Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Update!

The Barnes & Noble version of Moon-Wake is finally available!

Get Book 6 for your Nook here!

I will post another update when the paperback is ready:)

xxErin

Sunday, November 3, 2013

It's as much a surprise to me as to you.

So............Moon-Wake is available for purchase.  I started processing it hours ago but thought it would at least take the night to go live.  Apparently not.  It's here!  So that's good news!

Get it on Kindle here.

Get it through Smashwords here.

Couple things:

1. Still working on the print version and that may take quite a bit longer, perhaps even several weeks, on account of having to receive and then review proof copies, but I will keep you posted.

2. For my Nook readers, I'm sorry to say it is not available through Barnes & Noble yet and I don't know how long it will take to fix the issues.  I've never had a problem with B&N before but that's because in the past I have uploaded the files through the old "PubIt!" interface.  Early this year, however, they rolled out their new interface - "Nook Press".  One would think by the very definition of "new" that it would be better, improved upon.  Unfortunately--and I'm not quite sure how they managed this--it's actually considerably worse than the old platform.  There seem to be endless errors with the uploading process, each of which take nearly half an hour to reveal themselves.  I've tried all the typical file types and none of them give me the green light on Nook Press.  I did some googling and discovered I am only one in a long line of authors/publishers who have had/are having difficulties with the platform.  And no one has any answers.  There have been people discussing the problems and writing articles detailing their experiences since March.  It is November and evidently nothing has changed.  I will continue to plug away and hopefully get it straightened out one way or another.  But I honestly don't know how long it will take.  Sorry:(  However, there is a bit of good news for Nook owners!  Nooks read ePub files and you can purchase the very thing through Smashwords.  It might not be convenient and it's not the website you're accustomed to making your book purchases on, but it's just as safe, if not as widely known.  I know a lot of people aren't comfortable buying outside their usual site but it's safe and legit, it just won't have any sort of B&N stamp on it.  So yeah, just click the Smashwords link above, choose your file extension, and begin reading!

Hope you guys enjoy Book Six!  Drop me a line and let me know what you think!

xxErin

PS. I'm sorry this has all sort of been lacking in ceremony.  I didn't get a chance to reveal the cover early or let you know how close I was to publishing or anything.  It's been far less fun getting here than usual but I hope you have fun reading it now that it is here!

PPS. I also forgot to mention something else.  One of the reasons I have been so unceremonious with releasing this book is because my fiance and I finally set a date for our wedding and we've been working on the planning for the last month and a half!  Yay!  It's just under a year away.  So we're super excited but, needless to say, super stressed and busier than ever.  Anyway, it doesn't matter much now because Moon-Wake is here!  Now, I'll stop distracting you so you can start reading:)

Funniest Pic Ever

So this is old but I'm always late to the party.  Found this on the internet and it absolutely cracks me up.

The title of the photo is "Noooooooo!"


HAHAHAHA! Terrifically awful epic fail!

xxErin

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Once Again, Much Passes In Very Little Time.

Hello, all.  Hope you've been well.  Sorry for my unexpected absence.  If you'll recall from my last post, I was preparing for my younger sister's wedding.  Well, the affair went off without a hitch, but the following evening, my grandmother got sick.  She ended up in the hospital, and a week later she passed away.  I spent a week back in my hometown, helping my mom and grandpa and uncles, as we prepared for the funeral.  I was there the day she left us and got back to my own home in the late evening, after the funeral.  It was a long week and probably the hardest of my life.  I've been to several funerals--I've been around death, but my grandma was the first to go as far as close loved ones are concerned.  I'm still dealing, still in the cycle, so it hits me about every hour or so that--oh, yeah, she's gone...etc. and so on.  Tough times.  Anyway, that's why I haven't had a chance to continue with my sneak previews for Moon-Wake.  But I said the next item would be the release of the official summary.  So, as promised, albeit a little late, here it is:




I dropped to the ground right there, sitting at the foot of his grave.  There was nothing to be said.  He was buried six feet beneath me.  And I felt like my thoughts were buried there with him.

A dark cloud has settled over March Howe’s world.  Avery’s death was horrific on its own but it’s also drudged up memories of her adoptive parents’ deaths, none of which she seems to have dealt with.  And the emotional pain is as bad, if not worse, than the physical kind she suffered in that silver prison at the cat lair.  What’s more—this darkness represents more than just her grief.  There are some shady things happening in Wycherley House and March has to pull herself together and discover the secrets before it’s too late.

Virtually all her relationships are strained to say the least.  She feels as distant as ever from Gaia and her school friends.  And that trio of guys?  All but obliterated.  Nightmares as repetitive as they are confusing have claimed her sleep, and her waking hours are spent in self-inflicted solitude.  And what draw her out are the curious mysteries now creeping into her new life with the ravens.  Fortunately, March makes some new friends, who each have her back and unwittingly help her uncover the truth.  Meanwhile, Jasper Kellum is having a major life crisis that seems to have only one outcome.  And his sister just won’t stand for it.

In Book Six of the Lone March Series, March Howe has to force herself out of the gloom of recent events all on her own and move on, if she is to have any hope of saving herself or her family.  Forgive and Forget is a hard rule to live by when past enemies come suddenly back into her life.  But they just might save her skin in the nick of time.  The question is: Will these rescues be enough to propel March into the unknown, on a new quest to save her kind, or will the last of the were-wolves eliminate this prospect with an all-out were war?




Needless to say, it's rather appropriate for the times--for me, personally, anyway.

Hope you liked it--next up: the cover.  No promises on when, but shouldn't be too long of a wait now.

Have a happy week, friends,


xxErin

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Sneak Peek at Moon-Wake!

Hello all!

As promised, the following is a tiny snippet from Book #6.  It's one of the very first things I wrote, when I first started writing this book, two years ago.  I will not tell you where in the book this section falls; you'll just have to wonder.  The timeline is stated very plainly but there's no knowing at what point I start this book so...heh heh heh...

Look, it's not often I get to tease people in good fun--you gotta gimme somethin'!

Anyway, enjoy!




“Can you sleep?”  He repeated the doctor’s question, prompting me, as he stabbed the dying end of his cigarette into the ashtray on the little table next to him and immediately started patting around for his case and matches to light another one.
“How are you sleeping, Miss Howe?” the kind old owl doctor with the salient eyes asked me for the third time.
“She’s not sleeping,” he answered for me, his impatience with my lack of response showing fully on his face now.  He tapped the soon-to-be-lit end of his cigarette against his little silver case with deliberate but gentle effort and slipped it into his mouth.  Soon the match was struck and setting the tip alight as he pulled the smoke directly into his lungs.  This was the only outward sign of his stress—his chain smoking.  Saxon Pierce was a poised, together man.  He didn’t turn colors at upsetting news, vomit at seeing a friend die; he didn’t ball inconsolably or mutter to himself in a thin whisper.  His hands didn’t even shake.  They were perfectly in control of themselves, perfectly capable of moving about his person, performing idle tasks such as lifting his small glass of golden-brown liquid to his lips, lighting and holding his cigarette, and stabbing it out when he’d sucked it down two minutes later.
“Miss Howe?” Dr. Beasley started.  “Would you like something to help you sleep?”
I saw from the corner of my eye that he held a vial of pills in one hand, but it was only from the corner.  I kept my eyes on Saxon, still refusing to speak.
I hadn’t spoken aloud in three weeks.  Today marked a month since Avery’s funeral.  It was a month of deprivation, both involuntary and self-inflicted.  I felt sick whenever I ate, so I ate very little and didn’t enjoy the chore at all.  What little I was able to sleep was nothing but bad dreams.  I would have welcomed more peaceful sleep; it was a good way to make time go by faster, but I had no control over my dreams.
I saw recovery as an unlikely possibility—it certainly felt impossible—but I couldn’t help thinking that my situation was going to change eventually, whether for the better or the worse, and I so desperately wanted something to change that I wished time would go by faster.  But it was out of my control.  I was a victim of the storm, a prisoner of my grief.
I spent most of my time sitting in the window.  I didn’t know who or what I was waiting for, but it was the only place I was comfortable.  It also gave me warning when people arrived to visit me, so I had time to get in bed and pretend to be asleep before they came in.  They never wanted to wake me, so eventually they would leave.  Sometimes they would wait a while, hoping I would wake up; I’d have to pretend to be sleeping for over an hour at a time on some days.  But it was worth it not to have to visit with anyone. 
My friends came every weekend (Ethyn was never among them) and Quinn and Graham came once a week with Brigham, who made it back the day after the funeral.  They’d told me they would keep me informed about what was going on with them by calling me on Graham’s cell phone, but apparently they couldn’t resist seeing me in person, even if they had to come into a ravens’ nest to do so.  In the beginning, they talked to me while I faked sleep, updating me on what was happening at the den and beyond, but they stopped doing that before long since I never showed signs of rousing or hearing a word.
Most of the time, the ravens knew I was pretending, but I still tried to fake sleep when they came in, like I did with the others.  I just didn’t feel like talking about what was going on in my head—or the rest of my body.  And I didn’t have the energy to pretend things were okay.  They weren’t.  And my melancholy was mine and no one else’s.

  


It's not much, but then I never give too much away in these sneak-a-peeks.  It's more than what I gave away from the last one though.  So, what do you guys think?  Leave a comment below--or leave one on Facebook, Twitter, etc--and let me know:)

xxErin

PS. Next Up: The Official Moon-Wake Summary!!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Long Time No Blog!

Hey, guys!

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted!  A lot has been happening!  Two weddings to prepare for (one of me and my fiance's best friends got married last weekend and my younger sister is getting married in a couple of weeks), plus I hurt my foot and have been slowly recovering for 6(!) weeks now, the first two of which I was more or less confined to the couch.  It was my driving foot, so I had to be driven everywhere (I have to admit, that part was kind of awesome).  Anyway, I'm hobbling now so things are getting back on track.  Lots of writing has been happening too.  I mean lots.  Just completed the 5th draft of Book Six and have been working on...various other projects.  Anyway, I am feeling a lot more comfortable about where the book is and I will go ahead and tell you that little things will be trickling out in the coming weeks.  In fact, I'm kicking things off right here, right now, in this post...

The tagline for Moon-Wake is:

"Will the secrets come to light before she loses herself?"

That's just an amuse-bouche, if you will.  I have a little sneak preview coming very, very soon and I hope you all like it.  It was one of the very first things I wrote for Book Six, over two years ago now.  SO excited to share it with you guys!!

Anyway, that's all for now so stay tuned!

xxErin

Friday, August 2, 2013

This Is the Most Awesome Thing Ever!

If any of you are comic/graphic novel fans, specifically DC (I'm a total DC girl), especially the JLA, you will adore this.  It's a fan-made comic strip featuring the members of the JLA, with appearances by various villains, only...they're 8 years old!  It's called 'JL8' and it's the cutest thing in the world!  This guy absolutely nails these characters in every way.  I'm doing my part and reaching out to all my awesome readers to help get the word out about this incredible indie artist/writer because he wants to break into the industry and do what he's already doing, only professionally, and also because he deserves it.  Anyway, if enough people read it and it gets out there, through word of mouth, it could give him some real clout if he ever gets the opportunity to pitch it to DC.

So, here is the link to his actual website, a tumblr blog, which he uses as his platform for releasing the strips:


And here is a site run by a fan of the strip, which is a little more user-friendly, if you just want to sit down and crack through these things:


That link will take you directly to the first comic strip.  If you get lost, break for a pee, or have to take an executive conference call, and then forget what number you're on, you can find the 'Archive' button at the bottom of the page.

There are 137 strips so far and I seriously just blew through them all with my fiance; it probably took us an hour or so from start to finish.  Evidently, Yale Stewart (that's the author's name) puts out 2 strips every week, which is just insane and awesome and insanely awesome!

Also, if you're interested in checking out his other work, here is his deviantArt account:


Anyway, I just think it's genius and so so lovely.  (Yeah, that's right--I just described a comic strip, featuring well-known superheroes, as 'lovely'.  So what.)  As an indie author myself, I think it's important that we all support each other in this community and help promote fellow writers/artists any way we can.

Fingers crossed this guy gets a meeting with DC sometime soon!

xxErin

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Well Overdue

As a sort of followup to my last post, which was a reblog of a post on Amanda Hocking's blog, I've decided to do a little reblogging of my own.  It's only a "followup" in the sense that the stuff she says about reading reviews is topical, and really hit home with me and gave me the nudge I needed to finally reblog this post.  But everything she says--all those feelings that lead to writer's block--they all revolve around giving attention and responding to the negative energy that circulates in our world.   It's all cyclical.  And what I'm about to say all revolves around this concept.

The following is a post I did as a contributor for another blog I used to work on.  Understand that these feelings have been with me since I was very young, long before I started putting my stories and music out into the world for general consumption, therefore they are not merely a reaction to personal criticisms.  If you don't believe me, spend a semester in art school--you'll start to see what I'm talking about here.

I encourage everyone to spend less time perpetuating negativity and more time letting yourselves feel inspired by anything and everything you encounter.  I've said this before and I'll say it again--in the world of art, you can either be the type of person who is inspired by nothing, or one who is inspired by everything.  I choose to be the latter.

I'm literally just copying and pasting this from my original post, so here ya go:




This Business of Criticism
By: Erin Irvin
 

Okay, this is something that’s been on my mind for a while.  Years actually.  I’ve imagined myself getting on a soap box and ranting about this several times over the years, and now I’m finally following through.  This might be a little thick, but just bear with me.

Okay, so I’m just gonna dive right in here. 

The Purpose of Art:

The purpose of art is simply to be.  Anyone can experience any form of it, whether literary, visual, musical, or whatever, and apply it to their worlds and feel.  As an artist of many trades, I can tell you that the purpose, in large part, of creating, is to figure out who you are, and to reach out and make connections with other people.  The purpose of the product is to be, in some form or another, emotionally resonant.  Period, end of story.  Whether something is good or great is an impossible question to answer—and the question itself is irrelevant and misses the point.  The beauty of all art is its subjectivity, its versatile nature, its ability to make two different people feel the same thing, or, dually, to make two similar people feel different things, but most of all, its ability to just make people feel.

I’m really inspired by the postmodern, Dada, minimalistic and expressionistic movements.  I believe anything can be art if you think of it in an artistic way.  One word can be a poem and it can be beautiful or ugly or both at the same time.  A urinal on display in a museum (see Marcel Duchamp) can evoke so many emotions—what art does not do so?  Four white canvases forming a large square hung on the wall of an art gallery is more than justified to be there (see Robert Rauschenberg).  Is any one of David Hockney’s several paintings of various swimming pools, presented in complete realistic glory, less than art?  Is John Cage’s 4’37”, where the sheet music is filled with rests, instructing the musician to sit in silence for the duration, any less than music?  That’s my true aesthetic.  Art is art.  Art is anything and everything.  Art is what you want it to be and most assuredly what you do not want it to be.

The problem is we live in a world where criticism is not only accepted, but expected—in fact, on the rare occasion that something is not attached to any criticism, it’s often invalidated, rendered unworthy of being a part of “the group”. As an Arts and Sciences major, where my focus was in music, creative writing, and theatre/performing arts (arguably three out of the Big Four art industries), I was required to take several workshop style classes, heavily creatively saturated, but also equally loaded with critiquing our peers.  While I would do my best to give adequate critiques and honest opinions, I felt they were moot overall.  I am no more qualified than anyone else to give my opinion and I don’t feel my opinion matters anyway.  The point to all these things we do is the process.  Getting there.  We artists don’t easily forget the delightfully painstaking hours we spent on one idea, one image, one word, one sound.  The art is in the process, not the product.

Everyone has their own journey through the world of creation and they should commence happily without spending precious minutes dwelling on outside criticism—either giving it or receiving it.  A dialogue is one thing, critiquing is another.

My point: It’s not about saying things are “good” or “bad”; it’s about measuring their integrity, their merit.  And we should measure that merit not by the aesthetics of the product itself, but by the soul behind it, the spirited effort put in, and the honesty with which it was made.

*Sigh* I feel much better now that I’ve gotten that off my chest.

Thoughts?

xxErin