Whenever you feel like wasting your time...

Currently, I am in the throes of college. I am only 5 weeks into the semester, and already I am beginning to succumb to the temptation of distraction that comes in the sultry form of the internet. As we all know, distraction leads to procrastination; the most common vice (with the exception of debauchery) that befalls college students. I wrote the following when I needed a swift-kick-in-the-butt to motivate me. Ironically, I spent about an hour of valuable time I could have used for studying. That investment will pay off later, right?

"Whenever you feel like wasting your time, think of your GPA. Think of getting those good grades. Better yet, think of not getting those good grades. Imagine, if you will, a hypothetical situation: You spend all your time on facebook, twitter, gmail and fartin' around on the internet. You stop doing your homework. You quit studying. You start getting C's and D's and F's. At first you think you can recover-- you can BS yourself out of it. You’re really smart, right? But it’s a slippery slope: eventually the titanic pile of backlog overwhelms you, and not even the fabled gods of procrastination and caffeine can save you. You lose your scholarship. You drop out of school with over $50,000 in debt and little to no way to pay for it. You are forced to get a job at the Dairy Queen in Middle-of-Nowhere, USA, so you can pay back your crushing student loan debt. You are forced to give up on your business, because frankly, you don't have the time. Besides, the meager earnings of an Etsy shop owner ain't gonna cut it if you want to pay those bills, honey.

You never get to roam the wilds and study God's glorious creations, because you are too busy being yelled at by an angry old lady who didn't want mustard on her Hungr-Buster. You never get to spend that memorable semester abroad where you develop your life-altering world-paradigm, instead you’ll have plenty of memories of watching fuzzy reruns on that TV you got from goodwill. You never get to make advances in science to benefit not only the biosphere, but humankind as a whole. You never fall in love, because, well, you were supposed to meet the “one” at that party that was thrown by that girl you know from Ag Economics. You quit writing. You ain’t got the time-- you have to pull a double clopening shift at the DQ.

Instead of coming home to your handsome husband, who lives with you in your cozy cabin in the woods (which happens to have the pleasant aroma of pine needles and cinnamon); you come home to your one-bedroom trailer, your fat grey cat named Edna, with the lingering scent of putrid hamburger grease in your thinning hair. You spend the rest of your life alone, overweight, and depressed and making 8 cents above minimum wage because you would rather be clicking through the latest gossip about a celebrity that you don’t even care about, than reading your biology textbook. Think about all the hours you spent stalking the guy-you-kinda-had-a-thing-for-but-not-sure-if-he-felt-the-same-way’s facebook page, instead of walking onto the stage to accept your diploma with your head held high and the fire of accomplishment in your eyes. I’ll ask you one thing: Was it worth it?"

Note: I imagine this hypothetical dream husband to be about 6' 4" with blond hair and blue eyes. I am currently taking applications.

Also: No offense intended to anyone who works at DQ. I love DQ with all my heart, but I've already paid my dues with over 2 years of service to the fast food industry, and would prefer never to return.

Goodreads Giveaway!

Some great news! My book, WILD VIOLET, has been approved for a Goodreads giveaway!

Like the idea of opening up a package and finding a brand new book that you got for free? Click the button below for a chance to win one of 5 paperback copies!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wild Violet

by Ariel C. Horn

Giveaway ends June 23, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Hope you all have a great day!

Special Update!

Dear Readers,

I'd like to inform you that my novel, "Wild Violet" has been published on amazon.com!

The ebook is available for the low price of $3.99!

I'll be sure to let y'all know when the paperback makes it debut, if you have a thing for the feel of a hot-off-the-presses book in your hands.

If you're looking for adventure, love, and page-turning action in the Old West, featuring a strong female main character, well, do I have a book for you!

Go click on the link. I dare you.

http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Violet-ebook/dp/B00CZDW3HI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1369520913&sr=1-1&keywords=wild+violet

Love,
Ariel

Just the Beginning

Okay, so I lied about posting every Thursday. But every two weeks is better than two months, and today is Thursday, so extra points for that.

I have lots of things to update on. First off, the cover of my upcoming novel is finished:

Look at that! Ain't it purty? Designed it myself. Shh... don't tell anyone. ;)

Also, I listed it on goodreads. You can check it out here, Wild Violet.

My book will be released tomorrow on amazon.com I had originally set my lofty publishing goal as May 17th, so it's a week late. But it's finally getting published, and that's the most important thing.

I've experienced an emotion today I did not expect to at the imminent launching of my novel, along with the normal excitement and anticipation, I feel nervous.

Nervous.

The same kind of nervous I felt when I performed at my first ever piano recital when I was seven. Sitting down on the piano bench and plinking out my best rendition of "Deck the Halls".

But instead of performing a beloved Christmas carol to a room full of parents, that I had been practicing for months, I'm showing the world my literary creation that I have been working on since I first thought of the idea when I was eighteen years old on vacation in Branson, Missouri. This is my first book, and I'm letting it loose in the wilds of the internet. Will anyone buy it? Let alone read it? Will it get lost and not be able to find its way to readers? Will anyone like it, and will they review it? These questions and more have been nagging at me today.

I think my mom put it the best way, "This my baby, hope you like it!"

I was so nervous that I had to calm myself with a hot beverage sweetened with an inordinate amount of sugar, and listen to the Rolling Stones (Mick Jagger's voice is soothing to me, I have no idea why).

I don't know how successful my book will be, this is my first time. My hope is that the people that want to read a story like mine will find it, and ultimately enjoy it. If I can entertain, uplift, and provide escapism for a reader then I have done my duty as a writer.

I'm going to listen to Elvis now.

The End of a Semester

It’s been a while. I probably shouldn’t get into the habit of opening every blog post with an apology. Pretty soon I’ll be posting something every Thursday, so no more apologies will be needed.

Today marks the end of the semester. I had a great run-- Astronomy, Algebra and Public speaking.

I have to say, the class that scared me the least when I signed up for it turned out to be a huge thorn in my side… I’m talking about Astronomy.  I thought it was going to be memorizing the names of constellations and looking up at the stars. Boy, was I wrong. There was some stargazing, but the majority of the work was mind-numbing lab work and calculations. I just wanted to look at stars! I was roped in by my foolish, wide-eyed naivety about the cosmos.

I was trepidatious (to say the least) about Public Speaking. The first time I got up to introduce myself I was literally shaking. After I got over the shaking, turns out I’m actually pretty good at getting up in front of people and talking.

Algebra has been my nemesis since High School. Back then, if I were to equate the hatred I had for Algebra to a person, I would probably say Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini. Fortunately, after many semesters of taking math classes, I have reconciled with Algebra. Turns out Algebra is more like a person that’s hard to get to know and understand at first, but once you get to know it better, they’re really just an easy-going, misunderstood, nerd. Perhaps that was too generous… but still, I did come out of that class with flying colors. I have to thank my teacher for that, and lots of hours with my head in my text book, scratching away at homework.

The first question my dad asked me after I came home from school today was, “What are you going to do now?”

Well Dad, I’m not entirely sure, but one thing is certain—I will be working on writing. I will publish my book, and start another one. That is my plan for now.

Coming back to life...

I've been a very bad girl. It's been a long time since I've posted anything on my blog. I could give you excuses about how busy I've been, and believe that I have many, but I'll spare you.

Here's an update on the results of of queries: I got nothing. Quite literally. No agents deigned to pick up my novel. I've made my peace with that. Perhaps it wasn't for them, or they felt like they couldn't market it. I understand. I read it in many a form letter. It's hard to market a Western like mine.

I've decided to go down the road that I once looked down upon with shame (no, that's not what I'm talking about... get your mind out of the gutter)! Many a writer who has tried to go the traditional publishing route first understands what I am talking about. Yes, I've decided to self-publish. No, I am not disappointed.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to pimp self-publishing or bash traditional publishing. I respect all writers and whatever method they choose to best reach their reading audience. I just feel like this is the right decision for me and my novel at the moment. Sure, I could query to 50 more agents and hope that I get a nibble, but I have places to go and people to see! To quote Bob Dylan: "The times they are a-changin'." The age of kindles and ebooks has blossomed like a sweet yellow rose. I feel more confident than ever that my book can flourish in the growing market.

Marketing. That's the hard part. Writing a 300 page novel is easy compared to getting it out to potential readers. Do you know how many books there are on Amazon.com? Of course you don't, neither do I. It's bordering on astronomical. Considering that I only have 7 twitter followers, and probably only 3 people will ever read this entry... I have a long road ahead of me. The trail of self-publishing is at once rocky, lonely and traveled by many, but I ain't scared. Don't you worry about me.

20th Query

I've sent my twentieth query to a literary agent. I have to say, it's been a learning experience. The worst thing about it is waiting. Waiting. It seems to last forever, so long sometimes that I've even been happy to get a rejection. As long as I'm not completely ignored, I'm pretty happy.

For those of you who know something about the current market, not a lot of people take on Westerns. Did I not tell you I wrote a Western? Somehow I think picking this genre for my first novel has made trying to get it published a whole lot harder. I guess the dark and sexy cloud of vampire novels has been overshadowing everything lately, including my beloved genre. I don't regret what I've written by any means-- I would even do it again. I can't force my mind to come up with something I don't want to write. I have to love the idea before I write it. It happened to be a story set in 1868 Texas that was tugging at my heart, so write I did.

Now it's just wait and see. Wait and see.