Happy New Year!

2012 rolls in with a sigh upon the muddy wake of December, 2011. I can't count the number of electronics that have broke in the last couple weeks, or the number of boxes I've unpacked. A month that began in finals ended in family and obscene amounts of wrapping paper.

My year was full of highs and lows, but what's life if not a series of obstacles you either overcome or crumple beneath? And, as I usher in 2012 with some minor house cleaning and laundry folding, I can't help congratulating myself on making it through it all with something of a smile and a shrug.

To my readers, I owe my thanks, for without them I wouldn't have made it through so much with so much grace. So many of you have been following me since last May, some even earlier. It was because of you readers, and your amazing response to my Holiday Promotion of Farro, that I made it through the laptop-less weeks that preceded this new year without losing my sanity completely.

One reader went so far as to send me some Holiday fanart. I was so pleased I asked to share it with you all. It is always so flattering and fascinating to see how you, the readers, imagine a set of characters so precious to me.

Reader ChocolateCookie describes this portrait as follows, "Khensa post-being rescued by Bomani and cleaned up by Lateef -- sullen, vulnerable and angry." (Corresponds with Farro's Chapter 3, "A Far Fetched Fable", and Chapter 4, "Amethyst Eyes")

I'm not one for resolutions, but I'm big into goals. So what can you expect from me in the coming year (or, more importantly, in the next 4-6 months?) here's a taste:

• Finish Project "The Scorpion King" (title to change) by March/April. I hope to begin releasing weekly installments in February.
• Order cover from artist who's handy with Egyptian stylization.
• Publish Farro and Sulfur edition two. I'm currently in the process of rereading both novels for typos and errors. I'm also hoping to rope my coworker into helping me with some copy-editing. She's more experienced than I and not afflicted with dyslexia.
• Start in on my next project in the May region to hopefully finish in the mid- to late-summer region.

Happy new year! If any of you ever feel compelled to draw me a picture of Bomani, don't hesitate to shoot me an email, haha!

Adventures Without a Laptop

FARRO IS AVAILABLE FREE THROUGH AMAZON

December 24th through the 28th

The holidays are over -- at least for me -- and now I have a brief window between now and the start of winter quarter to get as much writing done as possible. Many of you have heard about my failed hard drive, and many of you have wished me luck recovering my work. Many of you are writers yourself and understand what an unfortunate blow losing all that work is to your motivation. I'm currently working on repairing my laptop to a usable state, but I require some key components that will invariably cost money and a bit of searching.

Until then, I will be sharing my husband's computer (the same one he works from, so the time-share may be difficult to manage at times) and really hitting the keys in order to recover that which I had lost in the hard drive failure.

When I have my feet under me again, I plan to post a sneak peak of my next novel's protagonists, as well as a general synopsis and teaser!

Writers of the world: take a moment this holiday season to back up your work!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

What a long, long week it's been. Full of highs and lows, I stagger, feet dragging, towards the New Year. Here are a few highlights from my December:

1. Last Thursday: Finals -- all three of them.

2. Last Thursday night: Laptop hard drive breaks with a catastrophic clank and whir.

3. Last Friday: Moving out into our new apartment (with only a week's prior notice)

4. Last Weekend: When not at work I'm unpacking, unpacking, unpacking.

5. This last week: When I'm not at work I'm knitting, knitting, knitting my Christmas presents!

But you know what? It's okay. I've been without a laptop for over a week and without the internet for nearly as long. It's fine, I realized after a couple days. This is the first vacation I've had from writing in over a year. This is the first time in too long that I've had time to curl up with a book, knit a hat, or simply nap on the couch with my cat. After finals and moving, this break is like an oasis of peace, and I've learned to come to terms with the fact I've lost the 30,000 words I had written on Scorpion King (advice to those reading: back up your work frequently).

I've decided I'm going to write it all again, all a little differently. I'm going to produce something better than the original. And while I'm waiting for my laptop to be fixed I'll work on my writing, my research, and my craft. When I'm at last allowed a day of writing, I want to be prepared, fresh, and ready to assume my new character's much milder voice. She's no Khensa, but she's no less amazing, and this break gives me a chance to connect to her as an author.

So this holiday season you, too, might be stressed and flagging and stumbling towards the finishing line, but don't fret. As it's said, when life shuts one door it opens another. So let's head into the New Year with our heads held high!

Hug your loved ones, enjoy that hot buttered rum, and I'll see you next week.

Happy Holidays!

I haven't reported in lately, and I'm sorry for it. Writing is going well, albeit a little slowly due to Skyrim distractions. I've been positively delighted with the overall favorable feedback I've been receiving from Sulfur! Thank you so much for supporting me at this time!

You might have noticed that today the e-book "Farro" was pulled from the Barnes and Noble store. This is a temporary change, as I try out Amazon's new "Kindle Select" program. What's so great about the program? I'm not sure yet, but it allows me to give away my book for free for five days at a time. It also makes my book available to lend for Amazon Prime members (any of you out there?). So for 90 days Amazon will be my exclusive distributor of the e-book, Farro. Sulfur will still be available via Barnes and Noble!

What does this mean for you, though?

It means I will be giving Farro away for free through Amazon Kindle. I've already picked the days, too: December 24th through the 28th. Note: come Christmas time Farro will be available for free.

I look forward to seeing how this works out. If you don't already have a copy of Farro or you would like to get a copy for a friend, consider marking your calendar: Farro will be free Christmas Eve!

Happy Holidays!

p.s. Next chapter of Sulfur will be up tomorrow. I may or may not post a chapter to Scorpion King as well.

Read Sulfur Now!

Sulfur is now available in both Electronic and Trade Paper formats! For those of you like me who currently lack the funds for a trade paper or a handheld e-reader, you can download the kindle app to your computer and read it there. This app is incredibly slick and easy to use!

If you're new to buying my books online, please continue reading this post; I've put together a guide for your convenience. If you know what you're doing and just want me to shut up and point you the way, look to the bar on the left; there you'll find working links to purchase Sulfur!

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How-to: Reading on your e-reader or other small handheld device

1. Find Sulfur on either BN or Amazon
2. Buy Sulfur for $4.99
3. Your e-reader or other supported device will sync with your account the next time you use it.
4. Read and enjoy!

How-to: Reading on your computer

1. Go here and download the Kindle app for PC
2. Install Kindle app for PC (find where you downloaded the app's executable and open that on up!)
3. Find Sulfur on Amazon.
4. Buy Sulfur for $4.99 (make sure in the "deliver to" drop-down menu "PC" is selected).
5. If your PC Kindle app does not sync immediately push [F5] or go to Tools-->"Snyc and Check for New Items". This will get Sulfur to show up for you to...
6. Read and Enjoy!

How-to: Read the good-old-fashioned way, trade paper

1. Find Sulfur on Amazon or Createspace.
2. Buy Sulfur for $19.99.
3. Wait for that 542 page monster to ship to your doorstep.
4. Read and enjoy!

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Now, over the last week I've received a lot of questions from anxious readers, and I thought I would take the time to answer some of those questions here for the benefit of us all. If you have any of your own questions you wanted addressed, please email me at arreana@gmail.com.

Is Farro and Sulfur available internationally?

While all my links on this blog pertain to the US version, Sulfur is also available to buy on Amazon.uk, Amazon.de, and Amazon.fr. Amazon automatically converts the $4.99 into the respect currencies so costs should be no different if buying internationally.

Will I still update Sulfur weekly?

Yes, I will be posting a chapter of Sulfur every Friday, per usual. But with this assurance comes a warning: as the book progresses into it's second half there will be more cliffhangers, tension, and perhaps even angst. If you don't want to wait the eighteen more weeks it'll take to finish posting all the chapters, I encourage you to scroll back up and consider purchasing a copy... plus, you'll be supporting me as an indie author!

When will the trade paper be available?

This is a question I've already answered, but I just wanted to take a moment to reinforce the following statement: Sulfur is now available in trade paper. I spent a good portion of my last weekend working on the formatting/publishing information in order to get this published by today. So many of you expressed interest in buying a hard copy (What's better than cracking open a new book, after all?) that I couldn't let it rest until it was done. The book is 5.25" x 8" and consists of 542 pages. It's a heavy novel, and it really turned out quite beautiful!

Keep reading, and thank you so much for your immense amount of support in this last few weeks (and hopefully the next couple, too)!

I wanted to take a moment to thank reader Raye, who volunteered her time and formated the electronic version of both Farro and Sulfur. She added things I never had the time/patience to consider, such as a table of contents, built-in cover, and nicer chapter headings. Thank you so much, Raye!

Loading, reviewing, publishing!

So this is the weekend!

It's a month late, but goodness if I'm not proud. I'm only stopping by to drop off a couple lines before I'm off to continue the finishing touches/synopsis writing/category marking that distinguishes 'publishing' from daunting, exhausting 'editing'.

Thank you so much for the responses this last week. Yesterday alone, I received three letters from readers containing such encouraging words that I was fueled to work until about 3:30 in the morning. I really mean it when I say I couldn't have done this without your support.

Now, I'm afraid I have to get back to work, but you can bet I'll be back in a couple days with the 'big annoncement' I've been waiting months to make. Until then, I hope Chapter 15 of Sulfur will suffice.

Sulfur: home stretch.

Okay, so I haven't posted recently. But I have excuses. I have a whole stack of excuses including the following: school, work, health-related outages, etc. However, those are just excuses, part of the usual barrage of stressors life throws at you. The real reason I haven't posted in so long? I'm almost done with Sulfur. I don't mean that I'm almost to the next stage of the editing process; I mean I'm almost done with the editing process. I'm getting ready to publish, and during this phase everything in my life takes a deep inhale with anticipation.

I've reread Sulfur in it's entirety (It's better than Farro in my opinion - phew!) and now I need only wait for that husband of mine to read through the seven or so chapters he has left. Then we'll both have called in done. I get it formatted, put together, and send it off.

Somehow, I kept postponing posting here because I kept hoping that "tomorrow will be the day", but I can't put you all off forever. Soon, I tell you now, soon. And then you won't have to rely on my episodic updates.

I can't wait; I want to move on to Beauty and the Beast and Ancient Egypt.

(For reading, here's Chapter 14 of Sulfur, featuring the return of Bomani.)