The Romantic Heart

       Writing the next Dice vs. DMs blog is going to hurt my romantic heart. I don't want to spoil it, but it makes me very sad to write out what happened in yesterday's game session. I don't know what I'd do in their shoes, but I have a feeling it would be something similar. 

      Does it take a tender heart to write romances? A couple weeks ago I killed off a character in a storyline and bawled my eyes out while I did it. It hurt as bad as if I had gone through a breakup and maybe it was. I get so attached to characters that it's difficult to see them leave, even more difficult to force them to leave. It's hard to know when to put down the pen and leave them alone, or pick up the pen and write something nasty into their lives. 

     But that's part of being a writer. I find that when I can't control something, I turn to my stories because I can control them. I can control how the people feel as I manipulate their lives. 

     But in the end, I want them all to be happy (except the bad guys. The bad guys should be in jail or dead). 

     Anyway, I know that if I don't finish writing the other blog today, I won't before the next game. So I'd better run do that, even though my heart breaks for the characters...one in particular...

Autographed Copies Available Soon!

I have received a lot of requests for autographed copies of Creole Escape. They will be available in early August! Shipping will depend upon where you live, so please contact me for specifics at my email or at my Facebook page.

Now Available in Paperback!

Creole Escape is now available in paperback!!

On CreateSpace:
https://www.createspace.com/3829532 

On Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Creole-Escape

Happy Fourth of July!

It's getting rather late tonight and all I want to do is write. BUT I have to be up early to be at work tomorrow morning so I thought I'd wrap up a few things before I forced myself away from the computer...

I finished the last proof of Creole Escape today and submitted one last time for approval. I am not proofing it again. As soon as it's approved by Createspace, I will order my proof, approve the online proof, and then put it up for sale! I will let you know exactly when the paperback version is available for sale!!

I have recently rewritten a couple scenes for Waking Up. They were scenes that needed to be revamped because they just didn't suit the story or just didn't seem...right! I am still shooting for a December release for Waking Up. More on that project as it develops...

I have a new blog up chronicling my RPG (Role Playing Games for you who don't speak gamer geek) group's current adventures. I get a lot of my inspiration from the group, and would like to write the stories that come out of our DM's mind. I take notes by computer every session and compiled a huge file from the last adventure that I began to convert into a coherent storyline (my notes definitely do NOT tell the whole story!) but I ended up not finishing the conversion since I was busy with other projects.

So I decided that taking the adventure piece by piece is better than trying to tackle it all at once after the adventure's complete. So far it's working great! Go on over to Dice vs DMs and see what that's all about!

As always, don't forget to like my Facebook page if you haven't already! Author Amber Manuel

Hope you had a great Fourth of July!

I have been a bit MIA on the writing front lately. Last week was an awesome time with some hilarious friends and I managed to mix in some research as well!

We went to The Myrtles Plantation for a tour and to roam the grounds for a while. The whole place is gorgeous, and of course, notoriously haunted! This was ideal to get a better idea of what furnishings would be in Deidre's house in Waking Up and how the household would have worked while the house was in the height of its glory.

Not to mention the paranormal aspect. Speaking of which, I may have caught something...
Explanation: I was using my iPhone 4, which has a central auto-focus built into it. Basically that means either the whole picture is in focus or none of it is.
The shots were snapped within 15 seconds or so of each other. I wanted a shot of the mirror without a reflection in it. Here's the first... 

 And here's the second...

Why is only half of the bottom picture in focus?? I had a photographer friend who just so happens to be an ex-ghost hunter (she ran a group out of Austin, TX before she moved) and she has never seen an iPhone camera act like this!

Is that blurred area a ghost? The anomaly certainly gives me food for thought while I continue writing Waking Up!

The Greatest Feeling

I never expected to feel this way. I have had a handful of people tell me how much they enjoyed Creole Escape and each one gives me such a high!

The whole process - writing the scenes, piecing them together, having the story critiqued and edited, getting the cover just right, getting the formatting and copyrighting sorted out - all of the building up was to the big climax I wasn't certain I would ever see: seeing my story in print. That was such a high!

And then the feedback. Even something that could be construed as negative is awesome! People are reading what I wrote, something that is purely from my mind! 

It is the greatest feeling!  

Happy Easter! to those of you who celebrate it. To those of you who don't: Happy Bunny Who Lays Eggs Day!

Just a little news: The advertisement is going in a local dance group's program, which will support my nieces and hopefully earn me more exposure. Excited about that!!

My Facebook website is really hot, going up 20 likes in a little more than two days earlier this week! I am sending off autographed copies of the cover like crazy - see my Facebook page for details on how to get yours! https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAmberManuel