"Soul What?!" is now available!

Hey everyone!

Super duper exciting news! :D Soul What?! is now officially available to the public. I cannot believe it, it all feels so surreal. It has always been a dream of mine ever since I was a little girl to write a story and share it with the world and now that day has come years later. I'm so excited to share the Val's story and the world of Soul What?! with you all today. I hope that you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Soul What?! available;

For Kindle: Amazon

Paperback: Createspace     -      Amazon

It's not available for nook yet, but I'm working on it :)

Don't forget to enter the goodreads giveaway for your chance to win a free copy of my debut novel. 

HAPPY READING EVERYONE! :)

Soul What?! Playlist

Hey everyone!


To get everyone excited about the release of Soul What?! on June 16 (only 2 days away!) I'm going to do Soul What?! related posts on my blog to help you get a better feel of what the book is all about. When it comes to writing books I really like creating a playlist for a book that captures the essence of of the story. Soul What?! sort of takes place in the 90s, it's not mentioned anywhere in the book, but when I wrote Soul What?! the world was in the 90s. :) As a result a majority of these songs are 90s themed; boy and girl bands, bubblegum pop, and more! So without further ado;

Hey Juliet by LMNT

Mirror Mirror by M2M

The One by The Backstreet Boys

Only in the Movies by Diffuser

The Tide is High by Atomic Kitten

Can't Help Falling In Love by A*Teens

I'm Ready by Cherie

What's Good For Me by Lucy Woodward

(You Drive Me) Crazy by Britney Spears

I'll Never Break Your Heart by The Backstreet Boys

How Long by Dream

All Star by Smash Mouth

Crush by Mandy Moore

Us Against the World by Play

So Contagious by Acceptance

Each one of these songs plays some significance in the story Soul What?! Some of them describe a few of the characters, their relationships and struggles, the situations in the book, and so many different things about Soul What?! I cannot put it into words. Ignore some of the music videos, these were the videos that worked on the blog so hopefully they'll still work once this post is published. If Soul What?! was a movie (I'm just speaking hypothetically, don't worry I'm not getting way too ahead of myself here) then these songs would each represent different scenes within the novel. But the two main songs out of all of the ones mentioned above that I feel best represent Soul What?! are Hey Juliet by LMNT and So Contagious by Acceptance, and I had no idea I made them first and last in this list, that was unintentional. 

Only two more days!

HAPPY READING EVERYONE! :)

Super Exciting Fantastical News!

Hey everyone!

I am just bouncing off the walls in excitement right now! Just last week the editing of my debut novel Soul What?! was completed. The cover is done and everything is good to go. The publishers are going to be sending me a proof copy in the mail that I should be receiving sometime this week. I am just way too excited. I'm going to be going over the book to make sure that the printing goes smoothly and there aren't any typos that may have been missed during the editing process...because most of the time there are.

I'm just so happy, relieved, excited, proud that I actually followed through with a novel and finished it, and feeling a whole bunch of things all at once. The release date for Soul What?! has been picked and it will be available to the public on June 16! :D I can't express how happy I am, I'm probably just rambling on and being redundant about my emotions, but I just really wanted to share this with you guys since you've been with me the entire journey of Soul What?!

Soul What?! now has its own GoodReads page too!

Soul What?! GoodReads

Don't forget to add Soul What?! to your 'to-read' list.

Thank you for all of your support, I truly appreciate it. 

HAPPY READING EVERYONE! :)

Things, things, and well....things

Hey everyone!


This post is kind of going to be an explanation of a few things, an update of things, and an explanation of things to come. For starters, it's finals week. I'm almost done with my second year of college! Just one more final to go!

I also wanted to apologize for having missed Wordless Wednesday and Fabulous Finds Friday about three or four times within the last couple of weeks. The impending finals had me all stressed out and I couldn't focus on anything else, and well...life happened. Today I got my hardest final, Calculus, out of the way and I feel so relieved even though there's a chance I could have flunked the test entirely. I'm just glad it's over.
As some of you may well know, or may not, I'm studying to be a veterinary technician. I recently got accepted into the school of my dreams!! :D *happy dance* and I will be starting in the summer. That means while I'm in that school most likely The Literary Forest will be on hiatus.

I'm sorry, but medical school is tough and I'll have to give my undivided attention to school in order to do the best that I can. However, that's  about two months from now so don't worry! After my last final coming up next week I will be more active on this blog and have far more time to read, which means more reviews.
Speaking of reading, that's a good segue to get onto the next topic I wanted to talk about. Since my last post regarding the book ban I have borrowed and purchased books. I know, I know, go ahead and throw your tomatoes at me. I'm weak and can't resist books, though, having met so many people in the book community, I know I'm not the only one. I am reading a book off of my shelf right now (well not at this moment since I'm typing up this blog post) so that's got to count for something? I'll be doing an In My Mailbox post here soon to show you all the goodies I couldn't resist getting.

Next on the things to talk about would be the progress of Soul What?! my novel. Soul What?! is in the process of being edited, quite rigorously I might add, and is close to 80% done. If everything goes swimmingly I hope to have Soul What?! released this summer! I'm super excited, and cannot wait to share my debut novel with you all.
I think that's pretty much all I wanted to talk about today. It's currently raining here and I'm so very happy about that. Also, I've recently gotten into Doctor Who....and I'm kind of obsessed.

HAPPY READING EVERYONE! :)

A little update-de-doodlie-doo

Hey everyone!


So as you may well know I finished writing my novel (see post here) and am currently in the process of editing the crap out of it. Editing is no easy feat, I have friends reading the book and editing it for me (they are remaining neutral though, so they won't sugar coat anything for the sake of my feelings) and then I'll edit and revise some more until I feel like the book is chiseled, fixed, and polished to it's best.
I put a lot of work into this book, and for a very good personal reason. The original idea of writing Soul What?! came around when I really missed my sisters and the fact that I no longer could see them every day. They're my biggest critics and for as long as I remember they've listened to me tell them story idea after story idea and read chapters and writing to them to no end. For once I wanted to finish a story, and I did (but only the writing is complete) and they don't have a clue about it. This project has been about two years in the making, from brainstorm to written word, and the anticipation of them finally being able to read the book whenever it's published and ready to read is killing me. It's almost like an ache that's eating away at me, but it's the force that's driving me forward and telling me not to give up. So I'm going to continue to edit and work at this until Soul What?! is a real book they can hold in their hands.
The characters are almost like real people to me, I've spent so many hours and weekends pouring over my laptop, putting eye drops in my eyes, and scribbling scenes in class or whenever a scene idea came to mind at the most random of times. But it was all worth it. I know  it will be.
If my sisters like the book then I will be happy and feel like I accomplished something great. It wouldn't really matter if no one else in the world ever read the book, (I'm not trying to sound like a jerk and dismiss the world) I mean yeah I would really love it if people experienced the story too, but I would be content if my sisters are happy with it.
The editing process is about 1/8th done, there's still a lot to do. It's slow but steady but I'll get to the finish line soon enough.

HAPPY READING EVERYONE! :)

Amazing Fantabulous News!

Hey everyone!

I've got some super duper exciting news and I feel like the overalls I'm wearing is the only thing that's keeping me from bursting from happiness. So last week I finally finished writing my novel! I'm so happy because as you all are well aware I've never been able to finish a novel completely without stopping and starting a new one. Time for a little CELEBRATION!

YES! YES! YES! It just all feels so fantabulous! :) I'm currently in the process of getting ready to edit, revise, edit, revise, edit, revise and edit and revise some more. The ecstatic happiness almost matches the amount of relief I feel that I finally finished it haha. Though there's still a lot more work to do it's good to have the foundation of the novel done. Thank you all for your wonderful support :)

I'm almost there, can't give up now :)

HAPPY READING EVERYONE! :)

Sorry for disappearing again

Hey everyone!

It's been so long I feel so guilty for not posting reviews and updates. I'm really, really, really, really, really sorry. School this semester was a killer and I was constantly being slammed with work, projects, and tons of tests to study for. But the semester is officially over!

Freedom!

Having only been on break for about a week I have been super busy writing my novel, it's almost done! I'm really excited because I have never written this much of any of the novels I've started in my life. I'll definitely be keeping you guys updated with anything new going on with my novels.

However, even though I was gone I have been reading every chance I get, so there will definitely be a lot of book reviews coming your way within the next to week to wrap up the year. How have you guys been?

I hope you all are safe, warm, and surrounded by those you love this holiday season. Take care!

HAPPY READING EVERYONE! :)

My Novel Update!

Hey everyone!

So I've got some pretty cool news. Lately, I've been working a lot on my novel as a way to unwind and de-stress from all of the stuff going on in school because this semester's been pretty rough. However, because of that it's paying off! The book is almost done!


Word Count Totals:

• Chapter 1: 5,320 words
• Chapter 2: 3,695 words
• Chapter 3: 5,439 words
• Chapter 4: 3,614 words
• Chapter 5: 6,674 words
• Chapter 6: 6,407 words
• Chapter 7: 7,046 words
• Chapter 8: 2,242 words
• Chapter 9: 4,917 words
• Chapter 10: 6,311 words
• Chapter 11:7,355 words
• Chapter 12: 4,704 words
• Chapter 13: 2,760 words
• Chapter 14: 4,078 words
• Chapter 15: 3,491 words

Total Word Count Thus Far: 74,052 words!

Gosh, I'm really excited :) I remember when I posted about how excited I was about 30,000 words haha. It's all starting to come together and I'm really anxious to finish writing the ending. I'm thinking their may be 30,000 words left to write though I'm still not sure yet, it all really depends on how things work out.

HAPPY READING EVERYONE! :)

News of good things to come

Hey everyone!

I'm sorry I've been MIA for a while now but don't fret, my absence has been for a good reason! I've been writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, and did I mention writing? ;)

So FINALLY I'm going to tell you all about the mystery novel I've been writing for the past five months that you guys still don't know anything about yet! Without further ado, let me introduce you to my debut novel;

Soul What?!

After several cover design drafts that exceeded well into the double digits I can finally say that I am pleased with this cover. Thanks to all of my friends and colleagues that helped with the design process, you saved me from pulling my hair out! :)

Synopsis:

Val’s officially a junior. It’s a new school year, and another chance to try and be invisible. Being in the spotlight with the popular crowd wasn’t as glamorous as she had once thought, and Val had to learn the hard way. But her plan for invisibility shatters when the school’s most feared bad boy Nathan Alexander steps into the picture. Any sane person would’ve been afraid of him, but having daily conversations with Lucian, a talking cat Val fatefully rescued, doesn’t help prove she hasn’t lost her marbles. Forced to tolerate each other’s presences during after school detention every day Val learns there’s more to Nathan and his motorcycle than meets the eye. In a sea of rumors and quick wildfire-spreading gossip it’s difficult to tell truth from fiction. Val begins to question if Nathan’s really the cold-hearted delinquent that the student body is convinced he is. Just when Val thinks everything is almost normal again Lucian lets her in on a little secret; he knows who her soul mate is. All Val wanted was to lay low but she can’t help that her heart beats like a drum whenever she’s around Nathan.

You have no idea how excited I am about all of this! For the past couple of years I have started writing several novels only to eventually scoot them to the side, start another one, and continue the infinite process. This is the first time I've almost finished a novel except for that time in third grade when I wrote a story about an evil grim reaper and a wizard that made magical armies and fought until the death alongside unicorns. But that wouldn't really count...would it? The draft is almost complete and once I hit the last word on the keyboard I'm going to close it up and hide it away for a month. What?! Why?! You're probably wondering. Well because if I straight away begin the editing process of the novel right after I finish writing it the chances of me missing mistakes are greater than if I wait a month prior to scavenging for grammatical and spelling errors. It will then be edited a few more times by other people and then will be in the publishing process! I'm not going to ship this book off to any publishers because I'd prefer to self publish it. If everything goes well and the feedback is great then I'll consider sending it to a publisher, but I don't want to count my chickens before the eggs hatch.

I originally wrote this book for my sisters to give them for Christmas this year and the submission process for most publishers requires up to six months of waiting to hear back and I just can't afford that kind of time with this book. I know there are a lot of people who wouldn't even consider to touch a self-published novel but I don't care, I'm always rooting for the underdog. I'll let you guys know when I decide on the official publish date and possible free pdfs for book bloggers that would like to review the book. I've grown attatched to a lot of the characters in the book especially Nathan, sweet, sweet , misunderstood Nathan and I can't wait to share the story with you guys too!

So far at this rate it looks like the book may be published by November! I'm just so pumped. Currently I have over 70,000 words! Almost done! :D

I hope everyone's having an awesome beginning to their summer!

HAPPY READING EVERYONE! :)

30,000 words!!! Oh my goodness :D

Hey everyone!


I just wanted to make a quick little announcement to share with you that I've reached a point of a little over 30,000 words of the novel I'm currently writing. I'm so excited because I just stared writing it about a month and a half ago and it's going by really good. I've written several other stories throughout high school but never ever finished them let alone got this far without quitting and starting another story.

I'm determined to finish this book though, it's a present I'm currently making for my younger sisters and is a contemporary chick lit with a dash of paranormal-ness and lots of humor.(But shhhh!!! They don't know I'm writing it, it's a surprise). I'm really excited about it and since I wanted to take you guys along for the journey of its progress until the very end when I'm determined to get it published (whether by self-publishing it or by traditional publishing, whatever happens.) I wanted to let you know about this little milestone!

I know it doesn't seem like much but I haven't had as much time to write as I would like because I was really busy with essays and college work for a couple of weeks and had little to no time to do practically anything else. But the past couple of days have been phenomenal and I've finished chapters at a time and just now I finished chapter 6! So I'm just having a little dance being all excited and knowing I've still got a ways to go. :)

HAPPY READING EVERYONE! :)

Preoccupied Procrastination

Lately my mind has been all over the place, I  haven't had as much time for reading as I'd like to have because two of my college courses have been dumping tons of work on me. I currently have two essays to finish writing by the end of the next two weeks; one on the differential personalities of siblings and another on the effects of pre-determined expectations of teachers on student performance. Yep, I've got my work cut out for me.
I also want to let you guys know about a project I've been working on for quite a while. I'm currently writing a YA novel that I'm hoping to finish some time this summer. I've found a few publishers that I'll be submitting my manuscript to once it's all polished and edited to perfection. Once it's done I'll update you guys on it's progress and give you a first chapter sneak peak. I  haven't formally written the synopsis yet but I'll be doing that soon I hope.

HAPPY READING EVERYONE! :)