Kalayna Price

Cross posted over at the Tri Mu blog . I’ve had a lot of emails and several questions over on facebook about my cover. Did I design it? Do I know the girl on the cover? Does she look like my main character? The simple answer to all the questions: No. Here is the story about the cover. Several weeks ago I opened my inbox to discover an email from my publisher titled “Cover Rough Draft”. Attached was a .jpg image that looked very similar to what you see now. I was invited to tell them if I loved it or hated it, and luckily I love it because that was the extent of my influence on the cover. The girl doesn’t look like Kita, and the really cool iron lamp isn’t in the book, but I think the cover as a whole has a dark-edgy feel that I hope permeates the book. So, that’s the story. Probably not the most illuminating tale, and I’ll be honest, just for curiosity’s sake, I’d love to see what other designs were thrown around, but I’m very happy with the cover, and I can’t wait to have a copy in...

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about promo material. From my time working at a bookstore, I know most of it gets junked immediately if sent to a store. Bookmarks are the only thing to survive, and their effectiveness depends a lot on the store in question. Placed in books in genre, bookmarks might just earn a new writer a second glance. Typically though, bookmarks are placed on the counter where most the people who pick them up are interested only in the fact it is a bookmark and not in the book, or worse, the bookmark is stuffed in a bag—where it will likely stay. Conventions, conferences, and signings are a little different. At Dragon*con the ‘freebie’ tables were covered in all kinds of things: postcards, bookmarks, flyers, fold out pamphlets, pens… Some were really cool. Most I would consider tossable (so I didn’t pick them up.) About the only thing I grabbed were bookmarks. I like bookmarks. I’ve bought several books after staring at a bookmark in books I was reading at the tim...

I am busy. That about sums things up. The last few weeks have been packed and the horizon looks just as chaotic. Once Bitten's release date is looming, though most of my work with the book is finished. Currently I'm neck deep in revisions again. I'm pulling apart my own words and trying to get them as tight as possible before the Moonlight and Magnolia conference. My edits were derailed by revisions not long ago, so *cross your fingers* I hope I'll be ready to pitch a new series while at the conference. My schedule doesn't get any clearer after that. During October I have three big NaNoWriMo events I plan to hold this year: Noveling 101, a Plotting Bash, and a Creativity Bash, so I need to do prep work for those. I also need to break out my own plotting hat because I'll be starting a new story in a new world for the challenge. (At least most of the world building is done, but I have a dismal amount of it plotted and most of that is in my head.) Then of course, t...

One of my fellow Tri-Mus just sent me a link to my book, now up for pre-sale at Barnes and Noble. I had no idea it would but up so soon, but Check it out! *happy dance*

My publisher bounced around a lot of ideas for a title, and I’m super pleased with the final outcome of ONCE BITTEN . Because good news is plentiful today, I have been given permission to share the cover image. (I saw it right before leaving for Dragon*Con, but I couldn’t share it yet.) Without further ado, the cover and blurb for Once Bitten: For the past five years, Kita Nekai has faded into the background of the human world, but when a rogue shifter begins littering the city of Haven with bodies, Kita's illegal status lands her on the suspect list. During a confrontation with hunters that she can't win, rescue arrives in the form of the mysterious Nathanial Deaton. Kita soon wishes it hadn't when his method of saving her leaves her undead. With only three nights to prove her innocence and a new liquid diet to worry about, Kita doesn't want to deal with her infuriating rescuer or the ghost from her past who is determined to drag her back home. But, she needs help if...

I’m back from Dragon*con, and while I’m tired, and need to get some serious work done on my revisions, I’m very glad I went. I listened to, and talked to, a dozen or more authors this weekend, not to mention all the other avid readers I had the opportunity to discuss my favorite books with. I don’t have a lot of time to write as much as I would like about Dragon, but here are some highlights: --Larurell K Hamilton getting on her soap box about the fallacy of ‘one perfect person’ because a romance writer on the panel insinuated Anita Blake’s character relationships were not about emotion. --Signed books (need I say more) --Meeting my publisher. --Watching the businessmen and innocent mall attendees staring at the crazy cosplayers. In the same vein, walking down the tubes connecting the hotels and passing Darth Vader and a troop of Storm Troopers. --Discovering two bands I’d never heard of: Voltaire and Cruxshadows --Talking to Rachel Caine (and too many more authors to list here.) Th...

(x-posted over at the Tri Mu blog .) Dragon*Con is approaching quickly, and I’m excited and nervous (a common state for me recently.). This is not my first big convention, but this is one of the very biggest fantasy conventions in the states, and it will be my first time attending. The con will be full of stars, writers, artists, and fans. There will be pirates, klingons, fairies, anime kids, and dozens of other fans stretching across the sci-fi/fantasy genre. Several writers I adore will be attending—which means I need to pack books to be signed (I must remember that this time, unlike when I went to concarolinas.) My editors will also be there. I’m left unsure what roll I play—which will make packing a neat trick. I’m typically the type to dress up at cons. After all, any excuse to go in costume is a good excuse, right? But, I’ll be following the writers track, and I’m told most don’t dress up. Do I dress up anyways? I’m really not sure yet. I might not decide until I get there. The ...

The poll is still open for another hour, but unless several dozen new people vote, option 2 is the clear winner with 54% of the vote in the poll and the majority in comments and emails. "Friendly and approachable" is clearly the way to go. I'm a fan of options, so I've decided to let my editor decide between the top two choices, but runner up is a little harder to determine. Option #6 has a marginal lead in the polls over the next closest(14% total votes compared to 11%--both a far cry from the leader) but in comments and emails option #5 is a little ahead. Since #5 is a little darker and edgier (and I'm writing Darker Urban Fantasy) I think I'll send that one. Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to vote and/or voice an opinion! Currently there are 74 votes, over a dozen comments, and several dozen emails. Thank you all again!

Okay everyone, I need some help. I've been asked to provide an author photo which will first go on my publisher's website, and then will later end up in the back of my book. I took a couple dozen photos this weekend, and I narrowed it down to the following. Which do you think I should use? Option 1 Option 2 Option 3 Option 4 Option 5 Option 6 So what do you think? I'm going to post a poll in the sidebar, but feel free to voice your opinion in the comments. Thanks so much!

I know, I know, I posted some exciting information in my post 'The Call' but withheld details. Well, I'm finally ready to share. The short story: I sold my first book (and there was much dancing around the living room.) The longer story: The call came in several days before I posted about it, but I wanted to be sure I was going to take the offer before I said anything. The funny thing is, I actually missed the call originally. Yep, you read that right. I MISSED THE CALL. I was at work at the time, in a meeting, so it wasn't until later I looked at the phone and noticed a call had come in from an area code I didn't recognize. So, I first found out about the offer by email, though a second call came later and I had the opportunity to talk to my new super nice editor. Still, I didn't want to say too much too soon. So what has changed? My contract is signed and in the mail. It's official, I'm being published. The book I've always referred to as ...

Because I'm all about last minute decisions, I have just today decided to attend DragonCon. Yes, that's right, the biggest Science Fiction Fantasy Con on this coast is 7 days away, and I decided today. It happens. Long story short: a friend from college had to cancel last minute, so there was an extra ticket and a spot in a room up for grabs. Some other time that might not have been enough to motivate me, after all M&M is only a month away, but well... It worked (or at least I hope it will.) So...Yippiee I'm going to DragonCon. The friends I'm going with won't be on the writer's track, so I'll probably be wandering around alone. If you'll be there, give me a shout. Maybe we can meet up sometime. Watch for updates. I still have to tell you about The Call....

Unpublished writers are always waiting for THE CALL. Which call would that be? The call from an editor, of course. The call telling them someone wants to publish that doorstop they wrote. My call finally came. More details soon... ^_^

Time is arguably one of the most valuable and scarce resources each of us have. We can only count the time that has past, never the time still to come, and while it could be argued that time is a renewable resource, as one minute continues to follow the last, we never truly know when the final minute will come, or what will pop up in the next moment and demand our attention. Everything in life vies for time: family, jobs, sleep, shopping, hobbies, ect. We each must value and balance the activities that consume our time. If you are a writer, you have probably heard someone say something to the extent of “Yeah, I plan to write a book one day, when I get time. ” If you haven’t heard a line like that before, walk around and tell people you are writing a book, I almost guarantee you will eventually hear it. This line is one of my personal pet-peeves. After all, when is there really ample time just sitting around to write a book? Retirement? Who wants to wait their entire life before t...

I know, I know; I talked about what inspires ideas in my last post. I promise, I’m not repeating the topic. No, this time I wanted to address what inspires a writer to write . Not what makes her drag her butt to the chair everyday—that’s a different topic—but what makes her need to write. What inspires her to get up early, stay up late, or miss returning to work on time because the words are pouring out of her? How does she go from scrapping the bottom of the creative well to being muse-touched? Over the past couple years, I’ve had the pleasure of talking to many different writers. A question I always find interesting to ask (whether the writer is multi-published or still struggling to finish that first manuscript) is ‘What gets your creative juices flowing?’. I’ve received a lot of answers, so I thought I’d hit on a couple. - Reading a Good Book This is something that works for me. There is nothing like reading a great book, and after the last page, thinking, “I want to write some...

X-posted over at the Tri Mu blog . Every time I’ve attended a session where an author opens the floor to questions from the public, someone inevitably raises their hand and asks “Where do you get your ideas?” These few words almost always produce a pained look on the author’s face, and even I have learned to cringe. Sometimes the author laughs it off, but when pressed to answer, she typically says, “Everywhere.” This answer rarely satisfies, despite its validity, and the author knows this, but how else can she answer and still have time to address other questions? Defining an author as someone who has at least one published book and a writer as someone who has completed a manuscript but has not been published, I can only attest to the truth of the statement of ‘everywhere’ as a writer. Everything a writer/author sees, reads, and hears and everyone she meets gets thrown into the plot soup in the back of her head. Since that is such an unsatisfying answer, I’ll give you some examples ...

[X-posted over at the Tri Mu Blog .] The first time is always memorable. No, not THAT first time (get your head out of the gutter.) I'm talking about the first manuscript. The first time a writer decides she is going write a book, and she does. Day after day she returns to the keyboard to pound out the next word, the next scene, the next chapter, until she hits those two magical words 'the end.' For some writers, this process may take only a few weeks, but for others it takes years. Some will attempt it many times, but for various reasons, not reach those two words on a novel length project. For me, the journey took years, and during that time I acquired a graveyard full of false starts and half finished stories that never went anywhere. Some of these stories were worked on only a short amount of time before being abandoned, others were labored over for three or more years before I finally gave up on them. After years and years, the first book I finished took only three m...

[Be warned, this turned into a very long post.] If there is one benefit to being unpublished, it is the lack of a deadline. This frees a writer to experiment a little--to take chances she might not have time to take later in her career. (Not that time is ever overly abundant.) This year (all five months of it thus far) has been full of exploration for me. The Tri Mu has had writing challenges most months which have ranged from writing in different genres to including very specific elements in scenes/short stories. Besides these short challenges, I've been working off and on a literary YA, but I haven't managed to really sink my teeth into the story for an extended amount of time. This project is an interesting one, and a big stretch for be because the story includes neither fantasy nor mystery elements, the two genres I'm most familiar and comfortable with. But, I was urged to write it by a non-writer who is very important to me, so I gave it a shot, and it will probably c...

I read a lot of series in several genres, and many have hit double digits in number of books. I love series--particularly ones with the same main character in each book--because every time I pick one up it's like seeing old friends again. That said, I'm starting to wonder if series should end at a point. Several of the series I read today, I first picked up when I was a teenager. Over the years, some have changed drastically, some not so much. Both these extremes have their own issues. The series that change drastically tend to push character growth and as the character reaches a peek, something new has to level them back out (lets not talk about paranormal sides where the MC ends up godlike because s/he keeps gaining new powers each book.) The series that don't change much, have much less character growth, and you can usually pick up the later ones in any order and and only miss some minor references. The middle ground is a little fuzzy and harder to find as each new book ...

Admit it. You've been there. I can has cheezburger or a Caterday site. You've looked at the cute little animals with clever little captions because well, they make you laugh. (And if you haven't looked, you should, laughing is good for you.) The problem becomes apparent when you think about the fact most people know grammar intrinsically, not factually. Things sound right to the ear. But if enough people use words/phrases incorrectly, they start sounding 'right' and are eventually adopted as slang , and after enough time, slang is adopted as an evolution of the English language. That's what a living language does--it evolves. Since the advent of instant messenger, English teachers around the states have reported a rapid degradation of proper grammar. I occasionally have to remind myself that smiley faces ^_^ and *emotes* have no place in professional correspondences. That doesn't mean I don't receive them from other 'professionals' at work so...

I have a very special announcement, the Modern Myth Makers blog has now officially launched. *pulls out the launch party-hats* We are just doing introductions right now, but please stop over and learn about the other girls in my writing group. In the future we plan to do lots of writing related posts as well pass the plot challenges (where one writes a section of a story and then another has to pick up where she left off) and other fun little things. So, go on, visit , and don't forget to bookmark us. ^_^