Winners! and Celebrate the Small Things

The Winners of the Champion in the Darkness Book Tour Giveaway Are:

Tonja of Kidbits - winner of a paperback copy of Champion in the Darkness!

Miss Jack of However Improbable - winner of an ebook copy of Champion in the Darkness!

Jennifer Hardy - winner of a $20 amazon gift card!

Allison of GeekBanter - winner of a $10 amazon gift card!

And in case I forgot to mention it, the winner of the Champion in the Darkness ebook giveaway at Laurel's Leaves was: Michael Di Gesu

And a huge thank you to everyone who participated! And a huge round of applause and big HUGS for all the totally awesome people who helped me with that really long book blog tour:

  Susan Kaye Quinn  Laura Josephsen Dianne L. Gardner Laurel Garver Tara Tyler Allison at Geek Banter  Jamie Ayres Livia Peterson  Alex J. Cavanaugh Nickie Anderson

 Celebrate the Small Things from VikLit happens each Friday and encourages us to celebrate the small things in life!

 

1. I had an awesome exercise day on Wednesday - 2 mile walk in the morning, cardio exercises with my kids for 20 minutes in the later am, then 1 mile of jogging, 3 miles of biking, and 10 minutes of strength exercises at the YMCA in the evening with my husband. It was a hot, sweaty date. :)

 

(the rest of the week was very slow, and involved some crazy snacking - I made myself eat carrots and celery because I just had the continual nibbling feeling . . .must stop that somehow, any advice?)

 

2. I talked to another independent bookstore owner. She didn't say yes immediately, she said she would read it first, and then she told me about a tour she had at Lightning Source.

 

3. I'm collecting some bits and pieces of advice and info that I'll be giving out soon . . . hopefully next week.

 

4. My book signing at our homeschool co-op has now been extended to a two event deal - book signing at lunch, with a parent's night out + book club event in the evening. My book was the book of the month for the book club for March! The big day will be March 25th - and I'm excited.

 

5. I'm hand-selling books faster than I'm selling them via the internet so far this month and I'm surprised every time someone buys one from me. I have literally mumbled, stumbled, and said anything but the "official" pitch I have in my head, and people are still interested. It's totally amazing when someone wants to buy my book! Seriously, it is amazing every time.

 

6. My kids have been coaching me to answer the question, "How are you?" with this phrase, "Great, because I recently published my first book!" and it has definitely started some conversations I might have been too shy to have otherwise.

 

7. Nickie, my critique partner, rolled out the red carpet on her blog, Here's the Story this week with both a Book Review and an Interview! It was the perfect ending to a great book tour! Thanks Nickie!

 

And again, thank you to all who hosted, participated, encouraged, commented, and made me smile! :)

 

Oh . . .and I'm on the Amazon Breakthrough Novels of 2013 list at Goodreads. (as of this morning I'm at #21)You can vote for up to 5 people, and I would really appreciate it if you spent one of your votes on me. :) Other writers I highly recommend voting for are: Nancy Thompson, Cherie Reich, Rachel Morgan, Michael Pierce, Alex J. Cavanaugh, and Christine Rains.

 

 

 

 

 

Hobbit Fest and Free Souls

Hobbit Fest is Here!!!! I'm so thankful that M. Pax joined me in hosting this event. She created the really cool pic, and set up the linky list! Make sure you check out her post, her funny Leonard Nimoy video, and say thank you!

I'm writing and posting early since I'll be going to the 12:01 a.m. showing of the movie. My kids insisted (really, it was them and not me), and I didn't want to cheat on my last answer. I'll probably update tomorrow with a short (promise) review. Update below

What is your favorite hobbit characteristic/or the one that you think closely resembles you . . .?

Well, I am really short, and slightly rounder than I would like. I happen to like second breakfasts since I get up two hours before my kids . . .at least that's my excuse. (I have been going to the YMCA and running their indoor track lately so I am becoming slightly less Hobbit-shaped)

If you could choose between a scrumptious second breakfast and a perilous unexpected journey – which would you prefer?

Oooh, I made this question up thinking of the hard choice between peach covered pancakes, and a day on the ski slopes - although that's not really that perilous.

I would like to say that I would take the unexpected journey, but I know myself too well. If there's peril and unexpectedness, I'm more likely to curl up in a quilt and stay at home.

I like my adventures managed in size-able chunks. I have snorkeled with Manta Rays, but that was a few years ago now and I researched the whole thing first . . .you see what I mean. I weighed the pros and cons and tried to take out any peril or unexpectedness, and so I had a good time.

Have you ever left behind something on a journey (expected or unexpected) and wished you could have it over and over again? (a pocket handkerchief?)

Too many times to count. I usually forget my toothbrush, but the worst forgotten item was a can opener on a camping trip when my new (17 years ago) hubster and I brought canned chili for dinner.

What is your Favorite part or quote from the book that you hope will be in the movie?

 Another hard question . . .why did I make up ones like this? Umm. I really want the runes on the map to be cool, and I'm looking forward to the dwarves showing up in ones, twos, and threes at Bilbo's door. There's so much that it's hard to choose. I'm looking forward to hearing the dwarves sing, and Bilbo's first touch of the ring, and the riddle contest, and Beorn, and the eagles.

I guess I hope the movie does a really good job with Beorn.


UPDATE!!! PARTIAL MOVIE REVIEW! Stayed up really late, woke up late for my own Hobbit Fest, loved the movie, and loved seeing it with an enthusiastic crowd of Hobbit lovers!!! No, it doesn't follow the book exactly (I can be an exacting purist with book to movie renditions), but The Hobbit is beautiful, striking, and exciting. The acting is superb, the graphics are awesome, and the soundtrack is wonderful. Hope you all go and enjoy it soon!
In other awesome exciting news . . .

Free Souls, the final book in the Mindjack trilogy by Susan Kaye Quinn, is out now!!!! Just in time for Christmas! The question is, can I wait for my hubster to give it to me, or do I buy it right now? The whole trilogy has been a family favorite (meant for YA, but my 11 year old who eats and breathes books loves them).

Available at Amazon

 And Jack at However Improbable has her first book out today! Check out:

 

 

 

An Interview with Nickie Anderson

Way back in May, or June, Susan Kaye Quinn had a post that included a critique partner match up.

Thanks to Susan, I met Nickie Anderson of Here's the Story, and we became critique partners. She's been a huge help to me, and I've had the privelege of reading her book Bright Star.

So, although I posted about her release on Friday, I just had to interview her, to find out exactly what her secret is for awesome writing.

Tyrean: What are the steps you took to create your novel? Are you a plotter or a pantster? Did you create the world first or the character?

Nickie: By nature, I am a total pantser. I first tried writing a novel back in 2008, a YA paranormal with mummies. I just wrote, wrote, wrote, and after about 20,000 words I realized all I had was a hot mess.

I tried rewriting a few times, changing the POV and so on, but each time I realized that what the story was actually missing was a plot. That's kind of important.

Writing fell by the wayside when I was in college, but after I graduated and had some free time I wanted to try my hand again.

For 'Bright Star' the world came first, but the characters took over! In fact, I had to do some major rewrites in the first draft because a few of my characters refused to cooperate with my original plot. (I liked their ideas better, though!)

Tyrean: I loved seeing Sadira grow as a character throughout the book. I was impressed at how you showed her becoming more confident in herself as she uncovered more secrets about the world that surrounds her.

Was that part of the plan from the beginning, or did her character develop as the story progressed?

Nickie: I wanted to show some kind of character growth from the beginning. I feel like I've seen too many YA novels with protagonists who are super strong, deadly, butt-kicking machines. What about the rest of us? It's not a relateable character. It seems like it's almost taboo for the character to be scared.

With Sadira, my goal was to create a more realistic teen, one who would be terrified by the events in the story. Her strength isn't hand-to-hand combat -- it's pushing forward even when she's scared to take another step. And with each successful step, she has a little more faith in herself.

Tyrean: Do you feel your book falls under one category more than another? YA, Dystopian, SciFi, Adventure, Fantasy?

Nickie: I feel like 'Bright Star' straddles a few categories. It's definitely YA, but has hints of all these other sub-genres, especially dystopian and sci-fi. One of the most fun trends in YA today is the mashup of different sub-genres, the mixing of different ideas to create entirely new worlds. For example, 'Blood Red Road' was an awesome blend of dystopian, action, and fantasy. I hope that trend continues.

Tyrean: As a writer, who/what encourages you to write?

Nickie: I've always enjoyed writing, but until this last year I never really considered writing a novel. But here's the thing -- it isn't a chore at all. Those characters have come alive for me, and they're constantly giving me new ideas, encouraging me to share their story. We'll be seeing more of Sadira -- she still has a few more stories to tell me.

My biggest inspiration, though, is being a part of the age-old tradition of story telling. It doesn't matter if it's a book, movie, TV show, play, or song -- we all love hearing a story, love that moment of being able to step outside ourselves.

It's bad enough that Sadira Pascal's father doesn't make it home to celebrate her fifteenth birthday. He might be a busy hovership engineer pulling overtime on a new design, but he's always been home for the important things. It's worse when she discovers her father decided to ride on the maiden voyage of his newest ship, the CAS Bright Star, without even telling her. But things really fall apart during Sadira's field trip with her class to observe the hovership launch. Instead of a successful flight, she watches the Bright Star fall out of the sky.

The Central government confirms her father's death, leaving Sadira to pick up the pieces of her former life. While she struggles with her loss, Private Baruj Haddad tries to convince her that her father and the rest of the Bright Star crew are still alive. At first, Sadira doesn't believe there's any hope. But then she stumbles across a message that makes her think maybe, just maybe, her father is still alive. As she digs deeper into the Bright Star's crash, Sadira uncovers secrets about her father's work, secrets that put her and everyone she loves in danger.

 

Bright Star can be found at: Amazon B&N and Smashwords

 

You can also put it on your to-read or read shelf at Goodreads

 

Nicke is running an Indie giveaway of Bright Star this week on her blog. Go check it out at Here's The Story!

 

 

Thank you Nickie for being an awesome critique partner!

 

 

If you haven't seen it yet . . .I also have to give a huge shout out for this awesome blogfest for the most encouraging blogger I know:

Details can be found at several sites . . .I don't have time to list them all at the moment, but you can stop by the very embarassed Alex's blog and find out more.

 

 

Critiques and a Launch Party for Closed Hearts!

Critiques
So, I'm in the midst of my 4th revision. My characters and plot-line are finally feeling right to me but I've re-written my first chapter at least seven times and it's changed every time. I've gotten to the point where I can't even see my first page with any kind of clarity.

So, when I found two offers for free first page critiques, I wanted to shout out in thankfulness. By participating in the Oh, Those High School Dances Blog Hop, I earned a first page critique by Emily at Get Busy Writing and then I discovered that Carol at Artzicarol Ramblings gives away free first page cirtiques all the time (I just somehow missed that on her sidebar right under her picture). So, thanks to these two ladies, I'm seeing my first page with clear vision.

If you would like to see Carol's critique of my awkward first page and help me out by pointing out anything you think needs to change, I would greatly appreciate it. Just visit ArtziCarol Ramblings today.

Closed Hearts Launch Party

Susan Kay Quinn's second book of the Mindjack Trilogy is officially out today!!! Woohoo!

My daughters and I were eagerly waiting with anticipation for this book, and it did not disappoint.

What? I've read it already? Well . . .since I've been lurking around Amazon for this book, I discovered that I could have it delivered to my kindle a few days early, and we've been having an all out readathon in our house, as my kids and I wrestle over my kindle for the right to read this book. The bad part is . . .we've all finished it, and now want the third book . . . and now we have to wait again. No worries. We'll just reread Open Minds and Closed Hearts again in our wait time.

And yes, they are that good, and no, I can't really give details because I'm afraid I'll spill spoilers all over this post. Hmm. What can I say without giving up much?

Kira is a compelling character with flaws, and new, exciting abilities who must struggle to keep those she loves safe and find her place in a world of people who either fear her abilities, or want to use them for their own purposes.

Book Two of the Mindjack Trilogy by
Susan Kay Quinn

When you control minds, only your heart can be used against you.
Eight months ago, Kira Moore revealed to the mindreading world that mindjackers like herself were hidden in their midst. Now she wonders if telling the truth was the right choice after all. As wild rumors spread, a powerful anti-jacker politician capitalizes on mindreaders' fears and strips jackers of their rights. While some jackers flee to Jackertown--a slum rife with jackworkers who trade mind control favors for cash--Kira and her family hide from the readers who fear her and jackers who hate her. But when a jacker Clan member makes Kira's boyfriend Raf collapse in her arms, Kira is forced to save the people she loves by facing the thing she fears most: FBI agent Kestrel and his experimental torture chamber for jackers.
Check out Susan Kaye Quinn's blog for more information on the awesome launch party, and for rafflecopter prizes!!!

Oh, and if you missed my entry for the Flash Fiction Blogfest, check it out here or just scroll down to my last post.