Please Welcome Ty Drago, author of The Undertakers Series from @Month9Books~

Special treat today peeps! I recently had the chance to visit with Ty Drago, author of The Undertakers series for his blog tour. He has a new book out, number three in the series, titled Secret of the Corpse Eater. Be sure to scroll all the way down the page to enter the giveaway too~

Hello Ty! It’s so nice to have you visit my blog. Can you tell me a little about your writing journey? How you got to this point?

Ty: I've been writing all my life. Seriously. I started storytelling when I was just four years old, before I knew how to read. I've seen the old photos! Apparently, my storytelling back then took the form of a fat little kid with no shirt on, sitting in the middle of his living room floor with a piece of a paper, a crayon, and his tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth — scribbling. Afterward, I would hold up my latest masterpiece and yell out something like “Cow!” But, you see, in my head I was telling a story!

 Later on, I got into drawing comic books. Badly. But these were eagerly read by the kids in the neighborhood, mainly because, back then, we lacked video games or the internet. All these comic books centered around a group of kid superheros that I called the “Kid Kidets.” I was eight year old, you see, and didn't know how to spell “cadets.” Anyway, the Kid Kidets had all the typical superhero powers. Some could fly. Others were super strong. Others could control the weather, move things with their mind, etc. They were captained by a brother and sister team named Tom and Sharyn Jefferson, and their secret HQ was a huge installation located deep below the ice in Antarctica (don't ask me why!). Whenever trouble brewed anywhere in the world, this entire installation would rise up out of the ice and the Kid Kidets would head off into the world to write some wrong.

This went on for years, until one day the Kid Kidets faced an enemy they couldn't defeat: I grew up. I grew up and I forgot about them for about thirty years. Then one day, back when my son Andy was twelve years old, we were strolling through the mall when he asked me, “Dad, why don't you write a book for me?”

 So I started trying to come up with an idea, and I suddenly remembered the Kid Kidets. Not the superhero/Antarctic installation nonsense, but the idea of a child army. A army of just kids, fighting a war that only they can fight because only they know about it.

 It took a while — years — to get the voice right. After all, it had been a long time since I'd been twelve, and the world had greatly changed. In this, my son became my teacher. He read the drafts, commented on the realism, and educated me on how kids of his generation view the world, how the world views them, how they act toward one another, and how they speak to one another in a language all their own. I honestly couldn't have made this series happen without him, which is why the first book is dedicated to him.

And, from that, the Undertakers were born. True, they can't fly worth a darn, and their HQ, in Book 3 anyway, is a crumbling urban sub-basement, but the spirit and heroism is all there. Best of all, they're still captained by Tom and Sharyn Jefferson!



Lisa: The Secret of the Corpse Eater looks awesome. Can you give me an idea what the Undertakers series is all about? Is this the final book in the series?

Ty: The Undertakers Series is the chronicle of a war. The Earth has been invaded by beings who, as they arrive with no bodies of their own, must animate and occupy the bodies of the recently dead. Called Corpses (never “zombies!”), these intelligent, walking/talking cadavers wear their host bodies until they literarily rot out around them. Then they simply discard them and “transfer” to another. This makes Corpses very hard to kill.

 The focal point of the invasion is Philadelphia, and it is here that the Corpses have established their foothold. They've infiltrated schools, the police department, even city government. Their goal: to slowly spread worldwide, gradually corrupt and finally destroy the human race!

But there's one fly in the ointment. For reasons that no one, not even the Corpses, understand, certain kids can “See” through the illusion of normalcy that Corpses are able to somehow project around themselves. These kids, ranging in age from eleven to seventeen, can recognize the rotting cadavers beneath the Corpses' fake smiles and, for that, the Corpses hunt them down.

So, to stay alive and protect their unbelieving families, these kids have had to run away from home. They'd joined together to become a resistance group, and a good one. They call themselves the Undertakers. Only they know the danger. Only they can see it. And only they can fight it. As Tom Jefferson, Chief of the Undertakers, puts it, “In this war, we ain't the first or last line of defense. We're the only line of defense!”

The books follow the adventures of twelve year old, Will Ritter, an eighth grade boy who “gets his eyes” one morning and starts recognizing the horrors that surround him. Then, as so many others have before him, he must flee for his life, join the Undertakers, and learn out to fight this ruthless and pitiless menace that threatens our world.

In Secret of the Corpse Eater, which is the third book in what will be a five book series, the Corpses have somehow managed to replace a sitting U.S. senator with one of their own. Will and Sharyn go undercover as Senate pages down in Washington D.C. to try to ferret out what this Corpse doppleganger is up to. But their already dangerous mission is made doubly so when they learn of a mysterious ten-legged monster that haunts the halls of the Capitol Building — a monster with a taste for Corpse flesh!

But can such an alien “enemy of his enemy” really become Will's friend?


Lisa: The book has a great cover. How did it come to be and what it does it represent?

Ty: It really is a wonderful cover, isn't it? I love the new branding! The cover illustration beautifully represents the same theme that all of the Undertakers covers have tried to convey: that notion of a child standing bravely against an onslaught of the walking dead. Courage and long odds — that's what the Undertakers are all about.

Lisa: Do you have any particular themes in your writing that you love?

Ty: The big themes in the Undertakers books are heroism, courage and self sacrifice. This isn't a “club.” These kids are not having fun. Every single one of them has been forced to abandon their families. Some even witnessed their family being murdered by the Corpses. They are frightened, outnumbered, outgunned, and totally on their own. And, despite it all, they rise to the occasion. When I wrote these stories, I wanted to my readers to feel empowered by the struggles of the Undertakers.

Children make the best heroes.


Lisa: You got that right! :) Is there anything else you’d like readers to know about you or The Secret of the Corpse Eater?

Ty: If you pick up an Undertakers books expecting to find “The Walking Dead,” you're likely to be surprised. Corpses aren't moaning, shuffling morons. They're smart, fast and organized. Oh, there's plenty of wonderfully disgusting stuff going on. These are animated cadavers after all, and the Undertakers have no qualms at all about doing awful things to these invaders when the situation calls for it. :)

But, if you're looking for a dark, gritty adventure, where the stakes are high and things get as “real” as a story like this can be, then the Undertakers are the books for you!

 Lisa: Sounds thrilling, Ty. I wish you all the best of luck with it. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog!

Learn more and enter the giveaway below~

Title: Secret of the Corpse Eater (Undertakers 3

Publication Date: March 25, 2014

Publisher: Month9Books

Author: Ty Drago


Synopsis:
The Corpses are up something.

U.S. Senator Lindsay Micha had been kidnapped and replaced with a “dead” ringer, the sister to Lilith Cavanaugh, the Queen of the Dead. Now Will Ritter must go undercover in our nation’s capital to ferret out the truth and try to stop this ambitious deader. But his mission becomes even more dangerous when he learns of a mysterious ten-legged monster that prowls the halls of the Capitol Building — a lethal monster with a taste for Corpse flesh.

Can such an alien “enemy of his enemy” truly become Will’s friend?


ABOUT Ty Drago:

In addition to the first two books in UNDERTAKERS series, RISE OF THE CORSPES and QUEEN OF THE DEAD, Ty Drago is the author of PHOBOS, a Science Fiction whodunit and THE FRANKLIN AFFAIR, an historical/mystery about Benjamin Franklin. His short fiction has appeared in numerous venues, including the 2009 anthology YESTERDAY, I WILL ..., and he has written articles for WRITERS DIGEST. His first UNDERTAKERS novelette, NIGHT OF MONSTERS, is currently available for FREE on Smashwords.com and barnesandnoble.com.


Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Purchase Links:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | The Book Depository




Giveaway Information:  Winner will be drawn April 25, 2014


· Four (4) winners will receive an ebook copy of Secret of the Corpse Eater (Undertakers 3) by Ty Drago (INT)

· One (1) winner will receive an ebook copy of Secret of the Corpse Eater (Undertakers 3) by Ty Drago AND a $10 Amazon Gift Card or B&N Gift Card – Winner’s Choice (INT)



  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Never Judge a Book by its Format

My son is almost eight and he’s never been what I’d call an “avid” reader. I guess he falls into “reluctant” reader, but I think that’s only because he enjoys being read to, rather than doing the reading himself. He loves being read to. Unfortunately, he’s easily distracted by video and games, but recently he’s found a book series at the school library that’s really drawn him in. It’s not the traditional picture book or chapter book. I’m not sure what you call it – graphic novel? Of course, it’s not novel length. It looks like a comic with a hard cover. Whatever it’s called, I think it’s brilliant.

Each book in the series is about a different scary, fictional creature with titles like: Vampires! Sasquatch! Witches! Chupacabra! Aliens! The boys in his grade seem to be passing them around, taking turns checking out one or two each week. (I know this because another boy let my son read Chupacabra! one day in class.) Each book presents the creatures as something mythological that people once believed in and relates actual stories about events surrounding the creatures. In Aliens!, we learn about the original abduction story from the 1950’s. In Witches!, we learn about the Salem Witch Trials. None of it is particularly related to Common Core (gasp!), but it’s all rather intriguing and fascinating to boys in second grade.

 

It’s so important that early reading be fun for kids, whatever “fun” means to them. So what if it looks like a comic book? So what if it’s a novella instead of a novel? I think sometimes we get caught up in the format of a book more than we should. I’d rather have my kid read the phone book instead of nothing at all if he found that fun, which of course he wouldn’t, but you get my point. And that goes for ebooks as well. No matter what the format, fiction is good for you.

October 28 ~ Finding Inspiration

OK, I admit it. I’m dragging in the inspiration department here lately. Working hard on revisions means I’m not creating much new stuff, although I did just finish some flash fiction for Halloween and Christmas. The pressure of the 31 Day Blog Challenge pushing me to come up with new content every day got me thinking about my “inspiration” process. Where do I find my ideas?

So, as I thought about it, I realized most of my ideas, but not all of them, start with a theme. The flash stories were inspired first by those holidays, but secondly by the feeling or the message that I wanted to convey.  I had a general idea what genre I wanted to write in, i.e. gothic, steampunk, but after that, I think my ideas come from a conglomeration of things I’ve been thinking about, heard or read. Things that are stewing about in my subconscious. Going on trips to places I haven’t been, or places I haven’t been in a long time inspire me as well. Seeing an intriguing person can inspire me too.

Because I can’t travel all the places I’d love to go, I’ve found myself creating boards on Pinterest that inspire me.  I can’t say that any one photograph on Pinterest has led me to create a story, but the photos there have certainly helped me flesh out the worlds I’ve created in my head. The same with music. I can’t write with music playing because it distracts me, but the feeling music invokes can definitely be inspiring.  I even created playlists for my books; you can take a listen here.

So what inspires you? I’d like to know…

 

October 22~ Twitter as a Marketing Tool for Writers

Twitter is one of my favorite pass times, a.k.a. my favorite internet time suck. Some people don’t get it. I didn’t at first myself. I was following celebrities and news channels and it was BORING advertising. I left my account idle for probably a year before I came back to it, determined to try again. It wasn’t until I started making actual friends on Twitter that I enjoyed it. And no, celebrities don’t want to be your friend or follow you.

 

I saw a lot of people advertising their books on Twitter and I still do. I even do it myself, but I’m willing to bet I actually get very few book sales as a result. I still think Twitter is valuable to writers though and here’s why. The benefit is more indirect and maybe not as easily teased out.

 

 

I’ve met friends and writers on Twitter that have supported me when no one else would. I live in a rural area with no writer’s groups or potential critique partners close by, so tapping into the writer’s community on Twitter has been invaluable. Some folks I’ve met directly on Twitter, but others I’ve met elsewhere and found later on Twitter. I’ve met writers, agents, and editors there.

 

I’ve met small press publishers directly on Twitter, or indirectly through Twitter, that I never would have met in person. Some of those small presses ended up publishing my work. Hush Puppy was requested by an editor at Featherweight Press after I took part in an online pitch event organized by some romance writers I saw advertised on Twitter. I had been submitting the book the traditional way (query) to agents without any luck, but the pitch event gave me the chance to have an online dialog with the editor and really discuss the project in more detail.  This year, I took part in another online pitch event directly on Twitter, and was able to make a deal on another manuscript to be published by Month9Books in 2015. So basically, I owe Twitter a lot.

 

 

With regards to marketing the book, it’s been a little more difficult to see a direct benefit from Twitter, i.e. actual sales. I’ve been able to connect with some really great bloggers via Twitter, some of whom have provided very kind reviews for which I’m eternally grateful. It’s too early to tell, but those reviews may turn out to be what sells books.  I think more than anything, books sell by word of mouth and that’s a slow process without a giant marketing machine behind you, but with every good review, the ball gets rolling a little more and more. We’ll see how it goes. 

 

For now, I’d say the real benefit of Twitter to me is having a supportive community/network of like-minded individuals who cheer you on, celebrate your successes, and pick you up when you’re down. I’d recommend it to any writer. What do you think of Twitter? What have your experiences been? I’d like to know.

 

October 12 ~ Rites of Fall

I've been quite today, I know. I'm trying to kick a nasty sinus cold that's stolen my voice.  I did finally get the last of my flower bulbs planted. With any luck, my flower beds will look like this next spring.

 

Just add a few weeds and quack grass, and you'll just about have it right. We grow industrial strength weeds in Idaho.

I did manage to finish a rough draft of my steampunk Christmas story.  It's marinating in the back of my hard drive right now. I have until October 28 to get it posted, so I'm letting it sit for a bit before I finalize it.  I'm semi-satisfied with it.  The 1,000 word limit required me to cut quite a bit of dialog and description that I liked, so I wasn't too pleased about that, but oh well.  Like many of my flash stories, it could actually be the premise for a longer story in the future.

My daughter went with a friend's family to the Haunted Mansions of Albion tonight. She was getting all worked up by watching shows on television about the country's worst haunted house attractions. Oh man.  I hope she's up for it. It looks pretty awful. Glad I'm not going!  Take care~

October 6 ~ Fantasyland

Working on the fantasy series Storyteller is so much fun. I'm working on the last book in the triology now. The writing is hard work, but the imagining is worth it. And finding Pinterest is any fantasy author's dream come true.  I love making boards for my books or boards just for inspiring photos. You won't find any recipes or crafty stuff on my boards, except for maybe the occasional smoothie.

Lily Lightfoot and Ironclaw ~ my fairy heroine and her trusty steed, not to mention the Northern Portal Keeper of DuraDor~














Formorians ~ the evil minions of Lord Kane, bound to find Lily and stop her from saving the True World~







Peter Everheart ~ Lily's elf guardian and fast friend









Come on over and visit my boards ~ there's so much lovely art over there for inspiration.  And since today is #SampleSunday on twitter, here's a treat for you from Book III ~ enjoy~

GALAMAR AND THE HARPY, ASHTAROTH

 

     Galamar knew the story of Ashtaroth. All elven children did. Their mothers told them the fairy tale without fail so that they would learn the dangers of vanity and greed.  No one wanted to end up like Ashtaroth. She had been a beautiful elf maiden once, but her heart was tainted. She loved no one so well as herself. She had many suitors, but none could satisfy her need for more wealth. She discarded them, knowing there would always be another to replace him.

     One day, Ashtaroth was riding in the forest and came upon a raven at a pool where she stopped to let her horse drink. Strangely, the raven spoke to her in a silky voice.

     “Oh My Lady, thou art so lovely.”

     “I know.”

     “’Tis a pity thou wilt wither and age one day.”

     Ashtaroth scowled at the thought.

     “I know a way to preserve youth’s beauty forever.”  The raven hopped to a higher branch.

      “Oh? What is that?”

     “You must give me something first, before I’ll tell you,” said the raven.

     Ashtaroth had no intension of giving a silly talking bird anything, but she was intrigued.

     “What do you require?”

     “You must give me your heart – that which you have never given anyone.”

     Ashtaroth laughed out loud.

     “How could I love you? You’re nothing, but a lowly, common beggar.”

     “Have I begged you for anything, My Lady?” The bird’s voice was demanding. “I have only offered you eternal beauty. What say you?”

     Ashtaroth knew she had no need of her heart, shriveled as it was, but she still didn’t see how she could ever pretend to love the raven.

     “If you give me what I desire, you will forever have my heart,” she told him.

     “Very well.”

     The raven flapped his wings and screeched at the top of his wee lungs. Ashtaroth felt a lightness in her being she hadn’t felt in years and she knew instantly the bird had kept his word. Her reflection in the pool was beyond compare.

     “I will take your heart now,” said the raven. Horrified, Ashtaroth dug her heels into her horse and fled, but it could not outrun the raven. It flew after them with the speed of a falcon and easily overtook them, cursing her.

     “A broken promise is never forgotten. May you forever look like the contents of your heart, Ashtaroth!”

     Instantly, her body sprouted coal-black feathers, her arms became wings, and her face became twisted and hideous. She became a harpy with a sharp beak where her lovely face had once been. People ran from the sight of her. So fierce and mean was her countenance that she was eventually captured by the elves and chained to the ancient tree, Terah Tahan, to prevent anyone from entering the Portal.

Hush Puppy Blog Tour

Exciting stuff peeps! Hush Puppy was released on Monday, August 19, 2013. With that, I have to tell you the blog here may seem a bit like an infomercial while I promote the book. For those of you who don’t know, the web has become a major player in how books are promoted, especially with shrinking marketing budgets. The web is now the way many authors use to connect with tons more people than they could ever meet in person.

I’ll be making a blog tour to various other authors’ web sites to promote the book with interviews and excerpts. I hope you’ll be able to visit a few of them and support those blogs with comments, follows, tweets, and likes.  And of course, you can always visit my Facebook page for easy updates too. 

Early reviews have been overwhelmingly positive:

With a lot of emotion and skill, Cresswell weaves together a story that promotes the power of friendship and the importance of being true to oneself.

Hush Puppy is a sweet, sweet story of conquering prejudices, forgiveness and family, and a reminder that positive perspective, determination, and the support of one special person are enough to overcome whatever trauma life may deal.

I want to extend my gratitude to the following bloggers ahead of time. I sure appreciate their support for my blog tour.  Ladies, if you ever need anything, just ask. 

Kenya Wright

Stephanie Wardrop

Morgan Shamy

Laura Jamez

Coleen Burright

Missy Ames 

Kara Leigh Miller

Rachel Schieffelbein

And you, dear reader, can help too if you want.  The best advertisement for any book is a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads or your own blog. I’ve add the book to Goodreads already if you’d like to add it to your “To Be Read” list and look for in ebook now.  I hope you enjoy it~

Fantasy Author Interview ~ Welcome Gary Vanucci

Today I've asked self published fantasy author and twitter friend, Gary Vanucci, to visit the blog.  Gary was kind enough to post an interview of me on his blog last month and I wanted to return the favor.  Welcome Gary!

Tell me a bit about yourself…where you’re from and how you came to be a writer…

I’m from a small suburb of Philadelphia, PA. I read a lot growing up and found myself gravitating toward comic books, science fiction and fantasy novels. I think that was the mind-expansion or escape from reality that I needed at the time and still do today. If you can read, your mind can go anywhere! I came to be a writer as my history and interests indicated an artistic path. I have always been creative and it was not until the last few years that I discovered a passion for storytelling. I pursued that as a secondary thing that I hope to expand one day into a primary thing.

Can you tell us what genres you write and why?

Right now, I am only doing fantasy. I tried science fiction about 13 years ago, but grew bored with it. I may go back to it sometime. Not sure where my mind will take me next, but I at least want to finish the current story arc in my Realm of Ashenclaw series. If fans dictate that they want more, who knows? If not, I have many other stories I need to tell in a few other genres. Horror being one I find fascinating.

What themes do you particularly like to use in your writing and why?

Great questions! A few topics I like to include are: fallen heroes, addiction, naturally progressing romances and, although my characters are powerful (otherwise they would not be heroes), they have weaknesses. I like to write about things that people could relate to. Everyone has an addiction. Everyone thinks about love. Everyone has flaws and baggage and/or secrets from their past. These are a few things that I like to hone in on. I figure if I don’t care about my characters, why should you? So that thought motivates me to write them with vulnerability.

Fantasy is so much about world building.  When you're writing, how do you go about it?

I have a map and a fairly detailed description of it. As a matter of fact, my friends and I wrote a D&D RPG supplement that had an incredible amount of detail about the Realm of Ashenclaw, and yet, leaves enough open for the users to expand on the framework within. I also take copious notes, reference my documents constantly and progress from there. I have an entire northern section of my world that I had ear-marked for possibly another fantasy realm that is completely separated from the first and has its own unique origins going on. We’ll see if I can bring you there in the future!

 

Your covers are great.  Can you tell us how they were developed?

I found another author, William J. Kenney, who did character work on his covers that I loved. After a few brief discussions, he talked me into letting him do a re-make of my first cover. I loved it. We have had a successful working relationship since then and he is a friend now. We are both struggling to get noticed in this world of self-publishing where anyone with the know-how can put their product out there. It’s difficult to sift through the bad stuff to find the gems, but we feel that once we find a fan base, we will succeed in satisfying them. But, to your point, I deliver a concept of what I want, the descriptions, etc. as I have a vision in my head and send it to William and he fleshes it out. I am very pleased with it. He also did all of the sketches and artwork in the D&D supplement as well. The artwork is top-notch and I highly recommend him for anything!

 
 
 

What influenced your decision to self-publish?

I thought about trying to query an agent for a long time before saying the heck with it and trying it myself. I have never sent in any queries or contacted an agent at all. I figured if I was good enough that people would find me. However, that thought is idealistic. See my above statement about finding the gems. So, I have persevered and am in negotiations right now with a publisher that has a unique formula for publishing and I am in discussions with them. They are currently perusing my first manuscript and we shall see where it goes. I am hopeful that we can come to an agreement and work together on finding an audience.

What advice do you have for a beginning fantasy writer or any indie writer?

Try hard. Don’t quit. If you really believe in what you are doing, that is all that matters. It takes time and there are a lot of pitfalls and discouraging obstacles. But, keep at it. You will find that (hopefully) you will find your voice one day and things will become so much easier. I almost quit once, but I find that the voices in my head need to come out. That and that alone, drive me now. I write only for myself. If you do it for any other reasons, you are cheating yourself. Good luck and get writing!

Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

I think we have covered most of it. I feel that I would also like to thank anyone that has given my work a read, a review and hope they come back for more. I want to thank readers and especially reviewers of all books and hope that more people turn off their televisions more and do some reading occasionally! Books are the ultimate vacation and lead to a higher IQ. So keep on reading! Lisa, thanks for having me and I liked the questions a lot!

 

Blog 30 Goonies Never Say "Die"!!

Lately, I’ve noticed some of my writer friends are unhappy.  There are a variety of reasons, but most of it seems to revolve around criticism. Notice I didn’t say “critiques”, but criticism.  Opinions are like those other things everyone else has, right? They’re always going to be there.  The trick is to keep those criticisms or unhelpful opinions from bogging us down, or worse, stopping us from writing altogether.

When I first self-published Storyteller, it took a long time to get my first review. The jist of it was, “Meh, its ok.” At least, that’s what I took away from it. Needless to say, I was hoping for a little better than 'meh'. Actually, I was crushed.  And that was from someone who probably thought they were being kind. I can’t imagine what I would have done if that someone had been actually trying to hurt my feelings.  I’ve always been a sensitive person and I can take a lot of things to heart – way too many things- but I’m getting better at separating myself from criticism. At least I think I am. I guess we’ll see how I do when Hush Puppy is released and the first reviews come in.

A few years back, I facilitated a Dove Real Beauty Workshop for Girls. What’s that and what does it have to do with criticism? A lot actually. The workshop teaches girls how to deal with all the messages they get each day, both positive and negative, but the advice is excellent for anyone of any age. I love the message so I’m going to pass it along to you.

Imagine yourself in a giant bubble, everywhere you go. This is your personal space bubble. It protects you. You decided what to let into your bubble and what to keep out. Let in the good things around you: supportive friends and family. Reject the bad things, in this case: unconstructive criticism that only seeks to unsettle you or separate you from your dreams. We don’t want to completely shut ourselves off from constructive criticism, but we should be selective as to whom we let into our bubble.

My favorite writer about writing, Brenda Ueland, says this:

"The only good teachers for you are those friends who love you, who think you are interesting, or very important, or wonderfully funny; whose attitude is: Tell me more. Tell me all you can. I want to understand more about everything you feel and know and all the changes inside and out of you. Let more come out. And if you have no such friend,  -and you want to write, -well then you must imagine one."

If you haven’t read her book "If you want to write: a book about art, independence, and spirit" , I urge you to check it out. I’ve raved about it in posts before, so I won’t do it here. I’ll just say there are some lovely passages. Whenever I get discouraged about my writing, I open it up and quickly find comfort.

And if you find yourself the subject of unwanted criticism, decide what to accept and what to disregard. The choice is truly yours.

Blog 29 Exciting News Peeps!!

I’ve accepted an offer from Month9Books to e-publish my young adult, scifi fantasy manuscript, Vessel in early 2015!  Hehe!  So excited! 2015 sounds very far away, but it’s really not and I’m sure I’ll have lots of editing work to do on it in the meantime.  But for now, I feel like celebrating!  Somebody give me a beer! I could actually use the expression ‘squee’ and I normally hate that expression ;)

Month9 is not a traditional small press. It’s a bit of a new breed, I guess you might say.  This book will be sold as an e-book until it sells enough units and would then be available in print. I suppose that lessens the risk for the publisher that they might be left with a bunch of copies if it doesn’t sell.  I’m not averse to saving some trees. It’s a little funny though, since the book is about humans that have lost all their digital data due to solar storms, including all their books. Ha!

I don’t have too much more to tell at this point. Now is when the work starts. If you hear me moaning and groaning about editing in the coming months, feel free to metaphorically slap me.  I’ll deserve it. As always, stay tuned for updates.  And since the cat is out of the bag, I might as well release my formerly private Pinterest board for the book.  Enjoy~


 
 

Hush Puppy #SampleSunday

Happy Sunday peeps :) You may or may not be aware of a little hashtag fun on Twitter called #SampleSunday.  For those of you not familiar with it, many authors use it to mark links to samples of their writing you can read for free on Sunday.  If you're on Twitter, you should check it out.

For my #SampleSunday, I thought I'd offer an excerpt from Hush Puppy, my contemporary, young adult novel.  Enjoy~

 The weeds had deep roots. They kept breaking off in my hands as I yanked on them, cursing under my breath. Sweat dripped off my nose, making wet spots on the red soil. The beans were in flower and it seemed like every insect in town was humming around them. I was so busy trying to avoid the bees with my hoe, I didn’t notice the shaggy-haired boy walk up behind me.

                “Kind of hot for yard work, ain’t it?”

                I snapped up and spun around too fast, the blood rushing out of my head. I steadied myself on the hoe as stars blurred my vision. As my sight cleared, I saw Jamie’s face, a halo of glittering lights around him.

                “Hey, Hush Puppy!” he said. “Those were good.”

                “I’m Corrine.” Still blinking, I wiped my sweaty forehead with the back of my dirty glove.

                “I’m Jamie.” For a minute, he just stood there holding a red spiral notebook in one hand. Not knowing what else to do, I tried to make conversation.

                “Going to summer school?”

                “What?” He seemed confused.

                “You look like you just got off the bus,” I said, pointing to his notebook.

                “Oh, this?” He glanced at his notebook. “I just write stuff sometimes.”

                “What kind of stuff?”

                “I…the kind of stuff my old man don’t like, I guess.” Jamie smiled like he thought that was funny. I threw the hoe down in the wilted weeds.

                “I need a drink. Want some tea?” I offered.

                “Sure,” he said, following me to the house.

                I got the tea from the fridge and found two glasses while Jamie sat at the table, setting his notebook on the red and white vinyl tablecloth in front of him. The kitchen was stuffy so I cranked on the window air conditioner until it blew frosty gusts at us. Jamie watched quietly while I cracked a tray of ice cubes and tossed a few in each glass before pouring the tea. We both took a long drink.

                “You’re not like most boys around here.”

                “Oh yeah?”

                “I can’t think of one who would actually admit to writing something that wasn’t for school.”

                Jamie smirked and chugged some more tea.

                “So what’s in it?” I asked.

                “In what?”

                “Your notebook. What do you write?”

                “Um…” Jamie’s thumb fingered the corner of the pages. “Stories, essays mostly.” His eyes traveled over the plastic tablecloth between us, not daring to look up.

                “Can I see?” I reached for the notebook, but Jamie quickly slid it away from me.

                “Naw. You wouldn’t like it.”

                “How do you know?” The questions sounded ruder than I meant and I tried to make up for it. “I like a lot of stuff.”

                “It’s just that it’s not that good.” He pulled it off the table onto his lap where I couldn’t see it. I felt myself frowning.

                “Fine. Be like that.”

                The crunching sound of a car on gravel grabbed my attention. Memaw wasn’t due home for hours. I jumped up to check out the tiny kitchen window, but there was no one there. When I turned around, Jamie was gone, his empty glass on the table. I walked into the living room and saw him down the short hallway, standing in my room.

                “What are you doing?” I asked, hoping I hadn’t left my underwear on the floor that morning. It was dark in my room because we kept the windows covered during the day to keep it cool. I walked up behind Jamie, who was gazing up at the world map on my bedroom wall. I caught our reflection in my mirror and realized just how different we were next to each other. My dark skin, the color of rich, black coffee, made his skin look that much lighter. My kinky hair, poking out of the braids that were coming undone, made his hair seem that much straighter. But Jamie didn’t notice any of that.

                “Cool map,” said Jamie. “What are the pins for?” He fingered the blue push pin I had stuck in the map at Munich.

                “Places I want to see one day.”

                “You sure got a lot of traveling to do.”

                “That’s the plan. Red is for must-see, blue is for nice to see.”

                “There’s a lot of red. These your books?” Jamie asked, looking over my shelf.

                “Yeah.”

                Jamie paused a minute and then sighed. “I should probably go. My dad would freak if he knew I was here.” He turned to walk down the hall toward the front door. I should have been relieved to get him out of my room, but some part of me was disappointed to see him go. I followed him outside and across the yard toward the driveway. He glanced back at me once or twice, as if he thought I was going home with him.

                “I gotta finish weeding,” I explained.

                “Oh.”

                “Thanks for stopping by,” I said. It was something Memaw would have said.

                “Yeah, thanks for the tea.” He kicked a grubby sneaker toe into the fresh garden dirt I’d just cleared of weeds. The notebook dangled from his fingertips. He stared at me like he had something more to say, but he never got the chance. Harley’s truck, held together with duct tape and wire, rattled down the road, stopped suddenly and backed up. Harley drove his truck into our driveway and hung his head out the window.

                “What the hell are you doing over here?” he shouted at Jamie, who didn’t answer. Instead, Jamie looked at me and offered me the notebook he had been so reluctant to share before.

                “I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Harley kept ranting.

                “I think you dropped this,” Jamie said to me, somehow ignoring Harley.

                “What?” I couldn’t understand what was happening.

                “Damn it, Jamie! Get in the truck!”

                “Isn’t it yours?” Jamie’s eyes pleaded with me to play along. “Take it.” I finally did what he said and he joined Harley in the truck.

                “When I call you, I expect you to answer, boy!” I heard Harley shouting as they drove away. I didn’t understand how or why, but suddenly the mysterious red notebook was mine.

****

For more of Hush Puppy, please see Amazon, B&N or Goodreads!

Blog 27 ~ Open Mic Night or “There’s Room Enough on my Soap Box for Two”

So I’ve been babbling on for nearly a month here. Now I’d like to extend an invitation to anyone who might like to post a guest post on my blog.  I have several guest posters already lined up, but I wanted to open the invitation to any of my readers.  Of course, every topic is subject to my approval, but in general, guest posts on writing, reading, and/or publishing would be most welcome. 

Author interviews or blog/book tours are welcome too.  I recently did an author interview for Gary Vanucci and it was a lot of fun.  Hop on over to Gary’s blog and check it out.  In short, I’m open to anything bookish J  I’m always interested in exchanging interviews or book promotions too.  Just shoot me an e-mail here – writerlisacresswell (at) gmail (dot) com .

I look forward to hearing from you~

Blog 25 ~ The Golden Rule

I recently signed up for a critique session through my local Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrator’s chapter. I live in a rural area and I don’t have many critique partners nearby, so when opportunities like this come up, I try to jump on it.  Now I have several manuscripts and synopses to review for a workshop in August.

Before I get started, I thought it would be useful to think about how I’m going to do this in terms of how I like to be critiqued myself.  I’ve had a rather brutal critique style in the past and I wonder if I might need to soften that. I witnessed a lot of verbal critiques last week and I came away with a better feel for how I personally would like to be critiqued.

First off, a critique is not proofreading. I don’t think focusing on grammatical errors is helpful at the early draft stage. It wastes valuable time on words that may end up being cut anyway. The only time to mention spelling, punctuation, and grammar is if they are so glaring as to be a complete and utter distraction to the reader.

For me, personally, here’s what I want to know:

Does it grab you? Intrigue you? Or is it confusing? Does it make you feel something? Anything?? Does it make you want to read more?

What words, dialog, or speech tags pop you out of the story? Where does it begin to bore you, or make your mind stumble over clunky, awkward language? Are there plot holes or things that don’t make sense?

Does the writing have heart? Does it have a theme, or at least a feel? Can you hear the author’s voice lecturing you or can you hear the voice of the characters? Do the characters seem like real people or card board cutouts that could be anyone?

Do you feel like you’re in “good hands”, as if the author has a sense of mastery that you’re comfortable with?  What parts to you love? What parts do you hate? How can I make it better?

Blog #24 Starting over~

Omigosh you guys!! Writing conferences can make you think about your writing in a whole new way - a fact proven to me once again in Oregon at the Oregon Coast Children's Book Writer's Workshop.  I submitted a first page for group critique. It was read aloud anonymously (which I love) and critiqued by the group of instructors in front of everyone.

I submitted a first page of a story that I knew needed work. I wasn't entirely happy with it and I couldn't really figure out why. I had written the book and decided it needed a better beginning, so I wrote a new chapter one and stuck it on the beginning of the book. It was a beautiful chapter one and I was very proud of it, but as it was read aloud and I listened to everyone's comments, I realized it doesn't match the rest of the book. The tone is literary, reflective, and somewhat sad, but the rest of the book is a silly, little paranormal romance I wrote for fun. I think I've come to the realization that this chapter one doesn't belong to this paranormal story at all, but to another sort of story.

I don't mind writing young adult (YA) contemporary. Hush Puppy is YA contemporary, but I seem to have to stumble into these kinds of books. The first chapter of Hush Puppy placed well in a contest and I knew I had to write the book. The first chapter of this book, written in contemporary style, got such positive feedback in the critique session that I think I had better write it too. Perhaps my strength lies in YA contemporary?

I know I probably worry too much about writing heavy subjects...I'm not sure why I hesitate to go there. Probably because I know it will be much work and will require much soul searching, some of it probably gut wrenching. I also know those are the kinds of stories I seem to do the best so I suppose I should listen to the universe and get busy writing.

But where to begin? Reimagining the entire story completely differently is a little daunting. I wish I could erase my memory!  Have you ever scrapped an entire manuscript to start off in another direction? How did you do it??

Blog #22 Letter to my Fifteen Year Old Self

Today is my 43rd birthday.  I had to give some extra thought to what I might write today.  I finally settled on this letter to myself when I was a young writer. Please feel free to pass it along to any young writers you may know too~

Dear me, 

I know there are lots of kids out there, just like you, who want to write something, but lack the confidence or the support to do it. I’m here to tell you, do it anyway.

Maybe you think it’s stupid or silly or you wouldn’t show it to anyone in a million years. That’s ok. Keep every single scrap of paper you ever wrote a story on anyway. You might use it later. You don’t have to show anyone until you’re ready.  Just remember, there’s no one like you in the whole world and you have something important to say. Everyone does.  Don’t listen to the naysayers that tell you otherwise. Ever.

And it may not be very good at first, but you’re learning. Like anything, it takes practice. Keep at it. Read everything you can and then write some more. Find your voice, your “you-ness”, and put it on the page.  When it is true and honest, it will shine and you will know you’ve done your best.