Tag Archives: Author C. M. Martens

Book Two has Released!

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Book Two on The Fool’s Path is here!

Only 99 cents on Kindle!

Also available on paperback through Amazon. Click the book image to get your copy.

I love hearing your comments and thoughts! Scratch out a messege for me below, or contact me through my contact page (link in menu above).

Happy Christmas and Merry Winter celebrations to you!

Instagram Challenge

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I started an Instagram Challenge this month, then thought it might be fun to share those posts here.

#MerryandWrite

Join along with us! Follow the above hashtag to find the daily posts. Find me @author_cmmartens

Day 1: Christmas, Kwanza, Hanukkah, or none of the above

I am a Christmas gal. It’s my favorite time of year, snow and all. It’s the only time of year I’m glad for snow and not cry over cold weather. Growing up in a temperate climate, it just doesn’t seem right not to have a “white Christmas.”

Day 2: What are your writing goals as the year comes to an end?

This one was easy for me- I hit my goals! Book Two is on schedule to release on Christmas Day, and Book Three is well underway. I’ve also made some major decisions about the state of my “marketing” profile. I’m excited for what’s to come, and even more excited about the projects I have on deck and my capability to complete them.

Day 3: Introduce the main character(s) of your WIP or your fav of the year.

My current main Work in Progress is The Fool’s Path series. Book One released in July, and Book Two is set to come out on Christmas Day.

Desiree “Dee” Galen is my MC. She’s a little bit of a spaz, completely unsure of her world, and even less sure about how she should move through said world. The Fool’s Path follows her along her journey as she learns about herself, her past and tries to figure out a future that belongs solely to her.

         

What’s on your agenda?

I’d love to hear from you, about your projects and goals. Send me a comment, or DM 🙂

The End of the Beginning

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The End of the Beginning

When my editor finished highlighting the oversights I’d missed in Book One, I found myself renewed in my task of telling this story in its best possible way.

So, I set to refining those last details of my piece.

It was the first time I really felt like an artist.

 

I’d been told this craft of writing is art. I consider other writers artists, but I never brought the title to bear on myself. Through the time of turning a slew of crappy words thrown together into a coherent story, I’d never thought I was making art. But in these final steps, there were fleeting moments that I was.

In these moments, I was proud of what I was doing 🙂 Proud of what I’d done.

Chiseling away to bring forth the final details that would make this piece better than it was, I was a sculptor of words. I saw the art. I saw that art wasn’t some mystical ambrosia that spawned inside some and not others. It was blood and hurt and patience and perseverance. It was showing up every day. It was practicing a craft until I was good at it. It was practicing more until I was better.

Like a giant hurdle has been vaulted, I’m even more committed and excited to continue this journey. I feel like the beginning has ended. I’m confident to move into the sophomoric stage of this journey, where I hope to learn and grow by leaps and bounds.

  • Tell me about the learning curve in your art
  • What eureka moments have you had that kept you moving forward?

 

Hell is Figuring Out Chapter One

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How Should it Begin

Beginning’s are everything. Sometimes all we have is a sentence to capture a reader. I get it. There are so many books to read, how do we decide which ones are worth our time? The reader need to know their time won’t be wasted…

Five days from my deadline, I’m still working the first ten pages. This isn’t a deadline, like “oh- just give me another day and we’ll squeeze the timeline to make it work.” No. This is a hard “there is no more updates allowed” deadline set by Amazon. Yesterday, I was finished and this wasn’t a problem. Today, I’m freaking out.

See, I had cut these pages.

Since draft one, I’d struggled with the opening of Stumbling. Unable to find a solution (at the time), I scrapped it to start in the middle of the opening sequence. Jumping right into action is always fun, right?

This Really Isn’t Working Out

Then, I was getting feedback of confusion.

So, I put the beginning back in. It made sense to do this. I understood the complaint. After reading my own book eleventy-billion times, I couldn’t recognize there were details the reader needed to have taken away in these deleted pages.

But, these pages hadn’t been polished like the others and it showed. I think I went through twelve edits before I handed the book off to an editor to look at. Twelve edits these first pages were ignored.

Does this look like an edit-free proof?

So, these ten pages were not as ready as the rest. These ten pages were making me re-think this whole idea to let the world have access to my work. These ten pages were making me second-guess if I really was ready… even though I’d already committed to being ready.

Did I mention I was freaking out?

Rinse, repeat then again… and again

I still worry about those first sentences, even after having hit publish. But, this is a process of learning and growing and I know that putting my work out there can only help this process.

Thanks for reading!

  • What’s the best opening line of book like to you? Quote it in the comments 🙂