Literary Vexes

I read constantly. I've probably read hundreds of books. With constantly being engrossed in stories, I've developed a list of a few things that sort of irk me. I know I'm probably guilty of one if not all of these things, but I'm coming from an avid reader standpoint here. That's why I tell myself that I'm not being a hypocrite! Here it goes...

(1) Unrequited Love (or so the characters think):  How many times have I read a novel where the male and female protagonists are in love/like with each other but thinks the other doesn't feel the same? Countless. I read a ridiculous amount of pages about their feelings yet they don't profess their love until nearly the end. I would much rather see them come together sooner rather than later. But hey, that's my deal.

(2) Unnecessary Deaths: I can't be the only person out there that doesn't like when some authors kill off certain characters, especially those that aren't central characters. Send them off to Mexico or something if they don't have any more reason to be in the story. Don't just send them to meet their makers. If the characters are main, then the deaths are even more depressing and irritating. I know that sometimes deaths are an essential part of a story because it propels actions and also gives motives behind certain behaviors, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

(3) Disappointing Series Endings: I love to read series because I get to stay with characters and story lines for a while. It brings me into their lives and keeps me looking forward to what happens in the next book and the next. So, it's really annoying that after sometimes years of following these characters and situations when I get to the last novel and it's a total letdown. Things don't go the way I expect. The character may not get a happy ending. Whatever the reason for the disappointment, it can make me wish that the book hadn't been written at all. My imagination was better.

So, those are my vexes when reading a novel. I'm sure everyone has some of their own. You never know how a book's going to turn out until you read it, which adds to the mystery and fun of cracking open a book.

Freebie

As I'm writing this post, I can't stop thinking about how hot it is. I feel like I'm two seconds away from melting. Who knew Chicago would be basking in eighty-plus degree temps at the end of April/beginning of May? Certainly not me or my very disgruntled hair. Anywho, moving on to the real reason I'm writing today.

In honor of State of Finality being released last Friday, I'm making the first novel in the Trilogy free for a month. I'm hoping it'll bring in new readers and an audience that I haven't had the opportunity to touch yet. State of Restraint is free everywhere except for Barnes and Noble and Amazon. They won't let me make the book free. On those sites it's listed at $0.99. However, Smashwords has all formats available for download including kindle, pdf, epub, and others. The rest of the Trilogy is available everywhere for $2.99 .

Happy Hump Day!

--Elaina

Finally the Finale

It's done.

Yes, the third and final book in the States Trilogy, State of Finality, is finished and available. As I am writing this post, it is on sale at Amazon and Smashwords. It should show up at Barnes and Noble by early next week and other retailers such as iBooks, Kobo and others in a week or two depending on how long it takes to be approved and shipped.

Finishing the series was bittersweet. The characters (Vivi, Markus, Tristan and Benji) have been with me for about two years now. I've spent so much time with them--in thought and reading and writing--that they seem almost real to me. I feel as if I'm saying goodbye to close friends. But who knows? I may pick them up again and pump out something new some time in the future.

With that said, I am looking forward to working on new projects. I appreciate all the love and support I've received. I hope everyone enjoys the States Trilogy and Salvage and will pick up State of Finality. Spread the word. Write a review. Let me know if you find any errors or other things that need correcting.

Happy Saturday!
--Elaina

Thank You's and Miscellaneous

It's been a few weeks since my last post, so I wanted to start out by expressing my gratitude at the success of Salvage, the short story I released a couple weeks ago. It has been downloaded a ton. So thank you to everyone who has downloaded and read it.

I have been hard at work editing State of Finality. It should be ready for release by the end of April or beginning of May at the latest. I have one more round of editing to go through and I want to take my time on it to ensure it's fit for publication.

Also, I wanted to make a correction/announcement. I mentioned previously and noted in the novels sections that I was going to release a young adult series. I've scratched it for now. Some day I might release it, but I have other ideas and novels that I want to work on first. I'll let you all know about those things another time. (I have to build the anticipation.)

The young adult series I planned to put out stemmed from a paranormal novel I wrote a couple years ago. It was the first novel I ever wrote and back then I thought it was a masterpiece. I tried shopping it around to different literary agents, but they didn't bite. So I put it away and starting working on other things with the intention to come back to it later.

I still plan to do that when I have more time to dedicate to pretty much taking the novel apart and resurrecting it, since undoubtedly, my writing has changed from the time I wrote it. I glanced over it the other day and it's cringe worthy. With that said, what I plan to work on in the future will be better and worth the wait.

Stay tuned for news on my upcoming projects. Thanks for making Salvage a success.

--Elaina

Something New

I've had a pretty busy week, but I took out time to update everyone on a couple things. You may or may not remember me mentioning writing a short story or two to go along with the States Trilogy. That was a few months ago, so it's okay if you forgot. I did too. I wrote a short story back in January that's just been gathering  dust on my hard drive and figured now was as good a time as any to release it. This is one of the first short stories I've written since I was a kid, so you'll have to cut me some slack on this one.

The story is entitled Salvage. It surrounds Denise from State of Restraint and takes place after that novel. It's only about 10,000 words which equates to around  30 pages give or take a few in physical book form. With something that short I couldn't find it in me to charge for it. Therefore, it's free. It should be available at most ebook stores sometime next week depending on how fast Smashwords approves the story for distribution.

But one thing I want to make clear is that no one should pay for this story. That shouldn't be an issue unless you purchase books from Amazon, which makes it difficult for authors to make a book/story free unless you sign up for their KDP Select Program and only sell your work through them for 90 days. I don't want to do that so I'm working on a way to make it free there.

In the meantime, if you do have a Kindle or the kindle software, then you can download the book from Smashwords, which has pretty much every ebook format including the kindle version.

And before I forget, I changed the covers again for State of Restraint and State of Assertion. I know, I know. I've changed them a million times already, but in my defense, my mother didn't like the other one and we all know that mother knows best.

That's pretty much all I have for today.

--Elaina  

Changes and Revisions

Let's get down to business.

Some of you may or may not have noticed that the covers for State of Restraint and State of Assertion have changed. I loved the old covers, however, I replaced them because they might have included prohibited content. So, I changed them to prevent any problems that might arise though none have. But it's better to be safe than sorry, don't you think?

 

  

 



 

The new covers aren't necessarily my favorite seeing as I'm still sort of stuck on the previous ones. Hopefully, they will grow on me. The covers aren't bad. They are...simple. Depending on time, I may create new covers. However, my main focus is getting out the last book in the trilogy, which brings me to my next announcement.

That book will be titled, State of Finality. I completed the first draft last week. (Oh yeah!) Right now I'm working on edits and revisions to turn that mess of a draft into a masterpiece. I'll update you on a possible release date soon.

I don't want to reveal too much right now, but State of Finality will be longer than the second novel--people have told me they wished SoA was longer--and old/forgotten characters will make a reappearance. Though it's far from completion, I have high hopes for book #3.

That's all for today.

Finally...

Hey!

The second book in the States Trilogy is officially out. State of Assertion continues to follow Vivi and the other characters as they tackle new issues.

I tried to get this book out as fast as I could since people that read State of Restraint seemed to like it and were eager for the sequel. Fingers crossed that everyone likes State of Assertion just as much. I do. And it's been said that authors should write things that they enjoy.

With how quickly I was moving, I tried to get all the errors, but there still may be some. Hopefully not. However, if there are problems/errors, just shoot me an email or comment to let me know if I need to change or correct anything.

So, go out and buy State of Assertion. It's only $2.99.

Ciao