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.”

New Years Goals

So Christmas is upon us! This is the time of New Year’s resolutions and thinking back over the year. This year I have been very proud to have written two first drafts of the Olivia Everett series as well as much short and flash fiction. I also completed NaNoWriMo for the first time, and after having had a short comedy sketch commission by The Peryls I now consider myself a freelance writer. My new years resolution or new years goals (it seems the very phrase ‘new years resolution’ is code for ‘will not succeed’) for 2012 will mostly be related to writing.
1. To complete the redraft of the Olivia Everett books
2. To submit the finished novel to at least one agent
3. To have something published in any form i.e internet magazine, writing website, anthology, newspaper etc.
4. To have one of my plays put on (or at least rehearsed read)
5. To blog at least once a week
6. To complete Script Frezy in April
7. To complete NaNoWriMo in November
I plan to look back at this post once at least month to make sure I am keeping up with my goals and to keep up with my blogging in a much better way that I have the past few weeks. I would like to ask any people out there if they would like any short stories commissioned. I feel I work well with a brief for my fiction and welcome any suggestions.
Wishing all those reading a fantastic Chrsitmas and New Year and may Yuletide blessings shower on all of you.

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 Buzz

So Nano has begun! I started early yesterday morning, I actually started my day an hour early to get some writing done! I was rehearsing all day and the performing in the evening. I managed to reach 2k in all the breaks and pauses.

What struck me most about the process was the buzz I got! Every time I reached another 100 words I got a little tummy flip! I’m loving getting back with Olivia, it’s like a big cuddle everytime I sit at my lap top.

I don’t want to ruin anything for the few who have read book 1 but there are some twists coming tour way! I am now on my way to my first organised write in !

It’s official my name is Karla and I am a NaNo addict!

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?

A Writer’s Plea

So, this year I have decided to do National Novel
Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) for those who don’t know it is a writing festival in which lots of writers from all over the world attempt to complete a fifty thousand word novel in 30 days.

I would really like to use this time to write Olivia Everett book two. I will only be able to do this when I have completed the first draft of book one. Although the book is completed in handwritten format I am still struggling to get it typed up in quickly. I find the whole process incredibly tedious.

I sit down to start typing it up and become bored easily, I have too many ideas that I want to explore but I have promised myself I would get it done by November.

I am writing this as a plea to any writers. How do I get through the handwritten stuff quickly? Any advice about self motivation? Anything?

My Dear Friend

I often have to correct myself when talking about my protagonist. I find myself referring to her as if she were a real person or friend. I say things like “I’m too busy with Olivia to focus on that” or “Olivia does that”. When talking about this with my non-writer friends I find that they often ask me to seek medical help. When discussing this with my writer friends they say its very normal and (although possibly unhealthy when your character is tormented vampire hunter) a good thing that I relate to my characters.

I find that when I write it is like I am an invader in Liv’s head, taking notes on what she feels and thinks. When she is having a really interesting an engaging conversation I find myself getting excited and involved with her. When she is seeing a rather harrowing scene I feel her pain and I have physical symptoms with her like sweaty palms.

Having said all this I also find it very easy to put her in a box, when I am finished writing or my tired eyes make me go to bed I put her away like my favourite toy. She lives at my desk or in my notepad, I find it impossible to access her if I am writing on a scrap piece of paper.

I think of her with a fondness that I associate with an old friend and I hope everyone else will love her with me.