Saturday, January 26, 2013

Thank You's are in order

My cover reveal went really well this week. There might be a few more in the next week or so, but the ebook should be coming out shortly.
So I want to mention some fellow bloggers, and friends from our facebook group Writers of Mass Distraction Thank you goes out to William Kendall, and to Valerie Twombly, to Shelly Arkon, and to Norma Beishir for mentioning my new book's cover and posting something about it over at their blogs this week. Thank you, guys! Vampire Nocturne

My hope is next time I will have some great news about the publication of Vampire Nocturne, and how you can get your copies, so stay tuned, my pretties!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The Edits are off to Publisher

Well, my pretties, as you all know I have been busy and with the edits coming to me on Saturday afternoon, you know I had to get right to them. I've had people accost me in the street, grabbing me by the coat, shaking me and asking me while gnashing their teeth "WHEN IS THE NEXT BOOK COMING OUT SO I CAN BUY IT!"

Well, I had to tell them as soon as I got the edits and a book cover that I only needed to go through the edits and okay them. I've just finished them and hopefully my publisher will be able to take what I sent him and turn it into an ebook/paperback.

With any edits you have to go through it line by line--with your own version to compare with. Seems that editors want to change things around. Which is fine, but I didn't like that they would change what characters might say to one another. In one case the whole sentence was changed. I had what I had and I put it back the way I had it. There's other things that needed to be watched for like where I had elipsis they sort of got shortened, and sometimes there was a comma after it. Big question mark there. And it made me have to check and see what was changed. Sometimes the changes muddled up a whole sentence, so I had to restructure it to something legible.

Well, anyway, I'm going to place the cover of Vampire Nocturne here so that you can all gaze at it. It should be available soon.

Just sent final edits off to publisher... now to wait for it to come out!



Saturday, January 19, 2013

Busy, Busy Me

Hello, my pretties. I've got tons to keep me busy, so I have not been here as of late. My current WIP is at over 34K words. At the end of a day where I've finished writing that scene I've had in my head all day, I think "Well, that's it for now. Maybe I'll be able to rest for a while." But I'll go to sleep and something comes to me in my sleep and I have to jot it down as fast as I can/when I can.

And for those of you who have been waiting forever for this third book--jeeps you guys are such dear fans!--I've got good news. I do have a cover to reveal. But you know what? I've got a lot of friends who would like to do the cover reveal for Vampire Nocturne, and I'm going to let them in on the fun. Do drop by throughout next week and I'll put up some links. You should be able to catch at least one cover reveal. I think you'll love this cover as much as I do.

Friday, January 11, 2013

WRITER'S CREED


Hello, my pretties. Well, I have been so busy that I sometimes miss things, but hey, it's not too late for me to join into this. This was started by SA Larsen, and I found it to day and just had to put it up. This is the writer's creed, and if you agree you may want to join in on it.

Put very simply you will adhere to the following:
~Believe in yourself
~Be you and don't compare yourself to others
~Beat at least one writing fear
~Balance social media (we all need to do that!)
~Take breaks from your writing
~Be a writer every single day!

Some of these I've already done. I've begun to not go hop on too many social media things. I'm not doing blogs any more because they just take too much of my time. I take breaks from my writing every day to spend it with my husband--and not just making meals, either. We sit and watch a TV program we enjoy every afternoon, get a bowl of popcorn out and just relax.

I try very hard not to compare myself to other writers. That's a trap we all fall into and we've just got to step back and breath and say, "I'm on my own path." And I might add don't beat yourself up over your mistakes.

I think beating at least one writing fear would be that one thing I'm going to work on this year. I'm still going to keep that one close to me and won't talk about it. For now.

So, anyway, if you have not joined in this little writing creed, and want to do so, please go to Writer's Alley and sign up! It's very simple and won't take very long, I promise you.

And then put it into motion all these little things and have a great year of writing! And thanks for stopping in!

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Teaser Tuesday ~ Warm Chocolate

I've been reading through my first novel Vampire Ascending. I'm still amazed at some of the funny lines I came up with. But this

Vampire Ascending
 line was something that describes a character's voice and how the main character reacts to it.

In case any of you don't know who/what Nicolas is. He is the vampire who hires Sabrina and he nearly bites her in a bedroom scene. So, naturally she still reacts to him/his voice.

"Hello, my dear." His voice sounded like warm chocolate to me, and I melted into it like a marshmallow.

Well, that's it for today, folks. Hope your week goes well!

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Projects for 2013

Wishing all of my fans a very Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays & Happy New Year!

Everyone is posting (or thinking) about what they want to accomplish in the new year. I've been doing this for a long time, and find that large projects, like novels, take time. You need time to work on the novel in first draft. In some cases, at least for me, I need 4-6 months to write a full-length one in my category (urban fant). I've only had one take me 3 months to write--that was really unusual. And still, it needed to have details put in afterwords, and some scenes I didn't write because I didn't have the scene at that time but knew if I stopped putting it down, I'd be frustrated. A writer does not want to be frustrated by a scene that just won't come. You go on to the next, or the next chapter, or whatever bit you know you want to do. If anything, make a separate document and get it all down.

So, for me this past year has seen a wake up call to realize I wanted to get my first ever published book Spell of the Black Unicorn revised and re-published in an ebook format. Since I self-published it, this will be easy to do. Right now I'm working on editing this manuscript. It needed a lot of work. The very beginning (a dream), is gone. I had people complain that it was confusing. So, it's gone. I plop everyone right down in Zofia Trickenbod's life and we go from there on a crazy ride in the life of a sorceress who is from another world, hiding out on Earth from an evil sorcerer. Her family is with her-- all but her husband (sorcerer), who she believes is dead. But she opens the door to him in that first chapter and learns he has been turned into a vampire, and the fun begins.

The original book took 5 years to develop, writing draft after draft, come up with the unusual words and phrases, the concept, plot and even their religion, world and the sorcery. It was something inspired by the Harry Potter books--but for adults in mind. Adult situations are within the pages, including a rape scene. Aside from some of the more tense scenes, such as her son being abducted by a demon, and her being raped by this demon, this book is light-hearted in its approach. I  think any writer who works this long and hard on a book that they could not sell to an agent (for whatever reason), and finally had the chance to self-publish and DID, one would understand why I feel so strongly about getting this book out there again for readers to enjoy... at a much lower price. The original book was something like $18. I had no control over that price. Not to complain, I did make a good royalty, even on those books I bought for myself, and I made back the price I paid to have my first ever book printed and destributed.

So, this book is in the wings and it will be available in a month or so.

OTHER PROJECTS IN THE WORKS:
Some of you who read/follow this blog know I've been working on my next books in the Sabrina Strong Series. This past year I've submitted the third book Vampire Nocturne, to the publisher (and still am waiting on the edits), I've finished fourth book, Vampire Caprice, then went on and continued work on book #5 Vampire Crescendo, Yes! I finished two books this year. Vampire Caprice was the one I finished in 3-4 months in 2011, and got it into a final draft this year. Book #5 is in a first draft, but is finished.

Now I'm working on #6, Vampire Requiem, and in between editing Black Unicorn, I'll probably have this one done in four or five months. I had thought that I would want time off from writing this series, but it's like I'm following Sabrina around  in her world and taking notes. Can't help it.

I do have plans for these later books but I'm not going to reveal them right now. Time is on my side and I will use it to my advantage.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy Brand New Year! & Teaser Tuesday

Photo: Let the count-down begin...

Well, here we are into a brand new year. Some of us are happy to see the old one go out. And like some of you, hoping for good/better days to come. Optomism. That's the key!

I'm giving you another teaser from one of my published books in the Sabrina Strong Series. Those of you who have read the first two might remember this scene where Sabrina finally meets Vasyl face-to-face after being rescued from a car accident, and being shot.

I knew I wasn't asleep but in a fog--or rather deep in a vampire's thrall. I recognized that when I opened my eyes as the thrall lifted. The aroma of straw and horses caught in my nose. I realized that I lay in a bed of straw in the second floor of a barn. Most importantly, my Knowing also told me that I wasn't alone. He was here with me.

My movements set in motion the male form across from me. Vasyl slowly turned around. His dark silhouette bisected silver moonlight framed in the open haymow door in the upper section of the barn. His white silk shirt almost glowed against the ebony of his long, waby hair. The wings were gone, now. Invisible, or whatever it was master vampires could do with them.
copyright 2011 Lorelei Bell

AUDIO BOOK NOW AVAILABLE!

Hi, everyone, I have some great news! My first Sabrina Strong book, Ascension, is now in an audio book format.  NOW THAT I HAVE YOUR ATTE...