New Website, Need Influencers, and Great Interview Next Week!

It's official - the new "website" is up and running. And for the most part, I haven't totally killed it, rearranged it, or messed it up. (I know, I know, just wait, right?) LOL

Anyway, so please tell your friends that they can go to any of the following:
kimwoodhouse.com
kimberleywoodhouse.com
kimberleyandkaylawoodhouse.com
kaylawoodhouse.com
and they will all take you to our new streamlined (hopefully), easy to navigate (prayerfully) site :)
Kayla and I would love to have your thoughts on the new site, tabs, and info that is up. We'd also love your suggestions!

NEXT - we need influencers for our upcoming release NO SAFE HAVEN - if you'd like to be someone to read it, blog about it, and talk it up - please let us know ASAP. Either commment here - or send an email through the contact tab on our website.

AND NOW - that everything is up and running smoothly (finally, whew!) be watching for a great interview we have with Jenny B. Jones next week! She's totally amazing, hysterical, and one of my favorite people of all time.

Stay tuned!
Love you all :)

Word Count

For those of you who are (or who have hung around) a writer at any point in time, you've probably heard the terms "word count."

We are always striving for that elusive number. Be it a daily goal or the completion of a manuscript, we wordsmiths sure do seem to place a lot of importance on numbers.

And a lot of writers will admit that they hate numbers. Many of them hate math in general. So what is it with this obsession we have with numbers?

After much pondering (not really), I've decided to share my thoughts (or lack thereof) on this subject.

1. We need numbers. Life, and thus our stories, would be boring without numbers. (Who would be interested if the reader doesn't know how old our characters are, what year they live in, or how many half-decaf-caramel-lattes they drink each day?)
2. Numbers help you exaggerate in order to make your point more meaningful. (She rewrote the scene for the 5-trillionth time.)
3. Numbers help us with deadlines and parameters. (You'll never have a publisher ask you to deliver a manuscript of unlimited word count whenever you feel like it.)

So now that I have shared my abundance of wisdom on this matter of numbers, I must get back to my own word count after teaching my kids that "yes, you still have to do math even if you want to be a writer."

Kayla Woodhouse Needs YOU!

Can you imagine Uncle Sam with his finger pointed at you? Well, just imagine it's me, Kayla, pointing at you... Yes, we need YOU!!

Would you like to be part of our research for RACE AGAINST TIME?


Well, here are some questions that we need your input on:

-How would you react if you had just witnessed a murder?
-Now put on your imagination caps and imagine you are 13-years-old and witness a murder?
-What are your favorite dog names?
-What do you know about sled-dog racing in Alaska? Have you heard of Sprint racing or only long-distance like the Iditarod?
-Do you know how many letters the North Pole, AK post office receives for Santa each year? (You really need to know this one!)

Signing off for now - be watching for more research questions on this blog as we write!

God Bless-
Kayla

ANNOUNCEMENT!!

Kayla has been chosen as a staff writer for iBegat.com a new site for teens!!

This is launch week at iBegat - so please check out the links below and tell all your friends!

iBegat Home Page
Devo by Kayla
Staff Writer Kayla Woodhouse
Movie Review by Kayla

Mismatched Socks...

Kim here: My amazing friend and full-time assistant, Lori, wrote a blog post for you all since we're in the trenches editing.

Lori here: As you probably know, I will do pretty much anything to help the Woodhouses out, which happens to include... laundry. So, yesterday, betwix all the craziness I let Kim know that something was totally wrong with this house. She just laughed, and asked, "what?" I replied, "I only found four socks that don't match." Kayla piped up and said, "No..." she pointed to her feet, "Six!" (Kayla likes to wear socks that don't match - LOL)

We all needed something to laugh about. You see, line edits are in progress. Kim, Kayla, and editor, Karen are all clicking away on the keyboards. Having only read 2/3 of the original manuscript, I can tell you the plot thickens and I just learned that I had the "bad guy" all wrong! And now that the edits and line edits are almost done, I can't wait to find out how and why I was wrong. :)

You see, I may work for authors but they never let on... even to me!
What I do know is how busy they are! Always something to do betwix the house, writing, swimming, school, PR, marketing, meals, and so much more. Like your lives, there is always something that needs to be done.

So stop matching those socks - even slip on a mismatched pair (it'll make Kayla smile) and get ready for the book's release in March.

Until next time, and wearing my mismatched socks, simply because laundry always needs to be done... Lori

Research, Research, Research...

Kim here:
My great friend and author, Camy Tang, made a comment on twitter yesterday about research, "Can I just say, I LOVE MY JOB! Where else can I have a legitimate reason to look up how to do a proper triangle choke hold?"

It's true. As authors, we have so much fun doing research. Like when we went to the Grand Canyon and I asked a ranger, "So... how many people die here every year?" The ranger didn't even blink at the question, but several people around us looked at me as if to say, "why is this sweet looking mom with her two kids in tow asking a question like that?" I, of course, told them I was an author and doing research. I do write suspense, you know. :) And found out there's an entire book written on the subject. Death in the Grand Canyon. Huh, imagine that. And yes, I bought it.

Anyway, we love research. Even when I've sat on the phone for hours asking questions, taken thousands of pictures, my eyes have blurred from staring at website after website, and then have gone bloodshot from reading book after book...

Research is awesome. It takes a lot of time, but wow, does it make your stories sing! I even have to admit that sometimes I get distracted doing research. I'll be writing a scene and just have to check on one little minute detail and off I go - getting lost in the world of information.

I agree with Camy. I love my job. Now I think I'll go look up that triangle choke hold thingy she talked about - you never know - I might need to use it in a book someday...

The Scoop...

Kim and Kayla here...

Here's the new scoop:

As we have worked on our schedules, re-vised, re-grouped, re-focused, re-assessed, re-rested, re-confuzzled, and totally turned everything upside down with all this "re" business, we've come up with a new schedule to try and simplify things.

With the craziness of our lives, we want to share it all with you (isn't that nice of us?) and still be able to maintain our writing, schooling, swimming, speaking, teaching, and everything else in between. :)

So here it is:

Tuesday - will be a post on our blog together at - KimberleyandKaylaWoodhouse.com
(One week Kim will post, the next week Kayla will post and so on...)

Wednesday - will be a post on Kim's blog posted at - KimberleyWoodhouse.com click on the blog tab this blog is also posted at
KimberleyWoodhouse and KimberleyWrites

Thursday - will be a post on Kayla's blog for kids at - Dragon Claws, Dog Paws, Swimming Laws...

As always we love to hear from all of you and look forward to sharing all the great things going on!