by

Just Finished…Meeting Destiny

Today’s book review is by our guest reviewer Charlotte Abel, author of Enchantment. 
Meeting Destiny by Nancy Straight is a paranormal romance that reads like a thriller. Once you start you won’t be able to stop. Even if the romance between Lauren and Max hadn’t wrapped itself around my heart and pulled me through the story with breath-taking urgency, the suspense alone would have. At times it was nearly unbearable.  
If you’ve read my other reviews, you know how important “the story” is to me. I connected with Meeting  Destiny on so many levels. It made my heart pound and my palms sweat. I laughed out loud and even shed a few tears.Lauren is a college-aged girl with amazing intuition. She just “feels” when things or people are good or bad. She pays attention to these feelings and stops a robbery in action. This chain of events leads her to Max. Meeting Destiny pulls this “love-at-first-sight” scene off flawlessly when the reader learns Lauren has seen this same man night after night for years – in her dreams.

Throughout the book, she discovers more about her intuition and what her destiny is meant to be and how her destiny affects others.  Of course, just when it seems everything is going to work out, there is an unexpected twist that leaves you begging for the sequel.
I loved this book. It’s a great story that was interesting from page one. It kept me up all night, reading. As soon as I finished it, I immediately bought the second book in the series, Destiny’s Revenge.
——————
 Thank you for the review!
Interested? You can buy Meeting Destiny at Amazon.com
——————
Want to know more about our Guest Reviewer? 
Charlotte Abel is a full time writer that lives near Boulder, Colorado with her husband Pete. When she’s not reading or writing, she enjoys hiking, bicycling, and archery. Her debut novel, Enchantment, Book 1 of The Channie Series is a paranormal coming of age romance. Taken, Book 2 of The Channie Series is the action packed sequel. The final chapter of The Channie Series will be released in the summer of 2012. Future projects include a romantic thriller set in the remote Sawatch Mountain wilderness of Colorado and a Polynesian shifter series.

To learn more about Charlotte and The Channie Series, please visit: www.TheChannieSeries.com.

Sixteen year old Channie Kerns leads an idyllic life of seclusion and magic deep in the Ozark Mountains … until her family is forced to flee for their lives.

They leave everything and everyone behind to start over in Louisville, Colorado. Magic is forbidden while they are in hiding, but Channie can’t resist the temptation to enchant a group of local boys. When her overbearing parents catch her flirting with these “sex-crazed, non-magical delinquints,” they slap a chastity spell on her to protect her virtue.
The spell is triggered by lust, so just navigating the halls at her new school is an ordeal. She can’t even touch a boy she’s attracted to without blasting him with a jolt of magical energy that feels like a taser.

When Channie falls in love with Josh Abrim, a BMX racer with dangerous secrets of his own, she rebels against her parents and turns to dark and forbidden magic to break the chastity spell … with disastrous results.

by

Guest Post…Write or Wrong? by Jade Varden (Part II)

In the second instalment of her guest post Write or Wrong? Jade Varden discusses ‘non-traditional’ publishing routes. 

(Read Write or Wrong? Part I here)

Self-Publishing

These days, writers don’t need to impress the literary agents or the publishing houses — they simply need to complete their work and get to feeling ambitious. The world of self-publishing has been blasted wide open by the Internet, providing opportunities that never existed before. But that doesn’t mean that the possibility of rejection no longer exists.

In fact, some writers are feeling it more acutely than ever. Publishing houses and literary agents often follow certain formulas. They look for specific ingredients in the books they accept and the authors they choose to favor. Books and writers that don’t meet this criteria end up feeling the sharp sting of rejection, which is all the more painful when the writer knows deep within themselves that their work is good.

Until they self-publish it…and the readers seem to hate it, too. Some who set out to prove the publishers wrong find themselves facing the pain of low readership, mean-spirited reviews and other agonizing experiences. No matter how you publish, when you publish you leave yourself vulnerable to ridicule and derision from readers. This is only tempered by the fact that you are also open to love and praise. But for some writers, even this possibility isn’t enough to assuage the pain — or even to relieve the potential for pain.

Some of the world’s greatest writers never intentionally shared their work with it. Many people are required to study the poet Emily Dickinson in school, and more than one fantastic college paper has delved deeply into her unique, somber works. But she never intended for any of us to see that poetry. Emily was a shut-in who rarely left her home, choosing instead to spend her days scribbling about the sights she saw from her window and the amazing thoughts that rolled around in her head. She asked that, upon her death, all her poetry be burned by her sisters. They had it published instead. One can only assume the same fear that kept Emily hidden away her whole life made her hide her wonderful words away as well.

The Alternative

So, to sum it up, I have very little in common with any bestselling writer I’ve ever studied. Like many writers, I’ve felt the sharp sting of rejection from publishers and from readers. I’ve struggled to get down one sentence and somehow magically sped though certain chapters. I’ve cried at rejection slips, and I’ve ignored rejection slips. I’ve felt pain and elation thanks to my writing efforts. And, like Emily Dickinson, I’ve even flirted with the fantasy of simply locking myself into a room so I can simply write in peace and try to ignore what the world thinks of it.

So I guess the question is, why the heck am I still writing? In one blog post alone I’ve expressed bitterness and anger, resentment and confusion — and I found a way to be somewhat unflattering to two popular American writers. But that’s the thing about writing: it’s a roller coaster, and it’s filled with emotion. Part of putting emotion on the page is in feeling it yourself.

And besides that, there’s only one alternative: not writing at all. What kind of fate is that for any writer? It hurts to be rejected by anyone, it’s scary to put yourself out there for everyone and it’s incredibly difficult to write an entire book from beginning to end. But isn’t all of that infinitely preferable to being haunted by the words not written?

—————————-

Want to know more about Jade Varden and her writing?

Check out the links!
Official site
Official blog
Twitter
Kindle Store

by

Just Finished…Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

It’s taken me a while to put ‘fingers to laptop’ (somehow doesn’t sound as good as ‘pen to paper’ does it?) on this book, partly because I’ve found it difficult to separate my thoughts on the story in itself from the split reaction Beautiful Disaster has had among other reviewers (very few people give it a middle-of-the-road rating  – it’s a love it or hate it book it would seem).

Firstly – the story – the characters are certainly YA, although I would honestly characterise them as ‘older YA’ – they are not 19 year-olds in the Bella Swan mould, but pretty ‘real’ from a drinking, partying, first-time-away-from-home, frequently reckless side of things. This is why the synopsis features a clear indication of suitable audience (it did when I purchased for Kindle at least).

Abby and Travis are certainly not perfect individuals – and at times border on having some serious personal flaws – however, (aside from being a fighter for money [Travis] and poker player supremo [Abby]) they are reasonably realistic in their behaviour: they behave quite randomly in their relationship, antagonising each other one minute, then in perfect bliss and harmony the next. I certainly saw a number of similar ‘car crash’ couples like this during my late teens and early twenties, who would veer from one end of the spectrum to another with seemingly endless frequency. Some people will never experience this, or will do it to a lesser degree, then ‘grow out of it’. There are others still who will remain in couplings like these where volatility appear to be the basis of attraction and even the relationship itself.

Abby and Travis quite often lack self-awareness and this drives many of their misunderstandings and subsequent conflicts. But this for me, felt realistic. When you’re really learning about yourself for the first time and what it is like to be away from family influences and your past you do some weird things – that’s because it’s all new. You decide something because it seems like the best thing to do – maybe you think that’s how ‘grown-ups’ behave, or you saw it on TV and want to emulate that behaviour in your own life as you begin to understand where your own morals lie. You certainly get lots of things wrong, but that is the whole point – it’s a time to make mistakes and the right choices, but there’ll always be a mixture of the two.

So for a book rating I’d say 3.75/5 – I enjoyed reading it, got through it quickly and I engaged with the characters. Overall – the book flows well, the dialogue is quick and the dramatic episodes are fun. As a YA romance/coming of age book it works. Yes there are some spelling issues (latter half of the book) but you can see for the majority of readers that doesn’t bother them. The plot is a rollercoaster ride with Abby and Travis veering from one experience to another as they work out who they are and what they want – I liked the uni life and parties the best. The Vegas episode was fine, but it didn’t especially add to the story for me, but I can also see why it was there. Travis and Abby are ‘big’ characters and so you get some spectacular fireworks around them – which you’ll know from other reviews is probably one of the most divisive features for reviewers.

So…the reaction of readers…I’ve read a lot of the reviews on Goodreads before I decided to read this book – I found it interesting how clear the split was: love it (majority), hate it (few, but with a passion it seems). Because of the negative reviews I was quite wary of tackling Beautiful Disaster – I expected incessant misogyny and violence with a dippy female focal point. I did not see it that way.

Travis undoubtedly has some very odd ideas about ladies – but as you are shown throughout the book, the female characters choose the paths they take, they might not always like the end results (perhaps being shown the door after a one night stand without having your number asked for…) but they chose the path nonetheless. I don’t want to get too deep into this – but I do think that ultimately feminism is about having freedom of choice – and the women in Beautiful Disaster have this – they don’t always make the most prudent choices, but they have that ability. As a character Travis begins to see women in a different way, because Abby behaves differently. Things begin clearly black and white, but end up being confusingly – but realistically – grey.

The reality of life is that you cannot change the way a person views the world – someone like Travis perhaps – by telling them to do something. Most people learn through their experiences. We might moderate our behaviour for right and wrong, but it doesn’t always mean that we believe in how we behave.

In the book girls frequently put themselves in a particular role and subsequently get judged on how they’ve behaved. Is it ‘right’ that girls are referred to as skanks, sluts, bitches, etc.? No, it isn’t ‘right’, but it is REAL. Look around at the girl-on-girl bullying and the insults used; look at how girls divide themselves between groups and friends and how we talk about each other. Look at how women are portrayed in the media, in film and in music. It happens and it happens all the time. On several occasions in Beautiful Disaster a character criticises another for using that kind of language, demonstrating that it is not acceptable. It still comes up though, because in reality it comes up every day.

You also see that in a role-reversal Travis suffers for his ‘man whore’ label. There is a whole load of baggage that goes with his escapades; a perception that other guys have of him and it frequently derails his early relationship with Abby. How much of the Travis you hear about is real and how much an embellishment? Compare the man you see 1:1 with Abby and his close friends and the Travis that other people see and she hears about?

The violence is another area people seem to have issue with. Beautiful Disaster takes this into quite a lot of detail, because it forms a picture of who Travis is. What book staring an underground fighting ring champion wouldn’t be violent? Me personally – would I date him? Not at all – I don’t do volatile people really and pounding on people’s faces when you don’t agree with them is reasonably out of control from my perspective. Do I like those aspects of his character – again, not really. But if Abby chooses that kind of guy – with all the associated risks and drama, then that’s her choice.

For me the most interesting thing about Beautiful Disaster isn’t the events but the characters. Travis and Abby are both flawed, which makes their behaviour unpredictable. The book is about the flaws and the impact they have on life. Writing a story about these kind of characters is what makes this book different: Travis is controversial because of his behaviour and the extreme lengths it runs to; something that may be hinted at in other YA books, but is taken and developed here. It is laid bare for you to examine. Is there much difference really between Edward Cullen fantasising about flinging Mike into a wall just for thinking about Bella in a way he deems inappropriate and Travis thumping someone in the lunchroom? The raw emotions and desires are there in many characters we deem acceptable, they just have more control.

I don’t think there is a right and wrong with this book – it all comes down to your reaction to the characters. I can see why some people really didn’t like them; I found them interesting more than likeable I suppose. Writing a story about someone who is controversial is something that many authors shy away from, perhaps because we lump together liking a book with liking the main people in it? Whatever the reason I think Beautiful Disaster is interesting for this reason. Difficult characters are something you see more often in ‘adult’ fiction than YA, which still leans towards standard goodie/baddie characters. I’d be interested to see what Travis’s perspective shows, (the book is currently being written I believe) – it might be deeper than people expect.

——————————–

On a connected note – Jamie McGuire, author of Beautiful Disaster and several other YA books – will be joining us on the blog in March (hopefully) with a guest post on why she chose to write about a controversial character. So if you’d like to know she has to say on the subject, look out for her post.

by

Interview…with Grizz from Undermountain

Hi Grizz, welcome to Aside from Writing, we’re very excited to have you here today as you’re not only our first character interview on the blog, but you’re also the first bigfoot we’ve ever met.

Can you tell us a little about yourself and what life as a bigfoot is like?

First of all, allow me to greet you and your readers formally. If we were meeting in person, I would hold out my hands to show you I held no weapons, then I would speak the word of peace, Donovthosameezu.” It’s a “footese” word meaning, “I am not a child.” The inference is that because I’m not a child, I will not try to kill  you. Our children are exceptionally violent.

Now to answer your question. The whole “bigfoot” thing is a human term, of course. We do have large feet compared to humans, but that’s because we range from eight to twelve feet tall. There’s also a misconceptiont that we are some class of primate, but we aren’t. We don’t really even resembled them. I’ve been told that we look more like bears, actually, though that’s coincidental, since we’re not from Earth.

The popular legend of “bigfoot” is based in truth. Our footprints have been discovered several times, and some of the film/video footage is authentic. When we are on the surface—which is very rare—we dress intentionally to promote the wrong ideas about us. We even wear masks to do, in fact, look more ape-like. The last thing we want is for humans to discover our true nature.

Obviously, we don’t think of ourselves as bigfeet any more than you think of yourselves as  “little feet.” We refer to ourselves as the People in our language. Most of us live in the city of Undermountain, deep beneath the Canadia Rocky Mountains. There are small settlements beneath the Himalayas, the Alps and a few other places.

The thing humans would find most surprising is that all of us take an oath of nonviolence when we reach adulthood. This is not an oath to be passive in the face of attack, however. We can and do defend ourselves if needed.

You’ve met a number of humans in your life – what do you think of us really?

I’ve met five of your teenagers, and I was extremely impressed with their resourcefulness and resolve amidst extremely dangerous circumstances. I’d like to think those five would consider me a friend now. In truth, I was a bit overwhelmed by their emotionalism at first.

In general the People see all humans as children due to your proclivity for violence. That, and your hilariously backward technology. LOLhumanz is a popular meme going around right now. There’s a popular TV show running in the North America right now called “Finding Bigfoot.” It’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.

Bigfoot society is much more technologically advanced than our own, are there any gadgets you have that we would really like?

You’ll understand, of course, that I cannot speak in too much detail about our tech. The main reason we stay in hiding is because we don’t believe your civilization is ready for our technology. We’re concerned the first thing you’d do is reverse engineer it and make weapons.

Do you have bigfoot writers? And if so – what do they write about? 

I’ll let you in on something very intereting about life in the galaxy. Every intelligent species we’ve found tells stories. Well, every one except the tangoga, but they’re a special case, so forget them.

Anyway. We have a rich tradition of story, though the most popular tales tend to focus on a race called the Asht, who are now pretty much extinct.

Unfortunately, we do not know the whole history of our rise as a species and our ascension to travel among the stars. This has led many to concoct legends to fill in the gap. In fact, most new stories we write are set in the time prior to the oath.

What are your favourite things about being a bigfoot?

The sport of deshuk. It’s based upon ancient martial art of the Asht, called deshuk-lan. We’ve adapted it into a team sport. It involved three teams on the field at once. In fact, whenever I watched human sports, I always wondered why there are only two teams on the field at a time.

And the most challenging aspects?

The fact that there are no females of our species on Earth. There are very valid, practical reasons for this arrangement, but knowing them doesn’t make it any easier.

We’ve got some random questions for you now about books – hopefully you’ll have read enough human stuff during your socialisation training to be able to answer them.

If you could be any character from any book – who would you be and why?

It’s a tie between Mr. Darcy and Gandalf the Gray. The first is an arbitrary choice. You could put any leading, male character in that slot. I’d like to experience romantic love the way humans do. It sounds quite powerful. The second character is related to the answer for the next question.

Favourite fictional world – where would you love to live?

I’ve always been intrigued with your so-called fantasy genre. The idea of magic is so outide the experience of the People that I’m fascinated by it. I’ve chosen Tolkien’s Middle Earth for this one. I’d like to have dinner with Samwise. I imagine  he’d love peanut butter as much as I do.

Best super-evil book baddie?

Rasheed from A Thousand Splendid Suns. I don’t even want to discuss it. Just the thought of him raises my hackles.

——————- 

Thank-you for taking time to talk to us today! If you’d like to know more about Grizz and being a bigfoot then follow him on Twitter. He also stars in Eric Edstrom’s book Undermountain available now.

 ——————–

Twitter     @bigfootgrizz       @ekedstrom

Meet the Author www.ericedstrom.com

Undermountain purchase links

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006PHZ82W

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006PHZ82W

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/117435

Also available in nook, kobo, apple stores

by

Guest Post…With Help from Mysteries by Elisabeth Foley

Whenever I read a good mystery, it makes me want to write one.

Reading is one of the best things a writer can do to stimulate their creativity, and I really believe that reading mysteries has a particularly potent effect on mine. I nearly always come away from a good mystery with a mind full of new ideas—none of them directly from the story I just read, but the process of trying to solve the mystery, and then looking back over how it was constructed after the solution is revealed, seem to set the wheels spinning in my brain. Even if I’m not writing a mystery at the time, if I find my inspiration for a project running dry, I’ll often pick up a good whodunit to refresh myself.

This past week I’ve been reading Lost Man’s Lane by Anna Katharine Green, an early American pioneer of detective fiction. She published her acclaimed debut novel The Leavenworth Case in 1878, and continued writing up through the 1920s. Lost Man’s Lane is the second book featuring one of her most entertaining characters, Miss Amelia Butterworth—a spinster lady of great propriety and determination, who is often regarded as a forerunner of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and other spinster detectives. Miss Butterworth assisted Green’s most frequently recurring character, the detective Ebenezer Gryce, in three books—That Affair Next Door (1897), Lost Man’s Lane (1898) and The Circular Study(1900). Miss Butterworth, who opens her narration of That Affair Next Door with the memorable words, “I am not an inquisitive woman…” is always careful to assure her readers that her “interference” in detective matters is prompted entirely by a sense of duty, though she shows a keen interest and relish in all her sleuthing.

One of my recent projects has been the creation of my own middle-aged lady detective, in the style of Miss Butterworth and Miss Marple, but with certain elements all her own. She is a widow, not a spinster. She’s not quite as forceful a personality as Miss Butterworth; she’s a kind-hearted woman who frequently employs her detective skills to help people in trouble. Though a romantic at heart, she also has a sense of humor and is eminently practical. The setting for her adventures is Colorado, shortly after the turn of the 20th century, which allows me to combine some of the drama and sophistication of Anna Katharine Green’s Victorian and Edwardian-era mysteries with the more rural setting to which I’m accustomed from writing Western stories. I can’t say positively when she’ll make her first appearance in print, but it will probably be sometime this year.

One thing I am sure of, though—if I get stuck working on one of her stories, I’ll be heading back to the bookshelf to find fresh inspiration from another mystery.

————————

Today’s guest post is by Elisabeth Foley, author of The Ranch Next Door and Other Stories, a collection of Western short stories that go beyond the standard action and adventure of the genre to focus on character and conflict. In the award-winning “Disturbing the Peace,” honorable mention in the 2010 Rope and Wire short story competition, a sheriff experiences a revelation about himself and his relationship with the people of his town, while in “The Outlaw’s Wife,” a country doctor worries that his young friend is falling for a married woman whose husband is rumored to be a wanted criminal. From the suspenseful “Cross My Heart” to the comedic romp of “A Rangeland Renaissance,” to a Western twist on star-crossed romance in the title story, “The Ranch Next Door,” these stories will appeal to a variety of readers, as well as established fans of the traditional Western.
Want to know more? Check out the links!
The Ranch Next Door and Other Stories available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords
by

Mel’s Thinking…It’s Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

So…it’s that time of year again…Valentine’s Day. But do you love it or loathe it?

It is the one day a year that a cynic will tell you is aimed at charging people lots of money for poor quality food or near dead roses (they’re usually the same ones who tell you Christmas is too commercial) or gushy romantics will bore you to tears with cliche tales of true love.

Personally speaking I’m neither gushy nor cynical about Valentine’s Day, more mildly ambivalent really. Wow, with lukewarm sentiments like those you’d think I was completely heartless 🙂 but I think I must be a closet romantic. When you read a lot – especially YA books which tend to have some romantic element to them, often first love – you see the best parts of relationships. With a story about first love you see all the caution and fear and obsessing over every small detail – trust me, we all do it! And when they make that big jump and go for it? Well, we’re hooked aren’t we.

What’s the difference between love in ‘real life’ and what we read in our books? I believe that the core elements are exactly the same – magnetism, passion, friendship and trust – it’s just that in a novel it all comes in one big hit, whilst in real life it might begin that way but then other things happen to mellow it out so that you can actually consider living too!

So with that in mind – what’s a perfect Valentine’s Day? For me it goes one of two ways – if you’re with someone you care about, just do what you can to make it a special day and remind yourself why you love being with them – it doesn’t really need flowers and dinner, just each other. <- See I can do cheesy!

If not – why not grab a nice treat and settle down with one of your favourite couples and see them fall in love all over again? That sounds like a pretty good idea to me! If you’re stuck for ideas some of my favourites are Katniss and Peeta (in The Hunger Games or Mockingjay), Callum and Sephy (Noughts and Crosses) or Sookie and Eric (in Dead to the World). Of course I also love Cassie and Balik from Hope’s Daughter – but I would wouldn’t I? 😉

by

Just Finished…The Girl of Fire and Thorns

      Elisa is the main character in the story. She is a princess to the country of Oravalle  and the bearer of a godstone. If you are like me I had no clue what a godstone was, it is described as a jewel implanted in Elisa’a belly button. It  signifies that she is marked by god as one who will do a Service. When I was reading this all I pictured wer the trolls that had the jewels as a bellybutton lol.
      But anyways ….. Elisa describes herself as the overweight younger sister who has never done anything worthy of bearing the godstone.
      At the start of the book we learn that Elisa’s father has arranged for her to marry a King of another country. Elisa is only 16 years old and she has never met this man before, so she is confused at what her fathers intentions may be. She starts out as a very nervous unconfident character. Always worried about what others think of her, mostly worried about her weight. But as the story goes on Elisa becomes a much stronger character. As the bearer of a godstone she has a lot resting on her shoulders and she does not want to disappoint. She worries less about how others see her and focuses on what she has to do to save her people. It was nice to see a female character that was able to stand on her own and not depend on a man.
      This story consists a fantastic cast of characters as well as adventure, romance and magic.  Though I must say I was a little confused with the way the romance played out I was kind of disappointed, but on the other hand not so much. lol
      I think that the author did a nice job of really bringing you into Elisa’s world and thoughts. The plot was very interesting and I never got bored with the story.
      The Girl of Fire and Thorns is the first of a planned trilogy. I look forward to continuing Elisa’s story, but this book ends in a nice place and had enough closure to stand alone as a single book.
—————————
Thanks for your review! Today’s guest reviewer was Crystal, who regularly blogs reviews and more at What R U Reading? 
—————————
 Blurb for The Girl of Fire and Thorns (as published on Goodreads): 
Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.Elisa is the chosen one.But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can’t see how she ever will.Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.

And he’s not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people’s savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.

Most of the chosen do.

by

Guest Post…Write or Wrong? by Jade Varden (Part I)

Write or Wrong? The Fear of Rejection, Self-Publishing and the Words Not Written

Once, I went on a self-assigned journey in order to understand what sets bestselling authors apart from every other kind of author out there. I searched biographies, interviews and funny articles about famously rejected authors to find some sort of answer. It all resulted in the most intense frustration I’ve ever felt in my entire life. As it turns out, bestselling authors give incredibly annoying answers to the questions that have always mattered most to me.

The Origin Story

Most interviewers inevitably ask bestselling writers the same question: what made you write this book? I read more than one such “origin story” for some of my favorite novels, and I never could find a single author who talked about jumping up in the middle of the night to scribble down ideas, pacing around a room for hours trying to work out a complicated plot, crying and sweating over their keyboards — all that crazy stuff I do when I’m trying to write. As a matter of fact, some of the authors made it sound as though writing a bestseller is akin to falling into a puddle — “well, I was walking along one day and I tripped. And when I looked down, I had completed this incredible piece of fiction that millions of people love!”

Honestly, that’s only a slight exaggeration. Jean Auel, the author of the phenomenal Earth’s Children series, is the actual writer who inspired that metaphor. She began her breakthrough hit, Clan of the Cave Bear, as a short story. The way she used to tell it, one day she just started writing. Before she knew it, she had this massive novel in her hands. Anybody who’s ever seen the Clan of the Cave Bear in print knows that “massive” is really an understatement. Short story, indeed.

Which isn’t to say her comments are true — I’m sure they are. But at the same time, it’s still incredibly annoying. Where is the blood, the tears, the sweat, the agony and the pain?

Case in point: J.K. Rowling, author of the smash hit Harry Potter books. They are books, they are movies, they are indelibly ingrained in pop culture, they are epic. Rowling was famously rejected by 12 different publishing houses before she got a break…and the rest is history.

Did you catch that I wrote 12? Twelve! Many writers out there, me included, have received hundreds and hundreds of rejection letters. So how does it feel when you know that Lucky Thirteen is already several years in the past…and it didn’t pan out?

(Read Write or Wrong? Part II here)

—————————-

Jade Varden is the author of Justice (Deck of Lies)

A House of Cards…

When you build an entire life on a foundation of lies, it only takes one truth for the whole thing to come crashing down. I never invited the truth in. I never went searching for it. I never had any reason to suspect that the two people I loved most were dishonest with me every second of every day.

I made one bad decision, and in a single day my entire world changed. If I’m ever going to discover the truth about myself and my parents, I have to trace all the lies back to their source. I have to try to find the truth that they’re hiding.

The more I discover about myself, and my past, the more I realize that lies really are better than the truth. But now that I know the lies are all around me, I can’t stop until I’ve discovered them all. I’ll pull each lie away, one by one, and examine it to see what’s underneath…until this house of cards crumbles into dust at my feet.

I just hope I can survive the crash.

—————————–

Want to know more about Jade Varden and her writing?

Check out the links!
Official site
Official blog
Twitter
Kindle Store


by

Blog Event…February is Indie Author Month at Lovely Lit

Lovely Lit blog have made February their Indie Author Month – click the link to head over and take a look at their special features and recommendations. From our group here, some of our favourite indie writers/books are:

Justice by Jade Varden

Hope’s Daughter by Mel Cusick-Jones

Blue Sky Days by Marie Landry

Forgotten Self by Rachel Carr

Undermountain by Eric Edstrom

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Charlotte Abel

Katherine Pine

 

by

Interview…with author and blogger Marie Landry

Our interview today will be of interest to authors and readers alike as our guest is Marie Landry, author of Blue Sky Days and book review blogger on Ramblings of a Daydreamer. Let’s see how these two very distinct areas of interest have influenced one another…

Hi Marie, welcome to Aside from Writing, can you tell us a little about yourself, how you came to be a blogger and then an author?

Thank you so much for having me here today! Over the years, I’ve started several blogs, but none of them really stuck. When I started Ramblings of a Daydreamer, it was mostly a place for me to share my writing—I was writing articles for online magazines and websites—and little bits of my life. I wrote a handful of book reviews for one of the sites I worked for, but didn’t do any reviews on my blog. In April 2011, I joined the A to Z Challenge, which challenged bloggers to write 26 posts during the month of April—one for each letter of the alphabet. I hadn’t really gotten serious about blogging yet, so I knew this was perfect for me—I wrote mainly about writing and books, and the challenge helped me get into the habit of blogging every day.

It was while visiting the other participants of the challenge that I discovered the world of book blogging. I don’t have many friends who like to read, so finding all these people who not only loved to read, but loved to talk about books, opened up a whole new world for me. I started writing reviews for my blog, participating in weekly book memes, blog hops, blog tours, and other features.

When I realized that the majority of book bloggers I came across read mostly YA books, I was intrigued. I hadn’t read many young adult books since my teens, but I decided to give them a try, and I fell in love. It was then that I decided to turn Blue Sky Days—which I’d written seven years before, and which had been an adult romance—into a young adult book.

You’ve recently been working hard on the book launch (January 2012) and blog tour for Blue Sky Days – what were the best bits about going through this process?

Hands down, the best part has been connecting with readers. I made quite a few friends and acquaintances in the book blogging community, so I had a lot of people to reach out to when the time came for me to start sending out ARCs of Blue Sky Days, and planning the blog tour. Getting to know fellow bloggers and book lovers has been an incredible experience.

Having hosted authors and tours on your own blog in the past, was your recent experience of doing it yourself what you expected it to be?

Yes and no. I knew the logistics of it from hosting guest posts, interviews, and giveaways, so I knew there was a lot of work involved, but it was so much more than I thought. I did everything on my own—a lot of authors find or hire other bloggers to plan their tours, but I planned it all on my own, which meant contacting people, then sending out the books, and scheduling dates, plus then all the interviews, guest posts, and other features I had to write, as well as sending out books to giveaway winners. I also visited every blog along the tour, and spent a lot of time promoting on Facebook and Twitter.

Do you think being a blogger has helped you with your creative writing and/or launching Blue Sky Days? And if so, how?

Absolutely. I think that if I hadn’t started out as a blogger, I would have been virtually unknown when I published Blue Sky Days. A lot of authors are unknown when they publish their debuts, but traditionally published authors have a whole team behind them helping to promote the book and take the author from an unknown to a potential star. As for helping me with my creative writing, I think blogging has helped, because it’s gotten me into the habit of writing on a daily basis and keeping those creative juices flowing.

What’s an ideal day for you – and how do you fit your writing, reading and blog work into that?

An ideal day for me would be one without distractions, but that rarely happens (and that’s often my own fault, because I’m addicted to social media, and check it compulsively). I work from home, and I spend almost all day working on one thing or another. If I’m not writing I’m reading, if I’m not reading I’m blogging, and round and round the cycle goes.

Any advice for bloggers who have an interest in creative writing?

Write every day, even if it’s just a few sentences. Learn from others—there are thousands of bloggers out there who write about tips, tricks, and their own personal experiences. If writing is something you want to do professionally, build a platform, even if it’s just as a book blogger at first—get your name and face out there so people know who you are. Make connections, make friends, but be genuine about it. Most importantly, keep writing. Don’t let anything or anyone stop you if it’s what you really want to do.

Alternatively, do you have any advice for other authors looking to network with bloggers for reviews and support with marketing?

Again, be genuine. I think most bloggers are smart enough to know when someone is sucking up to them because they want something, and when someone is genuinely trying to make a connection. One of the best things you can do is be seen, and that’s usually by visiting and commenting on other blogs. Hop around from blog to blog—almost every blog has a blog roll of other bloggers they love, so take time to visit some of them and leave thoughtful comments or join discussions. There are also always a ton of events going on in the blog world—hops, giveaways, read-a-thons. Participate in those, and be visible to bloggers so your name is familiar to them.

If you could only do one – the blog or write books – which would it be?

Write books. Creative writing has always been my first love, and I think and hope it always will be. I was born to tell stories.

So – what else do you have planned for 2012?

Right now I’m switching gears from YA to adult, and writing what I guess people would term chick lit, or women’s fiction. I’m a romance junkie, so there’s a romance in the story, but it’s not the main focus of the book like it was with Blue Sky Days. After that, I have ideas for several projects, but I’m not sure which I’ll start next. I might go back to YA and work on an idea I’ve had for several years that involves faeries—but that’s all I’m saying!

Random Questions:

If you could be a character from any book – who would it be and why?

It would probably be Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables. She basically led a simple life, but she had the most vivid imagination that let her live a life that seemed anything but ordinary. She made the best of every situation, and even though she got herself into a lot of trouble with her imagination, she was happy and free-spirited, and a good and loyal friend. Plus, I love Prince Edward Island, where the book was set, and I was totally in love with Gilbert!

Favourite fictional world – where would you live?

Hogwarts, without question. It’s my absolute favourite fictional world—the school itself, the people, the magic, getting to go to Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. I love it all.

Best super-evil baddie?

I’m sticking with Harry Potter and saying Voldemort. He was so evil and cruel, but he was also clever and devious. And not only that, but he represented so much more than just a villain—good versus evil, the power of friendship and love—JK Rowling is an incomparable writing in my opinion.

Thank-you for taking time to talk to us today!

————————–

Marie’s debut novel Blue Sky Days is out now!

Would you like to know more? Check out the links! 

Debut novel, Blue Sky Days, available now on Amazon and Smashwords
Blog: Ramblings of a Daydreamer Author blog: Marie Landry, Author
Facebook fan page, Facebook book page, Twitter, YouTube