Moving over to LYRAPARISH.COM

So it’s already come to that point where I have outgrown the freebie wordpress and well, I decided to get full hosting via go daddy! Woot woot! But unfortunately that means that all of you fine folk that are following me here, will need to (pretty pretty please) follow me over there. I thought it would be the best decision considering having your own .com makes thing a bit more official.

I really hope to see you at… www.lyraparish.com.
I will probably be closing this one down in a few weeks, just so we are all partying in the same place.

Countdown to Weak for Him
9 weeks!
Squee!

<3Lyra P.

The end. Fin.

I wanted to write this while the endorphins are still flowing through my veins. Just an hour ago, I finished the first draft of Weak for Him! OMG OMG OMG OMG! ::insert crazy squee sounds here::

I’ve been plugging away at this for about 3 months and finally, tonight, I wrote those last words : the end.

I had to tuck my bottom lip in, hold back tears, and sigh deeply as to not bust out in tears. (I am an ugly crier and people were around!) The only other time that I had felt like this was whenever I finished a long bike ride, and people cheered me on as I crossed the finished line. Every night that I had stayed up late, every day that I didn’t feel like writing, various notebooks, sticky notes, lessons learned, chatting with all my facebook friends (love y’all), and everything else I went through was entirely worth it. When I wrote those two final words, I knew that I had broken the statistics.

I know that this whole process isn’t really over yet. I still have to do an initial read through, send to my critique partner, send to my 3 betas, send to the editor, all while doing rewrites but it’s still something to celebrate!

These are the actual words, right after I typed them:

I will also have my official cover reveal on Nov 6th, so if anyone would like to sign up to be a part of that, I would love you forever! 🙂

Fin – For now! 🙂

The mental break through

I used to run religiously a few years ago. When I first started training, it was odd, because I found myself hitting mental blocks through my long runs. I wasn’t physically exhausted, but there were times when I had to fight myself all the way to the finish line. Not a force, but more of running through quicksand. My body was fine, but my mind wasn’t in the game but I was determined. Determined to keep fighting, to keep training, to keep moving, until I finished.

There are times when I feel the same way about writing. There are some days when it is smooth sailing and I can push out 6k words, no problem. Other days, I struggle to write 100 before I hit the mental wall. I feel every writer goes through this but I can’t force myself to write whenever my heart isn’t in it. So the past week and a half, I took a mini-vaca and gave my mind time to relax and re-cooperate from working a day job, and two small odd literary jobs. My love is writing, my passion is writing, and although I may hit mental walls, I will break through them. I will write through them.

On another note…. I really love the way that Weak for Him is coming together. I am halfway through with draft 1 and next week I am dedicating all of my extra time towards finishing draft 1. I am determined and I can’t really think about anything more. I will let it sit for a week, throw it into grammarly, pre-edit, and then my goal is to send it to an editor and have it returned by the week of Thanksgiving. 🙂 I hope to have my arcs ready before Christmas and want to hit that shiny green publish button on January 15th! Starting the new year off on a good foot!

Just checking goodreads not too long ago, already have almost 200 TBR! How cool is that?

Christian Grey and Amazon, wtf!

 

It seems the literary world went wild while I was on vacation and had a lot of catching up to do once I returned! Seriously. I found out that Charlie will no longer be playing Christian Grey and that the indie erotica authors (my buds, represent!) are livid and disgusted with Amazon, Kobo, and Barnes.

The witch hunt has begun and it took days of reading countless blogs and news updates, along with facebook feeds, to finally understand what exactly is going on and it worries me. It worries me because I feel like indie authors are being attacked. Erotica is not inappropriate! Just because an author has the word sister, brother, and sex in a blurb, doesn’t mean they are all doing it together.

Image from FTFR.ORG

Many authors (many who are my friends) livelihoods are based from their book sales, books that were removed for no reason. I understand that some novels that are published are inappropriate to some, depending on who you are, but that doesn’t mean it should be removed. I think the readers should be able to decide what they want to read, based on whether they purchase or not. Silencing writers (especially indie and small publishers) will only hurt the big brother book corporations. They will find another way to release their works. I wouldn’t be surprised if an online book supplier popped up and allowed anyone and everyone to publish, will not ban books in the disclaimer. There currently seems to be a need for a site that is based from NOT silencing. If I had a million dollars, and a few developers in my pocket, I would create one in a heart beat!

All of the hoo-ha also worries me because Weak for Him could be considered contemporary erotica. Will the novel that I have been working on for months and months be removed once it is published? Will I even stand a chance or survive the indie author attacks? I honestly don’t know. All I can do is keep writing and take my chance. The indie scene is currently in an uproar and I feel that this isn’t the end.

Quotes from Weak for Him!

It seems it has become harder and harder to write especially with upcoming holidays, and the various vacations I have planned in October.

But friends and fans, so do not fret! I wanted to share a few of my favorite quotes from Weak for Him.

**

“This isn’t your fairy tale and I’m not your Prince Charming. So quit looking at me like I rescued you from an evil witch. I didn’t.” -Finn

**

“If I command you, you will obey…and, if you don’t, you’ll wish you did.” -Finn

**

“You’re not the first one to think I am incredibly handsome. But I’m not for you, and never will be.”

**

“We don’t sleep where we play. Get dressed, Jennifer.”

**

“My virginity was comparable to the golden ticket in Willie Wonka. Everyone wanted it, but only one could have it.”

**

“My intentions were never to hurt you, or make you fall in love with me. I wanted to break you down, and build you back the way I wanted. It worked, didn’t it?”

**

“I’m not playing games. What you see is what you get. The rest is for your fantasies.”

**

“You’ve turned me into a sex-craved monster.”

“No, Miss Downs, I just unlocked the door.”

**

“Not all of my girls submit to me, only those that were born to.”

**

Ooooooh! I cannot wait to let you all read this one! Just thinking about it makes me want to lock myself in my writers cave and never come out! 🙂

Writing like the wind

This weekend, I have a word goal of 20k words. Do you think I can do it? I might not shower, I might now bathe, but I will write like the wind!

I am curious as to how all of you make and meet your word goals. I don’t like the pressure, but I work well under it. Maybe it’s just a vicious cycle of insanity!

It’s 2am here in Texas and I am still going. I want to be finished with the first draft of Weak for You by Oct 1st. I’ve even hired a professional cover artist! Squee!

September : Goals

Hi!

Hope everyone’s labor day weekend was safe and full of yummy bbq! My day was great, went shopping, biking, and even bought a few bottles of wine from a Texas Winery that is only a few hours away. It was a great day to be out and about. Plus the weather was nice, hot, but nice! Blue skies, fluffy clouds, and an unlimited amount of things to do!

I cannot believe it is September. Fall is my favorite season. The way the air feels in my face, crispy leaves, pumpkins, ahhhhhh… love the fall!

Also, I’ve decided that at the beginning of each month, I am going to write 3 things I want to accomplish so I can better keep up with my short-term goals.

1. Hit the halfway mark for Trapped by the Night
2. Commission a professional cover artist
3. Write at least 12 blog posts

Before I forget, thanks to everyone who has followed me so far. It’s nice to know that someone cares. As you know, I am very new to being active on social media, so it’s a good feeling whenever I see people are actually paying attention to what I am saying so thank you! 🙂

Novel Research & Wormholes

As a child, investigating why something worked the way it did, intrigued me. If you were to ask my mother, she would probably say I was a “why child.” I always wanted to know why something was the way that it was. Now that I am a grown-up, we have a little thing called google, which warms my little investigator heart. Usually, if I have a question about something, or need to cross check references, Google is my BFF. Back in the day, people used things like encyclopedias and newspaper articles. I am guilty of taking information for granted, no denying that.

Today, I was doing a little research on cars. More specifically the mirror that pops down from the sun visor. I know it’s silly but I wanted to know exactly what it was called, ahem, vanity mirror. So one thing led to another and I found myself researching hand mirrors. Which brought me to researching mirrors in the Medieval period. Did you know, “glass mirrors completely disappeared, because during those times religious confessions stated that devil is looking and watching the world from the opposite side of a glass mirrors. Poor fashionable ladies had to use a polished metal mirrors or special water bowls instead of glass mirrors.” How interesting!  (Incase you’d like more info, the above information came from this site.)

All of this inspires me to write an entire story about mirrors in Medieval times. Magical Mirrors! See how the mind wanders? I think google is a worm hole of information and this is why I need to research and write separately! It’s such a dangerous combination, add youtube and I am done for! 🙂

xoxox
Lyra Parish

I am Lyra Parish.

Hello! This is my first post. I know I do not have any folllowers yet, but I hope to one day.

I love writing. I feel people’s words hold great power behind them, that words can change the world. Before I wrote, I read religiously but I am not a genre snob. I love fantasy, contemporary romance, alternative history, dystopia, etc. It doesn’t matter if it’s young adult or adult or the in between, new adult.

I tend to write novels that have a romantical element to them, along with urban fantasy. I’ve dabbled in contemporary but I’ve always felt like something was missing.

I’m a little new to the writing world and hope I am accepted with open arms. I do have a wattpad account where I am posting unedited pieces of “Trapped by the Night”, which will release early 2014.

My wattpad account is http://www.wattpad.com/lyraparish … Hope to see you there!

Other than that, I like to sing and dance but am not very good at either. I love the mountains, traveling, and camping. I occasionally bike and hike. I also like taking pictures.

It’s nice to meet you all.