Saturday, May 26, 2007

And On to Out of the Shadows!

This is the first day I’ve begun work on Out of the Shadows in over four months. (Blame Weston Commercial Cleaning for that one.) I’m so excited, but I’m annoyed because I’m currently working on the “Earth” part of the story—the Tommy storyline, and I have so many things that need to be changed from the first draft. And I’m not talking about simple grammar mistakes either. I’m talking about major plot changes and logic loophole changes—serious revision type things. It will take at least a week to sort everything, and then to fix it…? That might take a while.

And I’ve only got until the end of June when I need to get the 2nd draft into the hands of my advance readers. Lots of work ahead.


For more information on my novel, A Prophecy Forgotten: Book I of the Elysian Chronicles, and my upcoming novel, Out of the Shadows: Book II of the Elysian Chronicles, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Weekly Update

This week a few great things happened:

First, I visited both Alva Middle School and Corkscrew Middle School. Both were lots of fun, but both were also long drives. I really enjoyed meeting all the kids and talking about writing, and I’m glad that coffee exists because I had to get up super-early to get to the schools on time. (Especially Alva, which is about an hour away from where I live. I had to get up at 5:30!)

Second, my husband fired me from my cleaning job! Yah-hoo! Well, he didn’t really fire me—demoted me to part time is more like it. He figured out that I’ve been so exhausted from promoting my book and working on the sequel that what I could do in three hours he could do in ne. (He also figured out that if I didn’t clean offices at night, then I would have to do the cooking and cleaning at home, which he has been doing since I’ve been the one working basically two full time jobs.) Anyway, I’m fired! This gives me my nights free and alone to finish A Prophecy Forgotten’s sequel, Out of the Shadows!


For more information on my novel, A Prophecy Forgotten: Book I of the Elysian Chronicles, and my upcoming novel, Out of the Shadows: Book II of the Elysian Chronicles, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.

Monday, May 21, 2007

The Yankees Are Back!

It is about time! Until last night and tonight, the New York Yankees have been playing baseball with all the energy of a slug (discounting Jeter & Posada), and their pitchers have been throwing melons. (Their pitchers have also been rookies, which was a big part of the problem.) Welcome back to baseball boys! And please ask Musina to try to pitch into the 7th inning tomorrow night to give Scott Proctor some rest.

For more information on my novel, A Prophecy Forgotten: Book I of the Elysian Chronicles, and my upcoming novel, Out of the Shadows: Book II of the Elysian Chronicles, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Bartow Middle School Young Writers Contest



I had a great time on Tuesday, when I spent time at Bartow Middle School to help announce the winners of the Polk County FWA’s First Annual Young Writers’ Contest. I think what amazed me most was talking with several students before hand and hearing them tell me how nervous they were and how much they wanted to win. I guess this surprised me because when I was in middle school, I had absolutely no desire to be a writer, and I would have laughed at the idea of doing extra homework.

How time have changed. My first published work was a result of winning a contest. Ha ha! A poetry contest—even better. (I hated poetry in school.)

I want to congratulate not only the winners of the contest, but also every student who participated. You spent time writing a story on top of all your homework, and remember that A Prophecy Forgotten was already under contract when a couple people blasted in it a contest, saying it would never be published.


For more information on my novel, A Prophecy Forgotten: Book I of the Elysian Chronicles, and my upcoming novel, Out of the Shadows: Book II of the Elysian Chronicles, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Breaking News: ArcheBooks and M. B. Weston Sign a Contract on Out of the Shadows: Book II of the Elysian Chronicles!

Out of the Shadows Scheduled to Debut in December 2007!

For all you Davian fans out there and for all of you who came to my book signing, I have awesome, colossal news! ArcheBooks and I reached an agreement today on the sequel to A Prophecy Forgotten. It’s called Out of the Shadows: Book II of the Elysian Chronicles, and ArcheBooks also plans to publish Out of the Shadows by late November—just in time for Christmas!

I want to thank all of you who showed up at my book signing and who purchased A Prophecy Forgotten during this time. You are the reason that ArcheBooks offered me this contract so soon, and you are also the reason for the pre-Christmas debut date. Thanks to each of you for your support!

To celebrate, I’m going to post a little bit of the prologue and the first chapter of Out of the Shadows on my website each month at http://www.elysianchronicles.com/oots_sample_ch.htm. Check it out! The first post is already there!


For more information on my novel, A Prophecy Forgotten: Book I of the Elysian Chronicles, and my upcoming novel, Out of the Shadows: Book II of the Elysian Chronicles, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

My First Book Signing at Barnes & Noble!





Well, on Wednesday, I got a call from Jessica at Barnes & Noble telling me that they had a slight problem with my book signing. They were down to 12 books total in the store out of the 50 that they had originally purchased, and they didn’t have time to order more. I guess that’s a good problem to have, running out of books because people want to buy them…. Fortunately, I had 100 books at home, so I lent them 50 more that Wednesday night.

Friday, May 4th, was my first book signing at Barnes & Noble—a whirlwind of a day. First, I went to Praise FM, where I was on the radio with Arnie. Then, I tried to race to PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans where the first part of my book signing was supposed to be, but I got stuck in traffic, and had to make a highly illegal u-turn in the median. I reached PJ’s, but with no time to copy my first chapter brochures for Out of the Shadows, so I sent my mom to Kinkos with my credit card, while I sat in PJ’s and signed books.

I was so excited by the turnout at PJ’s. My friend, Lundy Hedges brought a bunch of kids from her son’s school with books for me to sign, and it was great getting to meet them. A bunch of kids from my youth group and writing group also showed up, as well as some teachers from Barron Collier High School, and some friends of my parents. It was great, and the best part was that I got to introduce everyone to the phenomenal coffee at PJ’s!

Then it was off to Barnes & Noble, where I signed books for three hours. I’m not sure how many books I sold. I know that the store had negative 4 to start with because they never recorded my 50 as being received, so I figure that they had about 46. At the end of the night, we were down to 2 from what we could find, so I might have sold 44 books, which is pretty good for a book signing! A bunch of my friends from the Florida Writers Association, including Sandy Lender (http://www.todaythedragonwins.blogspot.com/) and Tina Murray (http://www.achancetosayyes.blogspot.com/) came as well as my friend, Tracy (www.myspace.com/tmmercury, from Lakeland.

The most exciting part is this: my publisher was there, and he loved the energy, the crowd, the kids, and the sweet T-shirts (that are soon going to go on sale on my website). It inspired him to….

You’re going to have to wait for my next blog to find out my exciting news!!!!!

For more pictures, visit my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com/May_4th_BookSigning.htm.

Above all, I want to thank everyone who came out to support me. This first book signing was a big deal. I needed a good sell through rate with my books at Barnes & Noble, and I got it—they were almost left with negative 48 books by the time I left! To put it bluntly, they received the first 50 books on Friday, April 14th. Three weeks later, they sold almost 100 books! You guys, all of you, rock! You absolutely rock!


For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Open Mike Night at Barnes & Noble


My friend, actress Jillian Windham, and I are the new MCs at Barnes & Noble, Waterside’s Open Mike Night. Our first night was on Wednesday, May 2, and I must say, I was incredibly impressed with some of the young talent we have in Naples. I heard some amazing guitarists and singers! Special thanks to Jessica and Felicia at Barnes & Noble and to the band Ocelot, who made us feel welcome!


For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Speaking to East Naples Middle School


I was privileged enough to visit East Naples Middle School on April 30th and May 1st. I spoke to the 7th & 8th graders about writing and getting published. The students had many great questions, and they made me feel welcome. I think the only part about it that was difficult was having to speak for 6 straight hours in heels with only a 20 minute break for lunch. Everyone stop by your teacher and thank him or her for all the teaching they do—and for all the standing they do every day. Special thanks to Karen McLean, who made it all possible.


For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.