Donavon

Being a female myself, I know that the characters of both Donavon and Peter are especially important to my female fans. I have debated long and hard about who I think either one of them looks like. A sucker for tall-dark-and-handsome myself (yes, that means you, honey!), it was hard to find someone as good looking as my own husband.  :)

Of course, no one is exactly like who I have in my head, but I think this next actor is a close match to Donavon. (Write me a comment of your suggestions if you disagree!)

Paul Wesley

If he looks familiar, that is because he plays Stefan Salvatore on the CW's The Vampire Diaries. I was hesitant to pick Paul because of his connection to a vampire story.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE good vampire stories... but I wanted to broaden my horizons a bit.  The only problem was, as I would try to find other "Donavon's" to choose, I kept coming back to Paul and his spiky vampire hair.  (Why do all vampires have spiky hair?  You know... Edward, Stefan, Angel...).

Any good Peter suggestions?

Where is The Order Located?

Ever wonder where The Order takes place? Besides inside my head?!

Originally, I had no place in particular in mind. Mostly, the setting was just some place familiar that I could easily picture as I wrote. The way I made the college campus be nestled up to the mountainside often reminded me of my alma mater, Utah State University. However, I didn't really have the intention of making Logan the hometown for my Order. So, I just blissfully wrote my novel without choosing a real location.

I actually Googled Grayson College to make sure that my school was a completely fictional place. There is a Grayson County College in Texas, and a Grayson College that closed in 1917, but nothing current that would pin my novel to a specific location.

Then, I was talking to my sister one day and she told me a story that made me decide that I wanted to find a real place for my novel to be located. I don't know where she got her information, but my sister told me this: Apparently Richelle Mead, the author of The Vampire Academy novels, mentioned that she regretted never placing her story in a real location after seeing how the success of Stephenie Meyer impacted the small town of Forks. Not wanting to have similar regrets, I decided to do a little research and choose a location for my novel.

And the winner is...

Drum roll please...

Golden, Colorado! (and the crowd goes wild!)

Welcome to Golden...

I wanted some place in the mountains, with a small population, and images that I would just fall in love with. I also decided that the first day of school for Grayson College (and thus the first day of The Order) would be Monday, September 8th (of no particular year), and I needed a place that would have autumn colors and leaves during that time of year, and possibly the first snow fall by November 1st. Golden fit the bill! Take a look for yourself.

Fall colors in Colorado... gorgeous!

According to the source, this is near Golden...

Can't you just imagine the backyard I described in The Order being behind this house, snuggled right up to the mountain side?

Doesn't this look like the perfect place for Robert's cabin to be hiding?

See how Golden is just surrounded by mountains? Perfect!

What do you think? Hopefully the people of Golden will be flattered that I fell in love with their little gem.

The Others Passes 10,000 Words

For those of you who watch the progress of my sequel on my sidebar, you will be happy to note that I am around 50 pages in and I just passed 10,000 words. Now, these are formatted pages and not standard word processing pages, so 10,000 words might be a better indicator of how far into the story I am.

The Order was slightly over 80,000 words, 447 pages and 20 chapters long with a Prologue and Epilogue). Right now, The Others is 2 chapters and a Prologue.

So, that's my update for you. The big news is that chapter two is finally done. I also have a couple fun extras that I am hoping to post soon, so keep your eyes open and check back.

Another Positive Review

Here is what my college friend Jennifer had to say about reading The Order:

I read your electronic version and really enjoyed it...I'm looking forward to reading the next book. Great Job!!!" -Jennifer

Thanks Jennifer. That means a lot to me.

Updates Via Email

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Beth

Who do you think Beth Andrews looks like?

I have been thinking for a long time about who I think reminds me the most of Beth when I am writing about her. I picture someone with long dark hair, who is skinny and shy. Someone with big, innocent, dark eyes. Two actresses come to mind. A young Ann Hathaway:

And Michelle Trachtenberg:

What do you think? Any suggestions for my other characters?