A Glimpse at Where Derrick and Brielle Meet

The How a Star Falls blog tour continues! Today, enjoy a glimpse at Chapter 1's setting (Trinidad Head), where Derrick and Brielle meet...

Brielle's bench

View from the trail

Derrick's favorite spot

(Why yes, this is the current header at Seasons of Humility!)

The cross where Derrick and Brielle sit

Trinidad, California, as seen from the trail

Just imagine this place at night in January, with a girl in a white poufy dress and a guy with earbuds in his ears, and there you have it! :) These pictures were taken on a walk with a friend of mine in June 2012.

Click the following links to learn more about the setting: City of Trinidad, Trinidad a Seaside Village, Trinidad Head Trail.

Catch a Falling (Paperback) and Put It in Your Pocket

This is just a quick update to let you know that How a Star Falls is now available in paperback format! It's currently $6.64 on Amazon - the perfect little weekend treat or stocking stuffer (for you early Christmas shoppers). :)

Here's a glimpse at the full cover, designed by the amazing Lena Goldfinch of Stone Lily Design:

I think I'm in love! ♥

I adore the font treatment on the back cover, and how Lena structured the blurb.

Also, here's a little fun fact about the front cover:

Notice the stars on the bottom half of the cover? In the initial mock-up, the stars are scattered. I asked Lena in a comment on our Secret Pinterest Board:

I like the added stars around the title! I would love to have three stand out, as I'm planning on referencing Orion's belt, and there are the three "stars" (star systems) that stand out there.

And Lena (being the fabulous friend and designer that she is!) made my wish come true. See how the stars on the final version form a three-star line ending in the star that the model is "holding"? That's a nod to Orion's Belt, Brielle's constellation. :) It's all in the details, right?

I've ordered some of my own copies (including three to be set aside for the giveaway winners), and I'm so looking forward to holding this book in my hands!

How a Star Falls Soundtrack

Well, How a Star Falls is officially out in the world. :) The Kindle ebook is now available on Amazon, and the paperback is *this close* to being published. I'll let you all know when it goes live!

For the next week I thought I'd feature some behind-the-scenes/extras here on the author blog. Today, let's talk music!

Below is my playlist for Derrick and Brielle's story. You can find all the YouTube videos together on the Pinterest board, as well. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the songs, a few of which are actually mentioned in the story. Which is your favorite? Are there other songs you'd include that fit the plot/mood?

How a Star Falls "Soundtrack"

Prologue: "Constellations" by Jack Johnson

Chapter 1: "Brielle" by Sky Sailing*

Chapter 2: "Shooting Star" by Owl City

Chapter 3 (etc.): "West Coast Friendship" by Owl City

Chapter 4: "Starlight" by Taylor Swift

Chapter 6: "If My Heart Was a House" by Owl City

Chapter 7 and Epilogue: "Shine Your Way" by Owl City and Yuna

*Don't forget that you can enter to win An Airplane Carried Me to Bed, the soothingly beautiful CD that includes this song.

How a Star Falls Now Available for Pre-order!

When Lena Goldfinch emailed me while I was on a mini family vacation a while back, sharing the news that Amazon was allowing indie authors to make their books available for pre-order, I was so excited. And I'm thrilled to announce that I'm trying out this new pre-order option for the very first time with How a Star Falls!

Pre-order a Kindle copy for only $1.99!

And yes, that means that I did finish a first draft. ;) A completed draft is required to begin the pre-order process, in order to minimize the number of unfulfilled commitments, I believe. Let's just say that I'm glad I didn't have the pre-order option with Morning Glory! Hopefully, I'll be extra sure of my release date next time around. *sheepish grin*

Anyway, Derrick and Brielle's story is now in the capable hands of my proofreader, Rachelle Rea, as well as a couple of awesome beta readers. I can't wait to share more, and I do so hope the story will resonate with you, friends!

I'll probably wait a bit longer before getting things fully in motion for tours/reviews/etc. - just to make sure my first readers don't hate the story or anything. But if you want to be in the loop for the promotion side of things, I'd love if you'd consider becoming a "Gem"! You can sign up for the Amber's Gems Street Team HERE.

More "star story" updates to come...

Cold Sky, Warm Stars

*Dusts off this little corner of the web*

In case anyone still bothers to follow this poor little blog that tends to get outdone by Seasons of Humility, I just wanted to let you know that things are coming together for How a Star Falls, my upcoming NA contemporary romance novella! Here are a couple of quote cards that I've shared on Twitter and Pinterest (created via PicMonkey), in case you want a little teaser or care to spread the word. :) Hopefully there will be more good news to come for this project as I keep on moving forward!

P.S. I'm kind of, sort of in love with Derrick (the hero). He and Brielle are stinkin' cute, in my slightly biased opinion. ;)

1 Postponed Project + 1 New Project = Less Stress

In some ways I'm very excited to write this post, because of the relief it brings. But there's also an element of guilt, because I owe you all an apology. Let's just start there...

You know that book I've been promoting as a "Summer 2014" release? The one that I revealed the cover for months ago, mentioned in blog posts and newsletters, and created buttons for? Well, I don't think it's actually going to end up being a summer release...

I'm sure a lot of you saw this coming. I've been extending my time table farther and farther, hoping I could keep my goal. I even started thinking that "summer" counted up until the official end of the season (September 22nd). While that may be true, that was hardly what many of you were initially expecting, and not what I had been sharing previously on social media. *sigh*

So what does this really mean?  

I'm postponing the publication of Morning Glory. Please note that I haven't entirely given up on it. I mean, we're talking about Myghal's story! And look at that cover - I have to write the book just so I can claim that gorgeous piece of art designed by Lena Goldfinch. ;)

I've been talking about this story for a long time now, so you might be curious as to why on earth I don't have the book ready yet. Here are my reasons/excuses:

• Life has been...well, life. I can and will use the excuse of my recent move, which involved moving out on my own for the first time (excluding college, since I lived on campus), starting a new full-time job (also a first!), and all the ins and outs that go along with that. The truth is, though, that I could and should have had the book done even before the move. Yes, there were freelance projects, my 6-week stint at the grocery store, family drama, etc. - so I'm not going to say it would have been easy. But I probably could have done it. Probably. 

• I haven't put as much effort as I should into the research. I've done some research, but I sometimes get bogged down by all the little things I ought to check to make sure the story is historically plausible. It's all interesting stuff, for sure, but with the range of settings and the direction I went with some characters, I've been overwhelmed. Not that I necessarily have to look up a ton of information, especially when I'm just trying to get the first draft down on paper. Still, I've been worried that I'm being a little too free with my imagination and a little too unconcerned with whether or not I'm even remotely close to accurately representing certain things, especially toward the middle of the story... 

• I think I've made a pantser error. "Pantser" is a term applied to those of us who generally write "by the seat of our pants." It's all well and good (and kind of fun!), but there are times when you sometimes miss key story elements because you're not deliberately thinking through all the aspects of the story beforehand. I realized this when I glanced through the post shared on Seekerville last night: "Troubleshooting Tips for Problem Plots." It hit me that I've been writing Morning Glory almost entirely as a "reaction" - I can't really identify my characters' clear, pressing goals. It's more like I'm throwing issue after issue at them and then forcing them to react. No wonder I feel adrift in the middle of the plot here... I have nothing really pushing my characters or the plot forward beyond a vague idea of where I want the story to end. The bottom line: I love these characters. I love certain plot elements. But I think I would need to go back to the drawing board in order to fix the overarching plot. This would/will probably take a good deal of time, especially since I haven't even finished a full draft yet... 

• My attention and passion have been consumed by a new project. Yes, I've been distracted by a shiny idea that's been in my peripheral vision since last fall. I've known that because of where I am in life, I'd want to work on it sooner rather than later. Ideas have been slowly trickling into my mind during the last couple of months, and with the upcoming cover reveal (this Saturday, August 9th, hosted at Seasons of Humility!) - which forced me to finally come up with a back-cover blurb - I've been completely swept away by the concept. The freedom of writing a contemporary has wooed me over to the "dark side," at least for now. ;)

To all of you who have been waiting for Morning Glory's release, please forgive me for not following through on my initial publication date goal. I'm very sorry to keep you waiting and to have gotten any hopes up by circulating the buttons with my target publication month/season. :( Like I said, I do have high hopes of publishing this at some point in the future, but I'm not ready to commit to a new target date just yet. "Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies," as the saying goes. (Although it's a little late for that first time around. *sigh again*) I'm not sure how big the changes to my current plot will be, but I hope to still introduce you to most/all of these new characters someday, Lord willing and passion returning...

In the meantime, I do hope you'll consider genre-jumping with me and checking out the project I *hope* to publish next, How a Star Falls (a fanciful new-adult contemporary romance novella). I've added it to Goodreads (sans cover and blurb until this weekend), so you can add it to your shelves. And do be sure to check out the cover reveal on Saturday, because Lena's cover designs never disappoint (and there's going to be a $10 Amazon.com gift card giveaway!).

Thank you all for reading and for your understanding!

A Winner and a Loser (Or an Honest Look at My Writing Progress)

Let's start with the happy news! I owed you all a post sometime last week announcing the "Name a Character" contest winner... I do apologize for the delay. Life has a silly way of distracting people - well, not to mention the books. ;)

Anyway, I entered the names into the List Randomizer on Random.org, and the winner is Carissa! She chose this name:

Rose

Lovely, is it not? And it will continue the flower theme in some small part, even in this non-flowery story. (Nice choice, Carissa!) Since I haven't given my full attention to How a Star Falls yet (but I'm really wanting to!), I haven't decided how I shall incorporate the name...but it will find its way into the book somehow. :)

Thank you to everyone who shared their feedback on the new Seasons of a Story Publishing site and submitted character names! It's quite a fun list to draw from, so perhaps I might be asking to use some more of those names at some point.

And now for Morning Glory...

I've got to be honest: I'm not as far as I hoped to be by this point. I think part of me is distracted by all these other story possibilities - their shiny, shimmery splendidness I keep glimpsing out of the corner of my eye. I really can't wait to give more attention to each of these story seeds that keep promising me they'll bloom into beautiful things.

Another part of me is distracted by my new job and schedule. I'm certainly not complaining, though! One, this night owl is now learning how to actually get up at a decent hour in the morning. ;) Two, this is really my dream job, and I couldn't be happier with my position and the place I'm working.

Plus, if I'm honest, I probably could have been writing more the last week or two...but when I get home from work, a lot of times I just want to read! It's not my fault that these books are so darn engaging, is it? And then there's dinner and dishes and other "housekeeping" things, you know!

I guess I just feel sort of stuck. My passion for the story feels like an ember instead of a flame, and I wonder if I just need to push through it or if I need to accept it for now. But then I think of the commitment I made to all of you about publishing it this summer, and I don't feel right just giving up quite yet. My sweet friend and cover designer gave me some great brainstorming ideas, and I think the one thing I really need to do is just give myself time to sit down and think. Maybe do the research I keep putting off. Let myself get absorbed into the heart of the story again. I really do love these characters. I mean, how can I not love Myghal, really?? LOL. And each of the three sisters has a piece of my heart. In fact, one of them has asserted herself, not content to just be pushed to the side...

Anyway, I just wanted to be up-front with you, my dear friends and readers. Also, I would sure appreciate any prayers that the Lord's will be done with this and any story I write!

Tell me: What do you do to re-ignite your passion for a story when you're stuck in the middle of it? What is it about Morning Glory that you're looking forward to...or are you more excited about my upcoming experiments with new genres? ;)