Estelan waiting.....

Estelan is on hold for a while.  As mentioned before I entered it into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel 2012 competition.  On February 23rd they will announce the 1000 entries that made it out of the first round.  If Estelan is selected the series will be placed on hold a little longer.  If it is not, I will be pushing forward with the self-pub of the series via Amazon.  I intend to keep everyone posted but this blog will be more silent as I push forward with the Emerald Seer Series (http://emeraldseer.blogspot.com) while waiting to hear the fate of Estelan in ABN.  My fingers are crossed as I entered it in the YA fiction category. 

Echo Rising and some decisions regarding Estelan.

After much deliberation, I have decided to name keep Echo Rising as the sequel to Estelan.  I considered going another direction and bumping Echo Rising to the third book in the series but I am finding myself in such a groove it would be a shame to disrupt it. 

Of course, I realize that only a few people have actually read Estelan (my beta readers) and that they will liekly be disappointed at my decision to make the series a YA fantasy series.  Hopefully others will be pleased with the decision. 

It feels difficult lately to post much on here about Creating Estelan since Estelan is pretty much on hold for the Amazon Breakthrough Contest and talking about Echo Rising could be pointless given that it is a sequel to a book few have read thus far.  At the same time, I do not want to give up on this blog because the process has been a huge help to me as a writer.  Hm.  Decisions, Decisions.  I must ponder such thoughts!

Estelan Update

I took a big leap.  Well, for me anyway.  I completed the edits for a 4th draft of Estelan (formerly known as Fall of Ia) and entered into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel competition.  I have opted to put Estelan out as a YA Fantasy because I think a good portion of the characters lend themselves to the YA genre moreso than the adult fantasy fiction.  It will still round out into an epic fantasy series of 4-5 books.  I am truly pleased with the outcome of Estelan and am hopeful it will be well received.  Unfortunately, the first round is judged on a 300 word or less pitch and that tends to be my downfall.  It is the main reason I opted to self publish my first two books (of the Emerald Seer Series - http://emeraldseer.blogspot.com).  I fail to see how a 300 word or less pitch can encapsulate the depth of an 80,000+ word novel told from multiple points of view.  The feedback I continue to receive is "focus on one character that links them all."  Easier said than done.  Some of the characters never meet each other (i.e. die before interacting with more than sub-characters).  In then end, I opted to go with something more general that I believe conveys the main plotline without giving away any of the plot twists.  I will know if I make the cut on February 24th, if I do not then I will be releasing Estelan as a self-pubbed work.  Until then, I will continue working on Echo Rising (sequel to Estelan) and End of the Night (third in the Emerald Seer Series).

Fingers crossed - Check
Writing cap on - Check
Hopefull - Check

Light My Fire - Emerald Seer II is a free ebook this weekend

Hey all!  In honor of the FABULOUS HOUSTON TEXANS making their first playoff appearance, I am offering Light My Fire (Emerald Seer II) as a freebie ebook on Amazon this weekend (SUNDAY and MONDAY - January 8th and 9th).  Enjoy!

GO TEXANS!

WOW

I have been hard at work on my paranormal romances and have to say it has been thrilling!  If you are interested in the Emerald Seer Series, please check my blog at http://emeraldseer.blogspot.com for more on how my first two installments are doing.

Back to Estelan, I am still re-working it and the breaks have been very refreshing.  Every time I look at it with "fresh eyes" I find a new tweak or slightly different spin that makes the story that much better.  I love it, am passionate about my characters and wishing I had just a little more time to write - and less time at my awful job!  Some day, I swear, some day I going to at least cut back to part time work so I can devote more time to writing.

Anyway, I just hopped over here to say Happy Holidays and give an update on how the writing is coming along.  If you get a new Kindle (or if you already own one!) take a chance and download the Emerald Seer Series by Violet Patterson.

Still on hiatus

I am actually re-working Estelan still but I am still working the edits for my paranormal romance - Light My Fire/Emerald Seer #2 - so that I can release it before Christmas.  If you are interested in my paranormal romance series, please check out my sister blog that focuses on the Emerald Seer - http://emeraldseer.blogspot.com/.

As for Estelan, I have stripped out a lot of history and segregated it for a potential stand alone novel.  I am focused on my main characters and looking to expand their experiences, their stories without cutting much away.  I still have the first 50 or so pages of the sequel to Estelan and feel pleased with the general rhythm I have set, my re-working is more of a fill in and expansion as I have been informed that the story is good but needs to be filled out some - if those are the only criticisms I get, I will take them!  For those how know me personally, talking/writing MORE is never a problem! 

Cheers!

Minor setback - well I think it is minor

I participated in NaNoWriMo so I wrote the sequel to my paranormal romance during the month of November which in turn meant a hiatus from Estelan.  Well, it is now December and NaNoWriMo is of course over so I settled down to work on Estelan and found myself feeling disappointed.  Why?  Because I realized just how much re-working is needed.  Let me rewind, I have a completed first draft for Estelan, I have edited twice, passed it out to a few people to read, re-titled it (it was Fall of Ia) and removed a good portion of the initial introduction.  So back to last night, I opened my file and settled in to write once the kids were in bed only to find that I still am not pleased with the beginning of my novel.  In a bit of a panic I skipped ahead a few chapters and started reading another character's POV and felt good about that chapter.  In fact, I felt good about several chapters that I perused beyond that.  I am simply dissatisfied with the intro and I am not sure where to actually begin.  Needless to say, I did not accomplish much more than staring at my laptop screen last night.  Ugh.  I am ready to start fresh today, hoping it will just come to me as so many other things have.  My goal for Estelan is to have a final manuscript ready to send out by February, I have set smaller goals for myself to facilitate the process (with fabulous rewards for each mark I hit!!) in hopes that I will be more successful.  Of course, in conjunction with marketing my paranormal romances, working FT, and being a mom it is going to be somewhat challenging :)  Wish me luck!