The Fire of Merlin Now Available

I'm excited to announce that Donna Hosie's, The Fire of Merlin is now available from Amazon. This is book 2 in Donna's trilogy, The Return to Camelot YA series. You can order both Book 1, Searching for Arthur and newly released, The Fire of Merlin by visiting Donna's author page here. For a fun, time traveling adventure in the land of Logres, download these two books today.

A word to those who are still writing, only 27 hours left of NaNoWriMo...
KEEP GOING! YOU CAN DO IT!

NaNoWriMo Update

First, congrats to those who have reached the 50,000 word count and won NaNoWriMo!

A big, heartfelt WOOHOOOO!!! to you all. (I'm looking at you Donna Weaver :) I am so very proud of you!

As of today, Wednesday, November 21, 2012 I have a total of 8,243 words. Not jaw dropping by any means but I am proud. Most days I start my regular schedule at 5:30AM and don't have a moment to sit until 8:30 in the evening. That's when I start writing. There are some nights when "butt in chair" meets "head on desk." Last Friday night, I was on the desktop in my computer room and my 16 year-old was on the laptop. After a while I heard, "Mom, you're sleeping!" I was slumped to the side of my chair with my eyes closed. Not a very productive night.

According to my NaNo stat indicator I'm 41,757 words behind, which means I'll finish my novel on March 7, 2013. Okay then. March 7, 2013 it is.

I didn't mean to turn this into one of those me, me, me posts that I try to avoid. The point is, I'm not trying to justify the fact that I'm not going to win NaNoWriMo. I knew that on October 31st. I'd like to direct you to Tasha Seegmiller's blog post titled Success and Failure. Her last two paragraphs (before the bolded questions) are exactly how I approach November.

Tasha's awesome words:

So, to those of you who thrive on cranking out words at light speed, I applaud you.  I'm in awe of you because I'm not now nor will I ever be that fast.  And to those of you who are a bit more like me, just remember the key is to keep moving forward, writing our best in the way that allows that to happen.  And while we sit on the side of the freeway, watching the other writers fly past us with MS's in hand, we can still celebrate our progress as well.

In September, my word count was 0

In October, my word count was 0

November, so far 8243

This month, which is not by any means over, I've pushed myself to write every day and I'm seeing results - real results. And I'm ecstatic! This story is taking shape and I'm pumped to continue this pace even past November until the story is finished.

To those who have finished or are well on the way, I'm in awe of you. Well done!

But if you're like me, dreadfully behind, and you're thinking, "Why bother? I'm not going 'to win' NaNo anyway. I say, "You're wrong." You've already won. Keep going! We'll 'not win' together!

Are you still deep in NaNoWriMo? Tell me how it's going.

Writing Through the Weekend

Short post alert. It's NaNoWriMo, people!

For me, weekends are a great way to catch up on my NaNoWri Mo writing if I couldn't achieve my daily goal during the week, or to get ahead knowing full well the craziness that awaits during the coming week.

Here are few tips that I'll try to follow on November weekends:

1. Set the alarm (groan) and get up early. Modified version: Only hit the snooze once. Okay, twice but that's it!

2. Let everyone know that they're only allowed to wear pajamas all weekend to cut back on laundry loads.

3. Stock up on chocolate or whatever gets you through. "Whatever gets me through" last night was one glass of wine which led to two which led to me following asleep at the keyboard. Better stick to the chocolate.

4. Use a chair cushion (no explanation needed)

5. Let everyone know I'M WRITING - "What do you mean you need a ride to soccer?"

6. NO TV - Modified version: only watch half of the Notre Dame football game. Okay, keep office door open and run in when I hear the ND fight song after a touchdown/field goal.

Do you have any special NaNoWriMo strategies for weekend writing? Please share and then get back to writing.

The Fire of Merlin and Hot Knights Giveaway!

Hot knights in a giveaway? Sign me up! Oh, well, that's not exactly what my writing buddy, the fabulous Donna Hosie, had in mind for her giveaway. Instead, it's the next best thing. But I'll get to that at the bottom of this post.

As you may remember, I helped Donna promote her debut self-published YA novel, Searching for Arthur, the first installment of her ebook trilogy, The Return to Camelot series. If you haven't read it and would like more info, please click here and then come back.

On November 30, 2012, the second ebook in her series, The Fire of Merlin, will be released through Amazon. And how awesome is that cover? I want her hair. Just sayin'. *ahem* Here is the blurb:

The Return to Camelot series continues in The Fire of Merlin.

Seventeen-year-old Natasha Roth, and her brother, Arthur, are reunited once more with the Knights of the Round Table. Unfortunately their joy is not shared by Arthur's girlfriend, "Slurpy" Samantha, whose hatred of Natasha has not been lessened by time or distance since the Roth family relocated to London.

But Natasha's happiness is short-lived.

The knights come with ill news from Logres: a magical darkness has fallen over the land. The Lady of the Lake, Nimue, is battling against her former lover, Merlin, whom she imprisoned before the enchanted sleep. He has been freed and Natasha soon discovers that her own actions the previous year unlocked more than just a gateway between the past and the present. When "Slurpy" disappears, a frantic Arthur decides they must leave the 21st century once more and return to Camelot.

With her beloved Sir Bedivere by her side, Natasha follows the sound of the bells and leads Arthur and the knights back into Logres. But there are more than bells ringing in her head. Natasha starts to suffer from terrifying visions in which she sees the destruction of Logres.

As the darkness continues to infect the living, the people start turning on one another, accusing outsiders of witchcraft. Terrified that Natasha will be hurt, Sir Bedivere takes her, the dwarf Byron and Byron's sister, Guinevere, into the safety of his father's castle. Yet nowhere in Logres is free from fear and suspicion, and Sir Bedivere unwittingly leads Natasha into a terrifying chain of events in which time itself is manipulated.

Natasha must uncover the truth about the danger to Logres and those she loves. Who is the real threat to Arthur? Can myth and legend become fact? What is the secret that "Slurpy" is now hiding? 

And for the love of all things holy, when will Logres invent saddles?

Now about that giveaway. Searching for Arthur, the first ebook in Donna's series, will be available as a free download from Amazon from November 1st to November 4th. Seriously! It's free!  So if you love a contemporary Arthurian tale with a strong female lead character, a nasty nemesis, time travel, and hot knights, why not give it a read?  

To read the first installment of The Return to Camelot series, click here to download from Amazon. If you don't have a Kindle, like me, no problem. I was able to download a free Kindle app for my computer so that I could read Donna's novels. Easy as pie.