Writer: Amy P. Reed's Blog

What I've been reading today

2008-01-20T23:34:00.001-06:00

I've been reading a book I recently bought through Amazon.com called "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to edit yourself into print" second edition by Renni Browne and Dave King. It's full of great tips and information on improving your fiction writing, and what to look for when editing. I'm currently reading chapter three Point of View at the moment. I highly recommend this book to all fiction writers who want to improve their craft.

At the end of each chapter is a checklist you can use to go through your manuscript. Also at the end of each chapter is exercises you can use to get the hang of what that chapter addressed. There are plenty of examples in the text to help you understand the context of the chapter.

I'll be referring to this book often as I edit my drafts before submitting the books to a publisher. I want my submissions to be as polished as I can make them.

"Night Life Chronicles: Beyond Blue Ridge" Coming May 19, 2008

2008-01-15T00:25:00.000-06:00

Can two people, separated by lies and secrets, find love together?

Wounded in the Vietnam War, Jonathan Gordan returns and finds his brother has disappeared after taking the last summer off from college. Hell bent on getting some answers, Jonathan finds himself deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the company of a lovely girl and her strange family.

Laurel Jackson is the alpha female in her pack of werewolves. Life is disrupted when a stranger shows up just as she’s come into season. Being unmated and pursued by almost every unattached male in the area, Laurel is drawn to the strange man. The only problems are that he doesn’t know werewolves exist and her main suitor decides to remove his competition before she chooses her mate.

Despite her secrets and lies, can Laurel find love and satisfaction in the arms of the human that has come into her life?

Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex, graphic language, and violence.

Contract for Beyond Blue Ridge signed!

2008-01-12T14:24:00.000-06:00

I signed my contract for Night Life Chronicles: Beyond Blue Ridge today! I'll be getting into the mail Monday.

I'll update the blog as I know more. I also need to send out this month's newsletter with the good news.

Submitted "Pegasus Down" today

2008-01-10T20:28:00.000-06:00

I submitted Pegasus Down today. Now the way starts to see if they want it or not. I'll post more as I can.

Submitted Beyond Blue Ridge - Contract offered!

2008-01-10T20:23:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I submitted Beyond Blue Ridge and today I was offered a contract for it! I'm currently reading over it and waiting to hear back from the publisher. I'll be posting more as I can.

Harry Potter is waiting for me

2007-07-21T13:55:00.001-05:00

Well, last night the last Harry Potter book came out, and this morning I got a call from the library telling me that my name came up for one of the first copies they received. All I have to do is find a way to get down to the library to get it. LOL Easier said than done. I don't have transportation, and most of the people I know are busy reading their copies from the Potter Party last night. I have until the 30th to pick it up before my name is dropped from the list and they contact the next person in line. The only sure ride I'll have won't be until Wednesday. Meanwhile, everyone will be bursting to talk about it, but won't be able to with me, since I haven't read it yet.

No A/C sucks in the summer!

2007-07-21T12:17:00.000-05:00

I haven't done much writing or editing lately. Our central A/C unit went out on us, and it's been horribly hot in the house. I now have a small window unit in here and finally am getting cooled down enough to possibly get some work done. We have two more small units that are waiting to be installed. From what we can tell, the small unit is drawing a lot less power than the main one did. We're still doing some checking though on what it's pulling. With luck, our electric bill will go down some. I'll be calling someone I just heard about and see if he can come look at the main unit and find out what's wrong with it and how much it'll take to fix.

A Werewolf at War

2006-09-26T15:20:00.000-05:00

What is it with my characters these days? A new character started telling me about his war days. A werewolf serving in a war. Could things be harder? From being busted during Basic training for going AWOL during the Full Moon, to being penned down by enemy gun fire while the moon slowly fills. Can he get away from his buddies and behind enemy lines before the wolf takes over? Better the wildness of the wolf kill the enemy than his allies.

I'll start on this new story after I finish Blue Ridge. Meanwhile, I'll take notes of events and characters in this new story.

I'm going to have to try to cut back on something, to give myself more writing/editing time.

First rejection

2006-09-13T02:52:00.000-05:00

Midnight Hotel: A New Beginning was rejected by the publisher. They liked it, but found it confusing. If I want to submit it to them again, I'll have to do some major changes. Changes I'm not all that willing to do. If I make the requested changes, it will ruin the feel and style of the book. While I respect the publisher's opinion, I don't think I can remove one of the couples in the book or make the storyline less complicated. Not without sacrificing most of what the story is about. There are two main couples in this book, and their stories interweave in such a way I can't separate them. If I tried to make two stories out of it, I think that would be really confusing to the reader, because the couples interact with each other. They are friends and colleagues.

I'm trying to come up with cover art for it. I think I'm going to have to try the self-publishing through Lulu.com route. I'd have loved to have had an actual publisher in on the project since I have three trilogies already written, all in this same style. It has multiple couples and storylines interweaving around each other. I don't call it a written paranormal soap opera for nothing.

I'm currently working on a new story, with one couple and one fairly simple storyline. It takes place in the same world as Midnight Hotel, but years earlier. It involves some of the werewolves in my world.

Submitted my first story!

2006-05-21T03:49:00.000-05:00

Well, I went and bit the bullet and submitted my first story to a publisher. Now my tummy is all fluttery as I wait to hear what they think of it.

Several people advised me to go ahead and submit it, while one or two others told me to wait until after I did a rewrite. I decided to go ahead and submit and see what the publisher thinks. If they think it needs a rewrite, then I'll rewrite and revise as needed.

I'll update this blog, and its readers when I hear anything. Wish me luck. 8-)

Taking the weekend off

2006-05-01T03:45:00.000-05:00

Well, as you can see, I don't do much posting over here. Most of my blogging is over at the Midnight Hote's blog. I'm taking this weekend off from editing, and thought I'd post something over here for a change.

I have been trying to work with Poser to see if I can get it to work the way I need it to. I've made some progress, but am still having trouble with some parts of it. The manual hasn't been much help either. 8-(

I did get some tapes cleared of shows I've taped over the last couple of weeks and didn't have time to watch. Yes, I'm a TVaholic. LOL I watch more than I should, actually.

I've updated the Midnight Hotel web site. I'm playing with the idea of working up a new theme to have on it. We'll see.

It's after midnight, so it's actually Monday now. Let's see if I can get back into the editing mode when I get up. It's almost four in the morning, so I should be getting to bed.

G'knight for now. I'll try to do better with posting things on this blog.

A writing workshop I found

2005-09-22T15:17:00.000-05:00

I found a writing workshop late last night. It's called "Fast Draft Workshop" and is over at Romance Divas (RD). The idea is to just start typing and commit to writing twenty pages a day for two weeks. Some of the folks in the workshop isn't quite getting twenty pages, but they are happy with what that can do. Whether it's four pages, ten pages, twenty pages, or even better, more than twenty pages a day. The main point is to write. The rules are to not go back and read what you wrote the day before and to turn off that internal editor in your head. Then after the two weeks is over, that's when you go back and read, rewrite, edit, etc.

We'll see how I do. I'll have a problem turning off that editor that lives in my head. I'll try to update this blog as I work. Wish me luck. (LOL)

Busy life - sort of

2005-09-15T21:00:00.000-05:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been this long since my last post! I've updated my MH web site, learned how to make maille (chain mail (armor)) and am working on a coif, a head piece to wear under a helm during battle. I'm also trying to learn how to quilt. Haven't gotten very far on that yet.

I just helped a friend figure some things out with her blog, and she taught me how to post under another name. There's nothing like learning something new. 8-)

First Post

2005-07-17T13:00:00.000-05:00

Thought it was time to create a personal blog in conjunction with the one for my books. I'll add to this as I can.