Climate Change and Haiyan

I feel prophetic, or psychic,...or at least really intuitive.

Let's go with really intuitive.

I'm in the midst of finishing my Khloe Alwell series and the last book is going to be full of all kinds of things - love, betrayal, war, politics, and prophecy. Beyond this however, it is about climate change and the effects humanity has on our environment. It's about the inevitable backlash we'll receive from natural forces - from Earth.

If there were Sidhe in this world, or under a veil somewhere, they definitely would have caused Sandy. They definitely would have caused Haiyan. And these would only be the beginning.

And the call of Filipino leaders to a council of action to address climate change is the kind of thing humanity needs to do, will have to do (and will do in my series) if there is to be any hope for us.

Who Caused Haiyan?

This post is written from Khloe's perspective about a current event that is a little too close to the premise of her saga. It's ironic I thought of this type of terror years before Sandy and Haiyan...

I was watching the news. I read it on my smartphone while waiting for Dani. I knew they had plans to destroy humans but I never thought it would get this bad. I saw Sandy and while my father caught those immediately responsible, it doesn't prevent things like Haiyan from occurring. We have to catch the ones pulling the strings if we want to avoid record wind speeds and death tolls.

Laran has ideas. Like him, I think those responsible are the same ones who killed his parents - the same ones who attacked me, and recruited Macha. And it's only going to get worse. If, as I suspect, there are Seelie and Sidhe colluding against reunification, there's only one solution.

You have to stop. You have to stop thinking everything can be thrown away. You have to stop using things that will only destroy land, water, and air. Stop now! Forget plastic. Forget industrial agriculture. Forget gasoline and constant electronic use. Forget GMOs. Forget fracking and mountaintop removal mining. Forget oil. Forget pesticides. Forget using anything that takes longer than five minutes of travel. Forget cities and computers. Forget clear-cutting and dams.

This time, this obscene industrialization and super technological age, is over. This is your last chance. If you continue, you risk your race's complete annihilation. I'm going to do what I can, but there are no guarantees. You have to do your part. If you don't take responsibility for your actions, for the destruction you've wrought, there's nothing I can do.

In the end,  it's your choice. You decide.

Happy Birthday Khloe or Happy Halloween!

SPOILER ALERT: I'm going to try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, but if you haven't read LOVERS & RIVALS and you like surprises, don't read the rest of this post.

It seems like just yesterday that I began Khloe's story. Now I'm working on the fourth book in (and conclusion of) her series. Wild!

Since today is Khloe's birthday, I thought I'd let you in on some questions that I plan to answer in book 4 (FAMILY, FRIEND, OR FOE):

1. How far off the reservation will Freyr go? Can Freyr be redeemed or will he just fade into crazytown?
2. What happened to Bruce Nichols?
3. Just who was masquerading as Lord Bran?
4. What's going on in the black out zone in Mag Mell?
5. Who is the reincarnation of Zeus?
6. Who visited Khloe in the fall during her lunch hour? Was it a vision of Ammon or was it someone else?
7. Just what do the unicorns and brownies know? What aren't they saying?
8. What actually happened to Laran's parents? Were their deaths connected to the prophecy somehow or just anti-Seelie sentiment?
9. How will Khloe and Laran unite the Otherworld? Can they convince humanity to change their ways or is humanity doomed?

I think that's probably enough to ponder. Any thoughts?  Leave a comment below!

LOVERS & RIVALS Giveaway!

Time to enter to win a copy of LOVERS & RIVALS! I'm giving away 3 copies leading up to a giveaway of BOOK 3 in the series - LILITH & AMMON! Check out the summary below and share with friends who love fantasy!

 

Going from eleventh grade botany to a Sidhe ruling council meeting isn't a typical course of events for most teens, but it's all part and parcel for Khloe Alwell.

Sixteen year old Khloe had her world turned upside down. Not only has she discovered the Otherworld and her heritage within it, but her family stands in the middle of the ancient and often violent division between Seelie and Sidhe. Now Khloe must struggle to learn the ways of her father's court, deal with heartbroken boys, navigate a strange relationship with her weapons instructor, and come to terms with the truth of an ancient prophecy. She will have to decide whether she will choose to go her own way, or follow her destiny as a leader of the Otherworld.

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The Writing Nitty Gritty

First of all, make sure you enter to win a copy of book 1 in the KHLOE ALWELL series, THE BROTHERS. You have nothing to lose, and a fun book to gain. Seriously.

Now that we've covered that and you have a second tab open in your browser ready to enter my giveaway, we can get on to business. And let me tell you - I have been busy.

Not only did I publish another book (BELOW THE BELT), upload a bunch of my ebooks to Goodreads (I'm going to set it up for you to purchase directly after reading a sample. To check them out, click my Goodreads widget in the sidebar!), but I also just completed my author interview on Smashwords. I probably should have asked and answered these questions myself a long time ago, but...I didn't. I don't have that much foresight. Luckily Smashwords does. I really recommend taking a look at my interview to learn more about the inner workings of my writerly brain. Then go ahead and browse the author interviews. I did that myself and found some really interesting stuff on there.

Smashwords authors are quite a wild mix. There are people like me who went straight to independent publishing and then there are people who came out of the Big Six publishing world to do something different (and every combination and iteration in between you can imagine!). It's also interesting to see the questions authors post and their specific paths (which vary greatly).

If you ever wanted to become an author (or just write a memoir), reading interviews of authors will be a helpful exercise. I guarantee it.

Now, if you've forgotten, let me remind you to enter my giveaway. Really. You should. Next week there will be a giveaway for book 2 (LOVERS AND RIVALS), followed by a giveaway for my brand spanking new book 3 - LILITH AND AMMON. You could win the whole series! But don't wait to enter - you have through Monday! Good luck!

I LOVE Sharing! or 3 in a ROW!

I have discovered something new about myself - I LOVE sharing my books with people. I don't mean talking about them. I mean, I'm an author. OF COURSE I like talking about them.

No, I mean giving them away.

I really love having book giveaways. They're fun. It makes me happy when I can tell someone they won a prize and I get to give them something they didn't know they'd get. Probably that puts a smile on their face (or at least that's how I imagine it) which puts a smile on my face.

How awesome is that?

Because I love doing this soooo much, I'm going to do a lead up to the release of LILITH & AMMON.

That means for the next couple weeks, you are going to be able to win a copy of each of the available KHLOE ALWELL books.

From TODAY through NEXT MONDAY you can enter to win THE BROTHERS.

The FOLLOWING WEEK you will be able to enter to win a copy of LOVERS & RIVALS.

THEN...as if this wasn't enough awesomeness...you can enter to win a free copy of LILITH & AMMON (which is readable either as a prequel or book 3...however you're feeling at the time).

Yep. In a few minutes I'll upload THE BROTHERS giveaway and you can start entering! Woohoo!

P.S. I'm a little excited. :-P

SWC: LILITH Revision & Uncertain Poetry Collection

It seems like every weekend has become a whirlwind. The end result is always my writing/work taking a dive while I recuperate for a couple days and then things pick back up.

As such, I have a little more than half of LILITH revised...and I didn't realize how much left I really needed to add to the manuscript. I knew I'd breezed through the first draft, but working through it a second time I realized how much I needed to plump up. So far I think I've added about 2000 or so words.

In other news, I finally got GIMP to a place where we're no longer fighting. As you may know, technology and I don't exactly get along well. The most recent iteration of GIMP and I have been...having differences. It came to a head yesterday when I was trying to finish a cover for my poetry collection and I almost threw my laptop. Of course, my frustration caused EVERY program to stop working. Literally. I was incapable of doing anything on my laptop.

Needless to say, my technopath husband came and saved the day last night, using his skills to do a little GIMP/Alexis conflict resolution.

This meant I was able to finish my poetry collection's cover (I think - though I'm going to have it checked by my test group before I reveal it). I've already researched digital poetry collections for word/poem counts and prices. Everything is pretty much set and ready to go formatting wise as well. Literally, once the cover is finished, I can set it up for preorders (a new feature on Smashwords! Woot woot!) and subsequent publication.

LILITH will be ready to go when this revision is complete.

Then I just have a few things left to do on a couple other books.

I'm realizing now that I might actually get 6 books out this year. I'll settle for 4 considering everything that's happened in the past few months, but the fact is I might actually reach something like my publishing goal. I'm cautiously excited as I cross my fingers that I won't lose momentum over the weekend. With any luck, you'll get to see a couple more books out by next week!

SWC UPDATE: Publishing, Formatting, and Writing! Oh My!

I'm really excited. I updated my NOVELS page which now includes links to some of my older novels, as well as a summary of JEREMIAH. I also added LILITH's cover (which you can check out to the left!) because hopefully I will have the few formatting/rewriting issues completed by the end of this week.

And you know what that means...

PUBLISHING!

In addition to this, I started putting together a small collection of poems that I began writing since this horrible transition period in my life. They're about the struggles Christian and I have been facing, as well as my feelings about the pregnancy in general. I'm pretty excited about it because it is such a departure from what I've published previously...however I've always wanted to publish poems. Even though I don't expect much reader love for them, I do hope those who do read them can find some strength or voice when they're experiencing similar situations. That's really the goal - to give voice to those moments of crisis, and build strength for those who feel like they have none. Because let's face it, for a lot of people, that's happening now. And I feel it. I feel for them, and I want those people to know (perhaps you?) they're (you're) not alone.

I also uploaded the first chapters of THE BROTHERS and JAMES for FREE on Wattpad. About 30 seconds after I did that, I noticed I already had like 14 reads on each. Hopefully it will get some people interested in the books. I know, as my fans have said, that once you get hooked you can't put them down. I will likely do the same for both LOVERS AND RIVALS as well as JEREMIAH. Once LILITH is ready, that will follow as well.

I'm feeling like I have a little traction with this...so that's good.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with these goofy non-fiction pieces that I'm still unsure about (particularly as to their formatting).

I might actually get somewhere close to my publishing goal yet! It's sort of amazing, and unbelievable considering I only have 5 weeks left until my due date (and that's if kiddo decides to stick to the schedule...which how often does that happen?). I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be able to get these things together and make magic happen. Maybe I should channel Khloe for this. We'll see. All we can do is wait and see...

SWC: Fleshing Things Out

It's getting down to the wire. I feel it acutely as I look at the calendar and start thinking about scheduling blog tours for the books - the books that still need more time and love. BELOW THE BELT still needs some development, JEREMIAH needs polishing, and my non-fiction books need some serious research and collecting of websites and blurbs (the Art book less than the Local one, and the Religion one least of all...still...formatting. Bleh.). LILITH has received no feedback yet, so I'm not sure what needs to be done with that one, and ANDREW isn't finished. Pure and simple.

My stomach is knotted and slowly sinking (or rising...depending on the moment).

That overwhelming sinking feeling is threatening to overpower me as I think about when the baby is due and how much I haven't been working on my books. I've been researching so much about marketing that I haven't been spending enough time on actually ensuring the books are together and ready. It's a balancing act that is foreign to me, and frankly stress-inducing (which I'm told is really bad for pregnancy, but I also know that if I don't do this now, I may not get another chance for some time).

In an effort to focus more on writing and finishing books, I refused to turn on my ancient media PC and high-tailed it to the kitchen table (where I currently reside). This has multiple benefits:

1. I can't get distracted by movies.
2. I won't get overheated on the second floor (it is seriously 5 degrees hotter up there!).
3. I can still put my feet up on the nearby chair (to avoid leg swelling - thanks pregnancy!).

Let's see how productive I am today and then I'll get back to you about how well this plan worked. So far, I've gotten a few different things on my list completed. We'll see how many more I can finish. Wish me luck!

Author Q & A: Lilith and Ammon

This will be included in my media kit. However, as I was writing it, I thought you might be interested in reading my answers to these questions. Enjoy!

Where did you get the idea for this book?

LILITH AND AMMON is both a prequel and the third book of the KHLOE ALWELL SERIES. As such, it is a combination of a myth from THE BROTHERS and the legend surrounding the main conflict of the Otherworld. When I first wrote THE BROTHERS, I didn't realize how important Lilith's story would be to Khloe, the main character of the series. However as I wrote the second book, LOVERS AND RIVALS, I realized the reader needed to know Lilith's story, and understand exactly why the Otherworld was split into two factions – Seelie and Sidhe. Could you understand the series without it? Probably, but you'd miss some really interesting and important insights into the characters in Khloe's time.

What traits and other tidbits do you share with your main character?

I definitely see myself in Khloe, the main character of the series, but I actually see myself less in Lilith. Lilith is a person who refuses to see what is right in front of her because it makes her feel so uncomfortable. She is scared of change, and that isn't me at all! Lilith does however make impetuous decisions – something I'm known for doing. Then when she does finally come to accept her relationship with Ammon, she works really hard to bring people together and resolve conflict, a theme throughout the Khloe series and something very close to my heart.

Did any of your inspiration for this book originate in your real life experiences?

My inspiration for this book came more from my love of mythology and creation stories. Myths hold truths for people, even in metaphor. I enjoyed tying a number of myths into Lilith and Ammon's story, including some irreverent Biblical references. As to the complicated social structure in this book, it is less like my life and more like daytime television!

What made you decide to self-publish?

I don't like the idea of having to subject myself to the capricious rules of the publishing industry. Though it would be nice to have someone else do the marketing and editing etc, the price to do so seems high. Also, I like the immediacy of self-publishing. Yes, producing a book takes time, however it takes less time when I only have to rely on myself rather than a series of corporate approvals.

Are there any specific authors whose writing styles or subject matter inspired your book?

Again, this book draws heavily from mythology. I would say the most influential books for this series as a whole are THE SEVENWATERS SERIES and THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS. Marillier and Clare have interesting voices that I find enjoyable for different reasons. I often find myself somewhere between them.

Do you have another project in the works? If so, what is it?

The real question is, when don't I have another project! This series has one more book to complete Khloe's saga (which I hope to publish in 2014). Meanwhile I'm working on another young adult series, THE ROLLINS PACK, which focuses on some other themes near and dear to my heart (gender and family). That series uses my favorite of the paranormal creatures – werewolves. I also have a couple of adult stand-alone novels that are partially finished which I'd like to complete in 2014 (think: mutants and angels, but not together!). On top of that, I have several non-fiction projects I'm developing, based on my professional experiences as well as growing up in a very religious family. It's a lot, I know, but I can't seem to stop!

SWC Day 10 & 11: A Second Book Finished

I neglected to update you about LILITH AND AMMON's progress yesterday. Sorry, but I ended up a little busier and a little more tired than expected.

The result however, was this afternoon I was able to finish the first draft! Granted, it is a little shorter than I expected, but I realized when I was originally writing it, I didn't intend it to be as long as the other two books. It is a story, that while complex (and has a predetermined ending), was primarily for explanation purposes.

I am not entirely sure I won't go back and add a few little things here and there to the chapters I added, but I have rewritten the first portion of the book already, so there really isn't much left for me to do. Even the formatting is done. It needs another few sets of eyes to double check some things, but then it's pretty much ready for publication.

I'm smiling. You can't see it, but I'm smiling - broadly.

Now I need to figure out the next writing project I should pick up. I'm wondering if it shouldn't be ANDREW, which I started last fall but never finished. I'm not even sure how much of that book I completed. The other option is my angel/demon book (which I think I have more written than I do of ANDREW) or a third fiction option is a sci-fi/suspense/romance piece I began last fall as well. I think ANDREW and this sci-fi piece have about the same size manuscript stub, so in that case it's a toss up. In both cases, I will need a reading day to bring me up to speed.

Wow, I just feel fantastic about this whole writing frenzy of mine. I had no idea I had so much to work with and so little left to do on so many projects.

I do feel a little silly for putting them off as long as I did. Still, what's done is done. Moving forward is the name of the game. Time to take a serious look at my options. I'll let you know my decision tomorrow. Wish me speedy writing and more awesome book endings!

SWC: Day 9, Reading Day

Because of my crazy night and morning (see earlier post), I figured today was as good a day as any to focus on reading rather than stressing myself out trying to put finishing touches on the art book (finishing touches is the second half of my writing challenge).

So that said, I went from 30 something pages, to page 84 today of LILITH AND AMMON. The manuscript is 99 pages in its current form. That means I only have 15 pages left to read and then I can get the last few chapters written.

This is good. It's been a long time coming and I am eager to finish it. Then of course I'll have to try to cram Book 4 in somewhere this next year (can I make another 8 book publishing goal for July 2014? Maybe yes? We'll see after consulting with kiddo.).

The process of rereading/editing/proofing is good. However a few things struck me as I run through LILITH. I will admit I don't love the book as much as I used to. This is probably because it is a Khloe book and I feel as though my writing and my stories have gone a different direction. Also LILITH is blatantly adult. The main characters have mature concerns that may be beyond the readers who gravitated towards the high school romance of THE BROTHERS.

But then again, we knew in advance that would be the case; that Book 4 would take us back to the more youthful urban fantasy romance of THE BROTHERS with the plot twists and characters of LOVERS AND RIVALS.

Sigh.

Still, I like my wolf boys (THE ROLLINS PACK) and my adult sci-fi/paranormal romances that have taken up most of my imagination as of late. I'm eager to get back to them.

So much to write! EEK! So little time! Good thing I've only got a few more pages to read tomorrow. :-)

SWC: Day 8: Back on the Saddle

Phew. I did it. It was a lot less painful than I expected. Thank God for lesson plans, because that is honestly what saved my writing goal today.

That said, I didn't get my reading goal done today AT ALL with LILITH AND AMMON. This is a MAJOR set back. Part of this was because I socialized a lot more than I expected today (as well as sleeping in a lot longer than I wanted to - but apparently it was necessary).

So, the rundown: Yesterday I ended with 12,045. I should have ended up at 13,555. If I had met my goal, my daily goal today would have taken me to 18,055. Ahem. I brought my total word count up to 18,158! BOOYAH!

I feel pretty good about this.

For the most part, I feel like this little book is done. It's not finished, but it's done (if that makes any sense). There are a few places that could be fleshed out a bit more, but I don't know how much content I'm going to add as far as prose is concerned. For the most part, the remaining pieces of this book will be resource centric. A lot of pictures are going to be added. Templates will be attached. Websites will be suggested as sources for various information that I found to be helpful.

With only a few more anecdotes in each chapter left to add (that might cover one more day of writing goals) I feel like it's ready to move on. The problem is, I'm not sure where I should move on to...

LILITH requires some serious reading time and my dear hubby is not too happy about putting up with me sitting at my computer every night (it keeps us from watching shows that we both like to watch). I've only finished about a third of the reading I have to do, which means I have probably 3 days of required reading at least.

That said...can I put off my daily writing goal for 3 days so I can finish my reading? Is that okay? I feel like it might have to be.

In other news, I realized something crazy today.

Remember last year how I mentioned I wanted to have 8 additional books done or published by July of 2013? Yeah. This writing challenge, if I can hack it, will take me to that point.

So far, so good. I intend to fulfill my goals.

Good job subconscious for pushing things the direction I wanted to go! That's the power of goals people! Even if it was a crazy whim in a moment of wishful thinking - this is proof dreams can become reality. Or at least, your brain will determine a way of turning it into reality, which to me, kind of feels like the same thing.

Writing for Baby: SUMMER WRITING CHALLENGE Countdown Begins

The title of this post could be taken a number of ways, but for me, it is simply this. Last night during my customary insomniac moment (when all good thinking occurs, or at least I get 2-3 solid hours of it), I began formulating a specific plan for how to get writing done before the baby comes.

So I downloaded Catch, an interesting and highly useful app, and began writing notes to myself (so I wouldn't lose these early morning jewels).

First I got lost in product and sales lines, which, I can't help it. Even though I'm pretty sure that for at least the foreseeable future I won't do that, I keep letting it simmer because I have a few ideas that might be worth trying out.

This however was quickly replaced by my writing plans, which since the weekend have been whipped to a frothy frenzy in my head. I needed to get them out. I needed to figure out how long certain books needed to be (especially my ventures in non-fiction - and the answer is however long it needs to be, or between 20 and 200k). I needed to figure out the major steps for each book (LILITH needs to be finished, in about 20k words, JEREMIAH needs some polish, BELOW THE BELT needs somewhere between 30 and 50k, just to name a few).

I figure I have half of May, all of June, July, and August to write and work. At just the fiction books that are mostly done, I've got at least 70k I need to write (if I include ANDREW, I have another 50k on top of that). In non-fiction, I have at least 10k and a bunch of research. If I want to do more than the book that is half done, then I need to add around 40k to be safe. None of this includes formatting the digital copy or the print.

Phew.

I know, it seems like a lot. It might be a lot, when considering I'm trying to figure out ways of making some extra cash on the side, forcing myself to exercise (which I did today! Yay me!), as well as dealing with third trimester symptoms (which I expect to be a whole other beast qualitatively different from first and second), and keeping my apartment from becoming a sty (as you know, I refuse to live in my own filth. Gross!).

That said, remember: I wrote THE BROTHERS in a week and a half. That's 130k. I think JAMES was written in three weeks during a particularly successful NaNoWriMo, and I was being leisurely. That was 110k. And now [insert maniacal laughter] I have nesting on my side.

I can totally do this.

The key is daily goals. So, let's take the outside edge of the word counts and make this interesting.

So let's say I have 170k I need to write before September. Starting from tomorrow I have 116 days until September 1. That is assuming the baby doesn't decide to change my schedule, which is ENTIRELY possible (little bugger!). If I just wrote 1500 words daily, I could get to my word count by that time, however that doesn't allow for any formatting of the last books to be completed. Ick. Formatting takes time, especially if I'm going to do both digital and print versions (though for the purposes of this exercise, I'm shooting for digital only). So, how much should I speed things along? If I doubled my writing goal to 3000, I could finish the word counts in 58 days. I could be finished writing by mid-July. If I tripled my word goals to 4500, then I'd be done even faster. I could finish by mid to late June. That would give me plenty of time to edit, rewrite, and format.

Yes. I think we have a winner.

I'm going to shoot for 4500 words daily. I know some days I'll write more (I hope) and others I'll write less. However I am determined to get this stuff out there. I'm tired of waiting for publishing professionals to see the value and purpose in my work. It's time to take things to the next level. So, my intent, along with a regular blog post, is to give updates on my SUMMER WRITING CHALLENGE. I will try, to the best of my ability to give a daily account of what I did with my writing (short stories may also pop up from time to time).

While I'm counting down, and giving word counts, I'm trusting you (my beloved readers!) to help keep me accountable and keep me going when it gets hard. Because let there be no misunderstanding or mistake - there will be times where this is going to be really fricking hard. There are times where I'm going to want to sit down and cry or quit or curl up with some icecream and the boob tube.

Sometimes I might even do that [insert cringe].

Still, keep pushing at me. Hold me accountable. With any luck, we'll get through the SUMMER WRITING CHALLENGE and I'll have several new books published all before the baby arrives. And you can be proud of me. And I'll be proud of me. Because seriously, if I do this, I will have kicked some major writing ass.

8 Books Published By July 2013

I mentioned it in passing, however goals need to be clearly stated. In the spirit of blogging virtuosos the world over I decided to document my goal. I plan on publishing 8 full length novels by July 2013. Since I declared this, I've written 30k on Jeremiah (second in The Rollins Pack) and I feel like I'm off to a good start.

The key is sticking to my words per day goal. At the very minimum, I should write 2,500 words every day. I'm shooting for approximately 4,500. My word counts are based on the assumption I want 100k length novels. Of course, I already have Lilith almost finished, and two others half way done in addition to Jeremiah. This decreases my remaining word quota and brings me closer to rewriting and publishing.

I know I can do it, but this week was hard. I was pretty sick and my brain was barely functioning. Thus I stopped writing for a few days. However, I got back on the horse and wrote over 2k so far today.

Like all goals, the issue is maintenance. I need to maintain consistent movement towards this library I'm writing. Consistency has not been my strong suit. I know how it needs to be done, but I have difficulty. In the past I was easily distracted. My hope is that by documenting my goal publically and pushing toward it with people watching, I'll get there. Plus, I'm pretty confident. I've written books in short periods before and I can do it again. I just need to make sure I can get them published by my deadline.

There's also the need to blog and tweet this to maintain accountability.

All that is to say, help a girl out! Keep me honest and cheer me on! I might be crazy. I've got the slightly manic laughter to prove it. Still, I think it's going to be fun and you're going to love it. You'll probably like my books too.

And now, GERONIMO!

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Novels as Discussion Starters

I am almost finished with the first draft of Lilith and Ammon. It ended up being a lot less difficult than I imagined, and a lot richer. The plot went unexpected places and characters were created that I hadn't predicted. I also discovered just how cruel I really am and how I feel about our planet as well as our species.
Recently I began the second book in The Rollins Pack - Jeremiah. Like Lilith and Ammon with earlier books in the Khloe series, the end of Jeremiah was already written in James. Well, it was and it wasn't. We know a little about Jer's past from discussions, but there are few details mentioned. Jer is idolized by his younger brothers, but he's also known as a trouble maker. And just what was that discussion about human-werewolf relations again?
The Rollins Pack became a vehicle for me to explore gender roles, sex, and the politics between. So I wondered how I might take this one step further with Jeremiah. From James' story, we know the other boys aren't close to their mother, but what relationship does Jeremiah have with women? What was it like to grow up in the height of Wulfric Rollins' power? These are the questions I get to answer. And I'm excited about it. I'm excited to use this series as a place to discuss women's issues.
One of the things I am increasingly convinced by is the need for purpose in the written word. I have read things that flailed around and were awful. I've also read things with superficial purposes. I can tell you, a superficial purpose is better than none at all.
But what if you take writing further? What happens when novels force people to confront issues that are disturbing?
I'll be honest. Khloe is relatively fluffy compared to where Rollins is going. This was a conscious decision. It is going to have moments of fun and sweetness, but it's also going to delve into places where I've only scratched the surface.
After all, James was the pragmatic middle son. There are 4 other brothers to go. Jeremiah may have power and prestige, but that also means he has a lot further to fall.

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Character Bios: Lovers and Rivals, Laran

*SPOILER ALERT* Read Lovers and Rivals!

Yes, Ceres, Lugh, Myrddin, and all manner of characters are important, but Laran is key. Besides, I can't hold myself back any more. I just have to write about him.

Laran was named for the Etruscan god of war. I wanted a lesser known god name, but something that wasn't too far out there. Accessibility in Laran's case was important. This was especially true because he is Khloe's love interest. However it wasn't the only reason. I wanted Laran to be very Sidhe, but also a bridge to humanity and the Seelie. He is both of the forest and of the Sidhe.

The fact that he is the lord of his province and the lead trainer of the Sidhe military at 23 years old speaks to his prowess and power. We know from his conversations with Khloe, he wasn't meant to take over Kolmarden at such a young age. However as his parents are both dead, he ends up becoming lord anyway. Despite his youth, people follow him. He has a natural ability which allows all kinds of people to accept him immediately (Seelie, Sidhe, or human).

Even though he is well loved and tends to do the "right thing," Laran is kind of a bad boy. He is the only Seelie or Sidhe discussed to have a tattoo. He wears human band tees in the Sidhe court, and jeans around the veil. At a young age, he said he went to the human world to go to concerts of his favorite bands.

He's prickly, but he's also a gentleman. Unlike Freyr or Constantine, he doesn't feel the need to possess Khloe. He lets her be her own person, and relishes in it. Still, his over confidence irritates Khloe on occasion. It's what makes their dynamic so much fun.

P.S. I'm very excited to dig into Laran's abilities in book 4. In the mean time, you'll have to satisfy yourselves with the upcoming back story in Lilith and Ammon!

Confessions of a Non-Romance Writer - I Write Romance

I've never thought of myself as a romance writer.

I always thought romances had to involve throbbing manhoods and surrendering valleys. Fabio would grace the cover, and the unnamed female model would have some cloth draped just over her unmentionables.

Though, I guess Nicolas Sparks writes romance. The smultzy epic love story counts as a romance. Two people over space and time, and despite all odds find one another - and more importantly, stay together! It's not the pulp paperback section of the secondhand book store (or maybe it's right next to it!), but it counts. Totally.

I thought science-fiction and fantasy were isolated from this sappy genre.

I'm an idiot.

Now that I'm writing Book 3, Lilith and Ammon, I have come to terms with the fact that I write romance. I don't write erotica. I don't write about pulsing rods and rhythmic rocking, but my characters do get it on. It's a part of adult life and relationship health that I couldn't possibly ignore. However that's not the only interpersonal thing I write about. There are transformations that take place, not only with individuals, but within relationships and families. And there are some big love themes (not to be confused with the primetime show).

Lilith and Ammon is an epic love story. It spans centuries. The Khloe Alwell series is a conclusion (and the beginning) of that epic story. Yes, there are environmental and war themes that are important, but everything comes back to the choices this one couple makes. So it's a fantasy. It's a romance. It's an adventure.

I'm not a romance writer, except, I am.