ConCarolinas, Here I Come!

I can hardly believe it, but ConCarolinas is this weekend! I'll be there signing books alongside Tori Rigby, selling Blaze Publishing's books, and talking about writing and the publishing world on some panels. I've included my schedule below, so if you are in the Charlotte area, be sure to stop by and say hi!

There are some really amazing panels lined up, and some I'm really sad I won't be able to attend. I went last year as an attentee and had a wonderful time. I spent way too much money on books, but my shelves are full and happy! I met some inspiring authors, like David B Coe, Kalayna Price, Beth Revis, Faith Hunter, Darin Kennedy, and so many others. I look forward to meeting even more this year and talking about everything to do with publishing with them. And I look forward to meeting you! We'll have some awesome Blaze swag, and Tori and I both have some fun items to give away too. Can't wait!

13 Things I Learned in 2013 and 14 Things I Hope to Happen in 2014

I got this idea from Dawn Pendleton's blog and thought I would give it a shot. It's been a whirlwind year for me, full of lots of lessons and amazing opportunities, so narrowing it all down might be hard. My list of hopes for 2014 isn't really a resolution list, but more like my wishes and things I plan to work towards.

1. Blog Tours are important. This year, I was lucky enough to take part in too many blog tours to list through Bewitching Book Tours, the Blog Tour Exchange, and many other blog tour organizers. I say that it is important not because I have thousands upon thousands of readers following my every blogging word, but because spreading the word about books is important. I was also lucky enough to have an amazing response to my own blog tour, so I know what it feels like to be on the other end, having other authors and bloggers tell people about your book. It's amazing! Word of mouth is everything for an author, so hosting tours can help them tremendously, and they will be grateful for the part you play. Which brings me to my next lesson:

2. Networking is important. Because of the tours and contests I've taken part in, I've met some amazing people and been able to take part in some really cool stuff, like the New Adult Fall Promotion that just wrapped up (side note: we're still giving away a Kindle! More details here), submit my very first short story for an anthology competition, take part in the fantasy blog group There and Draft Again, and so much more. I've also given away so many copies of my book that I lost track, donating them to other giveaways.

3. The connections you make and the friendships you build in the writerly world will pay off, big. I'm a big believer in you get what you give, but also be genuine. So many times, you run into people in the writerly world that are just out for themselves and only doing things for you in the hopes of getting something back in return. But then you find other people, people who genuinely support you and care about you, and you build this treasure trove of support that can be absolutely overwhelming. I met my critique group and my fantasy blogging group through making connections during online events and contests, and I wouldn't trade any of them for the world. I even got to meet two of my CPs a few months ago and it was awesome!

4. Don't get bogged down in social media. If you've ever read anything Kristen Lamb has to say, pay attention to what she says about social media. Granted, I don't follow all of her guidelines, but I do take her advice to heart. It's so easy to either become automated or overwhelmed, which means you are forgetting the point of social media: To stay connected to other people. You have to act like a person to connect. There are so many social media outlets. Facebook, G+, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, etc. I tend to follow one golden rule: I say something when I have something to say. I try not to spam with links to purchase my book and instead go for gentle reminders. Chances are, if someone is following your fanpage, they have either already read your book or know how to get their hands on it anyway. Much like writing, I try to post things that I would want to see from others. This also ties into the whole being genuine thing from #3.

5. Story bibles are a must if you are writing a series. I blogged about the encyclobibliogrimoire over at There and Draft Again, but I honestly don't have much of one, and I think one of my New Year's Resolutions will be to finally sit down and make one. I'm tired of flipping back and forth between drafts of the first book (of which there are many) trying to find that one spot where I described the freaking emblem of the Duillaine or Cahira.

6. I have more than one story in my head. I know, that seems like it would be a given since I am a writer, but it really isn't. I set out to write Heirs of War, which I've been working on for several years with no other story in mind (save a few fanfics here and there). I didn't think I'd write anything beyond it. And then it happened. I came up with the idea for Altar of Reality. And then it turned from a standalone into pretty much a guaranteed series. And THEN I came up with an idea for a sci-fi series that will pretty much have to wait since I have my hands full right now. Oh, and I managed to write AoR in first person, which I hate, and also was able to write a short story, which I also hate writing and reading (it always turns into something so much bigger, or I'm left wanting more). So, this year I learned that I am more of a writer than I thought I was.

7. If you are self-publishing, pay for a professional cover artist and editor. I can't stress these enough, really. My cover artist and editor are both two of my biggest supporters, and not just because I pay them (I hope haha). They are just amazing people and such a vital part of Heirs of War that I absolutely cannot imagine doing anything with the series without them. Heck, they are one of the biggest reasons I think about self-publishing all my works, just so I have the choice to continue working with them. It is thanks to their hard work that Heirs of War looks as good as it does now, and I have to say I think it looks pretty damn good. Especially since I'm now referring back to old drafts and mockup covers that I did...*cringe*

8. When you find an editor you want to work with, trust them. Trust them, and let them guide you to being a better writer. I feel so much more confident about my writing skills after working with Kriscinda Lee Everitt. I made TONS of mistakes, but she corrected me, taught me why they were bad, and made me laugh a lot along the way. I can't wait to see what I learn with book two. I'm anxious to get it to her for that reason--I crave more knowledge, and one of the best ways you can get that knowledge is by working one on one with an editor as brilliant and patient and awesome as she is. I could spend the rest of 2014 raving about her (and will probably do that a lot throughout 2014). I know it is so hard to put your baby in someone else's hands and let them pick it apart, but it will be so much better for it in the end. If you read the version of Heirs of War on Wattpad now, you'll see that there are around 11 POVs in the book. Believe it or not, that was after I narrowed it down and cut a few. Kriscinda and I had talked about this because it was a common piece of feedback I'd get. There were too many POVs, but I didn't know how to narrow them down even further without losing the story and the buildup to certain story lines. She helped me find a way how, and I feel like the story is so much better for it now. Trust. Your. Editor.

9. Wattpad is an awesome way to connect to readers. I have no idea if my Wattpad reads will translate into sales for book two, but it doesn't really matter at this point. My experience on Wattpad will still be worth it. I love how readers have fallen in love with my characters, how they make guesses and predictions about what is going to happen to them, and how they are clamoring for more. That keeps me going. I try to respond to all the comments I get, sometimes glossing over the ones I don't understand (Seriously: What's with comments showing up as highlighting part of a sentence and then having a comment on it that says something like 'Oh'. I don't get it, and have no clue as to how to respond.). I've had a few negative people on there, some downright mean, but thanks to the outpouring of support and love I get on a daily basis for the book, I am able to laugh their comments off.

10. Have a thick skin. Sometimes this means just focusing on the positive (like I just talked about with Wattpad), but other times it really means blowing off the bad things. I've had someone give a one star rating to Heirs of War with no real explanation as to why, and I've had someone else give three stars to Heirs of War, Destiny of One, which isn't even published yet. I didn't bother trying to get it removed because my feeling is "Meh." There are plenty of books that I didn't like that also happen to be best sellers with rabid fandoms. Clearly, those authors did something right, even if I don't personally see it. But opinions of art in any form are...well, opinions, and quite subjective. Just like how my husband enjoys Dream Theatre and I can be found singing along to Taylor Swift when he's not around.

11. I want to be a hybrid author. When I first decided to self-publish, I thought that was going to be it for me. I know it is a lot of work, but so is publishing period anymore. But I do still like the idea of working with a publisher. I don't need it to be the big five or anything. Smaller would probably be better for me. Would I ever turn Heirs of War over to a publisher? Probably not. I don't want to lose any ounce of creative control with that one. That's my baby. But Altar of Reality and anything else I write? That's another story. If anything, it might be a relief to let someone else help with costs and marketing so I can focus on HoW. I'm not sure if I'll ever get there. I'm only so patient when it comes to querying, so if I end up with another year of rejections, I'll probably still self-publish AoR. But I'm willing to give traditional publishing a shot while still holding on to my self-published works, so we'll see where I go from there.

12. Never look at sales. When I first hit publish with HoW, I was checking daily. Now I only check sometimes, because it can get really depressing to not see those numbers move at all. But when you don't look, it turns into a pleasant surprise of "Oh, look how many books I've sold on iBooks now! I didn't even know I'd sold one there!" instead of "Still three. Blarg!" The same thing goes for book reviews too, though this is something you want to periodically check just so you can know to put a call out for more reviews. You'd be surprised how many people don't review, even if they've told you how much they enjoyed your book.

13. Don't think about marketing when you are trying to write a book. Just don't. I'm working on the second book for HoW right now, and I've been so bogged down by this. The rough and terrible draft of this book that I wrote last year was 200k--twice the size of the first book. I thought I'd split it up, but now I'm not so sure. I still might, but that doesn't matter right now. What matters is that I get it written, and then I'll decide what to do from there. My deadline for finishing this book was December 31st, and that totally isn't going to happen. But now that I've given up on figuring out how I'll end up selling it? I'm on a roll.

And Now for the 14 Things I Hope to Happen in 2014:

1. I hope I publish two more books in the Heirs of War series, at least.
2. I hope to giveaway lots of books and swag. Why? Just because I love doing it.
3. I hope to attend a writers conference.
4. If sales permit, I hope to attend a writers event and have a table set up. 
5. I hope to attend a writer retreat with my wonderful critique partners.
6. I hope to find a home for Altar of Reality.
7. I hope to get to work on the sequel to Altar of Reality.
8. I hope to get published in an alternate form other than self-publishing, whether it is a short story submission to a magazine or anthology, or traditionally publishing another book.
9. I hope to sit down and create story bibles for the series I am working on.
10. I hope to build even more amazing connections and friendships in the writerly world.
11. I hope to review twice as many books as I did this year. 
12. I hope to find a balance between my writerly life and duties, and real life since I start classes back up in January (eep!).
13. I hope to learn even more from my editor and critique partners.
14. I hope to continue to host blog tours and help spread the word about the amazing books out there.

Happy 2014 everyone! Tell me, what's your hope for this new year?

Why I Might Be Merging Heirs of War Books Two and Three Together

I've been banging my head against my keyboard for a month now as I've set to work on Heirs of War, Destiny of One. I haven't made much headway at all, to be honest. I'm only six chapters in. Granted, I already had a rough draft to work off of, but there's a whole lot of rewrites involved. Why? Well, because the first draft was complete crap, and now that I've learned so much and grown as a writer, I can recognize that. The story is mostly solid, though, so I'm not scrapping it entirely.

The thing is, when I first wrote the second book in the Heirs of War series, it was split into three parts. Part One followed Zelene, Rhaya, and Terrena in Anscombe, while Part Two followed Ariana and Isauria, with bits of the others thrown in. Part Three brings all their storylines together. The problem with this draft of the book? It's 200k in rough draft format and with big gaping holes in some of their stories.

So I decided I was going to split the book up. Heirs of War, Destiny of One would follow Ariana and Isauria, and Heirs of War, Crown of Flames would follow Zelene, Rhaya, and Terrena in Anscombe and bring their stories together with Ariana and Isauria. It seemed like the perfect plan, and I haven't completely given up on that idea yet. But I'm getting there.

Why? Because it would piss me off as a reader. Here's the thing: You still hear about things that happen with Zelene, Rhaya, and Terrena as Isauria hears about them and interacts with some of those characters (and others from Anscombe) during her part of the story. So you'd have an entire book following just Ariana and Isauria while getting hints as to what is happening to the rest of them, but never seeing it until book three (Crown of Flames) is released next summer. If I was just a reader for this series, this would seriously frustrate me.

And keeping them separate really doesn't change anything cost-wise. I'm still going to pay the same amount for an editor because it's the same amount of words. If you are buying paperback, the cost of one larger book (I don't think) is much more than the cost of two. And of course, if you are buying an e-book, then you'd only pay for the one book. Will the cost still be $2.99 if I have two books in one? I'm not sure yet. I don't want to go much higher than that. I'm not trying to say my books aren't worth it, but I know what it is like to be a broke book lover, so I try to keep that in mind with pricing.

I'm still not ruling it out entirely, but I'm fairly certain merging them together is the better plan. What do you guys think? Would you rather have one big book with all of the characters, or two separate books that follow separate story lines happening simultaneously? This is one of the perks to self-publishing. I can get input from you guys, my wonderful readers, and make my decision based on that.

And if you think I should just keep it all as one book, which title do you like best: Heirs of War, Destiny of One or Heirs of War, Crown of Flames?

What the Heck Am I Doing?

Have you ever had one of those "Well, duh!" type epiphanies? The ones that come out of nowhere (usually in the wee hours of the morning when you have to be at work at 7am, of course), blindsiding you with how obvious this revelation should have been to you even though it has been hiding for months?

I had one of those last night. Complete with interrupted sleep (Which might explain the rambliness of at least this post. The others? I'll get back to you with an excuse later). I've been working on my YA Dystopian WIP for a couple of months now, letting Heirs of War sit on the backburner until I get done. I hate interrupting one story to work on another. It messes up my flow.

So I decided when I started the WIP that I would write it to finish with the first draft. After all, it's a YA book so it's not like it will be the 200k that HoW 2 is trying to be. Shouldn't take much time for someone used to 5-10k days like me. Right?

Wrong. Apparently there's this little thing called life that gets in the way. So months later, I am only 10k in. Not a big deal. I'll just push through. I had said that I would give HoW another edit this summer, but I can push it off. No problem.

Wrong again. Here's the epiphany I had: HoW is much closer to being publication-ready than my WIP. I am most likely going to end up self-publishing HoW, so basically it is waiting on me. I just received some AMAZING notes from a critique partner (ahemRachelahem), so I now have some solutions to problems I've been puzzling over for almost a year. So why wait? Why hold back in the hopes of finishing one story's rough draft when I might be close to the final draft of another?

So I've decided to shelve the WIP and finish HoW, getting it ready once and for all for publication. I shouldn't be so proud of this revelation since it really is the most obvious choice, but I am. I feel good about it. And one thing I have learned in this business so far is to hold on to that feeling. 

Why Third Person is My Writerly Comfy Blanky

I love writing third person. To me, it is so freeing. I love bouncing around from one character's head to the next. (Sometimes a little too much, as can be witnessed from the earlier drafts of Heirs of War). I've always written in third person. Maybe this habit stems from my first ventures into writing being in the form of scripts, or maybe I just enjoy pretending I'm the ever-omniscient (and in no way benevolent if you ask my characters) god of the world I've created. Who knows?

Either way, third person is definitely my preferred POV when writing. Which is exactly why I decided to write my new WIP (Altar of Reality) from the POV of the main character. Big deal, right? Oh, did I mention the main character is a teenager?

Before my beta readers remind me that Zelene and Ariana were both seventeen when Heirs of War started, I would like to stress that this teenager (sixteen, to be exact) is just your normal run-of-the-mill kinda gal. Biggest problem she has is epilepsy. That changes as the story moves on, but the point is she has no reason to be more mature than any other sixteen year old like Zelene did and like Ariana was forced to become with a quickness.

So, yeah...totally outside my comfort zone right now. And for the first time in my entire life I am having to force myself to sit down and write. With HoW, I had to force myself to stop. 10k days were pretty common to me. But this WIP is just supposed to be a much simpler tale in comparison, and yet it is so much harder to write.

I've been trying to figure that out as of late. I think it boils down to the same reason I don't blog a whole lot. It's not that I don't like talking about myself (well...mainly I just don't have much to say on that front. I write. A lot. The end.), but my personal story is so much more narrow than what I like. I love stories that are rich with characters, and I find that very hard to do with just one character telling the tale. Is it possible? Sure. I loved The Hunger Games and Vampire Academy, both of which have very lively worlds and characters with the story all told from one character's perspective. The question is: Can I do that?

Time (and beta readers) will tell. But for now, the moral of the story is this: Although the comfy blanky is, indeed, comfortable and safe, sometimes you really need to weather the storm without it. Because only then will you be faced with the questions I've talked about here, and only then will you start to grow as a writer.

Writerly Freedom

Now before I start this post, let me just preface it by saying I love my series Heirs of War. I'm on the third of five books mapped out in my head and it is an epic story that has a special place in my heart. But...it is also an extremely complicated story. There's political intrigue, wars, magic, other races, racial tension, love stories, FIVE freaking main characters and about twenty other important characters, growth of every single character, plots, subplots, etc. I've had to spend a lot of time mapping things out and plotting the plots of each character carefully. I've had to do research and create these races, create the magic system, the government...There's been a whole lot more planning than actual writing. But it's necessary to make it what it is. Which I hope to be good.

I've decided to take a breather from my series though. Book three just wasn't jiving for me. So I decided to work on my queries and editing. I never planned on writing a different book entirely that had nothing to do with my series. But here I am, 5k in and loving every minute of it.

The book I am currently writing is pretty far outside of my comfort zone. For one, it is really and truly young adult. The main character is sixteen. Heirs of War is New Adult through and through. The main characters ages range from seventeen (which quickly turns to eighteen) to twenty four. Those ages feel more familiar to me. I can relate to those ages better. So trying to remember what it was like to be sixteen is a bit of a struggle. Another reason it is outside of my comfort zone is because it has absolutely no magic in it whatsoever. There's parallel dimensions, but no magic. I'm a big fantasy geek so my instinct always leans towards magic of some kind in whatever I write.

The last reason this new WIP is so far outside of my comfort zone? Well, that's the biggest one. It is a first person narrative. I'm not even a big fan of reading first person narratives. I find them very limiting. Did I like Hunger Games? Sure. But I think it would have been better as a third person pov because then we'd see a lot more. I might have even liked the books beyond Twilight if they'd been third person. Maybe Bella wouldn't have been so annoying to me in book two if that had been the case. Maybe.

But I digress. Even thought this new WIP is so far outside my comfort zone as a writer, I also find it incredibly freeing. It's a simple standalone book. No series. No magic. No extreme plotting necessary. I have the beginning, middle, and end vaguely outlined in my head and that's really all I need. Then I just sit down and pants it. And 5k into it, I'm pretty pleased with how it's going. And the best part is I am pretty sure my word count will end up being around 70k. If you follow this blog, you know how word count tends to be the bane of my existence. Well, one of them. I like to say a lot of things outside of the actual writing are the bane of my existence, which those of you who follow this blog probably know already.

I planned on writing this new WIP (tentatively titled "Life As I Know It" but I suck at naming things, so it will probably get renamed. Heirs of War was original called The Circle or Sisters of The Circle. My genius friend renamed it to Heirs of War.) for NaNoWriMo. Since I've been writing it for 2 days and already have 5k, I get the feeling that it will be finished by then and I'll end up going back to book three. But I think this might be exactly what I need to get me past the hump that I hit with book three. It's renewing my love of writing and the freedom and cathartic feelings that come along with creating something new.

You Might Be Your Own Fangirl If...

1. Your little writerly heart goes pitter-patter when your favorite 'ship in your book gets "a moment".
2. You start crying when your beta-readers start discussing your book in front of you with the passion and zest of the fangirl trapped inside you.
3. You can't resist the urge to join in on said passionate discussion about your characters and your book as if you are NOT the writer.
4. Your cover artist sends you test shots and you are unable to give any professional feedback due to the overwhelming urge to run around your house squeeing like the fangirl you truly are.
5. You know that your favorite 'ship gets really complicated in the next book. You refuse to write said book.
6. You grin like an idiot anytime someone blesses you out passionately about your book. Example: "You bitch! I was up until 3am reading your book and then you end it with a cliffhanger??"
7. You've never been so happy to be called a bitch in your life.
8. You can actually think of fanfiction for your own series and then have to remind yourself that it isn't fanfiction if you write it.

I could really go on and on with this but #4 is the one I am really struggling with right now. You guys should see these shots...deciding which one to put on the cover is going to be so tough. Maybe I should let my beta readers vote when the time comes. Still doing edits, so that time is a ways off but I am so excited that it is so hard to not post the test shots on here just for the shear purpose of sharing them with you guys.

Just know they are awesome. And I am my own fangirl. 

Tag! The Next Big Thing!

GUTGAA has been so amazing and it is only the second week! Why is it so amazing? Because I've met some awesome people and think I finally get Twitter. That being said, these wonderful new connections have led me to be tagged by the wonderful Jadzia (what an awesome name, right?) for The Next Big Thing! So...on with the questions!

What is the title of your book?
Heirs of War, Prophecy Ordained. Heirs of War is the series title.

Where did the idea come from?
Wowzers...it was almost ten years ago when this idea first came into fruition in my writerly head. I wanted to create a story about the spiritual relationship I shared with some of my family members as we all began to explore Paganism as a religion. It's more about the spiritual bond we all seemed to share at that exact moment in our lives--we were all so in sync that we seemed to represent each side of the pentacle (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit). Then I came up with the prophecy and it all sort of blossomed from there. I put the story aside for a good five years because it just wasn't flowing right and the characters didn't feel right and then last year I picked it back up, made some massive changes, and it all came together. Like magic.

What genre does your book fall under?
I was marketing it as Young Adult, but honestly I feel like New Adult Epic Fantasy works better. Why? Because these girls are going through a serious transition in their lives from being essentially carefree teens to literally having the weight of the worlds dropped onto their shoulders. They aren't kids anymore. They are growing into adults. They have responsibilities. And they don't just rise to the occasion--that sort of maturity and growth doesn't come overnight. It is a challenge and that is the heart of the books is watching these girls as they grow into their leadership roles. Also, age comes into play. While the twins are seventeen (almost eighteen) when the story starts, the other girls are older. Rhaya is 19. Isauria is 20. Terrena is 24. And by the end of the series I think the twins will actually be around 20. Haven't mapped to book five yet, so don't quote me on that. :)

What actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie?
Picture time! This is actually part of my process. I "cast" the characters in my head and tweak the descriptions of the actors as needed to fit the characters better. I have a pretty big cast list (which you can view on my Pinterest account) but I am going to stick to just the people introduced in the chapters I posted on my blog.

Writerly Lessons: What I Learned This Week

As I mentioned in my other blog post, I attended WriteOnCon for the first time this past week. I have also had a really eventful non-writerly week as life is taking off in full force the week before classes begin again. So I will be brief so that I can get some time in to actually write today. Stay tuned for the end for a special little announcement!

Lessons I Learned This Week:

Writerly Query Experiment

Instead of writing anymore on book three (even though progress is lacking), I have decided to take some time to work on my query letter since I had a stroke of inspiration for it. And since it has been a whole five minutes since I blogged, I thought I would leave it to my wonderful readership to help me decide which to use. Or if I should scrap the entire thing and start fresh. All (polite!) comments are welcome. Except for spam about male enhancements. Or spam in general.

On to the query letters!

The first also happens to be the one that I so boldly (and possibly stupidly) sent out almost two weeks ago to twenty four literary agents. I might owe them apology letters. You guys tell me. I sat down and wrote this, hoping to capture some of my writerly essence in the voice, and then didn't bother to revise much at all.

Writerly Dilemma

For those of you who follow this blog and happen to be beta readers (*coughfamilycough*) of my series and don't want spoilers, stop reading now. For those of you who follow this blog and do not actually share DNA with me and intend on reading my series when I eventually publish it...Well, first of all: ohmygoshiloveyou and second of all, stop reading if you don't want spoilers.

That being said, here's my dilemma: I hate book three. Those of you who know me in real life have heard me bitch about book one in much the same way but it's different, I swear. I am just plain tired of book one because I have rewritten it countless times and edited it even more (and I'm still not done with it). I love book two. Book two is full of awesome. It's exciting, it's sad, and then it's exciting all over again. Book three...well, the plot elements are necessary, but they are also something I am deeply struggling with.

Self Publishing Too Soon

I get it. I completely understand how this happens. It has been one of my biggest complaints in reading self publishing works as well as one of the biggest cons I have seen in articles about self publishing. You can always tell when an author published their work before it was truly ready for public consumption. You can see it in the typos, the formatting, the cover art, and sometimes in how the story is presented as a whole. Editing and cover art are the two issues I am going to touch on because they are the ones I am struggling with right now.

From what I understand of the traditional publishing world (which is admittedly very little as I am still peering over the cliff that is publishing before making that leap), a manuscript is usually not only given a copy editor but a content editor as well. And from what I understand, typically you have more than one copy editor. They are given (or create, little confused there) a style sheet that is basically a cheat sheet to you and your work and then they get to editing. 

Writerly Cheats

Let me preface this post by saying that calling the tools I use to (hopefully) make me a better writer "cheats" is a bit tongue in cheek. I've never actually come across writers who think using a thesaurus is a short cut, but I've read quite a few that I wish would use one. That being said, I've decided to blog about the tools I use in the hopes of not being one of those writers.

I tweeted about this earlier (@MaraValderran for those who want to follow), but I'll elaborate here. In scouring the B&N store on my Nook, I came across this wifty book called The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi (available on the Nook and Kindle as well as hardcopy). I have to say that this book has been my saving grace for some really sticky points in my books. I'm a very conversational and dialogue driven writer, so when you get down to descriptors I am usually banging my head against the keyboard with a lot of choice expletives, but not exactly the kind of words I'm searching for. This book has really helped me to expand on the way I describe the emotions of my characters so that I am not depending on the dialogue so heavily and I am not resorting to just telling the reader how my characters are feeling ("He was sad. He cried."=lame).  Instead, I can look up "sadness" from the list of emotions they give you in the contents, and find the physical signs of sadness, the internal sensations, the mental responses, cues of acute or long term sadness, cues of suppressed sadness, and even what sadness might escalate to.

Meet Mara

As this is a new blog, I feel that the best way to kick-start it is by telling you who the heck I am. As you might have guessed by the title, I am Mara Valderran. I am a soon to be self published author currently right smack dab in the middle of writing my very first series, which is titled Heirs of War. I'll be posting excerpts from the books, character profiles, and other fun stuff as well as posting about my writerly exploits in general. And since I am also an avid reader, I will most likely be posting reviews and recommendations on here as well. I look forward to blogging more as it is sure to lessen the amount of time I spend talking to myself about these things!