My Book Signing Event

Thank you to everyone who came to support me and contributing author Diane Elarde at our book signing event last week at Changing Hands Bookstore! It meant a lot that so many of you would show up. Every copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Miraculous Messages from Heaven was gone by the end of the night which was awesome. We had a lot of fun!

Me and Diane Elarde

Story Reading

Book Signing

Be sure to check out Diane's website, A Star in My Hand. Also, a quick shout-out to Changing Hands Bookstore. This store is awesome (must go see!). Thanks to everyone at Changing Hands for making it such a great night.

Have you been to any book signings or launch parties? What do you think makes a great event? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments! Thanks for stopping by.

A Short Clip to Make You Smile

Oh my goodness, I am totally excited for my sister-in-law Kelli who put together this awesome clip. It just got picked up by a company! My brother makes an awesome Iron Man and my nephews, Captain America and Thor ROCK! This is certainly the coolest tooth-pulling experience I've seen or heard of. You have to see little Thor "put the hammer down." SO cute!



My dad used to get out a knife and pliers whenever I had a loose tooth. Ek! My brother has come a long way from that method.

How were your teeth pulled?

Author Interview with Amy Harmon and Blog Tour Giveaway

Today I'm excited to have Amy Harmon, author of Making Faces, A Different Blue and other novels, on my blog. A friend recommended Making Faces to me on Goodreads (thank you, Holly!) and I ordered it on my Kindle right after the blurb sucked me in. I had a few other titles on my to-read, but this novel swept me away, and I finished in no time because I couldn't put it down! Read below for more of my thoughts on Making Faces as well as an author interview I did with Amy Harmon. Also, be sure to enter her awesome blog tour giveaway below!

Making Faces on Amazon

Making Faces on Goodreads

Ambrose Young was beautiful. He was tall and muscular, with hair that touched his shoulders and eyes that burned right through you. The kind of beautiful that graced the covers of romance novels, and Fern Taylor would know. She'd been reading them since she was thirteen. But maybe because he was so beautiful he was never someone Fern thought she could have...until he wasn't beautiful anymore.

Making Faces is the story of a small town where five young men go off to war, and only one comes back. It is the story of loss. Collective loss, individual loss, loss of beauty, loss of life, loss of identity. It is the tale of one girl's love for a broken boy, and a wounded warrior's love for an unremarkable girl. This is a story of friendship that overcomes heartache, heroism that defies the common definitions, and a modern tale of Beauty and the Beast, where we discover that there is a little beauty and a little beast in all of us.

My Review

A beautiful, heartrending story of finding love and seeing the true beauty within. MAKING FACES is an emotive, gripping read!

Author Interview

Amy's Website

Amy's Facebook Page

Amy on Twitter

Amy on Goodreads

Amy's Amazon Author Page

Welcome, Amy! Tell us a little about your start as a writer and what inspired you to write.

I've always been a writer. Ask my mom. But I really decided to jump off the proverbial cliff about three years ago after my fourth child was born. I wasn't working so I could stay home with the kiddos, my oldest son was really struggling with his health, and my husband worked out of town all week long and came home on the weekends. We were exhausted and broke, and I knew something had to change. I'd already written Running Barefoot and I researched self-publishing, decided I had nothing to lose, and just went for it.

How did you come up with the premise for Making Faces?

My brother joined the National Guard with a few of his friends and they went to Iraq together on their first tour. It made me start thinking...what if? Also, my youngest son was born with a port wine stain on half of his face. (see recent blog post on goodreads) We've gotten used to the stares and the comments, but it made it easy to write about facial disfigurement. There are so many elements that go into a story, that it wasn't just one idea, but the building of ideas as I continued to craft scenes and flesh out my characters.

I love hearing about how stories start out. Thank you for sharing! Making Faces was packed with emotion; you put so much into this novel and the characters. Fern, Ambros, Bailey and all of your characters are so rich and unique; I felt like they were real people. Each character has so much heart and personality. Can you share some of your tips on crafting unforgettable characters?

For me, a good book is all about the characters. Some writers are great with plots, some fabulous with description and setting, but for me the characters tell the story. I work long and hard on my characters, and they are never entirely the way they start out. I like to do a free write describing the main characters. As I describe them, I ask myself questions. Okay...she's a redhead. How does she feel about red hair? She likes romance novels...but why does she like romance novels. etc. As the characters are developed, the story line emerges.

Great thoughts. Do you typically write with an outline or just see where the story goes? Which method works best for you and why?

I start with the character development free write. Then I branch off with ideas and write a general synopsis - almost like a book blurb. The Making Faces book blurb was written before I was even a third into the book. But a blurb isn't a story, so it gives direction without nailing me down. Then I write scenes.

As I said before, that blurb was what initially sold me on your story. I bought it right away! What was the hardest part about writing Making Faces?

The hardest part was writing about Ambrose's injuries. I wanted to be accurate, and it was very difficult to find good information about facial injuries in Iraq, even though so many soldiers have suffered through them. Also, some of the final scenes with Bailey...incredibly difficult making the chain of events effective, realistic and meaningful.

What books/authors inspire your writing?

So many. Honestly, I can't name just a few. I have been reading so long and so voraciously, that I have a million writers who have gone before me who I owe a great deal to. And truthfully, I really love Stephenie Meyer. I truly believed when I read the Twilight books that if she could do it, I could to.

There are many profound messages in this novel, including true beauty, love, friendship and more. The emotional journey this story took me on was incredible! What message, above all, do you hope readers grasp from Making Faces?

I just want them to feel better about the world. People are good and life is sweet, even when it's difficult. I want people to have hope.

Which scene from Making Faces was you favorite to write?

I adore love scenes. I know. People who've read the book will say "what love scenes?" because there isn't any sex in the book. But love scenes are different than sex scenes. Sex scenes can be love scenes...but they aren't always. I like scenes that make me melt and that make me, as a reader, fall in love right along with my characters. I also really love funny dialogue. Bailey was a hoot in this book, and I literally laughed until I had tears at certain parts. I'm convinced you have to be a little crazy to be a good writer.

Those types of love scenes are my favorite, and you had some great ones! And you're right, Bailey was a hoot. :) Thank you, Amy, for taking the time to be on my blog today.

Don't forget to check out Amy's books and enter the Rafflecopter giveaway below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

NaNoWriMo!

It's here, the month thousands of authors commit to writing an entire novel in one month. November is the National Novel Writing Month--click the link for more info. While my rough draft is going to be very very (very!) rough, I'm doing it! I even buckled down and cleaned my whole house last night with a resolute zeal after the Halloween festivities so I'd be good and ready. 

I have a lot of my current YA work in progress outlined so I am super excited to get the rest of my ideas down. 

Fellow writers, are you in?

It's here! Chicken Soup for the Soul, Miraculous Messages from Heaven

Today is the day! A non-fiction short story I wrote is published in the newest Chicken Soup for the Soul book, released today. For more information, you can find Miraculous Messages from Heaven on Amazon or on Goodreads.

Happy day! :)

Challenge #4, October Madness Write-a-Thon

My Challenge #4: Revision
For today's challenge on Britney Gulbrandsen's blog, we are supposed to pull out the last page we wrote and revise it, varying verb usage, eliminating adverbs and overused words. We were also asked to pick one sentence and work on it until it sparkles. This challenge was perfect for me because I have been hauling through word count with my limited writing time this week; it was good to go back and rework some of it! The sentence I picked to work on was plain, plain, plain. Now it shines and even includes a simile that also ties into the setting. Bonus!

Britney also pointed out a website called Wordle. You paste in your text and it tells you how many times you used each word. Sweet! I will have to remember this one whenever I want to check for overused words.

Challenge #3, October Madness Write-a-Thon

At first, I wasn't sure how this challenge would pan out for me. For challenge #3 of Britney Gulbrandsen's October Madness Write-a-Thon, we were instructed to take the main character from our current work in progress, set a timer for five minutes, and write our character into a scene from the book we are currently reading. Okay, so I cheated a bit. I took a character from a book I just finished and worked him into the setting of MY novel. And I liked it! I learned a couple of things about my character. Check it out below. :)

Challenge #3:

“For your girlfriend?” I ask as I place the lid over the chocolates.

Pretty boy practically turns red. “No, for me.”

The dude walks into the bakery and orders a dozen chocolates. What am I supposed to think?

“Maybe they should be for her though,” he says.

Ah, he does have a girlfriend. Figures. The guy is hot, I’ll hand him that much. Not my type, but I’ll bet a lot of girls would faint if he showed on their doorstep with these chocolates.

“Should be?” I prod.

He offers a half grin and shrugs. “She likes someone else.”

“Oh,” I say and start ringing the chocolates up at the register. “But you like her a lot?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“How much?”

By the way his eyes suddenly widen, I can tell he wasn’t expecting my boldness. Get used to it, buddy.

“A lot,” he finally admits.

“Then tell her.”

He looks a little blown away at this idea. The he suddenly becomes interested in the formica counter, staring at it like he’s actually considering my suggestion. “Just…tell her? Just like that?”

“No, idiot,” I say. “Kiss her.”

At first, he thinks I’m pulling his arm. He laughs out loud, not taking me seriously. And I am serious.

His laughing dies down when he can tell I’m not joking. Lest he thinks I’m an imbecile in these matters, I add, “Trust me, I know what I’m talking about.”

He nods, his smile growing. “All right,” he says.

I’m not sure what will come of him and his girl, but this customer is leaving a whole lot happier than he was when he came in. Mission accomplished.

My Tuesday Progress: 1500 words written in my new YA! Woohoo!

October Madness Write-a-Thon Challenge #1

I think today's write-a-thon brainstorming challenge on Britney Gulbrandsen's blog might have been just what I needed. The plot/scene I came up with and the characters I made up for it work perfectly for my new YA novel that I'm outlining. I needed an extra character to fill a certain role within my novel and I discovered who he is through this challenge!

Okay, so I rolled the dice and set a timer as instructed, and this is what I came up with:
Character #1: A Princess
Character #2: A Grandfather
Setting: Airplane
Object: A Piece of Paper

Sixteen-year-old Julianna used to be her grandfather's "little princess." Now, the two are at odds. To make matters worse, her grandfather is now flying in from California to live in a rest home in her neighborhood. A recent widdower and confined to a wheelchair, he is in need of constant care. Julianna's family's 2-story house won't accommodate him and her parents are too poor to even dream of buying another house. Especially after her brother, Vic, stole all of the family valuables and sold them for drug money.

At odds and nothing alike, Julianna and her grandfather stare each other down (Julianna with a courteous grin, Grandfather with a permanent scowl) as he arrives at the airoport. With an all-knowing smirk, Granfather holds up a piece of paper--a letter!--and says,"On second thought, I'm going to hold onto this. You're not ready for it."


Ah, I love it! Don't you? lol. Coming up with new writing material is always exciting. Thanks, Britney!

ANWA 2014 Writers Conference

It's here again! I really enjoy the American Night Writers Conference and I'm looking forward to attending again. There are some awesome instructors this year. I've already highlighted some of the classes I plan to attend! The 2014 conference is scheduled for February 20-22. Visit the ANWA conference website to learn more and register.

Will I see you there? Let me know in the comments! :)

October Madness Write-a-Thon Kickoff!

It's here! Today marks the beginning of a one-week stint of writing madness hosted by Britney Gulbrandsen (be sure to check out her blog!).