New Trial Cover!

I just made a second cover for Melaney and the Mirror (right)! What do you think- better than the first (the tree picture is my first experiment) or should I just stop procrastinating all together and just write already, leaving it to the professionals? :]

New updates: I've decided to go back to school and I start in October. I'm hoping to get straight A's and go on to med school (yes, that is my lifelong dream believe it or not) and become an amazing surgeon. It's a far away dream but I figure why the heck not.

Savvy will be two in October... I can't believe my baby is no longer a baby! Not only that but she talks like an actual person now haha. My best friend in the whole world is having a baby (due in April) and we are definitely all excited about that too.

Well, I think that's all the updates I have for now! Don't forget to vote for your favorite cover! (I know, no one reads this but hey, maybe someone will one day!)

The Highlights of the Game

A lot has happened for me the past few... how long has it been since I've updated? Here's the highlights (Get it? Highlights of the game of life!) :



My Last Notes is rated #2 best vampire book on Authonomy!! Number one, watch out, here I come!

I've been fired from my day job merely weeks after I turned down an offer for another job (my current boss gave me a raise to stay) just because he decided he wanted to close down the office and not work anymore.

I'm officially Mrs. Brittany Engstrand. Recorded in the Clerk's Office and all. Woo hoo!

Now that I'm jobless, I'll have time to go do the official name changing paperwork as well as complete all my writing and editing that's been in my head and not yet on paper.

Realization: It's been too hot to do anything outside lately. Truth: I have no life.

I think I've figured out the basis of the romance part of Melaney and the Mirror, meaning I can get back to writing. Artemis (yes, I named the writer in my brain) and myself have a love/hate relationship. I hate that when I write I start out with no idea where I'm headed with the subject.


Well, that should be about all I think. Cheers for now!

Heroes and Heroines

I've decided my new favorite super hero is Iron Man. For the longest time I thought maybe Batman, because he was actually a real person (not really, he's fictional but he doesn't actually have super powers). Now I'm thinking I like Iron Man because he's super smart and he's comparable to an actual person. Plus he drives Audi's.

This gets me thinking, believe it or not, if my 'heriones' are 'hero' worthy. It's important for us writers to let the readers escape and really relate to and love our character(s). My project this week: finish my major editing and make sure my characters are wonderful. :]

Today's The Day...

I emailed an agent a month ago, with a month being the turn-around time, and today marks that time period exactly (well, really it would have been yesterday, but it was a Sunday). Then again, it also said "If you don't hear back in two months, please resend..." but then I feel like it wasn't interesting enough to begin with. I feel nervous and somewhat overconfident, or maybe the right word is over-hopeful? Ughhh shishkabob! That's all I can think of to discribe it.

New Trailer!

Yes, that's right, My Last Notes now has a trailer. I hear video trailers are the new things for books. So, check it out and tell me what you think! : ]

My Last Notes Trailer

YouTube cut of the first second and a half of video, so it starts off kind of weird, but I'm not going to delete and reupload yet again for that to still not work. Thanks for the support! (to the no one's who read these haha)

Melaney and The Mirror

I have a new novel I've been working on :) In spite of trying to publish My Last Notes, I am taking my own advice and, instead of waiting to write until I have this one squared away, I am writing everything I can and want with this one. It's quite the test of your imagination, if I do say so myself. I'll give you a little hint on the storyline:

Melaney and her family inherit an ancient mirror from her grandmother when she passes that unexpectedly transports her into this creepy mirror world. It's sort of like Alice in Wonderland meets a Tim Burton film (not to be confused with Alice in Wonderland filmed by Time Burton)- with my own twist of course. :) I'd love any thoughts on this idea!

Aside from that, My Last Notes just underwent a pretty large edit after my trip to New York- amazing by the way, everyone should go at least once! The book continues to rise up in the ranks and I'm eager for a response from an agent due at the end of this month! On top of all that my wedding is in less than 3 months. Wish me luck!

Another Addiction

I've never had a bad comment on my writing before. Even after the comment "Oh Dear- another vampire novel", the writer sent me a message saying that she meant that different than it sounded. My next and last 'bad' comment was "Cedric sitting at a table with a group, crooked smile, god-like features.... sorry to say, but it kinda reminded me of Twilight..." I get this. It's true that the similarities in some ways are comparable (like they are both vampire novels...), but the story itself is completely different.

After I asked her for some helpful suggestions on how she thought I could make it better, she then messaged me with, "I noted those points only to let you know that Twilight fans would feel those similiarities :) am not a huge fan of Twilight saga either (i feel its very poorly written)... I liked your book better and so backed it :) (i shud ve explained my pov in my comment) am not a huge of online reading, but i will read more, i promise :)". Why she couldn't have said this on the actual comment so that everyone who read it didn't automatically turn away, I'm not sure.

Authonomy is a rigourous unfair competition. Unfortunately, I'm addicted. Don't get me wrong, I love getting all and any kind of comments, even if I get ones that completely bash my writing because I appreciate the honesty. Still, after all this time I can't help but to keep logging in to check that rating and see if I have anything new. If I could do nothing but write all day and night I would be happy. Is that weird or just passionate? I may be addicted to cigarettes more than authonomy but the comparison is still a valid argument, so what's a writer to do besides push the agents and publishers?

The Regretful Historian

(New cover by the amazing Bradley Wind :] )

I got a comment today referencing a book called The Historian today. I've never read it, but I recognised the name from another comment as well. The first comment I got was stating that my book was a relief because it didn't "get lost in detail, like say, The Historian". The more recent comment said that My Last Notes was just as epic as The Historian. I know it's all opinion so I may have to check this book out myself. I hate reading books similar to my own, only because I don't want the story in my head to get mixed with a similar one, otherwise it would sound like I'm writing about the same old thing when in reality it was my idea first! (that's me holding a bit of a grudge against the writer of Twilight, although her books aren't horrible, the last one was a bit odd and the writing could have been a little better. I was still crushed when I saw the preview for the movie on TV after I had started my idea seven years prior... that's my own stupidity for not writing it all down like I should have been!)

Which comes to my next thought- my one and only regret I've ever had in my life. No, it's not that I had a beautiful baby before I was married or the fact that I "did it" (as my mom's old pastor would say) for the first time with a guy I had been with for THREE YEARS. (still a little angry about all that) No, it all happened when I was much younger. I was maybe about twelve or so. I prayed as hard as I could to that higher power in the sky watching over all of us and asked for a dream. I wanted a story- one story that would be a bestseller and one that had all the elements in it. And so it was. My dream had mystery, suspense, horror, love, anything and everything you could imagine and it was a perfect story that no one had thought of. Unfortunately when I woke up again that's all I could remember about it because I thought it was so perfect there was no way I could forget. That is undoubtably my luck.

For my conclusion, I will write this piece of advice- write everything and anything down that pops into your head, even if it doesn't have a story to it yet and it's only a scene or a phrase. Great writing isn't hard to achieve, it's only harder when you can't remember that tiny piece that made it fit together.

The Introduction

Okay, so I'm really starting this to maybe get my name and/or books out there in the world. I'm working with other Authonomy writers in competition to be in the top five on Harper Collins website by the end of the month, or rather any month. Currently my stats aren't horrible but they aren't the top five. Any other writer will tell you how difficult it is to get published and how many strenuous years and countless waisted hours you spend editing and going over in your mind to make it "worthy", when in my opinion there are some unpublished authors out there who write just as well, if not better, that ones who are published.


Honestly whats the point of literary agents too? I mean, no offense to any of them, they are wonderful, but I don't understand why most publishers require for you to hire one. It's frustrating.


Any way, here's a little bit about me :) I'm finally getting married this July to my fiance Jeremy, and we have a beautiful one year old little girl named Savvy. I work full time in a real estate law firm (not exactly my dream but it does pay the bills) and write after savvy goes to bed. Writing is my passion (I write mostly fiction) and my dream. Hopefully anyone who reads what I write is inspired and taken into another world.


That's all for now, thanks for reading :)


Brittany