Criminally Difficult

Hello, dear readers, loyal followers, and those of you who stumbled randomly onto this blog in the wide inter-verse.

This past year has been a difficult year.

I've (now) written eight novels. I know how it's done. I have a system for writing novels and piecing stories together - one that involves a collision of plenty of pluck and pretty careful planning. I have never written a book that has not been marinating in my brain and in my writing journals for at least two years. I am deliberate and intentional, and I have a knack for knowing what works and what doesn't in a story. Writing is, for me, both a gift and a discipline. And that is why this year was so, so frustrating, because no matter how much all of my above-stated "ducks" were in a row, I simply could not make the time to get the sequel to BREEDER written when and how I wanted it to be written. Even though I felt like it shouldn't have been, CRIMINAL was criminally difficult to write.

It started with burn out. In March of last year, I wrapped writing on the first draft of BREEDER right on the heels of having finished the first draft of The Bone Whistle. So, from October 2013-March 2014, I wrote two novels in two different series in two entirely different styles and totaling about 290,000 words (That's more than the length of the first three Harry Potter novels combined). I only took about two weeks off in those six months, and while I was finishing writing BREEDER, I was also starting edits on The Bone Whistle, which was set for publication in September 2014. When I turned in BREEDER at the end of March, I sat back and took a break from writing while I continued to work with my editing team on The Bone Whistle, but I fully intended on picking myself up after a couple week break and beginning to write CRIMINAL so as to have it complete before my baby came in October - because, oh yes, I was also pregnant with my fourth baby.

And... It just didn't happen.

I was so tired. I look back on last summer and wonder why I couldn't make myself write, and I can only guess that I was just beyond burned out. The story was in my head, all my planning was done, but my creative juices were gone. I think the toll of basically completing six NaNoWriMo challenge equivalents in a row had caught up to me, along with the mental strain of those books - the last in a long series that had to tie up every loose thread, and the first in a series that was untested and unknown. Every week that passed last summer, I told myself I would get to work on CRIMINAL, and every week I didn't. And then school started, and I went back to teaching full time, and my time and energy diminished even more. And then I had the release of The Bone Whistle to manage, and then one week later, my fourth little baby boy decided to make his entrance to the world three weeks early. I'm sure everybody knows, or at least has heard, how exhausting the first few months with a newborn are, and so after Edmund's birth, all possibilities of writing productivity dwindled even more. November arrived, and with it, the Time of Much Sickness. Between Thanksgiving and Easter of this past year, between myself, my husband, and my four boys, we did not have more than a single week where everyone was well. We experienced the flu, RSV, bronchitis, pink eye, croup, ear infections, strep, asthma attacks, migraine headaches, and more. It was bizarre and awful and dispiriting, and... I couldn't find the time or the energy to write. I was nursing my baby, too, which takes hours of every day, and between that, working full time, cooking, taking care of sickies, being sick myself, being wife and mother, and all the other general things in life, I despaired at finding any time to get down to writing CRIMINAL. There were even a few dark moments where I wondered if my writing career was over because I simply couldn't balance everything in my life anymore.

I am the sort of writer who needs time to write. Perhaps that sounds like a "duh" thing to say, but let me explain. If I can't carve out a couple hours to devote to it at a time, it's hard for me to even bother. A half hour here and there is not enough time for me to get my head in the game. At least, that's what I'd always thought, because that's how I'd always written. I'd always started a book and knocked it out in 6-12 weeks, working several hours each day to get it done. This year taught me that if I was going to practice was I preach about the discipline of writing, then I would have to change the way I write books in order to fit into my new schedule with four little ones instead of three (that fourth one really does make a difference!). I would have to write in the stolen half hours - fifteen minutes - five minutes - in between diaper changes and staggered naps. I would not be able to stay up half of each night for a month to get a book written, because I just don't have the energy for that anymore, and it's not fair to my family! I would have to adapt to my new life, or my writing career would be over. So I did.

Sometime this past year - I think it was February - I opened my document (that I'd created last summer) and began to pick at CRIMINAL. There were days where I only got a hundred words on the page, but at least I got those hundred words on the page. But I lost track of things far too easily. The benefit of writing novels the way I usually write them is that because it happens so fast, I don't forget much of what I've already written as I go. But with CRIMINAL, sometimes it would be weeks in between scenes, and I couldn't remember which story elements I'd already included. This made for a lot of rewriting as I went along, and for a painfully, criminally slow writing of the first draft, but I got it done. I got it done! And then I did a complete revision, and that took a few weeks, too, because there were a lot more rough edges than I usually have, but that is now also done. It took me six months, and I think it was an important six months. I don't know if I'll ever again be able to write novels like I used to, but now I know I can write novels like this - with baby steps rather than marathon strides. I got to the finish line, beta reader feedback is already starting to come in (it's positive!), and I hope to have publication info soon. It still has a long official editing process to go through, so I don't know if it will squeak in before the end of 2015, but if it does, it will be a Christmas miracle! All I can promise at this time is, it's coming...

The Cover that Almost Was

 

Sometimes things don't turn out exactly as you intend them to, and that ended up being the case with the cover of The Bone Whistle. Months before publication, I had chosen the image of this girl to go on the cover of book six, and my excellent cover designer, Megan Dooley, did such a spectacular job of putting her over just the right background and coloring her just so. In fact, she sent me several drafts of this cover, and we spent many weeks tweaking this and that to make it perfect. And in the end, I loved it. I loved everything about it, and I still do. This image informed my description of Darcy when she is being taken from Limina at the end of the book, and I thought it was so beautiful and fitting for what the story is all about. But I also thought I should definitely test it on friends, family, and colleagues to see what they thought. 

It did not test well. People took issue with the fact that none of the other books have people on the front, that it looks too "girly" (so it might not appeal to my male readership), that it doesn't look like a YA cover, and that it looks more like paranormal romance than fantasy. So, with a heavy heart, I had to go back to Megan and tell her that I thought we should change it. We were about one week away from the deadline for the finalized cover, and I had to come up with a new image to go on the front, and Megan had to do all the digital artwork and design around the image. To her very great credit, she was understanding and didn't complain one bit. She rallied and got it done once I found the picture of the tree (which I dug up in one night). That's how the tree on the final cover came to be (which, by the way, Megan had to completely re-color. In the original image, the tree's leaves are green). I was hesitant to use a tree because I already knew I wanted a tree on the cover of BREEDER, but I think the final cover for The Bone Whistle turned out beautifully. There will always be, however, that little part of me that wishes I could have seen the original cover in print.

Breeder Cover Reveal!

I am happy to reveal the cover and back cover summary of Breeder, the first in my New Adult Dystopian trilogy. Are you more of a Dystopian fan than a Fantasy fan? Prefer The Hunger Games to Harry Potter? Stay tuned, because my next series might just be for you...

Perfection comes at a terrible cost. 

Everything about Seventeen’s life is perfect, from her genetics, to her home in Sanctuary, to her status as a Breeder in the Unified World Order. But all that changes when she meets a rogue Enforcer named Pax, who infiltrates Sanctuary and targets her for extraction from the Controlled Repopulation Program. Pax seems to know a little too much about her, and he plants dangerous doubts in her mind that accuse Sanctuary of hiding a dark secret, and that cause Seventeen to question everything she’s ever known.

When Seventeen’s life is threatened, she has little choice but to run away from Sanctuary with Pax. But for Breeders, contact with men is forbidden by law, and even the simple act of taking Pax’s hand is treason.

Mired in confusion, Seventeen travels with Pax to the outside world and takes the name Pria, the identity of her childhood. But she is far from certain she’s made the right decision when they discover an entire community of people who should no longer exist.

Seventeen, now Pria, is thrust into a position as a key player in a dangerous bid to bring down the Unified World Order. Meanwhile, Pax's attachment to her and her growing attraction to him contribute to the ever-growing mysteries in her life.

Pria’s journey from a sheltered, naïve Breeder to a rebel agent requires not only external transformation but self-discovery. As her world crumbles, Pria must decide who she is and what she really believes.

But in her world, the truth comes at a cost, and uncovering it will require a greater treason than she could ever have imagined.

Copyright TWCS Publishing House

Coming late 2014 

The Bone Whistle Cover Reveal!

Cover reveal for The Bone Whistle! I'm happy to reveal what the cover for the 6th and final installment in The Gateway Chronicles looks like, and yes, of course the image is important to the story. Let the speculation begin!

Darcy burned with the pain of knowing she’d failed. What happened when a prophecy didn’t come true? It must not have been much of a prophecy in the first place. And if they couldn’t trust in that, then they couldn’t trust in anything at all.

Five years ago, Darcy first received the prophecy of the Six, which stated she and her friends would save the land of Alitheia from a shadowy foe. For five years, she hasn’t known what the end will look like, but she certainly didn’t expect this.

Thrust back into Alitheia through unexpected means, Darcy winds up alone, scared, and without her recent memory. As she struggles to regain her lost memories and reunite with the ones she loves, she pieces together the prophecies and the oracles to find they all converge into one story¾a story that tells her just how much she’ll have to give to save both worlds, and everyone she loves.

Pursued through Alitheia by forces desperate to kill them, Darcy and her friends take a journey fraught with danger that will lead them, inevitably, to the final confrontation with the Shadow. Armed with newfound knowledge of how the prophecy of the Six will play out, Darcy and the others must have faith in the face of mounting odds and adversity. Ultimately, the greatest courage of all belongs not to those who give something of themselves, but to those who let go of what they could never control.

Filled with stunning losses, heart-wrenching reunions, unexpected twists, and the power of love and sacrifice, the conclusion to The Gateway Chronicles will leave you breathless and begging for more from author K. B. Hoyle. 

Book 5 Cover Reveal!

I am super excited to reveal the cover for book 5 of The Gateway Chronicles: The Scroll and to tell you a little about it! So, without further ado, here it is:

The creature on the front is a wyvern dragon, and you may not be able to tell because of the color that was added and the realism of the image, but it was actually sculpted for me by my friend and talented artist Julia Hankins. She then took a digital picture of it, and we sent it off to my cover designer, Megan Dooley, who put color to it and designed the rest of the cover. This dragon's name is Marier in the story, and I look forward to you meeting him!

You can go to my page at TWCS here to recommend The Scroll on Facebook and/or Goodreads and to read the BACK COVER SUMMARY! Do it now! :)

Once Upon a Time...

Every now and then I am reminded that my adventure with TWCS Publishing House is still quite new, and once upon a time, not so long ago, I was laboring away as a self-pub author, begging, borrowing, and stealing help wherever I could get it. Many of you who purchased my books before I signed with TWCS know that I had three students working on cover design for me. What you may not know is that they finished the cover for book 4 before I signed with TWCS, which nullified my need for the cover they had created for me as we changed the covers entirely. I thought perhaps some of you might be interested to see the original cover for book 4, however, because the girls did an excellent job of bringing to life my description of an item from the book: Tellius's coronation crown. I believe I described it something like this when I explained it to them. "It's like, sorta, a cross between an Olympic victory crown with olive leaves and a medieval-type simple crown with a single point in the center. It should be gold, and the leaves should touch top and bottom. Simple, but rich-looking. No jewels." And from those scattered thoughts, they created something pretty much exactly like I pictured it in my brain:

It's a beautiful picture, and hopefully it fits what you imagined when you read the coronation scene. I'm glad, however, that I didn't decide to have the crown on the cover of the official version of book 4. As The Enchanted came together, it became a much darker story than I once envisioned it, and the coronation sequence figured in less prominently. Still, though, I love having this image saved on my computer, and I thought it was high time to share it with all of you! 

Book 4 Back Cover!

Oh BOY how the time flies! Book 4 has been available for pre-order for some time now, and I hadn't even gotten around to posting about it. In my defense, my three-year-old was quite sick two weeks ago, then I was sick last week, and now my husband is sick (all of us with different illnesses, which is odd), so I've been a tad distracted. At long last, however, I am announcing that, YES, you can now pre-order The Enchanted. Just click on the cover image in the sidebar to go to my publisher's website and pre-order a paperback. Or, if you prefer, you can also pre-order on itunes by following the link at the end of this post. And as a little treat, here is the back cover excerpt:


Enchantments are powerful—the most powerful magic we have,” Rubidius said. “They can change the nature and composition of animate and inanimate things alike, and they can foil the plans of the most determined foes.”

“What do enchantments have to do with me?” Darcy whispered.

“Everything.”

Darcy Pennington’s course was plotted out for her long before she ever stepped foot in Alitheia, but Colin Mackaby seems determined to hamper and confuse the way as much as he can. Darcy begins to suspect that it is not Colin working against her, but a malevolent force working through him—a force seeking to hasten Darcy’s transformation into one of the very creatures she is supposed to fight. Darcy is finally willing to follow the prophesied path, even agreeing to her much-resisted marriage to Tellius, but soon after she returns to Alitheia, everything spirals out of her control. A painful rejection almost pushes her over the edge, and when she demands answers from Rubidius, he provides her only with more painful secrets she must keep from the others. In the meantime, Darcy and her friends finally set out to confront one of Tselloch’s gateways, fulfilling—so they think—the great prophecy of the Six. But when faced with practicing their magic against Tselloch’s evil power, nothing turns out as expected.

Enchantments protect them as sorcery attacks them, and Colin Mackaby dogs their every step along the way. In the minds of the Alitheians, if Darcy cannot repair the breach that has formed between herself and Tellius, nothing will turn out as it was foretold. Darcy wonders, in the end, if there is any hope at all for her, or for Alitheia.

 http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-enchanted/id561164270?mt=11&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

News on Books 3 and 4...

Real Quick...

Book 3 of The Gateway Chronicles, The White Thread is NOW available for sale! Just click on the icon on the left to order paperback or Kindle versions from TWCS. I'm so excited about the 4 and 5-Star reviews this book is garnering in the Young Adult reading community! Purchase it now to read it before this fall and the release of book 4! http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15768609-the-white-thread

And I also have the cover reveal for Book 4 of The Gateway Chronicles, The Enchanted and its release date: October 18, 2012. Add it now on Goodreads! http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15834466-the-enchanted

Book 3 Cover Debut!

I am happy to finally be able to debut the cover art for book 3 of The Gateway Chronicles! The background color for this book will be white, just as it appears here. I must give props to my fantastic artists (and new high school graduates) Mariah Lawrence, Hannah Pryor, and Bethany Carter who have designed all three of the new covers for me. It will be several months yet, but when The White Thread goes up for sale, I will add this image to the sidebar with a hyperlink for easy purchase on Amazon.

Oracle Update

I decided to go ahead and answer the question posed in the comments to my last post via a new blog post (btw, thanks to paranormal fantasies for alerting me to the fact that the new cover for The Six is already up on Amazon! I will update the thumbnail hyperlink on here as soon as I can). The question was whether or not I have any update on the release date of The Oracle. The answer to that is yes and no. I have a tentative release date of two to three weeks from now. Unfortunately, publishing with createspace does not allow me the opportunity of knowing exactly when it will go up for sale, but here's where I am in the process: My artists and I are working out a few kinks in the cover art for The Oracle (resizing). As soon as I get that final artwork, I will order a proof copy. Then I have one final read-through to complete, the final proof to order, and it will be done! It really could go very quickly, assuming that nothing untoward happens. I am MORE than ready to have it finished, and I am so excited to start getting feedback. One of my great friends and benefactors is reading the draft this weekend, so we'll see what she says. My student reader read it straight through three times in a week and said that she cried at the end. Yes! I made somebody emote.

Anyhow, check out the Amazon link if you would like to see the new cover art for The Six, which will go back up for sale as soon as I can approve the proof with the new artwork (hopefully in a couple days). Thanks to everybody for all your support!

Covers that Kill

Don't judge a book by its cover, right? Yeah right. That is, of course, exactly what most people DO. I've witnessed many book covers that kill in a good way, and many more that kill in a bad way. I would prefer that mine be the former, of course. But what, exactly, makes for a good cover? Firstly, and I got this from watching, of all things, a reality show this summer, the cover art should serve the title. It really is an act of marketing; draw the consumer's eye to the title. Have you ever noticed how many very popular authors have their names as the largest thing on the front of their books? (eg. Nora Roberts) This is because they have become SO popular that their readers no longer really care what their stories are called, so long as they are the authors. In the case of starting out authors, however (such as yours truly), the title should really dominate the scene. But that is not to say that the artwork should be boring, or, heaven forbid, cheesy. Cheesy covers can kill an author dead. Case in point, one of my favorite modern fantasy authors (who shall remain unnamed) has had the misfortune of having the worst covers imaginable put on her books. They are cliched in every sense of the word, and scream "I am a cheesy Christian fantasy novel," when the books themselves are anything BUT. She is an amazingly talented writer and crafter of stories whose books have often been passed over by people too embarrassed to be seen with them. Even I carry them around face down. Anyhow, I diverge... What I'm really trying to say is that I know my cover on The Six isn't anything to write home about, but I think that I at least avoided the cheese-train. I am working with, however, some very talented and wonderful student artists to craft new covers for my books, and I am confident that they will turn out spectacularly. We are aiming for simplicity, yet something eye-catching. They should appeal to both males and females, and they should be relevant to the stories. This is one of those aspects of the publishing process that most established authors don't get to take part in (as far as I've always heard, I could be wrong), and I am so happy, as a self-published author, to be able to have my hands in the process. Hopefully the end result will be covers that kill in a good way, helping my books to reach a wider audience, and helping my artists to share their craft with the world. And now, I realize, I have written too much. I'm sure that most of you have given up on this rambling blog post by now. If you have stuck with it to this point, my hat's off to you. You are either very bored, or a very big fan... or perhaps just curious... like a cat. (That's why my friends call me Whiskers). Oh boy, it IS late when I start pulling out Will Ferrel lines. Good night.

Back Cover Excerpt

I have to say, taking a few days off from the writing process has felt wonderful! I fell asleep last night so fast that I don't even remember tossing and turning at all. But I am anxious to get on with my revisions, as well. Anyhow, I took a few minutes this afternoon to tweak the back cover excerpt. I'm not thrilled with this, and it's really too long to go on the back cover, but it's a take off of what I wrote before I actually started writing the novel itself. So, I thought I'd share what I came up with. Feedback is most welcome. What actually ends up on the book should be similar to this:

One year has gone by since Darcy Pennington’s life changed forever. A year ago she’d thought that magic only existed in fairy tales. A year ago the existence of parallel realms would have seemed preposterous to her. A year ago she’d had no real friends. Now all that had changed.

It is the summer before freshman year and a return to Cedar Cove Family Camp also means a return to Alitheia for Darcy and her five friends. Remembrances of Alitheia are bittersweet for Darcy, however, as her elusive purpose and uncertain future in the magical realm continues to evade her. Egged on by the boy she is supposed to someday marry, Darcy petitions the Oracle, a mysterious entity that can answer any question, and finds herself sucked into a journey that she did not intend to take. Darcy soon comes to realize that her journey to the Oracle has thrown the outcome of the prophecy itself into question, and endangered both new friends and old. Uncertainties continue to mount between Darcy and her companions, and an unwelcome visitor from Cedar Cove adds a layer of mystery that none of them were prepared for.

When Darcy reaches the end of her journey, it is to find herself with more questions than she started out with. And there is a cost associated with every answer that the Oracle gives... a cost that may be far greater than Darcy is willing to pay.

Sneak Peak

Today I sat down and wrote the back cover of The Gateway Chronicles, book 2: The Oracle. Here it is in its entirety:

One year has gone by since Darcy Pennington’s life changed forever. A year ago she’d thought that magic only existed in fairy tales. A year ago the existence of parallel realms would have seemed preposterous to her. A year ago she’d had no real friends. Now all that had changed.

It is the summer before freshman year and a return to Cedar Cove Family Camp also means a return to Alitheia for Darcy and her five friends. The return to Alitheia is bittersweet for Darcy, however, as her elusive purpose and uncertain future in the magical realm continues to evade her. Egged on by the boy she is supposed to someday marry, Darcy sets out on a quest to find the Oracle, a mysterious entity that can answer any question. In the end, however, Darcy may discover that the answer to her question is not worth the cost of asking it.

I am looking for feedback on this, so don't hold back! It's only the first draft and I don't have any problem making changes. I am heading into Spring Break this week and hopefully I can get some work done on the book. We'll see! Either way, The Oracle will be published around Thanksgiving this year.