Saturday 10 December 2016

So I found out a few hours ago that another member of my Mother's family, her cousin this time, passed away quite suddenly.
There was a time when I had felt close to that person, my Mother's cousin, but we had lost touch in the last few years. Mostly because of me, so consumed in grief for my own mother that reaching out to people just seemed trivial.
I admired her spirit, and her will to fight even at the worst of times. I am sorry she is gone, way too soon and too suddenly. I hope that she and my Mother are together, wherever they ended up.

Tuesday 1 November 2016

It's NaNo time!

Hello all!

So I am officially signed up for NaNoWriMo this year (come be my buddy!  My username is Ravin Tija Maurice) in the hopes that I will be able to finish my non series WIP. Which, if you look on the nano site, you will now know is called Dirty Pretty Things or DPT for short. I am super excited, I have never done nano before and I am hoping that its the push I need to get this shit done.
But I am about mid way through so I won't be starting from the jump off point, which is ok. And because of that if I even get half of the 50,000 word goal done on it to get it finished I will be extremely happy.

So! My stats are as of now, Nov 1:
TITLE - Dirty Pretty Things
GENRE - Urban Fantasy, but is listed as horror/supernatural on the nano site because that was the closest category
WORD COUNT - 63, 987

Good luck everyone!

Wanna chat about NaNoWriMo?
Post a comment or come check me out on facebook!

Tuesday 11 October 2016

The Revisit - Update

Hi all

Don't think that I have forgotten about you, or Anita, because I haven't updated in a while. I'm still reading Guilty Pleasures, but as I am sure many of you do it's not the only book I am reading so it is taking more time than I expected.
I'm a little more than half way through. Is it everything I remembered? That and more. I had forgotten more of the plot then I had thought and I'm loving all the little details. I'd forgotten how long ago it was released, the 90's, and it still holds up.
So please bear with me! I'm still on it it's just taking longer to get there then I had expected.

Side note - I think I am going to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. Hopefully it will get my ass in gear!

Sunday 21 August 2016

The Revisit - The Plan

Hello all!
If you follow me on facebook you know already that I have decided to revisit the Anita Blake series by Laurell K Hamilton from the beginning.
I decided to go back while I was in the middle of reading Affliction, not the latest in the series but one of the last three. There were some in the series that I missed for one reason or another and I decided that I wanted to read them. And in that thought I said to myself, Hey. Let's just read from the beginning and talk about it online, it could be cool.
So, to make a long story short I started reading Guilty Pleasures last night, the first in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series. It has been a long time since I read it and I have to say it's like hanging out with an old friend.

Why revisit such an enormous, and controversial, series you ask?
Because it is one of my favourites. I wish Anita Blake was my best friend in real life. 
Laurell K Hamilton is such a huge inspiration for me, and I admire her greatly. Anita is one of the first major literary characters that I truly connect with  and I hope by doing this I can learn some things that will make my own characters and stories better.

I'm not going to write on here that I am going to read the entire series, because at 24 books that is quite a task. But I will say that I am going to read up until my favourite in the series, Obsedian Butterfly, which is number 9, and then decide if I am going to continue.

Want to read along with me? Come hang out with me on my facebook author page and we can talk about it, or comment on my posts.

Guilty Pleasures is everything I remembered and more.

Friday 6 May 2016

Research Time!

Even though it takes the longest, and is the least creative, I love the research phase of writing.

Research is when I get to indulge the history geek side of me, and when I get to learn about things that would never come up in my day to day life. For my current WIP I had to expand my private investigator knowledge (I actually went to school for private investigation, but that's another story) and I am also reading a biography of Cleopatra as a side project. It's nice to be learning without feeling forced, like I did in school.
I was a pretty high achiever until I reached high school, then I got caught up. In what, you ask? Life is the simplist answer.
After I got done with high school, college was a revelation. I got to pick what I learned and how I did it, and it was amazing. I miss it sometimes, but I'm not sure I could do it again at this stage in my life.
So I have fun with my research. That old saying 'write what you know' doesn't always work, there are some things that you have to learn before you can write what you know.

Are you wondering about Book 3? I have a pile of research books for that as well. But that one will take time as I am ironing out details before I can even start my research but it is there! So have no fear.

Thursday 28 April 2016

About Tomorrow

This never gets any easier.
The notion that grief fades or somehow lestens is absolute bullshit. Tomorrow is the four year anniversary of my Mother's death and it has not gotten any easier. I even miss her more because now she is also missing my daughter's birthday.

I try to do things to distract myself. Because, really, that is all you can do. You have to put it away or else you won't be able to function. Grief is probably the most complicated emotion humans have next to love. They both make you crazy and can destroy life as you know it.

Grief has made me dark and pushed my mind in directions that I didn't know it had. She was the light in my darkness. My daughter has renued that light, but the darkness is a bigger part of me now then it was.

Tomorrow also marks the day I went into labour, my daughter was born a full day and a bit later (tomorrow being friday, her birthday is on Sunday). I think about it more then I probably should, because it was hard and I didn't have my Mother there to help. I didn't have a Mother to come spend the night those first early days, like my friends Mother's did. I don't even know much about my Mother's pregnancies or labours, I found a letter she wrote about the day I was born months after the fact.

My Daughter is, by far, the greatest blessing in my life. I am always confused when a couple refers to their partner as the love of their life. Don't get me wrong, my husband is my great romantic love, but my daughter is the love of my life. I understand now how my Mother filled her life with other passions then romantic love, because your children fill so much of your heart that it brings you a type of fulfillment that romatic love just doesn't provide.

I am always afraid that I will never be as good of a Mom as she was. There are times when I feel like I am failing, like during a bedtime battle, and I think of her and what she would do. I think of her as I lay on my daughter's bedroom floor beside her crib, praying that she will sleep soon. I know I may never be as good, but if I strive to be maybe I will touch that some times and that means a little piece of her is still living.

I have a picture on my personal facebook of her and I, I am probably two or three and she would be in her mid thirties (so similar to I am now), and we're standing in a lake with a sunset behind us. I captioned the photo 'As I sit alone, I sit with you'.
Because that is how I truly feel, and if you are reading this and grieving I would like to leave you with that thought.
Think that when you are alone, they are there. As I sit alone, I sit with you. It has brought me some solice. Comfort has escaped me long ago.

Wednesday 30 March 2016

Reader Question

Hello dear readers!

I wanted to ask you all a question because I was wondering about something. I also posted it on my facebook pages and twitter so wherever you follow me you can respond there!

For the current WIP I am considering making it available in serial format. For those who don't know what serial format is it's basically a regular book divided up into smaller sections and each section is published individually. Examples I can think of are The Green Mile by Stephen King and City of the Lost by Kelley Armstrong.

The current WIP seems like a good fit for this format, and I was wondering what readers thought of it before I decided to go ahead? I had intended on putting out the book as a whole afterwards but I thought it might be fun to have it in small doses, maybe once a month, first? What does everyone think?

Please comment below or send me an email, or hit me up on social media! I would love to hear what you think!

Wednesday 9 March 2016

Sending a call out

Hello dear readers!

So Ikon has been out for about 6 weeks now and I wanted to ask you all something.
If you've read it, can you please leave a review somewhere? Good or bad, please post your reviews!

Thank you!

Sunday 31 January 2016

Happy Release Day!

Hello everyone, and Happy Release Day!

Ikon is now, finally out in the world and I couldn't be happier!
It was absolutely a labor of love, and I am overjoyed with the way that it turned out. I hope you all enjoy it!




                                                             Fighter. Survivor. Outcast


The werewolf Anastasia, illegitimate daughter of Erszebet Bathory, is able to meet her notorious mother at last. She discovers a pack of werewolves living in the forests around Csejthe and joins their ranks, forgetting her human life and her daughter.

Katrine and the Danse Macabre are set to travel to Moscow in pursuit of a mysterious creature rumored to be terrorizing the area. The troupe receives a chilly reception from the local vampires, who are suspicious of their associate Nikoli Osomov. Katherine also meets a member of the shadowy Order of the Dragon, who casts doubts on the motives of her cousin Gabor.

Meanwhile, the blood drinker Klara van Dores has been sold into slavery as punishment for her crimes against the Danse Macabre. Never one to submit to the will of others, she slaughters her new master and frees her fellow servants. But her behavior won't go unnoticed for long, and her new friend Olivia fears she may have been better off a slave.

                                                    Ikon: Book Two of The Afflicted
                                                           By Ravin Tija Maurice



eeek! I am still pinching myself!  
Having one book out is one thing, but two. Two makes it all the more real. Like I can stick my neck out and say 'Here I am. I am substantial. And I'm not going anywhere!'

I can't wait to hear what you guys think. So please, give me a shout when you're done! Come check me out over on my new facebook author page, I'd love to chat anytime! 






Friday 22 January 2016

Ebook Preorder Links

Hey! For those interested, here are the preorder links!

Smashwords
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/609595

Amazon
 http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01AWX1ZR6/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1453417810&sr=1-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=Ravin+Tija+Maurice&dpPl=1&dpID=51X4-zvZK-L&ref=plSrch

COVER REVEAL!

Hello dear readers!

Well, here it is, the long awaited cover for Ikon!
RMGraphX really hooked me up and I couldn't be happier! It turned out better then I could have imagined!

Also, Ikon is up for preorder for Kindle and on Smashwords! Official release date is Jan 31 for the ebook, I'm waiting on the proof for the paperback and I'm hoping it will be out shortly after!

And did you see that bitchin logo on the paperback by my photo? RMGraphX hooked that up also. I fucking love it!

Thursday 21 January 2016

Tomorrow!

Hi Folks!

I got a BIG surprise coming tomorrow so stay tuned! I am SUPER excited!

Saturday 16 January 2016

Author Page

Hi all!

So I finally got my author facebook page up!

Why didn't I have one before you ask?
Well, when it was only one book and I didn't know where things were headed I thought it was more important to focus on the book and not me. But now! Now! Now that it will be two I feel like it's time.

Here is the link. Come by and give it a like if you are a facebook user.

http://www.facebook.com/RTMaurice

Friday 8 January 2016

Sharing Some Wisdom

Hello dear readers!

I saw this amazing video on facebook yesterday that I wanted to share with you all. It is actress Jada Pinkett Smith talking about being a wife and mom.

She discusses finding balance and weighing helping her family reach their dreams while still trying to reach her own dreams, and something in her words really spoke to me.
I think this is an important subject and something that all wives and mothers need to hear.
We are programed, at some point I don't know when, to believe that wanting things for ourselves is wrong and selfish when you have a husband and family. The key is finding balance, and I think it is summed up quite beautifully in this video.

Please enjoy, and let me know your thoughts!
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10153819590839494&id=11445289493

Sunday 3 January 2016

Book 2

Hello dear readers

So I wanted to give you all an update, especially those who don't follow me on social media.

The title for Book 2 is Ikon and I am working on a January 2016 release!

Isn't it January now? Why, yes it is! I don't have a firmed up date yet but it will be this month baring any major issues. The ebook will come first with the paperback to follow shortly after. My cover artist (RMGraphX) and I have been talking and she is cooking up something awesome, I can't wait for you guys to see it!

Once I have all of that pulled together I plan on doing some rafflecopter giveaways so keep an eye out here because those will be coming up soon.

Ikon has been a labour of love for me, and I hope you guys love it as much as I do. It's a bit different for me and I hope it works well! I can't wait for you guys to read it.

I will be back on here updating as much as I can, I apologise for being so neglectful.

Make sure you pick up your copy of Rebirth before Ikon comes out, so you're all caught up! It's available in ebook and paperback, check the links in the sidebar!