Progress Report on Witch Born

Eve Ventrue will be the cover artist for Witch Born. She did a fantastic job on Witch Song, and we have a great concept.

The first draft is completed. Right now, I'm adding all the notes I've jotted down while I drafted. Then I need to go through and clean it all up. I may or may not make one more pass through it.

Hopefully it will go out to my alpha readers (you guys ready???) in the next week or two, depending on how much time I can dedicate to writing--which is questionable as my husband will be gone on a business trip all next week--and how many things I have to fix.

Depending on how fast my alphas get through it and how many changes I need to make, I'll then have it ready to send to my betas.

And then we're on to copy edits.

I'm tired just thinking about it, but exhilarated too. There are just not enough hours in a day. Anyone wanna volunteer to babysit??? If you donate over 8 hours, your name goes in my acknowledgements . . . . ;)

Help pick the cover for Witch Born

You all get to see a few sneak peaks of Witch Born (you're welcome). There are two scenes I'm debating on for the cover. Vote on your fav in the comments. And remember, this is all first draft stuff, and I've pieced together a few scenes for brevity's sake.


1. Moths competed with Senna for the pollen, bumping dumbly from one flower to the next. Their wings brushed against her hands, adding their soft dusting of their colors to her skin along with the glowing pollen . . .
Senna held out her arms. She was glowing. A soft, golden light spilling from her in flares of gold filigree. She was so full of the Four Sister’s songs, she was drunk with it. She didn’t need to sing for them to know what she wanted. They recognized her wish and obeyed . . .
The wind burst to life, twisting around her in a protective cocoon and pushing everyone back. Some moths clung to her; she felt the tickle of their clinging legs on her skin. Others swirled around like crisp leaves before a fall breeze.


2. Senna trailed her fingers along a leaf, so intricate that she could feel the tiny veins. Stars were carved in the ceiling, diamonds and sapphires glittering from their centers. . . . Shining like polished gold, her hair flared like flames around her head. Her dress was the red glow of coals and her skin shimmered . . . Light flared out from her skin as if she were a star. It curled and flared at the edges, a delicate filigree of song made visible.
. . .
I'll be making a decision very soon. Like today or tomorrow. Which do you think creates the more compelling visual?

Pintrest Love and He Knows My Name!

So I discovered Pintrest recently. It's this fabulous site where you can add pictures--kind of like a giant all purpose filing cabinet for stuff on the web. I love it! I've found lots of DIY projects for my hubby (he's thrilled-imagine a grown man dancing around the house while singing the lyrics from Westside Story with a twist, "I'm so happy. Oh so happy!"). Clothing and hair ideas. I even found a recipe for making your own laundry detergent--a year of detergent for 20 bucks! Made it this morning, in fact. I'll let you know how it goes.

And now you're wondering what this has to do with writing? Hang on, Mr/Mrs Impatience. I'm getting there.

I've created a folder for character ideas, cover ideas (see above), world building ideas. I've been saving images to a Doc folder for years for my reference, but this way they're all together and I can share them! Fantastic, right? If you want to see all the fun things I've found, here's my page: http://pinterest.com/amberargyle/

And now for the other bit of randomness. When you finally have a book published, you keep hitting these milestones that remind you that you're a real author-when you meet your first squealing fan, when you get your first paycheck . . . stuff like that.

Well I had another one . At a writer's conference this weekend, all these people I've looked up to for years kept passing me in the halls and saying, "Hey, Amber." "I like your shirt, Amber." "You have a bit of fry sauce on your chin, Amber." I kept thinking, "They know my name!" and "I didn't have fry sauce with lunch?"

So freakin' cool!

Anyway, who's on Pintrest? Do you love it? If not, WHY?

2012 LTUE Appearance and Signing

I'll be at the 2012 Life the Universe and Everything at UVU in Orem, Utah this Friday and Saturday.

• Friday, Feb. 10th I'm signing from 8:30 to 10 pm.
• Saturday, Feb. 11th, I'll be on the First Novelists' Panel with Bethany Wiggins, Heather Frost, Brodi Ashton, and Angela Corbett.

I'm also making a stop at the mall, because Cache Valley just doesn't have much of a mall. Especially since my birthday is on Thursday, so I have birthday money to spend! Must stop at Tai Pan Trading-I saw the cutest bookends there when I went a few weeks ago. What are the chances they're still there? Also heading to Urban Wear. Seriously, you could pick anything off the rack in that store and I'd love it.

If you'd like to join me on my mall hunt, email me at amberargyle at yahoo dot com and we'll get together!

Killing lions with plastic spoons

Do you ever feel that way? Like you're facing odds so overwhelming you may as well be facing a lion with the plastic spoon from your lunch pail.

I have this awesome manuscript that's so polished it sparkles like Edward Cullen in the sunlight. It's seriously the best dang thing I've ever written. I love all of my books, but this one is special. You might have heard me refer to it as Daughter of Winter--though I'll probably change the name to Winter Queen . . . or maybe just Winter.

And I don't know what to do with it. Well, that's not true. I know what I WANT to do with it. Seriously, this book has the potential to be an international bestseller. It's that good. And I refuse to settle for anything less for it.

There are a few options in the works. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what any of those options are. I might not even agree to them if said options fall short of my expectations.
I'm not sure I'll sign for anything less than BIG. And I mean big big. I want marketing, NY Times bestseller list, and international rights and BIG.

Yet I hate that Winter sits in my computer. Unread and unloved.

I really want to send it to Melissa Frain at Tor books, but have you seen Tor's slush pile? Lion with a spoon, my friends. Lion with a spoon.

Fair warning for the lion-you're going to need all the help you can get. I've sharpened my spoon to a razor point, and I'm coming for your eyes.