Update on Sequel

I'm about 1/3 of the way through with the sequel to Enchanted!  Yay!  I'm moving along much quicker on this book but this time around I have imposed a word count that I must reach each day....2000 words.  So far I've made it or surpassed it each day.  With Enchanted I would write very sporadically and with no word count.  Sometimes I wrote every day for a stretch and sometimes there would be lots of days where I wrote nothing.  It took me over a year to finish the book.  I am a procrastinator at heart, but I've got my mind set on finishing and releasing the sequel quickly.  I'd like to have it out by Halloween or before.  It would be a good read for that time of year! 

So I thought I'd do something different and put up some teaser quotes from the sequel!  I think this book is a litte bit darker and more twisted than Enchanted, but you can make your own judgements.  It has darkness:

"They took her beloved cat, Winkle, when Maura was out one day.  They tied him up on a little bitty alter and lit candles all around him.  They called out in the name of all that was unholy, and just as they had the butcher knife poised over Winkles’ trembling body, Maura came home."

INTERESTING SETTING:

"She could hear nothing but the water roaring below, but tonight it just seemed too isolating.  The night seemed to be the darkest she’d ever seen and the autumn breeze insisted on running its icy fingers through her hair, chilling her to the bone." 

ROMANCE (TROUBLE IN PARADISE?):

“Well, you’re right and you’re wrong, Mandy,” Steve said smoothly.  “I think you’re right, I was cursed…to ever have been so stupid to go out with the likes of you!  But you’re wrong…I don’t have to come with you…and your time's up, so why don’t you go look for a different guy to hang on for a change because I’m done with you,” Steve finished unflinchingly and took a step backwards, glaring at Mandy."

HUMOR:

"Mandy almost had a heart attack as she watched Tessa pinch freaky kid’s ass and then pull his pants down.  “Dude!” the kid exclaimed, grabbing his pants quickly from around his ankles.  “What is with you?”  He hurriedly ran out of the aisle as Mandy squatted there, blushing redder than ever."

AND A NEW CHARACTER...INTRODUCING TESSA!:

"A tall, thin girl in skinny jeans, stilettos, and a leather jacket with jet black hair stood directly to Mandy’s left.  Her profile showed a cute little flipped up nose and long lashes framing an eye made up in smoky shades.  Her crimson stained mouth was puckered up in a scowl as she intently looked at the girl with Steve who was busy intently staring back.  Mandy’s mouth dropped open in shocked horror as her eyes were suddenly drawn to the feathery black wing jutting out of the girl's back.  It flapped ever so slightly, in a slow, lazy fashion, reminding Mandy of a fan."


Ok, so that's all I can give you for now...  I hope you all enjoyed your sneak peek/teaser!  And if you haven't entered my contest, please think about doing so!  I've got an awesome story going that you could be part of!  Don't forget, you need to leave a comment letting me know you want to be entered!!  And I'd appreciate anybody passing the word on about the contest & my book!  Extra entries for posting about them on your blog, facebook, twitter, etc!!! 

Contest!

Ok I said I was going to post a contest, and here's what I'm thinking...I have decided to turn my first book, Enchanted, into a series and have already begun working on book 2!  I'm about 1/4 of the way done...so still have a way to go, but that's perfect, because you can ENTER TO BE WRITTEN INTO MY BOOK!  Here's how it's going to work:

I will pick one winner at random who will get to be a character in my next book.  I do not promise your character will have a huge role, and I can't promise they won't get killed off, but your first name and a description will be worked into the story.  Your character will have a role to play!  As of right now I am undecided as if the character will be good or evil, but the winner will be notified and interviewed so I can portray them to the best of my ability.  The winner will also got a coupon code to download the as yet to be released ebook for free at smashwords.com.  As of right now, all books I write are being self-published only as e-books, so there will not be any actual copies to give out.  However, if you do not have an ereader and are not familiar with smashwords, you can download a copy to read right on your computer, so everyone with access to a computer will have access to the book. 

So hopefully you are all interested and would like to know how to enter:

1.) Buy my first book, Enchanted, only .99 cents!

on the nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/enchanted-rachel-wells/1104757140?ean=2940013186828&itm=1&usri=enchanted%2bby%2brachel%2bwells

kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Enchanted-ebook/dp/B005H2TM0K/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1315491131&sr=1-1

and at smashwords:  http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/84265

Send me an email that you would like to be entered into the character contest.  You must include the first three words of Chapter 32 in your email to be entered into the drawing.  I can be emailed at:  rwells179 at gmail dot com  

***Please note, buying my book will get you extra chances!!  If you buy my book and email the three words as required above, I will give you three entries into the contest!***

2.) "Like" me at facebook here:  http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Enchanted179/252282004803838  Leave a comment asking me to enter you into the character contest.

3.) Follow me on twitter here:  http://twitter.com/#!/Enchanted179  Send me a message to enter you into the character contest. 

4.) Follow me on this blog if you are not already!  Leave a comment asking  me to enter you into the character contest.

5.) Mention this contest on your facebook or twitter page, or on your blog if you have one, and then send me a message/comment saying you mentioned the contest and where/how...This will get you 2 more entries!

***I will not assume you would like to be entered just by following/liking me...please leave a comment/message asking to do so and I will gladly enter you.  I don't want to be entering people who might not want to appear in a book, which is why I am requiring the direct comments and messages.

Any of these 4 steps will get you 1 chance in the contest, except for the 1st option and the last option, which will earn you 3 and 2 entries respectively.    So if you complete all 5 steps, you would amass 8 entries!  You do not need to complete all the steps, but the more you complete the more chances you have at winning.

Please do not like me on facebook and leave the first three words of chapter 32 as a comment, because then you will be giving away a requirement to be entered in the drawing.  You may contact me through facebook if you would prefer, just please make sure to send the words in a message so we can keep the contest going smoothly! 

The contest will be open until Sept 30th.  I will announce the winner October 1st on my blog, facebook, and twitter and will contact the lucky new character!  I will contact the winner in the way I was contacted.  If the winner was someone who only emailed, I will email them back, or if it was a facebook comment I will send a message via facebook to that person.  If you have a preferred way you would like to be contacted if you should win, please make note of that in your email or facebook/twitter/blog messages and comments! 

I'm really excited about this contest and hope you are all too...If you are not familiar with my first book, it's a YA paranormal romance....the second book I am working on is turning out to be a bit darker with some really interesting characters and twists going on!  So far I feel it is more fast paced than my first book so I think it will end up being a good read and fun for someone to be part of!  If you like the idea of this contest, please feel free to pass it on to others you know who might be interested!  If you have any questions, feel free to email or contact me through one of the afore mentioned ways!  I'm looking forward to turning one of you into a character my next ebook!!

Something New

Hey everyone,

It's been a bit since I've written anything of interest.  I'll admit I've been a little bit more than consumed by my book...trying to promote it by finding people to review it.  As a lot of the blogs I have contacted have their hands full of books, I'm in a kind of line...end of the line that is, waiting for them to get to my book.  I don't mind the wait, but the anticipation is killing me!  I have had one blog complete a review and they gave it 4 out of 5 stars, which I am happy with.  So I was excited, and then I had a a dose of reality set in...another blog sent me an email saying they didn't feel comfortable reviewing my book because they didn't like my writing style.  Now that's fine, everyone's entitled to their opinion, and I realize every book is not for every person.  And while I am glad that they were considerate enough to be honest with me and not post negative reviews here, there, and everywhere, it did scare me a bit.  Now I've got thoughts of "what if everyone feels that way about my book" running through my brain...

So then I decided I really like my story, but whether or not other people like it is really out of my control.  And I won't know how people feel about it until they read it and I get more feedback.  The major problem here is finding people to give me the feedback.  My book needs an audience!  While I have sold a few, I would love to sell more and have more people read it.  I know, that's every author's dream...

So I decided I needed to do more than just approach book review blogs and sit here waiting and hoping for good reviews.  I downloaded HP Mallory's ebook today about how she sold 20,000 copies of her books and she had a lot of good information in there, which I intend to put into use myself.  The one idea that really caught my attention, that I thought maybe I could get on right away, is the idea of having contests.  I really like that idea.  She has some really creative contests that she has done and I would love to do my own version of one.  So my mind has been on overdrive, trying to come up with exactly how I want to approach this...

So check back in the near future (hopefully tomorrow!) I'll be posting a contest!!

Interview tomorrow!

Hi everyone,

Just a quick update.  I am being interviewed at http://thefairytalenerd.blogspot.com/2011/07/mindful-monday.html?amp tomorrow so hope you can check it out.  You can also enter to win a free ebook copy of Enchanted until September 10th while you are there!

Rachel