Boxed Set + Hard Rock Remix, post #a bajillionty
SAD TO SAY, the boxed set, Rock Star Romance (99 CENTS, 12 NOVELS AND NOVELLAS), has been pushed back thanks to a confluence of events, not the least of which is distributor problems on one end and computer problems on the other. BUT. Not a big deal. Will be out on OCTOBER 1st!!. If you want to be IN THE KNOW when it (or any of my books!) goes live, just sign up for my newsletter or my update list! They’re kind of the same thing at the moment… Update list is no frills, no spam…but so is the newsletter at this point, because I hate spam like the very devil himself, so I try not to inflict it on people.
Hard Rock Remix progress meter:
At this point I can only say how very, very glad I am that I decided to delete 35,000 words of the 70,000 I had a few weeks ago, because it is so much better now. SO MUCH BETTER. Sure, I had to write 60,000 words fresh from scratch over the course of two weeks, but I gotta be me (crippled by perfectionism)! I really hope you guys enjoy it.
Pages: 135
Chapters: 18/19+Epilogue
ETA: Friday
Hitting PUBLISH on: Saturday night after intensive editing session.
Rewarding myself with: those new drapes and lamps I wanted. A real, grownup bedroom will be mine, after ten years of marriage. So close…so very, very close…
Yeah. Anyway. I am excited. There’s a lot of sexy times in the last half of this book. It’s fun. I think I might aim for a novella series along the lines of H. M. Ward’s The Arrangement just to cleanse my palate and have something else to work on while I hammer away at Manny’s book. Lots of sex. Angst. Some funny stuff. Plot? Is plot really that important? (Yes. I know it is. And I’ll end up with one even if I try not to.)
Love you guys. Got licked by a horse today. It was fab.
82530 / 95000
(86.87%)
(86.87%)
~SIGH~ and a small teaser…
77283 / 95000
(81.35%)
(81.35%)
Welp, threw my back out the worst I’ve ever done on Saturday, so my grand plan to finish up HRR was derailed. Again. If I wasn’t hissing in pain I was passed out from the drugs. But now I’m doing much better and HRR is clipping along at a fine pace… trying to get it finished by Friday, up by Monday. I’m sick of looking at it because I want to write Hard Rock Improvisation which is Manny’s story and truthfully that’s probably adding a bit to my dragging feet. Just tired of writing this book. I like this book, but it’s been a real bear to get through. The boxed set has also been delayed thanks to Amazon going all wonky, but it’ll be up on October 1st. Everything for that is done, it’s just Amazon delaying us now. A teaser. With smexy times. BEHOLD:
Beneath him, my body burst into strange and terrible flames.
Time faded. There was no here and now, there was no there and then. Everything suddenly melted away, and Carter and I were alone in the universe, cut off from everything, a man and a woman floating free of the past and the future. He wove his fingers into my hair, his hard, lean body pressing me down into his bed. I gasped, sucked air in through my nose. His room smelled like him, sweet and rich. The scent of a man, the smell of alcohol, the lingering wisps of smoke in the walls.
I parted my thighs. I stole my arms around him and held on for dear life as he leaned in, as his body curled around mine, until his hips nestled in the cradle of my legs, begging me to yield to him.
I want this, I realized. Even if it was bad, even if I was evil, even if this was the point of no return, I wanted it here, now, forever.
“Oh,” Carter said as my legs locked around his waist. “Oh, yes. Aylen…”
Then he was kissing me and there were no more words. His lips moved on mine.
For a moment I stilled and struggled with myself. Should I let him have this power over me? Was this wise? Should I let my heart become vulnerable so soon after breaking free of my prison?
But then his tongue escaped his mouth, flickered against the seam of my lips. All objections turned blinding white and faded away, burning into nothingness like a scrap of paper on a bonfire, and I groaned and let him take over…
Hard Rock Remix Teaser, and a coming Boxed Set…
First, a tiny teaser. Because oh, Carter.
Ain’t gonna lie. Kind of aiming for September 24th myself. WOO. I’m on chapter sixteen. 5-6 more chapters and I’m DOOOOONE.
“You think I don’t find you attractive? Really? You’re in my bed wearing pajamas so tiny that you might as well be naked. You don’t even have to touch me. It’s all I can do not to bust a nut right now.”
I frowned. “‘Bust a nut?’ What does that mean?” There was a silence. I heard him breathing in the dark. Finally: “Well, it’s kind of hard to explain. But trust me, it’s a very romantic sentiment.”And something I am QUITE excited about: The Rock Star Romance Box Set! Twelve books for 99 cents, coming September 24th to a bookseller near you (on the internet).
Ain’t gonna lie. Kind of aiming for September 24th myself. WOO. I’m on chapter sixteen. 5-6 more chapters and I’m DOOOOONE.
Galloping toward the climax… eventually…
69121 / 100000
(69.12%)
(69.12%)
That’s where things stand right now, as of 8.39p central time. Gonna hammer away at it until about midnight and then see where I am. I’m excited about tonight because I get to write some sexy things! I didn’t get to bed until 2.30 yesterday…not something I should be doing on a regular basis. But I did manage an almost 4k/hour pace this afternoon, right up until the point where I started to fall asleep in front of the computer. Anyway, looking at about 30k to 35k more before I’m done. I think I can manage it. *falls over*
Big Wheels Keep On Turnin’ + TEASER
Yeah. I got, like, one thousand done yesterday. Today I wrote about eleven thousand words. I’m hoping to repeat this process for the next three to four days. With luck it’ll get me to the end of the book by the close of Saturday. Publish on Sunday. Take a break. Of course, now that I’ve written it down something will fly out of nowhere to fuck me, but I’m PLANNING ANYWAY. So screw you, universe! You’ve kept me from finishing this book for long enough!
For the record, I am on page 102 of the manuscript. (ed: el oh el, forgot to put the number in and left the placeholder, GOOD JOB, AVA) I’m looking at 160 pages of writing when I’m done. Hard Rock Arrangement was 135 pages. I’m blowing my own mind, here. On the upside, when I went back and deleted half of what I’d written, I was on page 113. Pretty sure I’ll be blowing through that number on Wednesday. WORK HARD, WRITE BOOKS
Today’s favorite line from Hard Rock Remix:
I woke up the next morning in Carter Hudson’s bed with my first ever hangover.
OMIGOSH.
Yup. I mean. I don’t know how long this is going to be, but it’s going to be nice and long. And… IDK. I wrote 9,000+ words today because yesterday was my husband’s birthday so we sent the kid off to Grandma’s and did birthday things. 9,000+ words today, and it wasn’t too bad… we’ll see what tomorrow brings.
TEASER:
The whiskey, I thought six hours later. The whiskey might have been a mistake.
I tried to frown at my whiskey to let it know that I was not pleased with it. To my surprise my whiskey was not whiskey at all, but a banana daiquiri. What was this witchcraft?
Then my eyes crossed and it was all sort of blurry again.
Here I go, here I go, here I go again…
So yeah. Hard Rock Remix. It’s a thing. It’s happening. HOPEFULLY SOON. I realized I should probably update you guys on the state of the book when Eileen, one of my favorite fans, emailed me today to ask if there was any news. And there is news, and it’s not necessarily good or bad, but the news is that I got all the way to the climax of the book and then realized that it had run off the rails in Vegas (yes, really) and that was before the midpoint. So long story short I’m writing up the last 60% of the book all over again from scratch. I anticipate eighteen to twenty chapters and I just finished chapter ten for the second time.
But, you know…as the lovely Eileen said, I try to give only my best to you guys. I couldn’t release a crappy book out into the world. So forgive me, and please be patient with me. In the interests of complete transparency, I’ll try to update this word meter every day:
That is the state of HRR. On the upside, my research allows me to watch things like this, so rolling that fucking boulder back up that mountain isn’t so bad as long as there’s a side show.
Buddha’s name be praised.
I’m an asshole. (Rock Remix Update and Teaser)
Welp, I owe you all an explanation. Pretty much the second after I posted the blurb, I fell ill AGAIN. Recovered from that, still pushed through, and then last Friday I developed the most raging case of tendinitis I’ve ever had. My forearms and wrists and hands all feel swollen and sore. However, I’m in the editing and revising stage. I can’t promise WHEN this will be out, but it will be out ASAP. I’m TRYING for August 15th, like I said, but the way things are going that’s looking awfully unlikely. Still, stranger things have happened, right? Still planning a launch giveaway. Friend me on facebook, follow this blog, or sign up for my mailing list to know when that will happen. The second I hit publish I am going to plunge my arms into buckets of ice water and operate my e-reader with my toes while I struggle to Not Write.
I wish I could show you guys that I’m sitting in a coffee shop right now struggling to get this title out. I am so sadface. I hate it when people miss deadlines, and I feel like a total jerk. I suppose on the upside the editing I’m doing is going to make this book at least ten times better than it started out as. It’s been kicking my ass and I’m so ready to be done. But I’m not. MOPE.
Here is a teaser, offered in supplication. A familiar face makes an appearance, so to speak.
TEASER:
“What do you want to do now?” Carter asked finally.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I’ve never been out on my own. I’ve never seen someone I know go out on their own, either.”
He nodded sagely. “Yes, that could be a problem,” he said. “Since you entered the church when you were a kid, did you have any other relatives that might not be all…” He trailed off and waved his hands.
“My grandparents died,” I said, “but I have two uncles and an aunt.”
Carter’s eyes lit up as though I’d said I knew the location of the lost city of tattoo ink and pointy bits of metal. Continue reading
Hard Rock Remix — THE BLURBENING
Okay. Keep in mind that I got two and a half hours of sleep last night. I am exhausted. I don’t know if this blurb makes any sense. But it is, so far, accurate. So for those of you wondering, “Yes, Ava, but what is HRR actually about??” I hope this answers your question.
Aylen Ware grew up in the shadowy, secret world of the fundamentalist Mormon church, with fifty-three siblings and five mothers. Surrounded by true believers, she has always hidden her doubts and her sinful fascination with the outside world, knowing it could cut her off from the people she loved most. Then one day the inevitable edict comes down: she is to marry one of the church elders, a man forty years her senior and renowned for his cruelty. Mere minutes before her wedding, she finally decides to run. Fleeing from the only life she has ever known, she throws herself on the mercy of a tattooed stranger, vowing it will be the last time she is ever at the mercy of a man.
Half-naked and passed out drunk on a motel bed, Carter Hudson doesn’t seem like a knight in shining armor, but appearances can be deceiving, and as Aylen reluctantly allows him to ferry her from Salt Lake City to California before her intended husband hunts her down, she finds herself growing more and more attached to him… and some of her feelings are downright sinful. Unfortunately, matters of the heart can never be that simple. While Aylen resists her growing attraction and increasing dependence, Carter desperately hides a secret of his own, one that could forever alter their fragile connection… and put Aylen’s future in jeopardy.
So. That’s apparently happening. Now I’m going to bed. I’m either brilliant or really dumb, but hopefully you guys will enjoy another weird, crazy ride. Sounds a bit angsty, but don’t worry. Angst cannot last long in the face of Carter Hudson.