Blood Moon's release day is here! The pre-orders have gone out and Blood Moon is now available on Amazon & Kindle Unlimited! Click on the covers, below, for their Amazon.com pages.
Progress: Another chapter of Aurora is finished! I am now halfway through Chapter 8 and will hopefully get that one finished today, as well. Also, working on the outline for Book #5, which I have not decided on a title for yet.
Release day is almost here! In less than 48 hours, the pre-ordered copies will go out and Blood Moon will become available on Amazon & Kindle Unlimited! I am behind on my post for this week, mostly due to holiday traveling. I was hoping to find the time to work on the book trailer for Blood Moon, however, I haven't. :(
I did take a few minutes to skim through the manuscript and pull a few teaser quotes to share with you! You can see who says a few of them. For the others, you'll just have to read Blood Moon to find out who said what. Check them out, below.
~ Gabby gaped at her. “I know the queen likes to read
stories to you, but you don’t actually believe them. Do you? There isn’t always
a brave knight to come and save you.”
~ “Who are you?” he demanded. “And don’t lie to me.
Did my father send you to track me? Are you a spy?”
“I am no spy,” she spat, pulling her arm away. “And
even if I were a spy, I wouldn’t tell you. That would make me a terrible spy.”
~ “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at the
castle?” she shouted.
“Why are you
here? You should be at the castle.
It’s your wedding day,” he shouted back.
“It’s your wedding day, too. Yet, you’re out in
the forest, riding a horse.”
“And
what are you riding, Princess? A ghost?”
~ “Are you hiding from your horse?”
“Don’t be judgmental. This is my last apple.”
~ “I’ve met plenty of princesses before,” he said,
“but I’ve never kissed one.”
~ “Sid, I’ve been thinking about something,” he
began.
“Oh, no. Why do I have a feeling that you are
about to say something I will not like?”
“Because I am.”
~ “I can’t believe you agreed to this,” Rowan said,
laughing. “This is the most insane idea that I have ever heard. And I have
heard of some fairly ridiculous ideas. Even thought up a few of them, myself.”
~ “For a man
with such confidence, Dagan, I am getting a small thrill watching you squirm.”
Teeheehee... I had a few more but didn't want to share too much and ruin some of the surprises.
Progress:
Remember when I said that I was taking a break until the end of January? Well... apparently, I am a liar. Haha! I'm already on Chapter 7 of Aurora and I have started making notes for the next series to come, after I finish with the Everealm Series. The next series will spring ahead a few years and follow Sarita and Gabby (and a few others). I have yet to decide exactly how many years will pass between the two but I intend the series to start after Sarita enters adulthood. Of course, our favorite people will make appearances, but I also have a few new characters to add that I think you will love!
Also, the schedule for the Blood Moon book tour has been posted! Click on the tour banner at the top of the page for the schedule, or look below. I can't wait to revisit some of my favorite bloggers and meet a few new ones!
Hello, on this Medieval Monday! This week, I am revealing the cover for the next book in the series. So... here it is! The cover for Aurora, Book Four of the Everealm Series!
And here are all of the covers, lined up!
The scoop: I decided to name the fourth book Aurora because it literally means "dawn". The events in Blood Moon are going to have a very strong impact on the realm and cause a major change in magic. At the end of Blood Moon, you will get a sneak peek into the first chapter of Aurora and see exactly what I mean by this change. There is a new dawn on the horizon for Everealm, or in other words... a beautiful Aurora!
The progress: I have 21 chapters outlined for Aurora. This is actually two more chapters than I had outlined before starting Blood Moon so it seems I'm more prepared this time around. I will also add chapters as I go. I usually end up with around 24-25 chapters per book, anyway.
I am taking it slow during January in order to participate in the Blood Moon blog tour (Jan. 25-29th) and recuperate after the holidays. I will still be writing snippets (scenes) for Aurora and also a few short stories that I am waaaayyy behind on. So I still have plenty to keep me busy before jumping deeper into Aurora.
Also, I have about half of the chapter points for the fifth book already decided on. Unless I change my mind, the fifth book will be the last book in this series. Don't worry, though. There is still more Everealm to come after that. Details coming soon!
I was going to wait until later today to post this but I've been so busy with editing and outlining that I am afraid I might get distracted later on and forget to post. So....
First up...
New giveaway! Check out the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. Giveaway ends on January 1, 2016 in honor of the release of Blood Moon. Also know that the winner will be the very first reader to get their hands on a paperback copy of Blood Moon.
P.S. I am so excited to share this book with you! :)
Your prizes:~ Signed paperback copies of all three books in the seriesAND~ $15 Amazon.com gift card
All you have to do is match the name of the person with their quote. Easy, right? I've decided to stick with Everealm quotes, only, this time. This game is just for fun. It does NOT affect your chances of winning the giveaway. The only way to win the giveaway is through the Rafflecopter widget, above.
Feel free play along in private. Or if you'd like, post your answers below, on Facebook (under this pinned post), on Twitter @everealmbyjdw or on Goodreads under my status update. I will post the answers next #MedievalMonday when I put up a new While We Wait post!
1) "Looking for romance now,
are we, Princess? Aren’t you a bit young
for this nonsense?”
2) “I cannot continue to escort that woman around. I simply can’t. I may
have to feed her to the pigs before this week is over.”
3) “This dark blue fabric, then, to match his eyes. Oh, and silver for the
trim, to match his hair.”
4) “Which part? Seducing your lover?
Or helping my father kidnap your mother?”
5) “What I wish is for my plan to have succeeded. But since I can’t have
that now, I will settle for a finger.”
6) “Keep it. Put it under your pillow and maybe you won’t suck your thumb
tonight, little boy.”
7) “Because I thought you might like a chance to dirty up her pillows… My
Queen.”
8) “Just look at them. We really are some
incredible fools, you and me.”
9) “I am not a coward. I will not let you or anyone else intimidate me or my
kingdom!”
10) “Mister Wizard. I think that servant girl is wearing a costume.”
A) Sidonie
B) Finn
C) Adelphie
D) Dagan
E) Rowan
F) Bree
G) Silas
H) Dahlia
I) Sarita
J) Simon Stay tuned! Next week: Teaser snippets from Blood Moon PLUS the cover reveal of Aurora: Book Four of the Everealm Series!! P.S. You may have noticed the share count above has gone WAY down. Twitter has stopped allowing their Tweets to be counted, so Twitter shares are no longer shown. Even though I can't see your Tweets unless you tag me @everealmbyjdw, just know that they are still appreciated! :)
As promised, here is a sneak peek into Blood Moon, Book Three of the Everealm Series! This is Chapter Two. The short Prologue and Chapter One can be found at the end of Wildfire. Chapter Two begins after Wildfire ends, so only a couple of weeks have passed since the Winter Ball.
Next week, stay tuned for a game of Who Said It? and a chance to win ALL THREE books in paperback!
NOTE: Chapter has had a rough edit and proofread. Final edit is to come. There may be a few small mistakes I haven't caught yet.
Enjoy!
~J.D.
NOTE: I moved the chapter to a separate page to prevent spoilers. If you haven't read books 1 & 2, DON'T CLICK. Spoilers may lie ahead. Thank you! :)
When I decided to write a book series, about a year and a half ago, I didn't realize exactly how deep into self-publishing that I would get. I also didn't think, even for a second, that I would receive as much positive response as I have. From the beginning to now, the self-publishing process has been a roller coaster. But I can hardly complain, because if this were 20 years ago, I might not have been able to publish my series, at all!
Here are a few things I've discovered along the way (so far!). Forgive me, but I'm in the mood for gifs, tonight. :)
~ Mistakes will happen!
As with any new adventure, you're bound to hit a few bumps in the road. When you are doing most everything yourself, there isn't someone there to point out the mistakes. However, the digital age makes it much easier to correct my mistakes. For example: I recently discovered that the paperback cover of Wildfire had a spelling error on the back. Thankfully, only a small number of copies had gone out at that point, mostly for giveaways, so there are only a few floating around. If you have one, consider yourself the lucky owner of a special edition! :) But fixing it was super easy. I just corrected the image file and re-uploaded it. From here out, the paperback covers are error free (I hope!)
~ Waiting for feedback is excruciating!
You know people are reading your books. You can see the downloads and the "currently reading" statuses, but you never know if/when someone will post a review. The worst situation is when someone finishes the book and puts "Review to come" without a star rating. It makes me crazy anxious wondering if they liked the story or not. I find myself constantly checking to see if the review is posted yet. I love when readers update their progress (and thoughts) on Goodreads or Twitter as they read along! I can usually gauge if they are/aren't enjoying it, thus far. Either way, waiting to get feedback is torture! I know I'm not alone with this. In my best Tom Petty voice, "Oh, the waiting is the hardest part..."
~ Editing matters!
No, I don't use a professional editor. However, I have great proofreaders who find a vast majority of my errors. I also use Grammarly, which reminds me to stop using loooooooong sentences, which is one of my bad habits, along with too many commas. Oops! I've picked up a terribly edited ebook (or one that wasn't edited, at all!) and couldn't even get past the first few pages. If I have to spend the entire time correcting errors in my mind, I can't pay attention to the story. So I do understand the importance of proofreading.
~ Competition is greater than ever (but fellow authors are really supportive)!
~ Connecting with readers is a lot of fun!
I didn't realize just how much fun I would have connecting with readers on Goodreads, Twitter, this blog, other blogs, etc. I also love seeing readers connecting with each other. It's nice to know I'm not alone in this endeavor and it inspires me to write. Authors who sit back and watch, rather than participating in discussions with their readers are really missing out.
~ Goodreads is an author's BEST friend!
I had never even heard of Goodreads.com until I decided to publish Everealm. I'm not even sure how I found it but I'm glad I did! If you are an author, I highly encourage you to create and maintain an author profile on Goodreads. I see many authors who have a page but do not use it which is wasting a great opportunity to connect with readers. Besides the fact that you can see when people are reading your book and their feedback, you can host giveaways (for paperbacks), post status updates, videos, etc. Personally, my favorite part of using Goodreads is the fact that I can, and have, received private messages from readers. They can ask me questions or give me feedback. It's more casual that way.
~ Formatting is the devil in disguise!
Uploading a manuscript anywhere on the internet requires proper formatting. Each website (Amazon, Smashwords, Createspace, etc.) has their own guidelines and requirements for uploading. This means you have to format your book differently for each site if you want it to be accepted. Smashwords has the most irritating "rules" of the sites I've used, but all of them cause a headache. After uploading and re-uploading, over and over, you begin to understand why authors pay someone to do it for them.
That's all for now. I'm sure I'll do a "Part 2" later on. :)
I can't believe how busy this fall has already been. Between cookies and writing, I haven't had a lot of time to be on the computer, which makes me sad. I have been checking in on my favorite blogs, though, at least twice a week. And I've tried to Tweet a few times, but mostly I've been working on Blood Moon. And guess what..?
It's halfway finished! Yay!
But enough about what has already happened. Here is what's NEW in November!
NetGalley: Everealm is now available on NetGalley! If you are a NetGalley member, feel free to send a request. Most requests will be granted. Wildfire is being added to NetGalley within the next 3 days (hopefully today!). So if you've read Everealm but haven't gotten around to Wildfire yet, now is your chance!
Book Tour: Wildfire is touring November 23-28 through Bewitching Book Tours! I will be doing a giveaway with this tour, similar to the YA Bound tour. It will include paperback copies of BOTH Everealm and Wildfire AND instead of a necklace, you can win a gorgeous pair of earrings from Rabbitwood and Reason. I just love that Etsy shop! Her jewelry creations are really magnificent.
Giveaways: In addition to the giveaway for the tour, I will be hosting another Goodreads giveaway for a signed paperback copy of Everealm. It starts on Friday the 13th (oooo spooky!) and ends on November 23rd. When the giveaway starts, I will put a widget at the top of the page, like before.
FREE: During the Wildfire book tour, Everealm ebook copy will be FREE on Amazon from November 23-27. Hopefully, anyone who sees the tour posts and is interested in starting the series will snag a free e-copy during the promotion.
I finally found a few quiet moments to do the pronunciation video! I have also added it to the Pronunciation page (for future reference) under the Guide to Everealm, up top ^.
The poll for the next short story is finished so I will begin working on a new short story for Bree & Rowan, as children. I will leave the poll up for a few more days so you can vote for your second favorite choice, and if I find time, I will write up a story for the 2nd place choice, as well. In the meantime, here is a quick short story from Reeve and Gabby's first few days in Everealm, before the tournament!
Gabby Gets Her Way
“I want to come
and watch you compete,” Gabby said. “I want to see you knock the other men on
their asses! Come on, Reeve. Please?”
“Gabrielle, we’ve
discussed your choice of using swear words. It is very unbecoming of a lady.”
“I don’t see a
lady here.”
“You may not, now. But one day you will meet a boy
that you want to impress, someday marry, and you will find that your bad habits
are hard to break.”
“If a boy wants to
marry me, he will have to like everything about me,” she said. “And that
includes my choice of using swear words. Besides, Mother used them, all of the
time.”
“And our mother
died alone, Gabby. With no husband,” Reeve said, picking up his sword and
shield. “Do you want to end up like she did? A gypsy woman, living on her own
with two children?”
Their mother’s
parents had been true gypsies, traveling from one place to another, staying
just long enough to drain the people they met of their money and jewels before
moving on to the next village and a new scam.
Reeve and Gabby’s
mother, Giselle, had been raised to follow the same tradition. Marry young, to
another gypsy, and follow a similar path in life as her parents. Those same
parents who were killed when they tried to con the wrong man.
But life had
turned out a bit different for the daughter of the gypsies. The boy she was
supposed to marry had died from disease. Then an unexpected pregnancy left
Giselle without even a prospect for a husband and after the death of her
parents, she found herself alone, with a small child. And even though she was
able to pull herself together well enough to provide at least an occasional
meal for Reeve, Giselle hadn’t been a very good mother to him.
On more than one
occasion, she left him alone for days at a time to run off with a man, mostly
complete strangers to her. At times, Reeve was forced to eat scraps that the
neighboring farmers set out for their animals each morning.
Once Reeve was old
enough to work, he found jobs in whatever town they were staying near, in order
to take care of his mother and himself. And between working and tending the few
animals they could afford to keep, he taught himself to write and read. He
thought that if he were able to provide for his mother, she wouldn’t feel the
need to run off with strange men for money. It worked, mostly. She began to
build a home for the two of them, the best she knew how. Though, she did leave
for a week when Reeve was twelve. Giselle returned, as usual, but discovered
later that she was pregnant. Gabrielle was born two days after Reeve’s thirteenth
birthday.
Holding his tiny
sister in his arms, Reeve swore that he wouldn’t allow her to face the same
childhood that he had been forced to endure. He made it his mission in life to
care for her. If not for Reeve’s persistence that Gabby get an education, she
might not have ever learned to read.
It was that same
wish to educate Gabby and provide better for her that influenced Reeve to enter
the tournament. He found out about the tournament on their first day in the
village. The innkeeper saw Reeve’s helmet and assumed he was a squire,
competing for the title of Knight of Junacave.
The prize money,
alone, would be enough to pay for tutors and new gowns for his sister. Even
though Gabby liked to hunt and spar (she was quite good with a small sword),
she still got sparkles in her eyes when she saw pretty gowns, like most
thirteen year old girls, he assumed. And while entering the tournament was not
his actual reason for coming to Junacave, he had to admit that the idea of
competing excited him. And his sister seemed to be just as anxious as he was.
“So… can I go? To
the tournament?” she asked. “I will stay in the front, I promise. And I won’t
talk to anyone I don’t know, which is everyone, since we’ve only been here for
six days.”
“I don’t know,
Gabby. I would feel better if you stay here, where I know you will be safe.”
“You don’t really
know I will be safe here, though. Do you? The man downstairs could be one of
those insane men who like to rummage through people’s trunks and wear their
clothing.”
“Your imagination
is terrifying. But you’re right. I don’t know the innkeeper very well, though,
I doubt he is an insane man who wants to wear your nightgowns.” Reeve gave her
a blank look, then sighed. “Yes, you can come. I will probably be eliminated in
the first few days, anyway…”
Gabby smiled. She
knew she could win him over, eventually. When it came to her, Reeve was soft.
But when it came to the tournament, he would be fierce and she knew it. That’s
why she had to be there. He wouldn’t have a single person in the crowd to cheer
for him, unless she was there. He wasn’t from this place, after all.
“I’ll get my
cloak,” she said, and hopped down from the wooden stool that she had been
sitting on.
Reeve was glad he
didn’t have to face his sister in the tournament because he would certainly
lose. He shook his head and muttered, “Every time. She wins, every time.”
The blog tour for Wildfire is finished! I had a blast doing this tour, which was my first! I got several reviews for Wildfire and I'm happy to say that ALL of them were positive reviews! Yay!
I did notice that most reviews liked Wildfire more than Everealm, which actually makes sense to me because I think I finally found my writing "groove" while working on Wildfire. I, also, noticed that several readers think parts of Wildfire feel a bit rushed, so I am keeping that in mind while writing Blood Moon (Book Three). :)
Here is a video about the tour, new paperbacks, giveaways, etc. This is my first video and I'm still working out a few kinks, trying to keep the audio and video in sync throughout. I apologize, in advance!
As mentioned in the video, here is the necklace that is included in the tour giveaway. Isn't it gorgeous? The shop on Etsy is Rabbitwood and Reason and Dosha (shop owner) is so talented!
P.S. Happy to say that we are at 1,040 entries this morning!
