Authors

Hits and Misses

| Casey Wyatt

Happy Black Friday everyone! Please be sure to stop by the Scribes and check out – You’ve Got a Friend in Me.

I mentioned a few weeks back that I’m participating in NaNo. I hit the 50,000 word goal on Day 20. I plan on finishing the novel by 11/30. That will make two completed novels in 2011 – The Undead Space Initiative and Redemption (book 2 of my Aethera series).

Sadly, I did not get to finish plotting The Devil’s Advocate or Mystic Storm (sequel to Mystic Ink). But, hey, there are so many hours in a day. And I’ve learned a lot about my writer self this year.

  • I’m not Nora Roberts or Dean Wesley Smith, capable of pumping out high volume, superior quality manuscripts nearly out of the gate. Plotting and characterization takes time (for me anyway). I have to be totally on-board with the characters and plot, otherwise, I can’t finish the book.
  • I can write a novel in a month. I did it twice. See above – I have to know what is going to happen in my books. I don’t need to know the how or even the why. Those details can come out when I write. I don’t have my million words in yet. But I’m working on it.
  • If there is a zombie apocalypse, I won’t survive long-term. I like modern conveniences way too much.
  • I love Twitter. A lot.  See my post here – Twitterpated.
  • Oh, and the big one, I can sell a book!

    A new day is dawning

I won’t be kicking back anytime soon.  I have a busy 2012 coming up, including promo at other blogs, working on edits for Redemption, writing other books, and I’ll be CT RWA’s new Media Director.  Busy, busy.

How’s your 2011 going? What are you looking forward to in 2012?

Into The Groove

| Casey Wyatt

Happy Friday everyone! Please remember to join me at the Scribes today. Today’s topic – Let’s Hear it for the Doubt Monster. Yup, you read that right. I might just have something nice to say about the pest this time.

It’s taken all week, but I’ve finally gotten back into the groove.

Now that I’m convinced the power is staying on, I’ve been able to work on my NaNo novel (I hate it, the book is crap, but I’ll get over it). I’ve also been critiquing several of my fellow writers books (keep those pages coming, ladies). And I’m finally making edits to The Undead Space Initative.

One fringe benefit to no power last week, I actually read an entire book – Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth (highly recommend it – who could not love the President’s Vampire?). After I devoured that book, I read Until There Was You by Kristan Higgins (another home run – a great read – fantastic job Kristan!).

Overall, it’s been a fairly productive week. My only regret – I haven’t worked on plotting the sequel to Mystic Ink. So much to do, so little time…

So tell me, how was your week? Share please! I’d love to hear how you’re all doing.

We Have Kristan Higgins!

| Casey Wyatt

Please join me today over at the Scribes as we welcome NY Times/USA Today bestselling author Kristan Higgins . She graciously answered our interview questions and brought an excerpt from her fabulous new book UNTIL THERE WAS YOU.

Read this book!

Much to my delight, she also provides a suprisingly different insight on my nemesis, The Doubt Monster.

 
Stop by leave a comment, ask a question. Don’t miss out!  Hope to see you there!

Thank You Sumter Electrical Workers!

| Casey Wyatt

TGIF ! I can’t say that enough after the week I’ve had. But more on that in a moment. Please be sure to stop by the Scribes and check out my post – Twitter-pated.

My poor tree!

I’m one of the over 840,000 residents from CT who had no power after the freak nor’easter on October 29. I won’t lie. It was hellacious not having heat or electricity for 5 days. We were lucky that our family and house came through okay. Our shed and the Maple tree weren’t so lucky.

Needless to say I had a lot of time to think while shivering in the dark, wondering how I would feed my family and stay warm at night.
 

Here are some of the things I learned:

1. No wonder our ancestors only bathed infrequently – cold water is COLD!

2. The gas grill is my new best friend.

Close call for my car!

3. There are no calories in cookies and other junk food when you are cold and that is all there is left to eat. (Okay this is a total lie I told myself so I didn’t stress about my poor diet all week).

4.  Never go grocery shopping and stock up the fridge with perishables before a storm (in all honesty – no one and I mean NO ONE in CT has ever seen 20 inches of snow in October).

Chillin' out...

5. Nothing bothers cats.

6. Some teenagers do want to go to school. When faced with five snow days before winter had even officially started, my teenage son was understandably upset. Here in CT, they have to make up lost days, no matter what.

7.   And last but never least  – The electrical crew from Sumter, South Carolina are my HEROES! They drove all the way up to CT and then worked in frigid conditions all day to fix my power. People are justifiably angry and frustrated with CL&P but I know the line crews are all working  very hard to get us all power. Thank you.

So tell me, was your week any better? And what weather survival situations have you been in? How did you cope? What lessons have you learned?

Happy Halloweenie!

| Casey Wyatt

Happy Friday everyone. Please be sure to visit the Scribes today. Julia Rachel Barrett  (one of my favorite people) is my guest today! She’s sharing how she became a writer and the cover of her new ghost story In the Flesh.

Autumn is one of my favorite times of the year. Being a native New Englander, I love the change in seasons and watching the leaves turn to lovely shades of yellow, orange, and red. Granted, Fall has been more muted this year due to all the wild weather, but I’ve still been enjoying it.

This past weekend, my family attended a pumpkin carving party at a friend’s house. We had a blast! The kids, my hubby and friends carved awesome designs. We ate pizza, cupcakes, and cozied up on the couch watching  The Nightmare Before Christmas.

We had the inevitable debate – is it a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie?

Halloween is that one last holiday before the crazy “holiday” season begins. Before the madness…

And then November arrives.  For writers – November is NaNo WriMo. I participated in 2010. The book I wrote was Mystic Ink.

Little did I know last year that I was writing the first book I would sell. Ironically, because I sold the book and I have edits due, I don’t know if I can participate in NaNo this year. I’m still preparing, but I’m hesitant to commit.

I am the Pumpkin King

Who’d a thunk it? (Besides Susannah Hardy – who knew from the start that I’d sell Mystic Ink!)

Life is pretty funny.

How has your life changed since Autumn 2010?  Feel free to share, the good, the bad, the mundane.

And is “Nightmare” a Christmas movie or a Halloween flick?

Show me the Cover!

| Casey Wyatt

Happy Friday everyone. Please stop by the Scribes as we wrap up our first theme week – joining an organization.  Check out my post – Don’t Go it Alone!

I received something very exciting this week –  the cover art for Mystic Ink!

When my editor sent me the cover questionnaire, I realized that I had no idea what I wanted. In the past, I had a few ideas, but they were all kind of nebulous and strictly in my head.

The questionnaire was a reality check. Mystic Ink needed a cover because it was going to be published.

OMG I sold a book!!

Right.

I did. It’s real. I didn’t imagine it.

Take that Mr. Doubt Monster.

So, I thought long and hard, then responded with my preferences and information about the story and characters.

I was eager to see the cover for the first time. With my name on it!

Needless to say, I was thrilled with the results.  I now have something tangible to look it.

Next hurdle, edits. When I get those, you can be sure I’ll share that experience too.

Tell me, when have you anticipated something? Did the reality meet your expectations? Or would you do things differently?

Here comes Soul Mate Publishing!

| Casey Wyatt

Today’s a special day!

Soul Mate Publishing has officially launched!

Stop by and check out these amazing titles:

 Love’s Guardian

 Prince Charming, Inc.

 Blood and Kisses

That Carrington Magic

Trust of the Heart

 Hunted

 Legacy of Olympus

 Bizarre Life of Sydney Sedrick

And these are just the beginning. More great books are waiting in the wings!

Stop by and be sure to let them know – Casey sent you!

We are also having a Blog Hop. Click here to participate.

 

Lynn Kurland at the Scribes!

| Casey Wyatt

Hi everyone,

Please stop by the Scribes today. We have a very special guest – three time RITA Award winner and New York Times bestselling novelist, Lynn Kurland!!!

Click here to read her interview  – http://wp.me/p1wdXo-q4

Be sure to visit the Scribes on Saturday, when we post the second part of the interview.

Now the Fun Begins!

| Casey Wyatt

Happy Friday everyone.  Don’t forget to visit me at the Scribes today and say “hi” to our special guest – Frankie Robertson. She’s discussing her move to indie publishing and her new, traditionally published book – Veiled Mirror.

After a few weeks of waiting, I’ve received critique for The Undead Space Initiative. The overall reception has been positive. The book isn’t perfect (nothing ever is) and I have a bunch of questions, comments and “things that may need more explaining” to sift through.

To my beta readers and critique partners – thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to read and comment on my book. The book will only be better because of you.

How should a writer deal with feedback? Gracefully is always a good place to start. Try not to stress about it or take it personally.

But, practically, you also can’t please everyone. Nor can you re-make the book is someone else’s image. Balance is necessary. Take what works for you and discard the rest. But don’t toss it completely away (more on this at the end of the post).

One of the hardest things I’ve had to learn is what should be changed or not changed based on critique. Monday’s Scribe – Jamie Pope- has done a great blog post on critique and I urge you to read it!

The two questions I always ask myself – Do I agree? Will the change make the book better?

Notice, I didn’t ask, “Do I like it?” It doesn’t matter if I like the feedback or not. It doesn’t matter whether I want to hear that I might need to change something.  If I agree, I suck it up, start evaluating, and make the changes.

Also, notice I said,  “If I agree.”

And I always try to apply the unused, technique-related feedback to my next novel. That way I can grow and improve as a writer.

Besides, I’m still the Author Goddess. And what I say goes.