Friends!

So, I've had a few inquiries about the state of the second Guardian book. I thought that it would be a good idea to post about it here so that you are not left wringing your hands and wondering when the next book will come out.  I know the cliffhanger on The Hunter was pretty epic. My goal is not to torture you, I swear!

I'm hard at work on the second book in the series as we speak. My daily writing time has been allocated to that and the second book in the Hex Trilogy. Admittedly, the second Guardian book is coming along a lot quicker...which is probably a good thing for any Clare and Daniel fans out there.

My goal right now is to have the second Guardian book up by August at the latest. Knowing me, it'll be up before that. So, if you're dying for your 'fix,' don't worry. It'll be up by summer. I'll let you know when I have a release date ready.

Also, thanks for the outpouring of comments, Twitter reach outs, and emails I've been getting lately. It really does make all the difference. Writing can be a very lonely task, where the blinker on the computer screen is a hard task-master, so hearing from the people who like my stories makes everything seem that much better.

Here's a song to help keep you calm until Clare and Daniel reappear. This is my go-to for peaceful easy feelings. Strange, right? : )

Hiya friends! Just a short post to let you know that The Hunter is up on iTunes and Kobo now. Still waiting on Sony, but yay for the other two! The links are below!

Also, a big, big, big (did I mention big?) thank you to everyone who has already bought it. It truly is awesome. I'm so thankful for each and every one of you. Yes, that means you! : )

FYI for those who might email, reach out and tweet me, or contact me here - I'm going to get some wisdom ripped out of me on Friday, so I won't be coherent for a few days. If you email and I don't respond right away, please don't take offense. I'll just be in excruciating pain... : ) I'm not a fan of dentist visits, or extractions, or dentist visits, so wish me luck!

So...Here it is! The Hunter, available for sale on Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Smashwords. Sony, Apple, etc, will come out ASAP (always takes longer for them to upload for some reason). I'll let you know when it's up.

I hope you like this continuation as much as I loved writing it. As always, thanks for reading. I wouldn't be doing this without you!

Today, my thoughts are on Boston.

My husband broke the news to me that there had been a bombing at the marathon yesterday evening. I was stunned. My first thought was how someone could have that much hate in their heart - how could anyone deliberately kill and injure so many others at such a peaceful event? It's a place where charities are supported and patriots are remembered. How could anyone be so unforgiving and full of violence? How could hate be so strong in someone's heart?

My second thought, as the news kept coming in, was of the people that quickly stepped into the chaos with profound bravery and selflessness. I watched videos and saw pictures of people rushing in to help the fallen, even as their own shock and fear were evident on their faces. The people that rushed forward were in the middle of the unknown. They didn't know if another bomb was going to go off, they didn't know if more violence was headed their way - yet they ran into the chaos and tended to the wounded in spite of their fear and uncertainty. They knew what had to be done.  They pulled shirts off their backs to create tourniquets, they did their best to lessen the damage. These brave people weren't thinking about themselves -they were thinking in terms of their fellow human beings and doing what they could. In that instant, they were love's right arm. They had become proof that hate can never overcome love's domineering spirit. Most people, when given the chance, react with bravery, good intent, and compassion. I cannot express in words how uplifting this is in the middle of such darkness.

The news has stuck with me today, and I must admit that I can't seem to shake the sadness of such a senseless act, but I take courage in the fact that real heroes, cape-less and infinitely less well-payed, were in Boston yesterday. They showed us that courage, love, and kindness are not as rare as I thought when first hearing the news. Heroes are not born, they are made. And we found them in abundance.

Thank you to all the first responders, the good Samaritans, and the people who have opened their houses and businesses to those in need - you are all heroes, whether you think of yourselves as that or not.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.

Sorry to be off the grid for the last couple of weeks. It's nothing personal, understand. I love you all very much. The truth is that I've been working very hard in the hopes that I can make you very happy. Or at least as happy as I can make you through my novels.

That's right...I have another book coming out very soon! For those of you who missed the original announcement - The Hunter (Book 1 of the Guardian Series) is coming out APRIL 20th!! Mark it on your calenders, sing it out loud to your neighbors, and repeat it in the silences of your soul. April 20th sees the return of Clare and Daniel and their fight to protect people, and themselves, from a very scary baddie. I really like the book, and I hope you're as excited to read it as I am to release it.

The cover was just finished by the amazing Tatiana Vila (a veritable book cover ninja).

Here it is:

My inner-child screams with delight and does little cartwheels of pure happy delight at seeing this! It's so cool - it's so Clare....

Also, I just wanted to say a quick thanks to all of you who have jumped into Clare's world so enthusiastically. It really is quite sweet and beyond lovely to hear your words of excitement and to have your love for the characters put out there for the world to see. Your reviews and honest opinions have brought more attention to my novels than ever. I owe you guys a lot!

Hugs and kisses and everything nice!

Knew a boy once. (For the purposes of this Blog, we’ll call him Mick. Mick is a good, strong name and in no way reminds me of a cancelled TV show called Moonlight.)

Mick was kind. People are always talking about how nice people are. There is a profound difference between 'kind' and 'nice,' however. ‘Nice’ is used to define someone when other, more interesting, adjectives just won’t do. When someone is nice, they are not usually quirky, or weird, or strongly inclined to put a tiara on their head and go around the house singing Girls Just Want To Have Fun at the top of their lungs. They are simply…eh. But ‘kind’ is an all together different matter. To be defined as kind means that the person has compassion, love and respect for people as well as an overwhelming willingness to let our fellow mammals see those three things in action.

I never heard Mick say a bad thing about anyone and mean it; he would talk to everyone, not because it was sport or made him look cool. He simply saw everyone as the same. We weren’t the best of friends, but I dare say that we were friends. We talked every day; and as I remember it, he was a very good listener.

Mick and I had a daily ritual as we rode that yellow death-trap they call a school bus. Our ritual was to think of the most God-awful things imaginable – insults that would make a sailor blush. We weren't mean to each other - it was more like a sport, a one-up-manship of verbal projectiles.

Mick was much better at insults than I was. He was not afraid to be as crude, outrageous, ridiculous, and downright naughty as possible. I held back – I was always a bit shy about saying such things. Some people have called me a prude; they’re probably right. But Mick saw the insults differently.

To him, the insults were just words. They were the world’s way of tearing people down and making them feel like tiny little atoms. They didn’t have true meaning, beyond the meanness people felt while saying them. He took the insults of others and made them into something to laugh about. I didn’t know it at the time, but he was teaching me something very important . He was telling me to laugh off words that have no place defining us. He was simply telling me to laugh. It took me years to figure out how important this is.

The last thing Mick said to me the day he died was an insult. It had me grinning, blushing, and wishing that I could say something to make him blush. Mick was only thirteen years old when he was taken from us, but I never had a person teach me more about laughing at the things people took so seriously – he was the first person to teach me that laughing was far easier than crying and did infinitely less damage on the body.

So, in Mick's honor, laugh at something today. It doesn’t matter what it is – maybe it’s an insult that someone threw at you in the hopes of making you feel like less; maybe it’s an attack on what you’re wearing or how you are wearing it; maybe it’s because you simply can’t fit in; maybe it’s because you do things your way and don’t want to conform. Laugh and move on! Because, trust me, your way is a beautiful way!

I don’t know that my story today has much purpose, save that I was thinking about my friend and wanted to share his wisdom with you. That and it's my blog and I'll do what I wanna. : )

And because I mentioned tiaras earlier, here you go. You’re welcome.

Hey, all! Just realized that I haven't done a random post in a little while. The last post was about work, and that's simply not random enough. Okay, so maybe this is about my books as well. It stands to reason, I suppose. But this is about my books only around the edges, which is to say it's about me.

I was sitting here yesterday contemplating what I do and why I do it. Admittedly, it was after reading a review that was not exactly what my ego wanted to hear. And by that, I mean to say that the reviewer pretty much stomped on every element of my story and writing. Now, I'm not the type of person to let one review crush my hopes and dreams, nor am I one to complain about the fact that people have different opinions. I like the fact that people have opinions that differ from mine. Life would be boring if people all agreed on everything. Anyone remember A Wrinkle in Time?

I also think that if any of us in the entertainment game were to sit around and wait for universal approval we would have an epic Rip Van Winkle type of situation on our hands. Nobody likes everything that someone else likes. I get it; I'm not complaining. What the review did do for me was set off a spark of thought about the perceived versus the actual.  So, what I wanted to do today was share five misconceptions about e-book authors. Or maybe just misconceptions about me. Or maybe both. Or maybe neither. Hey, man, I'm not a mind-reader!

1: My Books Are The Most Awesome Books....EVER!

I think that there are a lot of people out there who think that I think my books are right up there with Harry Potter, the Bible, and Ellen DeGeneres' book, 'Seriously...I'm Kidding.' They think that because I published it I find no fault in it, no sense that the book could be better.

This is absolutely not true.

Don't get me wrong, I love writing the characters and imagining new worlds. I wouldn't put them out there if I didn't love them; and there's nothing else on earth I would rather be doing. I wouldn't let you read them if I didn't absolutely feel a need to share them with you. That's not to say that I feel like my work is 100% the way I like it. I always have doubts: "Maybe if I had worked that sentence differently." "Maybe the plot could have been better or different." "Maybe if I changed my premise it would be more marketable." "Maybe my writing would speak to more people if I was smarter, better, brighter, or taller."

All art forms come with a sense of profound humanity, humility, and the desire to please. We're all just human, and only hope to bring people in on our vision of the world. The big-headed-ness and arrogance doesn't usually come until after we've made a bajillion dollars. I'm kidding. Mostly. Self-doubt comes with that open doorway into our mind. It can't be helped. It simply is.

No, I don't think my books are perfect. But I do work hard, and I do want to make people happy. If I can make someone forget reality, for even a brief amount of time, and pull them into my world, well, then, mission accomplished. It's not a flawless reality, understand. It's just my reality, and I welcome you inside it with open arms.

2: Writing Must Be Easy. She Doesn't Actually DO Anything.

No. It's not. And, yes, I do.

I put aside a certain amount of time every day to sit down and write. I work at it, fret at it, work at it some more, and do my best to bring a story that I like to your doors, figuratively speaking of course. It always amuses me when people find out what I do and then arbitrarily decide that they can do it as well, and better, too. They think it's simple.

It can be, if you're prepared, but it takes effort and time. Most people don't want to invest in either one. To my knowledge, not one of these people have sat down and written their own novels. That was my point with the first book in The Watchers Series. I was irritated at a book and I set out to do it myself. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it and that it wasn't impossible. But what happened was that I fell hard for the process and the world-building. Now, I'm obsessed. I couldn't imagine doing anything else. The effort and time are totally worth it to me. But it's not easy. I work hard for my bacon. Ew, bacon. Sorry.

3: She Doesn't Read Her Reviews

Don't be silly. Of course I do. I read them all, take them in, and try to be better. People who don't like your stuff sometimes point out things you need to know.

I have to understand, however, that opinions are like farts. Everyone has them. And some of them stink worse than others. How's that for a metaphor? : )

Not everyone should be reading a book about teenage angels who fall in love and try to save the world or about dreamers who fight shades in the darkest places of our nightmares. It's not everyone's cup o' tea. I'm fine with that. It's the way things should be. I like fantasy novels - David Eddings is not the same kind of author as John Steinback. I think they are both lovely writers, but Eddings is more interesting to me. I can see why people like Steinback, I just can't get into his writing. It's okay to be different.

I don't find it okay to hate for hate's sake, or really hate in general, but that's a whole other problem that can't be cured in a blog.

And as far as the good reviews go - I wish I could hug you all! You have no idea how much it means to me. Most people don't stop to comment. They don't know that I read the comments and try to see where my problems are or chat with the people who like my stuff. Maybe If I got to where there were thousands of reviews, I couldn't do that as much. But, right now, I try to catch them all.

4: She's Read Every Single Book In Her Genre

I have not.

I've actually not read that many fantasy teen books, to be honest, quite on purpose. I love Harry Potter. Rowling is brilliant. I in no way compare myself to her. Never, ever. I've read the Percy Jackson novels, Ella Enchanted, and, yes, Twilight. Most of my favored books are sword and sorcery. If my books happen to coincide with others, it is purely because I A: started writing the Watchers because I wanted to prove something to myself (and make fun of the character a bit) or B: dumb coincidence, or the fact that there are only so many monsters and setups out there in the world...You can take your pick. I like humor in my books. I like super powers and people that can do crazy Kung Fu and save the world. Other people seem to like that as well. We should start a club or something.

5: She Likes Raisins

I don't. Ever.

They are sad grapes, and I cannot condone the texture or taste. There, I said it.

Some of you may have noticed a slight change in my covers for the Watcher Series this week. My old covers - serviceable as they were - were in dire need of updating. So, after much internet surfing and fretting over what seemed like a thousand choices, I finally found a lovely lady named Tatiana Vila to design me some new covers. The Watchers and The Seekers are officially pretty!

See? What did I tell you? Pretty, right? New covers for The Saints and The Last will be up soon. I'm very excited about the change, and I am hopeful that it will draw more people into the world of Clare and Daniel. As always, you can find the books on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Apple, Diesel, and Smashwords. The first book is still free at all these places.

For those of you who are authors in need of a good cover designer, I definitely recommend Tatiana. Here's her website. ---> http://tat-94.wix.com/viladesign
She's very sweet, professional, and has a Clare-like ability to read my mind, or so it seems. She knew what I wanted almost before I did! I was a bit lost as to what I wanted and she made something out of nothing, as evident from above.

For the readers -I hope you like the change as much as you like the story! I've been hard at work writing The Hunter, the first book in the new series focused on Clare and Daniel. Going back and diving into their world has been a treat. It's also made me a bit nostalgic. So, this is for those of you who have read the first book!

As promised, here are the links to my new book, 'Deadly Nightshade.' It should be up on the other places soon. I have no control over outlets such as Sony and Apple, but I will update the site when they are posted.

Just click on the clicky buttons below the picture to go the product page and buy for either Kindle or Nook.

Thanks for reading! See you next time.

Hi!

Just a little post to let you know what I've been up to.  This month has been a fairly busy one. I've been hard at work writing, editing, and designing new covers. I hope that sort of makes up for my profound silence on the blog-o-sphere. If not, maybe these updates will!

First things first!

Deadly Nightshade, a sequel to Grey Haven, book 1 of the Dreamer Chronicles, is finished. I plan on releasing it tomorrow. Here's the cover! I'll add links tomorrow for your buying pleasure.

Secondly!

I have been hard at work a couple of projects you may recognize. A sequel to Clare and Daniel's The Watchers Series is officially in the works. Tentatively, the release date is April 20th (baring any unforeseen circumstances) I will keep you updated. The title of the sequel is called "The Hunter" (Book 1 of the Guardian Series). That's right - I said it. It'll be a series. It focuses on Clare's strange abilities and a growing danger that no one, not even Daniel, sees coming. I'm having a lot of fun getting back into Clare's sassy, compassionate, head, and I can't wait to release it.

Also, I am in the beginning stages of an untitled sequel to Craft. It should be ready by the summer, so keep checking back. I will let you know when I have more information to share with you.


Third!

I just wanted to thank you all again for buying and supporting my work. This past month has not only been a whirlwind of work, blood, sweat, and tears to get so many projects off the ground, but it has also been a blessing for the projects I've already sweated and cried over. Sales for The Watchers have astonished me at times and I truly feel thankful that so many of you are drawn to my books and enjoy them so much. I can honestly tell you that I love what I do, and that I love trying to create worlds for your entertainment. So, thanks!

See you on the next one!