I’ve been falling behind on video blogging, I was recently reminded. So I made up a new one last night. I’m getting a little better at playing with iMovie. I’m not great with it yet, but I’m definitely getting there. I can cut sections of video, add title bars, and do fades. Like I said, I’m getting there.

NaNoWriMo is just around the corner. I’m working on something new for it, a dark fantasy series called Lurkers. The first book, the one I’m working on is titled Fallen.

And here’s the video…
 

I have a few projects I'm working on at the moment. The most immediate is an RSS feed solely for my video blogs from YouTube, so that I can try to get them submitted as a iTunes podcast. Why, yes, I am growing ambitious. Thank you for noticing.

The other project is... a new story. I'm sorry to say it probably won't be one you see here. But if you can suss out my pseudonym, once it's finished, it shouldn't be that hard to find. More on that as it develops, mainly because I've had too bad a headache for while todo much in the way of writing. I'm hoping to hop back on that train again soon, though.

Finally, Necronomicon is about 5 weeks away! Eee! I so can't wait! I still need to buy my boots, though. They're just about the only part of my costume that hasn't been purchased. I have some picked out (on eBay), so it's just a matter of affording them: $15 for the boots and $13 shipping. It shouldn't seem like so much. I'll get them eventually, maybe even in 2 weeks.

In the meanwhile, much love, rock hard, and later!

I’m planning on doing a video post sometime this week (before I go barbecue myself at Saint George Island), but I want to say a bit of this ahead of time.

First off, I won JulNoWriMo with flying colors: just under 51,000 words (about 120 pages). The novel is still ongoing, but I passed the writing challenge. The novel now has a title, more than “Untitled #011a”: Biscayne Beginnings. It’s even part of a series: The Seekers. I have high hopes for this series. When it’s done, I’m hoping to sell it to a great publisher — like Ace/ROC, Samhain, or Juno. Yes, I’m aiming high.

Next, I passed German 1120 with a 95% or an A. Because I rock. I’ll be taking at least one class again next semester, but it will be another one towards my Publishing and Editing certificate: Designing and Editing Newsletter.

And no, I don’t have the edits for Verdant: The Preterhumans Book 2 yet. Therefore, I have no idea when it will be out.

I will not be at Dragon*Con this year. It’s just completely out of my budget. And it really blows, since they’re doing casting calls for a TV series based on a book series I loved: The Vampire Diaries, by LJ Smith. (I do have to give Ms. Smith some props here: her writing, along with Mercedes Lackey and Maggie Shayne, is what inspired me to really want to write.) However, since I won’t be at Dragon*Con, I’m hoping to be at Necronomicon, if everything goes well between now and then. Hope to see some of you there!

And that’s about all my news for now. I’ll be doing a video post again soon. Because the world would be miserable without more of me.

And a very good afternoon to everyone. Normally, I would save this kind of post for tonight — but it’s slow.

Normally these blogs are reserved for me to discuss what’s going on with The Preterhumans and such. Unfortunately, there have been no changes since the last post regarding that. I still don’t even have the edits for Verdant, so it’s almost definitely pushed back; it was supposed to come out this month.

On the Amaranth front, it should be available to order from your local bookstore starting Thursday. Yes, it’s almost six months after it was released on Amazon. No, I don’t know why. I can’t get answers on that one. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

I’m still taking German 1120. Class ends August 8th; Fall Semester . So far I’m doing fairly well in it. My lowest grade has been an 80 — and that was on a quiz I had forgotten was going to take place. The perils of taking classes, working, and doing JulNoWriMo all at the same time. Oh yes, I am still doing JulNoWriMo. I’m hanging on, might be a better way to put it; I’m running a wee bit behind on my word count. Maybe now that today’s test is over, I can start playing catch up. I have 19,046 words left to write for the month and ten days left to write them in. I think it’s workable. I also think that, if I didn’t have classes, there would be a possibility that I might already be done. But there’s more on that here…
 

So, it's come to my attention that I should be writing right now, since I have actual ideas flowing. However, I'm updating the world in regards to said ideas.

There's nothing quite like a deadline to get my brain going. JulNoWriMo tends to be just that very deadline. I'm about 15,000 words into a new novel in a new series. Currently, The Preterhumans is locked to Cacoethes. I want something I can take to another company, before I start taking The Hunter's Chronicles around.

I don't have a title on it yet, but anyone who has been watching my video updates has heard me whinge about "16 characters in search of a story". The story finally arrived, and like I said, I'm about 15,000 words into it. Roughly, that translates to about 38 pages. There's still a long way to go, but I am making progress. At last, progress!

More on this as it develops. I'm trying to get some of my prereaders to help me think up a title. So far, we're all striking out a blank.

Yesterday, I looked at D. Marie and said, "I don't know why I'm proud of myself for writing less than 200 words. It's not even a quarter of a page." The sad fact is, I am proud of those 170-something words. Between class and homework, work, house work, and health issues, finding time to get some writing in has been a chore to say the least. I guess I could do the old "stay up till all hours" thing, but see again the bit about health issues.

Mostly the health issues are dealing with a crappy immune system, migraines, depression, and things of those likes. In the last month or so, though, I've been dealing with a painful hand and wrist. Since it is, of course, in my dominant right hand, holding a pen without a brace on has been... troublesome, to say the least. Well, I finally managed to get in to see my doctor yesterday, to find out I apparently have a Ganglion cyst in that wrist. We're trying some medications to try to head it off before it gets bad, but if it does, surgery will be the next option. We're hoping the medications work, though.

So keep your fingers crossed for me.

I only have a few updates, which is why I didn't go with a video post today. Well, that and the fact I'm still playing around trying to figure out how to record with iMovie. More on that later.

I should be hearing from an editor, Lisa Reader, on Friday regarding the edits to Verdant at long last. So at last, that's starting to come together. There shouldn't be any change in the release date with the edits arriving, but if there is, I'll be sure to keep everyone up to date.

Apparently, Amaranth has sold down to 5 copies on Amazon. There are no reviews there, yet, but apparently, it's sold well. I know a lot of that has been word of mouth, and I really appreciate you guys stepping up and telling people about the book! You rock!

There is, however, a review on Shelfari, which you can read here. Many thanks, Dirj, for being my first review, as well as giving me a perfectly lovely review.

Finally, I'm in the process of switching my recording program. Up until now, I've been using Photobooth, mainly because it's easiest and I can do some light adjustment. However, Photobooth displays all video images as reversed, so that if I hold up something with text, it reads backwards. Supposedly, switching to iMovie should fix this error, but I haven't quite made it there yet. I will, no worries. I'm just not there yet. Soon, though, I will be there soon, when I have a night without German homework.

As of right this moment, Amaranth: The Preterhumans Book 1 is finally showing as in stock on Amazon.com. It’s been a long wait, but now people who ordered from Amazon should be getting their copies very soon. Anyone who hasn’t ordered yet, now would be the perfect time. Let’s see if we can’t make it go back out of stock!

After some trial and error, I got a wee bit written on Hunter’s Path — and when I say “a wee bit”, I definitely mean a wee bit: less than 200 words. I’m still working on it, though. I’m trying to get myself back out of the hole I wrote myself into. I just have to get this situation the characters are currently in dealt with, then I can plunge myself back into the story itself. I have so many ideas for this book and its sequel, but I’m having so many issues getting past this one scene.

I’m still asking that you drop me an email at katherine @ katherinebell dot net (fix the spaces and dot, obviously) if you’ve purchased a copy of the book. I want to keep a running tally.

So, up until now, I've been hearing from people who ordered Amaranth off Amazon. To a person, they've been saying that it keeps getting pushed back. When the book went to press on March 27, they were told April 1 it would ship. Then it got pushed back to mid-April, then mid-May.

Now I'm hearing that some people's Amazon orders are starting to ship. In fact, I know of at least one person whose book shipped yesterday and should arrive tomorrow. That's pretty good -- and definitely really quick turn around, once it finally got ready to ship.

The site itself, though, is still showing 2 to 4 weeks before the book is ready to ship. Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million both still show July 23rd as its release date. Borders is finally showing it in its system, but it likewise shows the July 23rd date.

And in other news, there is a possibility that I might be going to do a contest of some sort with at least one copy of the book. For a runner-up prize, I might do a Amazon gift certificate. This is all coming out of my pocket, nothing from the publisher, so it's limited to what I can afford out of pocket.

Right now, until Amazon shows something sooner than 2 to 4 weeks for shipping on Amaranth, the best place to get it is probably still through the publisher itself. You stand the most chance of getting the book in with something resembling celerity.

I'm within a few pages of edits (barring the two sections I need to do some major additions to) of being ready to throw myself back into writing on Hunter's Path. I might try to do it for MayNoWriMo, but it could be as late as JulNoWriMo, depending on how classes end up going for me during Summer Semester.

I've been so excited, waiting to make this post. I finally a physical copy of Amaranth: The Preterhumans Book 1 in my hands. In fact, I have 2 spare copies sitting in my hands. I'm working on some kind of contest towards at least one of those two. We'll see, yeah?

Earlier today, Amazon was showing two available copies for less than $10 before they get the regular copies ready to ship in a few weeks, but they're gone now; I'm assuming they've sold already. You should be able to get them directly from Cacoethes themselves though.

I might have to post a list of the books and such I'm getting ready sooner or later. I need to clean out my book shelves some to make room for more. I'm parting ways with the books I haven't read at all or that I didn't like very much... or are Expanded Universe Star Wars novels. I have my own reasons there, but the less said there, the better.

Hopefully, more to come soon.

So, I went ahead and made a new video post. I was going to wait till I had my ARCs of Amaranth in hand, so that I could show them off, but I finally got tired of waiting. My patience is long (too long, some would say), but it's not that long.

I have Hunter's Path and Mirror Doll, two of my older titles, sitting open behind Firefox. HuntPath has already been getting its revisions worked on, but it's definitely slow going.

It’s only a few short weeks till Amaranth: The Preterhumans Book 1 is released. Excited would be an understatement, to say the very least. I have not yet received the first draft of edits on Verdant: The Preterhumans Book 2, so I’m holding off finishing Ash: The Preterhumans Book 3 until then. Additionally, there are some sections that need some major rewriting (the perils of two marathon months of nothing but writing, I suppose).

I just picked up a new eBook to read via a contest. It’s called “Crux” by Moira Rogers. More information on it and the contest can be found at Bitten by Books (http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=4815). Definitely give it a look! So far it's looking pretty interesting.

On that note, I'm also almost done with Deathwish by Rob Thurman. I'm really enjoying the alternating points of view. Niko remains my favorite characters -- but I definitely dig Cal's sense of humor. The pacing is just absolutely amazing: taunt and almost terrifying. No, scratch that "almost". There has been a few times when I've caught myself shivering and wanting to check under my bed for "the Big Bad". I'll say no more than that, though, in case someone hasn't read this series yet (though I can't imagine why not), except to say: GO BUY THEM!

On a final note, there is a slim possibility that I might be at Dragon*Con this year. My friend Christopher is trying very hard to bribe D. Marie and me into attending. If he succeeds, I'll definitely post it here or over at Thoughts of a Struggling Writer.

And it's back to work for me.