Tag: writing

Sample from “Jo Fuentes: The Black Queen” (Valentine Apart Series)

          “You know, I read about you, before I came up here,” Jo said. “I read all about how you like to sleep with young women who get speeding tickets in your town. And I read all about that little incident involving the under aged driver, who didn’t want to sleep with you in order to get out of a ticket. I also read about the massive number of complaints that have been filed against you, for sexual harassment, misconduct, and racial profiling. Black suspects and Latino suspects being questioned by you and beaten by you. It seems like a lot of the men and women in your precinct don’t like the things you’ve done.”

            Rennick laughed nervously. “So, you think you know about me?” he said. “Right now, a speeding ticket is gonna be the last thing you have to worry about!” He turned to leave, and placed his hand on the doorknob. When he tried to turn it, it wouldn’t open. He tried it again, and again, but it still wouldn’t open. “Hey!” he shouted through the door. “Dowd! Michaels! Open this damn door!”

            Dowd and Michaels could see their chief through the small window on the door to the interrogation room. They looked at him, then turned away from the door.

            “Hey!” Rennick shouted again. “I said open this damn door! I know you can hear me!”

            Dowd and Michaels ignored him. So did every other officer who walked by.

            “You think they locked me in here, with you,” Jo said. She raised her hands, and placed them on top of the table, just as Rennick turned to face her. “But that’s not it. The truth is, they locked you in here with me.” She stood up from the table, and walked around it. Before Rennick could draw his gun, she had him in a choke hold.

Reading Books Within Your Genre

If you’re a writer, then there’s a very good chance you’re also a reader. How can you not be? Over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time reading books which contain the subject matter I want to write about. For example, while working on Our Lady of Righteous Rage, I drew from my own personal experiences, and I also read a lot of books about punk rock; the history of it and punk rock as a culture. Reading books within the same genre you’re planning to write for, can be very useful. If you want to write books about paranormal romance, I suggest reading books in that category. This can help you gain insight into what’s popular in that genre, and what readers may be looking for. If you’re going to write science fiction, then you may want to read science fiction. Plus, you don’t have to stop at books, alone. I can’t begin to tell you the number of issues of Alternative Press , Rock Sound and Rolling Stone Magazine I’ve collected over the years.

At the same time, I believe reading should be a pleasurable experience.  I read books in certain genres for research purposes, as well as for fun. I like to see how other writers present similar stories and characters.

Woolaston Entertainment’s 22nd Anniversary!!!

Hello, everyone! Welcome to the Monday Blog. This is the first blog for the month of December, and it’s also the 22nd anniversary of Woolaston Entertainment. This month, I’ll share information about W.E.’s books, artwork, and comics.

The birth of W.E. began with the creation of the very first character, Vanessa Vance, who is currently one of the characters featured in the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series. I had been working on several characters since the Summer of 1994, but I hadn’t drawn any of them yet. The image featured here, is the very first drawing I ever made of Vanessa, or any other character. Drawn in December of 1994, I used charcoal and water color.  Vanessa’s design has changed over the years. I finally found a design I liked in 1999, and I have pretty much kept the same design for Vanessa since then.

Aside from the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series, Vanessa also appeared in the sci-fi series I wrote, Enos, and several individual books as well.

Next week, I’ll share some info about the WE books, both published and unpublished.vv1994

Preview of “Rowdy”

“Rowdy”, part three of the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series, is coming out at the end of the month. Here’s a little preview: Chapters 1-2. Enjoy!

 

Chapter One

Amy

 

            I was sitting on the couch inside the recording studio at Urban Collective, scanning an article in Alternative Press magazine. If anyone had asked me what the article was about, I couldn’t have told them. I wasn’t reading it; not really. There were words and pictures on the page, but all I could see was red. I’d never been so pissed off in all my life. My friends and I had been busting our asses to make a name for our band, and my idiot ex-husband was working to destroy it all! Who the hell does that?

            “Did you know Kurt Cobain died on my sixteenth birthday?”

            I looked up from the magazine to see Aidan, sitting across from me on a stool, scrolling through his phone. He looked up from the screen and smiled at me. “That’s pretty trippy, right?”

            I shook my head and sighed. “I’m sorry, Aidan,” I said. “I completely forgot you were here. I’m still so angry about this whole thing with David.”

            “I know,” Aidan said. He slid his phone into his back pocket, and clasped his hands in his lap. “So, what are we gonna do about him?”

            “I don’t know yet,” I replied. “Nick said he wanted to talk to David, one on one. And Rob…well, Rob just wants to kick his ass.” I set the magazine down on the cushion next to me. “So does Jon.”

            “Well, you can add my name to that list, too,” Aidan said. “Piece of shit. What was he thinking?”

            I shook my head at the idea. “To think we used to be friends,” I said. “I mean, I always believed we would still have that, you know? I believed, even if we didn’t work out as a couple, we could at least hold on to our friendship. I guess I thought wrong.”

            Aidan smiled at me. “David never knew what he had when he was with you,” he said. “That’s why he’s so pissed off. He lost the greatest thing that ever happened to him.”

            “Aidan?” I said, feeling my eyes becoming watery. “Dude, don’t say stuff like that! You’re gonna make me cry.”

            “It’s the truth!” Aidan insisted. “Losing you fucked him up.”

            At that moment, Nick walked in, and plopped down beside me. “Hey,” he said, with a sigh. “What’s up?”

            “The ceiling,” Aidan replied. “What’s up with you?”

            Nick smirked at him. “Trying to figure out what to do about this David situation,” he said. “I could just have him killed, you know. The Lianetti name carries a lot of weight in Sicily, and all I have to do is make a phone call and pay for a plane ticket—”

            “Stop,” I said. “We’re not having anyone killed. We’re going to be rational adults about this.”

            “I don’t want to be a rational adult,” Aidan said, flicking his tail. “I wanna put my foot up David’s ass.”

            “So do I,” I said. “But that’s not the way to handle this.”

            Nick reached up and scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, you’re right,” he said. “What we need to do, is keep doing what we’ve been doing. We need to keep making music.”

            “We need to release another album,” Aidan said.

            Nick nodded in agreement. “I’m going to start working on some songs. If you guys come up with anything, let me know, and we’ll work on it.” He paused for a moment, then added. “I did try to call David, but he wouldn’t answer his cell or return any of my calls. I know he got my voice mails.”

            “Don’t worry about him,” I said. “Like you said, we need to focus on making music.”

Chapter Two

Nick

 

 

 

            It’s always the ones you least suspect, who screw you over. If a total stranger had been behind all of our problems, I could live with that. But my cousin? My own family? How am I supposed to feel about that?

            When I left the studio, I went home. Nyda wasn’t in yet, so I had the place to myself. With so much idle time on my hands, I figured I could get some writing done. We needed a new album; one that would blow all of our haters out of the water. I had a lot of work ahead of me.

 

 

Aidan is not to be messed with…

You tell David,” I began, “If he does anything to hurt Amy, I will rain down on him like a fucking biblical plague.

Yeah, you don’t want to mess with Aidan from Our Lady of Righteous Rage. I’ve had a few readers tell me he’s their favorite character from the “Our Lady” series, and it’s no wonder. He’s funny, sarcastic, and very protective of the people he cares about. Get to know Aidan and the rest of the “Our Lady” cast in “Rowdy”, the third book in the series, coming at the end of October!

 

 

 

http://www.woolastonentertainment.com

Get Ready to Get Rowdy

Hello, dear readers. It’s October: one of my favorite months of the year. Fall has arrived, there’s a chill in the air, and Halloween is on its way! There’s something else on its way: Rowdy, the third installment of the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series (third, because Novocaine is a companion book).

So, I’m sure by now you’ve read the other books in the series. If you haven’t, fear not. There’s still time before I release Rowdy to the public. Plus, I will provide a very brief recap of the previous books.  Of course, I still recommend reading the other two. Sort of the way you can only get so much info from Cliff’s Notes.

What can you expect from Rowdy? More song lyrics, of course. This story will touch on some real issues, such as alcoholism and racism (didn’t see that coming from a story with a feline cast, did ya?).  Some familiar faces are going to resurface, but not in a good way.

That’s all I’m going to tell you for now! I don’t want to spoil it for you. Check this blog throughout the month, along with my social media pages, for updates on Rowdy.

The Origins of the Woolaston Entertainment Books

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope your day is going well. Since it is Monday, its time for a new blog post. This week: the origins of the W.E. books. In keeping with this month’s nostalgic theme, I’ve been thinking back to how I started writing my books, years and years ago.

I wrote a lot of books for myself when I was a kid. In first grade, I’d staple several sheets of typing paper between to pages of construction paper, I create my own picture books. By the time I was in sixth grade, I began to develop stories with chapters, characters and plots. A few years later, I started collecting journals and unlined sketch books, and wrote my manuscripts in them. I created front covers for each books, spine labels, and summaries on the back covers. I didn’t have a computer at home, so hand-writing all of my books became a natural step. I wrote all of the time anyway, so I had no trouble working on two to four books at a time. To this day, I have 125 hand-written books. This may sound strange, but doing that, is what led me to publish a real book.

So, Valentine started out as a book I hand wrote inside of a journal. Fortune’s Wing and Our Lady of Righteous Rage were written in composition notebooks. When you don’t have access to certain materials, you learn to make do. I didn’t receive a computer in my house until the middle of my senior year in high school. I didn’t have access to programs such as Adobe Photoshop until several years after that.

Questions? Comments? You know how to reach me!

Author Interviews!

Readers like to know more about the person behind their favorite books. I’d love to interview John Steinbeck, but sadly, I don’t have a time machine (not a functioning one, anyway). Making yourself available for interviews as an author is a great way to reach out to your readers. To me, it makes you seem more human, which makes you more relatable. I have been interviewed three times as an author, and two of those interviews are available online.

Self Publisher’s Showcase:

If you’re a self-published author, this website is a great resource. You can post information about yourself and your book(s). If you sign up for a membership, there is a small fee ($30 for one year, I believe) which will give you more access to the resources on the site. Readers can discover new books and new authors, and SPS will post an interview with you.

http://selfpublishersshowcase.com/

 

If you want to read my interview, here is the link: http://selfpublishersshowcase.com/interview-nicole-e-woolaston-author-of-our-lady-of-righteous-rage/

 

Ebunnygirl’s WordPress Page:

One of my readers posted an interview with me on her wordpress page! This is another fantastic idea. If you have a website (and you should) you may want to post an announcement that you’re available for interviews. Invite anyone with a blog to email questions to you (unless you want to meet in person, totally up to you), and post the conversation online. It’s a great way to engage your audience.

Here is the link to ebunnygirl’s interview with me. You should check out the rest of her page as well:

https://ebunnygirl.wordpress.com/2016/05/28/interview-with-nicole-woolaston/