A Captain's Heart now available!

I am very excited to announce that A Captain's Heart - Pirates & Faith, Book 3 is finally available for purchase!

 

Buy from Createspace

Buy from Amazon

A Captain's Heart - Back Cover Text

Here is the text that will be on the back cover of A Captain's Heart giving you a little idea of what this new story is all about.

 

Wealth and social standing mean nothing to Captain Kyle Bryden. To his family, however, they are everything. For years it has driven Kyle and his family apart. He longs for understanding from his parents, but most of all he yearns for them to accept the truth behind his faith.

 

When his father sends him on a voyage to collect two family guests, it only complicates matters, particularly Kyle's growing desire to marry and make a home. He finds himself caught between pleasing his parents and living according to what he believes is right. As some things begin to change for the better, could a secret no one is expecting be enough to tear at Kyle's heart and destroy the love he has found?

 

In A Captain's Heart, the continuing story of Pirates & Faith, meet new friends and revisit old ones while seeing the importance of patience and never giving up on those we love because all things are possible with God.

A Captain's Heart Cover

Here finally is the cover of A Captain's Heart. It took me more hours than I care to remember to finally come across the photos for it, but I am so happy with how it turned out.

Delays for the better...

I know, I've been promising the release of A Captain's Heart since August, but taking so much time has been for the best. I thought once summer ended, I wouldn't be so busy and could focus on my writing, but this fall has been incredible and just as busy. God has done amazing things in my life in the last two months that are now really contributing to my writing. It's quite a cool story that I want to post about sometime, but long story short, I've come to know a wonderful group of believers and am now part of a Bible study that really hopes to become a local church. The people I've met and have become friends with have been so encouraging and helpful to my writing. Already I've learned things that have made me go back and change things here and there in A Captain's Heart to be clearer and better understood. That is one reason I'm glad publishing it has taken so long. I've also gone back and slightly updated Every Tear, which is in the process of being done now.

 

As for the progress of A Captain's Heart, it is almost done. Mom only has a couple of chapters left and has the cover mostly finished, so now it's pretty much up to me to read through it once more and format the pages. I am determined to have it done this month so it's out before Christmas.

 

Another project I have going is I've decided to re-print The Pirate Daughter's Promise with Createspace. It will be an updated version, but not too different. Just little things I've felt I wanted to change or add to. It will also have a new cover, which I'm very excited about. I will write more about it once I get farther, but I'm hoping it won't take long. I'd like to have it published within the next month or two.

Makilien Update

Today is quite exciting for me. I finally finished Truth, book one of my Makilien Trilogy. It's been quite an experience so far. I'm very happy to have finished and accomplished something I didn't think I could get to work. It's been amazing how God has guided me through different parts. Makilien has been such a huge part of my writing life. I've been writing it in one form or another since I was thirteen. The story and the characters will always be particularly special to me. It's very satisfying to have this newest version completed, and I can hardly wait to share it. So now I am very anxious to begin working on book two, Courage. I'm hoping that I can write that one quickly and go on to book three so I can start to think about publishing them in the near future.

Quick Update

I just wanted to write a quick update on the progress of A Captain's Heart. I plan for it to be available by early next month if all goes well. The great news is I finally found photos for the cover which I just love. I was beginning to think I'd just have to settle for something. I spent countless hours searching through stock photos. I wasn't even sure what to search for anymore, but it really paid off. Mom and I will probably begin work on the cover very soon, and I will post it here as soon as it is finished along with the text from the back cover so you can get an idea of what the story is all about.

What's New

I've been really bad about writing new posts this summer, it's been so busy.  I really haven't been writing much for the same reason, but I wanted to write this post to catch up on what is new with my writing. I'm still working on Makilien. I'm very close to finishing and want to get it done to focus on my other projects.

 

Mom is nearly finished reading through A Captain's Heart, but we still have quite a bit to do so I'm not sure if I'll make my early September deadline for its release. I want to make sure I feel it's completely ready so we may have to work on it a little longer.

 

Now, as I mentioned about a month ago in a Twitter update, I've started working on a new book, my first Western novel. I've wanted to write one for years, but never got a start on one. Right now I'm going back and forth working on it and Makilien. I have the prologue nearly finished. It's about five teenage to adult siblings who are left to run the family ranch after their parents die. Mainly it will be told from the viewpoint of the oldest daughter, Casey. I'm not entirely sure where it will all end up yet, but I'm looking forward to getting deeper into the story. I know I'm really going to enjoy writing the relationships between the siblings. It's something I've wanted to have in a story for a long time now. And I'm a huge fan of Bonanza and love the relationships between Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe so that's definitely inspiring me as I write this new book.

 

A few years ago, I also started writing short Western stories all about the same family, kind of like episodes of Bonanza. I finished two and started a third one. I had a lot of great ideas so I'm really interested in getting back into that and hope to write a bunch and put them all into a book sometime soon.

More Concerts

I got to go to two more great concerts last month. On July 12th I finally got to see Jeremy Camp who I've wanted to see for such a long time. It was just as amazing as I was anticipating.  His music is so wonderful and powerful and even more so when you get to see him perform live.  After his performance we weren't sure if he'd come out to sign autographs so we waited around for a while and waiting really paid off. He did come out and we were some of the first in line along with a couple fellow members of the Jeremy Camp Crew that I met at the merchandise table. It was incredible getting to personally meet Jeremy. I don't think you could know just how sweet and sincere he is without meeting him.  I got really choked up telling him how his music really inspired me during some hard times and he was so kind and really showed he cared.

Then on July 25th we got to go see John Waller perform.  His song While I'm Waiting was in the movie Fireproof and is one of my favorite songs. His music has been a big part of my life lately. So many of his songs have really touched me. I was so thankful to have gotten to see and meet him. I felt very blessed by his performance. He is a very nice guy. We talked to him for a while after and he really encouraged me about my writing. I really look forward to seeing him again.

Author Interview

I just had my first author interview, which is an exciting thing. I was interviewed by Stephanie Boles, an author of inspirational Regency romance, and am her featured author for July on her blog. To read the interview, follow the link:

http://stephanieboles.blogspot.com/2009/06/featured-author_26.html

Book Signing

Just a couple of weekends ago I had my very first book signing at a festival. We had a pretty crazy time getting ready for it. I'd always planned to do a signing there, but I wasn't expecting it until July so I found out about it only three days before. Mom and I spent those three days making flyers and bookmarks and cutting them all out. I also only had about 12 copies of The Pirate Daughter's Promise and had no time to order more. But it all came together. I wasn't sure what to expect or how many people would actually stop at my table, but it was a really good day. I got there around 9:30 in the morning and stayed until 4. Quite a few people stopped to look over my stuff and I sold 12 books in total. 8 copies of TPDP and 4 copies of Every Tear. It was a great first experience for a book signing and I'm looking forward to setting up another one.

Building 429 Concert

A couple of weeks ago, my brother Jake and I got to volunteer at a Building 429 concert. Building 429 is my favorite band so this was an amazing opportunity. We were at the church where they were playing when they arrived and helped unload their trailer and set everything up for the concert that night. It was incredible to see all the equipment and everything they have to do to set up their shows everyday that they play. They even gave us each a t-shirt that said "Building 429" on the front and "Local Crew" on the back. We had a great time setting up their merchandise tables and getting to know AJ, their merchandise guy. It was just unbelievable to be around the band all day. We got to say hello to everyone and even talked to Jesse and Aaron (B429's guitarist and bassist) for a little bit.

 

The concert that night was amazing. I am always so touched by their music and nothing compares to getting to hear them perform live. It was the greatest concert I've been to so far. During the intermission before Building played, Jake and I helped 33 Miles, one of the bands who opened for Building, carry their equipment off the stage. It was really great to be a part of it.

 

When we first arrived there that morning and we had met Ross, one of the guys from our local Christian radio station, Jake told him that I was Building 429's biggest fan. So then, before the concert, Ross told Jason, B429's lead singer. And after the concert, Ross made sure that Jake and I got to personally see the band for a brief time right before they went out to the autograph table. When he introduced me, he said, "Jason, here is your number one fan." Jason is one of my greatest heroes, so it was really cool that Ross did that for me.

 

We went through the autograph line and then each got a picture with the band. When it was my turn, Jason held up one finger and said, "Number one fan right here." It was the perfect end to a perfect day that I will never forget.

Every Tear now available!

Finally, after a slight, unexpected delay, the day I've been waiting for ever since The Pirate Daughter's Promise came out a year ago.  Every Tear, book 2 of my Pirates & Faith series is now available from my CreateSpace E-store and from Amazon. Follow the links below to purchase it, and if you have a little time after you read it, reviews on Amazon are greatly appreciated.

 

Buy from CreateSpace

Buy from Amazon

A Slight Delay

I meant to write a blog entry last week, but never got to it. It was quite a busy week. I got the first proof of my book last Thursday. It was very exciting and a little scary. I didn't know what I'd find when I opened up the book because I'd had so much trouble embedding the fonts into my PDF before I submitted it. I was afraid the special fonts I purchased and used for the chapters and dividers wouldn't show up, but they all did to my great relief. Everything looked great except that the margins were about a quarter inch off. I thought it was just because it was a proof and they are notorious for being not as precise as the final product. So I wasn't too concerned about it and approved the proof which made it available from CreateSpace. I was so excited and went around posting the purchase link on all my different sites, but then Friday afternoon I got an email form CreateSpace saying they'd made a mistake and my PDF wasn't processed with the right margins. In order to fix it, my book had to go back into the proof review stage, and they had to send me a new proof. I was pretty disappointed, but the way they handled it was great. They sent me a new proof right away, even shipping it two day air. I got the new proof yesterday, and it looks perfect. Now it's finally available again.

A couple of pictures of my two books:

New Website

Just a blog worked for a while, but with Every Tear coming out I felt like I needed a real website and finally started making it yesterday.  I made it through Weebly which is one of the easiest things I've ever done and had it pretty much finished last night.  You really don't need any website creation experience so I highly recommend it.  Then I just bought my domain name through GoDaddy today and set it all up.  It worked great.  Check it out:

 

www.mollyevangeline.com

 

Now, as for progress on Every Tear, I think I'm finished.  The manuscript is done and so is the cover.  I'm now just waiting to get Adobe Acrobat which I had to order to make the manuscript into a PDF.  As soon as I get it, I'm all set.  I'm guessing the book will be available around the second or third week of May at the latest.  That's what I'm hoping anyway.

Answered Prayer

There's nothing like an immediately answered prayer, even a really small one.  This morning I was laying in bed (it's amazing the ideas I've had just before getting up or just before going to sleep) thinking about Makilien, my second book specifically.  Now, I don't want to give a lot away, but there's something that needs to happen in both books.  Makilien does it in the first book, but I needed someone else to do it in the second.  I had a list in my mind of the potential characters that seemed to me to be the obvious ones to carry out my mission, and yet when I imagined the scene with each of them, no one felt like the right person.  It's a very important part of the book so it needed to be right and it bothered me that none of my characters seemed fit for it.  This was on my mind this morning, and when I still couldn't figure it out, I just prayed simply, "God, who do You want to do it?"  Literally within seconds of that prayer, I thought of one character who had never occurred to me before and he was the perfect one.  He gives much greater meaning and impact to the part than any of my other characters would have.  Things like that are just amazing to me and why writing for God is one of the greatest things I've ever done.

Every Tear - Book Trailer

Making a Lot of Progress

Mom and I got so much done yesterday.  I had decided to put an author photo on the back of Every Tear and was thinking of getting a professional photo taken but decided to see what we could do first so I wouldn't have to pay for photos.  So yesterday morning Mom took a bunch of pictures of me around some of our neighbor's old farm buildings and after working with the photos in Photoshop, I am so happy with the result.  Anything I can do to save on money is a great thing.

 

Later in the afternoon yesterday Mom started working on my cover layout.  We just worked more on it this afternoon too.  I've been watching and telling her the different things I have in mind and it has come together amazingly.  We really haven't worked on it that long, but I think it's pretty much finished.  I can hardly imagine having any publishing company do this for me.  It is WAY too much fun to do it ourselves.

 

Then, last night, Mom helped me finish up the book trailer, and I bought everything I needed for it.  I finished putting it all together today and now am very excited to get to share it with everyone.

 

Oh, I also have a name for my pirate series now, Pirates & Faith.  Once I put it on the book, it seemed perfect.

More Thoughts On My Plans

I've had quite a few days now to really think about my decision to print my books through Createspace instead of publish with someone, and I'm still very happy with the idea.  While I haven't completely ruled out sometime trying to get published with OakTara, I have decided I want to be an indie author.  I definitely feel it's the right thing for me.  I like doing this on my own, and I know I'm going to enjoy doing all the work that's required, the cover, interior formatting, etc. because I've always enjoyed doing that kind of stuff.  Also, being a completely independent author, I almost feel as if my books will be more in God's hands.  Not that they wouldn't have been if I'd been published with a traditional company, but since self-published/printed books don't seem as likely to succeed it will make it just that much more exciting and satisfying to see what He will do with them.  Even if I reach just one person, I'll still have reached my goal, because that one person will obviously have been the reason God gave me the inspiration to write my books.  My books will go wherever and become whatever He plans regardless of how I get them out to the world if it is the way He wants me to, and I have no doubt He led me to Createspace.

 

Now, for a little update on my actual writing process.  I've been trying to get back into Makilien the last couple of days.  It's been a little difficult after working so hard and researching everything I needed to for printing Every Tear, but I'm slowly getting back too it.  I also started thinking about what I should call each individual book since "Makilien" is really the name of the trilogy and I came up with three one word titles that I think are very fitting for each book.  Book one is Truth, book two is Courage, and book three is Trust.  They are each the central theme of that book.

 

Lastly, an update on Every Tear.  Mom is just about finished with the final edit, which leads me to address the fact that, no, I do not have a professional editor.  I by no means think my work is perfect, but I just can't afford that kind of service, and I think my mom is a really good editor.  We've spent hours going over my writing, and I'm very happy with what we've achieved between the two of us.  So that is nearly finished.  I finally bought the cover image the other day, the one of the crying eye that I wrote about in a post from last year.  I've been waiting to buy that picture for over a year, so it was very exciting.  I also found and purchased a very nice "piratey" font that I love for the title on the cover, so it's getting very close now.  I just need to create the cover and Mom will work on the back cover text as soon as she's done with the chapters.  As soon as I'm finished with the cover, I'm going to create the book trailer for Every Tear.  I already have the "first draft" made, and I will post it here as soon as it is finished.  So there's a lot to look forward to in the next few weeks, and I can't wait to keep updating on my progress.

Exciting Plan Changes

I've made some drastic and exciting changes in my publishing plans this week.  As I blogged about early in February, I planned to submit Every Tear to OakTara as soon as Mom and I finished with it.  Well, editing, since it's so important, has lasted longer than I originally thought it would, but it's turning out to be what I think is a really good thing.  I do still plan to submit my manuscripts to OakTara eventually, but I've decided to go about publishing my books in a different way.  I'm going to print them through Amazon's Createspace.  Createspace is not technically a publisher, just a printer so in other words, interior and cover design is all up to me.  I basically do all the work and don't have to pay anything for them to print my books.  The books will only be available through Amazon and myself, no distributors, but I think this is a good choice for me right now since I sell The Pirate Daughter's Promise mostly through Amazon and by hand anyway.  This also does not stop me from being able to submit my manuscript elsewhere since I keep all rights to my book.  I know self-published books aren't widely respected in the writing community, but I think this is the direction I should go.  What played a part in the decision is it's really been weighing on me lately how long it would take to get Every Tear published with a traditional publishing company if it was accepted.  At least a whole year.  I was praying about it, but didn't really see any alternative (I wished I could publish again with Pleasant Word, but I can't afford that).  Then, two days ago, I just happened across a book that was published with Createspace and started looking into it.  I was drawn to the fact that it's free unless you upgrade to the pro plan to get better royalties and discounts (which I will) for only $39.  As much as I would love to become a successful author like Lori Wick and others, right now I feel it's more important just to get my books and message out to the people who really want it and I can do it this way. 

 

So, good news for everyone who has been waiting for so long to read Every Tear.  Mom and I are nearly finished editing so I can soon start getting the book ready to print on Createspace.  The whole process there should take little time, so Every Tear will likely be available within the next month or two if everything goes smoothly.  I can hardly wait for everyone to read it.  And I also plan to have A Captain's Heart come out in a few months so you can be looking forward to that as well (and a sneak peak of its first chapter at the end of Every Tear ).

 

As an added bonus, here is a short synopsis of Every Tear.  It's only the first draft and I have some work to do on it, but it will give you a good idea of what the book will be about.

 

Who was he really? Who had his parents been? Why had they left him to grow up as an orphan with no one to call family? It didn’t seem as if anything could ever answer those questions for William James. Yet, aside from the nagging and sometimes troubling memories and questions of his unknown past, life for Will over the past year has been truly blessed. His relationship with Skye grows daily as he plans and prepares a future life for them. But all he envisioned is suddenly endangered by an unexpected stranger with a shocking identity. Will learns more than he ever thought he’d ever know about his past, but it comes at a steep price when he and everyone closest to him are thrown into the middle of a dangerous and mysterious plot that threatens all their lives.

 

Every Tear, the sequel to The Pirate Daughter’s Promise, is an example of how God never leaves our side, even in the midst of our most troubling and sorrowful moments, and takes every tear into account.

What I'm Working On

As I said in my Twitter update, I have three projects going on now.  For the last week or so I've been working steadily on Makilien and am anxious to finish it.  I'm really happy with it so far.  I think I may go back and add even more to it when I'm done though.  It might seem a little short for a fantasy novel so I want to add a little more depth to it.  Writing the spiritual aspect of it has been very challenging, but well worth it.  And today I figured out how to make it a trilogy.  I wasn't happy with it only being a two book series.  In all the other series I've written, I've ended each book nicely with no unanswered questions and more or less began from scratch in the next book, but the second book of Makilien will be different.  It will end with something big that will not be resolved until the third book.  I'm still working out the details of that last book, but I'm sure in a few days I'll have a pretty clear idea where I'll go with it . . . now I just need to finish the first and second books first.  This third book idea is extra incentive for me to keep working hard on them because I'm so anxious to write it.

 

As for the new project I started working on, I have decided to write a prequel to my pirate series.  For those who have read The Pirate Daughter's Promise, the prequel is going to be the story of Daniel and Grace.  I am very excited about writing their story, and in researching that time period I have found some very interesting historical events to incorporate into the book that will make it even more than I thought it would be.

Finding Faith

I believe I finally decided on a permanent title for the fourth and last book in my pirate series.  It will be called Finding Faith.  It really encompasses one of the books main themes so I think it is a good title for it.  Kind of like Every Tear, I thought of this title while listening to music which is where I go a lot for inspiration.  I was listening to one of Building 429's newest songs, End of Me, which is one of my all time favorite songs.  As I was sitting and really thinking about the lyrics I was jotting down my thoughts about it and about my book and "finding faith" was one of the first ideas I wrote down and the one that seemed to stick.  I've tried it out for a few days, and I really think it's the right title.  So, my finished pirate series altogether is: The Pirate Daughter's Promise, Every Tear, A Captain's Heart, and Finding Faith.  I'm just about finished now with my first edit of Finding Faith.  I only have a couple chapters left so after that it will really feel done to me even though I will end up editing it countless times before it's ever published.

The Pirate Daughter's Promise - Book Trailer

After a couple of days of work, including hours of searching through stock photos and music, I am very excited to share the book trailer for The Pirate Daughter's Promise.

 

Twitter

I just signed up for a Twitter account.  Now I will try to keep it updated even if I'm not regularly posting new blog entries so you can find out what is going on.

A New Look and A New Book

Wow, it's been a long time, and I have quite a bit to write about. I've been wanting to change the look of my blog for a long time, and this morning I finally found this new template. Mom just helped me change it, and I really love it.

 

Great news. Mom and I are just about finished with our final edit of Every Tear so probably within the next month I am going to be submitting the manuscript to a Christian publishing company called OakTara. I heard about it from a fellow author, and I feel like this is where God wants me to go with this book so I'm praying it will be accepted. If it is, I'm really looking forward to starting the publishing process again.

 

I have not finished Facing the Waves (I'm still working on a permanent title), but I've been working hard on it the last couple of weeks and am about 3 or 4 chapters away from finishing. I will be very glad to finish. The main character is so unlike myself that I've been finding it a difficult book to write, but one I really need to write in order to properly end my pirate series.

 

In the middle of all that, I started writing yet another book in mid November. It's my first contemporary novel! With my ever growing love for music, I started thinking how interesting and fun it would be to write a book centering on music. At first, I thought it would be impossible to think of a good modern day book plot so I started asking my family for ideas, and in around 30 seconds, my brother, Jake, came up with a great plot. I didn't like it at first, but when I started thinking about it and adding in all my own details, I quickly changed my mind. This new book is about a young woman named Kaitlin from North Carolina who plays in a Christian rock band with some of her friends who are working on trying to get signed with a record company. In the midst of that, a secular band who was just signed comes to record at a studio that Kaitlin's uncle owns. The bass player from the band likes Kaitlin the moment he sees her and asks her out, but since he doesn't share her faith, she won't even consider it. Not to give too much away, he ends up attending her church and the rest of the book is about how Kaitlin's faith begins to change his life. I've reached chapter 15 in the book (which has no title yet). There will probably be around 20-25 chapters, and I'm going to finish it as soon as I finish Facing the Waves.