NEW RELEASE! Ghosted: A Novelette

Now available in paperback and ebook!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCGC2K83 

 

Turning a NEW Leaf...Literally!

What the Clocks Know is back, baby...in PAPERback!!!

Hurrah and huzzah! I was so delighted to discover yesterday that my latest paranormal fiction is now available in both print and ebook, which means those who prefer the feel of paper between their fingertips can now flip and dog-ear pages to their heart's content. Just mind the paper cuts, darlings.

This also means I'll have books to SIGN, so I hope to schedule signing events in both London and Chicago later this year. Please stand by for those details...

In the meantime, you can find What the Clocks Know in both paperback and Kindle formats here:

Amazon US

 Amazon UK 

And for a chance to win a FREE paperback copy, try your luck at my Amazon giveaway this week:

https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/4244c985f540fb94

(Seven for a) Secret Santa SALE!

~ * ~

Should old acquaintance be forgot? 

I should say not!
 

Now through New Year's, 

Seven for a Secret is ON SALE for $0.99!

~ * ~

Find your preferred retailer here:   

http://books.simonandschuster.com/…/Rumer-Hav…/9781623421106

And while the paperback isn't also on sale,  

let's not forget what a lovely stocking stuffer it makes...

Just sayin'. ;)

~*~  HAPPY HOLIDAYS!  ~*~

Happy Thanksgiving & Black Friday SALE!

I'm still a new kitten in Crooked Cat's cradle--with my next novel to be released next year--but in the meantime, you can find great savings on other Crooked Cat titles tomorrow! (I highly recommend Shani Struthers' Psychic Surveys series if you'd like to put a little haunt in your holidays.)

But should old acquaintance be forgot? I think not! So I'm having a little holiday sale of my own soon for my first novel, Seven for a Secret--on sale soon for only 99 cents! Just in time for a happy New Year, to follow what I hope for you is a very, very happy Thanksgiving today. Cheers!

 

Giving Away the Ghost at the 6th Annual Spooktacular Giveaway Hop

The Spooktacular Giveaway Hop is back to haunt us, mwahahahaaa!

Yes, boys and ghouls, it's time for the 6th Annual Spooktacular Giveaway Hop, which begins today, October 15th, and runs through midnight on Halloween.

In the spirit of spirits, I'm giving away ONE (1) KINDLE EBOOK of my Chicago-based ghost story, Seven for a Secret and a $10 AMAZON GIFT CARD.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can also trick-or-treat at the other blogs listed at the I am a Reader, Not a Writer blog (and at this Linky). So easy to win, it's almost scary!

The Cat's Out of the Bag...

I feel like the cat that got the cream these days. On the same day that I celebrated Seven for a Secret's anniversary, I signed on with Crooked Cat Publishing for my next romantic paranormal novel, What the Clocks Know!

This manuscript has been such a labor of love. It was actually the first novel I wrote--before Seven for a Secret--and as it saw me through the tough transition of my international relocation, it became a very personal endeavor. After years of revision, I am elated for it to finally see the light of day in early 2016! And working with Crooked Cat has already been such a pleasure. Truly the cat's meow!

 

#TRRparty: Win a Free Ebook of SEVEN FOR A SECRET!

Wanna make your sssummer sssizzzle? Enter The Romance Reviews's Sizzling Summer Reads party for a chance to win a free ebook of SEVEN FOR A SECRET and other prizes that meet your bookish fancy!

"Jefe, would you say there are a plethora of other authors participating in ‪#‎TRRparty‬, giving readers many chances to stockpile their summer beach reads?"

"Yes, El Guapo. There are a plethora."

My own trivia question is only there for today, June 22nd, so please do give it a go or refer a friend!

http://www.theromancereviews.com/event.php

What a Coinky-Dink!

This spring, I finally got around to dusting off an old manuscript--my first novel attempt--and getting down to some serious revisions. After two more read-throughs this past week, I'm feeling really good about it. Granted, I once felt really good about my earlier drafts, too, which just the thought of now makes me criiiinge. But room for improving is infinite, so while I'll always be aspiring for that as a writer, I think I've got this little gal ready to query again.

This story is close to my heart for very personal reasons, but also because it indulges concepts that have always met my fancy. Ghosts, séances, déjà vu, synchronicity... I'm a total sucker for coincidences, always hoping to find connections between them even though it's perfectly plausible that they just happen at random. The human mind is such fertile ground for misperception and the consequences of when we see things the wrong way...or perhaps when we view them the right way but question our own memories and judgment.

In any case, I love crazy coincidences, like one Father's Day when my brother was talking about going to a ball game in Cleveland and how the fans kept singing "Hang on Sloopy," which we Illinoisans furrowed our brows at, wondering what the hell significance that song had for Cleveland or the state of Ohio; my dad didn't even know the song, and I said how I hadn't heard it in ages. And then...my other brother gave my dad a speaker to pimp out his TV, and to test it, he turned on one of those TV music channels, which...yes. Was playing "Hang on Sloopy," along with a factoid on the screen about how Ohio adopted it as its state song in the '80s. That is not a "meaningful" coincidence to me, per se, but still. Come ON. That's weird, right?

I notice things like this so much that I once started writing them down to see if I'd ever find a pattern among them. But I stopped that habit, before I could become a crazy lady with maps and articles taped to the walls and a web-work of yarn tacked between them as if it would one day all come together like the end of an M. Night Shyamalan movie.

So that being said, I'm reading nothing into what happened today. It simply makes me happy that after pouring my mind and heart back into the story of a character who loves coincidences, too, today on the Tube ride to the British Book Affair here in London, I cracked open my book of JD Salinger short stories right to an old favorite, "For Esme with Love and Squalor," and the very first sentence ended with "in England on April 18th."

In England on April 18th. Yes, I am.

Cheers, Margot. Here's to coincidence and querying.

Fans, Faves, and Four Somethings...

I've got a bit of a smorgasbord going on here, with some fun developments as of this week.

First of all, I have the honor of being this month's Random Fan at the Big Spoon, Little Spoon blog, courtesy of my gracious hosts, Morgan and Jennifer Locklear. Authors of the contemporary romance Exposure, they not only interviewed me for this segment but answered questions of my own about their debut novel's inspirations and their writing process as a dynamic husband-wife duo. They're as lovely and fun as their story, which you can find here. You can access our recent Random Fan interview by clicking the image below, and Jennifer will also be reviewing the book at the Bookish Temptations blog later this week!

Next up, I am still sitting here in a very ladylike fashion with my mouth hanging open, unable to register that Bookaholic Babe has added SEVEN FOR A SECRET to her list of favorites! To be there with the likes of The Night Circus and fellow Omnific author Georgina Guthrie's Word series is such an honor.

And finally, my 9,000-word novelette, Four Somethings & A Sixpence, is scheduled for release by the Battered Suitcase Press (an imprint of Vagabondage Press) on February 3rd. There will be a Rafflecopter giveaway running from then until Valentine's Day to celebrate this season of looove, and YOU can help promote it NOW by joining my Thunderclap!

Thanks as always, daaahhlings, for your maaahhvelous support!

Ghost Host with the Most

So, when I post stuff like this, which is the vast majority of the time, I'm totally joking.

But when I recently posted this, I was only half-kidding...

...much to my own surprise. Now, you can consider me a "ghost" writer in a rather literal sense considering Seven for a Secret and my works in progress all involve the paranormal to some extent. I'm also an avid fan of shows like Ghost Hunters, Celebrity Ghost Stories, and Ghost Whisperer with a very open attitude toward the possibility of grounded spirits. That doesn't mean I don't have a degree of skepticism, too.  There are several incidents appearing in Seven for a Secret and one of my WIPs that actually happened to me, but unlike in my stories, my real-life experiences had completely natural explanations. They might've given me an initial fright, but their causes were readily apparent. Things like that make for great material, though, so I love to let my imagination explore the supernatural explanations that would create a more interesting tale.

What happened to me last weekend, though, I truly can't explain--and not for lack of trying. It really doesn't make for the most exciting story (so please adjust your expectations accordingly), but I'm going to relate it here anyway. It all began at a wee Tudor cottage in Herefordshire, England.

My husband and I, both US expats living in London, decided to enjoy a long Thanksgiving weekend in the countryside. We arrived in the evening, so just decided to settle into our holiday cottage and snack from the welcome basket that the owner had so graciously provided. Sitting in the living room, I noticed movement in the corner of my eye, so I looked directly at my husband's wool scarf where it hung on a coat tree across the way and saw a few pieces of its fringe lift up. It was sort of an awkward, hesitant motion, but I was about to dismiss it as my eyes playing tricks on me until my husband said, "Did you see that, too?" 

I know what you're thinking: drafty old cottage. Hey, I've seen enough Ghost Hunters to know to try to debunk this stuff! But this was also a newly renovated cottage with its hatches effectively buttoned up; everything's pretty well fitted, insulated, and air-tight. Nonetheless, we checked the area around the scarf for a draft, but there was nothing (and it would've taken a gust to reach it from the door--and just the one, as it didn't happen again--but it wasn't even windy outside), and there were radiators, not air vents blowing heat. Plus, nothing else hanging near the scarf had been disturbed. The few fringes that moved were almost selectively so.

Then not very long afterwards, I watched our bag of crisps teeter side to side. Not out of the corner of my eye but straight on, right in front of me at my feet. The tiny coffee table was covered with stuff, so we'd set the bag on the floor, propped against a table leg but standing fairly upright. We didn't kick it with our feet or anything--I hadn't even moved my legs, and my feet were several inches away from it, my husband's even further. Even if it had simply lost its balance, I'd think it would've fallen on its side from the angle that it had tilted, not lean over then sway back to where it was. And again, no draft whatsoever--there wasn't even a door or window on the other side of the room where the source would've had to be, just enclosed space. My husband, for the record, had been looking at his laptop at that point so hadn't seen the bag, but he heard it scrape against the table when it moved. He even tried to recreate it by swinging his foot, but it only caused a slight breeze that barely ruffled the bag--and that was when kicking at pretty full force, which he obviously hadn't been as we were just sitting there relaxing.

I proceeded to have an incredibly vivid dream that night about seeing a little girl's ghost. I had risen from the bed to see my husband already standing by a table next to it, and the girl emerged from a wardrobe with a single eye that eventually became two. She wore her blond hair in braids, and I had an entire, comprehensible conversation with her--not dream babble that didn't make sense or that I couldn't remember when I woke up. I learned that her name was Sarah, and I asked if she minded that we were there; with a shrug and shake of her head, she said she didn't at all. I also asked her if there was anyone else with us in the house, to which she gave a sort of vague, noncommittal answer; at the time and even now, I'm not sure whether she was being dismissive because another presence was nonexistent, nothing to worry about, or simply something she didn't want us to worry about. Ignorance is bliss. 

In any case, we didn't experience anything after that--unless you count my husband's toiletry bag crashing to the floor while I was taking a bath the next morning. But I can see that happening if it was just ever so slightly off balance and gradually leaning, leaning, until it fell off the wooden beam. The hot water heater could've caused some vibrations that got that going. Who knows, as I didn't see how precariously his bag had been sitting to begin with. Yet surely the scratching that woke us the morning after that was just a mouse in the rafters. 

Regardless, we weren't surprised to find afterwards that the village has earned some honorable mentions on the Haunted Hereford and Hereford Paranormal sites. And we think it makes sense that if something were to be there, it would be curious each time a new visitor arrives at the rental cottage. That it would poke about a bit, feel us out, and on deciding we're harmless, leave us alone to peacefully coexist. We'll never know. 

One thing for certain, however, is that the atmosphere in the entire place was HEAVY. I found myself taking extra breaths just to relieve some of the pressure bearing down on me. That's a sensation I first felt at Ground Zero in New York City and proceed to feel in old buildings all over London. For now, I won't confirm that I believe in ghosts, but I do believe in energy and that some places are heavy with the weight of their own histories.

So wherever we go, whatever we do, let's work on leaving happy imprints behind us. :)

Giving Away the Ghost at the 5th Annual Spooktacular Giveaway Hop

Ghost stories by candlelight, giveaways of frightful delight...that's what makes a blog hop SPOOKTACULAR, mwahahahaaa!

I am giddy as all ghoul-out to be participating in I am a Reader, Not a Writer's 5th Annual Spooktacular Giveaway Hop for my first time. The paranormal party begins Wednesday, October 15th, and runs through midnight on Halloween, when the undead are their most alive.

As my contribution, I'm offering ONE (1) SIGNED COPY and TWO (2) EBOOKS of my Chicago-based ghost story, Seven for a Secret. It's available internationally and soooo easy to win through the Rafflecopter below, it's almost scary. ;)

a Rafflecopter giveaway
But I'm hardly the only one with a wickedly sweet stash of book bootie--be sure to trick-or-treat at the other blogs listed in the Linky below (if you have any issues accessing the Linky, you can also find the list here):

Powered by Linky Tools
Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list...

Zombie Takeover BLOG TOUR! Wk2: Ghostly Goodness

Week Two: Ghosty Goodness
Win Books by
Sarah Glover
Rumer Haven

SHRIEK! It’s Week Two of our month-long Halloween takeover to celebrate Love At The End of Days by Tera Shanley, and this week we have books to win with hot rockers, 1920s razzle dazzle, and of course, GHOSTS! Check out the Rafflecopter and enter to win!

If you could be haunted by a ghost from any era, what would it be? 1940s? Renaissance times? A modern ghost who haunts your texts?  

Don’t forget to add Love At The End Of Days to your TBR: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23157764-love-at-the-end-of-days and check back every week for new, spooky good prizes! 

New Rafflecopter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Ghoulish Goodreads Giveaway!

In the spirit of Halloween, I'm giving up the ghost...or giving it away, rather, in the form of two signed copies at Goodreads for the entire month of October. Enter to win and see if Olive's BOO! is bigger than her bite. ;)

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Seven For A Secret

by Rumer Haven

Giveaway ends October 31, 2014.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

SEVEN FOR A SECRET Teaser #2

AVAILABLE AUGUST 12, 2014

Omnific Publishing

Goodreads 

What "TO READ," What "TO READ"...

Darlings, that is my none-too-subtle way of announcing that

SEVEN FOR A SECRET  

is already up on

  

GOODREADS!

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22700275-seven-for-a-secret

It won't be wearing its pretty new outfit until the cover reveal on AUGUST 5th, and the official book release isn't until AUGUST 12th, but in the meantime, you can check out the book summary at Goodreads, and if you fancy the sound of it, please add it to your "TO READ" shelf!

Cheers, all!

SEVEN FOR A SECRET Blog Tour!

Well, folks, so far all is running according to sheh-jule...
(*fingers crossed*)

SEVEN FOR A SECRET is through its copy edit and pending the proofread, but the ARC is ready, the cover reveal is August 5th, and, if all goes to plan, the release date should be August 12th.

In the meantime, my publicist has put the call out for book bloggers to participate in the BLOG TOUR!

(click above for sign-up)

I know I keep saying it, but, man, things are gettin' real, yo. I am so grateful for all the support I've already received on this novel and thank everyone who's given a lil' unknown schmo like me the time of day. I do hope you enjoy the book if you read it. :) 

Judging a Book by its Cover

Image from www.andrewkeir.com

I now officially understand why most publishers do not include authors in the cover art decision. Even the most chill of us will become divas in the end, trying to dictate every detail when the simple fact is, we are not the marketers. We might fancy a pretty picture and think we know what is best for representing the story, but though we all think we have good taste, the basic truth is that we ALL cannot possibly. That doesn't stop me from assuming that I do, of course, and to be fair, my marketing team did like the input I provided; it's in keeping with house style, so they did everything to give this lil' Veruca Salt what she wanted.

But in the end, I was still torn between what I'd handpicked myself and what they'd originally offered me. My publicist said, "they are both striking. [...] I think you can't go wrong with either one." My editor likewise said, "I honestly don't know which I'd pick. :-/" And in a small poll among friends and family, the opinions were divided evenly.

Long story short: This was a bitch of a decision. Truly spoiled for choice. But as of this week, I did give Regis my final answer.

In the spirit of the book's title, I shall keep the cover a secret until its reveal. ;)

I've learned this from the process, though: In these modern days of Amazon and e-readers, how a cover looks as a thumbnail is critical to its marketing. Regardless of how gorgeous it may look on a full-sized book in your hands, even those buying print copies online will first view it as a thumbnail image. So as I tried to make up my mind between two stellar options, I was not only enlarging the images to appreciate their details but shrinking them as well to see what they'd look like online.

In the meantime, am just trying to process that this chosen cover will be appearing on Amazon.com, BN.com, and Omnific Publishing's website soon. I really don't think I know what I'm getting into here. But it's awfully exciting, and I'm just going to try to enjoy the wild ride.

I have to ask you all out of curiosity, though:  

When it comes to book covers, do you think less is more--i.e., a design that's catchy but simple and leaves you guessing what the story is about? Or do you prefer more detailed imagery that sets specific expectations? 

Cheers!

~ Rumer

#amediting...not dead

LOVING the changes @RumerHaven made to her novel. #editingWIN!
— Sarah Allan (@Sarah_Allan) June 9, 2014

My editor is so sweet and freakin' brilliant. I hope this positive sentiment that she shared yesterday lasts... :)

My apologies for the radio silence and that I haven't made it around to everyone's blogs lately. I received my first-round edits back and was curled up in my cave the past week tending to them. That was the first time I'd let myself read my manuscript in several months, and I'm so glad we had parted ways a while--made it so much easier to be a little less sentimental and therefore see and trim out superfluous narrative, as well as totally get what my editor was asking for and why. I have loved the process so far and just hope my revisions meet with her satisfaction.

I've never done this before, so my approach was to do a first-pass just making a beeline to all her comments and changes to field them one by one. I then did a comprehensive read-through as my second-pass, re-addressing my tweaks along the way to smooth them over and look for any excess I could cut out--my word count is rather long due to the fact that this book is comprised of two separate yet intertwined romances (one modern, the other in the 1920s), so to develop either adequately, some length was in order. But in general, it's my modern-day thread that has required the most work to pick up pacing and make characters more sympathetic, so for my third-pass, I did a read-through of the modern story only, further trimming and developing. And did this all in a week's time. So my mind is fairly fried, and my eyeballs are hanging from their sockets by a thread.

And now it rests in my editor's hands to do with what she will to meet our developmental edit deadline at the end of this month. Wish us luck!

Am off to become some semblance of a domestic goddess today to undo various results of my neglect... ;)

What I Do and Why I Do It

Nicki-n-Me :)

The witty and wonderful Nicki Elson has tagged me to answer the following four questions about writing. Nicki herself has recently contracted her third novel (the first in a new series, it seems!) to follow her provoking paranormal romance, DIVINE TEMPTATION, and her comedic collegiate romance debut, THREE DAVES.

You can read Nicki's responses to these same questions over at her Not-So-Deep Thoughts blog, and without further ado, here are mine:

* What am I working on? *

As mentioned in my last post, I'm on the cusp of receiving SEVEN FOR A SECRET back from my editor for first-round revisions. The novel is scheduled for an August release, so I'm expecting to spend the next month in my cave curled up with that. But although this is my "debut" novel, it's the second manuscript I've written, so as I wait on edits for manuscript #2 (a ghostly romance set in modern/1920s Chicago), I've been channeling nervous energy into revising manuscript #1 for querying (a "ghost" story with a twist set in modern/Victorian London). And manuscript #3 is slowly but surely unfolding as chicken-scratchings on notebook paper. I've got the setting, characters, and general premise in mind for a romantic mystery of sorts (with a 1940s flair), but I'm attempting a rather complicated structure, so there's a whole lotta' planning necessary before I can actually start writing it.

* How does my writing differ from others of its genre? *

I like to think every story I write bears my personal stamp of weirdness, and I suppose my concept of romance might also vary from the norm. My stories have their saucy bits, but only to the extent that it moves the story forward in a meaningful and realistic way (well, that's the goal, anyway; whether I achieve it remains to be seen). You could say I prefer the slow burn of love to an explosion of lust. I've never been in a heated argument with my husband one second then thrown myself into his arms for a passionate make-out session the next, so it's hard for me to convince my characters to do it. But when my fella' wants to hug me in apology first thing in the morning, when I'm an unshowered, untoothbrushed hag? Swoon! So maybe I'm not so much about the romance as the love. At least in my contemporary tales. Somehow romance comes to me more naturally when writing against a historical backdrop; I tend to be very self-deprecating and pragmatic about the present because it's the reality I know, but outside of that frame of reference, I enjoy more escapism.

* Why do I write what I do? *

I write what I like to read, and my entire life I've loved curling up to a good Gothic/ghost story. And having lived in historic buildings, I can't help but think of all the lives that occupy the same spaces over the decades and centuries. So the nature of time and the soul just fascinates me and can be explored through so many dimensions; I don't know if I could ever exhaust (or be exhausted by) all the different ways to approach it.

* How does my writing process work? *

As a previous blog post ("Madness to the Method") relates, I start with literal pen and paper. I don't even try to be organized about it--as soon as I have the bud of an idea, I just go balls-out brainstorming any and every thought that comes to mind so I can eventually look at it from a birds-eye view and begin connecting the dots. This evolves into a rough back-of-the-envelope outline, which I abide by as I officially begin writing at the computer, but I allow the pathway between points A and B to emerge organically as well. I know it's different for everyone, but I personally wouldn't enjoy the writing process as much if I plotted everything meticulously in advance. I like the freedom of the yet-unknown and letting my characters whisper the next scenes in my ear. But I've also tried writing with no outline, and that's just a disaster. And so, following the happy medium of structure-vs-spontaneity, I write a first draft, step away, revise, step away, revise, and continue to lather, rinse, repeat as necessary. I wish I could say I write every day, but I don't. I don't just sit and wait around for inspiration either, but the process does ebb and flow depending on other obligations and whether the story's talking to me or not. At those times when I'm feeling too tapped out to create, then I read. I perceive every book I read as an investment in my own writing, so that pleasure could never be a guilty one for me. :)

Okay, so now for the task of tagging four more people to ask these questions. I'm going to run with a few Omnific-riffic authors:

* Beck Anderson *

FIX YOU (2014 RITA Award finalist)

* Shani Struthers *

THE RUNAWAY YEAR

THE HAUNTING OF HIGHDOWN HALL 

* Eleanor Gwyn-Jones *

THEATRICKS

* Carol Oates * 

SHADES OF ATLANTIS

SHADES OF AVALON

EMBER

IRIDESCENT

No worries, tagged Authoresses--you all have new books coming out soon and are feverishly writin' s'more, so I know time is scarce. There shall be no slap on the wrist if you don't accept this challenge. I encourage everyone else to still check out their sites and books, though (linked above), and lose yourself in some crazy good imagination and writing. Read-&-Write on!

And So It Begins...

Kicked some #amediting butt today, but I'm already up to 99 comments. @RumerHaven is going to kill me...
— Sarah Allan (@Sarah_Allan) May 7, 2014

LLLet's get ready to RUMMBLLLLLE!!!

This is it, folks. Edits on SEVEN FOR A SECRET are officially underway, and I'm bouncing in my corner of the ring, prepping for my turn to duke it out with my raw manuscript once my editor is done doling the first punches.

While our writerly insecurities hate to admit it, no can write in a vacuum. No other eyes but mine saw my manuscript until I queried it--no crit group, no trusted beta reader, family member, friend, or spouse (though I'd like to think a ghost peeked at it, the nosy thang)--so I'd be seriously deluded to think that just because it got accepted, it was perfect in its original form. Could it ever be "perfect"? Hell no. And what was its "original" form anyway? It already evolved through so many drafts at my hands and will continue to do so under my editing team's multiple pairs of eyes that see what I can't. It's humbling yet thrilling that others are willing to work so hard alongside me to shape this story into a real contender.

So no, I won't be killing my editor. With her in my corner, we'll knock out the weaknesses in my story instead. And now, as time and anticipation squirt water into my mouth and towel off my face, I await my share of Round One and pray for no sucker punches...DING!