Fall For The Indie Book Hot Wash

Whew, that was a long fifteen weeks y'all. But it successfully filled the time between August and December so now I can start promoting Alliances highlighted fifteen authors.

As you may remember, hot washes are how the military reviews exercises and other events to take a peek at what went right, what went wrong, and what can be done differently next time. For me, Fall for the Indie Book was a way to test different marketing theories I had related to social media and sales, as well as compare whether results I was getting for my book were the same as if I was promoting another's book.

#FridayReads Review

And for my very last #FallfortheIndieBook - a new favorite author.

An Absence of Light sucked me in from the very beginning and only slightly lost my interest towards the end (the Shadows were not what I expected them to be, more after the jump), and everything was wrapped up quickly for all of the damage caused. But - even so, a solid output from an author whose voice I definitely loved.

#TBT With Meradeth Houston

Thursday Post


In attempting to come up with a post for today, I spent a LOT of time coming back though my blog. Wow did I have some random posts back in the day :) Anyhow, I came across the one that announces my first book contract for Colors Like Memories, and I thought I'd share it here:


ACK! OMG! LOL! (AND MANY OTHER 3-LETTER EXCLAMATIONS, LIKE WOW!)

(Okay, maybe I should have calmed down a bit more before writing this post, but hey, I'm allowed

some seriously excitement here!)

Colors Like Memories is going to be published!!! Release date is tentatively set for May 2012! *faints*

(Honestly, who really does faint at stuff like that? I've always wondered. Maybe if I were wearing a tight corset or something, but otherwise, really?!?)

Okay, so, here's the deal: I was lurking over at the Blue Boards (as I am want to do, instead of working) and found some people discussing an e-publisher in Canada called MuseItUp. I decided, hey, this is interesting, and spent a good while combing through their website, reading their blog, checking them out. They looked pretty sweet! And, see, I have this manuscript. I adore it. Like, it's my child. And I didn't want it to go the way of all the earth (as I was seriously beginning to fear it might). So I pulled it all together and decided it was worth sending it to Muse. Yikes! This was a big step for me. I've always kind of thought that I would go the more traditional agent route, but quite frankly, that route is changing. Publishing is changing. And seeing as how I've read quite a few e-books this past year, and the trend is only getting stronger, I thought this was a really awesome opportunity for my book-baby. Anyhow, I'll cut out the couple of weeks of anxious email-checking, but this morning I got an EMAIL of AWESOMENESS! Said EoA was an acceptance. Followed for a contract, and some other information.

*Insert skipping and jumping around my little apartment here* (I'm sure my neighbors downstairs officially think I've lost it at this point.)

Anyhow, my book-baby is going to get published! It's going to hopefully be read by other people! I mean, that's what I really wanted from this whole publication-hunt thing in the first place. And now I get to work with real editors and real cover designers, and holy cow, this is really happening.

(I'm fairly certain my excitement is coming through here, right?)

So, yeah. It's been a crazy journey. So many highs and lows and stretches of utter blah. And now? Now the real work starts! I can't wait!

Haha! This just made me laugh :) I was a little excited, can you tell? Do you ever go back and read old posts sometimes?

Guest Blog Wednesday with Meradeth Houston

Check out Meradeth's guest blog post below: /S.

I thought I'd talk today about something that is one of my favorite parts about writing: opening lines!

Welcome Author Meradeth Houston

WE DID IT! Here's the last week of #FallfortheIndieBook - and to wrap it up, my dear friend Meradeth Houston! Check out her author interview! /S.

Thanks so much for hosting me this week! These features have been so much fun and I'm looking forward to the week!

Okay, onward to questions:

#FridayReads Review of Vane

Note to everyone writing a sequel: Please have someone read it who hasn't read the first book. Because they'll (rightly) be able to help you add in the 1-2 sentences that will jog memories or provide a quick synopsis of what happened in the first book. Don't expect your readers to be Harry Potter-level obsessed with your work and know every nuance and character as well as you do - especially if you have an abundance of characters.

I resisted this at first with my editor with my own sequel, but after reading Vane and seeing my own reactions, I am a bit more hyped on this than usual.

That is to start off this review saying that I spent most of it scratching my head and trying to remember who everyone was, why they were important, and what the hell was going on. Which was FRUSTRATING because this book had such good moments in it, but I spent too long playing catch up that I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have. 

Guest Blog Wednesday with Teshelle Combs

Hey Hey Hey! I’m Teshelle Combs, author of some really cool stuff, like the Core Series and the System Series. Today, I’m popping in to tell you about CORE. But first, a huge, gigantic, warm, gooey hug to my buddy S. Usher Evans for being sweet and inviting me here!

Now, I bet you’re wondering…CORE? What is that…an abs workout dvd? Seriously, I’ve had people ask me if my books are about exercising. And I’m like…”have you seen my abs? No. You haven’t. Because they aren’t there! I’m just as squishy as everyone else. I promise I’m not an expert!”

Welcome Author Teshelle Combs

Join me in welcoming our fourteenth (ALMOST DONE) Fall for the Indie Book author, Teshelle Combs! /S.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Young Tess, stop wasting your time worrying about whether you’re beautiful or not. You’re beautiful, babe. You really are. Now believe that and use the time you spent denying it to write.

FridayReads Review

Sigh. This is one of those very rare instances where I was unable to complete a book and it absolutely kills me to say that.

The story itself just didn't grab me from the moment that I began to when I stopped about 25% of the way through - and it was purely because I really REALLY hate Orwellian-esque science fictions, and that's what this one was. There is a fan base for this one, and I am not in it.

Beyond the genre, I think why this story didn't grab me was because we never got a chance to see our protagonist - Colin - as a man in his old life. The very first page is him waking up as a woman in an odd apartment. So really, the transgendered aspect of it - the change from man to woman, wasn't there. Even so, Colin seemed very firmly a guy in a woman's body, and I found his wife acceptance of his new state to be lacking in realism (and even if it was mind control, from a story perspective, I missed the tension). The story seemed to be about a man who woke up as a woman, and slowly came to accept himself being a woman. Again, that may appeal to some folks, but I just felt it to be lacking any kind of dramatic tension.

Per my policy, I'm not going to give any stars, because I can't form an honest opinion about it. But I definitely think if you are a fan of the very strange dystopians, this is a good book for you.

:(

Guest Blog Wednesday with Emissa Ghaight

Check out today's guest post from Emissa! 

Ladies, if your husband turned into a woman overnight, would your marriage survive?

That's one of the questions at the heart of The Loyalty Factor, a brand new sci-fi novel by Emissa Ghaight.  And it's a good question, too, in this day and age where loyalty isn't always present in marriage, where divorce is more and more common, and at the same time, so-called moral purists are decrying same-sex marriages when heterosexual marriages are falling apart.

In the story, Colin and Kim Singleton find themselves in just such a situation, where all of the sudden, their traditional, heteronormative marriage is turned upside down when they are abducted and Colin is turned into a woman against his will.  Now if you were in Kim's position, you could abandon the marriage since, after all, you married a man, not a woman.  You could even say that homosexual sex is wrong.  Or that transgenderism is wrong.  Then again, so is kidnapping and assault, no?

So you choose.  Kim and Moira (neé Colin) have made their choice.  What will yours be?

Welcome Author Emissa Ghaight

Welcome to our thirteenth Fall for the Indie Book Author, Emissa Ghaight! Check out her Monday Blogs interview below:

Why did you write your book?

There were several themes I wanted to explore in the book, and they all had this theme of loyalty around them, and that's how I chose the title, "The Loyalty Factor." The first was the notion of the loyalty in the marriage relationship, where you have a heteronormative married couple who, all of the sudden, not only does he find himself transformed into a woman, but now they're a lesbian couple. How do those original vows they took when they got married still apply? What if this were to happen to, say, a conservative Christian couple who abhors homosexuality? How far do you go to keep those promises you kept to each other?

My Review of The Madness Project

(I posted this back in April on Goodreads, so yeah, I'm cheating again and posting a review of a book I already read. But it was so goooooood you guys!)

I was pointed to this book by my friend Kristin (so a friend of a friend).

In the first two or three chapters, I was confused, especially as the POV switched from the girl to the boy (I am sure I will mispell both names). Four pages into the first chapter from the girl's perspective, I realized that I was in the shoes of another character.

Then I stayed up all night to read it because I couldn't put it down.

Guest Blog Wednesday with J. Leigh Bralick

In Which I Discuss Fantasy Worlds And Other Awesomeness

So, I was trying to think of fun stuff to write about for this blog post, and I decided that it might be fun to talk about one of my absolute favorite things about writing fantasy: world building. You know. That awesome godlike power of being able to imagine any possible world and build it up with history and mythology and geography and politics and incredible, brilliant characters, all of which come together in a dazzling moment of awesomeness to create The Story.

When I first started writing seriously, I considered the epic medieval-esque fantasy to be my bread and butter. Because, you know, Tolkien. And stuff. My first attempt at a novel (which you'll learn more about tomorrow!) was exactly that type of book. When I envisioned my future as a bestselling author with movies and rabid screaming fans, I always imagined my shelf at the bookstore as one long line-up of glorious swords-n-sorcery titles of epic battles and dragons and things.

Fantasy has always been my greatest passion as a writer...but recently I've had a revelation, thanks in part to some awesome novels like Mistborn and Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson.

Fantasy worlds don't have to be your standard castles and princes and swords in a standard western European style culture. You don't need impossible names with lots of unnecessary apostrophes and umlauts to be epic, and honestly, a bad boy in a leather trencher with a revolver can be just as sexy as a boy in a tunic with a sword.

My revelation kind of started with the Lost Road Chronicles, a contemporary YA fantasy trilogy. When I first conceived that story, the world that the main character Merelin finds herself swept into was very, very alien, but somehow it also managed to be very stock medieval. It was bland and uninteresting. Well, I put that concept away for many many years, and when I came back to it, I realized that one of my problems wiht writing it was that I'd visualized the world all wrong. It didn't suit the characters at all.

It wasn't medieval at all. It was supposed to be ancient. It was...Middle to Near Eastern ancient. It was exotic and harsh and beautiful, with sun-soaked stones and dust and brightly colored silks and incense.

And I loved it.


I loved how different it was. I loved how it felt essential to the characters, instead of trying to force-fit the characters into some pre-conceived setting just because.

Fast forward a few years, and I got the idea for The Madness Project. Actually, I got the idea for Tarik, the rogue prince who gets asked to do the unthinkable to save his family. When I started brainstorming his world, my first instinct was my default medieval knights and castles and swords bit.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that that could never be Tarik's world. Each piece I turned over revealed more and more of an early-20th century society like some kind of cross between mobster Chicago and aristocratic London with a bit of magic and a bit of mad science. With leather trench coats and motorcars and steam planes and submachine guns. With a high society of glamor and glitz and pretension and the street kids with their slang and starry-eyed visions of a better future. (Check out my Madness Project Pinterest board to see some cool inspirational pics!)

It'd always been that kind of joint, anyway. No rules like up northside where you had to have the right look to get a seat. The place felt perpetually dusty, like the inside of a mill, with faded floors and faded walls covered from corner to corner with the kind of rebel slogans that the coppers would never stand to see. I'd never figured Chancy for a rebel himself, but I knew a lot of the older lads played at being revolutionaries here in the shadows, meeting over stale beer and stolen cigos, imagining the handful of them could actually change the world.

It's been one of the most exciting worlds I've ever written. I can smell it, feel it, taste it. It's dreary but dazzling, all wrapped up in a breathless wonder at scientific invention and the fascination of magic in a world where it doesn't belong. It's a bit fantasy and a bit steampunk, which is a concept I only really discovered as I was writing this book.

The story is also the hardest story I've ever written. I knew when I started that it was going to be a bit psychological -- the whole point, after all, was to explore what a life of lies would do to a person. How would it affect a person to pretend to be someone he's not so he can slip into a world where he doesn't belong, knowing all along that the only reason he's making friends with the people there is so that he can ultimately betray them? And what if he actually started caring about those people? How far can loyalty be pushed?

"We're spies, Tarik," he said. His voice sounded strangely heavy. "Once that's in your blood, that's all you live for. You live for the game. Be one step ahead. Dodge one more discovery. Pull the blindness over one more friend, and get away with it. There is no loyalty. There is no friendship. There is only the game." He shook his head. "It's what they make us. It's what they make us do. They teach us to run wild and then expect us to stay on a leash of our own making."





Tarik goes through hell in this book, and when I finished it, I felt like I'd been dragged through it right along with him. I couldn't write anything for months afterwards. I'm still struggling with writing the sequel, Scion. I was emotionally drained, more so than with any book I've ever written.

But luckily I'm getting back into the swing of things, and I'm actually super stoked about Scion. One of my favorite things about this book? It takes Tarik to a place that is very much inspired by my favoritest place in the whole wide world -- Iceland.

I've also gotten some inspiration for a new fantasy novel that turns some common tropes on their heads (which at first I imagined would make for a tongue-in-cheek light-hearted novel, but it's actually quite dark). It's actually proving easier for me to write than Scion (go figure!). Unlike all of my books so far, this one will be written in 3rd person POV, because I've got three characters so far whose heads I want to get into. Three very different people from three very different worlds.

Does this one take place in your basic medieval setting?

Nope.

Here's a hint...Picture this and you're on the right track:




I still love the medieval fantasy setting. Maybe someday I'll return to it. But for now, there are so, so many worlds out there to explore, and you know what? It's going to be brilliant.

Welcome Author J. Leigh Bralick

I'm excited to welcome our next Fall for the Indie Book Author, J. Leigh Bralick (aka Jen). The Madness Project is up there as one of my hands-down FAVORITE books of this year (yeah, yeah, I read it already). 

Some of us our eagerly awaiting book 2 there, Bralick... /S.

1. THE MADNESS PROJECT...in Doctor Who Gifs!

First of all, there's a boy. His name is Tarik, and he's the Crown Prince in a world that despises magic and chases endlessly after science.





Thing is, he has a secret he's kept hidden his whole life. He's a mage, and he can change what he looks like.

FridayReads Review

So apparently dragons-as-people is a thing? LOL, Fantasy N00b over here.

In any case, I've been itching to get my hands around Melissa's book for a while now. She and her Sassy Sister are really awesome folk, and I was thrilled to include them in my Fall for the Indie Book party.

#TBT with Melissa Petreshock

Today, Mel's throwing it back with an old blog post. Check it out! /S.

HOW I TAUGHT MY MS A HANDSTAND

Originally posted August 12, 2013



Yesterday, Nat Russo posted on Twitter "Your first idea is often cliche. Keep asking "what if". Change things. Brainstorm." This was one of his many #writetip posts that I often enjoy and retweet. To this particular one, I replied, "I turned mine upside down."

Literally. I turned my manuscript upside down. I taught it to do a handstand.

Guest Blog Wednesday with Melissa Petreshock

It's getting kind of hot on the ol' Ramblin' Blog. I need my smellin' salts. /S.

A WORLD ON FIRE: EXPANDING BEYOND FOSAD

"When the stars are the only things we share, Will you be there? I've got a plan. I've got an atlas in my hands." - "Atlas Hands" by Benjamin Francis Leftwich 

FIRE OF STARS AND DRAGONS is the first book in the Stars and Souls Trilogy. Now, I'm probably telling you something you already know. A quick glance on Amazon, my website, or most any of my social media will tell you that. The news has been out for a while that BLOOD OF STARS AND GODS (Book #2) is coming, and the publication date has finally been set for May 2015. (Title and publication date on book #3 are TBA.)

Welcome Author Melissa Petreshock!

Melissa is 1/2 of the Sassy Sisters who were kind enough to include me in their Summer Block Party Giveaway. I have to say, I can't wait to crack open Melissa's book to see what the fuss is about. But in the meantime, +2 to her for answering the .GIF question. /S.

Describe your book in gifs

It starts because King Corrin is generally kind of like this...  

FridayReads Review of The Long Way Home

Full disclosure: Gina is currently in the midst of line-editing Alliances, but I don't think that swayed my opinion either way. Mostly because I'm paying her. Hah.

I bet when you all found out I was reading a romance this week, you collectively rolled your eyes and said, "Oh boy, she's going to hate this." And I, myself, was actually really worried that I wasn't going to get into the romance - too many Harlequin stereotypes filled my mind. And being as Gina's got my precious book in her hands this week, I was pretty dern nervous that I was going to have to carefully choose my words.

Guest Blog Wednesday with Gina West

Creativity as Luxury

I have a terrible confession to make. I haven’t written anything of substance in two years. TWO YEARS! Any writer—heck, any artist—knows the tragedy of going that long without creating.
During these past two years, I have done many other things, though. I got divorced. I got a full-time job after being a stay-at-home mom for more than a decade. I signed a publishing contract and published my first novel. I did several part-time editing gigs. And I moved four times before buying my very own townhome. Despite the fact that most of these changes were good, it still created a steady state of upheaval, and it was the most stressful time of my life.