NYT besting selling author Brenda Drake talks writing advice, GUARDIAN OF SECRETS plus a chance to win an Amazon giftcard & Swag!

I'm SO excited to have New York Times bestselling author Brenda Drake with us today, chatting writing advice and her latest and Greatest, Guardian of Secrets, the second book in The Library Jumper series. And I gotta be honest -I'm totally fan girling over here.

If you don't know Brenda Drake, you need to. First of all, Thief of Lies, the first book in the series, is un-put-downable. If you haven't read it you need to drop everything you are doing and read it now (after you read the interview, of course 😉) Second, Brenda does a tremendous amount for the writing community, including leading Pitch Wars and Pitch Madness. I have Pitch Madness to thank for my agent, and I am one example of about a thousand writers she's helped. *bows down with gratitude*

I'll stop gushing and get to the questions. 😋 Don't forget to scroll to the bottom for a chance to win a $50 Amazon giftcard!

Thanks so much for coming to Thinking to Inking! We're so excited to have you! I've been following your blog for years--I'm kinda fan-girling over here. What you do for writers is tremendous - thank you x 1000!

Aww, that’s so sweet. Thank you for hosting me today!

Thank YOU for bring here. Tell us a little bit about Guardian of Secrets.

Well, it’s the second book in the Library Jumpers series. The Wizard Council sends Gia into hiding with her family, friends, and the Sentinels. Nick struggles to control his growing powers. Jealousies and mistrusts arise within the tight group. As Gia and Nick jump to some of the most stunning libraries in search for the remaining Chiavi, a new threat arises within the libraries. During one of their searches, Gia trips a trap door ends up in a wasteland full of danger and secrets. To return to her family and friends, Gia will have to make a sacrifice, one that will cost her someone she loves.

Who's your favorite character?
This is such a difficult question. All my characters are favorites. When I don’t like them, I cut them out or kill them. Ha! But seriously, I think it has been Gia in the Library Jumpers series. She’s a combination of many girls I love in my life. When I’m in her head, I can relive the joys I’ve had with my girls.

Was your writing process for Guardian of Secrets different for Thief Of Lies, the first book in the The Library Jumpers series, or your other books Touching Fate and Cursing Fate?

My writing process is basically the same for all my books. Before I start a story, I do short character bios and setting research. Next, I do a four-act plot graph. It’s skeletal and I only use it as a road map for the story. Then I write, letting the characters and inspiration lead me on that road, fleshing out the story as I go. Sometimes, I go off-road and take a detour, but the direction I’m going usually stays the same. After I have a first draft, I revise it.

Will there be a third book in the series?

Yes, there will be. I’m currently writing the final book, Assassin of Truths. It’s been a challenge, but I’m really loving the ending.

The covers for both books in the Library Jumpers Series are amazing! How much input did you get in the design of your cover and what was that process like?
My publisher is great at taking my vision of what I wanted my covers to look and making it even better. So I guess, I just had some input at the beginning and they took my ideas and worked with it, coming up with the beautiful covers. I absolutely love them!

What advice would you give writers still working to make their publishing dreams a reality?

Learn your trade. The best way to do that is to read and research how the publishing industry works. Write something every day. It doesn’t have to be much. Something as simple as a page a day would work, and you never know, by the end of the year, you’ll have written a novel. If you’ve finished that novel and are searching for an agent, never give up. Rejections can hurt, but don’t get discourage. Instead, learn from them. Keep writing and querying new stories until the right one clicks with agents. And learn patience—you’ll need it. Publishing is excruciatingly slow at times.

What advice do you have for authors working on writing book two in a series? Any tips or tricks you learned along the way that you can pass along to us?

Keep a series bible. This is where you put descriptions of all the characters in the series and all the settings. I also keep notes on what I need to tie up in the following books. Jot down notes and ideas for the next books as they come to you so you won’t forget them.

Gia from Thief of Lies and Guardian of Secrets can travel to libraries all around the world, which is pretty bad ass. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

I would want the power to go back in time and visit my loved ones that have passed away.

Aw, I love that. What are you reading now?

I can’t say what I’m reading right now, because I’m judging for the RWA RITA awards. We’re not allowed to reveal which books we are judging. It’s top secret. I will say, it is something that I would have never have picked up for myself, and I’m loving it!

Favorite Writing Snack?

Coffee and Gold Fish crackers, but not together. Yuck! Or maybe not yuck, because I do eat the smore’s ones with my coffee.

Congrats on the launch of Guardian of Secrets. I can't wait to find out what happens to Gia next! And thanks so much for stopping by Thinking to Inking!

This was fun! Thank you so much for hosting me today.

About Guardian of Secrets:

Guardian of Secrets (Library Jumpers #2) by Brenda Drake 

Publication Date: February 7, 2017 

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Being a Sentinel isn’t all fairytales and secret gardens. 

Sure, jumping through books into the world’s most beautiful libraries to protect humans from mystical creatures is awesome. No one knows that better than Gia Kearns, but she could do without the part where people are always trying to kill her. Oh, and the fact that Pop and her had to move away from her friends and life as she knew it. 

And if that isn’t enough, her boyfriend, Arik, is acting strangely. Like, maybe she should be calling him “ex,” since he’s so into another girl. But she doesn’t have time to be mad or even jealous, because someone has to save the world from the upcoming apocalypse, and it looks like that’s going to be Gia. 

Maybe. If she survives.

Goodreads | Google Play | BAM | Chapters | Indies | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | TBD | iBooks 

Other books in the series: Thief of Lies (Library Jumpers #1)

Gia Kearns would rather fight with boys than kiss them. That is, until Arik, a leather clad hottie in the Boston Athenaeum, suddenly disappears. While examining the book of world libraries he abandoned, Gia unwittingly speaks the key that sucks her and her friends into a photograph and transports them into a Paris library, where Arik and his Sentinels—magical knights charged with protecting humans from the creatures traveling across the gateway books—rescue them from a demonic hound.

Jumping into some of the world's most beautiful libraries would be a dream come true for Gia, if she weren’t busy resisting her heart or dodging an exiled wizard seeking revenge on both the Mystik and human worlds. Add a French flirt obsessed with Arik and a fling with a young wizard, and Gia must choose between her heart and her head, between Arik's world and her own, before both are destroyed.

Goodreads

About Branda Drake

Brenda Drake is a New York Times bestselling author of Thief of Lies (Library Jumpers #1),

Guardian of Secrets (Library Jumpers #2), Touching Fate (Fated Series #1), and Cursing Fate (Fated Series #2). She grew up the youngest of three children, an Air Force brat, and the continual new kid at school. She hosts workshops and contests for writers such as Pitch Wars and Pitch Madness on her blog, and holds Twitter pitch parties on the hashtag, #PitMad. When she’s not writing or hanging out with her family, she haunts libraries, bookstores, and coffee shops, or reads someplace quiet and not at all exotic (much to her disappointment).

Website - Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - Goodreads 

Giveaway Information: $50 Amazon Gift Card with Guardian of Secrets swag pack *International winners will only get $50 GC*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Author Merrie Destefano talks LOST GIRLS, her advice to writers + a giveaway!

I'm excited to have another author stop by to share their thoughts on writing. Please join me in welcoming Merrie Destefano to Thinking to Inking! Her latest release, LOST GIRLS is out today from Entangled Teen. Don't forget to scroll to the bottom of the post for a chance to win a Kindle Fire and a copy of Lost Girls!

Welcome Merrie! Congrats on the release of LOST GIRLS. It sounds fantastic and the cover is beautiful! Tell us a little bit about your path to publication. How did LOST GIRLS differ from other books you've released, if at all? What advice do you have for writers still working to make their publishing dreams a reality?
Thank you very much for the kind words about Lost Girls! I love the cover too. (Yay!)

Lost Girls is different from other books that I've already released in a few ways. First, it was written for the young adult market. My two previous, traditionally published books were written for the adult market. That said, my second book, Feast had a teen character in it—Elspeth—and I really enjoyed writing her scenes. In fact, a lot of people told me she was their favorite character in the book. She seemed to come alive on the page better than many of the other characters. So, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when the next book I wrote was a young adult novel, Fathom (self-published). After that, I was hooked. YA books had stolen my heart.

Lost Girls is also different from my other books because it's my first contemporary novel. It didn't start out that way, though. In the first draft, it had many science fiction elements. When those were taken out, the story became much stronger—a result that surprised me. I hadn't realized what a powerful story line I had hidden beneath all the fantastical elements.

If I was going to give advice to other writers who hope to be published one day, I'd say, don't give up. There is a group of writers I've been friends with since I first started writing book-length manuscripts. Guess which ones have published their books? The ones who kept writing. Those that stopped, for whatever reason, are not published yet. The only way to become a better writer is to keep writing. The only way to get published is to keep writing. Of course, you'll need to study the industry, work on your craft, perhaps join a writer's group and go to a few writer's conferences, but ultimately the thing that will make your work stand above the work of everyone else is that you have been serious about your desire to write. And if you are a writer hoping to be published one day, I say, Yay for you! Go for it! I hope I see your book on the shelves one day!

About LOST GIRLS:
Lost Girls by Merrie Destefano
Publication Date: January 3, 2017
Publisher: Entangled Teen

Fight Club meets Black Swan—Rachel wakes up in a ditch to find she doesn’t remember the last year of her life, and that everything—including herself—is vastly different than she remembers.

Yesterday, Rachel went to sleep listening to Taylor Swift, curled up in her grammy’s quilt, worrying about geometry. Today, she woke up in a ditch, bloodied, bruised, and missing a year of her life.

She doesn’t recognize the person she’s become: she’s popular. She wears nothing but black.

Black to cover the blood.

And she can fight.

Tell no one.

She’s not the only girl to go missing within the last year…but she’s the only girl to come back. She desperately wants to unravel what happened to her, to try and recover the rest of the Lost Girls.

But the more she discovers, the more her memories return. And as much as her new life scares her, it calls to her. Seductively. The good girl gone bad, sex, drugs, and raves, and something darker…something she still craves—the rush of the fight, the thrill of the win—something she can’t resist, that might still get her killed…

The only rule is: There are no rules.

| Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo | 

About Merrie Destefano 

CURRENTLY A FULL-TIME NOVELIST and magazine editor, Merrie Destefano’s next novel, LOST GIRLS, releases on January 3, 2017. Her other novels include AFTERLIFE and FEAST, both published by HarperCollins, and FATHOM, which was self-published. The editor of Victorian Homes magazine, she has also been the editor of American Farmhouse Style, Vintage Gardens, and Zombies magazine, and was the founding editor of Cottages & Bungalows magazine. 

With 20 years experience in publishing, she worked for a variety of publishing/broadcasting companies that include Focus on the Family, The Word For Today, and PJS Publications (now Primedia). Besides editing and writing, her background includes print buying, writing/producing radio promos, directing photo shoots, developing new products, writing jacket copy for books, creating sales media packets and organizing direct mail campaigns.

Born in the Midwest, she currently lives in Southern California with her husband, two German shepherds, a Siamese cat and the occasional wandering possum. Her favorite hobbies are reading speculative fiction and watching old Star Trek episodes, and her incurable addiction is writing. She loves to camp in the mountains, walk on the beach, watch old movies, listen to alternative music—although rarely all at the same time.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Blog 

Giveaway:

All prizes listed below will be given to one prize winner. Prizes listed are for a US winner only; if an International winner is chosen, the prize will be a $50 Amazon gift card.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fall Book Preview and Giveaway: Serpentine, Nameless and Minotaur!

I'm excited to bring you another fantastic giveaway and preview of some exciting new titles releasing this fall!  Don't forget to scroll to the bottom of this post for a chance to win a digital copy of all three books!

1. SERPENTINE by Cindy Pon, out Sept. 8, 2015

SERPENTINE is a sweeping fantasy set in the ancient Kingdom of Xia and inspired by the rich history of Chinese mythology. 

Lush with details from Chinese folklore, SERPENTINE tells the coming of age story of Skybright, a young girl who worries about her growing otherness. As she turns sixteen, Skybright notices troubling changes. By day, she is a companion and handmaid to the youngest daughter of a very wealthy family. But nighttime brings with it a darkness that not even daybreak can quell. 

When her plight can no longer be denied, Skybright learns that despite a dark destiny, she must struggle to retain her sense of self – even as she falls in love for the first time. 

“Serpentine is unique and surprising, with a beautifully-drawn fantasy world that sucked me right in! I love Skybright’s transformative power, and how she learns to take charge of it.” ~Kristin Cashore, NYT Bestseller of the Graceling Realm Series 

“Serpentine’s world oozes with lush details and rich lore, and the characters crackle with life. This is one story that you’ll want to lose yourself in.” ~ Marie Lu, New York Times bestselling author of Legend and The Young Elites

Amazon | B&N | BAM | Chapters | Kobo | TBD

Cindy Pon is the author of Silver Phoenix (Greenwillow, 2009), which was named one of the Top Ten Fantasy and Science Fiction Books for Youth by the American Library Association’s Booklist, and one of 2009′s best Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror by VOYA. The sequel to Silver Phoenix, titled Fury of the Phoenix, was released in April 2011. Serpentine, the first title in her next Xia duology, will be published by Month9Books in September 2015. She is the co-founder of Diversity in YA with Malinda Lo and on the advisory board of We Need Diverse Books. Cindy is also a Chinese brush painting student of over a decade. Visit her website at www.cindypon.com.

Connect with the Author: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Goodreads

2. NAMELESS by Jennifer Jenkins, out Oct. 6, 2015

Four clans have been at war for centuries: the Kodiak, the Raven, the Wolf and the Ram. Through brutal war tactics, the Ram have dominated the region, inflicting death and destruction on their neighbors.

Seventeen-year-old Zo is a Wolf and a Healer who volunteers to infiltrate the Ram as a spy on behalf of the allied clans. She offers herself as a Ram slave, joining the people who are called the “nameless.” Hers is a suicide mission – Zo’s despair after losing her parents in a Ram raid has left her seeking both revenge and an end to her own misery. But after her younger sister follows her into Rams Gate, Zo must find a way to survive her dangerous mission and keep her sister safe.

What she doesn’t expect to find is the friendship of a young Ram whose life she saves, the confusing feelings she develops for a Ram soldier, and an underground nameless insurrection. Zo learns that revenge, loyalty and love are more complicated than she ever imagined in the first installment of this two-book series.

Amazon | TBD | Chapters | B&N | Kobo

With her degree in History and Secondary Education, Jennifer had every intention of teaching teens to love George Washington and appreciate the finer points of ancient battle stratagem. (Seriously, she’s obsessed with ancient warfare.) However, life had different plans in store when the writing began. As a proud member of Writers Cubed, and a co-founder of the Teen Author Boot Camp, she feels blessed to be able to fulfill both her ambition to work with teens as well as write Young Adult fiction. Jennifer has three children who are experts at naming her characters, one loving, supportive husband, a dog with little-man syndrome, and three chickens (of whom she is secretly afraid).

Visit her online at jajenkins.com

Connect with the Author: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest |Instagram

3. MINOTAUR, by Phillip W. Simpson, out Sept. 29, 2015

“Where shall I start?” asked Minotaur.

Ovid made an expansive gesture with both hands. “Where else but the beginning of course.”

Minotaur nodded his huge head. “Yes,” he said. “Yes,” his eyes already glazing over with the weight of thousand year old memories. And then he began.

So begins the story of Asterion, later known as Minotaur, the supposed half bull creature of Greek legend. Recorded by the famous Roman poet, Ovid, Asterion tells of his boyhood in Crete under the cruel hand of his stepfather Minos, his adventures with his friend, Theseus, and his growing love for the beautiful Phaedra.And of course what really happened in the labyrinth.

This is the true story of the Minotaur.

Amazon | B&N | Kobo | BAM | Chapters | Indiebound | TBD

Phillip W. Simpson is the author of many novels, chapter books and other stories for children. His publishers include Macmillan, Penguin, Pearson, Cengage, Raintree and Oxford University Press. He received both his undergraduate degree in Ancient History and Archaeology and his Masters (Hons) degree in Archaeology from the University of Auckland.
Before embarking on his writing career, he joined the army as an officer cadet, owned a comic shop and worked in recruitment in both the UK and Australia. His first young adult novel, Rapture (Rapture Trilogy #1), was shortlisted for the Sir Julius Vogel Awards for best Youth novel in 2012. He is represented by Vicki Marsdon at Wordlink literary agency.

When not writing, he works as a school teacher. Phillip lives and writes in Auckland, New Zealand with his wife Rose, their son, Jack and their two border terriers, Whiskey and Raffles. He loves fishing, reading, movies, football (soccer) and single malt Whiskeys.

Connect with the Author: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Complete the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win!

Title(s) will be sent upon release.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

VESSEL Blog hop, guest post and giveaway!

I'm super excited to have Lisa T. Cresswell here today, sharing her writing process for her new release VESSEL. Make sure to scroll to the bottom of the post to read more about the fantastic story and to enter to win your own copy!

Guest post by Author Lisa T. Cresswell 

To write Vessel, I followed a very basic format.

1) Get idea.
2) Plan outline by chapter.
3) Write first draft.
4) Edits and rewrite.

I didn’t always write this way. I used to pretty much skip 1 and 2 and head directly to 3, which was very frustrating for me. I would always reach a point in the story where I didn’t know what was going to happen next and stop. Sometimes I would start to edit what I’d already written, which was also very frustrating. Now I know this is a recipe for disaster. If you start editing before you know the ending, you’re wasting time switching things around that may not do you any good. I’ve learned the hard way, it’s much better to get the WHOLE thing out on paper first before you ever cut a word. And it’s better to get the WHOLE PLOT OUTLINED before you even start writing. I know there are many writers out there who claim to be pantsers, but I suspect they have an entire plot from beginning to end in their head before they start. It just isn’t written down.

I started writing Vessel for NaNoWriMo in 2011. I’m not a fast writer and I didn’t have any notions of finishing the book in one month, but I love the idea of writing every day on a project. If you write a page a day, in a year, you’ll have a 365 page book, right? Anyway, I started Vessel in late 2011 and worked on it off and on for most of the following year. In 2013, I started querying. I had seen Month 9 Books on Twitter and Facebook and was intrigued. Their focus on speculative fiction and the paranormal seemed right up my alley. I was delighted when publisher Georgia McBride requested the full manuscript based on a twitter pitch! I sent the manuscript to her and tried to forget about it for awhile. Waiting is really hard!!

In July 2013, on the last day of a writing workshop I was attending in Oregon, I got an e-mail from Georgia offering me a deal. Talk about make my day! It’s been a lot of work since then, but it’s a labor of love, that’s for sure. In the long waits between editing assignments, I’ve written three new novels. Now that Vessel is going out into the world, I’ll be starting the whole process over again! Whew!

Thanks Lisa, for stopping by to share your experience!

ABOUT VESSEL:

The sun exploded on April 18, 2112. It exploded in a Class X solar storm the likes of which humankind had never seen.

They had nineteen minutes.

Nineteen minutes until the geomagnetic wave washed over the Earth, frying every electrical device created by humans, blacking out entire continents, every satellite in their sky.

Nineteen minutes to say goodbye to the world they knew, forever, and to prepare for a new Earth, a new Sun.

Generations after solar storms have destroyed nearly all human technology on Earth and humans have reverted to a middle ages like existence, all knowledge of the remaining technology is kept hidden by a privileged few called the Reticents and books are burned as heresy.

Alana, a disfigured slave girl, and Recks, a traveling minstrel and sometimes-thief, join forces to bring knowledge and books back to the human race. But when Alana is chosen against her will to be the Vessel, the living repository for all human knowledge, she must find the strength to be what the world needs.

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks

ABOUT LISA T. CRESSWELL:

Lisa, like most writers, began scribbling silly notes, stories, and poems at a very young age. Born in North Carolina, the South proved fertile ground to her imagination with its beautiful white sand beaches and red earth. In fifth grade, she wrote, directed and starred in a play “The Queen of the Nile” at school, despite the fact that she is decidedly un-Egyptian looking. Perhaps that’s why she went on to become a real life archaeologist?

Unexpectedly transplanted to Idaho as a teenager, Lisa learned to love the desert and the wide open skies out West. This is where her interest in cultures, both ancient and living, really took root, and she became a Great Basin archaeologist. However, the itch to write never did leave for long. Her first books became the middle grade fantasy trilogy, The Storyteller Series. Her first traditionally published work, Hush Puppy, is now available from Featherweight Press.

Lisa still lives in Idaho with her family and a menagerie of furry critters that includes way too many llamas!

Connect with the Author: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Giveaway Information:  Winner will be drawn June 26, 2015

·        Five (5) winners will receive a digital copy of Vessel by Lisa T. Cresswell (INT)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Path to Publication Lessons from Author Suzanne van Rooyen + Giveaway!

I'm thrilled to have Suzanne van Rooyen, author of I HEART ROBOT, joining us today to share her advice and lessons from her road to publication.

Please join me in giving her a warm TTI welcome, and make sure to scroll to the bottom for a chance to win your own copy of I HEART ROBOT.

Guest Post by Suzanne van Rooyen

Everybody's road to publication is different. There is no single map of how to get there, but a multitude of routes and some may meander while others might lead to a few dead ends before ultimately getting you where you want to go. There are quite a few things I wished I'd known though before starting out, as it may have helped me better choose my route.


1) Writing is rewriting

I was not prepared for the amount of revising and editing that was required in order to get published. I've never had a problem editing my work, but I was still shocked to discover that I would have to go through at least one round of content edits before line edits and finally proofreading before signing off on the polished manuscript. If you're new to writing, best you make friends with Track Changes because writing is rewriting.

2) You can get picked from the slush pile

I had my first book published without really understanding that agents are awesome and I should've maybe queried agents first before publishers. I also didn't understand that I, as a mere mortal, could even get an agent by sending out queries. You do not have to be connected or well-known or have anything other than a good book to get an agent. If you want to go the traditional publishing route, having an agent is essential.

3) Having an agent doesn't guarantee success

To be honest, once I signed with an agent I thought that was it. In a few weeks, we'd be hitting up publishing houses and a few weeks later I'd have a three book deal and life would be grand. Not exactly. Having an agent is often only the first step toward success and does in no way guarantee a sale of that or any book. Having an agent does, however, open a lot of doors and is vital for when deals are eventually offered to help you understand the small print so you don't up selling your soul.

4) Writers need a thick skin

I thought I understood this. I thought I knew what getting a crit back on work would feel like because I'd had teachers squiggle red pen on my essays in high school. I thought I understood how getting negative reviews would feel because I'd read a bunch of negative reviews about books I loved by other authors and even that hurt me, a mere fan. I had absolutely no clue just how brutal this industry could be. If you want to be a writer, you need to be brave enough to show your beloved work to others, to accept that some might not like it (they may even hate it) and won't be afraid to tell you before or after publication exactly what they think of your word-baby. But that's okay because you can learn from it – or ignore it – and become a better writer for it either way.

5) Writing is hard

Writing as a hobby, as something you love to do in your spare time isn't the same as having to crank out words with a deadline approaching, and it definitely isn't the same as trying to write something commercially viable in a saturated market when next month's rent depends on it. Writing professionally is hard and there will be days when you'd prefer to be gored by an angry hippopotamus than look at blinking cursor on another blank page.

That said, I'm fairly proud of the journey I've taken toward publication and I'm glad I've got this far, because I'm fully aware that there's still a very long way to go.

ABOUT I HEART ROBOT:

Publication date: March 31, 2015

Publisher: Month9Books, LLC.

Author: Suzanne van Rooyen

Sixteen-year-old Tyri wants to be a musician and wants to be with someone who won’t belittle her musical aspirations.

Q-I-99 aka ‘Quinn’ lives in a scrap metal sanctuary with other rogue droids. While some use violence to make their voices heard, demanding equal rights for AI enhanced robots, Quinn just wants a moment on stage with his violin to show the humans that androids like him have more to offer than their processing power.

Tyri and Quinn’s worlds collide when they’re accepted by the Baldur Junior Philharmonic Orchestra. As the rift between robots and humans deepens, Tyri and Quinn’s love of music brings them closer together, making Tyri question where her loyalties lie and Quinn question his place in the world. With the city on the brink of civil war, Tyri and Quinn make a shocking discovery that turns their world inside out. Will their passion for music be enough to hold them together while everything else crumbles down around them, or will the truth of who they are tear them apart?

Goodreads | Chapters Indigo | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | TBD | iBooks

ABOUT SUZANNE VAN ROOYEN:

Suzanne is a tattooed storyteller from South Africa. She currently lives in Sweden and is busy making
friends with the ghosts of her Viking ancestors. Although she has a Master’s degree in music, Suzanne prefers conjuring strange worlds and creating quirky characters. When she grows up, she wants to be an elf – until then, she spends her time (when not writing) wall climbing, buying far too many books, and entertaining her shiba inu, Lego.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Enter for a change to win a copy of I HEART ROBOT by Suzanne van RooyanFive (5) winners will receive a digital copy (INT)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

direct link

OF BREAKABLE THINGS: blog hop, interview & giveaway!

You guys, I'm sooo excited to share my interview with A. Lynden Rolland, the author of OF BREAKABLE THINGS (released April 8, 2014). As if that cover wasn't enough to make you want to read, the story sounds amazing.  Check out the interview below, and don't forget to scroll to the bottom for a chance to win your very own copy.


How long did it take you to write OF BREAKABLE THINGS from start to finish?

Well … *clasps hands together* that’s the funny part. I never set out to publish Of Breakable Things. I just had some time and a story in my head, so I didn’t plot it out. I just wrote and wrote until the story was finished. The initial version was about 800 pages! My best friend asked to read it, and although I doubt she read all 800 pages, she liked the gist of it. We started googling how to become published, and whoa. If I knew then what I know now I would have taken up knitting or something. The first version took about a year to write. I spent the next year editing (and chopping it in half), and then I began submitting to agents. So, I guess the solid answer would be two years.

What was the inspiration for OF BREAKABLE THINGS?

I can’t pinpoint one thing, but I had this idea that wouldn’t leave me alone. I thought about how much we love things. How much we hate things. How much knowledge we gain in a lifetime. I couldn’t imagine that when the body died, that all of the mental energy just … disappeared. So I started thinking that maybe those emotions and that intelligence could come alive into a projection of a person.

Then I needed people. I needed a girl who would die prematurely, to be physically breakable. And once I began researching Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (vascular EDS if we want to get specific), Alex came alive in my mind. And Chase just appeared there beside her one day, holding her hand. Chase’s brothers kind of elbowed their way into the story after that. They’re pushy.

If you had your pick, what movie star(s) would you pick to play the main character(s)?

I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to blast some music and surf the internet for pictures. I enjoyed the hours it took me to find the faces matching the ones in my head, especially the boys. All of them are older now, but their teen pictures are perfect.

Alex=Twiggy

Alex is shorter, and her hair is a bit darker, but everything else is perfect especially the big eyes.

There are four Lasalle brothers, and they all look similar, but Chase (the youngest) and Kaleb (the oldest) look like a young Rob Lowe:

I’ll throw in this one too. I know you won’t complain:

Jonas and Gabe, the middle brothers, are more serious. The picture below of James Dean reminds me of Jonas, who is rougher around the edges.

Gabe is the bookworm, so let’s use James Dean with some frames.

Where's your favorite place to write?

I’m a regular at my local Barnes and Noble. It’s usually pretty quiet in the café. Also, there’s a beautiful store downtown in Annapolis with old books, wine, and coffee. It’s great, but parking is a nightmare, and I stress about things like that. So, usually I write in my office at my house because I have notes pinned to the walls and the desk and the chair and the door. All over. It’s a mess and I love it.

The cover is beautiful.  How much input did you get to put into the design?  And tell the truth - how many times a day do you stare at it? ;-)

HAHA! Thank you! I was asked originally what I envisioned for the cover. Broken glass. Maybe part of a face. Or a reflection in the glass. I had the opportunity to see a few of the ideas, and I was completely enamored by what was then a black and white image (it would later become the cover). I’m thrilled it was picked because I didn’t want something ethereal. Alex’s life was hard. Her illness was hard. Her death was hard. Her afterlife is no walk in the park either. That face has a great story to tell, and I hope readers think so, too. I hope they pick it up!

Do you have any trunked manuscripts?  If so, how did you know it was time to move on?

A few, yes. I can usually tell after a few pages if the writing is going well or not. If I’m getting bored or restless writing it, a reader will feel the same way. Some ideas are so much fun, and I just can’t get into the characters. I never throw away anything though. One day it might work.

I see from your website bio that you have an agent.  How long did you query, and how did you know she was "the one?"

I racked up a lot of rejections. I keep them in a computer file marked with an inappropriate word. Queries are so, so agonizing to write and my pitch was really lacking. I worked on it for months. Then, I got a few bites. I received some great criticism. I wrote and rewrote and revised and reworked. I know it’s been said again and again, but it only takes one person (and maybe a little luck). My agent, Rachael Dugas, found the manuscript in a pile left by a former agent. She was the one because she understood my vision for who I wanted the characters to be, and what I wanted that afterworld to be.

Any words of wisdom you can share with writers still working their way through the query trenches?

Enroll in workshops. I took a query workshop taught online by Kristin Nelson, and after that, I signed with Rachael.

What did you learn from the publication process that surprised you?

So. Many. Writers.

It really is so competitive. That’s why it’s difficult to land an agent. That’s why it’s tough to find an editor who hasn’t heard a pitch similar to yours.

On the plus side, networking with other authors has been inspiring. Writers are an odd breed, and it’s wonderful to be around people who are similar to me.

Congrats on the launch of your book, and thanks for the time!

Thank you so much for having me! Your questions were fabulous. Readers can find me online here:

Goodreads |  Twitter |  Facebook  |  Website

About Of Breakable Things:

A captivating debut about the fragility of life, love, and perspective.

Alex Ash was born broken. Living with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is like living on death row, but she is willing to fight for her frail life as long as it includes the boy next door. Chase has always held the pieces of her together, but when he dies tragically, Alex’s unfavorable fate becomes a blessing in disguise.

Faced with a choice, she finds herself in a peculiar world where rooms can absorb emotions and secrets are buried six feet under. Among limitless minds, envious spirits, and soulless banshees, Alex hardly rests in peace.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | The Book Depository | IndieBound

a Rafflecopter giveaway

LIFE, A.D. Blog Hop & Giveaway!

I'm excited to wrap up the year with another amazing new release - Michelle E. Reed's LIFE, A.D!

Synopsis:  In Life, A.D. you have two choices: join the program or face the consequences.

Seventeen-year-old Dez Donnelly crashes headlong into fate on the side of a rural highway, her life ending in a violent collision of steel and screaming brakes. The train that delivers her newly departed soul to the crossroads of the afterlife won’t be carrying her to the sweet hereafter until she accepts her abrupt end and learns to let go of the life she’ll never finish.

Her new reality is conduct manuals, propaganda, and unrelenting staff, all part of a system to ease her transition from life to death, while helping her earn her way out of limbo. Atman City, beautiful and enticing, is an ever-present temptation that is strictly off limits to underage souls. The promise of adventure proves too strong, and beneath the city’s sheen of ethereal majesty, Dez discovers a world teeming with danger.

Welcome to Life, A.D. where being dead doesn’t mean you’re safe, and the only thing harder than getting out of limbo is getting through it.

I'm a sucker for afterlife stories, and this one doesn't disappoint. Reed paints a vivid and unique look at what awaits us when we die, and explores the other side of loss as Dez attempts to come to terms with her too-short life. Dez's limbo is wrought with strict schedules and rules, where young adults not yet ready to let go of life must find a way to reconcile who they are with who they wanted to be, all while avoiding the temptations of nearby Atman City. In life, Dez was a straight A student and star athlete with Ivy league dreams.  But in the afterlife, rules and Dez don't mix, and moving on proves tougher than she ever imagined.

Win a FREE copy via the rafflecopter below or click here!
Add it to Goodreads here
Buy it on Amazon here
Buy it on B&N here
Buy it on Kobo here

ABOUT MICHELLE E. REED:

Michelle E. Reed was born in a small Midwestern town, to which she has returned to raise her own family.
Her imagination and love of literature were fueled by a childhood of late nights, hidden under the covers and reading by flashlight. She is a passionate adoption advocate who lives in Wisconsin with her husband, son, and their yellow lab, Sully.
Connect: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Very Superstitious - Blog Hop, Review and Giveaway!

 Guys, can I tell you how excited I am to be a part of the very Superstitious Blog hop and reveal?  And just in time for Halloween!

Synopsis (from Goodreads):  The stories are based on urban legends, myths, tribal tales and superstitions from around the world. A charity anthology to benefit SPCA International with stories by Shannon Delany, Jackie Morse Kessler, Stephanie Kuehnert, Jennifer Knight, Marianne Mancusi, Michelle E. Reed, Dianne Salerni and Pab Sungenis.

Win a FREE copy! (See Rafflecopter Below)
Buy it on Amazon now!
Add it to Goodreads

It's been FOREVER since I read an anthology, and this one reminded why I need to read more of them. I forgot how much fun short stories can be, especially during my work commute when I usually only have time for a chapter or two. And I love that there's a charitable cause associated with this one - sales benefit the SPCA, and many of the stories have animal-related themes, which made for a nice touch.

The eight stories link to a myth or superstition (hence the title) and cover everything from werewolves, ghosts and Chupacabra to Noah's Ark.  In truth, there wasn't one story I didn't enjoy, although there were a few standouts for me, including The Silverfoot Heretic, by Pab Sungenis, which had a unique and wonderfully creative twist on the Wizard of Oz, and The Rescue, by Shannon Delany, based on an old Fae myth where a man must choose to believe his longtime best friend or a local superstition.

Here's a little more about Shannon Delany, the author of one of my favorite stories in the anthology, The Rescue.  And don't forget to enter to win a FREE copy of Very Superstitious using the rafflecopter below!

About Shannon Delany:

 Shannon Delany's newest novel, WEATHER WITCH (St. Martin's Press) is already available for pre-order (which both stuns and delights Delany)!

Shannon Delany has written stories since she was a child. She began writing in earnest when her grandmother fell unexpectedly ill during a family vacation. In 2008 her greatly abbreviated version of 13 to Life (written in just five weeks) won the grand prize in the first-ever cell phone novel contest in the western world through Textnovel.com .

Shannon was thrilled when St. Martin’s Press offered her a contract for a series about her 13 to Life characters. She expanded on the cell phone novel version, adding the subplots and characters she didn’t have time to during the contest. As paranormal as werewolves seem, the grief Shannon used to build Jess’s character is something she personally experienced with the loss of her own mother. Focusing on Jess and Pietr’s story of loss, love and dramatic and dangerous changes, Shannon came to better grips with her own struggle. The resulting novel has earned her blurbs from authors she respects most.

The first novel in Shannon’s YA paranormal series, 13 to Life, debuted June 22, 2010, and was followed by Secrets and Shadows, Bargains and Betrayals, Destiny and Deception, and the Rivals and Retribution (August 2012). Shannon has also debuted with interactive science fiction in her short story ("To Hel and Back") for Spirited: 13 to Haunting Tales (Leap Books) and will make her high fantasy debut with Month 9 Books' charity anthology titled Two and Twenty Dark Tales (October 2012, "Pieces of Eight" with musician Max Scialdone).

Shannon's new series (a steampunk trilogy titled WEATHER WITCH, also with St. Martin's Press) will launch June 25, 2013.

Connect with Shannon: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out the rest of the blog hop leading up to Halloween by clicking here:

Happy Reading!

The Next Big Thing (Week 24)

The Next Big Thing (Week 24)

Today I'm part of a blog tag where writers talk about their work in progress. Last week I was tagged by Stacy Stokes, my blogmate and a friend of mine. This week, I'll talk about my work and then I'll pass the baton to another writer friend who will be sharing his wonderful work next week.

1.  What is the working title of your book?  Betty Noir

2.  Where did the idea come from for the book?  For years I’d watch some of my female students suddenly turn self-destructive and dark. Often I never knew what happened, but I always worried and wondered. I found that nothing I could say helped much until I started talking about the French concept of the Bete Noire – the darkness in us all, and how it’s always a struggle to fight back against it. They seemed to connect to the idea of the darkness being a separate voice/entity haunting them so I let my imagination run and wrote a book where it literally did.

3.  What genre does your book fall under?  YA novel in verse/prose, but from there it’s tricky. Maybe a darkly optimistic magic realism?

4.  Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

For Betty, how could I resist wanting Dakota Fanning? I could see her fabulously bubbly, then dark, and then a hopeful version of the two. For Holden, I’d like to resurrect James Dean or a young Johnny Depp, but I’d take Logan Lerman from today. As for Lindsay, I think Taylor Swift could be dork-a-licious and broken.

5.  What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?  Fifteen-year-old cheer captain Betty is literally raped and metaphorically "impregnated" with a dark voice that haunts her from the inside until Holden, a shy—and very appealing—artist, empowers her and stops her spiral of self-destruction by showing her the pictures he draws of the demon haunting her.

6.  Will your book be self-published or represented by and agency?  I would love to work with an agent. 

7.  How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?  Which one? The first draft was originally all in verse and took about three months, but then I re-wrote it in both prose (Betty) and verse (Noir), and that took about four months.

8.  What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?  One reader surprised me by saying that it reminded her a little of The Book Thief (I think because of its unusual narrative structure). Others have said Speak. I was reading a lot of Latin American magic realism short stories, John Green, and Sonya Sones when I wrote this; hopefully flavors of those brands of magic slipped in somehow.

9.  Who or what inspired you to write this book?  See question #1.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?  I guess I wanted to write a good love story. I suppose I thought about the kind of guy I wanted when I was a teen and blended it with elements of the great men I’ve met since then to create a bumbling and sweet little romance. And sometimes I try to be funny.

That's all I've got for now!

Tagged for next week (week 25) is one of my very talented writer friends. Check out his blog next Wednesday when it's his turn to post answers to these same questions about his own work in progress! 

James Matlack Raney