For your reading pleasure...

After working on Phoenix for a good couple hours today, I am feeling a renewed sense of excitement about the novel...and for whatever reason, I just feel like sharing a small snippet (sorry, beta readers...you've already seen this).

All I ask is that you remember I'm still working with a draft here...so it's quite possible that there are (potentially several) mistakes. Enjoy!

Silver eyes are glowing back at me, but there’s something familiar about them. I blink, taking in the light, freckled skin of his face, the sandy blonde hair that’s styled differently from the last time I saw him.
Time stops, and my heart shatters into a million pieces.
I stop fighting.
He puts a finger to his lips, asking for silence. I nod slowly, and he takes his hand away from my mouth.
I can’t stop staring at him. Tears pool in the corners of my eyes, blurring out the edges of the world around me.
“Sam?” The word falls out of my mouth, delicate and fragile and so quiet it hardly makes a sound.
The muscles in his jaw tighten as he clenches his teeth.  I know he can hear me.
“You know you’re being followed?” he asks. I narrow my eyes.
“Of course,” I tell him, keeping my voice low. “I can take care of myself.”
He frowns, but says nothing more.
“Sam, what are you doing here?”
He lets out a sigh. Without a response, he leans towards me and looks around the corner of the building.
I can’t help but notice how much he’s changed. His body, once skin and bones, is now quite substantial, well-toned muscles outlined by the blue t-shirt he’s wearing. He seems so strong now. Intimidating, almost.
“Damn,” he mutters, almost inaudibly.
“What is it?” I demand, my voice louder now, a harsh whisper that snaps his head back in my direction so quickly it startles me. He moves close, eyes bleeding an urgency that I don’t understand until I hear their footsteps, too late. Too late to run away, too late to hide.
“Don’t move,” Sam whispers.
Blood is pulsing in my ears. He is so close to me, his new scent filling my nostrils, his skin almost touching mine. We are breathing the same air and I feel broken and elated and terrified all at once.
The footsteps are getting closer. In seconds, they will round the corner and find us here. What will happen then? I look at Sam. Nerves kick in, scattering across my body like spiders on my skin. Fire surges through my veins, the imminent danger kicking my Nyiathan senses into full gear.
Sam is Siek now. How do I know he’s not the enemy?
Almost as if he sees the change in me, Sam shakes his head. His eyes search mine, silver discs shining into my flickering honey-brown irises. There is an innocence there that makes me pause.
In the last possible shred of time before the Sieks are upon us, the splinter of a second that held me there, he closes the small gap between us and kisses me, his lips touching mine at exactly the right moment.
A pit of emotion swirls inside of me, and I am falling, fast and hard and completely out of control.
I don’t know this Sam.
The footsteps behind us pause and then continue, chasing the Nyiathan who has just slipped from their grasp.

Promotion Time!

Hey guys! This weekend only, get Forsaken: A Nightfire Novella for FREE on Kindle! Don't miss out!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IP212GG

Stay tuned for some upcoming updates about Phoenix, as well as some giveaways that we have in the works!

Until next time...

Family Matters

There's a lot of noise in my head these days. I worry too much, I think too much, and I go to bed exhausted every night. Time moves fast, and quite simply, there's not enough of it.

There are days that go by when I don't think about writing at all, because I just don't have the brain power to get there. I get up at 5 a.m., drop my daughter off at daycare, head into work, do my job, pick her up, commute home, make dinner, eat, give my daughter a bath, get her down to sleep...and by that time, I'm ready for bed myself. So sleep it is.

Then there are days (usually the weekends) when all I do is think about writing. I think about the next phase of Nightfire, I think about what recipes I need to post on Cocktail Cutie, and I think about all of the things that I want to tell my readers here, on my author blog. There are so many things I want to say, so much ground I want to cover...but then, I can't find the time. It just flies away, and sometimes I take a look around and wonder where it all went.

Today, though, I have something that I want to say, something that I've had on my mind for a long time and something that I really and truly believe is of utmost importance.

In my day-to-day life, no matter how busy I am, no matter how tired, no matter how badly I just want to sit on the couch and veg (or cry, or sleep, or a combination of all three), there is something that is so important to me that I cannot and will not stop doing.

That something is reading to my daughter. Every day, no exception.

One of my daughter's favorite books is Goodnight Moon. It's part of our bedtime routine, and we read it every night. When I pull her into my lap and show her the book, her entire face lights up with a big smile. That smile fills me with so much love I can hardly stand it, and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the entire world.

We started reading together even before she was born, and even though it felt a little silly, I did it anyway. Though part of me selfishly wants nothing more than for my daughter to share my love of reading not only as a child but as she grows up, I didn't just do it for that reason. Studies show that it's important to read to your children even as infants - not only does it stimulate their brain development and vocabulary, but it helps the parent-child relationship as well. When parents read to their children as babies (and as they grow), those children associate reading with love and affection. In fact, last year, the AAP issued a new policy advising that parents of young children should read aloud to their children, as well as talk about the pictures that are illustrated in their books (you can read more here or here).

Please, please, please READ TO YOUR CHILDREN. It doesn't matter if it's a "classic;" kids - especially those as young as my 13-month-old daughter - don't care. They don't know Dr. Seuss from someone less familiar.

The fact of the matter is, our children's environments are inundated with technology these days. Television, computers, tablets, cell phones...the list goes on and on. And as easy as it might be to let our tired bodies sit on the couch and get sucked in to one or more of those things, there's so much benefit to everyone - both to us and to our children - when we push through the exhaustion and spend time with each other. Your children need active, attentive interaction in order to thrive and grow, and the joy you'll find in forging these bonds with them is irreplaceable.

That's all I've got for today...hopefully soon I'll be able to share more of my thoughts with you.

Take care.

"Crush Back."

Today is a writing day. I knew it the second I woke up. I could just feel it, in the back of my mind, in my bones. My characters are ready for me to write the next chapter of their story. So, later today, when my daughter takes her afternoon nap (which tends to be her longer of the two she takes throughout the day), I'll put her down, give the monitor to my husband, lock myself in our bonus room with my laptop and write until she wakes up.

It's much more difficult these days to not only find time to write, but to actually WANT to write when I actually do. In fact, there are many more days that I don't do any writing than days that I do. The truth is, life is never easy, but I'm in a place where it's particularly trying right now. On top of being a mom to Zoey, my adorable almost 8-month old daughter (which takes up quite a bit of time on its own), I'm also very busy with my full-time job. Here lately, I've also experienced some difficulty in my personal life.

I won't lie. I got to a point (in the last week, as a matter of fact) when I almost made the decision to postpone Phoenix indefinitely. It broke my heart to even consider it, and I didn't want to make a decision like that lightly. I'm so in love with the Nightfire story, and I want so badly to be able to tell it...but I want to tell it right. I'd really started to doubt whether I was in the state of mind to be able to do that. I've spent a lot of time thinking and praying about what to do.

When I woke up this morning, I knew the answer. Writing is what I love. In a time when I feel so lost, drained and afraid, I NEED this. Writing fictional stories won't cure diseases or take away the stress I'm carrying around right now, but it will allow me the escape that I need in order to properly deal with those things.

In realizing this, I remembered something that one of my favorite college professors* wrote on my Facebook wall years ago. I've (obviously) never forgotten about it, though I doubt he has any clue how much of an impact his words made on me. I'd written a post about my job at the time. It said "This place is crushing my creativity."

Dramatic, I know, but I was young and still figuring myself out. Some people might not have thought twice about it, some may have rolled their eyes, some may have thought to themselves that there's no room for creativity in adult life (sadly, I do actually know people who believe this to be true). But my professor wrote something that granted me the perspective I needed to move forward, and every time I feel like giving up, I remember his response to that post.

"Crush back."

Two words. Two simple words issuing a charge I hadn't expected but needed so desperately.

Today, I'm issuing that charge to myself again, and if you're going through something similar, I challenge you to do the same. Even on days when it may feel like life is crushing us - for me, my ability to write, to create, to do what I honestly believe I was born to do - we have to keep going. We have to push ouselves.

We have to crush back.

*I must give credit where credit is due. Thanks to Dr. Jeffrey Timmons for the timeless advice that has helped me so much over the years!

Forsaken is now available on Kindle!

The time has come! Forsaken: A Nightfire Novella is now available for purchase on Kindle! Click here to get it for yourself: http://www.amazon.com/Forsaken-Nightfire-Novella-The-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00IP212GG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393591143&sr=8-1&keywords=forsaken%3A+A+nightfire+novella

As promised, the novella will also be released in paperback - it's almost ready, and will be available very shortly! Stay tuned for updates!

An Ode to Passion

It's a gray, bleak winter day, much like many of the days I've spent at home during my maternity leave. I'll be completely honest and admit that some days it's a little depressing; in the last two months, I've gone entire days without seeing the sun. Several days in a row, in fact. That's enough to put just about anyone in a funk. Luckily, I have a new baby to cuddle and love and see grow right before my eyes, which really does a pretty good job of combating the winter blues.

Here's the thing about babies, though - they sleep. A LOT. In fact, that's exactly what my 8-week old beautiful bundle of joy is peacefully doing as we speak. And, okay, I know that everyone always says "sleep when the baby sleeps," but I'll be quite honest with you (and don't hate me for it), my daughter has been good about sleeping at night pretty much from day one, so I really haven't needed to nap during the day. There have been some bad nights/days and I have felt some form of sleep deprivation, but for the most part I've had it pretty easy (so far). So, instead of sleeping when she sleeps (at least for now), I'm writing a blog. Because rather than sleep away this gloomy day, I'd much prefer to spend it doing the one thing I love more than almost anything in this world.

I know that I've previously blogged about why I wanted to self-publish, but today I'd really like to get even deeper than that; I'd like to tell you where my passion for writing comes from, why I continue to pursue it, where it began and how it's changed throughout the years. Maybe you don't care, and that's fine (I'm not forcing you to read!). But maybe you do. Maybe you're looking for some motivation to get back to doing something that you love in your own life, and maybe this could be it. I don't know. I just feel compelled to tell you about it, so that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Now, I could go on for hours about the writing "accomplishments" I've had over the years and the memories that go along with them, but I won't bore you with all of that. Though I'm not very good at keeping anything short, I'll do my best to do it now...

In 2nd grade, I entered a contest the newspaper was running where they printed three pictures and asked the contestants to write a story based on one of the pictures - whichever one of the three they chose (it was some sort of play on "a picture says a thousand words" or something). I chose to write about a picture of two boys playing basketball. I'll never forget the excitement I felt when my mom picked me up from school, newspaper in hand, showing me that I was one of the winners. They'd published the story I wrote about those two boys. In the newspaper(!). I couldn't believe it.

Fast forward a few years to 5th grade, when I wrote my first chapter book (Apache Dreams was the title). This may sound weird, but the one thing that I remember the most about it is how much fun I had writing it. I would literally come home from school every day and run to my room so I could sit in bed/against the wall/near the window and write more of the story. I still have the original draft of the book; it's completely handwritten, in sloppy, hurried cursive, on different colored sheets of paper because I just wrote on whatever I could find. That draft might very well be my most prized possession, and that story will always have a special place in my heart. It was when I finished Apache Dreams that I knew: one day, I wanted to be a published author.

In the years since then, I've probably started a thousand stories, sewn the beginning threads of hundreds of stories that still mill around in my head somewhere. The truth is, I probably won't finish the majority of them...to be honest, there are some stories that just aren't meant to be written. I may revisit one or two at some point. We'll see.

As I got older, I'll be the first to admit that there came a time when I lost track of what was important. I'm not talking about a job, or a car...not even a house, not even money. I'm talking about happiness.

They say that, as we get older, we lose the creativity that we had when we were children. I disagree. I don't think we ever "lose" it. We may misplace it, may push it to the back of our minds or cover it up with the piles of "stuff" in our lives, but I think it's always there. Just waiting to be rediscovered. Writing lets me hold on to the creativity in me, to that childhood ability to make believe. And there are times when I let the stresses of the every day get to me, but in the end I'm never as happy as I am when I'm writing a story that I love. That I hope the world will love, too.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that, if you like to read (or watch movies, or play video games), you probably like to do so because they allow you to, for however brief a time, escape your every day routine, to take a little break from life in general. We all need that from time to time. Life is hard, even when it's easy. Personally, I've loved to read for as long as I can remember. I love getting to know the characters, love just getting lost in their stories. I guess it's no wonder that there came a day when I discovered that I didn't just want to read about characters that other people had drawn up...I wanted to create my own.

So, where reading or movies or music or video games (or any other hobby that you enjoy) may be an escape for some, writing is that for me. It takes me to a place that moves a little slower than the real world, a place where there are no rules or expectations, where I can erase pasts, create futures, stretch out moments that never seem to last long enough.

Nightfire, both the first book and now, as I'm continuing to write it, the entire series, has shaped me so much...not only as a writer, but as a person. For all of the stories I'd started and stopped, all of the characters I'd introduced but abandoned, this story was the one that I held onto, the one that brought me back to the person I was when I wrote Apache Dreams, to the girl that held a gift so powerful it could only have come from God.

There are always potential regrets surrounding the things we'd like to do in life. Don't let them consume you. It is NEVER too late to do what you love. The past year has given me everything I've ever wanted and more, and I will never, ever tire of hearing how much someone enjoyed a story I've penned.

It may have taken over 15 years, but I'm finally doing what I should have been doing all along. It's not always easy, but it's absolutely worth it. Trust me.

Your big dreams will always scare you, but don't give up; they'll also excite you, amaze you, and change your life in ways you never thought possible.

Nightfire News: Forsaken Cover Reveal!

Hello again, Nightfire fans! As I told you last week, soon I will be releasing a companion novella to the trilogy. Forsaken is written from Sam's perspective and picks up right where Nightfire left off, detailing his transformation and the difficulties he faces in adjusting to his new, very different way of life. Sam is one of my favorite characters in Nightfire, and I had so much fun writing Forsaken - I actually had to force myself to stop! I can't wait to hear what you have to say, and I really hope that the novella adds a dimension to the trilogy that you all can appreciate and enjoy.

Today I want to share a little more of the novella with you, and that's the AMAZING cover design! The novella cover was also done by Carrie Stribling (who did the cover for Nightfire), and I am absolutely in LOVE with what she's done.  Carrie is unbelievably talented, and I'm so blessed to have the opportunity to work with her.

I didn't do a cover reveal for Nightfire, and I'm not entirely sure why (it's stunningly beautiful, and I know it's been one of if not THE reason why some of my readers have purchased the book - I really must give credit where credit is due!). It was likely due to the fact that I just wasn't very comfortable with the entire self-publishing process quite yet. It was my first time, after all! Either way, I knew from the start that I wanted to do one with Forsaken, mostly because I was just too darn excited about it to wait. So, without further ado, here it is!

Copyright 2013

All rights reserved.

 

Awesome, right? Let us know what you think!!

 

Don't forget, if you haven't already, be sure to "LIKE" the Nightfire Facebook page to ensure that you're getting all of the updates about the trilogy! Have a friend who loves fantasy fiction (or just loves to read)? Send 'em on over!

 

Stay tuned for more Nightfire news!