Ask The Author (the audiobook edition)

Laura asks:

Are you planning to have an audible version of Terris? I'm excited to read it - and am reading / listening to the first two books right now!

Well, Laura, as much as I do hate to disappoint my fans, the answer to this question is no.  And now the super fun explanation as to why.

So, I got the AMAZING Em Eldridge to narrate my books in some kind of cosmic blessing that I still don't quite understand.  I had signed up with ACX (which is like the indie author's marketplace for finding a narrator/producer for an audiobook).  She did the first book and the second and Audible even kicked in like $2500 extra for her.

It used to be that an author and a narrator could make an agreement that they'd make the book together and share like... 70% of the profits, I think?  Then ACX decided to slap both the creators in the face and knock that down to an absurd 25%.  So I ditched ACX and never looked back.

Now virtually every good narrator on ACX is payment only (which is how it should be, since they got royally screwed over) and believe it or not, I don't have a cool $3000 lying around my house, waiting to be spent on audiobooks.  I've got two kids, and a house payment... there are plenty of other places for that money to go!

I considered a kickstarter at one point.  I really want you guys to have yourselves an audiobook if you want one, but I'm not sure I even have the audience to fund the thing.  I'm no Amanda Hocking.  So, Laura... I'm sorry to say that the audiobook isn't happening.  Wish I had a better answer. :(


Happy Reading (errrr... listening)!

*Insert Picture Of Head Hitting Desk Here*

The first two weeks of November have been JAMMMMMM packed, because it is that nano time of year and I decided that this would be the perfect time for me to get myself started on Ignis.  Last year I did a side project (that I'm still currently revising) and even though I do have another side project about 1/2 way planned, I wanted to get right back into all the Five Tribes stuff this year.

Originally, when I started this, I gave myself one year apiece for these suckers.  That was gonna be 5 books in 5 years.  But... yeah, I keep getting caught up in other things: books, plot bunnies, LIFE.  And well, I failed utterly.

But we're getting close to the end here, folks and this book number 4 is gonna be a DOOZY.  Like, I've been wanting to write this particular book since the very beginning of the series and pretty much every tiny seemingly insignificant detail you may or may not have noticed over the course of the books so far will be brought back into play for this book.  Did you notice perhaps a sword or a figurine or a character and thought, "Why in the heck did she talk about that only to drop it and never bring it up again?"  Well, all your questions will be answered in this book and then some.

Of course, me being me, I will only end with more annoying questions.  Because there is still one more book to be written after this one.

So far, thanks to the awesomeness that is nano, I have written about 30,000 words (about a quarter of the book, if you can believe it.)  So, by the time nano is over, I hope to have almost half of the book finished (in draft form).  My estimate for the book this time around is about 120k.  That's modest by Kate standards, but don't worry.  This book will be action packed!

So yeah, by the time nano is over, I'll have Nikka & Zyander 2/3rds of the way done.  My plan has been to only write those two perspectives for this book and then work on Luka.  If you finished Terris, you already know why I would write that perspective completely separate from the other two.  If you haven't read Terris, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

So there you go.

In summary: 30k and 9 chapters into Ignis.  Will be almost halfway done with the book by the time nano finishes.  Halfway done with my final edit for the side project and halfway done with the planning phase for the OTHER side project.

And somehow I'm still supposed to get all the other crap in my life completed.  Which is why I'm regularly up at 4:30 in the am, guys.

Happy Reading!

Limbo Land

Just posting that title sounds like I'm at some new spot in Disneyland or something.  "Welcome To Limbo Land, Happiest Place On Earth!"  Except it's not if you're an overachiever like me.

So you know, I've crossed all the things off my list:

1. Finished last Terris draft and sent to my proofreader (Who will be done literally any second now. Eep!)
2. Set up everything online to publish Terris
3. Finished Second to last draft of WIP and am waiting for feedback
4. Write draft of query letter for WIP
5. Write draft of synopsis for WIP
6. Compile comprehensive list of agents for said querying
7. Finish Bellarke Fanfic

So yeah, I'm in a holding pattern.  Everything I've been working on is in someone else's hands right now and I'm stuck here twiddling my thumbs, waiting. Perfect time for a blog entry, right?

Let's talk about a few of those list things.  I didn't add that I'm outlining for the next Five Tribes book.  I can even tell you its name, because when you publish your own stories, you don't have to call things "untitled" if you have an actual title.  Which I've had for like a year.  The next book is Ignis, of course, because of the tribe in which it's based.

That's right, Astra Cida (after which this blog is secondarily named) is coming up after Terris and Nikka is supposed to be hanging out with the Ignis during that time of year.  I won't spoil anything, but it's never that simple.  :)

I'm also outlining for the 5th (and final) book, because these two last book are going to be tightly entwined, and for the sake of continuity, it would be helpful to make sure everything is connected properly.  Seriously, guys, series are hard.  Don't do them!  

Other things on the list.  Yes, I'm going to be querying something.  If you don't know what that means, I'm going to try and find an agent for this new side project book I wrote.  This is a weird thing for me.  I never pictured myself trying to get something traditionally published, but there are a few reasons for that.

The first is that Five Tribes has from the beginning been something that I conceived of as self-published.  When I wrote the very first words, I always pictured these books as something I would take care of myself.  I was approached by an agent about the series, but I believe my exact words were, "I don't know what I'd do with an agent right now."  And I didn't.  I was also approached by a really great small publishing house about the series, but they were ebook only and I couldn't see what they could do for me that I couldn't do for myself. (This is what happens when you are an independent and highly motivated person.  You learn to do things for yourself.)

But then I wrote this other thing and suddenly, I knew that it was something that might be appropriate for the whole publishing industry rigmarole (and believe me it is definitely rigmarole).  So I've been revising and revising and revising and revising... there is a part of me that knows I have to stop trying to make it perfect, but until that part of me starts kicking and screaming, I probably won't listen.

I will soon have something else to occupy my time, though, because nano is coming up and that's when I plan on starting the next Five Tribes book.  Until then, I'll just work on keeping myself busy... somehow... :)

The Power of the Reader

I came here to post good news: my book is with the proofreader and half-way through editing!  Yayayayayayay! Things are looking good for a September publication.  I also have my book cover.  Which I'm happy to share with you all.  Here you go!

I won't give any hints on what happens in this book, but as you might guess from the cover image... Luka figures rather strongly into the storyline.

As I said, I came to tell good news, but along the way I got sidetracked.  I found some long-lost comments that got sidelined for moderation and decided to "get rid of the spam" as it were.  Except, they weren't spam!  They were lovely comments from my readers, telling me how much my stories have meant to them.  They brought tears to my eyes and made me remember again why I keep doing this.

Because, honestly, I do ask myself sometimes (mostly when I'm doing line edits. yick).  Why do I keep doing this? It's hard.  It's long and complicated.  It's time consuming.  And it's just a story, right?

But you all have reminded me, time and again, with emails, with comments, with goodreads messages, that my silly little stories mean something to you.  That you want to know what happens next.  That you still wait for the next edition.

Which makes me excited that I'll be able to share it with you soon! Happy Reading!

Look What The Cat Dragged In

Well, hello friends!  It's been a while, or so I see from the date of my last post.  I promised myself I wasn't gonna say anything unless I had NEWS and guys, I have news in spades!

First off, I'm in final edits for Terris, (book three) of the Five Tribes books.  It's been a long time, and 145,000 words coming.  Some time has come my way (for now) and I have made good use of it.  I'm hoping, HOPING for late August, but just to be safe, I'm gonna say September.
The book cover is in the hands of my cover artist and should be finished in a little bit.  I'll post it here and on goodreads when it's done.
And as one final gift for those of you who have waited literal years to read the third book and have MY memory, I'm going to include a detailed summary at the beginning so that you don't have to read through everything all over again to get the important info.
In other news, I just finished a standalone book that is pretty much in an opposite vein from anything I've ever done before.  It's the first time in a long time that I have written a story that doesn't have like 4 more books coming after it and let me tell you, it was a refreshing change from having to keep track of a thousand little.  It's not for everyone—it's a Regency/fairytale fusion and it was a lot of fun to write.  Still haven't decided what I'm going to DO with it.  I may actually send this one around and see if it's mainstream enough to traditionally publish.  I'm getting feedback on it right now. :)
That's all from the land of Kate.
Happy Reading!

The BIC (Big Inner Critic)

Lots of writers talk about their inner critic.  For most of us, it's that loud, cranky voice the comes in objecting to every word of the current manuscript we happen to be working on.  In my case, it's the annoying harbinger of doom that comes around whenever I'm editing.  And kicks my butt the entire time.

The good news is, I have completed the first markups of my rough draft for Terris.  The bad news is, I haven't made any changes yet.  Oh Lord.

But since I've put in multiple hours this weekend, I'm now giving myself a mini-break in the form of imparting my editing wisdom to all of you.

1)  If you have a Kindle, USE it. (No, I did not get paid by Amazon for this promotion.  Although, wouldn't that have been nice!) It's often way easier to read these things in book form and get an overall idea of where the plot is going rather than line-by-line in a word processor.
Yes, a lot of authors print out their work on paper and do it that way.  Okay, that's good, but it might cost you a pretty penny if you're an indie author like me and your book is 130,000 words long, like mine is.
2) Why use paper and a red pen when you have Kindle Touch and highlights?  OMG, highlights are the best!!! They're like a red pen, except you can add notes to them.
3) Which brings me to my next point... hey, guys, did you know about Kindle's word completion software for notes?  It's awesome!  Let me explain how it works.
You highlight a passage, and add a note and type in what you want.  But Kindle's word completion software has a memory for your most used words.
So if I type in "rewrite" into kindle and select it when the word comes up, it remembers my choice for next time.  Now all I have to do is type in "r" and rewrite pops up right away.  So it's pretty much perfect for editing, as long as you remember what everything means.
rewrite, repetitive, more, huh, confusing, transition, new (for new line)  I use these words all the time for my editing, and I do it only having to type in one letter before the word pops up. So great.
4) If you're not sure about how the words sound, then you need Free Natural Reader.  As the title suggests, it's free.  What it does is take text and read it out loud to you.  If I'm not sure about a passage or I'm worried that I missed something in a conversation, I put it in natural reader and I can tell where the rough parts are.

So that's my technique for silencing the Inner Critic through hard work and toil.  Next up comes beta reader feedback and then my next set of edits. (yay!)  Finally looking like this book may get wrapped up.

Happy Reading!

So Excited I've Been Spouting Gibberish All Day!

Well, you might have a guess about why I'm so crazypants excited today, readers.  Terris is finished.  Yes, FINISHED.  Yay for me.  I'm awesome.  Oh yeah.
Liz Lemon says, "High Five for you, Kate!"

Seriously though, I know this has been a long wait for you, so thanks for hanging in there with me.  (And for emailing me several times to ask when the third book will be out.)

But it's not all sunshine and roses, I'm afraid.  Right now the book is in three different files (which I have to admit went way better.  Will definitely be doing that again next time.) so I have to put it all together.  Then I'll be rereading the first two books (which is hardly a trial or anything.  lol).  Then I do a first read through of Terris, and look for any parts that make little to no sense, or don't work for the flow, or contradict stuff that I wrote before.  You know, the parts where I sucked at writing.

After I've gone through to make it at LEAST understandable by humans, I'll be sending it out for some plot feedback from my team of people who enjoy telling me all the ways in which I've failed.  (Alright, they're actually very nice people.)

Then comes yet another plot edit.  This is more of a fine tooth comb sort of thing, but I'll still be looking at plot issues, if anything of note comes up with the betas.

Finally, the MS goes to the proofreader for red pen work, and then it will be formatted and uploaded on various sites.

So, we're honestly still looking at August, if I want to be realistic. Or maybe July, depending on how busy I am this summer.  My kids will be gone at their grandparents' for a week, so hopefully I'll be able to push hard during that time period. :)

But I'm thrilled, beyond thrilled to be done.  I'm excited where this book has gone, and ecstatic to pick it up for the fourth edition.  I'm over halfway done with this series, and I'm both happy and kind of sad.  I've devoted so much time and energy to these characters that I really hate to leave them behind.

For now, however, Nikka, Luka, and Zyander are back and they are happy to hold your attention for a bit.

Happy Reading!

George, Mary Sues, and Epic Fantasy

I think I've mentioned before that series are HARD WORK.  If you didn't read that post, I'm just gonna sum it up for you: whining, bitching, moaning, and a little resolve toward the end.  Or if you like that sort of thing, here's the gif:

The hardest part, though, is keeping track of all that character growth that's supposed to be happening.  As I get to the end of the third book (OMG, did I just say the END?  I did.  Check out that wordcount on the sidebar, readers!), I start to think about what the character is going through.  I have a nice peek at where they've been and where they might be headed in the next couple of books.

But mostly, I wonder to myself: What Would George Do?  That's right, when I think about character work, I always go to the definitive expert (in my humble opinion, of course).  He can take the most sniveling, backstabbing character and turn them into a hero by the 5th book.  So, what would George do?

Wellllll... let's just say he likes to make things difficult for his characters.  So, okay.  Why?  Because that's how we grow as people, right?  We grow and we change and we face hardships that melt us down and purify us and turn us into bright, shiny versions of ourselves (or horrifying nasty versions, too).

Luka is probably the best example of this, but let's look at Nikka, who is kind of the reason for this series.  Nikka is a fun character to write, but let's be honest, she can get a bit Mary Sueish.  I mean, she scores a 27 on The Mary Sue Test.  Which, you know, isn't the highest score she could get (50+), but definitely in the mildly Mary Sue range.

And what's so wrong about being a Mary Sue, you ask?  Besides the fact that she pisses off reviewers everywhere?  Nothing much.  I mean, in reality, people will give you crap about your heroine being a Mary Sue, but if she works in your story, you won't hear me complaining.  

Anyway, the reason I don't want a Mary Sue in my writing is because a lot of times, she can turn out flat, if you're not careful.  I consider it my job, as the writer of this series, to keep her from heading down that road, to make things difficult for her.  

I keep George in mind when I decide what to do with Nikka.  I push her, pull her, make her question herself, her abilities, her relationships, and even her gut.  Because even though she is obscenely powerful and full of sass, she is not infallible.  She sometimes reacts too quickly, or has too much confidence in herself and it turns out that she can't just do anything she wants with the powers she's been given.

So yeah, gonna have to keep that in mind during the editing I'll be doing very very soon.  (Hopefully.)

Happy Reading!

Progress is Progress

It's kind of a good news/good news day around here, for once!  First of all, sorry about the lack of updates.  I don't know what that's about.  It's certainly not because I've been watching Kdramas instead of blogging.  Nope.

Seriously, though.  I've been sick twice in the past month.  Like lay on the couch, cry for mommy, pray that my children really WILL watch another episode of Yo Gabba Gabba, sick.  Then we were gone for a weekend, then the in-laws came up for a weekend.  Basically my new weekend writing chunk of time took a huge nosedive.

I know what you're thinking here.  What exactly is the good news here, Kate?

Welp, this morning I was sitting down, mapping out some newly changed details for the rest of the book, and I realized I only have about SIX CHAPTERS LEFT FOR EACH CHARACTER!!!  And okay, that's about 60,000 words, which is like another month straight of really stellar writing, especially when you only have your lunch break to write during.  (Wow, I'm really bringing down the good news here, aren't I?)

But there's another bit of good news!  I have successfully coaxed the children (with the use of a very clever wake up alarm) to sleep in to the reasonable hour of 6 am.  It took some doing, and it isn't always perfect, of course, but it works well enough that I can get up at 5 now and write for an hour before they wake up.

So that is my second bit of news, I've added an hour on to my writing time.  It's fabulous.  And it works so well, because mornings are when I'm at my best, creatively and mentally.

So yeah, 63% done, 6 more chapters of each character left, added an extra hour of writing time most mornings!  Yay!

Keep visiting and hopefully the news will just get better. :)

Happy Reading!

It's WOTY Time!

Every year about this time, I make myself a mini-pledge of a sorts.  I pick a word that I want to exemplify my writing life and stick with it like a goal, to spur myself through another year of ups and downs, stops and starts.  Last year, if you recall, my WOTY last year was FEARLESS  (with Fighting! being a close runner up, of course).  I tried a lot of stuff last year.  I also failed at some and succeeded at some.  I put out four audiobooks, I wrote some obsessive kdrama fangirl fiction disguised as contemporary fiction.  I wrote over half of Terris, the next book in my Five Tribes series.  I got a new job.  I wrote Buzz Worthy News for Cuddlebuggery while they were on hiatus.  And it was fun.  So fun.  I had a great time last year, for sure.

This year, my Word Of The Year is FLEXIBLE.

If only.  I pretty much suck at yoga because I'm the total opposite of this girl right here.

A short explanation: since getting my job, my time has been really limited in the writing dept.  I have lunch break and naptime on the weekends and that's about it.  I don't have time to sit down and lose myself in the world I've created as I did in the past.  And that's cool, you know.  I'm rollin' with it.  But I need to let go of the idea that writing has to be done a certain way, at a certain time, with a certain plan in mind.
This year is the year to let freedom reign.  Let my preconceived notions of what being a writer means GO, once and for all.  My task for myself is just to be as flexible as I can be with the writing times I've been given.  Do I have an hour, here or there?  Awesome, I'll just squeeze some words in, if I can.
Overall, my goal this year is to FINISH TERRIS.  Because of my writing, I hesitate to give an actual set in stone month deadline (as I have a feeling that will lead to epic amounts of FAIL), but here's hoping that by say... August, I've got the rough draft done.  If I can just get to THAT point, then the rest will follow.  I'm also hoping to have one more CR under my belt by then, but if it doesn't happen, then it doesn't happen.  I'm fully committed to Terris, at this point.

Anyway, that's all from me, for now.  Happy Reading, all!

Oh, Christmas. Why are you always so busy?

Christmas and the summer are the two busiest times of my life.  I'm sure I'm not alone in this.  Anyway, that, along with some surgery and birthday stuff, is the reason for my couple weeks absence.  But again, I have good news!  Call it an early Christmas present, if you will.

ACX just sent me another couple dozen coupons for Audible books.  So if you have an Audible account and you like full length novels, I have Compis available for FREE for whoever is interested.  Like "The Angel and Her Gun" these are only available for a limited time.  So while they last, shoot me an email at katecauthor (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll send you a coupon code.  The audiobook is normally about $18, so this is a great deal!

I'm really excited to have Em Eldridge as my narrator and I hope you all enjoy her, too.  She is an amazing talent!

Other than that, I'm still plugging away.  I've got some final editing stuff to finish up this week and then I'm back on board with Terris.  I've been writing some exciting stuff on that front.  Oh, the yummy goodness with Luka's storyline is what's got me going lately.  I think you may be surprised at some of the events in his timeline in this book.  A definite change from Aeris.

Anyway, Happy Reading!

Who Likes Free Stuff?

I think we can all agree that I suck at marketing.  So I'm just going to do this the Oprah way.

Everyone gets free stuff!!!

My audiobook for "The Angel & Her Gun" is finished and ACX has sent me a crap ton(24) of free copies to distribute to whomever I choose.  And guess what, readers... if you send me an email, at katecauthor(at)gmail, then I will send you one.  I will do this until they run the heck out.

Here is a synopsis of the short story(it's about an hour long):

Samora is a gunslinger in the Wild West, but she doesn't just carry a gun. She also carries the cross ring that designates her as an angelic agent, sent from God himself to battle over mortal souls on earth with the demons who seek to win their ages long battle.She has two problems: her propensity for getting screwed over by conniving mortals and her love for Gideon -a fallen angel on the wrong side of the law.

Be warned, there is some PG-13 material enclosed.

On a ROW80 note, I've been plugging away at Terris.  It's not fast, but it's happening and that keeps me in my happy place.  I've written about 3 chapters per character at this point.  There will be a small lull this week and next, as my sister is out visiting from Wyoming.  Hopefully, I will still be writing, but with family around, I don't want to make any promises I can't keep.

That's all for now! Happy Reading!

Being a Super Genius is Tough, but I Manage.

I don't want to be all full of myself today, readers, but I can't help it.  I'm a genius.  When it comes to scheduling, anyway.
For the past few weeks, since I started my new job, I've had serious issues scheduling time to write.  Like, I had none.  Not even a minute.  I get up, get the kids ready, work, pick the kids up, work some more, hang with the kids, eat dinner, get the kids ready for bed, and hang with the hubby, then go to bed myself.  That's it.  If (and that's a big if) I had any free time at night, I was so exhausted, I just had nothing to put in.  Zero inspiration.
It was really a drag, pretty much.  I mean, if you wanted, day after day, to write but you had no time, it would make you depressed, too.
Then one day I was sitting in the car eating my lunch and I had a zing of inspiration!  I had like a 45-1 hour window of eating time that I was using to read/eat.  But now, I write instead!

It's fantastic and it makes me so happy!  Yay!  It's not a lot of time, but it's some.  And it means I can keep writing.  I was honestly about to give up.

In other good news, Compis the audiobook is finished.  As soon as ACX is done reviewing it, that is.  We're knee deep in Aeris right now and it is sounding great. :)

One final gift from me.  I ran across this randomly yesterday and I wanted to share it with you, because it's so cute.  It made my day.  (In case you're not a Kdrama addict like me, the guy is Lee Min Ho, probably one of the most famous stars in Kdramaland.)

Enjoy and Happy Reading!

Don't Tell Grandma

I was AFK this weekend, as we all drove down to my grandparents' house to meet up with my sister who was visiting from Seattle.  Let me tell you, a great time was had by all.  I haven't seen my sister since Christmas, so this was a happy homecoming.

But while we were at my grandparents', sitting around chit-chatting, my grandma came up to me and said, "I know about your books."

And for about a minute I was thinking, "Oh boy.  Is Grandma hitting that age where I have to worry about her memory?  She did send me that 'cute kitty' video link in an email twice."
I mean, of course she knows about my books.  She gets to read the freaking rough draft before anyone else does.

Then she smiled at me and winked and suddenly, I knew that she meant those books.  You know the ones that I'm talking about, right?

Oh yeah...

So it turns out that some BIGMOUTH in my family spilled the beans about my extracurricular writing activities.  That's right.  Someone told my grandma about the sexytime stories I made sure to write about under a whole different name so she would never ever find out.  And she found it highly amusing.

Ah well.  I guess we're never as sneaky as we think we are.  Either that or my family has the busiest grapevine on the planet.  (Probably true.)

So anyway, I didn't get my update in, so this will count as my ROW for Wed.

Thursday was a good day, but it was the only one.  I got about 3 hours of work done and a little more on Friday before I left.  So yay!  Been writing Zyander, because, well, his voice is the strongest in my head right now.  I've been listening to the audiobook (which BTW sounds AWESOME!) and it brought me back to all the emotional hardships that he's been through and how strong a leader it's made him.  Fun stuff.

So let's hope I get more done this week.

Happy Reading!

Gettin' my ROW on...

If you're a writer in the know then you know that this week the last round of the year for ROW80 starts.  Round of Words in 80 days is a self-created goal of some sort that you as a writer make for yourself.  I've been mulling this over for several days, folks and I can't seem to come to a personal goal.

My Word of the Year this year is FEARLESS and I think I've lived up to my goal so far.  Audiobooks, news blogging, I even started a new job.  But unfortunately, some of those things interfere with my writing time. (Mostly the new job)  I'm lucky if I have an hour a day right now.

If it were just a matter of getting up earlier, I could do it.  Getting up at 5 in the morning is no problem for me.  I did it every day when I was writing Aeris.  The problem here?  My kids get up at 5!

So, should I be getting up at 4 then?  Goodness me!

So, I think my goal has to be this:

WRITE EVERY DAY.

I'm gonna try my best.  I'll keep that doc file open and whenever I have a free moment, where my kids are sleeping or my hubby is distracted, and I'll put some words in it.  

Terris might not get finished as quickly as I want it to, but at least I'll make progress, right?  And it's halfway done, so that's good also.

Yeah, so I guess I've made my goal.

Happy reading!

PS- Don't forget to head on over to Cuddlebuggery.com and check out my latest Buzz Worthy News!

Still Obsessing...

You know how when a relationship ends you still can't stop thinking about it.  You start obsessing about what went wrong, and how much it hurt.

Goodreads, I can't get over you.  I think about you and it still hurts.  I don't know why we can't work things out?  Can't you reconsider?

You know, when I first opened my author account, some of my author friends were like, "You're not still going to review books, are you? You're going to make yourself a target."  I laughed and told myself it wouldn't matter.  After all, I was a reader first.  I'd already been a member of goodreads for 3 years before I added the author part.

And you know, mostly, it's been a good experience.  My readers have been fantastic.  They send me little messages and comment on my blog posts.  I've had a couple of weird experiences where author's have friended me over my reviews or commented on them and it made me feel uncomfortable, but that's about it.  On the other hand, I had author friends who wrote a book and subsequently deleted all their reviews.

And until Goodreads new policy, I've never considered what I review or how I review.  Now I find myself hesitating to discuss what I read.  Especially if it's in a genre I write myself.

Why? Well, now that my reviews aren't safe from any little bit of attention, it places me at risk.  If I want to maintain my author status on Goodreads, and keep my author account, then I need to make sure none of my reviews are questioned.

You may be thinking, "That seems a bit dramatic, Kate." And you're right.  It does!  But until now, there was never any fear of the dramatic.  Goodreads just left the users reviews alone (unless the content was extremely bad).  But now the rules are so vague and arbitrary, I'm suffering nerves whenever I post.  

Here is an example, just to put things in my perspective.  I read a LOT of YA.  It's always been my favorite age range for reading and writing.  I also review a LOT of YA.  Sometimes I'm not really that impressed by the content I read and I may give the book a review accordingly.

Well, what if an author doesn't like my review?  What if they go snooping around my account and see that I'm an author, too, one who writes in the same genre?  What if they decide that the only reason I reviewed the way I did was because I wanted to eliminate the competition?

You might pipe up here and say, "But Kate, as long as your review CONTENT speaks only of the book, you'll be fine."  Well, no, because as Goodreads has made evident, the content of the review is also in the INTENT of the reviewer.  If they arbitrarily decide that my review is unduly influenced by the fact that I'm a competing author in the same genre, then my review WOULD be about the author, and not the book itself.  Do you see?

"But, Kate," you might say, "You've been a member of Goodreads since 2008! Surely, Goodreads would take the time to look at your reviews and your record and see that you're a reviewer in good standing before they delete your reviews and put your account under notice."

Uh, well, there are people who've been on there for YEARS and Goodreads didn't give a DAMN about their loyalty and their overall review record.  They were summarily deleted.

I hate to say this, but Goodreads isn't a safe space for me anymore, as a reader.  And so, I won't be reviewing YA books with stars anymore.  I will still put an overall review in place, but since stars are what seems to trigger authors, I will be leaving them out.  If that gets me into trouble, then I will most likely not be reviewing YA books any more either.

That is where it stands right now, and I'm so sad about it.  But they made the rules and I just want to keep hanging out with my Goodreads friends.

Other, happier news:
The Angel & Her Gun and The Lost Flame will soon be up in audiobook form, as well.
I've been working on the outline for the second half of Terris and I'm very pleased.  I had outlines made before I started this book, but things have changed (as they always do for me, hahaha) and so the outlines had to change accordingly.
I'll have another Buzz Worthy News segment up tomorrow, so head on over to Cuddlebuggery.com and check it out!
Have a great day, and happy reading!

Good News

Hey all,
Sorry for my slightly ranty post previously.  It just sets off my "fairness" radar when Gooreads would just DELETE hours of effort on the part of readers and without any warning.  How is that respect for users who have used the site for YEARS?  Not cool.  Decidedly not.

However, let's move past that now.  Let's pretend such things don't exist for the moment.
I have some great news!  Well, lots of great news, actually.  Firstly, part one of Terris is done!

It's been a long time in coming, I know.  Apologies to all my fans and thanks to their patience.  :)  Let's hope the rest of it goes fast!

Announcement number two: The first fifteen minutes of Compis' audiobook is done!  There will be a lot more good news on that front.  The audio is amazing, I'm so happy with it.

And third announcement: I will be the Cuddlebuggery.com Buzz Worthy News correspondent starting tomorrow.  This week's news was a lot of fun to write, so I hope you'll hop on over and enjoy.

That's all for now.  But enjoy the fact that Terris has 75,000 words written.  I know I will be.

Happy Reading!

The Switch-Up

I used the almost title of one of my books for today's post because I have that itchy skin feeling again.  Do you ever get that, readers?  Like if you don't do something new or different or fundamentally life changing you will have the sudden urge to scratch a layer of skin off until a whole new you emerges underneath?

I am going through some life changes.  Perhaps they might seem minor to others.  My son just started his first year of school.  My youngest turned two and officially left babyhood behind.  I'm making some changes in routine and job and well, LIFE I guess.  It's exhilarating and terrifying, which is pretty much life in general around here.

But mostly, I've just been thinking about how life changes your plans all by itself.  When I remember Aeris, for instance, and all the work I did on Zyander's story that I had to then go back and RE-FREAKING-WRITE and I almost have a heart attack when I think about it.  Then there is my still-in-progress audiobook.  *sigh*  That has actually ended up for the better, too, but when my first contract fell through, I was pretty bummed about it.  Thankfully, I already had another voice actor I was pretty excited about and when that went through, I felt like all was smooth sailing again.

So, yeah, changes come whether you bring them or not.  Learning to roll with each change is my big work in progress.

As far as the writing front goes, yeah, I have three of my stories under contract for audiobooks now and I'm pretty pleased with who I've got for what.  I am three, count them, THREE chapters away from being done altogether with part one.  One chapter for Nikka, one for Zyander, and one for Luka—who made a little change in his storyline that necessitated adding a chapter.  I have really been kicking butt in the past week.

I have learned not to take that for granted, however, so on that front, I've decided to join up with ROW80 again.  This summer I was way too busy to continue with it, but I love supporting the other authors and being a part of all the mental creativity.  Maybe it will help me to get Terris finished once and for all.

I hope all the changes in your lives of late have been good ones!  Happy Reading!

Woulda Coulda Shoulda

Ahhhhh... regret.

Have you ever ignored that still small inside that warned you not to do something?  If you're human (or like me, addicted to chocolate) then I know you have!  Then some time later, you are sure to wind up like me... bleary eyed and full of regret.

Regret can come from anything.  Forget to send that Netflix DVD back?  Well, now you have to wait through the WHOLE freaking weekend to get the next disc in True Blood Season 5.  Eat a giant piece of chocolate cake at the birthday party when you said you weren't going to (anyone seeing a theme here)?  Enjoy seeing the scale go up instead of down.

In my writerly world, I often regret wasting time.  Whether it's not mapping out the story well enough before hand or figuring out half way through that I made a wrong turn with a character, I HATE having to go back and rewrite huge sections of book.   I also regret it when I play around making my perfect playlist for writing to instead of actually writing.

Thankfully, my writing regrets are fading for the moment.  I've got three, count them THREE chapters left for Zyander and Nikka's Part One.  I also, surprisingly, added a chapter to Luka's Part One.  Then I'm on to the second half of Terris!  Exciting times, people, exciting times.

Happy Reading!

Discovery

I may have mentioned this before (once or twice), but I'm kind of a big reader.  Don't believe me?  Well, you can go to goodreads and check out my profile.  That will tell you better than I can that I'm an official bibliophile—or as my husband likes to say, book addict.

I was reading a friend's blog the other day and she gave us a list of her favorite books and how she'd discovered them.  Which got me thinking about MY favorite books.  I thought I'd share them with you here.

Before I do, though, I just want to say that in some cases, it's not so much a favorite book as it is a favorite author.

Anyway, on to the list, which I shall try to pare down as much as possible.

1) No list like this can take place without Pride & Prejudice.  Oh, boy, I'm going to start out my pretentious list with a classic, I can hear the groans already.  Actually, the first time I tried to read Jane Austen was in high school.  I hated her book (no it wasn't an assignment, I'm one of those weird book geeks that tries out classics on my own) and put it down for about 4 years.  It was too wordy, too descriptive and I was an action girl at that point, loving on Anne McCaffrey.  Then, for whatever reason, I picked up Emma a few years later and I was hooked.  I laughed out loud and proceeded to read every other Jane Austen book I could get my hands on.  I bought all of them.  I can't remember at what point I read P&P, but the fact that Darcy falls in love with Elizabeth for "the liveliness" of her mind sends me into spasms every time.  Yes, I am a romantic.

2) A Game of Thrones.  I'm not sure if this is my favorite book of the series or not, I'm pretty fond of book 3 as well, but this was the beginning of my LOVE for George.  (Oh, George, how I heart you!!!)  I heard about this book from my friend Jeff, who said to me, "He is the best fantasy writer of all time."  As a self-named fantasy freak, I was skeptical, to say the least.  But winter break was coming up, so I grabbed all the books that were out at the time (the first three) and went home for Christmas.  I honestly don't know if I would have caught on to George's genius if I hadn't gotten sick and been bedridden for literally a week straight.  I DEVOURED those books.  I laughed, and cried and raged and by the end I knew that when it comes to character development, George has everyone else beat.

3) A lot of my book discoveries are random library events.  I go to the new books section, pick up something that interests me by title, cover, or synopsis.  Poisonwood Bible was one of these.  How could I resist anything with bible in the title, I ask you.  This book was transporting!  Kingsolver's prose is among the best in the world, in my opinion.  Each of her character voices in this book was so different that I could picture their voices and faces in my mind during each chapter.  I loved this book so much that as soon as I finished it, I picked it right back up and read it through again.  Amazing!  Oh, and I discovered her before Oprah ever did.

4)  I adore thought-provoking sci-fi.  I love to mull over social issues related through far away galaxies and fought among fast moving space ships.  So it is no wonder that I love Orson Scott Card.  Everyone always quotes Ender's Game at me.  My former boss, who was my introduction to Card, certainly did.  But for me, it was Speaker for the Dead that really resonated with me.  The questions that book asks about what is alien, what is good or bad, are good intentions really worth anything, is there such a thing as doing the wrong thing for the right reason... still stump me to this day.

5)  I'll keep this list down to five for today.  I might talk about my other favorites later.  The most recent addition to my list is Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor.  Talk about another writer whose prose is mindbogglingly good.  When I read her work, my heart twists with envy and admiration, because I know I'll never be able to write like that.  I was turned on to Taylor by my favorite reviewer in the whole world, Kat Kennedy.  She has been responsible for quite a few of the wonderful books I've discovered lately.  The first story in this book blew me away.  Then there was the second, then the third.  Honestly, I felt drained and starstruck from her talent after I read this book.

So those are my top five (For now.  The list is constantly changing!).  What are your favorite books?  How did you discover them?

In a quick ROW80 update, I want to say that this week wasn't as good as last week.  It wasn't bad at all, I still got quite a bit written.  I paused Zyander's story to play some catch up with Nikka.  She and Zyander intersect quite a bit in the first part of the book, so I wanted to make sure her chapters were going to meet up with Zyan at the appropriate time.
Can I just say again how much more complex writing a book with 3 main characters is than writing a book with one?  I've done both several times now, and I now understand why most YA writers don't do it.  It's tough, people!  Writers who have more than one character in your books, how greatly I admire you.  George, who has like 30 main characters... I don't know how he does it!!!

That is all for my week.  Good luck to all my ROW friends.  And Happy Reading!