time all I could really do was try to sleep. I wanted to puke - and I know I would have felt better if I had - but for some reason my body just wouldn't do it and get it over with, so I had to wait it up.

I feel better now, but I missed a long writing session, so I'm behind - and I have a lot to do today that might make it harder to write and reach my goals. I'm probably still going to do it, but it might break me, just a little bit. Because of the lag I have 5 and a half chapter to write today, and 6 to write tomorrow - but then the book will be done. I'm going to sped the next few days editing SOSAS, and then hop into writing ADSD, which should take like 15 days?

Anyway, no quote today, since I'm in such a hurry, but wish me luck! I'll have more updates coming later!

Meet the Characters of the Ten Day Book!

So, meet the characters of ten day book, Shadows:

Sky - the main & POV character of the series. Sky is a pretty, gender nonconforming gay guy, and he's very, very sarcastic. He's a talented artist, and has some strange abilities, to top it all off. . . He's also scrapy as hell and a little bit (re: a whole lot) stubborn.

Hunter - Sky's love interest; a mysterious guy with a dangerous past and some powerful energies. He's open about his emotions and doesn't waste words, and he likes to tease the people he loves. Hunter is a skilled warrior and a lover of factoids.

The lyrics are from the song Crystalised, but the xx, and I highly recommend it. It fits their relationship well. The monster is a Charmer Hound . . . a beast made of shadows and magik.

I can't wait to share this book with you guys. I'm having a lot of fun writing, and while it's definitely rough around the edges, I think it's got a certain sort of charm that, with some polishing, readers will really enjoy.

New Music, Much Ado About A Lighter, & A 10 Day Book Update!

So earlier tonight I got a new mp3 player - it's nothing fancy, but it works, and it has a screen, and good sound quality, and honestly? It's just nice to have something to listen to again. My old ipod broke months ago. Of course I loaded it up with the new albums from Demi Lovato, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Selena Gomez. I'm so obsessed with pop right now, it's weird, considering I'm usually more into indie or punk. but whatever, it's a nice change of pace, I'll take it.

The other day I walked over an hour to buy a lighter and the woman at the gas station wouldn't sell my one. I'm nineteen, so I'm a legal adult here, and I have all the privileges that come with it - drinking, buying tobacco products, buying lighters, et cet - but I don't have an ID and I don't always look my age depending on what my hair and skin are doing, what I'm wearing, if I have my glasses . . . any number of things. so sometimes I get away with stuff and sometimes I don't. This time I didn't. My parents brought my home a new lighter that night anyway, but I needed one earlier, and it was kind of annoying.

As far as Shadows goes, I have one more final chapter to write tonight and then I'm done for the day - and thank god, 'cause I'm about to collapse. I know I already gave you guys a quote today, but here is another one:

Write a Book in Ten Days Update 2

As far as Shadows is going, I have an updated outline (I added in 5 new chapters last night) so it's a higher work load, but it will pay off. I also have an updated schedule, so let's hope that I keep it. More on that tomorrow since I'm in a rush to get a few thousand more words in tonight. Here's today's quote:

Write a Book in Ten Days

So. I'm writing a book in ten days. Well, not a book. A draft of a book. So basically a book. Why? Because; productivity, and innovation. And I really want to finish this book before NaNoWriMo starts, so I can work on ADSD during that.

The book is called Shadows, it's set in my home city, Saint John, New Brunswick, and it's about a race of modern witches called Charmers living among us. And other creatures. It's set in what I call the Menagerie world - it's bursting with paranormal creatures and different breeds of magik.

I'm estimating that it will be about 55,000 words when complete, and right now I'm at 17,553. So how am I going about it? Easy, I've got a polished, streamlined outline, a set pace, and a set of tools to get me into the writing mood, including Pinterest boards and playlists.

Here's a sneak peek at my Scrivener doc:

My schedule is chapter-based, with a set number of chapters to write each day. Today is the 24th, so today and onwards my schedule is:

The 24th: have up to chapter ten finished.

The 25th: have up to chapter thirteen finished.

The 26th: have up to chapter sixteen finished.

The 27th: have up to chapter eighteen finished.

The 28th: have up to the last chapter finished.

As far as writing, I'm using Rachel Aaron's 2k to 10k method, which means I'm outlining extensively each day (jotting a more detailed scene outline in a notebook before writing it) and setting aside certain times to write. To get in the mood to put words on paper I have a pinterest board: Shadows on Pinterest! And set paranormal romance playlists on 8tracks that I've been loving. I'm also listening to the new Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato albums on repeat. As far as inspirations go, I feel like this is influenced by books like Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and Ink by Amanda Sun.

I'll be posting updates daily with updated manuscript wordcounts and quotes from the draft! If you're interested in seeing how this little experiment turns out and catching a look at the world and characters before the book is published, it will be a fairly interesting glimpse into my creative process!

Today's Quote:

Something started to spill from his open hand, like dark blood dripping from a wound. But it wasn’t liquid — it was like smoke, except that it was evaporating; the edges of its form licking the air like tongues of black flame. It grew. The darkness twisted and writhed in the air like a living thing, and began to pool on the ground between Jackson and the blonde guy.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I stared at the thing taking shape there, sure that at any second I would snap upright in bed, panting, out of the nightmare.

Except this wasn’t a dream. I wasn’t waking up.

Pinterest, Podcasts & Pocky. Oh, We Also Got a New Government!

Canada has a new, Liberal Government! In case you aren't Canadian, let me explain how good it feels to be free of Stephen Harper to you: I feel like I live in Narnia and the White Witch has finally been banished. I feel like Beatrix Kiddo standing over Bill's dead body. And hey - Justin Trudeau isn't too hard on the eyes, either. . .

Okay, enough. Less politics, more pop culture! I'm working on SOSAS & Shadows today (finishing up SOSAS and starting to draft Shadows) so I'll keep this short. You need to watch Scream Queens. I'm watching it. I'm in love with it. I'm also re-watching MTV's Scream (which you'll remember once gave me nightmares) with my parents, and I'm gonna start iZombie sometime soon. I've heard good things about it.

There was talk of Podcasts on Goodreads, and I plugged Sarah Enni's podcast First Draft, which is fantastic. I honestly need more people to listen to this, because it's incredible. Back when I didn't have home internet during the winter I would download episodes of this at the public library and listen to it all day while I was home, so I felt less isolated.

http://firstdraftwithsarahenni.tumblr.com/tagged/podcast

Each episode is an interview with a YA or middle grade author, and they're some cool talks about writing, creating art, and even growing up and embracing yourself. Some of them get surprisingly deep (and funny!) so check them out!

I'm listening to the new Selena Gomez album. Especially the newest single:

And that's about it. I still have 5000 words to write tonight, and a bunch of dishes to do, so that's all for today, but I'll have another post up sometime this week!

Surprise!

I put out a new book today - and it's free! The new book is called Things We Saw At Midnight, and it's a collection of thirteen short horror stories and vignettes set in a fictional Nevada town called Midnight City. It's got griffins and doppelgängers, phantoms and visions. It's even got a personification of nostalgia.

In Midnight City, things are a bit odd. Old Lady Ellen knows when you're going to die, the man with a swarm of bees where his face should be always sits in the same booth at Winston's Pies, and the local gas station attendant is a leftover deity from another dimension. But in the dark heart of this desert city, fear lives like a sentient creature, waiting to claim anyone it can. Will you survive?

Things We Saw At Midnight is diverse, humorous, and hopefully pretty damn scary. I wrote this book as an early Halloween gift to all my readers and online friends, as a way to say thank you for embracing me and my work and encouraging me to keep creating.

you can grab an ebook on Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/584827
Or read it on Wattpad here: https://www.wattpad.com/story/51850761-things-we-saw-at-midnight
And, add it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27181294-things-we-saw-at-midnight

A Darkness So Divine Trilogy Details + Cover Reveal!

So, a few days ago, I posted the covers for the A Darkness So divine trilogy on my Tumblr:

The trilogy is a spin-off of the Lilac Jones Adventures (which are currently free on Wattpad) but where TLJA are lighter young adult stories for younger readers, ADSD borders on new adult, and is much darker. It still has a grim, kind of snarky, sarcastic humour to it, but the characters are older, more mature, and dealing with much darker issues than Lilac did in the prequel.

Book #1, The Diamond Society, sees Lilac moving to the tiny town of Northbank, New Brunswick, with her recently divorced mother, for a fresh start. But Lilac soon realizes that the tiny town is anything but quiet: Northbank is home to a quietly seductive group of paranormals, each harbouring their own secrets and powers. . .

Lilac is quickly caught up in the lives of two local teenagers: Jesse Holmes - the town outcast who may or may not be an incubus; and Hadley Snow - resident popular girl and part-time Valkyrie (who might have murdered her summer fling . . . oops!) As Lilac and the teens go to desperate lengths to uncover the secrets of Northbank and ensure it's future, they're forced to contend with a dark power brimming beneath the surface of their quaint home that, if left undefeated, could destroy all them. . .

Book #2, The Winter War, sees each of the main trio discover more about their inherent powers and histories while their present relationships develop and grow, all while startling revelations change everything, and a desperate war looms in the horizon. . . Book #3 The Chain of Thorns, concludes the trilogy as new enemies converge on the town and the trio must band together to save everyone they love from certain death. . .

In my mind, the series is akin to The Vampire Diaries, The Mortal Instruments, and The Nine Lives of Chloe King. I really love urban fantasies, and for this trilogy I'm drawing inspiration from some of my favourites, like My Blood Approves, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and Dangerous Creatures - essentially, it's my take on one of the teen supernatural dramas I loved as a younger teen (and still occasionally binge-watch!) and putting it in a setting I can relate to.

I grew up in Saint John, which is the largest city in New Brunswick - but I also spent time living in rural areas of Hampton, and now live in a municipality outside the city limits. In Northbank, I wanted to incorporate the feeling of small-town life in New Brunswick, capturing some of the isolation and boredom, while also showing the dynamic relationships between the locals and some of the more lively sides of the community. I've drawn from a lot of real-life experience in outlining the town and the settings the characters interact in, and I'm excited to bring those to life and use my own reality as an inspiration for how they feel on the page.

I also really wanted to capture how interesting and vivid the lives of teenagers going on. How these young people have such dynamic inner-lives, and so much on their plates; and what happens if you throw in a dash of magic and personal tragedy? What happens when they're dealing with grief and growing up and fighting evil? They all fit into certain archetypes: Lilac, the loner; Hadley, the popular girl; Jesse, the rebel. And their relationships with each other and their parents, friends, and love interests shape their story. I also embraced the diversity of Canadians in writing them, and I'm excited to bring more representation into the genre.

All in all, ADSD has been a lot of fun for me, so far, and I'm really excited for it! But I'm done plugging myself, and I should get back to work, so I'll leave you with this new footage from Shadowhunters!