Ever Near is here!

The latest installment of the Dani Deane series, Ever Near, releases today!

Four Advent candles, two teens, a Yule Ball, a grief anniversary, and a quest for the perfect gift.

Christmastime is here and for Dani Deane, the season only brings memories of spending last December in the ICU, watching her dad die. But trying to hide her holiday phobia from her boyfriend is making life a lot more complicated. To truly heal, she will have to face the pain and lean into her faith. Can she learn to trust God—and Theo—to stick by her as she seeks to find joy again?

In the bleak midwinter, Theo Wescott is watching his girlfriend Dani slip away again. The anniversary of her dad’s death has turned the holidays into a minefield. The race is on to find the perfect present that will bring her comfort and joy. But getting her best friend’s help with his elaborate plan threatens to derail his relationship with Dani. Will patiently waiting to reveal his ultimate surprise bring the cheer he hopes, or will it be a triggering epic failure?

The ebook version is now available for your phone, tablet or e-reader at a
special introductory price of $2.99 through 12/31.

Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081ZSHV1D
Nook: https://nook.barnesandnoble.com/products/2940163400584
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ever-near-2
iTunes: https://books.apple.com/us/book/ever-near/id1489279017

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Cover reveal for my next release: Ever Near

The release of my latest novel in my Dani Deane series is fast approaching!

My goal is to release the ebook shortly before Thanksgiving, and the paperback around December 1 in honor of the beginning of Advent. It's a holiday story especially for those who find the holidays difficult and triggering.

Here's the description, and as promised, the lovely cover:

Ever Near
Christian young adult

Four Advent candles, two teens, a Yule Ball, a grief anniversary, and a quest for the perfect gift.


Christmastime is here and for Dani Deane, the season only brings memories of spending last December in the ICU, watching her dad die. But trying to hide her holiday phobia from her boyfriend is making life a lot more complicated. To truly heal, she will have to face the pain and lean into her faith. Can she learn to trust God—and Theo—to stick by her as she seeks to find joy again?

In the bleak midwinter, Theo Wescott is watching his girlfriend Dani slip away again. The anniversary of her dad’s death has turned the holidays into a minefield. The race is on to find the perfect present that will bring her comfort and joy. But getting her best friend’s help with his elaborate plan threatens to derail his relationship with Dani. Will patiently waiting to reveal his ultimate surprise bring the cheer he hopes, or will it be a triggering epic failure?



Ever Near is book 2 in my series, with Never Gone preceding it and Almost There following. Books 1 and 3 are available NOW. Check out my Books page for details.

  

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Discerning your genre: MG, EYA or YA?

By guest Shannon L. Mokry

So you want to write a children’s book, but you don’t know where to begin? First get those ideas on paper, just the basic outline or concept to start with. Then, before you go any further, decide what age group you’re writing for. Next, consider what subgenre you are wanting it to be. If you have already finished your piece and are only now looking at defining it, all is not lost. Most manuscripts need several revisions before they are ready to publish.

So why is it so important to define now? What is a genre anyway? Both of these things are important because they tell you how long your piece needs to be, and what expectations your readers will have . If you want your book to be read, then it is important to understand your audience.

When I decided I wanted to write for children there were several questions I needed to ask myself. Will I be writing fiction or nonfiction? What age am I writing for? Children’s books fall into several age brackets. Hilari Bell does an amazing job listing them all in detail here.

For our purposes, the bare facts look like this:

• 8-12 Middle Grade (MG) 40,000-55,000 words, MC(Main Character) is usually 10-12. It’s important to keep the story age appropriate. You really start to see subgenres at this point; is it a mystery, a fantasy, sci-fi? No specific page count. Still mostly sold in paperback.
• 10-13 Early Young Adult (EYA) 50,000 words, MC 13-14. This category is a gray area. While it had some popularity a few years ago, it is important to note that libraries and bookstores don’t recognize this category. If you find yourself here, pick MG or YA and make the adjustments needed. This article goes into more detail on why EYA is not a real category. 
• 12-18 Young Adult (YA) 55,000-70,000 or longer. These are full on novels with a MC usually 15-17 yrs old. No language concerns, no specific page count. You start to see an real uptick in ebook sales.

Now let's look a little closer at the differences between MG books and YA books. The vast majority of MG books are written in third person, while the majority of YA books are first person. That doesn’t and shouldn’t restrict you, but it is important to be aware of. Another factor is where the average MC age comes from. Kids want to read about kids their age or older. They do not want to read about younger kids. For example, a 16 year old doesn’t want to read about a 12 year old, they just don’t relate. For a similar reason, an 8 year old can read about 10-12 year olds just fine, but doesn’t relate at all to a 14 or 15 year old. That really makes sense because a 8-10 year olds are still in elementary school and while they may be looking forward to middle school, high school is too far into the future.

You may notice a that MG book doesn’t deal with edgy topics. There shouldn’t be any bad language or intimacy, drug use or explicit violence. Some of these things may be hinted at but not gone into detail and not be things your MC is experiencing. With YA all those rules go out the window. YA readers want to read about edgy subjects. They are exposed to and experimenting with the darker things in life. You can still write clean and sweet, but ignoring the roller coaster of emotions that a teen goes through will just make your book unrelatable.

About the Author

Shannon L. Mokry lives in Texas where she homeschools her three daughters. The Bubbles stories were inspired by stories she would tell her youngest daughter Charlotte. She recently published a MG novel.

Website / Twitter / Facebook

About the Book

Escaping Gardenia

MG fantasy

Friendships are forged in the most unlikely of places.

From a kingdom at war with dragons, Ivy is sent to scout out a path to safety. Along the way she learns about magic and accidentally hatches a baby dragon.

Safety is the next kingdom over. Vlad, a gamekeepers apprentice, joins in the effort to help the refugees. His only intent is to help as many people find safety as he can.

Making new friends was the last thing either of them expected. Can they get Ivy's village to safety and learn to trust each other? Or will they learn to late that even well meaning secret can have big consequences?

Available from Amazon

Q4U: What are some of your favorite books written for these age groups?

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8 Aspects You Are Missing in Your World-Building

by guest Kandi J. Wyatt

As you open the pages of a good book, you are beckoned into a new world, a place where magic may exist or where people travel between planets on trains. The possibilities are endless and only limited by the author’s imagination and effort. When an author does an excellent job of world-building, the reader longs to climb into the pages of the book and not leave.

Harry Potter, Marvel Universe, Star Wars, Middle Earth, Narnia, and the ‘World’ of Game of Thrones are all examples of worlds that exist because an author had a vision and then dove into world-building. World-building takes thought and consideration to be thorough. Many different aspects go into creating a world that feels real.


via GIPHY

1. Places

The most common aspect of the world is where it’s set. Is it the seas of the Caribbean or is it the halls of Hogwarts? Are there woods, mountains, or deserts? Currently, I’m working on creating a planet. It will have a combination of all extremes. Hannah Heath has written on how to not fall into the rut of common places.

2. People

Once we have a place, we now need to know who inhabits these spaces. As I create my worlds, I make my people fit the place they inhabit, or if they don’t then that’s part of the plot. How would where they live affect their physical attributes and their psychology? In my Dragon Courage world, the rainy marshes of the Carr led to some depression in the characters. The word Carr came from a Celtic background and so my characters tend to have red hair and the tempers that are associated with redheads. My middle grade fantasy, Journey from Skioria, has people that are short, hairy, and have nails that extend out to climb trees since they live in trees.

3. Culture

Early on in my life, I was introduced to different cultures through missionaries that came through my home. As I grew older, I went and visited missionaries in Arizona and New Mexico and was able to see for myself a different culture as I worked with the Navajo and Hopi tribes. Later, I lived in Ecuador for two different years and stayed in Mexico for a month. These experiences let me understand that each people group has their own unique set of laws, norms, and taboos. Why should our stories be any different?

What cultural aspects do you need to add to make your stories? In the north of the Dragon Courage world, tradition holds sway. Since “change comes slowly to dragons” it takes a war for tradition to change. The southern dragon colony of Boeskay sets up on the bluffs overlooking the river. Riders sit out on their porches at night and watch the sunset. Sometimes, it’s the little touches that make the world come to life. It could be as simple as referring to years by a specific season, or it may be as simple as an expression. H. L. Burke, in her book Beggar Magic, uses the expression, ‘By the strains!’ The strains are a significant aspect of the world and are held in awe by all.

4. Language

As a language teacher, I love thinking of how language affects us, but I’ve yet to put it into my books. I did create an accent more than anything in Dragon’s Revenge. For this new project that I’m brainstorming, I’m thinking of creating a script at least for the world, if not some language.

Think of Harry Potter. How would the books have been different if it wasn’t for

via GIPHY

5. Beliefs

As all believers know, our beliefs are what define us. We will do anything for something we believe in. This should be true of your characters as well. I’ve been challenged recently to go beyond the typical on this area. Hannah Heath (if you don’t follow her, you should. She has an amazing blog for writers.) shared some very thought provoking ideas on how to write Christian fantasy and religion.

6. Technology

How do your characters get around? Do they use the horse and buggy or are there airships? How does your protagonist wash her clothes? What? You haven’t thought of that? Then you should! No, really, you should. It’s not just the steampunk genre or subgenre that should have technology. Does your antagonist spread rumors via social media and his iphone? That’s technology at work, too.

7. Mythology

The most well-known author for having mythology in his work was J. R. R. Tolkien. He wanted to provide a mythos for Great Britain and ended up creating Middle Earth. When I wrote Journey from Skioria, I had fun having characters share little myths. You don’t have to create elaborate stories, but know what a few are or have an idea of what the mythos looks like for your world.

8. Animals

As you build your world, realize there should be more than just people, or aliens, living in it. Who or what else inhabit it? As I’m brainstorming for my newest idea, I realized that a mole-like animal may come in handy. Mythical creatures most often coming into fantasy stories, but think outside the box. What other animals would make your world right? Would it be a cat, a dog, horses, whales, kangaroos, or cheetahs?


If you stop at these eight, your world may be complete, but there are so many other things to consider as well. Think of your own life. What influences it? Add those to your world-building. Sure, you might not use all of it in your actual writing, but if you know it, then it will come out into your story-telling.

About the Author

Even as a young girl, Kandi J. Wyatt had a knack for words. She loved to read them, even if it was on a shampoo bottle! By high school Kandi had learned to put words together on paper to create stories for those she loved. Nowadays, she writes for her kids, whether that's her own five or the hundreds of students she's been lucky to teach. When Kandi's not spinning words to create stories, she's using them to teach students about Spanish, life, and leadership.

Connect with Kandi:
Website / Facebook / Google Plus / Twitter / Pinterest / Goodreads / Amazon

About the Books

In a world where dragons and humans live in peace with each other, it is a privilege to be a dragon rider, but riders, like everyone else, must find their purpose. In this series, twins Ruskya and Duskya fight for their dragon’s futures and their lives! Braidyn struggles with balancing justice and mercy as he searches for a stolen nestling. Kyn and a new friend, Ben’hyamene, discover a breed of wild dragons which have been at war with humans for four hundred years, and the two learn that peace is better than revenge. Kyn helps Duskya and her daughter, Carryn, search for a young rider who stumbles upon a slave trade. Carryn learns that bitterness leaves a person in bondage as much as being a slave. Follow along the riders’ quest in this exciting middle grade fantasy series by author Kandi J Wyatt.

The One Who Sees Me 

Teenage slave girl Faru’s life has been turned upside down when she discovers she’s been traded to a new master, forcing her to leave all she‘s ever known. Upon her arrival, Faru meets a friend, Cailean, who helps her adjust to life in the strange location. Life settles into a new pattern, and romance blossoms between the young friends. But as soon as they plan to get married, another proposal comes about – one that cannot be ignored. Being a slave means not always marrying who you love.
On a daring journey to heal her heart, Faru encounters the Existing One. Will she trust Him and do His bidding even if what He requests is so hard?

Follow Faru’s tale in author Kandi J Wyatt’s retelling of a Biblical story found in the Old Testament book of Genesis, showing that when things don’t make sense, God will guide the way.

Get it HERE
Read reviews from Pursue Simple Joy / Julie L. Spencer / Live. Love. Read

Pick up the rest of the series!

Dragon's Future / Dragon's Heir / Dragon's Revenge / Dragon’s Cure / Dragon’s Posterity / Dragon’s Heritage

Q4U: What aspects of world-building do you most enjoy experiencing in books? What aspects do you find most fun to develop? Most challenging?

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Finding fantasy setting inspiration in real-world culture

by guest author Annie Douglass Lima

I’ve always thought that it’s especially helpful for writers of speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction, alternative reality, etc.) to travel outside their home country. If you’re going to be creating new worlds and cultures, it’s valuable to be able to experience different cultures in our own world and draw inspiration from them, after all.

I was raised in Kenya, where I lived for almost my whole childhood. As an adult, I spent a year in Indonesia, as well as living in the United States for a while. At the moment, my husband and I live in Taiwan, where we’ve been for over ten years now. In between, I have visited a total of twenty-one countries so far (with plenty more still on my bucket list!). These international experiences have definitely impacted my writing.

Although Kenyan culture has not made it directly into any of my books so far, spending time as a foreigner in an unfamiliar world inspired some of the interpersonal and intercultural struggles the characters in my Annals of Alasia fantasy series have had to face.  (And by “foreigner” I mean the way I thought of myself when my family visited America.  As a child, I considered myself Kenyan and was much more at home there than in the U.S.) In Book 3 of the series, Prince of Malorn, my character Prince Korram has to travel into the Impassable Mountains to seek the help of a nomadic tribe called the Mountain Folk.  In the kingdom of Malorn, Mountain Folk and Lowlanders tend to distrust each other and avoid contact whenever possible, and both sides claim that the other mistreats them.  I wanted to show that, often, it just takes better understanding to lead to acceptance and appreciation of another culture. That, and the willingness to learn new ways of doing things and respect others’ customs even when they’re different. That concept reflects my love of getting to know other cultures and appreciating the differences between them.

I’ve enjoyed bringing several elements of Taiwan’s culture – both good and bad – into my Krillonian Chronicles alternate reality series. Here are a few examples:

• In Taiwan, gifts or awards involving money are always given in red envelopes. When my martial artist character, Bensin, wins prize money in a cavvara shil tournament, the officials hand it to him in a red envelope. 
• Betel nut, a mild narcotic, is very popular in Taiwan. In the city of Jarreon, it’s also common and is sold legally in shops decorated with flashing colored lights, just like here. (In another province of the Krillonian Empire, betel nut is illegal, and a certain character with an addiction goes to great lengths to find a black market supplier.) 
• In Taiwan, cheap boxed meals available at “hole-in-the-wall” eateries are a common and convenient lunch or dinner for laborers or anyone in a hurry or short on cash. In the city of Jarreon in my series, they’re common too – for big business owners to order in bulk for their slaves’ lunches, or for City Watch officers to pick up to feed prisoners in the Watch Station cells. 
• New Year is the most important holiday of the year in Taiwan. People celebrate it by putting up decorations, giving gifts of money to children (yes, in red envelopes, often decorated with special designs), and by sharing special meals involving traditional foods with family. I actually combined ideas from that with Christmas in creating the Krillonian Empire’s New Year holiday. Characters there celebrate with seasonal music and decorations, sharing a feast involving traditional foods with family and friends, and exchanging gifts with family members. Slave owners sometimes give their slaves gifts as well, though those usually consist of practical items (one enslaved character receives a toothbrush, toothpaste, and extra socks).

I’ve had a number of readers comment that the cultures in my novels are both interesting and believable, and I know that’s because I’ve drawn on real ones to create them. If you write speculative fiction and have had the privilege of experiencing multiple cultures (even second hand), I would encourage you to use bits and pieces of them to shape the worlds you create. It’s fun to write that way, and it will be all the more fun for readers to explore those worlds!

Q4U: Have you drawn from actual cultures to enrich your writing? Please share in the comments!

About the Author

Annie Douglass Lima spent most of her childhood in Kenya and later graduated from Biola University in Southern California. She and her husband Floyd currently live in Taiwan, where she teaches fifth grade at Morrison Academy. She has been writing poetry, short stories, and novels since her childhood, and to date has published fifteen books (three YA action and adventure novels, four fantasies, a puppet script, six anthologies of her students’ poetry, and a Bible verse coloring and activity book). Besides writing, her hobbies include reading (especially fantasy and science fiction), scrapbooking, and international travel.


Blog /  Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads / Google Plus / Amazon Author Page

About the series

Take a look at this exciting new young adult action and adventure novel, The Student and the Slave, now available for purchase! This is the third book in the Krillonian Chronicles, after The Collar and the Cavvarach and The Gladiator and the Guard.

The series is set in an alternate world that is very much like our own, with just a few major differences.  One is that slavery is legal there.  Slaves must wear metal collars that lock around their neck, making their enslaved status obvious to everyone. Another difference is the popularity of a martial art called cavvara shil.  It is fought with a cavvarach (rhymes with "have a rack"), a weapon similar to a sword but with a steel hook protruding from partway down its top edge.  Competitors can strike at each other with their feet as well as with the blades.  You win in one of two ways: disarming your opponent (hooking or knocking their cavvarach out of their hands) or pinning their shoulders to the mat for five seconds.

First, a Little Information about Books 1 and 2:

Book 1: The Collar and the Cavvarach

Bensin, a teenage slave and martial artist, is desperate to see his little sister freed. But only victory in the Krillonian Empire's most prestigious tournament will allow him to secretly arrange for Ellie's escape. Dangerous people are closing in on her, however, and Bensin is running out of time. With his one hope fading quickly away, how can Bensin save Ellie from a life of slavery and abuse?

Click here to read chapter 1 of The Collar and the Cavvarach.

Click here to read about life in the Krillonian Empire, where the series is set.

Book 2: The Gladiator and the Guard

Bensin, a teenage slave and martial artist, is just one victory away from freedom. But after he is accused of a crime he didn’t commit, he is condemned to the violent life and early death of a gladiator. While his loved ones seek desperately for a way to rescue him, Bensin struggles to stay alive and forge an identity in an environment designed to strip it from him. When he infuriates the authorities with his choices, he knows he is running out of time. Can he stand against the cruelty of the arena system and seize his freedom before that system crushes him?

Click here to read about life in the arena where Bensin and other gladiators are forced to live and train.


And now, The Student and the Slave, with another awesome cover by the talented Jack Lin!



Book 3: The Student and the Slave

Is this what freedom is supposed to be like? Desperate to provide for himself and his sister Ellie, Bensin searches fruitlessly for work like all the other former slaves in Tarnestra. He needs the money for an even more important purpose, though: to rescue Coach Steene, who sacrificed himself for Bensin’s freedom. When members of two rival street gangs express interest in Bensin’s martial arts skills, he realizes he may have a chance to save his father figure after all … at a cost.

Meanwhile, Steene struggles with his new life of slavery in far-away Neliria. Raymond, his young owner, seizes any opportunity to make his life miserable. But while Steene longs to escape and rejoin Bensin and Ellie, he starts to realize that Raymond needs him too. His choices will affect not only his own future, but that of everyone he cares about. Can he make the right ones … and live with the consequences?

Click here to order The Student and the Slave from Amazon for $2.99 a discounted price of just 99 cents through November 31st!

Giveaway

Enter to win an Amazon gift card or a free digital copy of the first two books in the series!

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Writing faith for teens

How do you go about writing about faith in a way that isn’t off-putting to contemporary teens, but feels like it’s part of normal life?

My approach begins from understanding that a life of faith isn’t lived across a line in the sand, that this spot over here is where I have a spiritual life, and on the other side is where the rest of the world goes about its business. Real faith doesn’t need a sanitized bubble in order to exist. It walks with courage into dark places through the power of the Holy Spirit, and tries to act as Jesus did. He reached out to those who were at the margins, who were hurting. I write what I hope is an invitation to teens of faith to see their purpose in this way.

In my Christian YA series, faith is a piece of the heroine Dani’s framework for understanding the world, just like her artistic ability is. The imagery and stories of her faith weave through her thought world as much as the language of painting and drawing. Like any teen raised in a Christian home, she goes through a coming-of-age process in which she has to decide if she truly believes for herself, rather than believing in a parent’s belief.

Infusing lots of humor into the story where possible is also important. People of faith are often stereotyped as dour, fault-finding folk who take themselves way too seriously. So my heroine has a bit of a sarcastic streak and finds the funny in things, quite often the funny in her own foibles—a self-deprecating kind of humor that makes her approachable.

Most centrally, I wrote my novels as dramatic stories, not handbooks or manuals on “how to grieve well/how to handle a family crisis well.” Readers walk with Dani through sadness, longing, first love, turmoil, broken relationships, confusion, and doubt. The adults in her world sometimes help, sometimes fail her badly. She has to come to grips with what is really real, with who God is, and with how she must grow and change in order to become her best self.

Preachiness in literature comes when characters aren’t given this space to “come to their senses” on their own. Jesus’ example of how to show a transformation well is the prodigal son story. Did someone come and preach at the younger brother, and tell him he had been a selfish jerk and he should just go home and apologize to his family? No, the story events led him to that conclusion. So it is with my characters. They make their mistakes and gradually learn from them. When epiphanies come, they act on them, and test their new understanding. They move from blindness to insight to realized truth.

I don’t think you have to be a Christian to read stories like mine and get something positive out of them. I’m not Jewish, but I really love Chaim Potok’s stories, which give me a glimpse into Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish communities. One of the most lovely things about literature is how it opens a window into other worlds, gives us a chance to understand other perspectives by living inside them for just a little while.

About the books

Never Gone

Sunday school never prepared her for this kind of life after death.

Teen artist Dani Deane feels like the universe has imploded when her photographer father is killed. Days after his death, she sees him leafing through sketches in her room, roaming the halls at church, wandering his own wake. Is grief making her crazy? Or is her dad truly adrift between this world and the next, trying to contact her?

Dani longs for his help as she tries and fails to connect with her workaholic mother. Her pain only deepens when astonishing secrets about her family history come to light. But Dani finds a surprising ally in Theo, the quiet guy lingering in the backstage of her life. He persistently reaches out as Dani’s faith falters, her family relationships unravel, and she withdraws into a dangerous obsession with her father’s ghostly appearances. Will she let her broken, prodigal heart find reason to hope again?

Read an excerpt.
Add it on Goodreads
Purchase the e-book at Amazon.com / Amazon UK / Amazon (Aus) / Amazon (Can)
Barnes and Noble / Apple iTunes
With sneak peek chapters from the sequel, Almost There 

Purchase the paperback at CreateSpace / Amazon (US) / Amazon (Can) / Amazon (UK) /
Barnes and Noble / The Book Depository (free shipping)

Almost There

How do you find hope when a family crisis threatens everything you love?

Paris, the City of Lights. To seventeen-year-old Dani Deane, it’s the Promised Land. There, her widowed mother’s depression will vanish and she will no longer fear losing her only parent, her arty New York life, or her devoted boyfriend.

But shortly before their Paris getaway, Dani’s tyrannical grandfather falls ill, pulling them to rural Pennsylvania to deal with his hoarder horror of a house. Among the piles, Dani finds disturbing truths that could make Mum completely unravel. Desperate to protect her from pain and escape to Paris, Dani hatches a plan with the flirtatious neighbor boy that only threatens the relationships she most wants to save.

Why would God block all paths to Paris? Could real hope for healing be as close as a box tucked in the rafters?

Add it on Goodreads
Read sneak peek scenes for FREE on Wattpad
Purchase the ebook on Amazon (US) / Amazon (UK) / Amazon (Aus) / Amazon (Can)
Barnes and Noble / Smashwords / Kobo / Apple iTunes

Purchase the paperback from Createspace / Amazon (US) / Amazon (Can) / Amazon (UK) /
Barnes and Noble / Book Depository (free shipping)


Do you find characters of faith compelling or off-putting? Why?

Thanks to Cecelia Earl for inviting me to write about this topic for her launch party. I repost it for broader sharing here with her blessing.

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Truth behind the fiction: A close call that became story fodder

By guest author Elise Abram

Photo by Talesin for Morguefile

When I was a teenager, my family business had a booth at the Canadian National Exhibition in the Food Building. My brother and I ran the booth during the day and my cousins at night.

I was very insecure as a teenager. I wasn't popular, I didn't like the way I looked, I didn't like who I was, and I didn't date. So when a cute boy approached me to strike up a conversation at the counter one day, I was incredibly flattered. When he left, he said he'd come back a few days later to continue our conversation, which he did, only this time, he started spouting religious dogma in the middle of the conversation, which turned me off.

He told me the name of the organization he worked for and I went to the Coliseum Building to check it out. He wasn't there when I went, so I approached, questioned the people working there, and collected some flyers.

It turns out they were in the business of seeking out teens for the purpose of converting them to their way of thinking. I liken their organization to a cult, because in later years, a number of deprogramming stations for their organization and similar ones, popped up around the GTA.

I was worried, but we came up with a plan:  the next time he came around, if I was in the back, someone would tell him I was busy, and if I was at the counter, someone would call me into the back on some "urgent" business. It just so happened that when he next came, I was in the back room and my brother told him I no longer worked there. He never came back.

When I was brainstorming for THE NEW RECRUIT, I thought about this experience and what might have happened if I hadn't had the support system I did. What if I'd ignored the warning signs and went with the recruiter because I was lonely, or if he had something to offer me that I couldn't find on my own?

THE NEW RECRUIT explores this question. Judith, my protagonist, is sixteen-years-old and she feels like an outsider. She's lonely because her mother has passed away, her father is always at work, and she has only one friend. She desperately wants to find a job so she can help her father with the finances and so he will be around more often.

When she meets Cain at the mall, he strikes up a conversation with her, offers her a job, and eventually recruits her into his cult of ecoterrorists, which he is able to do because he makes her feel special, offers her something she can't find on her own, and she doesn't have a support system in place to protect her from going with him.

THE NEW RECRUIT is timely in that it deals with the question of how a child with a seemingly normal upbringing can easily separated from her family, brainwashed, and coerced into doing something that horrifies the majority of the population.

About the author

Elise Abram is high school teacher of English and Computer Studies, former archaeologist, editor, publisher, award winning author, avid reader of literary and science fiction, and student of the human condition. Everything she does, watches, reads and hears is fodder for her writing. She is passionate about writing and language, cooking, and ABC’s Once Upon a Time. In her spare time, she experiments with paleo cookery, knits badly, and writes. She also bakes. Most of the time it doesn’t burn. Her family doesn’t seem to mind.

Connect with Elise Abram:
Blog /  Facebook / Twitter / Amazon Author Page

About the book

The New Recruit
Genre: YA Contemporary
Pages: 214

Sixteen year old Judith Abraham feels like an outsider. She has just transferred to a new school, has only one friend, and suffers from social anxiety, but when recruiter Cain Barrett offers her a job, her whole life changes. Things are great at first, but the more she learns about Cain's world of climate crusaders, the more she questions his motives behind singling her out. Will Judith find a way out before it's too late?

THE NEW RECRUIT is the first book of a trilogy (followed by Indoctrination) by author Elise Abram, winner of the 2015 A Woman's Write competition for I WAS, AM, WILL BE ALICE. THE NEW RECRUIT is a young adult contemporary romance for the new millennium. In a time when jobs are scarce, politics are unstable, and the future is uncertain, millennials are ripe for recruitment by cults, groups offering a stable world view in exchange for total devotion. THE NEW RECRUIT is meant to be a cautionary tale exploring how, without love and support from those around them, our disenfranchised youth can be so easily misguided.

Buy Links:
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Have you ever had a close scrape with danger and wondered "what if things had gone differently"?

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Happy Anniversary Harry Potter: a blogging retrospective

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (know in the US as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone because publishers assume American readers are too dumb to pick up anything with philosopher in the title, or know anything about medieval history or alchemy...but I digress).

Dumbledore's costume, WB studio tour, London (my photo)

I was first introduced to the series shortly after the first two books became available through Scholastic in the US. A reading specialist in my book group felt we just had to give them a try. She reads heaps of kidlit and knew these books were something special, bringing together tropes from fantasy, mythology, coming of age, and boarding school stories. They're fun and smart and got reluctant readers willing to work through their reading struggles to find out what happens next.

Having my husband read the series aloud to me, so we could enjoy the books together, became one of the defining bonding experiences of my early married years. He has gone on to develop college courses that suss out philosophical themes in the books, and has given a number of conference talks and published books chapters on epistemology and ethics in Rowling's work.

My contribution to Harry Potter fandom has been largely connected with this blog. I've participated in some blog hops, did a series of thematic character analyses, and eventually spun off a short-lived online fan 'zine.

So for your enjoyment, I offer links to my many Harry Potter-themed offerings.

Literary analyses

The Slow Growing Hero (Neville Longbottom)
What Makes a Villain? Part 1: The Dursleys and Malfoys
What Makes a Villain? Part 2: Umbridge and Voldemort
What Makes a Villain? Part 3: A Hero in Villain's Clothing (Severus Snape)

Thestral Gazette

I created this fan-fiction "underground newspaper" with a team, to provide muckraker-style "yellow journalism" pieces about "hidden Hogwarts revealed by those in the know." Pieces are cross-posted HERE.

Mrs. Norris's Secret Identity Revealed
Gilderoy Lockhart's Exciting New Book Release!
Snape's Secret Admirer
Fast, Loose, and Aria-Belting: Professors After Hours
Viktor Krum Reuintes with Former Girlfriend
Discovery: Mer-mating
Umbridge Unmasked
Ask Abby Gabby: Advice for Wizards and Witches (first feature)
Advice for Wizards and Witches (second feature)
Being Bullied? Weasel Your Way Out
Elves Gone Wild
Cauldron Chatter: Cloaked Items (gossip column)
Special Report from Hogwarts Florida Campus

Blog Hop posts

The Benefit of Books First (guest post by the hubs)
Wrock on! About the fandom creation "wizard rock"
Quidditch anyone? About collegiate "muggle quidditch" teams
Spinning New Yarns: Fan Fiction and Fan Art
Ravenclaw Heaven: Harry Potter meets Academia
Who Would Be Your Mates? Create a friend trio with two Hogwarts students

Miscellany

Harry Potter themed party ideas part I and part II
My photos from the Harry Potter WB Studio Tour near London and Hogwarts meme

And for fun, a quick list of my favorites:

Book in series: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Film: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Male character: Neville Longbottom
Female character: Hermione Granger
Professor: Remus Lupin
Scene: Escape from Gringott's in Deathly Hallows
Spell: Accio (summoning spell)
Method of transit: aparation
Magical creature: House elves
Magical event: Yule Ball

How long have you been a Harry Potter fan? What are your favorites from the list above?

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The dilemma of "contemporary" fiction and one possible solution

I write stories about teens facing real-world problems in a today-ish setting. I say today-ish, because the biggest dilemma of writing a contemporary story is this:

The world doesn't stand still while you write. Major changes happen every day, to cultures, to landmarks, to technology.

Those unanticipated changes can make your story absolutely laughable.

I'll give an example from one of my books. I started writing it after a trip to the UK in 2006, and had spent the weeks doing heavy on-the-ground research. But for various reasons I won't go into here, I didn't finally publish that book until 2012.

Guess what happened in the UK in 2012? The London Summer Olympics.

One of my scenes that takes place in a London train station, which I'd blocked out step by step in 2006, couldn't have happened the year I published. Big modifications were made to all rail stations in anticipation of the Olympics that upped the level of security. Yet I knew readers would expect my "contemporary" story published in 2012 to be set in 2012.

So what's a writer to do?

Backdate your story. It's that simple.

I now call my stories "near historical" because they are set in the late-2000s (Never Gone, 2007-08; Almost There, 2009). This enables me to "lock down" particular landmarks, technologies, and character interaction with world history (for example, my protagonist would be old enough to actually remember 9/11). It helped me make decisions about what tech would be available and most likely used, considering my characters' socio-economic backgrounds. The rapid change of tech and trends among teens alone makes "near historical" a good option for YA contemporary authors.

How you add in time markers depends on your story. Here are some ideas:

Dated chapter titles
Dated correspondence (snail mail, e-mail) within the story
News headlines or broadcasts (quoted or paraphrased)
Mentions of historic events
Mentions of time spans
Mentions of birth or death dates
Character participation (direct or indirect) in historic events

What do you think of the "contemporary fiction dilemma"? What other solutions besides writing "near historical" have you seen used effectively?

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Story of a sequel: invigorating a re-launch

Today's guest, Dusty Crabtree, shared with us last summer her experience of going indie after her small press publisher folded  (see that post HERE). Today she's here to talk about the long-awaited sequel the releases this month. Take it away, Dusty...

Angels and demons in Dusty's Shadow Eyes series 

I am super excited to finally release the next installment in the Shadow Eyes Series, Luminous Spirits! I apologize to anyone who read the first version of Shadow Eyes five years ago and who had to wait that long for the sequel. This book is dedicated to you. 

Tell us a little about your story and the story world you've created. 
Well, essentially, it’s a world where angels and demons exist around us in the form of light figures and dark shadows that vary in shape, size, texture, etc. Some of the shadows are just foggy masses, while others are dark silhouettes with human-like features. Check out the synopsis to Shadow Eyes for more details about the story.

What are some comparison titles of books or movies (or mashups of the two) similar to this novel? 
The Mortal Instruments series, The Evermore series, The Hush Hush series

Many authors find it was harder to write their second book than their first. Was that the case for you? Why or why not? 
Yes and no. Yes, because it was a challenge to make sure it was as intriguing and mysterious as the first one. From what I’ve heard so far, luckily, I think I’ve succeeded! But the plot details were difficult to get where I wanted them to be. The plot of the first book just fell together! However, writing the sequel was somewhat easier because as Shadow Eyes was my first novel, I was still basically learning how to write. The more you learn how to do something, the easier it is, right? So, the flow of writing was definitely easier for Luminous Spirits.

What is your favorite part of your artistic process? What is most difficult?
I love getting into the flow of writing. You know, where you sit for hours on end, so engrossed in the story that’s seamlessly unfolding from your mind that you get to the point where you’ve run out of water long ago, your throat is parched, and you really, really have to pee, but you don’t get up because you’re in the zone!

On the flipside, I don’t know if this would be considered part of the “artistic process,” but I’m not a fan promoting. It’s just so darn time-consuming! Also, with the increase of technology, with new social media sites going up every day, and with the market evolving, authors have to research and keep up with the different, successful methods people are using to promote. Marketing and promoting is a crazy world for an author!

How did you land on YA paranormal as your genre? 
I’ve always been a fan, even as a young child, of the magical and fantastic. But I wasn’t really into the types of fantasy stories that took place in other worlds. I loved to read and watch stories that took place in our world so that I could imagine it happening to me. I remember, after watching The Phantom Toll Booth as an 8-year-old, riding around my neighborhood and then coming back to my house, hoping there’d be a magic tollbooth in my living room. More recently when I really got back into reading for fun, the paranormal and urban fantasy reeled me in for the same reason. It’s fantastic and interesting but set in a real world so that you can easily imagine yourself in the story.

Who are your favorite authors and why? 
Top 3: 3) Becca Fitzpatrick (Hush Hush series) – I fell in love with her writing style and the way she weaves her stories so seamlessly.

2) Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games series) – I absolutely loved Hunger Games! I loved the crazy yet realistic and poignant world she created, as well as one of the best female protagonists ever.

1) Neil Shusterman (Unwind series) – I mean, seriously…can this guy be any more amazing? The way he is able to write so many different characters and give each one, even minor ones, a unique voice just blows me away! Add to that the amazingly sick and twisted yet intriguing world he created with the Unwind series and he has become my favorite author. I even use a lot of excerpts from his books as examples in my creative writing class.

What special challenges did you face making your story stand out from others in the genre? 
Honestly, I think my challenges are because of my story and its unique genre. The YA urban fantasy/paranormal genre is a pretty big one that has a very diverse audience. My series is unique, however, in that it has a spiritual twist or undertone if you will. It’s not an overtly Christian series – it’s a little too racy for that and never actually refers to anything religious (other than demons and angels, of course). But I do try to approach Iris’s world and how she copes with life with a Christian worldview in mind, or even just a moral mindset. My stories ride the line between spiritual/moral and edgy/gritty. I love this and really feel there is a need and desire for this middle-ground, but it also creates some challenges when trying to promote and get reviewers since it’s such a unique sub-genre.

What was the best investment you ever made in your writing? 
Money-wise? Not sure yet. Time-wise…going back and entirely revising Shadow Eyes before republishing it after Musa Publishing went under. Being my first book, it had some flaws. After having worked on the sequel with an awesome editor, I learned so much that I wanted to apply to my first book. Once I had the chance to make those changes instead of just automatically republishing, I went for it! And I’m so glad I did!

image credit: melcandea for Morguefile

About the Author

Dusty Crabtree loves a good story, but she also loves young people. These two loves are evident in all parts of her life. She has been a high school English teacher since 2006 and a creative writing teacher since 2014. She's also been a youth sponsor at her local church for as long as she’s been teaching. She feels very blessed with the amazing opportunities she has to develop meaningful relationships with teens on a daily basis. With her love of reading in the mix, becoming an author of young adult books was just a natural development of those two passions in her life. She lives with her husband, Clayton, in Yukon, Oklahoma, where they often serve their community as foster parents.

Connect with Dusty: blog / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

About the Book

Luminous Spirits

genre: YA urban fantasy

Old habits die hard. Old enemies, even harder.

Iris must now perfect her newfound abilities in order to help her shadow-oppressed family and friends, but more importantly, she must prepare for an impending fight with her most hated adversary. After the arrival of a new mean girl who seems to have history with Iris’s boyfriend, Iris quickly figures out that she is anything but the typical mean girl. She not only creates havoc and conflict among Iris and her friends, but her presence also means that Iris’s inevitable confrontation with her enemy may, in fact, be closer than she thought.

If Iris can figure out why the new girl is there and what her enemy is planning, she’ll at least be one step ahead of their game. But will she be ready when the time comes to face her biggest challenge yet? Or will they succeed in tearing Iris apart before she even has the chance?

Book trailer 

Goodreads 

Amazon (ebook or print)

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What challenges have you had with series, sequels, or new projects?

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Grief faces, not phases

Image by Charmaine Swart for morguefile

One of the most helpful things in researching Never Gone was attending a seminar on grief. The keynote speaker, Dr. Diane Langberg, discussed how grieving isn’t a linear process and it’s highly individual. The famous Kubler-Ross “phases of grief,” are often misinterpreted as a road map. Dr. Langberg said it’s helpful to re-label those “phases” as “faces.”

 Any bereaved person, whether terminally ill (the focus of Kubler-Ross’s work) or facing a job loss, divorce or death of a loved one, will cycle through denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance at various times. Some steps may be skipped, some lingered over for extended periods. When grieving a death, the nature of that death will color the grief process. For example, in the case of a prolonged illness, some grieving happens prior to the death.

 I was particularly interested in exploring the immediate grief experience — those turbulent first weeks immediately after a death. Most grief fiction tends to enter the experience later and cover a longer time period than I do in Never Gone. My novel begins a few days after the protagonist loses her dad and the story covers approximately three weeks’ time. Danielle spends much of the story cycling through denial, anger, and bargaining. There are moments of depression and glimpses of what acceptance will look like when it fully flowers. Most of the deepest grief work is still to come for Dani, but the events of the novel prepare her to begin to earnestly do that work, rather than deny or flee from it.

Dani especially struggles with feelings of anger, in part because of her family history and culture, in part because she mistakenly believes that anger has no place in a life of faith. I hope this story will encourage kids growing up in a faith tradition that it’s okay to really wrestle with God in places of deep pain. One of Dani’s friends tells her, “I think God can handle it when we’re mad.” He goes on to point out that large chunks of scripture are at root complaints to God. The Psalmist and other saints of old give us models for talking (and hollering and crying) to our Creator honestly about our pain, which at root is an expression of faith that He hears, cares, comforts and makes things new.

(This post was originally written for the Rabble Writers blog, which has been suspended.)

Have your own experiences of grief borne out the idea that healing is not a linear process? What are the best stories you've read that involve a grieving character?

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Writing lessons from Sarah Dessen

Image: https://morguefile.com/creative/EsquadrilhadaFumaa

I've enjoyed Sarah Dessen's YA contemporary novels for many years now, and her most recent, Saint Anything, did not disappoint.

Dessen carved out a niche for herself when YA was still a fairly new genre, prior to the early 2000s, when the Twilight phenomenon took the publishing world by storm. Despite the proliferation of paranormal romances that followed--and a number of other trends that have come along, from boarding school stories to dystopian--Dessen has stayed the course. Realistic fiction all the way.

Her books remain top sellers, and some have garnered awards from the ALA and the School Library Journal. There are a number of things Dessen does well--and frankly quite differently from many others in the genre--that are worth studying and perhaps even emulating.

Good kids have stories worth telling

Some critics consistently ding Dessen's books for focusing on a "passive" protagonist. Indeed, her heroines are not the kind to deliberately seek out trouble. They'd knock politely, not kick open your door with their biker boots and attack you with nunchuks. They resemble kids you're likely to actually meet in real life, rather than a comic book.

What makes her good-kid stories worth reading are the very real dilemmas they face because they're good kids--striving to succeed academically, navigate friendships and dating, be a good daughter and sister, hold a part time job, and somehow figure out where they're going in life. You know, the kinds of problems most every teen has, not just the ones who own nunchucks and biker boots.

I don't know that I'd go so far as to call her heroines role models--each has flaws, especially a tendency to be less than truthful with adults in their lives. But these girls have strong consciences--they strive to do the right thing, even when it hurts. How they navigate the good girl way when life keeps throwing them curveballs is where the drama happens, which brings me to point 2.

Inner arcs are where it's at

Dessen's books tend to be lighter on plot, or what you might call surface problems. In Saint Anything, the biggest problem occurred in the narrative past. Sydney's older brother morphed into party-boy in recent years, went on to drive drunk, and permanently disabled another kid. The story begins at his sentencing hearing. It explores the aftermath, especially how his sin affects the family dynamic. Their varied responses to the crisis put them at cross purposes, and also expose deep problems with how each character copes.

What Dessen especially does well is showing how strengths and weaknesses can often be two sides of the same coin. The always-agreeable character can be cowardly in the face of conflict; the super-organized person can become frenetically controlling when hardship hits.

Let the judgement commence

Developmental psychologists say that a key task of the teen years is "individuation"--that is, building a unique identity. Part of this process involves evaluating everything and determining whether it's something to embrace or reject.

In Dessen's books nearly everything is fodder for evaluation, including one's socioeconomic status. Most kids become aware of income disparity in their community if they have occasion to leave the bubble of their comfort zone. Dessen's heroines always rub up against this reality, whether going from rags to riches, as in Lock and Key, or being rejected by the "haves" and choosing to align themselves with the "have-nots," like in Just Listen.  Contact with other classes opens critical evaluation of everything the heroines have considered normal, and they each begin to consider which pieces of life as they knew it they want to hang onto or jettison.

Family matters

While most adventure stories for younger readers have the heroes striking out on their own and leaving family, Dessen's stories always involve family conflicts in the main plotline or as a subplot. Because the reality is, most people under 18 can't --and won't-- simply take off on their own.

Rather than chafe against reality or create nothing but dead or absentee parents, Dessen sees dramatic potential. Because a big piece of the individuation process I mentioned above involves beginning to see parents as people instead of functional roles. People with flaws, yes, but also people with histories and hurts and loves and aspirations and even wisdom. Peer relationships can certainly push teens away from family, but family continues to have a strong pull on their self-concept. That tug-of-war plays out differently for each teen, and it's a rather gripping process to watch.

The importance of extracurricular world

Teens spend most of their day in school--it's equivalent to a full-time job. So the last thing they want in pleasure reading is for it to feel like they're having to sit through classes all over again with a fictional person. And yet, kids also gravitate toward spaces where they can have quality time with peers. In Dessen's books, there are always non-school spaces where much of the story action takes place. In What Happened to Goodbye and Keeping the Moon, it's a restaurant where the heroine works part time; in Saint Anything and Just Listen, a lunchtime hangout spot. In The Truth About Forever, it's the local library.

Quirks make the character

Dessen especially makes her secondary characters memorable by giving them particular quirks--often funny likes or dislikes--that appear again and again, like a running gag in a comedy film. In Saint Anything, the heroine's BFF Layla is obsessed with finding the perfect French fry and has some peculiar rituals around eating them. The quirk becomes a way for others to connect with her, and even rebuild the friendship after a falling out.

In Along for the Ride, the heroine's father named her Auden, after the poet, and his new baby Thisbe, after a minor Shakespeare character. That he is often absorbed in his own fiction writing isn't surprising, considering this quirky penchant for obscure literary references.

Forsake not the symbol(ism)

Dessen doesn't shy away from the occasional literary fiction technique, like using symbolism to undergird her themes, often using everyday objects to carry an important meaning for the heroine. In Along for the Ride, Auden's desire to master riding a bike symbolizes not only a sense of rebuilding a stunted childhood, but also learning to balance herself and become self-propelling. In Lock and Key, the recurring motif of doors, keys, fences, houses are used to examine what makes a place home, and people around us family.

Bibliography

Here's a list of Dessen's titles to date, for further reading.

1996 – That Summer
1998 – Someone Like You
1999 – Keeping the Moon
1999 - Last Chance
2000 – Dreamland
2002 – This Lullaby
2004 – The Truth About Forever
2006 – Just Listen
2008 – Lock and Key
2009 – Along for the Ride
2010 - Infinity (novella)
2011 – What Happened to Goodbye
2013 – The Moon and More
2015 – Saint Anything

Have you read any of Dessen's books? Have a favorite? 
What author's works have been influential for you and how?

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Write What You Know and Then Some: Deep Research Methods

By guest author Marianne Sciucco

Image credit: https://morguefile.com/creative/rikahi

My daughter had been swimming for five years when I came up with the idea to write a novel about girls’ varsity swimming that would become my latest book Swim Season. Sitting on those cold, hard bleachers season after season gave me more than a sore you-know-what. It sparked my imagination, creating a story line and cast of characters that would show in written form what high school swimming is like for these girls. As I wrote the story, they were always at the heart of it. I wrote it for them. And I wanted it to be as accurate and realistic as possible.

Observation

In many ways, writing Swim Season was natural and easy. Through many autumns, I’d watched my daughter and her team swim their hearts out, beside parents rooting for their own swimmers. In the beginning, I knew next to nothing about the sport, about swim meets. But as the years went on, I learned.

I learned simple things, like the order of events. Try finding your kid on a pool deck swarming with dozens of young swimmers in caps and goggles when you’re not sure which event it is, or whether your child is swimming in it or not. Impossible.

Immersion

My involvement with swim culture soon expanded beyond sitting in the bleachers. I also chaperoned the waiting rooms where dozens of youngsters waited for their next event. Try to keep all that adrenaline in check.

I volunteered to time the races, and stood at the blocks, race after race, helping to make things run smoothly, making sure the right kid was in the right lane.

I helped out at the concession stand, serving up bagels and cream cheese. I was involved with the fundraising activities, Picture Day, and put together the program for Senior Night for a number of years. I went to 99 percent of the meets with my husband (we missed one when it was an hour away from our home on a week night.)

Conversations and interviews 

Most of my daughters’ friends were swimmers, so I got to know several of them up close and personal. They were an intelligent, ambitious, fantastic set of young women. When my book was criticized by a critique partner because the characters seemed “too smart,” I responded with, “Well, those are the girls I know.” The team had the highest GPA of all athletic teams at the high school year after year. Yes, swimmers are smart.

I took advantage of coaches I knew personally (and some I didn’t) to pick their brains, try out the story’s premise for believability, and tweak the details. Many thanks go to the following New York State coaches: Frank Woodward, Middletown High School; Justin Wright, Monroe-Woodbury High School; Jeremy Cuebas, Minisink Valley High School; and Danielle Lindner, former coach for Mount Saint Mary College, in Newburgh.

Social media

Early in the process, I sent out a tweet on Twitter, asking swimmers to complete a questionnaire for a new book about varsity swimming. Almost a dozen young swimmers – girls and boys – responded, and we started dialogues that provided great background for my story. Some of them went on to become beta readers. All of them were thrilled at the idea of a book about them, about their sport.

Books

As a reader, when the answers weren’t so simple I resorted to books. Michael Phelps’s biography No Limits: The Will to Succeed, with Alan Abrahamson, was more than worth its cost. Likewise, Amanda Beard’s memoir In the Water They Can't See You Cry gave me insight into how to build an Olympic silver medalist. Instruction books, such as Terry Laughlin’s Total Immersion, with John Delves, and Tracey McFarlane’s Mirande’s Championship Swimming with Kathlene Bissell, taught me the fine-tuning of technique. The Champion’s Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive, by Jim Afremow, PhD, was instrumental in creating Aerin’s mental game. For inspiration I turned to Swimmers: Courage and Triumph by Larry Thomson.

Parallel experience

Then there was the time when I decided to swim the race at the heart of my story. For a while I was taking Aquasize classes at my local YMCA. One day I got the idea to try to swim 500 yards. I wanted to see if I could do it, how long it would take, and how I would feel during and afterwards. I have never swum competitively, although I have always loved to swim and am capable of doing the freestyle. My first 500 clocked in at 30 minutes. I stopped after every length to catch my breath and chat with the other ladies in the Aquasize class. I kept at it, though, and after a few weeks managed to complete the 500 in 16 minutes, which was phenomenal for me. Of course, the time to beat in Swim Season is 4:52.50, which, for me, was in never never land. But, as a middle-aged woman with below-average fitness, I was proud of my achievement. In the end, unfortunately, it exacerbated my repetitive strain injuries and I had to give it up.

Writing Swim Season was an endeavor born of many resources, personal and professional. It’s recommended that we write what we know. I knew a lot about competitive swimming as a Swim Mom, but that was not enough to compose this story. I needed to reach out to many others – swimmers, coaches, parents, Olympians, and a psychologist – to nail the details. All of this, I believe, leads to a more credible, believable story with depth.

About the Author

During swim season, you can find Marianne Sciucco, a dedicated Swim Mom for ten years, at one of many Skyline Conference swim meets, cheering for her daughter Allison and the Mount Saint Mary College Knights.

Sciucco is not a nurse who writes but a writer who happens to be a nurse. A lover of words and books, she dreamed of becoming an author when she grew up but became a nurse to avoid poverty. She later brought her two passions together and writes about the intricate lives of people struggling with health and family issues.

Her debut novel Blue Hydrangeas, an Alzheimer’s love story, is a Kindle bestseller; IndieReader Approved; a BookWorks featured book; and a Library Journal Self-e Selection. She also has two short stories available on Kindle, Ino's Love and Collection.

A native Bostonian, Marianne lives in New York’s Hudson Valley, and when not writing works as a campus nurse at a community college.

Connect with Marianne: Website / Facebook / Twitter

About the book

Swim Season
Genre: young adult

Sometimes winning is everything.

Champion swimmer Aerin Keane is ready to give up her dreams of college swimming and a shot at the Olympics. As she starts senior year in her third high school, Aerin's determined to leave her family troubles behind and be like all the other girls at Two Rivers. She's got a new image and a new attitude. She doesn’t want to win anymore. She's swimming for fun, no longer the freak who wins every race, every title, only to find herself alone.

But when her desire to be just one of the girls collides with her desire to be the best Two Rivers has ever seen, will Aerin sacrifice her new friendships to break a longstanding school record that comes with a $50,000 scholarship?

Swim Season is available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon.

What are your favorite research methods? Which of Marianne's research methods would you like to try?

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