Deleted Phrases From Twin Flames

It seems that at the beginning of Twin Flames Tristan is a bit of a drama queen, and I the cliche' queen. (I think I need a shiny badge.) *preens* He and I make quite a pair. To smooth things out and make Tristan less cliched some of the over-the-top phrases needed to go.

The one thing I believe wholeheartedly is that I should NEVER become so enamored with the words I write to cause me to turn down good editing advice. A good editor is worth their weight in gold. Ignoring sound advice would be detrimental. So I will always take a step back and look at the problem through their eyes. The majority of the time I will agree, but for the others, I simply open up a dialogue to find a solution. Even though I love these phrases by themselves, I agreed they were out of place in the prose.

Enjoy!

I ignored the hole where my heart had once been.

The wound was so deep I wondered why I wasn't bleeding.

There were a couple of, "Oh, Goddess, help me!" taken away. *snicker* Oh, wait. *throws self on bed with a wail*

Could he not see there were too many pieces to pick up? That I was well and truly broken? I was bleeding to death right here, right now. Wasn't it obvious there was nothing he could do that would fix this, fix me, or fix us?

I couldn't scrub away what I'd seen, what I'd heard. I wasn't that strong. Maybe I was a bit of a coward .

I stared at him, my body numb with disbelief and grief. My shoulder throbbed and burned with the poison of being claimed by this man. My chest constricted with the pain of a broken heart. I bled for him because I loved him.

Each word he spoke was like a little death.

My heart bled.

If the little pinpricks weren't bad enough to make the skin break out, it was scratchy.

Striker Character Sketch: Prince Azaes

I realized today that the release for Striker is a little over a month away. In fact, five and a half weeks and I had planned six more drawings. That may be a little ambitious for me. We'll see what I can do. I might end up with five sketches or less for the release week.

Because I'm behind, this is the last character reveal on my blog until June 1st. I had planned for the sketch to be both Azaes and Mestor. It wasn't until after I began that realized 1) my drawing tablet was much bigger than my scanner. 2) there was no way I could make a mirror image of Azaes for his twin. It's just not possible for me to draw the same image exactly a second time. 3) I used a cobra-man as inspiration but didn't have something to refer to when it came to Azaes' hands. Which means he doesn't have hands, at least for now.

I wanted to show the red ridge of the royal family, and I like how that turned out. I grew bolder and experimented with more color and I'm not happy with the outcome. It is what it is. I'll return to this when I have time and fix it, or sketch a different picture of Azaes.

Rainbow Con Aftermath

I'm thrilled the stress of Rainbow Con is over. I enjoyed the event very much, even if my pocket book was in agony by the end. I adore autographed copies of books and collect them when I can. :)

I angsted more over my panels the week prior to Rainbow Con than I did once I sat down at the table. I did rush through my reading, but I did not laugh like I had done on the practices. All the author readings that I attended on my own were really good. Wade Kelly was my hero because her excerpts were on the naughty side and she was so serious through her reading. The other readings that stuck with me were L.E. Franks, Angel Martinez, Jackson Cordd, and Beau Schemery.

There was a little bit of awkwardness with the author readings being combined with the author signings. No one wants to interrupt the author reading in order to get something signed. I wish that I went with a 1.5 tier table but I didn't think I should have since I had only the one print book, Alpha Trine. I did like that those tables were kept in the dealer room where the publisher tables were set up. If I go next year, it will be something for me to consider.

For me, the best part of the Con was meeting friends, old and new, and meeting people I wouldn't have otherwise known. Spending time with the Less Than Three crew was one of the highlights. I got to gently badger Sasha Miller for another story in the Drinker Class X world, Isabella Carter and Megan Derr signed their books for me, and I sat next to and talked with Samantha.

I had the best roommate, Charlie Crochet. She's so easy going and very sweet.

What I don't miss: carrying around that monstrosity called a purse or the "coffee" or getting lost because I read the map wrong.

What did I take away? I want to write a blog post on Writing By The Seat Of My Pants. For some reason, people seem to think this is disorganized. It is possible to have a good pantster story.

The other thing I took away was information from the Characterization Panel. As a writer, the information was interested and something to think upon. As a reader, and this may change as time passes, it ruined my reading pleasure a little bit. I keep thinking about what was said when I'm listening to my work out audio book. I always choose one of my favorites so that I can zone out when I need to. Now, the series that I love listening to, (cause seriously, I'm into it for all the long hair lovely men) the Merry Gentry series by Laurel K. Hamilton, is not as pleasant to listen to because I can see what the panelist were talking about. It's hard to sink into the story now.  :/

Since coming back, my writing has gone into overdrive. My right hand aches terribly but that is what happens when I write 30k in less than a week. The first draft of Fate & Destinies is almost complete, tonight or tomorrow night at the latest. Just in time, too. Yesterday I received edits for Twin Flames. Totally stoked.

I do have another sketch from Striker completed and it will go up on Monday. Have a great day and enjoy your weekend!!

While I'm gone...

Hey you guys. If you head over to Hearts On Fire Reviews, until April 17th they are taking entries for a $20 gift certificate for Less Than Three Press. With the the discount they are giving this month to celebrate their five year anniversary, you can make out like a bandit. Oh, and I hope you enjoy a the post.

Thank you for stopping by and reading!

RainbowCon Jitters

Before I spew stuff about getting ready for my trip, tomorrow  sorry, Sunday April 13th, make sure you stop by Hearts On Fire Reviews for my RainbowCon + Stuff post. It's a fun post with a giveaway, plus Lucy asked if I would draw Dargon and the pregnant Alpha. I'm not sure I like the picture, it's sort of meh, but you be the judge and stop by Hearts On Fire Reviews and tell me what you think. The giveaway will run the weekend and most of next week.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program...

I'm getting ready for Rainbow Con 2014. Whoohoo! In the middle of February I suddenly thought it would be an awesome idea to give away a Kindle Fire. I asked around and it was suggested that I use Rafflecopter which was brilliant because I could have people sign up right then with a couple of clicks on the iPad. I wouldn't be  responsible for destroying email addresses later or finding someone to pull a tag out a hat. 

Simple. Fair. 

I signed up and went to create the giveaway and it all flowed well until I went to change the beginning and ending time--and nothing. I have to upgrade to a monthly package of a little less than $10 a month. >.< Now, if I want to use the one they offer for free the giveaways, the start time is from 12:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. I wanted to have the giveaway conclude at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday night so I could hand the kindle over to the participant Friday night or early on Sunday morning. 

Or I can sign up for the annual membership and pay the monthly fee. The thing is, I don't have enough contests/giveaways to justify the expense. We may have to stay a bit longer than I had anticipated. And I'm okay with that because we can be flexible to a point. All else fails, I'll have to mail the Kindle to the participant.

On top of the whole Rafflecopter kerfuffle, I'm starting to become really nervous. This is my first convention as an author and I'm going a little stir crazy. I want to pack right NOW. I'm afraid I'm going to forget something, not bring enough clothes or something. What shoes do I want to bring? Ibuprofen. Tums. Band-aids. Safety pins. Should I bring sharpies for the book signing? Do I have something crafty to write when I sign a book? (Lordy, help me, no.)  Am I going to run of things to read on my e-reader? Do I want to wear jewelry? Do I remember how to put on makeup?

Oh, talking about makeup. I did a test run and the new eyeliner that I bought. Not only does it run like I have been crying, but I had an allergic reaction to it. The rim of my eyes have never hurt like that.

People, I wrote notes on 3x5 cards so if I my mind goes blank during a panel, I have a back up. Not kidding. ^_^

My Schedule:

Thursday, April 17th

2:00 p.m.

(Salon A) Roundtable Discussion: Plotters vs Pantsers - Do you plot or write by the seat of your pants? This informal discussion group discusses the bonuses, highs, and lows of both writing styles.
Cody Stanford, David Berger, Geoff Knight, Jeff Adams, Lexi Ander, HOST: S.L. Armstrong

3:00 p.m.

(Salon B) Cheers and Jeers: Best & Worst Books of 2013 - Our guest reviewers discuss their best and worst picks for 2013 while discussing what about those books made them great or forgetable.
Jackie McKenzie, Kassa, Lexi Ander, Lisa T., Scott Burkett, HOST: Susan Lee

4:45 - 5:15 p.m.

(Salons A, B, C) Author Question and Answer Sessions - Have a question you've been dying to ask your favorite author? Why'd that character act that way? What was your inspiration for this story? When's that sequel coming out, anyway? Now's your chance to find out the answers!

Salon C with:

Andrew Grey
Anel Viz
Jordan L. Hawk
Lexi Ander
Michael Rupured

Friday, April 18th

1:00 - 3:00

Author Readings & Signings - Listen to your favorite authors reading selections of their work, and then line up to get autographed copies of your favorite books!

I'll be in Salon C for book signing and my reading time is at 2:30

Less Than Three Turns Five Celebration!

This will be an awesome week!

Keep your eye on the Less Than Three (Click Here) site because the next several days they will have a free giveaway every hour. If you follow them on twitter, they are tweeting the announcement of which title each every hour. 

Edit: Also on our Tumblr: http://lessthanthreepress.tumblr.com/

and Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/lt3press



Don't miss out!

Made My Night

Today has been mostly a wash. Last night I could not sleep. I glanced at the clock at 4:30 am, knowing I had to be up at 8:00 to go to a hair appointment.

ZOMBIE all day. Husband had a guys night out, so instead of taking a nap, I spent time with him, laying down after he left and slept for four hours.

Still feel like a Zombie but I thought I would give the rest of the day a go. Checking my feeds from google, Facebook, and twitter before I tackled some writing and came across a link on twitter that I followed from Less Than Three. Oh, yeah, on a side note, Less Than Three is five years old this month and I donated Alpha Trine for the giveaway. I thought for a second that I had dropped the ball on my day, so I followed to link to make sure.

To my relief, and pleasure, this was not what I was thinking. Something totally different and I'm so glad I checked because Alpha Trine was on the list of favorites. Made My Night.

Scorching Book Reviews - - LGBT Event Day 5 : Megan Derr’s Top Ten MM Fantasy and MM Sci-Fi book lists (Incl. 5 eBook giveaway) Click here to go to the page because you can't miss the giveaway!


On a side note, beginning Monday, April 7th thru Thursday April 10th, Less Than Three will be marking titles down to $0.00. Those will only last an hour so make sure you look out for them. For more details see here.

Oh, and the hair? Crimson streaks for Rainbow Con. I hope they stay put until then.