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Quote of the Week: “Your whole life passes in front of your eyes before you die. This is called living.” Terry Pratchett, author
Young Adult and Middle Grade Author
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Quote of the Week: “Your whole life passes in front of your eyes before you die. This is called living.” Terry Pratchett, author
Photo by Pierre J. |
This is the best I can do. I’m totally “hopped” out, and I almost didn’t join the WEP this month. However, common sense didn’t prevail, so here it is–my stab at the macabre. I really need to leave this kind of topic to Lexa and Holli. They know macabre.
No critique, please. This is as far as The Surprise will ever go into the world. No thanks necessary!
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Alex J. Cavanaugh Ninja Powered |
The awesome co-hosts for the October 5 posting of the IWSG are Beverly Stowe McClure, Megan Morgan, Viola Fury, Madeline Mora-Summonte, Angela Wooldridge, and Susan Gourley!
What would life be without laughter and IWSG? Answer: Kind of boring and lonely. So we can’t have that, can we? I propose we borrow the idea of Where’s Waldo and have a game of Where’s Gary. Then, when we actually find him, we can stop SEARCHING! So here’s the map. All you have to do is pick Gary out of the crowd. Enjoy.
Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my team! And I have an amazing group of writers on my team. But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!
Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are SIX contests going on: 1. GREEN TEAM 2. red team 3. gold team 4. orange team 5. red team, and 6. purple team for a chance to win a whole different set of books!
simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! As you can tell, I’m a part of the GREEN TEAM.
If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.
Today, I am hosting Tera Lynn Childs on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt!
Tera Lynn Childs is the RITA-award-winning and bestselling young adult author of the mythology-based Oh. My. Gods. series, the Forgive My Fins mermaid romances, the kick-butt monster-hunting Sweet Venom trilogy, and the Darkly Fae series. She also writes the City Chicks books and is co-writing the Hero Agenda and Creative HeArts series. Her works have appeared in over a dozen languages and on multiple state library reading lists. She lives in Las Vegas, where she spends her time writing wherever she can find a comfy chair and a steady stream of caffeinated beverages. Find out more information by checking out the author website or find more about the author’s book here!
And don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of books by Tera Lynn Childs, and more!
To enter, you need to know what Lee’s favorite number is. Being number 1 has always appealed to me. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the GREEN TEAM and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!
Here’s the story in a nutshell: Her father died before she was born, but Ella Benton knows they have a special connection. Now, evidence points to his death in a psychiatric hospital, not a car accident as Mom claimed. When strange, supernatural signs appear, Ella wonders if Dad’s trying to tell her something, or if someone’s playing unsettling tricks. As the unexplained events become sinister, she finds herself terrified about who—or what—might harm her. Then the evidence points to Ella herself. What if, like Dad, she’s suffering a mental breakdown? Ella desperately needs to find answers, no matter how disturbing the truth might be.
The artist behind these masks is Melissa Ng, the founder of Lumecluster. This company prints 3D masks like the ones here. I loved what Ms Ng says about masks, “There is so much more to masks than simply for concealment or disguise. In fact, throughout history and cultures around the world, many masks served as protection against evil or as an expression of the human spirit, perseverance, identity or transformation. With this in mind, I wanted to make a mask that defined our times and our increasingly global maker/entrepreneurial tribe. A tribe that believes in making a difference in this world. And a tribe isn’t complete without its mask, right?”
A perfect quote for this week’s post: “It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.” Henry David Thoreau
Quote of the Week: “Talent is a pursued interest. Anything that you’re willing to practice, you can do.” Bob Ross, Painter and TV Host
I’ve finished my second book. While this hardly makes me Patterson prolific, I’m sort of impressed. I mean, it took ELEVEN YEARS for my debut, The Namesake, to go from initial scribblings in a college notebook to finished hardcover. By comparison, Book Two, The Precious Dreadful, was crafted with lightning speed: roughly two years start to finish—Start being a literal whisper in my head, sharing details of story at 5:00 AM on July 8, 2013. Finish = a solid revision submitted to my agent at last August’s end.
I won’t pretend obscurity was idyllic. There were major disappointments en route to The Namesake’s release: false starts, agent misfires, rejections. And The Precious Dreadful has yet to hit bookshelves—plus I’m suddenly agentless—but with this novel, I’m a known quantity. While that caused sophomore trepidation, it also inspires me.
Be among the first to read an excerpt from Steve’s new book. Click HERE!
Quote of the Week: “Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it.” Muhammad Ali
Check out the details of the annual IWSG Anthology Contest Today!
For me IWSG is a place to hold hands with other authors who are waiting to hear some news about their books:
If any of these questions have every bugged you as a writer, SIGN UP HERE and let’s hold hands. Excuse the bones. I’ve lost a bit of weight during my book launch this summer.
September 7 Question: How do you find the time to write in your busy day?
When I think of something–no matter where I am–I write it down, and when I can get to my computer, I put those ideas into whatever I’m working on. That’s why my manuscripts scare me senseless. There are random notes between scenes. There are images I think I can use to help me describe something or capture the mood of a place or the look of a person. There’s egg salad splats because I ate lunch during an epiphany.
Yesterday during yoga, I had this brilliant thought while I was standing on my hands. Attribute it on blood flow to the brain. So as soon as my hands were free, I wrote that thought down. Last night it became a scene that will go someplace in my book. I’m counting on another handstand to tell me where.
What’s your answer to the September 7th question? I’ll be coming around to read what you have to say.
And stay tuned because Steve has more news about his next book. I’ll be posting all about it next week! The Precious Dreadful! is the title. Can’t wait to find out more.