Short and sweet.

Serena Yates wrote a nice little review for my novella, The Vampire Grinch. (Cool, right? I mean, this is Serena Yates we're talking about, author of the Celestial Justice series.) You can find it at Queer Magazine Online here. I wasn't expecting many (if any at all) reviews for this one, and that it's Serena Yates is pretty wicked -- I'm very grateful.

Because it's the holidays, I haven't really gotten any work done. I spent the past two weeks working on my best friend's Christmas present (remind me never to write a story for a friend, no matter how badly they beg for it). Now that I've finished, I don't really know what to do with myself. I'm back to working on a novel I started in 2009 -- it's been rewritten almost three times now and I haven't ever actually come close to finishing it. I'm still hopeful for it though. One of these days.

And I've also discovered the wonder that is litlift.com . It's a wonderful tool for keeping your story notes organized, and best of all -- it's free and you don't have to download anything. Heck, you don't even need an email address to sign up. I love it.

But that's all that's going on on my end. If I don't update this thing before the holidays are over, I hope anyone who reads this has a happy and safe holiday. :)

Yesterday, all of the stories written for the advent calendar went on sale separately. My novella, The Vampire Grinch can be purchased here for $3.99, for those interested who didn't purchase the advent calendar package as a whole. It's 80 pages long and features a very grumpy vampire, and his Christmas-loving human boyfriend.

The Vampire Grinch
Gavin’s always loved Christmas, but his boyfriend? Malcolm would rather be staked and beheaded, and since he’s a vampire, that’s saying something! Their quarrel threatens to make the holidays less than merry, but when they spend Christmas Eve apart, Malcolm starts thinking of reasons they should keep their Yule fire burning bright. 

 Buy it here on DSP! 

Or, if you're interested in buying the full advent calendar, you can pick that up here for $64.99.

Finally, an update:

I wish I could say that in the time I've spent not updating this blog, I've gotten a lot of work done. That would be a big fat lie, however. Unless, of course, you count playing video games and getting hooked on new TV shows as working.... Thought not.

Though I did spend a few days editing the short story that got accepted for Dreamspinner's advent calendar this year. I've seen a lot of writer's say that editing is their favorite thing to do when it comes to the writing process, but I find it to be a particularly grueling experience. I have a very strong personality, and I hate being shown instances where I'm wrong or need to fix something. Of course, the story ends up a lot better once my mistakes and plot holes are pointed out, but it's still exceedingly hard for me.

A few days ago, I got my galley proof. And it looks wonderful. I love the layout of the pages, and it never gets old seeing your work look all fancy and spiffed up. Now I'm just a little disappointed that it won't be out for another couple of months.

As for new stories... I'm working as hard as I can. My biggest problem is that I plot and outline a million different stories at once, and then I don't feel like writing any of them. I need to learn discipline, I suppose. I need to learn how to get rid of the distractions and get writing. I need a writer's boot camp.

Good News!

Okay, so I was without the internet for about a week, and it's amazing the things I can accomplish without the usual distractions (LiveJournal, Facebook games, anything but working). I've been doing a lot of planning and writing, and I'm pleased with the results. Maybe I'll have to start manually disabling my internet so as to get work done.

When my internet finally came back, I checked my inbox and discovered that the story I wrote for the DSP December advent calendar this year? It was accepted. I just finished signing the contract and I couldn't be happier. The story is as of yet untitled because I'm going out of my mind to try and come up with a good title, but I'm rolling ideas around. I've never been a part of an advent calendar -- I'm kind of excited.

Come on, Irene.

So the hurricane is starting to make itself known in my area -- the wind's starting to pick up and the rain's getting heavier. Here's hoping that everyone stays as safe and dry as they possibly can.

And also hoping that my power doesn't go out, because I'm working very hard to finish this short story of mine, and I'd hate to have to resort to writing by candlelight. That can be good sometimes, but not when I have a deadline and am trying to get it done as fast as possible. If all goes well, I'll actually be able to finish this story by nightfall and I'll be able to begin the editing process sooner than I thought.

Introduction

I suppose I really don't know what I'm doing. I mean, obviously, I'm blogging (look ma, no hands!), but I'm rather clueless when it all boils down to it. I'm an e-pubbed author and it's important for someone in such a business to have either a blog, a website, or both. So here I am!

I guess an introduction is in order before I start using this thing.

My name is Lacey-Anne (in case you haven't seen it all over the place on this blog), and I'm a young still-aspiring author. My very first novella was published by Dreamspinner Press in mid-2009, and since then, I've only released one other novella and a short story. Of course, I plan to publish a lot more, it's just a matter of settling my ideas and not starting a hundred different projects at once (giving myself no time to finish the others). The plot bunnies can be quite vicious.

When I say 'young,' I do mean 'young' -- I was born in 1989. I kind of feel a little insecure and intimidated by a lot of the other authors I've seen here and there, most of whom are older and have families and whatnot. Not me. So it's hard to write about myself when I don't have kids to talk about or a partner to briefly mention. I have a cat, if that counts.

And I haven't mentioned my awkward sense of humor, have I? Oh, you're in for a treat whoever reads this!

So yeah. I don't know. This blogging thing is like a whole new world to me (minus the magic carpet ride /Disney reference). Here's to the future, and here's to hoping I can keep track of this thing!