Writer Wednesday: The Monster Within ARC and Teaser

On Monday I got a nice surprise in my mailbox. 

My ARC of The Monster Within! Yay! I spent yesterday proofreading it. I never get tired of reading this book because Sam and Ethan are very special to me. And of course I made a teaser video for you. Enjoy!

1000 Follower Giveaway!

To celebrate reaching 1000 followers, I'm giving away books! Yes, books plural. Why? Because I love my followers. I have so much fun interacting with you guys here, so this is my way of saying thank you.

So, what will you win? Despite the rafflecopter form asking you to choose a book, the winner will get all 3 of these books:

Poltergeeks by Sean Cummings

Pretty Amy by Lisa Burnstein

Fade by Lisa McMann

Open internationally. Just fill out the rafflecopter, and thank you again for following my blog!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Masters of the Veil by Daniel Cohen

Synopsis:
Life can’t get much better for Sam Lock. Popular, good-looking, and with a future as a professional football player… every guy at Stanton High School wishes he were Sam. That is, until his championship football game, when Sam accidentally links with an ancient source of energy known as the Veil and reveals his potential to become a powerful sorcerer. 

Sam’s dreams are crushed as he is whisked off to Atlas Crown, a community of sorcerers who utilize the Veil as a part of everyday life. Once there, he trains beside a mute boy who speaks through music, an eternal sage who is the eyes and ears of the Veil, and a beautiful girl who's pretty sure Sam's an idiot. 

As it becomes clear that Sam is meant for power magic—the most feared and misunderstood form of sorcery—people beyond Atlas Crown learn of his dangerous potential. An exiled group of power sorcerers are eager to recruit Sam, believing that he is destined to help them achieve their long-held goal. If they succeed, they could bring about the downfall of not only Atlas Crown… but all of humankind.

Opening Line:

"Samuel Lock's fingertips pierced the soft turf up to his first knuckle."

Dan's Favorite Line:

"Because everything changes, even death."  (Totally awesome, Dan!)

I can't tell you the context--or anything about the line--because it would be a huge spoiler, but those words have an incredible amount of meaning to me. 

If you could be any character from the story, who would you be and why?

There's a sorcerer in the book named Rona Rono. He teaches the best students in Atlas Crown and he's really tough. I've always wanted to be really tough :)

Where can we purchase MOTV? (Releases March 1, 2012)

Amazon

Barnes and Noble 

Book Depository (Free international shipping)  

Where can readers find me on the web?

FACEBOOK
BLOG

Just for fun:  All this talk of sorcery is making me think of magical powers I wish I had. So, if you could have a magical power, what would it be? 

Fitting the Pieces Together

First, we have a winner in my cover reveal and 200 follower giveaway. Congrats, Sheri Larsen! You won! Email me your mailing address and I'll get your three choices out to you.

Onto today's topic of fitting the pieces together. The more I write, the more I change the way I write. I've written novels from start to finish. I've written the ending before the rest of the story. I've even stopped halfway through to go back and add five chapters of subplot throughout. What I never thought I'd do is write whatever scene came to mind and piece them together later.

But now I do. If I get a certain scene in my head, I enter down on my manuscript and type away. Then I go back to where I was and pick up again. With my latest WIP, I had four different scenes written ahead of time, and I moved them around to where I needed them as I wrote. Was it a little crazy? Yes. But I think the scenes would have lost something if I didn't write them when they came to me. And to be honest, piecing the scenes together like a puzzle is kind of fun.

If you've never tried it, I challenge you to let yourself do it. I said I'd never do it, but here I am.

Can you write out of order?

Cover Reveal And Giveaway

It's here! The cover of TOUCH OF DEATH! I'm in love with it, but I want to hear what you think.

And here's the official synopsis:
Jodi Marshall isn’t sure how she went from normal teenager to walking disaster. One minute she’s in her junior year of high school, spending time with her amazing boyfriend and her best friend. The next she’s being stalked by some guy no one seems to know. 

After the stranger, Alex, reveals himself, Jodi learns he’s not a normal teenager and neither is she. With a kiss that kills and a touch that brings the dead back to life, Jodi discovers she’s part of a branch of necromancers born under the 13th sign of the zodiac, Ophiuchus. A branch of necromancers that are descendents of Medusa. A branch of necromancers with poisoned blood writhing in their veins. 

Jodi’s deadly to the living and even more deadly to the deceased. She has to leave her old, normal life behind before she hurts the people she loves. As if that isn’t difficult enough, Jodi discovers she’s the chosen one who has to save the rest of her kind from perishing at the hands of Hades. If she can’t figure out how to control her power, history will repeat itself, and her race will become extinct.


Yay! And as promised, I'm giving away multiple YA books in honor of reaching 200 followers. One winner (US only. Sorry!) will win their choice of 3 YA books from the following.



(Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, The Heist Society, The Last Little Blue Envelope, Fade, Raised by Wolves, Get Well Soon, Cloaked, Tenth Grade Bleeds, The Poison Eaters, Leap Day)

Simply fill out the rafflecopter form below and check back next Friday (2/3/12) to see if you've won! Good luck!

Don't Think. Just Type

I've mentioned how I've become a fan of fast drafting. Of letting the words flow without stopping to edit. Just typing until I was finished drafting. This is how I wrote TOUCH OF DEATH, and it was my favorite novel to write. It's the book where I connected most to the characters and their story.

While drafting that book, I learned the story isn't mine to tell. I have to stop thinking, stop planning, and give my characters control to take me on their journey. With my current WIP, I got stuck after chapter one. I thought about where the story was going and I outlined the plot. Still I couldn't write. The problem? I'd over thought the story.

So I gave myself permission to stop thinking. Put my hands to the keyboard and type. How? I told my MC, Sam (I'm not allowed to call her Samantha. She doesn't like it.), to go ahead and tell her story. And she did. All day and all night. She never stopped talking. She woke me up to jot down bits of dialogue. She interrupted dinner to tell me what she was going to do next. And I loved her for that.

When was the last time you let yourself just type without over thinking? Do you tell the story or does your MC?

Asphodel by Lauren Hammond

Synopsis:
Persephone has been running for her entire life. Running from the humans to keep her immortality a secret. And running from a man who haunts her dreams. Not a man but a god, who will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants. And what he wants most, is her.

Trapped in the realm of the dead, Persephone plans to return to the land of the living. The underworld is a terrifying place where ghosts roam freely, three headed dogs patrol the gates, and it’s a living grave where the rules of earth and the warmth of the sun no longer apply. But then, something unexpected happens. Persephone finds herself falling for the god who abducted her, the god who has chased her for five thousand years, a god who is none other than death himself, Hades.

Ripped out of the underworld by Zeus, Persephone must find a pomegranate to return to the realm of the dead and to her beloved. Consuming only a seed of the fruit of the dead would bind Persephone to spend her life beneath the earth’s core with Hades. But Zeus has reduced every pomegranate tree in the world to ash. Except one. Persephone must locate that one remaining pomegranate tree, a quest that could ignite a war between the two mightiest of the gods. A war that could cause Persephone to lose the only family she’s ever known or give up a love that comes only once every five thousand years.

My thoughts:
Most people are at least somewhat familiar with the story of Hades and Persephone, but Hammond puts a new spin on it. Hades can only claim Persephone, who has been promised to him by Zeus, on her 17th birthday. So every 17 years, Hades has his chance. But with Zeus and Demeter protecting Persephone, Hades has his work cut out for him. I loved this retelling because Demeter and Persephone hide among humans and live like common people instead of the godesses they are. Persephone is sort of a prisoner in her own life because while she tries to blend in with humans, she can't form any real connections with them.

Her separation from the world is intensified when she is taken by Hades. But their dynamic isn't what you'd expect. Hammond's description of the underworld draws you in and makes you feel like you're touring the Realm of the Dead. I don't want to give away too much of the story, but the relationship between Hades and Persephone will leave you wanting more. I'm looking forward to the next book in this series.

Just for fun: How would you react if you found out your father promised you to the god of the underworld?

Monday Mishmash 12/26/11

Happy Monday! Here's what's on my mind today:

1. Christmas  We had a house-full yesterday, which is always a little crazy. But my daughter's excitement Christmas morning was worth all the chaos in the world.
2. Books  Lately I've had a book buying problem. I can't stop myself. I bought 8 books the week before Christmas, and I got more books as gifts.
3. Thank you  I want to thank everyone for all the congratulations on my two-book deal with Spencer Hill Press. Being able to share my excitement with all of you made it even better. Thank you!
4. Unexpected twists  I'm drafting a new YA manuscript and in the very first chapter, my MC threw such a twist at me I had to rethink my planning. Now I have to have a serious talk with her to see where this story is going.
5. Homemade ice cream cake  My mom made her famous mud pie for Christmas. Nothing beats homemade ice cream cake. Yum!

That's it for me. What's on your mind today?

Welcome!

Welcome to my new YA and MG site. I'll be blogging here as well as from my children's author site, but this site will focus on my young adult and middle grade novels. Since my other site was being taken over by my works for younger readers, I wanted a place that focused on my older readers, and this is it.

I'll be blogging every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Topics will focus on YA & MG books and writing for these age groups.

I hope you enjoy the new site. I'll be adding to it as I go, so stay tuned for more info on my works in progress.

Thanks for dropping by!