Haven't posted in a while. Here's a review on things that happened book-wise.

I realized I haven't compile my list of books yet. 

My first book, the first book that I entered NaNo with is published in 2011. Available on MizanStore and GooglePlay in print and ebook format. 

Author: D.F.Jules

Genre: Paranormal, YA, adventure, action, romance

Summary (As seen on Goodreads)

My name is Leah Curran and my life sucks

While other people inherit boxes of junk from their relatives, my family inherits powers. And not even cool powers. I have the ability to sense Angels, Demons and most importantly the Touched; people who are graced and cursed with the power of Angels and Demons, responsible for keeping the balance between Good and Evil. When it came to them, my mother only had one rule; avoid them at all cost. I broke that rule and lost my mother because of it.

Now I try to live a quiet, careful life with my uncle’s family and my best friend, Gabe. But once in a while the universe likes to kick you in the face just to remind you that you are small and insignificant. The Touched are gathering in my small little town of nowhere, and some of them know me and know what I can do. Some of them want to hurt me, some of them want to use me, and so little few want to protect me. Avoiding them is no longer an option.

I will finally have the chance to do something that I have been hopelessly wishing for since the night my mother disappeared; a chance to fight back.

I have been waiting for this, I have trained for this. It’s time to do or die.

Available at: MizanStore  (Print. DeadTree version), GooglePlay (ebook, friendly to foreign-buyers), WayangForce (ebook).

The second book I did on NaNoWriMo.

Author: D.F.Jules

Genre: Paranormal, fantasy, YA, action, romance, adventure

Summary (as seen on Goodreads)

Lorelei Wong is a simple and ordinary girl. She fights with her mother, she goes to school, she paints and she hangs out with her friends. 

She is completely ordinary—

—in spite of the fact that her three best friends—the Lyall boys; Kai, Colin and Channing—are werewolves and that she is the only human growing up in a werewolf pack.

Other than that, she is completely normal.

Or so she, and most of the people around her, thought.

Until one day she is told that she isn’t; that she is in fact a key element that can either help or destroy the very people she calls family, the very people she calls pack. And the Packs, already dwindling in number because of The Great Pack War, responds very seriously to threats.

Suddenly, Lorelei doesn’t have the option of being just a girl, she must be smart and sneaky and strong in order to survive, because being what she is, the packs will want to either own her, use her or destroy her.

And if she dies, she knows all her three boys will follow--and that is something she will never accept. 

In order to bargain for their lives, she must learn to deal and control her powers under the tutelage of her mother, but soon she learns that power doesn't come for free and Lorelei has to figure out if the price for a life is greater than the price of her soul.

Available at: Wayang Force (ebook: PDF format)

On NaNoWriMo 2014 I'm doing Till Death Do Us (Not) Part.

I haven't a cover yet but here is the summary also seen on Goodreads:

Seth Matthews and his two siblings, Nadia and Nate, have a knack for finding trouble, or as they often protested, trouble have a way of finding them.

But with a family history like theirs, mischief-making is in their blood.

In a world of Affinity-users, Seth, Nadia and Nate have the Affinity with the dead, mainly ghosts. People like them are called Reapers, a designation that is usually treated with respect and admiration. But the black mark upon their family brought the siblings' day-to-day life under scrutiny from Affinity Elders.

Handling the burden of prejudice and suspicion in their own unique way together with their Bond-Ghosts--ghosts who are tethered to their souls whose sole job is to guard their bodies from possession--Seth, Nadia and Nate stumbles upon a mystery where Bond-Ghosts are disappearing one by one.

Now they have to work together to figure out who is behind the disappearances before accusing fingers point toward them...and before their own Bond-Ghosts, Darling, Lizzie and Vincent disappear as well.

Last year I did my book DreamWalkers but it's still not done yet because of reasons.  But you can read chapter 1 and 2 (as usual I will be periodically posting up chapters as I go along) here:

DreamWalkers is a book that I had a lot of trouble to begin with, not only because the vagueness concept but because of the characterization of my main character Medea. Medea struggles a lot with her demons and most of the time her demons wins and I'm not that person but when I write this story I have to become that person and it is hard. It became hard for me to sleep, it became hard for me to be around people, I'm anxious all the time, I focused on the negative and I'm angry and often times vindictive. It's uncomfortable. So I have to stop from time to time as I write which of course makes the book slow going. 

I will one of these days put on my big girl panties and hunker down to finish this book in the near future, the story is too interesting not too. 

BTW, I am also on Goodreads. 

Curls, Fruit Juice and Writing

Lately, I've been scouring youtube for hair tutorials and I finally found a video that works for me. BeautyKLove is kind of awesome at this, her tutorials are simple and quite easy to do. I love her heatless, no product tutorials because I tend not to use both. And like her I also have thick long hair though my hair is frizzy and out of control. I should probably try her natural hair masks and the lot, it seems to be working for her.

Anyway, this is a tutorial I tried last night. I might have done one or two things wrong and I didn't even dampen my hair but it still works! Th curls are gorgeous, now let's see how long it would last on my hair.

Yes, my hair is that out of control. 

For me, this technique actually made my hair more orderly and smooth at the top (because the cocoon weighted my hair, so the the hair on my head is pulled straighter and smoother), and it prevent curls and such. I slept with my hair in the cocoons and no it didn't bother me at all, you have to make sure you do the cocoons properly though so it wouldn't loosen in the middle of the night. But seriously, it's worth it. My hair has never looks so good.

I would take a picture of the result but my camera is crap and my hair is a pretty dark color so all you can see is dark hair and none of the curls.

Her braid tutorials are also awesome, like this one!

My mom was here two days ago and I took the opportunity to buy a lot of fruits so I can make juice. I don't really use a lot of sugar in my juices I usually just let the sweetness of the fruit to come through. Yesterday was watermelon juice, today it's avocado.

The weather was totally hot yesterday so the chilled watermelon juice did wonders for my mood.

DreamWalkers is doing pretty great and I'm going to edit it and update chapter 3 to post today. About the Wolf Series, I'm still going over the contract while Mey Yeng is redoing the covers for me. She presented the  rough result yesterday and it looks EXACTLY has how I wanted. It looks BEAUTIFUL.

I'm also editing Wolf at the Door so I won't get any surprises. 

Sleeping Song, Sen oh Sen and Writing

Oh, how I love listening to this song when I'm going to sleep. And I so, so love the arrangement and the lyric.

She like the fragrant taste of rain 

Rests in my senses relentless, restless 

Dripping and diving in taunting drops 

Through my blue sky barren being 

And I am searching for the sign of the smallest cloud 

Split to disintegrate upon the ground and 

Gasping, cracking like the skin of my craving tongue 

Dry like the veins of a heart without love 

And I cannot tell the way she feels away from me 

Like a layer to be shed 

It is carved in stunning shapes and patterns on my soul 

Carried like dreams to places nobody could never go 

Carried like dreams to places nobody cannot go

I get chills when words are used and shaped so beautifully. And I love the way the words sound and linger on my tongue and echoes inside my chest. Such powerful things, words.

Book is finally shaping up. Sen is a much more interesting character than I thought and I giggle everytime I discover more of him. He's simply delicious. So laidback and yet so capable of bulldozing over everything he considers unimportant. So rigid over the rules unless it is a rule that he wants to break. He gets obsessive about things that he like and dismissive over what he doesn't. So dependable and yet untamed. Delicious. *cackles*

And we've finally reached the scene where my favorite character shows up: YOHAN!!!! My sly and secretive Yohan, my expressive, artistic Yohan, my steady-as-rock Yohan, my unpredictable and heartbreaking Yohan. *sighs with satisfaction*

I'm surprised how different Medea is when she is with Yohan, in fact I'm surprised by how mutable she is. She changes character whenever she changes company, it's kind of worrisome. I don't have a steady grip onher character yet, but perhaps that's the whole point, since she is bleep and since she's been bleep, of course she is bleep.

#campnanowrimo day 7 wordcount: 4182. Slow but steady. I am pleased so far with our progress.

Should Be Writing...

..but spent hours mooning over the photo of my cats. I know, I'm going to be the crazy cat lady. But don't really care. I miss my cats. *whimper*

Other than that, writing is going good. Sometimes you need to take a step back from what you're writing and let it simmer inside your head for a little. You will find several angles and facets to plots or characters that you wouldn't have found if you wrote full speed, sure you tend to have to edit what you've written but it's worth it. Your story will be richer for it. Of course, taking a step back often is followed by procrastination so you have to watch yo'self. 

Do laundry, wash the dishes, sweep the floor, maybe exercise to clear out the cobwebs inside your cluttered brain, do something trivial, something that moves your body but don't really need you to fully engaged your brain so you can mull over something that's iffy with your story. 

It works. Trust me.

Life has been...pretty stagnant really. But then again I can count on one hand on the many times I actually went out since I moved. The only human contact--if you can call it that--is through the internet and I'm cool with that as I'm not into a whole lot of, you know, that.

But, to be honest, since I have so much time on my hands, perversely, my writing has suffered. Apparently, my best writing happens when I'm under pressure. Without pressure, without a time limit, I tend to play around. Now I have to set a time limit for myself, but I'm not really good with discipline. 

My two sisters are off on a trip for two full days.

TIME TO START WRITING!!!!

Then the blackout happened. The electricity just came on and now I have to sleep. I think. Right after rewatching The Avengers.

I KNOW, WHERE IS MY WILL POWER?

Apparently, it died when MUSE flippantly decided to change the personality of main male character on the book that I've been writing for 2 1/2 months.

At first I was all SCREW YOU, MUSE, YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME and decided to persevere on my first draft....but Muse is being a bitch about it.

So I have to start all over again.

Joy.

I Need a Break from This Book

One of the joys of writing to me is the way as I write, I would often find myself in each and one of my characters either 'good' or 'bad'. Sometimes I hate them for it, sometimes I love them for it but either love or hate, I understand them better because of it and in understanding them, I understand myself even more.

It is through them that I sometimes realize a problem that I should be dealing with or an obstacle that I should have dealt with but didn’t, sometimes I see a solution to a problem that I’m currently dealing with or a better understanding of what happened in the past years of my life or why I did the things I did.

Sometimes, as in most cases, I find pieces of myself that hadn’t the chance to show themselves in my main characters and it amuses me, sometimes it confuses me. 

This character though that I’m working on disturbs me a little bit. Okay, a lot.

In Leah, my character in the Touched series, I see the stubborness in me, the spite and fury and pride that often pulls me back from what I should have done. But it felt good to be in Leah’s skin because she is strong, she is capable, and she is surrounded by people who love her and because she is sure of herself and what she can do and because she keeps her chin up and is able to adapt quickly within her life. She might not be able to fight her fate, or to elude her destiny, but by God she would fight it every inch of the way. And I respect that fierceness in her, her strong grip on her sense of self. Leah is, for better or worst, a survivor.

In Lorelei, my character in the Wolves series, I find cunning and caution and compromise. Lorelei will not move until she knows all the consequences, she knows how to move people, to influence people with words and with actions. Although she is powerless at first among powerful people, she is able to pin-point what needed to be done and she would either do it herself or find somebody who has the right tools to do so.

Lorelei is not only smart but intelligent, when people look down on her, she merely goes around them and does whatever she wants anyway. Again, she is someone who is secure in herself that she doesn’t need approval from anybody. While everybody would be so busy grandstanding you can always see Lorelei at the background trying to find a way to solve the problem as best as she can. Lorelei doesn’t want to be the great pooh bah, she doesn’t want power or a grand position. She only wants people to feel happy and get along. People might find that weak, or gullible or say that's she's a pleasure, but that side of her that wants to help, that is willing to give, that is selfless, I find that admirable. And it's humbling and mortifying to be in her skin because I know I don't have those qualities in me. But once in a while I would have to do something and I think "Lorelei would find the strength and the caring to do it" and I would swallow my pride or selfishness and did what needed to be done.

Medea though, in this NaNoWriMo book, is...she’s different. She’s like the female version of Justin (anyone whose read my posts on writing Touched series, knows how baffled I am of his character), I can’t pin point her, I can’t relate much to her because she doesn’t relate to anyone, she doesn’t love, she doesn’t fight, she doesn't live--if you know what I mean. Medea lives like a ghost passing through, because of her condition--her nightterrors and darkness--she’s currently living in the edge of her sanity. She concentrates on living one day at a time, a wrong move and she will crack and break open. Medea avoids the very whisper of confrontation, she shies away from strong emotions, she doesn’t get mad, she doesn’t hate, she’s in a constant state of antipathy. She doesn’t plan ahead, she doesn’t have dreams, she doesn’t have friends, and she lives in constant fear of people thinking her crazy or that her adopted parents will see how damaged she is and exchange her with a better child.

And writing her opens up cracks inside me in ways that I’m scared of, makes me see things that I’d rather not about myself, feel things that—I feel sad all the time. I go around in a state of near tears. It’s horrible to be this fearful and this empty, to have this certainty that you are unwanted. That somehow you can disappear and everything around you won't change. 

Terrifying thought, ain't it? And selfish.

Things happened in my life that makes me fear abandonment, and I guess the way I deal with that is by sorting my relationships in neat little boxes, by compartmentalizing each section of my life into different categories. I choose people who has certain aspects that makes me able to shake loose from them. If you don't get too close, it won't hurt too much when they leave you. I give them some of my time, then spend most of it alone as if to prove to myself that yeah, I can survive being alone. And I do like being alone. I'm not saying I don't boo hoo woe is me, but sometimes I wonder how much of my solitary habit is because of just me and my hermit habits and how much is because of fear. 

And then there are darker thoughts. And Medea has really dark thoughts add to that her nightterrors and her inabillity to sleep...you kind of get why she's so desperate and alone and frustrated and empty. 

How she wants everything to just end.

Then there is the Fae. Creepy buggers. I've never taken a shine to the Fae world because they creep me out. I have no problem with vampires, and ghosts, and zombies, and werewolves because for better or worse, they were humans once. We can understand them but the Fae were never human. While the vamps and werewolves and zombies can kill you, the Fae--like Elena says--they won't kill you, they will unmake you. 

Putting myself into the Fae's shoes, being so crafty, and manipulative, and sick, and twisted, and ruthless, and ageless, and so willing to hurt people kind of makes me feel like I need to take a shower every few minutes. To find myself thinking of such thoughts makes me feel *shudder*.

Due to my emotional condition, I need to take a break from this book and start on another. Something less hopeless, and less dark. 

So...yeah. 

Dear Life

Hm...haven't been here in a while.

I just moved from one office to another and this office that I am in now has more privacy than the last one. Not to mention, I have more free time here.

Which is awesome.

And Meda has become the sacrifice since I took her space upstairs and she took mine downstairs.

Ha. Sorry, kid.

I've been...not great health-wise, other than that, I'm pretty good.

I'm sleeping well and eating well which is...

I haven't been writing though. And I haven't been dreaming either. Not that I can remember that is. There's always that sense that I did dream but the memory of it quickly disappears.

Meda and I haven't killed each other yet even though we live day in and day out with each other, there were friction as expected but we ignore it and move on.

I really need more time to write.

News on publishing, I've asked about the pre-order option but no news about that.

Man, publishing books take forever.

Original Poetry: Mortal

You have seen the world with weary eyes 

Have stepped upon the wonders of the world, spread at your feet 

Have tasted such feasts, experienced such pleasure, have indulged your senses— 

But have you ever dreamt a dream such as mine? 

Lived a life such as mine? 

Loved a love such as mine? 

I am mortal. 

I have dreamt dreams of a mortal man, lived a life of a mortal man, loved the love of a mortal man. 

Where every touch of joy carries the sting of sadness 

Every press of courage lies a bombardment of fear 

Every second passing has the weight of centuries 

Where every movement shuffles you closer to death 

I am mortal. I am dying. I am strong. 

Copyright © 2011 by D.F. Jules

PUBLISHING NEWS!!!

Guys, guys, the publisher told me that book 1 of the Touched series: The Sword, will come out the latest at mid-February. Mid-February, guys, MID-FEBRUARY!!! AT THE LATEST!!!

COVER NEWS!!!

So, the story is, editor reread final manuscript of The Sword and felt that the original cover--

--which is this one:

--suits Leah perfectly.

And, of course, I agreed with her, so it's decided that we're going to use the original covers:

NEW STORY BLOG

Since #GoV is still such a mess, I'm going to share you the other story that came to me. Here there be snippet, title is FATELESS! It's a story about the ficklness of fate (obviously), desert pirates, riches, betrayal, love, friendship,swordfights, political intrigue, and most of all magic. 

Updates on Guardians of Volk

Wohoo, writing is going GREAT...and I'm hoping I'm not jinxing myself for later. But anyway, here are snippets, yes, snippet with an s, there are 2 snippets for you read!!!!

GUARDIANS OF VOLK SNIPPETS

The awesome thing is, I've finally figured out what to write on the 2nd and 3rd book, well, actually I just merged some ideas for books together and voila, awesomeness!!! It's really going to be GREAT!!!

FAQ

Since I'm getting ready for NaNo I thought I'll answer some questions from readers, simultaneously doing an analysis of my characters so far.

Q:  Why are your MCs Asians or half Asian?

A: Um, probably because I'm Asian?

Q: Don't you think that Leah and Lei are frighteningly similar?

A: Huh. Actually, this has never occurred to me because to me the differences between them are pretty clear cut. Leah, my character from Touched is damaged by the disappearance of her mother and her part in causing that. She's spent her life containing herself, practicing self-disciplined and controlling her every reaction and her feelings. She does her very best to not attract attention, ever. Leah doesn't have a social life, she rarely goes out and more often spends her time trapped inside her home out of necessity. Outside of her family and Gabe, she doesn't have a social life. Leah is very prickly, very cynical, and no matter how much she tries to control her emotions, she is very honest with it; she gets angry when she's angry, and sad when she gets sad and tends to be very explosive with expressing her feelings. She handles violence in a very practical way and it is possible that her morals are somewhat skewed. 

There's not a lot of things in her life that she can control, even her own body, so Leah is very strict with herself and in her martial arts training. 

Lei much from WATD has a happy childhood, especially once she met the Lyall boys. She has a quick wit and has this steadiness to her that people gravitates to. She is ever polite and watchful and careful. She's also loyal and protective. Family and Pack is everything to her and she would do anything to protect it. She has a straight view of justice and right or wrong when it comes to her friends and family and Pack Protocal but when it is about herself, Lei is pretty chaotic and careless.

Her artistic bent often makes Lei the observer in every situation she was in, and raised under the tutelage of her mother, and the Alpha Pair, she can also get very cagey and manipulative although it is not in her nature. 

As the only human in a wolf pack, she has her insecurities, but she handles them pretty well. She is fairly tolerant but is able to easily adapt to every situation that comes her way. 

When Leah often fights her way to acceptance, Lei bends naturally....just as long as she could see an advantage in there somewhere. When Leah often mouths off, Lei watches and listens. When Leah uses her fist, Lei uses her words and her delicate looks. 

Both of them are intelligent and strong and fighters, but they have different strengths to them. 

Q: Why do your female MCs always knows martial arts? Do you equate their ability to kick ass to strength?

A: My MCs know martial arts because I LOVE martials, because I want my characters, being in constant danger, to be smart enough to learn some skills in order to protect themselves.

But both Leah and Lei has very different views about martial arts. For Leah,  it is her way of having control, to vent her anger and to fight the feeling of helplessness that often washes over her. It is also her way of bonding with her family and with Gabe. For her martial arts is power and a way of life. It's a mental thing for her.

For Lei, at first martial arts is just something that she had to do, it was the condition that Cana and Caleb gave, if she wanted to hang out with her, she should know how to defend herself. Then as she grew up and learn the way of the blade from Cana, she begins to like it, it was something between her and Cana, something that she could do alone, something that sets her apart from the boys. Something that gave her confidence because she was good at it. 

But, that's pretty much it. 

WATD news

FINALLY DONE WITH EDITING AND REVISING MY JUNE NANO. With a total of 136.084 words and 502 pages.

Okay NaNoWriMo, what you got? #WATD

WATD Songmix: A Heart That Can't Be Broken Is Not Worth Anything

Here's a SongMix that I've made for #WATD. It's a two parter and this is the first one. I picked certain lyrics that fit a certain scene in the book and inserted youtube videos of said song. Enjoy!!!

Updates

Hey, another update for you for NaNoWriMo's Guardian of Volk! Nothing really special, just more updates on dreamcast!

Updates

To repay my readers for their awesomeness. I give a snippet from the last chapters of WATD, a revealing dialog between The Lycaon and Kai.

Don't say that I never do anything for you readers!!!!

Updates!!!

Hi ya folks. Good news!!! Agreement for Touched is almost done so, we can start on the publishing (thank God). And I am also almost done with with editing and reviewing WATD; was going to write only 2 chapters for the ending but then decided on 3, then hey, decided to just merge 2 chapters into one so ended up with 2 chapters for the ending yet again.

I plan to add more angst for the last chapter especially the part where Kai and Lei says goodbye. I know, all of you are going to hate me.

Anyway, have updated the dreamcast on WATD, and will later on add more to the dreamcast.

Still undecided about how the plot is going to go for Guardians of Volk, but am excited to do it for NaNo!!! Wish me luck!!!!

Have been experiencing vertigo lately, my blood pressure must be crashing down, down, down. Am also fixing sleeping habits.

My corner of Indonesia has been so hot and buggy lately, so I get sweaty a lot and when I sweat, I often get itchy and my skin gets rashes and not to mention my allergies act up.

At least it rained today, so I'm hoping that it would clear up some of the damp heat. Urgh. Still means that I shower three times a day though. Ha. 

The Three Cities news!!!

Tuesday, 09 October 2012

Peeps, The Three Cities Blog is LIVE.

Blogs Moved

This is my laziness talking, since I'm starting a new story for NaNoWriMo; The Three Cities Series, and it is my habit to upload a chapter into a blog, I realized, hell, why so many blogs when I can just put it in one? Duh.

So, this is my attempt on being more organized. I can sense the impending migraine a month away. Wish me luck!!

To those who wonder why I name this blog Inside MadHatter's Hat, well, I often call the inside of my head as my very own Wonderland where I skip-a-long inside my very own world not unlike Alice...but I relate more to Mad Hatter than the blond, blue eyed girl. *shrug*