Changes

Yes, for all of you who have visited my blog before, you will notice that there has been a minor change. My title now has a background. As I become more familiar with blogger and all the gadgets available, I will continue to make adjustments, but of course, that takes time. At least for me.

So what's been happening?

Last week, Naomi, my friend and supporter, introduced 'Swoon Thursday' to her blog -Nomi's Paranormal Palace. Although she had forewarned me of her intention to feature Mystery Falls, I was still surprised and amazed to see it displayed. Surreal is probably the best word I could use to describe the way I had felt when I had first observed the post. The swoon she chose was well selected as indicated by some of the positive comments it received.

But things didn't end there. On Tuesday, Naomi posted a short passage from Mystery Falls as her Teaser. Followed by her review of the book, and a Giveaway where one lucky winner will receive a free copy in eBook form. The reaction, was once again, very positive. And I would like to say, "Thank you" - to all of you who left a comment.



I would also like to take this opportunity, to once again, thank Naomi for her effort and support. It is greatly appreciated.

Excerpt from Mystery Falls

Soooooo... today I thought I might post an excerpt from Mystery Falls.

The passage I have chosen occurs not quite half-way through the book and is one of my favorite.

Standing in front of Shadow, I looked into his eyes, and was overcome by a sudden burning desire to kiss him. Without stopping to consider how he would respond, I raised myself onto my toes and leant towards him. And in that instant, he disappeared.

Surprised, it took a few seconds before the embarrassment and shame kicked in. It was the first time I had ever attempted to kiss a guy, and to have Shadow reject me, cut deep. Without bothering to see where he had gone, I walked to the edge of the stream and wished that I had not behaved so impetuously.

He came to stand behind me. “Samantha, I know you don’t understand, but seriously, you don’t want to kiss me.”

Remaining motionless, I whispered, “Why?”

In the dark, I could hear each breath he took as he tried to form a response. Eventually, he said, “How do I explain?”

Recognizing that the question was directed at Shadow himself, and not at me, I remained silent.

Placing his hands on my shoulders, he turned me to face him. In a voice loaded with desire, he said, “Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to resist you when we’re standing this close to each other?”

Forgetting any shame I felt, I murmured, “Probably as hard as it is for me to resist you.”

He smiled. Then, once again solemn, he said, “You know if I do this, if I kiss you, you will belong to me forever.”

Inside my chest, my heart was racing. Staring at him with the same serious expression he was directing at me, I replied, “Then let me belong to you forever.”


If you enjoyed reading this excerpt, please  feel free to leave a comment.

Accomplishment

Wow! I can't believe another week has past. Time sure is flying.

So, what will I blog about today.

Well to start with, and as promised in an earlier post, I wish to inform you that Mystery Falls is now not only available for sampling and purchase at Smashwords.com, but also at Apple iBookstore and Barnes and Noble.

At this point I would like to say, that after a year of writing the story, drafting and re-drafting, polishing and re-polishing, to have it finally out there for the whole world to see, brings emotions to the surface which I find almost impossible to describe.

But I will try.

Emotion One - An overwhelming sense of accomplishment. Fulfilling a dream I have had since childhood, is one of the most amazing and rewarding experiences of my life.

Emotion Two - Pride. Pride in myself that I never gave up. That I achieved my goal.

Emotion Three - Gratitude. I am extremely grateful for the support my wonderful husband and two beautiful children have given me during this adventure.

Emotion Four - Anxious. With no idea of what reaction, if any, my story will receive, I can only hope that it will be positive.

There are many more emotions I have endured during the past few weeks as things settled into place, but the ones I have just described, are the ones that have stood out the most.

So moving on, with a large part of the onerous task of self-publishing behind me, it is time to focus on my next novel - Mystery Rises. With the first two chapters already complete, and a multitude of ideas racing around in my head, I am once again, committed to my writing.

What's in a name?

Okay, at the end of my last post, I promised that I would explain how the name - Mystery Falls - came about, and why I chose the names 'Samantha' and 'Shadow' for the two leading characters.

Let's begin with the title - Mystery Falls. For as long as I can remember, I have always had a fascination for waterfalls and dark forests. There is something about the sound of running water as it cascades over rocks, the damp earthy smell which emanates from the ground, and the darkness of the trees as the canopy closes in above, which makes these places seem magical, mystical - at least to me.

With the first chapter of my book situated in a setting similar to the one I have just described above, I decided that the title needed to reflect not only a hint of what the story was about, but also the environment. Playing around with names such as Angel Falls, Mystic Falls, Feather Falls, I eventually stumbled on Mystery Falls and immediately liked it. Seeking my families opinion, and gaining their approval, the name stuck.

Moving on. Samantha - the name of my protagonist - was not chosen because of its meaning, 'good listener', but because simply and for no particular reason, it has always been a name I have liked.

And lastly, Shadow. As soon as the image of this character began to take shape in my mind, I knew his name had to be unusual, something not commonly used in society. Wanting it to reflect the mystery which surrounds him, and also a darkness, I began to search through my thesaurus for ideas. It was while I was researching alternatives for the word  'silhoutte', that I came across the term 'shadow'. Instantly recognising that it suited my character perfectly, I immediately adopted it.

And there you have it - the mystery of the names revealed.

Origins

Okay. Since this blog is largely dedicated to Mystery Falls, my first published novel, I thought I might take this opportunity to explain it's origins.

As any author who writes fiction may tell you, ideas for a storyline can come from almost anywhere - taking a walk in the park, remembering the vivid details of a dream, observing the interaction between a young couple in love, are just a few of the ways in which a thought might be inspired, and then shaped and transformed into a story. A story where imaginary characters come to life, and the setting in which they are placed, seems almost believable.

So, did the idea for Mystery Falls stem from a walk in the park, a dream, witnessing first love? No. Not quite. Prone to waking up well before my alarm sounds, and unable to return to sleep, I often take this time to allow my mind to wander freely. To let my thoughts take their own direction. It was during one of these quiet and undisturbed moments, when the initial concept of Mystery Falls came to me.

Particularly fond of pine forests and waterfalls, I had immediately placed Samantha, the protagonist in my developing story, beside a running stream. Then, deciding that there needed to be an element of danger, a need for her to be rescued by a mysterious stranger, I added a bear. Equally passionate about vampires, angels and werewolves, it was hard to choose which fantasy creature to base Samantha's saviour on. However, after trialing each one in the scenario I had created, it quickly became obvious that the angel suited Shadow's character best.

For the next few days, my thoughts were consumed with ideas of how the story might develop, how the two characters would interact. Finally, with a rough plan in my head, I sat down at my computer and began to type. And so, Mystery Falls was born.


'Mystery Falls',  'Samantha', 'Shadow' - in my next blog, I'll explain where these names came from, and why I chose them.

Anxious

Hi Again,

It has been a week since I posted my first blog, and you might be wondering, what I have been doing during that time. Well let me tell you. 

First, my parents, who live some distance  away, came to visit for a few days. Although we speak regularly on the phone, it was nice to catch up with them in person. Brandon and Melissa, who sometimes feel like they don't get to see their grandparents often enough, made the most of their time together - playing games, doing puzzles and relaying stories about their friends and what they've been doing at school. Of course, the time passed way too quickly, and we were saddened when it came time for my mum and dad to leave.

As things quickly returned to normal, well nearly normal (the kids are currently enjoying a two week winter break from school), I began to make the final preparations  required to upload my novel- Mystery Falls - to Smashwords.com. As I have mentioned before, I am not a whizz when it comes to computers. However, after spending a day studying Smashwords Style Guide, and seeking assistance from my husband when I came across an instruction I didn't quite understand,  I was able to reformat my manuscript in the way they described.

At this point, I should probably mention that Richard is fantastic when it comes to computer knowledge, and his support in this area of my publishing career, has been invaluable. 

So, continuing... With my eBook Cover design complete, my manuscript correctly formatted, I was ready to publish. Anxious and excited at the same time, I began to fill in the form located on the Smashwords website. Checking over each entry several times to make sure there were no mistakes, I came to the point where I had to select the files to be uploaded. Afraid that in my  current nervous state I might chose the wrong one, I allowed Richard to complete this stage for me.

With the cursor hovering over the 'Publish' button, we both took a deep breath. Then, with a 'click', the information was sent. For almost a minute, the screen went blank, something we were warned would happen, but still caused me to feel stressed. Finally, a new window appeared. Staring at the table which indicated the progress of the upload, I watched with trepidation, as each box was successfully ticked. Receiving a message to say that the autovetter had not detected any errors, I breathed a small sigh of relief. But the process was not over yet. Instructed to check the EPUB version using Adobe Digital Editions, I once again, felt my anxiety levels begin to rise. This, to me, was the moment of truth. If I had done everything correctly, the book would look terrific. If I hadn't... well, I didn't even want to think about that.

Waiting for Richard to follow the necessary steps, I was absolutely blown away when my novel finally appeared. It was, and is, exactly as I had envisaged.


If you would like to view Mystery Falls for yourself, sample, or purchase a copy, please follow one of the links below.

Marilyn Phillip's Smashwords Author Profile:

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/marilynphillips

Book page to sample or purchase Mystery Falls:

http://smashwords.com/b/178944



Release dates for Apple iPad, Sony, Barnes and Noble, and other retailers, will be posted here as soon as they become available.


So what comes next? That is an easy question to answer - Mystery Rises - the sequel to Mystery Falls, is already in the early stages of development.

The Beginning

Hello! And Welcome!

As you can see from the title, my name is Marilyn, and this, is my blog.

To be honest, I felt quite apprehensive when I first decided to become a blogger.

"Why?" do I hear you ask. Because... with my computer skills sometimes lacking beyond the basics, I wasn't sure I was ready to travel down this road. However, not one to give up easily, and determined not to let technology get the best of me, I perservered. And guess what? After familiarising myself with the many templates and layouts available, apprehension quickly turned to fun.

So, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I live on the outskirts of Melbourne, not far from the Dandenong Ranges. I am happily married to a wonderful  and exceptionally supportive man named Richard. We have two beautiful and amazing children, Brandon and Melissa. Sharing a love of all creatures great and small, we have added two lizards (Scratchy and Scales), two goldfish (Goldie 3 and Stripes), and an ageing guinea pig named Cuddles, to the mix. A fully qualified secondary school teacher, I spent thirteen years in the classroom before taking leave of my profession to become a stay-at-home mum.

Since early childhood, I have loved to read. Growing up with books like, 'The Wishing Chair' and 'The Magic Faraway Tree', as some of my most treasured favourites, I have always had a fondness for fantasy and the mythical world. Moving into my teenage years, I developed a highly active imagination and began to create stories in my head -- some of which, I would relay ad nauseam to my best friend. However, with my main focus on my studies, I never seemed to find the time to commit those stories to paper.

Now, many years later, and inspired by authors such as Stephenie Meyer, Becca Fitzpatrick and Claudia Gray, I have finally been able to fulfil my lifelong dream of writing and publishing a novel of my own.

Below, is the cover of my debut novel - MYSTERY FALLS - and a brief description of what lies between the pages.



Secrets. Lies. Deception.

For the past six years, Samantha Hunt has lived with the belief that the untimely death of her parents was the result of an unfortunate accident. That due to the cruel hand of fate, she had been rendered an orphan.

But it was a lie, a terrible lie told to her by those who wanted to keep her in the dark.

And the truth... when revealed, would change her life and haunt her forever.

Suddenly plagued by a series of events which find her in danger and in need of a savior, Samantha is repeatedly rescued by the mysterious and elusive Shadow - a stranger who seems to know more about her past and the tragedy which befell her family, then she does. Drawn to him despite the antagonism she feels whenever in his presence, Samantha soon discovers that Shadow is not what he appears to be. Determined to learn his true identity and why he has come to Mystery Falls, the small town in which she has spent all of her seventeen years, Samantha not only uncovers the secrets he refuses to share, but also the truth about her own past. A truth which forces her to acknowledge that things are not always as they seem, and sometimes, not even those close to you can be trusted.

Resolved to seeking justice for the unwarranted death of her parents, Samantha embarks on a journey which brings her perilously close to her own demise. Can Shadow use his angel powers to save her yet again, or this time, will he be too late.

MYSTERY FALLS - is due to be released at Smashwords.com in July 2012