April 28, 2009

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.

April 21, 2009

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.

April 19, 2009

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.

 

everytearcover 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.

April 14, 2009

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.

April 03, 2009

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 Happy).

 

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.