Category Archives: The Dream War Saga

Counting down to release day! 8 days!

Just over a week from now, you’ll be able to get a copy of Doorways to Extra Time! In case you haven’t preordered (and even if you have), enter to win one of five copies on Goodreads! Also, don’t forget to check thedreamwarsaga.com later this month for the first extras from the series including a playlist for Sing Sweet Nightingale and character bios from “Whatever it Takes”!

doorwaystoextratime After today’s post, only three snippets remain. It’s hard to believe we’re already halfway through the wait! For now, we’ve arrived at snippet number three:

When I was little, I saw a man disappear before my eyes. I was in a park at the edge of town. Although the playground was crowded, the rest of the park was almost deserted. I saw a man in a purple coat standing in the middle of a field, his arms stretched high over his head. He was gone before I could get anyone’s attention. Vanished. Nothing to hide behind and no holes to drop down into. I know. I looked. My mom didn’t believe me, but I know what I saw.

That one instant made me think that the word “impossible” is overused. It’s why I’ve taken the train a couple hours north of New York City, to a town most people haven’t even heard of, so I can go to a store most people avoid, and ask a question most people would call ridiculous. I’m here because, despite my belief in possibilities, I’ve run into too many dead ends on my search for the key to time.

Sometimes dead ends can lead you exactly where you need to go! Will that be the case for my dear Valari, though?

FIND OUT BY READING! If you want to know more, preorder the paperback or ebook version of Doorways at one of the links below! On Wednesday, come back for another look into “Whatever It Takes.”

Buy it from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | IndieBound
Add this book on Goodreads.

Look what I got in the mail today!

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Guys, for the first time EVER, I held a real book with my name in it somewhere. Words I wrote! In my name!

This is hugely exciting! Like, for serious. I love the cover of this book, especially because I have always had a thing for Dali and the clock in the center reminds me of The Persistence of Memory. Even better than cool covers, though, is opening the book and seeing this:

SEE THAT?! My story is second! SECOND! I mean, fourth if you count the two introductions, but still! That’s pretty good placement. Also, I’d like to direct your attention to the page numbers. Yes, I did manage to write a 21 page story and still slap the label “short” on it. According to the word counts for the Hugo Award, “Whatever It Takes” technically qualifies as a novelette. But for the purposes of the anthology, we’re still going to call it a short story.

Even better than all that, is flipping to page 7 and getting to look at the opening page of my story:

Only 11 days until people will have their own copies of Doorways to Extra Time! Until then, I’m going to hug mine and pet the cover and flip through the pages about a million times.

On a last note: Anyone who gets a copy and reads my story, come back and let me know what you think!! 😀

Counting down to release day! 11 days!

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Getting closer and closer, everyone! Only 11 days left until Doorways to Extra Time releases and, with it, my story “Whatever it Takes“! Details are still in the works for my personal giveaway program, but… soon! Don’t forget, though, there’s still time to enter to win one of five copies on Goodreads! Also in the works, a possible appearance at Dragon Con later this month, which would be more than a little epic. I’ll let you know once I’m 100% positive I’m going to be there.

Today I’m posting another peek at “Whatever It Takes” and there are still four more to come! These posts will also be cross-posted on thedreamwarsaga.com where, later this month, you’ll be able to find a list of songs that remind me of Sing Sweet Nightingale as well as the character bios I mentioned on Wednesday!

doorwaystoextratime Now for snippet number two:

My mother always told me that you could make anything happen if you wanted it bad enough. Anything, she promised.

Problem is, even she thinks what I want is impossible.

The one thing I want is to change a night I can never get back. The night I could’ve saved him. I want that chance more than I want food, water, and air combined, but everyone tells me it’s impossible. “There’s no use crying over spilled milk.” “You can’t unring a bell.” “Those who walk looking backward fall behind.” It all translates to one thing: you can’t change the past, so don’t bother trying.

Do you get the feeling she’s going to try anyway? Cause I do. 😉

I forgot to add these last time (which is very silly of me!) but, just in case you’re interested in picking up your own paperback or ebook version of Doorways, check out one of the fabulous sites below! And come back on Monday for another look into “Whatever It Takes.”

Buy it from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | IndieBound
Add this book on Goodreads.

Counting down to release day! 13 days!

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My short story “Whatever It Takes” releases in 13 days! That’s when the anthology, Doorways to Extra Time, will be available to the big, wide world. August 27th is coming up fast and so is the start of my monthly giveaways! I’ll be giving away one copy of the Doorways anthology every month between now and December. Details are still forthcoming, but it will happen soon! Until then, you can enter to win one of five copies on Goodreads!

To celebrate the ever-nearing release, I’ll be posting short snippets of my story here. Six total before release day! And, yes, my story is long enough to pull six snippets from without spoiling anything! At the end of the month, I’ll also activate the first character bios on thedreamwarsaga.com, the four named characters from “Whatever it Takes.” From there, we’ll be getting closer and closer to the release of Sing Sweet Nightingale and your first really deep dive into my dreamworld.

Whatever It Takes For now, though, without further ado, here is snippet number one!

A shadow passes over her face, but she shakes it off fast as she leans forward, her bright-blue hair swinging over her shoulder and clashing with her pumpkin-orange shirt. “You think you’re the only one who wants to bring back someone they love? Everyone loses someone. It’s inevitable. Everyone thinks they’re willing to give up everything to get that person back. There aren’t many who are actually capable of it.”

My breath catches in my throat as my brain processes her words. Nowhere in that speech did she say what I wanted was impossible. She just said most people aren’t willing to make the necessary sacrifice.

“I’ll do it. Anything. Whatever it takes.”

So excited to share this story with everyone! And even more excited to see this book release. That means we’re one step closer to celebrating Sing Sweet Nightingale!

The final website move is done!

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Champagne Clink (c) Roger Kirby

Yay! Thanks to massive amounts of help from my friend Patrick, my errors have been fixed and both websites (byericacameron.com and thedreamwarsaga.com) have been moved to my new servers! At this point, there should really only be design changes. I think. I hope. If anything else does change, I think it will be behind the scenes stuff that (hopefully) won’t be noticeable from the world wide interwebs.

In other non-website news, yesterday was pretty fun. I got my hair cut and re-dyed and it’s OMG RED now! I love it. It’s pretty fabulous. Also, ALSO, when I came home from the salon, there was a package waiting for me at home! I had absolutely no clue what it was since I didn’t remember ordering anything. And when I opened it up I saw why. I GOT MY FIRST SET OF SING SWEET NIGHTINGALE BOOKMARKS!

Thanks to my awesome publisher Spencer Hill for the surprise! I have so many pretties now and no idea what to do with them yet! EEK! Once I figure it out, though, I’ll let you know.

That’s all for now! Time to go back and work. On a book or on day job stuff, I’m not sure… but I know I have something I should be doing… 😀

Keep Calm and Write On.

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Stepping Down (c) Craig Lucas

I’m finished with this round of edits on Sing Sweet Nightingale.

I’ve turned in the first draft of The Dream War Saga Book 2.

I’m waiting on revision notes on a project from my agent.

I’m on hold with my co-authored series while things happen. Good things.

Basically, I’m suddenly like an airplane that wants to come in to land but keeps being told by air traffic control to circle. It’s awesome because it means I have a lot going on and people who are willing to help me, but it also means I’m kind of at loose ends right now. Between projects. So… what do you do?

Start a new one. 🙂

The best thing to do in these situations is let a new idea take center stage for a little while or go back to an idea you maybe didn’t have the time to develop earlier. I have more than enough of the latter to keep me occupied, so right now I’m tinkering with a story involving a death, a conspiracy, and a lot of mystery. I’ve never written anything like it before, so it’s both difficult and fun to force my brain down meandering paths I’ve never traveled. I don’t know if this project will ever see THE END or if anyone except me will ever read it, but that doesn’t make the journey any less enjoyable.

One thing I think can be forgotten in the press to get published and to make a career of it and all that is that writers need to play. We need to write drafts that don’t work to figure out what does work. We need to meet characters we hate so we know how to write ones we’ll love. And we need to create stories for ourselves sometimes. Just because it seems like fun.

Maybe this book will one day sit on a shelf next to all my other ones. Maybe not. Right now, I’m not worried about that. Right now, I just want to see what happens next.

Progress and projects.

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Girls Read Book (c) Ned Horton

This weekend I did something I have never done before. I read Sing Sweet Nightingale in its entirety to my younger sister. Not that Haley couldn’t have read it herself, but she’s already read this book five or six times and I needed to read it aloud anyway for editing purposes. She hasn’t read the latest draft, so she volunteered to listen. Two birds and one stone and all that.

I already knew that reading text aloud can help you catch errors you wouldn’t see while reading silently (the human brain is such a strange place), but I wasn’t aware how much it could change your experience of your own book to read it to someone else. Moments that didn’t seem that amusing on the page are suddenly giggle-worthy and action sequences fly past as you read with the speed of a blow-by-blow fight commentator. The flip side is also possible, though. Moments you thought would be tear-jerking don’t come off with the same power as you thought they had or that dialogue you thought hid the massive exposition you needed to slip in doesn’t play it’s part as well as you’d hoped. Whatever the realization, good or bad, it’s worth the time and the slightly raw throat to read your book aloud. Preferably to an audience. Even if it’s an audience of one.

What this impromptu reading means in the larger scope of my life, though, is that I’m pretty much done with this round of edits! I’m waiting for one or two other beta readers to get back to me with notes (hopefully just to tell me I made all the right changes), then the draft goes back to the wonderful editresses for the next round! Line edits, I think. Which should be interesting. I’ve never done line edits before. It should be an experience, to say the least. The idea of examining each of my words with that much attention to detail is… daunting. In a good way, but daunting nonetheless.

I’m also nearing the time when I get to begin editing another project–something entirely different from anything else I have in the works and a project that I LOVE SO MUCH. The excitement level for this book is just, whoa. Love it. Things are happening with it and I really can’t wait to share more details, but for now, that’s it! Tis still in the works and up in the air, so I don’t want to say something now and have it not be true later. SEKRITS ARE FUN! Not really, but whatever. I have to pretend they are or I might go a little crazy. 😉

And, um… that’s it for now! Later, lovelies! <3

You may notice something different.

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Wow (c) David Siqueira

I’ve been considering it for a while and I have finally decided to just go for it. Blogger hasn’t been giving me the functionality I’ve wanted and Google has been making me a little mad by cutting out services I like (why kill the Reader, Google. Really?). Originally, I wanted to switch platforms and have a complete custom redesign along the way, but that isn’t going to happen right now. I want all the bells and whistles and I don’t have the money to pay for them. However, I found a WordPress template that has most of the features I wanted so I decided to switch to their free platform and hope for the best.

Thus, the new look! Also, you may notice that the URL at the top of the page is not quite as simplified as my old one. That’s one thing Blogger definitely does better than WordPress–custom domain names pointing to your site. You can still get here by typing byericacameron.com, but after that everything will be a little longer in the navigation bar. WordPress, if you’re listening, it’d be nice if you could fix that. I already pay for a domain name. I REALLY don’t want to pay you for the right to use it, too.

Other than the site switch, I’m still working on Sing Sweet Nightingale edits. Right now I’m about 100 pages from the end, but I think this round is going to take multiple passes and read throughs because of all the tiny tweaks I’m making. It’s been an interesting process. Well, the whole publication process has been a learning experience, but this is different. I’m not a details person, but I have to be now. I have to look at all the tiny questions I never answered–never really considered–and make it all fit. Here’s hoping I pull it off!

Also, let me know what you think about the site! I may change the background if I find one I like more, but this one is kind of cool. Are those darker blue shapes flowers? Are the the silhouettes of skulls? WHO KNOWS? I don’t. 😉

SSN Edits Round Two! Or is it three?

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This week, I’ve begun work on a new round of edits for Sing Sweet Nightingale! I think it’s round two. But it might be three. Maybe 2.5? Whatever the number designation, it’s edits and it’s from my beloved editresses, so that means it’s awesome. 😀

It’s also pretty cool that I can put up the pretty, pretty cover when I talk about the book instead of some random image that has nothing to do with it. Don’t think I’ll ever get tired of that!

Anywho, edits. This round is tough! Which is weird because my edit letter is less than a third the size of my previous edit letter. I guess the broad strokes of fixing big problems were a little easier to deal with than examining a scene and surgically adding and removing to make it… not suck. I’m making progress and I still have time, so here’s hoping I can pull off all the tweaks I need to make. More updates shall follow. Eventually.

Also–and in non-editorial-related news–there’s only ONE MONTH LEFT until you can have a copy of my first ever published short story in your hands! Doorways to Extra Time releases August 27 and my story “Whatever It Takes” is the second one in the book! Fourth if you count the two introductions by the editors… Fourth or second, it’s still really early in the book! Read it and you get to meet a character who will show up in The Dream War Saga at some point! Not going to tell you which character, but at least one of them is coming back! Go order it now!

Buy Doorways from:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | IndieBound

An interview and a little bit of news!

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Microphone (c) Acuzio

A while back, I received an email from the wonderfully sweet Amy Trueblood over at Chasing the Crazies. Which is an awesome title for a site. Amy asked if I would be interested in participating in a series of interviews she has been doing called Writer Odyssey Wednesday (W.O.W. for short). Of course, my answer was, “YES, PLS. WHERE DO I SIGN?”

The idea that I’ve finally reached the point where I can legitimately be included in a series like this is still a little strange. My debut release is nine months away (250 days, but who’s counting?). It feels like forever. In fact, it’s so far away that it still doesn’t seem real. But that’s just in my head, apparently. To other people, I’m already there. I made the deal, signed the contract, and am officially an author with credits to my name. Wow is right.

So, I agreed! Amy sent me a list of great questions and now you can read both those questions and my answers! I talk about my strange relationship with querying, how I found my glorious editors at Spencer Hill and my wonderful agent Danielle Chiotti, as well as a little bit about Sing Sweet Nightingale and the process of writing it and finding it a home. Click here to see!

In other news, this morning I sent a new book to my wonderful agent Danielle! It’s the second in a contemp series I co-wrote with my bestie Lani Woodland and I cannot wait until these books find a home and I get to share more details about them. I adore these characters and this world and everything about writing them. It’s FUN. There’s a lot to be said about partnering on a book with someone, too. Especially someone I get along with and work with as well as Lani. co-writing is probably not for everyone, but if you find the right partner, it’s divine.

In other other news, I’m heading back to Manhattan next week!! For the first time ever, I’m going to spend the Fourth of July in the Big City. Of course, that’s not the purpose of the trip, but it’s still convenient timing. I’m actually going in celebration of my sister’s 25th birthday and my cousin’s wedding (she’s getting married at the BRONX ZOO! How freaking cool is that?!). The reason for the trip doesn’t matter, though. I still get to spend an awesome week in New York City with people I love. I even get to drop by the Upstart Crow offices and meet some more of the interns and agents in person. So many fantabulous things packed into one trip! If you’re not already following me on Twitter or Facebook, go fix that! I’ll be posting about my trip on those two places more often than on my blog. Easier to access on the go!

That’s all for now! I’ll check in again soon. 🙂