Tuesday, May 30, 2017

YA Summer Scavenger Hunt Kickoff **Closed**

I'm excited, you guys. Tomorrow is the day the YA Summer Scavenger Hunt begins! You COULD win fabulous prizes, including over $1,000 of books and prizes. All you have to do is visit each author's website to find their secret keyword, string them together to find the hidden story, and submit it.

And, because I'm feeling generous, I'm going to give away four brand spanking new paperback books. Here they are:

- Malignant by Yours Truly
- Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon (read it and see the movie!)
- Someone Else's Summer by Rachel Bateman (read it before the movie comes out!)
- The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr (Not pictured)

See?




All you have to do to enter to win these four books is to click here to subscribe to my newsletter, then comment below to let me know you did. You'll get sneak peeks of new books I'm writing, free short stories, and more. If you are already a subscriber, comment below to enter. :) I'm looking forward to getting to know you!

If you've got more questions about the rules for the scavenger hunt, visit this post.

In case you missed the stop before mine, go visit Gina Marie Long here.

Here's the next stop on the hunt.


Sunday, May 28, 2017

Another Sneak Peek at My Current Writing Project

Hi guys,

I thought I'd post another scene from my current work in progress. It hasn't been edited, so keep that in mind.

***

Beth agreed to stay with Kavan while Tess went to the funeral home. She surveyed the building as she drove up. It was a large, old home in the middle of the cemetery. The home rose up—a yellow monolith with white columns and painstakingly shaped topiaries—as Tess maneuvered her car up the narrow drive.
She parked her car and walked between the large columns into the pristinely kept building. The mingling scents of flowers assaulted her nose as she stepped inside. The carpet itself was adorned with flowers and scrolls. She curled her lip as she stood in the foyer, waiting.
A young woman, she was probably close to Tess’s age, turned a corner and approached her. “May I help you?”  She held a clipboard in her arm.
“Yes, I’m here to see, um, visit, my husband. Michael Bello?” Tess shifted her weight from one foot to the other. She felt hideously unattractive in her dark jeans and heather gray long-sleeved T-shirt. Her wavy hair had not cooperated, so she’d tied it back in a tight ponytail at the nape of her neck.
The young woman turned up the corners of her mouth, but didn’t quite reach a smile. “Right this way.” She led Tess into what Tess assumed to be a viewing room; she’d never been in a funeral home before. There was a half-open coffin at the far end of the room, amid several large groupings of flowers. The walls of the room were lined with small sofas and chairs, all of which didn’t quite go together, although they didn’t clash, exactly.
“I’ll leave you alone,” the young woman said. “Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you. Oh, my name is Summer.”
Tess nodded and Summer left the room. Tess stared at the shiny black coffin without moving. She and Michael had picked it together just after he’d completed his training as a firefighter, but it didn’t seem real seeing it there on the stand. At the time Tess had thought it silly that Michael wanted to make arrangements, just in case. Tess had been adamant that she’d never need them. Now, Tess felt as though if she closed her eyes and opened them again, the entire scene would disappear and she would be back at home with Michael and Kavan, laughing at her boys as they wrestled and laughed together. She closed her eyes for a long second and then opened them. The coffin was still there, gleaming under the florescent lights.
Tess took a tentative step toward the coffin, and then another. Slowly, she advanced across the room. She rose up on her toes to glimpse Michael’s body inside the coffin but couldn’t see him. She took another step and could just see Michael’s profile. She took another step and could see him fully. Her hand flew up to her mouth to stifle the gasp that had risen to her lips. Her eyes filled with tears that spilled onto her cheeks.

The side of Michael’s face was burned and blistered. His skin was pale and the hair near the burn was shorn closely to his scalp. It must have been scorched, so they had taken a razor to it. Tess’s knees gave way under her. She turned toward the nearest sofa but fell with a clunk to the floor. Her head was swimming. Her vision went black and a wave of nausea came. She fought to remain conscious by willing herself to take deep breaths. After several moments her vision returned. She pulled herself onto the sofa and sat there, staring at the carpet.

Friday, May 26, 2017

Chatting with Fellow Indie Author Joey Paul

Today I'm hanging out with fellow indie author Joey Paul on her blog. Here's a bit of our conversation:

How does your average writing time go? 
I write late at night when everyone else in my family is asleep so I have fewer interruptions. :) Sometimes I've thought a scene through and I know exactly what I want to say. In that case it goes pretty quickly. I try not to correct myself too much when I'm typing because that just slows me down. If I'm not sure where the scene is going it takes quite a bit longer. I have to sit and think about word choice, character qualities and motivation, and that sort of thing. 

For more of our conversation, visit Joey's blog here.

Sunday, May 14, 2017

The YA Summer Scavenger Hunt

You guys, I'm excited to tell you that I'm participating in a huge scavenger hunt with a great list of YA authors. Watch this space for more details.

 ****

 In June, the Alliance of Young Adult Authors is sponsoring a massive young adult scavenger hunt. This is a chance to meet some new authors, grab a bunch of free books, and sign up to win a whole bunch of epic prizes!

RULES

Each author will be given a special keyword, which will be bolded and all caps like this: BUTTERFLIES.

All you have to do is visit all the author’s sites in this order, write down the special keywords to discover the short story, then enter the giveaway with the completed short story HERE (link will be posted soon).

There will be one main giveaway for the main prize, but most of the participating authors will also have smaller giveaways for free books, amazon credit and author swag, so make sure you read their post carefully to see what else they’re offering while you’re on their site for the keyword.


THE MAP (PARTICIPATING AUTHORS)

  1. Cindy Ray Hale
  2. Katherine Bogle
  3. Melle Amade
  4. David Kudler
  5. A.M. Yates
  6. Alethea Kontis
  7. Stevie Rae Causey
  8. Katlyn Duncan
  9. Debbie Manber Kupfer
  10. Meredith Rose
  11. N.M. Howell
  12. Lara Ann  
  13. K.M. Robinson
  14. J.A. Culican
  15. Heather Karn
  16. Rob L. Slater
  17. Dylan Keefer
  18. Sarah K. Wilson  
  19. L.J. Higgins
  20. Gina Marie Long 
  21. Em Kazmierski
  22. Travis Hall
  23. Heather Young-Nichols
  24. Anna Santos
  25. J.L. Weil  
  26. Jo Schneider 
  27. Logan Keys
  28. Kristin D. Van Risseghem
  29. Martine Lewis 
  30. Tara Benham
  31. Stacy Claflin
  32. Beth Hammond
  33. Erica Cope
  34. Nicole Zoltack
  35. Char Webster
  36. Sabrina Ramoth
  37. T.J. Muir
  38. Raquel Lyon
  39. Beth Rodgers
  40. S.L. Beaumont
  41. Eva Pohler
  42. Melanie McFarlane
  43. Cheryllynn Dyess
  44. Audrey Rich
  45. Amanda Zieba
  46. Sandie Will
  47. Elle Scott
  48. Robert Jones
  49. Ashley Maker 
  50. Mandy Peterson
  51. Audrey Grey
  52. Chanda Stafford
  53. Amy McNulty
  54. Melinda Cordell
  55. Monica Leonelle
  56. Claire Luana
  57. Frost Kay
  58. Preeti C. Sharma
  59. Ginna Moran
  60. Mackenzie Flohr
  61. Lena Mae Hill
  62. Angel Leya
  63. Wendi Wilson
  64. Wendy Knight
  65. Chogan Swan
  66. Tamara Hart Heiner
  67. Norma Hinkens
  68. Patti Larsen
  69. Megan Crewe  
  70. Jamie Thornton
  71. Jessie Renée
  72. T.A. Maclagan  
  73. Lydia Sherrer
  74. K.T. Webb
  75. P.D. Workman
  76. J.A. Armitage
  77. K.N. Lee
  78. Angela Fristoe
  79. Rhonda Sermon
  80. G.K. DeRosa 
  81. Erin Richards
  82. Ali Winters
  83. Larissa C. Hardesty
  84. Kristine Tate
  85. Debra Kristi
  86. Bella Rose 
  87. Cortney Pearson
  88. Jeff Kohanek
  89. Kristal Shaff
  90. Rachel Morgan  
  91. Emma Right
  92. C.L. Cannon
  93. Joanne Macgregor
  94. Lindsey Loucks
  95. Farah Cook
  96. Erin Hayes
  97. Jesikah Sundin
  98. Dorothy Dreyer
  99. Danielle Annett
  100. C.J. Ethington
  101. L.C. Hibbett 
  102. Madeline Dyer
  103. Katie John
  104. Nicole Schubert  
  105. Rachel Medhurst 
  106. Tee G Ayer  
  107. May Freighter 
  108. Gwynn White
  109. Jen Minkman  
  110. J.L. Gillham
  111. Karen Tomlinson
  112. Kate Haye
  113. Megan Linski
  114. Martina Billings
  115. Jo Ho
  116. EE Isherwood
  117. Inna Hardison
  118. Rachel Bateman
  119. Sally Henson  
  120. J.L. Hendricks 
  121. A.L. Knorr  
  122. T.M. Franklin  
  123. Raven Oak
  124. felisha Antonette
  125. Jake Devlin
  126. S.F. Benson
  127. Laurie Treacy
  128. Emily Martha Sorensen 
  129. Leia Stone
  130. T. Rae Mitchell
  131. J. Keller Ford
  132. Kat Stiles
  133. Jessica Hawke
  134. Elyse Reyes
  135. Sophie Davis
  136. Bianca Scardoni
  137. Jenetta Penner
  138. David R. Bernstein
  139. Olivia Wildenstein
  140. Derek Murphy


TIMELINE


Authors will post the rules and the full list of participating authors sometime in June, and have their post up and visible on their site/blog, with their keyword, by June 1st. Readers just need to go through the list, find the words, and use the story to enter for the grand prize.

For rules, updates or trouble-shooting, make sure to check out this main post which will stay updated.