Feathered

I hoped to be further along right now, but life got in the way this month and I only averaged about 620 new words on the novel per day.  But at least I’ve reached the half way mark.

At the current rate I won’t get it finished for another six weeks — which is completely unacceptable, so I need to up my productivity.

I can do over 2,000 words on a good day, so if I increase my word count to double or triple my current average, I could bring it down to just a few weeks (and an extra week or two for edits).

I’m determined to increase output, which should be easy enough, but by how much remains to be seen.

But at least it’s getting there 🙂

In the meantime, here is another 100 words from the book. This time from Chapter 3:

   The wind blew heavier up this high. Zan had almost forgotten how much, not having been home in over a year.  His wings pounded the air with rhythmic pace as he got closer to his old home. The perfect base to stay while he tried to convince Wret to consider joining him and Ruby together.
His old mountain looked the same from behind, tall, away from the main glut of dwellings. Only a little more overgrown with shrubbery than when he last saw it. He’d have to attend to that.
As he rounded the mountainside, the doors to his old…

 

I’ve had a very slow writing week this past week, mostly due to school holidays (the kids driving me crazy) and that my mother is in town and staying with us.

As a result I haven’t had a chance to get to the computer much, so I only managed a mere 5,000 words.

Today I did buy a keyboard for my iPad though, so I’m hoping that I’ll be able to steal some minutes here and there while I’m sitting on the sofa. That’s the plan anyway. Although I’m not sure how my writing process is going to work yet using the iPad, since the document is in Word.

I *think* I’m going to put the chapter I’m working on into Evernote and use that to focus on, before transferring it back to the word doc when I’ve finished, but I might experiment with a few other methods over the week as well to see what works best.

In the meantime, here’s another sneak peek.

100 words from Chapter 2:

The iron gates of the Michael’s house were already open, expecting her, and she drove up the long driveway, parking the car next to the neatly trimmed hedge. It had been a while since she had last been here, she shivered. The memory of what had happened to her, Zan and Henry last summer still clung to her as she stepped onto the front porch.

“Ruby, my dear. A pleasure, as always.” The wrinkles around Henry’s eyes softened as he gazed at her admiringly, before he pulled her inside for a warm embrace. “Your mother told me you were on …”

 

I’m 14,000 words into the first draft of Feathered #2 (still a bit of an uphill slog to go) but I’m feeling good about the direction the novel is going.

There isn’t as much ‘actiony’ stuff going on, as there was in the first novel. I wanted to focus more on the relationship between Zan and Ruby in this. You also get to see more of Zan’s point of view as well – which we missed in the first.

The cover is all but done. The designer is just waiting for me to decide on the actual title first 😉 I’ve got a few ideas, although I need to narrow down my top three choices.

There’s no hurry for the title though, I’ve still got to finish writing the story first.

In the meantime, I thought I’d give a little sneak peek of some of the (VERY ROUGH) story.

So here’s 100 words to enjoy (taken from Chapter 1).

   Desire burst through his body, and his breath quickened to match his already racing pulse. He pulled her close, his wing feathers swaying as his hand wrapped around the back of her neck … his lips crushed on hers, consuming her with such force that she nearly fell backward. But he wouldn’t let her fall.
His smooth chest beaded with sweat, making it slick and slippery as she slid her hands over his hard muscles and around to his back. Her fingernails were sharp and they bit into his side as she grabbed desperately.
He pushed the bedroom door open …

 

Since Feathered Lover was published last month, I’ve been wracking my brain over what story to write next.

I always said that if there was enough interest in Feathered that I’d love to write a sequel and explore Zan’s world further. But I can’t wait — I want to write it, right now. 🙂

So that’s what I’m doing. The ideas keep coming too, and I’ve got an idea for a possible third book as well.

I’ve started brainstorming story ideas and writing them down in my journal so the process is underway.

I expect that I could get it out around June although since I haven’t actually started writing yet, I’m not actually sure of dates. But it should be around then, give or take a month.

I do know what the cover will be though (but not the title yet), because my cover designer had done different mockups for Feathered, that I nearly chose (and was disappointed I couldn’t have more than one cover) but now I’ll be able to use for Book 2 – yah, win!

My goal for the story is to explore Ruby & Zan’s relationship further and also give Zan a bigger role in the book (in the first he was really just Ruby’s love interest, but now he deserves equal billing as he’s an equal partner in the relationship).

Obviously it makes sense that they are both going to fight for the rights to be accepted in society as well as experience some of their own relationship troubles (come on, it can’t be happy happy the whole book – we need some drama – lol).

I’ll also include a few new characters, as well as keeping most of the old ones too.

I’m so excited  to delve further in the world of the Volante and see more of the mysterious race.

Happy reading!

Tabs xx

The Feathered Lover is LIVE – YAY!!

It’s now up at Amazon & Kobo.

It should also be live at Apple iTunes and Barnes & Noble in a few weeks (I can’t go direct with them, so it takes longer).

Of course now I’m having author jitters. Is it good enough? What if I uploaded the wrong file? Perhaps there isn’t enough sex in it? Does any one care? *writerly angst*

I think I’ll take a nap, so I can start breathing again.

Hope you like it!

Buy from: Amazon.com | Apple iBooks | Barnes & Noble |  Kobo

Tabs xx

I’ve finished the third (and hopefully final) draft and now the manuscript has been sent to my copy editor. She fixes up all my sloppy grammar and typos so I can publish a clean book for you. 😉

I can probably tell you a bit more about it now. The working title is The Feathered Lover.

I haven’t written a blurb yet, but a quick summary:

Set in 1943. Ruby Kelly spies three men who have captured one of the illegal Volante (men with wings). Unable to get the scene out of her mind, she creeps to where it is being held.

When the men find out she has seen it and confront her, the police are called and she has to free the Volante before it’s found by the law. After her father is arrested, she must hide from both the police and the men trying to get the Volante back.

And she kinda thinks the Volante’s hot (and yes the feeling is mutual). So of course, there are sex scenes. Four of them in fact 😉

Paranormal romance, with a man with wings. Set in sexy 1943. I love fiction.