Teaser

So you know how on the 22nd I announced that my hiatus from writing was over? It really wasn't. I tried to get back to writing this week but it just wasn't working still. That being said, I did make some edits that I felt good about, but that was the extent of it. My re-reading of the novel was unsuccessful. It's pretty bad when the author can't make it through his own book. So I figured I needed to do some rethinking.

Yesterday I was trying to re-read again and got an epiphany that will forever change the face of the book. I'm restructuring it completely different and tightening my focus on one character to begin with: Dylan. And I'm not going with the name Dylan anymore. Her name is Gabrielle and, in modern times, she goes by Dylan because Gabrielle "is dead and means nothing to (her)." There's several contradictions with the name change so I'm going to drop the Dylan thing.

Guess I shouldn't give all my secrets away but oh well. What's going to happen is the book will be broken down into three parts. Part One focuses on Gabrielle and Sebastian. You will see Gabrielle transform from an innocent young woman to a woman in love with a dangerous man to a woman bent on revenge for the slaughter of her family. Her ultimate decision to become a vampire will be explained better. Part Two will bring us to modern times where a young man named Riley meets a ruthless and cold Gabrielle and we'll see her transform again as she tries to protect Riley's innocence. Part Three will be the showdown between Sebastian and Gabrielle's underground force.

So I guess this means the hiatus is officially over. I'm actually excited to get to writing this because I think it does more justice to Gabrielle's story.

And another clue that the hiatus is done is that I have another novel idea. I didn't want to reveal anything about this story because I don't think much has ever been done with it before. So, instead of telling you what it is, I'm just going to put some teaser covers I made last night on here and you can see if you can guess. Just let your imagination guide you.

The working title is Befall, which the idea is that subsequent books would also have titles like it i.e. Betwixt, Belittle, Between, Beget, etc. You get the idea.

Concept 1 is probably my favorite of the two...

...but I like the mystery and the colors in Concept 2.

ENJOY!

How Jake Got His Groove Back

Just a quick post.

I have just recently been through another big road block with my book. The last time this happened was near the beginning of the rough draft, and the way I broke through the block was to just force myself to write. It worked wonderfully and a very crucial scene came out of that. Sadly, though, that scene will probably not be in the final product.

This latest bout of writer's block has been going for about three solid weeks now. I was determined to do like I did last time and just force myself to write. Every time, however, that I tried to do such a thing my mind just would not let me even go there. I could not focus. The words on the page were slippery and my mind just would not let my eyes look at the screen for more than a few seconds. You could call it a strange case of sudden ADD.

I am convinced, now, that it was just that my mind needed to recuperate and refocus. I had worked really hard to get the rough draft done and I think I was pushing my creativity too hard by jumping right into the rewrite.

It has helped to have a little notebook with me. My friend Matt gave me a Moleskine notebook for Christmas and it has been used extensively already. I love it. I have written down ideas as they come to me and just by re-reading those ideas I have been able to pick my way through this constipation of creativity.

Here's to hoping there is more smooth sailing ahead. I'm not going to wish that these blockages never happen again because it is during these times that I can prove my worth as a writer.