Progress Friday: A New Contract!

Hey peeps!

Can you believe it's already Friday??? And lol, I spent this morning online...but ended up getting nothing done. How is that possible? True though that there is always something shiny on the Net, and it's so easy to get waylaid. That's why I prefer to have the wifi off when I'm writing or have work to do. Less temptation towards time perdition.

Playlist Mania: My Fangirl Crushing on Olly Murs

Hey peeps!

Told you I'd be back with more madness from my corner of the world. Yes, yes - run for cover! Do it already! Now! Or else....

Catching Up & musings about my 2013 release schedule!

Hey beautiful people!

Funny how I find myself with some time on my hands when the hyenas are on break. I usually go nuts and all kinds of crazy haywire when they're at home, but this time, I tried to clear my sked a bit to be able to spend some time with them.

Not that I've managed to, really... I mean, I've arranged my schedule to fit everything I need to do within the hours when the kiddo is at school, and though on the whole I've accomplished my goals, I still find myself with a full plate at times.

That's what happens when your work is more akin to freelancing than having a set 9-5 jobs. As an editor, I don't really control when a project will land in my lap, and then I also depend on the author I am editing to stick to a certain schedule/deadline and the two of us need to work together. And most of the time, an editor is not working exclusively on one project, which means she'll be free when the work has returned to the author - there are other projects vying for attention in that time frame.

Not to mention that I find myself with a hectic publishing schedule this year. Lol, not that I'm complaining, but the work of an author doesn't stop when the book has been written and contracted. Then start the edits, which can get quite taxing and time-consuming (esp when you have other jobs to fit in, too)... and you also have promo and social media and all that lovely hoopla. Thank goodness I am a social butterfly who loves to keep in touch and maintain relationships; otherwise I'd be a basket case.

But publishing schedule, here's what mine is looking like right now:

May - Inescapable, Book1 of Eternelles with Natalie G. Owens

July - The Other Side, Book 1 of the Island Girls Trilogy with Decadent Publishing

September - Light My World, Book 2 of Island Girls

October - Indomitable, Book2 of Eternelles

November - Winds of Change, Book 3 of Island Girls

In the middle of all this, I suppose Transient Hearts (Western Escape with Decadent) will come out, too. I still don't have a release frame for that title.

And I'm trying to score a release for a Christmas story, which will (hopefully) mean that December will have a release, too.

Busy bee, eh? But that's how I love it! I mean, I've been writing for 8 years, and it's now that I'm really feeling like an author with a release schedule. Like, I know where I'm going and what to do to get there.

Feels quite spiffy, actually... *grin*

Oh, and speaking of releases, I realize I haven't posted my latest cover here. My FB peeps and Twitter followers have prolly already seen this one, but to you my blog viewers, here it is (along with my apologies for being so late with this reveal).

Isn't this one a beauty? The designer, Valerie Tibbs of Tibbs Design, created the dreamy perfection I wanted to showcase in this cover. The models look pretty much exactly how Lara & Eric look like (Eric is slightly more blond,actually). But the whole effect is just perfect!

Here's the blurb for you, in case you have no clue what I'm referring to here!

Divorce paints a scarlet letter on her back when she returns to the culture-driven society of Mauritius. But this same spotlight shines as a beacon of hope for the man who never stopped loving her. Can the second time around be the right one for these former teenage sweethearts?

 

Lara Reddy left London after her husband dumps her for a more accommodating uterus—at least, that’s what his desertion feels like. Bumping into him and his pregnant new missus doesn’t help matters any, and she thus jumps on a prestigious job offer. The kicker? The job is in Mauritius, her homeland, and a society she ran away from over a decade earlier.

 

But once here, Lara has no escape. Not from the gossip, the contempt, the harassing matchmaking....and certainly not from the one man she hoped never to meet again. The one she’d loved and lost—white Mauritian native, Eric Marivaux.

 

Back when they were teens, Eric left her, and Lara vowed she’d never let herself be hurt again.
Today, however, they are both adults, and facing the same crossroads they’d stood at so many years earlier.

 

Lara now stands on the other side of Mauritian society. Will this be the impetus she needs to take a chance on Eric again? To take a chance on love?

Hopefully, I'll be back soon and posting regularly about my crazy mad schedule on here. You do know you can also join me on FB and Twitter (see blog side bar, left, for the widgets to join me) where I am always sharing a quick snippet about my life and career.

From Mauritius with love,

Zee

I write because... (a rant amid an affirmation & progress)

Hey beautiful people!

Lol, doing my best to have posts up regularly here. Though my brain goes awol sometimes, I have a whole crew of guests lined up for the coming weeks to keep the postings flowing. So this week might've been some hit&miss, after the staggeringly knackered kinda day I had yesterday, I missed the Links posting. Forgive me, and here's a glimpse of what I went through.

Imagine dealings with an ISP to make sense of their contract; banks conveniently 'forgetting' to cancel your standing order payments even after we've rolled into 2013; muggy heat and scorching sub with temps in and around 38degC at barely 10AM - and you have my day yesterday. On top of that, I had a scene to write in Inescapable, Book 1 of the Eternelles series, so my bestie and collab partner, Natalie G. Owens, could progress with her part on the project. Oh, and edits to finalize for not 1 but 2 clients.

In the middle of all this, I come across an email from my pub house's accountants, informing me that, as from February, they will be withholding taxes from all royalty payments, and any non-US citizen could fill in form whatever number to claim a refund under tax treaty laws.
Amount withhold? 30%
Issue for me - I'm from Mauritius... which doesn't have a tax treaty with the US.

Consequently, the IRS and US government just sent me a reeling 'up yours!' by chucking 30% of my earnings without any hope of me getting that money back.

Which made me wonder - if I lost 30% of what I made, was it worth it to continue working to earn a pittance? For a minute, I stared my projects in the face... Wouldn't it be the same for me to offer them all for free? After all the blood and sweat and time and energy that went into them, I also had to forego 30% of everything I would've made?

I must've hit the lowest pits of despair and self-doubt possible for an author yesterday. I had tons of projects lined up; in fact, so many projects I could derail my (somewhat fragile) health in trying to get them all on the rails. Was it all worth just 70% of what I can make on them?

But then I remembered. I recalled why I wrote, why I started writing, why I powered on when rejections were slamming me down from left, right, up, and down.

Why do I write? Because I want to share my stories with readers.

As simple as that. I won't go as far to say that I bring something totally unique to the book world - every author worth his/her salt does that. I won't say that my take on the cultural world of Indian-origin folks and Muslims in Mauritius is not seen elsewhere. Trust me, I know I have tons of competition out there.

But I also know that I have opened countless emails, and even met 'live' fans, who have told me I brightened their day with my stories. That they've loved reading what I have penned down. That my writing brought them something 'special' (whatever that might happen to be.)

I never thought I'd write for money. Yes, it's a dream of all authors to be rolling in the moolah brought in by fantabulous sales and a movie deal and all that hoop-la, but that's just what it is. A dream. Something we all aspire to. Doesn't mean we'll make it... I remember a quote that I'm gonna hash up badly coz I don't recall it exactly and also who said it originally, but the gist was:

"Knowing we'll never reach the stars doesn't mean we can't chart our paths by them."

I don't know if my sales will ever be fantabulous. I don't know how much money my writing can and will bring me. I don't know how many fans I'll ever get, how many lives I might get to touch...

I do know that I have stories in me, and that I'd die if I didn't write, and if I didn't share them with the world. If I can do that, and still earn something beside those lovely words from fans, then awesome. If not, well... It's all God's work, and I accept it. I know who I am and where I stand, and that's what matters.

And speaking of writing, there is some progress to show this week! Worked on Book 1 of the Eternelles series, that takes a jump of nearly 6,000 words this week through my addition to the plot. Now Natalie G. Owens must work her magic. Who knows - by next week, we might've crossed the half-way mark on this project!

Oh, and Leila, the heroine from my upcoming 1Night Stand release, Once Upon A Second Chance, (releasing February 5) is in the demon Bunny's hot seat today. Come read a bit about this Muslim girl who's not had an easy life till now, but who, nevertheless, allows nothing, and no one, to cull her spirit! Here's the link!

Looking forward to a nice weekend with the hubby & hyenas now. Hopefully, these temps will lower and we'll be able to sleep at night.

Hope ye all have a lovely weekend!

From Mauritius with love,

Zee

Progress Friday: Let me reveal my latest collaborative project, ETERNELLES

Hey beautiful people!

It's been a while since I last posted a progress report. The thing is, I didn't have tangible progress to show on my work. Yes, I've dabbling in a few projects, none less getting the brand-new Africa-centred line, Ubuntu, up with the folks at Decadent Publishing (more on that soon, I promise!). But I haven't been writing, not actual words to make sentences to make paragraphs and pages and chapters...

That being said, it's been a hectic time full of new things and ideas, and today I can tell you more about one of them. :)

Guess you do know by now that Natalie G. Owens, the wonderful author with a writing voice that gets you to sigh and wonder how any words can seem so lyrical when strung together - well, you all know she's my bestie. The sister I never had. We found each other rather late in life (some 4-5 years ago, actually), and despite me living in Mauritius and she being first in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and then on the island of Malta in the Mediterranean, over a few emails we 'clicked' and never looked back.

So sometime during the past months, after Natalie went indie, we started talking about, maybe, why not write a series together. We thought of an anthology with a similar theme ... and before we knew it, we had moved into whole new territory and were talking of a truly collaborative work, one co-written and that we could have as an ongoing series.

I cannot tell you at what point and how or when we came up with the ETERNELLES project. In the true spirit of collaboration, we wanted each of our talents to shine. My voice is much more active and in-your-face, while Natalie's is more lyrical and deep, like a rambling stream of which you find the depths little by little, every time you look more closely.

The solution came to us in the form of a story with 2 heroines - one written by me, one by Natalie. Two heroines, each with her distinct personality. We talked, we must've emailed each other 25 times a day over weeks, we compiled and we searched and we dug and we imagined...

...and this is how the ETERNELLES series came into being. That word is French for "the eternal ones/women" - fitting, as our heroines are immortals.

Today, I tell you more about this project - here you are with the blurb, and the cover.

INESCAPABLE: Book 1
Eternelles: The Beginning

For more than 2000 years, an immortal woman has looked for a reason to live...
Beautiful and ruthless, Adrasteia 'Adri' Dionysios is the only mythical being of her kind, the unlikely daughter of the god of wine and revelry, Dionysos, and a maenad. Banished to Earth from Olympus during the Greek Dark Ages, she has roamed the world fending off the attentions of men and the petty jealousies of women while putting her knowledge of battle and her immortality in the service against Evil. Until the day she finds a mysterious baby girl in her backyard. Her life is finally complete... but now unknown forces are after her daughter. Furthermore, the dubious role of an elusive man in her life only serves to complicate things further.

A young woman who never asked to exist...
Born with phoenix and gypsy blood, and with superior mental prowess, Seraphine 'Sera' Dionysios' origins are as yet shrouded in mystery. Her very existence defies Nature, just like Adri's. As a woman who has loved and lost, she would rather have died after a vampyre tried to make her his. But, Adri made the only choice a true mother would make: the one that would save her child. Torn between a mother whose blood she doesn't share, and a man who now possesses her soul, the only thing Sera can still cling to is her heart...

Adri and Sera fight for the innocent, but who will fight for them?
When the forces of Evil breach the lines of Shadow Bridge, the town where the mortal human world ends and the supernatural realm starts, it is up to these two women to find out the answer behind a prophecy as old as time itself.

The citizens of Shadow Bridge know one thing above any other: always protect the portal. In a place where anything can happen, the very worst will take place... unless Adri and Sera can stop the prophecy.

Yes, the women on this image reperesent the heroines - Sera on the left with the Phoenix on her face, Adri on the right with the ripple of water above her image. And FYI, Natalie is writing Sera; I am writing Adri.

We just finished with the full character profiles and the outline, and have started writing Book 1, Inescapable, which will come out in April 2013 on all major indie platforms (Kindle, Smashwords, Nook, Sony, etc).

Both Natalie and I cannot wait to share more about the series with you all. We'd eager to share how this one is different - we're both TV nuts, and this series mimics season arcs of popular shows like Supernatural, Grimm, Once Upon A Time, Charmed, True Blood, Vampire Diaries.

Get ready to meet Adri and Sera; along with a slew of other mythical characters as you'll uncover the hidden depths and nooks and crannies of Shadow Bridge. And, be prepared to meet the men in these two women's lives. I can promise you both Des and Rafe are heroes that'll bring you to your knees!

I'm so, so excited to share all this with you today! It's been killing me to keep this on the hush-hush, and now we can finally let the (squirming!) cat out of the bag!

Hope you all have a lovely Friday and weekend, peeps!

PS The Progress reports should come in more regularly now. Feel free to ask me about progress if you don't see me chime in here every Friday! :)

From Mauritius with love,

Zee