New Novel Series Alert! The Griffin-Key!

27th April - 2017

So in 2013, I made the grand voyage over to the Emerald Isle, better known as Ireland in order to 1.) Promote my novels 2.) Conduct research for my new series and 3.) I just needed a good holiday and I've always wanted to see the place....

Now you might say - "It's now 2017 - where is this so-called-new-book series?"

And this is why I am writing this blog on my so-called-process so far.

As you know, I have made my home with my hard-working and incredibly awesome publisher Jennifer Minigh through ShadeTree Publishing in the past - but for my new series, I have decided that I am going to spread my wings and fly after a main-stream audience (with Jennifer's full blessing - I might add.)

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"Ok! - tell us about this new series!!!!" Ok, ok, here we go.

I can't delve too far into this series with you now because it would be a mega-spoiler-alert, but I can tell you I am expanding on my usual written genre and I will be incorporating more FANTASY & PARANORMAL into this series.

In short - *Takes a deep breath - readying to blurt out a synopsis-like-pitch....*

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"My fabulous-not edited-just devised-Synopsis-like-pitch"

The Griffin-Key is number one in a series which is lined up so far to cover 5-7 books. It follows the life of Mikela Ryan, who was a big name Hollywood Actress with her identical twin sister Matilda until there was a massive accident when they were both 17 years old. This took the life of Matilda and left Mikela's life in a shambles.

She has since given up acting, but stayed on the Hollywood scene, using her skills as a stunt double and horse-master. Australian-born, Mikela's family are all Irish and growing up, they spent a lot of time there.

After discovering some family Heirlooms that seemed very "out of place in this world" at her parents place, Mikela is compelled to solve the mystery and takes an acting job in Ireland. During her breaks, she picks up the mysterious trail at her family home town of Tipperary, but when things start going bizarre on set back north in Trim, she starts to discover that there is a strange connection and perhaps she was led here for a great reason!

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There you go. So after almost finishing draft one over a year ago, I have picked up the trail myself, and when my Laptop recently died, I set about world-building and developing my overall series further in my note books... Armed with lots of books that I acquired in Ireland for this very purpose, I have begun the journey again...

Draft 1.3 of my first novel is 80% completed and I have already been throwing it towards various people to review/critique/check out... I am very excited about where this is going and have decided to keep you all well in the loop!

I now have my laptop some-what back on board and scrivener back in action!!! Thank goodness for auto-sync to Dropbox backups - that's all I can say!

So in short, the creation of this next series has so far been a lot more work than it took for me to produce the DARE TO FOLLOW series, but I have been working on a large scale series holistically, whilst chipping away at perfecting the first instalment.

Okay, without further ado - one more tid-bit for you today... Here is a short snippet of the first book....

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Dogs barked somewhere behind her as she scrambled up the dirt embankment, soil collecting under her nails. Gasping for breath, her heart thumped so hard that her chest ached. Why do they make us do this? Catching her skirts on a branch, her ankles twisted from under her, slamming her down onto the cold ground. Grunting, she looked ahead as a fox stopped and looked back at her. It was her fox. It was Red. Am I working a movie? It feels more… The barking sounded closer now and a jolt of fear ripped through her. She’d never felt that before while working. Fragmented memories of pain and terror swirled her into a panic. She was still on the ground. The barking! Dogs? It didn’t quite sound like dogs and that threw her off further. She lurched to her feet, aware of the stabbing throb in her ankle. Swallowing the urge to scream CUT, she stumbled through the pain. Training her gaze ahead on Red’s disappearing bushy tail, she trusted his judgment. His direction would lead to safety. Why am I trusting a fox? Mikela shook her head, fuzziness clouding her vision. “CUT!” She yelled, hoping the director would echo her sentiment. She lurched to a stop, turning to watch as she expected film crews to emerge. Silence. The woods seemed thicker here, or was it the waning of the sun? - she couldn’t tell. The track beneath her feet was no more and the sound of leaves and sticks crunching under her soft leather boots seemed louder than it should as she trudged through, holding her skirts about. She blinked back cold sweat from her eyes focusing into the thick foliage.

“Hello?”

Her voice echoed off the brambles and she swallowed down the familiar emptiness that had recently made it’s home in her soul. She couldn’t even see that stunt pet fox anymore.

“Red?”

She was answered by the distance hooting of an owl, and the sounds of birds as they settled in for the evening.

A chill gripped her. She couldn’t sense any crew members, or in fact anyone.

She really was alone.

A stick cracked in the undergrowth behind her and Mikela shot her head around, the hairs on her arms standing up. Was it colder? She couldn’t tell if she was imagining the slow mist that began to curl around her feet.

“Red?”

The fox was definitely gone.

Looking up through the thick birch tree branches towering above, she couldn’t see the sky. Any warmth that sun might have brought was all but fading. The dizziness again. She blinked, trying to shake it from her head.

“CUT!” Though she tried to keep the trembling from her voice, she was losing control. “CUT!”

Chill fingers of night air snaked about her body cutting off her ragged cry. It slithered through her thin clothing and through to her bones. Darkness was swiftly overtaking the woods. She knew this feeling well. Welcomed it. As a blanket, she had wrapped it about her for the past eight years, protecting her, making her feel less alone. Sucking down all emotion as it rose up her throat, Mikela lifted her chin, closing her eyes against fear. She felt - nothing.

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