Anne K. Riley Official Author Site

Unexpected Oomph

Anne — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:44:24 +0000

I usually don’t talk about my personal life here on the blog, but I will tell you that my family has moved twice in the last ten months. We’ve been staying with friends while we house hunt. And right now, I am actually sitting in my grandparents’ living room in Texas. Yes, it was a long trip — and we don’t even know how long we’ll be here. Think maybe God’s trying to teach me how to be flexible? Hmm, maybe. ;)

Somewhere in the middle of all of this I have found an unexpected bit of oomph (inspiration+brainpower) and have been working on a story. I’m not going to say what it is or what it’s about, but I can hint that it’s really cool. No, spiffen! Heh, I love that word.

So my life has been crazy. I’m trying to keep my head up and my eyes on God. Oh, and take every twist and turn as a writing experience.

On hold

Anne — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:30:59 +0000

I am sad to have to say that my writing is sort of on hold for the present. My personal and business lives are getting in the way of my writerly life (the one lived in my novels where I get to go on grand adventures), and I do not know when I will be able to return to serious writing. By “serious” I mean the consistent, disciplined writing (and editing) that leads to published novels.

I know that you all have been patiently (well, that’s relative) waiting for the sequel to The Seer, and I promise you that it will be published! I just don’t know when, which is discouraging to me. I would appreciate prayer, and I hope that you all will hang in there with me until I can get back to it on The Portal.

Shalom,
Anne

Changing things

Anne — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:44:21 +0000

Greetings! I have just moved my domain name from one Web hosting account to another, and that’s why things are a bit out of order. Please excuse the mess as I get everything put back together and update the look of the Web site.

Anne

Picking up the pen again

Anne — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:48:51 +0000

Yes, I am, at long last, getting back to writing (well, I’ve done some writing, just not much)! It is, I fear, long overdue — and for that I apologize. Though I do have valid excuses for why I have not written more in the last few months, they matter little and therefore will not be brought up. So rather than listing them, each with its own bullet for tidiness’ sake, I shall tell you that despite a myriad of other things trying to steal my time, I am returning to the world of Sterling McKinde in an endeavor to finish the story and get it into your hands as quickly as possible. And yes, I realize that is a rather long sentence. But I’m a writer, so I’m entitled to writing long sentences.

Now that I have updated this, my sadly neglected author blog, I shall open Scrivener and see what I can do about the beginning of The Portal. It’s all written and has been edited already, but I’m just not happy with it. So I think I shall see what I can do to take it up a few notches.

An Excerpt

Anne — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:52:03 +0000

I am pleased to announce that I have made an excerpt of The Seer available here on my Web site. It includes the prologue and the first two chapters of the book. I decided to include the second chapter because it’s got more of a cliffhanger ending than the first one does. ;)

Please read it and let me know what you think by commenting here! You can access it by clicking on the book cover to the left. Enjoy!

Change complete

Anne — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:29:32 +0000

The new version of the book is now on Amazon. So that’s over with. If you order the new version and want to see all the extra goodies, stay tuned to the Web site. I’m formulating a plan for how to share the info in such a way that only people who have read the book will be able to access it. I’ll post here when the extra stuff is available. :o)

2/25/11 Update: Ignore this post. I’ve decided to revert to the original version. I realized that I never prayed about making the change, and I felt that I shouldn’t have made the decision without consulting the Lord. He gave me peace about reverting, so it’s in the works. Thanks for bearing with me. ;D

Oh, the woes of a writer…

Anne — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:15:17 +0000

Well, that’s relative. I deem it a woe, but you may not. Here ’tis: too many ideas, not enough hours in the day to chase each one and conquer it. I have a collection of more than thirty novel plots begging to be penned, three half-written novels collecting dust, I’m just over 10k into a new series, I’ve got a sequel to edit and publish, and — WHAM! a new idea pops into my head from looking at a visual dictionary of animals with my sister. It’s a series, of course. And it’s really, really, really spiffen.

But what about my WIPs? Ah. So there you see, the woes of a writer.

Changes

Anne — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:17:30 +0000

Due to some frustrating things on Amazon’s part, I had to change the interior file of the novel so that some of the content would not be available on their Web site for anyone and everyone to see. It’s a long story, and I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that they would not remove the content from their Web site when I asked them to, so I’ve had to take this step and remove it in the book itself.

You can still order the old version if you want to have the one with the extra content. I’m not sure when the new version will replace it on Amazon and my eStore. Once the new version is up, I’ll be offering the extra content on the Web site for those who have bought a copy and want to see all the extra goodies. {And I’ll post here with an update.}

That pretty much sums up my update here. Sorry if it doesn’t make sense completely. I’m feeling a little scatterbrained. I’ll try to write again soon!

A Twist in the plot

Anne — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 23:34:14 +0000

Isn’t it cool how there are sometimes twists in the plots of our lives? We think we’re going to go a certain way, but then God puts a twist in there that totally surprises us. That’s what happened to me today. I was geared up to work on editing The Portal, and all of a sudden, *POOF* I started getting ideas for a series I’ve been plotting for a long time. And now I’ve written around 3,000 words today.

Now before those of you who have read TS freak out and wonder if I’ve forgotten about the major cliff-hanger at the end (oops, spoiler), I want to assure you that I have not forgotten. I’m simply going with the inspiration that the Lord has given me. He’ll direct me back to working on The Portal when it’s time.

I’m not going to say a whole lot about the new series yet, but I will say that it’s going to be a very hard series for me to write. I’ll be writing more of myself, my heart, my life, into this series than I have ever written into any story I’ve ever penned (or typed). But God has told me that it’s time for healing in my heart, and that as I write the first book in this series, He will use it in a healing process. Already, as I wrote today, I was on the verge of tears more than once. It’s also going to be hard for others to read it. I’ll be opening up my heart to those who read it, and it’s scary. But it’s in God’s hands, in His will.

So as I work on this new story and work on editing The Portal, please keep me in your prayers. And check back here, as I’ll probably update more often now that I’m working on stuff again. Oh, and leave me comments. Please. :o)

EDIT: I ended up writing almost 6,000 words today. Thank the Lord!

The next chapter

Anne — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 15:21:44 +0000

This week I will be embarking on the next chapter of my writing: editing the sequel to The Seer. I’m not sure what it will be titled, but for now I’ll be calling it The Portal. That’s just a working title, which may or may not stick. I’m really not sure. I have a feeling it might, but I’ll not say anything definite right now.

I have big aspirations for this year. I’ll be publishing The Portal, and hopefully at least one other novel. I’ve got some half-novels (mostly stand-alone) that I could finish and edit in a rather short amount of time. I’m just waiting on the Lord to show me what He wants me to do. But enough of that! I’ve got to concentrate on editing/re-writing for now and cross the other bridge when I come to it.

All of that said, I should like to request prayer from those of you who keep up with my writings here on the blog. If you would keep me in your prayers during this process, I would muchly appreciate the support. And, if you don’t mind, comment here once in a while so that I know you’re out there. ;)

Okay, I’m off. I need to straighten up my workspace (which is something I rarely need to do) and dig in. Namarie!