'Connect' has been submitted X3

The story I started back during last year's NaNoWriMo, and have been arguing with since mid December, is finally done!  Turns out what I wrote during NaNo is quite possibly the second part of these character's lives.  Oops. :P  But I'm overwhelmingly pleased with the 15K that make up Connect, even if it is shorter than I'd hoped for.  Submitted as a response to LT3's 'If You're Reading This...' serial anthology call it's kind of a bizarre twist to the whole message in a bottle idea; which just happens to take place on a website called Message in a Bottle. XD

Full of puns, that's me.  Plus, it's got tornadoes in it!  And no, I couldn't resist making a Dorothy joke, so there's a comment in there about Elijah trying to ride a tornado...

Anywho, I've got all of my fingers crossed, and my toes, hoping the team there likes it.

And as a pseudo teaser, here's the little mini blurb I created for Connect:

Raised in a fiercely Christian town in the Midwest, Elijah has always had his family and faith on his side; until the day he tells his father he's gay. Shunned and abused by the town he trusted for his revelation Elijah takes a chance on an anonymous note, and soon discovers a website which seems almost too good to be true. Posting alongside thousands of others he finds the strength to accept that his being gay wasn't a mistake on God's part.

The Prince's Flower is also done, I'm just finishing up tweaking my query letter before I send that one out as well.  

Next on my 'to tackle' list are a series of vampire stories, and quite possibly a something featuring exotic dancers that I blame entirely on my trip to Vegas last week.  *hums 'save a horse, ride a cowboy'*

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

The Next Big Thing

So a couple of weeks ago I was tagged by the wonderful and amazing Eddie Louise in The Next Big Thing Blog Hop, and yes, it did take me that long to get this written, I'm a busy girl, so sue me. :P  Anyway, The Next Big Thing is a rather long running, world wide blog hop that takes people to a variety of author's, self-pub, unpublished, and published, blogs, and asks each author to answer a series of 10 easy questions. 

And these are my responses to said questions:

What is the working title of your next book?

Message in a Bottle was the initial working title, but recently I’ve taken to calling it Connect; of course, I’m also writing a short fairytale called The Prince's Flower at the same time. You know, to make sure I don't get bored. XD

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I’m what's commonly known as a pantser in the writing world. What this means is, I don't often have anything beyond a name, or the very foggiest of ideas when I start writing: that being said, Connect came into being when I tried to think of a different twist to the whole message in a bottle trope.

The Prince's Flower? That one was inspired by too much alcohol and a Grimm fairytale.

What genre does your book fall under?

The biggest genre any of my current writing falls under would be m/m fiction.  For the unitiated who have stumbled across my blog via this hop, or a lurker who hasn't figured it out yet; m/m essentially means what it looks like, it's a story that is about two men, and generally speaking, has a romantic twist to it.

 I write stories in a lot subgenres, fantasy, paranormal, contemporary, but they inevitably focus on the LGBT side of things; because, come on, everyone deserves their happy ending, don't they?

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

I think I might be a freak of nature among authors because I very rarely find myself hunting down pictures of real people to play my characters.  That being said, I've got no clue who I would chose to play the part of anyone in a movie rendition.  Sorry *shrugs* just not my thing.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Connect:  17 year old Elijah struggles to come to terms with being gay, and being true to his faith, while living in a small Midwestern town.

The Prince's Flower:  Cursed by a witch for his callous behavior, Calliopsis laments ever finding someone worth the struggle of breaking his curse.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Both will hopefully be represented, if not by my current publisher LT3, by another of the LGBT friendly publishers out there.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

30 days; NaNoWriMo 2012 to be precise, for Connect; 2 days for The Prince's Flower, give or take.  

Now editing that first, initial draft?  So much longer. XD

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

With Connect, I'm not sure, I've yet to come across another that is attempting to go about it the way I am.  I don't mean that I'm all uber unique and special, but I really haven't seen anything quite like it in the m/m spectrum yet.  In more mainstream teen, and adult fiction, yes, but m/m?  Haven't found it.

As for The Prince's Flower, LT3 has a line called Fairy Tales Slashed which takes well known, and not so well known, fairy tales and kind of twists them around.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

One of my cousins and my two youngest siblings actually. My cousin is gay, and recently took his relationship with his boyfriend to the next level as much as he could in current politics. And my siblings, I wanted to write something that would show that you could be gay and Christian, and still whole heartedly believe in God, even when the world around you believed you were going to Hell.

This is all regarding Connect, The Prince's Flower was honestly spawned via a drunken Twitter conversation with LT3's CEO...nothing special or moving about that, just alcohol induced stupidity and her love for fairytales.

What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

Connect is definitely more of a coming of age teen-ish story, and I think it might be an easier drift from mainstream than some of my other work.  Kind of a m/m light story. ^^;;

Meanwhile, The Prince's Flower is a mostly lighthearted romp out in fairytale land where everyone is guaranteed to live happily ever after.

*

I'm tagging Talya Andor, Sandra Bard, May Ridge, and Alessandra Ebulu.  Was going to tag Shayla Mist, but someone got to her first, but go check out her response to the 10 questions anyway. :3

Happy blog hopping!

**ps - check out Thomas Cardin's reply to the 10 questions too!

Obligatory birthday post

Yup, it's my birthday today, and what am I doing?  Well, I went to lunch with my Da and Granpa, had a slice of cake, got a whole pie to myself(which I'll be sharing...because I seriously don't need a whole pie to eat XD), got both my state and federal tax return direct deposited into my account(do you think it was on purpose? ;P), and now, now I'm putzing around online while working on an actual blog post for later this week.  Because I know reading my random babbling is not what you all want.  Right?

*nods*

In brief, writerly news, story #1 submission was rejected *sadface*, but I've got two more submissions going out this month, and am still waiting to hear back on story #2.  I'm hopeful that 1 out of 4 will make it further. ^^

Oh!  I'm also now part of an awesome weekly writing/critique group called the Barmy Drapers.  It's a new thing for me, since I've usually been a solitary sort of writer outside of NaNoWriMo, but since it's made up of fellow Wrimos it still carries some of that month's wildness.

*

In regards to reading:

I really enjoyed all three of the KMaM stories I've thus far purchased. :3 How About a Boyfriend was ridiculously cute, and awkward. <3 TT!  The Glass Coffin made me squee, because come on, Rostislav and Jesse!  And Retirement was a lovely forced to work together couple. ^^

I've also reread Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, and The Warded Man by Peter V Brett.

*

Now, back to writing, and enjoying my pie.

<3

Taxes

Just finished, and submitted, my taxes!  Hurrah for being way ahead of the game this year and not procrastinating until April *coughs* like last year.  So now that that's out of the way, back to writing when I should be sleeping. XD  I've got a meeting with one of my writer's groups later too...huh, maybe I should put the characters to bed and flop into my nest next to my Tonkie kitty...he looks lonely all curled up in my nest all alone...right, bed time for me, so I can be all bright eyed and bushy tailed for some serious writing at Panera later...mmm Panera....

I'm an author, officially

For those of you who haven't had to live with my daily lunacy, and somehow missed this, Rock 'n Roll Seraphim was released to wide world of ebooks yesterday.  And as of today is readily available via Less Than Three, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon; which means I am officially, no holds barred, an author.  The lack of customers in my store today were very confused when I was unable to hold in my glee at being able to search myself on the in-store system.





To celebrate this occasion, and a more personal one, I decided to go out and get a new tattoo, because I'm that sort of person.

Isn't it pretty?

Hmm, other than that, been writing, writing, writing.  Solved my inability to edit my NaNo'12 by completely changing the POV it was written in.  Yay for being able to work on it, but boo for the massive pile of work I just created for myself. XD

I know I'm forgetting things, but I'm ridiculously tired, so I'm going to bed, and will have another update over the weekend.

:3

Pre-order, writing, and general nonsense

Rock 'n Roll Seraphim is now available for pre-order up on the LT3 site!  I can't even begin to describe the nervous jitters, and niggling feeling of doubt, that are dancing through me right now.  I'm super excited to be able to officially tell all of my relatives, that yes, I am a published author, and no, they probably won't approve of the content/theme/etc of what I've written, and am going to continue to write; but you know what?  It doesn't matter what they think in the end, because I'm ecstatic, and I'm doing what I've always dreamt of doing, so family, if you're reading this, I love you all, but yes, I do write stories about boys falling in love with other boys.  Sometimes more than one at a time even!

*coughs* Right, back to our regularly scheduled blog...

I've been slowly continuing to work on editing and fixing up my NaNo, but the boys, and the world, are being quite the pain in the arse.  And to be honest, my productivity this week has been really bad.  I don't think I've managed to write more than 5000 words total in between doctor's appointments, retail madness, and this stupid My Little Pony game my roomie got me addicted to.  XD  But I did send out a silly little short that's vaguely Valentine's Day themed, and am still awaiting the verdict on my other submission still out there.

In book reading related news, I've been rereading Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy and assorted novellas, because I can always use a good cry over someone else's characters.  Mm, my pre-ordered purchases of The Glass Coffin by Megan Derr, Retirement by Sasha L Miller, and How About a Boyfriend? by TT Kove are downloaded and ready to be devoured; so expect some babbling about those three next time. :3

Other than that, we're prepping at work for some pretty big name authors in the next couple of months:  Brandon Sanderson, Robert Crais, Tahereh Mafi, Veronica Rossi, and Peter V Brett.  The bibliophile in me is thrilled to be able to have a chance to meet some of my authors, but the still exhausted from the holidays retail slave in me is, well, still exhausted. XD

I could swear I had more to babble about, but I'm pulling up a blank, so I guess I'll just get back to editing and writing, instead of procrastinating and blogging. :P

Sick but alive

Well, a week in and not much to say. I've spent all 7 days sick with some horrid plague that's caused me to lose my voice twice now. Lacie's not an amused author/retail slave. Have a drs appointment tomorrow to try to make the plague leave me alone.

Regardless of plague, I've written what I think is a freaking adorable fairy tale. It's goofy and cheesy, and has been freakishly fun to play with.

Course, I'm also working on editing 'Message in a Bottle'; my nano from this past November. And trying to ignore a dozen rampant plot bunnies bounding around in my head.

In reading worlds, I've stared Libba Bray's most recent novel, The Diviners; and am rereading Feed. I know, I know, I read it every year, but I do enjoy revisiting my favorite worlds; plus, I can still have fun and get writing done.

I'm off to dinner now, but I'll be back next week; promise.

<3 Lacie