Looking toward the future

You know, I'm not certain why I write a blog, mostly because I highly doubt that anyone is interested in what I have to say. Perhaps I do it for myself so I can look back on things. Right now I'm looking forward however. Tomorrow I find out if I made it past the preliminary stage of the ABNA contest. Considering I'm a pessimist at heart I'm not holding out for any high hopes. I did get back in touch with Ron and he's working on fixing the small problem in the artwork I posted yesterday. It's getting so close and all that's left after this is a bit of coloring. That means that I can publish the damn thing, unless for some stupid ass reason I end up winning the ABNA contest. (At that point I'd actually be surprised if not floored) Anyway be prepared for a post tomorrow highlighting either another failure or a small win.

-Michelle

A new week and an update!

Hello to all of you wonderful people that actually read my blog!
Well the waiting for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest is almost over. At least the first round of it. We shall see if my pitch was liked enough to move me on to the next round. I'm not holding out for it and if it happens it happens. I got something else this week that made me just as happy if not happier.
I'm certain that an update would have come about sooner, but somewhere in cyberspace an e-mail decided to blip on me and Ron. However today I got a nice little e-mail with the beginnings of my cover. This is the stage before he puts in all the details, but...at least you can get the idea.  
You can see Atraiu's cape is more than a cape and well Davali's tail is a bit obvious too. All in all I love it. (even if it has one slight error.)

What say all of you?

-Michelle

Ramblings of a Tortured Creative Soul

Well it's been awhile since I've had much of anything to report. My old laptop up and died and I finally got a brand new one, which is what I am writing this blog post with now. The past few months have been a roller coaster really. From a writing stand point I'm feeling as if I'm not getting anywhere. I feel that both in work and in the creative process that the more you do, the farther you sink. And even through these trials I still continue to tell myself to keep going, there's GOT to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Needless to say I have yet to find it.

I did however for the third time enter the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and around the 23rd of February I'll find out if I made it through the first round. I'd like to be hopeful, but I can tell that in the past Science Fiction and Fantasy don't really get far. It's like they overlook that genre and don't take it seriously and THAT my friends pisses me off.

Well, now that I have this computer, I think I shall get back to something that gets me out of this miserable excuse of a world and places me someplace where I don't have to think about my problems for awhile. So off to the kingdom of Altaria and to typing up the 12th chapter of Cursed and the Damned's sequel.

New cover art!

Well here it is for all of you to see. I have new artwork from Ron! Here are two new drawings to take a gander at.
The first one is a combination of the first round of cover art, It's what I decided on, with a little bit extra added. Note the 'cape' that Atraiu is wearing..it's not quite a cape. Also it seems Davali has a little extra himself..

The second piece of art is the same idea, just a change in composition. you can also see a slight bit of detail about the 'cape' Of course since these are roughs, there will be more detail later on, but...we'll just have to wait for the final.

On that note, my decision on the final has been made and I went with the first picture. So be prepared to see the next stage of this process soon!

New Facebook page

For those of you who read my blog, I have started up a page on Facebook for Cursed and the Damned. Hopefully you all will join if you are truly interested. Thanks for the support.

-Michelle

Still here

Wow, well it's been awhile. Yes, I'm still here and yes I'm still writing, however you know how life is and I haven't had much to report. I do have some bad news however. My laptop finally died...only took it about 5 years, but the hard drive finally died. Alas there goes the computer that helped me put together some of my best work...and some of my money come income tax time. (Yay for buying a new one)

I do have some good news though, but that can wait until another day...most likely tomorrow after my headache goes away and I write a little more coherently.

-Michelle

Rough ideas for the book cover

Well you folks have been waiting awhile for an update and I have one finally for you. I have the first roughs for the idea for the cover and I thought that I would share them here for you. Personally I like them both, so I'm thinking a combination of the two.

Comments? Feel free to leave them ^_^