Christmas is (Finally) Over

Today officially ends my family's Christmas season that started before Thanksgiving. Our last Christmas party is today. Just like the one before Thanksgiving, we rented out a hall to fit everyone since the houses just seem to be too small. We have a special gift exchange that's kind of like a Secret Santa, but everyone knows who you have and who has you. My grandparents aren't going to be there since they escaped to warmer weather last month. All of these holiday parties are starting to get to me. See, I'm not the most social person. I'm happiest with my nose in a book or a pen in my hand. Most parties send me into a corner with my writing, usually only getting company from the animals of the house. (I seem to be a pet magnet at times. They always end up around me.) I don't like being that way. I just never know what to say to people so I end up avoiding all conversation.

On another note, it looks like my first draft isn't going to be done by my self-imposed deadline. I did everything I could to get through it, but I'm not even halfway through transferring the outline into book form. (That's another thing I do. I write outlines for the books before I write them out. The outline then changes while I write the book.) This is really upsetting to me. I worked so hard to get this done, but every time I sat down and started to write in my little zone, I'd get interrupted, usually something to do with a Christmas party. With the holiday season finally over, I might be able to get some peace and get my writing done.

The one good thing about this is that I'm liking this second book more than the first one. There's something about it that makes me excited to write it and then share it with my readers. I think this one will be even better than the first one. My dad says that's expected. Practice makes perfect and all that. It probably has more to do with the planning. I did more planning for this one than the first one. Unnatural Alliances was written with my mind both on it and school. This one has my full attention.

I think that's it for this week. So, until next Saturday, have a great week, Happy New Year and Go Spartans! I can't wait for the Rose Bowl!

Hand Writing

I'm still getting over this stupid cold, so I really don't have anything new to report this week. As a result, I have to do all my Christmas shopping last minute. I've never done Christmas shopping this late, so I'm a bit worried about the crowds. Hopefully, I can find what I need to get my family and friends.

Still holding out hope that I'll get my next book's first draft done by the new year. It's coming around nicely, but I'm not even halfway done with it. I might have to lock myself in my room and go on a writing spree to get this thing done. The thing I have to worry about the most is hand cramps. See, I write out my books with a pen and paper first. It allows me an extra step in editing when I finally type it up. Plus, I'll always have the original hard copy to prove that I actually wrote the book. Writing it out by hand started because I would write my stories in class in middle school, high school and college. Most of the classes didn't allow computers, so I wrote out ideas and stories by hand. I would continue writing it by hand outside of class to stay consistent. So, my writing is always better when I start it writing by hand. Some people think it's weird in this technological age, but I prefer it that way. I love the feel of putting the pen on paper. It's like there's no barriers between my mind and the words I'm writing. With a computer or tablet, the screen's in the way, making it feel unreal.

I could go into more detail on my writing process, but I think I'm going to save that for a later post. Maybe after I get to the next step after hand writing out the book. So, I'll put up another post next week and I hope all of you that celebrate it have a Merry Christmas. For those that don't celebrate it, I still hope you have an amazing week and have your own happy holiday.

Snow Dog

Seeing as how I'm still sick, I don't really have much to say as I couldn't really do anything. I've even gotten through almost three bags of cough drops to keep my cough from getting nasty. Had to postpone my interview because of it. My writing has slowed so much that I'm worried I'm not going to make my self-imposed deadline to get the first draft done by the first of January.

On the plus side, my sister's home from college for the holidays and brought a set of books that I'd been interested in reading. Got through the first book in less than twenty-four hours and into a good portion of the second one. Yes, I realize that my own writing should take precedence over reading someone else's, but I can't help it. The booklover in me loves both sides of the book world: reading and writing.

It's been snowing off and on this past week here. Mostly just some light dusting, but now there's a good portion of snow on the ground out there. Makes me want hot chocolate and marshmallows. Whenever there's a lot of snow outside, I love to go outside with my dog. She loves playing catch with snowballs and when she doesn't catch them, she sticks her snout in the snow, searching for the mysterious, missing ball. When we first got her, it was January and there was tons of snow around. She was too small to actually travel through it, so my dad dug out this little path for her in the backyard so she could walk on the ground and not 'do her business' on the deck. Funny thing is that she used to be so scared of the snow, but now she loves jumping around in it.

I guess I can leave on that story since I don't really have anything else to say. (Stupid cold...) So, until next time, have a great week!

Links for a Promotion

It's Saturday once again, so it's time for another post. Let's start with something negative. I'm sick again. (Thank you family members for giving me this cold. I'm not naming names; you know who you are.) This cold is another coughing one, so I've brought out the cough drops. My throat feels like it's going to explode.

But let's get off such negative thinking. This past week was pretty interesting. Got a couple more chapters done, took my dog out to chase geese, looked up book reviewers, started up a new promotion on my book (I'll get to that soon), and scored a possible interview on a radio station thanks to my dad's connections from high school.

You read that right. A possible interview on a radio station. It's not a big city radio station, but it's still exciting. It's probably for the best that I have my first interview on a non-big city station because I've always had problems with public speaking. Just ask my professors. I usually read off index cards when I made presentations. If I don't have my speech in front of me (or don't rehearse it beforehand), then I tend to ramble and forget what I was originally going to say. Or, when in discussion groups, I completely shut up because I really don't know what to say. It's something I've struggled with for as long as I can remember. Anyway, there's no exact date yet for the interview, but if I find out about it before my next post, I'll let you know. If I have the interview before I can post the information here, I'll just post a link or the actual interview.

Now, onto the promotion. As a gift to all of you, I've set my book's price down by fifty percent for the holiday season. This promotion will probably go into the new year, so you have plenty of time to go after this deal. Here are some links to places you can get my book, Unnatural Alliances:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/358311 (Smashwords)

http://www.amazon.com/Unnatural-Alliances-Hunters-Vampires-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00GDR5K9U (Amazon/Kindle)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/unnatural-alliances-hunters/id714748849?mt=11 (Apple/iTunes)

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/unnatural-alliances-dd-marie/1116986049?ean=2940045287395 (Barnes and Noble/Nook)

https://ebookstore.sony.com/author/dd-marie_560420?&page=1&perpage=100&sortDirection=0&filters=4292165081+ (Sony)

http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/item/SW00000358311/Marie-DD-Unnatural-Alliances-Hunters-and-Vampires-Book-1/1.html (Diesel Ebooks)

There you go. Some easy links to places to get my book, whatever your preference for reading ebooks might be. Guess I'll end there. So, have a happy week. Oh, and Go Spartans!

Family Parties

This past week was filled with the holiday joy of family parties. First, there was my great grandma's Christmas party last Sunday. I would have talked about it in my last post, but my dad didn't tell me until the last minute (as in the night before). So, yeah, yet another Christmas party for my family before Thanksgiving. This party is like a family reunion that happens every year so I was already prepared for it. Our family is large enough that we rent out a school gym for the party. It's also one of those potluck parties where everyone brings some type of food (pasta, meat, some people bring pizza) and shares it with the rest of the family. The little kids each get a present to open while the adults talk. My dad, being the incredibly social person that he is, went around the party telling everyone that his child published a book. Then, he grabbed my mom's Kindle and showed everyone. It got me some book sales, so that's pretty cool. I was busy working on my next book during the party. I'm not much of a social person.

Speaking of the holidays, this past Thursday was Thanksgiving, so Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I spent my Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family at my grandma's new retirement community. They had a restaurant there that we made reservations at. The buffet there had so much delicious food. After lunch, we all went back to my grandma's suite where some of us helped to unpack part of her sewing room while others watched football.

Seeing as it was Thanksgiving, I guess I should state what I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for a loving family, my health, having a crazy but lovable dog, the people that bought my book, any fans that I have (whether it be with my book or fanfiction) and the ability to write the stuff that I do. Also my Keurig. I don't know how I'd survive in the mornings without coffee.

Four paragraphs? I think that's enough for a post. So, until next time, have a great week!

Write, write, write... What's this about a trade?

Got some coffee, listening to some music (right now, it's Monster You Made by Pop Evil), I'm ready to work on this.

This past week has been mostly about working on my book. I'm almost where I want to be, but I keep getting interrupted for the littlest things and losing my concentration. There was this one time where my hair looked like I had just transformed back from being a werewolf or something because I was so involved in my book over everything else.

But, at one point, my concentration dropped and didn't come back until the next day. That point was when the Tigers traded Prince Fielder to the Rangers. I dropped everything and went to see if it was true. Here's what my reactions were, in order: shock, excitement (more because something huge happened than the actual trade), acceptance (that this would make the Tigers better in the future), a bit of sadness (mostly because I saw that Miguel Cabrera was posting all those pictures of them together on Twitter and it made me realize that these past two years the Tigers had something special with the duo), awe (Dave Dombrowski has to be a wizard or something to pull this off) and, finally, back to excitement (mostly for the upcoming season and to watch the new Tiger, Ian Kinsler, and to see what other trades might be happening during this offseason).

Anyway, off of sports, we've been working on the book marketing this week too. You might have seen the ads for my book series on Facebook. It's brought the amount of likes to above 300! I've been smiling at random times because of that. To see something that I put work in being accepted really encourages me to keep working and make the next book even faster. So, if you're one of the people that's liked my book series, thank you! I'm grateful and excited for each individual like. Now, if only I can somehow translate this to sales... But, that's my problem, not yours. So, until next time, have a good week!

So Many Boxes... Just Box After Box...

Most of this week was spent at looking at marketing techniques to get my book more noticed in the public eye. The only thing that has been implemented so far is the Facebook ads. So far, it's working. I think. The Facebook page for The Hunters and Vampires Chronicles now has over 100 likes, but I have no idea if it's translating into sales.Through my Smashwords account, I only know the sales at Apple through the end of September and most of the other places are updated just as rarely. But, on the other hand, I am SO freaking excited that it's got over 100 likes! It makes me feel like I did something right, like I got an A+ on a project or something.

Speaking of projects, yesterday was kind of a project for me. The project consisted of unpacking boxes and trying to fit five giant boxes worth of stuff into a small kitchen with limited space. I volunteered to help my mom and aunts move my grandma into a retirement community. Her little apartment there is really nice since it was just redone for her. She even got to pick out some of the permanent things like the tiles for the bathroom floor. The place also lets her keep her dog and everything is connected so she doesn't have to worry about leaving the building to go out to eat since there's a restaurant in the building. Plus, there are people there that check and make sure that she's okay every day. It means that none of us have to worry about her living alone anymore. On the other side of my family, my great grandma who is over 100 is still living on her own. I guess people age differently.

My parents are going back there today, but I'm staying home to watch the dog. She was alone for most of the day yesterday and now she's clinging to me as though watching to make sure I don't leave again. Plus, this morning, she jumped around like a gazelle when she saw that I was awake. Keep in mind that this is a fully grown Dalmatian that, at her age, should be considered an elderly dog.

So, that's what happened this past week. Hope everyone has a great week and I'll put up another post next Saturday.

Almost Forgot This...

This week, I got into a severe writing mode. So severe that I could barely comprehend what other people were saying. I was THAT focused on my writing. My next book is coming along great. Not ready to reveal it just yet, but I'll give you a sneak peek on what I worked on mostly this week. Dragons. Yep, there will be dragons in my next book. Fierce, fire-breathing dragons. Anyway, I'm shooting for somewhere in January to be completely done with my first draft. Once I'm done with the first draft, I'll let you know. Keep all of you in the loop.

Today, I didn't get much writing done. Worked in the backyard, raking leaves. Gotta love autumn. In fact, I've still got leaves to rake out there.

I don't really have much more to say. Mostly, I've been locked in my room in a frenzy of inspiration, most of which I can't disclose. This post is more to keep up with the tradition of putting up a blog post on Saturday. I almost forgot and then realized in the middle of stuffing leaves into bags. So, I hurried inside to write this up. Just being truthful here. Since I don't really have anything else to say, I'll just stop here. Have an amazing week!

Happy Hall-Christmas? Wait a minute...

This past week, I FINALLY figured out how to fix the paragraph separators for my book so it'll look normal for Kindle. So, my book, Unnatural Alliances, is now available with Amazon (if you were waiting to buy it there). Next week, I'll probably figure out how to publicize better. I'm not getting many sales.

Hope everyone had a safe Halloween this past week. You'd think that a writer that writes about vampires would be out at a party for Halloween, but nope. I stayed home and gave out candy. We almost ran out. Had to put in a secret stash and, even after that, we were left with six pieces when we finally stopped. One of the first trick-or-treaters was a little girl dressed up as a Michigan State cheerleader. Another interesting kid was dressed up as Batman and faked a deep voice when he asked for candy. He then said 'Thank You' in his normal voice. I pretended to be surprised.

So, for today's post, I have to write fast because I have to get ready for a party later. Does this party have to do with the MSU/UofM game today? No. It has nothing to do with that. (Although, the game will probably be on the radio and we'll be hanging on its every word.) My grandpa and step-grandma (I don't actually call her that, but that's what she is to me) are going south for the winter. So, we have to have our Christmas party now because they won't be here for the actual Christmas season. They'll probably give us grandkids our annual Christmas card with scratch-off lottery tickets inside and we'll give them some gift cards because this is so last minute. My family's weird.

Because today's post has to be fast (and I have a lot of stuff to do before the party), I'm going to have to cut off the post here. So, have a great week and I'll write another post next Saturday!

Tired and Sick, but Still Posting!

So, I got really sick this week and didn't get to do much. Mostly took naps. However, I DID have some time awake that I worked on my next book. For those of you waiting for the Amazon version of my e-book, once again I had to delay working on it. Got severely tired every time I started work on it. Still a little tired which it why this update is so short.

My littlest sister got into Central Michigan University. I'm very proud of her. (Although, it's still a little odd. It's not that she's horrible at school or anything. She just applied last week and the deadline hasn't even passed yet. Plus, the acceptance letter didn't come in a huge envelope. Just a normal one.) I still want her to go to Michigan State, but that's just because it's where I graduated. She'll probably choose the school that offers her the most money in scholarships.

I really don't have anything else to say for this week. I could ramble about my illness this week (where the biggest thing was that I had a very hoarse voice), but I highly doubt anyone wants to read that. So, until next time, have a great week.

Researching Scenes

Not much to talk about from this week. Still upset about the baseball game on Thursday, but today's a new day.

Getting Unnatural Alliances ready to post on Amazon. It's pretty much the same requirements as Smashwords, but a couple differences. The biggest difference is the words 'Smashwords Edition' can't be in the Amazon version. That's how small the differences are.

I'm starting some research for the second book in the Hunters and Vampires Chronicles. While I've been working on it basically since I finished the first one, I'm doing research mostly for the scenes that the characters are going to be in. The surroundings in the second book are going to be drastically different than the first one. It's going to be set mostly in a place that I have never been before. Since I'm a poor, recently graduated from college person, I can't physically go to that place. So, the library and internet are going to be my sources for this research. Just like in college.

Doing some babysitting this weekend. Well, it's not really babysitting. It's more like refereeing. The kids I'm watching are old enough to take care of themselves, but they need someone there to make sure that no fights start up.

Once again, this post is going to be short. I'd like to keep rambling, but I can't think of anything else to add at this point. So, until next time, have a good week.

I Think I've Been Watching Too Much Baseball...

Starting later than usual for this post. Stayed up late last night watching the Dodgers/Cardinals baseball game until the start of the thirteenth inning when I realized that I didn't want to stay up late for these teams since neither of them is the team that I root for. I was just watching baseball because it's baseball. I'm more interested in the Tigers/Red Sox game. Rooting for the Tigers! I have stubs for nails thanks to the Tigers' previous two games versus the Athletics (and also in part because I've always had the bad habit of biting my nails.)

Speaking of sports, I'm watching the Michigan State Spartans play Indiana in football. Why? Because I'm a graduate from MSU. Got my degree in Zoology. Yeah, weird for an author, I know. When I first started there, I wanted to go to vet school, but that fell through and it was a little late to just change my major. Luckily, I can tolerate football. I slightly understand it after being forced to watch it from the stands as a marching band member in high school.

Saw my sister perform at marching band festival this week. They got a one, so I'm proud of her. (That's like getting an A for those of you that don't know the rating system.) It brought up memories of high school, both good and bad. I'm happy that's over though. My class was filled with drama. Great for giving me ideas for writing, bad for my self-esteem and sanity.

This is gonna be a short post this week. Partly because I feel like I'm about to fall asleep on my laptop, but also because I want to focus on writing. I've recently gotten out of my writer's block, so I'd like to get to that to get another book written as fast as possible and out there for you readers. So, have a good week!

Musical Interlude

For this post, I'm going to do something a little different. I'm going to focus on one thing: music.

Now, you're probably thinking, 'Wait a second. This is a writer, not a musician. Why is she talking about music in her blog?' Well, music is part of my writing process. Whenever I want to get a scene perfect, I listen to a song that fits the mood of that scene. For instance, while writing the final battle scene in Unnatural Alliances, I listened to Disturbed's Inside The Fire and Sixx:A.M.'s This Is Gonna Hurt over and over. The music put me in the mindset I needed to keep my focus on the scene I was writing and transfer what was in my mind to the page. So, for those of you wondering why I follow so many musicians on Twitter, that's why. The music they make helps me write.

Music has also helped me with writer's block. In this case, it's not a specific song, it's a genre. So, for Unnatural Alliances, I'd listen to a lot of rock and alternative music until something clicked and I'd get back to writing. It usually doesn't take more than a couple of days. Sometimes it would be after only one song and I'd crack my writer's block.

Just like books, music has been a big part of my life. During the nineties/early thousands, I was the perfect age to be affected by boy bands. Might be the reason that I have a slight liking of today's boy bands even though I don't usually listen to pop music anymore. After the boy bands began to break-up, I tried to listen to other pop music, but nothing really felt right. So, I moved to country where I settled for a while. My sister unintentionally introduced me to alternative music which I quickly latched onto. Once I got into college, one of my new friends there brought me into the rock scene. So, now I listen to rock and alternative mostly. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll change again, but I'm happy with this music right now and it's helping me write (something that none of the other genres did).

I was a part of a band in school. As in, instrumental band. It was part of my schedule in school. I played clarinet. Started in fifth grade and didn't stop until the end of high school. I even gave up guitar lessons to take clarinet lessons to get into a higher band in high school. Kind of wish I was able to take both. Still have my guitar, but I only remember how to play one song: Let It Be by The Beatles. Good song though. I remember at one point my friends and I wanted to start a band, but it didn't get further than talking. Oh well, I still have my writing.

So, the post for this week is over. See you next week! Until then, have a good week!

Ramblings...

It's Saturday which means it's time for another post. This week has been kind of dry on items to report, so I'm just going to ramble.

I've been working on my next book. Every day, I get through a couple more pages. I haven't gotten stuck on any serious writer's blocks yet on that, so I might actually be able to get it done in less time than the first one. Seeing as I finished the first one in a year while also attending college full time and having an insane amount of projects to do in my classes, that's not hard to surpass.

My little sister's home from college for the weekend. We don't necessarily have the best sisterly relationship. She's competitive so she brags whenever she breaks one of the records I've set and we argue about almost everything. It doesn't help when she points out every little mistake that I make, past or present. Things have been better between us in recent years since we went to separate colleges. Although we have the college games to fight about now, we don't see each other as much to argue in the first place. It means that whenever we do see each other, we start with the good things instead of the bad. Even with all our ups and downs, I'd still do anything for her because she's family.

Writing has always been easier for me than speaking. It seems odd, but it's the truth. My mind has always worked that way. I'll be unable to talk about a topic in a conversation, but give me a piece of paper and a pen and I'll give you a three to five page essay on the topic. That's an excellent talent for an aspiring author, but not for someone that needs to get through an interview to get a job. It's already hard enough to find a company willing to interview a recent college graduate. Trying to get through an interview for me is like getting out of a burning building only to fall into a pit of lava from the nearby exploding volcano that burned the building in the first place. It's like I'm doomed to fail. This is why I like writing. I can always edit my statement before I send or post it. Once I speak it, it's out there and I can't take it back.

On a more happier note, tomorrow is National Coffee Day! Woo, coffee! I'm enjoying some coffee right now, so I know I will be celebrating, even if it's just having a couple cups at home.

My book has been sent to Apple, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and Sony. I know it's available for purchase through Apple (I saw it myself), but I don't know about the others. So, if you were waiting for it to be available in one of those places, now's your chance.

And I think that's enough rambling for one post. So, have a good week and I'll see you next Saturday.

Published!

So excited this past week! I put my book up for publishing on Smashwords and I've already sold one! When I first saw that, I kind of stared at my laptop screen for a bit before getting up and dancing around the house. Think I annoyed the rest of my family with that. You can find it here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/358311.

That game I went to was sweet. Would have been sweeter if we won the game, but can't hold it against them since they've won almost every game since. At least I got to have part of a pretzel that was as big as a pizza! That pretzel was like heaven in my mouth. The only problem I really had with it was that I had to take something to eat it with cheese since I'm lactose intolerant.

My dog woke me up this morning at seven with her barking. Tried to ignore it, but eventually had to get up to see what she was barking at. My sister had brought her bass drum into the house and my dog was barking at the drum. So, I just went back to sleep. Ended up having a nightmare that my book didn't make it into the premium catalog.

What's the premium catalog you ask? Well, it's the books on Smashwords that are distributed to the major e-book providers (except Amazon). My book is still under the 'pending review' stage. For those people interested in getting a Kindle version, I'm still formatting my book to fit Amazon's guidelines. I should have it done before this month ends.

Yesterday, I made this recipe that I found in a magazine. It had potatoes, bacon and some creamy stuff. I put it all into a crock pot and, seven hours later, dinner was served. Pretty good stuff. Not the best dish I've ever made, but still tasty. Speaking of food, I have some Irish Cream coffee this morning. Useful for keeping me awake since I didn't get much sleep last night.

Had an interview for a job this week. Hoping that it went well, but haven't heard back yet. Also got a call from a science company, but I don't fit their needs right now. See, my college degree is actually in science, not English or writing or anything that would show that I should be a writer. While I always thought of science as my career choice, books have been my passion. Hoping that I can turn that passion into a career, but until then, gotta pay the bills somehow.

Anyway, hope that all of you have a great week and I'll put up another post next Saturday.

Book and Series Title

As promised in last week's post, I'm revealing the titles of my book and series! This is mainly because I'm posting the book on Smashwords tomorrow, so it shouldn't be more than a week before it's available for sale.

Starting with the big picture is probably the best idea so the series title is called 'The Hunters and Vampires Chronicles'. It's basically about hunters (who normally fight vampires) and vampires working together to fight other creatures at night. That's the most basic explanation I can give without completely giving away what I have in store for the series.

The first book of 'The Hunters and Vampires Chronicles' is called 'Unnatural Alliances'. (You have NO idea how long it took me to finally rest on that title...) 'Unnatural Alliances' is about a vampire named Brynn and a hunter named Parker. The two of them must join together the vampire clan and the hunter group in time to fight against a common enemy: an army of werewolves, warlocks, fairies, pixies and other vampires. That army is led by an unnatural couple of an extremely powerful vampire and a royal mummy. And that's all I'm going to tell you. You'll have to read it to find out more.

I'm really excited to be sharing this story with the world. It's been a work in progress for a year and I'm finally confident in it to publish. Of course, no book is perfect. I'll always wonder if I should have expanded one scene or used a different word to describe something, but that's just me being a writer. I'm not even a hundred percent confident in my title, but it's the best one out of all of the other possible titles.

Anyway, earlier this week, my dog was still scratching on my door to wake me up, but it seemed like she had an internal alarm clock because it was always at 8:30 AM. It kind of freaked me out a bit. And today, I got up naturally at that time. Getting annoyed with waking up that early on a Saturday, I rolled over to go back to sleep. Well, I guess my dog heard me because she was there, whining at my door. This coffee is being put to good use.

I'll especially need the caffeine today since I'm going to a baseball game tonight. Really excited because the seats are normally reserved for season ticket holders (which I am not), but my uncle (who is a season ticket holder) had extra tickets. So, I'm really hoping the home team wins. There are fireworks either way, but I love being at the park during a win. The crowd is so much more electric when there's a win or a close game in progress.

So, back to book stuff. Keep an eye on my Twitter and Facebook for the day that it actually goes on sale. I originally had it planned for October 1st, but it looks like it might be earlier. This is good news! Earlier book sale means you get to read it earlier! Always good when things are ahead of schedule. So, yeah, you can get much more up to date stuff on Twitter and Facebook until my next post in a week. Until next Saturday, have a great week!

I Could Use Some More Coffee...

Excuse me if some of this post doesn't make sense. You can blame my dog. She's decided to take it upon herself to be my alarm clock, scratching on my door until I wake up every morning. And, as if that isn't bad enough, it's earlier and earlier each day. But then I see how happy she is to see me and I forget how mad I am at her. Right now, I'm running on coffee instead of sleep.

Anyway, time for some information on my book. While I'm still not ready to give out the title of the book or its series, I can give some clues as to what it's about. The series I'm publishing is part of the science fiction and young adult genres. It's also about vampires. Now, don't write it off as a wannabe-Twilight just yet. My vampires can't go out in the sunlight. They also fight zombies. And werewolves. And fairies. And mummies. And other vampires. This series will include a multitude of creatures and is more focused on the action than the romance.

In some more action related news, I've been getting the websites ready. The series website and my own author website are being worked on today. My author Facebook page and Twitter are done, so I'll put the links on this post. You'll get much more updates from those than these once-a-week posts. I've also been working on my Smashwords profile. That's the website that I'm using to publish my book. It'll distribute the book to a bunch of different places that sell e-books like Apple or Barnes and Noble.

Here are the links:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/DD-Marie/417787895000142
https://twitter.com/ddmarie4

I think that's it for now. Next time, I'll be announcing the title of the book and series, so keep an eye out for that next Saturday.

Welcome to my blog!

Guess I should start with the classic: hello, this is my blog! 

I'm an upcoming author, about to publish my first book. The book's done, formatted and almost ready for publishing as an e-book. Today, I had a big step in the right direction: getting the social media part done and ready before I actually publish.

This book... I'm ecstatic to share it with the world! I've been working on it for a year now and it's only the first of a series. Now, I'm not gonna say that it's the next big thing, but I've put a lot of work into it and I'm proud of it.

Here's a little secret: while this is the first book that I'm publishing, this isn't the first book that I wrote. I had written a book before, one that took me YEARS to complete and get as close to perfect as I could. But, when I sent it to agents to try and get it published the old fashioned way, I was shot down. So, instead of letting that get me down, I wrote a new book that's going to be completely digital.

What's the book, you ask? Well, keep an eye out for more information on it in later blogs. As the approximate release date gets closer (October 1st), I'll add more little tidbits about it to get you readers excited.

Until then, hope you all have a great day!