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Friday 31 July 2015

July Update: What I've been up to!

I'm trying out a new blog feature! I always post about what I've been reading at the end of each month, but I've decided to turn it into a more general update.

What I've been reading


Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles, #3.5)

I finally read Fairest, the prequel to the Lunar Chronicles series. I didn't enjoy this one as much as the others, but it was interesting to get into the villain's twisted perspective!


Updraft


Updraft by Fran Wilde has some of the most innovative worldbuilding I've read in a while. I loved the world, and the characters and plot were top-notch. Recommended for fantasy fans!


Frail Human Heart (The Name of the Blade, #3)

I've loved this series since the first book, so I just had to find out how it ended! Frail Human Heart is the riveting conclusion to the Japanese mythology-inspired YA urban fantasy Name of the Blade trilogy. The third book was the best of all three, and one of the best modern YA fantasy series I've read!

Half a King (Shattered Sea, #1)


I'm trying to read more epic fantasy, and I've been seeing this one around for a while! Half a King is a gripping, intense YA fantasy, one I couldn't stop reading.

The Lives of Tao (Tao, #1)

I also picked up Wesley Chu's The Lives of Tao, a really cool sci-fi thriller about two alien races waging war on one another through human hosts on Earth. I ended up buying the whole trilogy!

Uprooted

I've been seeing a lot of hype around Uprooted by Naomi Novik, whose first Temeraire book I read a while ago and enjoyed. Uprooted is fabulous - like a cross between Howl's Moving Castle and a fairy tale. I couldn't stop reading it!

The Narrows

I picked up some awesome books at YALC! I read The Narrows, a wonderfully inventive urban fantasy by James Brogden that reminded me a lot of Neverwhere, but set in Birmingham. This is literally the first time I've read a fantasy novel set in the city I grew up in - almost all UK urban fantasy is set in London (including mine :P). London's awesome, but it was cool reading a fantasy version of my own city!
Free Souls (Mindjack Trilogy, #3)


I also picked up Susan Kaye Quinn's Mindjack trilogy. I read the first book a while ago (and it's free!), but I never got around to buying the rest. So I bought the box set and read it in a couple of days. This is fast-paced, thought-provoking YA sci-fi!

What else I've been up to

I survived the British Heatwave in an attic room with no air conditioning. ;)

I also took part in the Pitch to Publication contest as an editor! I'm so thrilled I got to take part, even though it was hard to narrow the 110+ queries I received down to 10 to request partials from, and downright impossible to pick just one manuscript to mentor.

Other than that, I worked on some great freelance projects - I've taken on quite a bit of extra work this month! I'm now offering query and partial critique services, because weirdly enough, I actually really enjoy critiquing other writer's queries (even though I hate writing my own. :P). I'm privileged to know so many talented writers! :)

I also met up with Cole and Laura for book shopping in London. And then: YALC! :D

As I said on Wednesday, I finished my fantasy draft this month! I also wrote outlines for my new YA SF trilogy. And I proofread and formatted Delinquent: An Alliance Novella, and put it up for pre-order. It's out in exactly a week! :)

Total words written in July = 43K (+5K added in edits).

Plan for August:

7th - Delinquent: An Alliance Novella releases
11th-14th - I'll be in Italy with the family and boyfriend. :)

Because my schedule's all over the place (and I'll be away from home throughout August), I'm not setting strict writing goals this month. However, I'd like to...

Complete final edits on Indestructible (YA post-apocalyptic fantasy). Send Book 2 to editor.
Do another editing pass on Collision (Alliance, #3).
Start properly drafting YA SF Book 1, finish the outlines for Books 2 and 3, and think of titles(!!!).
Either at the end of August or the beginning of September: write publishing schedule for 2016.

Release Blitz: A Summer Like No Other by Elodie Nowodazkij

 Today is release day for A Summer Like No Other by Elodie Nowodazkij!


YouTube video of the author: https://youtu.be/eS0qQRr0vRQ
A Broken Dreams Novella
She’s his best friend’s little sister. He’s the biggest player of them all.

They shouldn’t be together. But this summer’s just too tempting.

Sixteen-year-old Emilia Moretti’s goal for the summer is simple: forget her brother’s best friend—Nick Grawsky—ever existed. It should be easy: He’s spending his summer in the Hamptons, adding girls in tiny bikinis to his list of broken hearts. Guarantee he won’t be telling them they’re like his little sisters. This summer, Emilia won’t stay awake at night thinking about him. She’ll need flawless ballet movements to have a shot at next year’s showcase, and she’s finally ready to search for her birth parents. But when Nick decides to stay in the city, Emilia’s resolve disappears in a pirouette. Maybe it’s the spin they needed to be together. As long as she doesn’t get stuck believing in happily ever after…

Nick is tired of pretending to be the happy, let’s-have-fun guy. His father wants him to change his career from professional dancer to…lawyer. He needs to put all of his focus on dancing to prove to Daddy Dearest he’s good enough to make it big. And he may have a case of the bluest balls in history courtesy of Emilia. She’s off-limits: The bro code with Roberto even forbids the dirty thoughts he has about her. Besides, he’s not boyfriend material. He only has time for flings, for girls who don’t expect much, for girls he doesn’t want to kiss goodnight. He knows he should resist her, but he’s not sure he wants to…

At least for this summer.

It’s going to be a summer like no other.

Buy it now :) (Special price of $0.99 ends on Sunday August 2nd)

Excerpt
[From Chapter 13 – Em]

I look up in the sky. “I like you,” I whisper. “I really really like you.” He tenses behind me and I know he’s looking for an easy way out. I should feel hurt, or confused, or sad, or disappointed, or angry. But instead, I look at him, daring him to say something.
“We should get going,” he says. And random laughter bursts out of me. I was trying to stay serious, I swear. And maybe my laugh sounds wrong, kind of like a sad clown’s laugh.
 “You don’t like to talk about your feelings. You love to show up with one random girl after the other, but did you ever confide in them? Do they know you?” I slap my hand on my mouth. No-Filter-Em: that should be my nickname or my superhero name. No-Filter-Em to the rescue! I giggle at my own joke and sip a bit of my drink, but he gently takes it away. “I talk too much, don’t I? It’s like I don’t have a filter. I mean, it’s not that I don’t have a filter. I don’t want to have one with you. With you, I feel like I can talk about anything and you won’t judge me, you won’t make fun of me. Well, you might make fun of me. But not in a mean way.” My stomach churns and I roll on my side, stretching, trying to make the feeling go away, but it’s there and soon I feel like retching. “I think I’m going to get sick.”
“Let’s get you out of here.” Nick jumps to his feet. Nick doesn’t need a nickname, he acts like a superhero in my mind most of the times, except with all those girls. I hold on to my stomach. “Take my hand,” he says and pulls me up. “The bathroom’s over there.”
“I won’t make it.” I moan and wobble to the side. There are only a few people scattered around. And I throw up in the bushes. “Oh my God, everything’s spinning.”
”You can do this, come on.” He wraps an arm around my waist.
“I’m so sorry,” I whimper. “I d-d-didn’t mean to throw up like this.” My steps are hesitant, and my stomach gurgles.
Nick stops suddenly and I’m about to protest that everything spins again, when he gently wipes my mouth with cold water. We’re by one of the water fountains that joggers use, and he’s wetting one of the napkins from my picnic basket into the splashing water. “You’re fine. You’ll be fine,” he says so tenderly that I want to kiss him. But instead, I mutter, “I really do like you.”
He smiles and leads me back to the streets. People pass by us, cars rush by. He drops the basket on the ground and still holding me, he picks up his cell with his other hand. “Hey John, can you come and pick me up? I’m on West Seventy-Seventh Street, by Central Park.”
He hangs up quickly and then calls for one of the vendors close by. “I need a water bottle.”
“I’m tired,” I say and wiggle out of his embrace. “I need to sit.” And I do. And I yawn. And I want to sleep so badly.
“Come on, drink some water,” Nick says, crouching next to me. People are walking around us. I should get up. But my legs are so tired. I take a sip.
I hold on to his arm, drinking one more gulp.
 “I don’t know my limits.  And that cocktail was good. So. Yums. I never say ‘yums.’ I usually say ‘yummy.’ It was yummy yums.” This is funny. Yummy yums. I giggle but then sigh.  “My stomach’s still not happy.”
Nick slowly caresses my forehead. And maybe I’ve closed my eyes for a second. “The car’s here,” he says. I’m still wobbly when I stand up.
The black sedan pulls in front of us.
And his father opens the door.



Giveaway Time

To celebrate the release of A Summer Like No Other, I have set up a giveaway with pretty special prizes
(including a leather bracelet from Chloe + Isabel)
You have mannnnny ways to enter and you have an entire month to do so!
Link to participate: http://smarturl.it/ASLNOgiveaway  Open internationally.
Thank you SO MUCH!!!
Other books by the author:
·         One, Two, Three – available now (AmazonB&NiTunesKobo)
·         One Dream Only – Free! (AmazonB&NiTunesKobo)
·         Always Second Best – Available for pre-order (Amazon)


About the author

Elodie Nowodazkij was raised in a tiny village in France, where she could always be found a book in hand. At nineteen, she moved to the US, where she learned she’d never lose her French accent. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Modern Language & Linguistics, and later earned master’s degrees in German Cultural Studies and European Studies. Unbeknownst to her professors, she sometimes drafted stories in class. Now she lives in Maryland with her husband, their dog and their cat. She's also a serial smiley user.

Connect with the author

Facebook reader group (chat with the author, early excerpts, ARCs opportunities, giveaways…) – https://www.facebook.com/groups/954159761294820/
Newsletter (Exclusive bonus scenes, regular updates, videos, giveaways…) – http://elodienowodazkij.us3.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=4fe2ebb3f95df52e0954e0044&id=f404024751




Saturday 25 July 2015

#WIPMarathon July Update

It's time for another #WIPMarathon update, hosted by the lovely Ifeoma Dennis!

Last report wordcount: I'd finished my YA post-apocalyptic trilogy, and did the first continuity check. I'd also finished outlining my fantasy trilogy. I was at 40K of my draft.

Current report wordcount: 

I'm at 84K of my draft. So close to the end!

I also finished revisions and did the final proofread on Delinquent: An Alliance Novella, and formatted it ready for release (less than two weeks left!). :)

And I sort of accidentally wrote 2000 words of a new book and wrote a rough plan for a YA SF trilogy... It's not really new, because the idea's actually been on my project list since 2012. I've just never got round to writing it, despite the outline being done for months - I was more in the mood to write fantasy. But for some reason, my brain's been jumping back to sci-fi lately, so I finished the outline for the first book.

I've been listing all my projects with my Business Author hat on and trying to figure out which to focus on next (there'll be a blog post on marketing and prioritising coming up soon!). So that's how the new trilogy came about. It was planned as a standalone, but I wanted to see if I could expand it into a series... and I could!

WIP issues this month: Battling through the muddled middle of a draft when I'm convinced I'll have to delete half of it later. (Usually, it doesn't end up being THAT bad, but still...) Taking breaks from writing mid-draft always makes it really hard to get back into it, and there'll be continuity errors all over the place. *cries*

Four things I learned this month in writing:
  • The secret to longer books: multiple POVs. I find my single-POV novels tend to be short, even in fantasy. With more than one perspective, I get to explore things I wouldn't normally with single-POV.
  • Literally all my shiny new ideas and inspiration phases strike when I really, really don't have time. But when I write the idea down, I never regret it, because I always want to come back to it later! My goal in life is to become an author who can pull an idea out of thin air and start drafting the next day. It still takes at least 2 months of percolating between getting an idea and outlining it...
  • I really need to pay attention to my writer-brain more. I'm always wary about starting new projects in the middle of drafting something else, because before I finished my first novel, I never finished anything. Since then, though, I've never actually left a draft unfinished because I lost interest or went chasing after a shiny new idea. (I'm on my 22nd book, so this came as something of a revelation! o.O) On the other hand, back-to-back drafting is tiring and I don't have to do it. So I'm most likely going to start Book 1 in my new series next instead of moving on to the sequel to the one I'm writing.
  • Even editor-writers need editors. Seriously. I can immediately spot issues in other people's writing, but when I'm looking at my own draft, there could be a giant glaring plot hole right in front of me and I'd be completely oblivious to it. 
What distracted me this month when writing: Non-writing things. I can usually balance freelance work and writing fairly easily, but judging the Pitch to Publication contest meant I had to take several days to read queries and partials. And then I went away to YALC for the weekend, which put me even further behind... just before another wave of editing client emails. So I'm struggling to get some semblance of control over my inbox!

Goal for next month:

August is going to be an editing month! Alliance 3 is with beta readers, and Beneath the Waves and Indestructible are with freelance editors. I'm diving back into intensive revisions on my YA post-apocalyptic next week. Then my novella releases on the 7th August. Then I'm supposed to be going on holiday, and I have two weeks where I'll have sporadic computer access and won't be able to do edits on my own stuff... (I'm not entirely sure how I ended up with three projects out at the same time... not counting Darkworld. Eep. *backs away from inbox*)

As for drafting... I have two choices: the second in my fantasy series, and my YA SF cyberpunk paranormal dystopian. (Yes, I know. Emma the Genre-Hopper strikes again. At the moment, I'm describing it as Anna Dressed in Blood meets cyberpunk. :P) I'm still working on the outlines for both of them, so we'll see!

Last 200 words: Well, I'm near the end and so many things are in flux with this draft... but I thought it'd be interesting to share the first words I wrote of the YA SF. The character voice sprang from this line:

"I have enough ghosts of my own without picking up a stray."

This one's going to be fun. :)

Friday 24 July 2015

Cover Reveal: Delinquent: An Alliance Novella!

It's time to reveal the cover for my next book: Delinquent: An Alliance Novella! This is set two years before Adamant and I originally started it while I was working on the first book as a way to explore backstory events. I was having so much fun writing it, I ended up turning it into a complete story. Once again, thank you to the lovely Amy, my cover artist, for doing such a fabulous job! ^_^


Nineteen-year-old Kay Walker seems to have it all, including an assured future with the Alliance after he graduates from the prestigious Academy. But when he and his friends discover the lure of the Passages, the place between the worlds where monsters hide, they’re caught up in a contest with rival student Aric - which soon escalates into a deadly game.

A perfect life hides lies, and Kay becomes a target for alluring yet deadly magic he has no way of understanding. Magic is a force on its own, and on no one’s side…


Pre-order: Amazon   Kobo  Barnes and Noble  Apple


If you've read my other posts, you'll know that things are crazy-busy in Writerland right now! Once the summer madness is over, I should have a better idea of the timeline for the rest of the Alliance series (yay!), and I'll also be able to announce NEW BOOKS (double yay!)! As always, the first people to find out will be my newsletter subscribers. :)


Wednesday 22 July 2015

YALC Awesomeness!

I spent last weekend at the UK's Young Adult Literature Convention (part of London Film & Comic Con). I went last year for the Saturday only, but this time, the lovely Cole and I booked tickets for a whole weekend of books-and-writing-related awesomeness. This year, the event was held at the Olympia rather than Earl's Court, and YALC had its own floor, so there was room to breathe and actual air conditioning! I managed to buy three books within the first hour of arriving, so all thoughts of budgeting went clean out the window. ;) I also acquired a ton of freebies and two tote bags.






















After exploring all the book stalls, we headed to the horror/ghost story panel, which included a discussion of the boundaries between adult and YA horror, and the reasons it remains popular. There was also the observation that people who write really dark stuff tend to be really nice people. Er... :P



After more exploring, we went to a really interesting agent/author panel with Gemma Cooper and Harriet Reuter. It was fun to talk to writers at all stages of the publishing journey!


On Saturday, we didn't have to queue to get in because we already had wristbands. Yay!




I went to the Shadowhunters panel, where Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan talked about the series and the upcoming TV show. I got to meet Sarah afterwards. Luckily, she didn't mind my babbling and was really nice and signed my copy of Unspoken. She asked if I preferred good or evil, and I said "Team Morally Questionable". :P




Then we wandered into the Comic Con for a bit. It was a little intense. o.O


But very fun, obviously. Cosplays and merchandise EVERYWHERE. (Highlight: two Disney princesses having a lightsaber duel in the middle of the gaming section. :P)


Death and the Luggage from Discworld. :D

I also met Patrick Ness, who signed my copy of Monsters of Men. And I bought more books. (Note to self: invest in a multidimensional bookcase.)




On Sunday, I went to two panels - "Mental Health in YA" and "Fantasy and Reality", which were both really interesting. (Highlight: an audience member asked the authors, "How did you get an agent?" Melinda Salisbury responded with, "I SUMMONED SATAN". Seems legit. ;))

We briefly went into the Comic Con again, then it was time to catch the tube back to Euston (with a suitcase overflowing with books). I arrived home tired, but buzzing from the excitement!





















I now have a ton of free book samples and a Groot to add to my pop vinyl collection. I'm really glad I went to all three days of the event, and took a mostly-empty suitcase for all the books. ;)

I'd have loved to have time to meet more authors, and it felt like half my Twitter feed was live-tweeting it (I probably walked past them without realising, because I'm hopeless at recognising people in the real world. :P). But overall, it was a great weekend, and I refuse to feel guilty for not getting any writing done!

Until next year! ^_^