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New Outlook On Fiction

Book Updates and Life

emjaye11

Hello readers!

I’m excited to announce I have two manuscript’s first drafts completed and ready for edits! Etan’s story and my new contemporary romance Hate at First Sight.

But even more exciting news… Golon’s story is coming along nicely. After a long stretch of starting and stopping this book for various health and family related reasons, it became so hard to immerse myself back into the story. It became this seemingly insurmountable beast in my mind.

But I challenged myself to get back into my passion, writing, and do it! I had a small niggle of a muse for just a rom com book so last fall I started writing it and slowly fell in love with writing all over again. Thus, Hate at First Sight was born. Then I was told about Kindle Vella by an author friend and I decided to put myself on a deadline by publishing the books as I write them. I do my best work with a deadline, and it sure has worked.

Golon’s book is longer than I ever expected or planned but I am blowing through the manuscript right now. I tend to stay immersed in one story for several days and then my brain jumps to another. I’m not sure why, but it’s always worked this way. In Danion and Eleanor’s books that was fine because the other books I jumped to was just the next ones in the series. Not so much now.

The book versions of these stories will have new scenes and added content that was not released in the vella version as the vella’s are early drafts of my writing process and I airways add several scenes later on in the process. I do add notes after a lot of the chapters with behind the scenes tid bits of my writing process as well.

I’ve figured out a system that works, I wrote a lot the past few years but never strung them all together in a cohesive book and then sent it off for editing. But it’s happening now, my hope is to start bringing new books online multiple times a year like I used to do when I was writing The True Immortals Series.

I’m prioritizing Golon’s story, but due to the fact the other ones I’m writing are about half the length, they are finishing up quicker. I’m pushing hard to have Golon released this year. And barring unforeseen massive editing delays, I see no reason it shouldn’t be. Etan’s short story is with an editor now and Kowan’s will be next in the Gelder universe as his is a short as well.

Nix and Arsenio’s stories are going to be started once Golon’s is complete but they do have rough outlines already has they have many overlapping scenes with Golon’s book. Exciting times are ahead.

Anyway, thanks for sticking with me.

As Always,

Happy Reading

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New Outlook On Fiction

Update in 2023

emjaye11

Hi Everyone,

This has been a crazy few years for me, and sadly writing just was not able to be at the forefront for much too long. I’ve spent most of the last 3 years either pregnant or deep in the infant stage. Which is lovely and wonderful but very time-consuming. But my family is now complete and I am slowly emersing myself back into my fictional worlds. Writing is still something I am doing more part-time, however, I have been writing diligently for months and I am excited to have new works coming out this year!

Golon’s book, name TBD, has some real shape to it but is not finished. Realistically, his book will not be finished for several months to a year. BUT, since it has been so long from when I originally wanted to release it. I am going to be releasing his book early, chapter by chapter, as I write it this year onto Amazon’s new platform Kindle Vella.

His book has been a monster to write because so much of his book is retelling scenes from the first series in his own perspective and keeping timelines straight with both Arsenio’s and Nix’s books. And so I have written it in chunks and sections and then had to leave it and then jump back to it.

I want his story told, so I am going to let it be open on Vella first. Once the draft is complete, I plan to do a final edit myself, then send it off to my editor for professional edits, and then make my final tweaks and then release the book on Kindle as a full copy as well. If you are interested in reading it more in a Vella style, keep an eye out for the first chapter in February when it goes live. I will send an email when it is available both on Vella and when the full novel is available.

In other news, I have rewritten Kowan’s and Etan’s short stories into complete stories and they are being released to Kindle Vella now. Etan’s story has 4 chapters available right now, with two more coming next week and then one more every week until finished. Kowan’s goes live next week and then will follow a 1 chapter per week format until his story is finished. The first 5 chapters of both of them are very similar to what used to be on the blog, but chapters 6 and on are all completely new and will wrap up each of their stories.

And finally, a completely new book- Hate at First Sight- was written and designed for the Kindle Vella platform and is just about ready to be released. I am just waiting on the artwork to be finalized. It is a new stand-alone contemporary romance book. I am excited about it, and I hope anyone who is interested in it will give it a read!

Thanks for listening to my ramble.

As always,

Happy Reading!

New Outlook On Fiction

Life and Book Update

emjaye11

So… I’m back! I have been writing. I swear. Quietly. In a corner. But I did disappear for a bit and there were reasons for that hiatus.

So the cute one of those reasons… I had a baby! And unfortunately the complications that I had with my first were not a one off thing (detailed in another Blog post) . It was a “going to be every pregnancy and escalate with each one” kinda thing.

Now I knew there was that risk, I was prepared for that. Or at least I thought I was. But there were some things I just didn’t know about, like permament organ damage, maybe not going to full term kinda things, and it turns out I was really, really, REALLY not prepared.

But, thanks to an outstanding doctor my second baby girl (and sadly most likely my last) was born earlier this year and we are both doing great now.

The trauma of my personal 2020 not to mention the massive elephant in the room we all know about that ALSO derailed 2020 means Golon’s book is way behind any schedule I once had. I currently have the story fully outlined and about half of the manuscript drafted. I am making progress but it’s still slow going.

This was just something to let you all know about the delay, and that I honestly don’t have a time frame. I refuse to just spit out words to finish the book, Golon and Marilee deserve better.

I have some ideas to help bridge the long wait between books but haven’t committed to anything yet. Giving some thought to creating a patreon and sharing what I have written as a sneak peak for subscribers along with a few other added bonuses and perks, such as being in the acknowledgements, having a say in the story development by telling me what you are hoping to see, etc. But not fully committed to that yet. Would depend on interest really.

Another idea is posting just the first chapter to the blog, similar to the sneak peaks given in each of the other books.

Or both.

If you have a preference let me know! I am currently posting more things on IG, FB, and Twitter but most of that is just day to day life and writing updates. No spoilers or anything juicy. And I’m notorious for spacing and abandoning social media for months once writing really gets going. But, I’m going to try to be forth coming.

That’s all I’ve got for you wonderful people, thank you for reading my words and as always Happy Reading!

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A New Outlook on Being a Writer: The Struggle of Fighting a Flaw

emjaye11

Hello Everyone!

It has been a while since my last post, I have been deep in the Gelder world…book three is off for another round of editing and on schedule for a November release! Almost here. I feel like it is some of my best work and I cannot wait for all of you to read it.

Also, I am excited to announce that I will be starting a small short stories edition here on my blog that will be free! It is going to be called Gelder Shorts and will contain scenes with characters from the Gelder books, stand alones in their own right but will also add to the Gelder storyline of the book that you can purchase on Amazon.  I will be working on the first installment and then posting it shortly!

Now back to my new outlook of being a writer, like I said in my last post, I am a very stubborn person. This stubbornness is actually what led me to becoming an author after a lifetime of dreaming about it. I did promise more detail on what exactly happened in my pregnancy so here it is.

In the last stage of my pregnancy, I was really struggling, but I refused to admit it. Even though I was so swollen that my doctor said: “We may have to cut off the ring!” when I asked her about my wedding ring and my concerns that I could not get it off, I shrugged off my worries. Along with gaining thirteen pounds in a week, having severe nausea and headaches, I still said everything was fine.

Once my water broke, and agonizing hours in the delivery room, it was discovered that I had severe preeclampsia and was stuck in the hospital for five days! If I had only reached out to my mother, or any handful of friends who had been through labor already, I would have been able to get the help I needed before it got as bad as it did.

That very stubbornness led me to go back to work early, even though I was still dizzy when walking and still could not control my blood pressure. I ignored the blatant signs that I was suffering from postpartum depression, I was not eating when separated from my baby, not sleeping, and every day I felt a little bit worse than the day before.

Finally, I couldn’t keep putting on a brave face, and I collapsed in the classroom, terrifying some twelve-year-olds. One moment I was describing the grading rubric for their solar system projects and the next I was crashing to the floor.

All because I was stubborn… And it did not end there. I am still stubborn, even now a year later and I still refuse to ask for help. But I am trying! But flaws are fickle, even when we win the hard battle of admitting we have them, changing is an uphill battle.

Right now, my gut reaction to any suggestion of help is… No, I am fine! Even when I am not. After spending a fantastic day with my one-year-old, I feel so tired some days, but the writing muse is still hard upon me. I end up writing in the wee hours while the house sleeps… Who needs more than three hours of sleep anyway?!

But enough of this poor me complaining! Thank you all for reading about me, and look for the first edition of Gelder Shorts!

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A New Outlook on Being a ‘Writer’

emjaye11

Hi Everyone!

In addition to being an author and creating new and exciting worlds for you to enjoy, I decided to share a little bit of my own real world with you. As writers we tend to delve deep into the fiction with our audience and leave out the important parts of our lives that led us into being writers in the first place. I am about to get pretty real with you all on what path has brought me to fulfilling my life long dream of writing my own novels.

If you haven’t already I strongly recommend you read my books, which can be found on Amazon! Of course I am biased on their quality but I truly feel like they are a strong story line and filled with heroes that are flawed like the rest of us.

But are flaws a bad thing? I mean really? Have you ever met a perfect person? I know I haven’t and you know what? I don’t want to. They sound BORING. I know I am flawed. And because of these flaws, I am the person I am today. Because of these very flaws, I am an author.

So you might be wondering how flaws led me into writing a book… and not a self help book either but a full fledged 65000 word novel with another 80000 word novel soon to be released. Well…. let me tell you.

My biggest flaw? Ask my husband any day of the week and he will tell you it is that I am stubborn to my core. I think I can take on the entire stinking world without any help.  Because of this fateful flaw I decided that I would move across the state at eight months pregnant, ignoring the many signs I had that maybe my pregnancy was having some difficulties.  I started a new job, took on increasingly difficult tasks all while steadily declining in health.

It was this same stubbornness that prevented me from seeking a second opinion when my new doctor told me ‘everything is fine’ and I was just pregnant. Well… everything wasn’t fine and I learned in labor exactly what my body was trying to tell me. That particular story is for a later blog post though since it would take way to long to do it justice here.

You would think that this would have opened my eyes right? WRONG! After nine weeks of continued struggles with dizziness, loss of appetite, and overall fatigue I decided that I was ready to return to work instead of taking the allotted twelve weeks. Why you ask? Because as I said I am stubborn to my very core. I did not feel like I could miss anymore work (more on that later) and by golly I was going back and woe be to anyone who tells me no!

What did this all lead to? Four weeks into returning to my job as a science teacher I passed out in front of a room full of forty twelve year olds and my body straight up decided to scream at me “YOU ARE NOT ALRIGHT” and I finally had to listen. I took the time I needed to recover, but at that point months had gone by and I was at a loss of what to do with myself.

Then I stumbled upon a blog. A blog that by all rights was very simple and I can’t even remember how I found it. But that blog inspired me to put the characters in my head on to the page. If I had never found that blog and read about how to self publish I would not be here today, telling you about my journey.

It is because of that blog that I have decided to write my own blog. To let readers of my books, along with the rest of the world, read not only about my fictitious characters, but about the real me as well. A lot of what I post will be about my writing and the mishaps I had as a first time indie author, but there is also going to be quite a bit about my family, my struggles, and oh yeah… my many faults.