Novella News!

This will serve as my ROW#80 update since I missed this past Wednesday's and we are only two days away from Sunday.

I have been working hard this last week finishing up my novella (no title yet). I hadn't planned on publishing this story so soon, but once I resurrected it from the place where all unfinished stories go, I loved it all over again. There is also a sense of urgency on this novella, as I plan to publish it in April to coincide with Sexual Assault Awareness Month. I plan to donate 100% of all April sales to an organization that assists victims of sexual assault, while at the same time promoting the awareness of such a horrendous crime.

Maybe some of you have picked up on it from reading my blog, but if you haven't, I work with crime victims. For the last ten years I have worked with victims in all crime categories (in both local and federal law enforcement). This is my way of giving just a little bit more than time I already spend in my day job.

As soon as I have more info, you know I'll be posting it here. Right now, I have tentatively lined up an editor (woo hoo!) and have already contacted an organization I would like to work with on this special project.

Oh yea...what's it about? It's got everything...violence (non-graphic), courtroom drama, horror, and the paranormal. And it's not even a full length novel!

**UPDATE 3/20: Spent Friday night and all day Saturday finishing up my novella. I added another 3k words and now I just need to add the last two scenes!

Support Goes A Long Way

It's now Sunday and I've turned the clocks forward and survived Fat Tuesday/Ash Wednesday. My dad and I had a conversation about the practice of Meatless Friday during Lent and he asked if I knew why we do this. I thought I did, but apparently I was wrong. My dad, a science teach at a Catholic private school, informed me that the real reason behind all those *fish commercials before Easter was the Vatican's way to support the local fishermen and encouraged Italy to eat fish on Friday's during Lent. Imagine that. I happen to love seafood, so I usually use this time of year to splurge on oysters, lobster, and crab!

Well, writer's are no different. They not only support fellow author's, but they support causes as well. Last week, I bought a copy of Kiss Me, Kill Me. Not only did I get to read some great short stories from some of my favorite indie authors, but I was introduced to new ones: I enjoyed reading M.T. Murphy's short story so much that I am currently reading Lucifera's Pet.

They could have published this anthology and just split the royalties. I still would have bought the book. But these talented writer's decided to give all proceeds to GreaterGood.org, an international non-profit that aids in poverty, children's literacy, women's health and even rescued animals. What a great organization to support. And by purchasing this great anthology, I have now supported a great organization.

* I waited faithfully for the McDonald's filet o' fish commercial (the one with the fish that sings) and I was sorely disappointed with this years fish campaign. No song!

And now for my ROW80 update:

I kinda took a week off from writing. It was beginning to feel forced and I didn't want my stories to just be about word counts.

On Friday, I opened up one of my WIP's (a thriller/horror short novella that I'd neglected) and read what I had written so far. I was pleasantly surprised that I loved it (not being snotty, but you should love what you write or no one else is). Inspired, I got in about 2, 500 since Friday night! It is almost complete now, just a few sections to go and I will soon be shopping around for an editor. Yea!  

This is How I Relax

A few years ago I had to go to a training on compassion fatigue. Basically, those that work with victims of crime can undergo stress as a result of what they call 'secondary victimization'. During the training, one of the group activities was to write down what we did for fun outside of work. Naturally, I had a list that consisted of things like: read and watch crime shows, thrillers, horror, etc. As you can imagine, I was told that was not a very productive use of my down time as it only reinforces the trama I experience on a daily basis.

Whatever.... I still love reading thrillers and anything horror. I have a graduate degree in Forensic Psychology for crying out loud. Of course I'm going to be fascinated by intriguing psychopathic killers!

With that said, while I have been MIA these last couple of weeks, I have not neglected my fellow indie compadres. No matter how busy, tired, and overwhelmed I get, I still make time for myself to relax. So here's a list of what I've been reading this past week (Gee, you think there's a theme?):

Last week, I received an email from Blake Crouch offering a chance to read an ARC of his latest horror thriller RUN. I jumped at the chance to read it in exchange for an honest plug. You know a book is good when you take a nap in the middle of it and the story continues in your dreams. After reading RUN, I now have a profound appreciation of the fact that the hubby and I own two Land Rovers, an off-road pop-up trailer, an arsenal fit for an army, and my Kindle...so if we ever had to RUN, we're all set.

I was delighted when I found out that Blake came out with Break You, a novella that concludes the Andrew Thomas series. Luther Kite is back and if you thought he (Crouch or Kite) had run out of imaginative ways in which torture, you thought wrong.

**SMALL SPOILER ALERT**

Imagine my even greater surprise when I found out that Crouch and Kilborn brought back Donaldson and Lucy in Killers, a sequel to Serial Uncut. Lucy is one of my favorite psychopaths and quite possibly one of my all time favorite characters. Oh yea, Luther makes an appearance in this one too...

Wanting some good ol' fashioned Southern horror, I cozied up to The Red Church by Scott Nicholson. I love horror books based on religious concepts. Somehow it makes the story seem more real. The extras that follow the book are worth reading as well.

                                                              *****                              

And before I go, don't forget to check out the last few stops on JL Bryan's Haunted E-Book Tour! His next tour stop will be at Fishmuffins of Doom on 3/4.

#ROW80 Update

Has it really been over two weeks since I last posted? Looks like reality, sleep, and stress has caught up with me. At least for now, I am back with a vengeance and still plugging away at my writing... I've pretty much kept to my goals of writing each day, except for Sunday when the hubby and I did some minor home improvements.

So what have I been up to since my last post? Well, I have done some major revamping of Heir, so that might push back the release date. Sometimes you just gotta go with your gut and do what you gotta do. I've also been doing a lot of reading and I'll be following up with a post on that later today/tomorrow.