Tuesday, November 29, 2011

In the words of Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.
Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.

--I had one of those "down and out" days yesterday, and it wasn't because the fog has decided to blanket northern California all week. There were a few reasons why, none of which I'm going to go into right now. I'm not really sure why this particular poem came to mind (I've only read it once and it was years back), but certain lines kept popping into my head. I didn't exactly know the name of the poem, or where it came from. It simply cycled over and over in my head--even drowned out the radio--while I was driving home from my in-laws last night.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.
Give your best anyway.


Yup. I've mulled over the internet, whined to a select few, confided fears in others, and now I'm over it. I'm embracing Mother Teresa's words of wisdom and writing my heart out until...well, until tomorrow comes and I'll do it again.

And maybe within the next few days, weeks, months, I won't be so cryptic.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. On towards Christmas!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

I'm not one of those

On the eve of Twilight's Breaking Dawn release, I must say...I have absolutely NO desire to stand in line for 2 hours in the godforsaken cold just so I can see a movie with a theater full of screaming girls. I don't want to sit for two hours getting kicked in the back. I don't want to huff and puff when the pre-adolescent girls pull out their cells to update their Facebook statuses mid-movie. I mean, it's SO IMPORTANT for your "friends" to know you're "watching" the movie, right? Then watch the darn movie and put your phones away.

:deep breath:

Don't get me wrong. I want to watch Breaking Dawn. I do. (I would've rather watched the whole shebang in one film instead of two, but whatever, Hollywood.) I just want to watch it when I won't have to share an armrest with a stranger or stand in long ass lines for a $4.00 box of Goobers.

I'm just sayin'...

Friday, November 11, 2011

Vamped Up goes into the world--NetGalley Review Time!

I'm a little nervous...

VAMPED UP goes out to reviewers on NetGalley today.

I absolutely love this book. It's my baby. I fell in love with Eve and Ruan right away. From the moment they popped on the radar in INTERVAMPTION, I couldn't wait to tell their story. It's the first book I've written that elicited serious emotional reactions from me as I wrote it. (I teared up during one scene and released butterflies in my stomach for a few others.) My writing got stronger through the pages and I went deeper into these characters than I've done with any others.

But I still worry. There are bound to be imperfections and people who don't relate to the work. I'm sure there'll be bad reviews. There'll be expectations that aren't met. (Especially after the great reviews of InterVamption.)

Nothing can be done about that.

(I would like to think ALL writers, regardless what stage of their craft and career they're in, go through this kind of panic mode when reviewers get their hands on our work. You pray there are good reviews with the bad. No wait, you pray that the bad reviews are swamped by good ones. That would make the bad reviews more tolerable, wouldn't it? I know I'm rambling--told you I was nervous.)

Anyhow, I suppose I have to suck it up. Allow myself to sweat and worry. Then let the story go. It's like dropping off my youngest at school for the first day. As I left the parking lot, I couldn't help but wonder how his first day was going to go. Were the other kids going to be kind to him? Would he make friends? Would he sing and play and be happy or would he sulk by himself? Is Vamped Up going to live up to the expectation I've placed upon it? Will Ruan and Eve reach through the pages and grab readers' hearts? I sure hope so.

I'm just so damn jittery this morning and it has to be because my latest work is finally going out into the world.

Good luck, VAMPED UP. Fly, baby, fly.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Happy Three Year Writing Anniversary to me!

I started on this crazy writing journey three years ago today...or this week, or next, or whatever. Anyhow, the day is close. I remember that by Thanksgiving in 2008, I'd already had a few chapters down the chute and my fingers were buzzing.

With each anniversary comes reflection and hopefully a little appreciation of how far you've come as a couple.

Me and my writing journey...we've come a long way.

I started writing with an idea: A girl who has visions of death before they happen. I thought I'd like to read a book like that. That's it. Nothing earth-shattering. I tossed around the idea for a couple weeks, but not once did I sit down at the keyboard to spit out a novel. The reason is simple: I wasn't spectacular at creative writing in college. I found myself so bogged down by the "rules" of the writing project (whatever it may have been at the time), that I never allowed myself the freedom I needed. (This is the reflection, part.) Write a poem using the five senses? Great. I'll do it. Write a short story using these very specific, and very random, fifty words. No problem. The writing was grammatically correct, structurally sound, and the stories flowed...but there was no meat to them, and the teachers could tell. (It wasn't until I tossed the rules that I *got* it.)

One day, Husband said, "Why don't you try writing a book?"

My response was something like, "I don't know if I can." (I was thinking something like holy hell, 400 pages would take FOREVER to write!)

"Well, why don't you sit down at the computer, no pressure, and see how far you get?" he said, like it was nothin'.

And it was nothing. I mean, writing a novel is SOMETHING. It's hard and tedious and strapping. But I had absolutely nothing to lose.

That story, set in Joliet, Illinois, about a marine who goes to war and a girl who finds herself through life (and death), was written in three months. I wrote late at night when the Husband and munchkins were sleeping. I wrote furiously. No holds barred.

It wasn't great. But it was a start. The writing bug got under my skin. I took the next step. How do I learn to write great books? Learn from the best! That's when I found RWA National and went to my first RWA conference (2009 Washington D.C), where I soaked up what the best of the best had to offer an enthusiastic newbie like me. I traveled by myself. I didn't know a single person there. I was focused on, not a writing career, but writing a single book that people loved to read.

That's where the journey really began...

Because I like lists, I'm gonna break down the timeline from there on out.

2008

-First story written

2009

-first story rejected by 100 agents
-Dark Tide Rising written
-half of Intervamption written
-Dark Tide Rising rejected by same 100 agents

2010

-Dark Tide Rising given two offers of publication from e-publishers
-Intervamption finished
-Dark Tide rising sold to The Wild Rose Press
-Offer of representation from agent for Intervamption query
-lost representation (agency closure)
-New offer of representation from agent (Hellooo Nalini!)
-half of Vamped Up written


2011

-Intervamption and Vamped Up sold to Avon Impulse
-Dark Tide Rising published in February
-Vamped Up finished
-Intervamption published in July
-Claimed by Desire written
-Claimed by Desire and 2nd novella sold to Harlequin
*Vamped Up published in December
*Feralon novella 2 written

2012

*Book 3 in Vampires of Crimson Bay series written
*Claimed by Desire published in Summer
*2nd novella published in Fall or Winter

(*'s are things to come, pending the stars aligning "just so" and the current path continuing as is.)

Quite a relationship we've had the past three years, isn't it? What that list doesn't include are the amount of wonderful writers I've become friends with. The critique partners who've helped shape my work. And how my becoming President of SFARWA this year has impacted my career. Since my first conference in D.C., I haven't missed a one. I still hope that people (or even one person) loves my work, but now I've got the bigger picture--this is my career.

And I can do this. (At least that's what I tell myself when I sit at the computer, staring at the blank screen!)

I only hope the next three years are as eventful as the last!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

VAMPED UP's got a COVER!

Wanna see something cool?



Awwwwww, yeah!! That's the grand reveal I've been waiting for--the cover of VAMPED UP, Book 2 in the Vampires of Crimson Bay Series. And (holycrapIcan'tbelieveit) do you see that unbelievable quote in the corner?!? Yup, that's from #1 New York Times Bestselling author Christine Feehan. Yup, that's what she had to say about my book. Yup, I'm passing out from lack of oxygen. I'm walking on air. Drowning. Spinning. Elated. Somebody pinch me.

VAMPED UP releases December 6th from Avon Impulse. It'll be available at all local e-retailers (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders.com, Books-a-Million, etc, etc) for e-books and print on demand.

If you haven't read the first book in the series, INTERVAMPTION, it's still .99 cents at your local e-retailer, too!

In other good news...I've revamped my website: www.kristinmiller.net It should be easier to navigate now. I've also added updated snippets of the books I've written and am writing, including Claimed by Desire.

And did you know I blog at Darker Temptations now too? I post there every other Thursday. (Not this one, but the next one.) We'll be giving away some pretty cool things next month (LIKE A FREAKING KINDLE!!), so check back.

I'm gonna leave you a song that's got me rocking this week. I'm trying to work (and focus all my creative energy) on the second novella in the Feralon series, but once this song got under my skin, all I can think about is a character you'll meet in VAMPED UP. This is HIS song. Angry. Bitter. Redeeming.

So here you go--the song that's in my head every day. The song I sing picking up my kids from school. The song blaring from my radio as I'm driving.



So if you happen to be local, and see me flipping out in my car, I'm not crazy, I promise. I'm rocking out. Got any songs stuck in your head lately?