1 Word Interview Challenge with Jamie Ayres

The 1 Word Interview Challenge is back for 2014 with Jamie Ayres, author of 18 Truths and 18 Things!

Welcome, Jamie!!!

1. What's your current favorite word?

Ridiculous

 2. In one word, what inspires you?

 People

3. What's one word that describes your writing habits?

 Convoluted

4. What's one word that you wish you could get rid of in your writing?

Just 

5. What's one word that describes your writing desk?

 Chaotic

6. Share the best writing advice/tool/quote that helps you. (please limit to one sentence)

 “It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you are not.” –Denis Waitley

7. What's your current project? (this is the one where you can write a bit more)

 One sentence blurb for 18 Truths: With the lessons the 18 Things life list taught her engraved on her heart, Olga embarks on a new adventure as a spirit guide, but nothing prepares her for the chilling truths she’s learning along the way.

8. Just for Jamie - What's one truth you would like to share?

We are not forgotten. God collects our tears in a bottle, and going through hell is worth it if it leads us to the place God has. I hope my trilogy will not only entertain, but serve as a reminder of these timeless truths during this generation’s teen years—and throughout life (my oldest reader is 96).

Thank you for having me, Tyrean! 

Thank you for joining me, Jamie!!! Love your truth. I know God has plans for each of us . . . all the way through the painful, icky stuff and into the amazing wonder of his love!

What's your truth today?

  

 

Olga Gay Worontzoff ended her senior year as an eighteen-year-old girl totally in love with Nate, enjoying their new romance and about to attend the university of her dreams. Now she’s spending her summer in the weird subculture of the Underworld, with charmingly witty and powerful angels, and problematic demons, trying to rescue Connor, the best friend and secret crush she was unable to save during a freak accident.

But Nate has other things on his mind, mainly Grace. She’s their first assignment as joint spirit guides, and Olga’s feeling hurt and jealous. His mysterious behavior has Olga questioning everything she believed about him and now she must decide whether to stick to their plan, or follow her heart. Unfortunately, a series of mistakes threatens everyone around her and plants Olga in the center of cosmic events much larger than she ever imagined.

Only one thing is certain: the chilling truths uncovered during her journey will leave no one untouched.

Amazon Goodreads

Jamie Ayres writes young adult paranormal love stories by night and teaches young adults as a Language Arts middle school teacher by day. When not at home on her laptop or at school, she can often be found at a local book store grabbing random children and reading to them. So far, she has not been arrested for this. Although she spent her youthful summers around Lake Michigan, she now lives in Florida with her prince charming, two children (sometimes three based on how Mr. Ayres is acting), and a basset hound. She really does have grandmothers named Olga and Gay but unlike her heroine, she’s thankfully not named after either one of them. She loves lazy pajama days, the first page of a good book, stupid funny movies, and sharing stories with fantastic people like you. Her books include the first two installments of her trilogy, 18 Things and 18 Truths. She’s currently working on 18 Thoughts. Visit her online via Twitter, Facebook, or at www.jamieayres.com. 

Jamie Rocks!

Bookaversary!

I don't know how it happened, but my bookaversary just snuck up on me. I realized just this morning that a year ago today, I took the plunge into indie publishing and became a published novelist! Wow!

I don't have a plan for celebration.

But I do some exciting news, and the day ahead of me to dance and celebrate!

Although I hoped to have my second novel, Champion in Flight, out by now, I do have something fun to celebrate my one year bookaversary and one year indie-aversary. A new book.

On Friday, when I felt too sick to go skiing, I decided to finally publish a book that's been on my hard drive for a few years now. With a last bit of extra tweaking, and some formatting with help from my superman husband, my poetry book, Light Reflections, is out on Lulu. I'll be working on getting it into ebook format this week.

It's like somewhere in the back of my sinus-fogged brain, I knew my indie-versary, and bookaversary were coming.

So, please help me celebrate by tweeting or sharing my news!

Light Reflections is a collage of everyday poetry, reflecting on life moments. Light-hearted poems on the taste of pulpy lemonade and the pleasures of reading a library book mix with more serious subjects including faith, loss, and compost. These poems walk through the seasons of the year, reflecting light off clouds, snow, rain, and water. as well as the inner spaces of thought. Previously published titles include: "March Snow Hare," "My Mother's Compost," "As the Leaves Fall," and "Breaking the Stillness."

Light Reflections at Lulu

Tweets:
Life, faith, and compost? Light Reflections #poetry http://tinyurl.com/jw7c48q

http://tinyurl.com/jw7c48q Light Reflections. #poetry Pulpy Lemonade, Library Books and Leaves.


Thanks bunches!!!!

Also, if you would like to do a shout out/tweet out for Champion in the Darkness, that would be great too!!!

Tweets for Champion in the Darkness:
Champion in the Darkness - Faith, Swords, & Sorcery!
http://tinyurl.com/m6t9yfq

 

 

http://tinyurl.com/m6t9yfq Champion in the Darkness - Strong Heroines, Faith, Sword-fighting, Griffins, and Sorcery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moonless Book Release Blogfest

Crystal Collier cid:image001.jpg@01CF094E.83FDC860 ❀Unleashing the dream world, one book at a time ❀ Blog | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook | Website LINKY LIST CODE: RAFFLECOPTER CODE: a Rafflecopter giveaway RAFFLECOPTER WEB LINK: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/MTU5YzdkZmQyNmRjNzQ2OTMyYjk5MmY0NWYxZjhhOjU=/ POST IN HTML:

In the English society of 1768 where women are bred to marry, unattractive Alexia, just sixteen, believes she will end up alone. But on the county doorstep of a neighbor’s estate, she meets a man straight out of her nightmares, one whose blue eyes threaten to consume her whole world—especially when she discovers him standing over her murdered host in the middle of the night.

Her nightmares become reality: a dead baron, red-eyed wraiths, and forbidden love with a man hunted by these creatures. After an attack close to home, Alexia realizes she cannot keep one foot in her old life and one in this new world. To protect her family she must either be sold into a loveless marriage, or escape with her beloved and risk becoming one of the Soulless.

BUY IT HERE

So here's the question: If you lived in a society where arranged marriages were a la mode, who would you beg your parents to set you up with? Why? (Literary characters and celebrities welcomed.) 

My Husband, John. Why? Because he's the best guy for me, the one and only guy for me. And although our parents didn't know each other way back when, they get along great, so I could see them arranging a marriage between us.

John, on his snowboard, on a black diamond run in Whistler, B.C. in 2010.

 

Find the rest of the hop below!

And while you're at it, enter to win one of these great prizes!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#writemotivation, Write 1 Sub 1, and Celebrate the Small Things

Keeping it short today, hope that's ok.

#writemotivation goals for the month and check-in:

1. Revise ten chapters of Champion in Flight. - um, I've only worked on about 1,000 words this week. Somehow I got caught up in another project.

2. Finish critique of friend's novel. - not yet.

3. Bike 80 miles by the end of the month. - Biked 30 miles last Saturday. Hugely painful but rewarding.

4. Complete Write 1 Sub 1 challenge. - I have the poem I want to submit, but I'm not sure where to submit it yet.

5. Drink 4+ glasses of water each day. - Yikes - only a few glasses each day.

6. Jump in some puddles. - it's seriously dry for Washington state.

7. Ski, laugh, and have fun with journal writing. -  laugh - yes, fun with journaling - some, ski - planned, but not sure I'm going since I woke up with a sinus cold/headache/earache.

 

 

 

Celebrate the Small Things:
1. Unexpectedly, I found myself immersed in my non-fiction project - currently named Dynamic Writing 1 (with 2 and 3 coming next) and wrote 27 pages in one afternoon. These will be writing curriculum guides for homeschool MG and HS students.

I started on this project because I've never been satisfied with the curriculum I've found for my own kids, I have training in writing curriculum as a teacher, and I thought, why not write some books that I might actually use? I've already written some of the pieces of them anyway to use at home and in my co-op classes.

2. Despite being totally distracted by the non-fiction project and grading papers, I did manage to get some work done for Champion in Flight.

3. No plans for Saturday - so my hubs and I might go on another 30 mile bike ride.

 

 

IWSG: Goal Keepers and Upcoming IndieRecon

I struggle to keep goals and stick to them. I want to create healthy habits, and healthy writing habits, but I find myself floundering from time to time (or is that most of the time? eek).

So, this year, I decided to find as many goal keepers and encouragers as I could and join in the fun.

Goal keepers helps us keep track of our goals, they motivate us in the midst of our trip-ups, and celebrate with us when we make our achievements.

Encouragers are encouraging . . . sounds simple, but these amazing individuals share, and encourage us to find, hidden depths of strength.

The best goal keepers and encouragers I know of on the web are:

IWSG: Insecure Writer's Support Group. Yes, you, the Positively Rockin' Ninja Army of IWSG! If you aren't member, you need to join. Alex J. Cavanaugh started this group, and now it's a movement, a place of safety and encouragement. It all started at Alex J. Cavanaugh's blog, but now it has a website and a facebook page.

Celebrate the Small Things is a weekly group that celebrates the small stuff - the accomplishments that help us through our days - getting a load of laundry done, writing a line or two, and even, taking time to rest. These are all worthy of celebrations. Viklit started this group a year ago, and it's still going strong! Again, I highly recommend it!

Write 1 Sub 1 is a challenge group. The challenge is: to write 1 and submit 1 poem a week, or to write 1 and submit 1 story a month. It's tough, but it's been good for me as a writer, and has stretched my sense of what's possible to get done in a week. They have a blog and a facebook page.

#writemotivaton is a group that I just joined, and they are awesome at encouragement and goal keeping. They have a site and are active on twitter. The sign up is monthly, so you don't necessarily have to join for the year, but you can join for a month and try it out. However, as I belatedly realized after January, the posts are weekly . . . I'll have to do a bit better on that this month. 

And I just joined, Misha Gericke's Do You Have Goals? which is a group dedicated to creating and keeping some huge yearly goals. There's a monthly update post on the last Friday of every month.

In addition to all these awesome groups, there's a great event coming up on the 25th for Indie authors: Indie Recon. Check out there site for details on this awesome online three day conference.

So, are you able to stick to your goals? Do you have goal keepers that help you? Know motivators and encouragers that cheer you on and celebrate all the small things with you? If not, I highly encourage you to join some or all of these groups.

Happy IWSG!!!