Who Makes Wishes on New Years Eve?

I do!
I really can't be doing with fireworks at midnight... well I don't so much mind them at Midnight it's when people start sending them up anytime from 11pm and then they carry on till 1am and wake up my kiddies! No, for me lanterns win every time over fireworks. I first fell in love with lanterns whilst travelling in Thailand, seeing backpackers setting them off from the beach at night, watching them go higher and higher, get smaller and smaller... magical! In fact I think this is one of my favourite Disney scenes ever. I can watch it over and over again!

So last year at midnight my husband and I went outside our house (which is great for watching lanterns because we overlook fields with the Peak District hills in the background) and set off our own lantern. I wished for my first novel to be successful. In that I wasn't hoping for a 100k publishing contract (I was a single week away from uploading Witchblood to Kindle). I was just praying that someone would like it; that I'd get a higher percentage of 4 & 5 star reviews than 1 & 2 star ones! Putting my first book out there for anyone to pick over is completely the most terrifying thing I've ever done! Anyway the magic worked for me and here I am one year later with two books out there, both of which have an average 4.5star rating.

My husband wished for a new job as his company was making redundancies and guess what... That came true too! It all seemed too good to be true, but this year we have to make some additional lantern wishes. As my mum suggested I better wish for family health this year, after a tough few months recovering from meningitis in the summer... I don't fancy that one again! My mum has also had health problems this year and to finish the year off with a bang my little boy, my husband and myself have all spent the last few days running to and from the loo with this damned tummy bug! So yes mum, health is definitely on this years list!

As for my husband he is wishing for a job again... This time he's going to be a bit more specific and wish for a job he actually likes! Turns out his new job is the job from hell with a hellish 3 motorway commute every day. So I'll be stood there at midnight tomorrow with my husband watching our lantern float off across the hills and disappear into the inky night... Or get stuck in a tree! What about you?

Christmas Vampires...

So firstly I'd just like to say a big huge Thank You to everyone that has supported me, bought or downloaded my books and replied to my tweets or facebook messages. Every review, every message means the world to me, so thank you and I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas!

 

 

Secondly I don't have anything planned for this blog... It's Christmas Eve, my kids are tucked up in bed, there santa sacks stuffed full and the carrot & mince pie waiting for the big man in red :) My bed awaits...

 

But for those who have asked for a...

 

Here are a few of my favourite boys:

 

 

 

Happy Christmas!

Christmas Reads

Well now, who likes reading Christmassy books? And who is currently reading a holiday book? I am just about getting into the Christmas spirit and wading through a massive long list of things to do before Tuesday, but I am looking forward to starting a friend's debut novel which is released on Friday, called Christmas is Cancelled.

Now this book is a complete break from the norm. It isn't YA (shock horror)! It doesn't have vampires in it... or witches! In fact it is a regular human romance :) Now I normally don't read romance genre books... for a Cancerian I'm not very romantic... well I don't know maybe I am, but I like my romance REAL... gritty. Yeah Emma, Twilight is SO real LOL! Okay so I don't know what my excuse is, but anyway I am actually looking forward to reading this. So far it's getting some really great 5 star reviews (on the pre-pub copy) and I think it will be great to cosy up with over Christmas. Here's the blurb if you are interested:

Could Tilly's day get any worse? Even Christmas had been cancelled! Will Dean succumb to temptation as he endeavours to make Christmas better for both of them?

 

Matilda 'Tilly' Carter didn't think her day could get any worse, but even Christmas had just been cancelled. The one girl Dean Watson has sworn never to have—never even expected to see again—just flared back into his life and into his home—his sanctuary—like she belonged there. Christmas would certainly be more bearable with Tilly around though... As the chinks in Dean's armour appear, Tilly seizes the chance to win her knight once and for all. She's not about to take no for answer—not this time—but Dean must resist, even as his heart rebels and temptation threatens to undermine his resolve.

Win or lose? Love or honor? Which will Dean choose? Assuming he gets a choice...

http://www.breathlesspress.com/index.php?main_page=product_free_shipping_info&products_id=407

 

 

Alternatively, if you fancy vampires for Christmas why not try a fabulous American author's prequel to Vaempires called Vaempires: White Christmas. It takes place before Vaempires: Revolutionary War, but it's best if you read it afterwards. Warning Tom doesn't hold back on the blood and gore, so if you like old fashioned, scary as hell vampires then his books are a must read!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vaempires-White-Christmas-Evolutionary-ebook/dp/B006L6WN2A/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355958054&sr=1-3

 

 

 

 

 

Witchblood PR Day

So the last three months have been pretty magical watching Witchblood and Witchcraft race up through the Amazon charts. Considering there are over 3million kindle books out there and I have no publishing house or PR team behind me I thought I was doing okay sitting around the 20,000 mark but then I published Witchcraft and I suddenly found myself flying past the 10k mark, and they just kept going up. October was a fantastic month that saw Witchblood hitting no 978 in the US Kindle charts and I was in the Top 100 Fiction/Supernatural Genre & Horror genre for two months.

Then half way through last month it began dipping and now I'm hovering back around the 5k mark which is pretty good, but as the rather wonderful James sings:

If I hadn't seen such riches, I could live with being poor!

So basically what I'm thinking is that I don't want it to fall further down just before my new release next year as I would get a lot more exposure if I could be higher up the charts when WitchLove is published. So I don't ask often and I promise I won't hassle you again until at least the WitchLove launch, but maybe just maybe would you care to join me for a Witchblood PR day tomorrow so we can blast the social networks en masse? I'll be around to retweet any tweets - if you want to link up find me @EmmaMwriter and #Witchblood. I've also posted all the links on the facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Witchbloodthenovel?ref=hl

If you have a book blog and you would like to feature me please contact me and I'll happily send you copies to review or write guest posts with giveaways.

And if you want to listen to the awesome track that inspired this post I've added it here - Such a cool song!

 

Let the Editing Begin!

So the book is written and my proof reader has completed the first round of edits. I'm now going to thoroughly read through a chapter a day, editing as I go along and then it goes out to my Beta Readers!
Ann Billing & Laurie Barlow from the UK
Kim Deister & Nancy Allen from the US

And as I need extra readers this time to help check my American stuff I have run all the names left on last weeks blog post AND my facebook page and put them through Randompicker to choose one name from FB and one name from the blog:
Kelli Goodman
Kiearienna Quam
You are my new Beta readers!

I should be done with my 1st round of edits before Christmas and will email the book over to you guys. I can only send in Word format or kindle format and I will need it back by Fri 11th January with notes, comments, correction and any suggestions. Feel free to tell me if I am way out with my American characters or language. After all I am a Brit and I'm getting my American info from one visit to the States, TV programmes, Movies, Google and lots of books :)

Kelli & Kiearianna I will need your email addresses. Email me at emmamills (at) btinternet.com