Can You Read This?

My dad emailed me this today. I think it's pretty neat, so I'm posting it.

Only great minds can read this...This is weird, but interesting! This will put your dyslexia into a catatonic fit!

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it

eonvrye taht can raed tihs rsaie yuor hnad.

Isn't it interesing that only boys have their hands up?

Morse Code is this way too. The great code operators didn't separate the letters but actually heard the words or, in some cases entire sentences.

Yes, I could actually read it without difficulty. When I was growing up, my parent's realized I was dyslexic. Still am. My mother was always amazed at how quickly I could go through books. My dad often theorized that I memorized words...to me, 'birkc' is still 'brick'.

Are you a great mind? Leave a comment and let me know if YOU could read it!


RWO08 (yes, I'm messing with you) Update:

Since Sunday, I've spent the last few days writing and doing research for Book 2 of Parallel. So for those of you that have already read Book 1, be prepared to meet more folks with psionic abilities, another reality, and a relationship in the making!

I am also working on a short story to submit to an anthology that's being released late Oct. I'm not sure if it will be accepted, but I was encouraged to submit. It will be another horror short.



Whirlwind Week

In what's been a dramatic week, it ended on a good note. I experienced my first earthquake (we live a little over an hour away from the epicenter) and got to leave early from work. Yesterday, we got some meager rain (hello, it was a category 1) due to Hurricane Irene and I didn't have to teach Saturday morning. 

Friday, I uploaded Parallel on Amazon and B&N (yay!) and finished up the print formatting for CreateSpace. It was a major pain in my a**, trying to get the page numbers to work for me, but I figured it out in the end. 

Yesterday, I didn't do anything writing related. I watched TV and read. I hadn't read in weeks and I was happy to take a day and just relax. Yesterday's selection, Fallen Eden by Nicole Williams, had been sitting in my TBR pile for awhile. 

Today, I plan on doing some housework and laundry, work on Book 2 (Etta, my main character, wants to know what the hell is going on) and watch Jersey Shore (according to my mom, the big fight scene is going to be on tonight, not next Thursday). 

I'm hopeful that this week will be a bit tamer in terms of weather and ya'll have a great ROW80 week! 

Parallel is now ON SALE!!

That's right folks, I just hit the "publish" button on Amazon and Barnes & Noble!! Hopefully it won't take to long for it to appear live. You can be sure I'll keep you posted!

Thank you, thank you, to everyone who offered their unconditional support!!!

8/27 Update: Parallel is now live on Amazon (Kindle) and Barnes and Noble (Nook)! I also finished formatting my book for print and am just waiting to get my full cover file from my cover artist so that I can order a proof.

Done and Done!

I am happy to say that I have just sent Parallel off for formatting! Yeah, I know... I should learn to do my own formats, but with my full-time job, part-time job, and everything else that seems to land in my lap, I just gotta outsource this one. Ted Risk at Dellaster Design provides a fabulous service and I'd recommend him to anyone! 

So, once he sends me the files, that's it folks. Since I obviously don't know how to re-format the files, they are as good as published at this point. I expect to have the files back in a couple of days, which means Parallel should be uploaded on Amazon and Barnes & Nobles no later than Sunday (I hope). 

Now I just gotta format my book for print (yes, I'll be doing that on my own)! But that can wait until tomorrow...

Is My Main Character Me?

At what point do we give pieces of ourselves onto our characters?

The other night, my best friend swore that my main character, Etta, is me. Why? Because we both like to wear jeans and we like to eat stew. I don't know if that's enough for a convincing argument, so I decided to examine the similarities the two of us:

1. We both watch a lot of TV.
2. We're both brunettes.
3. Etta's father is a physicist. Mine is a physics teacher.
4. Etta lives in Alexandria, VA. I lived there for 10 years.

Here's where the similarities end:

1. Etta has powers. I don't.
2. Etta is/was an orphan. I'm not.
3. Etta goes to a posh private school. I went to public school in a small town.
4. Etta doesn't care for designer clothes. Even though I love my jeans and sweats, I love my designer dresses and heels.

Maybe we do rub off on our characters a bit. Giving little pieces of ourselves into the characters we've grown to love.

What about you? Do you give your main characters some of your own traits?


On the ROW80 front, I've been working on final edits (yes, still) and formatting. I don't have any set word counts, but I've been working on Book 2. Hey, you keep your goals simple, you have simple updates! But classes start back up on Monday, where I'll turn back into Professor Lefeve for the fall semester, which means limited writing on Monday nights and Saturday mornings. This makes my daily goal of writing a bit harder, since all I want to do is sleep!

Book Updates

It's been a crazy week since my last post. Going over edits with my editor and receiving comments back from my beta readers...of course, all of this could have been a lot simpler had I not totally flaked and got my book out to my beta's in time. I am so ever indebted to them for the time they've spent tearing my book apart... I can't thank them enough!! One is convinced it's going to turn into a movie (ha, doubtful). But it's nice to have positive feedback like that. I'll just be happy if the rest of the general public doesn't think it sucks.

In the next few days, I'll be polishing off the last of the edits. My goal is to finish by the weekend and start formating for both ebook and print! So, yes, I'll still meet my August publication deadline (Monday I thought the end of August was next week, until I realized I have another full week)!

That being said, I'm totally behind on my reading. I have so many books I've accumulated in my queue and I haven't had the time to read these last couple of weeks. That's just not like me. I generally read 3-4 books a week! I did however re-read JL Bryan's The Paranormals (Jenny Pox and Tommy Nightmare) in preparation for the third book in the series, Alexander Death, coming out in September. We'll both be doing book tours in October, through Kismet Book Touring, so check back for more info. I'm going to have some great one-of-kind giveaways!!

Newish Blog Design

Yes, I've changed my banner...again. This time, it's for a good reason. I realized last night that mac does not support flash (at least, not well), so that means I can't view/edit my website! Sooo, I am going to shut down www.claudialefeve.com in the next couple of days and keep my blog as my main site for now. Which is fine, I get more views on my blog than my website!

I love my little sugar skull with pigtails!

UPDATE: www.claudialefeve.com will now be directed to this blog!

Post Meltdown

This time it isn't my sanity, but my laptop. I finally got myself a new one and I'm now the proud owner of a Mac Air! It's taking some getting used to and I won't bore you guys with all the details...just know I'm back and operational.

On the ROW80 front, I've received edits back from my editor and have spent the last few days ironing out a couple of chapters before turning it back in to her. Even though I went through a couple of setbacks these last couple of weeks, I am happy to say that I'm still on schedule for an August release.

Sorry this is such a short post, but it's been a taxing week with final edits, trucks dying, and laptops freezing. Have a great week ROW peeps!

Freeze Out

Well, it's been an interesting couple of days. First, my laptop crapped out (I'm currently on 'safe mode' - it's the only way this pc will work without freezing) and I've spent the last couple of nights researching mac's (thanks Amber for you support and advice!). Hopefully I will have a new mac by next weekend! I'm grateful that I already have PARALLEL out for editing or I would have busted a gut!

Then yesterday, the hubby and I were on our way to my mother-in-laws to get ready to attend a wedding in D.C. Well, not ten minutes into the drive, we stall and (long story short) get towed to the nearest Land Rover dealership. Several hours and a $75 cab ride later, we made it to the reception at the Swedish Embassy just in time. We weren't exactly sad about having to miss the ceremony until we found out the groom passed out...so we did miss that.

Needless to say, I didn't get any writing done yesterday, but I did manage to get some writing in Friday afternoon, working on Book 2 and another WIP I'm trying to get started on. Today will be spent backing up files, preparing them for a new home.

Confessional

Bless me blogger peeps for I have sinned. It's been one week since my last post.

Okay, I feel better now. Now that that's out of the way, I am thrilled to be able to say that PARALLEL is now in the capable hands of my editor, Stacey Turner. I finished my last round of edits on Monday and sent it not only to my editor, but my faithful betas, who have waited patiently for me to get them a cleaner copy (I'll be going through a 2nd round w/ Stacey, so I'll have a chance to incorporate all your wonderful comments).

I took Monday off from writing - I really needed it and last night I began working on a very rough draft of Book 2. I say 'very rough' because for those of you who know me, know I'm a pantser. Once I have the general idea, I just let my characters take control of the story.

Now that I've got PARALLEL out to Stacey, a rough sketch of Book 2, my mind can't help but go back to another book I'm working on. It's still in the infancy stages, but I can't get it out of my mind, so I'll probably be working on that as well.

And if you're mulling around on this overcast Wednesday (well, in Northern Virginia it is), check out my new blog tour page at Kismet Book Touring! Danny and Pushy did a fabulous job...thanks guys! In fact, they've done such a great job, they've received way more requests than needed to host me during my tour...this is both exciting and terrifying, all at the same time.