Monday, March 4, 2013

As per an email request. Book list

Today I woke to three emails asking for a complete list of my books in order.
I have them listed on my website www.morgankelley.com, but here they are again.

Stand alone Romance/Thrillers

The Junction

Serial Sins- This one is still available on Amazon, but with a different publisher I will be retaining      the ownership rights in January 2014 and it will be made available on Kindle and new book format.

Celestia's Falling  - out spring 2013

Romance/FBI series

The Killing Times (book 1)
Sacred Burial Grounds (book 2)
True Love Lost (book 3)
Deep Dark Mire (book 4)
Fire Burns Hot (book 5) - This one is with my proofer right now and will b released around the end of March or first week of April.
Darkness of Truth (book 6) - This one is being currently written and slotted to be completed late next week. Projected release is slotted for May or June.
Home Sweet Evil (book 7)-  This one is in outline phase and will be out early fall or Halloween, before I take a break for the holidays.

The Blood Series

The Blood Betrayal- This is book 1 in the vampyre series and the publishing rights aren't mine until 2016. At that time it will be re-released in new cover and kindle version.
The Blood Redemption (book 2)
The Blood Vengeance (book 3)
The Blood Retribution (book 4)
The Blood Seduction (book 5) - due out in the fall. September-ish
The Blood Sacrifice (book 6) Christmas release date.

There is a spin off series in the works for this year too. It's going to branch off from the Romance/FBI series.

The Private Investigator Series

Stolen by Moonlight- (book 1).


Magickal series trilogy.

Dark Elements - Book one - To be released in September.

Thank you for sending your emails! I love hearing from everyone and promise I will email you back, even if it's to just say thank you!

author.m.kelley@gmail.com


Murder and Love,

~Morgan







 

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Negative review and what's on the agenda

Today I started working on book six in the FBI/Romance series. Darkness of Truth.
So far I've gotten twenty thousand words down. I'm aiming for my customary 190.000 words.
We're taking the assignment back to Red River, and for those of you that read 'True Love Lost' you know what I'm talking about. We're going to run into some of the characters that we met there the first time.
There's conflict and there's drama a plenty.
In this book, Elizabeth is pregnant again, and I won't spill the details since book five 'Fire Burns Hot' isn't out yet (Hang in there. It's due out by the end of the month) I wasn't due to release it until fall, but because the project ran so smoothly, it's out with the woman that runs my ass over the coals (AKA Tammy my proofer.)  She starts working on it tomorrow, and then cover is done and designed. YAY!
Anyway, I'm releasing book four in my vampire series this week The Blood Redemption too, so my plate if full.

I had a bunch of emails from some readers. They posed quite a few questions. One of my favorite was regarding the negative review The Killing Times got on amazon. Here's the answer to that one.
Clearly, the reader was disappointed in the fact that it was heavy on the romance. Yeah, romance books are like that. If they had less romance, they wouldn't be a romance. Anyone that scrolls down to the details of the book can see its classified Then there was the comment about the depth of the characters. Well, you see... When you write a series of books, if you give it all away in the first book then why write sequels?
The whole point of this series is to watch Elizabeth, Ethan and Callen unfold before us. If I put their entire life story in one book, then that would be one hell of a BIG read. The Killing Times is the smallest in the series, at 389 pages. Every book after is at least 500 pages. Depth of character develops over the entire time frame. Not just in the first book.
While I appreciate everyone's opinion on my books, ultimately I know where they're heading from the beginning. Do I lose sleep over the negative?
Nope. If anything it helps me understand the perspective of the reader.
Writing is a craft and even the best have room for improvement.

Off to kill some people and hide the bodies for Elizabeth, Ethan and Callen!


Update on the proofing of Fire Burns Hot. I just had a call from Tammy, my wonder woman. She scared the bejezuz out of me. Apparently, the prologue was a tad bit gruesome.
Yay! (I apologize Tammy, but this isn't your first rodeo. Get back on the horse and get to reading!)
I do like riling up the readers at the beginning of the book, and then soothing it over with a sex and love band-aid!!!

 

Monday, February 25, 2013

Next up on the agenda. Murder, mayhem and me.

Right now I'm neck deep in the editing of my fifth book in a series. Since I'm a firm believer in murder and love, (I know... I'm a romantic at heart.) I decided back in September to write a new series. I wanted to mix mayhem, murder and romance.
I was taking it back to my roots and my first love. The FBI.
Nothing makes me happier than a crime and the mastermind behind it. Out of that love was the birth of Elizabeth LaRue and Ethan Blackhawk.
 
I fell in love with both of them. Elizabeth is tough, bad ass and isn't afraid to take care of business. Ethan Blackhawk is sexy, brooding and dangerous, until he meets Elizabeth and falls head over heels in love.
Together they try to navigate the slippery slope of love and relationships, all while we voyeuristically watch them come together from the comfort of our own couches. I love a good marriage of love and chaos, and I think I've made that happen with these two characters.
 
I guess what my main hope is that when someone reads my books, they fall in love with the characters, they enjoy the twists of the plot, and they remember that love will always win in the end.
As it should!

After someone reads my books, the next question I get is, 'what are you going to do with the characters?' Well, if I told you that would ruin it, but I'll be very honest with you. Until I sit down to write the book, I have no clue. The books have a life of their own, and take off. I'll tell you that book three morphed into something I didn't know was coming, and then led to a big twist in book 4.

I will say this, book five- 'Fire Burns Hot' has been a struggle as a writer. If you've read my books, you know they're peppered with sex. I try to keep it to a minimum (I hate writing sex scenes. They make me uncomfortable. I always wonder if everyone is thinking 'WOW! Morgan is a freak in bed!') Now back to why it's been a struggle. I'm thinking of spinning off the characters in book 5 into their own series, so this book has to be a bit more personal to introduce what's coming and that means more sex than I'm comfortable with myself.
That being said, it's probably my favorite book in the series personally, due to the emotions, the connections and the love story. I actually cried when I read the end of the book. (Yeah- I knew what was coming, but the love story just tripped me up. I'm a puddle of mush. Sue me!)

I did realize that with this book I'm just on sex burn out. (Who woulda thunk?)

Tammy, feel free to call me and make a comment. I'm waiting for it.

Speaking of Tammy, she's really an important part of the Morgan Kelley team. (It does take a village folks to raise a kid and a story line) When you have a really good friend that will listen to you endlessly yap, read your books and be honest with you, then you're very lucky. Tammy is my conscious.

 She's my Jiminy Cricket if you will. If she loves something you know it. If she hates something?  hahahahhaha Oh, you definitely know it. When your phone rings and you see her number on the ID as she's proofing a draft, it's enough to make me break into a sweat. I may kill people for a living, but she scared the bejezuz out of even me.
We did battle on book three and four. Holy Crap! It was tense and stressful. It culminated with me hanging up on her. I know! I'm a horrible, soulless person that should be slapped for being a horrible friend. I'll plead temporary insanity from the stress of putting out four books with 170,000 - 190,000 each in under 6 months as the culprit, and say I'm sorry here and that I love you and appreciate you. I can be a diva, and thank you for just ignoring me most of the time in my rants and exhaustion induced tirades.

Wow! I feel better! Who would have thought confession was this good for the soul???.

Peace and love!
Morgan.





Successful weekend

Over the weekend I decided to allow Kindle to release my first book in the FBI Thriller series for free download. I tossed around the pros and cons, and then went with my initial premise behind my writing.
It's never been about the money. From day one, I've always told people I don't do what I do for the greenbacks. If you've ever been a new author, you'd know why. You've a better chance of getting struck by lightning, while shot, in a bikini, on a whaler in Alaska than becoming a success as a "newbie" writer.
I've been very fortunate, so I paid the good writer karma forward and had almost 2000 downloads in just over 48 hours.
Seriously?
To me that's staggering. I don't know 2000 people personally, so they can't be my family or friends. To top it all off, I actually had positive reviews and emails from readers asking questions. That had to be the highlight of my year.
(And I've had a pretty terrific year!)
I just want to thank anyone reading this that took the time to be bothered to read my book. From the bottom of my heart, it is greatly appreciated. I also want to thank everyone that rated my books on amazon with five stars.
Yay!
When you write and are up for review, there's always this little voice in the back of your head wondering is it going to be seen how you see it? Will someone rip it to pieces and then crucify the vision that I've nurtured and given life to?
It's not easy to take criticism and keep smiling. I know, I've been rejected by publishers and told 'no thank you'. But there is no greater strength than to release your work into the universe and pray that the hands of fate are gentle.
If you've ever read a really bad book, remember this. To someone, it's their baby.

Good, bad or ugly.

Be gentle, and think about how you'd feel if you (insert skill or favorite thing here) and someone ripped it to pieces and laughed while doing it. Compassion is a lost art, and more people should find it again.

Once more, thank you for falling in love with Elizabeth and Ethan.
xoxoxooxoxoxo

Morgan.

Friday, February 22, 2013

The beginning of it all...

Today I decided to start a blog.
Because I don't spend enough time all day writing, editing and thinking.
A few of my readers have been on me about creating another outlet where they can get to know me, so here it is! (Yes, I do actually read and answer your emails personally)
A little about me to start. I happen to have the best damn job in the universe. I get to sit at home with coffee, my cat and jammies to write.
Yes, I'm a writer folks.
I know you've heard that before. Grandma used to fancy herself pretty quick with weaving a tale, or you know someone, who knows someone, who likes to dally with the idea of banging out their memoires.
Well, I'm neither of those.
I am a real writer. I get paid to sell books and E-books. I kid you not!
If you mosey on over to Amazon, or Barnes and Noble, you'll find me there. Now, whether or not I write the things you'll enjoy reading, well that's another story all together.
I believe in writing things that draw us in and make us happy. My joy comes from copious amounts of sex and violence.

Yeah, you read that right.

 I like to kill some unsuspecting victims, hide their corpses, and then play the game of 'whodunit'! (Don't judge me.)
Is my sex tame? Ehhhh... If you think a threesome is nothing to scoff at then I'm probably pretty tame. If you don't mind some graphic love scenes then welcome to my world.  
As for the killing, I've crushed, hung, strangled, drown, burnt, eviscerated, peeled the flesh from, and cut up my victims. (just to name a few)
In future blogs, I plan on talking about the killers that I've written about. So, hang in there okay?
Anyway, back to me. I love my job, my life, and the fun that I have every damn day.
But please don't think it's all fun and games. I have written a 190,000 word novel in ten days. I sometimes work from three in the morning until ten p.m., go to bed for four hours and start all over again. There's days when its sitting here and having time to blog, and there are days when the nose is to the grindstone.
It's not all royalty checks and fun.
Anyone that has ever said a writer doesn't have to bleed for his/her craft hasn't met a real writer. I stand by that assessment. I was once one of those naysayers. To put it into perspective: Everyday is a struggle. An uphill run, wearing a rucksack, carrying twenty more pounds of gear in the blistering sun of the desert, while a drill sergeant screams vile profanities in your ear.
Yeah, that about sums it up.
Editing, proofing and then slaving away until you want to weep from the stress of it all.
That's why I've decided to make this blog. My bestest girlfriend in the whole world has told me I need to chill out and stop control freaking everything to death. (Yes Tammy, I do hear what you say to me.) So, this is my attempt to relax. I promise here that I will let the words flow, that I won't stress punctuation and editing, and I will give you all an insight into the life of me...

Morgan Kelley.