I have finally, finally gotten a chunk of time to write a blog post. About the same time I figured out that I'd have time to make a post(*cough* skip class *cough cough*), I realized that I hadn't posted something since MARCH. And a whole lot of awesomeness has been going on. So. Here is a list of awesome things that you guys may be interested in.
1. Sunshine:
As you probably know (because I never shut up about it), my first book, Sunshine was released on January 28th of this year. And holy-canoli-batman. It's been insane. Currently, it needs to sell 76 more copies before it reaches 2,000. It's been on Amazon's top 100 (and sometimes even top 50!) for over six weeks now. It was in the Atlantic City Press. People are liking it. People are reading it. People want more.Excuse me. Is this real life?
It has been truly, truly amazing. There have been book bloggers saying such lovely things about my baby. I have made new friends and fans. I have fans! I've been so floored with people I don't know messaging me about how they liked it, what they thought. There are people asking me why I wanted to become a writer and asking for advice. It's crazy. I love it. And I love YOU.
Which brings us to...
2. Sun Poisoned:
If you don't follow me on Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr, you may have missed this book trailer for Sunshine Series Book Two, Sun Poisoned.
There was also a Sophie and Myles scene from Sun Poisoned that I released as a thank you for reaching crazy-awesome-nutso sales. There were some teasers from my notebook. : )
I'm still editing this baby, but it's going to be ready for you on June 28th!
3. Printing:
YES.
Regina Wamba of Mae I Design has sent me the full-wrap of the cover and I died. So you're going to die too.
Sunshine is also currently going through another round of edits (don't think I haven't noticed the typos. My favorite one being, "Boo never wants to go to there". I must have been watching 30Rock while I was revising lol). My goal is to have the final, FINAL version done by the end of May, so sometime around then, you will be able to get a physical copy of Sunshine! I'm also planning on giving away a few free signed copies too, so keep your eyes peeled. : )
4. Writer News:
As you may or may not be aware of, I have joined forces with two other indie authors: my good friend, H.D. Gordon(The Alexa Montgomery Saga, Joe(<3), and Shooting Stars), and my new friend, Janelle Stalder (The Eden Series) to bring you a blog called Honest Indies
Honest Indies is a blog where we can all come together in the indie author community and help each other out. We're all at different stages of the game, and each of us has something different to offer. We want to create a forum and network for supporting one another. So feel free to ask us questions or just read our thoughts on the indie-universe. : )
In addition to that, though I don't know the exact date yet, I'm going to be speaking about my book, my journey, and what I know about indie publishing at Ocean County College this fall. Watch out for that too. If you live near by, you should go. There will probably be candy. Just saying.
5. New Stories
The only good thing about having class five days a week is that it makes my procrastinating powers activate. And when they activate, I write. A lot. I wrote my first second person story ever in the post before this one, Hazards.
Then there was my first 100 word story, The War
I also posted a few excerpts from stories I'm working on like:
The Killing Type
and
The Sink
I plan on finishing them as soon as the semester's over and posting them over the summer.
BUT. There was one that grew on me so much that it became more than just a short story.
I started working on it one day in Spanish class, and it soon turned into a 25 page story. But I want to make it longer. I fell in love with the characters and I want to know more about them. I don't want to give it an entire book. it's most likely going to be just a really long short story. So, this summer, I'll be working on this too, and posting it in installments. I'm really excited about this one. : )
But until then, here's a small piece.
The Donor
I suppose here would be a good place to put...
6. Goals For The Summer:
This is more for me than anyone else, but you can read it too if you really want to. : )
1.Finish Sun Poisoned and release it.
2. Print copies of Sunshine.
3. Write The Donor and launch a special blog where it will be serialized.
4. Write Sunshine Series Book 3.
5. Well, I guess THIS may be important. Some of you may know (but most of you probably don't) that there is going to be a spin off from The Sunshine Series. Yes. Can you guess who's in it?
I'll give you one name: Michael.
Here is a tiny thing from it.
I started working on it last November for NaNoWriMo, and I fell in love with it. It's way different than anything I've ever written before. Though it's told from the perspective of someone you meet in Sun Poisoned, you don't necessarily have to read The Sunshine Series in order to get it. It's going to be a horror novel, full of messed up and even darker subject matter that The Sunshine Series. I cannot wait.
But anyway, I'm going to try and finish it this summer too.
6.THAT'S RIGHT. I'M WRITING TWO BOOKS THIS SUMMER.
*dies*(but very happily).
So I guess that just leaves...
Surprises For You!:
I want to hear from you guys! I want you guys to be involved in all of this. I've been doing some brain storming and I want your feedback!
What do you guys want as surprises for milestones. Like, for instance, when Sunshine hits 2000, what do you want?
Here are a few things I've come up with:
1. A hand written letter from a character that someone can win (and I can sign it).
2. Excerpts from Book 2 (obviously). Or scenes from other characters' points of view.
3. A signed copy of Sunshine.
4. I thought about making a video where I read from one of the books, if anyone would be interested.
5. Speaking of videos, would anyone be interested in me answering questions in a video? Like, people could send me questions over twitter, tumblr, facebook, etc, and I could smoosh them all together in one big video?
What else? What do you guys want to see more of?
Don't be shy. You're important to me and your opinions matter!
Okay. I think that's all as far as updates and surprises go.
I just wanted to say thank you for sticking with me and helping me spread the word about my book. I truly love each and every one of you and I can't wait to share more writing with you.
Until I come out of my cave again,
--Nikki : )
