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C. Lee McKenzie

Young Adult and Middle Grade Author

Part 10, The Pros Give Us Some Advice, Featuring Lisa Colozza Cocca, @WeWrite4U_Lit & How I Found the Right Path

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Lisa Colozza Cocca is the last author to be featured in this series. Her book is PROVIDENCE. 
Tagline: Sometimes you have to run away from home to find it.
Advice: Remember teens are people first with the same range of emotions we all have, but often intensified. Write from your heart if you want to connect to the hearts of your readers.
What Reviewers say: 
“Becky’s sweet-as-honey first-person narrative voice suits the dialogue-driven story well–she is an uncomplicated heroine, resourceful and completely without self-pity.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Rosie, Becky, and Georgia Rose create a family built of mutual need, love, and kindness in this gentle tale of life in nostalgic small-town America…. Cocca portrays a community of sympathetic characters…who believe in the promise of life’s second chances.” —Booklist
You can find Providence on sale here. And now under #kindleunlimited it free to download.
AMAZON
Barnes & Noble 
Indiebound 
Find Lisa at
www.lisacolozzacocca.com
Thanks so much, Lisa. Writing from the heart is great advice to writers of all genres. 
Here’s some others on this very topic. While they don’t say it the same way that Lisa does, I interpret their words to mean the key to readers’ hearts is within the writers’ hearts.
“It ain’t whatcha write, it’s the way atcha write it.”
—Jack Kerouac, WD
“Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works.”
—Virginia Woolf
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” 
― Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” 
― Ernest Hemingway
So that’s a wrap on Advice from the Pros. I’ve enjoyed hosting ten authors over these months and hope you’ve enjoyed meeting them or learning more about them and their books.

If you want to be contacted next year during National Literacy Month (September) sign up on the Linky below for WeWrite4U_Lit. I hope to make it bigger and better in 2015.

How I Found The Right Path 


It’s here! Download it for Free and read what 60 writers have to share about their writing/publishing experience. 

Celebrating the Small Things, @WeWrite4U, New Book by Deirdra Eden

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VIKLIT’S HOP

LG KELTNER @writing off the edge
KATIE @TheCyborg Mom 
CAFFEEMAGGIEATO @mscoffeehouse

My small celebration this week is the word, READ. If you’ve seen my previous posts, you’ll know I’m supporting Literacy all month, and hope you’ll join me. HERE ARE THE DETAILS. They’re simple and I’ve done the Tweets for you.

1. Let me know you’re interested by signing up on the Linky below. If possible grab the code and share it on your blog. If not, then please add the link to The Write Game, so others can sign up. I’ll keep the Linky on my blog until the last week in September.

2. Below are some pre-written Tweets and I’m hoping we can TWEET UP A STORM with Tweets and RT’s the month of September.

3. I’ve created a LIST/GROUP for Twitter @WeWrite4U_Lit, so please join and use the group’s handle.

4. I’ve followed and been followed by these literacy groups: 

@supportliteracy 
@LitPartners 
@literature_dp
@literacycoop
@HouLit

You might want to add some of them to spread your tweets.

5. Post about LITERACY on your fb Timeline at least once a week in September, and SHARE/TWEET those posts that others put up.

12 FRESH TWEETS (in parentheses I’ve put the source just in case you need it) Hope you’ll create some of your own, too.
Read to your kids.
Volunteer to teach reading. You’re needed.
Where parent involvement is low, classroom mean average is 46 points below the nat’l average. @LitPartners @literacycoop @WeWrite4U_Lit (http://www.rif.org/us/about/literacy-facts-and-stats.htm)

Without literacy democracy doesn’t stand a chance.

33% 4th grd public school students at or below Basic level on the 2009 Nat’l Assessment of Educational Progress rding tests @WeWrite4U_Lit (www.rif.org/us/about/literacy-facts-and-stats.htm)
44 million adults in U.S. can’t read well enough to read a simple story to a child.(http://www.readfaster.com/education_stats.asp) 
90% of U.S. welfare recipients are high school dropouts (http://www.begintoread.com/research/literacystatistics.html)
In U.S. one child in four grows up not knowing how to read. (http://www.begintoread.com/research/literacystatistics.html)

$80 billion or more each year in lost worker productivity (FYI citation: http://www.literacypartners.org/literacy-in-america/impact-of-illiteracy) 

H.S. seniors who read at or above Proficient has been declining since 1992. @WeWrite4U_Lit @Literacy_4_Life @literacycoop (http://www.rif.org/us/about/literacy-facts-and-stats.htm)

Now I have a new book to introduce to you. And what better time to have a book about fairies, demons and witchcraft? October is just around the corner so is All Hallows Eve. Also you’ll want to take advantage of the Rafflecopter Giveaway!

The Watchers Book 1: Knight of Light

 In England, 1270 A.D., Auriella (pronounced yurr-ee-ella) flees her village after being accused of witchcraft. Pursued by nightmarish creatures, she struggles to accept the truth about her humanity.

Filled with fairies, dwarves, pixies, dragons, demons, and monsters, Knight of Light is an enthralling tale that will capture the imaginations of readers young and old.

The Watchers Series has been described as Braveheart meets Supernatural.

The mythology for the series is based on many theological texts from dozens of sects with correlating themes. Ancient writings include The Dead Sea Scrolls, The Traditional Apocrypha, The Pearl of Great Price, and The Kabbalah.

“The Watchers” are supernatural beings in human form whose duty it is to protect and guard mankind from the armies of darkness.
Unfortunately, as the Book of Enoch mentions, some of these Watchers go bad. Although the mythology is based on these texts, Deirdra Eden’s The Watcher’s Series is written in a traditional fairytale style with a young girl’s discovery of incredible, but dangerous powers within herself, a cast of humorous side-kicks, a quest for greater self-discovery and purpose, and villains of epic proportions

About the Author



“My goal in writing is to saturate my books with intrigue, mystery, romance, and plot twists that will keep my readers in suspense. I want to see fingerprints on the front and back covers where readers have gripped the novel with white knuckles!

Aside from writing, I enjoy jousting in arenas, planning invasions, horseback riding through open meadows, swimming in the ocean, hiking up mountains, camping in cool shady woods, climbing trees barefoot, and going on adventures.”
-Deirdra Eden

Find Deirdra Eden and The Watchers Series online on Amazon, Deirdra’s website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Wattpad, and Pinterest.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Part 9, The Pros Give Us Some Advice, Featuring Valerie Storey & @WeWrite4U_Lit

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I stumbled on Valerie Storey’s work, and I was so taken with the first book I read of hers, that I had to read another. She is a writer of compelling tales. It’s no wonder her last name is what it is. She is a remarkable STOREYteller. Today she’s sharing her advice with us.

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON


Short Summary for Better Than Perfect:
When fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Haddon’s mother sends her from England to live with relatives in New Zealand, she is confronted with an unfamiliar world of foreign social values and sibling power struggles. Living with her domineering Auntie Faye and in the company of her beautiful, but enigmatic, cousin, Ravenna, Elizabeth wants nothing more than to be accepted by her new and seemingly perfect family. But perfection comes at a price, and Elizabeth quickly learns that appearances can be deceiving, forcing her to choose between a life of conformity or one of independence.
Advice for Writing YA Fiction:

To me the most important thing about writing for the YA market is to remember and record what it was like to be a young adult: all the pain, the joy, the worry, the confusion and especially the belief that no one, no one in the whole world can possibly understand what you’re going through. When I’m writing YA, I like to keep a journal solely for my young adult memories. I use the Natalie Goldberg prompt of “I remember. . . ” and go back to everything I can, from school to family to even what I wore and read at the time. I don’t hold anything back—just let it all out, exactly as I did at fifteen!
Valerie’s advice brings to mind those journals we all kept as teens. I think mine were lost during some move to another state or country, but I do remember scribbling my thoughts and feelings into small leather bound books. Since I no longer have those scribblings, I think I’ll take Valerie’s suggestions and start pouring out what I remember of that time. It will be interesting what comes onto the page.

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If you haven’t joined us yet in supporting Literacy in the month of Sept. I hope you will sign up today, copy the prepared Tweets to tweet about this issue, and retweet those that are up.  You can make this a special month for readers and writers. 

  • Sign up. 
  • Copy and paste the prepared Tweets, which I will refresh two times for your convenience. 
  • Tweet your heart out. 
12 TWEETS ( in parentheses I’ve put the source just in case you need it. Be sure to delete the citation or the tweet will be too long.) Hope you’ll create some of your own, too.
Literacy is learned. Read to your kids. @WeWrite4U_Lit

Volunteer to teach reading. You’re needed. @WeWrite4U_Lit

People who read contribute to our society. @WeWrite4U_Lit

Without literacy democracy doesn’t stand a chance. @WeWrite4U_Lit

46% of American adults can’t understand the label on their prescription medicine@WeWrite4U_Lit(http://www.readfaster.com/education_stats.asp)
44 million adults in U.S. can’t read well enough to read a simple story to a child.@WeWrite4U_Lit (http://www.readfaster.com/education_stats.asp)
90% of U.S. welfare recipients are high school dropouts@WeWrite4U_Lit (http://www.begintoread.com/research/literacystatistics.html)
In U.S. one child in four grows up not knowing how to read.@WeWrite4U_Lit (http://www.begintoread.com/research/literacystatistics.html)

$80 billion or more each year in lost worker productivity@WeWrite4U_Lit (FYI citation: http://www.literacypartners.org/literacy-in-america/impact-of-illiteracy)

By end of 4th grade 2/3 of low-literacy students end up in jail or on welfare.@WeWrite4U_Lit (http://www.begintoread.com/research/literacystatistics.html)

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You don’t have to write YA to use this technique. How do you capture the voice of your characters? Do you journal?  Have you joined in @WeWrite4U_Lit. No? And why would that be? 

The Rifters Launch and We Write For You Continues

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I’m really excited about having M.Pax here today to celebrate her launch of  THE RIFTERS. Let’s see what this new series is all about.  Oh, and THE RIFTERS is FREE on AMAZON. Get your copy now.

The Gold Rush trickles to a fool’s quest and a string of stagecoach heists. In 1888, Earl Blacke decides to make a new start and become a better man. He escapes into the mountains, heading north. In the wilds of Oregon, a rift inside an ancient volcano opens and sends him into the future, into the present day. It also shaves forty years off his age, forty years to live over again and atone for what he’s done.
Starting over is hard to do. In current day New York, Daelin Long’s dream job at a publishing house goes the way of the dinosaurs her sister chases. With no money and nowhere else to go, Daelin accepts the librarian position in her sister’s dinky town in the middle of Oregon. Nestled inside ancient volcanic peaks, the town of Settler holds onto many secrets. Residents roam the streets with weirdly fashioned devices, and odd lights pulse in the night skies. People whisper of a phantom outlaw and start dying, murdered and missing their heads. On top of it all, Daelin’s sister is missing, and Daelin doesn’t know who to trust.
Earl knows more than he’s saying. He shares a notorious history with the phantom, one he’ll see remains buried. Keeping Daelin’s sister’s secrets is his only chance at redemption, and the only way to keep this world safe.
The Rifters is available at an introductory price. The second book in the series, The Initiate, will be available October 20, 2014. It’s up for preorder for a special price at iTunes, Amazon, and B&N. Check HERE for links. Giveaways and events are ongoing through October 31, 2014. Check HERE for details.

M. Pax is author of the space adventure series The Backworlds, plus other novels and short stories. Fantasy, science fiction, and the weird beckons  to her, and she blames Oregon, a source of endless inspiration. She docents at Pine Mountain Observatory in the summers as a star guide, has a cat with a crush on Mr. Spock, and is slightly obsessed with Jane Austen. Learn more at mpaxauthor.com.
There are some great opportunities to win some books. They’re just a CLICK away. Be sure to check them out.

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Have you signed up yet for We Write For You? (TwitterHandle:@WeWrite4U_Lit). If not here’s your chance.  

1. Let me know you’re interested by signing up on the Linky. If possible grab the code and share it on your blog.

2. Below are some pre-written Tweets and I’m hoping we can TWEET UP A STORM with Tweets and RT’s the month of September.

3. I’ve created a LIST/GROUP for Twitter @WeWrite4U_Lit, so please join and use the group’s handle.

4. I’ve followed and been followed by these literacy groups: 

@supportliteracy 
@LitPartners 
@literature_dp
@literacycoop
@HouLit

You might want to add some of them to spread your tweets.

5. Add the Linky to your blog or put in a link to The Write Game, so others can sign up. I’ll keep the Linky on my blog until the last week in September.

12 FRESH TWEETS ( in parentheses I’ve put the source just in case you need it. Be sure to delete the citation or the tweet will be too long.) Hope you’ll create some of your own, too.
Literacy is learned. Read to your kids. @WeWrite4U_Lit

Volunteer to teach reading. You’re needed. @WeWrite4U_Lit

People who read contribute to our society. @WeWrite4U_Lit

Without literacy democracy doesn’t stand a chance. @WeWrite4U_Lit

46% of American adults can’t understand the label on their prescription medicine@WeWrite4U_Lit(http://www.readfaster.com/education_stats.asp)
44 million adults in U.S. can’t read well enough to read a simple story to a child.@WeWrite4U_Lit (http://www.readfaster.com/education_stats.asp)
90% of U.S. welfare recipients are high school dropouts@WeWrite4U_Lit (http://www.begintoread.com/research/literacystatistics.html)
In U.S. one child in four grows up not knowing how to read.@WeWrite4U_Lit (http://www.begintoread.com/research/literacystatistics.html)

$80 billion or more each year in lost worker productivity@WeWrite4U_Lit (FYI citation: http://www.literacypartners.org/literacy-in-america/impact-of-illiteracy)

By end of 4th grade 2/3 of low-literacy students end up in jail or on welfare.@WeWrite4U_Lit (http://www.begintoread.com/research/literacystatistics.html)