Celtic Rose

Back in Action

2012-11-24T16:57:00.001-08:00

I have been down and out in the action of my blog for quite a while. I apologize for not posting anything in so long. A lot has happened these past few months though that has caused much excitement for me and the fans. :) First, The book was released and took off like a race horse. I sold hundreds of copies within the first couple of months. Next, I had a book signing at our local hastings and was very pleased to hear from the employees that I sold more copies than any other author that has had a book signing there. It's great to feel so much love. Then, As I was working on the second book I was reaching out to bands trying to find one that would allow me to use them in the book, just a cameo appearance for a concert and one of my favorite bands of all time agreed. CREED!!!! They are a wonderful group of guys and I am so totally grateful that they agreed to be in my book. Love you guys!! After that, I had some trouble connecting with the book, the concert scene seemed to drain me of inspiration for awhile. After a couple of weeks I had a dream that really set me to writing again. A masquerade ball, modern, not old timey. Quick paced dancing like dancing with the stars. LOL! It has sort of a techno feel to it. More inspiration has followed since then and it seems like the book is writing itself. The ebook of my first book Celtic Rose is set free today and tomorrow and will be again after Christmas, December 28th through the 30th for those who happen to receive a kindle for Christmas. Hee hee. The way things are going now it looks like I'm going to be ready to send the second book to the publisher by the end of this year. My goal is to send it in New Years Eve. That way it will be ready for editing the beginning of the year and hopefully will be out by spring. I'm still set on having a release date for St. Patty's day. :D My life's dream is to hear great things about my books and maybe, possibly, if I pray really, really hard to have it on the big screen. A girl can dream can't she. lol Thanks for being so patient with me and I hope you enjoy the read. God Bless!

Finally Finished!

2012-02-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

I'm finally finished with the rewrite and have sent it in to the publisher. :) On the publisher's birthday no less! Now I can finally get started on the second book, while I wait on news for the first. Sure hoping it'll be back out very soon. I've already had some written in the second book but to make it match the first I'm going to have to rewrite what I had in 3rd person as well. No worries though! I wasn't actually that far in the second book so it shouldn't take long. I've never been much for waiting, I do it, but it doesn't mean I like it. lol So the best way to avoid the wait is to keep busy. I'm going to get busy on the second book so the wait won't drive me crazy. :)

Valentine Surprise!

2012-02-14T21:38:00.000-08:00

I received a message from Goodreads today pretty much telling me what was going on with my book. I'd never received one before so I checked it out. To my huge surprise there were 6 ratings on my book and they were all 5 stars. I couldn't have been happier. Some people were either able to get it before it came off the market for editing or they received it from me, but either way they loved it and I am so excited. I've been hard at work for the past week trying to get it complete. I should be done by the end of the week and I'll send it straight to the publisher as soon as I save it for the last time. It would be great to have it come back out on St. Patrick's Day because it would match my story, but that all depends on how quickly everything can get done on it.
My computer has become a major frustration with me today. The power cord has a short in it or something because even though it's plugged in it goes to battery power and the screen dims. I get the cord bent just right and it comes back on but it's a constant fight to keep it that way. I really dread the cord going out because that means I have to move to the desktop, which is vastly uncomfortable seating wise, and slower than Methuselah. I'm tired of fighting the cord so I'm going to get off here and give it a break. I'll pick up on the edits tomorrow. Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's day and I will post more when I have more news. :)

Other Info

2011-12-14T10:09:00.000-08:00

The character posts were from another blog, so if there is anything mentioned that seems strange, like it's been a long time since I posted and such, then that is because I copied and pasted them from my other blog. Since this blog is all about the book then I wanted the character description on here. Also the description of Kallisto talks about the different perspectives in the book, now that I am changing the book into third person that part is sort of irrelevant now. I thought it would be neat to show different perspectives in the same book, but that is actually harder than one would think. Third person is a better way to write the book so that there is less confusion and what we call in the writing industry, "head bobbing," where a character knows what the other is thinking and they aren't suppose too. I think I've posted enough for one day. ha ha I'll post more later, for now... back to the rewriting. :)

The Main Character Kallisto

2011-12-14T10:02:00.001-08:00

Well... Now that I have covered all of the characters in my book I guess it's time to discuss the main character. Kallisto is based off of me. I made the main character of the book as an extention of me. Kallisto is the way I wish I could be in many ways. The description of the character is based off of me, minus my flaws. :) The personality of the character is the way I wish I was. I wanted her to have a strong personality, a leader that could take charge, beautiful although she does not see it, and powerful beyond her comprehension. She is the glue that holds the group together. She and Talus are the beginning and the end of the curse, but if Kallisto dies then they all die. And in turn if her brother Kalan dies then she dies. Kalan and Kallisto are tied so closely that whatever affects one affects the other. So if either Kalan or Kallisto die it is the end or, in the case of the curse, it is a new beginning. Kallisto is tied to her brother Kalan, her love Talus, her power source William, and her protector Gabriel. The others, Ramina, Ephiny, and Keira are tied to Kallisto through the ones that are tied to her so it has become a web with Kallisto as the center. She is the central part of the story as other stories are going on around her. You see different perspectives in the book than just Kallisto's but all the stories revolve around Kallisto in some way whether it's to get a perspective of Kallisto that she cannot see herself, or whether it's to deepen a story that ties it all together. It is all surrounding the central story of Kallisto and any perspective that does not show Kallisto is just another step to revealing something that has confused or been unknown to Kallisto throughout the many years.

I hope you enjoyed yet another look into my fantasy world. I apologize that it has been a while since I posted but I have been doing a lot with school, and I spent some much needed time with my son last weekend. I will post more later. :D

The Character Keira

2011-12-14T09:59:00.001-08:00

The character Keira was based off of a girl that I know through my cousin. She is very sweet and loving, but she also has a temper. I based this character off of her personality. I have known this girl for a few years now and this is the aspect I have used from her personality. The character started out blonde because the girl the character is based off of was blonde, but after years of knowing this girl as a blonde I found out that she is truly a brunette and had only been bleaching her hair. Her hair did not look like it was bleached so I didn't know. It looked all natural. She told me that she was tired of having to bleach her hair so she went back to her original color. I decided that I would change the character in the book with the times and have her as a brunette in the old days and a blonde in the present days. This worked out beautifully for the character development and explanations in the book. The story flowed easily and worked out better than I had imagined with this character. I believe that no one should be alone. And since my characters no longer have family besides each other I decided that they each needed someone to connect too. Gabriel was as alone as he could get. He didn't have family and he wouldn't allow himself to be a part of the group so I decided to add a soul mate for him as well. Keira is exactly what he needs and exactly what gets Gabriel to open up.

I hope you enjoyed this little tid bit. More post will follow at a later time.

The Characters Kalan, Talus, and William

2011-12-14T09:55:00.001-08:00

These characters are all figments of my imagination. Kalan is the twin brother I wish I had. Talus is the man I wish I loved. William is the power source I wish I had. :)

Talus is my idea of the perfect man for me. I have never once found a man that carries all of the qualities that this man has. My grandfather, who passed away a few years ago was as close to a perfect man as I had ever seen. He took care of his family and friends the best that he could. He had his flaws but all humans do, but those flaws were well hidden and a person looking from the outside would never know. Only those closest to him knew about his flaws. In a way my perfect man is based off of my grandfather. Talus doesn't have all of my grandfathers personality traits - that would just be creepy- :D but he does have the aspects of my grandfather that I would want to see in the man I love. It is said that a daughter will marry a man like her father. My grandfather was my father and so I guess I use him for comparison sake. All the men I have met have seemed to pale in comparison to my grandfather and I'm not even sure there are men out there like my grandfather anymore. So I created a man like him for the love interest in my book. It isn't immortalizing my grandfather completely because it isn't all him in the personality, but in part I am immortalizing his essence in my book.

Kalan is my other half. He is brilliant and good looking. He is the type of man that all the girls would love to have. In the old days brothers took care of their sisters and that is the aspect I wanted to put into my book. Kalan is protective of his sister and they are bonded in a way that makes sure that they stay together always. They fight for each other, they love each other, and they would die for one another. (literally) ;) Kalan is the epiphany of what I would want in a brother. Now there are brothers out there who would do anything for their sisters, but I rarely see it. That is why I put this in my book, because I wanted to immortalize the brothers who are like this. Now granted he goes crazy at one point, but that doesn't mean he doesn't love his sister. :) He is just driven mad by outside forces and it causes him to think certain things that are wrong would be right. I don't want to give too much away so I apologize if that is cryptic but if you read the book then you would understand perfectly.

There has been a lot of debate about William's character. He is another figment of my imagination, and I created him out of thin air with no thoughts of anyone to base him off of, but the Muse is adamant that William's character has many aspects of another friend of ours. If the aspects of this person snuck in then I did not even think about it. I guess sometimes writers characters end up with aspects of people that they know without the author even thinking about that person to begin with. As far as I was concerned though I just made him up as a power source for the main character in times of distress, injury, or weakening of power. Gabriel and this character are a big part of the comic relief in my book. Their loathing attitudes toward each other make for great comedy. This is where the dark humor of Gabriel comes into play because it is mainly directed at William. Of course the personality William has just begs to be knocked down. He is rather arrogant and and acts like he's better then Gabriel. He has a sweet side where the main character and Ephiny are concerned, but his attitude throughout the book is mainly that of a child that doesn't get what he wants. He pouts constantly and brutes around when he's upset. I just wanted a character like this because all of the other characters have good solid personalities and I wanted a personality that was different from all the others and that could be used as a comical break from all the action and drama that happens throughout the book (sometimes the comedy comes during the action and drama because of this character)

I combined these because they weren't really based off of anyone in particular. At least not on purpose. ;)

The Character Gabriel

2011-12-14T09:53:00.001-08:00

I said some of where this character came from in my very first post, because I wanted to mention my Muse. This character was based off of my cousin first. He was the one who got me started back writing and as I came up with ideas for the book he would act them out for me. This made the process of writing more comical for me because I was able to have a mental picture of my cousin doing the part for real. He was there for at least the first half of my writing process. He gave me several ideas for his character that I absolutely loved and wanted to put in my book. After a while he started drifting away so that he could begin his life outside of our small town. I didn't hear from him very often so it made it hard to want to write again. I love having someone to bounce ideas off of so that I can make my book more exciting. If the person I'm bouncing my ideas off of doesn't seem intrigued or if they just seem bored of the idea then I scratch it and come up with another. I wrote for a time without bouncing ideas off of someone and the story was turning out great, but I wanted that interaction with someone who was interested in the book.

My Muse was a friend back when I was in school who left the state to pursue life abroad. He sowed his wild oats and decided to come back to the place where his family lives. He and I started talking again. I dropped the bomb that I was writing a book during one of our conversations and he wanted to know more about it. I gave him the run down of what the story was about and he liked it, so I started talking to him more and more about it. I realized after several conversations with him that he had much the same personality as my previous inspiration so we talked about him being my inspiration for the character Gabriel. He loved the idea and I started bouncing ideas off of him. He even gave me several ideas for his personality. His is filled with so much more dark and mysterious humor than my previous inspiration that the character changed a bit throughout the book. It was a change that seemed to flow easily from one way to another so well that the change became a part of the story.

I had several days where I was blocked throughout the writing process. I would rack my brain on what to do next and just couldn't come up with anything. The Muse just so happened to call on one of those days and he gave me so many ideas that I was able to pick one of them and run with it. This is the exact reason I call him my Muse. Everytime I hit a block all I would have to do is call him and we would talk for hours about possible scenarios until I found one that I truly loved and I would continue from there. Some of our conversations led me to use more then one of the scenarios at a time so I would end up going from one scenario growing on that and then adding another one as a continuance. The ideas that he gave me were not just for his character, they were for every character in the book. I had the story in my head from long ago but there were holes in the story and my Muse helped me to fill in those holes and the story turned out exactly the way I wanted it too.

I don't know how most authors work but I had a Muse to guide in the direction I wanted to go and since he doesn't want his name out there for the world, he has requested that I continue calling him the Muse from now on. :) As you could probably tell by the comment he gave on my first post. If there are any authors out there having trouble I strongly suggest finding a Muse to bounce ideas off of. It can be beneficial in an author's writing when they are blocked, that's how I got through it.

The Character Hope

2011-12-14T09:52:00.001-08:00

The character hope has a small but crutial role in this book. She is the one that is raising the main character. In reading the book her characters reason for being becomes revealed. She is only in the first book so she will not be seen in any of the other books. This character is based off of my grandmother. She and my aunt are much alike in the fact that they are both strong willed. My grandmother has raised several children and not all of them were her own. She has always been there for me no matter what and I love her more and more each day, even though sometimes we fight and argue. :) What family doesn't? My grandfather used to call her a little squaw when he was alive and it drove her nuts, but she loved it. He called her this because she had some indian in her and she can look indian when she is tan, but her blonde hair and blue eyes are from a different aspect of her heritage. I had to use that in the book. The description of Hope is the description of my grandmother, and the personality is spot on. ;) How could I not immortalize the person who has had such an impact in my life.

The Character Shappa Reya

2011-12-14T09:50:00.001-08:00

This character only has one part at the end of the book but it was a significant part to introduce her to the audience for the next book. I based this character off of my aunt whom I have called an Amazon since I was young. She is very tall and muscular and she can definitely take care of herself. The discription in the book is the way I see her. I had taken a picture of her one time when her red hair was shining in the sun and her hair glowed like it was fire. The name Shappa means 'Red Thunder' and the name Reya mean 'Queen' so I named her the Red Thunder Queen. That will become significant in the second book. I thought about just calling her Shappa since she is not a queen just yet, but then I thought it could be a tell-tale sign that she was going to be the queen. Although she has a small part in this first book her involvement with the cursed ones will become more significant and critical in the second and possibly third books.

The personality of Shappa Reya is an extension of my aunt's personality. She doesn't take anything from anybody. She asserts herself and will let you know exactly how she feels and what she is thinking. She is a very strong person. She has been through a lot in her life and she has fought her way through and maintained her life and the life of her children. She is a survivor and I am proud to call her my aunt. For this very fact, I have chosen to immortilize her personality in my book.

The Character Ephiny

2011-12-14T09:47:00.001-08:00

This character is based off of a young girl who stayed with us while her family was getting settled. She became a part of our family quickly and easily. She is very sweet and I just wanted to have a character just like her. Now there are several parts where she has a little attitude or takes control and becomes a leader. The one Ephiny is based off of has these characteristics as well. She can have an attitude, what teenager doesn't, but she is the sweetest most Christian girl I have ever met. She has taken over and taught lessons in her youth class at the church and she never fails in telling anyone who wants to know that Jesus is her savior. A lot of the adults in our church have said that we need to take a page out of this girls book and do like she does. Her character in the book is based on what I, myself, have seen of her. She has shown so much potential at being a good leader that I had to add that. She is very protective of those around her and she thinks of others before she thinks of herself. She is human so I do not want to give the idea that she is perfect because she is not, but I have been very impressed by her and that is why I chose to immortalize her personality in my book.

The Character Ramina

2011-12-14T09:46:00.000-08:00

I based the character Ramina off of my best friend. The discription in the book is a discription of my friend. When I was inspired by her and my cousin to start writing again two years ago I decided to base some of the characters off of my friends and family. Ramina was one of the first characters I created while writing this book. The personality fits her perfectly. To me, she is the ultimate Amazon woman. She is half Korean and half American, but she looks more like a really tall and muscular American Indian. She is a very open person and doesn't get embarassed easily. She is one of my best friends in real life and she is perfect for the best friend of the main character in my book. We have never really had an argument in our lives, but I placed one in the book for a type of character development for the character Ramina. She read what I had written and immediately wanted to call and say she was sorry even though we didn't have the argument in real life. :) That's just how real the characters in my book have affected the people in my life. They see the personalities that are so real and it makes the story feel real to them. I truly hope that if my book gets published that the people who read it will be able to relate to at least one of the characters on a personal level and have the story feel real for them as well.

I will continue posting blogs about each of the characters and how they were developed as time goes on. I hope you enjoy the inside look.

Working on Blog

2011-12-14T09:40:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to get the best out of my blog. I will be trying to put music to the blog so that everyone can hear the music that I used to write to. Different scenes from my book go to different music. I would like to post the music as soon as I figure out how. Bare with me on this as I am new to the whole blogging thing, usually I just add different already made bars to my blog and make posts about progress. I will probably have to confer with my Muse on how to add music. It should be added before too long. :)
I'm bringing over some posts from my first blog about the characters and such. Enjoy!

Getting Started

2011-12-12T17:12:00.000-08:00

Thanks for viewing my new blog. We're just getting started so it's a work in progress. It'll develop more as time goes on.

I've been trying to get my book rewritten lately. I need to write the whole thing in third person. It's been out twice and now we are going for the third and, hopefully, final time. I'll keep you posted. :)