Now In Colour!

Howdy Folks!

So, as promised in thanks for all the help in choosing the subtitle for Frostfire, below is Barrett in marvelous colour, courtesy of the dark haired beauty of our pair -- Lauren. The original artwork was drawn by Laura Ann of Ethereal Illustrations. You can find more of her work (and commission her for your own purposes) on Facebook.

Progress Report

Howdy Folks,

So, we are halfway through the first month of the year, and I have to say, things are going great so far! Lauren and I just finished what we hope to be our last major revision on Frostfire before a professional editor looks at the draft (Which we hope to score sometime this year through an agent. Fingers crossed). We ended up biting the bullet and dividing the (very) long manuscript into two books, and paring out a few of the extraneous characters, replacing them with more central ones to introduce more characterization for, and information about, our main characters (or at least one of them). It does mean we technically have two and a half of the Frostfire series' books written though! The (now) second one will obviously need some cleaning up now that it has been divorced from its other half, but that sure beats the Hell out of having to write it fresh.

Our next order of business is to polish up our submission packet and start sending those queries out while we work on some other projects in the background. It is likely we won't stay away from the Frostfire books for long, though. We both adore Kyran and Barrett, and have a lot planned for them. There is actually a document we have in their folder title "The Big Picture" that has our plan for the books mapped out. It is flexible, and changes some as we develop the books and characters, but it is more or less the plan we have envisioned from the beginning, and boy, are you all in for a treat.

As a reminder, there is a special treat coming some time this month, so keep checking our social media for what that just might be.

Until Next Time,
Anna

Furbabies

Music, coffee, tea… everyone has something by their side while they write, helping them push through the idle fog blocking the creative process and keep them sane. For some of us, it’s pets. Sweet, troublesome creatures that they are, they comfort us when we’re frustrated, and annoy us when we’re in the zone. Cats, dogs, fish, birds, reptiles, and everything else.

Lauren shares her writing bubble with her fur baby boy, Jasper. He’s a 4 ½ year old mutt found as a puppy behind a Waffle House. After a few days of fostering, the decision was made not to adopt him out. We’ve been told that he is likely either a Springer, Brittany, or Aussie mix, but definitely some sort of good ol’ fashion Labrador mix. He’s an anxious doofus who is only happy if he has his mom near, but likes the freedom to go lay in the hallway when he’s tired of trying to lay on top of her Chromebook when she’s trying to work. He also likes to lay on top of Xbox controllers and TV remotes so you can’t find them. When he’s not silently providing moral support (or, sleeping adorably, as it were) he will sit as close to the computer chair as he can, often getting his chin on the armchest, and whine insistently to be given attention, because clearly he is far more important than the development of your novel.

Jasper

When in Georgia, Anna divides her attention between her two cocker spaniels, Tiana and Jasmine. They are seven and six years old, respectively, and playful as they are cuddly. Both are rescues, and both are as different as their coats. Where Tiana, the cute blonde, loves people of all types and will nosily demand attention by crawling into stranger’s laps and bumping their hands for pets, Jasmine, with her curly black coat, is the introvert dog, who finds meeting new people a little nerve wracking, and much prefers to lay by your legs of her own choosing, to be close without being smothered. Things are quite the opposite when it comes to the dread vacuum, though, and Jasmine bravely tried to murder the noisome machine, while Tiana cowers. The true struggle, though, comes when both are attempting to garner attention from Anna at the same time, and often leads to dramatic, snarling dog fights. Such is the woe of being so fiercely loved by two adorable dogs.

Tiana

Jasmine

What kind of pets do you guys have? What sort of kinship do you hold with them? What do you find them doing when you’re working on your writing? If you don’t have any writing companions, what kind do you see yourself one day having? Do you have any characters that own interesting pets, mundane or fantastical? Leave us a comment and let us know!

-Lauren & Anna

It's The End of The Year As We Know It

Howdy Folks,

At last, we are drawing close to the end of the year. I apologize for the radio silence. Not only was there Nano to contend with, but the rapidly approaching holidays have just about eaten all of our free time (mostly due to extra working hours). But soon, soon the blissful freedom of January shall be here.

Just as an update, Lauren and I are currently working on giving Forstfire one last revision before tweaking our submission packet and hitting the streets again to sell our novel to agents. If nothing percolates from this round, we have discussed possibly looking at other publshing routes, but we really want to give this another good round before we move on.

Our novel we worked on during Nano is about half-finished, and put on a backburner at the moment as we realized it was not developing quite as we envisioned. We have promised to return to it soon with a stronger gameplan once the new revisions are done on Frostfire and our attention is free to focus on it. We started in on another novel idea, but it is admittedly progressing slowly due to the large amount of focus Frosty is taking.

All in all, the end of this year is proving busy beyond measure, but hopefully with excellent things to show for it come 2019.

Til Next Time,
Anna Harpe

Twas The Night Before Nano...

Howdy Folks,

So it is, at this moment, the very best day of the year (in my own opinion) -- Halloween! But it is more than simple the greatest celebration of all that is ookie and spooky, but also the eve of the most rewarding and most stressful time of year for writers everywhere -- Nanowrimo. Naturally, Lauren and I will be participating. We are planning to try to use this hectic month to try and finish our small side project (as much as an entire novel can be considered a side project or small) before we get back on the road to editing Frostfire. 

Progress on publishing Frostfire has slowed. We have received many rejections now, which, while not dampening our spirits one whit, has given us pause in considering if we might need to break the story into smaller parts to make it more attractive to publish. Smaller books are cheaper to make, after all. Considering how the story would be broken, we are exploring changing up a few parts to add a bit more action to the shorter story, and really pump up the audience's investment in our two handsome men before we break them -- a little more literally than you might think within the context of the story.

We would both like to extend once again our sincerest and most heartfelt thanks to our alpha readers for all of their help. It has been quite a journey, and one that would have been much, much more arduous without our alpha humans' encouragement and endless enthusiasm in answering our questions. 

As to our Nano project, since it is soon to be finished, I will offer those few of you following this blog as of yet more information on this mysterious book titled Fateful: The Doe and The Wolf. It is a young adult novel featuring Vasille and Linryl, two young women struggling to resist -- or fulfill -- their fates within our new and enchanting world of a fantastical Italian city. To further tease your senses, below are the current reference pictures for the two main characters -- though you know my and Lauren's track record with sticking to our reference photos.

Linryl -- Anna's character

Vasille -- Lauren's character

There will be more little tidbits as we progress on this work, so stay tuned to hear more. Until then, stay safe, and don't burn the house down.

-- Anna Harpe

The Most Wonderful Time

Howdy folks,

Well, it is getting to be that season again -- and I do not simply mean Autumn. Halloween is right around the corner, bringing its eerie, wonderful flavor to the year.

Banana Bread Oats and Pumpkin Spiced Latte from ROOTED

Caprese Sandwich and Cinnamon White Mocha from ROOTED

And with it, we bring news. Progress on finding an agent for Frostfire has been slow. As such, we have chosen to use this year's Nanowrimo to work on another, shorter, more easily marketable project. We promise to tease you as soon and as often as we can with what it might be. Though, perhaps, we may just leave you a single hint.

Until next time,
Anna

Quoteable Quotes

"Leonie Barrow looked at him with a strange expression, her pale skin blue and shadowed by the falling light, her eyes dark and bottomless. ‘Cabal…’ she whispered.
'Yes?’ he replied.
'How…’ she paused, searching for the words. Her gaze fell, and then rose again, and she looked deep into his eyes. 'How did you ever become so very fucked up?’"

-- Johannes Cabal the Detective, Jonathan L Howard