WIP Joy Challenge - Day Four: Share A Line About Your Premise

For the month of January, I'll be taking part in the WIP Joy Challenge, created by Bethany A. Jennings (found via a share from Adam.C.Macdonald).

I think this snippet from my WIP age-gap romance pretty accurately sums up the premise: 

“There’s a few more things I need to know, first,” he said, his gaze never leaving mine. “When people find out were together, there’s going to be a lot of talk. The media are going to want to know who you are, and every man, woman and their dog will be offering their opinions on our private lives. I’ll speak to my manager, and make sure we get as much privacy as possible, but your family and friends are going to have opinions, and some of them might not be good ones. Are you sure you want that?”

“Honestly, that sounds like it will suck, but I was never under any disillusions that us being together would be a walk in the park. If I wanted a quiet life, I wouldn’t be here. I want you, Seth. I want that chance to see what develops between us, and if that means putting up with the media nosing in my life, or someone I’m close to telling me I’m making a mistake, so be it. It’s a small price to pay. I’m not walking away from this just because it will be difficult. Nothing worth a damn in life is ever easy.”

All It Takes Update

Happy Thursday, Folks!

No new chapter of All It Takes this week (next one coming February 18th, 2015), but I do have some All It Takes related announcements.

First of all, the winner of my Blogiversary / promo giveaway ... drum-roll please ...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations, Angel! Thank you for the support. And thanks to everyone else who has been sharing the details for All It Takes, reading or commenting on the chapters! <3

And now, the part I'm really excited about ... All It Takes has a permanent home! While I'll still be updating on Wattpad, Fiction Press etc. Every chapter of All It Takes will now be available on my new website!

claredugmore.com

For those of you who just can't wait for chapter three, here's a little teaser of what's to come, and a graphic for anyone who feels like sharing!

I stood awkwardly for a moment, unsure what I should do next. Simply saying ‘bye’ and getting in my car didn’t seem right, somehow.

“Thanks for coming today,” I said eventually, stepping into Kian’s personal space, and opening my arms to him. 

He wrapped his arms around me, and pulled me to him, our chests pressed together and his chin resting on top of my head. 

“I know neither of us planned this, but now that it’s happening, I’m going to do everything in my power to be a good dad.”

His hand snaked around from where it was resting on my back, to gently caress my stomach.“You take care, okay, Meg?”

“You too, Kian.” I held onto him for a moment longer, absorbing the smell of his aftershave, then stepped away. 

Without another word, I walked to my car, climbed in and started the ignition. With a little beep of my horn, I was on my way. 

I'll be back next week, on February 16th, with my stop on Christine Rains' Dice & Debauchery Tour, and then again on February 18th, with a new chapter of All It Takes.

Until then, have a great week! 

All It Takes Update

Work on All It Takes is going well. Chapter one is complete, and just need one final proof. I have drafts of chapters 2 and 3, though I have a new scene to add in three. I also have plans/ rough drafts of chapters 4-8.

I'm enjoying writing a serial so much. The pressure is reduce when I know I only have to work on a few chapters at a time, but I'll still have something to show for it soon. And I'm having fun doing little bits of promotion here and there, like the All It Takes trailer I made!

I've always felt my writing was good, but it was completing novels that worried me. This method is giving me a renewed feeling of confidence.

Plus, writing All It Takes is giving me a great excuse to watch some UFC ... for research purposes you understand! ;)

Hope you're all having a happy productive week!

Working Wednesday Update

Happy Wednesday, everyone! 

Thanks to those who've dropped by for my recent posts - Memorable Mondays: INDIESTRUCTIBLE by Jessica Bell and Curiosity Quills Press Borderlands Anthology Competition, More Than Just A Kiss blogfest and Cover Reveal: Sacrifice HER. I really appreciate the support you're showing not only to me and my WiP, but also to other awesome writers in the blogosphere who've got exciting news to share!

I hope everyone is having a happy and productive week, whatever you're up to!

Quick shout out to Kyra Lennon for completing the edits on her novel, Nobody Knows! 'Grats, girl!

Work at CQP is still going well. Very much enjoying the organizing of blog tours for authors, and getting to know them better. It's so great seeing them getting their books out there, receiving positive reviews or climbing Amazon charts.

Also excited about what we've got coming up in the next few weeks. This week, to promote new-adult, paranormal-romance, urban-fantasy Sweet Dreams are Made of Teeth by Richard Roberts, we're running the Catching Coy campaign. Coy is the female character from Sweet Dreams are Made of Teeth, and often appear as a goldfish, who friend and lover Fang has to find. Some of the CQP team have hidden little papercraft versions of the elusive Coy around their hometowns, including; Louisville KY, DC, NYC, Houston TX, New Zealand,  Seattle WA, Ohio, Birmingham UK, London UK and Sheffield UK. If you find Coy, there's a code on the bottom and entering it could snag you a prize, including a $25 Amazon gift card. So, if you find one of these little fishies hidden in one of the for-mentioned locations, snap a picture and share it on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #CatchingCoy. 

October 1st sees the launch of the first, annual, Curiosity Quills anthologies; Prime Time and After Dark. Bringing some of their bestselling authors together in a quirky or paranormal way. Authors included feature names like: JR Rain, Aiden James, Nina Post, Eliza Tiliton, James Wymore, Sharon Bayliss and Jade Hart. And, as an additional incentive, 10% of every purchase will go straight to animals in need, with CQP donating to humane societies. 

To tie-in with the release on the anthology, we'll also be holding a Pet Halloween Costume Contest, where you get to dress up in cute outfits with your little furry (or scaled) friends, and pose for pictures, all in the name of charity and trying to win Amazon gift vouchers!

More details on the anthologies will follow soon, with a cover reveal coming shortly.

Editing my new-adult, paranormal-romance is ticking along nicely, albeit a little more slowly this week due to work and personal commitments. On my own read-through, I'm about 70% done, and on my read-through with Hubby, we're about 40% through. I hope to have it finished fairly soon, so that I can send it on to some others for critiques, and then get started with act two. I think writing in acts like this is still working well. It breaks it down into smaller, more manageable portions, at least.

Monday's More Than Just A Kiss blogfest snippet gave me some idea how much readers like my main character Roxie, and her love interest Sol. I had a couple of people swooning over him! YAY! So, in that spirit, this week's except is another Sol-centric one. For Alex Tanner and Cecilia Robert, who like drooling over my fictional boyfriend almost as much as I do!

Enjoy ... 

I was just checking my emails on my phone when Sol stepped out of the shower cubicle wrapped only in a towel. His long black hair was untied and still wet, leaving trails of water down his chest, which glistened off the array of tattoos he had. The ones on his arms actually extended all the way up, and then across his collar bone and front of his chest, meeting in the middle with a wild boar just over where his heart would be. There was script under the boar, though I couldn’t make it out from this distance. 

Realising I was gawking at him, I returned my gaze to my phone, and then heard a low chuckle. With my cheeks burning I looked up to see Sol smirking at me. 

“I wasn’t checking you out … well not much. I was looking at your tattoos,” I said, standing and taking a step towards him. Up close I could read the inscription, it said: ‘Conquer or Perish.’  

“That’s cool. Has it got a specific significance behind it?” 

“Yeah, it’s in memory of my parents. It’s from our family coat of arms.” 

“Oh,” is all I managed to say. Well, that answered the question I’d been wondering about – who he’d lost. Realising I was still staring, I added. “I’m sorry.” 

“It’s okay, it was a long time ago now.” His eyes didn’t match his words. 

“I’ll … erm … take my shower now and leave you to it.” 

Trying to hide my awkward embarrassment, I ran for the cubicle, threw my clothes off and dived under the stream of hot water.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the snippet, and please check out The Life and Loves of Clare Dugmore later this week, for Favourites Friday!  

Turning 30, Overcoming Adversity and Blogaversary Giveaway Winner

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

I'd like to start off this post by sharing Nick Wilford's news that his "Overcoming Adversity - An Anthology for Andrew" - all proceeds from which will go towards to college fund of his step-son who has cerebral palsy- now has a release date of March 4th 2013. For those of you not aware, Nick held a bloghop where entrance had to write a piece of flash fiction about Overcoming Adversity, and he's compile all entries into an Anthology. Myself and many others took part, and some great stories were created. If you want to know more about Nick's anthology, you can find details here.

In the second piece of news for today, I'm pleased to announce the winner of my Blogaversary Giveaway.

Congratulations, Kyra! I can think of no one more deserving to win my Blogaversary giveaway. You've been with me since back when my stories were just fanfic. Your constant support and encouragement means the world to me, and your own success is a real inspiration. Love you. <3

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you to everyone who took part in the giveaway, and promoted it. I wish I could give you all something more thank words, because I do truly appreciate the constant support and encouragement of everyone who visits my blog and leaves comments. You guys are awesome! <3 

In personal news, I turn thirty today. I'm not doing anything special - though we did have takeout and cake last night - and it'll mostly be another normal day. I'm trying to be reflective, without regretting anything. There's a lot I wishy I'd accomplished before turning thirty, most prominently getting something published, but I'm focusing on the things I have achieved, like getting married and having two beautiful sons, starting this blog and making a place for myself in the writing section of the blogosphere, and working towards my dream of being published by writing a lot of first drafts and learning important writing lessons. hopefully this year, I can take the next step and move close towards completion.

In writing related news, I've begun proper work on my new project. I spent most of January plotting and planning, and now I'm writing in a slightly different way. Instead of rushing ahead NaNoWriMo style and knocking out a first draft in a matter of weeks, I'm taking things more slowly. I'm writing chapter one, which contains roughly three scenes, and I won't move forwards until I've gotten it as perfect as I can by revising, editing and seeking second opinions. Hopefully this new approach will make the over-all editing process go more smoothly, and create a stronger first draft.

To whet your appetites a little, here is the (current) first line(s) of chapter one:

It’s been twelve weeks since I saw my first dead body. That’s when everything I knew changed and I learnt the world of prenatural entities was real.

Finally, before I head over to my personal blog for a more in-depth personal life update, some more news from the world of my fellow writers. Tomorrow is the release of Christine Rains' third book in her Thirteenth Floor Series: 1303 - The Dragonslayer.  Christine was once again kind enough to allow me to beta for you, and let me tell you, this is one terrific book with a very sexy (shirtless) male lead. You can join Christine and I here on Friday 15th, as part of her Dragonslayer Blog tour, where were discuss fictional dragons and what it takes to be a dragonslayer. Check out Christine's blog for the full schedule of tour dates, and links to where you can buy the Dragonslayer from.

Lucky 7 Meme - Again!

Yesterday, I saw that Kyra Lennon had done the Lucky 7 Meme again, and posted a scandalizing snippet from her soon-to-be released Game On sequel, Blindsided. Check out her snippet if you haven't already, it's excellent. 

It made me realise I haven't shared anything from Cupid recently, so I thought I'd take part. But first, a quick Cupid update. 

I'm currently doing a read through/ edit where I'm fixing any problems I find, and also changing from past tense to present tense. It's going really well, I've done 32,067 out of 67,760 words this week. It's also helped pull me back into the story, and I feel confident once my revisions are done, I'll be able to finish it off.

The Rules:  

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS/WIP. 
2. Go to line 7. 
3. Copy down the next 7 lines – sentences or paragraphs – and post them as they’re written. 4. No cheating. 
5. Tag 7 authors. 
6. Let them know.

Anyway, here are my seven lines, from page seventy-seven.

“How are you? Have you been keeping well?” Delphia asks.
“Yeah … erm, not too bad thanks,” I reply, trying to keep my eyes on her face, and not my surroundings. While visiting Phoebus' home is like stepping into the future, visiting my Cupid parents is like taking a trip into the past. I've fallen into Ancient Greece, and I half expect Dionysus, with his chaplet of vine leaves on his head, to come rushing past with his harem of maenads.
“And your Cupid duties are going well?” 

“Yeah, I'm getting there slowly, I brought another couple together this week. How about you, is everything here all right?”

“Yes, we're fine. We want to know if you're okay,”  Stephanos says. “Because I was at Celestea's palazzo recently, and I heard some things …”

Ah … so Stephanos and Delphia already know about the Abraxas situation. 
      “Yeah … I … erm, was going to tell you.”

“Has Abraxas been visiting you a lot?”

 

Six Sentence Sunday: 02.09.2012

 

I'm here today with the 6 Sentence Sunday (weekly) bloghop hosted by Sara Brookes.

But first, I'd like to thank not only everyone who commented on my six sentences last week, the feedback was really encouraging, but also those who congratulated me on hitting 65k on Cupid; the support is always appreciated. Thank you.

The idea of 6 Sentence Sunday is pretty simple really: Pick six (6) sentences from anything you like (it can be from a Work in Progress (WiP), something you recently sold, something you hope to sell or even something already under contract and available for purchase – and don’t worry, Six Sentence Sunday is for published AND unpublished writers). Then post them on your blog on Sunday. That’s all there is to it! (for the full rules/ FAQ see here.)

For today's 6 Sentence Sunday, I'm once again sharing lines from my current WiP, NA paranormal romance, Cupid.

The normally bright blue sky was inky, with grey clouds gathering to block out a weak, pale red sun.

The buildings had all transformed.

Instead of the brightly coloured, jewel encrusted Cupid homes I was used to; pointed and spired obsidian obelisks rose from the ground.

The lush vegetation and flora had been replaced with twisting, gnarled and blackened leafless trees, and the flowers looked sinister in unusual colours - acid green, fierce orange, blood red and deep purple.

In the distance I saw a large palace, made up of many twisting spires, one jutting from the next, illuminated from behind by the dying sun.

I knew that castle, and at that moment I wanted nothing more than to run to it, because I knew all I'd ever need was there.

I hope you enjoyed my six sentences, and please check out the other participants here.

I'll likely be back next Sunday with another six sentences, and don't forget tomorrow kicks of GUTGAA.