Rinda Elliott's Blog, page 21

For those who have been waiting, I have news!

Dweller on the Threshold and Blood of an Ancient (Book 2) have officially sold to Samhain Publishing! These are full length dark, urban fantasy novels with a heavy romance kick! They will come out as ebooks first, then print later!

I am so excited about this I’ve been ready to burst into song for months. Dweller on the Threshold is the very novel that grabbed the interest of my agent, so this is such big, big news for me. It’s the first in a series about Beri O’Dell. Here’s a bit about it.

Beri O’Dell: currently working on the side investigating paranormal creatures because she wants to know what she is.  She’s taller and stronger than most men, has a few strange abilities, and she can’t shake a couple of annoying spirit guides who never give her privacy–one who swears she’s the goddess Aphrodite.

Beri onced helped her foster sister, Detective Elsa Remington, track down killers in Jacksonville, Florida, but stopped when a nasty fire elemental turned her strength against her.  Now she finds herself pulled back when something steals Elsa’s soul and puts her into a coma.  There are a lot of people in comas, and terrifying beings called Dweller Demons are coming through the bodies, so Beri has little time.  With the help of her spirit guides, a pyro-nervous witch, and an androgynous necromancer, Beri has to battle demons while tracking down who has her sister’s soul. She certainly doesn’t have time to fall in love with an ancient Minoan warrior with dark secrets of his own. Something about him scares her, but unfortunately, he’s faced the very creature she must find.

The Dweller on the Threshold:  There’s a teaching in theosophy that says a person reincarnates many times to learn lessons, and when that person finally is born into his age of enlightenment, he must face the karmic gathering of all his lifetimes and vanquish it.  The lessons never said anything about what would happen if one soul lived many evil lifetimes in the world’s worst serial and mass murderers–and that karmic gathering became a powerful entity that found a way to physically manifest in this realm…

There is a big excerpt at The Deadline Dames. Here !

Gave my home office a completely new look over the weekend. I now have an elliptical next to my desk so I can get up and work out between long bouts of sitting. I have a new desk thanks to my sister’s move and it has a better setup for work with a keyboard tray and high monitor shelf. I had a messy bulletin board covered with encouraging notes, research notes and a few comments from my agent. Oh, and several YA blogger emails asking about Foretold–my Norse young adult novel.  To make the office a little nicer on the eyes, I filed most of those away. Cleaned the messy up.

However, I kept one note out, and stuck it to the wall right by my desk.

There is something special about getting a fantastic response from an author you admire. She had asked about my young adult work and I sent her Foretold. I’ll share a bit of her response and you’ll understand why I keep this where I can see it.

“I can’t believe someone has not snatched this book up and run with it! I found it completely absorbing and fascinating, and I love that it’s not the same-old, same-old mythology.”

She went on to offer encouragement, called me a terrific writer, then said she won’t let me quit. Can you see why I keep it out?

I haven’t quit yet, but I did go through a period of discouragement and I’ve had such incredible support from other authors. But I worked through most of that. I’m loving the writing again and am becoming immersed in the stories while I fall in love with my characters again.

And to go with that new outlook, things finally started moving.  Behind the scenes stuff happening with both my young adults and my adult urban fantasies, but these things take time, so I still can’t share what.

But hang in there… this blog could get a lot more fun soon.

This theme popped back up intact, so I’m leaving for now. One of these days, I’ll find a theme that incorporates some of the mythologies and theologies used in my adult and YA books.

But if you have the time, check out the Deadline Dames blog today. Dame Jackie wrote a fantastic and personal post about writers, rejection and depression.

http://www.deadlinedames.com

I haven’t found the right look for this blog, so it will be changing out quite a bit the next few days. Plus, I lose side widgets in the process. If you miss the images, links and more–they’ll be back.

I’m sorry for neglecting this site. I blog at The Deadline Dames and have more going on in pen name land still. I will have news about a book sale under my own name, but I’m still waiting on the finals before announcing. I could possibly go nuts waiting.

Just kidding.

…maybe…

There are a couple of options still in the works on my young adult novels, but I’m at a point where I may decide to self publish those. I do love the books and though I had six publishers show interest, none seem ready to take a step. Mainly due to the Norse subject matter.  A couple of popular authors are releasing a middle grade with Norse subject matter next year and I would so love to have this YA out then, too.

So, I’ve been a little discouraged.

I may decide to just build a regular website for my Rinda work, but if things pick up, this blog will be a happening place again. For the record, LIMBO CAN BE A PLACE OF HELL.

The blog-it will be changing. It's time for a complete overhaul and I need to update my links, etc. But, I'm also on a couple of deadlines, so it will take some time. If you show and it looks weird, have no fear… it could look even worse later.

In the meantime, I have blogged at The Deadline Dames. Answered reader questions.

http://www.deadlinedames.com/critiques-insecurity-decisions-and-waiting/

I am sitting on a bit of news and feel like I'm going to burst! Also, I've been spending a lot of time in Pen Name Land because that's where most of the action is happening. But I think there will be some to spread over here soon, too.

I am working on a new YA. Got a gem of an idea after a short convo with the agent. Still have my Norse YAs out on sub along with the adult urban fantasy novels. I'm loving the new YA idea but I'm also in the "getting to know the character" stage and as usual, I'm doing that through music.

Healthwise, I'm am doing GREAT. I was sick for so long last year, it felt I'd never feel like myself again, but I do! I wish the doctors had figured it out sooner, but am happy they did eventually. Do kind of wish I could get a redo on some rewrites I did for a publisher last year… but who knows? Maybe I'll get that chance too. This year is already looking 100 percent better than the last one.

I tackled reader questions today at The Deadline Dames and shared a glimpse into the crazy business that is my writing process. Follow the dame to read!

I am no stranger to restlessness. Any writer on submission understands the torture of it, so there's no need to go into the reasons why.

However, recovering from surgery adds a whole new level. I am now having days where I feel kind of good. I never fail to do too much and pay for it, but I'm soooo sick of recovering and I was sick a long time. Those times of "feeling good" make me want to catch up well, EVERYTHING.

So, what can I do to keep myself from doing too much physically? WRITE. Funny thing is, I noticed that lately, I'm writing a lot of action scenes. Fitting eh?

Today, one of my characters is going to fight some space pirates. Guess I'll let her burn off this crazy restlessness so I can sit on my butt and heal some more.

The lovely and talented Devon Monk sent me gifts! She's not only a great writer–check out the gloves she made me. OMG, I love them so much!