Guest Blogger - Bethany Cagle

Today marks the second month our blog has been in existence and the beginning of guest writers taking one of the Wicked Writer's spots each week as well as starting monthly contest giveaways.  Our first contest will based on book selections from the Romance genre in honor of Valentine's Day, please stop by to check out the contest info under the tab listed above.



Please allow me to introduce Bethany Cagle, who writes under Brynna Curry and Brianna Roarke, in our first guest blogging spot!  I met Bethany last year only a short time after I began writing.  She was a member of the first crit group I joined and she had to drop out when a publishing contract came knocking. She's had a whirlwind of a year between working full-time, being a mom to three teenagers, writing and revising non-stop, and judging contests -- all in addition to participating in three blogs: her own blog, a book reviewing one, as well as a group one.



By the end of 2010, Bethany will be able to proudly say she's authored six published books (an accomplishment I'm still in awe of!). Bethany is going to kick off our weekly topic with telling us where she is in her current novel. Without further ado, here's Bethany!

Thank you, C.J., for inviting me to blog with you today. It’s a pleasure to visit with you and your readers.



I always seem to be working on something new, finishing a book, or reviewing a book.  Last night I was finally able to close the screen on To Take Up The Sword - Elemental Magic Series Book Two. My editor will be thrilled. She’s been waiting on it for a while now, but I couldn’t have finished it this quickly without C.J.’s help critiquing the manuscript. Thank you. Now it’s on to Wait for the Wind - Elemental Magic Series Book Three.

If you’re familiar with Earth Enchanted, the first book in the series, then you know with the third book, I’m moving the series to Ireland, a place I've always wanted to go, but haven’t made it to yet. It’s time for Ryan Corrigan to return to Ireland after eleven years of living in the United States. But his troubles are far from over; Kate McConnell will walk back into his life with daughter Allaina. Ryan will have to learn to forgive, to trust, and open his heart to magic again.  I’m hoping to be finished with this book by May, but with two more in the series and the entire serial deadline due at the end of the year, we will just have to wait and see. But that’s not all I’ve got going right now.

I’m judging five different contests before summer, something I love doing. Since I write paranormals, I usually judge that category. It’s nice to see how entries change from contest to contest, to find a favorite one that keeps getting better.  I keep expecting to see a couple I’ve judged pop up in book searches, but they haven’t yet. Their progress is fun to watch.  I have to tell you Vampire Vacation is one of those I’m keeping an eye on.

Project wise I have a total of six books in progress. Three are part of my series. The others are single title ones. Cullen’s Luck is a short shape-shifter novella that I plan to send to Lyrical Press when finished, but I’m not in a rush with it.  Cassidy’s Emerald is another that is kind of at a holding stage. It’s the first book I’d ever written -- back when I was in high school and that was a loooonng time ago. I decided to take what I’ve learned over time and rewrite the book. It’s a time travel ghost story on the sweet side and I’ll probably submit it to Lyrical as well.

Circle of Seven is my pet project and in the writing/researching stage. It’s a little out of my comfort zone. By that I mean its urban fantasy but also a paranormal romantic suspense with vampires. Tons of magic and vampire lore along with a ‘save the world’ mission and strong romantic subplot make it hard to decide where to send it when finished. Seven doesn’t fit in any one category or with a specific agent or publisher, but I know it will eventually find a place. The biggest challenge with this book is point of view. My vampire, Kail McKenna, demands the story be told predominantly from his viewpoint and as you can imagine, that’s difficult from a woman writer’s perspective. So far its going great and a lot of fun.

So what about you? What projects are you working on? Readers, what books do you like to read and why? I’d love to hear your comments and of course you can find me at my many online homes listed in the links above.

Find me on Twitter and Facebook as Brynna Curry

OR for more information about Earth Enchanted at Lyrical Press -

http://www.lyricalpress.com/earth_enchanted

You can also email me at BrynnatheElf@gmail.com

Be blessed,

Bethany

Thanks so much for stopping by and telling us about your current works in progress, Bethany!