Writing Process Blog Tour

Greetings all!

The mega-fantastic Laura Salters has tagged me in this blog tour (check out her process here!). So, this morning I will be answering some fun questions:

1. What am I working on?

My current WIP is an as-yet-unnamed YA urban fantasy. When I first started rolling the idea around in my head it was as Veronica Mars meets Narnia, if the traffic flow through the wardrobe was going in the other direction – and if Veronica was descendant of Chugach shamans and Irish Aos Si.

I finished the first draft the week before last, twirled around in excited circles until I threw up and am currently wrestling with the first round of editing.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

This story takes place in a New York where humans are very aware, although nowhere near fully accepting, of the fantasy creatures with whom they share their city. The fantasy creatures in this world are born from various American lore. From lumberjack folklore, argopelters, cactus cats, jackalopes and jersey devils all make appearances. There are also azebans, chickcharneys, fastachees and thunderbirds (to name a few), which hale from Native American folklore.

3. Why do I write what I do?

I’ve always enjoyed reading a lot of different genres. Because of this, I frequently have many different ideas for a whole variety of stories popping into my head. However, my fantasy characters are always the ones who yell the loudest. They are so persistent in their demand for my attention, I just don’t have the heart to refuse them. That, and when I try, they don’t let me sleep. I really love sleep.

4. How does my writing process work?

Generally, I start with a character – one person who really interests me. From there I build out into the people who surround them and start looking at their relationships. After I have an idea as to whether or not certain people get along (and why), I expand to the world they’re living in.

As I write fantasy, this step involves the most research. In my WIP, there’s a large focus on folklore in the United States, with particular concentrations on that of the northeast (creatures) and Alaska (creatures and shamanism). I’ve not yet mastered the art of being organized in my research, so information I find ends up in notebooks, Word files and the not-so-occasional napkin.

Once I have a decent understanding of my world – both large scale and individual to my MC – it’s time to figure out what’s about to make my MC’s life go sideways. I like to sketch out the inciting incident, the midway point, the climax and the ending. Then I just write, even on the days where it seems as though every word coming out of my mind is going to end up on the scrap pile. 

By New York Zoological Society [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

For me, drafting is all about powering through. Revisions are where I have my fun. No more terrifying blank pages, instead I get to play with a bunch of characters I already love until I make their lives the best I can.

So, that's how I approach things. How about the rest of you writerly types? What's the method to your madness? 

Thanks to Kelley Harvey for kicking this all off!!

TAG, YOU’RE IT!

Lauren Grimley

Lauren lives in central Massachusetts where she grew up, but her heart is on the beaches of Cape Cod Boston University she became a middle school English teacher.

where she spends as much time as possible. After graduating from

Her loves are lounging on quiet beaches, laughing with good friends, and curling up with the cat and a great book on a rainy day.

As for her first novel, she has her seventh graders to thank for starting her on this path. A few years back, they convinced a skeptical new teacher vampire stories were worth reading. She now spends her time writing them when she should be correcting papers.

Website: http://www.laurengrimley.com/

Twitter: @legrimley

Megan Just

Megan is a freelance and fiction writer living with her husband and toddler daughter on California’s Central Coast.

She’s horribly long winded so her fiction writing is naturally of the full-length-novel type. Sometimes, when she’s feeling ambitious, she’ll attempt a short story. On the freelance side, her favorite assignments are features with a sociology edge and personal essays. She occasionally takes on copy editing jobs and writes book reviews.

Website: http://meganjust.com

Twitter: @meganjust

Jack Lewis Baillot

Jack is an author. Basically, run. She is not impossible, just a little bit unlikely.

She is not a king or queen of Narnia, though she would be if her wardrobe was working. She is Spartacus. She was not born on another planet though when she retires she is moving to Mars, or the Moon. She can wear a red shirt because she is Scottish. She sleeps in a bed because her hammock developed a fault. Also, she has never kissed a frog, not sure what she would do if it turned into a prince.

Website: http://www.jacklewisbaillot.com/

Twitter: @MsJackLBaillot

Be In The Know with Emmie Mears!

Happy new week, folks!

I've been lucky enough to host Emmie Mears twice before on this blog (see: amazing auction donor and Not-So-Guilty Pleasures secret spiller). Today, however, is a truly special occasion because we are celebrating the release of Emmie's book, THE MASKED SONGBIRD.

This is big time exciting news and reason enough for all of us to clear our schedules for some well-deserved reading time. Before you do that, though, enjoy today's interview with Emmie!



If you could throw any kind of parade what would it be for and what would the marchers be asked to wear?

I think I would have to throw a marmot parade and ask everyone to wear moss, because why not? 

If you had to live in one Buffy episode for the next five years which one would it be and what would you hope to accomplish there?

Once More, With Feeling. I would attempt to decipher whether or not Anya’s and Xander’s song were truly retro pastiche. Then I'd write a dissertation on it.

Are you (a) a superhero, (b) a mad scientist, (c) an alien hybrid or (d) a cryptid. Elaborate.

I am a cryptid. Much as I don’t like to advertise the fact (the last thing I need is people camped out in the back yard with binoculars and field notebooks -- or worse, a visit from the NSA), you asked, and I had to respond. I am a bit skittish about describing my exact classifications, but suffice it to say that I can see in the dark, my toenails are extra sharp, and I am skilled at astral projection. (Will that scare the NSA away? I hope so.)

What song best describes your writing process?

Sympathy for the Devil. ;)

Not long ago, Estately Blog posted a list of the most Googled terms in each state. Based on this list, in which state would you most fit in?

Washington or Maine...but you didn’t hear it from me.

THE MASKED SONGBIRD

Mildly hapless Edinburgh accountant Gwenllian Maule is surviving. She's got a boyfriend, a rescued pet bird and a flatmate to share rent. Gwen's biggest challenges: stretching her last twenty quid until payday and not antagonizing her terrifying boss.

Then Gwen mistakenly drinks a mysterious beverage that gives her heightened senses, accelerated healing powers and astonishing strength. All of which come in handy the night she rescues her activist neighbour from a beat-down by political thugs.

Now Gwen must figure out what else the serum has done to her body, who else is interested and how her boss is involved. Finally -- and most mysteriously -- she must uncover how this whole debacle is connected to the looming referendum on Scottish independence.

Gwen's hunt for answers will test her superpowers and endanger her family, her friends -- even her country.

Emmie Mears was born in Austin, Texas, where the Lone Star state prompty spat her out at the tender age of three months. After a childhood spent mostly in Alaska, Oregon, and Montana, she became a proper vagabond and spent most of her time at university devising ways to leave the country.

Except for an ill-fated space opera she attempted at age nine, most of Emmie's childhood was spent reading books instead of writing them. Growing up she yearned to see girls in books doing awesome things, and struggled to find stories in her beloved fantasy genre that showed female heroes saving people and hunting things. Mid-way through high school, she decided the best way to see those stories was to write them herself. She now scribbles her way through the fantasy genre, most loving to pen stories about flawed characters and gritty situations lightened with the occasional quirky humor.

Emmie now lives in her eighth US state, still yearning for a return to Scotland. She inhabits a cozy domicile outside DC with two felines who think they're lions and tigers.

You can buy THE MASKED SONGBIRD here (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JD7TWZK)! Released in a box set, you get four great paranormal and urban fantasy books for less than $4!

Follow Emmie on Twitter @EmmieMears and join her on Facebook!

Blog Tour: Once in a Lifetime by Jill Shalvis

I mentioned a while back that I love airport bookstores because the limited selection often forces me to try books I might have otherwise missed. Well, the same can be said for the book aisles in grocery stores.

A few years ago I was stuck out at a house that I rent waiting for someone to come and turn the gas back on so the new tenant could move in. In the grand tradition of such things, this was going to happen sometime in a four hour window.

I was stuck in a house devoid of furniture, television or computers. I had yet to succumb to the lure of the smart phone. And, horror of horrors, I was without a book. It had been one of those days. I'd been twenty minutes into the hour and a half drive to the house before realizing that I'd forgotten the house keys and had to go back and start all over. It wasn't overly surprising that I'd also managed to leave my book on the bedside table.

So, to the local grocery store I went, for a much needed jolt of Dr. Pepper and literary balm for my diminishing sanity. I grabbed the first book that seemed interesting and beat a path back to the house in case the gentleman from the gas company arrived on the early end of the spectrum.

He didn't.

And I didn't care.

Sitting on the floor of the unheated living room, with my coat securely fastened against the December chill, I was first introduced to Jill Shalvis' Lucky Harbor. Between my Dr. Pepper IV and Maddie & Tara's stories, the three and a half hours I spent waiting seemed like nothing. By the time I was on the road home again, I knew that I had made a whole new group of literary friends and also had a new location to add to my list of fictional places I'd like to reside. I've happily gone back to visit with every new addition to the series and am always anxious to return again.

Which is why I was super excited Once In A Lifetime was released on Tuesday. I couldn't wait to get to know Aubrey and Ben better. Particularly after receiving this from Ms. Shalvis:

Top 5 Favorite Quotes from ONCE IN A LIFETIME

1. He was in jeans, wearing a tool belt slung low on his hips, his T-shirt clinging to him. He seemed a little irritated, a little sweaty, and just looking at him Aubrey got a whole lot hot and bothered in places that had no business being hot and bothered by this man at all.

2.  He was back in his tool belt, which was made of leather and crinkled all male-like when he moved. Plus, it forced his jeans a little low on his hips. She couldn’t stop staring, because there was something about the way he wore his clothes that suggested he’d look even better without them.

3.  She had no idea how long they kissed—and kissed—but she didn’t think about stopping until she ran out of air. Breathing hard, she slowly opened her eyes and stared directly into his.

      They’d heated. Darkened. And something else. He wasn’t looking so relaxed now. In fact, he was looking the opposite of relaxed. He looked…feral.

      And she was his prey.

4. “You’d better say it again,” he said very quietly.

     “What?”

     “That you don’t want me.” He gave a slow shake of his head. “Because you’re looking at me like I’m dinner and you haven’t eaten all day.”

5.  His mouth should be illegal in all fifty states, but she bet he could do things with it. Things she wanted.

      Bad.



So, I decided to read just the first few chapters last night before bed. You know, a nice way to unwind. (This is how I've been tricking myself into reading later than I should for the last twenty odd years. I fall for it every time.)

Naturally, I read the whole thing. And today, as I suffer from chronic yawnies, I can't even find it in me to be annoyed at Past Kelly. Because, if I were in her shoes right now...I'd probably make the same decision.

It would totally be worth it.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Once in a Lifetime

ONCE IN A LIFETIME by Jill Shalvis (February 18, 2014; Grand Central Publishing Mass Market; $6.00)

SOMETIMES WRONG IS OH-SO-RIGHT
After a wrenching loss, Ben McDaniel tried to escape his grief by working in dangerous, war-torn places like Africa and the Middle East. Now he's back in his hometown and face-to-face with Aubrey Wellington, the hot-as-hell woman who is trouble with a capital T. Family and friends insist she's not the one to ease his pain, but Aubrey sparks an intense desire that gives Ben hope for the future.

Determined to right the wrongs of her past, Aubrey is working hard to make amends. But by far, the toughest challenge to her plan is sexy, brooding Ben - even though he has absolutely no idea what she's done . . .

Can this unlikely couple defy the odds and win over the little town of Lucky Harbor?

About the author:

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill's bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.

Social Media Links:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

Buy Links:

Amazon

B&N

IndieBound

iTunes

Romance for a Reason

Hey there, folks! Today we are lucky enough have Lauren Grimley visiting with us again. She's winding her way through her Romance for a Reason tour and today we get to read what she has to say on list item number five. Enjoy!

Top ten things more fictional (and real-life) females ought to do:

1. Save themselves (and everyone else) whenever they can.

2. Accept when they can’t.

3. Know themselves.

4. Be willing to change.

5. Embrace their sexuality.

6. Champion their femininity.

7. Appreciate chivalry.

8. Celebrate girl power.

9. Eliminate cattiness.

10. Cry a little & laugh a lot.

I am surrounded by real-life women warriors fighting life’s toughest battles, something that’s become even more evident as I’ve talked with people about my recent project: Romance for a Reason. Yet, as a reader and writer of romance (among other genres), I find few admirable fictional female warriors. So I decided to explore the issue, making a plea to writers and readers to demand more of their fictional heroines and explaining my reasons in posts throughout the month. Today, thanks to Kelly, I’m talking about number five on my top ten list. (See the calendar on the Romance for a Reason page for dates and links to the other posts.)

Where Romance Has it Right

Of all the requirements I came up with for kick-butt heroines, embracing sexuality is one area that most romance writers get right already. So why mention it? Because society still gets it wrong, sometimes infuriatingly wrong! And writers and their readers need a reminder that there are those of us out there who appreciate an honest look at women as lovers.

A little over a year ago, in the height of the Fifty Shades madness, I gave in to the hoopla and read all three books. Even as an amateur author myself, I agreed with the literary critics that they weren’t the most well-written works I’d read recently. I also agreed with the fandom, though, that they were a fun and interesting summer read. Ana fails to meet most of my requirements for strong females, particularly in the first book or so. Since it was a trilogy and based off the same basic plot as the Twilight series, I wasn’t bothered by that, knowing that her sexual awakening was just around the corner and would bring with it a stronger, more self-aware heroine. It did. The trilogy ended with a young woman who wasn’t afraid to admit she liked it a little kinky between the covers and who finally saw herself as an equal to her partner.

Enter Pastor Douglas Wilson, and his blog post “Fifty Shades of Prey,” in which he basically implies that women who willingly engage in certain types of sex are asking to become victims. I won’t repeat my complete irate rebuttal (you can read my reply to the good Pastor here), but let’s just say things got ugly.

Clearly this was an extreme example of someone who can’t accept females embracing their own sexuality, but society is full of less extreme examples. Single men who have healthy love lives, for instance, are studs. Single women with the same are called by another five-letter s-word. It seems only in romantic fiction, which unlike society and the media, tends to be ruled by female writers, readers, and first person narrators, is it okay for a woman to enjoy love making as much as her male counterparts. (Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse with her variety of lovers—not just in number, but also in species—and her honest comments about her sexual appetite is probably my favorite example of this.)

So how do we change society’s double standard? By pointing it out whenever we see it. I’m not sure Miley Cyrus got it right, but I seriously wonder if anyone would have cared if some male artist rubbed himself all over a half-dressed dancer—which, from what I remember of MTV, is pretty much what happens in nearly every rap video ever made. Her twerking, like E.L. James’s writing, got everyone talking. Now we just need to turn the topic of conversation to the real issues: women, like men, have desires. It ought to be perfectly acceptable for females in real-life, like in our fiction, to embrace these desires...Although perhaps we can all agree to keep it off prime time!

The Romance:

Unbridled: A collection of short stories from the Alex Crocker series

By Lauren Grimley

“Think Law and Order SUV meets The Breakfast Club” was Ellie’s trite explanation of what Alex had been dragged into. Add a few fangs, Fifty Shades of Oversharing, and a dash of Dr. Phil, and she was in for quite a Thursday night.

Alex couldn’t deny she had become the pint-sized poster child for PTSD lately, but she didn’t exactly expect to find a support group for teachers turned vampire chew toys in Bristol, MA. Listening to the tales of the four other females gathered to help her heal, however, she accepts that perhaps both the worst and the best of life can blossom from the unexpected.

Unbridled is a novella-length collection of four connected stories focusing on the unlikely friendships and less likely lovers of the female characters from the Alex Crocker series.

“Grace and Dignity”

Ireland, 1713

Even a female whose mating has been arranged most of her life still thinks about what she wants in a mate. Not one of the qualities Sarah had hoped for were easily evident in her betrothed, the future Regan of the Rectinatti coven. Perhaps, though, there were more layers to Darian than he liked to reveal, but how does a subject unmask a prince?

“Rules and Recollections”

Bristol, Massachusetts, 1902

You can’t fall in love with someone you barely recall, but that, Vivian supposed, was the point. After a terse meeting with the Knower, a mind reader, memory manipulator, and the coven’s most notorious lecher, Vivian isn’t herself. She can’t shake the feeling that the solution to her mood lurks just below the surface of her consciousness. Only plunging into darkness, though, will bring everything to light.

“Blood and Secrecy”

Bristol, Massachusetts, 2008

The shared need for blood brought them together, but individual desires for secrecy are keeping them apart. Each already left behind a life of privilege for reasons the other likely couldn’t understand. Now both Rocky and Ellie need to decide if they’re willing to open up about their pasts in order to ensure a future.

Series: Alex Crocker series, can definitely be enjoyed without reading the first two books in the series, but is written to fit after the events of book 2, Unveiled.

Genres: paranormal romance, vampire series, urban fantasy, short stories

Release date: October 1, 2013

Available formats: ebook & paperback (178 pages)

Website page: http://www.laurengrimley.com/Unbridled.html

Purchase links:

Amazon

Unbridled

Or for those who want just a bite, three of the individual stories are available as well:

“Grace and Dignity”

“Rules and Recollections”

“Blood and Secrecy”

  

Barnes & Noble 

Unbridled

“Grace and Dignity”

“Rules and Recollections”

“Blood and Secrecy”

The Reason:

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. As the daughter of a breast cancer survivor and a friend and teacher of too many women who’ve been affected by violence, I chose it to also to be the release date for Unbridled. I may not love wearing pink or purple, the colors of these two issues, but I do love a good fight for great causes. I’ve just chosen to battle this one with my pen. Please consider helping in your own way!

How you can help:

Read some romance. Proceeds from Unbridled will be donated to the two charities listed here.

Donate. Make your own individual donation to these two charities or choose a local charity supporting these and other causes affecting women in your area. To learn more about each charity and my reasons for choosing them, visit the Romance for a Reason page. Or click through to donate directly.

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation

V-Day

Party hard. Gather the women (and men!) of your book club or just a group of friends for a Romance for Reason party. Party ideas? Check out my blog for ideas on how to plan your gathering. Then download the Romance Reading Questionnaire and/or the Body Lingo Bingo for some fun party activities!

Share. Tweet, status update, review, or just chat with friends about the books, the tour, and the charities (mine or yours)!

About the author: 

Lauren Grimley lives in central Massachusetts where she grew up, but her heart is on the beaches of Cape Cod where she spends as much of her time as possible. After graduating from Boston University she became a middle school English teacher. She now balances writing, reading, and correcting, all with a cat on her lap and a glass of red wine close by.

Unforeseen, the first novel in the Alex Crocker Seer series, was Lauren’s debut novel. She was thrilled this spring to continue the series with Unveiled and now Unbridled. To learn more about her or her writing or to connect with her online visit her website at www.laurengrimley.com.

Blog: http://blog.laurengrimley.com

Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Lauren-Grimley/e/B007Y5ZZSG

Twitter @legrimley: https://twitter.com/legrimley

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/AuthorLaurenGrimley

Google+: http://plus.google.com/u/0/105156245095191358255/posts//p/pub

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5825387.Lauren_Grimley

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/authorlegrimley/

Feeling lucky? Enter Lauren's giveaway!

Lunacy, At Its Finest

As we creep up on the first day of fall and the temperatures start to take a turn for the chilly, don't Fridays just feel a little....you know....spookier? Like maybe you should be fortifying your stockpile for the inevitable zombie apocalypse? Or at least drinking cider and watching Hocus Pocus?

I know it's not just me, because Lauren Grimley has also been feeling it. Particularly after she found out that the her novel, Unforeseen, is going to be released in paperback the Friday before the full moon. That's why she decided to host the Freaky Friday Blog Tour and was nice enough to ask me to participate.

You probably all remember Lauren from when she last hung out here, confessing all her guiltiest of pleasures. Today she's going to dish on all the things that push her to the loonier side of life. So, check it out and then come visit with me over on her blog, On Writing, Life, and Other Misadventures! 

My Loony List 

When I found out my book’s paperback release fell on Friday September 28^th, one day before a full moon, I couldn’t resist taking advantage of it. Full moons and fantasy writers just seem to go together like writers and lame similes. And as a teacher they hold a particularly special place in my heart. Think crazy X 22 (the average class size) + teenage hormones, and you have my classroom come next Friday. Don’t believe the scientific studies that set out to disprove it; full moons make kids, and most other living creatures, crazy. And sometimes those kids and other living creatures drive me crazy (crazier?).

So rather than confess all the strange habits that make me crazy, as Kelly so honestly did on my site, I’m here to warn the world about what drives me bonkers. After all, those of you who know me, already know what makes me nuts, and for those who don’t, maybe I can get away a little longer convincing you I’m sane. Or maybe not.

1. Loud chewing. Mouth open, mouth closed, it doesn’t matter; if I can hear someone chewing across the table, it drives me nuts. I know that most people can’t help the volume at which they chew, beyond closing their mouths while doing it. I know some foods are louder when consumed than others. I even know that my own chewing is often audible. Still, the soundtrack to digestion grates on my nerves.

2. Odd! punctuation…in, emails; and other notices? I’d like to blame the English teacher in me for this one, but I think no matter what my college major was that weirdly punctuated correspondence would irk me. I’ve worked for two great bosses since leaving college. I admire and respect them both, but each has had a punctuation habit that I couldn’t quite fathom. The first was an obsessive exclamator!!!! (Yes, I just invented that term, but it gets the point across!!!) I think passion is wonderful, but one exclamation point normally does the trick…Then there’s the ellipsorator…Who uses ellipses like they’re going out of style…I can’t quite figure this one out…But I do know it’s a bit annoying!!!

3. Untied shoelaces. When I see an untied lace, I can’t help but foresee imminent disaster. Perhaps this is because I am klutz who couldn’t walk more than five steps before tripping over my own untied lace, or perhaps it goes back to my days working in a daycare when my six-hour shift was consumed with potty trips and shoelace tying. Either way I have one word for all you untied lace wearers of the world: Velcro.

4. Mysterious Facebook updates. Social media is the place you go to share your mundane life with your ‘friends.’ It is not meant to be the internet’s version of mystery theater. If you want to share, share. If you want to keep to yourself, keep to yourself. If you want to post something vague and mysterious so that everyone will beg you for details, you need to get a therapist to help you deal attention-seeking issues. Or maybe you need to write a mystery novel.

5. People with more pet peeves than patience. Okay, so I’ve just rambled on with an entire list of what makes me loony, but overall, I’m a pretty easy-going person. Everyone’s allowed his or her own loony list, so long as we understand that our pet peeves are our problem. Though I do occasionally point out untied laces to my students and gripe to friends about other’s odd FB updates, I don’t expect the world to change so I can be less crazy. If the world can handle my quirks, I can find a little patience for other people’s.

Hopefully this first Freaky Friday post was more entertaining than nerve-grating! Thanks, Kelly for having me.

Bio:

When Lauren Grimley isn’t chasing people around offering to tie their shoes, she’s writing or teaching in central Massachusetts. If she finds free time beyond these activities, she’s likely to spend it on a beach with a book and bottle of wine close by. Her first novel, an urban fantasy entitled Unforeseen, was e-published this spring and is being released as a paperback September 28th. The second book in the series, Unveiled, is off to the publisher, while the third is being dragged, kicking and screaming, from Lauren’s imagination.

Links to learn more about Lauren and her projects:

Personal website: http://www.laurengrimley.com

Blog: http://blog.laurengrimley.com

Twitter @legrimley:  http://twitter.com/ - !/legrimley

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/AuthorLaurenGrimley

Links to Unforeseen and “Unknown” (a short from later in the series)

Amazon:

Unforeseen  http://amzn.to/Iyas63

“Unknown”   http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00865C4DM

 

Smashwords:

Unforeseen   http://bit.ly/KESWTO

Barnes & Noble

Unforeseen   http://bit.ly/M7v5MK