All wrapped up

I am sure many of you have wondered where I have been! Well, I have been here, just super busy getting ready for Christmas and all. I’m glad to say that I am now done…well mostly done. All my Christmas cards have been mailed and I’ve got all the gifts, even the dogs’—of course, they are getting treats and toys. I bought the turkey yesterday—a good twenty pounder. We are having people over, so I needed a big one. I still have a few last minute things to purchase, but otherwise I’m ready.

On a different note, I can’t wait to see The Hobbit this weekend. Yay!

Synopsis Misery

Right now, I am in synopsis hell.  I’ve been stuck there for the last couple of days. It usually takes me about two weeks to write one, (Good synopses take time; you can’t slap them together quickly.) and I have three to write for my NIGHT FABRIC TRILOGY. Finally, yesterday, I managed to find the right angle for the first and second one. The only problem is that I have two different openings for the first and can’t figure out which is the most gripping of the two. Super! :-/  As for the third one…well, I’m still in the dark about it. 

For some helpful advice on the subject check out these two articles: How to Write a I-Page Synopsis and Writing a Good Synopsis.  

Happy Halloween

Getting ready for Halloween

                              This is my entire supply.

              Those are the bags I’m using. They are nice and sturdy.

Each bag will be filled with a broad selection of candies. I like them to be quite full.

                                     This is the final result…

                        repeated fifty times.  Okay, now I’m ready.

Snow/White S***

This is what I woke up to this morning! Snow! Yeeew! It’s way too early for this, WAY TOO EARLY. :-(

YA Highway Publishing Roadmap

For more click here.

Chores

The latest draft of my contemporary fantasy, BV, is now at my agent’s. Yay! =) I sent it out yesterday. PF is new to me. So, I hope she likes it and thinks the book has merits. Fingers crossed.

Okay, that brings me to the real subject of this post: house cleaning. Eck! I’ve neglected housework these last few weeks, and now it’s time to remedy it. Looks like I have a solid three days of cleaning ahead of me. It wouldn’t be so bad if I did not hate vacuuming so much. It’s torture to me. Worst, it never stays clean for very long. Oh well, better get to it. :-/

Updates

I’ll start by saying that I had a glorious three-day weekend. For one, the weather was amazing. Plus, as some of you know, it was Thanksgiving Monday. It’s earlier in Canada than in the US. Hubby and I spent Thanksgiving at friends, which is always a bonus. Because we had fun and ate great food—my friend is a wonderful cook—but also because I don’t have to clean the house after. Yay!

On the work front, things are going well. I have about two to three weeks of work left to do on my contemporary fantasy before sending it to my agent for its first reading. I’m expecting more revisions to follow, though. I know there will be more to add to this story. I also have to write the synopsis. Shoot! Forgot about that. :(

On a personal note, I’ve lost twelve pounds since I started dieting. My clothes are fitting better which is great. Still, I have more to lose, but it’s a step in the right direction. Woo hoo!

Happy Thanksgiving, eh!

Avengers Mathematics

       Makes sense!

Superhero Math

                                       It adds up!

Developing characters

Hi there! I know I’ve been silent for a while, but no worry; I’m still here and writing. I recently began a third draft on my contemporary fantasy. It’s going well. Last week, I managed to successfully reinvigorate and redefine the first four chapters of the novel, despite having to fight off a nasty cold. But in doing so, I also realized how much details are missing in this story. Geez, a whole lot. My biggest challenge however, is to give my lead character a gripping personality. She’s a bit too meek right now (boring). Sadly, she’s not one of those spunky, colorful characters that write themselves. She’s more of a normal person, and that’s what makes her difficult to pen down. But I think I’ve found the perfect angle for her: the thing that makes her tick, the thing that readers will connect with. It means more revisions, but it’s worth it. Wish me luck!

Finished

I have finished the first draft of my new paranormal / contemporary fantasy. Next step: revisions *gah*— loads of them!

The end is near

The end of my manuscript that is! I’ve been working like mad this week—making up for lost time, I suppose. (I went in vacation to New Brunswick for a couple of weeks and when I came back I was lazy for a bit. Hey, it happens! I'm not proud of it though. :-/)
Anyway, as a result of my good work this week, I am now nearing the end of the first draft. I have only two chapters left to write. Woo hoo! =)

Good time

Saturday, my hubby and I spent the day at the lake with good friends; they have a summer retreat there. The place is such an oasis of tranquility, and that million dollar view from the deck is just breathtaking! It’s good to disconnect sometime, to just enjoy good company, eat good food and drink too much wine. Oops, I spilled the beans. :-/

The book exchange at the lake. No kidding! It’s so freaking cool!

Total Recall

 I look forward to seeing this one. I hope they haven't messed it up too much, though...fingers crossed.

Interview

I just gave an interview /conversation with Journalist Janie Mallet for Radio-Canada Acadie.  It was really fun! The interview is going to air tomorrow morning. Oh by the way, it’s in French. =)

Going strong

Things are going well with this book. I’ve added several interesting plot points to the story giving it a unique flavor, and the characters are developing rather well, some better than I planned. As it stands, I have about two thirds of the first draft penned down. =) One thing though, I’ve been calling it a paranormal fantasy, but now I think it’s more a contemporary one. There is romance in it, but that’s not what’s driving the story or the characters. Then again, the book is not finished, and the romance is intensifying as the story progresses. Oh well, I’ll figure it out when it’s done.

Dieting sucks!

I have been struggling with my weight recently (Yep, I’ve gotten chubby, and I don’t like it!) and decided it was time to put myself on a diet.
It’s the same diet I’ve said I was starting last week…you know, the one I was supposed to be on last month. Actually, it’s the New Year diet. :-/


Now how am I going to write love scenes if I’m chocolate depraved? Dieting sucks!

Halfway there

Since I’ve reworked the storyline of my paranormal fantasy, this novel has been progressing at a good clip. As a result, I just reached the halfway point, the middle of the book. Woo hoo! Well, it’s an approximate middle because I never really know how many pages a story will run until I finish it. Feels right though. The chemistry between the characters is growing, and the tension in the plot is increasing. Love it! I have a lot of cool scenes coming, and I can’t wait to write them. As you can tell, right now I’m in the midst of first draft euphoria. I best enjoy it now because once revision starts the fun’s over…well, not totally but pretty much.

On a different note, yesterday was my birthday, so for lunch I had two of my favorite foods, lobster and blood pudding. I know. I’m weird. =)

U-turn

Okay, scratch what I wrote in the previous post. I’m not doing revisions for BH anymore. I tried working on it, but my mind kept wandering back to my unfinished paranormal fantasy. I can stop thinking about plot twists and new scenes for that book. So I’m just gonna write the darn thing! Ahhh, I feel better now. :-)

Revisions

A couple days ago, my agent sent me a list of revisions to be made to my urban fantasy, BH. The list is not overly extensive. Most of it has to do with the characters; they need to be fleshed out more. The dialogue needs some tweaking too. There are also small changes to be brought to the storyline. Nothing big thought. The plot is the strong point of the manuscript. So, after some reflection, I decided to put the paranormal fantasy I’ve been working on aside and do the revisions first.

The Avengers

Can't wait to see it!

Busy bee

I’ve been rather busy lately. I just finished the last small revisions suggested by my agent. There were three rounds of revisions in all. As a result, the novel has been greatly improved. The characters have more depth, and the plot is much tighter, this without losing the essence of the story. For this, I have to thank my wonderful, sharp-eyed, agent, who has absolute faith in me as a writer, and is totally in love with this book, and doesn’t want to send the manuscript out until she knows she had done everything in her power to make it as perfect as possible. Yay!

At the same time, I’ve been working on a compempory fantasy. I knew the plot needed to be symplified; I thought it was too convoluted. But I couldn’t figued out a solution…until last week when it finaly hit me over the head. The solution was so freaking simple I can’t understand why I didn’t saw it before. Duh! On the plus side, this novel is now back on track with almost half of the first draft penned down.

I won!

Last night, I went to the 2012 Prince George Regional Arts and Cultural Awards evening because I was one of the nominees in the fiction category along with Lynda William and Heather Mantler, and to my surprise I won. Sweet! :-D

Update part two

As promised, here’s some more news. I’ll start with the biggest one. Drum roll! I am thrilled to announce that I am now represented by Thao Le of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. Yay! :-D Thao is absolutely lovely and great to work with. I love her enthusiasm and professionalism. Plus, she has a very good editorial eye.

I was signed over a humorous science fiction project originally titled Special Delivery. Thao loved the tongue-in-cheek feel of the story and really connected with its main character Jessie. She also recognized that the story had some weaknesses and needed work, especially the plot, and sent me a list of revisions. I thought they were great; they improved the storyline tremendously. The novel was also given a new, catchier title, Corebound.

I have two other projects needing revisions, an urban fantasy and a science fiction. I’m waiting for Thao’s list of notes to begin those. So in the meantime, I’m working on a contemporary fantasy I’ve started a while back. I have half the first draft penned down. I would love to finish it by mid fall. Wish me luck! :-)

Sony releases new stupid piece of #%$#%

LOL!

Too much chocolate

I regret nothing! :-/

Peep Show

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!


Woo hoo, chocolate! :-D

Update part one

I sincerely apologize to everyone for my prolonged absence. I’ve been very busy lately and neglected my blog. Here are some of the things that kept me occupied:

House renovations. We only had one room left to renovate in the house, the upstairs bathroom, and after two months of dust and mess it’s done. Now it looks like a spa. I forgot to take “before” pictures. Sorry about that. But all you have to do is imagine a bad fifties decor, blue tiles, pink tub and salmon wallpaper. No kidding that’s how it was. My husband made the stained glass by the way.


Sick puppies. After three surgeries and sadly sixteen teeth extractions my two Scottie girls are finally healthy. They are rescue dogs; that’s why they were so neglected. I just wish we had them before the damage was done. Fortunately all ends well. Kate and Allie are now healthy and happy.

Here they are resting after surgery.

On a different note, here’s some good news. I am a finalist for Prince George Regional Arts and Cultural Awards 2012 in the fiction category along with Lynda William and Heather Mantler. Michelle Milburn (She did two of my books covers.) is a finalist for outstanding graphic design.


That concludes update part one. Update part two will be about my new project, revisions and agent. There are some big news coming. :)

I Heart Reading reviews Death in the Traveling City

As promised, here is the third review in the series by reviewer/author Majanka Verstraete.

Here’s a excerpt:

“Nathalie Mallet doesn’t cease to amaze me by adding intriguing and fascinating concepts to her stories, altering them to fit into a fantasy setting and throwing her main character, Prince Amir, right in the middle of them. Surprisingly enough, this works every time. Even though I know from the start that I’m going to get a mystery and suspense story, I can’t wait to dive into the middle of it and find out what happens next. Prince Amir is an amusing character, and I enjoy seeing his personality change throughout every novel. The supportive cast in this book is extremely impressive, and the setting is undoubtably fascinating. The writing style, once again, is sublime and pulled me right into the book from page one. I read this book in one sitting. I recommend Death In The Traveling City – and the entire series for that matter – to all fans of the fantasy genre and the mystery and suspense genre.” More.

Wow, I’m blushing. :-)

I Heart Reading reviews The King’s Daughters

This is the second review in a series of four by reviewer and author of Majanka Verstraete. See the first review below. It’s awesome! :-)

Here are two excerpts:

“The story is well though-through and developed, and the mystery isn’t easily solved. I loved the mixture of folklore with the mystery at hand, and the way everything blends in well together.”

“I liked The Princes of the Golden Cage. I loved The King’s Daughters. So far, the Prince Amir Series has presented me with an intriguing and outstanding mixture of mystery and suspense, fantasy, history and romance, and I’m loving every bit of it. The more I get to know Prince Amir, the more irresistible and charming I find him. He doesn’t have the typical hero-personality, which gives him an edge that I particularly like. The supportive cast is a varying group of people at well, each with their own unique quirks. The storyline itself is strong and well-developed, and with enough plot twists to keep you on the edge of your seat.” More.

I am thrilled by these two amazing reviews! :-) Check them out and also check out Majanka’s new book, Mirror, Mirror.

I Heart Reading reviews The Princes of the Golden Cage.

Reviewer and Author of Mirror, Mirror, Majanka Verstraete has just posted an in-depth review of The Princes of the Golden Cage on her blog, I Heart Reading.

Here are a few excerpts from it:

“Although set in a fantasy world with its roots based on the Ottoman Empire, The Princes of the Golden Cage isn’t your standard fantasy novel, and I applaud it for that.”

“The mystery part plays a giant role in this novel, once again making it stand out from the crowd. The mystery in itself is intriguing to say the least and the fact that magic might play a role in it makes it all the more interesting, especially since our main character is skeptic towards the existence of magic.”

“Prince Amir is an enjoyable character with a complicated but intriguing personality. The murder mystery is tense and exciting from the beginning and leads up to a most surprising conclusion.” More.

This is a very interesting review, the first of a series of four, so please check it out! :-)