An Update Of Sorts. Warning: All over the place.

I know, I know. I use this thing so sporadically, and so much has happened since the last time I updated this thing. So, what was it, the 19th of July? Since then, One Two Three, Salvation came out to two wonderful five star reviews. You can read them here and here. Thanks so much to Cat and Nanee for saying such kind words about my novel. It means a lot to me :)

That brings me to my next bit of news. I signed a contract for the next in the series, Drawing By Heart, and it's set for release on November 23rd. Now, some of you might remember this as one of the three novels I was working on for NaNoWriMo this year, which makes this even more special for me. I love this particular story and it keeps the suspense and mystery going more than I'd expected.

What I really came here to show off, so to speak, is the beautiful new cover I have for Drawing By Heart. It was done by a different cover artist this time, which had me a little bit apprehensive, but it came out beautifully. I wish I'd been able to keep one of the models from the other cover, but the model for Kay is absolutely fucking perfect and I can't wait to show it to you! (image redacted)

Isn't it beautiful?

That being said, I'm participating in NaNoWriMo again this year, as I always do, but I'm going in without a single damn idea as to what I'm going to write. It'll probably hit me a couple days in or something. I hope to see some of you doing the same thing, and look forward to sharing word counts and sprints like we did last year.

One more thing. Mrs Condit reviewed One Two Three, Shatter for her retro reads, and gave it 5 stars as well. You can read that review here and she also nominated me for Author of the Month. I didn't win, I was up against some stiff competition, but she did give a nifty little nominee badge I can display right here:

OKAY, I think this entry is 'all over the place' enough that I should probably end it here before it goes off in a completely different direction. Hopefully I'll start using this more, especially as Drawing By Heart comes out, but I said that about One Two Three, Salvation too, didn't I?

Til next time!
~Joey

The Next Big Thing BlogHop

The Next Big Thing is a series of questions on our work-in-progress, at the end of these questions I shall then give you links to other participants of the Blog Hop, who are due to answer their questions by the 28th November, so don't forget to check them out!

I was tagged by Samantha Kay.

Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing:

1. What is the working title of your book? I have three right now. One's Drawing By Heart, then its sequel Fire and Oxygen and finally a suspense thriller called Gallagher's Torment.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book? Well, Drawing By Heart and Fire and Oxygen are sequels to One Two Three, Shatter and the sequel to that in consideration right now, One Two Three, Salvation. Gallagher's Torment came out of a need to write something darker, more suspenseful and move away from the whole literary fiction/romance part of life.

3. What genre does your book fall under? Drawing By Heart is literary fiction/LGBT romance/coming of age, and Gallagher's is mystery/suspense/paranormal with a slight underlying romance.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? I have the whole thing cast out in my head, haha. Some are musicians, others are actors. In Drawing By Heart, the main couple are Nick Matthews and Justin Chatwin and there are a literal ton of other cast characters but that could take up this whole thing! In Gallagher's Torment, the cast of characters are Jeremy 13th (Finnish musician), Elisha Cuthbert, Tyler Blackburn, Sierra Kusterbeck, Claire Holt, and James McAvoy.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Drawing By Heart: When he has to make a choice between the past and the present, what will Kay X do to protect the ones he loves?
Fire and Oxygen: When something drastic and terrifying happens to Kay to create conflict on his end, how will he and his boyfriend weather that storm?
Gallagher's Torment: Craig Gallagher's mother was a woman driven insane, but he's terrified going back to the house she nearly killed him in will unlock the same madness inside him.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? Probably self-published. I don't have an agent.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? Twelve days for Drawing By Heart. Six days to write Gallagher's Torment. I've been working on Fire and Oxygen for four days, and it's only in its infancy.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Oh, I have no idea, honestly. Maybe one of Scarlet Blackwell's novels.

9. Who or What inspired you to write this book? My muses. The characters themselves. My girlfriend.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? If you're already into Kaleb's world and Kay piqued your interest at the end, you'll want to see him grow up and become a man in his own right. If you like a hot couple, intense chemistry, and a solid love story weaved in with a coming-of-age tale of a young man who grew up in a home different than most people, you'll like Kay's trilogy. Also, if you like paranormal and ghost stories, you should check out Gallagher's Torment.

I don't actually have anyone to tag as of right now, but if you want to do it, you can! That's just how I roll.

Day 15: December? Did I Say December?

So, a couple posts ago, I said I would revisit Kay's third novel in December. It seems to me he was not very happy with the decision he made at the end of the second novel (I will refrain from explaining because I don't want spoilers for someone who might read it in the future) because he's got me writing novel number three, Fire and Oxygen.

For those of you who have been keeping track (just me? okay) this is the third novel I've begun working on this November-- not counting the three ideas that I went through before the month even started-- and I'm almost finished with Gallagher's Torment. This is a good thing, because a couple days ago, I got a job working as a server thirty hours a week so once that starts up and then school on top of it, I'm not gonna have as much time to write.

This series is just going above and beyond anything I expected. Kay's just a character I've connected with in a way that-- shockingly-- supersedes the connection that I've felt with Kaleb. I keep saying it's a family thing, and it probably is. Kay was raised by him, so I'm not surprised they have the same alluring quality to them and this insistent need to have their stories written. After Kay's done, I'm gonna end up writing Kaleb's dad's story. It's alive and growing!

These Xander boys sure have taken me on a hell of a rollercoaster so far. Wonder what else they'll throw at me. Back to writing to find out!

The beginning of NaNoWriMo

So today is the first day of NaNoWriMo and I decided to change what novel I'm working on, and put Tempestuous Heart on the back-burner with about six other different novel ideas. I decided to write the third installment of the Xander Series since I just sent the publisher the second one for submission a few days ago. It doesn't have a title yet, but it will, I'm sure, by the end of this month.

This is the widget I have selected to put on here, so people know my progress and can tell if I'm slacking or not. Haha.

As you can see, today's been a good day writing-wise and I feel like this weekend will be just as prolific, because I plan on doing nothing but buckling down and writing, with lots of soda and junk food to keep me awake. I love this time of year, because it challenges me, and I do some of my best work for NaNo. Fun fact: Both Phoenix and One Two Three, Shatter started out as NaNoWriMo novels. That's probably why my poor editors had a slew of mistakes to correct even after I'd gone through it a couple times!

My food of choice right now is Runts and Rockstars, and my music of choice is old Get Scared, before they switched singers. They're a great inspiration for this novel. Originally it was called, tentatively, Best Kind Of Mess, and we'll see if that title sticks, but as of right now it's open for naming.

All right, I've probably eaten up my word count for the day in this blog post, so I'm going to go back to writing. Happy NaNoWriMo to all oter writers participating with me, and good luck!

On Pottermore and Inspiration

So I decided today that I was going to start blogging more, and so here I am. Today I joined Pottermore, the newest interactive Harry Potter activity. There's so much more information concealed within the online game, and it made me realize that J. K. Rowling has such an intense imagination and it reminds me of why I became an author in the first place.

Reading things like Harry Potter and Pottermore inspires me to want to make my own world big enough to make everyone fall in love with every little nook and cranny of the world that I created, want to know more about every little character so I can create a backstory for each and every one that I've dreamed up.

Pottermore is a lot of fun, because you can make potions, cast spells, and my two favorite parts: getting a wand and being sorted into a House. The questions it asked were fascinating and it ended up being pretty accurate. I always thought I'd be in Slytherin, but it turns out it sorted me into Ravenclaw and I suppose it makes sense. My wand is a 12 3/4 inch Maple wand with Phoenix Feather core, and it's supple. I kind of suck at duels but I'm all right at potion-making. It tells me a lot about me, and it's amazing that one person was able to dream up something that makes up my entire childhood.

I only hope that someday I can create something that touches even a fraction of the people Harry Potter has touched.