What News

Greetings,

I did it again, I am just failing at keeping an author blog up. Sorry about that. A lot has been going on though so I haven't been slacking for no reason, I promise!

So Viking Sensitivity came out Aug. 31st. Yay! You can get in on amazon. It is currently on a month long blog tour, showing itself off to the internet.

I also finished The Doll Making Delta! The cover is done and it has come back from the editor's. All that is left is my final read through and some formatting stuff. I am aiming to have it out Oct. 15th. I meant to have it out this month but that just didn't work out.

A quick wave hello to all over you I saw at Passion in Portland and Rose City Comicon this month. Meeting readers in person is always awesome!

Lastly for this quick update is I am working on the sequel to Berman's Wolves. Don't get too excited. I am less than a 10th of the way in. I am determined to have it done by Thanksgiving. So here is hoping! Then I will dive in to the sequel to Hollowton Homicide, Is the stars a line that will be out by New Years.

Happy Reading,

Gretchen

Viking Sensitivity Cover!

Greetings,

I know, I know I failed at regularly posting again. But I promise I have a semi-good excuse! I have been finishing the second book in my Paranormal Romance Series, the Night World books, Viking Sensitivity! YAY! almost two years after the first book!

The goal was to have in out by the end of this month. The book editor has the first 160 pages while I finish my read through of the last 70 pages. If all goes perfectly, which it might not due, the book might be out this weekend.

Just to get you all hyped up, here is the cover:

 

I know, so spooky. ;)

 

I am, as soon as I finish this post, meandering over to my website Here! to post this pic and the opening excerpt. Please go check it out! But keep in mind it is the unedited version and my grammar is terrible.

 

So I am hoping not to jinx myself with this next bit. *crosses fingers* As soon as I hand off the last bit of the Paranormal Romance to the editor I am going to dive into The Doll Making Delta, the first book in the Contemporary Romance, Delta House Series. These books are a bit shorter so I am hoping to be releasing it for Passion in Portland. I know, that's in 3 weeks! OMG! So it might not happen but I am definitely shooting for it.

 

 

Okay, that's all for now.

 

Happy Reading,

 

Gretchen

A Brand New Desk

Greetings,

I am very excited this week because for the first time in the real adult world I am going to have a desk I can use to simply devote to writing. I am so happy about this desk. I know it isn't a big deal in the long run but to me it gives my 'authoring' a home base to work from. It have drawers for me to put all my note books in. It is rather wide, but odds are I will still fill the space. Once I am totally settled in I will probably post a picture. Be prepared for lots of post-it notes. I tend to use post-its as a way to remember notes or plot points. They get scattered everywhere on the wall. In our current den, that means right above the desk. Score! The Hubster and I were up until 1 am on Sunday putting it together, We started at 9:30 pm. He was a trooper for sticking it out with me. Today will be the first chance I get to use it. I can't wait. It has been taunting me every time I walk by the den. It is beckoning me to grab a chair from the dinner table, pull it up and start writing. I do not think I have the right words to express what it means to me to have a writing desk.

In a drastic change of subject I wanted to show you all the cover of the new edition of Hollownton Homicide:


This is the same book, but the cover, title and my name are different for the California Times Publishing Edition. They tell me they are publishing it now. Is the old edition is no longer for sale on Amazon. Feel free to get one from me in person though!

That is all for now.

Happy Reading,

Gretchen

And Here I am, Just failing at the Whole Social Media Thing

Greetings,

I am not even going to check how long ago I posted because I know it is only going to make me shake my head.

So the last few weeks i have been working on the second book in the Night World Series. It is tentatively titled 'Viking Sensitivity'.  I am not writing it as fast as I had hoped but I am making progress and still hope to have it out in August, as was my original goal. I am a little over halfway done. Which isn't bad when I consider I started writing it in late April. My current record is writing a book in seven months, so I am on track for busting that record. Which for me at least is exciting. But again, I am not writing as fast as I would like. *sigh*

On a more life-y note Kahlua, our Rotti mix, has finally made herself at home. She is no longer shying away of as scared. It makes my heart happy that she seems to feel at home. She wants to be a bit of a princess some times and she is quite the sneaky food thief! Earlier this week she ate the Hubster's dinner right off the counter. which did not endear her to the Hubster. But she is still a sweetheart below the mischievous naughty streak.

I don't have much else for now.

Happy Reading,

Gretchen

Re-Branding with a Publisher

Greetings,

My goodness this entry is late. Last week just completely gotten away from me. The day job has been incredibly busy. Friday was our department graduation and there was preparation like crazy for staff to do in order to get everything to go without a hitch. So things have been a bit hectic.

But it's the writing news I am both excited and anxious about. A publishing company out of California, California Times Publishing has picked up/ signed a contract for Hollownton Homicide.

It's exciting because somebody actually reached out and said that they wanted to publish the book, under their name because technically it was already published, however it is kind of nerve-racking because you never know how a wider audience will respond to it and there were a couple conditions for picking up the book.

The first is they wanted to change the title. The current title has the main character in the book Anthony or Tony Hollownton as part of the title. I guess they don't like his last name so after some discussion the title will be Rain City Homicide. So the series titles from here on out will be Rain City…..

The second condition was they do not like the use of initials. So they wanted me to come up with something else. I decided to be a bit of a sassy pants and went with Essby. So I'm not exactly happy with it but I'm trying to accept the fact that I should just calm down and not get so worked up about the author name used. But I can't seem to help it.

The last stipulation is they did not like the current cover. They said covers where the person on the cover is looking practically at the reader with not a lot else going on don't sell as well for whatever reason statistically. So they are changing the cover. I got to see the new concept art for the publishers covers this week. That was super cool. I really like them.

I am trying to be upbeat about the publishing thing but I can not shake the anxious nerves. Maybe it will all be better once the book is rereleased.

I am not sure I have anything else for the moment.

Happy Reading,

Gretchen

Procrastination!

Greetings,

This week I want to talk about writing and books. For the last month or so I have been working on the book 2 of the Night World Series. I am super excited about working on it but at the same time it is daunting. What if it isn't as good? What if people don't like it? What if I don't finish it in the time line I have set out for myself?

The timeline is my big problem. I really wanted to get four books out this year, but I'm not sure I am going to reach that goal.

Enter the Hubster. He in his sweetness bought me Dragonspeak for my birthday. Dictating with that means pages get done more than twice as fast, YAY! However, It does not always type exactly what I put meaning my pre-editing read through is going to take longer, less yay. Over all it gives me hope to finish books this year. Since I work for a school that slows in the summer I am going down to 80% time. That gives me extra writing time at home.

So we reach the goal I set. With the math I did, I should be able to finish a minimum of two books by the end of September and a max of four. The later would be amazing.

But then my second complication comes in, laziness and procrastination. Some times I get home after the hour bus ride and all I want to do is watch an episode of something before starting dinner. This is not a conducive attitude to writing. I have yet to come up with a good way to push through that.

In other news Hollownton Homicide has a one year book contract with CA Times Publishing. They are going to re-release the book under their publishing house. I am excited about this but a little hesitant. They do not like that I use my initials so after some discussion my, pen name, I guess you would say for the re-release will be Gretchen Essby. They are also re-doing the cover and I should get a peek at the new one later this week. I also filled out the initial info so they could start working on a book trailer for it. I am excited to see it!

I think that is all I have for this week.

Happy Reading,

Gretchen

Dog VS. Plant, What the dog thinks is an epic battle

Hello There,

This week I wanted to talk about our three postage stamp sized yard. There were several plants in the yard when we moved in. There was also a small gravel area, though I have no idea why it is there. We were thinking about what to do with this gravel area and came to the conclusion that it would be a good place to place some pots and grow some of our own veggies.

We were excited about this idea because it meant saving money of veggies, win. As well as less waste, since green onions, lettuce and a smattering of other veggies come in large packs that the two of us don't always use all of.

So we bought cute barrel pots, potting soil, fertilizer, special ozmocote, We have starters of lettuce, walla walla onions (The best onions there are in my humble opinion), green onions, chives, lemon mint, a green pepper plant, cabbage, and Kale. (I also got a couple flowers. I couldn't help it, they were pretty.

Anyway, we got everything planted and later that night under the cover of darkness our not so little Rotti dug up some of the Kale, all but one lettuce plant and almost half the onions. These are just the plants that are missing. Several others were tossed or knocked over and soil was all over. I was not too thrilled.

I am not quite plant savvy enough to know how to best help them. She still sniffs around the but I think we have told her no enough times that she stays away for the time being.

She seems to have moved on though. One of the plants growing quite tall in our back yard has small white flowers. For whatever reason our Rotti has decided this plant is her nemesis. It started by biting off the flowers, then the smaller branches. Now she is digging up the roots. The hubster told me he found the hole, i haven't had the chance to cover it back up. Apparently one of her tennis balls is helping her in this endeavor because it keeps making to outside and into the trench like hole. *sigh* I am guessing this is just life with a Rotti.

The plan it to either put the pots on benches or circle them in chicken wire as a way of dog proofing. But I am at a loss for the white flowers. Any ideas on how to help the plant in this epic battle are much appreciated.

That's all for now.

Happy Reading,

Gretchen

Getting a Dog

Greetings,

This is the last week of my catch up posts. I know Finally!

I am going to write about our Dog, Kahlua. For reference I will insert an image of little ms cuteness...now...

While not the cutest dog in the world she still has such a sweet face. 

Anyway, we adopted her a month and a half ago from a county shelter. She has a sad story. She was in the shelter about a week before we adopted her and had a litter of puppies. The owner paid to have her and the puppies back, then three days later Kahlua had been abandoned again. 

That has given her a strong separation anxiety, and a fear of riding in cars, and of overpasses. It has been a little heartbreaking because she is a very sweet and obedient dog. She isn't even a year and a half yet so she is full of spunky energy and chews things up when we are not home to watch her. She doesn't eat furniture, thank goodness, but it is still annoying to come home and have something in shreds. 

I have confidence that eventually we were figure out how to get the destruction to stop. After all she doesn't destroy her stuffed animals, just carries them around in her mouth. 

This sweet little pup is really growing on us. But that is really all I have for now,

Happy Reading,

Gretchen

Getting Hitched

Much like the post about buying a house, having one post to discuss the whole process of getting married seems to be not enough. But I will give it a try.

The Hubster and I got engaged the first week of June. He was nervous (It was so cute) I started cursing from shock when the ring came out (not so cute). But it was where we had our first date. *sigh* Okay, that is the end of the mushy stuff. Mainly because I don't want to disgust myself.

We gave ourselves 8 months, which seemed reasonable to us but people kept telling us that was fast. Not sure why. I am going to interject here that when you add the word wedding, it is amazing how prices skyrocket. Our wedding budget was $4k. Because apparently I felt I needed to make life more stressful.

As out guest list grew (we toped at 150) our budget became an increasing problem. We ended up going through multiple vendors for things because stuff just fell through. We didn't have our final venue until about 6 weeks before the ceremony. In case you were wondering, yes I was a bit out of my mind.

I will stop griping now, because remembering it all still makes me cringe. The day of was nice and not as stressful as I thought it would be. We got hitched without a hitch ;) and that was the important part.

I am glad it is behind us, though I noticed some new gray hairs. Both the Hubster and loved our honeymoon. We went to Disneyworld. Yes, we were adults in Disneyworld...without children. It was a wonderful vacation from all the stress that we had from all the months before it.

Then we came home feeling refreshed and in love and found mushrooms growing out of one of our walls and a bunch of black mold inside the wall. *sigh* Maybe it is time for anther vacation....

Happy Reading,

Gretchen

Buying a House

Hey There,

There is no real way to do the five months we spent trying to buy a house justice in one blog post. I am going to try but I am sure to forget something.

Our journey started with us living in a problem ridden apartment. I won't go in to all the problems because there were many in the year plus we were there and I try not to concentrate on it since we don't live there anymore. We took a first time home buyers class and figured out our monthly budget. I will say this about our budget. While in most the country it would have bought us a fine home, in Washington it was a squeeze with our criteria.

What the Hubster (aka He who shall not be tagged) and I were looking for in a home:

• He wanted a yard, with grass, not a postage stamp cement block (That right there sliced a huge chuck of available homes)
• Three bedrooms, because we wanted an office and a guest room
• 1.75 or more bath, we wanted a master bath.
• More than 1000 square feet

Our original search area didn't help any. We work 30 miles apart, so we were trying to find somewhere in between. Preferably somewhere I could bus to work, but that wasn't necessary. We looked at quite a few homes (in the end 20+) in the south of Seattle. We saw homes where people remolded half the house before running out of funds. Homes where people where creating rooms out of garages and closets and basements. One of these had a ceiling so low the Hubster (who is 5'9'') couldn't stand in the room, with a ball cap on, and place a flat palm on his head. It was darn claustrophobic! We were getting very discouraged.

Then our amazing real estate agent convinced us to expand our search East and to townhome style condos. I am so glad she did! It made all the difference in the world. As we moved farther from Seattle the houses we could afford became nicer (yes, I know that shouldn't have surprised me but it did) We finally looked at several homes in the neighborhood me bought in. There is a park, people were out walking their dogs, and it was five minutes from a park and ride with a bus right to the university! In short the neighborhood was perfect! We put in several offers before we got our rambler style condo. With two bedrooms and a den, 1.75 bath, and a yard the size of three postage stamps.

So know we own a house and it is great. we live in a great development full of polite, nice, quiet people. We couldn't have asked for a better outcome to the ordeal of months of house hunting.

That is all for now.

Happy Reading,

Gretchen

Hollownton Homicide

Well Hello,

My my, it looks like Life ran away with me again. I am going to try to make up for it by doing double duty and posting twice today. This post with be Hollownton Homicide, which came out in August of 2014.

We will start with the cover:

Then the Back cover blurb:

Homicide detective Anthony Hollownton thought he had seen it all until he and his partner, Rick Nelson, are called to a murder scene unlike any Tony has come across. There are no witnesses and none of the neighbors heard a thing.

Once Tony starts to investigate the facts of the case become stranger and stranger. As the body count rises Tony is drawn into a world he did not know existed. Starting with a visit from a dead woman from his past. He must decide whether the paranormal truly exists or if these killing are some kind of delusional gang war.

And now the link for the sneak peek on Amazon: LINK!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seeing this book published makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. Why you make ask. Well it is because I worked on it on and off for 10 years. It started as a joke about what if a friend of mine was a cop. Then it became a book and a world in it's own right. The plot and story changed as well. It was the first story I did where I got 2/3 the way through and decided I just did not like the direction it was headed in. SO I went back and revamped the story.

That is all I have for this post.

Happy Reading,

Gretchen

The Berman's Wolves Post

Greetings!

This week I want to talk about a book that came out a little over a year ago.

 

First, The Basics:

The Cover:

 

 

The Back Cover:

When a scientist runs an experiment on three separate college campuses that goes horribly wrong, several hundred students find their lives altered forever. They must learn to adapt to their new lives as Werewolves. Immediately after the incident a government program was put in place to keep track of these unwitting subjects. After a year the program falls apart as those in charge argue on how to proceed.

Without the programmers constantly looking over their shoulders the werewolves have now started to organize themselves. Creating their own hierarchy and alliances.

Jack is the Alpha of Pacific Northwest University's pack F. He thought the government had finally taken a step back and let him and the other Alphas run their packs. Recently, however, he has been hearing rumblings about the programmers wanting to reinstate the program. He thought they were just rumors until he finds out one of his pack is being threatened by several of the lab assistants that took part in the original experiment. Now Jack must scramble to find allies and hunt down those threatening his pack. The more he goes looking the bigger the plot becomes.

Lastly, here is a link to Amazon where you can read the first 10%: LINK!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now a little bit about writing the book. I wrote most of it in about 9 months several years ago. It was the first book I ever finished. At the time I had 30+ stories on my laptop, so that was quite a feat. Berman's Wolves actually started with a dream I had. Toward the beginning of the book there is a multi-pack meeting. That whole scene was a dream I had. Once I woke up I wrote it down and it seemed to take on a life of its own. The more I wrote it became clear that this would be a series.

 I have a love for a lot of the characters in this book because the whole premise is that this was done to them. They weren't born to it or chose it. To me that made them feel more vulnerable to the world around them. It makes me feel like I have to take care of them, walk them through this journey they are taking.

Each character seems to have their own set of trials and it became clear when I seriously started writing that to me this wasn't one story but several that were happening at the same time.

That is all I have for this week.

Happy Reading,

Gretchen

Oh My, It Has Been A While

Greetings!

I guess I proved myself right on the whole, 'being bad at blogging' thing. A lot has happened over the last year. So much I should have blogged on. Oh well.

Over the next few weeks I am going to try to get the ball rolling on blogging regularly by playing catch up on some events that happened this year.

1. Berman's Wolves published in March
2. Hollownton Homicide published in August
3. We bought a house!
5. Getting married
6. Adopting our dog (this only happened a week-ish ago)

I am hoping to have my next book ready for a sneak peek for you once I have finished these posts. Also, I am hoping this gets me into the routine of  writing one blog post a week.

Yes, I know this post is more of an outline but I am using this to set my blogging goal.

Happy Reading,

Gretchen