The thing about knowing you’re going to write a trilogy from the get-go is that you can plan ahead cover-wise. So, even though I’m only a quarter of the way through writing Found, all the books in the Penny Black trilogy have covers!
And nothing motivates like awesome cover art!
Click on the image to add the books to your to-read on Goodreads.
Cover design by Robin Ludwig Design Inc., http://www.gobookcoverdesign.com/
It’s still summer here for another month. My kids don’t start school until mid-late September and it’s actually hot here, so we’re wringing all we can out of the season while we have the chance.
Of course, other things have been going on – the hubs and I had our 10 year wedding anniversary and we took a little trip to the San Juan islands. While we were there, we met authors Keary Taylor and Nikki Jefford. So much fun! And I’ll be meeting Amanda Hocking in person for the first time next week. I’ve been friends with all of these lovely ladies online for a long time – it’s great to finally meet face-to-face!
The kids have been in swimming lessons and track camp and they start sports camp this week, followed by karate and dance at the end of the month. My mom taxi is in full effect!
I also started a camp of my own, sort of, Crossfit! It’s really hard, but rewarding in that way where you’re using muscles you didn’t know you had. Right now I’m working out four days a week and will be moving to five next week. Wish me luck!!
There are birthday celebrations coming up, more weekend trips, the Pac NW YA bbq, a Gotye concert and back-to-school shopping! My August calendar has so much stuff on it, I can barely make out what I’m supposed to do from one day to the next!
So, what have I been working on? Found is coming along nicely, if not at a snail’s pace. The covers for the entire Penny Black trilogy should be ready soon – I’ll post them everywhere ASAP! The Awesome Robin Ludwig has done it again!! I finished listening to the audiobook of Glimpse last night – look for that to be available by the end of the month.
And, honestly, I’ve been reading a lot. Seaweed, Tangled Tides, Crave, and Envy in the past two weeks. I get to a point a couple of times a year where I just want to do nothing besides read. I always give into it. 
I hope everything is going well with you all and that your summer has been a blast! I’m sure I’ll be around more often when it starts to rain.
I have a list of things I keep meaning to tell you all!
If you have a blog: Sign up for the Indelibles INDIEpendence Day celebration!
If you like to read interesting posts and win stuff: Visit the Mid Summer Dream Fair! My post is called The Stage and it’s coming up at the end of the month.
If you want to win a paperback copy of the Day of Sacrifice Omnibus: Sign up on Goodreads or…sign up on that big sign up widget thingy over in the sidebar there.
If you want to get two monthly newsletters about new releases from the Indelibles and the Pacific Northwest YA Authors: Click the link for the Indelibles and for the PacNWYAAuthors to sign up.
Row80 update: I’m making decent progress on the pen name stories and I purchased an e-book cover, so that’s a done deal. I thought of yet another funny story for the BABD blog…and someday I might actually write it and the other 17 stories I have to put on there. I haven’t worked anymore on Found.
With the kids out of school and my husband only working away from home three days a week, I just can’t get anyone to leave me alone. If I didn’t have to pay for a new roof in July, I’d seriously consider renting office space and putting the kids in day care for a few hours every day!
Whenever people interview me they always ask how I manage to write books and stay at home with the kids. It’s a friggin’ MIRACLE that’s how. I have no idea. It just gets done and never in as timely a manner as I want. 
We never talk anymore! That’s my fault.
I thought skipping a round of ROW80 would help me feel less pressured to blog all the time and take one more thing off my To-Do list, but instead I’ve missed blogging! And I’ve only added more stuff to the To-Do list, so as per usual my “plans” are a bust.
Seriously, I win the medal for suckiest time management skillz.
Before I take off to California for Spring Break for a week, I thought I’d give you all a little update on what I’ve been doing writing and life-wise.
*Day of Sacrifice #6 – which I’m calling Unfavorable for now because I get tired of referring to stories by number - has to be finished by the end of May so I can participate in an Indelibles launch party. I think six weeks is a totally doable span of time to write a 15K story…I’m just a little freaked out because it’s the last one and I have to wrap up the whole series. I’ve got a beginning and an end and absofrickenlutely no idea what happens in the middle. Guess I’ll figure that out as I go along!
*I’m finally ready to start the next trilogy in the Zellie world. This trilogy also doesn’t have a solid title. I have plenty of ideas flowing, but am having writer’s block when it comes to titles! Perhaps there will be a contest. Hmm. Here’s the working title: Society School for Retroacts (Penny _____ #1, from the author of the Zellie Wells trilogy.) Doesn’t that have an awesome ring to it? lol
Anyway, I’ve mentioned on Facebook that the main characters name is Penny and that this trilogy would be set in the future. It started out being a decade, then I changed it to twenty years, and now I’m thinking around fifteen. The initial ideas I had for the books didn’t have enough oomph to last through a whole trilogy. The plot is still in the brainstorming stage, but I’ve definitely got a better hold on where I want it to go. I’m going to try to have this book done by August. (Do not hold me to this as a firm release date!!)
*Back in Time is not the last you are going to hear from Aurelia Lemon! After I finish Unfavorable, this will be what I work on when the Society School book is driving me nuts.
*Also I’m co-writing a contemporary New Adult book with Vicki Keire that is shaping up to be awesome – we’re taking our time with it, but I’ll keep you all updated.
*Also, also, I’m still working on pen name stories!
*Also, also, also, I’m starting a new blog where I’m going to write random essays about weird crap that happens to me. It’s going to be called Be Awesome, Beautiful Dreamer! Basically, I want to put out another book like The Toilet Business and I need new material. This idea could and probably will totally bomb, but whatevs, I’ll try some shit, y’know?
*On the personal front, I finally fricking got my dining room painted!! Only took two years y’all. I was on such a painting roll that I did the hallway, the closet doors in the hallway and all the doors. My mom helped me because she is awesome and because she asked if she could! (DUH.) All the paint looks great, although I can’t find one of the light fixtures that we took down. I rock at hiding things from myself.
*My old RAV 4 that my husband was driving was thisclose to breaking down on the freeway in a fiery explosion, so we traded that bad boy in and got a used Prius. The hubs is excited to have a new to him car and I’m happy that he won’t be stranded on the 26 during rush hour. We’re taking it to California and are both dorkily stoked to see how much money we save on gas. (Being an adult is super interesting and cool!!) I have had the pleasure of driving it once, on the way home from seeing John Carter.
*I quit smoking. I know, you didn’t know I smoked. (Unless you’ve read The Toilet Business and then I’m sure you had a good idea that it was still going on.) Well, I did. First, for a long time and then I had kids and I quit and then I started up again for a short time. I may appear loud and sarcastic and quippy, which I can be, but mostly I’m socially awkward. Smoking gave me something to do, it helped me tick off the time until I could go be alone again. And when I was alone, it was a reward for getting things accomplished – especially writing. However, I’ve quit a couple of times before and it’s been easier this time. I’m eating my face off, but eventually I’ll be mellow enough to concentrate on a better diet and exercising. It’s been a week. Go me!
*I got two new tattoos.
My indie publishing philosophy:
My kids initials:
It’s been eleven years since I’ve had a new tattoo, so I thought it was high time I got a couple. The pictures are kind of crappy and I’m painfully pale, but you get the gist.
I think that’s all I’m going to overshare for today. Ha! I hope you all are enjoying spring and get to have a little break soon.
Happy Valentine’s Day!!
Usually this day is not all that busy for me. I mean, I eat candy, I go out to dinner, the hubs and kids are extra sweet to me…but work-wise, not so much.
I’m making up for that this year!
I’ve got a story in two anthologies this V-day – both of which I volunteered to format. (So, if the formatting on your copy/copies sucks, let me know!!)
IN HIS EYES is an anthology from the Indelibles.
My short story in IHE is called Surprise, Surprise and it’s about Melody and Raleigh from the Zellie books and what happens when they go on their first real date. It’s cute and super romantic and I had a great time getting into the Zellie world again. All of the stories in IHE are written from a male character’s point of view, so you all get to know a bit more about what’s going on in Raleigh’s head.
I really dig writing these spin-off stories and you can expect more of them. The next full-length novel set in the Zellie world takes place more than a decade after where Glow left off – so I’ve got a lot of years to cover and a lot of short stories to tell.
You can get IN HIS EYES free at Smashwords and for 99 cents at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. (We were hoping it would go free everywhere by V-day, but alas, it hasn’t happened. Still, 16 stories for 99 cents ain’t so bad!)
The other anthology is Death By Chocolate.
The short story I have in DBC is called Back in Time and it’s actually pretty long – the length of a Day of Sacrifice story. Here’s the blurb:
Nothing in Aurelia Lemon’s life is turning out how she’d planned. She’s unemployed, unattached, and her family bakery is on the verge of closing. To make matters worse, the guy she dumped in high school is doing well and getting rich off of one of her departed mother’s recipes. It would take a miracle to right everything she’s done wrong. Or maybe just a phone call and the chance to go Back in Time.
It was such a fun story to write – so much so that it’s the first in a new short story series. I love time travel stories and characters getting to right past wrongs – the genre lends itself to many shenanigans. (If they’re written by me – not so many shenanigans in Time Traveller’s Wife.)
Death By Chocolate is available for $2.99 at Smashwords, Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
(Smashwords is being a PITA and not loading – I’ll add the links when it’s working again.)
Lastly, I wanted to tell y’all about a book NOT written by me! My fellow PacNWYAer, Laura Elliott has a new book coming out soon! She’s doing a little cover reveal and giveaway today to celebrate the holiday.
TWO WORLDS. TWO TEENS. ONE WISH.
TRANSFER STUDENT is a science fiction Freaky-Friday romance/adventure about two normal teenagers struggling to survive high school and deal with their parents… typical rites of passage. The twist? One teen is an alien from the planet Retha. In a galactic teleporting experiment gone wrong, Ashley, a Beverly Hills High surfing fashionista, and Rhoe, the biggest geek on planet Retha, swap lives. Only by surviving life as their biggest nightmare do Ashley & Rhoe discover their dreams. How far would you go for someone you love?
WIN TRANSFER STUDENT BOOKMARKS SIGNED BY AUTHOR LAURA A. H. ELLIOTT!
To enter to win all you need to do is tweet this & follow my blog Laurasmagicday: Nothing says #ValentinesDay like an alien #romance! TRANSFER STUDENT Cover Reveal! #TransferStudent #teenreads #kindle http://laurasmagicday.wordpress.com/
The first 100 tweets/followers win!
TRANSFER STUDENT BLOG TOUR: LEAP DAY, 2012 – MARCH 20th
Giveaways include free ebooks of TRANSFER STUDENT, Amazon gift cards & weekly surprise gifts that are out of this world! TRANSFER STUDENT RELEASE DAY: MARCH 20th
Got all that? I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day and at the very least eat too much chocolate and read some great books.
LUV,
Stacey
This year my family decided to do something different for Thanksgiving and get out of town. I’m headed to Mt. Hood in a couple of hours to enjoy a few days of eating and sledding and snowball fights.
Here’s where we’re staying:
Yes, that’s the Timberline Lodge – the hotel from The Shining. I fully expect my sister to wake me at least once by wiggling her finger in my face and saying “redrumredrumredrum.”
Our plan for Thanksgiving is to eat ourselves silly and then take the kids out to play in the snow. We don’t get much in the valley, and when we do it’s usually covered in a sheet of ice, so my kids have never been sledding before!
Wish me luck, I’m going to be the one driving and I haven’t ever put chains on my tires. Actually, I haven’t driven in much snow at all since I was a teenager…why did I volunteer for this job again?
Enjoy the holiday, American types, and do yourself a favor and sleep in on Friday. The 500 pack of socks for 10 cents will still be there later in the day.
Row80 update: I barfed up a whopping 3,279 words on a new pen name short story on Monday. I’m using barf in the best sense of the word – I’d been thinking about the story for a while now and wasn’t in the mood to work on my DBC story, so I thought I’d just get the beginning written. It took off from there! I probably would’ve stayed up late and written more, but my husband wanted me to watch How I Met Your Mother with him and my eyes were burning something fierce. I added another 400 words yesterday and have left off in an awesome spot so that I’ll be rarin’ to go on it when I get back from the mountain.
I also completely reorganized all of my files and finally got the epub version of most of my stories up on All Romance. A fairly productive beginning to the week that I will now completely ruin by being a sloth for three days. Yippee!!
Have a good one, y’all.
Surprise, surprise, I’m actually writing an update on the correct day! Wish I had something more exciting to post.
I had a few blessed hours to myself yesterday and I added 862 new words to my Death by Chocolate story. Uh, I think. I also erased whole paragraphs because I decided my main character, Aurelia, needed to be more conflicted about coming home. It’s a time travel story and if she doesn’t miss anything about the other dimension, there’s no real tension in the choice she has to make at the end. So, I’m pleased with where it’s at now.
Currently, I’m on the precipice of the “meet cute” scene and although I want the love interest to be awesome and suave and funny, I think I have to make him a douche. Maybe a douche that’s still really hot? lol Again, there needs to be more conflict.
On the home front, my husband is sick and my kids are still trying to adjust to the time change. This leads to everyone at my house sleeping at weird hours in several places besides their beds. The hubs is favoring the couch, my daughter the floor, and my son and I spend a lot of time in the recliner with our heads hanging over the side. Super comfy.
I’m excited to go on a mom date with Sarah tonight to see In Time. For once we’re going to see a movie because it looks good instead of because of all the hot boys that are in it. Although, there are plenty to ogle in In Time – just not our faves.
I know you’re shocked that I’m seeing a movie tonight and not waiting until tomorrow to check out Breaking Dawn Part 1. I kind of am too, but we’ve decided to check that mutha out next Sunday. I seriously can’t wait to see the honeymoon scene. I powered through the books to get to that part because I’d been promised some sex and then, well, we all know how underwhelming that was. I’m sure I’ll do something dorky like clap and embarrass the hell out of Sarah. I like to think it’s payback for having to see Valentine’s Day just because Abs McLautner was in it.
Okay, time to go douchify a character. Have a super swell Wednesday.
I’m allowed to start looking forward to the weekend when it’s only Wednesday, right? This week has sucked so far, as I’ve got a cold and my washer and dryer crapped out just when I really needed them. Off to Best Buy we went and procured ourselves a new set.
They were delivered yesterday, but the outlet in my laundry room was designed for a range instead of a dryer. My poor house. I love it. It’s orange, has a tree growing in the center of it and has lots and lots of windows, but it was built in 1964 and has apparently had nothing but DIYers (including me) habitate under its skylights. Something always has to be updated or redone because it was slapped together with hillbilly carpentry.
Many thanks to Ben, an electrician, for coming out and putting a new outlet in on such short notice. Also, thank you for being hot and having an accent. I can’t really remember anything you said to me, but the washer and dryer are all hooked up and I’ve got on clean underwear for the first time this week.
Yeah, so when that’s a highlight you can bet I’m ready for a weekend away with my girlfriends.
We go to my friend’s family cabin at the beach every November – In fact, I think this will be my 9th year. The only time I’ve missed it was when I was, like, two days away from giving birth to my son. We all lounge about and read US and People magazine, drink Bud Light, eat junk food and just generally have a grown-up slumber party. On Saturday we hit the outlet mall and get started on our Christmas shopping. We play card games and make up dance routines and try on each others’ clothes. There is some hair braiding, I won’t lie. We, without fail, burn our dinner on the first night and have something fried with ranch dressing on it at the bar the second night.
The best part is we get to be how we used to be for a weekend. Before husbands and kids and jobs and mortgages and all the have-to’s that come with getting older. I get called by my first name and no one asks me to get them anything besides maybe another beer. I can forget that I’m on my second set of washer and dryers in my adult life.
The next best part is on Sunday when we go home and get to see our husbands and kids and we offer to get them anything they want and it’s good to be called Honey and Mommy again.
No matter how successful I want to be as a mother and writer, how driven I am, how much I sacrifice “who I used to be,” it can’t all be about getting ahead. Sometimes you have to relax, do some 8-counts, play Apples to Apples and not worry about word count or deadlines or if your kids have clean jammies.
My point: Acting like a jackass 18-year-old can be good for you.
ROW80: I wrote 376 words on Dissent on Tuesday and head plotted the rest of the scene last night while folding, you guessed it, laundry.
Such a busy week! We had three RBR tour stops, our last at A Children’s Place Bookstore yesterday, I saw Footloose, took my kids to the pumpkin patch and ended the week last night at Billy’s bar with pizza and vodka tonics and my Cards kicking some World Series butt.
The YA author tour went so well that we’re planning another one in the spring – with even more local authors! Cheri Lasota, Cidney Swanson, Craig Hansen and McKenzie McCann will hopefully be joining us next time around. (That’s a lot of C’s, people!! Just noticed that.)
If you’re a YA author and live in the Pacific Northwest, drop me a line at: Pacific Northwest YA Authors and we’ll talk. Going on tour as a group makes the experience a little less daunting. Plus, we have all kinds of fun – where else are you going to meet people IRL that geek out on e-book formatting and platform building? :)
Now that the tour is over and all I have to worry about are birthdays and holidays and cleaning my hole of a house, I’m going to try to write every day. I’ve got three long short stories to write by the end of the year – one I hope to publish by the end of this month. So, if you don’t see me around on the interwebs quite as often, you’ll know what I’m doing!
Word Count: I wrote 788 words on Thursday on my story for the Death By Chocolate anthology. Right now, the story is called Do Over. I totally hate that title and am sure it will eventually be called something awesome.
I’m off to write! Have a splendiferous ( or glorgious as Kait Nolan would say) week!
