The Rough Draft For THE VENGEANCE OF THE VAMPIRE BRIDE is Complete!!

Forgive any typos in this post, but I've been basically writing for over thirteen hours.  I probably wrote over fifty plus pages just now. I'm physically and mentally exhausted, but emotionally bouncing off the walls with joy.

The completed novel in yWriter

The rough draft of the sequel to THE TALE OF THE VAMPIRE BRIDE stands at thirty-five chapters plus an epilogue just like the original. I really love how this novel brought the story of Glynis full circle.  Seriously, how it ended was perfection.

Of course, I'm not done with the manuscript.  I still need to revise it and tidy it up a bit before sending it off to be edited by a friend who happens to also be an editor for Permuted Press.  She's a huge supporter of my work.  Though she is a zombie fiend, she loved the first book in the VAMPIRE BRIDE SAGA.  It was an enormous compliment when she actually enjoyed a book about vampires.

Anyway, I'm about to drag myself off to bed, but I wanted to quickly update the fans of the first book.  Keep your fingers crossed.  Hopefully you will be reading the sequel in the near future.

The Death Toll Climbs

I have been ignoring my blog due to writing, which I suppose is a good thing. The days are blurring together as I make progress on ATWD: Siege and ready some short stories for some new anthologies. I received some awesome news yesterday that one of my short stories will be in a new werewolf anthology edited by the amazing and prolific Eric S. Brown.

In other news, I am editing a new witches anthology for the Library of Horror Press. I'm very excited and so far the submissions have been pretty darn good.

There is more news brewing, but I can't share everything quite yet.

Things are going well with the option negotiation for the As The World Dies trilogy. Hopefully, once everything is signed and dotted, we'll be on the road to a freaking awesome zombie TV show or movie. Keep your fingers and toes crossed!!

Anyway, back to the grind. I'm determined to get ATWD:Siege out by early August. I'm getting your emails on a daily basis asking for it. Trust me, those emails keep the fire lit under my rear.

Update On As The World Dies: Fighting to Survive

The final requested edits to the cover artwork has been sent to Detra. I'm just waiting for the final version now.

Last night I finished the edits from the first editor and will start on the edits from the second editor tonight. I plan to finish those up this weekend if at all possible. After that, I will do the final formatting on the book and submit it to Createspace.

Once we get the artwork from Detra, we need to lay out the cover and submit it to Createspace for review. If they say both the interior and exterior files are good, we'll order the proof copy of the novel.

What follows after the proof comes in?

The two proof copy editors comb through the book for any last revisions.

What does this all mean?

We're probably on track for an early March publication date.

Can I get an amen?

A Quickie Update

This weekend was an epic fail on all counts. *sigh*

Basically, I was sick all weekend, miserable, cranky, weepy, and heavily medicated. I laid on the sofa and stared at the TV most of it. The upside to being taken down and out by the common cold was that I actually relaxed and watched some movies I had been meaning to see. The hubby and I saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Doom Generation, The Orphanage, and 2001 Space Odyssey. Yep, that's a pretty diverse set of movies, but they were all very good in their own way.

Because of my illness, I didn't get any writing down that I can boast about. I did get a little bit written on my newest short story on Friday night, but Saturday morning I woke up feeling like a zombie and that was that. I hope to jump back in really soon and finish that story up. I really like it a lot.

As The World Dies: The First Days continues to sell really well. I want to thank everyone who has recommended it to friends, forums, family members, and zombie fanatics. I sincerely believe that the fans are the ones fueling the sales. Just on Amazon.com alone, the book has sold over 400 copies since it was published on August 15, 2008. The sales from Kindle and other sources have pushed the total number ever closer to 500. It's very exciting as an Indie Author to see this number increasing. In all honesty, I did not know how well the book would do when I decided to go on this path. I had read where some Indie Authors only sold 50 books in the first 6 months after publication. To have the book doing so well is a confirmation that zombie fans are embracing the story with two female leads and enjoying it.

As The World Dies: Fighting To Survive continues to be on track for publication. I received the edits from the editor today in the mail. It feels awesome to have the edits in my anxious little hands.

Meanwhile, Pretty When She Dies is having a slow start. I anticipated this because I haven't really done much promotion for the novel. The first two interviews for the novel are not happening until February and I have yet to send out the review copies. Also, without the Look Inside feature and more reviews up on Amazon.com, I think its going to be slow going for a little while. But I do believe that once vampire fans discover the book, it will do well. Hell, I'm a vampire fan and I totally love it. And I'm VERY hard on my own writing.

One last thing, As The World Dies: The First Days is the book club selection of the book club I'm a part of. Oh, my gawth! I'm nervous! But the hostess finished the book in 24 hours and told me she loved it, so maybe I won't get burned at the stake.

*bites nails*

I'll keep you updated as things move forward on the next book in the zombie trilogy.

100 Books Sold and Updates All Around!!!

One Milestone Passed In Book Sales
First off, as of early this morning, the sales for As The World Dies: The First Days, crossed the 100 books sold mark. This may not seem like a big number to some people, but it is huge for me. The book has only been out since August 15, 2008 (officially), so I am feeling very solid about the sales.

Considering that my promotion of the book has been minimal, I have to give big kudos to the fans who are spreading the word. I read somewhere that an Indie Author should not expect to sell 100 books. And that 200 book sales was even more rare. Well, that's one milestone down and another in sight. I have a lot of faith in this book and I feel it is a solid contribution to the zombie genre. I believe its going to keep going in its sales. That would definitely help out a lot toward getting the next books into the pipeline for publication.

FearFest 3 is BACK!
I got the word toward the end of this week that FearFest in the Dallas/Fort Worth area is back on! We have gone a head and shifted our reserved tables to this event and we're very excited! Wizard World has taken over the event and the lineup is looking really good! They have also moved it to a bigger venue and I think its just going to be awesome. If you can make it out to the event, please make sure to drop by my table and say hello.

The Doc Has Spoken
I have to thank Dr. Pus from Library of the Living Dead podcast for giving me 11 Severed Thumbs (out of a possible 1o) for As The World Dies: The First Days. I have agreed to let them do the entire novel on the podcast and I'm so excited about that!

Also, Dr. Pus wrote a review for Amazon.com that you can find here. My favorite part of the review is this quote: "Rhiannon sucks you in with the very first chapter. A chilling account of an entire family torn apart .... literally. When I began this book I actually stopped after the first chapter and went back and read it again. IT'S THAT GOOD!"

The Doc also gave me a big shout out in his newest podcast. I got a huge kick out of him trying to say my name correctly (ree on an freighter is correct). Check out Episode #63 for lots of zombie goodness along with news on the upcoming podcasts of As The World Dies: The First Days.

Spotlight On...
This month I also made the list of Spotlight On... for independent horror/suspense novels. I have to say, I really like the way my cover looks on that page and the amazon.com reviews always make me smile.


Anyway, that is enough of an update for now! Back to working on the novel!

A Kindle Update

Well, it's official. Putting up As The World Dies: The First Days in the Kindle format was a good idea. We sold one book today and it has only been available since around noon. I'm not going to get rich off my Kindle sales, that's for damn sure, but it makes me feel good that readers that prefer to read on their Kindles have an option of buying my book.

After all, isn't that what being a writer is all about? Sharing you stories with others?

I admit that I would like to make enough money to continue to hire Detra to do my covers and pay for some of the expenses that come with publishing, but I am very pleased with my one little Kindle sale.

It means someone is reading my book!

Yay!

Yeah, yeah. I'm pretty easy to please.

So, as I turn in tonight, I feel pretty good about how things are progressing.

True Blood! True Ike! True Writer's Block, but not really

I saw True Blood this week. I don't have HBO, but I managed to see it on youtube.com. I love youtube. If not for youtube, I would miss out on a lot of cool shows from overseas, and in this case, a show from a channel I refuse to subscribe to. (Seriously, why can't they let you just order one show?)

I've been jonesing to see True Blood since I first heard about the series based on Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire novels. I thought Anna Paquin as Sookie was a great choice when I heard the news and after seeing the show, I definitely think she is perfect casting. So is the actor who plays the vampire named Bill (his name cracks me up as much as it does Sookie). He looks almost exactly how I imagined Bill when I read the novel. The show is uncanny in its representation of the locations in the book because it almost matches my imagination perfectly. I am impressed. And now I have to find a friend who has HBO so I can continue to watch the series or hope youtube will save me again.

What I really enjoyed about the show was that the characters, sets, and vibe were so much like the books. It made me wonder what As The World Dies would be like as a show or mini-series (pipe dream, yep, I know..but a girl can dream). I remember some of the fans offering up their ideas for actors for the characters. Nathan Fillion and Clive Owen were suggested for Travis. Mira Furlan (of Lost and Babylon 5) and Helen Mirren were suggested for Nerit. Kristina Loken (the Terminator in T:3) was tossed out there for Katie. Jennifer Connelly was often mentioned for Jenni. And though I saw Juan as looking more like the tall, handsome Robert Rodriguez (the Austin-based director who I have seen in real life), people suggested John Leguizamo. I'm not saying any of these interpretations of the characters are wrong. They don't exactly match my idea, but it makes me wonder how fans of the story would cast a series or mini-series.

I admit I have my own personal "casting" in my head, but I won't share it here. I'd rather people have their own ideas.

Meanwhile, I have mapped out the bungled mess that sits in Fighting to Survive (I have tossed out the Struggling to Survive title). I have it all sorted out and now...err...I have writer's block. Not really bad, but just enough to make me moody. I have managed to write a few pages on the bus in the morning, but its not as much as it should be. My proof readers are waiting for the novel and I know I need to punch through. I hope I can this weekend.

If Ike doesn't blow us all away...

Ike is going to hit Texas and it's going to affect Austin one way or the other. One scenario has it coming over Austin as a tropical storm, but that seems unlikely. We will have massive storms and high winds even if it does hit further down the coast, so I hope the electricity stays on and lets me get more work done.

Oh, yes. Fearfest is canceled until February. I will be at the show in February and as soon as the details are released, I'll post them here. The Zombie Ball did not work out for me like I hoped. A sponsor is a publisher, so..bah. But my books may make it into the gift bags they are putting together for winners of the contest. I hope to attend and hand out flyers with the book info if that is cool with the organizer.

I also plan to make two appearances at Nightmare on Grayson, the big haunted house festival in downtown San Antonio. I'll be at the Creepy Classics booth and that will be a ton of fun. I always enjoy seeing the monsters out on the street terrifying the people waiting to enter the haunted house. One year a group of teenage boys (probably around age 16) ran screaming past our booth. I looked up to see Michael Meyers walking calmly behind them. It was hilarious. Not so funny are the scary clowns. One year a teenage girl fainted dead away in the tent when she turned and saw one of those evil suckers right behind her. Ugh! I hate clowns!!! Anyway, when I confirm the dates I'll be there, I'll post the information.

Edit: I would love to hear who you would cast as your favorite characters in the novel. The first comment on this post mentioned Gillian Anderson as Katie. I had never even thought of her!

As The World Dies Gets Longer

I'm deep into the second novel now. Splitting the original story into three books was something that was hard to do, but needed to be done. The sheer length of the original online story stunned me when I downloaded it and compiled it (someone told me they thought it was only 300 pages long..uh..no).

The average novel is between 70,000 and 100,000 words. As The World Dies clocked in at almost 400,000. It was 1,600 pages long. To say I was shocked was an understatement. I tried to chop it into two books, but that didn't work. I ended up having to separate it into three books. I was surprised to find two naturally occurring breaks in the story, which made it easier to figure out where the books ended.

I know a few people complained that the whole story should have been one massive book, but the page count of the original is not available with the PoD I'm using. I'm reading a trade paperback right now that is about the size As The World Dies would have been in its entirety. It's unwieldy and annoying in size and the spine is already trying to tear apart. I can understand why Createspace has limits on page count.

As I was reviewing the original manuscript, I realized that I had three stories sitting right in front of me with very different themes for each part.

As The World Dies: The First Days deals with the first months of the outbreak and the desperation to build a safe place to live as the zombies take control of the world.

As The World Dies: Struggling to Survive (which I am working on now) examines how the survivors face new difficulties as their numbers increase and they try to build a new society in their safe haven. The threats from within become more obvious as the human bandits join the zombies as threats from without. This one is definitely heavy on the character development as the new society in the fort struggles to find its way. The action is still really good and I'm actually adding more to it.

As The World Dies: Siege is the darkest novel and the longest. The scope expands to include other survivors, threats from high places, and the themes of sacrifice and redemption comes into play.

As I work on the second novel, I'm wincing as I see plot lines getting all tangled up and needing some serious straightening out. I remember when I was writing this part of the story there was a lot going on in my personal life that kept me from writing as regularly as I had been. I can see where I screwed some things up royally. A whole chunk of plot never made it into the story though it had been in my head. I have just reached that point and I'm going to have to untangle the threads and weave the new scenes in. I felt a little frustrated when I realized how much I had screwed this segment up, but at least I can fix it now. That is one consolation of releasing the story as a trilogy, I can work on each novel separately and keep to the theme of that particular section.

By the time I'm done with the rewrites and revision of all three books, As The World Dies: The Complete Story is going to be even longer.

How do I know this? The first three chapters of As The World Dies: Fighting to Survive is all new material.

UGH! I Have Zero Patience

The proof copy of As The World Dies: The First Days is in the mail. But I want it in my hands-

-NOW!!!

*sigh*

I'm even dreaming about holding it in my hands. It is like giving birth and I just want to hold my baby.

I was very busy this weekend. There was the Mad Tea Party on Friday night at a friend's house. Everyone came out dressed as someone from Alice in Wonderland or in Victorian garb. The tables were overflowing with antique teapots filled with a variety of teas, tons of food, decorations, and teacups with cards attached to them with sayings from the book. It was gloriously fun and very inspiring.

Saturday we had some good friends over for dinner and later caught The Dark Knight's midnight showing. I cannot say enough good things about this movie. I loved it. It was amazing. Heath Ledger vanished into the role of The Joker and it was mindblowing. It was beyond words.

Sunday was supposed to be my catching up on my writing day...yeah..right. Allergy attack from hell hit. One of the drawbacks of living in Austin is the allergens that just kick your arse every which way. Today at work many people are suffering. If you don't have allergies and move to Austin, within a few years you develop them. It sux, but the city is so amazing, its worth it.

But I did work on Ken and Lenore's story. I know where its headed and how it ends. It's got a lot more excitement in it and some definite scary stuff. I didn't mean to slow down so much on the story, but I have a lot of irons on the fire right now.

Meanwhile, the story for the Baptist Encampment that people have been asking me about for ages finally took form in my head. I'm not sure exactly where it is going to show up or how long it will be, but I will finally fulfill the wish of quite a few fans and let them know what happened to the Baptist Encampment.

I'm here. I am writing. The book is coming. Appearances are being scheduled. Things are flowing.

I hope to have some new writing up for you tonight.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Progress...at last!!!

Two bits of good news:

1. The artwork for the cover is done and will soon be in may anxious lil' hands.

2. The new version of my website is now done.

Yay!

The website was supposed to be up sometime ago, but because we decided to support open source programs, my husband had to train himself to use those programs. The first version was good, but we weren't totally happy with it. So he redid it and its looking nice. It should be up sometime this week.

We'll definitely be premiering the cover soon as well. I'm so excited!!! I'm nearly bouncing off the walls with joy.

The manuscript is still being edited and we're moving along toward our August publication date.

As for my strange apathy, eh...I have no excuse and no explanation.

The reality is that though I want to write something new, I need to revise the second book in the Zombie trilogy and I just gotta get cracking on it. The new stuff can wait until we're done with the trilogy. Making that decision has been a good one for me and I plan to hunker down on the second book this week.