Sometime in 2013

Due to hurricane Sandy, Halloween was "rescheduled" in our neighborhood from October 31st to November 4th.

The one problem with this is that now I'm VERY confused about what day it is, unless I click on the time display on my computer every few minutes to remind myself that today ISN'T Friday, November 2nd.

So if any of my posts are quite confusing, please note that I may have forgotten the date.

I've been writing quite a lot lately, but not the things I should be. Mostly flash fiction and some Star Wars fanfic now and then. I know I should start writing Book 3 in my trilogy soon, but I just can't bring myself to do it yet. Maybe it's because I know I'll be sad when I finish it.

I'll probably start it once From the Ashes is published.

Oh, SPEAKING of From the Ashes being published, I will "officially" be a published author in early 2013!

Yeah, I won't be in 2012. So, I am really hoping the world doesn't end ;)

--Jess

I'm Stunned.

Oh my gosh.

I can't believe it.

It doesn't quite seem possible, despite how long I've been working on it.

Time seems to have come to a halt. After hours and days, and weeks, months and even years, have I finally finished editing my first book?

The urge to read through it one last time is so hard to resist, but I told everyone else this is the final draft. I keep thinking I should just tell them I was wrong. That it needs just one more read through.

But honestly.

How many read throughs will it take to make it perfect?

Never enough.

It's finally as close to perfect as it'll ever be. So with all it's flaws (I know it has them), I'm starting the publishing process with CreateSpace today.

Oh my gosh.

I'm absolutely stunned.

Any suggestions? If you've self published through CreateSpace, is there anything I need to know?

--Jess

Much Ado About (my) Queries

Good morning, lovlies!

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and planning out book 3, but I feel like I'm not quite getting it right. Maybe it's just because it's my first draft of an outline, and I can't see it clearly enough in my head.

But since it's supposed to be the last book in my series, I feel like the ending has to be PERFECT. If it's not, I'm not sure if my characters would ever forgive me for it.

The one problem is, I've got like seven different ways I could end it, and they all sound like a good ideas to me! (No, I'm not going to tell you any of them :)

Also, I entered Deana Barnhart's Agent Pitch Contest. I'm so lucky I actually made it into that! Anyway, I'm getting lots of feedback.

The funny thing is, I can't tell if it's good or bad feedback.

My query isn't exactly a traditional query, but everyone's saying they like it. Someone mentioned that I didn't reveal much of the plot though, so I guess that's something I have to change. I also realized that everyone wants to meet my MC, Jaina, in my first 150 words.

Yes, I know all about the prologue discussion.

But my book has a prologue!

It takes place 10 years before the bulk of the story begins, and it's from Jaina's handsome love interest's point of view. And in the end, I think it works for the story. Then again, what do I know? I'm not an editor!

If you guys want to take a look at it, check out my Query: Rise: From the Ashes page. If you have any comments or suggestions, I'd be more than happy to hear them!

Anyway, have a great day!

--Jess

P.S.
I got a MacBook Pro with Retina Display for my birthday :) Thanks for all the awesome birthday comments on Friday!

Pitch Polish (late, once again)

Good morning, everyone! Hope you're week is going great so far!

*POST HAS BEEN UPDATED*

Participating in Dena Barnhart's awesome GUTGAA Pitch Polish bloghop today! I'm not exactly sure if the participants are still going around to other people's posts, but hopefully you guys can help me out with my query a little bit?

Anyway, here it is!

MY NAME: Jessica K. McKendry
MANUSCRIPT TITLE: From the Ashes
GENRE: YA Sci-Fi/Dystopian
WORD COUNT: 116,000

QUERY

Those who are strong are chosen at birth. They are the gifted.

Trained to be highly skilled physically and mentally, they have the potential to become Superiors. They could live out their lives in the Crystal City, the richest, and by far the most beautiful city in the galaxy. But Superiority demands a deadly price.

To gain the title, they must survive the Trials.

Jaina Indera has been training at a Gifted School for sixteen years, waiting for her moment to prove herself worthy of competing in the Trials. Those who don't succeed will be marked as Inferior.

Yet being selected as a competitor is only the beginning. Each school sends a team of eight students to compete in a battle of challenges against other Gifted Schools around the galaxy.

Not all will survive.

In a world where mercy is a weakness, and only the ruthless prevail, Jaina must discover who she is and what she's really fighting for.

FIRST 150 WORDS:

Altair raced through the jungle trees. His heart pounded so hard against his ribs it hurt. His legs wanted to give out. Every breath he took was strained, but he forced himself forward. He only had a little ways to go.

The edge of the jungle came into view, and he charged out into the open. White Tarnoshian marble buildings surrounded the courtyard, towering over him like giants.

A bell rang. Students rushed into the courtyard. The setting sun made the fountain in the center look gold.

Touching the cool stone of the fountain, Altair stopped to catch his breath. When his opponent ran into view, he smiled.

"I won!" he cried.

"Only because you're two years older," Liam protested between gasps. "I bet you weren't as fast as me when you were six."

Altair laughed. "I was way faster."

Liam kicked at a rock on the ground. "I'll beat you in something, someday."

***

Okay, so tear it apart! Be fierce and tell me what I need to fix.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Happy Wednesday!

--Jess

The Sky Darkened - Knights Of MicroFiction

Alrighty, today is July 15th, so that means it's time to post your entry to the Knights of MicroFiction prompt!

The requirements were:

Write a flash fiction in 200 words or less, using the phrase: the sky darkened.

For an added challenge, include a sound that surprises one of your characters and a foul smell.

Mine is (as usual) a part of my Rise series.  This scene doesn't actually take place in the trilogy, but it happens many years before.

So, at exactly 200 words, here it is:

The Sky Darkened

The sky darkened before Dezar Viraak.

The jungles of Adora were dangerous.  But his mission here could not be forsaken.  The first part had been completed.  Now, he just had to look for survivors.

Dezar entered the wooden building, gun in hand.  A smell, like copper and seawater filled his nose.  He knew it all too well.  Blood.

He made his way through the empty building, searching.

A creak in the wooden floorboards made him whip around.  His pulse raced and he aimed the gun at the unopened closet behind him.

“Come out slowly and I won’t shoot,” he warned.  He knew it was a lie.  His mission was to destroy the Resistance base and leave no survivors.  And not once had he failed a mission.

The closet door opened slowly, and a woman stepped into the light.

Her skin was dark, like the soft ground after a rainstorm.  She was dazzling.  The urge to lower his gun fell over him, but he had to complete his mission.  Emperor’s orders.

She hadn’t a weapon in hand, only her beauty and helplessness.

With renewed strength, he aimed and placed his finger on the trigger.

“Get out of here,” he said.  “Run.”

***

Hope you enjoyed!

Also, other people who have posted:

1. Bonnee Crawford
2. Carrie-Anne
3. Ashna Banga
4. Sally
5. DeniseCovey_L_Aussie
6. Roland D. Yeomans
7. JP
8. Esther Jones

Remember, there's still time to join in on the fun!  Just try to post before 11:59pm EST and comment on THIS POST with a link to your entry.  (If you're a little late, though, that's fine.  We'll still include you :)  )

Kathy and I will choose two winners on the 17th, to be interviewed on our blogs.

Have fun and good luck!

--Jess

Oh Dear... The Challenges of Rewriting

I just realized I have to totally rework The Inferiors.

Again.

The first time I had to fix it, luckily I'd only written the first 30K out of what's now 112,000 words.  It was challenging.  Rewriting something you've already written is ridiculously hard!

Fortunately, I only had to rewrite 30,000 words then.

Now?

I've got 112K to sift through.  Hopefully I can keep a lot of it.  There are a few parts I don't want to lose, but the entire thing needs to be shortened.  Reason?

I discovered that the "end" isn't actually a good place to end the story.

In my head, I have a timeline of all three books.  Originally, when I first started writing book 1, I had no idea it was going to be a trilogy.  It was all meant to be one book.  But when I began to hugely exceed the standard YA word count, I had to break it up.

Anyway, my mental timeline includes just about everything in the story, from beginning of book one to the end of book three.  And as I'm going over it, there's no way book 2 can end where it did!  (Trust me, I've read over it like four times and the current ending is lame anyway.)

So, in the end, I guess I'm not rewriting it all.  'Compressing it' is more accurate I guess.

Too Many Things and Definitely Not Enough Time

Hey guys.

Um... sorry I wasn't 'here' on Wednesday.  It's not that I forgot about you, I promise!

Honestly, I thought the summer would make things easier.  And in a way it has.  It's allowed me more time to edit, write, read, skate, paint, play my violin... everything I love to do.

But by doing all these other things, I've realized that I actually have a lot less time now!!  Let's see... I have to beta read a book, give feedback on a first chapter, critique a few chapters, make a few last changes to From the Ashes, catch up on reading all of your blogs, make a list of other things to post about... * sighs *

The list goes on and on... like the energizer bunny.  Except I'm not feeling quite so energetic about it all.  Just thinking about it is making me exhausted!

Wednesday was sorta the epitome of my brain overload.  We weren't home for five hours because of skating/my violin lesson (both take up a lot of time, lol).

I have 20 unread emails, way too many facebook notifications and a whole bunch more from twitter.  I'm honestly dreading going through them all.

Oh well.  I gotta do it all sometime!  Might as well start now...

So yeah, I didn't forget about anything!!  I've just been so busy.

Luckily, thanks to my best friend Kate, ideas for book 2 and 3 have been coming to me like magic.  So at least in the writing world, things have been moving rather smoothly.

Don't let the procrastination bug bite you this weekend!

Happy Friday :)

--Jess

Insecure Writer's Support Group Day!

Yes people, it's the first Wednesday of the month!  You know what that means... (if not, it's IWSG day, started by the awesome Alex J. Cavanaugh :)

So let's see.  What am I insecure about?

I could talk to you about querying, because I am terrible at writing query letters.  Then again, I've already sorta written two posts about that.

What else?

My sequel.

Yeah, sure I already finished The Inferiors (book 2 of my trilogy), but I just started editing it.  And by the stars*, I've got a ton of work to do.  There's so much I need to add.

And, I have no idea how to go about this.

The Inferiors could go one of two ways.  Either my characters will go rescue   (person you can't know about yet)   or they can go find more about the   (thing you'd only know about if you've read it)  .  Currently, I have them rescuing   (person you can't know about yet)  , but by that time, will the reader be fed up about not knowing about the   (thing you'd only know about if you've read it)  ?

It's good to keep the reader wanting more, but will I have them wanting so much they decide to give up on me?

I'm in a big mess.

Luckily, I get out of school on Friday, so I'll have an entire summer to figure this problem out.

So... what are you're insecurities?  Have you guys had the same issue I've had with my sequel?

Happy Wednesday :)

--Jess

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*That's an expression my characters use... lol.