Kalayna Price

I can't believe it is the day before Halloween already. I swear I missed the rest of October somehow--maybe most of September too. I have been busy with two different writing projects plus hosting the first several events for NaNoWriMo . (A massive writing endeavor which begins in less than 48 hours. *gulp*)I'm not ready--there is still so much left to do before I say goodbye to October. Anyone know how to slow time (preferably while I'm NOT at work. ^_~) Have a productive day everyone.

I'm thrilled to say I now have an excerpt of Once Bitten posted on my site. If you would like to read the first few pages of the book, check it out here ! Happy Reading!

(Craft post X-posted from the Tri Mu blog .) From the title, you probably think I'm going talk about searching out elusive information. Maybe even where I like to look or my favorite resources. Well, I hate to disappoint, but I'm not talking about finding the needle in the haystack. I'm talking about hiding the needle. Okay, just to be clear, in this instance, the haystack is a manuscript, and the research is the needle. Why in the world would we hide our research? Well, quite simply, writers learn everything they possibly can about a subject (especially if they have a tendency to get hooked on research--and it is a great procrastination tool if you are not careful) but the reader does not want the story to stop as the writer informs them of all the cool stuff learned during research. They want to absorb the necessary bits and move on. So why the needle metaphor? Surely the reader needs to know more than that? Sometimes, yes. Many times, no. For instance, in Once Bi...

Well, I found out the other day the release of Once Bitten is being postponed by a month. I'm not exactly shocked by this news--my publisher planned to break speed records to get the book out this season, but the process takes time (and a second set of revisions slowed things down.) So, it will be a couple more weeks before the book hits the shelf. (Which means more weeks for me to be jittery and stressed.) I'll post the official date as soon as I have it. Be on the lookout!

October is slipping away (far too quickly in my opinion) so my Co-ML and I hosted our very first Pre- NaNoWriMo event last night. We decided to do three pre-nano events this year: Noveling 101, a Plotting Bash, and a Creativity Kicker. Last night’s event was meant to be an informal discussion over dinner, so both my co-ml and I typed up hand outs that were supposed to just be general stuff to help guide the talk. Vikki wrote a short concise little hand out which, if you are interested, you can find here . I, on the other hand, got a little carried away, and a little long winded. (This will not surprise any long time blog readers.) Since I typed it up, I thought I would share it here on the blog. So, enjoy! (or skip it, as it is long.) Noveling 101 A General Overview of What to Consider When Writing a Novel Before being writers, we are readers, and as readers we absorb a lot of the necessary components for writing a novel. We know a good story when we read one, and, since we are al...

I'm back from Moonlight and Magnolias, and wow, I had a spectacular time. I'm definitely going back next year. What made it absolutely amazing? Well, there was the fact I learned a lot, at times, a whole lot. Margie Lawson's workshop on the deep EDITS system was a mind blower. I purchased the class packet several months ago, but I learned even more during the workshop. I also attended classes on setting, back story, and the hero’s journey which were highly valuable. I'm currently trying to apply what I learned in the hero’s journey class to my current WIP. The value of this conference was more than just what I learned (also more than the bag of signed/free books I totted home, though you know, I’d never look down on that.) What made last weekend memorable was hanging out with so many other writers. At Dragon*con there were 40k people, but only a handful were writers, and me being the social wallflower I am, I didn't talk to too many of them. At M&M, there were p...

Moonlight and Magnolia begins tomorrow, and fellow Tri-Mu Tori and I will be driving to Atlanta together shortly. I'm (over)packed, everything is loaded in the car, and I am now half an hour from my house and sitting in Tori's living room. And, besides blogging, what am I doing? I'm worrying about what I might have forgotten. Over packing is not a trait common to me. I have a personal rule that I will only pack as much as I can carry in one trip, and I don't like being bogged down. I'm a master of rolling clothing, don't need a lot of accessories or upkeep products, like all purpose footwear, and my bulkiest items are typically my laptop and a stuffed tiger I sleep with. That isn't the case for this trip. I've never been to an RWA conference, and everyone I've talked to has reiterated the need to be professional every time I step out of the hotel room. I'm not sure how professional, so I packed my suits (which means a garment bag so they don...