These are a Few of My Favorite Things...

I love Oprah.  Well, everything except her bookclub.  Man, Oprah, do you want me to slit my wrists and leave behind two innocent babies, because YOUR BOOKS ARE SO DEPRESSING!!!  Like,"I have no will to live" depressing.

My favorite episodes of Oprah before her show ended were those ones where she had a "favorite things" episode.  She'd stand up on the stage and start throwing stuff at the audience.
"Have a new playstation!"
"It's a year's supply of $5,000 face lotion!"
"A new Jetpack!"

Okay, maybe not that last one, but you'd think so, from the way the people in the audience act.

See what I mean?  Who likes bees that much?

To kick off my lovely vacay, I now give to you, Kate's favorite things on the internet!  Be forewarned, many of these are nerdy in the extreme.

The first is poupee dolls.  It's this little game/social networking thingamagig.  Basically, you join up, and you get a little paper doll.

This is just an example; my doll doesn't look like this.  So you earn "ribbons"—the poupee girl cash—and you buy super cute clothes and accessories and you dress her every day.  This is my 3rd year.  And I love it.  I'm not a super girly girl in real life (yes, I wear dresses, but man, what a hassle) and I don't have the budget to buy myself endless amounts of cute clothing.  So poupee is how I feel my need for shoes and bags.  It's Japanese, which leads to some rather confusing site announcements, but more and more Americans join every day.

Next up is my beloved Korean dramas.  Imagine that you are awake all hours of the night and you can't make a lot of noise.  Imagine also that you've run through everything in your Netflix queue and all your Friends DVDs.  Let the dramz begin.  Kdramas are these amazing, short series that are pure entertainment and romance.  Why do I love them?  Well, first, they're subtitled. So I can turn down the sound and not worry about keeping the household awake when I'm up with New Baby.  Second, they are so CLEAN.  I mean, I'm not against a healthy amount of sexiness in my shows, but I've got kids.  I don't want to watch anything that will be bad for their eyes.  Most of what's in them is hugging and hand holding.  It's like Pride &
Prejudice with Korean Smartphones.

And Coffee Prince is like the BEST THING EVER!!!  *sigh*  (The above link is to my favorite Korean Drama site, Drama beans.  It's a page with the BEST of the Kdramas. And also, there are a TON of Kdramas on Hulu.)

Then there is cracked.com.  If you want to know the top 5 reasons for anything—the awful websites of people who should know better (*cough* George R.R. Martin *cough*), gay guys who got more women than straight men, things flight safety presentations should mention—read these articles and be wildly entertained.  Kind of like the onion, except it doesn't take itself as seriously.  

And finally, thanks to my son, I have become doubly addicted.  First of all, I am addicted to My Little Pony. The first time I saw it, I was like... "Uh, that's cute, son, but what happened to Mighty Machines?"  Cut to two days later and I was like, "MUST. WATCH. ANOTHER. EPISODE!"  Seriously, I love the show.  Applejack is my favorite character and I'm not sure if that's because she's so sassy or because I just love that cereal. :)  

And from there blossoms my other newest addiction: My Little Pony gifs. :)  My favorite tmblr is HERE.

In quick ROW update news, I've been writing a sequel to Fire of God, which is one of my Angelic Agents short stories.  I'm not sure how long it's going to be yet, but I'm going to keep writing until it's finished.  I've also started plotting the next book in the Five Tribes series.  Terris is going to be AWESOME, but I'm afraid there are some plot changes ahead.  Aeris really got away from me. hahaha

Happy Father's Day and Happy Reading!

Tah-Dah! *poof*

So, Aeris is done.  Finished.  Over with my proof reader.  It is out in the ether.  I'd post a meme of triumph, but the truth is, I'm just numb.  This is the part, even larger than the editing, where I start to doubt myself and my abilities.  Not fishing for compliments here, it's just the plain truth.
When I've finished my edits and left it in the hands of a proof reader, I start thinking, "I should have changed this.  I'm still torn about that.  Was I too obvious?  Too vague?  Did I edit my natural prose too much?"  I think I have pretty healthy instincts on what to edit in my own writing.  But no one is perfect, and neither will my story be.
So, let's go over what happened.  Aeris went through two edits.
The first read through and edit was for continuity, naming, and storyline.  That is where the biggest changes happened in Aeris.  I rewrote Zyander's storyline.  I deleted two chapters from Luka's story, then added a whole new one at the end of the book.  I moved 3 or 4 chapters into different order.  I deleted parts of Nikka's story, and rewrote portions of it.  Then there were the MULTIPLE changes along the way, the little ones.
The second read through and edit were for paragraph, sentence, style and structure.  This is the most tedious, but ultimately necessary part of my editing.  This is where I examined each sentence for its meaning, and its form.  I try not to mess too much with my inherent writing style, because, well, I like my style.  It's not for everyone, but its what makes me unique.  Still, writing at 5 in the morning is telling sometimes.  Many sentences were unclear, or said too much or were repetitive.  Those have got to go.

Now, the book will be with the proofreader for about a month, I'm guessing.  When it gets back, I will look over any changes that are called for, then I'll format the book, and post it on Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords.
What am I doing while I wait?  Taking a much deserved break.  I've been dwelling on this storyline so long my brain hurts, frankly.  I've got several chapters plotted out for when I start up with Terris, but for now, I'm going to be on vacation for three weeks.  YES, THREE.  I'll be in Utah, Yosemite and the Sierra Nevadas.  Some of the time I'll have access to the internet, so I may post an entry or two.
I will also—because I have a DISEASE—still be writing.

I've gotten some requests to write more of my angelic agents, so I will probably do a third in Gideon & Samora's tale, and start in on the story of Bethel and her transformation.  Fun stuff!

I will also have my kindle and like a BAZILLION books on it.  If you are interested in knowing what I'll be reading, I made a list on my pinterest.  LINK HERE

And finally, I just want to give a shout-out to Kait Nolan and her wonderful ROW80 writing challenge.  Without the cheers and encouragement of so many who have been on this year-long journey with me since the beginning, I don't know if I ever would have finished Aeris.  So thanks, everyone!

Happy Reading!

Look, a Shiny Distraction!

The world is full of people who will either drag you down or lift you up.  I have seen both, and today is my day of VINDICATION!  Let me just note that vindication is a petty emotion.  It usually involves feeling like not only has someone stood up for the awesomeness that is you, but that you can now feel free to rub it in ALL THE PEOPLES' FACES!!

My family is amazing and supportive.  May you be blessed with such a plethora of willing and excited readers, encouragers, and cheerleaders, my friends.  One of these days, I will write a book about THEM, and you will know the depths of my thankfulness and appreciation.

Unfortunately, not everyone is as supportive as they are.  Here in the blogosphere, I must treat those in the real world like patients under the HIPAA code.  I will not name names.  It wouldn't be productive anyway.  Let's just say that a couple of weeks ago, a certain someone from my real life had some not so nice things to say about both me as a person and as a writer.  Suckage.  I brushed off the writerly part, because I've gotten a thick skin about this sort of thing.  But the personal stuff hurt.  I admit it.  

Cut to today, when said person commented to a friend of mine (perhaps not knowing he was a friend?) about me (thinking to gain a partner in commiseration), and my friend rose to my defense in the nicest way!  It was hard not to feel spitefully vindicated.  I squashed it down with a vengeance, but I will admit, it does warm my heart that I have good friends who have my back.

And now, my readers and writers alike, I will point you to many shiny distractions, so you don't ask how the editing on Aeris is going (fine, just fine.  Ask me next Sunday and you will hear me say YAY!  IT'S DONE!!).

HERE is an interesting article about the publishing industry from an insider.

HERE is yet another place to post your scribbles, fellow authors.

HERE is some excellent advice from writer Wesley Dean Smith on thinking of yourself as a publisher.

And HERE is a link to the awesome My Little Pony Tumblr I borrowed the gifs from.  My son is in love with this show right now, so I have it on the brain. :)

Happy Reading!  And stay awesome!