Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Cheap Sunglasses Excerpt

Okay, so I hope it's no surprise that I'm working on the next book in the Cheap Series. It's been a long time coming. I've needed to work on more books, and I am. I'm not sure when I'm going to write Cynthia's story for the Over series, but I will write that too. Working 40 hours a week takes some getting used to, and I'm still settling in my new apartment. I just finished National Novel Writing Month, so I have a lot more written for Cheap Sunglasses. Good, solid stuff. 

Here's one of the scenes. It's from chapter two. Dan and Clara, two important characters for the book, have such a strong presence. I love writing them! (Dan is Mae's love interest ;)) Keep in mind that this is part of the rough draft!!
 

Clara looks rough by the time I pull into the parking lot of the apartment where she has been staying—what she told me at the time—a day after she called me. It was a long ass drive, nearly ten hours. I didn’t want to give her roommate the money for her bail, but Grandma nearly chewed my head off when I told her my plan to make her wait until I got to Kentucky. Instead, I’m giving her friend back the money she paid to bail Clara out.
It wasn’t easy to explain what happened to our grandmother. She wanted to come and be the one to pay Clara’s friend back, but her health isn’t exactly one-hundred percent.
Clara stares at me from the steps when I get out of my truck. She hugs her knees and her mascara has a big black streak down to the middle of her cheek. I wonder how long she’s been sitting there, crying, waiting for me to get here today. She must have been wiping her face a lot. She has the good sense to look completely embarrassed when I sigh and get out of my vehicle.
I sigh. “Hey, sis.”
“I hate you for not just wiring the money,” Clara says. I sit next to her and put my arms around her. “I would have been out of there a day sooner if you would have just wired the money. Instead, I had to spend an extra day with an intimidating older lady with zero teeth, who kept calling me ‘Rich Blonde Bitch’. I thought she would shank me in my sleep.”
I see the friend who bailed her out peaking though the window. Her eyes widen when she notices me make eye contact with her before she darts behind the blue curtains with the letters “UK” on them. Well, I’d think the people in this area would support Louisville. I’m sure she wants her money, but she can wait until I finish speaking with my sister.
“That’s the love I get for driving all the way up here to make sure you’re okay?”
Clara sounds like she wants to cry when I’m sure she’s already been crying. I want to fucking break this pussy’s nose for getting her so upset. It’s hard to remind myself that I can’t keep busting a motherfucker’s head every time my little sister gets hurt. I almost got put in juvie for that in high school. At least Clara is okay. She rests her head against my shoulder now. I guess she is relieved I’m here even though she will never admit it.
“He’s not worth it,” I say instead of scolding her like I spent the entire drive up here preparing myself to do.
“No shit.”
This girl isn’t my sister. She looks like her, but I’m not sure if she has had her personality completely washed or what. Clara would never let her mascara run or sound defeated. Her hair looks like it hasn’t been brushed in a few days. Her tone has a small bite to it, but it isn’t laced with a strong sarcastic tone like it used to be. My sister can be a mean ass. She isn’t acting like one right now.
“What the fuck happened, Clara?”
She huffs and pulls away from me, raking her hands through her hair.
“You’re not living in the dorms like you said you would,” I state matter of factly when she doesn’t answer me.
“I’m not. I dropped out of school.”
“What the fuck?”
I stand because I’m in shock. She’s been lying the whole time? This definitely isn’t my sister.
I’m swearing in front of her. I usually try to watch my mouth in the presence of women. Fuck that. Clara is old enough to hear me when I’m truly pissed, and the alternative would be to beat her boyfriend’s ass.
“Clara, what the hell…”
“Let me talk, okay, Dan? If you keep interrupting me every five minutes, I don’t think I’ll be able to get everything out.”
I clench my jaw shut because I want to understand what is going on before I act rashly and end up in jail with this Jason asshole threatening to press charges against me too.
“Last few weeks… they’ve been rough. I’ve been feeling like I’m not very smart, so that’s why I dropped out of school. I got mostly D’s because I hate studying. Jason said he would get me a job working at a bar for his friend in Louisville and that I wouldn’t need to worry about proving my age. Jason was right, I guess. The guy didn’t ask many questions, like how old I am, during the interview. About a month after that Jason started pressuring me to move in with him, and I nearly did… only things at the strip club started going downhill and after I got fired last week for smashing a glass into a customer’s crotch—“
“Clara, hold the fuck up. You worked in a strip club?”
She bites her lower lip and turns bright red. “Um…”
“Please tell me my sister didn’t drop out of college to fucking strip in front of men for money.”
“No,” she says, shaking her head. “I didn’t, Dan. I just served drinks and then volunteered for a humane society on the side—”
“I can’t fucking believe this!”
I really, truly can’t believe it, and I need to get away before I do something fucking stupid. I rake my hand through my hair and pull out my wallet. I don’t know this town, but I’m about to figure it out, but I need to do what I came here to do first.
“Here,” I say, tossing two fifties at her.
“Whoa, Dan… that’s way more money than—”
“You look like shit. You don’t have to work in a strip club to get money. All you have to do is come to me.”
She’s crying now. She knows she fucked up, and she knows I’m about to leave so that I can get my head on straight.
“I’m going to find a grocery store,” I say. “And then I’m going to make us all dinner.”
She launches herself off the steps and into my arms, and I catch her because I would be an ass if I let my sister fall onto the ground face first even though I’m very angry at her.
“Can you make a pizza? Ohh, with breadsticks and everything?”
Jesus. She wants me to cook for hours. But, this is my little sister.
“Yeah,” I say. “Of course I will.”

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Writer's Brain

So, I kept on hearing of this thing called pregnancy brain while I did research for Bri's pregnancy while I wrote Head Over Heart. The thing where a woman becomes completely scatterbrained while she's pregnant growing a tiny human? Yeah, that.

I feel like something similar to that is happening to me lately (and I'm not pregnant, felt I should clarify). I am so stressed out with having my next novel be perfect that I'm forgetting just to write the damn thing. Add that in with possibly dating and work and a new apartment and trying to figure out how the hell I keep on doing everything on my own, and we've got one scatterbrained writer. I forgot to take the damn trash out earlier. Yeah. It's a problem... and I bought hangers but still haven't hung up my clothes.

Either that or it's because planets are in retrograde but I can only use that as an excuse for so long.

Or I'm lazy?

Yeah, we'll go with that since my mind is going a mile a minute. I think I've had too much coffee.

Stay tuned for more random blog posts. I'm trying to get back into the swing of it.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Life Craziness

So, smack dab in the middle of my life with having my job back and working on Cheap Sunglasses, I decided to move. I have Winnie with me and a new fish (who needs a name... I can't keep calling him fishy). Thumper is now living with a friend because my landlord said I could only have one rabbit. Yeah, landlord. I moved into a two bedroom apartment. With steps. I've always had a thing about wanting to live somewhere with stairs. My "H" key on my keyboard has also decided that it doesn't like me, and it broke off my computer. I'm finally getting used to it after I threw a hissy fit for a day. I still haven't gotten everything into my office yet because I need a desk first, and I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to get other things moved. I'll write a post, eventually, that is more focused later.

Oh, and I'm changing the cover for Cheap Lies. 


Monday, July 13, 2015

Be Careful, Exes... Novels happen.

Disclaimer: I'm on a serious Taylor Swift kick lately.

On August 9th, 2012, I posted this status on Facebook:

...lmao. I told the UPS guy I got my divorce papers today, and he was like "Oooh, Lord! Praise Jesus!"

I wouldn't exactly put it that way, but yep. lmao!

Getting divorced is one of the hardest things that I’ve ever had to go through. It wasn’t just that I loved my ex-husband. Sometimes I’m not even sure if it was actually love anymore, even though it probably was. I will admit that our relationship wasn’t the healthiest. I did depend on him a lot, but I was in school. He told me it was okay for me to focus on school while I finished out my English degree, even though he made me feel guilty about it while we went through the divorce.

(FYI sorry if there are run-on sentences. I’m in the middle of Camp NaNoWriMo and this is an exercise to keep myself from editing…and maybe it’s creative nonfiction).

I’m practicing this thing where I act more positive. So, here’s a list of things I’ve learned about myself since the divorce:

I am stronger.

I’m an angst whore. I know this contradicts the whole positivity thing but I’ve learned a good cry over fictional characters can be therapeutic. You’re inhuman if a tremulous love story doesn’t tear you up. It makes for really awesome New Adult Romance. The divorce inspired Cheap Guitars, the debut novel I finished a year after we got divorced. I don’t think I would had I not broken up with him.

If I hadn’t gotten divorced, I might not have watched The Vampire Diaries, and I might not have met the amazing girls who turned me onto reading angst. XD For my fanfiction readers, All This Time would’ve never been written.

I have had the wonderful privilege of being a step mom to an amazing kid. He still jokes around and calls me Mom. I’ll always be there for him, no matter what happened between me and his father. I definitely want kids, but I’m just not sure when I’m going to have my own. I’m just glad I didn’t have any with the ex.

I’ve been hardened when it comes to relationships falling through. Well, maybe not from the last semi-serious one because I fell in love with him so fast, but I am able to turn any negative/ill feelings I have toward someone quickly now (and writing helps that too).
I learned I am able to take care of myself despite not yet being totally by myself. Living with Mom isn’t the end of the world. I am finally ready to learn to drive. I have an amazing job, something I might not have ever thought about doing had I stayed with him. I might not have even ever published had I stayed with him… or made the awesome friends I have now.
I sincerely enjoy being able to do what I want, when I want, on my own time. I’m not even sure how well I would do in a relationship anymore because I have gotten so used to doing things my own way. I love coming home after work and spending hours on the computer writing my romance stories. You would think it’s hard to write after going through something as traumatic as a divorce. It’s not. I can still be a hopeless romantic, albeit a careful one.
Exes best be careful if they piss me off. Romance novels happen.
My girlfriends can really come through when I need them. They inspire me. They make me laugh so hard I can’t think straight. It wasn’t long after the marriage ended that I started having giggle fits that lasted so long I had trouble breathing once the girls got me going. They give awesome advice, like go watch mindless reality television until my brain needs to reboot so that I can kick start my brain and write again. It works. They give my exes HILARIOUS names that will probably make it into a story at some point. (Geekless, Doorknob, or something I really can’t say in a blog, anyone? XD—actually, this is where Dickie came from for Richard in Cheap Guitars.)
Besides, I’m so glad I’m no longer married to a Doorknob who decided it was okay to use curtains his first ex-wife made—and that hung in our living room—into vests for the groom and groomsmen in his third wedding.

I’m about to start giggling so hard at myself that I can’t move again. Lmao, on that note, I think I’m gonna call it a night on this post. If you have any funny stories about getting over a divorce or break up, feel free to share them with me!

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

FREEEEE

Okay, I think I have thoroughly annoyed all Twitter followers and FB friends, but I thought I would also announce here that Cheap Guitars is currently free in ebook form. I think Amazon might be lagging behind, but on my computer, I see it listed as free. This novel debuted last year in March and it was what I like to call my "learner novel" where I got to fuss and complain over the formatting, ran into several editing errors, and have finally gotten it all worked out. I'll talk about that process some other time, but I just wanted to share.

If you want to wait a day or so to DL it, that's okay too. I'm going to format it so it has a proper index that is interactive in the ebook, and so that it shows up under "new adult" as well. Also learning issues I had when I first published it. You all may laugh hysterically at me. I encourage it!

Here are the linksies:
Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Cheap-Guitars-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00IQEP9IK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1435682799&sr=8-1&keywords=cheap+guitars+mara+a+miller

Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cheap-guitars-mara-a-miller/1119970403?ean=9781498960502

iTunes: (just look it up in the program on your computer or an app in your iPhone, iPod, or iPad)

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/cheap-guitars

Head Over Heart is out on sale now too!

Monday, June 8, 2015

Cheap Lies, a prequel

With Head Over Heart coming out at the end of this month (really, here's the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00U5GU91E?*Version*=1&*entries*=0), it also has a nice little HEY CHEAP LIES IS COMING OUT at the back of the book.

I'm classier than that. And, guess what? It's here too.

Cheap Lies is the prequel to Cheap Guitars, and my entire Cheap series, really. I don't want to spoil anything if you haven't read CG (and what the hell, man? XD), then I don't want to spoil one of the major events in the story. Gwen, however, is Brandon's sister, and it follows her just the few short moments before she makes a decision that changes everyone else's lives. It also has Gwen, and Mae Davenport, in college in New York.

Those girls are crazy.

I love them.

Without further ado, here it is:

Prologue

Take a chill pill.
Gwen threw the lid from her bottle of Sailor Jerry’s onto the coffee table next to the small bag of Valium. She stared at the bag, shook her head, and poured herself three shots into her brother’s set novelty Star Wars shot glasses.
Brandon had no idea how much she wanted those pills.
She knocked back her first drink.
It would be easy for her. She did it all the time before when she needed to calm her nerves while she still lived in New York. She depended on those tiny white pills once, and it would be no problem for her to start again.
Ignore everything, including the pills, she told herself. She didn’t need either. What she wanted to do was to relax and enjoy her time alone in the house, something not easily done when she lived with her younger brother and her daughter.
Jay: Baby, I’m coming back home.
Gwen: No, ur not.
Jay: Don’t u love me?
“Screw this,” Gwen said. She threw her phone. It landed somewhere on the floor next to the coffee table.
She told Jay to stop texting and calling her. He never quite grasped that she sometimes needed time to herself. She couldn’t get him to understand why they ended their relationship. It made Gwen sick to her stomach.
She needed to finally let Jay know the truth, but she didn’t know how to without his anger getting the best of him. He couldn’t come back to Kentucky. Since he left, it was like she could finally breathe. She had her freedom back. Amy was happier, and so was Gwen. It would be amazing if Elise and Brandon could work out their crap, but what could she really do for them? If Jay finally knew the truth about Amy’s birth certificate then maybe he could move on. That is, if he didn’t turn into a raging bipolar asshole.
Gwen sadly expected nothing less from him.
Loud, frantic knocking made her spill her fucking drink.
“Fuck!” she yelled, standing.
The knocking continued. Gwen didn’t want to answer the door. She told everyone not to bother her. Neal respected her wishes. Brandon tried calling her, but she couldn’t stand him and his drama with Elise any longer. That’s when she kicked him out of his own house. Neal, their younger brother, at least had the decency to know when she needed an adult time-out; one that included a lot of soap opera binging and drinking.
No one knew about the pills.
“Who is it!?” she yelled, not sorry for sounding bitchy for one moment.
“Charlie!”
Shit.
Gwen quickly grabbed the pills and stuffed them in her bra. Why the hell had Charlie decided to show up? They hardly talked much anymore. He barely looked at her whenever she worked at the auto shop and usually barked orders about whatever he needed like some kind of Neanderthal.
“What?”
“Whoa,” Charlie said. “Brandon wasn’t kidding when he said you’re in a bad mood.”
“And you think pointing this out to me right away is a good reason why…?” she asked.
Charlie hardly aged a day in the past six years. If anything, being out of the army softened him up, but he still had thick, muscled arms. Gwen would willingly bet her next paycheck from the shop that he still had a six pack too. He wore his hat from the army now and bits of his brown hair rebelliously escaped. He no longer wore the buzz cut. Gwen almost wished he would because that might make him less appealing, she thought, as she looked up at him. He stood a solid six feet compared to her tiny five-foot-four and ass that didn’t seem to want to relinquish the baby fat.
He took the hat off and shuffled his feet. Gwen couldn’t remember a time she ever saw Charlie get nervous, but his hair had gotten too long, and slid through his fingers like butter. She wondered what he would do if she ran her fingers through it. Was it really soft like she thought?
“I wanted to talk.”
“I’ve lived back in Kentucky way longer than you have,” Gwen said, unwilling to tone down her snark. “You barely say five words to me unless it’s to bark orders about ordering a part for a car.”
“I—I know that.”
Stammering? Gwen thought. Her shoulder dropped; she hadn’t realized how stiffly she stood in the entrance.
“What’s up, Charlie?”
“I’ve been thinking,” he said. “Brandon and Elise keep acting like morons, but I keep wondering if we aren’t doing the exact thing.”
No,” Gwen said. “Don’t go there.”
“Gwen, I’m in love with you.”

She slammed the door in his face.

Monday, May 25, 2015

Blargh (AKA Random Thoughts)

I probably should get over that-my extreme dislike of titling my work. I won't actually tell anyone where I got the title Cheap Guitars, but Head Over Hoof was inspired by Alanis Morrissette's song, Hand Over Feet. Half the time I feel like they're silly titles. I'm struggling over what I'll name my next novel-I'm planning to write a stand alone despite my better judgement-and I'm just not sure what I want it to be yet.

It'll come to me. I might have to go through an entire pot of coffee, but it'll come to me.

All that aside, tonight I told someone I'm a published romance writer. Writer, not author. There are three romance writers who I dearly love. Nora Roberts inspired me to start writing, and it was through reading every single one of her books I could get my hand on when I was younger that I started to truly love the romance genre. Jasinda Wilder's personal story struck a chord when I realized she was an indie writer. Colleen Hoover made me cry like a big baby--wait, yeah, Jasinda Wilder did too. A book never really made me cry until I read Slammed or Wilder's numerous series of books. (Some people might just tell you I'm a big old baby though).

I'm saying writer because I don't really feel like an author yet. Colleen Hoover does this, and I expressly agree with her. I don't feel like an author yet... exactly, although I just hit the 14,000 word mark on my next book in the Cheap series and I might be babbling in this blog post until I'm sure how I want to start chapter five. I've read her blog several times, and she said it's because she's afraid her success isn't going to go away. I highly doubt that'll happen. In my case, it's because I'm just starting out, and I'm afraid like I'll sound like a big pompous ass if I brag about how many books I'm planning to publish. (Side note: I'm obsessed with the phrase "pompous ass" lately.)

Or maybe I'm just REALLY antsy because my third book is about to be released and I should call myself an author now, even though I'm not on a best sellers list yet. That wasn't ever my original goal... I originally just wanted to hold my own book in my hand. That's happened. I'm about to do it a third time. I don't really need to be on a best sellers list even though it would be pretty awesome 'cause then that would mean I could actually turn this into a career.

I seriously want to look back on this in a year and laugh at myself.