Our publishing date for "Love & Magick" is approaching fast! OMG! and we've got so much to do!
Today is Sunday and I'm reviewing my week. It's a busy one. Tuesday and Wednesday a quick trip to Central Point, OR to visit parents.
Thursday off to Portland to work with Judith and Sarah. We have PR stuff to work on, meeting up with book sellers and putting our six, yes I said six, stories into a template and Jutoh!
We're very excited Wind Tree Press will be publishing "Love & Magick". http://www.windtreepress.com/
This is a total new experience for Sarah and I, we are newbies. Judith has some experience as she has been putting her novels in the template.
Check back tomorrow to learn interesting facts about "The Crystal Witch".
Showing posts with label Love and Magick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Love and Magick. Show all posts
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Saturday, February 1, 2014
14 Days to publishing Love & Magick!!!!-
by Diana McCollum
In writing "Ghost of a Chance" I searched the inter-net for information on haunted places in Bend, OR. Below is a link to the full article on ghosts in Bend.
- http://www.examiner.com/article/haunted-places-bend-ore
- Quoted from Examiner.com:
- "Congress House: Reports of families who have lived there and died there due to living in a cursed house.
- The Pilot Butte Cemetery: Reports of blue orbs have been seen.
- The Lara House Lodge
- The Deschutes County Historical Society building
- The O’Kane Building: Their have been reports of ghostly smoke, footsteps and voices from a long dead waitress who may have once worked in the restaurant. Some say that the basement of the building is haunted by an old man."
I made sure more than one source listed the haunted sites I mentioned in my story.
Does your town have public places documented to have ghosts, cursed houses, or unexplained happenings?
Thursday, January 30, 2014
16 Days And Counting!
16 Days and Counting by Judith Ashley
At another time in the not too distant past, I had about 16 days before an original short story was due up at Free Reads from the Genre-istas and Friends. I was going through my normal process which is to wait until a story idea pops into my head complete with setting and characters who speak to me. In the meantime, I was sitting on my couch waiting for the full moon to appear in the window to the left of my fireplace.
I was in an optimistic mood because the sky was clear and I knew I'd be able to see Grandmother Moon as she passed by. Since she isn't a speedy traveler of the night sky, I waited a book in hand. From time to time I glanced down and read a bit but I was much more enchanted with the view out the small window.
Before Grandmother Moon is even visible, her light creeps over the glass and when the angle is right in to the room. That is all part of the magic for me...watching what has been for ages upon ages reveal itself to me time after time (assuming the clouds stay away).
And then There It Was!
The opening scene in Grandmother Moon replicates what I was doing that night. I was sitting on the couch, snuggled into a corner, comfy throw across my legs, reading a book, waiting for her to appear.
Of course, living in a metropolitan city, going out and beating my drum (yes, I have one of those too), was not an option. Neither Trey nor Carter appeared except in my imagination. However, both of them - actually all of my characters - interact with each other within my hearing so I can dutifully record what they are saying.
Do not think that everything just flows and I need to do nothing but record what they are saying and doing because there is a lot more to it. This process gives me a first draft, the basics of the story.
Next is to read through again and include such things as description if that isn't there the first go through (and it usually isn't - she has a throw over her legs, not a dark blue one for example), her and his thoughts so the reader better understands the "what" and "why" of the story. I catch typos and punctuation errors here also.
Once I've done what I can, I ask Paty Jager and Sarah Raplee to read it over and then I incorporate their suggestions and corrections.
For Love and Magic I've added another six thousand or so words and had four more people read it. I see Grandmother Moon as an introduction in some ways to my series The Sacred Women's Circle . The first three books of that seven book series are due out in early March.
At another time in the not too distant past, I had about 16 days before an original short story was due up at Free Reads from the Genre-istas and Friends. I was going through my normal process which is to wait until a story idea pops into my head complete with setting and characters who speak to me. In the meantime, I was sitting on my couch waiting for the full moon to appear in the window to the left of my fireplace.
 |
| Judith Ashley |
I was in an optimistic mood because the sky was clear and I knew I'd be able to see Grandmother Moon as she passed by. Since she isn't a speedy traveler of the night sky, I waited a book in hand. From time to time I glanced down and read a bit but I was much more enchanted with the view out the small window.
Before Grandmother Moon is even visible, her light creeps over the glass and when the angle is right in to the room. That is all part of the magic for me...watching what has been for ages upon ages reveal itself to me time after time (assuming the clouds stay away).
And then There It Was!
The opening scene in Grandmother Moon replicates what I was doing that night. I was sitting on the couch, snuggled into a corner, comfy throw across my legs, reading a book, waiting for her to appear.
 |
| My Horsehide Drum |
Do not think that everything just flows and I need to do nothing but record what they are saying and doing because there is a lot more to it. This process gives me a first draft, the basics of the story.
Next is to read through again and include such things as description if that isn't there the first go through (and it usually isn't - she has a throw over her legs, not a dark blue one for example), her and his thoughts so the reader better understands the "what" and "why" of the story. I catch typos and punctuation errors here also.
Once I've done what I can, I ask Paty Jager and Sarah Raplee to read it over and then I incorporate their suggestions and corrections.
For Love and Magic I've added another six thousand or so words and had four more people read it. I see Grandmother Moon as an introduction in some ways to my series The Sacred Women's Circle . The first three books of that seven book series are due out in early March.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
20 Days and Counting!
20 Days and Counting!
We're going for the gold here!
What?
Yep, we're going for it...straight on through from here to 02/14/2014 when you will be able to pick up Love and Magick - Mystical Stories of Romance at your favorite e-retailing book store. At least that's our goal.
And, we are hard at work to make that happen.
What's the big deal? Well, the main one would be LIFE. Yep, it does happen even to romance writers!!! We aren't surprised that LIFE gets in the way although there are times we are frustrated and a tad discouraged but keeping our commitment to have Love and Magick available to you, our readers, on time is strong.
Where are we now in the process? A very exciting part. A final run through to make sure our stories are as well-written and edited as we can make them. (As you can see our gorgeous cover designed by Karen Duval is done. We have TheBookDesigner.com template purchased as well as the Jutoh self-publishing software.
What's next? The three of us getting together and uploading our stories into the template and then uploading the template to Jutoh. Once in Jutoh we've a few more things to do and the Voila! we click Submit (more than once because we do the "few more things" for each of the book selling sites) and it is done.
Oh - between now and then, we do want to purchase our ISBN numbers (my job) and do the Copy Write process. I've been told and have read that both of those tasks are fairly easy...we shall see!
Now you have a fairly good idea of what we will be doing the next twenty days!
Friday, January 24, 2014
22 Days and Counting!
22 Days and Counting!
Once upon a time -I grew up on stories that started that way. Grimm's Fairy Tales being favorites. My Mom or my Dad would read using various voices for the characters, adding dramatic pauses for effect, increasing the speed at which they read when the characters were fleeing danger - well, you get the idea.
Now when I'm reading for pleasure I do the voices, pacing, pausing - in my head.
But there is one place I still read out loud and it is not to grandchildren (at 17 and 23 they'd rather be on their smart phones or computer or talking to friends). I read out loud to myself when I go through my manuscript one final time. It is amazing what I find as awkward, what just doesn't "sound" right when I do that.
Remembering the time in my life when having books read to me was special, I know I also want to explore audiobooks.
That idea is leaping forward in time because at this point, Love and Magick is 22 days away from release. But it is an idea whose time will come!
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
24 Days and Counting!
People ask "Where do you get the idea for a story?" And since I write contemporary romantic women's fiction with mystical spiritual elements, I always pause before I answer.(Pause)
I don't "get ideas" for stories. They just show up!
Sometimes they show up with clearly cut characters who have names like they did for Sarah's Ankh. (The "ankh" necklace was around Sarah's neck from the very beginning). I did have to work to come up with some of the secondary characters' names and on the advice of my editor, Kelly Schaub, I changed Sarah's hair and eye color a smidgen.
Being an adult woman who worked outside the home in the 60's, 70's, and 80's (part of that time in law enforcement related jobs), Sarah took on some of those characteristics the women of that time often used when dealing with what today is considered sexual harassment.
And, boy, did Kelly have A Lot to say about that!
The story had shown up that way, so what was I supposed to do?
I thought about my seventeen and twenty-three year old granddaughters who grew up in a society that had established boundaries. What would they have said and done if confronted with Gary's behavior?
I went back to the story and became Sarah but as she dealt with issues, I responded as I believed my granddaughters would. (No, neither have AK-47's so the jerk-villain was somewhat safe).
The result? A stronger story that is much more "contemporary" than the original. The premise of the story is the same, the goals and motivation of the characters is the same, but how they deal with the conflict has moved to the 21 Century.
I hope you enjoy reading Sarah's Ankh and our other stories in Love and Magick, Mystical Stories of Romance being released on February 14, 2014.
Friday, January 17, 2014
Thursday, January 16, 2014
30 days & counting until the LOVE & MAGICK Book Launch!
Love & Magick is a collection of mystical stories of romance. Why mystical romance? My thesaurus tells me mystical = spiritual, magical, supernatural, transcendent, preternatural. Our stories include elements of fairytales, alternative spirituality, restless spirits, curses, enchantments, witches, wise women second sight...
Mystical seems to fit, doesn't it?
Love & Magick is a collection of mystical stories of romance. Why mystical romance? My thesaurus tells me mystical = spiritual, magical, supernatural, transcendent, preternatural. Our stories include elements of fairytales, alternative spirituality, restless spirits, curses, enchantments, witches, wise women second sight...
Mystical seems to fit, doesn't it?
Saturday, January 11, 2014
35 days to Love & Magick Book Launch!
Are you familiar with this tale of a lesser-known Snow White?
One of my two short stories in the LOVE & MAGICK anthology, Enchanted Protector, is very loosely based on the fairy tale, Snow White and Rose Red, by the Brothers Grimm. If you are not familiar with the Grimms' story, I highly recommend you read the fairy tale. You'll have fun picking out the similarities and differences between the two stories.
Here's a teaser to peak your interest:
In Enchanted Protector, a prince has been spellbound in the body of a wolf. In the Grimms' fairy tale, a prince has been spellbound in the body of a much bigger predator.
Rediscover the stories you loved as a child! Read Grimm's Fairy Tales.
Are you familiar with this tale of a lesser-known Snow White?
One of my two short stories in the LOVE & MAGICK anthology, Enchanted Protector, is very loosely based on the fairy tale, Snow White and Rose Red, by the Brothers Grimm. If you are not familiar with the Grimms' story, I highly recommend you read the fairy tale. You'll have fun picking out the similarities and differences between the two stories.
 |
| PRINCE ROLF OF HELMSGAARD HEIR TO THE DRAGON HORN THRONE |
Here's a teaser to peak your interest:
In Enchanted Protector, a prince has been spellbound in the body of a wolf. In the Grimms' fairy tale, a prince has been spellbound in the body of a much bigger predator.
Rediscover the stories you loved as a child! Read Grimm's Fairy Tales.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
37 Days and Counting Until Our Book Launch!
Love & Magick is a collection of mystical stories of romance. Why mystical romance? My thesaurus tells me mystical = spiritual, magical, supernatural, transcendent, preternatural. Our stories include elements of fairytales, alternative spirituality, restless spirits, curses, enchantments, witches, wise women second sight...
Mystical seems to fit, doesn't it?
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
45 Days and Counting!
In forty-five days a dream will manifest! In forty-five days Sarah Raplee will become a published author.
In forty-five days Diana McCollum will become a published author.
In forty-five days Judith Ashley will become a published author.
We are thrilled with our book cover designed by Karen Duvall and hope you will join us in our count down!
45
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