Finally editing again!!

I've been so busy with my day job and Camp Nano this past month that I haven't had any time to edit The Sector. But, now that May is here, I am bound and determined to finish editing it and get my cover made/ordered!

Guys, I'm seriously so excited about this. So, because I can't wait, and editing makes me want to share it with you all - and, let's be honest, I'm a little hopped up on allergy meds right now - here is a little snippet for your reading pleasure:

“I’m not afraid of your father.”

“How do you know?” I taunted, feeling much younger than I was. “You don’t even know who my father is. Why don’t you guess?”

"No need,” he said haughtily as he repacked the basket. “He’s clearly someone who works in the labs, or else you wouldn’t be here.”

And at that moment I swear I heard him mutter under his breath, “Which would certainly make my life easier.” I caught myself mid-giggle and made an unattractive choking noise instead. I felt my ears burn as he looked up at me.  --The Sector, out later this year!!


Oh, and for those of you who were wondering, I WON Camp Nano! :)

An excerpt

Due to some requests I've received, here is an excerpt from my upcoming novel The Sector, due out later this year!


"I'm fine," I insisted.
"Fine," he huffed, crossing his muscled arms over his chest. "Then prove me wrong. Get out of the rover by yourself and walk over there and explain that it was all a big misunderstanding."
I was screwed. There was no way I could make it over to the medical team, let alone get out of the rover by myself. He was calling my bluff. I sighed in defeat.
"I knew it," Rawlings gloated as he climbed out of the vehicle.
I was about to let him help me out of the rover when Sergeant Davis pulled up in another patrol rover. He hopped down and strode over to us.
"Don't tell me you're refusing help?"
"I was thinking about it," I admitted. "I'm fine, I promise."
"Really? Because that's not what it looked like out in the field," Sergeant Davis practically barked. I nodded. He growled and threw up his hands in frustration. "Fine, prove me wrong. Get out of the rover and walk yourself into the building to your dad."
"That's what I told her, Davis," Rawlings chimed in. "I almost had her admitting she needed help, too, but she must've changed her mind again. Women."
He shook his head and rolled his eyes as he walked away toward his post at the main gate. Davis nodded in agreement. He took a step back from the vehicle, his arms folded across his broad chest, waiting for me to prove that I didn't need any help. I took a deep breath and gritted my teeth. The pain would be excruciating, but I wanted to prove him wrong. I braced my hands against both sides of the open rover door and turned my body so my feet dangled out the side of the vehicle. Slowly I lowered myself onto the ground, landing with my right foot first. I babied my left ankle as I leaned as casually as I could against the rover for support.
"See?" I smiled triumphantly, daring him to contradict me.
"Walk over to the med team," Davis ordered.
I nodded as I surveyed the distance I had to walk. It was only about six feet, but I began doubting whether I could make it. I clenched my teeth and, determined to reach the waiting medical team without falling, took a step forward onto my left foot. The pain was agonizing and my ankle buckled under my weight. I started to fall forward. My arms flailed as they grasped wildly for anything to hold onto for support. Sergeant Davis rushed forward and caught me in his arms just as I was about to slam into the ground.
"Told you so," he whispered gleefully in my ear as he helped me back to my feet.

---The Sector---coming soon!

Hope you enjoyed it!! :)

Camp Nano

I've been stuck. I haven't written for days. I got so behind that I didn't think I'd be able to catch up. Okay, so maybe I was only like 4000 words behind, but when you have to write almost 2000 words per day on top of that, it seemed like a lot.

Well last night I told myself that I if I got the dishwasher started and a load of laundry going, I could write for an hour and a half while the wash was in. I ended up writing for 2 hours because I can't just leave in the middle of a chapter. But I wrote! I caught up! And then I even got a few hundred words ahead of schedule!

I had been stuck. I hit a wall last week and I just couldn't figure out how to get around it. I decided to try taking the story in a completely different direction. I changed narrators, and the story started coming. In fact, I had to stop myself from continuing or else I would have stayed up all night. (Well, that and I had to edit a chapter of The Woods so I can get that published!)

So far I'm really excited about how this is progressing. And despite how busy things have been at my day job, I really think I might actually make my goal of 50,000 words this month. Maybe I'll post an excerpt later? Or maybe I'll wait and post an excerpt from The Woods or from The Sector instead. ;)  You'll have to wait and see :)

Writing Class

In January I signed up for a writing class. It's a 2 year Novel class. It's supposed to help develop characters, themes, settings, plots, etc. and basically help develop and hone my writing skills.

It's hard! I've been so behind that I'm just barely catching up. I just finished Friday's assignment. We were supposed to list out all of the characters in our book and what they do/who they are, and if they are the protagonist, antagonist, or secondary characters. I wrote out my list. It's huge. And full of a ton of secondary characters. We just finished up developing our characters this week, so I hope that soon we'll be able to get down to writing. I cannot wait to work on this story!

Stay tuned for more updates. I'm thinking this one will either be called Lost or Broken. I haven't quite decided. We'll see how everything turns out. Who knows? Maybe it will end up with something completely different. ;)

The Woods

Great news! I am getting The Woods back from my beta readers and the feedback has been awesome. Now to do my final edit/polish and it will be good to go (except for the cover)!

If you are interested in beta reading for me on any of my other projects, please shoot me an email! joanna {dot} peterson {at} outlook {dot} com. Put BETA READING in the subject line. Thanks guys!

The Sector and Camp NaNo

I just finished my second edit of The Sector. I am so excited about this.

What does this mean?

Well, it needs to be read through again once more. Then another quick edit, cover art, formatting for ebook, and I should be able to publish it.

Guys, I am seriously so excited about this!

And, I just signed up to participate in Camp NaNo. It's like NaNoWriMo only in April (and another one in July). 50,000 words in one month? Brand new project? Yes please! And I already know what I'm going to work on: The Colony. It's the sequel to The Sector. And I'm honestly almost more excited about it than I was about finishing The Sector.

It's going to be a long month of trying not to write it. Luckily I have the sequel to my untitled project to edit, so hopefully I don't go too crazy waiting for April!

"The Sector" and a Project in Need of a Title

I swear I have been writing like a mad fool for the past two months.

I don't know what it is about this year. Maybe it's the push from my husband to actually do something with what I've written that's making me buckle down and get things finished up. Maybe there's just a weird writing bug in the air here. Either way, I'm getting a lot done.

First of all, I've finished my 2009 NaNo draft, The Sector. Finally. It's only taken me 3 1/2 years! I've written the first draft and had it out to my beta readers already. Now I'm reworking some things, fixing it up a little bit, and I'll have it back out to the beta readers hopefully in a few weeks. It's the first in a trilogy, and I cannot wait to write the next two books!

Secondly, I finished my 2010 NaNo draft. About a year and a half ago I started rewriting it. I had the whole thing mapped out. What needed to change, what needed to go away, what needed to be added, etc. And then I put it away and didn't think about it much until recently. I actually pulled it out because I was mid-edit of the 2009 project (which was out to beta readers at the time) and I didn't want to edit something that was possibly going to change. Instead I thought, "Hey, why not work on that one project that was almost finished?" I am so glad that I did! It's out to beta readers right now, and hopefully will be going through its second edit by the end of the month.

I'm still looking for a title for that one. Any suggestions? I'd love to hear them! Here's the plot in a nutshell:

"Jamie Lynn Turner has always led a sheltered life. Ever since the deaths of her older siblings, her parents have been seriously over-protective of her. But when they go out of town for Spring Break and leave Jamie Lynn home along for the first time in her life, everything goes wrong.

Kidnapped in broad daylight with two of her friends, Jamie Lynn is determined to survive. But when one of her captors offers her help, she must decide whether she can trust him or not. And if she does, can she keep her head and her heart from disagreeing on the path she must take?

Joel Wellington is the son of a well-known criminal. He's managed to avoid his father's influence for years, until one day he receives a summons. Drawn into a crazy scheme of his father's twelve years in the making, Joel fights to maintain his morals.

When he meets the girl he helped kidnap, his morals are put to the test. Full of fight and spirit, something about her draws him in. Maybe, just maybe if he can help her escape he can win her heart. But she has a boyfriend waiting at home. Torn between doing what is right and what he wants, Joel must make the hardest decision of his life."

And there you have it. So, any title ideas? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? hahahaha

Seriously though, I'd love to hear your ideas. I'm so stumped on this one. I haven't had any problems naming any of my other projects, but for some reason this one baffles me.

Leave me a comment or drop me an email: Joanna.peterson@outlook.com if you have any suggestions for me. :)