A Little Bit of Appreciation

Sometimes it's quite nice when your hard work earns you the metaphorical pat on the back. Recently, I got the "you've been doing great work" chat from my intern boss and let me tell you, I feel awesome. Let's also add the fact that a client also found my work super helpful and wanted to make sure I was thanked for it! *squee*

Let's all take a moment and think about the people we appreciate in our lives. Is there anyone you know; a critique partner, husband, or coworker you feel is doing awesome? Let em' know!

You could seriously make someone's day ya'll.

~Liz

P.S. Auzy + ~N you guys rock this site and I totally appreciate you both! :)

Cover Reveal: Edge of the Falls

Okay---before we get to the word-stuff (check below the cover for synopsis and excerpt) HERE IT IS! All the PRETTY!

 

What do you think??

Synopsis:

Sabah has spent her entire life Outside, looking in. She’s used to the danger—the acidstorms, the predators. Even the Mistress is dangerous.

She learned a long time ago what dangers she is willing to live with.

But change is coming to the house on the edge of the waterfall, and Sabah will have to choose between the boy she grew up loving and a life that she is willing to live. When a ban-wolf—a mutant–saves her life,  everything Sabah knows about her world will change. And the secrets that have dictated her life will finally come to light.

This new gripping young adult romance is releasing on Kindle and Nook on March 12th, 2013

Add on Goodreads

 

 

About the Author:

Nazarea Andrews is an avid reader and tends to write the stories she wants to read. She loves chocolate and coffee almost as much as she loves books, but not quite as much as she loves her kids. She lives in south Georgia with her husband, daughters, and overgrown dog.

Follow on Twitter

 

 

Excerpt

 Chapter 1

I’ve never questioned the Mistress’ need for starrbriars.

In the almost fourteen years I’ve lived under her roof, I’ve accepted it without thought. But as I pick my way across the cliff, searching the ever-present darkness for the small flowers, I wonder what is so important about them.

The wind picks up and I skid a little, the cliff icy from the spray of the waterfall. I step back as I glance into my bag—it’s almost empty. We’ve exhausted the easily gathered supply of flowers.

I feel someone’s gaze, and resist looking behind me. Instead, I crouch down, drawn by a stunted flower growing on the side of the precipice. I tug it free, and stare into the churning water, broken on the rocks far below me. Which child will be lowered into that this time? Who will risk their life at the whim of our Mistress?

A scream, haunting and primal, fills the air, rising above the roar of the waterfall and I jerk, losing my balance for a dizzying moment. My hands slip on the ice, sliding until I find a grip. For a long moment, I stay still, waiting for my heartbeat to steady. Then I crawl backwards, barely breathing as I edge away from the drop-off. I see blood on the rocks, and belatedly, I feel the sting on my palm.

 

Edge of the Falls will be available on Nook and Kindle in just over two weeks! And the blog tour starts March 4^th! Check out my website for more details.

 

Goodreads ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Website

 

 

The Truth About Letting Go is LIVE!

Friend and fellow contributor to IndieIgnites Leigh Talbert Moore has an exciting release today! Here's a little about it! :)

 

A companion to The Truth About Faking (not a sequel; the books can be read out of order), The Truth About Letting Go takes readers back to Shadow Falls, or more specifically Shadow Creek, with Ashley Lockett as she learns about real friendship, love, and letting go.

 

The Truth About Letting Go 

by Leigh Talbert Moore

 

Ashley wants to smash everything in her once-perfect life.

Charlotte wants to walk in Ashley's seemingly charmed shoes.

Colt wants to turn Smalltown USA on its ear--with Ashley at his side.

Jordan wants to follow his heart--but Ashley is the one sacrifice he never expected to make.

 

Up until now, Ashley Lockett has always followed the rules. She's always done the right thing, played it safe, and then her ideal life is shattered when her dad dies suddenly.

 

Fueled by anger and grief, she vows to do everything opposite of how she lived before. She rejects safety, the rules, faith, and then she meets Jordan.

 

Jordan has big dreams, he's had a crush on Ashley for years, and he's a great kisser. But he's also safe.

 

Enter Colt. He is not safe, and he's more than willing to help Ashley fulfill her vow.

 

Get it today on Amazon * Barnes & Noble * iTunes * Kobo

 

Add it on Goodreads.

 

Excerpt:

 

I feel Colt laugh, and he looks down into my face. That’s when he seems to realize what I’ve been acutely aware of for the last several minutes—our bodies are pressed together.

“It’s awesome, yeah?” he says. “Adrenaline rush.”

“Yeah,” I breathe. “I guess.”

I’m not sure if he’s going to kiss me until he does. His mouth covers mine, and energy mixes with the alcohol flooding my body. Our tongues slide together, and I grip his shirt so I don’t collapse. 

Every single bit of this is wrong, and there’s no way I’m stopping it. It’s back, that good feeling. The sadness has been pushed out again, and in its place is this rush, this rush of adrenaline like Colt said. 

He pulls back and smiles at me. “We’re going to start dating. Now. You’re my partner in crime.”

 

About the Author:

 

Moore

Leigh Talbert Moore is a wife and mom by day, a writer by day, a reader by day, a former journalist and editor, a chocoholic, a caffeine addict, a lover of YA and new adult romance (really any great love story), a beach bum, and occasionally she sleeps.

 

-The Truth About Faking is her debut young adult romance (on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and Kobo)

-Rouge is her first New Adult romantic suspense novel (on Amazon).

 

Leigh loves hearing from readers; stop by and say hello!

 

Blog * Facebook * Amazon Author page * Goodreads * Twitter * Tumblr

 

 

Writing Without Writing

            Last week we discussed how sometimes we’ll need to sacrifice time in order to get our story written, and just before that Liz helped us out by getting us to set realistic goals for our writing. Here’s the honest truth. No matter how much we may want to, there will be days that it’s impossible to make time to write. It sucks, but it’s true.

            What then?

            Well I’m sure everyone has a few things they do every day, or once in a while, that takes no though process at all. Stuff like when we’re getting ready for work, cleaning up the house, mowing the lawn, or even shoveling snow. These times are perfect to spend some good ole quality time with our characters and the story, or if it’s more your style, play the vindictive God and torture a character or two.

            Only thing to watch out for is drifting into the story too much. During my first novel I was so bad that I would forget whole conversations that I just had less than 5 mins ago with my wife. So, stick with the mundane stuff.

            Anyone else have a time they just think about the story? Did you have a breakthrough with it? Let us know.

            Auzy

            

Writerly Sacrifice

            A friend of mine told me the other day that they really wanted to write a novel but just couldn’t find the time. They told me all the things they have to do and counted them off, one by one, on each finger and thumb (multiple times), just to prove they were so busy.

            Here’s what I told them. If you really want to write that story, you will find time. A writer is a writer because they’re willing to sacrifice other things in order to get their story written. To prove it, I explain that I work close to 50 hours a week and go to college part time (not to mention all the quality time I try to spend with my wife – that’s right ladies, this sweet piece is happily married).

            The more I think about it, the more I believe that writing is all about sacrifice. We bleed all of ourselves just to get a story out. All the joy, love, hate, and fear that we ever have, it’s put into our writing, hoping that the person reading our words will be touched by them.

               How do you guys feel?

          Auzy

Teeny Tiny Goal Stepping Stones

Hello all!

Today I'm talking about goals. Sometimes it's difficult not to fall victim to the rejections in this industry. We may have 10 fulls out but slowly they begin to trickle in with some seriously kind rejections, but they sting nonetheless. Some days we feel like failures for not having an agent or for not selling that manuscript after it has been shopped around to editors.

I'm going to remind you all to remember that goals are all tangible and made up of teeny, tiny little goal stepping stones. Getting an agent is an intangible goal. Why? Because we have no control over another person's decision. So what DO we have control over? Puttin' out an awesome manuscript. So tangible goals are writing 5k a week or 1k a day or 200 words a day. Make it work for YOU. The reason we feel terrible when we don't cross things off our to-do list is because we feel like we haven't accomplished anything.

Repeat after me. MAKE SURE YOUR GOALS ARE REALISTIC.

If you know that with the kids, the hubby OR while in school and with the senior year group projects down your throat you can only write 3 days a week and only 500 words a pop, then only write that. Don't feel bad that the goal is small. It just means it is realistic and accomplishable AND it'll give you that happy boost that gets us all going.

Remember, everything is a process. It takes steps, teeny, tiny goal stepping stones.

Cheers,

~Liz

Cover Reveal: Click to Subscribe

Today we have a cover reveal for a book I'm really excited about. So without further ado:

Click To Subscribe

Author: L.M. Augustine

Genre: YA romance

Release Date: April 2013

Designer: Allie Brennan (who is fantastic and brilliant and totally recommended by L.M.)

 

Blurb:

1,135,789. That’s how many subscribers sixteen-year-old West Ryder has on his web vlog series. But he only has eyes for one of them.

As one of the internet’s most prestigious video bloggers, West talks about high school relationships under the name “Sam Green.” As far as he knows, no one from school, not even his best friend, Cat, has seen his videos. But the highlight of the whole thing is Harper Knight, who comments every day at exactly 2:02 in the afternoon. He doesn’t know anything about her aside from the occasional deep philosophical messaging on why pizza tastes so delicious, but as stupid as it sounds, he might be falling for her. So when they finally agree to meet in real life, West’s hope for romance seems more and more in reach. But that all changes as soon as he arrives at their meeting spot and sees Cat walking toward him, wearing the same “I <3 Sam Green” T-shirt Harper promised she'd have on.

To his alarm, West realizes he is falling in love with the best friend who has always been a sister to him.

Add it on Goodreads.

 

Author:

Blog  Twitter  Facebook

 

Some Things:

To celebrate the cover reveal… there is a giveaway! Note: ARCs won’t be ready until late March/early April, but if you win one, you will be the first to get it. (All of the winners will be emailed a day after the giveaway ends.)

 

For those of you interested in the book, check the author’s Facebook page and blog (links above) because he will be posting a number of excerpts of CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE throughout the week.

 

And to anyone reading this: thank you! Your support seriously means so much to me. (Me = the awkward author, L.M., who has raided this blog for the day. MUAHAHA!)

 

 

 

 

 

A Rare Person

Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most well-known artist of all time. Before he died from a gunshot wound at the early age of 37, Van Gouh had already created over 2,100 works of art. Here’s the twist though. Only a handful of people knew of his artwork, and not many of them even appreciated it.

Every writer should study Mr Van Gogh biography, if for nothing else but to prepare us for the bloody battle that we’ll all have just to get published.  

But we must also remember that even if we happen to get lucky and beat out the hundreds of thousands other novels that had been queried, it doesn’t mean ours will even sell. We still need to compete with every other book that’s gotten as far. So statistically, to be a phenomenon best seller that way we want to be, we have to be an extremely rare person in deed.

It’s something to work towards. What do you think?

Auzy

What The Vampire Diaries Taught Me....

So if you follow me in Twitter, you probably know about my recent obsession.
If you don't, let me fill you in. I've started watching The Vampire Diaries. And tweeting like a madwoman while I do.
And here's the thing. I pretty much adore this show. First it was just cuz of Damon, because no matter how much of an ass you are if you look like THAT

I'll just nod and smile. But then--dude, I actually care about these characters.
Well. Not Stefan and Elena. They're perfect and annoying and idiotic. Just like they were in the first episode.

But Damon? Who has turned from a vengeful, ass who kills for fun to a devoted ass who kills to protect the ones he loves?
Or Caroline who was a petty shallow cheerleader competing with her best friend and now is a still shallow, but caring vamp who is comfortable in her own skin? Or Tyler.

Or Jeremy. Or, hell, even Katherine. I never thought I'd actually like Katherine--she's a psychotic bitch and makes no apologies for it. But--she's the way she is for a reason, and as the show's writers dole out those nuggets of info--as each episode gives us a little change in Damon, Caroline, Tyler, Bonnie--I find myself eager to see what happens next.
So what is this teaching me and how does it apply to writing?
1. Backstory ISN'T awful. If used sparingly and naturally, it's actually great.
2. Characters with flaws are much more awesome than characters without. I don't like Stefan. He's self-righteous and perfect and annoying. Damon, on the other hand, is a hot mess. He's impulsive and makes mistakes and loves all the wrong women and does things to hurt people he cares about--but I adore his character. I want to see him struggle to improve.
So. Pretty simple, you guys. Make your characters human--flaws and all. (Unless, ya know, they're vampires, but you get what I'm saying.)

And just cuz I wanted to share...

A Little Bit of Inspiration

Good afternoon world!

It's Friday. Meaning TGIF! So instead of drawling on and on about some topic I'm going to leave you with this.

"In the middle of every difficulty lies OPPORTUNITY."



This is one of my latest opportunities. Been toying with a new art style. Artwork totally owned by ME! Elizabeth Prats

 Be ready to seize it when it comes.

I'm ready.

Are you?

~Liz