There's all this stuff in my head...: August 2012

Okay so it looks like I fell off the planet. Promise - I'm still here. The last four years have been ... hard. There's no other word for it. Everything is fine. I'm fine, but I've been the caregiver of my mom who has Dementia. Between her needs, work, etc I seem to have lost control of my time. I am still writing and am trying hard to get back to my blog.

In case you weren't aware Phaze and HSWF which where under the Mundania Umbrella have closed. I was smart enough to get my titles back before all this happened. I'm happy to say the three books I sold to HSWF have been picked up by Melange Books and are available through their Satin Books imprint. I have even sold a new title to them called Magical Quest due out in 2022

I have also been lucky enough to find a publisher for my Vespian Way series. I'm now with Blushing Books under the name of Bethany Drake. I have five titles out with them right now and am close to submitting two more. There's Desire's Destiny, Desire's Duty and Desire's Promise. Then there is two in my werewolf series, Tears of the Queen and Legend of the Tears. I have just finished the rough draft of the third book in the series and have plans for a fourth one the moment I submit it.

I'll probably still be sporadic here on the blog. Unless I win the lottery and can hire someone to help me I can't avoid it, but know I'm still here still working hard in the background and am hoping to do better at keeping my blog alive.

Barb:)

Thursday, August 30, 2012

New Release!

I am excited to announce that the 4th book in the Vespian Way will be released on October 2nd, 2012
Take a look at the cover!!! I love it!!!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Writing Down the Bones

So let's get into the post I wrote last time. How do you start a manuscript? There are so many different ways. I have friends who use post-it notes or index cards to plot out their books. They might write one word on the card but it helps them figure out the flow of their stories.

That doesn't work for me. I like to let my characters take me on a journey, and I have found if I try using the style I mention in the last paragraph it kills my creative juices. So no matter how many strange looks I get from other writers I stick to my guns and let my characters tell me how the story is going to go.

Now don't get me wrong, I do plot, but I do it in my head. I normally start with a paragraph or two of how the story is going to go. Then I start writing. I might not know every scene I'm going to put in the book as I go but I have found I never write something into the story that I have to throw out later. My characters never steer me wrong.