Catching Up

Well, it's been a little while since I posted. Life gets in the way a lot these days. However, I have been able to get some work done!

The first three books of the Hell House series are back up at Amazon - YAY! The whole entering the self-publishing world has been nerve-wracking and exhilarating at the same time. But I wanted my books back out there so that readers could continue to enjoy them. Now I need to get hard at work on the next one! (tentatively titled A Little Bit Zombie, BTW)

I've also been busy with my adult writing, getting a contract for a release this summer. Edits have me pretty wrapped up, along with the day job. Never enough hours in the day!

Managing to squeeze some reading time in there as well. I've read the first two books of Amanda Hocking's Trylle series, and just finished The Hunger Games. Probably will plan a blog about those guys in the near future.

So, what has everyone else been up to?

New Beginning for a New Year

Well, Christmas has finally come and gone. The presents were opened, the feasts enjoyed. And now a the world prepares to usher out one year and welcome in a brand spankin' new one.

With this comes the idea of new beginnings. Folks resolve to make changes and start new projects to celebrate the start of a new year. Typically I don't make New Year's Resolutions at all, but this year I've been forced to consider a drastic new path for my YA writing career.

You see, Sapphire Blue Publishing, the publisher of my YA Hell House series, decided rather suddenly to close its doors December 1st. The news came as a shock to all of the authors, especially those of us who'd been with the company since it began in 2008 (like me). The company wasn't in any kind of peril, but there were just things outside of the scope of control of the authors that led to the closure.

I, myself, was devastated. I felt like the proverbial rug had been yanked out from under me. However, the publisher was speedy in returning the writes to us authors for our works, and even threw in the rights to the wonderful cover art as a way to sort of take the sting out of what was happening.

Which left me with a predicament. Do I begin the entire query process again, or should I take the leap into the world of self-publishing? I mean, I had completely edited stories and cover art at my fingertips, so why not?

That being said, I took the plunge and decided I was going to take control of the situation, and put my beloved stories back out there myself. After a crash course in formatting and cover art editing, the first book in the Hell House series, Holiday Hell House, is back up on Amazon and All Romance eBooks. It's definitely more work, and in no way means I'm through with querying publishers, but I am proud to have taken charge of my path and excited to see what new things lie ahead in this new year. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the next two books back up and available soon, and move on with writing even more stories starring this great cast of characters.

Until then, you can purchase Holiday Hell House with a sneak new preview of Fairy Fury at Amazon and All Romance eBooks published by...ME!

And it's only 99 cents!



Have a fabulous New Year!

I'm Just Along For The Ride

Happy Fourth Wednesday, Peeps!

Fall is here, and that change in season always leads me down a pensive path. I find myself lurking inside my head a lot, sorting things out. Mental fall cleanup, so to speak. And while considering blog topics, I realized something very specific.

Though I tend to be mostly a plotter when it comes to writing, for my YA series, the characters are totally in the driver's seat this time. It was a bit unnerving at first to have these fictional people vie for my attention, demanding their stories be told. I mean, I'M the author, I'M supposed to be in charge.

But as I've come to realize, that's just a bunch of hooey.

Somehow, these characters have come alive to me like no other ones I've written. I'm not sure if it's because I get to tap into all that teenage angst of my childhood, or if I'm just having fun creating them and their world. But as I write my Hell House stories, I find that I honestly don't always know where the story is going to take me.

As a plotter, this really freaked me out.

A bit of a control junkie, I even tried to force the flow of the words, to carve out a storyline that I thought would work. But each time, Sora Starwind or one of the other Hell House residents would pipe up and take me on a detour, which led to another detour, so on and so forth, until the words on the page resembled nothing at all what I originally had in my head.

After a few deep breaths and much internal dialog, I came to the conclusion that I was, in fact, not going crazy, but that I had stumbled into the world of the pantser, and that even though it was scary and unexpected, there was something freeing in giving up control to the characters and the story.

So I sat back, flexed my fingers, and braced myself for the ride. I still like to plot, mind you, but with Hell House, I've decided that I'm just going to let these guys take me where they want to. The life of a teenager is one big roller-coaster of emotion, new experiences, and tough choices. They never know what might happen next, so why should I? It only seems fair that I go on the same journey with them.

I'm just along for the ride. And hopefully, you will be too.

Welcome to Hell House...

I didn't set out to write young adult. It happened purely by accident. After I'd published my first novel, a contemporary romance, the publisher sent out a submission call for "holidays gone wrong" short stories. I'm always up to a challenge, so I decided to wrack my brain and see what I could come up with. Almost immediately, my head was filled with every holiday fiasco I could fathom, and each scenario centered around a teenager. Characters filled my head with chatter, and Holiday Hell House was born.

There’s no place like Hell House for the holidays…
At least that’s what Danielle Stewart hopes for as the director of Hellsner Halfway House for Troubled Paranormal Teens. But all her plans come to an abrupt halt with the help of bickering teens, unannounced zombies, and a portal to hell, among other things. When the arguing leads to things quite literally going up in smoke, will Danielle find that her true calling lies elsewhere, or will the help of an unexpected angel show her the family she has longed for is right before her eyes?

That one small story opened up a new world for me. These characters screamed for my attention, demanding their stories be told. I'm typically more of a plotter when I write, but this time, I just seemed to be able to take a back seat while the characters drove their own stories.

Teenage fairy, Sora Starwind, was the first to demand her fair share of my time. Always honest, sometimes rude, Sora was banished from her people and wasn't too happy about it at all.


Sora Starwind just wants to have a normal life. Well, as normal as a banished teenage fairy living in a halfway house for paranormals can have. Squashing her magic mishaps is just part of the equation. Catching the eye of a certain hottie named Liam Crawford would be a plus, if she could only figure out how to not act like a complete dork around him. Then a surprise visit from her estranged mother brings an ultimatum that threatens to turn Sora’s world upside down. Unexpectedly faced with her past, Sora has to find the inner strength to deal with her banishment, but there’s more to her story than even she knows…

Sora came to life so brightly in my head, and her story kept surprising me at each and every turn. But then, Mr. Liam Crawford laid a secret of his own on her, and made her life even more complicated than it already was.


Teenage fairy, Sora Starwind, is finally making her way in the mortal world. The guy of her dreams, Liam Crawford, has asked her to his school’s Spring dance, and she finally feels, well, normal. Trouble is, Liam has a secret of his own that brings with it a whole new set of complications. Not only does Sora have to worry about Liam’s friends liking her, she also has to guard his secret, and deal with the school harlot that wants Liam for her own. Add a pair of obsessed paranormals that intend to unleash more chaos than just ruining her evening and Sora finds her newfound control stretched to the brink. Can she find more answers than questions this time, so that this first dance won’t also be her last?

I'm truly enjoying the ride this series is taking me on. There are so many stories to be told, I hope I can keep up with them! Zombies, fairies, shifters, ogres, imps - Hell House has them all! And I'm so excited to be able to share them with you!

--Christle Gray was born and raised in Ohio, but lives in Kentucky with her husband and one frisky black cat. She's a Gemini, which means she's of two minds about everything, and has more projects in progress than she can ever hope to complete in one lifetime. Her interests vary as widely as her opinions, and she's in no short supply of either. Just go ahead and ask. One of the many voices yammering on in her head is bound to answer.

Visit me on the web! www.christlegray.com

Welcome Christle Gray!

She likes to genre-hop and this time she landed here with us!  After you scroll down and read Julie's post on ponies, please check out   Christle Gray