2015 was a wild, jam-packed year.
It left me tired, and breathless, and ever so grateful.
And as 2015 was winding down I was finally able to finish the  draft of THE BEAUTY OF DARKNESS, Book 3 of The Remnant Chronicles! Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Milestone achieved!
Here's a Flipagram (My first one! Are you on Flipagram?) which gives you a quick glimpse of 2015--and what it's like writing a first draft while a whole LOT of other stuff is going on!
Deep. Breath.
THANK YOU to all of you who helped make 2015 an amazing year.  I loved that I got to meet so many new fans, and reconnect with old ones! And continued thanks for your blogs, tweets, instagrams, book tubes, and all the ways you spread the word about The Remnant Chronicles and embraced Lia, Rafe, and Kaden's world. YOU are the best.

And now 2016 is starting out with a bang!
MORRIGHAN, my e-novella which is a prequel to The Remnant Chronicles, is out on January 12!!! I'm very excited!  It's an ebook and there are lots of places where you can preorder and download it. My publisher has more information HERE on the remnantchronicles.com site.

I hope you love this tale the way I do. It started out as a short story, but then the characters of Morrighan and Jafir took hold of my heart, and a hundred pages later I was still engrossed in their world and lives. I learned their secrets, their hopes, and their sorrows even as I wrote the story. It was both heartbreaking and a joy to watch it unfold.

MORRIGHAN, is about the girl Morrighan, who is the namesake of Lia's kingdom, and also about Jafir, a boy from a clan of scavengers, two young people trying to survive on their own terms in a world that has been devastated by disaster. When they meet, history is changed forever, both for them and all the kingdoms of the Remnant yet to come.

Before borders were drawn, before treaties were signed,
before wars were waged anew,
before the great kingdoms of the Remnant were even born
and the world of old was only a hazy slate of memory told in story and legend,
a girl and her family fought to survive. And that girl’s name was Morrighan.
​

 So to celebrate a new year and two new books on the horizon, I think it's time for a giveaway! Don't you?  
Enter for a chance to win one prize package that includes:
One signed paperback of
​The Kiss of Deception
One signed map/poster
Remnant Chronicles Stickers

Go #TeamLIA!

Thank you for marking your calendars for January 12 and the e-novella MORRIGHAN!

​Happy New Year all! I hope the coming year brings you peace and the best kinds of challenges.

​XO

Anonymous asked:

How do you know when an idea for a book is "The One"? How can you tell it's worth pursuing, that you won't tire of it halfway through?

My reply on Tumblr

Getting ready to shove off for ALA, but before I do . . .

I've been tagged by Alyson Noel!
Alyson is the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of not one, but three amazing series—The Immortals, Soul Seekers, and Riley Bloom-- plus several standalones, plus a spanking new series she's working on, Unrivaled, (yes, I am in awe of her talents) and she's tagged me in a Blog Roll where writers share a little about their work and writing process. I always love to hear how other writers approach writing. Here are my responses:

  1.      WHAT AM I WORKING ON –

I’m currently being torn in fifty different directions, which is the usual state when you have one book coming out, and another you’re trying to put to bed.  I’ve been doing quite a bit of blog writing and interviews for the imminent pub day of The Kiss of Deception.  At the same time, my revisions for the second book, The Heart of Betrayal are almost due. Throw in a little travel and I am working on juggling! It's a tricky part of the process. I haven’t dropped a ball—yet.
Oh wait, what's that rolling away . . .

2.      HOW DOES MY WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS OF ITS GENRE?

Well to say too much would be spoilerish, but I had one reviewer call The Kiss of Deception, genre-bending, which I think is an accurate way of saying, my work doesn’t necessarily fit into one category of fiction. I write the story I want to write, without regard to genre.  Really though, I think every writer’s work stands out in one way or another, because they tell the story the way only they can.  Every voice and perspective is different even within a genre.

3.      WHY DO I WRITE WHAT I DO?

A character, an idea, a voice, a premise—something grabs hold of me and doesn’t let go. I have to write about it. Writing is a journey for me, as much as it is for the reader. It makes me think, wonder, ponder, and explore all kinds of things. I answer questions for myself, and I discover new ones I  didn't even know existed. While I stick to a teen perspective, the books I write have been all over the map--from contemporary realism, magical realism, romance, and science fiction, to fantasy. It's the character and premise that decides the genre, not me.

4. HOW DOES MY WRITING PROCESS WORK?

 My process is always evolving. I’m a writing craft junky and I can never resist hearing how another writer does it.  I usually have at least half a dozen “scenes” in my head when I begin, but I’m not always sure how they will fit together or if they will even all make it into the story. I will kind of sketch out a beginning, middlish, and an end, and other scenes fall into place as I write, but sometimes a character or idea throws me a curve and scenes get thrown out and new ones develop.  Post it notes for scenes on a big board are very helpful for me. No matter what my process though, the time-honored BIC, butt-in-chair, is what saves the day. I live and die by daily word counts. To the left you can see a chart I keep. It is like clocking in for me.  If I didn’t have goals, I would set aside my writing every time I hit the Writing Valley of Doubt. Worth saying again: Butt-in-chair. Keep going. For me, that’s the most important thing to remember.

5.     HOW DOES MY WRITING PROCESS NOT WORK?

One thing I’ve learned is that writing begets writing.  Sometimes I am forced to step away, or I play hooky for a few days.  It is like pulling teeth for me to get back into my writing brain. Hence, a daily word count chart helps to keep me going and avoid that pitfall--even if I only write a few words.

Now it’s my turn to tag!

Lynne Matson – Lynne is a debut author and her first book NIL, came out in March. I loved it. Besides the characters being trapped on a mysterious island, the romance was so—.  I don’t want to spoil it, but trust me, you need to read this one! Let's hear what Lynne has to say . . .

It's the last day of January and that means the last day of #Jan1000.  I posted here about #Jan1000
but the essence was a commitment to write every day.  Keep the momentum going!

As I said in my post, it's hard to have a "group goal" because all of our writing and personal lives are different, but boy did the words fly in January!  Some of us wrote ginormous words a day, some of us only a few, but ALL goals were celebrated.

I lost a week of writing (yeah, life happens) but without #Jan1000 I gasp to think where I might be.  So THANK YOU to all my fellow writers who kept the momentum going.  Want to join us in February?  Just check in on Twitter with the hashtag #Feb1000.

Remember, all our goals are different.  Yours might be a 1000 words a minute (yes, we hate you ; ) or a 1000 words a day, or maybe a 1000 words for the month--whatever it is, we'll keep the momentum going.  Writing begets writing.

Now, onward to . . .

#Feb1000

Can you believe it?  2013 is almost over.  I've been cleaning up after the holiday rush, and I'm so ready to jump back into my WIP.  I had to set it aside for all the hoopla of the holidays which was fun--and during that time fun things arrived in the mail which I didn't have a chance to talk about . . .

ARCS!  Beautiful glorious arcs!

And something else too:
THE FINAL COVER ART!!!
I'm dying to share it! It is so completely--!

My lips are zipped.  My publisher will be revealing it soon. More news to come about when and where!

(But I LOVE it.)

In the meantime, I'm focusing on the WIP (book #2) On Twitter a few of us writers are jumping into January with a commitment #Jan1000, which for me means at least a thousand words a day every day.  Yes, every day. One truth I've learned is that writing begets writing.  Sometimes it's hard to get the writing engine warmed up, but once you do, it's hard to stop the wheels from racing. 

I actually hope (and expect) to write more than a thousand words a day, but that is my minimum goal. I like having goals that don't overwhelm me. Yep, bite off a sweet chunk that won't choke you!

Trying to do a "group" shared goal can be difficult because each of our writing lives are different.  We all have different kinds of commitments which include day jobs, children, other books that need editing while we try to write a new one, etc.  So #Jan1000 might mean a thousand words a day for one writer, like it does for me, or a thousand words a week, a month, or an hour (for you over-achievers.) But it is a goal!  And I need those.

If you do too, join us for #Jan1000 and make a dent in that writing project.

Bring it on 2014!