Dragons & Detours

 Jaedyn just wanted a nap after all the portal chaos. But in the In-Between, even naps come with plot twists.

Golden orbs drift mysteriously through her cottage, Midgi is practicing fire-breathing skills in the garden with Zephyr, and Rowan has declared himself fire marshal. To make matters worse, Typo has slipped through a portal and is gleefully scribbling chaos across Jaedyn’s manuscripts. Plot bunnies multiply faster than she can chase them down.

As if that weren’t enough, Markus appears, brandishing the Ink Weaver’s Quill, determined to prove his quill is better than hers. Maris returns to her Library of Infinite Threads to make sure the stories are in their proper places. Allie and her angel dog stop by to just say hi. Clippy starts singing oldies songs from the laptop.

Maggie, an enchanted baker, reports three baby dragons have escaped a pet portal in her world and are wreaking havoc in a suburban shopping mall—splashing in the fountain, getting stuck on the escalator, trying on sunglasses, and eating nachos in the food court. Midgi pleads for an off-the-page adventure because these baby dragons are his people.

Jaedyn must rally her maybe-not-so-imaginary epic heroes, librarians, bakers, angels, dogs, and dragons to mount a rescue. Riley, Jaedyn’s snarky Pomeranian, and Dewey, her doggy soulmate, travel as emotional support dogs in a magical backpack. What could possibly go wrong?

Jaedyn, naturally, gets sidetracked in a bookstore. Midgi has figured out how to get store credit and is on a shopping spree. Syllia, an elven bard from Rowan and Karina’s world, appears with her lyre harp and her soothing dragon-song to lure the baby dragons home. Because sometimes a detour can either unravel a plot or is simply a story that veers a little off course that wants to be told.

Available on Amazon... $2.99 (Free in KU)

Portals & Possibilities

Jaedyn’s writing world is in total chaos. She’s a writer living in a magical cottage on the edge of the In-Between—a story realm where teacup dragons puff lavender mist, her Pomeranian, Riley, offers snarky opinions, and unfinished stories hover like orphaned pages.

When Rowan—a hero from her abandoned epic fantasy—uses her enchanted quill to write his story, things go a little sideways. One swoosh of cosmic ink later, Midgi, her tiny purple dragon, tumbles through a portal into the depths of Jaedyn’s half-written worlds.

Jaedyn has to rescue Midgi from a story-verse full of story fragments and characters clamoring for their own books. Worse, the Department of Narrative Police is threatening to shut down all her stories unless she produces outlines.

Jaedyn insists she’s a pantser and pantsers don’t do outlines. Rowan insists he should step in since he has plotter energy. Maris, a time-traveling, dimension-hopping librarian, arrives with Dewey, her plotter Pomeranian, to try to resolve the plot leakage and stabilize the story-verse. Riley’s head over paws in puppy love. Rowan’s long-lost love interest steps onto the page and offers to help write the story.

With story threads spiraling and characters from half-finished stories popping in through dimensional doorways, the portal malfunctions, bringing in an evil sorceress searching for the Codex—a powerful artifact that can rewrite reality. As characters from stories she’s never written appear, Jaedyn realizes her story might be unraveling faster than she can plot it. (Not that she ever plots. But… still.)

Midgi has decided to write a book about runes and portals. He’s calling it The Multiverse of Maybe. Jaedyn must decide if she’s the one holding the quill—or if the story has a mind of its own.

Available on Amazon... $2.99 (Free in KU) 

Quills & Consequences

Cozy fantasy meets writerly chaos in a world where enchanted quills have opinions—and characters refuse to stay on the page.

Jaedyn’s a writer living in a cozy cottage on the edge of the In-Between. Her life is overflowing with fluttering manuscripts and more unfinished stories and ideas than she has time to write. She’s determined to finish at least one story, maybe five. Except the universe has other plans.

When Rowan—a hero straight out of her abandoned epic fantasy—knocks on her door, Jaedyn’s writing life goes spectacularly sideways. He wants his story finished, with a proper ending—and maybe a love interest or two.

Jaedyn insists she’s busy with way too many other books to write. Rowan insists he’s more than a figment of her imagination. He knows things he shouldn’t—about the quill, about the stories she’s left unwritten. And if a fictional character can walk out of her manuscript and into her cottage… maybe her stories aren’t as imaginary as she thought. Maybe her imagination is trying to tell her something.

Between a determined fictional hero, a snarky Pomeranian named Riley who has opinions on just about everything, Midgi, an adorable teacup dragon who breathes mist instead of fire, and a magical quill with ideas of its own, Jaedyn’s about to discover that in a world where stories spill off the page and characters refuse to stay put, sometimes the line between writer and character isn’t as solid as it seems.

Available on Amazon... $0.99 

Quills & Consequences ~ Covers

Just started writing a new series... about writers who have waaay too many books to write... lol. Wanted to offer you a look at the covers for the Quills & Consequences trilogy.

Cozy fantasy meets writerly chaos in a world where enchanted quills have opinions—and characters refuse to stay on the page.

Update... WIP

Hey, it's me, Magi. My mom is busy writing her new book, so I wanted to let you know that I'm going to be in the new book. This is the second time she's written me into one of her novels. I'm so excited!

She decided to take me along on her travels to a magical land. Because I go everywhere with her anyway. But I really like this new world she's dragged me into.

She won't let me say too much about the story yet, but I can tell you that it's about the magic of words, and coffee!

Writers Need Coffee

It's true. Writers do need coffee. It's a known fact.

I've got some exciting news... 

I'm starting a new series for writers...

Can't say too much about it at the moment because it's just starting to brew, but I can tell you it will involve coffee and writing—the two things that Mocha Latte (of Novel Quest) loves. She'll be in the first book and she's going on a magical, novel-writing adventure.

I thought it would be fun to begin this series in Camp NaNoWriMo. I'll be updating and offering insights into my journey throughout the month.

New Year, New Novel

 If you're a writer, I'll bet one of your New Year's Resolutions is to write a novel. Me, too. 

This is a wonderful goal, a beautiful dream, but the reality might not match up, at least in the beginning. It takes a lot of time and effort to write a novel. Not trying to discourage you, just saying that every writer, no matter how many books you've written, whether they're bestsellers or flops, all start out the same way. With the first word, and your perseverance to push through the crappy first draft.

It happens to all of us. When I begin a new book (and I've written a lot of books), and I'm sitting at my computer looking at a blank page, all the scribbled notes I have, and all the thoughts I have in my head about the novel, seem to evaporate and I'm looking at a blank screen. I can see the finished novel in my mind, and I know it will eventually find its way onto paper, BUT I tend to trip myself up when first beginning a new book. 

There's a phrase for this and it's called First Word Phobia. I experience this Every. Single. Time. The only way to get through it is to just put your butt in the chair and type words. Any words. Maybe just notes to yourself about the novel you're writing. Just to get something down on paper. Once you've got a few pages, first word phobia disappears, like magic. Because your muse takes over. Your characters start whispering to you. The words start to grow, tripping over each other to get written on the page.

You can do this. I can do this. You can write a new novel in the new year. Go for it! Do it!

The Truth About Writer's Block

You knew it would happen, didn't you? You were expecting it, waiting for it, wondering why it was taking so long to show up. And now it's here. You're a writer and you're blocked. You have writer's block.

Can I tell you something? Writer's block doesn't exist. Someone made it up to torture writers. You were expecting it to happen to you because you've heard other people complaining about it and maybe you've read books about writer's block—written by writers—and they should know what they're talking about.

And worse, maybe those writers said how hard it is to write a novel, that it's a struggle, and that you have to slog through the inevitable drudgery of writing and fight for every word that comes crawling to you.

I'm so sorry this happened to you. None of it is true, and you know that not one word of it is true. Writing isn't a chore, or drudgery, or something you have to grit your teeth and struggle through the best you can.

Real writers don't get writer's block. Writing is pure joy. It's the most awesome thing in the world. Being a writer is magical. Writing brings you happiness and you love being a writer. You know I'm telling you the truth. You're not blocked anymore. You never were. And those writers who have talked about writer's block only said those things to make you suffer.

You know the truth. You're writing a novel you're totally in love with. You're creating worlds and playing inside your imagination. You're writing words that are absolutely amazing, words that bring you joy and happiness simply because you're writing them, because you're writing a novel. You're awesome. You're a writer!! Excerpted from 30-Day Novel.

What could possibly go wrong? Or Write?

What would happen if you wanted to find a kahuna to get first-hand knowledge for the novel you were writing and to learn more about the magic within yourself?

But you didn't have a clue how to make that happen. Then you were invited to spend a month in Maui—all expenses paid—to write the novel you've always dreamed about.

And what would happen if you found out that there was a catch... that you didn't really know what you'd gotten yourself into?

It happened to Mocha. It could happen to you.

Listening to the Words

Sometimes the most important words you write are the words you don't write.

The words that flow softly and quietly through your mind, giving you ideas and inspiration. The words that whisper to you in your dreams. The words you hear while you're meditating or slowly savoring a steaming cup of coffee.

Take the time and listen to those words. Hear what they say.

Novel Prep ~ Blueprint

Are you thinking about writing a novel? Maybe you have it all planned out on paper or maybe your story is playing out in your mind.

My first novel came easily to me. I just sat down at my laptop and banged out the words in thirty days. Then I started to write a second novel which quickly turned into a hot mess. That certainly put some planning into the picture for me for my future novels.

I decided to write a workbook that would be helpful in sketching out a story... leaving it open enough so that any writer would be able to play with the magic inside their imagination and let the story they have inside come out and play on the pages.

The workbook guides you through YOUR novel, the way YOU want to write it. It invites you into the magic inside your mind and shows you how to make the writing magic happen. It offers a sense of direction and lots of things to think about as you begin to plan and write your novel. It encourages you to bring forth and listen to all your totally wonderful, magnificent novel ideas that your muse whispers inside your mind and your imagination. Read more...

Revision

Maybe you wrote a novel in 30 days. Maybe it's a hot mess and now you're wondering how to edit it—or even if you want to edit it.

Perhaps if you look at it as an evolving adventure that is destined to go through many rewrites, becoming better and better each time before it's published, you might see that editing is a magical part of the journey.

Your novel is your baby; talk to it, ask it what it wants and needs in order to grow, to evolve, to be the best story it can be. Help your manuscript birth itself into a bestseller by giving it lots of loving care and attention.

Survived NaNo

Made it through another NaNo... :)

Ended up writing two novels this year. Well, truth be told, I only actually wrote one.

My magical word fairy wrote her own novel—it's a novella because she's a little fairy and it was a bit difficult for her to jump all over the keyboard to write the words... :) But she was on a novel quest and was bound and determined to write her own novel.

And the good news is I didn't get stuck in 1971 in my time travel novel.

Both books need a serious amount of editing, so it's going to be a while before they see the light of day, but I had a blast doing NaNo and now I'm going to give my fingers a well-deserved rest.

True to form, another idea for a nonfiction book for writers was born during NaNo.

It's got something to do with writing a 50,000-word novel in thirty days... :)

Magical Word Fairy

Once upon a time, somewhere in the land of imagination, lived a word fairy who believed words were magical and that they created a world within paragraphs and pages which grew into beautiful books.

She liked to visit writers and sprinkle magical ideas and inspiration into their minds as they were writing, making the words sparkle and shimmer with light. 

She watched with happiness as the writer's imaginations came to life, playing and dancing and singing with the words on their pages.

 

You can sometimes hear her laughter and feel her joy when a writer opens up the magic inside them and sees their words come alive on the page, shimmering and sparkling with light.

Excerpted from 30-Day Novel.

Doing a D.O.R.G.

Okay. I admit it. I might be a little crazy. I mean, who writes a 50,000-word novel in a month? You'd have to be crazy to do that.

You'd have to be even crazier to write a 50,000-word novel in ONE DAY! Yet, some people do it. And I figure if they can do it, so can I... :)

It's called a D.O.R.G.—Day One Ridiculous Goal.

So now you know... I have a DORG. I'm crazy. I'm going to write my entire novel in 24 hours (or less). Gonna need a lot of coffee for this. Good thing I'm named after a coffee.

Update... November 2

Umm, let me tell you a story about my D.O.R.G. It turned into a D.O.R.K.—Day One Ridiculous Krazy (okay I know that's not how you spell crazy, but after you write 34,728 words in less than 24 hours, that's the way it's spelled... :) And I really should admit that my manuscript is a hot mess.

Note to Self: Don't do this again. Ever. Really. Never Again. At least not until next year... :)

Doing NaNo... Again!

Word-ideas are dancing in my head. A magical word fairy is whispering in my ear. Playing with images of the novel that is yet to be. Actually, I don't have a clue what I'm going to be writing about, but that's okay cause I'm a pantser... :)

 Last year I was on a novel quest. This year, I'm hanging out with the (sometimes invisible) magical word fairy who has some ideas about writing a novella. The time warp sequel is floating through my mind. But I'm also thinking about writing the prequel to the series.

Guess I'll just have to wait until November 1st and see what words appear on my computer screen and where they take me.

A Novel Journey

It's so interesting how characters can come to life when you're writing them. What's also interesting is how a novel can take on a life of its own and begin it's own journey...

I wrote a novel last November during NaNoWriMo. I had a book idea in mind but it just never felt right so when another idea floated into my mind a few days before the writing challenge started, I grabbed it and ran with it. Novel Quest is what happened.

But then, the more I played with the book, and thought about the ideas inside the book, the more it started to change direction and take on a new focus. I originally thought it was mostly about offering a humorous look at writers writing a 50,000-word novel in a month, along with some time morphing and a kahuna quest.

And then the magic happened. I realized it was more about a kahuna quest and finding the magic within, and that writing a 50,000-word novel in a month was part of the magic of the journey.

The End???

Couldn't sleep last night so I decided to make a cup of coffee and work on my new series. It was only supposed to be a trilogy, but then it started to grow. Novels have a habit of doing that from time to time.

A prequel was born several weeks ago and last night (early this morning?) another book to finish the series came into the picture.

Only problem is... it's not a sequel in the strict definition of the word, so I figured it would be an endquel... that made sense to me at 3:00 a.m. But then, after searching through the dictionary and the thesaurus, and surfing Wikipedia, I discovered that there is no such thing as an endquel!!!

Not a problem, I thought to myself. One of the perks of being a writer is that you get to make up words to say what you mean. So I invented a new word—Endquel—it means the ending of a series. Maybe I'll put that on Wikipedia... :)

New word for novelists — Endquel

(the ending of a series; the last book in the series)

Book One is almost ready to be published. The four remaining books are in various stages of completion and will soon follow with the prequel coming in fourth and the endquel finishing the series.

 

And that's the end??? Or maybe not. The end is really a new beginning. There's always the possibility of a midquel or an interquel, or even a sidequel somewhere in there... :)

I wrote a new novel... in 30 days

 I did NaNoWriMo last month and wrote an entire novel—117,934 words—in 30 days. I had a blast; it was so much fun... :)

 Novel Quest offers a humorous look at writers writing a 50,000-word novel in 30 days, time morphing, a kahuna quest, the power of wishes, the magic of words, and the reality of imagination.

I totally love my new novel. I'll be doing some editing and playing around with it some more before I'm ready to publish it.

An interesting thing happened on my way through the month-long noveling journey—an idea for another book was born from this one... a "how-to" for writing a novel in 30 days.

Woof... I mean Woo-Hoo

My mom just told me that I'm going to be in her new book.

I'm doing the happy dance—I'm so happy that I'm dancing around in circles and I can't stop my tail from wagging.

I'm going to be in the book!!!!! Woof!!!