Tara Maya's Tales

  The Mirror is a Portal into Winterdom . My "final" draft of The Tree & the Egg came back with some scathing critiques from my Content Editor.  Ouch.  This is the last book in the Major Arcana series, which is meant to wrap up the whole series in a neat bow and yet still leave the door open for future series set in the Tarot Magic universe of Arcana Glen. The original draft was almost 50,000 words on the dot. The first round of revisions saw another 30,000 words added. That makes this the longest book in the series. It's not usual for the last book in a series to be the longest. It's the Final Battle, all the loose ends must be tied up, and every major character needs a moment to shine. I have twenty-two major characters, who each have at least one Point of View scene in the book. I also have several villains and gray characters (who may be either villains or anti-heroes) who aren't PoV characters but still deserve their due. In addition to that, I also want ...

An Enchanted Thanksgiving on sale today for only $0.99 I started writing The Unfinished Song more than a decade ago.  It has twelve books, with a story arc planned from the start, yet the latest book out is Book 9 - Maze.  I haven't finished the series yet. "Stuff" happened that delayed me. And sometimes the next book itself delayed me.  The moral of the story? Maybe I should have set a deadline!  That's what I decided to do with my next series. And next. I vowed that I would publish two complete series this year: The Major Arcana Elf Tarot series and the Holiday Elf Tarot series, both a series of sweet, Paranormal Romances set in Arcana Glen, Colorado. The timeline in the books themselves determined by deadline, because the stores (which are independent but intertwined) occur over a year. They have to come out in the month they feature. So far, I've met my deadlines, although in few cases, I was scrambling, and had to sheepishly (inside joke-some books have Shee...

  Excerpt from  Judgment & the World : Once again, he closed the distance between them. Trudie backed up another step, and he took another step forward, until finally she hit the bureau against the wall. She couldn’t back up any further and he kept closing in on her, as if stalking her. He didn’t touch her again, but he put his hands on either side of the bureau, trapping her between his arms. He leaned down and murmured into her ear, only an inch from her face, “When are you going to tell the Guardians the truth?” He was terrifying her and yet at the same time the heat of his breath against her neck made her tingle with desire. She was so messed up. It didn’t matter what he did, she still wanted him. “What’s your game this time?” he demanded in a husky whisper. “Are you going to pull my heart out again, Angel?” she demanded, looking up into his face. “You hate me so much. Why didn’t you kill me when you had a chance? You could’ve crushed my heart instead of returning me t...

  Excerpt from Judgment & the World : The Dragon Hall had been set up like a court. A very ancient and wizened little old lady in a black robe sat at the judge’s bench. She was an extremely powerful Dragon, almost 5000 years old. Her human form was so gnarled and wrinkly that she had no discernible race; her hair was snow on iron. Her eyes gleamed gold, like the predator she was. The jury box was to Raziel’s right as he entered the room facing the judge’s bench. The jurors were a mix of Guardians and Dragons. He had no idea how they had been selected. Two desks faced the judge’s bench. The prosecutor was closest to the jury. The table for the defense, where Raziel sat with Charisa Borboleta and Michael Lambent, was on the left. The prosecutor would be Eleni Bendox, the Gorgon. The Magician played no formal role in the trial. He sat in the benches for spectators, as if only curious about the outcome. And yet Raziel knew that none of this would be happening if Alephander Guiscard...

  New Book! An Enchanted Thanksgiving is now available. I realize those of you in Canada have already celebrated Thanksgiving, but in Arcana Glen, which is in the Colorado Rockies, they celebrate on November 24th. About this Book: Cody Lawson and Caroline Longford are colleagues. Nothing more. No matter how much Cody admires his cool, beautiful partner in the Department of Arcane Affairs, he knows better than to risk their professional relationship by admitting his feelings run deeper than they should between two agents. He intends to keep his emotions under wraps. That applies to family too. Cody knows that during the last year, when he was struggling with his discovery that magic was real, he alienated his brother and his sister, who both married arcanes, people with magic. His solution—cut off all contact. That way, he can’t hurt anyone again. However, when Cody and Caroline are assigned to his hometown, Arcana Glen, Cody’s sister Marla insists they attend the family Thanksgivin...

  Are you doing NaNoWriMo? Trying to write a book in a month this November? (Or whenever you end up trying it... it doesn't have to be November, after all). One week in, how are you doing? Maybe you're going strong? Maybe you are off to a great start... but now that first burst of inspiration is running out of steam? Maybe you're floundering just a wee bit? Maybe you think it's too late to start?  Even if you're a Pantser and your going strong on a streak of inspiration, you might find it helpful to track your progress with an Outline. This is a more focused, streamlined version of the Book Outline Planner I designed to use for myself. (That's also available for sale, because why not?) This is a sample of the inside: As you can see, it's simple and straightforward. If you hit the word count on each page (whether or not it's on the proper "Day X" or not), you'll reach a 50,000 plus novel . If you miss a week or whatever of NaNoWriMo, instead...

The techniques here are designed to help you streamline your writing...and that includes not wasting your time on false starts or novels with huge, gaping plot holes that torment you during revisions.  These are my best No Fail Formulas for starting or re-starting a new or broken novel, for kicking myself out of writer's block, and for making the most of every precious writing minute in a tight schedule.  This book will help you: - write fast AND fabulous prose - fix broken plots - avoid false starts and meandering middles - create endings that sizzle, not fizzle - plan your wordcount to fit your book and genre - painlessly add or cut words - end writer’s block and recapture you love of writing... even during the tough spots. Today, you can read this free on Amazon . If you don't read on Amazon, get it here .