The King’s Scrolls Blog Tour—Q&A Session #3

“Welcome, everyone! We are back for round three of our Q&A session! So far it’s been quite fun!” Jace and Kaden both give me a look. “Well, all right, not for some of you . . . but it is for me. Anyway, as I mentioned yesterday, we have a couple of new character guests joining us today.” I walk to the door and open it. “First is a guest I’m very excited about, Prince Daniel!”

Daniel walks in with his charming, mischievous grin, and I imagine a bunch of screaming fangirls. I hesitate and close the door for a moment. “Also joining us today, we have . . . Princess Davira.”

Everyone looks at me in alarm, and Kaden asks, “Wait, who invited her?”

“Well, I suppose that would be Kendra.”

Kaden gives an accusing look meant for Kendra.

“But don’t worry. Once she returns to Ilyon, she won’t remember a thing,” I assure them. “I am the author after all. Everyone just remain calm. I’ll see that she acts civilly.” I open the door and use my most refined tone. “Welcome, Your Highness.”

Davira sidles in, her chin held high. Her eyes land on Daniel and narrow. “What is he doing here?” Her eyes suddenly grow larger as she sees Kyrin and the others. “What are they doing here?”

I speak soothingly. “We’re all here for the same reason—to answer a few reader questions. They’re really quite curious.” Davira glares first at everyone else and then at me. I shiver. She really is quite scary in person.

“I refuse to be in the same room with such traitors.”

I hold her gaze confidently. “Well, today you have to. And there will be no trouble, all right? So, please have a seat.”

She takes an empty chair and gives everyone a killer look.

“Excellent. Shall we begin? Who wants to go first?” There’s a silence deserving of crickets. “Very well.” I turn to Davira. “We’ll give you the honor of starting. Kendra wants to know your favorite color.”

Davira pierces me with her emerald green eyes. “Gold.”

Daniel snorts. “Of course.”

She shoots him a glare.

I speak before she can. “And what is your favorite color, Daniel?”

Daniel rests back, smirking at his sister. “Green. My father hates when I wear it, so I do it as often as possible.”

I hear Davira mumbling darkly under her breath.

I clear my throat. “Isn’t that a bit odd that he hates it if your mother and sister both have green eyes?”

Daniel shrugs. “He just doesn’t like it around the palace, I guess.”

“Fair enough. Back to you, Davira—“

“You can address me properly as ‘Your Highness’.”

I raise my brows at her. “Quoting Kaden from a couple of days ago, ‘yeah, not happening.’ I’m your author, so I can call you Davira.”

Her eyes smolder. “What part of ‘princess’ don’t you understand?”

Mine widen at her audacity, though I really shouldn’t be at all surprised. “And what part of ‘I’m your author’ don’t you understand?”

She opens her mouth to speak, but I keep talking. “Kendra’s next question for you is who’s your best friend?”

Davira just glares at me for a moment, and I wonder if she’ll even answer. “That would be my father. I don’t need ‘friends.’ People are treacherous and untrustworthy.”

“Well, that’s interesting . . . coming from you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

I don’t look her in the eyes. “Oh, just that you’re probably about the most treacherous person I know . . .”

Daniel laughs. “Amen to that.”

Davira’s mouth falls open. “How dare you!”

“Now, now, you two, we’ve barely started. There’s plenty of time to bicker later. Let’s move on. Davira, what do you consider your greatest accomplishment?”

Davira sits up tall and straight. “I’d say everything I’ve learned from my father. I could easily rule in his absence.” She looks down her nose at Daniel. “That is, if something were to befall my brother . . .”

I catch her reaching for something in the folds of her skirt, probably a hidden blade, and I prepare to intervene if necessary. “Hey, none of that. I will shackle you to that chair if I have to. I have them right here.” I reach behind my chair for the shackles I brought, just in case, as well as a blue-hilted sword. That’s the nice thing about being an author in my own little world. I can have anything I want and my characters technically can’t do anything without my say so.

Davira sets her hands primly in her lap, but sends silent death threats to her brother with her eyes before shooting one at me. I’m going to have to watch her closely. I turn to my next question for the princess. “So, my mom is curious, what is it you do all day?

Daniel cuts in. “Trust me, you don’t really want to know.”

Davira glares,and then looks to be pretending he doesn’t exist. “I learn, of course. Sometimes I read, but most of the time I observe my father.”

“Right.” Daniel’s voice is full of sarcasm. “And what about those times I see you sneaking off with different security personnel. Is that ‘learning’ too?”

“What I do with my time is no one’s business but my own.”

“Oookay, new topic.” I glance at the question cards again and take a deep breath. “These could be dangerous, but here it goes. Davira, do you ever think that you should have been born the son? And if you were queen, what would be your first act?”

“Of course I should have been born the son. My brother is a worthless heir—“

“So tell Father to disown me,” Daniel jumps in again.

“Oh, I’ve tried.” She looks back at me. “What would my first act be? To get rid of him. For good.” She gestures at her brother. “After that, I’d impose stricter worship practices. People have gotten entirely too lax about their devotion to our gods.”

“So, you think your father isn’t strict enough?” I can hardly imagine it.

Davira bristles. “No. I just think I would be a bit more . . . forceful.”

I raise my brows. “I’d hate to see the state of Ilyon under your rule. Which brings me to Erika’s questions. She wants to know, have followers of Elôm actually done harm to the nation or your father? Even if they might not grant him divine authority, have they ever defied or denied his authority in anything other than faith? If so, how?” Davira gives me a cold look. “What? I’m just repeating the questions.”

She sits stiffly with a poisonous look on her face. “Faith in Aertus and Vilai is the foundation of our country. If the people are willing to defy and blaspheme them, how quickly would do you think they would defy my father in other areas as well? Perhaps it hasn’t happened yet, but the moment my father would let such matters go, that would all change. Once people get the idea they can defy authority and get away with it, it could destroy the empire my father has spent his life building.”

I shift my attention to Daniel. “Since we’re on the topic of ruling, if you could change one of your father’s laws, which one would it be?”

“I’d stop all these executions and let people believe what they want—“

Davira leans forward and practically hisses, “They’re traitors.”

Daniel shakes his head and glances at the others. “You see what I have to put up with?” He looks at Davira again. “Seriously, I think you and Father just need to lighten up a bit.”

Davira looks to be thinking about reaching for her knife again. I grip my sword and clear my throat. “So, Daniel, who is your best friend?”

He gives his sister a cool look before focusing on me. “Well, that’s rather difficult to answer. When you’re prince, everyone wants to be friends with you simply because of your position and influence. It’s hard to tell who’s genuine. But I’d say the best friend I’ve had is Alex Avery. He’s the son of Baron Arther, who unfortunately had an ‘accident’ on the way back home from a meeting with me father.” He sends a suspicious look at Davira. “I haven’t seen him in a while, but we were really close growing up.” He smirks. “We had a lot of interesting adventures.”

I nod in agreement. “Yeah, that must be difficult to know who’s truly your friend. I know how much you hate being treated or seen a certain way just because you’re a prince. Here’s another question from Erika: why do you stick around the palace so long?”

“Don’t think I haven’t thought about running away. Quite often, in fact.”

Davira grumbles. “I wish you would.”

Daniel shoots her a look and then shrugs. “It’s harder than you’d think when you get right down to it. I might hate it, but it is my home. I think the one thing that truly keeps me from leaving is my mother. I’d hate to leave her that way.”

“Speaking of leaving home, Kendra wants to know if you have a girl anywhere?”

“Unfortunately, girls are like friends—hard to tell who’s genuine and who’s just after what a relationship with me would gain them. So, while I’ve had passing interests in some girls, no, I do not have any particular girl.” He grins. “But if you want that to change, you could always take it up with my author.”

“Hush, don’t feed them ideas. I already know what I’m doing. How about this question. What is your favorite thing to do when you’re avoiding your father?”

“Horseback riding. I like to get out of the city and into the woods. As far from his influence as I can get.”

“What would you say is the best thing about being the prince?”

“Well, you do get to have pretty much whatever you want, not that that’s always a great thing. And I can’t complain about the food.”

“I wouldn’t argue with that,” Kaden says with a grin.

I chuckle at them before going on to the next question for Daniel. “And the worst thing about being the prince?”

“The high expectations. You pretty much have your life planned out for you at birth. Just consider the pressure of knowing someday you’ll have to take over the throne whether you want to or not. It wouldn’t be so bad if my father wasn’t insistent on making me just like him.”

Davira sticks her nose in the air again. “You could only wish to be half the man he is.”

I shake my head. “Seriously, how have you two not killed each other yet?”

“Because you won’t let us,” Davira says in disgust.

“Well, as long as we’re on the topic, here’s a question from Morgan for both of you. Do you love your sibling?”

There’s a long, drawn-out silence as the two of them stare at each other. Daniel finally looks at me. “I would like to love her. She is my sister, after all.”

Davira huffs. “I don’t need your love.”

“I take that as a no then. You don’t love each other.”

Neither one speaks.

“Did you ever?” I ask.

Daniel shrugs. “Maybe, when we were young.”

“I doubt it,” Davira says with a sour look, as if the idea makes her ill.

“I guess that answers that then.” I flip to the next card. “Here’s a question for me. Faith wants to know who is my least favorite character to write and why.”

All eyes immediately go to Davira. She huffs again.

“Actually,” I say slowly, “I don’t think I have a least favorite character to write. I kind of like writing them all . . .”

They give me looks as if I’m crazy.

“Yes, even Davira. It makes for a lot of diversity and interesting scenes.” I look at the cards again, but trying to keep the peace has been exhausting. “I think we’ll call it a day. After all, we have two sessions still coming up. It’s probably best to stop while everyone’s still breathing.”

The King’s Scrolls Blog Tour—Q&A Session #2

Time for round two! (You can see session 1 here.)

I walk in and stoke up the fire since it’s freezing out, and then let everyone inside. The characters all take their seats and Tyra lies down at Jace’s feet. I take my comfy interviewer (my characters prefer ‘interrogator’) chair.

“Welcome back everyone. So, today we’re having our second Q&A session for The King’s Scrolls blog tour. I’d say our first session went rather well. I’m afraid today will probably be a bit more unpleasant than yesterday.” I give everyone an apologetic look. “The Goodreads Girls, as Kaden so fondly referred to them yesterday, still have lots of questions they’re dying to have answered. So why don’t we just dive in? I’m sorry Jace, I’m going to have to start with you.”

He doesn’t respond.

“Let’s start with some questions from Stargazer. She asks, if you could erase one memory from your mind, what would it be?”

Jace breathes out slowly. “Just one?” He sits quietly for a long moment and then clears his throat. “The first time I killed someone.”

Kyrin takes his hand, and I stare at her. “You see, this is exactly the sort of stuff I talked about yesterday. You’re acting without my consent. You’re not supposed to being showing this much affection toward Jace in front of everyone yet. But I can’t be mad. After all, I know how hard this is for Jace.” I look at him. “Carry on.”

“Well, I can’t really say more than that. You said it’s something that comes up in the next book and don’t want too much said about it yet.”

“That’s true, so let’s move on since I know this is a difficult topic for you. Stargazer’s next question is, if you could only keep one memory, what would it be?”

“The day Kyrin and I first went hunting together.” He smiles slightly, and Kyrin grins. “It was really awkward, but my life changed that day. I didn’t know it for a while, but I don’t know where I’d be if she hadn’t done that.”

I glance down at my question cards and try to keep a straight face. “Okay, Jace, Stargazer asks, ‘Have you kissed Kyrin yet? If not could you please do so right now?’”

They both start to blush. Kaden laughs, and Kyrin elbows him in the ribs. Jace just stares down at Tyra, refusing to speak.

I try not to laugh myself. “Sorry Stargazer and everyone else. You’re going to have to wait a bit longer for the kiss. Now, I’ve got two more from Stargazer for you, Jace. First, what do you think of Kaden?”

Jace looks up, his face still red. “I have a lot of respect for Kaden. He’s one of the only people who has accepted me right away.”

“And finally, would you like to kill your author for making you answer all these questions, or are you just very annoyed with her?” I smile widely at Jace.

“It’s just uncomfortable, but I guess I’ve been through worse before. So no, I wouldn’t like to kill her.”

“Thank you, Jace. You know how much I love you, and so do all the girls asking these questions. I promise. Fangirls are odd like that. We like to make things tough for our beloved characters. I can’t explain it. All right, I’ll torture someone else for now. Trask.”

He grins. “Yes?”

“Stargazer has some questions for you now. First, why don’t you tell everyone how you met Lady Anne?”

“Well, there’s really not much to tell since I was barely a toddler and she was an infant when we first met. Our families were always close, so we grew up together. I do know I was six when I decided I was going marry her.”

“Aww, that’s adorable. I can just see you as a mischievous little six year old. I’m sure you caused her all kinds of grief too. Isn’t that how little boys often show their affection?”

Trask laughs. “Of course.”

“So, what do you think of Jace?”

“I’m very happy to have him as part of the resistance. He’s very valuable to the group.”

Jace stares down at his hands, embarrassed.

“It’s true, Jace,” I tell him. “All right, who’s next? . . . Aric. We haven’t gotten to you yet. Sarah wants to know how you came to know Elôm.”

Aric smiles (and you girls know that Richard Armitage smile). “Sam. I’d been working at the palace for about a year when I first met him. I’ve always been interested in history, so I started visiting the library in Tarvin Hall regularly for a while. That’s when we really started talking and became friends. About two years after that, he mentioned Elôm. I wouldn’t stand for it at first, but he was persistent, and the truth of it eventually sunk in.”

I find his answer fascinating since I didn’t even know some of that. “This isn’t a reader question, but I have to know, did you ever consider turning him in to Emperor Daican? I mean, he was a scholar at Tarvin Hall. That’s where children go to become firmly devoted to Daican and Aertus and Vilai.”

“Of course, duty demanded it of me, but whenever I considered it, I couldn’t go through with it. So I just kept quiet.”

“And how did you end up as head of security?”

“I started out in the army and ended up being recruited to join Auréa’s security force. After about fifteen years of service there, I uncovered a plot by one of the servants to assassinate the emperor. I was then promoted to head of security.”

“Here’s another question I have that isn’t from a reader. Do you ever feel any regret over stopping the assassination now that you’ve seen what Daican is capable of? If he had died then, Arcacia might not be what it is now. I mean, you were a believer at the time, right?”

Aric nods slowly. “There are times I wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t stopped it . . . but I can’t say I regret it. I don’t believe it would have been Elôm’s will for me to allow it to happen.”

“So considering your position at the palace, how are you dealing with the emperor’s orders that believers in Elôm be executed?”

He grimaces. “It’s difficult. You have to hold your emotions so deep down inside you and project an attitude of indifference or even agreement with the emperor. There have been many times I’ve wanted to give up on it, but I stay with the hope that Elôm will use me to make a difference and even save some lives.”

“My mom would like to know if you’re married.”

He smiles again. “No, I’ve never been married.”

“Has there ever been anyone special?”

“Once . . . a long time ago.”

I wait expectantly for a moment. “Care to expound on that? Someone’s liable to get upset if I don’t push for more details.”

“I should have known I wouldn’t escape such questions.” He sighs, but there’s a hint of a smile in his eyes. “I knew a girl when I was younger. We grew up in the same town. When I joined the army, I thought I’d get established and then ask her to marry me. We had talked some about it. But when I went home to tell her I had been promoted to the palace, I found she had gotten married while I was gone. I guess she didn’t want to be married to a soldier. There just hasn’t been anyone else since that.”

I offer him a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry. I’m sure that’s going to make a lot of people very sad. All right, one more question for you right now. What was your first impression of Kyrin?”

“I knew already from Sam that she was a believer. I was as surprised as anyone when she showed up at Auréa. Her father and I have been friends for a long time, and I could see a lot of him in her—the quiet strength I’ve always admired.”

Kyrin looks down at him. “Thanks, Aric.”

He smiles at her and continues. “That’s why I made sure Trev was assigned as her bodyguard. I wanted to make things as easy for her as I could. Trev and I both knew just how difficult it was to live secretly as believers and serve the emperor.”

“Speaking of Trev.” I set my eyes on the young man sitting next to Aric. “Micailah would like to know how you came to know Elôm.”

“Aric. He’s the one who took the risk to approach me about it.”

“I saw something different in him from the other recruits,” Aric says. “He was quiet and didn’t have the usual cockiness. So I started talking to him about things like Sam did, and eventually worked Elôm into the conversation.”

I look at Trev curiously. “And how did you take that?”

“I was certainly surprised. I didn’t know what to think at first. But the more we talked, the more it made sense.”

“And did you ever consider telling the emperor?”

“No. It wasn’t my place, and I respected him too much.”

“And that’s why I love you, Trev, and I’m sure others do too. I think we better leave it at that for today. Tomorrow we have a couple of new character guests who will be joining us that will make things very interesting.”

The King’s Scrolls Blog Tour—Q&A Session #1

I walk into a cozy cabin where a fire crackles in the stone fireplace and mugs of tea and coffee are waiting on the coffee table. Everyone else enters one by one behind me. Jace is the last and looks nervous as they each find seats. Kyrin gives him a sympathetic smile and pats the seat on the couch next to her. I take my own seat in a comfy chair and show everyone a very large stack of cards containing the questions.

“Welcome, everyone, to our first Q&A session for The King’s Scrolls Blog Tour. We had quite the response for it. Especially from the lovely ladies over on the Ilyon Chronicles Goodreads Group.”

I notice Jace shift nervously, and Kyrin reaches over to squeeze his hand. I raise my brows. “Kyrin, you do realize the gleeful reaction that will cause?”

She shrugs, and I continue.

“Anyways, back to what we’re here for. First, I thank you all for taking time out of your, uh, busy, sometimes unpleasant, schedules to answer these questions for your faithful readers.”

“Did we have a choice? Didn’t you put something on Facebook about forcing us?” Kaden gives me a sly little grin.

I raise my brows at him now. “We’ve hardly been here two minutes and you’re already acting up. And what were you doing snooping on my Facebook? Don’t you have more pressing matters to focus on?” I wave the cards at everyone. “All right, let’s get to the first question. We’ll start with an easy one and one that was asked a few times. Jace, Kyrin, Kaden, and Trask, what are your favorite colors?

“Blue,” Jace answers quietly.

Kyrin smiles at him. “Blue.”

I look over at Kaden.

“I don’t know, green?”

Kyrin frowns at him. “You don’t know?”

He shrugs. “I haven’t really thought much about it. I just know I hate gold.”

Everyone nods in agreement. I don’t blame them. I look to one of the chairs next to the couch where Trask is sitting comfortably. He doesn’t appear nearly as uneasy about this as Jace. “And you, Trask?

“I’d say green too.”

“See? That wasn’t so painful.” I smile. “Now, Kaden, Ghost wants to know when you first became interested in dragons.”

Kaden thinks for a moment. “Probably about the time Kyrin and I first came to Tarvin Hall. It was the first time I ever saw a dragon. It was just flying over, so I barely got to see it, but it was amazing. We used to dream about having a dragon so we could fly out of Tarvin Hall and back home. And I guess I just always thought it would be fun to fly.”

“I agree. I’d love a dragon. I have lots of friends scattered across the county I could easily visit if only I had one.” I glance down at my next question card and bite back a grin. “Okay, this next question is also for you, Kaden, and pertains to dragons. Kendra asks, ‘Would you ever randomly burst into Disney songs if they were rewritten about dragons?’”

Kyrin chuckles. “I’d love to see that.”

Kaden shakes his head. “Um . . . no. Jaye showed me some of those songs. Yeah, not happening.”

“That’s too bad, Kaden,” I tell him. “These girls love their Disney songs.”

“Still not happening. I’m with . . .” He looks at me questioningly. “Who did you say?”

“Flynn Rider?” I laugh. “It’s true, I could never see you singing Disney songs. Ever. So, on the subject of dragons, Stargazer wants to know what your dream pet is, though she’s pretty sure she knows.”

“Yeah, a dragon. Nothing beats that.”

“So what do you think of Tyra?”

Kaden glances at Jace. “Tyra’s great.”

“Yes, she is.” I jump up and open the cabin door. Tyra is waiting on the other side and trots in to sit near Jace who pets her neck. “There, that’s better. All right.” I flip through the cards, reluctant to pull out any too embarrassing just yet. “Ah, here’s one for me. Mickayla wants to know what the hardest part of the writing process is for me. It might seem weird, but I’d have to say the first draft. It’s hard to get all these people to cooperate and talk to me for that rough draft.” I gesture at my characters. “While editing can be very frustrating, most of the time I really enjoy perfecting the story in that stage.

All right, next question. I’m afraid it’s time to get to some of those questions the girls were so eager to ask over at Goodreads.” I give Jace an apologetic look and he starts to squirm. “I truly am sorry for this, Jace, and completely sympathize, so don’t stop talking to me after this. Hannah asks in a nosy news reporter voice, ‘So Jace, do you know WHERE your family is? Where does your ryrik blood come from, the mother or the father?’”

Jace pauses for a long moment, his expression blank. “I don’t know where my family is. I don’t even know who my family is. You’d have to ask her.” He nods at me and gives me a look like he wants me to answer those questions as much as Hannah does.

“Sorry, I can’t say where or who. Not right now, at least. Everyone will just have to keep reading to discover the answer to such questions. I suppose I can say that his ryrik blood comes from his father.” Jace doesn’t look surprised. Everyone pretty much expects this. I flip to the next card. “Nosy news reporter Hannah isn’t done yet . . .” Jace winces, but I’m quick to reassure him, “Don’t worry, this question isn’t for you, it’s for Kaden. She asks, ‘So Kaden, why's a handsome young man like you single? Surely, there's some special young lady in your life?’”

Kyrin bursts out laughing and stares at him. “Yeah, my handsome brother, why is that?”

Kaden’s face turns a bit red and he shrugs. “Well, it’s not like there was anyone to have much interest in when we were at Tarvin Hall . . . not really, anyway. “

Kyrin looks surprised. “Not really? You mean there were some?”

“Well, yeah, I noticed some girls, but they were never the type that would have been good to take an interest in, especially not after we came to know Elôm.”

Kyrin’s still looking surprised. “I never knew that. So is anyone at camp catching your eye that you haven’t told me about?”

“Pretty much everyone is either married, much older than me, or much younger, so no. Besides, it’s not like we don’t have enough going on with the resistance. But, because I just know these Goodreads girls would want to know, I do hope to get married and have a family someday. It depends on what happens with Emperor Daican. And our author, of course. She’s really the deciding factor.”

I shake my head. “Generally, you’d be right, but you all have a habit of acting without my consent. Seriously, how many of you have fallen in love, and I had no say in the matter?”

They look at each other, and then Kaden faces me, his eyes narrowing. “Is it me?”

“Maybe, maybe not. Can’t say. But it happens a lot. Now, let’s see, next question. And this one is for me. Addyson wonders if gunpowder will ever be discovered in Ilyon. Well, I imagine so, eventually, but not within my story line.”

Kaden’s brows rise in interest. “What’s gunpowder?”

“Nothing.” For some reason the idea of him and gunpowder leads to images of havoc in my mind. “You have plenty of firepower with the dragons already, so we’ll just leave that for Ilyon’s future generations. Now Micailah has a couple of questions for me.”

“Finally,” Kaden mutters under his breath.

“Hey, remember, I didn’t make up these questions. I’m merely repeating them. So she wants to know how long it takes me to finish writing a book. That really depends on the book and what’s going on in my life. Average is between six months to a year. I have finished a couple in less than six months, but it’s hard to do that all the time. Micailah also wants to know if there’s an upcoming book I’m most looking forward to sharing with readers. Well, I’m really, really looking forward to sharing book three of Ilyon Chronicles. It’s a real turning point in the series for multiple reasons. It’s pretty intense at times and has a lot of emotional moments.” I glance at Jace, but quickly lower my eyes so I don’t make him too nervous about what’s to come. “It’s a book that answers a lot of the questions I get most frequently.

One more question from Micailah. She asks, as of right now, how many books will be part of Ilyon Chronicles. The answer to that is six books. It started at three, grew to seven, and then ended up as six when I combined books 2 and 3. Will there be any more stories beyond the main series? We shall just have to see, won’t we?” I wink.

“Okay, next question . . . Kyrin, Erika asks, ‘What are your views on purity/boundaries in relationships and how is that impacting your teenage years?’”

Kyrin sits silently thoughtful for a moment. “Well, purity is definitely not something that is taken very seriously by most of society. I didn’t hear much about it growing up in Tarvin Hall, but I was always uncomfortable by the way many women dress and some of the things that went on between the older students. It wasn’t until I came to know Elôm that I really had firm convictions about it. It’s certainly not a popular stance, but then I was never popular anyway.”

I nod. “Sounds a lot like my world.” I flip to the next card. “Here’s another question from Erika for you, Jace. Fears are crippling things and very difficult to experience. How would you feel about needing to face yours?”

“As she said, it would be difficult, but I’ve had to face many fears in my life.” He shrugs. “It’s not something I’ve ever been able to escape even when I wish I could.”

I shift my gaze to Kaden. “What kind of promotion or assignment do you think the emperor wanted to give you? How do you think you'd have handled that?”

“I’m sure he intended for me to do as Kyrin did and watch for and point out any threats. Even if he hadn’t tested my loyalty before I had a chance to do it, I doubt I would have been able to keep it up for long, especially if endangered someone.”

“And, knowing you, working that close to the emperor, you probably wouldn’t have been able to keep your opinions of him to yourself.”

He smirks. “Probably not.”

“Well, I’d say this was a good first session. Since I ended up with way more questions that I ever expected, I’ve decided to split it up into five posts. We’ve barely scratched the surface of the questions that were submitted, and we didn’t even get to the, well, most interesting of them. So we will all be back here tomorrow.”

I smile at everyone who looks either nervous or amused.

The King’s Scrolls Cover Reveal Signup

I am happy to report that The King’s Scrolls is nearing its final phase of editing before publication. I sent it off to my beta readers on October 1st and am getting ready to go through their feedback starting next week. That will begin my rigorous final edit to iron out all the wrinkles. I’m hoping and praying I can have it done, or close to, by the end of the year.

Now, while the publication of the book may still be a few months away, I feel it’s time to finally reveal the cover. :) I’m very excited to let everyone see it and get it up on Goodreads. I am setting up the cover reveal day for Friday, November 14th. If you have a blog and would like to participate, I would be thrilled to have you join in. I will also be hosting a fun giveaway of one of my handcrafted necklaces that matches the cover as well as a $5 Amazon gift card. If you would like to be part of the reveal, just fill out the form below! And if you have any blogging friends who might like to join in the fun, be sure to let them know! The more the merrier. :)

Signups are now closed.

Exciting News!

 

Look!! Resistance has won a bronze medal in the Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards!!! I’m so excited right now I can barely sit still! I can hard believe it. This is the first time I’ve ever entered a book contest before, and I’m thrilled to have made it this far. I’ve been publishing my books for seven years now, but the last few months since first publishing Resistance have been the most exciting in all my years of being an author, and this is one of the biggest moments so far. Thank you so much to everyone who has followed along so closely and has encouraged my so much with your kind words. I can hardly wait to see what the future holds, especially with the publication of the next books in the series.

Book four has reached its end!

*throws confetti and does a happy dance* Yes I have finally, FINALLY finished writing book four of Ilyon Chronicles! Technically, I finished it last Thursday (August 7th), but since I was without internet all last week (torture!), I didn’t get to do a celebration post until today. I don’t think I can adequately describe just how insanely relieved I am to have this book finished. I began writing it on July 23, 2013. Over a year ago. I don’t think I’ve taken a whole year to write a book since Every Tear. And that was a long time ago. It seriously fought me every single step of the way. Every time I thought I had gotten past a difficult part and hoped things would go more smoothly, I’d hit another snag, and another, and another. I got to the point where I sort of hated the book and even contemplated what it would take to just scrap it. Of course, every time I did that, I was faced with the undeniable truth that the story was necessary for the progression of the series. So I pressed on. And now I can finally shove it away for a good long while and not have to look at it again until it comes time to edit it. I’m kind of scared for that time to come, but then, I’m sure in a few months I’ll feel much more charitable toward it.

Not only was this the hardest book of the series to write so far, it also turned out to be the longest. It was the book that never wanted to end. This first draft weighs in at a hefty 137,000 words. I was not expecting that. All this time I thought book three would be the longest. But nope, this book has turned into the longest book I’ve ever written. And considering this first draft is only the bare bones of the story, I’m expecting the word count to rise to at least 150,000 words by the time it’s ready for publication. I almost can’t imagine that. But like I’ve always said, I love long books, so the word count can rise all it wants in order for the story to be satisfactory.

What boggles my mind even more is that 88,000 of those words I wrote in the last eight weeks. Up until June 16th, I had only written a total of 49,000 words in the book! O_o  Yeah, that makes my eyes bug. But it actually wasn’t that hard. Mid-June was when I implemented my new strategy of writing at least 1,500 words a day, five days a week. Many of those days I wrote even more. I’ll definitely be using this writing strategy as I go on to write book five. I’m even hoping that maybe, possibly I could even finish the book or come close by the end of December.

I gave myself a much needed break from writing over the weekend and now hope to get a start on book five today. I’m quite excited about it. I’ve been looking forward to this book for a very long time. And it’s always fun to start a new book no matter what it is. I’ve added a word count meter to my side bar to track my progress. This will probably be the shortest book of the series. It doesn’t have this huge, epic plot, but it digs deep into a very weighty personal dilemma for one of the characters. I can’t wait to delve into it. HOPEFULLY this book will progress much more smoothly than book four. *winces and prays it will be so* If I can finish it by the end of the year, I could be looking at the potential to finish the entire series by the middle of next year. That would be so awesome.

However, as much as I’m looking forward to writing book five, my main focus for the next couple of months will have to shift to editing book two so I can send it to my beta readers. Instead of writing in the mornings as I have been the last several weeks, I’m going to be editing instead. I’m actually about a quarter of the way through editing. Praying that goes smoothly as well. I’m so looking forward to sharing more of this adventure!

Resistance is a Readers’ Favorite Book Award Finalist!

I’m so excited I hardly know what to say right now. Resistance is one of six finalists in the Christian Fantasy/Sci-Fi category in the Readers’ Favorite Book Awards!! I’ve been anxiously awaiting this news since I entered it in May. The finalists were supposed to be announced on July 1st, but they had so many entries this year, that they needed an extra two weeks to make their final selections. You can imagine how anxious I was those two weeks, especially yesterday. I kept checking my email through the day, thinking I wouldn’t get it until today, but then, right before I was about to go to bed, the email came. Oh my goodness, my heart was beating so fast. I sat for a moment wondering if I should even look at it. After all, if I didn’t make it, I’d have to try to sleep while dealing with the disappointment. But I’d be up all night wondering anyway, so I opened the email, read it carefully, held my breath, and clicked on the finalists link. I was still holding my breath as I scrolled through what felt like an endless number of categories before I finally reached Christian Fantasy. And there, right at the top of the list, was my name. I think I let out a little squeak and looked over at my mom to exclaim something along the lines of, “I’m a finalist!” I was so excited I could barely contain myself.

I can still hardly believe it. I’ve never entered any of my work in a contest before, and to be a finalist in one so large is incredible. I mean, Jim Carrey is a finalist in one of the children’s book categories. How cool is that? I think I’m going to be in a bit of a daze for the next day or two. And, of course, now the anxious waiting begins for the announcement of the winners on September 1st. I can hardly wait for that. Thank you SO much to everyone who’s been such an encouragement to me while I’ve been writing and publishing Ilyon Chronicles. I’m so excited to see how God uses the entire series and where it takes me in the future.