My Pet Project

So I haven't been posting much or tweeting much, which has led many to ask, "Melissa, just what have you been doing all these months while you were away?". The answer is writing, writing, writing. You may have saw in my other post that I finally finished Love Sex Magick. I entered it in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition last weekend.  I have three very nice queries written (thanks to my crit buddies over at OWN) and a list of my top five dream agents sitting on my desk as we speak. I plan on getting those out the door this month and seeing if I can get any traction on the book.

I have also been working on a novella, or at least I thought it was going to be a novella. It seems to be stuck somewhere between a very long short story and a very short novella. Lucky me. Another something I won't know what to do with.

The last big thing I have been working on, (as you may have guessed from the title of this post) is my very own pet project, Wicked Jungle. This is a new website that I have been slowly putting together entirely devoted to paranormal romance readers and writers. I created it in response to some growing frustrations my friends and I were having about the limited publishing opportunities for new writers in the genre. When I first started writing I wanted to do short stories, in fact, everyone told me I should start there first and for good reason. Short stories allow you to hone you writing skills. You get to explore things like character development, dialogue, description and world building without committing a year or more to a project that, let's face it might not be too good.  The only problem, I was spending all this time, writing shorts that no one would ever see.  There were no paying markets in the genre. There were barely any non-paying markets.Sure I could post my stories on my own website, but how were new potential readers and fans ever going to find them?

I am a big believer in reader loyalty. I think the genres have some of the best and most supportive fans in the world. I believe that readers have the ability to help launch an author's career. If that person has been exposed to their writing and enjoyed it, they are much more likely to bookmark their web page or jot down the release date of their new book when it comes out. If most readers are anything like me, when they find a new author they like, they run out and get all of their books at once and pour over them like a crack addict in need of a serious fix. Okay, so maybe most readers aren't like me. But some of you are! The ones who are reading my blog are! The ones who search internet sites to get the latest news on their favorite authors are! The ones who go to very scary albeit fun conventions and stand in line for hours to get two books signed by their favorite vamp loving novelist are!

So to wrap this up, I was told the market wouldn't/couldn't handle a paranormal romance and urban fantasy  e-zine because our fans wouldn't buys short stories, that they didn't want to read them, but I think that is complete B.S. I think the real problem is that the true fans of Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy simply don't know where to find these great short stories! The genre is hot, people love it. Just look at the explosion of the paranormal in the last five years. Better yet, look at how many blogs and webpages there are devoted to nothing book paranormal or urban fantasy book reviews! It is crazy. The fans are out there. My goal...to provide a place where fans and writers can connect.  Thus Wicked Jungle is born.

I encourage you to hop on over to www.wickedjungle.com and check it out. If you are a writer and you have something you'd like to share send me an email or check out our submission guidelines. If you are a reader, let me know what you think? What would you like to see most on our site?

We are slowly building up our library of great material. In the meantime please spread the word with your friends and followers. We have a fan page on Facebook. We have a twitter account. We even have a YouTube account! Yep, we're everywhere you want to be.

It's Official! Love Sex Magick Out!

I know it has been a while since I posted but I'll have you know I was actually working hard on my latest project. Last night all that hard work paid off and Love Sex Magick has made its first public appearance with a submission to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition. You can read more about the competition at the link above. If your an aspiring writer and have a book lying around submissions close tomorrow at midnight.. If anyone has competed in past years, what did you think of the opportunity? I am hoping to make it to the actual reader voting stage. If I do, you better believe I will be promoting the heck out of it online and asking for your help in driving votes to Amazon.

Thanks to all who provided feedback prior to submission and the girls of OWN who are reviewing as I prepare to land an agent. Me thinks this is going to be an interesting year. Of course, because there is no rest for the weary, I am off to go write the first chapter of book two!

More Dragon*Con Goodies

So I went to my first ever Dragon*Con last weekend with some gals from my writing group and if you couldn't tell from the previous posts we had a blast. It was completely exhausting, but that was to be expected.  I was pretty bad at taking pictures, the first day I forgot to charge my camera. Then it was usually burried in my bag so that I couldn't get it out in time to get a picture! My friends were much better at this, so here are some of my fav pics they took and the links to their sites so that you can see some more!

Check out Linda Robertson and Laura Bickle's blogs for more pics and hillarity:
http://wolfsbaneandabsinthe.blogspot.com/2009/09/things-i-heard-at-dragon-con.html
http://salamanderstales.blogspot.com/2009/09/more-dragoncon.html

Cute Little Blog Award

Thanks to Amanda for passing on the love! One of my favorite things to do is commiserate with other writers and lucky for me the internet has made so gosh darn easy to do!

Before I dive in to my nominations lets go over the rules of the game!




1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting. (see below)
5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

Okay, here are my seven fun facts about myself:

1. I am totally addicted to The SIMS. It is one of my favorite computer games of all times. I have versions 1, 2, and 3. Though my computer needs to be fully upgraded so that I can really enjoy the newest release. Sometimes I use the characters from my favorite books as inspiration in my game.

2. I love the geek revolution that is taking place. Its suddenly cool to be a gamer, to know a little about technology,to be obsessed over a tv show that isn't star trek. I've enjoyed my ride.

3. Writing is all I have ever wanted to do. My dream is to be able to support myself with my writing full-time and to become one of those authors who writes books that readers savor for a special "lazy day". I just want folks to relax, laugh, and enjoy my novels.

4. I suffer from the oldest child complex. Though in my defense I might just be the only sane person in my family.

5. I may write gritty, passionate, cynical stuff but deep down I'm a total romantic. I believe in soul mates and true love. I'm still looking though so if you're out there...hem hem...any day now. lol.

6. If I could choose one fictional world to live in it would be Harry Potter. There is something beyond magical about the world that JK Rowling has created. It is so much more than spells or potions. She made that world come to life right off the page and it's completely addictive.

7. I absolutely hate revisions with a passion. I know that it is necessary, but it is like pulling teeth for me. I love getting crits and feedback, but actually making the edits, cutting scenes, adding scenes, rearranging scenes...it's a pain in the you know what. I think I am going to have to just set aside my vacation to do nothing but revisions and crank them out like boot camp. That way they are done and I can more on.

Last but not least:

Here are my nominations for cool Kreative Bloggers. They include fellow urban fantasy authors and some of my favorite book review sites.

Linda Robertson: http://www.wolfsbaneandabsinthe.blogspot.com/
Laura Bickle: http://www.salamanderstales.blogspot.com/
Donna a.k.a Fantasy Dreamer: http://fantasydreamersramblings.blogspot.com/
Reverie Book Reviews http://reveriemedia.blogspot.com/
The League of Reluctant Adults http://reluctantadults.blogspot.com
Preternatural Reviews http://preternaturalreviews.blogspot.com/
SciFiGuy http://www.scifiguy.ca/

What I do when I'm supposed to be writing...

Discover random contests for signed copies of Breaking Dawn (4th twilight book) on twilightguy.com. You love me don't you??? I knew you did. All you have to do is click on the link, hop on over to Twilight-Guy's post and leave a comment! Warning, there are already 630+ comments and the drawing is completely random. you don't get any extra shots for commenting on my post either! But you're welcome to do so.

And just for fun, another random new moon spoof/video.