Tag: BETA

I Need Your Help (again)

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Well, we’re Covid-free again.

The plan was to return to work last Wednesday from our failed attempt at vacationing. Except, due to excessive coughing, Batman tore a muscle in his lower back as I was on my way to work, and we ended up rushing him to the emergency room instead.

Fun times.

The fun continued at home when the pain meds (which helped in the hospital) ended up causing waves of nausea, and plummeting Batman into the dark ages of pain, annoyance, irritability, and discomfort. He tried a second pain reliever from the hospital with the same results. Dizziness and nausea. Batman just wasn’t feeling it for the last two weeks, and I got to say – I feel bad for the guy. We’re not in our twenties anymore (sadly) and things just aren’t bouncing back as quickly as they used to. I knew we’d get to a point in our lives where we might have to frequent hospitals, but I didn’t think it’d be in our thirties. (This is after a few back surgeries for Batman, other issues, and now this). I think Annie Potts said it best in Pretty in Pink – “Why can’t we start old and get young?”

Things are going pretty well. Except for the last two weeks of illness, life has been lovely. I feel like I’ve gotten a lot accomplished on my writing/publishing schedule with updating my bio (take a look if you if you care to), updating my back matter (new release info) on my current works, and I’ve even started working on the second book in my companion novella series. WHAT. I know. Already? Yep. This isn’t set to release until June 2023, but it’s always good to have the project started, am I right?

This is where I need your help on two fronts:

  1. Need Character name assistance
  2. Need BETA readers

For the first request, I’m in need of asshole names again. This time – four males. I have placeholder names that can definitely work, but I’m throwing it out in the universe. Did some prick wrong you in the past, and you want to immortalize them as an asshole in my book? Let’s do it. Send me your names and I’ll pick four of them (two main and two supporting) to use in In The Moment Before.

For the second request, who wants to BETA read for me?? (insert personalized compliment just for you).

Book details:

Title: In the Moment Before

Word count: 37,000

Genre/Trope: contemporary romance, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, hidden romance, bullying

Working Blurb:

Robin Drake hates Grayson Knight with a passion. After an embarrassing childhood prank, she’s kept him in the mortal-enemy category, avoiding the troublemaker and his bullying friends whenever possible. As the daughter of a police sergeant in a crime-ridden city, Robin knows she needs to set an example, so when an argument escalates, landing Robin and Grayson in detention, she’s forced to endure not only disappointment from her father, but two weeks with the boy she detests the most.

Assigned to assist the Homecoming Committee, Robin wants to get through her punishment as quickly as possible. But after an interaction with a sleazy basketball player—and an immediate rescue by Grayson—she sees the boy she’s always hated with new eyes. If things weren’t stressful enough, a secret, shared kiss sends everything scrambling, leaving Robin and Grayson to confront feelings that neither expected—or are prepared for.

If this sounds interesting or something you’d like to read, please let me know! I’m aiming to get this to the editor at the beginning of October, so I would need feedback mid September or so. 😊

How is life going with you? Any illnesses? Any upcoming vacations? Any people you want to immortalize in my characters? I’m curious to know all the things.

~ Lady Caitlin

A Little Credit

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Here’s an impossible riddle:

How do I sustain a living from writing without being well-known/famous?

*scratches chin and ponders into the distance*

While I used to want to be famous, and dreamed of sitting on Ellen’s couch discussing all my very popular best-sellers, the image has changed. The dream has changed. I don’t want people to know who I am anymore. If I did, I’d have a podcast, a vlog, a Patreon that I actually work on, in addition to, you know, being regularly active on social media, which I am not.

*continues to scratch chin and ponder*

PLEASE let me know if you’re able to solve this one for me. The only example who comes to mind is Banksy (that’s still a mystery, right?) and while I’m all for sharing my writing anonymously, I’d still like to make some stacks to, you know, pay bills and stuff. So…how to be out there without being out there?

I wish I was better at this. At social media, at advertising, and posting and doing what I should be doing instead of writing about what I should be doing. There are people I can hire to do that for me so I should probably look more into that. Grr. I’m just feeling overwhelmed and insecure and wondering if I even deserve success since the only work I put in is the actual writing part (my favorite part).

In other news, I’m employed again. Woot! Good thing too, because my savings is pretty much non-existent at this point, and I had to reach into my pay-back-loan fund to help with the bills. Meh. Money is money and I can always make more. But since leaving my last position toward the end of July (and after those lovely two weeks of Covid) I rewrote TCATC for the fourth (?) time, and not only is the first draft done, I’m already working through the second draft.

WHAT?!?!

That’s right. I outlined and wrote a whole frigging first new draft (95,500 words) and am onto the second in the interim of jobs. I may suck hard at all business aspects of this, but I’ll pat myself on the back for using EVERY SINGLE DAY to sit at this laptop and type away while only stopping to play with Appa, grab a snack, clean the house (kinda) and look for jobs. No TV. No binging shows or spending hours scrolling on FB. None of that. Pretty much every free moment I had I used to write. So, maybe I should give myself a little more credit. (Not too much though, let’s not get carried away).

SOOO with all that said, I’ll probably be looking for a few beta readers toward the end of the year. I’ll write a short description so you know what you’ll be reading about, should you want to be one of those highly popular VIP betas.

That’s all for me right now. I remembered to post this which is crucial since I missed the last two weeks. Busy writing, you know? And now it’s back to work, so progress will slow a little, but still continue. And even if I never make any money from any of this (kinda like now) I’m still super excited about this story, so I’ve got that going for me. Plus, I’ve got this new job. Look out bill collectors—someone is newly employed and able to pay for services again.

2021, we’re doing okay (except for the whole world burning thing, but let’s not get into that.)

Have a badass week!

~ Lady Caitlin

Calling All BETAS – Assistance Needed

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Guys. I still don’t have a working title. Still. This has never happened.

I have titles for books I haven’t written yet, and I’ve been working on this monster since May so…where the heck is it? Why hasn’t it come to me? GUYS.

This is all very strange. Like my blog, the title usually comes from a sentence in the post, and it’s usually the same with my books. I’ll literally write it out and be like, aha! There it is! Title achieved, bitches. But I’ve gone through like 4 drafts of this thing, and it still hasn’t hit me. Like, at all. Which wouldn’t be disconcerting to me except IT’S ACTUALLY REALLY DISCONCERTING TO ME.

Titles typically correspond to the central character or plot or place, and I’ve gone over their names and the conflict and setting a bunch of times and nothing fits. Nothing even comes close to sounding right. They all sound dopey and forced and I don’t even have working titles to throw together a poll and get some feedback. I literally have nothing.

*nothing*

What does this mean? Do I not truly know what my book is about? That can’t be it. I’m calling on the Gods of writing to assist in this weird new obstacle. How do I overcome it? Do I let Betas make suggestions? Do I keep it (kind of) boring to just the lead character names? What?

That’s the other thing. Although I have—and let me re-emphasize—no working title, I’m nearly ready for other people to look at it. This, by the way, is the scariest part, so just know I’m inwardly hyperventilating as I throw this request into the void-o-sphere. I am now accepting any readers interested who want to take a look at what I’ve got and let me know how to make it better. Help me find plot holes and anything I might’ve missed. Maybe I overuse a term? I do that. Just looking for some feedback, so if you’re not in the market to steal my work, and this sounds like something you want to read, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. Also, maybe you can tell me what my title is? That would be great.

No Working Title includes: alpha male, enemies to lovers, mobsters & vigilantes

Quick blurb: Desperate to leave her crime-ridden hometown, Lilah ends up contacting a local vigilante organization after a friend’s mom is put in the hospital. But when Nik, one of its members, continues to recruit Lilah for assignments, her interest in leaving sways.

This is a high-heat, romantic suspense clocking in at 122K words. Yeah. It’s huge. (That’s what she said.)

Anyway, if this sounds like something you’re interested in, send me an email (Cgcoppolawrites@gmail.com) and we’ll go from there. Yay!

Well, that’s all I’ve got this week. I’m still working on that honeymoon post and will have it up probably sometime in the future. Until then – enjoy your week however you are celebrating it! Happy holidays!

~ Lady Caitlin signing off