Reyna Pryde's Blog

I'll admit I'm a sucker for a good story, especially if I can watch it all unfold before my eyes. With television blowing movies out of the water in the originality department, I find myself glued to my laptop more than usual. That is right, I said my LAPTOP.

The reason I am placing emphasis on how I am viewing my favorites shows is because I feel as if the television and film industry are lagging a bit behind with technology. I own two TVs in my home and I rarely turn them on to watch 'televised programming' anymore. One sits in my bedroom and it is only used at night to help my husband fall sleep and in the morning to check the news before work. The second TV spends most of its time serving as a monitor for our XBOX to play games or to watch shows on one of the many apps available on our gaming system.

Suffice it to say, while my husband has a controller glued to his hand, I am watching something on my laptop. Like so many others, I do not watch 'TV' on the actual television anymore. So, I find it disheartening when I learn of a new show and I am unable to watch it because of all the red tape involved. I don't want to be the criminal who turns to illegal sites just to view a show I might love.

And while I am patiently waiting for said show to hit Hulu, Netflix, or Amazon Prime, that show gets canceled because of low ratings. Wake up people! We aren't watching your show because WE ARE NOT WATCHING LIVE PROGRAMMING ANYMORE!!! I know so many of us are tried of finding an original program with so much possibility, only to learn after watching the first seasoon that it was canceled.

*Firefly fans will never outlive their outrage over Fox's decision to cancel such an amazing show!*

When will the networks understand that there are so many of us out here, willing to pay for quality entertainment. We are willing to sit through commercials and fork out a few extra dollars to see original shows with spectacular plots and characters. I am not asking anyone to entertain me for free. Just give me an easier way to pick and choose what shows I want to see and when/how I am able to see them without making me feel ripped off by charging me per episode. Take the cable networks for example. They want me to pay ridiculous amounts of money to them to watch a show on a local station I could have watch for free not too long ago. And sure, times are changing so I will concede that may be asking for a little compensation to view those local channels isn't asking for too much; however, if you are going to ask me to pay ungodly amounts of my hardearned money to you when I can pay less than 10% that amount to view those shows on Netflix, you should damned well give me the option of what networks/channels I want to be included in my channel lineup.

Then there is the problem of movie theaters. Granted, I rarely go to the movies because Hollywood has been vomitting out filth for years; or worse, regergetated titles and stories that we could care less to see remade when there are billions of stories out there that have yet to be told. I, for one, HATE going to the movies. The experience is like forcing me to sit in a germfilled sea of fabric next to a smelly pig who eats, laughs, and talks throughout whatever epic tale I have waited years to see. Yes, I usually only go to the theater to see movies that I have been waiting forever to see and the experience is always a poor one.

What do I want? I want theatres to become a thing of the past and for the industry to realize most of us want to watch a new release at home. I would pay upwards of $15 dollars to stream a new movie at home where I can watch it the day it comes out. This way I can hang out with my best friend and we can pause it to take a potty break or chat about the exciting events as they unfold on the screen. I wouldn't even mind watching advertisesments before or during the movie as long as those advertisements weren't too long.

I can almost hear the naysayers shrieking about how streaming new movies online will result in pirating. Let me be clear when I address this, NOTHING WILL EVER STOP PIRATING!!! It is happening everywhere, taking away so much revenue from companies who worked hard and paid millions or billions of dollars to give me (Oh yeah and everyone else!) countless hours of viewing entertainment. But there are some of us who want to support the things we love and if we are given the right tools to do so, those companies could stand to make much more than they are now by sticking theirs heads in the sand and refusing to see the changes in front of them.

Netflix is killing its competition for a reason, forward thinking! Along with their interesting original series', they are even going as far as to pick up canceled shows with obvious potential to profit where others were to quick to use their ax. If you stop to think about how many people are using services like Netflix (Neflix claims to it will hit 60 million subscribers in 2015) and those who are pirating to find shows, there is only one conclusion to make.

We are not the generation of late night television. We no longer want to be forced to schedule our time around a TV show or a movie showtime. We are the generation of change and we demand you give us want we want or we will take it without saying thank you. Let us give back to you! Give us the option to live by the rules and we may surprise you. Make it easier for us to do so and some of us will gladly offer you a huge round of applause and a few dollars to add to your revenue!

Stop cowering to the cable companies and offer your programming online for a monthly fee. Hell, I watch so many shows on the CW network and Syfy that I would gladly fork over a membership fee to watch their programming through their website whenever I feel like it, as long as it was a reasonable fee. Even though I only watch one show on AMC, I love The Walking Dead so much that I would be willing to do the same for their programming and pray they added more shows for me to love in the future.

Likewise, cable providers like Comcast would be more likely to gain and keep customers if they would offer more options to choose your own channels with their programming. Take a peek at my lists below and you will see I watch less than 20 channels so why would I want to pay over a hundred dollars for a bunch of channels I will never even stop to view. With the way things are going, we need a change! I hear all the time that companies in the television and film industry are struggling and if nothing changes, it will eventually be too late for them to make a change.

I take my hat off to the great writers who have filled my days with all the great TV shows which have come into my life recently. I can only hope a change will come soon so that networks will see how many of us are really taking the time to enjoy their programming and they keep great shows around long enough for us to fully enjoy the story!

Shows I am currently following:

12 Monkeys (Syfy)
Agents of Shield (ABC)
American Horror Story (FX)
Arrow (CW)
Bitten (Space, Syfy (US))
Black Sails (Starz)
Constantine (NBC) Praying this gets a second season!
Continuum (Showcase, Syfy (US))
Defiance (Syfy)
Doctor Who (BBC)
Dominion (Syfy)
Elementary (CBS)
Extant (CBS)
Falling Skies (TNT)
Forever (ABC)
Galavant (ABC)
Games of Thrones (HBO)
Gotham (FOX)
Grimm (NBC)
Haven (Syfy)
Helix (Syfy)
Hemlock Grove (Netflix)
How to Get Away with Murder (ABC)
In the Flesh (BBC)
Lost Girl (SHOWCASE, Syfy (US))
Once Upon a Time (ABC)
Orange is the New Black (Netflix)
Orphan Black (SPACE, BBC (US)) 
Outlander (STARZ)
Penny Dreadful (SHOWTIME)
Resurrection (ABC)
Salem (WGN)
Sherlock (BBC)
Teen Wolf (MTV)
The 100 (CW)
The Flash (CW)
The Last Ship (TNT)
The Leftovers (HBO)
The Musketeers (BBC)
The Originals (CW)
The Strain (FX)
The Vampire Diaries (CW)
The Walking Dead (AMC)
True Detective (HBO)
Vikings (HISTORY)
Z Nation (Syfy)

Canceled shows I loved:

Too many to count!

Shows I wanted to love but gave up on:

Revenge (ABC)
Sleepy Hollow (Fox)
Supernatural (CW)
Reign (CW)
Intruders (BBC)
Beauty and the Beast (CW)

Upcoming shows I will check out:

iZombie (CW)
American Crime Story (FX)
The Messengers (CW)
The Last Man on Earth (Fox)
Heroes Reborn (NBC)
Daredevil (Netflix)
Wayward Pines (Fox)
Hindsight (VH1)
Westworld (HBO)
Damien (Lifetime)
Shannara (MTV)
The Magicians (Syfy)
Supergirl (CBS)
Teen Titans (TNT)
Ash vs the Evil Dead (Starz)
Jonathan Strange &Mr. Norrell (BBC)
Dark Matter (Syfy)
Sense8 (NETFLIX)
The Whispers (ABC)
And on, and on, and...

As you can see, I love SciFi and Fantasy. If you have any suggestions for new or renewed shows you love that were not mentioned above, I would love to hear them!

Writer's block...

I have never had it until now.

It's like all the wonderful things I had planned for my latest installment of The Road to Ruin series are a big jumbled mess that I can make heads or tails of anymore. Sure, I know the story. Hell, I have been planning it for year!!! Yet here I sit, staring blankly at the screen, wacthing the cursor flash over and over again with no new words to type.

I wanted to scream, to yell at myself and demand that I give the people what they want and finish book #2 already! But my brain wasn't listening to my demands. In one last ditch effort to save the day from being completely wasted, I opened a new document. All of the sudden, words flew onto the screen with a beautiful rhythmic tap, tap, tap. Now I can't say Acelynn's journey is any closer to completetion than it was last week, but I can say that Lilith's past is playing out on the page and will soon be a new short story to add to my Diary of Lilith (DOL) collection.

There is no denyng that my DOL stories go hand in hand with what is happening in the rest of the Traversing Eternity world I have built. I have released two out of the three series I am writing in this world, Unique: A New Breed & Bound by Sacrifice: The Road to Ruin. There can't be a present without a past. Every time I try to build on the current storyline I am writing, I find myself also writing the story of these characters' past and how that past influnces their present.

Lilith is one of my favorite characters. With her immortality extending back to the dawn of humankind, she has experienced everything the world has to offer her. Well, everything except motherhood, which was taken from her even after she was finally able to bear a child. The cruelty Lilith has experienced makes her hard, cold, and brutaly honest. While the kindness and love she has felt makes her vulnerable. She is strong and confident, yet weak at the same time.

Lilith's worst enemy is herself. She is given glimpses of her future, a future she believes she can never change, and her acceptance of the inevitable is awe inspiring. At least it is for me, the writer. LoL I created Lilith to be a woman every other woman wants to be. She makes the hard choices, and suffers in silence; however, not a day goes by that she doesn't plan for a future filled with love, happiness, and family. Being immortal, she isn't someone I would expect people to relate to and the truth is that I relate to her more than any other character I have ever written.

With The Road to Ruin #2 working its way slowly into life, I had to take a break and tell the story BEHIND the story. As Acelynn takes residence in Hell, she obviously will be spending more time with Satan and his demons, one demon in particular. Asmodeus is more than your average demon. He is special and I don't just mean how awesome his head games are. His past is a complicated one and he wasn't always the monster manipulating people's desires. He was once...

Yeah, like I am gonna tell you all of the story in a blog post! You'll just have to wait until the next installment of DOL comes out. If you haven't guessed it by the last few sentences, it will be called Diary of Lilith: Asmodeus.

You will see their past in Diary of Lilith, but their journey will continue in Unbound by Betrayal: The Road to Ruin #2.



My Asmodeus. A gun may be out of character for him, but I always picture Ving when I write him.

With my newest release only a week away, I have been busy. What have I been doing? Well, I made my first book trailer! AND, I compiled a wonderful playlist of all the songs that fit with this wonderful story. Unique: A New Breed is more than a story about a badass vampire hunter. It is a story of pain, survival, prejudice, friendship, and overcoming fear. Of course, there is a little bit of love involved as always. I hope Unique's story is embraced by Urban Fantasy readers and all the readers who enjoyed my first book in the Traversing Eternity world, Bound by Sacrifice.

Unique: A New Breed will be available on August 31st, 2014 but you can pre-order it now on Amazon for $2.99.

Just a little music to paint a picture of Unique's story and all the characters in it. Enjoy!

A few months back I wrote a blog ( Edit, edit, and edit again! ) about all the different FREE resources : use to edit my books and some of the most common mistakes I made with my first book release. I have received a lot of feed back from that blog, as well as many requests for more helpful tips to become a better writer. If there is anything you should know about me, it is that I am extremely cheap! I have taken the long road in self publishing due to the fact that I simply can't afford to pay anyone to edit and format, or to make cover art for me. The long road wasn't easy and it meant spending countless hours learning how to work a new FREE writing program. In addition to learning that program, I also became somewhat proficent in the basics of photo manipulation through another FREE program. So, here I am sharing with my fellow newbie authors or anyone else who wants to improve their budget.

Today I will not only share the programs I used, I will also show you some of the things I have accomlished with these programs. The first one is my writing program. Microsoft Word is the standard program used by the average PC user; however, I looked into the cost of it and found it to be a bit too expensive for my pocketbook. Not to mention the fact that I tried it free for a month and it lost my 'saved' document three times in two days which is totally NOT acceptable for someone who spends hours writing every day.

Fear not my cost-concious friends, there is a free alternative that many people use and it isn't hard to shift your knowledge of Word to this program. OpenOffice (OO) Writer is the program I have used for almost two years now and it is 100% free. No tricks or gimmicks, just a free program which is very similar to what most writers are used to. There are tutorials all over the place to help you learn about the small differences you may encounter with OO, but I will show you a screenshot of my most recent book which was formatted for Createspace with OO.



As you can see, with the help of many other wonderful people who took the time to make a tutorials, I successfully implemented running headers and drop caps into my new book to make it look as professional as possible. Although I did not point it out, I also added page numbers and used various other formatting techniques to make sure my book fit the parameters of the book size I chose to publish (6'x9'). Perhaps in the future I will do my own tutorials to walk through each step I used to format my book, but for this post I am simply showing you what OO can do if you take the time to learn it. I am currently using Apache OpenOffice. There are a few other versions out there that may work; however, I can't vouch for them. I always use CNET for my downloads because it is safe, but you can find Apache OpenOffice to download free in other places.

Now, on to the program I used to make free book covers and promotional images. I found Gimp almost two years ago and it has changed my life, literally. After spending countless hours building cover after cover and simply playing around with this program, I have become quite efficient at photo maniplation. I also learned that I LOVE to create things and enhance photos. I have even done it several times now, by request, for family and friends.

Gimp is similar to photoshop. It has almost all of the same functions, although I have heard that there is a learning curve for those of you who are photoshop veterans. I have never had a photo manipulation program before I found Gimp, so for me, it only took learning the basics and moving into more advanced manipulation from there. I often watch tutorials for fun now, just to see what new filters and ideas people have that I may not have explored. You can find additonal tools such as filters, brushes, fonts, and plugins to download for free that make this program even more impressive. You can even find prebuilt Gimp programs that have already installed some of the more popular filters and plugins for you. My first time around with Gimp, I did most of the installation of extras myself but after purchasing a new computer this spring, I downloaded a prebuilt version from http://www.partha.com/

If you would rather do all the customization yourself, you can find the basic version of Gimp on CNET .

Here are a few of the things I have accomplished with Gimp. The first set of photos are simple photo manipulations I did for my niece's graduation. I enhanced the photos and used filters to add the desired effects.
The second manipulation is my latest book cover for my new series which will be released in August. The models are my own photographs of family and friends and the background is a public domain image. All of these were obviously free to use and will not cause me any grief due to copyright issues. The only thing I spent any money on was the sword, which I purchased from Amazon for $50 and it will end up being a great investment since I will be able to use it for more than one book cover in my series.

As you can see, I changed and added quite a bit to get the final cover art the way I wanted it. I decided how I wanted the cover to look and then found tutorials to teach me how to do each change; making day into night in the forest, fading the background behind lettering for the back cover, making metallic text, etc. All these changes were done by watching a tutorial someone else did and a little bit of trial and error.



Well, I hope you find the two free programs I use helpful. I do know that it is no walk in the park to learn how to use either one of these programs. As I said before, there are all kinds of tutorials and walkthroughs all over the internet that will help guide you. I am by no means an expert, I still have a lot to learn. Maybe one day I will have a blog to share with you about how I became an expert one step at a time. For now, I will share what I know and we can learn together.

 I see them everywhere, the cliffhanger haters. They despise an ending which leaves you desperate to know more and angry the story wasn't wrapped up in a nice bow in one book. Cliffhanger haters ruin their entire reading experience by succumbing to the ridiculous notion that a story was written simply to please their personal idea of Happily Ever After.

I don't write stories to make money; although, it is nice when I do. I don't write them to be praised or doted on. In fact, I get slightly embarassed when people tell me how much they like my books. I am a shy girl! I do write books for me. I know what I like and I know the characters I am creating. My stories have been written and rewritten in my head over and over again for the last five years.

"Virtually every page is a cliffhanger--you've got to force them to turn it." ― Dr. Seuss
I LOVE CLIFFHANGERS!!! If you want to know the truth, I prefer every book in a series to end with a twist I never saw coming and a reason to leave me dreaming of the journey to come. When I read the first book in a series, you can bet I won't come back if the ending doesn't stick with me. And yes, maybe that is just MY personal preference but I am forced to read my own books repeatedly. So, why wouldn't I want to go out with a bang and have my mind working overtime to build the next book?
No hate to the haters of cliffhangers. Just know that if you can't handle falling in love with a story and having to wait for the next book to be released, then pass on by. I plan to leave you breathless every time and I make no excuses for dreaming BIG.

Aren't you tired of guessing the end of a story? I know I sure as hell am! I hope you can NEVER guess what happens next when you read my books. If I don't make it to a best sellers list, I'll be alright. Especially with all the love I get from readers who are waiting with bated breath to find out what happens next.

I recently started to notice a slight trend in my Goodreads ratings. Occasionally, I would come across that random 'man' who read my book... AND LOVED IT! Or at least the 4 & 5 star ratings they were handing out would lead me to believe they did. I thought to myself, this is GREAT news! Here I have been dreaming away about becoming the next 'big' name in the book world, and all along I had the potential to write for more than the female audience I was targeting.

Then, it hit me. Sure, the idea that I could write a story ANYONE could love was a dream come true. But how the HELL do I market to MEN??? I am a woman. I think like a woman, at least 50% of the time. I do realize that I am not as emotional or as girly as most women; however, I am still a female. Therefore, I am not quite sure how to dangle my books in front of guys. With women, it is easier. I think about what I like about my books and I share that with all the ladies. But what does a man like to read about?

Certainly not romance!? Which is okay, because most of my writing has a love story but LOVE IS NOT THE STORY. And I don't write sex scenes in detail, so there is no fear of stumbling into a erotic novel with my books.

Deep emotions and heartache? Well, I try to let you feel what the character is feeling without drowning you in sorrow. So, maybe men might be on board.

Sisterly love and female bonding? Not much of that in my writing. As a chic who has always had more male friends than female, I find the ties of relationships can be less typical and more open with a guy vs a girl. Most of my characters breach the lines of normal friendship, whether it is with the same sex or the opposite sex.

Alpha males... that is not a 'man' thing, right? I don't write about the big scary dude who becomes a total pussy because he fell in love. My characters are real, based on real people and their personalities. Sure, I soften them or harden them a bit to make them unique; however, I will never outright castrate a strong man who shows some vulnerability with his heart.

What about action, suspense, mystery, and violence? Yep, I got those covered, if that is what men want.

So, what do I have to offer to the male readers of the world...

It seems like I have quite a bit. The only trouble I have now will be to figure out how to reach the type of male reader who might want to read my stories. I write fantasies about the mythology of paranormal creatures, old legends with a new twist, good vs evil, and plots that always keep you guessing. These are not all separate stories. These are the makings of a new world, the world of Traversing Eternity.

If you are a male fan of paranormal, urban fantasy, fantasy, or any sub-genre of these, I would love to know what draws you in when searching for a new read. Drop me a line or message me on any of my social media sites or emails and you will have the chance to win 1 of 3 kindle copies of my first book, Bound by Sacrifice: The Road to Ruin #1. You will also be added to a list to received a hard copy my next book, Unique: A New Breed, when it comes out.

Over the last few weeks, I fell far and fast. I lost my grandmother, the heart of my family, and somewhere along the line I lost my inspiration, too. I found myself withdrawing from everything that made me happy for the last few years. I couldn't focus on writing, editing, my online friends and family. Everything seemed so uninteresting and ALL I did was watch TV non-stop. My fans have suffered along with me. My website #'s dropped to record lows. Even the wonderful news that 'Bound by Sacrifice' won 3rd place in a wonderful cover art contest couldn't bring my spirits up for long. It was depression. I know that now, I knew it then. But how do you reverse the pain in your heart and restore yourself to your former glory?

I didn't... I honestly, truly am NOT the person I once was and I am not sure I ever will be. Still, I do know one thing. I may never be THAT person again, but I will be better. Every day I find myself slowly falling back into old routines. Checking in on my online family, dropping a re-tweet on twitter or a shout out to my #FF regulars. I even spent some much needed time editing my next book, 'Unique: A New Breed', today.

In the beginning of my journey as an author, I hit a snag and that's okay. It may take time to rebuild the things that have been torn down by my heartache, but I am up to the challenge. If you are reading this post, thanks for standing by me and returning to my website. I'll reward you all with a special little look at what is to come from me in the 'hopefully' near future.

'Diary of Lilith: Merlin' will be released soon. Editing is done on this project; however, I am currently looking for an awesome cover pic to seal the deal. It will be released for free on Smashwords first. Once it hits all the major retailers Smashwords distributes to (Diesel, kobo, nook, apple, & blio), it will be uploaded to Amazon. Amazon may take some time to change the list price to free, but once they do, I will shout it from the rooftops! If you are new to the Diary of Lilith series, here is a bit about this FREE short story series I offer.




Diary of Lilith is a short story collection, meant to fill in questions about the character known as Lilith in several of my books. As the creator of almost all supernatural creatures, Lilith is the preliminary building block for my 'Traversing Eternity' world of books. Since the beginning of time, she has been a part of history, playing important roles while hiding her true face.

I created the Diary of Lilith series to let people see the complexities behind a magical woman who has been alive since the beginning of man. Her power and her darkness might only be matched by her strength and heart. Eternity is a long time to live with an evil inside that could outweigh the good.

Lilith's world is on the brink of chaos. Her enemies are coming at her from different angles and in each series you will meet new characters with their own forces of evil to conquer.

There will be several different series: The Road to Ruin Series, which begins with Acelynn's story of sacrificing herself for the people she loves; A New Breed Series, the story of Unique, a former vampire's slave, who went on to become a rogue vampire hunter and found herself forced to work with her enemy for justice; And The Wolven Naguales Chronicles, the story of creatures created by an evil sorceress by fusing the spirit of a wolf and a human into a magical, shape-shifting body.

While each series can be read individually, as a whole you will see a much bigger story unfold. Characters will bounce between series and become part of a story that will lead you even further into the world I have created. I hope you enjoy these little short reads about Lilith's past and continue to follow her future in all the books that will come out of the world of Traversing Eternity.




'Diary of Lilith: Dracula' has been out since July of 2013 and has consistently stayed below the 50th ranking in its catergory on Amazon. I have had so many readers contact me about how this little story drew them in and made them want to know more. They got more in Novermber with the release of my first novel, 'Bound by Sacrifice: The Road to Ruin #1' . I gave you a brief description of this series above. I am currently writing the second book in The Road to Ruin series and it is sure to keep readers guessing about the good and evil inside us all!

But 'Unique' won't be held back! From the description above, you can tell this story will have action. And I promise to bring you one badass female who knows how to handle herself! I am working as quickly as possible to finish edits on this story; however, you should know I am a perfectionist with an autocorrect brain. Meaning, I read it correctly even if it is wrong. So editing is the WORST thing ever for me!!

Here is a little photo edit I threw together for fun.
Thanks for dropping by. I won't be stopped by a little sadness, though it may slow me down from time to time. Stayed tuned for more of my random blog posts and my unpredictable stories.

Reyna Pryde? Who? What's a pen name? Why not just be you? Don't you want to be known for your work? I've had numerous people ask me questions about my decision to write under a pen name. There is no simple answer I can give them for my choice, since I had several different reasons not to use my real name as an author.

My first concern about using my real name was originality. I was born with an extremely common first name. Sure, the spelling of it is unique, but after searching social media I found other people with my exact spelling of both my first and last name. Why does that matter? I would prefer to be one-of-a-kind, in a sense and now I am, for the time being. *winks* If you search my name in Google, I AM ALL YOU SEE!

Why Reyna (Ray, as in, a ray of sunshine + nuh)? I have seen people with this name before, so it isn't that unusual. I have seen it spelled Rayna, Rayena, Raena, ect. I chose the spelling with an 'ey' because it wasn't as popular. Also, I liked this name. What?! Can't a girl just like her name for no particular reason?

So... Pryde? Pryde was a more personal choice with meaning behind it. Writing is my passion. It has become the first thing in my life that I take an immense amount of pride in. Get it, pride-Pryde? And the spelling? Well, if you know anything about me, you know I am a nerd who used to read tons of comics. Actually, my love of reading, as an adult, was reestablished through my love of comics. In the Marvel Universe (I am a Marvel girl.), there is an X-man, known as Kitty Pryde, aka Shadowcat. Even though Kitty is not my favorite X-man, I wanted to represent my love of Marvel comics. Besides, I don't think readers would take me seriously if I went by, The White Queen (my FAV character), and her real name is way too common.

I also had concerns about my privacy. No, I AM NOT FAMOUS and I don't think I ever will be. Unless you ask my family, they would say I already am. LoL I would love to make a living off of my writing, but honestly, I have no desire to ever be famous. Yes, I am serious! I love the relationships I am building with fans and fellow authors online. However, I am a very private person who doesn't want my personal life on display to everyone. In fact, I am slightly paranoid about giving too much info away to strangers online. STRANGER DANGER!

It all boils down to this, a pen name was right for me. Not everyone is an introvert who needs their 'me time' and is scared of the world knowing all their secrets. Most people want fame, recognition, and a chance to 'see their name in lights, so to speak. I just want to write the stories in my head for readers to enjoy, while finding the best way to market my odd self and my books. So far I think I am doing alright... only time will tell.

Happy VA Movie release day!  


Today is a day many fangirls have been waiting years on… Vampire Academy is finally here! It has been a long journey for the fans of this series, but we made it!! Richelle Mead, the author of VA, has been one of my inspirations and gave me so many amazing gifts through her writing. 


Before reading VA, I thought a romance had to be a romance. Or a story about friendship was about the relationship between two people. I was under the impression a book had to fall into a category and follow a certain style to be considered a YA book or an action-packed adult series. Reading my first Mead series, Dark Swan, was an eye opener for me. I was introduced to a world built around comedy, action, romance, paranormal, and the style wasn't complicated or weighed down by long, unnecessary descriptions. 


I began to see my own style of writing come together, and it was so flawless for me after that. I used to struggle with the words as I typed, always second guessing myself and how much needed to be said for the reader to 'see' the world I was building. I no longer have that fear and with three novels completed, and one published, which is doing very well (4 & 5 star reviews), I feel as if I have finally found the piece I was missing. 


Richelle Mead's writing style gave me hope that maybe all I needed to do was write it out how it was in my head and the reader would understand it. Other writers made me feel like I needed to follow their pattern and bore people to death with the complex color of the rain, for example. 


 When I finally made the decision to read VA, I was pulled into a story even more genre-confused than Dark Swan, and I loved it!! This story had everything, in perfect amounts. There wasn't too much romance, or non-stop action, and it had just enough comedy to have me laughing out loud while reading it. It helped me focus on a balance in my writing. Now, I am not saying my work is ANYTHING like Richelle Mead's. On the contrary, the only thing my books have in common with hers are the fact that there are paranormal creatures in them. However, reading her books helped me become the writer I wanted to be. That isn't all Richelle Mead did for me. 


When I read VA, I found a huge fandom through a Facebook page set up to bring the movie to the world, and THEY DID IT! I spent years chatting with girls who loved Richelle and VA as much as I did. Over time, we created a private community where we could learn about each other away from prying eyes and so my TOV was formed! 


Richelle gave me so much of the life I have grown to love, from my writing style to my online BFFs! So, today on VA release day, I want to show the world what the woman behind the movie has done for me and give a little back! 


I am giving away 3 e-book copies of my début novel, Bound by Sacrifice: The Road to Ruin. Head over to my Facebook page and simply like the giveaway post, then come back at 10 PM EST to see if you have won. No crazy tasks or wild events, just me, giving away stuff because TODAY IS A GREAT DAY!


Enter to win a free e-book copy HERE

     I thought I would spend today's **Thoughtful Thursday** reflecting on something personal. I have had quite a few people ask my advice since I started writing and the truth is, I am no expert. Everything I know is from trial and error or research, and I am still learning. With my first book, Bound by Sacrifice: The Road to Ruin, I swear I went over it 60 or more times and the day I held it in my hands for the first time I found a missing word within 15 pages. I was slightly distraught and spent another few weeks combing over the book a few dozen more times and you know what? I am certain there are still errors!

     I am aware that no one is perfect, especially me with my auto-correct brain, which fixes errors as I read them and I want to be the best writer I can be, which I know will take time and a strong determination to constantly try to improve myself. Constructive criticism might be scary for some writers, however, I would have loved it if a few more people would have criticized my first book BEFORE it was released. With that said, I want to give new authors ALL the help I can so that they can avoid all the headaches I had while preparing Bound by Sacrifice. Here are a few things I did wrong that I have seen others do incorrectly as well.


Dialogue - Pick up your favorite book and look at the way conversations are written. It is simple English, but many of us forget the basics of how to write dialogue. You can find an infinite number of links about the right way to write conversations and I almost published my first book with dialogue that wasn't structured correctly. That would have been embarrassing!

Sentence variety - One thing I have noticed about my first book and many books I have read from the self published world lately are short choppy sentences that have the same repetitive structure. I am guilty of this and it is one of the things I have been working on with the books I am editing now. Make your sentences, compound sentences and try not to use the same boring layout for every sentence you write. Again, you can find numerous sites about sentence structure, but here is one to show you what I mean. http://www.writingcentre.uottawa.ca/hypergrammar/sntstrct.html

Overuse of a word - Again, guilty here! As you edit your writing, take note of the words you tend to use over and over again, then find a thesaurus and try to look for synonyms that broaden the books vocabulary and improve the readers experience. My overused word is 'but', which isn't always an easy word to replace, so I have been trying to find ways to rework my sentences to make the use of other words more appropriate.

Commas and semicolons - This one is still hard for me. Sometimes editing programs (the free ones) don't find or point these out as often as they are needed or not needed. With commas, I understand when and where to use them better than I do with semicolons, which still elude me. This area of grammar is one I am still unsure of and I have read many different opinions on the issue. Some people say that you can avoid semicolons as an author if you prefer not to use them. I personally find them weird when I am reading a book and they pop up. I mean, I know they are 'correct', but instead of making the sentence flow for me as a reader, they make me pause and they feel out of place. I would love for someone with more experience to send some good references or sites my way to help me to better understand semicolons in fiction. Is it really the author’s choice or do readers look down on an author who chooses to forgo the use of them?

     If you are in a financial place to pay for an editor, I strongly recommend you to dish out the money and avoid the headache of doing all this yourself. But for those of you like me, who can't even afford to pay a freelance editor a few hundred dollars let alone a few thousand to a professional, here are some FREE resources that helped me work through a lot of my grammar/editing issues.

http://grammark.org/  

Grammark is an open source writing aide created by a former college English professor. The site is meant to help students identify grammar issues and learn more about their personal writing habits. It was created for student essays and it uses rules that may not always work with your writing style. However, it can help you find issues like misused words, passive voice, sentence variety, and basic grammar. It doesn't help with things like commas, but it is a great tool to add to your free arsenal of editing programs.




http://www.gingersoftware.com/
 
I originally started using Ginger as a chrome extension. However, when I went to find a link for all of you, I discovered a new free version of the software and I am ecstatic! It will work with almost any browser now and it works for Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook. It discovers grammar issues and its new features now say it has a personal dictionary for you to customize your names, places, and slang words, as well as a sentence rephraser. When I started using this app, I would copy and paste a chapter at a time into my browser to see the errors which show up in blue and you hover over them to see Ginger's suggestions.




http://www.afterthedeadline.com/
 
After the Deadline is used in the same way I described Ginger's chrome extension. It can be used on several platforms, yet my only experience with it is using it as an extension on chrome. You simply download it, make sure your cursor is in the text area with the text you want to check, and hit 'CTRL+SHIFT+S' to reveal any errors. Again, this is an online extension and you may be able to find a download for your Word or other programs, I have not tried that.


     There are several different editing software programs you can find that have free trials. I used two of them once I felt like my book was ready and I had worn out all the other programs. 
     I used  CorrectEnglish and Grammarly , which each had a one week trial. I did one the first week and one the next, canceling my subscriptions once the week was up to avoid the high-priced membership fees. Just make sure you are as ready as you can be before using this option, because most of them only give you a week trial period. If you can't finish your edits within that week, you are either paying full price or unable to completely edit your books with the help of these programs. They don't always offer free trials so good luck!

     Of course, you can always use your basic Word or Open Office spell checks as well, but they will not find ALL the errors. Even using everything I have suggested together is not as effective as a real editor with experience. One last thing that I did, which was suggested to me from several other authors and sites I read, is the use of Beta Readers! You can find some amazing people who love to read so much that they are willing to help you with your books for free as long as they get to read them. It is a mutually beneficial relationship and you may find some of your first fans among these wonderful people. There are sites I have heard of where you can find people who claim to be professional Beta Readers, I have not looked into this option. Although, I would love to know about any experiences other authors have had with these groups.

     Like I said, NO ONE is perfect and I definitely am NOT, still I want to help aspiring authors as much as possible because it is a tough world out there. Everyone is a critic and no matter how good your work is, someone will dislike it. My goal in the future is to make sure that very few people dislike my work for editing/grammar issues. Fine, you don't like my characters, style, descriptions, cliffhangers, or whatever little thing catches against your personal taste, but I am hoping to become the type of self published author who is rarely criticized for my poor use of the English language.

     If I help at least one person with this blog post, it was worth it! If you are an author with insight on common newbie mistakes, share them with us in the comments.