I know the new year is starting out a bit rough for a lot of folks, so if you are one of the ones for whom things are going well (and especially if you’ve been having an awesome year so far), maybe look for ways to help those who don’t have it so great right now.
In the meantime, don’t forget that you have until January 31st, 2019 (11:59pm PST) to submit your guess via the Contact page for which character from In Plain Sight you think will be the focus of the planned sequel (and why). The first 5 people to correctly guess will win a free audio version of In Plain Sight. Winners will be notified and receive their Audible promo code by February 4th, 2019. If no one gets the right answer (and honestly, the right answer isn’t as easy to guess as one might think), I will randomly draw 5 names from everyone who submits. You can find the original contest post here.
Happy guessing!! 🙂
PS… on the subject of reminders – if you’ve read IPS and absolutely loved it please consider taking a couple minutes to review it on Amazon or Goodreads (or both). I would really appreciate it!
Unfortunately I’m not going to hit my NaNo goal this year, and even though that’s kind of a bummer, I’m still not overly upset about it. Not only did manage to more than double what I started with on my DarkHarte first draft, but I was also able to connect most of the dots, in terms of getting from the beginning to the end. There’s still a lot more to do, but I have a much better idea of what that entails, so overall I’m pretty pleased even if I’m not quite where I wanted to be.
Though I had to go out of town last minute (hence not hitting my writing goals), I did manage to make a cool writing related stop along the way. I realized, as I was driving that I’d be going through Richmond, VA and that it wouldn’t be out of my way to stop at the site of the Chimborazo Hospital. Though none of the original buildings exist, the site does have a museum with info about the original hospital, as well as some of the other Civil War hospitals in the area.
By this point, you may be asking yourself what this has to do with anything. Fair enough question, to be sure. XD But the truth is that I’m considering a sequel to In Plain Sight. It’s only in the very early planning stages – as in I have a couple thoughts swimming around in my brain and that’s about it – but whenever I do get around to putting some words on paper, Chimborazo will feature prominently in at least part of it.
What was cool about stopping and, really, I’m so glad I did, is that I not only got to see the site, but I also got to talk to the gentleman on staff there and was able to run some of my thoughts by him. It’s one thing to think, well… I’m going to do this in my book and since it’s far enough removed from the actual time period, no one will ever know if it could really have happened that way or not. But in talking it out with him today, he confirmed that what I was thinking about was totally a possible scenario. YAY!!
He also pointed me to A Southern Woman’s Story by Phoebe Yates Pember, who was one of the chief matrons at the hospital. I’m looking forward to reading it, as it will also provide additional context for some of the things I have planned.
If by now you are also wondering exactly which character from IPS is sequel worthy… I’m not telling. At least not yet!! But you are welcome to guess.
Anyway… here’s some other pictures from my research trip. It was informative and a lot of fun.
PS… I’m still waiting word for when the audio version of In Plain Sight will be released. I’ll let you know as soon as I get the details, but it should be out just in time for last minute gift giving!!
It’s official – both the Kindle version (currently $3.99) and the physical copies (currently $9.98) of In Plain Sight have been released!!! I’ll be hanging out tonight on Facebook if anyone wants to drop by and celebrate with me. Currently, it’s only available on Amazon, however, in the coming weeks it will likely be available in other places, though at a slightly higher price (due to things that are completely out of my control).
Once you read Ry and Eli’s story, please let me know what you think, not only Amazon reviews (which are always welcome), but feel free to message me here or on FB. I am already aware of some minor formatting issues with the Kindle version, and though I’ve pushed a quick fix for some of them, I am working on a full re-formatting. So hopefully that will be up soon, once I’m done fiddling with it.
As much as I love Les Mis, I really needed a little Eliot and Margo singing today!
This is it!! In Plain Sight will be officially released tomorrow!! Have I mentioned how excited I am? Well… I’M EXCITED!!!!!
But also nervous, of course. So once you read it, please leave a review and let me know what you think of it. I hope you love Ry and Eli’s story as much as I do.
The Kindle version will definitely be available tomorrow (not sure if it will automatically poof from pre-order to available right at midnight or if there is some sort of lag involved), and physical copies should follow soon after (well… as soon as my lazy butt gets out of bed and pushes the publish button). Whether they will be available the same day or not, I don’t know, but generally within a day or so at the most, I would think.
(the part where I share my epic fails so hopefully you won’t make the same mistakes)
I got a wild hair up my butt the other night (after watching a trailer for particularly interesting looking book) and thought that it would an absolutely FABULOUS idea for me to make a book trailer for In Plain Sight. I mean, how freaking cool would that be?!!!
I will fully admit that I was overly excited and totally didn’t think any of this through before I sent off the request to the random guy on FIVRR (who had the highest number of positive reviews). The first mistake, besides my failure to employ any sort of critical thinking skills, was choosing “expedited delivery” – meaning I wanted this bad boy in my hands within 24 hours. I mean, really this is what this person does, how hard could it be? (I know, I know… I’m an ass. It’s super freaking hard to do it right. But… EXCITEMENT!!!)
Bless his heart, he tried. And though I really wanted to be mad, as I watched the first video he sent me in a kind of horrified silence (the burning roses were particularly delightful… NOT), I realized almost instantly that it was entirely my fault. I mean, yeah, it was a total travesty, but at the same time, given the difficulty of what I was actually asking for, it was probably about the best he could do in less than a day. So being pissed wasn’t an option and I briefly considered just accepting the video as it was and writing the whole thing off as “lesson learned.” Because one of the things I finally realized – harsh light of day and all that – is that trying to come up with a video to accurately represent the Civil War era (in particular), along with the other elements of my story, on a minuscule budget (I’m cheap so sue me), all in less than 24 hours, is nearly impossible. So I’d totally set him up for failure. Oops, my bad.
However, I did have some revisions built into my “contact” (such that it was) so as a last-ditch, I contacted him and was like, ok, I’m so sorry but… ummm… that’s not really what I was looking for. I followed that with a laundry list of more specific feedback, and a few things that I probably should have included the first time I messaged him. What?! Pretty sure we’ve already established that it was late and I wasn’t thinking! XD Thankfully, he agreed to do some editing without adding any additional charges. Whew!
The finished product still isn’t necessarily near to an idealized version of what I might have wanted, though honestly, I think that would have been difficult to pull off even with a decent budget – short of actually making my own mini-movie, which obviously isn’t something I’m able to do at this time – but at least it does get the point across.
Anyway, let me know what you think of it.
The moral of the story though, is it’s definitely worth it to take the extra time to fully think through your projects before rushing to get them completed. No matter how excited you are, if you fail to cover all your bases in the beginning, odds are you will be disappointed in the end. 😉
It’s hard to believe it, but In Plain Sight will released into the wild this time next week. From concept to completion, the telling Ry’s story has been a long time coming – over 10 years. For those of you who have stuck with me along the way, there aren’t words enough to express how thankful I am for your support and feedback. I couldn’t have done it without you.
Anyway, to celebrate, I’m having a little release party over on Facebook on August 7th from 7p to 11p EST. Drop on by anytime during that time to hang out and party! Lots of fun and maybe even a few giveaways!! Can’t wait!!!
PS… Don’t forget that I’m donating 50% of all presale royalties to help a friend in need (you can read all about it here). So it’s a good time to get a great book to read and help someone out of a rough situation. ❤
My debut novel, In Plain Sight, will be released on August 7, 2018!! The Kindle version is currently available for pre-order on Amazon. Print copies will also be available by that date (not sure about pre-order yet).
For those of you who have been working with me on this project over the years, you may recall that particular day is a significant one in the book. Once I realized how close I was to getting everything together and ready for publishing , it quickly became clear that was the perfect day to launch Ry and Eli’s story into the universe.
I’m still working on pricing for the print copies – that’s my main hold up at the moment, now that I’ve finished all the last minute editing. My original set up is pricing a lot higher than I want it to (due to some of the distribution options I’ve picked), so I’m going to fiddle around with it some more to see if I can’t get the price down some. Either way, the Kindle version will be $3.99 when it’s released, and for those that don’t have a Kindle, there is a free Kindle reader app that is available for almost any device. But if you are like me, having a physical book in-hand is a lovely thing, so I will definitely continue to look for a solution that allow that happen in the best possible way.
I’m so happy the way this all worked out and I really can’t wait to share my book with you all.
Despite earlier predictions, I’ve been a busy little bee these last couple months. Not only was I able to complete the editing of In Plain Sight, but after considering all my various options, I have decided to go ahead and publish it myself, rather than continue to attempt a more traditional route. While there are benefits to traditional publishing, as an author, you still end up doing a lot of the same things (in terms of marketing) and so, if I have to do most of the work anyways, I’d rather not share the rewards with anyone else. While I’m getting everything ready to go – and I will announce the release date very soon – I thought I’d give you a little teaser and reveal the awesome new cover art for the book.
I am so thrilled with this. I don’t even have the words to express myself properly. I was so worried, because I knew what I wanted (in my head), but had no idea how it would translate to the finished look and the artist – it’s like they could read my mind. It’s perfect, and I hope you all love it as much as I do.
Sephira Allen 