Tag Archives: Editor

The gameplan

 

Spell Check, word cloud concept 9Laundry’s in the dryer which means it’s finally time to download VIPER, The Scoundrels MC book 1 to see what editing notes in the doc I have and what all needs to be done. I received them over the long weekend and since then haven’t had two seconds to do more than briefly glance at the editor sheet with her notes. For the most part it sounds pretty damn good. A few spots I need to fill in to make everything smoother, and a couple goofy things that obviously I wrote while half asleep. Ugh! Really need to stop doing that.

Once that’s off my plate the rest of the weekend is for writing. Which means more work done on book 3 of the Living Victorious series. Many readers have asked when this one is coming out. Unfortunately I’ve had a hell of a time getting back into the groove since Christmas. The extra long break and a shake up around work, nothing horrible mind you – just extra hours, extra work, and no extra help or bump in pay – mucked up my rhythm. Gotta get my groove back basically.

Last thing I need to do is load some more of my writer friends onto the blog for the coming weeks – been slacking there sadly. But I can do that during my breaks when I need a moment to clear the brain fog out.

Beyond that it will be lots of coffee, many snacks, and pounding the keys until my hands cramp and I need to find something else to do for a little while. I hope everyone has a great weekend and I’ll update soon. ~ Moira

Relaxing the day away

Vector winter scene with forest background isolated on white.
Today will be a nice lazy day for the most part. I do have to run out for a few things but otherwise I plan to laze around and do some much needed writing. Gotta get my next Living Victorious book closer to the finished point, and I have a couple other WIP’s that will fill my time when I run into a mental block on LV3. Plenty to do on the writing front that’s for sure.

I have a new release coming out on Tuesday, my Christmas story to be exact – Greatest Gift. The cover is fabulous (though I’m still waiting on the unwatermarked version), and the first round of edits was a breeze. My editor seemed very pleased with the story in general, and other than commenting on my comma issue (damn you comma’s!!) there were only a couple little fixes to be done. Haven’t seen a second round yet, but I know things are super busy at EP these days given the sheer number of books coming out this month.

The first batch of Christmas cards went into the mail early -yay me!- and are making their way to the readers and friends who requested one. I can still get some more out in time for Christmas if anyone is interested in a card from little old me. All you need to do to sign up is click the blue Christmas ornament button to the right to be taken to the Google form. There are even gifts to be given if anyone is interested.

Let’s see, what else might there be to share today… Huh, I got nothing. Well, guess that means time to refill my mug and get back down to work. Hope everyone has a lovely day ~ Moira.

Release Day!

TheBass-evernightpublishing-JayAheer2015-finalimageHere we go again folks, it’s release day! I welcome into the world book 2 of the Living Victorious series, The Bass. Slowly we are delving ever deeper into the lives of the band members that make up Victorious. In this book we meet the groups bassist, Shade Benson. Years ago he met a young girl who would become his best friend, and as they grew up together they would fall in love. Then life happened and they were pulled apart. Time passes as it is wont to do, and when they finally meet up again the sparks flicker, and begin a slow hot burn that turns into so much more.

I had the pleasure of working with yet another fabulous Evernight Publishing editor on this story. Pretty sure I’ve met almost all of them by this point, lol! Ms. Audrey was a delight to work with, and helped to smooth out the rough edges as well as tamp down my slight comma addiction to a dull roar. Although I will point out, I did not use as many in this story as in The Rhythm. Maybe I’m starting to learn – at least a little.

Anyway, let’s not delay any longer. Below is the official blurb as found on all the sites that will be selling my latest endeavor into the Rock ‘n’ Roll scene, and also all the links I currently have. Rock on my lovely readers, rock on!

BLURB:

Cateline Lyon has never forgotten the boy she gave her heart to. When they have a chance to reconnect she takes the opportunity. No matter the challenges that may come from his fame, she won’t let him get away again.

Shade Benson always turns to music for comfort. It’s his way of expressing the emotions he never could talk about. Having Cateline back in his life, crazy though it may be, he feels the beginnings of a song lighting up his soul. All for her.

BUY LINKS:

EVERNIGHT  |  BOOKSTRAND  |  AMAZON (US)  |  AMAZON (CA)  |  ALL ROMANCE

Almost there…

Bourbon Street Sign in New OrleansOnly ten more days before I’m officially on holidays in the Big Easy with the lovely April Zyon. I am so ready for this break, and it’ll be a blast to boot. I have no clue what I’m packing beyond the obvious, but I am starting a list – cause I’d really hate to be missing something. Especially since I won’t be able to “run home” and grab it, lol!

In other good news The Bass, Living Victorious 2 first round edits hit my inbox this weekend. I haven’t yet had the opportunity to check to see what might need fixing. I’m hoping that it’s all easy *crossing fingers* fixes without too many major boo-boo’s that need major rewrites. That sort of things suck. I also need to get them done before I leave so that my editor has them while I’m away to do her next look over. Maybe they’ll be back in my box when I return, here’s hoping.

First and foremost though is my current project. It sort of popped up suddenly – like most things involving my crazy muse – and it’s a seasonal story. Which means I need to get this sucker done, and fast. I only have a little more to go, I think. It’s always hard to tell with the muse. She keeps bombing me with details to add in so I never quite know where this is heading, and when it might be completed. It better be soon or it’ll miss the appropriate time to release.

Well I think that’s it for updates at this moment. Will put out more as they come to me. Look for a couple more posts to follow in the next two weeks before I depart. ~ Moira

Release Day!

TheRhythm-evernightpublishing-JayAheer2015-finalimageIt’s that time again, release day! And with a brand new series no less. The idea for Living Victorious came out of nowhere one night. It was a tickle to begin with months ago. Like any author with a “tickle” of an idea, I wrote it down and set it aside. When I finished up with my C&M series the tickle turned into a poke. My muse wanted to get busy on writing some smoking hot rocker boys.

To that end, Living Victorious officially came alive. I’ve always had a clear vision for all the members of the band. Who they are, their roles, their quirks, and even their issues. It helped when I wrote The Rhythm to hold those concepts, and ideas tight. Not that I didn’t end up finding I’d still goofed up during the editing stage. Thank goodness for my editor, Kerry, for all her help in smoothing out the rough edges while not losing any of the bad boy rockers vibe I had going.

With the release of this book finally here I have to buckle down hard for book 2. I’m close, so damn close to being finished. I have one last issue to resolve, and then some HEA love to dab on. Then it will be the read through with my checklist I gained from my editor on book 1. Did I mention Kerry is a rock star in her own right? She is. Hopefully all she handed me to help me through the first book will make the editing process for the second book a little easier. Well, except for the comma’s. I can’t help the comma’s! They multiply and where I think they should be they shouldn’t and where I don’t believe they should be they’re supposed to be. The English language, and all it’s rules SUCK! LOL!

And on that mini-rant note I am off to do some more writing. Gotta get the second book in to the publisher because book 3 is already tickling at the back of my brain, and the muse she be getting antsy. Have a fantastic night, and stay cool out there folks ~ Moira

EVERNIGHT | BOOKSTRAND | AMAZON (US) | AMAZON (CA) | ALL ROMANCE

Where to begin?

TheRhythm-evernightpublishing-JayAheer2015-finalimageIt’s been a while since my last post. To that end oh where to begin with all the news to share? I suppose with the news about the first book in my new series. The Rhythm, Living Victorious will be out on Wednesday August 12, 2015. YAY! I loved writing this book, and my editor on it was amaze-a-balls!

The entire series revolves around the rock band, Victorious. They have done the unheard of and never once had an interview. Of any sort! Not that they completely shut out the media, but they did have an extremely tight leash on things thanks to their manager. In book one of the series we meet the sexy drummer for the band, Lance West. He talks the other four members, and their manager into allowing a journalist into their midst with full, twenty-four access to them all for several months. That lucky journalist is Jennifer Mitchell who Lance has a wee bit of a crush on. Which makes it very interesting for everyone. For a look at the excerpt you can check it out on the page here. As well there are teasers both on my Reader Group Page here, and the new Victorious Facebook page here.

BadAlhaMF-evernightpublishing-jayaheer2015-CompleteThen on August 21, 2015 comes out the next Anthology from Evernight which I’m blessed to be a part of with nine other fabulous authors. Bad Alpha is all paranormal, all Alpha, and well worth a read in my most humble of opinions. (Buy this book!) For a look at my story in the Anthology, Drakon’s Prize, you can check it out on the page here. Drakon is one bad ass Dragon, and I truly hope everyone enjoys my first foray into the paranormal arena. Also for everyone who might wonder, there will be a Manlove version coming out on the same date – Evernight is always thinking about all their readers, and their preferred reading choices.

I am still, yes still, working on book two of the Living Victorious series tentatively titled, The Bass. Which as soon as you read book one you’ll figure out who it’s all about, lol! Or rather you should if you’re following my “logic” with the book titles. If not you can get a wee idea on it from my WIP’s page here. I’m getting closer to being finished, with only a few more things to add in to round it all out along with a bit of a lead in to the third book of the series. If my muse plays nice I should have it done this weekend, or damn close to it. If not for a visit to see the relatives I’d have worked on it this past, long weekend. Sadly when I’m there writing takes a very distant backseat to everything they have planned. I always come back from those visits more exhausted than when I left. They are damn exhausting people! But I do love them. They are so lucky…

Let’s see, what else? Book 1 of Victorious, Bad Alpha release, mentioned book 2 of Victorious… Nope, I think that covers it all. For the moment. On that note I am off to attempt to get some writing done. Have a lovely evening everyone, and look for links to be posted up here, and on my personal Facebook page here too. ~ Moira

A little editor love

pencil and paper with inscription r cup of coffee on blue wooden table

First off, happy Sunday to all! Now that we have that out of the way…

While initially nervous (okay, petrified) of what I might find upon delving deeper into the edits for The Rhythm, Living Victorious 1, I can now say that I am completely crushing on my new editor. She rocks in ways I can’t even comprehend let alone expound upon. She is da bomb. Evernight Publishing has the BEST EDITORS EVER! This is a personal opinion of course, and potentially a little biased since I’ve never written with another publisher. but it’s my post so I can say whatever the heck I want. HA!

Having an editor I’ve never worked with prior getting their hands on one of my babies is beyond nerve wracking. But I shall give credit where it is due, this woman knows her stuff. Since joining Evernight I’ve had the pleasure of working with four of their editors. Laurie T., Jessica R., Karyn W., and the latest in this powerhouse lineup is Kerry G.

All these ladies have gone above, and beyond. They are helpful, instructive, and when something in your story tickles their funny bone they love to point it out. Each has their own style to editing, much the same as every author has their own process and style to writing. I have only been blessed by the attention each editor puts toward one of my books. Truly I could go on, and on about them for likely hours. I won’t. If I do I’ll never get anything else done today lol!

But now that all the edits are done, and back into my publisher’s hands for round two, I can focus on getting book 2 of this series closer to completion. The muse is on board given how well editing went, and all we learned from Ms. Kerry – tools which we shall use for this book, and all those to come after. So I shall leave you all to whatever endeavors you might have planned for your Sunday.

Stay cool out there, and have some fun. I have my coffee in hand, a movie on the boob tube, and ideas to write. ~ Moira

Working on edits

Pen, Writing, Letter.

That’s right, I have edits for book 1 of my new 5 book series – The Rhythm, Living Victorious. My publisher sent them through last night, and after a quick peek to see who my editor was, and what she had to say I left them for this morning. Now I am armed with coffee, a bowl of cereal, and have it up on my screen ready to rock and roll once the caffeine starts to do it’s job.

For the most part it looks pretty good. A few filler words to get rid of, or change to something more productive to the sentence. There are also *snickers* some eyeballs doing things they shouldn’t be – oops! Definitely need to fix that since this isn’t a horror story where such things might slide. Let’s see, what else did she let me know about? Ah yes, some redundant words that can be scratched out – not that hard, and last were some overly repetitive words. I know the latter happens when I get tired. Even when I know I should stop for a while the muse is on a roll. As an author you keep writing when the muse is talking even if you can’t totally focus on the screen any more.

Depending on how far along I get on edits in the next hour I should have a vague idea of how long it will all take. Hoping to get the majority done today so that I can give it a good read through tomorrow with the changes to look for anything that needs work on the flow.

I also need to find my list of mistakes I noticed after I’d submitted so that I can ensure those too are fixed if she didn’t find them. Although this editor is scarily efficient (meep!) so I doubt she’ll have missed the things my eyes coasted over during the final read through prior to submission. Which I then later found while looking for teasers to share in my FB Group down the road. Yeah – that actually happens.

Well that would be it for today. Hope you are all having a great weekend, and staying cool out there. ~ Moira

Things to do

Happy Saturday all. A few things to share with everyone. First up is I’ve completed first and second round of edits for Drakon’s Prize, a part of the Bad Alpha anthology from Evernight Publishing coming this summer. It went really well, and super fast. Not sure if there will be a third round, but it’s more than possible given my lovely editor, and I had to do one pretty big fix. I think it works well though in the story – fingers crossed!

I’m also up on The Romance Review today for all interested. You answer the questions, and are put in for the prizes with points. So if you’re interested in getting in on the action it’s never too late! You can check it all out here.

The other plans for the day is to get some work done on my latest WIP’s. Last week I was mostly focused on a yet-to-be-named paranormal I’m working on. Bloody thing’s driving me batty. But it is trundling along rather well. Unfortunately I really need to buckle down, and whip the muse into shape to work on The Bass, Living Victorious book 2. I’ve had a few thoughts on that this past week that I think shall work rather splendidly in the over all story line.

Let’s see, what else… Nope, I think that’s actually it. Beyond a bunch of boring household chores, bleh!, there really isn’t anything else to share at this point. So have a fantastic weekend everyone ~ Moira

Making the brain have to work

Happy Saturday all! Been a pretty good day so far minus a small incident with a tap that led to a much more thorough cleaning of my kitchen than was allotted for the day. But that’s fine, it would have had to happen eventually, and I got my shower out of the way all at the same time lol! Well, not quite.

The small British kitten sleeps

With coffee in hand today I’m working on finishing up my edits for Drakon’s Prize out of the Bad Alpha anthology. The majority I got through quickly, and easily with only one hiccup so far. Had to resort to sending off a note to the editor for some clarification since my brain couldn’t quite figure out what she meant. I hate bothering them but this one just couldn’t be resolved by my poor little brain. Once I have her answer back I will finish up, and shoot it back to EP for round two.

Once I’m done edits then I will be swinging over to work on book two of Living Victorious for a while. Though I think I may sneak in a nap. I did not sleep well last night. My neighbors and I will be having words of a rather harsh sort soon if they don’t get their acts together. I truly couldn’t care less that they work on different shifts than I do, usually I can sleep through anything – brass band in the bedroom, cop cars popping wheelies on the street, or whatever. One of the few things I can’t sleep through is annoying laughs. Whether it be the sort like Janice off of “Friends”, or someone that sounds like a braying donkey, there is a level of laugh that is abrasive in the way fingernails down a chalkboard is. They had such an individual over last evening braying away in the wee hours of the morning waking me up. Had I not been happily ensconced in my bed enjoy the rain dampened air coming through my window I likely would have wandered over to have a “talk” with them. Lucky I didn’t feel like unrolling from my blankie.

So a small nap is on the schedule before I have to figure out what I’m doing for dinner. I’m thinking of maybe a little East Indian. I’m in the mood for some good Tandoori chicken, and there’s a place not that far from me that serves some of the best. And now I’m hungry. Okay, so a snack, and then a nap. Better stop writing this post before I talk myself into something else! Have a great day, and a fantastic weekend ~ Moira