Tag Archives: cloaked

Happy New Year!

Posted on January 5, 2018 | 1 comment

After a much-needed hiatus over the holidays, I’m back and ready to look back on 2017, as well as look forward to the year ahead.

So what in the heck did I accomplish in my author life in 2017 anyway?

  1. I wrote 2 books (the last two books in the Cloaked Series)!
  2. I found titles for those two books (a harder task than it sounds–it took all year!)
  3. I learned that an e-newsletter is not within my capabilities right now (but later, it will be!)
  4. I began re-writing Harbinger (Mythologicals Saga #1) (hint: it won’t be the first book in the series when I’m done!)
  5. I attended Emerald City Writers’ Conference for the second year in a row.
  6. I pitched Cloaked to three publishing professionals (and all three requested material!)
  7. I posted to this blog 46 times (which continued my run of success on one of my resolutions from all the way back in 2016, to post to the blog with regularity!)

Not too shabby, right?

That’s a high bar to live up to in 2018, but I think I can manage it. Here are my goals:

  1. Submit Cloaked to at least 50 agents/editors (or stop when I’m offered a contract!)
  2. Write All In (Cloaked #2.5) – which will fully finish the series.
  3. Complete the Mythologicals Saga re-write/re-order.
  4. Begin writing Corrolary (the last book in the Mythologicals Saga) for 2019 release
  5. Re-edit and re-release the Shift Series with new covers
  6. Write and publish Linking 2 (the second Shift Series Novella, telling more of Cici’s story.)
  7. Post to the blog at least 40 times.
  8. Attend Emerald City Writers’ Conference
  9. Bonus: Attend the RWA National Conference, if possible/reasonable.

Okay, so that’s a lot. When I started writing the list, I got a little overwhelmed, but when I read it back, it’s doable. And it’s awesome to list it all out like that, like zooming out on the year ahead and viewing my goals from 10,000 feet–which starts to look a whole lot more like a plan than a jumbled list of wants. This time, next year, I’ll come back to this post and check-off all the things I accomplished. Boo-ya!

So, what about you? What are your goals for 2018?

 

 

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Planning a road trip I’ll never take…

Posted on August 18, 2017 | Leave a comment

I realized I do this a lot. Okay, maybe not A LOT a lot, but I’ve written two road trips into two separate series now, which seems like more than a little.

Does that even make sense?

Oh well, moving on.

The Cloaked 2.5 road trip is WAY different than the road trips in RECAST (thank goodness!) but they’re similar in that I’ve researched both, looking at likely pit stops, points of interest, hotels/motels, and interesting/beautiful geography along the way, all so I can describe the scenery, roads, nature, hotels, convenience stores, etc..

So how in the heck do I do that?  Well, I thought I’d share with you because, though I use these tools for planning imaginary road trips, you might like to use them for planning your next REAL road trip!  Or, maybe you’re in the process of writing a book and could use these methods for your own story telling!

 

RoadTrip

Screengrab of the route on Furkot

 

For the Cloaked road trip, Cecily and Scott are driving from New Orleans to Seattle–with the plan of having sex in every state they cross through. (woot!)  I used a site called Furkot to plan the route. I entered in the starting and ending locations, the start and end driving times for each day (Cecily and Scott are young and energetic–they’ll be pulling 12 hour days) and Furkot did the rest, mapping out the route, suggesting accommodations along the way, and even recommending cool things to stop and see. Next, I took that route and used Google Earth/Google Maps to view various locations along it. I made sure to look at each hotel (on Google Maps and on their respective websites) and at random spots to get a sense of the environment and what Cecily and Scott might see while they drive.  Basically, I looked at the world through the internet’s eyes.

Creepy? Nah.

Interestingly enough, Google Earth and Google Maps is how I learned about and “saw” Tubac before ever setting foot there while I was writing the Shift Series.  It’s a writer’s best friend for settings.

What about you?  What tools do you use while planning a road trip? Do you rely on technology, or a more analog solution, like paper maps?  If you’re a writer, what tools do you use to get a feel for the settings in your stories–especially those you can’t visit?

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#GhostStories

Posted on July 28, 2017 | Leave a comment

Welcome to the first edition of #Ghoststories, where I tell/post everybody else’s stories of their brush with the supernatural–because I don’t have any ghost stories of my own. Yep, that’s right: all supernatural happenings cease in my presence. It’s a gift. -.-  

Below is the story of the closest I’ve come to a supernatural experience. Enjoy!

Got a #GhostStory to share? Message me and it might be featured on ellebeauregard.com! 

My family’s apartment was haunted.  I had long moved away from home by the time my Mom and two sisters started living there, but from the minute they moved in, weird stuff started happening. In fact, some of the weird stuff that had happened in their previous home followed them to this new apartment.

So, one night, my husband and I were visiting and decided to stay the night. I was asleep on an air mattress in the living room, with the hubby tucked in beside me. He was awake, watching television while I dozed when he heard someone in the small kitchen just across the way.  Assuming it was my mom, he turned to tell her about the cool thing he’d just seen on the T.V.

But there was nobody there.

He then watched the freezer door open, and the kitchen faucet turn on ALL BY THEMSELVES.

He turned off the T.V., sunk down beneath the covers, squeezed his eyes shut, and forced himself to go to sleep.

He told us what had happened the next morning. My Mom just nodded and replied with a story of her own. Then my sister shared one of her stories–and my other sister shared hers.

My hubby never spent the night in that apartment again.

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