Colonization Cover and Contest!

I'm happy to be a part of Aubrie Dionne's cover reveal because:

1) She's the most prolific, hard-working writer I know.

2) She's helped me with my writing countless times.

3) I critiqued this book.

Finding a new home has never been so dangerous.

       Andromeda has spent all seventeen years of her life aboard a deep space transport vessel destined for a paradise planet. Her safe cocoon is about to break open as Paradise 21 looms only one month away, and she must take the aptitude tests to determine her role on the new world and her computer assigned lifemate. As a great-granddaughter of the Commander of the ship, she wants to live up to her family name. But, her forbidden love for her childhood friend, Sirius, distracts her and she fails the tests. The results place her in a menial role in the new colony and pair her with Corvus, “the oaf”.

       But when Andromeda steps foot on Paradise 21, her predestined future is the least of her worries. Alien ghosts from a failed colonization warn her of a deadly threat to her colony. And when Sirius's ship crashes on the far ridge in an attempt to investigate, she journeys to rescue him with Corvus.

       Andromeda now must convince the authorities of the imminent danger to protect her new home. What she didn't expect was a battle of her own feelings for Sirius and Corvus.

       Can she save the colony and discover her true love?

Author Bio:

Aubrie Dionne writes science fiction fantasy with romantic elements. Her writings have appeared in Mindflights, Niteblade, Silver Blade, Emerald Tales, Hazard Cat, Moon Drenched Fables, A Fly in Amber, and Aurora Wolf. Her books are published by Inkspell Publishing, Entangled Publishing, Lyrical Press, and Gypsy Shadow Publishing. She’s also a professional flutist in New England.

Please visit her website: www.authoraubrie.com

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2964057.Aubrie_Dionne

Twitter: @authoraubrie

Blog: http://authoraubrie.blogspot.com

Giveaway! – Open for US and UK only.

We have a very cool keyring as a giveaway.

Below is the rafflecopter link:

For Bloggers:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

For Wordpress:

http://www.inkspellpublishing.com/1/post/2012/07/colonization-paradise-21-cover-reveal.html

Agents and Authors

I have an article on the Writer's Digest Blog:

Guide to Literary Agents

It's from the author-agent panel at this year's NE-SCBWI Conference.  Read what authors and their agents had to say about a variety of topics.

Please visit!

Possession vs. Surrender

Elana Johnson is here!  

You're now the author of two published books. I'd love you to compare/contrast your writing and promoting experiences between Possession and Surrender.  

           What do you wish you knew when you were a debut author that you know now?  

This is such a hard question. I learned a lot of things about publishing Possession. I learned that it helps to have other people talk about your book. I learned that there are some things out of your control. I learned that some of the marketing things I did weren’t as effective as the time/money I put into them. 

I wish I could go back to that pre-release stage. We spend so much time waiting for our books to come out, but it’s the most precious time. Once your book comes out… It’s all about how it performs after that. And that kills some of the excitement. So I wish I knew to keep things in perspective, do what I could, and then move on.

What was better about writing Possession?  


There’s much more joy in writing your first book. Less pressure. More time to get it right. I didn’t experience as much joy in writing SURRENDER, and there was way more pressure and way less time to get it perfect. So that’s hard. Looking back, writing POSSESSION was definitely more fun.

What was better about writing Surrender?

I no longer had to worry as much as world-building. The society was already set in POSSESSION, and while SURRENDER takes place in another city, and I needed to establish setting, the whole world didn’t have to be conceived. It already had been. So that made writing SURRENDER much easier.

How is promotion different between the two books?


The pressure! With POSSESSION, I didn’t really know what would work and what wouldn’t. I did things because I wanted to do them. With SURRENDER, I went through a period of time where I seriously contemplated doing nothing. Maybe mentioning the book on release day. Then things changed, and I decided I did need to do some promotion for the book. And the pressure that brought! So much pressure.

Because, remember, now everything is about sales. How many copies are selling? How close is that bringing me to earning out? What else can I do to reach readers? Will they buy it if they only see the book once?

And on and on. There is intense pressure to promote SURRENDER, to ensure that it sells well enough to warrant a continued writing career.

General questions:

Surrender is a companion novel.  Which characters reappear in this book?




Okay, so readers will see Vi and Zenn and Jag again. Thane Myers also plays a heavy role in SURRENDER, just as he did in POSSESSION. Let’s see, who else is there? I think that’s it.

Do you prefer butterflies or hummingbirds?  Explain. 




It depends! I have some beautiful jewelry for each, and butterflies are definitely more common in almost everything craft-wise. I definitely prefer the butterfly cover over the hummingbird one, so maybe butterflies? Yeah, let’s go with that.

What are you writing now?

I just started working on a YA contemporary novel. It’s going well, but it’s much harder than I expected it to be.

What else do you have in the works that you want to tell us about?

So many things! I’m hoping I’ll get to unleash my YA sci fi on the world one day. As well as my YA fantasy… Oh! And I wrote a whole novel in verse. I’d love for that to get published too. So we’ll see. Hopefully, there are many upcoming things for me!

About SURRENDER: 

Raine has always been a good girl. She lives by the rules in Freedom. After all, they are her father’s rules: He’s the Director. It’s because of him that Raine is willing to use her talent—a power so dangerous, no one else is allowed to know about it. Not even her roommate, Vi.

All of that changes when Raine falls for Gunner. Raine’s got every reason in the world to stay away from Gunn, but she just can’t. Especially when she discovers his connection to Vi’s boyfriend, Zenn.

Raine has never known anyone as heavily brainwashed as Vi. Raine’s father expects her to spy on Vi and report back to him. But Raine is beginning to wonder what Vi knows that her father is so anxious to keep hidden, and what might happen if she helps Vi remember it. She’s even starting to suspect Vi’s secrets might involve Freedom’s newest prisoner, the rebel Jag Barque…. 

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The Power of Words

I know a writer who wrote

A picture book manuscript

And had the courage to pursue—

Querying.

We know what it’s like to send

Our babies into the world

Like blowing wishes in the wind—

Hoping.

One agent is well known ‘round

The social networking sphere

And was doing what agents do—

Advising.

This agent sent the writer,

Not a form letter, but still

One writers dread, anticipate—

Rejection.

But

It

Didn’t

Stop

There.

The agent

Actually said

It was awful and called

Her a terrible writer.

The writer

Wanted to quit.

Another

Writer who is

Published and Established

Told her it was super—keep

Trying

To

Get

It

Published.

The writer didn’t give up

Because the published writer

Did what all good agents should do—

Support.

Writers

Make

Mistakes

Learn

Grow.

We all start somewhere humble

Before we make our mark.

Doing what writers do with time—

Blossoming.

Nobody

Has

The

Right

To

Crush dreams.

What one agent calls DRIVEL

Can leave another agent DAZZLED.

Don’t

Give

Up

Just

Yet.

Keep writing

xo

Theresa

P.S. My poem is included in

Vine Leaves Literary Journal issue #3. 

Please read “Catty-Corner” on pages 41-42. 

This poem illustrates the power of words for me. 

February Grace is in there too. 

Hide

“I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide.”

—Harper Lee

       I read my last post and feel like a different person wrote it.  This isn’t an unfamiliar feeling.  Any writer knows that with great hope comes the eventual loss of hope. 

One positive piece of news can make a day.

One negative feedback can break a day.

       For me, it seems to be coming from all fronts. I apply for jobs, many through schoolspring.com.  Sometimes, I get an email that an employer has read my resume (hope).  Sometimes, I get an email that the position has been filled (loss of hope). 

       I spent much of Sunday applying for non-teaching jobs.  I’m still applying for teaching and even better paying instructional aide jobs.  What is one qualified for (other than teaching) with a History B.A. and M.A.? I worked at GEICO full time, and then part time during grad school, but that was a long time ago.  I hope to find a position in education, so maybe there will be some more vacation time for me to spend with my kids.  I’ll miss the summer. That is, if I get a job. At least my last job is waiting for me.

Then there’s writing…

I’ve sent 10 queries.

I’ve received 2 rejections.

 Vine Leaves Literary Journal  accepted my poem for their July issue. (YaY!)

       In the midst of that happiness, I received 2 bits of negative writing feedback, so the brief moment in the sun became a tsunami.

I feel like hiding.

I’m tired of saying I’m a teacher who isn’t teaching.

I’m tired of saying I’m a writer who isn’t published.

Small pieces.

But no BIG BOOKS.

       Since summer began, I’ve been devoting lots of time to editing.  I plan to have 2 more projects to query by end of summer. 

Too bad the story of my life is… the best laid plans.

Depressed yet? 

I’m leaving us with some inspirational quotes.  We could use them about now.

“When your story is ready for rewrite, cut it to the bone. Get rid of every ounce of excess fat. This is going to hurt; revising a story down to the bare essentials is always a little like murdering children, but it must be done.”
—Stephen King, WD

“Plot is people. Human emotions and desires founded on the realities of life, working at cross purposes, getting hotter and fiercer as they strike against each other until finally there’s an explosion—that’s Plot.”
—Leigh Brackett, WD

“Write. Rewrite. When not writing or rewriting, read. I know of no shortcuts.”
—Larry L. King, WD

“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”
—Ernest Hemingway

“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.”
—George Orwell

“The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.”
—Philip Roth

Okay, maybe not all inspirational.

What do you do to keep a thick hide?

Naked Ambition

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he falls while daring greatly.  So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory no defeat.”

- Theodore Roosevelt

Here’s what I’ve been up to in my writing life:

Naked Eye

I’ve never worked this hard on a query. Never worked this hard on a manuscript.

Never had a manuscript make it this far in ABNA (though it was cut for quarterfinals).

Since then, I’ve had 1 more writer look at the query. Had 4 more writers look at the manuscript.  It hasn’t been polished—it’s been scoured. 

Now I’m querying the editor and agent who requested partials, along with the other editors and agents who attended the conference. 5 out so far. More to follow.

Project X

I completed the rough draft 2 weeks ago at 60k.  Revisions began yesterday.  Soon enough I’ll be looking for readers. 

The query + 9 pages were critiqued at the NE-SCBWI conference in April.  The editor thought the manuscript had a good voice, and there was a market for it.  She gave me some direction, which I incorporated. Best of all, she thought the query was solid.  This is crazy 1 person looked at it besides me, and I didn’t revise it that many times.  Could it be I’ve finally figured out how to write a decent query? 

Time will tell.

100RPM


Aubrie Dionne                                      
 
is hosting me on her blog today to tell about 100RPM.  
For details, PLEASE VISIT! 

Writers, where are you in your writing life? 

Wherever you are, I hope you’re victorious.

P.S. My friend Brigid 

has a wonderful piece in a contest. 

Please read her  ENTRY. 

If you like it…  VOTE!

Surrender

“Art is nothing but the expression of our dream; the more we surrender to it the closer we get to the inner truth of things, our dream-life, the true life that scorns questions and does not see them.”

Franz Marc

I decided to write a post about a time I didn’t surrender.

It’s for the release of  Elana Johnson's 

new book Surrender. 

The problem is…

I’m not fiction.

I’m real.

What insurmountable odds have I faced and overcome?

What dramatic showdown occurred where I prevailed?

What antagonist did I battle with…

You get the idea. 

Most of us fight smaller fights.

I try not to compare myself with others.

Their successes are not my failures.

My successes are not their failures.

It’s best to focus on me.

I can dwell on what I haven’t

Accomplished.

Beat myself up.

But there is--

a house to handle,

children to cherish,

a husband to hug,

students to school, 

family and friends.

So I keep moving forward--

Work,

School,

Writing. 

I face my demons everyday. 

I won’t give up.

For if I surrender,

I won’t succeed.

Surrender is available TODAY: 

The thrilling and seductive sequel to Possession puts love on the line in a dystopian struggle for independent thought.

Forbidden love, intoxicating power, and the terror of control…

     Raine has always been a good girl. She lives by the rules in Freedom. After all, they are her father’s rules: He’s the Director. It’s because of him that Raine is willing to use her talent—a power so dangerous, no one else is allowed to know about it. Not even her roommate, Vi.

     All of that changes when Raine falls for Gunner. Raine’s got every reason in the world to stay away from Gunn, but she just can’t. Especially when she discovers his connection to Vi’s boyfriend, Zenn.

     Raine has never known anyone as heavily brainwashed as Vi. Raine’s father expects her to spy on Vi and report back to him. But Raine is beginning to wonder what Vi knows that her father is so anxious to keep hidden, and what might happen if she helps Vi remember it. She’s even starting to suspect Vi’s secrets might involve Freedom’s newest prisoner, the rebel Jag Barque…. 

Get your copy today!

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