This Girl is on FIRE

Now that I've finished AIR and my tentatively-titled Lobster Cove book, HEAVY NETTING, I'm turning my attentions to the last book in The Elemental Series ... FIRE!

 

FIRE has been waiting patiently as a synopsis for several years.  Its hero, Ethan Sutter, first appeared in EARTH, had brief mentions in WATER and AIR, and is now happy to be receiving his own book.  Over the course of the past three books in The Elemental Series, I've slipped in bits and pieces of the Hope Creek foster children's mysterious past - the event that caused their Elemental powers.  In this book, I promise to reveal at last What Happened.  I can't wait to write the story, and I hope you can't wait to read it!  Ethan is nothing if not a pistol, and it promises to be an exciting book.  Wish me luck (and speed) on the writing!

The End, Take Two!

 

This is a banner year for me.  I finished not one, but TWO books - one being AIR, Book Three in the Elemental Series, and now my short story for The Wild Rose Press's "Lobster Cove" series.

This story is tentatively titled HEAVY NETTING, and I plan to edit it over the next week or so before sending it out to my new editor at TWRP.  It was a joy to write this book, and I truly hope she likes it, too.  We'll see!  More details to follow.

Write, Revise, Scramble!

With AIR finished, I'm deep in drafting and edits on a manuscript for The Wild Rose Press's Lobster Cove series.  What's Lobster Cove?  Here's the answer, in The Wild Rose Press's own words:

Lobster Cove is a fictional small town on the coast of Maine, near Bar Harbor. It is quaint and quirky with a colorful history, a friendly population of charming residents, and a vibrant tourist business. It is home to research scientists and small shop owners, grumpy cops and sassy chefs. Back in the day, it was a bustling fishing town and home to many immigrants, from both the state cabins and the lowest decks.

When Rhonda first brought up this idea at a CNYRW meeting in April, I was (no pun intended) hooked at once.  It sounded like such a fun new challenge, to write a story that would dovetail with the stories by other authors working on the series.

It has lived up to that first impression!  Through plot changes and revisions, this book has reminded me why I began to write in the first place: for fun!  Even though my deadline is looming, I'm as excited about the story as I was when I first heard about the concept of Lobster Cove.  I can't wait to get it into the hands of my editor, and then (I hope) to share it with all of you!

Winner of the 2014 Earth Day Giveaway!

[UPDATED 5/11/14: Alternate winner selected; original winner did not claim her prize.]

Congratulations to Linda W., the winner of the 2014 Earth Day Giveaway!  This year's prize was a free PDF copy of one of my books, EARTH, WATER, or THE SERPENT IN THE STONE.  For her prize, Linda chose a copy of EARTH:

Thank you once again to everyone who entered the contest. I loved reading how all of you got involved this Earth Day, and I hope you'll keep up that awesome work throughout the year.  Please keep checking back with me for announcements of future contests. Congratulations again to Linda W.  Happy Reading, and Happy Earth Day!

The End! (AIR is Complete!)

 

Phew!  I'm excited and relieved and glad to announce that tonight, I wrote "The End" on my first draft of AIR, Book Three in the Elemental Series.  Now, I'll let the story "rest" for about a week, then I'll plunge into my favorite part of the writing process: editing!  This is the part where I can really dig into the characters and bring out the best of the story.

This book was a lot of fun to write, and I hope that it'll be just as much fun for you to read it.  That may be a way off, yet, but every step is one closer to publication!  I'm particularly proud to have finished this book because it was part of a New Year's resolution of a page a day.  So to all you writers out there wondering if you'll ever get your manuscript finished, here's some tangible proof that yes, you can, even if it's one page a day!

Look for details on AIR as they become available, posted here and on my website at http://www.nickigreenwood.com.  Happy reading!

Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day is, of course, one of my very favorite holidays.  Today, we celebrate everything that makes our little blue planet so awesome.  I celebrated a day in advance by clearing out my raised-bed garden last night for planting, then set my seedlings in it with their teepee greenhouse to protect them from the last of the chilly nights.  I'm hoping they make it, but gardening is three parts experience, and one part experimentation.  We'll see!

Have a terrific Earth Day, everyone, and please keep the health of your planet in mind today, especially.  There are lots of neighborhood and community programs to celebrate the Earth.  Try joining one, and make some new friends.  Or, if you're like me, and need a coffee jumpstart, choose a paper cup over Styrofoam.  I probably say that every year, but it matters, and so does every step you take toward caring for your environment.

Happy Earth Day!