At long last!!

Kensington Press and I released the first edition of Dracula Unleashed, the third book in the Blood Wings Trilogy, in early 2013. I had to write the book in less than four months, while doing promo and edits on the first two books. As a result, I wasn't terribly thrilled with the results. I got my rights back to the trilogy and released Dracula's Secret in 2016, Dracula's Desires in 2017. And then....nothing. 

My well had run completely dry. I had no idea how to strip this book down past its bare bones and completely rebuild it. 

It took several books for me to get even an inkling of an idea for Valerie Tate's final adventure. It wasn't until I finished The Cafe of Hopes and Dreams that I realized what she needed. She needed sweetness, dreams, and her own hopes. At last, the words flowed. 

And now, the book is available for pre-order at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0934FVTBS?notRedirectToSDP=1&ref_=dbs_mng_calw_2&storeType=ebooks!!

After centuries as the Dracula of legend, disguised as a male, Valerie Tate's current incarnation is the last thing she expected: mother of a precocious half-angel, half-vampire, and wife to two men. But Valerie is more familiar with battlefields than domesticity. . .

Some overwhelmed mothers relax with a glass of wine. Valerie soothes her immortal soul with a refreshing blood and coke. How else can she deal with her toddler Minerva's psychic powers--not to mention her determination to throw knives. Thank goodness for Valerie's two loves, John Jante and Lance Soleil. Without them, the trauma of her dark past and her primal, urges for violence and power would overtake her. Yet in a world where humans and paranormals uncomfortably co-exist, Valerie's peace will be short-lived. . .

Someone is killing the world's best paranormal diplomats. And Valerie's vampire brother and nemesis, Radu, is at the center of the conflict. Now Valerie finds herself as vulnerable and as weak as she had been as a human....

What's up in the new year?

Back in 2012, Kensington Publishing Corporation published my very first novel, Dracula's Secret.

And by Halloween 2016, I will re-release Dracula's Secret (and the rest of the Blood Wings trilogy, too), revised, re-edited, and resuscitated.

To get myself back in the mood for Valerie Tate and her wacky hi-jinks, here are some of the photos I used for character references.

The Coat.

Valerie and her dragon coat. I love her strong nose and her ability to admit her vanity.

I really enjoyed writing such a dark leading lady. I wonder what this revision will reveal about her.

Those lips could light my way any day.

Daniel Craig and his beautiful mouth were the inspirations for Lance Soleil.

I wanted a story where the hero was the light bringer to the heroine. She needed redemption and he was the one to show her the rest of the way.

Let us not forget The Car.

And of course, Ilona, Valerie's Shelby Mustang. What hot, dangerous woman doesn't own a bad-ass car? (by contrast, I own a Prius)

YES!

I just emailed the newly revised Dracula's Secret to my agent, Jewelann Cone.


And there was MUCH rejoicing!

Closing in on my goal.

I broke down what I had left to do on Dracula's Secret. I'm less than eleven hours of work away from 'finishing'.


YES!

Hold on to your hats, Kensington - this book is gonna rock. To celebrate, let's look at some pretties

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The upside. :)

Writing makes me happier than any other job I've ever had. Being self employed has lots of challenges, but the end, it's the best.

Here is one of the upsides. :)

Some days, I can work from my hammock. :)

Where I'm at.

After cutting a total of 60 (A LOT) pages of Dracula's Secret, I started the serious layering on June 27th. So far, I've gone from 49,095 words (did I say I had cut a LOT?) to 55,135 words.  I think I've done good work on the first 1/3 of the book. I should on on my word count by the end of this month (my goal).

I think the book is much much stronger already.

(And I love parenthetical statements, just FYI)

Writers helping each other.

At a previous Romance Writers of America conference, Renee Ryan had presented a workshop on layering. For those not obsessed with writing, that's the process of taking your draft and adding all those things that make a book memorable. Nancy really like the recording, emailed Renee, and got her notes from the workshop. Then she shared them with me.

Here is Renee Ryan's layering process:

1. Finish your first draft. This can be a draft of a scene, a chapter, or even your whole book.
2. Layer in movement - character movement, the world around them.
3. Layer in the five senses
4. Layer in the setting - after all, the environment is a character in and of itself
5. Layer in the emotion
6. Layer in the dialog
7. Layer in the backstory
8. Layer in the sexual tension
9. (and I added this one) Layer in the theme

I've been trying this for the last few days, and I am thrilled! Breaking down the process this way has really helped my revisions, especially after all the cutting I've done. 

Current Shenanigans

This is what I've been working on lately.

I broke down each chapter into its component scenes, figured the date/time, whose POV is the scene in, a one line description of the scene, and the page number.

I think I'm making good progress - especially in cutting the parts that take away from the main story and making what I've got more exciting and focused.

Wish me luck!

Moving forward!

I had an amazing phone meeting with Kensington editor Audry LaFehr and her assistant, Martin Biro today.

They love my imagination, the relationship between Valerie and Lance, and how well the sex and violence work. They also said it was strong visual writing (woot!!).

They wanted to talk to me personally instead of through a letter in order to discuss what they thought needed work - basically, Dracula's Secret is very powerful, but also confusing. They suggested focusing more on the main romance, doing more with the secondary plots - ie what purpose do these characters have, etc.

So basically, I got the world's most awesome revise and resubmit phone call! Martin will be in town for Willamette Writer's conference, and he'd love to meet for dinner, too.

They made no promises, but said they loved my writing talent, wanted to give me lots of encouragement, and said that they very very rarely call an author to give her feedback.

I'm all verklempt!!

*wince*

Well, I was doing great until I realized I had to cut twelve pages of utter nonsense. Now I have to do 25-30 words per page per day.

Still do-able though!

Art tracker.

I've set a goal of finishing my manuscript by the end of the month. Basically, I have to revise 20 pages a day (working 5 days a week) to get to my word count.

I'll be keeping track here. Root for me!

Ah. Communication is that thing we can always do better.

Sorry I've been away from my blog for so long - I've been writing like a madwoman and loving it.

I'm in one of those streaks where I'm clicking away on revisions. I can see the words bringing the story to an even higher level of emotion and risk.

I love that.

Back to work!

Revisions

I'm revising Dracula's Secret (again). The first draft was a rambling, shambling monster with no clear plot or idea where I was going. I had some thoughts that I should try working from the seat of my pants.

Which is why I am now on my fourth set of revisions. *grin*

One of the most useful tools in a writer's toolbox is a little exercise called GMC.

For each of your main characters, you determine their Goal, Motivation, and Conflict.

The amazing Debra Dixon came up with this shorthand in her amazing book called (oddly enough), Goal, Motivation & Conflict: The Building Blocks of Good Fiction.

Let me show you one of the GMC charts that Ms. Dixon uses in the book - Rick Blaine from Casablanca.

Rick Blaine
Description: Cynical Loner
Tagline: (lessons he needs to learn)
One person can make a difference in this world
Women in war must make desperate choices (think of the newlywed)

Goals: (what he wants)
External

1. Keep bar open
2. Punish Ilsa
3. Get Ilsa and Victor on that plane

Internal

1. Regain the love he had in Paris
2. To do what's right in the world

Motivation: (because)
External

1. Needs money and people depend on him
2. Because she left him in Paris
3. Insure her safety
   

Internal

1. The pain of losing Ilsa has never gone away
2. Daily, he sees what war is doing to people around him

Conflict (but)
External

1. The French Prefect has all the power
2. Punishing her puts her in more danger
3. Victor has been put in jail

Internal

1. Ilsa is married
2. He must put aside his own happiness

Looks easy, doesn't it?

It's actually a difficult chart to fill out because you are constantly learning more about your characters and your story. I just did my fifth GMC for my leading characters. *facepalm*

But every time I do it, I learn something more. If I let it, it's exhilarating.

Good Rejection.

This weekend, I got a great rejection from Kensington.


What is a good rejection?

One where the editor or agent signs it him or herself. One where they give a feedback (a little or a lot) on what your writing needs to make it pop in this highly competitive field.

Something personalized.

And I got one!

So I'm excited to go back to Dracula's Secret and revise it again. No more fear! Time to pump up those stakes and heighten the drama.

I'll post more when I figure out how to do that. ;)