Adventures in Crafting with Words

Disclaimer - This is a lengthy read.  There is a TL;DR version near the bottom. For a good chunk of the month of May I have been diligently - and at times not so diligently watching the #cockygate drama unfolding on Twitter. I've probably neglected a few things in as this battle began and continued to unfold. What is #cockygate? An author - who shall not be named - decided to trademark a word for her ebook series of ... romance novels.  Once the mark was approved she sent cease and desist letters to a handful of authors testing the waters before going after her real target, Tara Crescent, a menage MFM erotica book author. *Note* These other authors, with similar titles - NOT series titles as the trademark pertains to, Titles - either had to pull their books, retitle their books, or face the wrath of #CockyAuthor and her *ahem* lawyer. Now, while all that seems within her legal rights, #CockyAuthor forgot a few things.  Her series title (what was trademarked...

One of my friends was gifted this awesome 400 writing prompts book for Christmas.  Naturally, I needed it. So his wife told me where I got it and I went to my local branch and looked all over the story for that book of 400 writing prompts.  I'd even settle for the book of 300 writing prompts. But nope.  I had to settle for this one... Whatever.  *shrugs shoulder* 'But,' the little voice in the back of my head challenged me, 'what if you use this book to help you with the plethora of stories you are struggling with?' 'And,' another voice agreed, 'you use them for your writing prompt blog posts... The catch with these prompts:  there is only one page to write and there are a handful of words that must be added into the scene.   For this scene I brought in Winnie from Half-Moon Manor.  I've been pondering her story for a while now, and she volunteered for the prompt.  And now... Magic in Everyday Occurrences Winnie closed...

It is with great relief to announce the release date, cover, etc for the second book in the Hastings Sisters Series. Relief?  Yes.  Relief.  I begun to fear it would never make it through the Beta Reads.  But it has. The Trouble with Chasing Aileen is currently available for pre-order.  Right now until January 10th (the day after the release date) Aileen will be $0.99.  After that date the book will be $2.99.  (The first book in the series will remain $0.99.) Are you a Kindle Unlimited reader?  The Trouble With Chasing Aileen will be released on January 9th, 2018. What about book three?  Ashlynn's story will continue off where Aileen's story ended.  She does make some appearances in this book, much like Aiden did in Ainsley's book.  However, Ashlynn's story is still in the planning phases.  With any hope, it won't take a year to write.  (The highly teased and still untitled NaNoWriMo2017 project has been handed o...

I know, you are probably waiting with baited breath, or at least pretending to, on information about that cryptic NaNoWriMo project.  Surprisingly, I haven't finished yet.  I don't have a title.  Or a cover - because of lack of title mostly.  So that reveal will have to wait. Some of you might even be waiting for an announcement about The Trouble With Chasing Aileen - The Hastings Sisters number 2.  - Soon.  I promise.  Final rewrites and Beta reads got caught in the middle of finals (for the Beta) and NaNoWriMo (me).  Now, to the point of the blog - Betas.  What are they good for.  (Absolutely nothing!) Joking.  Joking.  That's a dig at my current Beta who is only still around because she's my best friend and she's in college while dealing with a four year old.  Betas aren't perfect, after all.  They can't spend all their time reading over your manuscript.  Why?  It's my livelihood isn't it? ...

Every day that I pull out my notebook or laptop I don't plan what goes down on the paper.  I don't know quite where my characters want to lead me yet. Sometimes it's a matter of going back and seeing, 'Oh, I'm missing this...' or 'I need to add a scene to link these chapters together. Sometimes the plot bunnies invade and I have to write a scene for a part of the story not yet started. But every day I hit my NaNoWriMo daily goal, or personal goal, or even get words down on the page, is one more day I can feel good about working on this rough draft. Today I reached the halfway mark - 25,000 words.  I have more words to add.  I have more story to develop.  I have more ideas, plot bunnies, and writing prompts to work with. And then, once this rough draft is finished, I'll introduce this new story to my beloved readers (and the world). Then the real work begins.  Editing and polishing and titling and all that. Stay tuned. Alicia

It's quickly approaching and I had to pick just one project to work on.  Do I finish the second Enchanted Forest?  The third Hastings?  The College Edition of Bookworm Next Door that is taking me forever? Do I tackle one of the other five project ideas that have appeared to me? Or the non-young adult romance that has been floating around in my cluttered brain? One particular project is prodding at me, telling me to write this one.   Character names. Plot line issues.  Motivations.  Pretty much falling into place with some exceptions. This particular project has a friend prodding me as well, but that's beside the point. So... what will the NaNoWriMo2107 project be? You'll just have to wait and see. However, want to tackle a 50,000 word lightening manuscript in a month? A month with Thanksgiving in it! Know your story.  Prep. Plot. Know your characters.  The journey might change, but regardless... Be Prepared.  And most i...

You never know where it will take you. Growing up I wanted to be Sarah Dessen.  She tackled the 'issues' - as I call them - without being overwhelming about them. I've found myself doing that at least twice.  In Keeping Secrets Gwen deals with the murder of her father, Mitchell deals with an abusive father, and Rilla with an emotional drain. In my NaNoWriMo project I've found myself with an emotionally abusive and controlling character that I never expected.  I started off dealing with toxic friends and ended up with a toxic relationship. Here's the thing, folks, writing will take you and your characters in directions that you never expect. Alicia

Around October 30th or 31st I "finished" the manuscript for the mash up that I've been working on since August 2014.  The idea came to me while I was teaching Biology - interim position - and had some spare time.  I adore fairy tales.  Simply adore them and discovering their various variations.  Even the original tales have minor nuances that create five different tales from the same origin.  This was before I'd discovered Heather Lyon's The Collector's Society Series.  (Go, read the books. The last one comes out Nov. 7th!  I can't wait!)  So... what happens when a descendant of Alice finds herself in a strange land?  A land where fairy tales and children's stories were real?  Where a magic council can freeze the story's tales in a loop or allow them to continue on for generations?  I don't have the synopsis yet.  I don't even have the manuscript completely edited.  Only 54 pages.  But that will take a ha...

I am absolutely horrible about posting updates.  There is seriously 4 books on my blog list and I keep adding to it.  I have no excuses. I spend half my day tackling Etsy shop business (marketing, orders, etc)  www.abookwormcreates.com btw I spend the other half of my day writing and editing.  Add to this mix NaNoWriMo I think my head is about to spin around.  However... my next post will be about ITEF... Alicia

I took a bit of a break.  Went camping. Waited impatiently for Betas to finish reading and making their comments. The good news is that one Betas has finished and has submitted her edits and comments.  Final reviewing begins tonight and the new version od The Bookworm Next Door will be released soon. I just have to decide how I'm going to do it... Stay tuned, readers.  Cover reveal and release date coming soon. A

Sometimes you sit down and realize something. Okay.  I sat down and realized something as I was writing Jennifer's part of the Bookworm story. The Bookworm Next Door wasn't finished when I self-published it.  It's a disturbing reality that faced me with two difficult decisions.  I could close the door on The Bookworm Next Door and leave it imperfect or I could rewrite it and make it perfect. I decided to do exactly that.  Perfect is better. So then I was faced with the daunting task of piecing everything together exactly the way it needed. There was also the fact that I was faced with continuity issues with some of the characters names.   Last night I finished The Bookworm Next Door.  It has all of the short stories combined.  It has new material.  It has a never before seen ending that only I knew was going to happen. Is The Bookworm Stories Series over?  No.  There's still Aimee Kirkland's story.  Grace and Kyle....

Sometimes things get frustrating over on my side of the laptop.  Keep watching reviews and determining ways to bounce back, to create better.  Watching the numbers and wondering if those handful of bad reviews are just pulling the rest of the potential readers down where they don't want to read, not even with Kindle Unlimited.  I have to watch the day by day because at the end of the month if I don't hit minimum page reads and sold books then I'm losing out. I'm running out of time.  I'm running a gamble here by wanting to be a full-time writer.  A crafter of words. But this and etsy don't always pay the bills.  They certainly aren't paying me enough to get out of my parents house. Who am I? I am a writer.  I've been a writer since the seventh grade. And Yet... It hasn't even been a year since I've started.  I really need to not lose hope. A

I know, I know.  I missed Writing Prompt Wednesday.  I've been busy getting ready for an Arts and Crafts show on Saturday.  I also knew that there was 70% chance of rain today.  If you want to see the blog post for my Overthinker Creates account just look to your left for the link.  It should read Etsy Shop Blog.  Today's writing prompt is courtesy of WritingPrompt.com @DailyPrompt on Twitter.  It began - A green glow could be seen in the cave.  Curious, they entered.    I kinda like what I did with that prompt so I might add more to it later.  And now... The Prompt  _____             A green glow could be seen in the cave.   Curious, they entered.   They never expected that the cave was emitting the glow in an attempt to pull the unsuspecting into its grasp.               Within mom...