Et Voila, Keeping Sweets

It really has been a great week. First off, I have to mention that Paul sent over my finalized cover that Brooke designed. I am so in love with it. I had such high expectations from the Dreamspinner Art Department because they have turned out so many beautiful covers and I was not disappointed in the least.

Secondly, I now know my (scheduled) release date: March 11th! Two and a half weeks before my birthday, my first book is coming out. Pretty damn good birthday present, I think.

I received the first round of edits for Keeping Sweets, and looked through them all. My editors and I didn't seem to disagree on anything, which was really nice. I was a little apprehensive about the whole process. A part of me was worried that the person editing would try to change too much, or too many edits would shatter my fragile writer's ego. Instead, I was lucky enough to be paired with editors who seemed to understand what I was trying to achieve with my story, and an unforeseen perk of editing was getting to go back and visit with my boys. I'd forgotten how much I liked my characters and this was a nice little reminder.

---

It also helped to solidify my gut feeling that I was meant to be writing. The nagging self-doubts build up in my mind and I think back to the story, all I could remember were the little things I didn't like so much about the manuscript. I had myself convinced that I am a terrible writer and the only people that will buy my book will be family members who feel obligated because my name is on the cover. Reading through it made me remember all the things I loved about the book and it really is pretty good, if I do say so myself! Maybe other people will agree, and maybe they won't, but I really love doing what I do and that's really all that matters.

In any case, I managed to get the first round finished up and sent back last night. Everything is finally coming together. It's almost a real book!

An Exciting Start to 2013

We are only one week into the new year and life has already been interesting. Busy, but interesting.
In my personal life, I am finishing up the last part of my course, and so will have a limited online presence for the next couple of months. The course is fairly intense and as much as I would rather be writing, school has to come first.

For Keeping Sweets, I have received a comp for my cover and have been working with Paul Richmond and Brooke Albrecht towards my perfect cover. So far, things are looking good and I can't wait to see the final product! The manuscript has entered editing and I should have the first round of edits in the next few weeks. I know I still have a while to wait, but I keep checking my mail. I really am impatient.

In the meantime, I have been working on writing my dedication, which was more difficult than I thought it would be. There are several people in my life who have been my cheerleaders when it comes to writing and I'd love to mention them all, but I think I'm supposed to keep the dedication to less than twelve pages!

Also, fellow author Lex Chase and I will be doing reciprocal guest blog postings in the next few months (both out books come out around the same time). She will be taking part in my casting couch interview series (check back for updates) and will be interviewing me about Keeping Sweets and writing in general. The interview is tentatively scheduled be to posted April 13th. My very first interview as an author. I am so excited.

The Hope Cove series is going almost exactly as planned. Installment Brokenhearted and Wholehearted are both finished and Brokenhearted is in beta editing. I am currently about one fifth of the way through the third installment, Ironhearted. I've set a deadline for myself of the end of January for completion of the series, but it may be a little too ambitious with the overload of school work I have looming. I will do my best to finish on time, but sometimes, life gets in the way, and that's alright. Lots of time to write once I've finished all my final exams.

So that is the update of what is going on so far this year. 2012 was so amazing for me and 2013 is shaping up to be even better. A banner year, and the year before I turn 30. I think that's something to be pretty proud of

Happy New Year!

I had a serious pair of grumpy pants on earlier today. I mean the really, really tight ones that pinch and rub in all the wrong places.

This year, I spent New Years Eve alone. First time ever. Xto is away working and my family went to Maui. Now, before you get to feeling all very sorry for me, I was invited out to a party, but I chose not to go. I wanted to stay home and get some work done. That didn't stop me from throwing my own pity party though.

All sorts of little things went wrong today. Getting ready for work, I ran out of eyeliner (complete disaster), I was at work on New Years (horrible tragedy), I forgot the right pen (cause for meltdown), etc etc etc.

---

Now there is just under an hour left until midnight -- the joys of being the second to last time zone to change over -- and I am feeling much better. Know why? I thought about all the amazing things that have happened to me this week alone. There have been too many to count over the last year (some of the highlights were: I got married, my first novel was contracted, I began the process of changing careers, I traveled to some really amazing places, and I met my new niece Isabelle), but three of the highlights from this week:

1. I got my cover comps from Brooke Albrecht, who is amazing, and they were everything I could have hoped for. I had a hard time choosing, but I think I've picked one and I should have the final copy soon. Of course the moment I have it, I will post it here because it needs to be shared. So gorgeous.

2. I finished the first book in the Hope Cove series. It took me a lot longer than I thought it would, but I was working on a few other projects at the same time. I actually finished it, did a happy dance, went to bed, and then at 5:00 the next morning, woke up to the realization that I had written the ending all wrong. So I rewrote it in my head, went back to sleep, then got up and rewrote it for real.

3. I finished the second book in the Hope Cove series. You know those other projects I just mentioned? This was one of them. And I finished it about an hour ago.So yeah. Two books in one week. It was my goal to have them both finished by the end of December, and I did it with two hours to spare! So those are done. One more book and the series is complete. I've started the third and hopefully it will be done by the end of January, which makes February the Month of Epic Edits before I can submit it in early March.

There have also been a host of other, smaller accomplishments this week, like, for example, me flying all by myself without completely losing my shit during takeoff and landing (I am not a good flyer), and making it through Ikea during boxing week without being trampled to death.

So looking back on 2012, some really great things happened, but I am hoping for even better, even greater things from 2013.

Happy New Year!