Paulette Miller's Blog

Seven years ago today, I sat at my mother’s bedside and watched her take her last breath. Her fight with cancer was finally over. After coming to terms that I would never again sit beside her drinking a cup of Earl Grey tea and watching one of her favorite shows — Walker, Texas Ranger, a new battle began within me. What was I do without my mother?

So many of the things I loved to do to relax after work, I did with her, such as putting together puzzles, talking on the phone, and spending count...

I just wanted to post a quick note to say that I have published “Mistyx Sonata” on Amazon. Book 2 in the series, “Mistyx Duet”, will be available on New Year’s Eve. It’s a lighthearted love story that I hope will make you smile.

My other book series, Blue Fire, was one very long story split into 5 books. This is really challenging because of the impact even a small ripple can have on the overall story line. What I’m looking forward to in the new Mistyx series series is that each book, startin...

I’ve finally completed the first two books in the Mistyx series and I’m now preparing them for publication. These books combine my love of writing with my love of music, so each book has a corresponding recommended song list.

I spent MANY hours listening to songs to find just the right one that blended well with my story line.It was no easy task and I ended up including songs from classic oldies to modern A Cappella groups. And since every performer puts their own twist on a song, my song lis...

I wanted to drop a quick note to share the status of the Mistyx series.

Since the first two books in the series (Mistyx Sonata and Mistyx Duet) go together as one story line, I’ve decided to publish them at the same time. It’ll delay publishing Sonata, but not by much. Here’s where I’m currently at…

Mistyx Sonata has been edited and is ready to be published. (Yippee!) Mistyx Duet is written and going through final editing now. I hope to have it ready to publish soon. It really depends on the...

It’s been a while since I found time to write in this blog. My daytime reality has kept me busy and I have to squeeze in writing during the night. That actually made me sound like a Vampire or some kind of odd super hero—mild mannered, full-time worker by day but, in the shadows of the night, she becomes ‘The Writer’. Oh well. I need a real job so that I can eat.

I’ve been busy working on Mistyx Sonata. When last I wrote to you, I was sending out the beta version of my book. Then I waited anx...

This week was another milestone for me. I just send my 7th book, Mistyx Sonata, to my beta readers. Now the wait begins.

No matter what an author might say, the wait is agonizing. Will they like it? What will I do if they hate it? Is it fixable? Ugh! But, as an independent writer, I accept the pain because I depend so much on their feedback.Since I wrote the story, when I try to edit it on my own, it doesn’t work. It’s writer’s blindness. I automatically fill in the gaps with what I think I w...

Ahhh, it’s raining outside. That makes it a perfect day for reading or writing a love story. Right now I’m at my computer working on one named Mistyx. Since my last book, Knight Shift, made people cry, I decided that this time I would do something a little more light-hearted. For those that have read Knight Shift, I can tell you right now that no one will die in this latest tale. Although some parts are sad, I hope you spend most of your time with a silly smile on your face.

Mistyx is a taver...

Hi everyone. I somehow managed to setup a new website. The old blog was focused on just the Blue Fire series. In fact, I originally had planned to hang up my pen once I completed the series, but I I love to write and decided to continue until I run out of stories to tell.With my new goal in mind, I decided to create a website that will cover all of my books. I’m still attempting to fill in holes in the site (like how to add a picture gallery) but, since I’m attempting to do this without the h...

Coming soon to a web site near you is Paulette Miller’s author blog. It will happen as soon as she learns how to update the site layout without the help of her son. Stay tuned to see if she or the computer wins. The battle will be epic.

I have received several comments about my book covers. Although some of you noted that you like my designs, others haven’t been as kind. They’ve said that they passed by my books because they were looking for covers with steamy romantic scenes, they didn’t like my art work, or they think it makes them look like young adult books — which they are definitely not. All of the above may be true, but I wanted this writing project to be done based on my own skills. Since I love to draw, I decided early on that I would create my own covers. Although some of the typcial steamy covers make you drool, I would have to hire out to get that kind of art work on my books. Alas, I promised my husband to keep my costs down to a minimum, especially since I wasn’t sure if anyone would be willing to buy any of my books. By the way, I added an adult warning on the description of the series in hopes to inform any potential readers of the intended reading level of my books.

Why did I chose masks as my main theme?

My books are about a character named Tianna who is on a journey of self-discovery. With the blood of multiple races flowing through her veins, she struggles knowing who she is and her purpose in life. The masks represent her ‘trying on’ the different parts of herself, searching to find the hidden nature that best represents who she really is. Truth be told, I also thought that if I ever had paperbacks made of my books, it would be cool if the masks had reflective eyes that would watch you as you passed by the book rack.

For grins and chuckles, over the next few blog posts I’ll provide my thoughts on how I designed each of my covers. Let’s start at the beginning of the series.

Cover Art for Book 1 Unquiet Slumber

Unquiet Slumber Cover Art

I started with a mask with closed eyes to show that Tianna is unable to see who and what she really is. The black background represents the darkness she is trapped in with the vines, gray spotted background, and the claw marks representing parts of the nightmare that she’s been haunted by all of her life. The mask is edged by part of the Faye symbol that is etched on her back.

Tianna’s Faye Mark

This image was given to her in a dream and she has no idea what it means. As a reader of the series you know that the Faye part of her is starting to emerge in order to help her embark on a long and hard journey where she’ll be forced to face all of her slumbering natures that are waiting to awaken.