Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Proud of Myself

I'm up all hours of the night creating book covers for my book, getting inspiration for writing more in the process. Meanwhile, the reception to my Vampire novel, The Dark World is getting attention from family and friends and this is incredibly pleasing.
Also, can't help but feel as though my creative juices are OVERFLOWING. I'm incredibly pleased with the results of both The Dark World and Judgment.

You can buy the book as an ebook: here.


Do you like? 

Here's to hoping I get writing done on the plane on Wednesday. (Yes, it's back to Florida for me. :) )

Writing is incredible.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Writing

So all day yesterday I rounded up some words on The Immortal's Guide, and am very pleased as to where I've left off. Chapter 14. :)
The flow is endless as in my writing, and I believe this book - the way it's shaping up currently - will be at least 30 chapters or so. Tons of information and whatnot. (Sigh)
So I wrote until I could write no more and I'm glad I did. Haven't done that in a long time.

As for life, it's fairly well. Everything's lovely.

Oh. Judgment. How could I forget? My lovely supernatural-romance novel. It's coming along pretty well though I am kind of stuck in the beginning. Not sure where I want to take it - well I have some ideas but eh...all is well. It'll work itself out soon, I'm sure.

Ah. Book covers. If any of you have any lovely friends who are exceptional with book covers, I'm looking for book covers for The Dark World and Judgment. If anyone is interested merely drop me a comment and I'll let you know what the book is about and how it pans out - how I would lie the cover to look.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

New Look, New Goals

So I recently took a leap and published my first vampire novel on Smashwords, and let me tell you, all I've been doing since then is formatting, formatting, formatting. I've been following the designated Smashwords guide for publishing an ebook with them, I've done all the steps repeatedly, starting over every couple of hours and I just can't seem to get this "font size error" I have with their software to go away so I can be suggested for Premium where my book is sent to all the major bookstores (not including Amazon).
Incredibly mind-boggling, and also extraordinarily frustrating, I can sympathize with why people would desire to go the trad route, but there's one thing I have to say about self publishing ones book - there's a definite sense of freedom and creativity. It's what you make it.
If it turns out to be riddled with errors and massively pigeoned holed, its YOUR travesty of a book that's out there for people to read. Hiring editors and revising, revising, is your best bet if you're really serious about your work.
You hear it all the time but it never becomes real to you until you're trying it yourself, "You must do for you."
I queried three agents at a time some months ago and received almost immediate responses from two (both were resoundingly positive though they couldn't take it on at the time) and I've never heard back from another.
So I've taken things into my own hands.
I've immensely creative friends who have been begging to do the cover or any illustrations I'd need for any of my books since I started writing the first Vampire one in 2004/5, and now, I'm glad to say I get to use their creative enthusiasm to put a good cover on my book.
While that's working itself out, I've gone back to X, the provocative, yet somehow still able to be YA novel I finished last year, and am re-reading it to see where I can pigeon hole it. So far it reads simply enough to be YA, the main character is a teenage girl, but the subject matter is...well...testy, so I'm not sure if I can even go ahead with it as it is now - I may have to change a lot of things.
And finally, I've started writing this lawyer-supernatural-romance-drama I've been talking about writing for weeks. My older brother is in law school and hearing about the cases he's witnessed and what he does at his internship at a D.A.'s office in the Bronx has really, really, motivated me to add that world to a book. So far I have the main character (male lawyer) and what I believe to be the other main character.
I have no name for her yet, and I'm not sure if she should be a Vampire or some other, otherwordly character, for, as I've said quite a few times, I can't just write a book to write a book.
It has to motivate me to want to keep writing.
And demons, vampires, witches, wizards, secret magical organizations...these things tickle my fancy.
So this woman has to be something of the sort.
And also the question of why she's at a lawyer's office if she's any of these magical things.
Hmmmm.
My creative juices are flowing. (In case you couldn't tell.) And I'd love to get started on Judgment more, but for now Smashwords is taking up all my time (as the book is published there yet it's still not viable to be placed in all the online bookstores Smashwords offers). And as such, I'm stuck in somewhat of a rut.
I'm thinking to just go ahead with CreateSpace or Lulu and get it over with.
I should've done this from the beginning, now that I think about it. I have a drive for owning my own business in any sense, and I love leading new enterprising projects, and spreading my art through them.
Hmmmm.
We'll see what happens as I keep my eyes toward the stars, but my heart in the books.

I've missed you all. How have all of you been doing?

-Sheron Parris

Monday, July 11, 2011

The Immortal's Guide (A Journey)

A journey, a constant journey it has been and will still be.

I recently kicked my butt into high gear with this book, having merely sat there before, ignoring it wholly though the ancient innate pull in my soul cried out in pain for my denying its feeding on my creativity.

I'm such a cruel mother. But no more will I abandon my child in search of lesser pleasures. Here and now I dedicate my time to finishing you, The Immortal's Guide, and by the end of this year, I shall be well versed in your words and sentences and onward to write The Two Swords, your consummate brother in this long tale that must be told.

(Sigh)

You know one needs sleep when she begins to speak about her books as though they are her children.
----
And in the night, let us find our peace. If not in our hearts, then in our heads. And let our words from these troubled minds spill out to nourish our eyes, so that our hearts may feel as our characters feel, our words may pierce their souls and send them weeping or laughing, or angry onto the next page. Let us, as writers, come together, and even as the world crashes around our heads, we hold onto to the one thing that has never failed us before:


We write.


Always.

-Sheron Parris

And P.S. Harry Potter Week = Me with a brown paper bag attached to my mouth. Rejoice wizards, for our time is never over!