Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Finalist!

Paraworld Zero became a Foreword Magazine Book of the Year finalist in the audiobook category. I'll find out in a month or two if it won.


http://forewordmagazine.com/botya/search2k8.aspx?srchtype=category&srchval=5



Check out my latest newsletter at
http://www.paraworlds.com/newsletter/2009-03.php

Finished Writing Book 2 in the Parallel Worlds Series!

This week (Thursday 2/26/09 to be exact) I finally finished writing the first draft of the second book in the Parallel Worlds series. It will probably be called The School of Magical Learning... or simply Magical Learning.

It ended up being 96,000 words. My goal was to make it 80,000 words, but 1 of the chapters from my outline ended up becoming 5 chapters! Paraworld Zero (book 1) was 100,000 words long, so this isn't too bad, but when you compare the word count (roughly 400 printed pages) to typical young adult novels, it's a little too long. I feel very confident with what I've written so far, so I don't plan on cutting out chapters.

I tend to edit while I write, so that probably was a factor for the extra time it took for me to write it. Book 1 took 1 year, but that was with a full time job. Book 2 took me 5 months, but I had several weeks of interruptions with conventions, holidays, and school visits.

I'm very excited for the next step of creating my new author friendly website and doing my edits. I feel confident that I'll be able to sell this manuscript much quicker than the first one. My first book hit 2 bestseller lists and placed in 10 contests, but I feel that this new book is even better than the first.

Major Dental Work

I just posted my latest newsletter on my site. Read it at http://www.paraworlds.com/newsletter/2009-02.php

Here's a snippet:

Thud-Thud-Thud Crash! Look, Mommy, No Teeth!

Okay, so now that the pain was finally subsiding on his ankle, he just got some MAJOR dental work done this week. They pulled out his two front teeth, gave him six crowns, and filled three or four cavities. The kid's only two years old! That’s what happens when you don’t use your mouth to eat or drink for an extended period of time (he still gets some of his food from a tube at night). Fortunately, the government footed the bill because of his special needs. I can't imagine how much that would have been. He was at the office for 8 hours. They had to get a special anesthesiologist to put him under, and the surgery took like 3 hours.

What can I say? Brush those teeth . . . even if you’re not using them!

Thud-Thud-Thud Crash!

The other day I heard some loud tumbling noises coming from the stairs. I suddenly realized that my 2-year old who just learned to climb the stairs had fallen from the top all the way to the bottom. He hurt his ankle really bad, but the doctors haven’t been able to determine anything, even after 3 x-rays. He won’t put any weight on it, though, so it’s at least sprained. He won’t even go near the stairs now. What’s sad is that he kept asking to walk with assistance, because he had forgotten that his foot was hurt. Poor kid. This will set him back now on his learning to walk. Bummer.

Coincidence or Devine Intervention?

The other day we finally broke down and got our air conditioning unit fixed. It's been down for a few months now. We live in Arizona, and our house would become an oven in the summer if we didn’t get it fixed. It ended up costing us $1,600, which is very bad for someone who isn’t getting a steady income and is living off of savings. Well, someone up there is definitely looking after us, since that very day a school contacted me out of the blue and asked me to come talk to their students. After my fee and selling books to the kids, I usually end up with $800 per local school visit. Well, that would cover half of my A/C bill. The next day, another local school contacted me and asked me to come visit their students. There’s the second half of our A/C bill! All I can say is that the Lord is watching over my family.

More Crazy Dreams!

Okay, so in my last blog I mentioned that I had a dream that I was black. I said that next time I'll probably have a dream that I'm Japanese. I originally wrote Indian, but then erased that and put "Japanese." I must have planted the seed because last week I had a dream that I was an ancient Indian escaping from an invading tribe. Oh, boy! Make it stop! I wake up in the morning feeling like I've running a marathon all night.

Anyway, I also wanted to say that my January Newsletter is out.
http://www.paraworlds.com/newsletter/2009-01.php

I have another homework assignment for you all, and it should only take sixty seconds. Before Jan 14th, go to http://critters.org/predpoll/novelsf.shtml and click the "Paraworld Zero" button (the books are in alphabetical order), then scroll down to the bottom of the page, type in your name and email, click "Submit Data," then check your email and click on the link they send you for the confirmation of your vote. They'll delete your email after the contest is over. Have a wonderful 2009!

Don't Know if I'm Black or White!

My dreams lately have been so vivid. Most of them make me feel like I’ve been running a marathon when I wake up. Needless to say, my sleep hasn’t been very restful lately. They’ve been ranging from black and white to sci-fi to drama. But the latest dream was the most unique one of all. I dreamt I was a black man escaping from prison. It occurred to me that I’ve never had a dream where I was black. I wonder if black people ever have dreams of being white. Tomorrow, I’ll probably be Japanese. Who knows!

Happy New Years everyone!