Five Year Project

This is the last Friday of the month, which makes it Five Year Project time. Thanks Misha Gericke for hosting this. What is the Five Year Project, you might ask? It’s making a goal and working towards it. For me, that goal is to have a world-class publishing company. How’s it going? Good. I’m wrapping up Bloodbrothers for me, and working on edits for someone else. That was the biggest leap for me into this whole publishing goal—actually taking that step from writer to editor. I kept putting it off and putting it off and now I’m wondering why I did that. It feels so natural. If anyone is looking for editing work, September looks busy for me, but October is still open. You can find out more at our site: http://www.blackandwhiteediting.com, or email me directly at melanie@melanieschulz.com .

For those of you wondering, Bloodbrothers will be released sometime in September. This will be the final book in The Newstead Saga, which makes it hard—can’t imagine not spending time with these characters anymore. After that I’ll be starting on Pathfinder, but I have a feeling that will go slower than I’m used to; editing is taking up a lot of my time, which is a good thing.

How about all of you—what projects are you working on?  

What makes your story worth reading?

This is a question I struggle with. I am keenly aware that millions of books are being published each year--why would someone read mine? People's time and pocket books are limited, I know that.

They know that.

I'm not going to try to sell my books to you, I promise. That's not what this is about. It's about a reason for writing in the first place. Do I think it's worth reading, writing, going through hours and months of revising, editing, cover design, and formatting? For some of my stories the answer was no. I scrapped a whole book once, three revisions in. Why? I got tired of reading it. And if I did, imagine what you, the reader would do. I think I speak for (most) authors when I say the most horrible thing a reader can do to us is not finish our book. To pick it up and read only a few pages, not drawing out the mystery to the final tantalizing end. In short, to get bored with the story (shudders).  

So, what makes a story worth reading? Only you, the reader, can answer that.

-Mel

Piper Morgan Reveal

 

Piper Morgan Joins the Circus

Stephanie Faris

Cover illustration by Lucy Fleming.

Blurb:

When Piper Morgan has to move to a new town, she is sad to leave behind her friends, but excited for a new adventure. She is determined to have fun, be brave and find new friends.
And after learning her mom’s new job will be with the Big Top Circus, Piper can’t wait to learn all about life under the big top, see all the cool animals, and meet the Little Explorers, the other kids who travel with the show. She’s even more excited to learn that she gets to be a part of the Little Explorers and help them end each show with a routine to get the audience on their feet and dancing along!

But during Piper’s grand debut, her high kicks and pointed toes don't go quite as planned. After causing a dance disaster, she has to prove to everyone--especially queen of the Little Explorers, Lexie--that she belongs in the spotlight. 

Stephanie Faris:

Bio:

Stephanie Faris knew she wanted to be an author from a very young age. In fact, her mother often told her to stop reading so much and go outside and play with the other kids. After graduating from Middle Tennessee State University with a Bachelor of Science in broadcast journalism, she somehow found herself working in information technology. But she never stopped writing.


Stephanie is the Simon & Schuster author of 30 Days of No Gossip and 25 Roses, as well as the upcoming Piper Morgan series. When she isn’t crafting fiction, she writes for a variety of online websites on the topics of business, technology, and her favorite subject of all—fashion. She lives in Nashville with her husband, a sales executive. 

Links:

Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

IWSG

 

Today’s the first Wednesday of the month, which makes it IWSG time. Thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosts for putting this on each month. Basically, it’s a time for writers to vent and support each other in their venting. Feel like joining in? You can. Sign up here .

Last month, as most of you know, my husband and I started a new venture with Black and White editing, and with anything new comes insecurities. Will people come? Will they like what we do for them? I don’t know; which is one of the main reasons we decided to do the first five pages for free as a way for people to try us out. We’re not talking about detailing people’s cars here. It’s their stories, their deepest dreams. I want them to be happy. I need them to be happy, and if it’s not with us, that’s okay.

On the writerly side of things, everything is going well. I love my current WIP (Bloodbrothers). It’s nearing completion; hopefully to be released sometime in September, which has been my goal all along. September marks five years from when I started writing Newstead; it only seems fitting that the series should be completed then. The illustrator just submitted the cover and I LOVE it. Steven makes an appearance on this one, and he captured him perfectly. That’s about it for me, what’s going on with all of you?

Have a great first week of August.

-Mel