It's 2012!!

Happy New Year! 

For all of our readers who might have been wondering where we've run off to: 

Like most of you, we have taken the last couple of weeks off to spend time with our friends and family, celebrating the holidays and reigning in the new year like it's 1899. We've decorated cookies, trimmed the tree, wrapped presents and enjoyed the smiling faces of our children on the big day. Some of us have even given our sanity when opening our doors to out of town family members. Secretly, we have enjoyed every minute of it. Well, maybe that's a bit of a stretch. 


Now we look forward to starting fresh. Some of us do that by making resolutions. We at Fictitious Chronicles choose to toss aside that old tradition and continue striving to be the best person we can be. 


Some things we consider news worthy:


The two of us have been writing up a storm. Mrs. Holly is well on her way toward finishing yet another novel, and she is keeping this one completely under wraps. The only thing she is willing to say is, "Like The Notebook, this one is guaranteed to make you cry your eyes out." As for me, I have also been keeping my newest creation close to the vest. What I will say is that it's a mystery/thriller and I hope it knocks your socks off. 


If you are reading this, we assume that you are an avid reader in general. Well, so are we! In fact, last year we challenged ourselves to a reading contest. I don't know about my partner, but my challenge was 40 books to be read by the end of the year. I am proud to say that I came in at 49! My new challenge for 2012 is now 100.I hope all of you are challenging yourself and your mind this year, too. 


With all the writing going on, we have decided to step out of our comfort zone and begin outlining in a major way. Because of this, we wanted to share with all of the authors out there a couple of sites we found particularly helpful with our own writing.


--The Snowflake Method shows you how to start small, get organized, and build your novel into something great. 
--8 Easy Steps for constructing and outline in less than an hour! 
--And my personal favorite: The Writer's Digest Novel Idea Summary Sheet, which has boosted my writing platform and kept me organized and on point. 

For those of you who need a little help brushing up your novel idea, whether it's for an agent or a self-publishing venture, we felt this program was a must have (Plus, you can get a free 14 day free trial. How cool is that!): Stylewriter

Finally, a note to our authors on our TBR list: 

We haven't forgotten about you! In all the chaos that comes with the holidays, a small break was called for. Now that the kids are returning to school and the schedules are getting back on track, so will our reading and reviewing of your wonderful works of art. 




Now that we have all that covered, I'll let all you party animals get back to your black coffee and hours of rest. We hope you enjoy your new year every bit as much as we plan to enjoy ours. 


Cheers!

  

Celebration

I completed the sixth book in the series, the name of it is Back to Life. I was very happy with the ending, and I can't wait to hear feedback on what my readers think about it. I know some that have been waiting ever so patiently. This has been yet another journey with and ending that tore at my emotions, I worked hard for days on the last couple chapters, and I cried at the end, for many reasons. It was a tough decision but it was the way the cookie crumbled :) I hope everyone enjoys it. Now I am looking forward to trying something totally fresh and new, and also polishing up Gypsies. Oh and speaking of Gypsies I started writing the second book of that one, I do not know when I will venture into it, but I have my start and that will help a lot for the days when I want to return to that story. I really am looking forward to getting some reading in of my own because I do enjoy reading other people's books too. I also want to post reviews of the books I am reading for the readers out there. And do a little more toward promoting my own work.
I came up with an idea last night that I possibly will give one person the whole series which would be all 6 of the books, it would have to be some kind of giveaway or contest just not sure what yet.
And lastly I look forward to diving into some new ideas I have, some of my ideas are far out there, and some are just everyday life. Can't wait!!

Hmmm

So, I really don't have the drive to do anything that I need to get done. I had a busy day, hardly have much time anymore to wrap my brain around everything. I watch a baby 4 times a week, and I have kids of my own, plus I have been editing all my books, besides the third. I am actually working on the second as we speak. I really am dead set on getting this done, so far with the help of my best friend Brandi, we managed to polish Wingless amazingly (in my opinion) but I learn something new everyday, that is what I enjoy about being an indie, I like learning all of this stuff. So right now books 1 and 4 have been gone over nicely. Book 3 is being worked on by Brandi, and I am on page 60 of the edit of book 2. All that will be left is book 5, and I am actually very excited about this. I want to read this one again, sometimes I forget every detail. Once all the editing is finished I will start back with writing book 6, that one could be finished in weeks if I really buckled down, I am probably 200 pages in it already. So many goals, so little time.
On to another cool part of being an Indie Author, I have really been doing well with sales. I have my books on Kindle, Smashwords and Nook. I also have actual book form on Lulu. But my main focus is ebooks now, I really enjoy this way better.
I was reading a lot of blogs today about other indie authors and their stories of publishng, so I figure I would share mine with whoever wants to read...
I had added my book Wingless on Amazon Kdp back in January I believe. I don't even remember why I did, I really didn't even know what the heck it was even. I never looked at it again, it wasn't until March when I received and email from a girl, that I was intrigued. She asked me if I had my books available through Kindle. And so I emailed back and told her that I would put them on there. So this is when it started, I did so much googling of how to go about this, what to do, not to do, etc. I wanted to know the best approach to getting word out about my books. I found groups on fb, groups all over the place, I read the stories and blogs about other authors and their success at publishing books this way, and I was totally excited. I think I will make a seperate blog of all that I have learned so far, on what worked for me. I say March was my starting month for selling on kindle and Nook. March I sold around 24 books, and this was exciting to me. April I went from 24 to 186, and this month of May I am currently at 117 and its only the 11th of the month. So I can say I feel my hard work has paid off. I fell in love with the Book Junkies group on Fb they have been a godsend, its so nice to have other authors and readers to relate to, that aren't rude. I love it. I love hearing from the readers, its the most exciting part of writing to me, and I am starting to hear more and more. I wish I could sit and write everything I have in my mind down, but I fear this is already chaotic. So I will end this. Any Indie authors feel free to share your stories!

Patience is not my virtue...

I sit anxiously waiting for my book to be finished. My dear friend is editing, and has been working her ass off I might add. I have been hearing nothing but amazing things from her. So I am soooooo ready to see the final product. It is an exciting moment, and there is no better person for the job then her. She knows my brain, and she is so good with this stuff.

Well I guess while I wait for confirmation I will share my thoughts. Sometimes this is just so hard to do on here. I feel like a young teen again in my bedroom writing feverishly about my existence. Does anyone even care?

Easter in a few days, the greatest holiday in the world for many reasons.

I've gained a new addiction...well two actually. The secret life of an American teenager and Zune. The first is super cheesy and it shocks me that I would even watch it. But for some reason I really like it. Weird I know... And then you have Zune, its even better then project playlist. And for me to say that well that is big. Only perk of Project over Zune is cost.. one is free the other not so much.But my one issue was being able to play any music I wanted on my sound bar. Because I love to clean and jam. So using Zune on the 360 I am able to do that.
The one thing that I have found when it comes to things like Zune and Netflix, when you have the world at your fingertips, or music and movies rather. It makes it severly difficult to decide on what you want to watch or listen to.....go figure!!

I wonder what other bloggers blog about in bloggerland...........

Morning

:)