Kalayna Price

It was pointed out recently that my consumption of hot tea corresponds directly to my productivity. Days I drink tea, I tend to accomplish more words written/edited. Days I forgo tea tend to reap far less words. Now, this connection was not one I made, but something the DH pointed out to me during a grocery shopping trip. I had to think about it, and look back over the previous weeks, but I realized he was right. When I'm really focused and really cranking out work, I go through several cups of tea in a day. When I'm floundering and poking at the manuscript with the same trepidation as someone jabbing a stick at a sleeping bear, tea doesn't tend to be involved. Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying the tea is a magic ingredient to my writing, nor am I saying that drinking tea on bad days would improve them (though it might, lol). I'm actually saying the tea is part of my writing habit--one I never realized I had until it was pointed out to me. Like opening ...

I'm very pleased to announce that I've joined the amazing authors over at Fangs, Fur, and Fey . If you're not familiar with FFF, it is a live journal community of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance authors. I will be blogging in the community hopefully on something akin to a regular basis--probably, just like here, disappearing randomly when deadlines get tight. If you're a fan of UF and PR and you've never checked out the community before, you really should. There are posts there for readers and writers alike. And speaking of blogging, today I blogged over at the Magic District about goals . In particular, in the qualities required of a good goal. It's not writing specific, but it seemed pertinent as goals and accomplishing goals, has been a topic on my mind recently. Well, that's it for me today. Happy Thursday everyone!

Some would argue that the only line in a book more important than the first is the very last line. I'm not sure I would go that far, but as a reader, I know I've been sold by an opening line in the past. I discussed hooklines about two years ago , but it is a fun subject I'd like to expand upon. When I'm in a bookstore, browsing, the very first thing that draws me to a book is the cover. They always say not to judge a book by its cover, but marketers aren't stupid so different genres tend to have their own 'look'. By designing covers which look 'the same but different' within a genre, the marketing people have conditioned readers to gravitate to books that display certain visual elements. Once the cover has done its job and urged me to pick up the book, I flip it over and scan the back blurb. Now, you must understand I don't actually read the blurb. I just scan the first couple lines of the blurb. As a whole, I've grown to dislike blurbs ...

Yesterday I blogged about my growing tolerance for reading electronically. I've only read a handful of eBooks, and all of those on my iPad. I'd like to play with one of the readers with eInk, just to see the difference, but I'm not sure I could justify a dedicated reading device at this point. After all, my iPad also plays movies, games, and can use a number of somewhat productive apps. Also, as I'm not ready to give up my dead tree books yet, a dedicated device might be wasted on me. Currently, at least. That said, I have been fiddling around with the four main reading apps (iBooks, Kindle, Stanza, and B&N reader) on the iPad. Most of the eBooks I've downloaded have been free or 'specially priced' but they've given me a chance to become accustomed to eBooks and the apps which the iPad uses to display them. I have come to the following conclusions iBooks Aesthetics of ebook: 5/5 Ease of use: 4.5/5 Shopping/browsing: 2/5 When you first open ...

Recently there has been a ton of chatter about eBooks. With Amazon going to war with publishers over pricing, the release of the Nook--the first major competitor of the Kindle (not that there haven't been other eReaders, but just like Harry becoming the chosen one because Voldemort decided the prophecy referred to him, Amazon singled the Nook out as THE competitor) and then, of course, there was the stir over the introduction of iBooks. My observation has been that over the last year or two eBooks have gone from primarily a distribution tool used by small specialty markets (like small press erotica publishers) to a mainstream alternative to paper. A few years ago, eBook sales were not significant enough to track. While I can't put my hands on the report right this moment, if I remember correctly, last year eBooks made up a little less than 4% of all book sales. While 4% of the market is not much, if you look at the trend, it's obvious eBook popularity is growing, and fas...

As the TriMu blog is currently on hiatus, I'm going to steal some of the questions which were asked for our "Mailbag Monday" posts and answer them here. You guys won't object to that, right? Back in February Heather Y asked: Do you ever dream about your characters after you've written their story? Short answer: No. Long answer: (come on, you knew that one was coming.) Not that I remember once I wake up in the morning. Once I start writing a character they seem pretty content to live on the page and in my conscious mind. Characters typically have well defined personalities in my head by the time I start actively writing them, which doesn't tend to meld well with the more random nature of dreams. That said, often when I'm blocked and thinking about the story before I go to bed, I wake up with the answer of how to fix whatever issue I was banging my head against the night before, so something must happen while I'm asleep. But I never remember spe...

I spent this past weekend in Charlotte, NC at the wonderful little Sci fi/Fantasy convention, ConCarolinas. Unlike Steampunk World's Fair which was more of a vacation trip with light networking, ConCarolinas was a working convention for me.  I spoke on eight or so panels over the course of the weekend and typically sat at my book table when I wasn't at a panel. I reconnected with a couple writers and readers I'd met at previous events, met a good dozen writers for the first time, and I had the opportunity to chat with a ton of amazing readers both during panels and in the halls. This was my first year attending ConCarolinas as a guest, but I've attended the con and sat on the audience side of the table for several years now and I have to say, this is my favorite small (but growing quickly) regional con. I feel very fortunate that I was able to be a guest this year, and I hope they invite me back again next year. This Con marked a first for me in that I had my own (hal...

I know I've promised a post full of pictures and recaps from the Steampunk World's Fair convention I recently attended, but sorry, this isn't that post. That post is coming, so check back.  In the meantime, I just learned that my ConCarolinas schedule is up and realized the convention is only thirteen days away , so I'm diverting from the blog silence to post my schedule here for you. For those of you unfamiliar with ConCarolinas , it is a great little scifi/fantasy con held annually in Charlotte. This year the con will be held on June 4-6th, and it looks like a bunch of great panels, events, and guests (ahem) have been lined up. If you plan on attending the con, look for me at the following panels: Friday 06:00 pm A Character`s Best Friend: Creating familiars and other animal sidekicks. 08:00 pm Scary Monsters and Super Freaks : Creating monsters in your writing - and where have all the scary monsters gone? Saturday 9:00 am I`ll Write It Tomorrow: How...

Well, you've been asking for it, and I have permission, so I am now releasing the first sneak-peek of Grave Witch . The book is still a little over five months from release date, so I only have permission to release a very short except, but I hope you enjoy this quick preview of the book. Closer to the release date I should be uploading a longer excerpt (hopefully I will get permission to release the entire first chapter). By the way, if you will be at ComicCon 2010, you will be among the first to read the first chapter as my publisher will be giving it out there. Be on the lookout! Now, without further ado, please click here to read the excerpt . Enjoy, and check back often for more updates! Switching gears, I'd like to now announce the winner of my recent contest. I employed a random number generator for fairness, and the winner of the signed copy of Rachel Caine's KISS of DEATH is: Bookie , who wrote, "I found your blog through All Things Urban Fantasy. I...

If you haven't entered to win a copy of Rachel Caine's KISS OF DEATH, scroll down. Several people have asked for more information about the actual panels I sat on at RavenCon, so I thought I'd expand on a couple here. As I mentioned previously, I was on roughly a dozen panels during RavenCon. I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite, though a couple stick out, so I'll highlight some of the discussions here. The Future of Urban Fantasy : This was a delightful panel I shared with Mike Allen, Rachel Caine, Laura Underwood, and Nancy Holzner. Some concern was expressed that there are a lot of new titles appearing in urban fantasy currently, but it was pointed out that they are out there because there is a hungry audience for such books. It was mentioned that if you said 'this creature/situation has never ever been done before' that someone would probably be able to point you to a story where it had, in fact, been done, but there are certain creatures which...

Echo . . . echo . . . echo . . . Ahm. Yes, the silence here on the blog hasn't been broken in a couple weeks. Sorry about that. I have been juggling projects, deadlines, travel, and a hoop dance performance. Blogging fell to the bottom of the list, but I should be back now. I have several topics I want to talk about, not the least of which is a recap of the marvelous time I had at RavenCon, but I don't want to overwhelm everyone, so I'll be breaking the posts down to manageable chunks. I spent the weekend of the 9th at RavenCon in Richmond VA. I'd never attended Raven before, but it had come highly recommended and I'd been invited as a guest, so I packed my books, corset, and boots, and took a road trip. The con was delightful. Everyone was amazingly friendly, and the panel topics (both the ones I sat on and the ones I attended from the audience) were highly entertaining. I had the opportunity to meet tons of wonderful readers and talked to a good dozen or...

This is called drive-by posting. An alert just appeared in my inbox alerting me to new content mentioning me on goodreads. Well, considering I haven't announced anything new in the past couple weeks, I thought that was pretty interesting, so I clicked on it to check out what it was referring to. And discovered . . . Trivia Questions about the Haven Novels ! Okay, maybe this is a total geek-out moment, but I think it is absolutely awesome that someone took the time to make trivia questions about my series. (I'm not sure it's really reached my subconscious yet that people really do read the books, despite the fact I've heard from many very amazing readers.) So, I wanted to write a quick post to share my smiles with you. Have a great weekend everyone!

I'm blogging over at the the TriMu blog today. It is Free Fiction Friday over on the blog, and I'm reviewing and giving away a copy of Patricia Brigg's BONE CROSSED. If you would like a chance to win (or just want to talk about which guy in Brigg's world is your favorite) best you head over and comment! Happy Friday everyone!

I'm currently polishing the second Alex Craft novel in preparation of turning it over to my editor in the coming weeks. That means I'm revising. A lot. Most of the time, the line edit type revision that needs to be done is tightening, clarification, or expounding on an idea. Or, because I tend to write so fast my fingers don't always keep up with my brain, this includes adding in the words that somehow got dropped between my head and the keyboard--typically articles and preposition (I don't know why, that just seems to be the case. I know I thought them when I was composing the sentence, but upon rereading, articles and prepositions have vanished. Maybe there is a gnome that scurries through my manuscript stealing my articles and leaving 'just' and 'even' in its wake.) Anyway, most of these edits are tedious and, while important, nothing of interest.  But, as I've been working through the manuscript, I've found several very funny mistakes, which...

I just received my schedule for RavenCon , so if you plan to be at the con, you can find me at the following panels and workshops. I must say, I was assigned a very interesting selection of panels. This should be quite an experience. Below is the schedule with time, panel/workshop title, and the description provided by RavenCon . I hope to see you there! Friday Schedule: 6pm Book Launch Hour : Come hear about new releases at RavenCon. 9pm Got Sex? : When making the decision to fade to black or to go graphic--what determines the writers actions? Is there a demand from the readers or is there a form of self gratification? Or is it both? 10pm Where Have All the Female Vampires Gone : (No description available)--I'll be moderating this panel. Saturday Schedule: 11am Pitching Your Work and Writing a Query Letter : A two hour workshop which begins with a presentation and is then followed by participants drafting their very own query letter. Letters will be read and critiqued ...

Grave witch Alex Craft can speak to the dead, but that doesn’t mean she likes what they have to say… As a private investigator and consultant for the police, Alex Craft has seen a lot of dark magic. But even though she’s on good terms with Death himself—who happens to look fantastic in a pair of jeans—nothing has prepared her for her latest case. Alex is investigating a high profile murder when she’s attacked by the ‘shade’ she’s raising, which should be impossible. To top off her day, someone makes a serious attempt on her life, but Death saves her. Guess he likes having her around… To solve this case Alex will have to team up with tough homicide detective Falin Andrews. Falin seems to be hiding something—though it’s certainly not his dislike of Alex—but Alex knows she needs his help to navigate the tangled webs of mortal and paranormal politics, and to track down a killer wielding a magic so malevolent, it may cost Alex her life…and her soul.

So I just found out the artist for Grave Witch's (absolutely awesome) cover is Aleta Rafton. Her website with more of her art can be found here . I recognize quite a few of her pieces from other books, so how cool is that? (If you haven't seen the Grave Witch cover, scroll down to Friday's post and check it out.) In other news, Twice Dead is spending its third week in the top five bestselling dark fantasy list! Thank you everyone who has made that possible by buying books and telling friends about the series! The second book in the Alex Craft series is due April 1st, and I am hard at work trying to get it all shiny by that date. (Okay, maybe 'shiny' isn't the right word for dark fantasy. LOL) As I was reading over the first few chapters the other day, I realized that my characters are eating in 6 in of the first 15 scenes. Perhaps a little too much food. At this rate, Alex won't be fitting in that awesome outfit on the cover of Grave Witch. ^_^ Well,...

I received this in my email this morning and just got permission to post it. GRAVE WITCH is my upcoming October release from Roc. This is not the final version of the cover as quotes still need to be added to it, but the art is final. Isn't it breathtaking? Personally, I'm in awe! What do you think?   (If you repost, please note that this is not the final version of the cover.) I will be posting a blurb and excerpt soon, so stay tuned.  Also, have you joined the mailing list yet? Once I have permission to release an excerpt, I intend to make it available on my newsletter first. If you are looking for where to sign-up, you can do so in the box below. Fill out your e-mail address to receive Kalayna's newsletter! E-mail address: Subscribe Unsubscribe   Have a great weekend everyone!

Yes, I posted about where I was appearing on the net just a few days ago, but I missed some links. Time to rectify that. -Today, I'm blogging over at my fabulous agents blog in her Debut Week series. The blog is titled "How to Not Write a Novel" go check it out, and leave a comment to be entered to win a bundle of books! -Today is also the last day to head over to the Tri Mu Blog and enter to win a copy of my new release TWICE DEAD . Entering is easy, so don't forget to stop by and enter to win! -Also, as promised, today I am blogging over at the Magic District. The blog title is "Be Nice or I'll Put You in My Novel" and as previously mentioned includes a never before posted deleted scene from ONCE BITTEN, so check it out ! Have a great Thursday!

Wow, I have been all over the web recently, but I've been a little quiet here on my blog. If you are missing your fix of my random ramblings (I mean totally on topic and completely insightful, er, insights--riiight) you might check out some of the following guest posts. -I was a guest over at the Dark Faerie Tales blog on 2/22 and blogged about why I chose to write about cat shifters in my Haven series . -On 2/23 I was over at Literary Escapism talking about writing and real life research . -Friday (2/26) I was over with the awesome ladies at Riding with the Top Down to talk about how BIC is good for the book but bad for the waist. -Thursday (3/4) I'll be blogging over at The Magic District about whether I ever put real people in my novels, and this post will contain a (short) deleted scene from Once Bitten, so make sure you check it out. -Friday (3/5) I'll be blogging on the Modern Myth Makers blog , but I have no idea what my subject will be yet. Anyone ha...