THE COUNTDOWN IS ON

So just two days before my 25th birthday I'm gonna get to see Weird Al for the third time this year in real life. I've been counting down to this concert since there were 80 days between me and it, and now there's less than 50 days before the concert. If you've seen anything I've ever written on the subject of what Al means to me, you know that this is a huge thing for me. I've never seen him this many times in one year. Never. Ever. Ever.
So I get to drive down to Joliet, IL in October. This will be the longest road trip I'll have ever driven, and it's not going to be the longest I'll ever do, because next tour I'm going to try and go to every single concert. Which will probably take me to all the parts of the states. And I can't wait. And you should be excited for this, too, guys, because this means that I'm gonna be pumping out the stories from now until the next tour is announced because I want to completely fund the tour-chase with my books.
And what I really, really, REALLY wanna do is be able to buy 2 tickets (nice close tickets for most of the concerts) for most (if not all) of the concerts and just randomly pick friends and/or random awesomers from the internet to come to the concerts with me. Because Al is best enjoyed with a friend.
So yeah. 48 days from now I'll be in the audience at a Weird Al concert. Hell to the yes.

4k Hits and Moving Forward

I just wanted to pause my writing for one moment to write a quick and sincere thank you to everyone who's visited my blog since its inception. Yesterday evening my blog hit 4000 page views. It's been kind of a lumpy bumpy ride these past two-ish years that I've actually been active here. I've had times where I couldn't get three words typed, and I've had times where I've written an entire novella in less than three weeks. With me, there's not much in-between.
And with me, there's not much room for writing blog posts no matter what kind of time I'm having writing my stories. For that, I apologize. I'm not the best at social networking. I find it really difficult to post comments on others things. I'm actually really kind of afraid of not conveying myself properly and accidentally offending someone with my words when I'm typing.
When I'm speaking, on the other hand, I don't have to cherry pick my words as much. I stutter and stammer and might still have some difficulty expressing myself, but I don't have to sit and second guess what I'm saying because when I'm speaking you can tell my mood. You can plainly hear or see my expression and tone so what's meant as a compliment shouldn't come off as an insult (and vice versa).
I'm trying to push forward and force myself to speak on the internet. In fact, I've made an acquaintance in one of my lovely readers. She followed me on Twitter and it was linked to her tumblr so I followed her back on both and we ended up skyping that entire night away. It was just about the best time I'd ever had with someone on the internet.
So here's the thing: Please, do not be afraid to approach me. I want your readership, but more importantly I want your friendship. Who knows? Maybe you'll make it into one of my stories! I take a lot of my friends and put them in my stories, in one way or another.
Anyway, if you catch me on the internet, go ahead and talk to me. Bother me. Tell me I should be writing and then start enthusing about Star Trek or Doctor Who.

This month, I'm hosting an event over on fridley.patch.com. Every day, I'm posting a 50-150 word excerpt (shooting for 100 words each time, but sometimes it's a bit over and sometimes a bit under, because paragraphs) from something I'm working on. And: All through June, July and August I'll be releasing one short story every Friday or Saturday.
This week it's a zombie action gorefest.

Living Will Cover Reveal + More News!

I've uploaded Living Will to the Amazon Kindle store, so it should be live in about 12 hours. Until then I can point you in the direction of Twitter where you can retweet one of my tweets at @skrain_dukat (Read the tweets, it's one of my recent ones) and get a free e-book copy of Living Will! So far there's only one spot gone, so the next nine people who retweet the tweet will win a free pdf copy! (You will need to @ me some contact info (a dummy email or screenname or something, that or DM me or message me on my facebook page) so I can email you your copy!
Without further ado, here's Living Will's cover!

Fatima Paperback--FINALLY

So, yeah. That's pretty much it. Fatima is available for purchase from lulu.com for the time being, soon to be available for order (from what I understand) at any bookstore through their computer system. That does not mean that it will be readily available at your Barnes and Noble, BUT you should be able to order it from them within the next 6-8 weeks. I'll let you know when I can search it on different websites and find it.

30 days, 30 stories

I'm starting a new challenge for myself. Every 6 months I'm going to challenge myself to write 30 short stories/novelettes in 30 days. This time around, they will each be published once they're completed and sold for $1.99 in the Amazon Kindle store, with the first 5 days of each story being free promo days.
So far I've almost completed a short story entitled "The Joint," which, as the title suggests, follows the path of a joint throughout a day. It should be up tomorrow or Sunday.
Each story will get its own blog post, and I'm currently on day 2 of the challenge. 28 days to go and 29 stories? I better step it up!

Notice: Thank you for noticing this notice. Your noticing has been noted, and will be reported to the proper authorities

Really, I'm running out of blog titles.
Back, before the demise of GreatestJournal, I blogged constantly and I rarely had titles. This property does not follow through with my books, as I figure out a title FIRST, then do all the "dirty work" of writing it. It pretty much goes Title, Main Character, Supplemental Characters, Setting, Plot, Bad Guys, Genre, Content, Book Cover. Editing occurs all throughout the process, and it does get one final look over in a printed out version so I can find any weird anomalies.
Take right now for instance. I just got the idea for a story titled "Her Deepest Desire." The main character would be a girl of 16, an orphan, her name would be Naoma Liddel, and she would live with a foster family. Et cetera.
I come up with that information first, and the rest of it just flows. By the time I get to Supplemental Characters, I've already started writing the book. Sure, the first few paragraphs will change and evolve through the entire process, but most of the time the first sentence I write is what ends up being the first sentence of the book.

But I digress, as that was not the intended purpose of this blog entry.

First off, I want to show off this lovely link here: http://www.amazon.com/Emmas-Blog/dp/B007H0GCUI/  you can subscribe to this blog on your kindle. It's 99 cents per month with a 14 day trial period. Each entry would automatically be delivered to your kindle.

Also, almost all of my published works will be available for free for the FINAL TIME until after May tomorrow. Only Random and Disturbing Thoughts and Paper Lanterns will be left out, as I don't have any more free days for them.

Murder (A high school Speech team reject)

True to form, I may have been talking about "Murder" the past few days, but I never gave a real release date. Well, now I will. It'll be out within the next 12 hours, whenever Amazon sees fit.
Major props and huge shout out to my friend/former college instructor, Cara Bennett, who is actually on the cover of "Murder."

Swanky cover, innit?  :)

Murder is priced at $1.00, but will eventually go down to $0.99 when Amazon stops being a tool and lets me set the price at $0.99. It fought me tooth and nail to even let me publish it last night.

Also, huge-ish type news. You will soon be able to subscribe to this blog right from your kindle and get all my awesome updates delivered right to your kindle! KINDLEKINDLEKINDLEKINDLEKINDLE! Kindle! Kindle. Kindle?

Sorry, got stuck in a loop there.

I'm still considering changing a few things about the cover for "Murder," mostly the color scheme. But for now, I'm happy with how it looks, and it's my 7th (self)published work! Super happy about that.

Haven't posted in a long time

But that's a good thing, because it means that I've been busy.
I've written close to 40,000 words in the past three weeks, and am working on editing four different things and trying to make a bunch of cover artwork.
Random and Disturbing Thoughts, my memoir that I really only published as a joke to see how many I would sell, has two five star reviews. To put that in perspective, Martyr has 1 two-star review and Paper Dolls has 1 four-star review. Random and Disturbing Thoughts has gained two 5-star reviews in less than a month.
I'm hoping it is a sign that my work is going to start being more popular and that I'm going to earn more money so I can afford to keep on writing. I'm gonna be quick releasing a few things, some short stories, a short nonfiction piece, a novel, and a couple of DP items in the next two months because I want to make at least $1,000 for my vacation in June/July.
I can make this happen, but not without your help.
I want to say thank you to everyone who's downloaded, purchased, reviewed, or recommended any of my books, and ask that you please continue to spread the word about my books.
Also, I just noticed, my blog is up to 7 followers, which is totally awesome! I will have to start another giveaway soon, I suppose. Maybe when I reach 15 followers? I think that's a good goal to shoot for.
Speaking of giveaways, I've been having some problems getting my computer to cooperate with Createspace, so I've been unable to order the paperback copies for the winners yet. I will be sure to get those to you before the end of March.

Interactive bookstore what?

If that worked it should be my smashwords page! *double thumbs up!*

THE BUMP!

Well unless you've been skipping blog posts at random, you've probably seen me talking about "The Bump," which is a short story that starts on my cousin Jessie's blog, and continues with part two on my own blog. So far, that's all she wrote, so to speak. She being me, of course. But that's the farthest I've come with it... There may be a part 3 to just tie off the loose ends, but it won't be for a while. I've got other projects that I need to work on, projects that have the potential to pay and not just be a fun blog idea.
I ordered a bunch of iPad styluses last night (a bunch because I can forsee about thirty of the damn things getting lost right away) so I can draw the illustrations for "Mommy Tales: Maryam and Isa."
Paper Lanterns SHOULD be available in paperback soon... Assuming I can finish formatting it.
I called my Gramma today because she had called and left me a message... First thing she said was that she couldn't wait for the second book to be available, she was so engrossed in Paper Dolls that she read the whole thing in one day! Which isn't saying much for most people, because it's about 60 pages of rather large print, but my Gramma is a relatively slow reader and generally only reads a couple hours out of the day. But she was so engrossed that she took it to bed with her and finished reading it instead of watching tv like she normally does! I don't think I've ever been so proud of myself! I wrote something that people apparently like, though most people would never know it, what with the lack of reviews and whatnot.
Anyway, that's all I really wanted to say for now. Ta!

Jessie Back Cover Info Possibilities

Senior Year. Most kids look forward to it their whole lives. Some are excited to start their own lives as adults, others look forward to college. Jessie Edgecome just wants to survive until graduation. But when she's approached by the cheerleaders and asked to join the squad, will she finally begin to make friends, or is it all a diabolical scheme on the part of the super populars? 

~~

Jessie Edgecome has a secret. For almost 18 years she's managed to keep it hidden, but now the ever-popular cheerleaders have jeopardized everything. Can Jessie tell a real friend from a fake, or will she fall before the awesome power of the populars?

~~

Dra-ma! Jessie Edgecome, the unabashed biggest loser on the face of the planet, has somehow caught the eye of Natasha Daniels, the captain of the cheer squad. With a little luck and a major makeover, Jessie might just become invaluable to the team! If, that is, she can be the girl they need her to be.

~~

Jessie has never really liked the populars. When you're ridiculed on a daily basis by a group of people, your first instinct isn't exactly to love them. But when the cheer squad needs someone with gymnastic skills, Jessie might just have to suck it up and learn to be popular. 

Giveaway!

In just 7 days I will be releasing Sketchbooks #2: Paper Lanterns, so I figured this would be the perfect time to do a giveaway. The rules/how to enter are simple: Comment on this blog post, and then go over to http://www.facebook.com/pages/Emmaline-Westlund/162474990490828 and click "like." You are then officially entered. Only one entry per person, and the winner will be chosen at random once there are 10 people who have entered.

But what will you win?
Well, one GRAND PRIZE winner will receive a signed copy of Paper Dolls, a signed copy of Paper Lanterns, both e-books, and an official Destruction Productions hoodie (size will be XL).

Two runners up will each receive signed copies of Paper Dolls. 


Everyone else will receive the ebook of Paper Lanterns.

Tell your friends, tell your family, let everyone know about this giveaway!


EDIT: Giveaway will end on January 31st, 2012, regardless of entrant numbers. Winners will receive their physical prizes by the end of February (hopefully, haven't been able to order the hoodie yet). Re-Edit: This has been slightly modified since I no longer deal through Smashwords.com.

My dreams

A while ago, I read that book, "The Secret" (The long and short of it: If you want something, think positive thoughts about it, write it down, visualize it, and the universe will give it to you). So some of it has already happened or is about to happen, but most of it is still just a visualization.

I'm going to list them right now:

~Own a big house in Grand Marais, MN
~Have 3 (or more) bestselling books to my name
~Meet Amanda Hocking, Stephen King, and Dean Koontz
~Have a macbook pro and an imac
~Be a millionaire
~Be a household name
~Be comprable to Twilight (in a good way)
~Be interviewed by the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press
~Quit at the gas station
~Run a cat sanctuary
~Live in Canada
~Travel the USA in a big ol' RV with Jimmy (cat)
~Learn to ride a motorcycle
~Sell 1,000 copies of Paper Dolls
~Own all the Sims games
~Be rich and famous
~Write 30 novels by the time I turn 30
~Meet Weird Al and Josh Groban
~Have 1,000 twitter followers
~Own 5,000 books (actual books, not ebooks)
~Write 200 good books and short stories
~Be very well "liked" on facebook

So there it is, the list of things I want. Really bad. I give it up to Allah and the universe, please deliver.

What's going on right now?

Why haven't I released Elizabeth Hayes yet?

Well, to be honest, I got half of the novel written then redesigned the entire storyline, so it won't be out until 2014 at the absolute earliest.

But but but but VAMPIRES!!!!????

Yes, I know, I know. And I'm sorry. But I have to be firm on this. I can't just drop the other projects I'm working on to work on vampires, even if they're sexy and non-sparkly.

What about Paper Lanterns? You're not postponing THAT are you? ARE YOU?????

Shucks no! Of course Paper Lanterns (The second book in the Sketchbooks series) will be released ON TIME! It will be available for purchase on October 14th of this year from Smashwords, and shortly after that on Amazon and the Nook store. And then about a week later in paperback.

Are you working on anything else right now?

OF COURSE I AM! I can't very well sit around and do NOTHING, can I? (Well, ok, the internet is pretty interesting, and OMFG I HAVE A TUMBLR NAO. YOU NEED TO FOLLOW IT. IT'S EMMALINEWESTLUND.TUMBLR.COM)

What comes out next, then?

First "Fatima," the first story of many in my Cedarcrest Chronicles (More info to come), then Paper Lanterns will be released on my birthday, Thoughts of a Strange Mind (a stream of consciousness memoir) will be released shortly after its completion at the end of November, and then Cigarette Papers (A collection of short stories and poetry) will be released around Christmas.
Somewhere in there "Paper Hearts," the first two books in the Sketchbooks Series, will be released. (It's a combined paperback that will cost around $9.00)

Long Blog is LOOOOOOOOOONG and full of excerpts!

Okay, so it isn't really all that long as far as me talking about stuff, but it is long and filled with excerpts from things that are coming out relatively soon that AREN'T in the Sketchbooks series.

My Sister's Keeper

My story starts with a birth, and will end with a death.  It's not my birth, and it won't be my death.  Though I sometimes wonder if it really wasn't.

On a cold November night, in my family's house- a large, ancient farmhouse that was falling apart- my mother gave birth to a little girl with curly, black hair.  She fell in love with her immediately, and named her Harmony. 

Unfortunately, that was also my name.  My mother seemed to have forgotten about her other daughter.  Me.  The moment I saw that baby for the first time, I knew that it was either her, or me.  There would not be enough love or affection for both of us.  At just shy of five years old, I had discovered that which many children fear at some point in their life:  my parents didn't love me.

For the next three years of my life, our lives, the two girls called Harmony, I would be referred to by my middle name, Anne, while my little sister, my mother's perfect child, would be referred to by our shared first name. 

“But Mama, I'm Harmony, I don't want to be called Anne,” I whined at breakfast one morning.  It was the middle of summer, I had just turned seven years old, and I had my hair in pigtails.  My father intervened on my behalf.

“Yes, Rachel, there must be some other name we can call Harmony Jane,” he called from the breakfast table.  In her high chair, my little sister cooed and made a mess of her baby food.  I scowled at her from across the table.  My mother came out of the kitchen with a displeased look on her face.

“Her name is Harmony Jane,” she replied, serving my father with a heaping plate of bacon and eggs, “and that is what she will be called.”  She disappeared back into the kitchen. 

“You know how I feel about that, Rachel,” my father said, “We already had Harmony Anne, how do you think she feels about having to share her name?”

“Anne should be glad that I didn't send her to live with your sister when Harmony Jane was born, James,” my mother said, giving my father a stern look as she emerged from the kitchen yet again and placed a plate of food in front of me.  She sat down across from me, next to my little sister, and scolded, “eat your food, Anne.” 

“Annannannanna,” said my sister through a full mouth of food, and my mother smiled adoringly down at her. 

“See?  Even your sister knows you're called Anne,” she said in a most patronizing tone.  I shoved my chair back, denting the wall where the chair hit, and ran out of the dining room.  My mother was furious, and spanked my bare bottom so hard I feared I would never be able to sit again. 

Two days after this incident, my aunt, Jeanne, came to claim me. 

My father hugged me and kissed my forehead and gave me his old fedora hat- it smelled exactly like the farm, with hints of his favorite cologne- and a small bouquet of flowers that I had helped to grow. 

My mother gave me a stiff, one-armed hug, sniffing, haughty, keeping Harmony Jane glued to her hip.  My two-and-a-half-year-old sister saw me wearing my father's hat and immediately began fussing, reaching out to grab this one thing that was mine and mine alone.

“I'll take good care of Harmony for you, James,” Jeanne told my father, helping me to load my belongings into the trunk of her car:  Two dolls, one small suitcase full of plain dresses, an extra pair of shoes, a down pillow, a half-finished crocheted scarf.  Before I got in the car, I latched myself to my father's leg, begging not to be sent away.

“Please Daddy, I don't want to go away.  I'll be a good girl, I'll be good.”  My father didn't say anything, but picked me up, all 58 pounds of me, and gently carried me to the passenger door of Auntie Jeanne's car.  He was a big man, tall, and made of all lean muscle.  He had rough, leathery hands from working on this farm for the majority of his life.  But when he held me or my sister, he was amazingly gentle. 

I cried as I rode away from home in that car, and didn't stop crying for nearly a week.

~~~~~~~~

Mortality

The soul makes a terrible sound when ripped from its human body. A scream, a whisper, the last gasp of a good cry, followed by silence: this is the closest approximation I can give you to its exact sound. After life has ended, it is all you ever hear. For all the worry one could give about what happens just after death, it is really quite simple, even if I was an anomaly.

I came upon that which could only be described as “God” shortly after death, as most people are wont to do. I was floating, or maybe simply existing, in a black void for what seemed to be an eternity before I happened to spot a shapeless figure that seemed to be made from light. It came closer, or I floated to it, and I could suddenly understand what had happened to me. However, it seemed confused by my complete lack of memories of a life as it probed deep into my being.

The being consumed me, and I could feel it trying to figure out what to do with me. As I waited for a second, or a millennium, my every sense was overloaded with pain, pleasure, suffering, anger, and just about every other human emotion. Thoughts took on words as hundreds of millions of voices filled me with what I could only describe as prayers. Please bless Mommy and Daddy and Kitty-poo and… No, please, please no, don’t take her, oh God why… Thank You, Lord, for the little girl You’ve blessed us with… God, grant me the serenity…

I didn’t want anything more than for the voices to stop, but would have gladly kept them had I known that I would be reduced to only hearing souls escape their hosts.

I wouldn’t learn my fate until long after I had begun to think that I would go mad for hearing so many people die. The God creature spit me out, and I woke up to see blue skies and countless faces staring back at me. I realized, quite abruptly, that I was no longer floating in a void. Faces veered dangerously close and then veered away from me. The numbness of floating was slowly replaced with pain. The pain became more and more unbearable as I realized that I was human again.

“Hold on, paramedics are on their way,” I heard someone shout. Other voices overlapped it, and for a moment, I remembered the anxiety that had engulfed me when I had been able to hear all that praying. That was when it occurred to me that I could remember the afterlife. It also occurred to me that I didn’t know anything about my life up until this point.

A young woman’s face came into view, very close to mine. “Robert, Rob, can you hear me?” she asked. I realized she was speaking to me. I blinked, unable to control my mouth enough to reply. Her face was familiar and warm, and I knew that her name was Cassandra. “Oh, Robert, please be all right!” I felt a warm hand against my face, and it was stunningly obvious to me that she was my girlfriend. The knowledge that hit me was sudden. My name was Robert Marcus Sanders; I owned a chain of convenience stores that my father had gifted me. I was 27 years old and had been dating Cassandra Vera Carter for more than two years.

~~~~~~~~~~~

 Elizabeth Hayes

Chapter 1 – 1864

She lived on a large tobacco plantation in the Deep South with her parents, older brother, and three sisters. She was, in his opinion, absolutely perfect. He had watched her grow from a small girl with unruly blond curls, into a beautiful, pale young woman. He waited, biding his time, hiding in the shadows, occasionally offering to help as an overseer on her family’s plantation just to get closer to her, using assumed names and taking great care to change his appearance as best he could each time. Her name was Elizabeth, and she had just turned seventeen.

The Civil War raged on, far north from the plantation and the girl. Elizabeth’s father was a firm supporter of the Confederacy, and the stranger knew it was the perfect opportunity. In the beginning of summer, just four short weeks after Elizabeth’s seventeenth birthday, he came wandering up to the main house of the plantation, dressed in standard military fashion.

A house slave greeted him at the door and quickly shuffled off to find the man of the house, Thomas Hayes. “What can I do for you,” Thomas asked as he approached the young man, his voice trailing off, fishing for a name. The young man offered his hand.

“Franklin’s my name, Jonathan Franklin,” he said quickly, shaking Thomas’ hand firmly, “I’m on my way up to join the fight, but I’m weary, and I’ve a long walk ahead of me. Would you be so kind as to allow me to rest here a night?” The younger man, the wolf in soldier’s clothing, was ruggedly handsome, with a nose that had obviously been broken a few times, stubble that could use a good shave, and piercing blue eyes. He was almost as pale as the girl he sought at this plantation, but there was a hint of a tan to his skin.

Thomas looked him over carefully, a plan coming together in his mind. “Jonathan Franklin, hmm?”

“Yes, Sir,” Jonathan replied eagerly.

“How old are you, son?” Thomas asked.

“Eighteen, Sir.”

“Eighteen,” Thomas echoed. He motioned for Jonathan to come into the parlor, and called up the stairs, “Elizabeth, would you come down here, please?”

“Coming, Papa!” Elizabeth replied as she closed her diary. Since turning seventeen, she had kept a very careful record of everything she did, as she felt that to be a very ladylike thing to do. She placed the diary beneath her pillow, and raced out of her bedroom to the main landing above the front entryway of the house. Looking down, she saw her father walking into the parlor, followed by a man she had never seen before. As she watched, he suddenly looked up and made fierce eye contact. She flushed bright red and quickly averted her gaze as she started down the stairs.

Before she followed the men into the parlor, she quickly smoothed her dress and ran her hands over her hair to quickly fix a few tangles. “You called for me, Papa?” she asked from the doorway. She curtsied when both men turned to greet her, and Jonathan Franklin bowed his head.

“Yes, Elizabeth, I would like you to give Mr. Franklin a tour of our home. He will be spending the evening here before continuing north to help defend our rights,” Thomas said, and Elizabeth felt her skin flush again. She took a step forward.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. Franklin,” she said shyly. Jonathan gently took her hand and kissed the back of it.

“The pleasure is all mine, Elizabeth,” he said, looking into her eyes. “You have a lovely daughter, Sir.” He turned his attention back to Thomas.

“Please, call me Thomas.”

There was a short, awkward silence before Elizabeth spoke, “Shall we start our tour?” Thomas nodded encouragingly, and Jonathan smiled warmly.

“Certainly. Lead the way, Miss Elizabeth,” Jonathan said, his voice low and seductive. Thomas watched as Jonathan took Elizabeth’s arm and escorted her out of the room.

“Well, this is the foyer, as you may have guessed,” Elizabeth giggled, “through that door back there,” she pointed behind the staircase, “is the kitchen. Up here,” they began walking up the stairs to the second floor of the three-story house, “is where my sisters and I have our bedrooms.” She led Jonathan along through the hallway to the room at the end, and she opened the door very slightly. “This is my room,” she said, squeezing his arm. His smile turned to a devious smirk. His plan was working; the girl was already showing interest in him, as was her father. It would not take much to get his way.

He peered into the room, wrapping his hand around Elizabeth’s, causing her to blush once more. Her bedroom was painted a pale pink, with linens dyed to match. She had a small writing desk and a simple wooden chair in one corner, and a huge armoire to the side of the door. “Beautiful,” he murmured. They wandered along back to the staircase and ascended to the third floor.

“My parents’ bedroom is up here, as is our attic,” Elizabeth continued to give her little narrative of the tour.

“Has this house been in your family long?” Jonathan asked, feigning interest in the tour. He couldn’t have cared less about the house; it was the girl that he was unable to take his eyes off of.

“My Grandfather built it when my Papa was a little boy,” Elizabeth replied, smiling a shy little smile. She was having a difficult time keeping her focus off the gentleman she was with. “Are you really going off to fight in the war? Aren’t you afraid of getting killed?”

The innocence in her question took Jonathan by surprise. He let go of her arm, gently pulling away from her grip, and turned to face her. Lost for a moment in her big doe eyes, he carefully thought out the next words he would say. He carefully reached forward and brushed a thick tangle of curls out of her face, allowing his hand to linger against her cheek. Elizabeth should have pulled away, this was not very well-mannered behavior for a young man who was alone with a lady, but she couldn’t seem to find the strength to move.

“So innocent,” Jonathan whispered, his voice barely audible. Elizabeth couldn’t look away from his eyes, astounded at how blue they were. They were almost hypnotic. He stepped closer, their faces were only inches apart. “The only thing I fear, right now, is this moment ending, Elizabeth,” he murmured. The girl wanted nothing more than for their lips to meet, and it shocked her to realize this. She found her feet again and inched closer, slowly closing her eyes.

Thomas Hayes came to the third story landing just as the two teenagers kissed, and ripped Elizabeth from the man’s grasp.

“I see you’ve gotten more than just a tour of my home. I suggest you leave, Mr. Franklin.”

~~~~~~

As you can plainly see, I have been a very busy woman. Lots and lots of writing done, lots and lots more to go.  

Current Timeline

Good news, everyone!  Sketchbooks #2: Paper Lanterns is about 10000 words from completion, and will be submitted to the editor(s) at the end of August. It is on the right track to being released with no delay on the date I have specified previously, my 23rd birthday, October 14th of 2011. After this release, one Sketchbooks Series book will be released every birthday until the final book is out.
I still plan to release Random Thoughts: a Peek Into My Brain in December, along with an anthology of short stories (not all by me) entitled Cigarette Papers.
Mortality, My Sister's Keeper, and Roma and Julie are my next big projects, to be released in June each year for the next three years, starting, most likely, with Roma and Julie. I am working on so many books right now that I'm not really sure what the next thing to be released will be.
I am working very hard on my writing, and I believe that I am still working within my 30 novels before I turn 30 deadlines.