For those who have been coming to this website, my new website it http://www.argrosjean.com

Stolen Identity has been released. It is going well, better than expected! Cursed Blood is also going well! I'm still working on my next book. You will have to wait and see how that goes!

I also have a writing website for those who are writers. You can check it out at http://www.writing.argrosjean.com

I have a newsletter if you would like to subscribe for that. There's many things to look at on my website so come on over and check it out!

Amber

I have finally finished the first draft to one of my new books! This is very exciting for me cause I was having problems with it. I still am lol. Now is the hard part--editing. All writers have to edit their manuscripts before they send them out to publishers.

Many writers know this saying "Great books aren't written, they are rewritten!" It is very true. That is why it takes so long for some writers to get theirs done. Characters have to be "larger than life" which means we have to exaggerate a little on them, main characters have to be sympothetic even those bad guys, and they have to be believable. Scenes must have a realistic feel to them. The readers must be able to picture themselves in the scene so detail is very important. Remember, show not tell!

I have begun the editing process last night. I basically want to double the length I already have which means really digging into the story and maing it shine. This will take time and many rounds of editing in order to get the final book ready for those publishers. At that time, I will cross my fingers and hope they like it. There is no guarentee. Meanwhile, I will begin on another book while I wait for publishers to get back with me. A writer's work is never done!

It is so worth the hard work when someone enjoys the story you slaved over. There's a satisfaction in that that can't be described to someone who's never written a book. It completes me, makes me want to write another book!

Amber Rigby Grosjean

  In today's time and place, the world can be viewed as falling apart depending on your own angle. People are learning that another food can give you cancer. Wow, a while back I heard it was something else and it became good for you years later so what's up with that? The government is trying to force our rights away by making new laws that say smokers can't smoke and people who want to eat shouldn't eat what they want so they can lose weight whether they want to lose weight or not. Come on, if we're happy with ourselves who cares what the goverment thinks about our bodies? I sure don't. I'm happy with my weight and I'm not going to lose weight just because they say its good for me.

Then we have the "war" overseas and rebuilding a city where we don't even belong. Those men and women should be with their families right now. Instead, they are in another country where some very angry people don't want them. I do support them, don't get me wrong but I would rather see them alive with their mothers, wives, children, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, neices, nephews, and their grandparents. How long will they have to be over there? The World Trade Center has been gone for a while now. Those lives are lost and will be missed. What those men and women over there are doing can't bring them back. We can keep looking for the people responsible but a war doesn't need to happen to make that happen.

Others things I see around me is all that violence on my own homeland. All the rapes and murders that take place. People are being arrested and thrown into over crowded jail cells and we have to pay for that with our own hard earned incomes. Some of those people are innoscent. Some of those people are children who made a mistake and gave in to peer pressure and got into trouble by smoking a joint. These kids may not be bad people but they were locked up anyway. Yes drugs are a bad thing and the people who deal should be locked up. In my opinion, some things can be over looked. The police should focus on crimes of murder, theft, rape, drugs like cocaine and other hard drugs. One prostitute trying to make something so she can live should be helped so she can stop that kind of life, to improve her self worth. Being thrown in jail isn't going to help her.

All right, I believe I am touching a little sensitive areas here but its enough to get people talking and that is the purpose of this blog, get you to think and talking. Maybe what I believe isn't right, maybe it isn't wrong, either way our world is falling apart and there is something we all can do about it. I know there is one thing I am right about, what we're doing isn't working and there has to be a way to do something that will work. I don't know what that is. Maybe you have an idea. What ever the case, at least we're talking about it. Maybe something will actually be done as a result.

Thank you!

Amber Rigby Grosjean

Ok, I think I'm done talking about writing for a little while lol. It seems that is all I talk lol. I just can't help it lol. Ok, that's enough of that lol.

Halloween was great. We had a few trick or treaters that came to our door. Most of the kids were from the neighborhood, we knew a handfull of them. I think witches and pirates were the most common costumes this year. It makes sense with Pirates of the Caribean coming out not so long ago. My son wanted to dress in that costume but none of them fit so he dressed as superman. My oldest was a witch again (she was last year too) but she loves it so its cool. My youngest was Tinkerbell which she really loves. I dressed up as a vampire for a party which was a blast. My husband was Uncle Fester from Addams Family at a request for two years from a couple of friends who were at the party. We met them 2 years ago at the party and they have been asking him to dress up as Fester ever since. He finally gave in. The only thing we were missing was the famous light bulb that glows in his mouth, couldn't find one anywhere. It sucked.

I've been going through some boxes and decided to go ahead and begin the Christmas season. Yeah, it is a little early, I know, but with it being cold outside, I was just in the mood for it lol. I am weird, I do know that. A lot of writers are lol. Some just don't admit it while there are a lot who really aren't. I like Christmas, it is a happy time with the birth of Christ, singing carols, the pretty lights, decorating the tree, and don't forget the presents! Giving and receiving lol. I started shopping for my kids this week so they will have a great holiday with their parents! I went with a blue and silver theme this year which is a first. Last year after everything went on sale, I bought bundles or ornaments for the tree and last week, we bought a white tree with the lights intact. My first white three and it looks so beautiful with the blue and silver hanging from the branches. There is more blue than silver but it really looks great with the white background. Everyone loves it.

All right, I just can't do it. I can't talk about anything other than writing. Does this make me a boring person? I mean I do have a life outside of writing but there are things I would like to keep to myself lol. Any time I see my friends at the local club, it always comes up. The first thing is, so how is your writing coming along? How is Cursed Blood doing? When is Stolen Identity getting released? It sounds like a broken record at times but people are curious. Most of my friends have never met a writer before so they are fascinated with what I do and always have questions for me about it. Of course, I have no problem telling them but I refuse to tell them how any of my books end lol. That is something they have to find out for themselves lol. A lot of them already have Cursed Blood so we pretty much talk about Stolen Identity. And since they are all adults, I tell them how juicy the book is which really gets them to want more lol. Of course, I do tell them the main story of the book which in itself keeps them intrigued. But like I said, I love talking about writing and my books so I enjoy these converstations even though I have them over and over again. To me, it never gets old. My husband also tells people and so does the owner of the establishment. She introduces me to the other customers as "our writer" which is really cool! I am so honored to be surrounded by people like them! It really makes a person feel good!

Amber Rigby Grosjean

Another idea, special order pens or pencils with your website on them, your name, and the genre your write in. You can also make magnets. The list is endless for things you can do! And this doesn't have to end for the trick or treaters, you can use these ideas for your booksignings as well!

If you know how to make transfers, you can do that too! Wal-mart also carries these in the same areas as the business cards and sticker paper, or even near the picture paper for actual pictures. You can choose from white t-shirt transfer paper which is the more inexpensive and you get more sheets. And you can get the dark-shirt transfer paper. You can put these on shirts, bags, jeans, or pretty much anything that's made of cotton. And you could also take a picture of the cover into any photo place and have special things made like calenders, mugs, buttons, and more. The things you make are perfect for giving away as gifts or if you make the more expensive items, they can be used as prizes for contests on your websites. The sky is the limit!

Good luck to marketing your book, happy reading, and happy writing! Oh, Happy Halloween too!

Amber Rigby Grosjean

I have the new story blues. I began writing Till Death Do Us Part and as I reached page 94 in the first draft, I was beginning to not really like how the story was going. There really needs to be a few changes with the story plan as it has been drawn out so far. That means, I will be going back to the drawing board and will rewrite this story from the beginning, taking out a lot and adding new elements to the story which will make this story a whole lot better, making it more believable to the readers. This takes time as do all writing of stories.

Meanwhile, another story has been born. For this story, I am going back to the way I used to write because I can sit there and watch television as I brain storm for the next sentence. Mother of the Dragons as I call it right now takes place when dragons were born. So I am trying to match how people would have spoken back then which is a treat because I wasn't there so I really don't know how people spoke in those days before electricity and where wizards were common and fair ladies were commoners. It will be a challange but the story wants to be told. This story was created from a request from a young friend who wanted me to write a book about dragons. Well, the story isn't going to be for his age group or probably for his gender but it is a beginning. I will still consider a story that would be written just for him later down the road. Until then, I will remain writing books for adults.

Writing books for adults right now is something I have been thinking about for a little while. It was a hard decision because I want to write for everyone. I still can. That door hasn't closed just yet. A crack remains until I am ready to sneak through it! I am ready for this move in the career phase!

Amber Rigby Grosjean

Have you ever had an edit that seemed to be taking forever? Don't feel discouraged. This happens to a lot of writers before and after being published. I'm going through it right now lol.

That is why its always a good idea to have someone read your entire manuscript before sending it out. An English teacher who has plenty of time on his/her hands would be a good choice but at the same time, you need someone who can be objective and look at the piece, not as a reader but as someone who can pick out trouble sentences and improve on them. You will need someone who can say, hey wouldn't this work better if.......If you have a great story to begin with but there is something missing that could make the story even better, wouldn't you want someone who could suggest it before you send it out for publishers? I bet you would.

Once the book is in a professional editor's hands, you must wait for them to read the book and then make their own suggestions. It does take time because this editor is going to read through the story slowly. There will be some major changes and some minor changes. A sentence may be deleted and then another may be added. Sometimes the editor will suggest to insert a new beginning or a new ending or ask you to reword it so it sounds more clear because they don't understand it.

All stories have the big question. Will he get the girl? Will she ever find her lost love? Will the parents ever get back together so the family can be as one again? If this question isn't asked in the beginning, your editor may suggest you to work on the beginning so the reader will be asking this question and force them to keep reading to find out. This is a question that you promise the readers an answer at the end. You can't just go out and ask this question but you must write in a way that the reader won't help but ask as he or she reads and it will compell them to read on.

You also have to make sure the reader will care if she gets her love at the end. They must care if the parents get back together again. You have to make your characters have problems. He was abused. Readers can relate to someone who has been abused. Now someone may ask, so what. What is it about this character that makes him special to make the reader want to care about him. He was abused and the person who abused him also adopted him but so what. Now you can add, and his twin brother was raised by his birth mother. U-ha! Why would a mother give up one child and not the other? The one who was given away was abused because of this while the other child was raised in a good home and ended up having a wonderful life marrying a beautiful model and had three children who love him. Now the reader can care. This was taken out of my book, Stolen Identity!

Editing may take a while because there are so many things to look at in the story. Please, be patient and work with your editors. Understand that they have other books that need to be edited as well as yours so they must do more than one task at the same time. Edit your book the best you can and ask someone to edit too so when your book is published, the editing process with them doesn't seem to be never ending for you! Keep writing and have fun!

Remember, dreams really do come true so don't give up!

Amber Rigby Grosjean