Those Villains You Love to Hate

Oh, yeah, I have love to hate many of villains. As a writer though, it’s real hard to stick around in their evil and mangled heads long enough to write them, but when I do… I expose a part of my imagination that sometimes even scares me. Makes me wonder how some of the great authors of horror and the most evilest villains sleep at night.

PICK YOUR TYPE

Evil to the core and on the edge of madness
These villains create reasoning within their mind for their evil deeds. You don’t like these guys because you know they are evil, and when you conjure them up – they ain’t pretty, not one single little bit.

Justifiably Evil Villain
Oh, these villains were victims themselves, but now they are hunters, killers, and sadistically flawed because of their past.

Seductively Evil Villain
I and many women love these. You know, the vampires, the gorgeous guy that oh, just happens to get a sick pleasure out of killing people. The charming, seductive, alluring, charismatic villain that makes you want to love him, but you know its just sooo sooo wrong. Why? Because he or she wants to … kill with know apparent reason. And they use all of that charm, things that we equate to good to do it.

MY FAV VILLIANS
The Vampire Lestat (or any handsome sexy Vamp), Eric in True Blood, Freddie Kruger, Hannibal Lector, Mr. Sinister, Bullseye, and The Joker…come on, share yours. It’s the season for villains.

SO HERE's A BOOK, a blast from my reading past, WITH A VILLIAN YOU'LL LOVE as much as hate



Believe it or not, I read this when I was 15yrs old :-D

Austin Camacho, A Mystery Writer, Speaker Tells It All

Please welcome Austin Camacho! I've been stalking him ever since he spoke at the MWA Writer's Conference this April and chewed on some of his books while I was at it. He's written tons of Mystery, Action series and a book on Author Marketing. Check him out and please comment and say hello!

He's done it all, self-published and is now traditionally published. As well as sold over 1000 copies of his books all on his own. Talk about getting your hustle on. Please take this opportunity to learn from one of the most helpful and encouraging author's I've met.





Can you tell us about yourself? Some fun facts?

Fun facts? Well, in my Clark Kent job I handle media relations for the Defense Department, but inside I’m a philosopher and a teller of morality tales thinly disguised as mysteries or adventure stories. I’m also a husband and father, a flirt and a loudmouth, with a big heart and an even bigger ego. And I’m a hard-working marketing fool who wants every adult alive to read his novels.

Tell us about your books? My favorite The Troubleshooter and your character Hannibal Jones?

I write a detective series about a Washington DC-based, African American private eye named Hannibal Jones. Hannibal is a tough, honorable, determined man who fancies himself a problem solver to the world and who gets thru mysteries as much by stubbornness as inspired detective work. He’s also rather conservative and a bit chauvinistic, although his girl friend is working on that.

The Troubleshooter, the first Hannibal Jones story I wrote, isn’t really a mystery – more urban thriller - but it was my way of figuring out who this guy is. In it Hannibal is hired to free a crack house from the drug addicts and winos that hold it. A powerful drug lord nearly drives him off, until he realizes that his success or failure will determine the fate of a neighborhood, and the future of one small boy.

What inspired you to write mysteries?

I’m a lifelong mystery fan but when I started to try to write it was action-adventure stuff. Then one day I was reading a mystery and realized about a third of the way through it that I knew everything that was going to happen after that. I thought, “Heck, I can do better than this.” At that time I was working on a TV news story about the local bone marrow donation program. I thought, “Finding the match to get a donor – that’s a REAL mystery.” That idea grew into Blood and Bone, the second Hannibal Jones novel I wrote but the first in print.

Your books have a great mix of action and mystery, how do you come up with your ideas? What inspired you to write an action packed mystery instead of the more subtle suspenseful kinds?

I didn’t want to write about someone who was just a detective. I wanted to write about a hero, and Hannibal Jones is that. Plus, I have a real affection for the old school private eye stories. I see the stories in my mind like movies, so there has to be action. Plot ideas are everywhere. Every time I turn on the news or pick up a paper I play “what if” with the stories I see and evolve a whole different explanation for the facts presented.

What is one of the most difficult parts of writing for you?

I don’t know if there is a most difficult part of the creative process. But I suspect a lot of writers are like me in that the hardest part is the physical part, the “Butt in the chair” part. Life offers so many good excuses to be something else. But when I get into a story, and get into the zone, I find myself asking “why did I put this off? This is where I belong.”

What made you decide to write your book for writers? Successfully Marketing your novel in the 21st century.
When I was first published I read a number of excellent volumes on how to market self-published books, but none of them did a good job of addressing my specific needs. The most successful self-published books are nonfiction, but the best advice on marketing nonfiction books won’t help you sell your novel. So I set about culling out what was most useful to me. A lot of trial and error was involved, and more than a few disappointments. This book is the result of the synthesis of knowledge found in those books, my public affairs training, and my ten plus years of hard won personal experience.

What have you learned most from your journey as an Author?
I’ve learned that if you’re doing it right, creating fiction forces you to look at the parts of yourself you’d rather leave hidden. Then it makes you reveal those parts to everyone else.

I’ve learned that if you have something to say you can do it better with fiction than nonfiction. And that when you start making up a story you find out – often to your surprise – that you DO have something to say.

I’ve learned that no one will read your book until, one way or another, you tell them they want to read your book.

When you first sat down to write your very first mystery, how did you plan it out? Was it published?

When I sat down to write I knew how the story started, and I knew how it had to end. So I wrote an outline that described all the action that takes place in between. Then I thought about what else my characters would be dealing with at the same time and I wrote that into the outline. I outlined the story as a series of scenes, just like a movie. Then I wrote the scenes, in order, from beginning to end. That process hasn’t changed a bit.

After an exhaustive series of submissions to publishers and agents (I’ve had 3 of those) I decided to publish myself through a Print On Demand company. I learned more about the business and self published. I sold enough books that a small press (Echelon) asked for the right to my flagship novel, Blood and Bone. The rest, as they say, is history.

How did you go from a self-published author to a selling your works to a publisher who supports your work?

I sold a few thousand novels at street festivals and writers conferences and kept writing more stuff. At Book Expo America I met a publisher who recognized my book cover and asked me how I had gotten so far as a self-published fiction author. After a lot of conversation about what we could offer one another, I decided to sign with Echelon to increase my distribution. That got me into Borders and Barnes & Noble, where most of my sales are today.

What’s your creative process?

I outline in great detail, and my outlines have evolved into a form that imitates film scripts. There has to be a strong hook – I like to start with action to pull the reader in. Because I work with series characters I always consider what needs to happen in their lives and weave that into the plot. I write from scene to scene, often moving the chapter starts for pacing purposes. Every chapter should end with a cliff hanger. I often writer for a couple hours at a time, but can sit down and lay down a stack of words in 30 minutes if that’s what I’ve got. And the characters often push the plot line around as I write, so the outline isn’t carved in stone, it’s flexible as I get into the book.

Do you work with a critique group? Beta readers?

I stopped working with critique groups because I always seemed to be giving more than I was getting, and the time I spent critiquing other people’s work I could spend improving my own. These days I often get paid to critique manuscripts.

Beta readers are very valuable if you ask them the right questions. Whether or not they like what they read doesn’t help me. I need to know: at what point did you put it down? (checking pace) Which characters do you want to get to know better? (make the others more intriguing) what did you think were the important plot points? (if they can’t tell me what happened I need to make it clearer) and for a mystery, did you guess the ending (need to know if the clues are hidden well enough, and if they felt I played fair with them.)

You’ve impressed me with the marketing of all of your books. Can you share with us the most effective ways you’ve marketed yourself as an author?

For me, personal appearances have been most effective. Book signings in book stores, presentations and panels at book conferences keep my name in front of the public and move books off store shelves. I have recently learned that commenting on Yahoo Groups like Kindle Korner is effective in moving ebooks. A strong presence on social media sites seems to have helped a lot too, but it’s harder to trace results back to them

You do a lot of speaking engagements, mystery related writer’s conferences did you go to them when you were an aspiring published author?

I never even knew about all these mystery conferences and conventions until I was published. I often wish I had had the chance to attend Bouchercon or Left Coast Crime or Love is Murder or Malice Domestic as a fan.

Do you have any new books in the works? Mysteries? other genres?

There is ALWAYS a book in the works. I’m about a third of the way thru the next Hannibal Jones mystery and a new Stark & O’Brien adventure will hit shelves in the fall of 2011. I want to spend some time pumping up my thriller series to see if it can be as strong as the mysteries.

Where can we find you this month?

Well, THIS month is half over but you can meet me Saturday, Oct 16 at Borders, 2904 Prince William County Parkway, Woodbridge VA - 2pm - 6pm;

Saturday Oct 30 at Borders in Baltimore Washington International Airport – 9am to noon, and that evening speaking and book signing at Wine About Books at Linganore Winery, 13601 Glissans Mill Road, Mt. Airy MD - 6pm - 10pm

In November you can meet me Sunday, Nov 7 at Borders Express - Columbia Mall, 10300 Little Patuxent Pkwy Columbia, MD 2 - 1pm to 5pm.

November 14–21 I will be presenting at Mystery on the High Seas; A Cruise to Die For, onboard the Carnival Splendour to the Mexican Riviera - http://2010mysterycruise.blogspot.com .

After that you can meet me Saturday, Nov 27 at Borders, 11270 Bulloch Dr , Manassas , VA Manassas - 12pm to 4pm and Sunday Nov 28 at Borders at Baltimore Washington International Airport – 9am to noon.

How can we learn more about your books?

The easiest way is to check my web site – www.hanibaljonesmysteries.com or www.ascamacho.com but there are lots of other ways – Facebook, Gather, Crimespace, Myspace… my best answer is: Google me. J

Have More Than a MOVIE NIGHT

We love movie night at our house. The two times a month we do it is a major affair. We turn it into an all night movie marathon and snack fest.

THEME IT

We create a movie night theme. With 4 kids we have a major voting event of putting ideas in a hat and picking the one THEME for the night.

CREATE A BIG EVENT OF IT

If the theme is ADVENTURE NIGHT, we create intermission games to play between switching out the movie. Our last adventure night featured PETER PAN, PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN and TRANSFORMERS. To prepare we made cup-cakes with theme inspired designs. We made popcorn with chocolate and caramel and we created swords for sword play during intermission.

INTERMISSION – PLAY TIME

Between each movie, we play a game of HIDE AND SEEK, STORM THE GATES and ACTING OUT. Hide and Seek is the most favored part, because the winner gets the small bag of goodies up for grabs. Storm the gates, we separate into teams and create forts in which we tickle and wrestle our way in to capture the treasure of the opposing team. Acting out consists of teams acting out a meaningful scene from one of the movies viewed and they win the ultimate prize of the night, usually a craft kit that we get from the $1 store.

FUN FOR ANY OCCASION OR AGE

Movie night can be a great sleep over party event when you add spice to it by creating fun, interactive activities. It’s also a breeding ground for great fun and imagination.

SPOOKY BOOKS from THE PAST

In the spirit of Halloween and Fall, I'm taking you down my memory lane of scary books.

I’m a lover of spooky character’s and scary stories. Truth is, I’m too much of a scaredy cat to write them though. As a writer, that story stays in your head for quite sometime, pushing you further and further into the minds of your characters. And let’s face it – I don’t want something spooky hanging around in my head that long –I’d be so jumpy.

These are some of the scariest books I’ve read. Definitely not for kids – but I read some of them when I was in my teens (sorry, I don’t remember there being a YA section of the library when I was a kid.)

HERE ARE THE SPOOKIEST BOOKS OF PAST






Read them if you dare to be scared. Truth is, I don't think I could read them again. I'd be far to scared now :-D

How My Trip to Newport, RI Inspired my writing

Believe it or not, this trip played a major part in my world building for BANDITS.

I love to travel!!! It gives me so many great resources for my active imagination. Lots of times when we travel we do rode trips. Why? Because having four kids means living on somewhat of a budget. Let's face it, if I am going to bust my butt working a full-time job and teaching on the side, I am going to enjoy my life and eek out time to step away from it all. Now, I must admit, I am a little obsessive about traveling, and I try to go somewhere every month even if its just up the road. I've always had this obsession, but never really traveled until about seven years ago when my husband and I lost to cancer four close family members consecutively. My husband's cousin (upon realization of his impending deterioration of health) told us that if he had his life to do over again, he would have gone more places with his kids. He would have adventured places that he had never gone to before, and he would have made the time, taken the money to treat himself and his family first. Well after that talk with him, we decided we needed to re-focus our lives. Sure we both loved working hard, but now, we would make sure we played hard also.

Anyways, on my trip to Newport we stopped in New Jersey to Six Flags. It was packed and hot, but we are thrill seekers and sought out the coasters first hand, and waited no less than 45 minutes for each ride.

While my dear husband drives (because he doesn't trust my driving) I hook up my computer and write. I also read to them (hey a writer's dream is a captive audience) while we ride. My family is my first critique group and trust me, they don't hold back. There has been many of family arguments about the turn of events in my writing.

Newport for me was awesome. We arrived on a sunny day to look out of our room to a sea of boats. All kinds, big and small. I was awestruck, because I had never seen that many boats before. My kids, loved it, and we would sit out and eat while watching the boats.

The best, best, best and most interesting part of our trip was when we went to Brenton Point State Park, by way of ocean blvd. We went up on a bright sunny day, and viewed gorgeous historical mansions that we fantasized about living in. We made up stories of being royalty and waking up to see mermaids in the sea. WELL, let me tell you that all changed later...

We got to Brenton Point and the sky was filled with kytes -- ok let me take this moment to tell you that my dear husband is a big kid whose secret obsession is kyte flying -- we were in awe. So beautiful. We purchased a kyte while there, and launched it easily into the air. The breeze their was wonderful and before we knew we had been flying the kyte for hours.

Then it happened - THE FOG - ok, I have to admit, I didn't do as much research on this trip as I have done on many others. I was TOTALLY surprised at how quickly the fog came in, and how thick it was. Well we looked around and saw the vendors calmly pack up, as if to say, "The fog is not going anywhere, time to go". Well we were slow to get the message and we had lost our kite in the thick fog.

My dear son takes that opportunity to remind me that the fog is like in the movie, THE FOG. I am starting to get tingles from having a small freak out scared cat session, because I looked up and EVERYONE else that was at the park had left. Ugh....

Anyways, we packed up and left -- but was hooked, and made it a point to come back.

Remember, I mentioned that we wished we lived in the mansions that we passed on our way up to the park -- Well, those mansions turned REALLY spooky looking on the way back, and needless to say, we all said that we would never want to live in one of those mansions after the FOG sets in. Although, it was hauntingly beautiful, my imagination would get the best of me every single time the FOG rolled in.

This trip inspired the new world that I am building in EXPLORER X - Book 2 as well as aspects of BANDITS, because it was so beautiful, yet frightening for this new explorer.

Our Trip Report, just in case you would like to explore this wonderful place, and write your own story about your adventure.

Sat – Easton's Beach. The playground, carousel and snack bar were all a hit. There is also an aquarium. The beach is well-maintained but you may experience a little algae. Gooseberry Beach is more ($20 a car vs. $10) but is also a good option for smaller bathers. Overall, the beach was definitely a disappointment to us spoiled beach goers. So we played in the sand instead and made it a great time.

- Scenic Drive on Ocean Drive to view the Mansions - I really enjoyed this. Lucky for us we went on a sunny day, because the next day we went the mansions were draped in fog. Very eerie and spooky looking, which was great to see also. The mansions were all very different and impressive, definitely worth the ride.

- Brenton Point State Park

- This was the best part of our trip. This place is gorgeous. We were able to fly kytes for hours here, while looking over at the water crashing against the rocks. Bring a picnic lunch and hang out here, walk on the rocks and take pictures. Most of all, bring a kite. If you do not there is a guy that sales them. The sky was filled with them the first day we went. We loved it so much we went to Walmart and got everyone kites. However we did buy a nice cloth kite from the guy for $30 and it was worth it. We were able to fly kites and enjoy the day until about 6pm when the fog rolled in and took over. You could barely see in front of you. It was a great experience for the kids because they had never seen any thing like this before and neither had we.

Sun – The Cliff Walk is a public access road running three and a half miles along the shore of Newport, and offers a breathtaking view of the mansions and the Atlantic Ocean, sometimes aspiring to heights as high as seventy feet! This was nice. Definitely a must do, although we did not do the whole 3 miles.

BANDITS UPDATES - New Month New set of PRiZes

Yippee! A new set of prizes are kicking off this month. Since October is Halloween month the publisher has given me some cool T-shirts to give out. I have 2 shirts up for grabs this month.

Just email the publisher your info, and the link to this blog with T-SHIRT - October prize in the subject. First 2 peeps to respond get the goods. Just click the EMAIL button on the pub website. www.phenomenalonepress.com

BANDITS UPDATE!!!!! Whoooooooot!
This is the pre-pub cover.




We are working on the BOOK TRAILER for Bandits and I'm so excited!!!

Our artist for THE PACK, Shoshana Epsilon has also agreed to find time to do the book trailer for BANDITS! wooooot!

Here's a snippet about Shoshana,

I am heavily involved in Second Life. If you haven't been there, you should check it out: This is NOT a game. If you want to "win" something, you will be sadly disappointed. (Games *do* exist there, but the world itself if not a game.) Second Life is an awesome world where you can be creative and see things you never could have seen in Real Life (abbreviated RL by afficiandos).

In Second Life (SL), I have many activities. Primarily, I am a Mentor, a photographer, and a curator. As time goes on, I'll discuss these activities in more detail. Suffice it to say that I am happily occupied all the time there.

TEEN SECOND LIFE, check it out: http://teen.secondlife.com/footer/cs

That's all I'll write for now. Thank you!

-- Shoshana

Her stuff can be found here:

Her Flickr pages: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shoshanaepsilon/

Her Red Bubble Page: http://www2.redbubble.com/people/shoshanaepsilon

CAPITAL BOOKFEST A FUN SURPRISE

Well here it is a year since my journey to get my first book published started. I found myself signing books at the Capital Bookfest (http://capita2.bizland.com/) this weekend. It was sponsored in conjunction with Borders and I must say, I was skeptical when I signed up. You see I’ve been touring now for about four months and I’ve done it all. This event though, was one of the most fun events I’ve done in a long time.

DO YOU REALLY SELL BOOKS AT BOOKFEST

Truth is, most times authors don’t sell a lot of books at these events. I left with selling 13 books in 4 hours which about paid for the investment in getting a table. This year my publisher wanted me to tour different kinds of venues for signing to see which ones were more profitable. We find that authors rarely sell hundreds of books at these types of events. Now these events require payment for a table (or spot) for the author. The author should come prepared with tablecloth and promotional materials as well as some books. However, with this particular bookfest the Borders bookstore carried some of our books. My publisher called in advance and requested that they purchase some since I was in attendance and we were in the Borders book ordering system.

SO WHY DO BOOKFEST?

We are keeping select bookfest on our list, and the Capital Bookfest is one of them. I’ve done a few others and I just enjoyed the networking with other authors so much that I really like going to them also. However, our marketing budget will decide. There were various types of authors at the bookfest. Some had a publisher and others were self-published. I must say I visited everyone’s table, and there were some good quality self-published as well as traditionally published books out there. And you know what? People were purchasing them. Not only that, but each author had an opportunity to get up and speak about their book on stage as well as give a reading. I personally sold 6 books after the reading. It also helped that I was the only YA-Scifi author in attendance. Also, for my time spent I was able to network two additional speaking opportunities at local schools in which fellow authors were teachers! Wow!

HOW TO JUDGE A SUCCESSFUL EVENT

I truly enjoyed all the kids who purchased my books. I got a few hugs, ‘Wow – you are a writer of scifi?”, an opportunity to read The Pack, and some great advice as well as additional event opportunities from other writers that have pursued their careers in varied fashions.

It was definitely a successful event.

LIFE AFTER THE 1ST DRAFT

Boy, when I first sat down to complete my very 1st manuscript, I had no idea what I was in for. Much less what came after publishing. Was I up for the task…who knew? I had to learn along the way and sure wish I had a mentor to help me muddle through it all.

SO YOU FINISHED WRITING YOUR 1st DRAFT
Yep, when I finished my first draft I figured, hum, I only have to edit this once and then send it out. BOY WAS I WRONG. Luckily for me I stumbled … yep, literally stumbled on a writer’s website called, www.absolutewrite.com/forums lucky for me I did. There I wanted to strut my stuff and show off my newborn baby and decided to put my work in the ‘Share Your Work’ area and boy did they rip me a new backside (but in a nice and supportive way). There on Absolutewrite.com/forums I found the mentors I needed. I started hawking the site and learned that I needed to get my manuscript in great shape. So I took a SciFi Critique class at the BETHESDA WRITER’S CENTER (http://www.writer.org/) thank goodness I did. Lastly, one of the best sites I found support on was www.yalitchat.ning.com for YA writers. These are some things I learned I needed to do after I finished my manuscript. This is completely my journey – you can make your own, but I’d love for you to learn from mine.
- Edit my work – a lot.
- Send it out to beta readers.
- Join a critique group or take a class specific to writing and my chosen genre
- Join a Writer’s Organization (And GET involved – network and meet people)
- Create a Query Letter, edit it, get beta readers for it
- Solicit a Literary Agent – if that doesn’t work, go straight to publishing companies that support your genre
- Network with other authors to see inventive ways that they’ve got published (like getting a writing coach, picking up an agent at writer’s conference pitch sessions, or even interning with a freelance editor or other authors who have beta read your work.)
- Never ever let anyone’s opinion stop you from pursuing your dream.
- Build a platform or presence for yourself as an author (have a fb page, do a blog, tweet – create a following and fan base)
- Be realistic about a career as an author by talking to other authors who are where you want to be.


SO YOU HAVE AN AGENT or FOUND A PUBLISHER …Now what
Getting a Lit agent or a publisher is like the greatest high of a writer’s journey, but then…then…there’s still more work to be done. If you have a Lit Agent more than likely you’ll have to do some edits before your agent shops for a publisher of your works. In a lot of cases you get a publisher, in some cases – you may not and your agent may have the sad job of telling you that there is nothing more than can do for you. If your agent is able to land you a publisher, than the contract negotiations begin and you realize just how little a newbie author truly makes – or in some cases, you hit pay dirt and get a decent advance for your book.

If you, your agent or new publisher have to part ways, then it’s back to the drawing board again. Attend conferences, shop your work using query letters and send to publishers directly or check out other publishing options. But don’t give up.

OKAY You’re PUBLISHED NOW ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES AND PROMOTE
Now you are published, and if you are with a publisher or not – you do have to promote yourself (hopefully you have already started). This is where should start getting involved, finding cheap ways to get your name out there – HELP your publisher promote your book in any way possible. Why? Because your book is in competition with tons of others and publishers aren’t spending as much $$$ on promotions for new authors, heck not even for some of their midlist authors. You can also use a publicist if you have to, but most of the internet promotional stuff you can do with some hard work and effort. Check out 1001 Ways to Market your book, find things that you can do actively without overly stressing yourself out.

LIGHTS CAMERA YOU’RE ON
Book signings, radio shows, virtual blog tours and Expos are now some of your stomping ground. Get out there and express yourself, don’t be shy. Come prepared with extra books, a permanent marker and a smile.

I’M TIRED NOW WHAT
Write more books. Even though promotion takes a lot of work, write more great books to keep yourself in front of your audience. Besides, wasn’t writing a great book the catalyst for this bumpy roller coaster ride of being an author in the first place?

FESSING UP-Part of growing up

There are times when you’ve made a great mistake, got caught sneaking out, or got punished for something you knew darn well you shouldn’t have done – and the time to pay the piper is near. Fess up and apologizing is one of the hardest things to do – and truly mean sometimes. We all have to start sometime.

THE TRIP UP

My parents had one rule, “Do not leave the house without telling us.” Well, you know what I did right? I left – just to go to the corner store. I did it a lot, heck, got away with it at least a dozen times before I got…caught. You know while I was doing it, I didn’t think I would get caught. No really, they hardly ever doubted that I would follow the rules. I followed the rules in most everything else. I was a “good” kid that was easily managed – not! But at least I thought I was.

GETTING CAUGHT

I tell you, when you get caught doing something you know dang well you should be doing – it’s the worst feeling in the world. When I rounded that corner coming from one of my adventures off the safety of my neighborhood, my grandmother was standing on the porch waiting for me. Her hands were on her hips and her frown made it obvious that I was in for it.

I froze, yep I couldn’t take a step. Part of me wanted to run, but I knew she would catch me. I gulped, closed my eyes and slowly walked up the street. My booty of candy and soda firmly held in my hand. Even though I’d gone to the store, left the neighborhood, and didn’t tell my grandmother where I’d gone, there was no way, no – way, I was giving up the goods.

ARE YOU REALLY SORRY? And READY to FESS UP?

Now I admit I was sorry – really sorry. But, but, but, that didn’t mean I wanted to give up my candy. I couldn’t figure out what I was more sorry about. Was I sorry I got caught, or was I sorry that I broke the rule. Truth was, if I hadn’t gotten caught I would still go to the store without getting permission. Also, the truth was, if given the chance to do it again… I just might run to the store again. That meant, I wasn’t really sorry.

At the end of the day, I apologized. Also, I got punished. The punishment was – no playing outside for a week and no allowance for a month. I thought it was harsh, heck downright mean. But it taught me a lesson. There is a price to pay for breaking the rules, and most times…all times, it’s much higher a price to pay than it would have been to do things the right way.

Did I ever break that rule again? Naw, after that… I just asked. Sometimes being denied doing what I wanted wasn’t always so bad.

BALTIMORE BOOKFEST - 2 for 1 DEAL

Oh yeah! I'm going to be at the Baltimore Book Festival that runs this entire weekend. Tons of books, authors, readings, music, great food and everything that has to do with books.

BUY ONE of my books at the festival, get the other for free!

Here's the Press Release: http://www.prlog.org/10939283-book-signing-at-baltimore-book-festival-sat-sun-3-5pm-author-lm-preston-of-the-pack-explorer.html

Join author LM Preston of THE PACK and EXPLORER X-ALPHA, “Kids that do the impossible Book Signing Event”, Games and Giveaways at Baltimore Book Festival, Sat. 10/26-27 from 3pm-5pm.

Baltimore Book Festival
Maryland Writer's Association Booth
MOUNT VERNON PLACE , 600 BLOCK NORTH CHARLES STREET, BALTIMORE, MD 21201


EXPLORER X - ALPHA (MG, Scifi)




THE PACK (YA, Scifi)



If you're not able to make it, you can get my books from the following. If you purchase one and want the other for free, email the publisher with your receipt and contact information. www.lmpreston.com and click on EMAIL.

THE OFFER IS ONLY GOOD FOR THIS WEEKEND (Sept. 24-25, 2010)

BENEFITS OF A WRITING BREAK

I’ve been kicking out manuscripts in four months stints for about 2 years. My goal is 3 months, but something always happens in the writing frenzy to stop my progress. Is it a bad thing? Nope, not at all.

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU CAN’T FIND THE TIME TO WRITE

I always try to get a draft outline completed. That way during those times when I’m unable to write, but ideas are floating around in my head, I can add or change my outline. I also carry a notepad and pen with me to write down various ideas about the story that I’d like to add then I stick it up on my writing board with my outline. The last thing I do, is I print out the parts that I’ve completed and read it while at my kids sports practices. I do a sweep edit of plot holes and structure changes in order to remember what I've written and to keep the story fresh and always working in my thoughts.

BENEFITS OF STEWING TIME

The overall benefits of ‘active’ stewing time (I call it active because you are either expanding/changing your outline – which is easy and fast to do, or you are doing sweeping edits of previous written text) is that new ideas crop up that you wouldn’t have thought of if you were focused strictly on the outline you originally created. Truth is for me, I change my outline about 10 times throughout the entire process and mostly during the time when I don’t have time to write.

FORCED TIME OFF

Sometimes I force myself to step away from a Work In Progress in order to flush out new ideas and change plot points. Usually, I am actively working on my craft by beta reading someone else’s stuff, taking a seminar, volunteering in a writing related event, or editing a different manuscript I’ve finished.

Sometimes it’s good to step away from writing, as long as you go back to it :-D

GLIMMERGLASS by JENNA BLACK Book Review

NYIA our TEEN BOOK REVIEWER is a guest book reviewer today!



Glimmerglass (Faeriewalker, Book 1)by Jenna Black review by NYIA

Book Synopsis:Dana Hathaway doesn’t know it yet, but she’s in big trouble. When her alcoholic mom shows up at her voice recital drunk, again, Dana decides she’s had enough and runs away to find her mysterious father in Avalon: the only place on Earth where the regular, everyday world and the captivating, magical world of Faerie intersect. But from the moment Dana sets foot in Avalon, everything goes wrong, for it turns out she isn't just an ordinary teenage girl—she's a Faeriewalker, a rare individual who can travel between both worlds, and the only person who can bring magic into the human world and technology into Faerie.

Soon, Dana finds herself tangled up in a cutthroat game of Fae politics. Someone's trying to kill her, and everyone seems to want something from her, from her newfound friends and family to Ethan, the hot Fae guy Dana figures she’ll never have a chance with… until she does. Caught between two worlds, Dana isn’t sure where she’ll ever fit in and who can be trusted, not to mention if her world will ever be normal again…

NYIA's REVIEW

I liked this book by Jenna Black, because it was different. It was about politics and stuff, which you don’t see a lot of books being able to make that interesting. The main character Dana was so cool. Even though she was kidnapped, she was still cool and collected. She wasn’t whiny. I also liked her brother and sister they were Fae, and she could connect with them. It was about Dana being the daughter of a powerful sorcerer and everyone wanted a piece of her. Only thing I didn’t like, was the ending. My only frustration was that the character was kinda stupid in some situations. I give it 4 out of 5.