Update on books

Hey all!

Just a quick update that at long last the first chapter of my fourth book has been typed up. It took forever for some reason, but at long last it's complete. I hope that now that I have gotten the groundwork laid somewhat, the story will start to flow better. I have so much to write and yet it's been impossible to do so. Not sure why. Well, I'm hopefully getting book four now. Lord willing someday there will be five books and they will all be published and settling nicely on store shelves for all my loyal fans to pick up and read and add to their romance collection.

Signing off for now,

Amy

Book Reviews-A Way To Get Out Of The Dumps

Okay, so clearly I'm not the most dedicated blogger. I apologize to anyone who has actually been following me faithfully. I guess part of the reason for the huge gap between writings is just not knowing what to write. My last post was one of frustration, anger and disappointment. This one, while not completely opposite, hopefully will be a little more encouraging. I joined a website less than a month ago (October 1st to be exact) called Authonomy.com and was amazed at the reviews I received on my book. Some were as simple as, "Great writing" while others were long, and even gave me ideas on how to make my book better, some without even realizing they were doing so. After my last crushing disappointment I had begun to think that perhaps my book was poorly written, or at the least would only gain a readership of a handful of very young teens. What a shock when writers my age and older began to read, comment on and 'back' my book! Imagine! So, not as any sort of pat on the back, but simply to share some of my favourite comments, I am putting them here, complete with author name and book (if they indicated it). Someday I hope to find some of these titles in bookstores, and when I do, I will be able to go back to my blog and see how these writers encouraged me on the road to publication as well.

So, without further ado, here are just a few great comments by total strangers who adored my book, The Heart's Discovery (previously Once Upon A Time), Book One in The Heart Saga:
(These are direct quotes, any mispellings or any other grammatical issues are the author's voice and therefore nothing has been changed in the reproduction of these)


With adroit use of graphic and vibrant prose the underlying emotions of the family arriving at their new location is sensitively and perceptively described in The Heart's Discovery, even down to the detail of the queasy unease felt by Angie aboard the boat. This attention to detail, without becoming restrictive or mundane, permeates this work and allows it to stand out in comparison to many others. BACKED. Robert Davidson. The Tuzla Run

The Heart's Discovery

Dear AMV,

You are not an aspiring author, you are one.
This is well written. The characters are real. The dialogue is too.
The setting that you present at the outset is magical.
It is my pleasure to back this book.
A Zoomer

I really enjoyed what I read of this book. In my opinion it is going to be a serious contender for a place on the Ed's desk.
The description is perfect.
BACKED !!
Sye
Losing The Hate

Hi Amy,

Aspiring? - I think not! beautifully paced, crisp dialogue & well rounded characters. Read as far as chpt 12 & will finish it out - not sure about the title; minor quibble

backed

Rob (After this particular comment, I changed the titles of all five books and the saga as well and discovered that the new titles all worked much better than the old ones-so thank you Rob!)

Did you say you wre an aspiring author? Hell no, you are one and one among the best. I love your simple effective style and the way you blend chracter, dialogue and setting. This is so enticing and bit by delicious bit, the reader get more and more of the intrigue and plot. Great work, truly.

A fine book and one that is going to climb..

Best (yasmin esack)

You have a very colorful writing style- very enjoyable. Your characters come to life-- which, of course, is the mark of a good writer. Great balance of dialogue and narrative, easy flow to your paragraphs, natural writing.

Backed with pleasure!

Cori
"Princess"

Amy,
Once Upon a Time is a delightful story which is sure to appeal to young adults. I wish I could have known Angie and Devon. Backed with pleasure.

(Walden Carrington)

Nicely written. The dialogue is sharp and you describe your MC's journey from helpless home-sickness to excited wonder superbly. I can see no areas for improvement here. Backed with pleasure. Colin

You have written a very interesting, funny and unique storyline, which I do like, and created most memorable main characters in Angie and Devon. The dialogue is realistic and well written and the pace of your story flows well. All of this along with your descriptive writing makes your work a pleasure to read. Backed.

Andrew Burans
The Reluctant Warrior: The Beginning

Interesting journey Amy. Nice consistent structure. Good flow of thought. Make a terrific movie!

blessings,
jim
jack & charmian london

Dear Amy
totally original read, funny in places and very well crafted....I loved your short and long pitch both really sell your book which they are meant too so CONGRATS, and love the way you write. Your ability with words to craft an orginal read is amazing. the characters have decided to take up permanent residence but i will insist they leave soom to go home. ha!
The VERY best of luck to you

BACKED BY ME FOR SURE.
Denise
The Letter

Dear Amy, I love your romantic story :) - ah, love. :) Your pitch was concise & prepared me for your trilogy :) - that's exciting the your story will go on :) - & on. :) Crisp dialogue & paragraphs, along with your wonderful love-story moved your story quickly through chapter 11. :) I've backed your book :)

Love, Susie

Discovering that you've been fooling yourself all along.

So this is probably the most painful entry I have written so far. I don't know whether I will bother trying to get a publisher any more. Maybe I'll win money and self publish and promote all my own stuff. I'm so sick of publishers rejecting my work! I am beginning to truly think my writing or my story or my characters or something totally sucks! I'm writing in anger right now, but sometimes that's the best time to get your feelings out. I won't blame the publishers, though I wish they had just told me up front that my work is no good. No, I'll blame myself for dreaming big. Actually, for dreaming at all. My husband keeps saying I don't dream enough or dream big enough. Well, the reason is I can't stand the inevitable crash down to reality. I feel like I may just not bother writing anymore...or at least not for awhile. I seem to have lost enjoyment in writing lately. I don't know if it's because I had all this anticipation and then nothing or what, but I can't get motivated to sit down and write anymore. I had all these dreams, where I would see my trilogy and eventually my saga on book shelves and be able to tell people where to buy them, but now I'm thinking, maybe they're not worth paying for.

I feel hollow, sad and extremely disappointed. I don't know that I have the courage to put myself out there anymore and get rejected over and over and over again. I think I'm just sick of the whole 'game'. I'm not saying I quit...yet, but I am saying I'm taking a hiatus. I don't want to deal with publishing houses who never give me a second glance or ones who do but then change their mind or get overruled or whatever. I'm tired and sad and just plain tired.

That's all for now.

Waiting

I know it's been a long time since I wrote last. I guess I just haven't had anything interesting to write, so I haven't bothered. As stated in my last post, I have been approached by a publishing house, but since then not a lot has happened. As far as I can guess, the editor is still interested in my work, but clearly she is busy with other manuscripts at the moment. So, it's a waiting game right now...and I truly suck at waiting. ~L~ It's like my sister once said, "I wish God would hurry up and give me some patience already!" The irony was not lost on me. :) So, here I wait, hoping to soon have something to tell people who keep asking me to keep them up to date. Here is the up to date info: there's nothing happening. I am trying to be diligent and edit my manuscripts at least every few days, and while I have book four in my head and some of it in my notebook, I just haven't had the motivation lately to work on it. I guess part of me is just tired, waiting in limbo and wondering how much longer this can last.

Ah well, that's enough whining for now. Will let you all know when ANYTHING happens in regards to me getting published.

Signing off for now,

Amy

Being approached by a Publisher

What a feeling! I can't believe I'm sitting down and not jumping up and down and squealing right now! I'm sadly rather cynical though, and keep expecting it to be too good to be true. And still, the excitement is just under the surface, bubbling away and trying to break free. I was approached by a publisher today! Hardly believed it and re-read the offer a couple times before I responded. Terrified to Google the publisher and find out maybe they're not legit, but decided I'll only do that if anything comes of this. That way I don't shoot myself in the foot and procrastinate AGAIN on getting that synopsis done. That's the only thing standing between me and getting the proposal in to them. Then there's another publishing house that I've got to get my proposal done for too.

And I'm excited! Who honestly gets approached by a traditional publishing house? I am still feeling slightly unreal. The best part is, I was beginning to think I should just pack it in. I mean, my stories are okay, but clearly none of the agents I sent them to thought they were more than that.

Well, we'll see how this pans out, but again, very excited!

Until next time,

Amy

THE END

Wow! It's been a little while since I wrote in this blog. Sorry all. Life's been a mixture of hectic and just away from the computer lately, hence the lack of updates. So, here's my update.

The title of this post does not mean I am calling an end to my writing. Far from it. I am however done this particular chapter of my journey and moving into the next. Just over a week ago I finished book three in my trilogy and actually typed the words The End at the bottom in bolded caps.

What a weird sensation. I looked at those two words and felt a mixture of pride, sadness, stress and exhilaration. First, knowing that I had just completed a trilogy (and no small trilogy, as many of you can attest) in one year and two months made me feel so proud that I had actually managed to accomplish something that my mother and others close to me have assured me is no small feat.

The sadness came when I realized that I will be saying goodbye to Angie and Devon, two characters who I think I have come to know nearly as well as I do myself. Though I intend to have them make cameo appearances in my next two books, and I even plan to do a huge edit on all three books and therefore will see them again, it's just not the same. Day in and day out I have molded my main characters, walked in their shoes, and even dreamt out scenarios for them. Funny thing is, as I wrote them to do what I wanted, I discovered that they began to do what they wanted, jumping off the pages sometimes to tell me what they thought about something or how they would react, and not how I thought they should react. So yeah, I feel sadness at the thought of saying goodbye to two characters that I have come to know extremely well over the past year and two months.

The stress I think is due largely to knowing that at this point I have no editor and I need to get a proposal or two completed soon and get my work (on at least book one) into their hands soon so that the process of getting my books out can begin. It is stressful partially because of what a monumental task getting the proposal(s) done can be, but also because I know I will be receiving many, many rejections from agents, and if I'm lucky, the publishers themselves before the right agent and or publisher comes along. It is never easy to have one's work rejected, whether you are a business person, an artist, a writer, or a janitor. You take pride in your work, and you feel that although there is always room for improvement, you gave your best and presented your best work. Then it is rejected and you start to question the value of it, the main point and sometimes even your own worth, even though you know worth is not in the eyes of the world, but in the eyes of God. Clearly, I forget that often. It is very hard to be rejected, and so I guess my stress is a bit wrapped up with fear as well. It's a struggle I know I will have to go through to get out on the other side, and I pray that I will be strong enough and willing to take enough hits and grow from them, not give up when it gets hardest.

And lastly, I feel exhilaration. Knowing that I completed the trilogy when there were times I had such bad writer's block that I got migraines and slept poorly, trying desperately to regain the thoughts I lost and come up with knew ones, is just a huge accomplishment in and of itself. I was told to give up at times by well-meaning friends. I was told that I was wasting my time, and people may still think that. I had lots of support to go along with the naysayers, and I am not published yet. But you know what? I just finished a trilogy with each book averaging 60 thousand plus words, and in some cases 80 thousand plus, and less than two years!

Now, I know there will be tons of editing to do, and lots of work to simply get it into the hands of the right publisher, but having finally gotten most of the story, if not all on paper and having gotten my thoughts and ideas down as I imagined them in my mind has been an incredible feeling. The journey continues, but the development of the trilogy is complete. This chapter has closed and therefore I supposed the words The End are appropriate.

And yet, now I can look forward to the next two books and any other books in separate series or stand alone books and know that, as long as I have a creative mind, and the ability to type, I will be writing books. They may or may not get published, but as long as I have the strength, ability and brain power, the stories locked away in my heart will get out on paper.

The next question is, if I do get published, who will read my books? And yes, that is a question I do not know the answer to as yet. I know of a small group of readers who are already dying to get their hands on my books, but who knows if they will still be there at the end of the road? I will choose to believe they will. I choose to keep my head high, shoulders back and my hands on the keyboard or on a pen poised over a notebook and write until I cannot write anymore.

And so I close this post with some words of encouragement for any other struggling authors out there: You may not write the great Canadian novel. You may not win a Pulitzer, or the Nobel Prize, but if you have a dream to write, write. Don't let anyone ever tell you you can't write. If it is in your heart to write, and God has given you the gifting, then it is a crime to ignore that gift.

Until my next post,

Amy

A quick thank you

What better place for a thank you, than on my blog? I want to send a huge thank you out to two dear friends, Brandy and Daniel. Without your input, feedback and constantly encouraging me in my writing, I would not be as far along as I am, and my books would not be nearly as good. Thanks to your honesty, openness, willingness to tell me where I am going wrong and can improve as well as where I'm getting it right, I feel like my books will be pretty fantastic by the time they get to the right publisher. Thanks again to you both. I'm extremely blessed to have friends like you.

A personal thank you to Daniel, who inspired me with the idea in the first place. You have also been a fantastic brain stormer, with many an idea that had never occurred to me before. Without you I would miss out in great opportunities to truly develop my characters from all angles. It takes several pairs of eyes to catch the varying sections of a character's psyche and I appreciate your insight.

A personal thank you to Brandy for loving my books and telling me how a character does or does not resonate with you. You're a really great friend and I respect your thoughts on all aspects of my book.

When I get published, you're both going into the acknowledgments, but I thought I should really put out a big thank you now as well.

You are incredible friends and I thank you for believing in me.