“W” is for “Writer” – An A-to-Z Blogging Challenge Post

For the A-to-Z Challenge 2017 I’m writing all about myself. Every post will be some random fact or bit of information about me that you may or may not have already known. Maybe you’ll learn something! Feel free to let me know! ^_^

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This fact should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone, unless you’re just showing up here today for the first time, so I won’t take up too much of your time with this particular post.

I am a writer. I’ve loved writing since I first started coming up with stories in around the third grade. The first time I ever remember writing fiction was for a class project, and I remember it clear as day: I wrote a story called “The Mystery of the Emerald-Eyed Cat”, and signed it “Tracey Lynn Marie Clarke”, even though “Marie” is not part of my name, because I was going through a weird phase. I drew emerald eyes for the cover and pasted it to green paper, and bound it together with green yarn. I was extremely proud of it, and my teacher gave me perfect marks for it.

After that I loved writing stories, and I used to come up with tons of them involving myself and my friends. Eventually I started writing fan fiction, and after that I began coming up with original characters and more intricate plots. I didn’t always write, growing up, but I always came back to writing, one way or another. I always knew that, no matter what else I did with my life, I would also be a writer. That all came together and felt real on the day I self-published my first novel, “Nowhere to Hide“, and recently I published my second novel, the first part in a series, “The Other World: Book One“.

That’s all that really needs to be said about that. It’s a key component of my self, my personality, and my past and future. I’m a writer. Period.

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Did you know that I was a writer? Do you even care? 😀 Feel free to leave a comment!

“N” is for “Nowhere to Hide” – An A-to-Z Blogging Challenge Post

For the A-to-Z Challenge 2017 I’m writing all about myself. Every post will be some random fact or bit of information about me that you may or may not have already known. Maybe you’ll learn something! Feel free to let me know! ^_^

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Time for some self-promotion! 😀

“Nowhere to Hide” is the first book that I completed fully, revised, edited, and published. In those early days I even designed my own cover for it, although I later hired a professional cover artist to create a more attractive one. It’s the story of a girl named Nancy and the people she encounters as the world falls apart during a zombie outbreak. But the zombies aren’t the only monsters in this world…dum dum duuuuuuuuuuum. 🙂

This zombie apocalypse story began life after I read Stephen King’s “Cell”, which I loved. After reading it – and having recently watched several zombie-related movies as well – I thought to myself, “I could do this”, and since National Novel Writing Month was just around the corner, I planned to write my first ever zombie story. It was tons of fun, but also posed it’s challenges as well. I struggled with deciding how to handle gore (too much, too little, too graphic), what kind of endgame I wanted the story to progress toward, and for the first time I really had to pay attention to things like the timeline so that I wouldn’t lose track of basic logic (for instance, a broken bone couldn’t heal in a 2-day time-span). By the time I had a completed first draft I also had a brain filled to the brim with doubts. As many authors before me have done, I tossed the story aside, confident that it was complete and utter drivel.

Luckily, I did convince myself to go back to it, and with the help of my beta-reader I was able to fix up the manuscript and convince myself that it was, in fact, actually a good story . It went through several rounds of edits and revisions, but eventually I actually managed to sit back, look at it, and think, “This is good! People will like this!” And so it was off to CreateSpace.com I went.

Some people have asked me why I didn’t attempt to traditionally publish, and believe me, I did think about it. However, in the end I decided that I was better off going the indie route. By the time my manuscript was ready interest in zombies had begun to wane, and querying traditional publishers can be a very long and arduous journey. I didn’t want to risk the time it would require, because by the time a publisher was willing to take a chance on me, it would be entirely possible that zombies had gone completely out of the limelight and no one would be interested in the book.

Was that choice for the best? I don’t know. Selling books as an indie author is extremely difficult, so maybe I would have been better off going traditional after all. Then again, if I’d attempted the traditional route I might still be querying, with no acceptance letter in sight.

In the end, I’m glad that I did things the way that I did because what’s most important to me is that the book is out there, ready and available for people to read. Of course, it would also be nice if people were actually buying and reading it, so here’s my puppy-dog-eyed plea: check it out! You never know, you might absolutely love it!

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Have you checked out “Nowhere to Hide” yet? Let me know in the comments below!

The Other World: Book One – Now Available in Paperback!

Exciting news, everybody! I finally received my proof copy of “The Other World: Book One”, and it was beautiful! If you’re interested, I was super-excited to share it with everybody, so I did an unboxing video of it here:

So what does this mean to the casual observer? Well it means that the paperback version of the book is now available for sale! Yay!!! If you’re interested in checking it out, you can find it on the CreateSpace store, or through Amazon.com right here. And of course, it’s still available as an e-book right here.

This story started life as a cathartic way of helping myself through a tough time, transformed several times as my NaNo novel for multiple years, and eventually became something completely different that I’m super-proud of and excited to continue. So with all that said, I’m extremely happy to finally have a physical copy of it for myself, and for others to have the option to get it as well. It’s a huge accomplishment for me, so I hope you’ll consider checking it out! If you do, please consider rating and/or reviewing on Amazon or Goodreads to help encourage others to check it out as well. 🙂 Cheers and thank you everyone!

The Other World: Book One – Now Available in E-book!

It’s an exciting day, you guys! “The Other World: Book One” is officially available for download as an e-book through Amazon and Kindle! This story is a bit of a baby of mine – something that I’ve written and re-written so many times in the past decade that it’s not even the same story it began as – so it’s super-exciting to finally see it be available online!

If you’re like me and you prefer holding a paperbook copy in your hands, don’t worry, it’s coming in the next couple of weeks! But for you digital-age readers, you can click on the image below to go directly to Amazon where it can be purchased. Don’t forget that if you’re a Kindle Unlimited member you can read for free, and all you need to read is the free Kindle app on any of your smart devices!

I hope you’ll check it out, and if you do, please be sure to rate and/or review. :3 Cheers, readers! ❤

It’s Almost (Self-)Publishing Time… – An IWSG Post

Let’s be totally honest. Writer’s are insecure, like…200% of the time. We occasionally have little bouts of confidence and genuine belief in our abilities, but the overwhelming majority of the time we’re little balls of misery and self-loathing, rocking back and forth in the corner, insistent that we have no talent, no prospects, and that anyone who ever said they liked our books was a dirty, dirty liar.

That said, I personally feel that the most powerful moments of insecurity come right before something is about to be published.

I’ve been working on “The Other World” for more than a decade, no joke. That wasn’t all consecutive, of course. It began life as a therapeutic way of dealing with my then-boyfriend breaking up with me. Those early drafts were very, well…terrible. It was a Mary-Sue story in which everyone loved the main character except for herself, and she made a massively huge deal about her own breakup, as though it was literally the end of the world. It was absolutely horrible, but at the time it served it’s purpose. It made me feel a little better, and it was a reason to put words to paper.

Eventually it grew and evolved. I’m not joking even a little bit when I say that I restarted this particular story from scratch at least a dozen times. It was my NaNoWriMo novel twice, and I would regularly return to it and completely rewrite it whenever I would get bored or frustrated with my other works. And as time went on and I learned more about proper styles of writing, what turns readers off, and so forth, the story changed more and more and more. Eventually it became a series. Characters transformed. Main plot points shifted dramatically. To be perfectly honest, at this point what I have in my Scrivener file has extraordinarily little in common with the original story. It has matured spectacularly from what it started out as. Even I – as a completely self-loathing writer – can see that. The story that I am currently performing final edits on is nothing like the self-absorbed cathartic ramblings that I first put down back in college. It is much, much better. Infinitely so.

I know this. And yet, as I wait (im)patiently for my cover artist to send me some ideas, and I finish those final edits on Book One of the series, I find that little voice beginning to whisper in the back of my mind. “This is complete crap,” it hisses. “Your beta-readers are liars, and you’re a talentless hack who will never have any real success as a novelist. You should delete the entire file and never speak of this story again.”

That voice is a bitch. I know this, and yet it is exceptionally difficult to quell her. I have become the master of procrastination, taking much longer at each step of the writing process than is reasonable, because that voice slows me down, weakens me, and convinces me that it’s pointless. She’s a complete and utter bitch and I hate her.

So I say this to you now: moving forward I am going to do my level best to smother that voice and bury her deep, deep down where I can’t hear her hateful hissing. I’m going to trust that my beta-readers weren’t just being nice to spare my feelings, I’m going to work with my cover artist to create something beautiful and attractive, and I’m going to put that something out there for the world to see. Then I’m going to take what comes as it comes. And then, regardless of the results, I’m going to sit at my laptop, and I’m going to get to work on finishing Book Two, and I’m going to start the process all over again. Because that’s what a real writer does. We murder that voice in cold blood – no matter how many times it resurrects itself – and put ourselves out there regardless of the vicious whispers.

Who’s with me?

“Nowhere to Hide” E-book on Sale!

We’re getting ever closer to the witching hour, my dear friends, and I thought that perhaps some of you might be looking for something creepy to read as we approach the spookiest of holidays. Until Halloween has passed us by,  the “Nowhere to Hide” e-book is on sale for $0.99! You can’t beat a novel for a buck, right? Right. So be sure to pick it up before October ends!

“Nowhere to Hide” Super-Sale Excerpt #5

Since the “Nowhere to Hide” e-book is on sale for $0.99 this month (go get it now!) I thought that I’d spend this week sharing excerpts from the book to entice you to buy it amuse you. 😀

Today is the last excerpt, #5: in this scene Nancy is having a feverish dream…

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Gramma Sarah shook her head and sighed a sad sigh. “I’m so sorry, my little baby girl.” Her voice was full of sorrow. “I’m so sorry that you’ve had to go through all this.”

The sky began to turn gray as the sun disappeared behind a wall of clouds. Gramma Sarah’s eyes seemed to go glassy and her skin became pale.

“Gramma?” Nancy cried. “Gramma, what’s going on?”

“I’m sorry, Nancy. I’m so sorry.”

Nancy jumped back in alarm as Gramma Sarah’s arms began to shrink and shrivel. Her hair dried and cracked and the sun dress turned black and moldy. “Gramma!” Nancy screamed. “Gramma, don’t leave me! Don’t leave me here in this world!”

The sky was red. The world lit up under and enormous bolt of lightning and a crash of thunder shook the ground. Nancy screamed and dropped to her knees. She threw her arms over her head but she couldn’t escape the light or the noise. A hand touched her shoulder and she looked up with tear-filled eyes. Gramma Sarah, shriveled and crawling with all manner of insects, set a pair of blood-filled eyes toward her, and opened her mount in a blood-curdling shriek.

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What? I’m going to end it there? Yup! If you want to find out what happens next, you’ll have to head on over to the “Nowhere to Hide” Amazon page, where you can, if you so choose, support your favorite new indie author by picking up the e-book for only $0.99! 😀

“Nowhere to Hide” Super-Sale Excerpt #4

Since the “Nowhere to Hide” e-book is on sale for $0.99 this month (go get it now!) I thought that I’d spend this week sharing excerpts from the book to entice you to buy it amuse you. 😀

Today is excerpt #4: in this scene Nancy and Greg go from the frying pan into the fire…

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Secure that they’d finally made it to safety, they sprinted for the main entrance to the hospital. Boards had been nailed horizontally across the door’s moldings, but they were ableto pry two off by jamming Nancy’s katana in behind them, making a hole just big enough for them to squeeze through and shove the door open. They burst into the main foyer with twin gasps of relief.

And found no fewer than ten guys being pointed directly at their heads.

“Who are you?” a man’s voice demanded. It was a gruff, angry voice.

Nancy didn’t know which gun to look at. Her vision began to swim in front of her eyes.

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What? I’m going to end it there? Yup! If you want to find out what happens next, you’ll have to head on over to the “Nowhere to Hide” Amazon page, where you can, if you so choose, support your favorite new indie author by picking up the e-book for only $0.99! 😀

“Nowhere to Hide” Super-Sale Excerpt #3

Since the “Nowhere to Hide” e-book is on sale for $0.99 this month (go get it now!) I thought that I’d spend this week sharing excerpts from the book to entice you to buy it amuse you. 😀

Today is excerpt #3: in this scene Nancy and her comrades have just gotten themselves into a little accident…

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Nancy was only out for a few seconds, but it was enough to disorient her. Her vision was filled with whiteness and she felt as though she was being smothered. There was a loud, ceaseless horn screeching at her from somewhere nearby.

“Nancy?” a voice called. “Nancy, are you okay?” The voice sounded panicked. Nancy wondered what had upset him so much.

“Are you okay?” This was a different voice, older, calmer, but also with a note of concern.

“I’m fine,” the younger voice insisted. “I think I bruised a few ribs flying into the back of your seat, but I’ll be okay.”

“You should wear your seat belt, you know.”

For some reason that statement made Nancy burst into giggles.

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What? I’m going to end it there? Yup! If you want to find out what happens next, you’ll have to head on over to the “Nowhere to Hide” Amazon page, where you can, if you so choose, support your favorite new indie author by picking up the e-book for only $0.99! 😀

“Nowhere to Hide” Super-Sale Excerpt #2

Since the “Nowhere to Hide” e-book is on sale for $0.99 this month (go get it now!) I thought that I’d spend this week sharing excerpts from the book to entice you to buy it amuse you. 😀

Today is excerpt #2: in this scene from the second chapter, Nancy has just seen her first zombie, and her world is starting to fall apart…

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Slowly, puppet-like, Nancy looked down at her friend, passed out on the burned section of the carpet and found a purpose amid the madness. While others screamed and ran for help, or entered the apartment only to get caught up in the bloody horror, Nancy hoisted Terri-Lynn up over her shoulder and began to drag her out of the apartment. People ran by, screaming, but she paid them no mind. It was slow going, but she breathed deeply and pressed on, one foot in front of the other.

At the bottom of the stairs little Jenny Jeffries was peering out her apartment door like a curious little kitten. When Nancy looked at her the girl’s eyes went wide and she pulled herself back inside with a slam of the door. Nancy stared after her for half a moment before pressing on.

Terri-Lynn’s feet dragged along the floor. Nancy’s strength was beginning to wane. She started, first, for her own apartment, before remembering that it was directly below the carnage that was going on upstairs. Instead she turned for Terri-Lynn’s. Two doors down on the right, she dragged Terri-Lynn to the living room couch, dropped her down, and stumbled back to the door to lock and bolt it.

There were more sirens now, of many different pitches. Ambulances, police, firemen, and possibly others as well.

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What? I’m going to end it there? Yup! If you want to find out what happens next, you’ll have to head on over to the “Nowhere to Hide” Amazon page, where you can, if you so choose, support your favorite new indie author by picking up the e-book for only $0.99! 😀