Entering #PitchWars and Working on Draft #6

I entered #PitchWars today! This was me all week long:

Seriously, I was such a good girl this entire week, even though I had just finished my internship last week. I didn't even procrastinate!

I'm nervous, but what I love about #PitchWars were the sheer number of writers I've connected with, and have been able to exchange query, synopsis, and sample chapter critiques with! It was like a revising and writing encouragement, and I absolutely loved it. Can I attend Pitch parties every week please?

No, wait, then I probably wouldn't get enough sleep...

LOL, and that is my August 2014 update!

Draft #5 is Finished!

Wow, I haven't updated my blog for a while! I've been crazy-busy, and have an internship in social media marketing for a start up in the financial district of San Francisco for 12 weeks this summer. Seeing that social media plays a big part into the whole author business, I love getting to play around and strategize with social media and Google Analytics all day, hehe. This is way more fun than taking classes, though I am looking forward (and am hella nervous) to taking anatomy and working with cadavers in the Fall.

Anyway, for 8 hours straight today while I was working at my receptionist job (thank goodness the office and the phones were quiet for the most part today!), I finished draft #5 of my novel!

I sent off my manuscript to a few of my reliable beta readers so far (in Google Doc, Word Doc, or PDF, depending on their preference).

I'd rest, but I'm just so excited and agitated, my mind and body won't let me! I'm going to polish my synopsis and query drafts now.

I end this post with a Calvin and Hobbes strip. :)

Amok Anthology Release Date

Today is the release date of "Amok: An Anthology of Asia-Pacific Speculative Fiction." My contribution, "Moon Rabbit," is one of the 24 short stories in this anthology!

You can learn more about the anthology at the official website, the Goodreads page, and the Amazon page (where you can purchase it, winkwink!).

Draft #4 Completed

It's 2:30 AM as I type this, and it has been 275 days since I first began to plan my current novel. 275 days, and draft #4 is done! I went through 10 chapters within the past 12 hours, editing them all and adding on paragraphs to a few of them. Yes, there are patches of roughness that I'm mortified about, but after tinkering with several passages for hours upon hours and days after days, it's time to get feedback from beta-readers.

From Hayao Miyazaki's latest film The Wind Rises

I've had other people read up to the first 11, 13, or 14 chapters, but now, for the very first time, all 39 chapters shall receive critique. Bring it oooooooooooonnnn!

Spring Break Novel Progress

It has been 260 days since I started planning my novel. I'm still working on the New Adult Steampunk BDSM Little Red Riding Hood novel. I'm currently on draft #4, and printed out my entire manuscript, and went through the entire thing with a red pen.

Right now, it's a matter of trying to make some horribly-written passages sound prettier before I seek out round #2 of beta reads.

*Sigh* I failed to finish that this spring break. But hopefully soon!

Amok Anthology News

So, back in January, while I was in Taiwan, I made the announcement that my short story "Moon Rabbit" will be in Amok: An Anthology of Asia-Pacific Speculative Fiction. The cover and summary is now on Goodreads! Publication date is April 30, 2014.

Amok cover by Jun Hun Yap

Check out the gif for the making of the cover too! :D

I'm so excited for this anthology, and so proud to be part of this. So far, we've received 5-star reviews. There's a Crowdfunding Campaign on IndieGoGo, and even though we surpassed our goal of $500, that's only the minimum. If you'd like a copy of the anthology, or any other books from Solarwyrm Press, or a t-shirt of the anthology, or a personalized story, or any other goodies, please support us and purchase something from the IndieGoGo website. I just bought my t-shirt a few days ago, and am excited to wear it!

The editor of the anthology, Dominica Malcolm, graciously accepted my offer to interview her as well about this anthology.

INTERVIEW WITH DOMINICA MALCOLM
Q: What did you see in all the stories you chose to include? Aside from good writing, obviously.

A: Haha, obviously! Still, when it comes to good writing, I actually look for a good story first; something I can connect with, which is usually human emotion within the characters. Love, loss, pain, fear, that sort of thing. I also looked at stories that had a sense of realism in them, which can include those human emotions even in the not-so-human characters, but particularly realism in the future-set stories. Possible futures I could see existing based on current happenings in the world. And, of course, one of the primary things I was looking for was diversity. The stories themselves did not need to include a great range of diversity between their characters, but the anthology did. I wanted stories about characters that are seen less frequently in Western media. 

Q:What would you like to see more of in the speculative fiction genre?

A: More diversity, which I talked about above. Characters from many different backgrounds (religious, cultural, racial, etc). Bisexual characters (bi erasure is kind of a pet peeve of mine). But where these character backgrounds aren't really a big deal. I don't need someone to make a song and dance about it. People are people. Just show me different people interacting with each other.

Q: Choose three words to describe the sensation of editing this anthology.

A: Enjoyable, educational, and pride.

Q: Any last words for the readers of this Q&A?

A: If they like diversity, they should check out Amok: An Anthology of Asia-Pacific Speculative Fiction. The racial diversity is the greatest part, but there are also characters with disabilities, a few LGBT characters, a couple of Muslims, and characters of different ages.

"Darker Edge of Desire" Cover Reveal

My short story, "Devoured by Envy," was written over a year ago. I remember planning the story in December 2012, writing it in January 2013, and kept editing and revising it on my own until I submitted it to Mitzi Szereto, the editor, last spring. I heard back about a month later that I was to be included in the anthology. Oh gosh, I don't think I'll ever get tired of acceptance emails. Well, here's a timeline:

December 2012--planning story

January-March 2013-writing, editing, and submitting story (I had no beta readers for it...everything was all on my own)

April 2013--heard back from Mitzi about story being accepted into anthology (wootwoot!)

August 2013--signed author rights and release for Cleis Press

Now it's March 2014. Cover reveal!

Look at it, isn't it a beauty? My inner-middle-school-and-high-school-baby-bat is just screaming with sheer delight. October 2014, you can't come soon enough! I can't wait to get my hands on my contributor copy and feel the glossy smoothness of the cover and creamy pages with all the wonderful stories to be read. It is now available for pre-order on Amazon!