My second novel is on its way to seeing print! Today I'm sharing an excerpt from the novel. It introduces Calvin and Cleo Forsyth, my main characters who are twins. I'm also unveiling Forecast's beautiful front cover to you, my blog readers, before the greater world-at-large gets to see it. Enjoy! -Elise Forecast Cover: EXCERPT: “The drawer needed breaking,” Calvin assured Cleo as he spread…
It's here! Moonlight and Oranges is officially for sale on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com in both paperback and eBook! You can look to the right of this post at the snazzy link that takes you right to Amazon.com to purchase it. Now that the moment has finally arrived, ("This is real, Elise. You're not dreaming. The numbness and disbelief is perfectly normal and proportional to how badly you've…
When I first began writing, everything was about extremes. I focused on making my characters as beautiful they could be, having as much fun and excitement as possible, and the bottom line was that I kept myself entertained. I wrote because I found storytelling exciting, and all of my stories had the requirement that they continuously enthrall my imagination. My first “writing” was actually illustration with a few…
I am now a little more than two weeks away from launching Moonlight and Oranges. But before I go into more of that, please join me in welcoming the glorious, smashing cover design for Moonlight and Oranges, designed for me by Isaiah Qualls. Isn't it gorgeous??? If I could look back and say what were the five most important things I did to bring myself to this…
In the art world, and in most places of life, change can come as fast as a tsunami wave--and my reaction to change may be compared to the terror of standing on the beach, watching the incoming wall of water, and wondering if I really am prepared for what's ahead of me. The analogy is imperfect. A tsunami would likely have killed me. The changes in my…
According to Wikipedia, a red-letter day is any day of significance and my goodness did I have one! Last week I sent out my normal batch of query letters via email. This is part of my marketing plan, which entails sending out queries for my manuscript, Moonlight and Oranges, every two weeks or so. That same day, to my unbelieving eyes, two positive responses came back from two…
Whether you're writing a novel, novella, or short story, you write in scenes. If you're writing a super short story which often one scene long, this concept still applies. Common scenes: An opening scene, a conclusion scene, a flashback scene, a fight scene, a restitution scene. Scenes compose the building blocks, the steps of the grand staircase that make a story and once you feel comfortable with the basics of grammar…