A Little Teaser from The Darkest Legacy: Betrayal

It’s 2 days before release day so here is a small teaser to get you ready!

TEASER

“Natalia!” my mother screamed, “Natalia! Call 911. Now! Your sister is dying!”

Was I dying? It actually felt like I might be and I prayed that the ball of pain would just explode so that I could experience the sweet ease of relief.

I tried to lift myself up but all the fingers touching me had other ideas. My mother’s hands gently pushed me back down while the evil fingers in my skull decided to use my brain as a stress ball. They weren’t very gentle as they squeezed and squeezed and squeezed. The tighter they squashed my brain, the tighter my body curled up into a ball. I needed the pain to stop. I wanted to just rip my head off my neck and toss it into the San Francisco Bay.

I reached out and grasped my mother’s hand. “Mom” I whispered to her, my voice sounded very light and thin. Maybe I was dying. “Make it stop. Please, make it stop!”

That sentence. That one simple sentence.

It was like a hole had been drilled open and all the pain started to ooze out. The white sheets in front of my eyes began to lift and I could make out the fuzzy edges and the blurry shape of my terror-stricken mother slowly came into focus. I cautiously lifted my head and used my free hand to feel the ground around me. Where was the pain? What did it look like? I thought I would feel the sharp, wet stickiness of it underneath my head but the ground was bone dry.

BOOK INFO

Title: The Darkest Legacy: Betrayal

Author: Jennifer Lynn Catz

Genre: YA Fantasy

Ages: 12 and up

Release date: December 13, 2014 (12-13-14)

Pages: 300

Content: Clean with mild curse words

Now, a little reward for my fans and soon-to-be readers!

Comment on each blog post to receive autographed bookmarks from me! You must comment on the blog posts for the following days:

December 10, 2014 – Cover Reveal
December 11, 2014 – Today’s Teaser

December 12, 2014 – (Tomorrow’sTeaser, coming soon)

December 13, 2014 – (The DarkestLegacy: Betrayal Release Day!, coming soon)

(Click on the links above to go directly to the blog posts)

Feel free to share the information about my debut novel!

You can also find me on the following sites

Facebook a Twitter b Instagram a Tsu

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for another teaser and your comment!

Until next time ~

 

Update on the Next Story Installment

Hey everyone!

Thank you for checking back here and for taking an interest in my writing!

Because you came back for my update, you are one of the first to know that the next installment of my novel has now been posted on both my Facebook page and my Wattpad account.

Just click on My Writing tab on my blog for the links.

As always, feel free to comment below, send me an email, write on my Facebook page or message me over at Wattpad with your thoughts.  :)

Happy Reading!

Until next time ~

A Big THANK YOU!!

Over the weekend, I hit a few (big) milestones… well, big for me.

I hit 100 likes on my Facebook page and 300 followers on Twitter!!

                                                 WOW!!

I’m going to celebrate my milestones with a little gift to all of you. I am going to release the next part of my novel on my Facebook page tomorrow night. For those of you who don’t use Facebook, I will post a shorter version on my Wattpad page.

Check back on my block tomorrow evening for an update and then be one of the first to read the next installment of my novel. 

Thank you for being so supportive and I hope you enjoy the next part of my story.   :)

Until next time ~
 

To Beta Read or Not to Beta Read...

So, how’s it going? 

I’m anxious and excited at the same time. I’m excited because I have a finished manuscript and I have sent it out to a tiny portion of the world. The Beta readers still have my book and while I have gotten some feedback, I am anxious because the majority of them haven’t said one word about it. Not one word. Ugh!

Do I take that as a bad sign (that they hate it and don’t want to tell me)? Did they get bored and stop reading it? Did the length scare them off? It's actually double-spaced so it’s not as scary as I thought. Are they too busy to read it? Did they read it and not know how to critique it? I want to ask them all of the above but I want to give them time and not feel rushed.

Is there anyone out there who is willing to take a look at it, really read it and give it an honest critique in a timely manner? Yes, when I mean honest, I mean HONEST. Don’t hold back: if it stinks, tell me. If parts need to be chopped out, tell me. If scenes need to be rewritten, tell me. If it’s too over-the-top, tell me. If parts don’t make sense, tell me. If… well, you get my point. I can take it. All I ask is that you don’t be rude and offensive in your critique. Otherwise, tear it apart or shred it if you have to. But, on the other hand, if you really like something, don’t be afraid to tell me!  :)

I also think I should get a teen’s perspective (or two) on my book. Are there any teens out there who want to do a Beta read and critique the book? First come, first served!  :)

I’ll be posting an excerpt on my blog soon so keep checking under the My Writing tab for your first sneak peak of my novel.

In the meantime, I will go back to rereading/partial editing/writing the prequel novel and try to focus my energy on something constructive while I wait the Beta readers to get back to me.

Patience can be a maddening virtue.   :)

Until next time ~ 

April Camp NaNo Winner!

Today is the last day of April Camp NaNo and I am all edited out right now. In my last blog post, I mentioned that my initial goal was 30,000 words/30 hours and I surpassed that very quickly. So, I decided to change my goal to 40,000 words/40 hours. It didn’t take me long to hit that so I increased it again to 50,000 words/50 hours. I managed to pass that before the halfway point (April 15) so I had to change my goal to 60,000 words/60 hours and then finally 70,000 words/70 hours. I left it there and ended up with 77,000 words/77 hours!

I was an editing machine!

My intention was to continue the prequel during Camp but somehow that never happened. All my time was spent editing and I just got to look at my other manuscript a few days ago. I guess writing that will be part of May’s project.

Anyway, how did the rest of you do with your Camp NaNo experience this month? Did you reach your goal and win? If so, CONGRATULATIONS!! Did life get in the way and prevent you from reaching your goal? If so, don’t worry! There will probably be another Camp NaNo in July and the good news is… you get 31 days of writing instead of 30! And believe me, that extra day really matters!  :)

Until next time ~

Halfway Through Camp

Spring is officially here but the weather does not agree… so far we have had cold days, icy days, warm days, snowy days and rainy days. I thought March was in like a lion and out like a lamb but the lion is still roaring...

Anyway, it’s halfway through April and halfway through Camp NaNo. I am quite pleased to announce that I have surpassed my “editing” goal of 30K and have already hit approximately 55 hours of editing time or 55K words.

I even participated in the Camp NaNo Writing Marathon on April 12. I managed to buckle down and edit for 8.5 hours. I edited 100 pages (and rewrote some stuff, too). Instead of taking a snooze day on Sunday, I got my butt in gear and finished editing the last 170 pages of my novel! WOW!!

My second round of edits is now officially done! 

Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! 

I just formatted the mess of pages and I am now ready to send the whole shebang off to the Beta readers. Aren’t they so lucky?  Wait until they see how many pages this behemoth has. Hahaha…

So, I’m taking a small break today and tomorrow I will continue working on the prequel. I don’t think I have much more to write – maybe 100 pages or so but I figured that I should probably read it over so that I can plan the ending. I know, I know… I’m a Pantser but I’ve Pantsed most of the novel so far so a little planning wouldn’t be too bad. Right?

How are you monthly goals coming along? Are you still on track?

Until next time ~

It’s time for…. CAMP NANOWRIMO 2014!

I will be participating in Camp this year and I have a real goal: this April, I will finish my second round of edits for my NaNoWriMo 2012 Novel and hope to get it out to my Beta readers very soon.

I can’t believe how close I am to finishing my novel!

And I cannot believe how long it is! Right now, it sits at approximately 500 pages. Phew! I didn’t know I had so much to say!  :)

Here is my plan:

1. Finish second round of edits

2. Send it out to Beta readers

3. Finish writing the prequel

4. Edit the prequel

5. Start writing the sequel

I think that I will accomplish 1, 2 and 3 during this month. Well, definitely 1 and 2 will be done and I will definitely continue working on the prequel.

But I am really glad that this is happening during Camp NaNo. I love watching my word count (or “edit count”) go up each day and it is a big motivator to keep going. My word count goal will start at 30,000. I think that's a good number. The great thing about Camp is that I can always adjust my writing/editing goal anytime I want throughout the month.

Are any of you participating in Camp this month? Good luck if you are!

Until next time ~

NaNo 2013 Has Been Validated!

WOW! I finally finished NaNoWriMo 2013 with barely an hour to go!

I am beat, bushed, befuddled, burned out and bone tired. But, I am done!

Woohoo!!!  J

I finished typing my last word at 10:56 pm and then I had to upload my novel into the validation system online. That took a little extra work because my internet was playing connection games and I couldn’t validate my novel until 11:20 pm. Yikes! That was a bit on the scary side. Nothing like trying to validate your novel and watching the seconds furiously tick by as the internet decides to have a little bit of fun with you.

I am wiping the beads of sweat from my forehead right now.

My goal for the month was 51,000 words. I ended up with (drum roll please…) 51,836 words! I am so very excited right now that I am singing and dancing while I am typing this. NaNo 2013 was a tough one for me but I persevered and I accomplished my goal.

Hooray!!!

Now I have my official purple winner’s bar firmly planted on my profile and all is good. Very, very good.

And now it’s time to hit the sack. I’ve got a lot of sleeping to do.  J

 

Until next time ~

 

Halfway to the Finish Line!

Today marks the halfway point of NaNoWriMo. I should have fifteen solid days of writing under my belt. My writing goal should be at approximately 25,000 words today.

But this year, something is wrong. I don’t feel as confident with this writing challenge as I did last year.

Last year, I started writing fast and hard, right out of the gate. I was averaging about 2,000 words a day and nothing could stop me from reaching my goal.

Today, at day fifteen, I have written a whopping grand total of 21,021 words. This is not bad, but I am not on goal. I’m having a hard time with motivation, time and plot ideas. I had better crack the whip soon or I will fall further behind.  L

I hope the rest of you who are working hard on your NaNo novels this year are doing well. Keep writing as fast as you can; we will get there by 11:59 pm on November 30!

 

Until next time ~

 

 

 

I'm a REBEL!!

I’m a REBEL!!

On Sunday, I found out that rebels are allowed to participate in NaNoWriMo and that they are not considered to be cheaters. This decree comes from the NaNoWriMo forums. Specifically, it’s located in: Forums ---> Outside The Box ---> NaNo Rebels. The thread is located under: “Welcome to Rebellion! You are NOT a cheater. Introduce yourself here!”  

Armed with this new information and the panicky feeling that I was not ready for NaNo this year, I have officially decided that I, Ms. Jennifer Lynn Catz will be a NaNo Rebel this year.

That’s right! You heard it here first: Ms. Catz will not play by the rules for NaNoWriMo 2013.

My NaNo plan is to finally finish this darn NaNo 2012 novel. So far, I have over 100,000 words written but it’s not fully complete. I am missing several scenes, I have some scenes that are unfinished and some scenes to finalize. I’m not sure how many words I need to write but my guess is that it will probably be in the neighborhood of 20-30K words. Then, if I need to write additional words to make it up to 50K, I will start writing continuing scenes that will go towards the sequel.

I WILL GET THIS NOVEL FINISHED!!!

Feel free to leave me any inspiring notes, quotes, pictures, random thoughts, humorous stuff or words of wisdom. Anything to help me get this novel finished in 30 days will be appreciated!   :) 

So, here’s to rebellion and may the next 30 days be filled with plentiful ideas, great dialogue, emotionally charged scenes, powerful imagery and exciting words that will keep the reader flipping the pages well into the night.

Or, if I want to be realistic, may the next 30 days be filled with enough ideas and dialogue to get this darn thing finished.   :)

If you’re participating in NaNo this year, I wish you all the best and I look forward to meeting you at the 50K finish line! 

Until next time ~

It's NANO TIME!!

It’s NaNo time!!

(I have to confess. I really don’t like the new NaNoWriMo 2013 image. I think it’s hideous and worse than last year’s Venn diagram image. Do people really like this??)

I cannot believe that it’s almost November. Where the heck did September and October go? Summer was just yesterday! November 1^st is just five days away and I am not kidding when I tell you that I am not ready for NaNo. Nope. Not in the very least. I thought I had more time. I thought November was eons away. I have no plan, I have no survival kit… I feel like the kid that forgot to study for his final and only has five days to figure out how to get it done.

So, on that note, I will be participating in NaNo 2013 and I need to cram in the next five days so that I have an inkling as to what I’m going to do come Friday. Will NaNo let me call in sick?  Heehee

For those of you who don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, it’s really called: National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo, or NaNo, is a writing challenge during the month of November where you write your butt off for 30 days. From November 1^st to November 30^th, you have to write 50,000 words of a novel, which averages to about 1,666 or 1,667 words a day. If you write more than that per day, you get yourself ahead and that works out well in case you have to miss a day of writing or something comes up and you can’t meet your daily word count.

I personally like to write more than 1,666 words a day. I like knowing that I’m ahead because I know that I will have a day or two or five that I might not feel like writing or that I might not reach my word count for the day. NaNo may be a struggle at times and not everyone reaches the 50K finish line but I can’t be one of those people. I like the structure and the challenge of trying to reach that 50K word goal in 30 days. And I don’t fill my pages with junk words, random letters or strange things that don’t make a lick of sense to the story.

So, for my second time, I will write those 50,000 words for NaNo and I will win!

Look for my tweets and blogs (if I can find some extra writing time) and I will fill you in on my progress. You can also look for my updated word counts on my blog and on my NaNoWriMo participant page: http://nanowrimo.org/participants/jennifer-lynn-catz.

Let me know if any of you are participating in NaNo. We can commiserate together.  :)

Until next time ~