Seven Hours Left!

There is now only seven hours left to download my free ebook from Ether! Being in this contest has really showed me the power of marketing and getting your message out there. I am currently third with seven hours to go! It is very close so I only need a few more of you to download it! It’s completely free and will only take you about two minutes!

How to….
1.Download Ether from the App store
2.Once it has downloaded search for Karla or The Box in the App
3. Click on the story
4.Click FREE and then DOWNLOAD
5. The story will now be in your collections!

Each device you do it on counts as a vote!

Much much love xxx

Blood is Thicker Than Water

“I instinctively reached for my rucksack and then realised I had left it upstairs I searched around the room for anything wooden to use a stake. There was a pool table at the back of the bar, I would have to put a lot of strength into my blow but it would do. Vampires are so allergic to wood that as soon as I broke the skin it would sink easily into his heart like any sharpened stake. I ran to the table picked up the stake and then turned back to Ralph. Ben was standing next to the big vampire and although his voice wasn’t raised I could hear everything he was saying. “Brass put Ralph down now. You have about forty seconds until he dies and if you let that happen I will not be able to save you” Brass grunted but didn’t let go. Every other vampire in the room seemed alert and ready to strike. I didn’t care what he was saying my brother was choking to death. I ran towards them and raised the pool cue in the air to get more momentum into my blow.

Ben looked at me with a stern expression and I don’t know what made me trust him but I slowed my strike a little. I put the tip of the cue on the vampire’s skin and pushed slightly I felt him go ridged. “Let go or I put this threw your heart”. He turned his head slightly to me and spoke in a voice like he had just smoked a million cigarettes and downed a pint of whisky. “I will snap his neck before you can kill me” I knew what he said was true but I also knew that Ralph had just fallen into unconsciousness. I started to panic and panic made me not think straight. My only thought was that I needed to distract him, get him off of Ralph in the next ten seconds. I did a stupid thing I smashed my hand down onto an empty glass on the bar. I felt the glass bite into my hand and hot liquid seep down my fingers. Brass’ attention immediately switched to my hand and he let go of Ralph. I watched Ralph take a deep breath and knew I didn’t care what happened next.”

An Extract From Part Two

“It was very dark in here, there was music playing but not too loud and it looked like there were a few levels. I didn’t know where to start looking for Ben, there were buckets of beer and champagne scattered around the room for anyone to take. There was also a bar at the back of the room which looked to be serving food I couldn’t make out what it was and the someone walked past me with a bacon sandwich. My stomach growled at me, I headed to the bar and took a sandwich, I started eating it and tried to think of a way to find Ben in this three story mess. A dribble of ketchup ran down my chin and I reached up to dab it away when I felt someone do it for me. I looked up to see Benidict, Arch Vampire of London licking ketchup off his finger the symbolism of the scarlet liquid was striking.

“Hello Ben” I said looking into his eyes, I knew he couldn’t Gaze me with my Nan’s pentacle tucked in my shirt. “Livy” he responded extending his hand to help me up. I stood up with out his help he tutted “What is the great emergency?” “How did you know I was here?” I asked him. His face became conflicted “I am torn in how to answer that” I sighed the mind games had started already “Just answer the question Ben” he continued. “I smelled you Livy, I can smell you coming a mile off, I am drawn to your particular scent” he took a deep breath in through his nose for emphasis. I shuddered, I had to ask. “Can we go someone where more quiet? I don’t really want to be competing with this noise” I gestured around me. He nodded and walked forward, I followed him up the stairs and through a door to the back of the room. The noise behind me muffled and the lights had become brighter, he led me to a white door marked staff only and went through.

We walked into an office, there was a man with long hair snorting cocaine off of a desk, the sign on the desk read bar manager but I was betting this wasn’t him. The man stood up defensively, I felt the tickle of Gaze and heard Ben “Leave us” the man obliged and walked out swiftly. Ben pulled up a chair for me and leant against the desk so that I was lower than him, I doubted that it was an accident.

He looked down at me and now that we were alone I started to feel nervous and to be honest a little weirded out about the fact that I had kissed another man earlier. I didn’t own Ben anything we weren’t together and I had no intention of dating a dead man but there was sense of betrayal being around him. “You seem nervous Liv, more so than usual” why could he read my emotions so well, I put my hand into my pocket and pulled out the note. I went to hand it to him but when my fingers touched his the coldness of them made me jump and I dropped the note. I bent to pick it up and whacked my head on his knee, he laughed above me, a low chuckle. I fixed him with a glare “Shut up” I mumbled this made him laugh more. I thrust the note at him and he took it still smiling and began to unfold it. I saw him read it and then read it again, his face had become serious and he placed the note gently beside him on the desk.”

NaNoWriMo Winner!!

This is just a small post to say that I just completed NaNoWriMo!!

Expect much more blogs and excerpts from the new book to follow soon!

NaNoWriMo and Talking with Kate

Firstly I want to apologise for my lack of blogs for the past few weeks! I have been spending all my spare time getting my wordcount for NaNoWriMo!

In have just hit 35k so I now feel far enough over the halfway mark to start blogging again! NaNo has been an amazing experience, I have learnt so many new skills! Firstly my typing has increased in speed I am finding that I can get at least 2000 words in two hours which is a big improvement. I am also discovering the joy of letting my characters do all the work!

I start with an idea or event that needs to happen and then I introduce it to Olivia to see how she deals with it. I have been overwhelmed with my imagination and I’m slightly worried that Olivia may actually be living in my head! 😉

Beside NaNo the last few weeks have also been very productive writingwise due in large part to an amazing friend. She pushed me to send my first three chapter to Kate a friend of hers who is published in three countries! I took the plunge and sent her the chapters. She took a while to respond which I thought meant she never would.

Last week I had accepted that she didn’t like the chapters and put it from my mind. Then I got an email back. I was shaking as opened it. I was convinced she was going to tell to give up. I couldn’t be more wrong. She really enjoyed my writing and wanted to talk to me in person.

After two hours of amazing conversation with Kate (in which I took five pages of notes) my head was spinning. She told me that she loved my writing style and I had a real chance of getting published. She said I need to finish my first draft. Get it as perfect as possible and when I’m ready she will help me get on the right track!

This has been an amazing month and once I finish my NaNo novel it will be my best ever writing month!

The Beginning of Book Two

a short excerpt from the beginning of book 2

 

“It had taken me three hours and five dresses to decide that I was gong to cancel my date with Ant. We had been out two times before so I wasn’t nervous about the first time but the last time we had gone to the cinema to watch some slasher flick he had held my hand. It made me realise I wasn’t ready to be seeing anyone else, the blood and guts on screen didn’t bother me, I saw enough to know the blood was too red, the bones to pale and the screams too forced”

Paul

“I approached Paul’s studio and knocked on the door with a sign that read replica weapons by appointment only. He opened it as if he he’d been waiting for me on the other side.

“Hi Paul” I greeted him walking inside

“Hello” he said immediately closing the door behind me. He never shook my hand or looked me in the eye.

His studio was more a workshop. It was a small room no wider that a train carriage but it must hve held thousands of projects.  At twenty two but he had been making replica weapons for ten years. I’d met him in an obscure forum for vampire conspiracy theorists  I rarely participated in blogs but I always kept my eyes open for anyone with genuine insight or skill. He had posted a thread about the similarities of London’s vampires to George Orwell’s 1984. Very intelligent boy but with the social skills of a pencil. His user name had a link to his website and two years on he was still my weapons man.

I handed Paul my broken bow and he took it tutting and focusing on the bow never on my face. Paul hadn’t filled out yet he still looked like a sixteen year old. He was taller than me but that wasn’t hard. His hair looked brushed and he wore Harry Potter style glasses. He always wore a logo t-shirt today it said Mass Effect what ever that was. He handed me a new bow which was an exact copy of my broken one. He never added new specs unless I asked for them and even then he had to copy a design. I think my bow was originally a replica of Paris’s bow fromTroy. He was brilliant at replicas but as far as I knew had never created anything original.

 

“You made this fast” I commented

“It was time” he said whilst examining the broken bow under a magnifying glass the size of diner plate.

“Time?”  I questioned

“Usually a bow only lasts four months with you, its been three months and twenty-five days” I laughed

“So you already had it made?”

“I know your patterns Liv” he flicked his eyes to me

“Thank you Paul” I genuinely meant that, I sat down on his sofa which seemed unused. My arm was beginning to throb and my neck ached.

“Your bleeding” he said and I looked at my hand where I’d touched my neck there was a dot of blood on it.

 

“Shit. Paul do you have a first aid kit?” he moved quickly under his desk and returned with a green box that was untouched, shop brought ready made. “Did your Mum make you buy this?”

“Yes” he smiled. I found a square of gauze with sticky on the sides and removed it from the box. I reached up and removed the bandage from my neck, the air hit the wound and I took a sharp intake of breath. Paul was suddenly sitting on the couch next to me. He was staring at the wound intently.

“You ok Paul?” I asked

“Yes” he responded eyes not leaving my neck.

“Why are you staring?” I asked being more direct with him

“Am I being rude?” he asked “I’ve never seen a real wound before, not in real life”

I understood, he played games of war for hours and watched filmic blood and guts everyday but he’d never come close to the reality of it. “How did it happen?” he asked.

“Animal bite” my automatic response, it was really starting to sting so I covered it with the gauze and stood up. Paul stood with me “Thanks for this” I motioned to the bow

“No problem” he went back to his desk as I let myself out there was something off about Paul and I hoped it wasn’t as malevolent as that last encounter had felt.”

 

NaNoWriMo plan?

It has been an incredibly hectic week, in my other life I am an actor and on Saturday night I performed a short sketch during a concert. Most of this week has been devoted to A, getting ready for that and B trying to recover from a horrible cold! However I can assure you that Olivia had never been far from my mind.
With NaNoWriMo looming just around the corner I am feeling a sense of excitement followed by OMG why am I doing this syndrome. At the moment I seem to have all the time in the world to write and now I have done the Olivia Everett book two outline I am gagging to start writing it. One of the main comments I have received from the small amount of readers I have is that they want to know more about Hugo. He is only mentioned in book one very minimally but 60% of readers have asked about him.
In my original outline he wasn’t mentioned at all but I feel that due to this feedback I need to at least keep him prominent. When I was writing my outline I couldn’t imagine how I am ever going to stop at the fifty thousand mark! There is so much to address and so much I want to explore with Olivia that I see this book being never-ending!

Watch this space for more NaNo related blogging once book two gets on the way!

Any other NaNoites out there feeling the same??

Book One First Draft

So I finished typing up my first draft of book 1, it feels amazing to have it finished. I have let my husband and family go through it with a red pen and I am gradually getting feedback. One of the main points is that there isn’t enough of it, I also seem to have been indecisive about some of Olivia’s emotion and written some sections twice from different emotions. It still amazes me that my writing brain works faster than my conscious one. I wrote a section previously where I had planned for a specific character to call Olivia. The phone rang and when she picked the phone up it was someone completely different. I am going to take a break from book 1whilst I complete book 2 for NaNoWriMo, I have a lot of ideas and a lot of plot points I am going to expand on.

 

 

Watch this space for some extracts from Olivia Everett book 2!!

 

As a first time NaNo I would love any advice and pep talks from any NaNo veterans, I would also like to go to as many write ins as possible can anyone recommend any near Richmond?

Three Characters, Lots of Questions

I got this great character exercise from

http://maasmith7.wordpress.com/2011/09/16/three-character-meme/

Pick 3 characters, and have them answer the following questions accordingly. (They may be original characters or not):
1. Olivia Everett
2.Benidict
3. Anthony Bray

1. Number one, what was your childhood like? My childhood felt like I was counting the minutes until I could move out. Nothing bad but nothing good

2. Character number three, if you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be? (It can be something regarding your personal history, or something that is in the history books.)
Nothing, I don’t live with regret

3. Number two, would you rather be immortal and eternally miserable, or live a mortal, blissfully peaceful life?
I am an immortal with a blissfully interesting life, an interesting question but rather irrelevant to me.

4. Say, character number three, how much do you weigh?

12st 3

5. Have you ever loved and lost, number one? I’ll bet it was your fault, wasn’t it? Tsk tsk…

How wonderfully astute you are, next question?

6. Oh, no character two! You’ve just strolled into a department store to admire the lovely washing machines when a guy with a nylon stocking over his head runs in and holds the whole store at gunpoint! How will you save the day? (If you are a coward and do not wish to save the day, what do you do upon Stocking Head’s arrival?)
I would watch the scene play out and only act if it became boring

7. Number Three, tell your best “Yo Momma” joke.
*chuckles* I’ve only ever heard one that made me laugh. Yo Momma is so dumb she got locked in a supermarket and starved to death

8. Who is the one person you cannot live without, character number one? Why? (Please don’t say Oprah, please don’t say Oprah…)
That’s a bit personal, I prefer to depend on myself, if I let myself down I have someone to punish. God that’s dire isn’t it. Can I ask the audience?

9. Hey, number two, tell me one of your deepest, darkest secrets. To make you feel better, I’ll tell one of mine: I don’t have any deep, dark secrets.

I have never killed anyone innocent

10. All characters: What kind of music do you listen to? Do you play any instruments? If so, which ones? (Yes…the kazoo counts. Your nose, however, does not.)

Olivia: anything I can dance too and no
Ben: I am a big fan of anything Heavy Metal, I particularly enjoy Iron Maiden. I sing and play the piano. I am fairly sure I could pick anything up quickly.
Anthony: I like disco

11. What is the most annoying thing in the world, character one?
Drunk people on public transport

12. Finish the statement, number three: Art is…subjective

13. Finish the statement, number two: People are…fascinating

14. Finish the statement, number one: Imagination…is a luxury

15. All characters: Out of the three of you, who is the most outgoing? Reserved? Humorous? Stinky?

Ant: Stinky
Benidict: Humourous
Olivia: I guess i’m stuck, what happened to ladies first?

16. Quick, Number three! Write a poem!
When magick comes you will stop, you will listen and you will be in awe of yourself.

17. What is your favorite word, number one? Fuck

18. Character number three, what is one weird thing that you can do? (i.e. wiggle your ears, fold your tongue, play ‘amazing grace’ with your armpit…)
I can always tell when someone is lying, I’m good at reading faces

19. Speak any other languages, Number Two? Many

20. What is your nationality, character number one? English

21. Pick, number two: asparagus or canned peas? Please elaborate.

Neither, I prefer my food more alive

22. What scares you the most, character three?
Dying alone

23. All characters: What is one thing you would like the world to know about you?

Olivia: absolutely nothing
Ben: my pub is always open, first drink on me
Anthony: I’m a closet Doctor Who fan! Wow that’s a weight off!