Changes

I feel part of writing a successful novel is to have the characters go through changes. To be able to write about changes you have to go through them yourself. Right now I'm going through a lot of changes. Like I said in a past post, my last relationship taught me a lot about life, myself, and what I'm actually looking for. I don't want to dwell on that relationship any longer, but it did make me start changing myself for the better. In many ways that relationship changed me for the worst. Before I started dating him I was very into foreign movies and learning about different cultures, something he was not into. I also really liked video games, but I felt that I couldn't play them with him because he always felt that he had to be the best (he would also rage quit Halo). I always felt the point of playing a game was to enjoy it. I didn't care about winning or beating the game. I just wanted to play something fun. I wanted to have fun with him as well, but I was afraid he wouldn't be happy if I wasn't good at the game. I sat out playing the latest Batman game because of it. I also didn't go back and do all the missions that I wanted on Dead Rising because of it. I also stopped going to school and the gym while with him, things that I should never have done. I'm doing those things again, and rediscovering who I am and learning new things about myself. I'm trying to change in good ways this time, and I'm learning a lot about change and myself along the way.

Why having a back up plan is important

Writing professionally has been my dream for as long as I can remember. While I know writing is what I want to do, and what I aim to do, I also know that I may not sell a single book. I, like everyone else with a dream, need to go after that dream while also working on a back up plan. I want to be able to support myself, even if I can't do it as a writer. I will also be happy writing even if I can't support myself. I will always write, even if it's just for me. In reality, most writers don't make enough to support themselves. It takes a lot of hard work to get your books out there and get reviews and sales. I'm truly happy for the people who have gone after their dream and do make enough to support themselves and are able to write full time, but that is not the average person.

When should you promote your books?

Today I came across a post on twitter saying that you shouldn't promote your first book until you have three or four released. I always thought that you were supposed to promote before you released anything, which is part of the reason that I started this blog. I was told that a good way to promote was to give reviewers free copies of my book and let them review it early, but the post that I read today said that you can waste time and money if you don't have multiple titles out. Both options make sense, but I'm not sure which will work better. Free feel to let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Abuse in books

I never thought that I would make a blog post about this. I don't usually read books that feature abuse, sexual or otherwise, but a few days ago I was reading To Hell And Back by H.P. Mallory. I loved the first two books in the series, and I expected to like this one, but a few pages in the main character gets attacked. The abuse itself wasn't what bothered me about the book, but the main character's reaction to it. The main character's love interest shares a body with the soul of a warrior, the warrior takes over and attacks the main character. The main character manages to fight him off, but she's still attracted to her love interest. I think most normal people would at least freak out, not suggest starting a relationship with the person who attacked them. He wasn't in his right state of mind, but that doesn't excuse the writing in this book. How could a woman just forgive and forget and be ready to start a relationship with her attacker, or someone who looks like their attacker. How is this ok? Why would H.P. Mallory write a scene like this? I guess I will never understand the trend with abuse in books.

What will it be like when it happens to me?

I noticed that HP Mallory is having a book release party online today. I know she'll do well, she's an amazing author. I can't wait to pick up the book myself. I also can't help wondering what it would be like to be in her shoes. I always wonder what it's going to be like when I finally self publish my first book, but I don't think I've ever allowed myself to wonder what it would be like to be successful. I guess I never dared to dream that people would be interested in reading what I write about. I always thought other things might get in the way. I go to school and have a new relationship, so it's hard to find time to blog. I also have a full time job, which I need to keep. All of that cuts into my writing time. I'm already into the month where I had planned to release my novel, and way behind. It would have been the perfect time to unleash it into the world, but I had so many things get in the way.

I'm a blank canvas

In the original draft of Hair Of The Wolf (my werewolf novel), there was more romance than there is now. Sure, there's a little flirting, but no real romance. There's a love interest, but again no romance. It's an urban fantasy, so it doesn't need romance, but I do want Anyssa to end up happy. She's been through so much that she deserves it. Why did I cut out the romance? The first answer to that is that Hair Of The Wolf is going to be part of a trilogy, and I didn't want to rush the romance. I hate reading a book where the romance seems rushed, or watching a movie where the two leads have known each other for three days. It takes time to build a relationship, even a friendship takes time to develop.  Another reason is that I have never been in love. I've been in relationships before, but never any where I thought I was in love. I've had strong feelings towards someone before, but I knew it wasn't love. Part of me isn't sure how to write about love if I've never been in love. Do I write about what I think love feels like? I am pretty much a blank canvas when it comes to life experiences. I've had some, as you can tell by reading this blog, but not as many as I would have liked. I need to have more. I need to be more carefree and experience more things. I need to think about what it means to be in love, and what it means for Anyssa to fall in love. I'm going to write about her falling in love, in fact I already have the whole second book outlined. I just need to get out more and do more things. I've heard of authors going on road trips, or doing extreme things to find themselves and experience more. Maybe that's what I need to do. I need to force myself out of my comfort zone. 

My LEAST Favorite Books

I've done a bunch of posts on my favorite books, and books that have inspired me, but today I wanted to do a post on books I hate. Some of these books I've actually read to the end. I also want to say that just because I didn't like these books doesn't mean that you will dislike these books. I've already had someone bashing me for my amazon review of one of these books, but we'll get to that in a minute.

I got this book because Barnes and Noble suggested it to me after I bought the Sookie Stackhouse books. I was waiting for the new Sookie Stackhouse book to come out and thought it would be cool to read this while I waited. I wasn't aware that this was the second book in a series, but you can read this book without reading the first. In the book Elena Micheals, the only female werewolf, is captured to be part in a crazy game where supernaturals kill each other. The entire book is Elena wishing Clay would save her, or whining about missing Clay. She came off as one of the weakest characters I had ever read. I also hated the tv show, which is basically just a rip off of true blood.

This is the book I got attacked for my review on. Another amazon reviewer said that I must not be very intelligent if I didn't like this book. Sorry to break it to you, but intelligence is not measured by what books you enjoy. I honestly think a better name for this book would be the art of forcing you to get on anti-depressants. This book is told from the point of view of a dog. The book actually starts off with the dog about to die!! I have two dogs and didn't want to read that. The dog follows his boring master through college and onward. His master falls in love, has a kid, his wife dies of cancer. After the man's wife dies he gets accused of having a "relationship" with an underage girl, so his daughter also gets taken away. I had to read this book for school, I never would have picked something like this on my own.

What's a Stephen King book doing on this list? Well, it's not that it was poorly written, or anything like that, I just didn't like the book. Stephen King has always been kind of a hit or miss author for me. I like some of his work, but hate some of his other books. This and Insomnia are the worst two Stephen King books I've picked up. I didn't finish either of them.

I bet a lot of people have never seen these books before. Sometime around the time when Final Destination 3 was released New Line Cinema partnered with Black Flame Publishing to give you these crappy books. I actually collect them, not because I like the stories, but because I'm a huge fan of horror movies. The content inside the books is mostly original, there are a few novelizations. These books are basically poorly written fan fictions. The ones by Natasha Rhodes are the worst of the worst. Some of the Nightmare on Elm Street ones actually had decent ideas behind them, but these books are still poorly written. I might do a collection post on them in the future.

My blog does not equal my book

I don't know why I feel the need to post this. No one has questioned my blog or my writing, but I just wanted to make a post about my blog and how it differs from my writing. My blog is not polished. I have not read and reread my blog hundreds of times. I write my blog more from my emotions and need to connect with people who may like my writing more than anything else. My writing is polished. I've read and reread my own work many times. I've edited. I've thought about the story and if I like the direction it's going. I've written and rewritten chapters. I've deleted things or added them. I know it's not perfect. It's my first book, but I've put effort into it. Not that I haven't put effort into blogging. I try to blog everyday. I try to blog about things people might find interesting about writing, but my blog is different than my writing. There are typos, it's far from perfect, but if it helps me connect with urban fantasy readers than its all it needs to be.

Barnes and Noble

Today I went to Barnes and Noble, hoping to find a book that I couldn't put down, but I emerged empty handed. I love reading, but I haven't found anything worth reading lately. I did order Thirteen Reasons Why, but I wanted something to read now. Barnes and Noble was flooded with movie tie ends, and just things I didn't find that interesting. The books I actually wanted to buy were all in the 15 to 20 dollar range. I've been wanting to get my hands on Battle Royale, but I can't see myself paying that much for a book. I browsed the clearance area, but there was nothing of interest there either. I'm open to suggestions on what to read, since I currently have nothing.