I've been working on The Otherside. Not all that much, or that often, but I have been working on it. I thought the readers might enjoy a little treat.
This is a nice long distance into the book, something I don't usually share because of spoilers. But with a name like The Otherside, I'm pretty sure you know where this book is going, or rather where Lorelei is going.......
Meet Arawn, King of Annwn.
"I couldn’t deny Arawn’s allure. He was beautiful, but so
were plenty of other monsters. My father was a beautiful man, that beauty did
not betray him, and leave the room when he reached for his belt. His beauty
remained no matter how ugly his actions. Beauty did not ultimately equate to
good. Evil could lurk inside it, because beauty was the ultimate camouflage.
Arawn was not as dark skinned as Gideon, but he was still
golden. A shiny hue glowed beneath his skin. The camouflage that masked his
true nature. I knew without a doubt that he was evil. What else would willingly
steal the souls of the dead? I hated that I was a part of it. I
hated that his shackles for the dead had born my kind. Nature SPOILER had said, needed a balance for everything.
I was the compliment to his hounds. I stared at his brown hair, and silvery blue
eyes. His body was hard with muscles. I could see them bunching beneath the
fine cut of his Victorian clothing. His face had fine strong features and noble
bone structure. He looked like a King...but evil I reminded
myself, had many faces." -----Excerpt taken from The Otherside, Chapter##-Dirty Thief
Something almost magical happens every time I finish a book. Scent Hound is only the third, but I can already see a pattern arising. The first few days before the last words are typed I have insomnia...worse than normal. My subconscious is aware of what's about to happen and makes it impossible for me to sleep. The day of, I'm on a natural high so great that nothing bothers me, not the new broken piece of furniture that was just shipped to me, not the firework my son set off inside his room. No the high from finishing a book is so great nothing can touch me.
I can't wait for my readers, family, and friends to read my new story. It was a new journey in discovering myself as well as my ability. It gets easier and easier. I enjoyed this book in a way I didn't with the others, I let my muse guide me, and tried not to get in her way. Funny how much easier things are when you just give in and let them go the way they want to. Here's to finishing!!! Cheers!! Now I'm going to go celebrate with a cocktail.
Recently I've been working on Scent Hound, a novel spinoff of The Wild Hunt. The story centers around a Cwn Annwn female that is blessed with the gift of being able to smell everything and I mean EVERYTHING. She can smell your lies and your secrets, the things you want no one in the world to know.
I took a long break from writing and I come back refreshed, and inspired. I look to lots of different outlets for inspiration. I watch the people around me interact, I read voraciously, watch movies, take trips and research constantly. What has inspired me for over a year now is the music from one artist in particular...Ben Howard. If you haven't been blessed enough to know his music then listen to the video below. It's more upbeat than a lot of his other songs.
I was lucky enough to see him in concert this last April. We made the drive up to SF for one night just to see his show. To say it was amazing is a vast understatement. His music makes me ache in my bones, it makes me feel so much so deeply that it helps the words come to my fingers and pour onto the page. I listen to him when I drive, when I write, I sing his songs to my children to help them sleep. I thank God and the muse for music like Ben Howards. It inspires, it reaches inside of you and tugs free a feeling you didn't even know you had. Its the words of my heart put to chords.
His live music is like watching him bleed before you. He sings his heart out, puts it into every note and strum of the guitar. I want to write like he sings. I want to bleed before my computer and write in a way that reaches out to other people so that their hearts feel my words, and they fall inside my story.
There aren't many things past books that makes me a crazy fan girl. I collect authors instead of rock stars. I aspire to write like those I read. What moves me changes me for the better most of the time. I hope this music that pulls so much from me will help do the same. The last song I'm putting up here I couldn't listen to for a long time. I always skipped over it because something about it disturbed me on a very personal level. My grandma passed away in October. Her loss is felt deeply in my family, in my own heart. The song, I will be Blessed, always makes me think of her. Its haunting and tragically beautiful and I think, I'm so glad I was there the day she died. Not because it was a good thing, but because I was there to hold her hand and honor her life with my love and support.
After finishing up Lilith I decided to take a small break from writing. It only lasted a few days (no surprise there), but now that Lilith is done I'm gearing up to really jump into The Otherside. I have two other projects going simultaneously Scent Hound, and a contemporary YA I started much for the same reason I started Lilith. The strange need to try something else to get the creative juice flowing. I'm now about 12,000 words into all three. I'm going to try to write them in spurts first one then the other, but like anything I do I'll probably trade off so it doesn't get stagnant.
At times other forms of creativity inspire me, music helps immensely. My current favorite at the moment is Ben Howard. I stumbled across him over a year ago and haven't been able to find anyone else who's words and chords can move me the way his do. Genius to put it simply.
So it was only a matter of time before I used his music for a book trailer.
The song is called "Black Flies". The meaning behind the song is simple, its about losing friends. The loss of friendship and the distance that can grow between people is a large theme in The Otherside. The haunting lyrics helped me write in a way that I hope portrays that loss. It's important to the story that Lo's struggle with two worlds is thrust ahead of everything, love, ghosts, friends and family. She needs to find the balance for herself, and that sometimes means other things get overlooked. The worse part is she knows its happening, but can do nothing to stop it.
So watch the video and judge for yourself. I love the song. It inspires me.
Well that inevitable day has arrived. I have gotten my first real review of The Wild Hunt. I have had plenty of feedback from family and friends, even friends of friends. But this is my first review from a complete stranger.
I am wowed and humbled by this man's words. Not only did he read it and take time out of his busy life to do, but he enjoyed it and wrote a review. There is no greater compliment than that. He even provided feedback about what he didn't like, which I loved even more than the good things he had to say. Family and friends are always afraid of hurting your feelings, this is a good and bad at the same time. When you are looking for true opinions family and friends aren't always the most reliable.
Although I know for a fact my mom would tell me if it was horrible. She doesn't want me to make an ass of myself anymore than I do. Thank you mom!!
If you would like to read the review I have attached the link below. Thank you reader for your kind words and much needed feedback!
I know I didn't, but when a new boy moved to my little town, everything, including me changed. It wasn't his deep blue eyes, or his perfect smile that called to me, but a connection that was older than time. Our lives were connected, and the past has a way of circling.
After a date gone horribly wrong, then the blood and the fever. I started to hear voices no one else could hear. People died, some were tortured, my pain was her pleasure...and Lilith was at the center of it all.
Love isn't just a fairy tale, its survival. Clawing my way from death and standing up for that love no matter the price. Because in the end love is all that really matters anyway...even when its the at first sight kind.
