Book Covers

One thing I can say for certain is the fact that I am not a professional when it comes to book covers. I'm sure I will get better with time but I seriously wish I could find somebody else to do it. What I really need is some half naked models to grace the covers and perhaps that will help book sales. Speaking of book sales, they have been good considering that The Queen's Howl was my first novel ever in life to be published. It could use some additional work and I'm looking into doing that. As of right now I'm working on the second novel in the series and some other works in varying genres. I have so many ideas that I'm kicking around, so be on the look out!

My First Negative Review

I received my first negative review! It was interesting and I understood where the reader was coming from in regards to the characters, and editing. I don’t want to give any spoilers….but everything that is written, is that way on purpose! Alexis isn’t meant to be liked at least not right off, she is definitely self-centered and immature. Some people will be able to identify with her and some won’t. Her experiences will change her, whether or not the change is for the better or for the worse has yet to be seen. I hope she is able to develop based on her experiences. Don’t cast her off too soon, Alexis is here to stay!

And on another note…..the book is doing well, and I hope to have the second installment out in a couple of weeks!

The Queen's Howl

Finally! I did it! The book is done and I’m waiting on it to go live on Amazon.  I’m excited and nervous all at the same time.  The hardest part in all of this was the freaking cover.  In the future I would greatly prefer to just write, I don’t want to edit or create the covers.  It was a fun process but it gave me a migraine!  If I had it to do over again I most certainly would jump on the opportunity.  Grab your copy on Amazon! The Queen’s Howl by M.T. Harrte! Yes!!!!!!!!

Here's the description for the book: 

Alexis Wolfe is a young werewolf living in the prime of her life, until her father's grisly suicide shoves her into the position of Alpha of the pack. In taking his place, she is also the newest member of the Dark Court's Council and the rightful Queen to the throne...that is if she can tear it from the cold dead hands of the defiant vampire plotting to stop her. It's the Year of the Wolf and Alexis will take back what's hers, even if that means taking down those closest to her.

Motivation/Negativity

I have stated this before, I don’t like feeling boxed in.  Currently I feel boxed in, suffocated.  My job is working my last good nerve.  I am anxious to finish my novel, just to say I did it.  It used to bother me when people would ask me why I wanted to write, or what is my Plan B if it fails.  There is no Plan B, I want to write, point blank, period.  Once I explain my position and how I feel and what I hope to achieve, I get odd looks or comments such as “It sounds like you just don’t want to work.”  You know what?  That may be true.  I don’t want to work doing some B.S. I don’t want to do!  That is just me, that is who I am.  I will do whatever I need to do in order to make sure my family is taken care of, but that does not mean I have to like it.  I believe stress will cut your life short and what is more stressful than doing something you don’t want to do?  People these days are so miserable and I refuse to be one of them.  If I can only write part time and my novels only reach a max of 100 people then I am fine with that.  My writing is my safe place.  It makes me happy and that is the most important thing to me.  If you need to take a chance on something, who better to take a chance on than yourself?  You will not know what you can achieve if you never try.  There are two people in the Olympics that I know from school, one from high school, and one from college.  I don’t know if the goal and intention was to make it to the Olympics, but they did.  I can only imagine all the side glances they received when they announced they wanted to run for a living. But guess what?  They are making history and living their dreams.   If nobody else ever motivates me again, that will be okay because I will motivate myself.  I don’t live my life with the intent on living the dream that somebody else has designed for me.  Sorry.  I’m me and I will continue to be me.

My offspring

http://instagr.am/p/NUjv_Vu4xo/

Chaos

I have so many ideas and my mind is going in thirty different directions.  I want to write, we have already established that.  I also want to lose weight, be a better mother, and get another dog.  The book issue is the most difficult part for me.  Why?  Well I have been writing for quite some time; short stories, poems, essays, etc. I am currently working on an adult novel and I keep hitting so many roadblocks.  Character development is off or something and it’s getting on my nerves. I’m not connecting to my characters like I think I should and I am the damn author.  I would say it pains me to say this (but it doesn’t because this is going to need some more work….don’t judge me) but it would be in my best interest to shelve this book and revamp my writing strategy.  Some of my main characters are turning out to be more juvenile than I expected and I don’t like it.  I am going to write for both adults and young adults and I THINK I would like to start with YA. Not really sure, one thing I know for certain is the fact that I need to organize everything. I have notebooks everywhere and I feel lost without my outline information available.  Long sigh…and the saga continues…

Turn IT OFF!

For some odd reason I find myself extremely distracted from my writing. I find myself doing the most asinine things instead of writing.  I’m reading blogs, writing stuff for my own blog, watching T.V., peeping out the window trying to see what is going on with my neighbors and their shenanigans.  So many distractions (however I need my daily dose of Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory so I will continue to watch).  I keep telling myself that I need to be writing the damn book.  But alas I succumb to other desires….

In other news, I had a near miss with a mental institution.  I know some are thinking….What? She hasn’t been already?   Nope I haven’t, however this book stuff is making me absolutely crazy.  I feel better now, I had some time to sit down and think.  One thing I did was…I TURNED OFF THE WORD COUNT…I have been searching high and low for the perfect number of words.  Then it was brought to my attention that I need to write until I finish telling the story.  If it fits into 40,000 words then so be it, if not and I require more then so be it.  I was advocating my own insanity by worrying too much.  I have enough on my plate with the character development, blogs, book covers, pricing, marketing, etc.! It was getting out of hand, don’t get me wrong I am having a blast going on this journey.  I want to write, I want other people to read it and enjoy it.  I am not perfect, my book will not be perfect, and that is the way things are.  However I will strive to try to make it as painless as possible for everyone involved.  Well…I’m off to chase butterflies, should be writing….

Why Write?

I have been asked several times about why I am even writing at all.  Well I have always written things, even in high school, I had several short stories about urban vampires, etc.  I have an odd love affair for books.  If it has words in it then I will likely want to read it.  In my apartment you will find stacks of books everywhere from all types of genres.  I do enjoy paranormal, urban fantasy, true crime, history, etc.  As a side note, I am extremely weird about my books and do not like to lend them out so don’t ask ( just joking..but seriously don’t ask to borrow them.)  My mind has always been a tad askew, I have a colorful mind, and my thought process has been called strange at times.  Needless to say I have been stamped as weird.  I would rather read a book, than watch t.v.  Books relax me, I can travel the world, fall in love, stab people and get away with it in a book.  I can create my own reality through my writings.  If I don’t like someone, I can insert a scene where I blow them up with explosive cereal. 

Does it make sense? NO. But it clearly doesn’t have to because I am the “Decider” (evil laugh).  In my opinion a well written book allows me to identify with the characters.  I want feel like I know the characters personally.  My emotional tie to those in the book needs to be strong, I want to cry, laugh, and feel rage when they do.  That is what I call a great book.  I have a few authors that I absolutely love and they have inspired me to move forward with my dreams such as Laurell K. Hamilton, J.R. Ward, and L.A. Banks.  There are many more that I love but these three are in a special place in my heart.

Lightening struck one day and reminded me of my vow to write in April.  I was at work, depressed, crying, and trying to find out how many days I could miss without getting fired.  Long story short I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders and felt like my knees were about to give out.  I earned a degree from Ole Miss, and I was working on my Masters through Colorado Technical University (CTU), and I still could not find a job that would pay me decently in Mississippi.  Simple solution would be to move out of Mississippi, but unfortunately it is NOT that easy.  I greatly dislike “customer service” call center jobs and here I am stuck at another call center wearing a headset and getting cursed out every day.  Well on the day of my mental breakdown, I had to seriously consider what I wanted to do with my life.  I have never understood the concept of working just to live, the thought still boggles me.  It was then that I decided that I would not live another second of my life working just to make a paycheck at a job that I dreaded coming to.  *Let me interject that my job was not hard, I just did not want to do it.  I need to have a passion for something or I hit a mental block.* I went home and went straight to my couch and it was there that I had to do something I was passionate about.  I wanted to “be me”, I felt boxed in, unable to be myself.  It was then that I had an epiphany, in a book I can be whoever I want to be (yes I said epiphany). 

My definition of success may not be your definition but I feel like if you are passionate about something, then you alone can determine your success.  If I put my heart into something, it will be a success, at least by my own standards.  It was then that I decided to put full time effort into FINISHING a novel.  I scour the internet all day (mostly at work) trying to figure out the best way to accomplish this goal. I think I am on the right track, and now I just need to actually finish.

Announcement

My New Year’s Resolution for 2012 was to write a book.  Weird? Yes, I know.  I didn’t want to lose weight (which I do need to do), or vow to be more organized (which I’m not).  My goal was to write a book, even if it does not get published and no one reads it.  This was a personal goal of mine and I am finally doing it after some mind-boggling events in my life.  Let me start off by saying I love to read, I keep books in my car, purse, pocket, everywhere?!!  I even have short stories I read on my phone from time to time.  My father introduced me to paranormal fantasy books and I have been hooked ever since.  The paranormal genre is my absolute favorite and this is the genre that I will likely focus my books within. 

Today I publically announced that I am writing a book on my personal Facebook page.  I have been writing and re-writing for a while and I am nowhere near being finished.  However, I know that I need the added pressure of everyone asking when I am going to finish in order to finish. Complicated? Absolutely.  I keep telling myself I am going to put myself on a set writing schedule, however it hasn’t happened yet.  Somehow I keep drifting off task and onto other things such as….sleeping on the couch….watching the Golden Girl’s…and selecting items from shoe websites and adding them to my list of favorites.  What I should be doing is, finishing the book, nailing down how I want the cover, and figuring out how to use Twitter.  Now that I have made my public announcement my friends and family will be able to keep me on track since I have clearly developed an attention disorder. 

I have decided to share this deep dark part of me.  Hopefully everyone will enjoy all of the little tid bits of life that I want to share and will continue to support me.