Looking forward to the Nanowrimo by Janice Seagraves

I know a lot of people in the US are thinking about Halloween, but I'm thinking about next month.

November first, is the start day of the Nanowrimo.

This will be my eighth year doing the Nano. I started doing this before I was a published author. I think its a great exercise for writers. Proving the impossible--that you can write a novel in a month.

It also means I have seven finished manuscripts.

Not all my Nanowrimo stories stay idle on my hard drive.

One manuscript, Matrix Crystal Hunter, is a Nano story. I wrote it two years ago. Let it set for six month then revised it. Let it sit another few months and then polished it.

It was published last year and did well. Number ten for a few days on Amazon best sellers list for Science Fiction Romance, then dropped to number eleven for two more weeks.

Team Alpha Three's spaceship is out of power after fighting a wormhole, and parked on the primitive world of Zenevieva. With half the team sick from radiation poisoning, the team commander entrust geologist, Maya Gladstone, to find enough matrix crystals to power up their spacecraft, so they can go home to Earth.  

 Vach Namaste of the powerful Clan Namaste, a native of the planet, has desired the lovely Maya since she stepped off the spaceship on that astonishing day a year ago. He’s hounded her every step since. As Hymeneal Night approaches, he makes plans to take her as his bride… willing or not.

“What’s wrong?”

Excerpt: 

“There’s a bow in the rock wall.” Vach backed up, causing Maya to withdraw. “I’m bigger than the last time I went through here, but that was several years ago when my cousin, Xeno , brought me.”

He handed her the flashlight.

“Is there another way?” She shone the light around, noting how the crevice narrowed overhead.

“Not that I know of.” He grunted, trying to remove his robe, but there wasn't much room to maneuver.

“Here, let me help you.” Maya pulled the robe off his shoulder. “Surely the ancients didn't come through here?” She jerked one sleeve down over his hand and then reached to get the other side too, but found herself wedged between the rock wall and his hard body. Fighting the impulse to feel his muscles, she managed to get his other sleeve down.

“If there’s another entrance, it must have been blocked a long time ago.” He started to pull his tunic off, but struggled, thanks to his big arms and the lack of room. “Can you help me with my shirt?”

As Vach lifted his arms over his head, Maya grabbed a handful of cloth so she could lift the material high over his shoulders. “What are you going to do? Strip down and lube yourself with my cooking oil?”

“No.” He chuckled, his voice muffled by the shirt. “But that’s a good idea.”

With his arms up, Maya got a whiff of his spicy, male scent. It always surprised her that the Zeemen didn't stink after exertion as humans did. I wouldn’t mind rubbing his body down with oil. Warmth spiraled through her middle. She bit her lip. Keep your mind on business and not on being in a tight spot with a handsome Zeeman.

Vach stuck his clothes in the tote and then sidestepped through the narrow opening. Grunting as he pushed past the bow, he finally got through.

Maya approached the bend and realized it was about breast height on her. No wonder Vach had a problem, with his deep chest and heavily muscled back.

Contemplating the aperture, she stood on tiptoe but couldn't get high enough. Finally, she squatted down but then found she needed to keep her knees bent out sideways. Oh no, not awkward at all.

She managed a few crab steps before she got stuck. Vach grabbed her arm to pull her the rest of the way through. Her hiking boots slid over the loose gravel, while her thighs took the strain. He helped her to stand, leaving his hands placed on her waist as she leaned against the wall, panting. “I don’t know how we’re going to manage that going back.”

“At least we know it’s there.” His breath puffed against her face. It smelled of mint.

He must have used my toothpaste. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

With an electric jolt, Maya realized her shirt had risen up and Vach hands were resting on her bare skin. She became hyperaware of his scent, his closeness and the fact that he wore no shirt.

Moving even closer toward her in the confined space, he whispered in her ear. “I like the smell of your hair.”

His hand slid further under her shirt, gliding over her ribs.

Heat went through her as she rested her hand on his shoulder. “It’s my shampoo.”

“It’s nice.”

“You can borrow it sometime.”

————————————————————————————————-

US Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FJ10W26
UK Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Matrix-Crystal-Hunters-ebook/dp/B00FJ10W26/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1380662336&sr=1-3
US Trade paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Matrix-Crystal-Hunters-Janice-Seagraves/dp/1492709751/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
UK Trade paperback: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Matrix-Crystal-Hunters-Janice-Seagraves/dp/1492709751/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_t_1_KKW6

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Matrix Crystal Hunters is now on Smashwords:http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/447796

P.S.
Can you do me a huge favor? I in a Halloween blog hop, I'd love if you'd drop by and leave a comment. There's a chance at a prize too.

You Are Published: When Will You Publish Again?

I have published three books and a novella, but I'm a slow writer.  I have a finished book, but it needs revision, and there isn't any time to do it.  Every week, I post a blog, which is a form of writing and I'm reading a finished book (not published) for a friend.  Both of these things are writing related, but they don't help me to finish my book.  They do keep me learning to write.

My husband has a bad knee, which he aggravated by falling from a ladder, and will probably need knee replacement sometime in the future.  After his fall, he was okay the first day, but the next two days it got worse and he finally took some pain pills for it.  The knee is better, but for how long we don't know.

The week before, I had to go to the doctor with my brother to make sure to get the straight scoop.  He had neck surgery seven years ago, and he's been losing the use of his left arm gradually over the last year.  They are going to try some shots in his neck to see if that helps, but if it doesn't work they'll try something else.

These are only two things that have interfered with my writing in the last few weeks.  A lot of things have hindered my writing over the last few years; even my health issues. It just doesn't seem to end, and I don't know what to do about it.  I know others go through periods like this, but how do you get passed it?

I'm terrified that I'll never get published again.  Have you ever felt like this?

Best always,

Sandra K. Marshall

http://www.eirelander-publishing.com

Don't Quit, or You Won't Get Published

Why keep writing if you get a hundred rejections or more? The answer is simple because if you quit you most certainly won't be published.  If you want your stories out there you have to keep writing.

I received over a hundred rejections from editors and agents before I was published.  It's depressing to get the 'big R,' but if I had quit with the story I'd receive 93 ( yeah, that's a lot) I would never have a book in print. 

It's tough and humiliating to get turned over and over.  You think you can't do it any longer.  You even want to crawl in bed and pull the covers over your head and never get up again.  It's excruciating to keep going.  If you stay with writing, it will get easier, but it's always going to be tough. 

"Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely." Quote by Jessamyn West.

"A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit."  Quote by Richard Bach.

There are many people who are great writers, but they gave up because they were rejected. Life is tough, but if you want something you keep working. 

On September 13th, my book, A Fool's Fool came out in audio.  Here is the link: http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B00945MFMI&qid=1347906078&sr=1-1 

 

Tag:  Pranks are carried too far.

Blurb - Kathy O'Reilly, a strong-willed woman doesn't allow men to walk over her or anyone else.  When one of the co-owner's of Gagsters, Norm Jokes, is allowed to get away with playing pranks, she speaks up to her boss.

Jason Barrone, co-owner of Gagsters is attracted to his assistant and will not allow his best friend to cause him to lose her.  Jason wants them to be friends because he doesn't want to have to make a choice of who goes and who stays. 

 

Have a great Saturday.

 

Sandra K. Marshall

http://www.eirelander-publishing.com

What Does It Take to Get Published?

I have never heard anyone mention talent first. PERSISTENCE is the most common answer I hear. Stubbornness is a word I use. It certainly takes to allow other to see your work such as critique partners, editors and agents. After all these are your babies and we believe they are perfect.

Through all the rejections, (93 on one book and still is not published) I still couldn't quit because every book I submitted to an editor or agent was better than the last. When one was rejected, I started another and believed it would be the one. Oh, I cried and took to my bed, ranted and raved at their stupidity of not wanting my story while I quit writing for a few months.

Here are some quotes from well-known authors about writing:

'For God's sake, don't do it unless you have to. . .It's not easy. It shouldn't be easy, but it shouldn't be impossible, and it's damn near impossible.'
Frank Conroy

'I like to do, and can do many things better than I can write, but when I don't write, I feel like shit. I've got the talent and I feel that I'm wasting it.'
Ernest Hemingway

Often ideas would call to me. No matter what I did, I could not shake them. In the middle of sleep, more ideas to go along with the original would pop up. I had to get them written down, and I began to write again. I quit crying and ranting after the first few years, and I started to toughen up. I talked to other authors and heard their stories about breaking into the business. At a local conference, an author who gave the luncheon speech cried through her whole speech telling how hard it had been for her.

'There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.'
Ernest Hemingway

'Easy reading is damned hard writing.'
Nathaniel Hawthorne

Many wonderful writers quit and will never know how close they may have been to being published. I always thought the next book would be the one, so I kept writing. For years, I thought of myself as a hack because I revised so much, but then I talked to multi-published authors and many of them did the same thing. It can take a short time or many years to make it to publication.

'Books aren't written-they're rewritten. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn't quite done it.'
Michael Crichton
'Writing is rewriting. A writer must learn to deepen characters, trim writing, intensify scenes. To fall in love with the first draft to the point where one cannot change it is to greatly enhance the prospects of never publishing.'
Richard North Patterson

By now, you are probably saying to yourselves: Why in the world does she write if it's so difficult. The answer for me is that I can't quit. During the times when I was hurt from many rejections I would eventually start to get antsy and bitchy because I wasn't writing. I had to get back to writing.

'You must want to enough. Enough to take all the rejections, enough to pay the price of disappointment and discouragement while you are learning. Like any artist, you are learning your craft-then you can add all the genius you want.'
Phyllis Whitney

'Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely essential.'
Jessamyn West

Don't give up on your dreams unless another replaces it. You have to keep learning even after you are published. It never ends.

See you next month.

Sandra K. Marshall
http://www.eirelander-publishing.com; http://www.skaymarshall.com; http://www.sandramarshallblog.blogspot.com