Well....

I knew it had been a while since I last posted here.  Life has been busy and I have to keep up my website and facebook page as well.  I just haven't found time to get over here and post any news.  I did not realize how long it had actually been.  My last post was nearly 3 years ago.  Sadly, I have not released another book since then.  So much has happened in my personal life in the last 3 years; divorce, surgeries, graduating daughter, etc.  You get the point.  But lately, I've been trying to get back into that writing mode.  I have 3 books started and it's a race to see which one gets done first.  You can head over to my site to check out the works in progress:  http://www.dawnjudd.net.
I'm still attending the Author's Pavilion and hope to add some new events to my schedule this year, provided my life gives me a minute to get away.  But no matter what, I promise to finish at least one of the three books I'm working on.  So check back soon to see what's new.

Been a While

I just realized that I NEVER update on this page. I always do my updates on facebook, and this page gets neglected. To the point that I don't even give out the address to this site. Sad. So sad.

Ok, so, maybe I should post an update. It's been a crazy busy month for me. Lots going on. So here goes.

Last month, not such a great month. I lost my mom last month. This was tough for me, and still is. She wasn't very old; only 55. We were close. I can easily say that my mom was my best friend. I feel completely lost without her. Needless to say, I haven't been doing much writing for the last month. It just hasn't been in me. It has been so much harder than I ever thought it would be and I miss her like crazy.

To say that I've wasted the past month isn't quite accurate either. It's been a busy month, both personally and book-wise. My daughter turned 15 earlier this month. We wasted a whole weekend celebrating her birthday. It was easily the best weekend we've had in a long time. It was great to be able to do that and see everyone smile after such a hard month. The same weekend, I found out that Reining In had been featured on Pixel of Ink. Why is that so exciting? Because the sales went through the roof. Holy wow! I almost fainted when I checked my dashboard Sunday night and saw all those new sales!

This past weekend, I spent the whole weekend at the Ren Fair sitting in the Author's Pavilion. This is my second time attending and I still really enjoy it. I don't think we had as much interest as last year, but I think the more we do it, the better it will get. I can't wait for the fall fair. I'm hoping fellow author J.M. Pierce will attend. (he promised he would) It's so much fun to sit and talk to other authors. Interesting ideas pop up when you get together like that. LOL.

On another completely different note, I have some news. I haven't decided yet if it's good news or bad news. (or if it's even news at all, considering I don't have a definite answer yet) As some of you know, I have a full time job as an insurance agent. It's a job I love and hate at the same time. I love doing something somewhat important and getting paid for it. I hate the stress that comes with it. Next time you talk to your insurance agent, remember to say something nice. They are most likely always having a stressed out day.
Anyway, back to the subject. This is what I do all day, every day. It leaves little time for writing, quality time with the kids, playing, etc. I've been dreaming of the day that I could just quit my job and have all kinds of free time. Well, it looks like that dream may be coming true very soon. My boss has been sick for some time and it looks like our company is going to force him to go on disability. Which leaves me in limbo. I could work directly for the company, for half the hours I was working, or move on. Either way, it means more free time.
I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do, but I think I'm leaning towards the more free time. At this point I have several options open to me, all of which give me the time I need to work on more books. All good news for my readers. Maybe not such good news for my pocket book. But I'll survive. It's funny how things work out sometimes. Perhaps Mom is up there watching over me and pulling some strings.

So, as I said, it's been a crazy here. So much going on and I feel like I'm being pulled in a hundred different directions. But it's not all bad. If I'm not on here much, though, you all know why!

Two Books in the Works

Well, I've made a dent on my current WIP. Found a cover photo that has given me some inspiration, so I'm excited. (I will show you later, when the cover is completed) Still trying to come up with a title, but not in any hurry.

I am going to give you all a chance to get involved in this one. The whole story revovles around the characters involvement with paranormal activity. I've always been facinated with the subject myself and have had a few experiences myself that can't be explained away. Some of the events in it are inspired by things that actually happened to me in real life, so it's fun and a little crazy. (Bet you guys didn't know how exciting my life really was. Or perhaps I'm just a little crazy.) So if you've got any good ghost stories, share them with us. If I see something really interesting, I may use it. (with your permission of course)

I'm kind of excited about this book. It is one I've thought about for a long time but could never really put it together. It's one has a lot of meaning for me, because it's dedicated to my step-brother, who was always was an inspiration to me. This one is for him and for those who loved him and miss him as much as I do.

I will keep you guys updated as much as possible. I want this one and Bloodlines done in time for the Ren Fair in April. That's not that far away, so I will probably be burning the candle on both ends for the next two months. But if I get to present both of them at the fair, it will be totally worth it. So stay tuned for some updates on both.

Now on Nook!

Both Reining In and Phantom Rising are now available on Nook. It's taken me a while, but I finally broke down and listed it. Don't ask my why I didn't do it sooner. But I'm excited to finally have it up there. Now to get Phantom Rising on the B&N paperback side. Maybe this week.

More reviews?

I'm a little torn. Reining In has sat at 13 reviews for a long time now. Of course I want more reviews than that. But I'm wondering if the old adage "careful what you wish for" rings true here.
To start with, 13 is my lucky number. Really, it is. My wedding band has 13 stones. My name has 13 letters in it. My office is on 13th street. All but one of my children were born at 13 after the hour. It's a good number. I like it. But do I really want to be stuck at 13 reviews for the rest of my life?
On the other hand, they are all really great reviews. And the next one could be that one bad one that I've been waiting for. I do worry about it. I often wonder if all those people who bought it and read it hated it so much they couldn't even bother to put a review up. Or if people who actually review the books they read are really that rare?
I watched a video put together by R.J. Keller and Kristen Tsetsi. (Paper Rats Studios - These gals rock!!) At the time, I laughed. Funny stuff. That's great. Later I realized, Damn, it's true. We do that! Why do we do that? Hell, I don't know. What I do know is that I have to force myself to stay away from Amazon for more than a day at a time. Otherwise, I'd be checking DTP and the review count every 5 minutes. Seriously. I'm obsessessed some days.
Do you realize how much writing I could get done if I put together all the time I wasted on Amazon? Pretty sure I'd have more than 2 books by now.
So next time you hear me complain about reviews, or sales, or anything else that requires me to get on Amazon to check on it, please just tell me to shut up and go write something! Thanks!

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMM...

Steve Alten. If you know me at all, by now you know he is by far my favorite author. He has several books under his belt, all wonderfully written, best-selling books. Meg was the first one I read. I picked it up at a garage sale, thought it looked interested, paid the quarter for it and took it home and read it that night. I was hooked. I immediately went out and found more books by Steve. All of which I have loved. Which is my favorite? To be honest, I couldn't tell you. They are all equally wondeful.
So you would think, me being his number one fan, I would run right out and leave a wonderful review for every one of his books. You would think. I mean, I harp on all of you all the time to go leave me reviews, right? So I should be leaving them myself, right? You would think. So today I decided I need to head over and do just that. You know what I found? This author, this wonderful, best-selling author, who writes these fabulous books and has been approached for movie deals has 1 and 2 star reviews.
I know in the group of authors in which I occasionally mingle, we constantly tell each other that you can't please everyone. There is always going to be someone who hates your book, no matter how good it is. Get past it and move on. We preach it all the time. But it still hurts when you get that not-so-good review. So to see someone who I rank right up there with Stephen King and Peter Benchley get all those bad reviews (on top all those AWESOME reviews, mind you) really makes a small time author like me feel much better.
I value those wonderful reviews I've recieved. I've been lucky to get great ones so far. But I've been waiting for that first bad one. I know it's going to be a hard pill to swallow. But, I am NOT going to let that first bad one get me down. Because this just proves to me you can write the best book out there and somebody out there is still going to hate it. As long as the majority says "It's all good!" I'll let those bad ones slide. For my fellow authors out there, let the good outweigh the bad!

BLOODLINES AND OTHER STUFF

No, I haven't started Bloodlines yet. But I've been brainstorming quite a bit the past few days. I think after the holidays are over I will sit down and start on this one. (After I have reformatted the paperback version of Phantom Rising)
I will be taking it slow, for two reasons. I don't want to do what I did with the last one and scrap the whole thing. Multiple times. So I want to think the whole thing through, have a good solid plan, and get it right the first time. Also, I plan on working on my short story for the Red Adept contest. I've done a lot of brainstorming on that one too, and I think I have what I need to turn it into a short story.
I'm excited about both projects and can't wait to get to work on them. Oh, wait. I forgot about the Eridhborn project. Gotta work on that too. And I have to work on the poetry book. If I ever figure out where I put all of my paperwork. (don't ask) I should probably stop coming up with new projects to work on.
I'm hoping to have some of this stuff done in time for the Ren Fair in the spring. It would be great to have some extra books to take with me.
In other news, I'm hoping to meet one of my fellow authors at the beginning of the year. I'm planning a trip to SD, and it just happens that J.C. Phelps, author of Color Me Grey, lives only a couple hours from where I'm going. So we are hoping to meet up. I'm excited. Not only is it fun to meet the other authors who've helped me out so much, but it is a real treat to meet someone from my home state. Yes, I'm proud of my little state, and I miss it every day. If you've never been there, you should go. You won't regret it.