Archive for the ‘One Good Verse’ Category

Let’s ready to HOP!

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

I keep telling myself that I’ll write better post titles. It doesn’t appear to be working

I’m participating in two blog hops in May, and I’d like you to hop along with me!

Hop Against Homophobia logo

The first is for Hop Against Homophobia, which runs from May 17th to 20th. May 17th marks the International Day Against Homophobia, so a lot of authors are getting together to share their thoughts and experiences. I encourage you to participate, not only to win prizes (I’ll be giving away a hardcopy of Want Me), but to share your stories with us as we share ours with you. You can find more information here.

Scavenger Hunt Logo

On May 25th, Miho Li is hosting a scavenger hunt. Follow the clues to solve the puzzle, and you’ll be entered to win twenty books, including an e-copy of One Good Hand, the first book in the “One Good” series. During the search, authors Katrina Strauss, Z.A. Maxfield, Sloan Parker, and many more will be posting content exclusive to the hunt. I don’t know who I’ll draw yet, but the writer who gets me will post a sneak peek of the first chapter of One Good Verse, the third story in its series. More details can be had on Miho’s site.

It should be good. I hope to see you.

Posted in Contests, Excerpt, One Good Hand, One Good series, One Good Verse, Want Me | No Comments »

Dude, here’s my sequel.

Thursday, February 9th, 2012

If you’ve been following my stuff a while, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve got a bit of a…hang up when it comes to sequels. In that I don’t have any. The recent release of Just Perfect is a prequel to a dark little story I wrote a while back called Just Wait, but Just Wait’s been out of print since 2007, so does Just Perfect even count as a prequel? I labeled it #1 in the Drayner series so I’m guessing not.

But now, finally, I have a bonafide Book Two. It seems right that it’s part of the One Good series, since that’s what I was working on when I angsted about sequels in Dude, where’s your sequel? Of course, it’s also kind of ironic (or maybe just sad—I don’t have a good grasp of irony) that back then I was working on One Good Verse.

Turns out, Book Two in the One Good series will not be One Good Verse.

It’s called One Good Year and it’s an Ace & Spade story. XD

The novella’s tentatively scheduled to release March 13th, 2012 from Loose Id. You can read a little more about it here.

I’m excited. Are you exited?

Note: While hidden, the new One Good series pages have been available to view for newsletter members since this past Sunday. One of the perks of being on that list is getting to peek at stuff a few days (if I’m on top of my game) before it goes live. They’ll be getting another sneak peek this Sunday, so if you’d like to join the list, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rowan_mcbride/. It’s newsletter-only and very low traffic, plus you can decide if you want to have all posts delivered to your inbox, or just the ones that include chapter/installment/story announcements by choosing the “special notice” option. Special notices do not include sneak peeks unless I’ve just posted a new installment to one of my serials.

Wow, that was a very long post script.

But I’m still excited. Are you still excited? 😀

Posted in Drayners, Just Perfect, Just Wait, One Good Hand, One Good series, One Good Verse, One Good Year, Publishers: Loose Id, Publishers: Torquere | 2 Comments »

Goals: I haz them.

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

I didn’t write a New Year’s resolution post because I didn’t feel like I’d achieved much in 2010/2011. I sorta figured I was hella lucky to have a novella out in 2012 and shouldn’t push that luck. Plus I go through this thing periodically where I feel like I suck.

Then an old friend sent me a card. Inside, she had cut and pasted (as in actually cut and pasted, with paper and scissors and—I assume—paste) a dozen little quotes and images that reminded her of me. It made me laugh. It totally made me feel like I didn’t suck.

So I got back to writing, and my short little bonus fic turned into another novella. Sold novella to publisher. Rocked out to The Offspring in my living room. Realized it was only January and that this could get interesting.

Below are a list of my goals for 2012. I’m going to do my best to achieve them. I’m not going to beat myself up over it if I don’t. I’m also going to be flexible and open to change.

I think it’s going to be a good year.

  • Updates to the website

    • I didn’t put up any additions to Best of Rowan’s Ramblings for 2011, and there were some pretty good ones. (Check: 2-16-11)

    • I’m thinking of doing a bit of a redesign to the overall look and navigation to the site. For a while there I never had more than three published books out at a time, but I’m up to seven now so I think it’s fair to say that the trend is good and over. My book list is starting to look a little unruly.

    • I’d also like to make the place more mobile friendly. As is, it doesn’t look too bad on phones because the original design took into account smaller laptop/monitor screens, but a mobile option could make things cleaner and easier to navigate on a phone.
  • Updates to Stories

    • This is the year I finish The Jascian’s Toy. I can feel it.

    • Write One Good Verse, which will bring the One Good series to three. I do like that number. Plus I’ve been working on it forever and I’m really digging the world right now.

    • Maybe Touching Fire: Asher’s Magic. Asher Croft is so very hot and his story should be a lot of fun.

    • If things go well with Drayner series, #1: Just Perfect, maybe I’ll get the green light on #2: Just Wait, the rough of which is already done.

    • Get Want Me into e-book format. XD
  • Conventions

    • DragonCon, if any. I ditch it for something else this year there’s a certain group of friends who will probably murder me in my sleep.
  • Blogging

    • I’m going to try and get into a regular schedule. Maybe {gasp} write a few posts ahead of time, so I can have them set to upload automatically. Most likely Thursdays. Of course, all bets are off if I’m on a roll with the story section above.

    • Post parts 2 and 3 of my 2011 YaoiCon wrap-up before YaoiCon 2012. *headdesk*

I think that’s the plan. There’s some tweaks I want to make to my own attitude, which brings us to one of the quotes my friend sent me:

“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
–Marilyn Monroe

There was a time when I wrote fearlessly, when—no matter how crazy the idea—I would take what came to me and run with it. Didn’t matter whether it was thirty-five foot giant alien teenagers kidnapping humans to be their toys, or hell-bent roommates sucking the life out of the objects of their desire. They were the stories inside me, and I had every confidence I could tell them.

That’s the big goal. The one I’m going to work hardest on. I want to write madly, brilliantly, ridiculously. I want to be the person in that carefully crafted card.

And I want to have a blast doing it.

Posted in Asher's Magic, Drayners, Just Perfect, Just Wait, One Good series, One Good Verse, One Good Year, Publishers: Loose Id, Serials: The Jascian's Toy, Touching Fire | 7 Comments »

Dude, where’s your sequel?

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

Note: This blog was originally published on my MySpace blog, May 15, 2008.

I’m currently working on One Good Verse, the sequel to One Good Hand(gamblers, yaoi, hot hot guys. Mmm). People have asked after it (fan mail rocks!), and I finally seem to have gotten my writing mojo back, so it’s truckin’ along a lot faster than it was previously. Feels good. But, hmm…

I’ve never written a sequel before. Sure, when I start a story I usually have a whole world in mind. Sometimes I have a series arc from the get-go, and other times things develop over the course of writing the first book. Often I storyboard subsequent novels to make sure I don’t forget the finer points. But with One Good Verse I realized in a quiet sort of rush that this is the first time I’d actually tried to put down a bonafide sequel.

The idea is, well, freaking daunting.

I wonder if the second book will do the first justice. I wonder if readers will like Anthony and Michael as much as they did Ace and Spade. I wonder if I’ve totally lost the ability to write.

Okay, I go through that third one with all my books, but still.

All this is exacerbated by this warped delusion I have that I’m a lazy bum that’s unable to finish anything. Logically, I know this just isn’t true. Want Me came out early this year. The re-release (and omg, overhauled) edition of Warm Rush: Chasing Winter is tentatively slated for this summer. I have several stories nearing completion.

Still, it feels good to finish things, and I’m working hard to complete One Good Verse because I think it’s a sweet book with just the right amount of angst. I adore Anthony and Michael, who both seem perfect on the outside but have some pretty substantial flaws when you dig a little deeper. I hope readers find them as fascinating as I do. Of course, I won’t find that out until it’s done and read.

So I’d like to know—Have you ever had a crisis of faith when writing a sequel? Or, if you’re not a writer, have you ever hesitated to do something a second time for fear of not living up to the first project? If so, I’d love to hear about it and how you got over the hurtle. Would definitely help me get over these insecurities, knowing others go through the same thing. Less insecurity = More writing. And I’m all about more writing.

Posted in myspace, One Good Hand, One Good series, One Good Verse, Writing | No Comments »

Movin’ right along

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

Note: This blog was originally published on my MySpace blog, May 23, 2007.

Sorry, that’s the song playing on my list right now (Muppets Rule!), so I figured it’d make a good title for a blog. Appropriate, too, since I’ve gotten a whole lot done in the last… hmm… month? Wow, didn’t realize it’s been so long since I’ve updated. Maybe I haven’t gotten that much done after all.

But the point is, I got stuff done.

Redesigned my website. I now have 37 pages of code chilling out on my harddrive. Taught myself how to do an external CSS (something I really, really wish I’d learned when I first put up a site), so in the future I’ll be able to make sweeping changes to all the pages using just one file. WooHoo! I’m planning for it to go live in a few weeks, and I’ll be sure to let you know when it does.

I’ve got cover art for Want Me, the novel I’m self-publishing! It so rocks—I spent way too much time just gazing on it. Ulf was kind enough to create it, and I’ll be unveiling it on my newsletter some time in the next week, so join up! That’s also the first place you’ll be able to read the blurb for the story. Took me forever to write it, and finally I just had to shut the computer down in favor of my trusty Comp notebook and blue ballpoint pen. It worked, and you’ll be able to read it the same day I unveil the art.

Finally—finally!—finished revisions to Touching Fire: Paul’s Dream. I even sent it to the publisher at 3am this morning. Gaw, I forgot how nerve-wracking submitting is. Even though this particular publisher sent me a personal invitation to submit to them, it took me several false starts before I could actually hit that send button. Now I have to wait, and that is one of the absolute worst parts of being a writer, which leads me to—

Currently writing the second novel in my One Good series. Writing’s just about the only way to keep sane while waiting. For me, anyway. I have the attention span of a goldfish when it comes to most of my life, but writing grips my focus like nothing else.

This new novel is called One Good Verse. It features Michael, who is a Senai servant. He was built to pleasure and obey his master at the cost of all else. One day, he’s given to Anthony, who’s unlike any master he’s ever had. Anthony refuses to give him orders, for one. And he’s a minister-in-training, for two.

You have no idea how much fun this story is.

Let’s see, what else have I gotten done? There must be something else I can use to justify my month-long absence…

Oh, a few days ago I wrote the prologue for a brand new piece of fiction. No title. No real plot. Two great characters named Adrian and Carter. Adrian is a Corporeal Adept, meaning he has the power to alter physical objects. He’s eighteen and about to start a pilgrimage to attain Zuvai, the level of Master within his Order. Carter is his best friend, perfectly human until Adrian gets it into his head that fine-tuning the kid’s body would make a neat going away present.

I think it could be cool. I just have to figure out where I want to take it. Maybe then I’ll have a title, too.

Other things—

Passed Sasuke’s scenario in Naruto: Ultimate Ninja. Unlocked Neiji’s scenerio. I have mixed feelings, since I just used Rock Lee to kick Neiji’s ass. Yeah! Take that, destiny!

Drew my first picture of Akabane, from GetBackers. You can see it on my Deviant Art site, here. Loved how the hat turned out. 🙂

Hmm… Folded a paper crane for no apparent reason.

Wrote partial lyrics to a song.

Read lots and lots of manga.

Wrote this blog.

Okay, yeah, that’s probably it.

Posted in Anime/Cartoons, One Good series, One Good Verse, Paul's Dream, Touching Fire, Video Games, Want Me | No Comments »