Update

Sorry I haven't been blogging as much this summer. I've been focused on getting the first draft of my 6th book done and I just finished today! It's just shy of 64,000 words which means that after edits, it should be near 70,000. I closed it out and will set it aside for about a month. In that time, I'll work on book #5 which needs it's first edit.

Finding out we're pregnant again has also slowed me down a bit. The fatigue and the nauseousness has made staying up late and writing pretty rare. Hopefully the second trimester will bring some relief.

I'd like to get at least book #5 and #6 out before Christmas. If I'm lucky, book #7 - the sequel to The Ultimate Sacrifice will be out too.

This Week in Talia News

A review of If I Die Young and an interview at Colleen Wait Writes.

It's reviews like this one at Gathering Leaves Reviews of Damaged: Natalie's Story that keep me writing. I am very protective of Natalie, so this review brought tears to my eyes.

A review of The Ultimate Sacrifice at Le' Grand Codex.

And just to prove I don't put all good reviews on here... a 3 star review at All Things Supernatural.

A review of If I Die Young on Brittany's Fantasy.

A new blog for Young Adult Authors.

I'm 47,000 words into my dark, edgy drama. As soon as that is finished, I'll be writing the sequel to The Ultimate Sacrifice.

And, don't forget, I'm participating in an iPad giveaway next week. Want one? Details to come. Follow this blog and check back soon!

This Week in Talia News

Sorry, little late in posting news... well, for the whole month I guess.

Michelle Muto interviewed me for her blog: Michelle Muto. While you're there, check out her book.

I finished the first draft of book #5. I put it aside for a few weeks. Then I'll go back to it and do my first edit, send it out to some readers, and do another edit.

I've been brainstorming more on book #6 and #7.

I'm also contemplating hiring an editor, but so far the prices are way too high.

Damaged still out sells any of the other books. If I Die Young comes in second. The Ultimate Sacrifice continues to come in last, but I'm hoping that since 80 people downloaded it using the coupon, maybe - just maybe - I'll get some more reviews, feedback, and word of mouth.

In the meantime, when the sales are up, I'm skipping around the house and when they're down, I remind myself that I write for me. I like telling stories, even if I'm the only one that ever reads them :)

G'nite World!!

Superstar!

This is what it must feel like to be awesome!! I got 4 sales in less than an hour. I usually don't check my sales that much. But, for some reason, I did, and one book jumped up in sales. I was elated!! I'm sure famous authors get much more than 4 sales in AN HOUR, but this must be a fraction of what they feel!! I'm skipping around the house, I let the kids have ice cream, nothing is going to get me down now.

I feel like Jack on the Titanic... I'm QUEEN of the World!!! (At least for another 5 minutes!)

So, to you, my fans... Thank You!

Writing Is For Me

Did you ever get that crazy 'is this really worth it' feeling? Sometimes I get depressed - I admit it. It's hard doing this all myself. Maybe I expect too much? I know I'm just starting out. It's only been a few months... no, it's been longer than that, in July it'll be one year since I put my first book out there for the world to read.

I do get sales. Usually about two a day. Some days I get nothing and there have been days where I have had six sales. So, it's not like I'm not getting anything. But, then I read about people selling 100 a day. It blows my mind. To sell that many every day would be awesome! How do I get to that point? I know I don't always write about easy things. I don't always write about what people want to read, but I do think that there are many people out there who would like my books if they gave them a chance. My husband has convinced me to write a paranormal and a vampire book. I'm only 30,000 words into the vampire one. I'm kind of stuck in the middle, so I figured I'd take a few days to think.

I put my books out there to a bunch of book bloggers, so far the feedback has been positive. Although, I'm trying to prepare myself for that bad review that will ultimately come. I can't please everybody. But, I'm sure when it does come, I'll pull the covers up over my head and decide never to write again... for about a minute. LOL!

I keep reminding myself that the reason I write is for me. I love these stories. I want to see them get written. I want to read them. Selling them is just a perk :) So, I will keep writing as long as characters keep yelling in my head - and hopefully someday I will see sales as high as 100 a day!

Teagan's New Cover

Teagan's Story: Her Battle With Epilepsy got its new cover today!!! Thank you to Streetlight Graphics for coming through for me again!

Old cover:

New cover:

This Week in Talia News

Teagan's Story: Her Battle With Epilepsy got reviewed on David Cleinman's Works and Writings

If I Die Young sold over ten copies so we met our goal and sent the proceeds to The Children's Heart Foundation.

Teagan's Story got a new cover... see other post about that.

I started a new paranormal and am about 20,000 words in.

Ten Copies Sold!

Woohoo! We did it! In only four days, ten copies of If I Die Young were sold! The proceeds from the first ten books have been donated to The Children's Heart Foundation. Thank you all for helping. I hope this book continues to sell well and helps to spread the word about heart defects. I also hope the story touches many people.

If I Die Young's Setting

My third book, If I Die Young, takes place in the Denver, Colorado area. The scenery there is beautiful. I wanted a beautiful place where Caelyn could experience the season changes, where she would feel alive. One of the most beautiful flowers is the Colorado state flower - the Columbine - mentioned a couple times in the book.

Caelyn mentions the mountains and views in the book. Here's a few pictures of Estes Park from this past winter:

This is the children's hospital in Denver where Caelyn spends a lot of time:

I hope to get to the Denver area this summer for more pictures.

A New Cover for Natalie

Damaged: Natalie's Story has a new cover! Yes, I did the old one myself. No, it wasn't very good, but it got the book out there and selling. I have wanted a professional cover for this book for a long time, but just didn't have the money. And I had to convince my husband, who didn't think I needed one. When he saw what Streetlight Graphics did for The Ultimate Sacrifice, he finally understood.

The new cover is exactly what I pictured. I love the colors, the font, and the girl. She looks exactly what I would picture Natalie looking like.

Old cover:

New cover:

I'm very excited and hope to see an increase in sales!

This Week in Talia News

It's the beginning of a new month! Hello May, please bring lots of sales. My BBoS (brown bar of shame) is gone on Amazon US. Yay!! I love when that bar disappears the first day of the month.

Lots of cover news this week. I have three covers finished now. I will be revealing a new one for an old book tonight. I am very happy with Streetlight Graphics!

I also went back and edited - AGAIN - the old books. I don't think I'm ever done editing. I walked away for six months, pulled the book back up and found things wrong. Even with people editing for me, I still found mistakes! Hopefully, I fixed all of them... doubt it, but maybe most of them :) Please do not hesitate to let me know if you see mistakes in my books. I will go fix them.

My fingers are itching to write an edgy book that I started in high school - which was a LONG time ago. I actually finished the story way back then, but it's not realistic now. So, I'm taking the character names and some of the story line and completely redoing it.

Guess that's about :) Cover reveal to follow.

If I Die Young Cover

As I've been saying, Streetlight Graphics did the cover for my fourth book, The Ultimate Sacrifice. When I saw the amazing job they did, I asked them to also do the cover for my third book, If I Die Young. Since If I Die Young is coming out soon... hopefully within the next 1-2 weeks, I wanted to release the cover.

If I Die Young is about a 16-year-old who needs a heart transplant. Official blurb to come :)

Without further ado...

Two New Tabs

Two new tabs have appeared at the top of this page. If I Die Young and The Ultimate Sacrifice. Those are the next two books I'll be releasing, so I figured I better get started on promoting them.

I'll focus on If I Die Young because that one will be first. If I Die Young is about a 16-year-old girl who needs a heart transplant. I hope to share my blurb this weekend and some information about where the story takes place. Streetlight Graphics is working on the cover for this book, so that will be revealed very soon.

Many of you know that my fourth book, The Ultimate Sacrifice, is my first YA paranormal. It's been a very exciting and scary time for me. I hope that my readers like it as much as my YA dramas. The book is almost ready to be sent to some people for review, here's hoping they enjoy it!

Book Cover

I am very excited about my paranormal book cover. I hired Streetlight Graphics to do it for me and it is amazing! I absolutely love it and I hope my readers do too. He did SO good, that I have hired him to do all of my other covers. I can't wait to see what he comes up with.

Up and Down

The beginning of April started out good. I had a good number of sales. But, the second part of April hasn't been so good. Maybe it's spring break? Maybe people are busy with Easter? It's definitely been slower. I'm okay with that though. I know it's a roller-coaster ride.

It wouldn't be so bad if I could break my habit of checking KDP or Pubit 3-4 times a day. I'm obsessed with clicking on the link to see if any more sales popped up. It's hard to stay away from that, when I'm already on the computer writing, editing, or promoting. It's sooooo easy to just open another tab and click on the bookmark.

Sigh.

I'm trying to focus on editing the rest of my 4th book. I might have another scene or two to add before sending it off for reviews. FOCUS - Talia - FOCUS!

Sneak Peek

Have you ever wondered what goes on at the school hidden in the mountains?

This Week in Talia News

Here is the second edition of my weekly update.

Sales were slow this past week, but the books are still selling, so I can't complain too much.

My two books were listed on Breakthrough Bookstore website.

Damaged: Natalie's Story was featured on Adventures in Writing.

I'm waiting to hear from one more person reviewing my 3rd book. I think I settled on a title. Well, it's in between 2. Problem is one is an old movie and one is a newer song. I also got the blurb written.

I finished my first edit on my 4th book. I also wrote the blurb and found a title! Then I submitted it all to the cover artist!! Very excited about this one. My oldest daughter read it and loved it. So, I'm hoping other people will too. I hope to get it sent out to my reviewers by the end of the weekend.

This Week in Talia News

I'm going to try to keep a weekly update of how things are going. So, here is the first edition of 'This Week in Talia News'.

I was interviewed on two blogs:

Adventures In Writing

David Cleinman's Works and Writings

The article I was interviewed for in a local publication came out - however, there were a lot of spelling and grammar errors in the article. I'm worried that people will think that's how I write.

I received a good review for Damaged: Natalie's Story on Goodreads. I love it when I get good reviews. I love seeing that people are enjoying my books.

I finished the second draft of my third book and sent it to a couple people to read and review.

Next week's goal: I haven't decided for sure. If the reviews come in quickly, I'll get to work on them. If not, I'll do the first edit on my fourth book. Lots of promoting - I slacked a little the past two weeks trying to finish a couple of things.

Featured Author

I'm being featured on a blog today! The Cozy Corner Reading Room has samples of my books and an interview. Please check it out!

Book #4

Tonight, I feel on top of the world! I finished the first draft of my fourth book. I began writing it March 11, 2011. So, it took less than a month to complete. I'm very excited about this book - and a little worried. It's my first paranormal story making it new territory for me.

I'm not ready to go into details yet, other than to say it's not about vampires or werewolves. It's about teens with 'gifts'.

Right now, I'm setting it aside. I'm going to go back to my third book which needs some editing. I had a few people read it and tell me what they thought. Now, I'll be taking their opinions and going back through it. After the edit, I'll send it back out to these people to see how they like the new version. Then another edit and I hope to get it out for summer.

Once that it is done, I'll go back to this book and do my first edit on it. I'm very hopeful that I will have this one released by the end of the year.

And... I already have book five in my head - and a little on paper. I had to write down some things, the character kept yelling in my head : )