Author Update!

Let's see where I was last at. ...

I have done some live writing of other parts of the world that The Blue Dragon's Geas is set in. Please let me know if you wish me to keep writing up these snapshots.  I will be happy to do so if they have value to all of you.

Health:  Finished Chemo.  Unfortunately, part of healing is getting nerve feeling back in ends of fingers which makes typing slow.  This is slowing down the fourth book.

Fourth Book:  By a popular vote, Pseudo-Dragon won for the title of the next book.  I am currently about 14 chapters into it. It will probably be as large as Blackguard at this rate.  A lot of small loose ends get tied up and woven back in. Henrick's secret is revealed.  And.. well you will have to read for other things.  I know one fun chapter to write was Luthian in a mage battle.    I will have a teaser out at the end of the month for this book.

Such an Honor - Reviewed by a Child!

I recently was sent a link to a review that started out to be about another book until the eyes of a child lit up.  I hope you will take the time to read it.   I was delighted to not only receive the title of Treasured Tome for How the Dragons Got Their Colors but more so by the tale of the mother and her child's reaction.  

I also liked the concept behind Rebecca Foster's blog: Undiscovered Tomes - Seeking out undiscovered tomes and sharing these overlooked gems from fantasy and sci-fi genres.  She reviews e-books by indie authors that have not gotten the recognition they deserve.  I encourage all indie authors to follow and support her.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H15P0FW

My First Book Signing! Will be March 22, 2014 in Washington State.

A local bookstore invited me to do my first book signing.  I am so excited.  I have promised my friends around the country that if they can find a coffee shop or a bookstore willing, I would come do a book signing and visit.  

Ran into a bit of a barrier there.  My illustrator wanted me to come back to Minnesota to do some signings there; because I am an independent author through Createspace, many are turning her down.  So for those of you who are using a similar type of publisher for your work, this is how I and the local bookstore got around that.   I ordered a quantity of each book in advance and I am just going to give her a percentage.  We agreed on 30 percent.  She wins.  I win.  But most importantly, I am doing my first book signing! *Dances*  

So for my fans and friends around the country, I will gladly come visit if you set up a book signing.  I even offer kick backs!  As you can see, if I know where and when, I can bring the books!  Below is my first book signing poster!  I am so excited to share my journey with all of you.  Today, as I write this, I am still in the top 100 in at least one category in three different countries.  You are all wonderful!  Without all of you, my dreams would not be coming true.  Without the reader, there is no use for a writer!

If  you are in Washington State, I would love to meet you on the 22nd.  Look forward to many smiles, handshakes and hugs!

A Wondrous Journey of an Independent Writer!

Fear - That is the word that drives home.  I have never sent my books to a publisher due to straight out fear.  However, I had read an article out of Woman's Day Magazine about a woman who worked from home writing books.  She had put her kids through college, bought a house all through Createspace and Amazon.

I thought, wow, my mom has this little story she has always told. We should try that.  So my friend, Rebecca Hunt who drew dragons that would appeal to a child's eye, agreed to illustrate and the two of us set about creating How the Dragons Got Their Colors.  A rework of my mom's bedside story.  It was mildly successful.   We immediately got to work on a second book about the angst an older child goes through when mom is expecting and Not An Egg! was born. Later we converted them for Kindle download as well and made them part of Amazon's Kindle Select Program. 

This gave me the confidence to go ahead and tentatively put out my first Novel - Outcast.  I figured I had nothing to lose, if it did not do well, the only thing I lost was some time. There is no upfront outlay to Createspace.  I followed the forums on how to self promote as an independent author.  I got another friend to do my cover, Heather Scoggins.  I think she will be a bit surprised when she gets April's percentage that she and I agreed upon. I think she didn't expect it to really go anywhere.

Yesterday, for a time, Outcast was in the top 30 in the US in coming of age, it was #25 in the UK and had crawled it's way up to #16 in Epic Fantasy in Australia.  As I sit in amazement and wonder, the downloads of the ebook just keep rising.  I have been furiously working on the sequel per reader request.   My editor, yes I have one, pushes me constantly to re-describe and to re-work. I have him to thank in the success of Outcast as well as my own creativity and the support of good friends!

No, not all my reviews are good.  Either you love the way I describe the slow journey into adulthood and the details of culture and the intertwining of the characters or you hate it. There has been little in the way of middle of the road reviews.  Another writer told me not to sweat that, everyone has a taste for the type of books that they like to read.  If you want a frantic tale of battle and climax and a sweet ending, well I am not the writer for you.  The Blue Dragon's Geas books each have a minor climax but the main story is spread out over them.  We don't grow up over night, so I refuse to have Alador do so.

I guess the most wondrous part for me was at my day job, someone was telling me I needed to knuckle under because I "need this job."  I stood there for a moment and slow smiled.  Then I responded. "No.. actually.. no I don't." I am going to make it as a writer.  Maybe not every book will get the accolades of Outcast. Maybe not everyone will love my style.  But today, I realized Ms. McDonald, my English teacher in High School was correct.

 I was born to WRITE!

My First Author Interview

Today, I got my copy of my first online interview.  I didn't think I was nervous as I was typing back my answers but it definitely is very wooden.   I will have to realize that in an online interview, you have to let who you are show through and not just answer the questions.  It is currently posted with my book at:
http://www.indieauthorland.com/  

It is a great site for promoting independent author's that gives you a little more insight into the books than just the allowed descriptions on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.  I will post you a teaser here, but you need to go to the site if you want the rest of the interview.  They took the time to post it up, lets support them in looking at a few books. 

I love you all and I appreciate the messages I get.  Yes, I am writing the sequel and am in Chapter 14.  No it will not be out next week. *smiles*  I am shooting for a June release by the time we are done editing.  If I am lucky, might be done in May but as many of you pointed out.  I need to proof it one more time.  

Interview Teaser:

Why you must read

Cheryl Matthynssens’ Outcast

Alador is a half breed caught between two cultures. It is the story of teenage angst at growing up. The rage of dealing with bullies. The criticism and judgments that many of mixed races face.

In Alador’s case, he is combating racial prejudice, magic and a cruel bully trying to fit in and win the love of his best friend. It is a lot to overcome for just one young man. Then we add to all that, the fantasy element of a dragon’s geas.

A dragon’s what?

I am often asked, what the heck is an geas. It can be either a magically imposed act that must be fulfilled or a prohibition. In Alador’s case, it is a imposed quest, a task that he is pressured by magic to complete.

A Whirlwind of Change!

All my life I have been told I should write.  My English teacher in High School, Ms. McDonald, actually had a published author come in and work with me rather than taking regular English courses.  Unfortunately, at the time I did  not see the gift this was in all areas as the teenager in  me saw that I had two teachers to give assignments to for English rather than one like everyone else.

However, these private lessons stuck with me as I continued on in life.  Yet, no matter how well I did in some individual work for an employer, a boss or even in writing; I could not quite bring myself to face the dreaded rejection letter.  I know those are a part of writing but I was so scared of them that I just didn't do it.  So over time, many stories were written and left by the wayside.

Finally, I had a chance to have my mother's story illustrated and published through Createspace.  While it is a cute story, How the Dragons Got Their Colors, I really wanted it published to give to the grand kids an have a piece of my mother saved. She is getting older and I wanted a memory of her that lasted through time.  But the benefit of this is I realized I could submit the novel I had almost completed without a rejection letter.   If no one liked it, it could fade back into obscurity and while it would hurt, no one would be the wiser.

So imagine my shock when it didn't fail.  Outcast has been getting four and five star reviews on both Amazon and Goodreads. The comments back launched me to get the next part of the series out as people asked me when it was coming out.  I learned how to publicize and tripled my sales in the second month.  My free time is now spent in publicity and writing.

With that has come new friends and mentor; my editor, Alex Hunt, is relentless but has honed my skills and continues to do so as I pick up knowledge that had become rusty by not creatively writing.  Most of my work the last two years has been for employers or non-fiction.   I met this dragon on Twitter named, Farloft.  Turns out his best friend Theresa and I are very much alike.

So yesterday, I faced my last big fear.  The first being to put my work out for judgement had been successfully mastered and now if I get a bad review, I know to take it in stride.   However, taking a bad review and facing a real person and asking them to sell your work was way different.  I dressed up and stood quivering outside the bookstore. Finally I gained the courage and went in with the children's book and Outcast.  She took them.  It will be on commission so she is not out the expense but I am good with that. Then... she asked me to do a book signing.  I have heard of these, of course, what writer has not. I just never considered I would do one.    Now I am scheduled to do a book signing in March.  If this continues, I am not sure how to keep up my forty four hour a week counseling job and keep up with all the things I am being asked for as a new writer.  Today, I did my first author interview.  It was a good thing for me, they asked questions I had not considered before today.

If you had asked me a year ago if I would be doing a book signing, thinking of cutting back work hours and enjoying reader feedback. I would have laughed. Wow, what a difference a year can make!

Publishing with Createspace - What I Did Horribly Wrong!

When I found a company willing to work by email and upload to publish my novel, I was very excited. There are some definite pluses to createspace.com.  However, in my excitement to publish, I proofed with their electronic proof application.  This had worked wonderfully and cut down the time to have my children's book, "How the Dragons Got Their Colors", to the shelf quicker.  I do not recommend this to novelists.  Order the hard copy proof!

The book launched electronically and when my copy of A Blue Dragon's Geas: Outcast arrived, I was so very excited.  My illustrator, Heather Scoggins, had done a beautiful job for me. I loved the concept she chose for the blue dragon.  Later, when I sat down, I was horrified.  On the top of every page, my name is spelled wrong, an error not caught in the header.  My fault.  I stared at it in disbelief.  I have a long name but who would have guessed I would spell my own name wrong.  I got out a highlighter just in case.

As I read through the book, I found where I had left out the word 'that'.  This is a common problem for me as I hear it in my head when I read back and something I watch for in edits.  I found homonyms that spellchecker and I both did not catch.  I had an editor, but he missed it too. Other little errors jumped off that printed page.  I had gone through the electronic version slowly and carefully but there is something different about holding a book in your hand.  I really suggest you order the proof and sit down with a highlighter.

Advantages of Createspace.
Optional packages for publicity and help.
Easy upload system that moves your book straight onto Amazon shelves.
Easy conversion to kindle option at no charge.
No upfront costs.
Good payment systems.
Great commission options

Disadvantages:
If you are on a no frills budget, you are on your own for editing and proofing.
It is easy to miss small errors in electronic print.
No big company helping you get your book on the shelf.
The amount of time spent in having to proof and reproof construction errors with only one set of eyes.

I do recommend this company for any author breaking in.  I have learned a lot having to do it on my own. However, as I finish reading my novel with a highlighter, I know a second edition will be uploaded soon.  For those of you that got a first edition with my name spelled wrong, shelve that copy.  If I ever get rich and famous after I die, who knows, it might be worth something.  At this moment, there are only 15 out there.

Excitement Builds with the Dragons' Geas Team

So while doing a search to see how my Amazon listing was ranking in the search engines, I came across a big surprise.  We have been picked up on Barnes and Noble on their online site.

Barnes and Noble Link

This was exciting news for us as we were automatically placed in the Amazon arena by the publisher we are working with to promote this children's book.  To have it picked up by other suppliers and book companies was up to us.  Due to the size of Barnes and Noble, we had not pitched it to them yet.  It got picked up on its own.

So today, our little team at Dragons' Geas celebrates!

How did The Dragon Geas Get Started?

The Dragon Geas came about almost unintentionally.  I have been roleplaying and reading fantasy for years.  In High School, due to my writing skills, I was given an extra class with a writer as I was just racing through all my English assignments. I have been writing ever since that one to one experience.

My first book was a children's book that was originally a story of my mother's.  I edited it for a younger age group several years ago but then could not find an illustrator that I could afford AND who had a vision of a children's dragon that seemed to fit.

One day a good friend of mine, Alex Hunt, told me that his wife's favorite thing to draw was dragons.  I contacted her, and she sent me some sample dragon sketches.  They were exactly what I was looking for to bring How Dragon's Got Their Colors to life.  We collaborated and published the first book.  We had so much fun that we immediately started into the second one.

"Not An Egg!" is still in illustration.  It is the tale of a little dragon whose mother lays an egg.  She doesn't want to share her mother and father.  It is a story that relates to the angst that a first child often goes through when expecting a new baby in the home.  Told from a dragon's view point, it is a sweet tale of sadness, surprises and love.

At the same time, the first of the Dragons' Geas Novels was completed. It is currently in edit.  Expect both "Bloodstone" and "Not An Egg" to launch in the near future.

Becky has become my dearest friend.  She and her husband have supported the effort to build websites, blogs and all the time it takes to have a successful launch of a book.   We formed The Dragons' Geas website to keep our fans informed of upcoming work.  It is a place to see what is going on behind the scenes, get a glimpse of upcoming work and just be a part of the World of Vesta.  After all, what better way to enjoy, learn and grow, than through a dragons' view.