The Thelum Series

I have had some time to think about my writing and what my writing goals are and what I wanted to accomplish when I hopefully self-publish next year. Well I have made many decisions. I am going ahead with my novel, The Amaranthine (previously known as Immortal: New Beginning). It is the first book in my series which I have decided to call The Thelum Series. I have completed the first drafts of two other books in the series and they still need re-writes and editing. So there will be plenty to do in the upcoming years.

Why The Thelum Series? Well, Thelum is a fictional world (like earth) I have created for my story to play out in and it is simply easier for me than writing about an actual country or city. It is going to be a paranormal romance/urban fantasy series written from a first person perspective. I know many of you are grimacing right now, but it will be good. At least I think the first book is taking shape nicely.

I am in the final stage of self-editing before handing it over to a serious romance book expert and to be honest, I am terrified of her opinion. Who is it you ask? My oldest sister. Now I know what you're thinking about her not giving me honest feedback, but when it comes to her romance novels, she is brutal. She should actually critique manuscripts for a living. She really reads all kinds or romance and science fiction and will rip my manuscript apart for unrealistic characters, loopholes in my plot and whether my book stands a chance in the romance market. After her critique (end of this year) I am hoping I would have saved enough to hire a professional or freelance editor (next year).

I just have to focus on the rest of the self-editing at the moment. I don't know why, but I have this really nasty habit of rushing the editing process. Slow and easy definitely works best for me, but now that I am at the final stage I am getting low on momentum at the most crucial point. But I will forge ahead. I will make it through. Even if I have to kick myself to get there.

So, what are you up to?

I got tagged for the Radiant Award

I am always thankful and humbled whenever I get nominated for an award or get tagged. Having accepted this award, I have to adhere to the rules, which are:

1. Give a shout out to the person who nominated me.

2. List 26 words describing me, starting at A, finishing at Z.

3. Tag 4 other people.

I want to thank Stephanie Faris for tagging me. It was really kind of her and her blog is a great read. She always has wonderfully useful content to share. Plus, she supports curvy women, so she rocks!

Now, 26 things words that describe me. Sorry in advance if I sound boring.

A - Awkward
B - Busty
C - Caring
D - Dreamer
E - Enthusiastic
F - Fearful (Most things)
G - Grateful
H - Hermit
I - Intelligent
J - Jealous
K- Kind (I like to think so)
L - Loquacious
M - Moody
N - Naive
O - Obsessive
P - Prepared
Q - Quirky
R - Romantic
S - Serious
T - Tenacious
U - Unpredictable
V - Vicious
W - Writer
X - Xanthippe
Y - Yammerer
Z - Zealous

Now to tag 4 others... You are under no obligation to accept this tag, if you would rather not participate.

Neurotic workaholic

Michelle Wallace

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Rebecca Bradley

What words would you say best describe you?

I can think again

My neck pain is gone, like magic, but most importantly I am back to feeling like I can think. Before the medication made me feel sleepy and for lack of a better word, drugged. I got some of the best sleep ever, but my mind was so foggy. I walked around feeling like what I can only assume zombies feel like, aside for eating everyone of course. Thank you so much for all your well wishes.

I read a post by Stephanie Faris the other day Body Problems You Never Knew You Had and this post really struck a nerve with me, because as a woman I don't look like the women in magazines and find it hard to love my curvy body when most people advocate for the skinnier form. To my surprise there were so many people advocating for the curvy form, which cheered me up. Even better, Alex J. Cavanaugh gave a wonderful response to that post on his Blog today, which made me feel even better about the whole body issue thing. Thank you Alex.

What are you up to today?

I blame the aliens

My head feels a little funny and I kind of feel like I have been floating for most of this week. I have to take medication for the inflammation in my neck muscles and the medication is kicking my butt. It is really strong and I just end up sleeping or staring at everyone as if they are speaking in tongues. According to the doctor I must recently have received trauma to my neck to have hurt those specific muscles, but I can't think of anyway that could have happened, so I am just going with the theory that I was abducted by aliens and they had forgotten to put me down gently when they brought me back.

I am still on a resting period between edits, which works out perfectly for me, because I would have been so angry with myself for wasting good editing time. On the downside. I had to use some of my hard earned editing money to pay for my doctor's visit and medication. Damn aliens. Back to saving every penny.

The Messenger (IWSG)

If you feel insecure or down on your luck today, I hope the message of this song will cheer you up. The lyrics are beautiful and it is one of my favorite songs of all time. 

The Messenger by Linkin Park

The Insecure Writers Support Group was created by the wonderfully talented Mr. Alex J Cavanaugh, so that writers can share the insecurities they have and/or encourage others who need support with their insecurities. You can visit Alex Here, or if you want to join us in discussing our insecurities on the first Wednesday of each month, you are welcome to join by going Here.

Sitting in front of the fire

It's a wonderful rainy day and the best thing about it is that I get to curl up on my favorite chair in front of the fire. Yay! I love the rain.

This weekend I devoted most of my time to working on my blurb and I actually came up with a version which I liked very much. I even asked my sister, who loves romance novels (my target audience) and she liked it as well. One less thing for me to worry about.

My savings for editing is coming along nicely. I haven't saved as much as I wanted yet, but I know I will. It might take a while, but I'm in no hurry.

I blame the ghost in the machine

I am kind of embarrassed to mention it, but my computer had to go in for repairs. For some reason my computer screen went black and stayed that way for days. So I took it in for repairs and guess what? The computer suddenly started working perfectly and the tech guy blamed me for not shutting down my laptop properly. I am convinced that me and computers don't get along. There is a ghost in the machine that plays all kinds of havoc and makes me look bad. Bad Ghost.