Rinda Elliott

I'm a writer of urban fantasy, science fiction and some romantic suspense.  Published in in short fiction, poetry and articles, I'm hoping to add novels to that list soon.  I'm represented by Miriam Kriss of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency.  

Go to my blog and comment for a chance to win this. http://relliott4.wordpress.com

First of all…

HAPPY RELEASE DAY TO LILI ST. CROW!

Betrayals is book two in her Strange Angels young adult series and I just LOVED the first book. Click on the cover to go to Amazon and read an excerpt or order your own copy!
As for me, still alive and kicking. While Rachel and I started critiques, they slowed a bit and will be continuing soon-probably within a couple of days. I’m also working hard on a side writing project and seriously looking into paying jobs that would use my writing or marketing skills. (While it wasn’t the most amusing work, I do miss the contract work I did from home. Someone needs to convince the oil and gas industry here that the economy is getting better. Oh and convince me too. LOL!!)
Seriously though, as most of you know, I have been on the job hunt this year. That takes up incredible amounts of time. Yes, I still hope to have a career writing novels–I write pretty fast and know I’d nail this gig. But as you also know, getting in takes some time. My lovely literary agent is marketing two books for me. The last one has only been out since September and something tells me this one will find a home faster.
I mean who doesn’t want to read a romantic young adult trilogy based on Norse mythology and set during Ragnarok–the Norse apocalypse–with lots of action??
I’ll be blogging at The Deadline Dames tomorrow. Do any of my readers have a topic they’d like to see addressed? Comments are down all over the blogosphere these days since most of us read from feeders like Google Reader-but if there’s a burning question on your tongue, drop it here in the comment section.
And until you get to pull my work off the shelves, check out all the books the Deadline Dames have out! Have you ever looked at our complete book list page? Doesn’t it blow your mind? I’m in such prolific and talented company there. All new releases are in the sidebar And… I also wanted to share this book.

My critique partner, Rachel Vincent, has a story in here called Binge. Let me just say… out of all of the work I’ve critiqued for her, this is one of my favorites. It’s a fantastic story! Click on the cover to read more about it!

My critique partner, Rachel Vincent, has a tight deadline coming up, so I’m going to slam through critiques with her over the next week while finishing up a writing side project of my own.  Things might be a little quieter than usual in here.  Until then, check out her post today at The Deadline Dames to see her new office!  Also, the next book in her Soul Screamers young adult series is due out VERY soon. (Click on the covers to order.)

The last thing Kaylee needs right now is to be skipping school, breaking her dad’s ironclad curfew and putting her boyfriend’s loyalty to the test.  But starry-eyed teens are trading their souls for a flickering lifetime of fame and fortune in exchange for
eternity in the Netherworld—a consequence they  can’t possibly understand.  Kaylee can’t let that happen, even if trying to save their souls means putting her own at risk….

If you haven’t already checked out the first book, it’s on shelves now!

SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH
KAYLEE CAVANAUGH

She doesn’t see dead people, but…

She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.

Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about the need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who’ll be next…

SOUL SCREAMERS
The last thing you hear before you die…
 

When I’m not creating my own fantasy worlds, I like to play games in ones others have created.  I was speaking to a group about writing once and a question came up. “What is your choice reward when you reach your writing goals?”  My first choice was reading of course, but I added video games and immediately looked for the expressions in the crowd–you know the ones–the “Oh yeah, I get that” expressions. 

My favorites are mostly PC games like Starcraft, Broodwar, Age of Empires and an old one some might remember, Dungeon Keeper.  I WISH they’d release a new version of this one that works on modern computers! You had minions!!

I was also into Zelda.  Big time.

Lately, my family has been dealing with rough issues and I’ve found solace in playing games again.  I like the site  Wild Games by Wildtangent.  Lots of fun games to offer. For strategy, I go for Westward, The Build a Lots, etc.  It’s where I found Plants Vs. Zombies, which is so much fun, it should be illegal.  

They have a great program where you can download a game and try it out for free. Twice in a 24 hour period.  There’s no one hour trial so you’re not shut down just as things get good.  Plus, if you become a member, you get a certain amount of coins per month and instead of buying the game, you can just use up the coins to play different games.  Some games are worth buying ( I recently caved to Westward III. I’m not normally into anything with a western theme, but I do love the strategy of building up a town from scratch!) and some are fun just for the mindless break. One of the best policies is every coin you use to play goes toward purchase if you must have that game.

I’m also an occasional subscriber to Big Fish Games.  They do shut you down after an hour of trial, however, their games are always 6.99 and they have some fun exclusives. 

I like both sites, but have been leaning toward Wild Games lately.  The reason? They offer surprise discounts on Twitter and I like the person they have working that Twitter account.  She recently gave me an idea about writing and gaming together. I’ve never thought to check into such an ideal situation.  So, she rocks.

Now, I’m off to ponder creating my own alien world/survival saga…
 

I am sooooo ready to jump on the publication train!  This is how I feel Monday mornings when I realize the possibility is there. That this could be THE week.

I went to Walmart over the weekend to pick up an ethernet cable. We tried to set up my son’s XBox for live play and never could get it to work.  In fact, I messed with the settings on my router so much, I apparently jacked up the RAM on my computer and now it restarts constantly.  Never did get the live to work either. Grr.

But while there, I browsed the HUGE section of books.  The Walmart near me isn’t quite this decked out.  The adult urban fantasy and romance section is still big, but the young adult section has exploded!  End caps galore and there was a long, stunning display of gorgeous covers.

I wanted to see my book nestled in there so badly, I could taste it.  In either section.  WHO AM I KIDDING?  IN BOTH SECTIONS.  The hubby had to drag me away from the shelves. (Okay, I might have been running my hands over them. Just a little.)

So, I awakened this morning hopeful.  Maybe not quite as excited as the lady in the image above, but close. However, I will refrain from showing you an image of how I usually feel by Friday night. 
 

My daughter brought home this book last night.

I read the last part of the book barely breathing. Couldn’t around the knot of pain in my chest.  Very, powerful, wonderful book.

It’s a big release week for several Dames again and there will be exciting giveaways this week!  Today’s post is so interesting, too.  Want a fantastic glimpse into before and after cover art?  Jenna Black shares an insider look at the process!  Click on the DAME to follow!

  And don’t forget to come back this week for more release fun!  I’ll be hosting another Readers on Deadline Wednesday.
 

I’m soooo tempted to write my day with my daughter into a future young adult novel.  She’s pretty ill and it hit fast.  Took her in and yes, it’s the flu. Since she was coming in with a fever, they had her wear a mask. 

Now, some teens would cringe and feel embarrassed.  I probably would have.  Not mine. She takes things in stride and has an incredible sense of humor.  She was feeling horrible, but found time to giggle with me in the examining room while we waited for the doctor. 

Why were we giggling? That mask freaks people out.  Seriously freaks them out. One dude’s back hit the wall when we came in.  We both felt bad about scaring people and we didn’t really want to go in to help spread this rough illness, but the doctor insisted. And it was her first nose swab. Her response?

“Whoa. Uncool and way too personal.”

For this song.

This picture was taken by my daughter.  She’s incredibly talented.

So, I’ve been a little skimpy on the posts here.  Sometimes, life throws you a few curve balls and in the last couple of years, my family has been hit with more than a fair amount.  In between hunting for the right job, waiting on book news and fighting the economy woes, it’s been all I can do to write.  So, I put most of my writing time into a book instead of the blog. I’m very proud of this new book–have a feeling it’s pretty good. 

My agent said I knocked it out of the park, so I’m thinking I have the right cheerleader on my side for this one. 

I haven’t talked about the basics of the new trilogy here much because I’m a little wary of sharing too much information before the book is purchased–and yes, I’m taking the positive thinking route and believing someone will love these stories as much as I do. 

I’d like nothing more than to immerse myself in the writing of both my series, but my family also needs financial support, so I’ve been searching for the right job.  It would be nice to support my family with my writing, but I wouldn’t mind finding something that uses my particular skills. Skills I’ve built marketing myself as a writer, writing skills, of course.  But I may also be moving and downsizing and well, there’s a lot going on here.   Lots of tough, private family stuff.  Recently, I came close on a job I think I would have enjoyed quite a bit, but it didn’t happen.  (My husband believes things happen for a reason, so we’ll see if his theory stands up here. <g>)

As a writer, I’ve always paid extra attention to humans and the problems they face. I’ve always found singular reactions to situations and difficulties fascinating and lately, instead of putting those observations down on paper, I’ve been sort of numbing my mind.  Or locking it up, you could say.  Watching a lot of the new fall TV shows, rewatching some old favorites like Firefly and Buffy.

Earlier today, I felt something click.  I’m happiest when I’m writing. Even if it’s the only stolen moment of the day I can find–usually late at night when my family is asleep.  I can accomplish a lot when I’m in the zone.  I wrote an entire book once just at night- 2k a night until it was done.

 So, I’m reestablishing my normal self-discipline–the will that had me writing all day every day until that last book was done, despite the difficulty my family was facing.  I believe I do have this one thing I’m pretty good at and I do have a few people who agree.  My critique partner, Rachel Vincent. My agent, Miriam Kriss.  My good friends CJ, Sarah, Carol, Kathy and Lou. OKRWA members and my family.  The Deadline Dames, of course. 

I have a lot of support and lately, these wonderful people have been calling and showing up out of the blue to show they care.  I’m a pretty lucky lady, to tell you the truth.