A MOMENT BESTSELLER!

Woot, A Moment has just hit #59 on Amazon and #35 on B&N!!! I'm so stoked! Thanks to all of you who've purchased a copy of the book. :) Don't know how long this will last, but I'm dancing right now. :D

Happy reading,
~Marie

Woot! It's out, it's out, it's out, it's out!!

Yay, Hook's Pan has finally released, after months and months of work. I hope you all enjoy this book, it was quite difficult to write. And maybe that's because I knew this was the end of the Bad Five. Sure, they'll show up in other books, but their romances have all been written and it was both sweet and bitter.

The book has released on Amazon, Smashwords, and B&N!

Below are the links:

http://www.amazon.com/Hooks-Kingdom-Series-Book-ebook/dp/B00CIAD6UQ/ref=sr_1_14?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1366842823&sr=1-14&keywords=marie+hall

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/309675

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hooks-pan-marie-hall/1046553489?ean=2940016462646

Happy reading,
~Marie :)

Guess what I just uploaded tonight??

Hook's Pan should be live everywhere in just a few hours!!

Happy Hump Day. :D

~Marie

Hook's Pan Update

Been a while, I've been knee deep in edits for the past 2 weeks and it ain't pretty let me tell you. But, it's  finally done and has just been sent out to its formatter. I'm trying to bribe him with chocolates to get it back to me by the end of this week. But who knows. :p

Either way, the book is now out of my hands and in its final stage before publication!!! Fingers crossed I can have this available for all of you by the end of this week!!! :D

Have a great Monday!

Marie :)

The Anatomy of writing a book

I'm sitting here today and am looking for inspiration for my book and as I did it dawned on me, it might be fun to share this with you guys.

How do authors get inspired?

Well, I can only speak for myself, but for me... hearing a song, seeing a picture, sometimes listening to the news can all inspire me. But then there are times when a story comes without the inspiration. When I hear the characters but I have no face, no name.

I'm working on the sequel to A Moment, called: Right Now. Alex is the cousin, and anyone who's read A Moment will recognize him. He was fully formed in my head, but his heroine wasn't. Not yet. I just had an idea who she is, but that's it. When I have moments like this one of my favorite things to do is to browse the internet for inspiration.

I had a general idea about her, who'd she be. I like to turn preconceived notions on their heads. Most books like to deal with the tatted bad boy guy. But what if a golden adonis fell for the tatted bad girl? It's happened, so why I don't I tell their story. As I was looking through photos Zoe/Misaki came to life in my head. I like characters to be more than what they might first appear to be. So often I think we judge books by their covers, but often times if we scratch at the surface even a little you might find that the nerdy librarian is actually not the geek you might first expect and that maybe the hot blond guy in your calc class is actually more interested in his grades then in getting laid.

In order for me to write, I first need to understand the motivations and desires of my characters. Alex was easy. I described him in A Moment as a Golden Adonis with an athlete's body, a little bit of a charmer, but with a good heart.

This is Alex:

Dresses like:

You know, plain shirt and jeans. (Hi Johnny *blushes*)

He drives a:

Just your typical, good old fashioned Texas Boy.



Yes, he's gorgeous, duh. But... there's more there than just that pretty face. Alex is going through a transformation in this book. But in order to do it, he'll need the help of someone who loves him.

So who's good enough for Alex?

How about his total opposite in every way?

Mysterious, a little aloof. Covered in tattoos, works in a tattoo parlor. Dresses like a rockabilly chick.

And drives a classic 55 Chevy Bel Air Drop Top

Then I start looking for places for them to meet and play and live:

And then it came to me. Just like that. Seeing those photos, scenes came alive, their story came alive... they came alive.

And as I write about Zoe and Alex, I hope you love them as much as I do. :)

So now it's back to writing for me, thanks for letting me share a glimpse into my world.

Happy reading,
~Marie

WeWriWa: Right Now

So today I decided to paste a few lines from my latest wip, the sequel to A Moment, which is out now everywhere (fyi). Anyway, this is a contemporary romance and unlike my Kingdom books that generally tend to be happy fluff, these books are more serious and deal with raw, real topics.

Alex is reevaluating his life right now, he's very lost and unsure of where his life is headed ever since his cousin moved on.

This scene opens the book:

I was free.

For the first time since I’d turned six, I was free and I didn’t know what to do with it.

Grabbing my skull, I played with the piece of paper in my pocket and just stood there. Feeling like I was standing at the proverbial crossroads. I was empty.

Just a great big fucking ball of nothing.

There wasn’t even any noise in my head to distract me. Hot chicks couldn’t do it, nothing could, so I’d taken a year off school because I couldn’t focus, just sitting around while my life moved on without me.

 

If you want to check out more fantastic weekend writing warriors, then go to www.wewriwa.com :)

 

Happy reading,

~Marie

What do you do after Kingdom???

It's starting to dawn on me that I've pretty much wrapped up my Bad Five. I think I'm going to miss them, I can't explain it but I feel a little blue.

I still plan to write more Kingdom stories, though they will now center around other characters of fairytales, might even introduce a new fairy godmother. But I'm not sure I'll be able to completely move on from them either. Still, it felt very weird typing the end with Hook. I've held all those characters near and dear to me for some time.

Hook is now in the hands of my first set of beta readers. Those are other writer friends of mine I trust to read and give me constructive criticism on what works, doesn't, etc. Then it goes to an editor next, and then one final set of beta readers. Depending on how fast or slow this entire process takes, the book could conceivably come out at the very end of this month, no later than next. So... for anyone wondering when exactly Book 5 will be released, there you have it. :D

I will be now turning my attention to Book 2 of the Moment series. It's called Right Now and will feature Alex. There are some questions I left unanswered in Book 1 that will be addressed in this book. I'm really looking forward to delving back into contemporary romance for a bit.

Many people don't know it about me, but I actually started writing contemporary romance before I wrote paranormal. I've just never published any of those books. The first few books an author writes generally don't get published, they're more practice books, learning the craft etc. But yeah, I love contemporary romance and am excited to get back to my first love for a bit.

After I finish Right Now I'll be jumping back into Paranormal Romance and writing the sequel to The Witching Hour.

There is also an Urban Fantasy I'll be releasing featuring some characters you might recognize from Jinni's Wish, certain carnival workers with amazing colored eyes. ;)

I'm excited about what's coming and hope you all are too.

Happy reading,
~Marie

PS... I'm seriously considering revamping my website. So don't be surprised if sometime in the next few weeks/months you start seeing some construction happening around my part of the cyber neighborhood. :)

Ssh... Be bery, bery quiet

Sssshhhhh, the author of this website is deep in edits. Should you not heed this warning, she'll sic me on you.... !

Yes, that means you....

Da... da... da....

Done

Hi guys,

so you remember that exciting news I said I had to share last week? Well.....

It's done. And by it, I mean Hook.

Yup, it's really done.

Now it's time for edits.

Hooray for the Bad Five. Cannot believe their series is done!!!

Happy reading,
~Marie

Hook Update

I'm not going to say too much today, but I've got a secret. A good one, you'll know next week. What I will share though is a favorite scene:

“I’ll leave.” She nodded firmly.

“Hmm…” Peter rubbed his chin.

And just when she thought that maybe, just maybe she’d gained ground and that the tide had turned he asked the one question she knew would get them all salivating again.

“Swear your oath of fealty to the Lost Boys, agree that Captain Hook is evil, and you shall not be sentenced to death.”

Licking her lips, she closed her eyes and gave a tiny snort. Death by brat, she doubted that. And she refused to cower to a kid. He wanted truth, she'd give him truth.

“The only bad boy I’ve met here has been you. I do not swear that oath, and I do not think he is evil. I like him.”

     Peter jerked as if he’d been slapped, then his hands curled and...

Well, I guess you'll have to read the book to find out what happens next. ;)

Have a great weekend all!
~Marie

Another Hook update

So just to keep the anticipation going, I'm stopping from my writing just long enough to say the book is now 70% done! :)

Also, here's my favorite lines for today:

Scrubbing his jaw, his eyes twinkled. “Don’t believe everything you read. Though you’re right, I’m certainly not misunderstood. Everything I’ve done I’ve done it knowingly.”

“Well you know,” she extended her legs and leaned back, causing the swing to move again, “I always preferred the bad boys anyway. Good is so boring.” 

I'll update again soon. Just know... we're getting close. ;) Now keep your fingers crossed I'll be able to keep up this momentum!

Happy reading!

~Marie :D

Good morning, my dearies... another Hook update

So, it's Monday, but it doesn't suck. :p I'm having a good day, getting ready to sit down and write on Hook, hoping to hit another 20k words by the end of the week on this, which will mean I'll only have 2 or so more weeks until the book is finished! If I can keep pace, so everyone keep your fingers and toes crossed, and if your eyes if you're so inclined... that I can do it. I think you all have waited for this book long enough! :D

I've got some news to share, but I'll share it tomorrow since I'm really going to try and get in another 4k words on this book before I call it a day.

With that said... I'll leave you all with a little snippet of where I'm at now:

“Captain,” Smee’s concerned voice carried to him, “I heard a…”

Rolling his gaze toward his first mate, James tipped the empty decanter down with a disgusted frown, before dropping it to the deck. The glass rolled toward Smee, who scooped to pick it up.

“Ignore anything you hear coming from my cabin,” he said.

Told you it would be short. ;) And I wonder what noises could possibly be coming from his cabin? Hmmmm.... you'll find out. *g*

Happy reading,
~Marie