Friday 27 December 2013

Tis the Season

I hope everyone is having a fantastic Holiday Season.  We've had a bit of rough weather in the Toronto area recently, but even with all the downed trees and power outages, I doubt that anyone who took a walk or ride outside the city wasn't awe inspired by the views.  The sun came out on the 24th, and as it shone on the ice covered trees, this city truly became a winter wonderland.  This was particularly fun for me because there is a scene in the early chapters of book three that captures this idea in a special way. 

Speaking of book three; my apologies.  I did intend to have it out by now, unfortunately the polishing is taking longer than I expected.  Did I ever mention how much I love polishing ... NOT!  On the bright side, there are always passages I've written that do come out better once I've had a second (or third, or fourth ...) go at them, and I think that the readers, as well as Kaylee, Will and the rest of the Imm crowd, deserve that.  As always, I will drop a note when the publishing day comes closer.  In the meantime, I hope everyone has a fabulous New Year!

Wednesday 25 September 2013

Two New Covers!

I'm so excited today, because something I've been wanting for a long time has finally happened.  Presenting and Imm Tricks have both been reformatted, and have new covers, exactly in the original concepts I had for them.  Huge kudos go out to my new cover artist Laura Gordon.  Working with Laura was a blast.  She understood my vision perfectly, and we had alot of fun sharing ideas, back and forth.  The end products for both books are fantastic in my opinion.  They really capture the feeling of the story.

Here are the new covers ... YAY! :)


Thursday 15 August 2013

Rebooting

Yes!  I've just come back from a 2 week holiday, and I'm fresh and ready to get back to polishing book 3.  It was a great break, and I'd like to say hello to everyone I met who was interested in hearing about Presenting. 

One of the nice things about my holiday was that, instead of writing, I actually had a chance to break in my new Kindle Fire, and I did some reading.  The two books I read were The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau (fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent will like this one), and Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (great writing, and a kick-ass lead character).  I really enjoyed both.  


As usual, being away from my normal routine got my creative juices flowing.  There were so many sights that gave me inspiration for new stories.  Ghah!  If only I could write a bunch of books at the same time!  But since there's only one of me, and since Kaylee's story is far from over, the new inspirations have stayed as scribbles on napkins and on the back of any piece of paper I could find (note to self - next time bring a notebook).  It's alright.  They'll keep.  

 

One of the other things I got a chance to do is go to a wax museum.  I've never been before because I always thought those places were kind of creepy, but this one was for movie characters, and it was actually alot of fun.  Who doesn't get a kick out of seeing characters who's stories they love.

Saturday 6 July 2013

Imm Tricks is out !!!

Phew.  Well it's been a long time coming, but Imm Tricks is finally all wrapped up, and is now available in ebook and paperback on Amazon.  Hurray!




This is book 2 of The Presenting Saga, and I'm really excited for those who liked Presenting to be able to read it now.  I've opened up Kaylee's world with new characters and new experiences.  Of course Will and the Gregorys are still very much a part of her world, but the new characters and some unexpected turns create consequences for everyone.  I hope everyone enjoys the ride!

Sunday 12 May 2013

Bongos at 8 a.m. are not cool!

Ok, so I normally would not be up this early on a Sunday, but since my freak neighbour thinks it's a good time to play some 70's kind of bongo instrumental, at full blast for a three block radius to hear, I figured updating my blog was a more civilised way to spend my time than throwing rotten tomatoes at his balcony.  Besides, I don't have any rotten tomatoes :(

Inconsiderate neighbours with crappy taste in music aside, there is something great about today.  I am expecting to see the first rendition of the cover art for book 2 by tonight.  Woo hoo.  That means we're just that much closer to getting book 2 published.  I can't wait.

As for book 3, I'm about a quarter of the way through the rewrite.  Actually, I'm surprised at how quickly it's going.  I really expected to have allot more to polish and tweak, but so far, it's been pretty smooth.  I love being an independent writer, but one of the down sides is not having a professional editor to help with this part of the process.  On the other hand, in a way, indie books are probably the cleanest transition of a story between writer and reader.  It's the literary version of unplugged I guess, and I like the idea of that.

Sunday 21 April 2013

Book 2 is Wrapped

It's happy dance time for me.  As of last night, book 2 is finished.  Now it's just a matter of waiting for the cover art, and it's off to Amazon.  Woo hoo!

Tomorrow I'll sit down to start the rewrite of book 3.  This is going to be interesting, because unlike books 1 and 2, I haven't touched the first draft of book 3 since I wrote it.  I'm expecting the rewrite of this one to take little more time, first because it's so rough, and second because it's a longer draft.  What I'm really looking forward to though, is the opening up of the story to a bigger world.  There are new settings and experiences for Kaylee, and more new characters thrown in the mix.  They were fun to write the first time, and I can't wait to revisit them.




Oh, and by the way, have you seen this?  Guess which poster is going to be spending some time up on my wall :)

Friday 5 April 2013

Almost There

Yee haw!  So the rewrite of book 2 is done.  Now it's a matter of doing a technical polish, and it'll be finished.  I've already been in touch with Ronnell and he is working on the cover.  I'm really excited to get this book out because there is so much that happens in this one.  Plus the world is getting bigger, with new characters and new experiences for Kaylee.  I hope you like it.

Thursday 21 March 2013

March Madness

I guess I've gone a little blog silent for a while, but believe me I haven't been idle.  The wheels are now in motion to get Presenting out in paperback.  There is some cross border red tape to work out, which I won't bore you with, but I've seen the proof of the book and it looks great.  I'm hoping to do some giveaways through some great book bloggers I've found by summertime.  If that happens, I will announce it here.

As for book 2, it's coming along very well.  Three quarters of the polish is done, and I'll likely start desiging the cover soon.  This one may come out on Kindle and in paperback at the same time.




In the meantime I got my latest issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine, and my fangirl excitement is building for the upcoming season 3 opener of Game of Thrones, and the pilot of The Vampire Diaries spin off, The Originals.  Love it!

Monday 18 February 2013

You can still have fire without a Kindle

I was just having a conversation with someone, and a topic came up that I thought I'd share.  For those of you who don't have a Kindle, but still want to read Presenting, or any of the other great books that are only available in that format, there is an answer.  Amazon makes several apps available for free to allow readers to download and read books on smart phones, computers or tablets.  Here is the link:  http://www.amazon.ca/gp/feature.html/ref=sa_menu_kcp_ipad_mkt_lnd?ie=UTF8&docId=1000817631

Enjoy!

Sunday 17 February 2013

Goodreads

I joined Goodreads today.  Though I haven't been able to add Presenting to the site yet, I'm hoping to soon.  In any case, I've gone ahead and listed about 50 books that I've read and loved over the years.  Actually it was alot of fun to remember all those stories, but now I've reminded myself of all the books I want to read again, plus there is a pile of books that I've bought which I'm still trying to make time to get to.  Yikes!  Here is the link to my Goodreads page. http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/17550429-diana-petkovic

Sunday 10 February 2013

New Cover for Presenting

I'm so excited.  The new cover for Presenting is ready as of today.  I think it's great, and definately miles better than the one I did on my own.  The artist who did the cover is Ronnell D Porter.  Here it is ...




And just for the sake of trivia, here is the cover the book was first published with.



Um, yeah, think I'll stick to letting the professionals do the covers from now on :)

Monday 4 February 2013

Book 2 and Cover Update

Over the last couple of weeks, my polish of book 2 has slowed down a bit while I was seeing to the publishing of Presenting.  I'm back on track now, and it's coming along well.  In fact, I think fans of Will are going to like the scene I added last night.  It's funny because I find that most of the time, while I'm polishing, I end up taking stuff out.  This last chapter that I was working on just needed something extra though, and I think what I've added is what the character Will needed.

I'm also hoping to have a new cover for Presenting soon.  While I like the first one, and think it represents the story well, I think it could be better.  So I've contacted a cover artist and asked him to make something up for me.  I'm really excited to see what he does.

Tuesday 22 January 2013

So Surreal

I can't believe it's been less than a week, and there are already people reading Presenting.  What's even more amazing is the nice things I've heard back from a few readers.  Thank you so much guys.  You know I think that when most writers put a story to paper, they think of it as their baby; but, it's only when someone reads it, that the story gets life.  It's increadible that my little story is growing past just me and my keyboard.

Friday 18 January 2013

Presenting is Published





OMG!  This day was so long in coming that I can hardly believe it's actually here.  Presenting is available on Amazon Kindle as of today.

Monday 14 January 2013

So it begins

Fingers to Keyboard
I can't remember, at this point, in which year I started to write Presenting.  It was probably around late 2005.  I do remember missing my weekly dose of Joss Whedon created shows,  Rewatching them on DVD was still good, but not as great as watching a show I'd never seen before.  Just for fun, I decided to write my own entertainment.  Although I figured that this project, like so many others I'd started, would only make it to a few pages, something about this story kept me going..  Today The Presenting Saga is a four book journey (one finished and 3 in first draft) with characters, scenes, and places that I love, and I can hardly wait to share the whole story with others.


First Idea
Presenting started with a simple idea.  For me, one of the most romantic images ever, is one where the guy is standing under a girl's window at night, and calling her to come out.  The twist I put on that scene is not quite Romeo and Juliet, but I had so much fun writing it, that I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did.  From there I thought about the setting.  Jackson's Point is a real place in Southern Ontario, where I spent a two week holiday one year.  While there's no Miller's Landing, or pond there that I know of, the trees, cottages, and lake helped me to build an imaginary estate, and write what would happen to the characters as move around it.



Jackson's Point
Giving the Characters Dimension
In creating the characters, here I have to partially credit the inspiration of Whedon again.  No, none of mine are based on any of his, but what I loved best about the ones he created for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, was how well rounded all of them were.  The heros had quirks and flaws, as well as their strengths, and the villans had redeeming qualities sprinkles in between their evil deeds.  The supporting characters all had their own unique personalities and back stories as well.  While I know I haven't done it nearly as well as Joss can, I tried to round out my own characters too.  In Presenting, the main characters, Kaylee and Will, go through the broadest range of emotion and activity, but it doesn't stop there.  Through the series, what happens to Kaylee, Will, and everyone close to them, brings out different sides of everyone's personalities, and all of their back stories are revealed.


Releasing the Story
So now you may wonder why its taken me so long to release these books.  Well the first reason is the I'm not a full time writer, so I only get a couple of hours a night to work on them.  Secondly, I decided to write the whole series out in first draft before I started to polish.  I did that, well, because I wanted to make sure I followed through with the whole series before I let anyone read the first installment.  In a way, it was my own method of self motivation.  The other reason was that I hoped to get these books out faster than a year apart.  If there one one thing that drove me crazy as a reader, it was waiting a long time for the next installment of a series.  I'm not sure how long it will take to get all four books out, but I'll try very hard to make sure it's months and not a full year that passes between them.

If you read Presenting, and any of the installments that follow, I hope you enjoy them.