Happy Halloween: trick, treat, or tease?

Happy Halloween from Everland!

And I choose tease:

For Ever's quiz on Goodreads

Just made up a For Ever quiz on Goodreads and had fun with a couple of the "wrong" answers. ;-) Super easy! I'll try a harder one for Never!

http://www.goodreads.com/quizzes/21459-how-well-do-you-know-for-ever

The perils of editing (plus a teaser!)

Okay, my brain is a little on the scrambled side, so I can't remember if I mentioned it on the blog, but last week -- through the entire weekend -- I reviewed Never. It was supposed to be my last read through. Um, yeah. This is the problem with me and editing. ... I ended up tacking on an addition 15 pages or so to the book! Lots and lots of red track changes. This is how it went: Read two sentences on my Kindle. Rewrite two sentences on my computer. And so on for 300-plus pages.

The good news is that during my tinkering, I caught some additional errors -- I'm amazed at what I find when I'm reading on the Kindle as opposed to MS Word -- and ended up adding another scene at the end and drawing out a couple of the other scenes.

And let's just say that I also added some more spice. ;-) Air conditioning was definitely necessary by the time I finished.

The bad news is that I have to have someone double-check my track changes, because even if I re-read everything twice while I'm editing, there are always some mistakes that my tired brain doesn't catch! When I first started editing last week, I thought I was actually going go get the book up on Amazon over the weekend. Turns out I was being a little bit ambitious. No worries, though. I am still working as hard as I can to get the book out early!

To For Ever's super fans (I think you know who you are!), you guys are the best! Thanks again for all the encouragement. Never will be in your hands soon!

And now ... a little taste of spice:

Never's teaser of the week

I hope everybody enjoyed the first chapter of Never! I'm still working on getting the book out early, so stay tuned!

Now, here's the regular old weekly teaser ...

For Ever is back ... on B&N

For Ever is available on the Nook again ... with its pretty (new) cover and everything!

Click here to go to the sales page on B&N.

Never: Chapter 1

Like I've said before ... I have no patience. And on that note, here's the first chapter of Never.

COVER REVEAL: Never

Drum roll, please. At long last, here it is ... Never's cover (after the jump). I, for one, am in love with Ever. Let me know what you think in the comments!

And ... check back soon for the first chapter of Never!

CJ

This week's teaser has a little more meat ;-)

I've been holding off on releasing a bunch of Never-related news because some stuff has been going on that has been making me a little cranky (see: book piracy and the never-ending headache it gives me). That said, I do (potentially) have some good news .

On the bright side,  Never's teaser for this week is a tiny bit juicier than usual. ...

Never's latest weekly teaser

Okay, so For Ever's new cover is up on Amazon! And call me obsessive if you'd like, but I keep going to look at it. I also have ... drum roll, please ... Never's final cover, which just feels strange, because the book itself is only halfway through the editing process.

As for the cover, do you ever get something that you've been holding your breath for, then it's even better than you imagined, and suddenly you just want to hold onto it a little longer? So, I'm going to wait a bit. I'm actually hoping to post all of Chapter 1 of Never soon. It won't be the final-final, but close enough. Maybe I'll post the cover and first chapter together. It's funny, because I've been done with the first draft of Never for nearly two months -- and I'm about 1/5 of the way done with the third book in the series.

I am ... all over the place. Now, here's the latest teaser:

Yay!

For Ever's new (finally finalized!) cover will go up on Amazon tonight! So pretty!

Plus, my editor is halfway through Never. Believe me, if I could get out and push the proverbial car to make things go faster, I would!

Down the rabbit hole

As I'm writing The Ever Series -- currently working on the third and impatiently awaiting the finalized versions of For Ever's new cover and Never's yet-to-be shared cover -- I keep coming back to this ...

From Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" (1951):

Songs for write now

Tempano de hielo, Michandi Shalimar

Outro, M83

Seven Devils, Florence + The Machine

Elegia, New Order

Intro, The XX

Sexy Boy, Air

Why I love fiction

Is the end in sight?

I think part of the reason why I love fiction, particularly of the paranormal variety, is that the characters -- who they are, what they're fighting against, what they're trying to hide (or hide from) -- are operating outside of everyday life. Their problems feel grander -- and somehow less stressful -- than what we deal with in day-to-day lives. Everyday problems fall away as they worry about monsters, secret identities, secret powers, sacrificing themselves for the greater good, and maybe even the end of the world.

The journeys fictional characters take are epic, their romances are breathtaking, their tragedies are immense. And I love that stories can transport me anywhere. I definitely go through periods when I absolutely crave escape -- to another time, another place, another life. Don't get me wrong. I love my life, and I wouldn't swap it for a fictional character's (maybe there are a couple of exceptions!), but it's exciting, sometimes addicting, to slip into someone else's world for a few hours at a time.

I'm a little more than fifty pages into the third book in The Ever Series, and I can't wait to see where it will take me. My husband asked me the other day if I would be done after this book, and to be honest, after I wrote For Ever, I had moments when I thought it would be better to walk away from the entire thing, or maybe take it in-house and just write it for myself.

Now that I've started the third, I really feel like I've only scratched the surface of Wren and Ever's journey, but we'll see, because another great thing I've discovered is that the story goes where it wants.

Never's weekly teaser (cover soon)

Never's cover is pretty much done, and I can't help just staring at it. My designer added in some touches I wouldn't have thought of on my own -- and they're awesome.

And now, without further ado ...

*** Teaser ***

 

So close!

Love ... my ... designer! I am looking at the revised draft of Never's cover, and -- WOW. I'm so in love with the cover ... and Ever. Burning green eyes, and just the expression on his face -- it's totally perfect. I'm wrapping up the last little details for both covers, For Ever and Never. Soon they will be ready to release upon the world.

Also, the third book in The Ever Series is chugging right along. Be back soon with more news!

For Ever's new cover is almost done AND ...

YAY! My designer tells me that I'll be getting the draft artwork for Never's cover tonight.

Deep breath.

This means that I'll be getting my first look at Ever. Well, not the first look. After all, I was the one who spent hours and hours searching for the images to use on the covers. That said, I'm hoping that my designer has been able to work some magic on the pictures I found since they didn't fit perfectly with what I had in my head. Ever is perfect, after all, and it's hard to find perfection. Ultimately, I had to make some compromises, given that unlike For Ever's re-design, which just fell into place, Never's cover required some extra elbow grease.

Okay. Now, I am officially holding my breath until my designer sends me the first look at Never's cover.