EVERNEATH by Brodi Ashton

A friend of mine was fortunate enough to get an ARC of EVERNEATH by Brodi Ashton. She was kind enough to let me borrow it, and I didn't even have to threaten her. At least not very much.

Isn't the cover gorgeous?

From the back:

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists. 

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen... 

I met Brodi at WIFYR in 2009 and had the opportunity to read the first few chapters of this. They were so beautifully written then, and they've only gotten better. This book is amazing. The voice is so believable and lovely, and the pacing is perfect for the story. Plus, Nikki is one of my favorite heroines. I just loved her and her strength. I don't want to give too much away, so I'll just say that I loved it!

EVERNEATH comes out on January 3, 2011, just in time for my birthday! (I'm sure that was the intention when they picked the date.)

Reappearance of Frogs

Two weeks ago we had a frog thumping on our bedroom window all night. I thought it was just a nature thing, but it turns out that the frog was a portent of doom. Poe gets ravens, which sounds mysterious and deep and intelligent. I get frogs, which are not.

In any case, I finished the latest draft of my WIP last Friday. Hooray! It's short and a pretty lousy draft, but it's somewhere to start revising from. But there's a problem. Apparently my main character's name means frog in Spanish. I told you the frog outside my window was a harbinger of misery and woe.

Rana=frog (in Arabic, it means to look or an eye-catching object)

This does not make me happy and, even though that's been her name in my head for a long, long time, I can't look at it without thinking "frog" now. And, yeah, this is a retold fairytale, but it's not the Princess and the Frog, and the story of the princess actually being the frog has been done before, I think.

I can change the spelling, but I'm not sure I love the look of "Rhana" or "Ranna" or "Ranah." I can also change her name. A friend came up with a list of similar Arabic names for me and these are my favorites from this list:

Rahila=path guider
Raina=peaceful queen
Rani/Rania=queen
Ranya=conquerer

What do you think? Is this even something I should worry about? Do you like the respellings of her name or do you prefer one of the other names? I want something that's familiar-ish, but still slightly foreign sounding. What are your thoughts?

My NEW Writing Goal

Remember my goal a couple weeks ago, the one about finishing the first draft of my book by the 16th of this month? I remember it fondly. And it's not going to happen.

Here's the story about that. I was hard at work and making good progress toward my goal. Then, on the 4th of July, as I tried to squeeze a bit of writing in between the barbeque and the fireworks, I wrote this line on page 117:

"I knew what I wanted--I'd always known what kind of relationship I wanted."

I stared at it. And I knew I had a problem. Big problem. As in the entire book was pretty much wrong. Okay, the main character was fine, and her parents were fine, but everything and everyone else? Yeah. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I shut my laptop and told my husband I couldn't finish it. I had to brainstorm and rewrite the entire thing starting at the end of the first chapter. He was a bit concerned--after all, the reward for my finishing was going to see the Captain America movie when it comes out. Anyway, he asked why I felt like I needed to rewrite the whole thing. I explained it to him and he agreed that, yeah, I needed to rewrite it.

Don't misunderstand me, I love having epiphanies that make my story better, I just wish they would come more conveniently sometimes. :)

In any case, I'm putting that story aside until I can recreate the characters in my head. But to keep myself motivated (i.e., to go see the movie) I have a new goal that I've been working on. I'm rewriting another manuscript. The story was too unfocused, so I'm cutting it in half and fleshing out that part of the story line. My goal is to reach 50,000 words by Saturday night and then spend next week adding in scenes that I missed. Right now I'm at 42,000 words, so I should be able to make it.

If there's one thing I've learned from this experience, it's the need to be flexible sometimes. I could have kept writing the first WIP and made my goal, but I would have been frustrated because it was all wrong and I knew it was wrong.

What about you? Have you learned anything lately?

Nocturnal Visitor

Last night as I lay in my bed

With thoughts of dreaming in my head

I heard anon the gentle bumping

Of something at my window thumping.

I asked my husband beside me,

“Forsooth, my love, what could that be?”

(It’s only late at night when I talk like that.)

He said, “I know not, but I think it’s a bat.

A crazy bat who is coming for thee.”

I flew to the window and peeked to see.

I saw not bat, nor skunk, nor crow.

I didn’t see even a hint of snow.

But there in the shadows, still as could be,

I saw two eyes peering straight at me.

Just one small frog—such a tiny sight—

That had given me such a giant fright.

My newfound friend thumped through the night

But he was gone with dawn’s first light

And bleary-eyed, I hate to say,

I still have many words to write today.