I’ve been discussing the idea of somebody else setting up a Facebook page for my books (because I don’t have time, and also my extreme social lameness) so people don’t have to friend me or whatever, but I don’t know for sure if that will pan out. Eventually, there might even be an actual website… O_O

Can anyone recommend a formatter for Createspace? (Yet another thing I don’t have patience for). And does anyone have a good alternative to googlereader?

Currently watching my two-year-old trying to pin up her hair with a peg.

Anyway, just a quick post. Death is a Gift is now available on B&N, Kobo, and the various iBookstores, so I’ll leave the sale price as is until next weekend. (Although, it could take a week for the price to actually change everywhere).

Sent Traitor off to my editor which ends what seemed like a never-ending deadline of deadlines this year. Never again will I arrange such a long schedule of non-stop editing. That way lies madness, and my brain is tired.

In good news: our car is back and fixed and running and working and not breaking down in the middle of motorways. And it wasn’t as expensive as first predicted which is just… thank you, good karma, I’ve missed you.

In great news: April 2013, the Farrell Family’s Unluckiest Month Ever is almost over. (That does not count as jinxing myself, universe).

In better news: Game. Of. Thrones. (Tomorrow).

In best news: New baby in the family! (Was going to make a kidnapping joke, but if people keep taking me so seriously, I’m going to get myself arrested, and the weird internet history on my laptop probably won’t help. At all).

Okay, so it was a quick post for me. Have a great week!

Death is a Gift is now available on Smashwords, and Amazon (US, UK, CA, etc.). Other retailers will likely take up to two weeks to update, but if you don’t want to wait, Smashwords provides all file formats. The price is 99c for a short time. (I’ll wait until the book reaches all retailers before upping the price).

Verity is now free on the iBookstore, Amazon, Kobo, and Smashwords and should be free on all other retailers soon.

I think that’s all – I’m half-asleep. Have a great weekend; I’ll probably be in hermit mode for another week at least.

I despise labels, but I will probably have to put this one into the category of y/a paranormal romance. Like Stake You, this was something I did on the side for fun last year. (DIAG has less of the action and violence and more of the relationships and angst – sorry!) I think I started the story last Spring. I know that I was living in Dublin still, and I wanted a change of scene, so I set this book in a fictional rural area of the south-east of Ireland. I ended up moving to the south-east months later (although not as far out), but that was purely coincidental.

DIAG, otherwise known as that bloody banshee story, is the longest story I’ve written to date, and it started because I needed something other than series stuff to work on. (Also, I went through a stage of wanting to practice happier endings before I wrote the end of both series. Don’t laugh. Seriously, you should have seen the original ending to the Ava Delaney series. )

I know it’s annoying when you’re waiting on the next in a series and a writer seems to be doing anything but working on it, (hey there, George!) but sometimes you need to refresh your mind in between books, and I thought DIAG would be closer to a novella. I was very wrong. (But I enjoyed writing it, so I can’t complain. I hated editing it though, so complaining about that is still allowed, obviously. ).

Banshees feature strongly in this novel, but they are a different variation to the ones in my faery stuff (which I will finish this year, I swear). And the story is more about the acceptance of death than power and magic, in my opinion. Last year, I worked on maybe four books that featured death as a central theme, so I was obviously working through some issues.

I didn’t make a song playlist for this one. There are a couple of obvious references to songs in the story (I reference things I like in every novel), but aside from those, I can’t remember listening to very many songs/artists on repeat. The Cure and The Smiths, maybe. A little Echo & The Bunnymen. Jeff Buckley always. Nobody cares but me.

I’m not sure if this book will work for people who like my other stuff, but I’ve had a better response to this so far than anything else I’ve written, so I decided to publish it. A blurb is below – obviously, blurbs are not my strong point.

Clíona Desmond wants a normal life, but when your family motto is “Death is a Gift”, what you want isn’t always possible. The death of her banshee aunt forces Clíona into a world she barely recognises, a world she’s dreaded since the night her aunt came to take her father away. Her mother hates banshees, but the only possibility of escape is remote and involves a love more powerful than a banshee’s calling. Except Clíona’s already in love with somebody who could never love her back, somebody who has a good reason to hate a banshee, and her responsibilities ring loud and clear, no matter how hard her loved ones try to pull her back to her old life. Going against the banshee code can have tragic consequences, but it’s hard for an eighteen-year-old to say goodbye to all of her hopes and dreams. The biggest lesson left to learn is which is more powerful – love or death?

And here’s the cover if you haven’t seen it. Artist is Renu Sharma/DarkRayne, model is MariaAmanda.

Right. Back to Traitor. Editor’s expecting it in two(!) weeks. Have a great week all.

Since I last posted, I turned 30. I think my eldest was a little disappointed that I don’t actually need a zimmerframe. The kids are on their holidays, so he decided he needed a break from his siblings and went to stay with family. Before he came back, I went to Dublin to stay for a long weekend so I didn’t see him for a whole week.

This is what I did see. All weekend long. Every time I opened my eyes in the middle of the night in particular. Which is unimaginably creepy.

It spies:

It expresses shock at my appearance:

What does your face taste like?

My partner and all of the kids drove to pick me up, but the car broke down on the motorway, leaving everyone stranded. The transport that the insurance company sent out would have brought himself and the kids anywhere, but if they went home, they would have been stuck without a car. If they didn’t, the dogs would have been alone too long. They ended up in Kildare, where I got a lift to, and we got a lend of a car so that some of us could go home. (We need to make friends with people who own seven-seaters). For a while there, it seemed like the family would never be together again. Stupid car is going to cost more in repairs this year than we paid for it last year.

We’re all home now (yay), and the kids are back to their normal selves (um…), and things like this have been happening:

Trying to get the two-year-old to sleep yesterday-

Her – (jumping up and down on the bed) Dad! I’m Spiderman!

Dad – Who are you?

Her – Spiderman! (sings) Spiderman, Spiderman, hurry up, Spiderman

Dad – Well, then I’m the blue ranger.

Her – (stops jumping) You’re the blue ranger? (Shouts) Mom! Are you the bad guy?

Yeah, pretty much.

Trying to get the two-year-old to sleep tonight-

Her – Mom, I love you so much. Love you, Mom. Love you. (Petting my face). Aw, you’re so cute.

Me – pretending to be asleep and trying not to laugh.

Her – Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom! That’s it. I’m not playing with you any more. (Stomps around the room in a huff).

Me – It’s bedtime. Go to sleep.

Her – No! I’m the good guy!

How am I supposed to argue with this?

Kids in the kitchen dancing to Mr. Bungle while I have a coffee-

Twins – (Ignoring everyone while they have a weird martial arts/slow motion themed dance-off).

8-yr-old – (Points and laughs at 6-yr-old who recently lost her two front teeth). Ha, you look like a vampire now.

6-yr-old – Yeah, well, if I’m a vampire, I’ll bite your neck off.

8-yr-old – And if you’re a vampire, I’ll just become a slayer and defeat you.

2-yr-old – (Crawls over to 6-yr-old wearing just a nappy and wellies and crying Mama, Mama).

6-yr-old – (Cuddles 2-yr-old) Aw, it’s okay my little vampire baby. I won’t let him defeat me.

8-yr-old – (Practically wees himself laughing).

6-yr-old – (Frowning). Don’t laugh at me! Get him, vampire baby!

2-yr-old – (Growls and crawls over to 8-yr-old) Pika-Pika-CHU!

8-yr-old – (Laughs so much, he gets his arse kicked by a baby vampire pokemon).

Twins – (Become ninja slayers and destroy everyone until another song they like comes on).

It’s great to be back home.

I get panicky whenever I click Publish because something always seems to go wrong, but everything’s gone smoothly so far (I probably just jinxed myself…)

Taste is available to purchase on Kobo, Smashwords, Amazon US, UK, CA, etc. Other retailers take approximately two weeks longer.

The final book in the series is due for release around June 2013.

While I’m waiting on Taste, I’m supposed to be working on Traitor, but I haven’t been getting a lot of anything done. Kids are sick, one in particular has been really unwell, one of the dogs ate a lot of something she shouldn’t – the rest of the family have been paying the rather unpleasant price – and I fainted (on hard tile because I’m just that clever) and threw up last week (no, mother, I’m not pregnant ), so it hasn’t been the best working environment.

I’ve basically been surrounded by children and forced to watch the same two films over and over again. And listen to the Pitch Perfect soundtrack over and over and over and over again. (My Last.fm profile must be really warped by now). And paint a million rainbow nails. Whenever any of the younger four walk into the room, I can guarantee they will ask for one of three things: Songs! (They’re as obsessive as I am about playing the same songs on repeat – not sure how/why this set became so popular in my house, but I’m not really complaining). Bruce Lee! (I know the twins are feeling okay when they’re stripping off their shirts and arguing over who’s going to be the baddie). Nail varnish! (Pretty sure the fact I spent Monday morning chasing children around with nail polish remover says something bad about my parenting skills).

My one completely non-sickling is obsessed with the Cups song. She’s trying to perfect the moves. I need to video her – cracks me up. I got an amazingly funny video of my two-year-old trying to sing Titanium. (She’s also started to say “Yes, sir, Mommy,” whenever I ask her to do anything, the little weirdo). And yes, yes I did have children for the sole purpose of entertaining me.

It snowed yesterday, and one of the twins whipped out the Argos catalogue to make a list of presents he wants. Somebody tell Mother Nature that it’s March. (In Feb, the other twin informed he he had changed his mind about his Christmas presents, so I should call Santy for him and organise a swap for new stuff).

I still haven’t had the heart to go through and re-download new books onto the replacement Kindle, so I ended up rereading A Song of Ice and Fire. Am I the only one who rereads and still hopes for a different outcome? Frost Burned is (obviously) on my list of things to read next, but I’m holding off until I finish with Ava. Any non-urban fantasy recommendations?

Back to work. Probably. It’s taken me almost three hours to finish this blog post because of the interruptions.

This is my annual dull indieversary post in which I traditionally talk about myself more than usual. Check out year one and year two if you’re interested in how long I’ve been this much of an egotistical arsehole.

Boo-yah. Three years ago today, I clicked publish for the first time. Little Girl sold something like five copies that month. (Incidentally, it had its best sales month ever in January of this year, which was odd and reinforces the whole unpredictability thing).

A couple of big things have happened since the year two post. We moved out of Dublin. The bukes hit a nice even sales milestone. I have my own space to work. I shocked everyone who knows I’m the laziest person on the planet by temporarily turning into a raging workaholic. I finally finished a series. *Insert some kind of embarrassing yet appropriately celebratory dance here*

That was the biggest deal for me, actually. I finally accomplished my first Big Dream that never seemed possible before (I’m looking at you, Cursed, you nightmare of my soul). I’ll be thirty this month(!), and I was afraid I wouldn’t finish that series before then. I did it, so suck on that, impossibly old ideas that never go away, make me love you and hate you at the same time, and leave me in some kind of weird writer depression when you end.

I’ve put a lot more money and hours into my books than before. While I would love to publish more frequently, I can’t without sacrificing editing, and I can barely get away with using British English.

Not judging anyone else’s output, nor am I saying any other writer sacrifices editing, just that I’m not that good.

I feel like I’ve worked harder over the last year, partly because the Big Burning Desire is to see obvious improvement. Sometimes that doesn’t come fast enough for me, but I’m a trier. (And there is nothing like the hell of reading your old embarrassing stories while cringing at every sentence you could now rewrite into something better – the best part of finishing a series is never having to read the first book again…) I do sometimes feel like I’ve maybe sacrificed a little bravery for the sake of learning the craft, but this is a lifelong learning curve. And while I enjoy working on my series, I spent most of last year looking forward to the end so I could move on to what comes next. I feel like I’ve learned a lot from the old stuff, but I’m ready to move on with the new.

On the negative side of this past year, I’m exhausted. Let’s just say my kids love it when I burnout. The most frustrating change since year two was probably relying on people who let me down at the last minute. It happens for various reasons; you have to rely on other people, and I’ve learned you really need a backup plan. This is partly why I’m glad I decided the series stuff needed the same people. I’ve been lucky enough to find an editor and cover artist I trust and enjoy working with and who are worth the cost, but I seem to have heard of far more people being ripped off or let down during the last twelve months than before. Inevitable, but sucky.

I still love writing, and I’m even beginning to appreciate editing – there’s something kind of fun about layering. In the coming twelve months, I expect series two to be done and dusted, but I’m not certain there will be a fourth indieversary post.

That’s not some kind of weird, vague threat or anything! I’m genuinely concerned about the quality of book I can produce right now. Besides that, I’m supporting a large family on something incredibly unstable, sales aren’t steady, and when my partner goes back into full-time work, I’ll have to write while five young kids clamour for my attention. All. Day. Long. (Wait, that happens now…) I’ll still write, even if I can only finish one book a year.

This isn’t supposed to be gloomy btw. Last year was probably a peak year for me, and I’m okay with that. For an Irish writer, I believe I did good. Honestly, I was very lucky, but luck can run out. I don’t have any stand out bestsellers, and I still avoid the active promotion thing like the plague, but across all markets, the numbers happened to add up last year. (Still advocating diversity vs. exclusivity. After my experiences with the whole copyright thing, I’m extra loud about this one). There are way, way, way more writers out there doing the same thing as me. Plenty of them doing it much better. More than the outliers we hear about. I don’t think I’ve met any Irish ones yet, but I’m sure they’re out there. The problem remains the same though. No stability. No way of knowing what will come next, and that isn’t something that everyone can handle. Most of us can’t predict what book will rise or fall, and plenty of people have gone into this full-time only for it to fall apart. While I kind of enjoy the risks, I have to make joint decisions that put my family first, and in that regard, I keep myself prepared for change, whenever the need arises.

Tl;dr: Writing good. Publishing hard. Guarantees non-existent. Life exciting.

Verity has been featured on the iBookstore’s Breakout Books promotion. Read about it on the Smashwords blog for more info and a list of the other, far more awesome, books featured so far – they switch out the books during the promotion, which is better than one big unmanageable mass of books, imo. It’s pretty cool, but any time I check out the iBookstore, indie titles are promoted quite prominently, so I’m not really surprised (although I’m shocked they selected Verity). I kind of feel bad for Verity though, standing awkwardly behind the much cooler kids.

It’s nice timing in a way, because the last book  in the series just released (by the way, it was chosen as a Red Adept Select). Purity isn’t available on the iBookstore yet, but Smashwords sent it across, so it’s just awaiting Apple’s review process. Thanks for the early responses to the ending; it’s always terrifying throwing your baby out into the world, and I’ve been sick with nerves since I pressed publish.

Has everyone seen “new” MySpace? I was curious enough to sign up, but right now, I can’t see myself using it too much. It’s a good idea, but I find new music in other ways. Sorry this post is so disgustingly linky, but MySpace reminded me of Pledgemusic (because I checked out Ours and realised I already have all their songs, so why would I listen on MySpace?) It’s like Kickstarter, and one of my favourite bands has a pledge thingy going. I listen to music by Ours and Jimmy Gnecco while working on Every. Single. Book. (and right now this minute) so I was a little squeaky fangurl when I saw the pledge for a new album. I don’t know why Ours isn’t already massively huge! Anyway, if you want to support one of my favourite muses, check out the Ours project on Pledgemusic.

I was thinking of creating a page for Cursed, somewhere people could ask spoilery questions about the series. If anyone is interested, let me know. I’ll have the omnibus up maybe next week. Paperbacks will take longer because of post & proof copies and all that jazz.

Regarding beta reading: My editing slots have been brought forward or delayed in a way that’s made it impossible for me to find time to beta read DIAG or Taste properly. Sorry. My schedule is all screwed up, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to do a proper beta reading session for Traitor either, but both Taste and Traitor are still on schedule for March and June. I was also going to start working on a brand new series (Demonolatry), but it would probably be quicker to just edit stuff I’ve already written, right?

I’m off to edit before this becomes a novel. Except to say we got our first bit of snow – it was a half-arsed job, but still. And grumpy,  hunting, loaner of a guard-cat decided to be cuddle-cat today. We melt the hardest of hearts in this house.

Also! Kai the Hitch-hiking Hero! Probably NSFW!

Have a great week!