...Book 3 Release!...

Available in ebook and paperback

Where to buy: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks

Hope brought them together, but it's now fear that drives them...

...and threatens to tear them apart.

Zoe and her companions succeeded in rescuing Dani from the Colony. But not without sacrifice. Beaten and broken, they head west, determined to leave behind the torment and horrors they experienced in Colorado.

As Dani and Zoe make the perilous trek home to Bodega Bay, they learn that danger can take many forms--other survivors, their friends, even themselves--and that things are rarely what they seem. Zoe is desperate to become the woman she sees in others' memories, while Dani struggles to conceal damaging secrets, risking losing herself--her humanity--completely. Together, they must rediscover the true meaning of friendship, love, and trust, and learn just how hard they're willing to fight for what remains of their shattered world.

As relationships are put to the test, second chances are given, and new life emerges, death lurks in the most unlikely of places. To survive, Dani and Zoe must accept that sometimes hope alone isn't enough.

Where to buy: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks

...Writing is like Skittles...

A special thank you to Sylv Jenkins for hosting me as a guest blogger this fine Saturday! If you'd like to learn more about me, The Ending Series, the controversy surrounding our genre (or lack thereof), you might find this particular post interesting....

Writing stories is like eating Skittles, I want to taste the rainbow.

By Lindsey Pogue, Co-author of The Ending Series

Being a new-ish author, I feel like I’ve been treading water over the past few years, trying to navigate authorship-ism-ology to the best of my ability without drowning. There are plenty of things that are difficult about being an indie author, like marketing and book covers, editing and more marketing…If you want to produce high-quality work to the best of your ability, to get your work out there, gaining a loyal readership, then you’ve got to work hard at it. But that’s not necessarily the most difficult part of being an author.

Finding a niche is easy, for most people…

The most looming question of all is, which genre do I write for when I love reading them all? That might seem like an easy answer to some, but having a controversial series under my belt that’s gotten both rave and scathing reviews because it so delicately balances so many genres, has made me question where I stand as an author.

Other authors have told me to avidly read the genre I want to write so that it will make me a better writer, and so that I’ll understand what works well and all the key components to those types of stories. Well, I have seven bookshelves in my house chockfull of historical fiction, historical romance, contemporary romance, new adult, dystopian, science fiction, literary fiction, the list goes on. So, what do I do when my mind is a bottomless pit of possible story ideas that span the breadth of many genres? Yes, I’m fully aware this is a first-world problem, but it’s a problem for me nonetheless. I’m an author, I want to make my fans happy, just like all authors do.

YA? New Adult? Science-Fiction? Romance?

Until I actually started working on The Ending Series with my co-author and dear friend, Lindsey Fairleigh, I never saw myself writing science-fiction, let alone thought the first book I’d publish would ever be considered so; I never read science-fiction and had no interest in writing it. Obviously, things worked out much differently than expected.

Three years, three books, and six novellas later, LF and I are writing our fourth and final installment in our emotionally charged, post-apocalyptic world of The Ending. Perhaps it’s because of our series’s inability to “fit” in anywhere that I am so curious about my own personal writing future. People equally love and hate After The Ending. The feedback is all over the board—it’s too emotional for sci-fi, it’s too girly and the content too young to be adult fiction, but the themes are too adult for YA…see where I’m going with this?  

So, that poses the question I keep asking myself, what will I write next? Where will it fit in? Do I care? Yes, I care, but I know I shouldn’t let that stop me.

Writing stories is like eating Skittles, I want to taste the rainbow.

I’ve been writing all my life, completing my first YA manuscript when I was in high school. I was so proud of myself, thinking, oh yeah, this is my niche for sure! I’m gonna be a writer! Woot! Woot! Yeah, well, then my genre of choice changed, and I went completely off the path and ended up writing science fiction—romancey, new adult sci-fi, but sci-fi all the same. I still want to write them all—the fantastical and gritty real life—and just thinking about the possibilities gets my gears turning and revved up for my next writing adventure. Let me tell you, when your book doesn’t fit nicely into a package, you open yourself up to harsher reviews from people who were expecting one book but got another, and when it’s not cookie cutter, your book is much more difficult to market.

But, over the past year or so, I’ve realized something: nothing is black and white. There are tons of authors out there who write historical fiction and paranormal romance, erotica and thrillers. While it generally works out best if a story easily fits into a genre as I mentioned above, that won’t always be the case. So why have I been trying to box myself in? As far as I can tell, there is no single choice to be made if I want to be myself, to write what I’m passionate about.

So folks, apparently finding a niche in the writing world isn’t as easy for me as it is for other authors. But then, I’ve decided to give myself a break. I need to do what feels right. I don’t have to choose one single genre. I can be diverse as long as I can accept the can of worms that comes with it. After all, diversity is what makes good writers, right?

As long as there’s some romance, please.

Assuming that twenty years from now I’ve written stories across many genres and I’m still going strong, there’s one thing I know they’ll all have in common. Romance. YES! Nothing makes me happier than creating new brooding characters or jokesters or hotshots with cocky grins, and some of our fans most beloved characters are those very ones. This gives me hope and a strange sense of security that no matter what I decide to do, if they loved The Ending Series, people will enjoy all that comes next from LF and I as well.

If you’re interested in reading After The Ending and forming your own opinion on the matter, you’re in luck! It's currently on sale for 99 cents over on Amazon!

...Audible, we have arrived!...

We've been working on it for a couple of months with our fabulous narrator, Natalie Duke, and the After The Ending audiobook is finally available. We're so very, very excited for you all to hear it!

...which you can do right now on Amazon, Audible, or iTunes. You can listen to a sample at each of those places, too. :)

....Looking back at 2013....

***If you don't want to know anything personal about me, you may as well stop reading now***

So earlier this week I was having lunch with a friend and she said she was so proud of all that I accomplished this year. Of course, I thanked her and then waved away her compliment like most people would do.

But she didn't let it go.

As she began to remind me of some of the exciting and turbulent moments in 2013 (in both my personal and professional life), I was sort of in awe.

If you take a step back, you would probably feel the same.

I realized that so much happens in 365 days, and often it's difficult to celebrate our accomplishments...but that's the point of them if we don't take a step back and appreciate what we've overcome or experienced?

So, I wanted to take a moment to recap the last year of my life. I would also ask you to do the same and if you feel like sharing something with me, that would be even better. What have you overcome? What are you proud of and what lessons have you learned?

Here goes my brainstorming list....

Professionally:

1. L2 Books, a company LF and I started, turned a profit!
2. We wrote and published 2 well-received books in The Ending Series.
3. I managed to hold-down both a part-time day job working at a non-profit while juggling my commitment to writing and my time with the fiance.
4. I've started my own solo writing project that I hope to have finished by the end of 2014.
5. After The Ending became a best selling Nook and Kindle ebook.
6. We had our first book signing and write up in the paper.
7. I've been in contact with some of my favorite authors who I never in a million years would have thought I'd get the opportunity to communicate with.
8. Gotten horrible reviews....gotten FABULOUS reviews

Personally:

1. My boyfriend and partner in crime celebrated eight years together.
2. AND he proposed in the most romantic, absolutely perfect place I've ever been too in my life.
3. My mom moved away, a difficult and strange transition for me that I'm still learning how to cope with and process.
4. Dennis, my now fiance, was in a mountain biking accident (which scared me TO DEATH) and had to have surgery. Thankfully he's doing well now.
5. We rescued our furry, fat boy Beast.
6. I experienced Yellowstone and Montana for the first time and it was absolutely amazing!
7. D and I took a road trip to Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon...then we stopped in Vegas :)
8. I went to more concerts in 2013 than all other years combined (including Backstreet Boys and judge me if you want to, but it was SO MUCH FUN!)
9. I had Christmas at my house with my family for the first time, which was really special.
10. I've had some health issues that I've been actively trying to overcome...so far so good.

And the list could probably go on...but I already feel pretty satisfied.

Feel free to share some of your most memorable moments and experiences. And here's looking forward to a magical 2014!