Cover Reveal!

I'm getting this post up under the wire, but I'm so excited to be a part of Jen Naumann's cover reveal! Jen and I blog together over on The Writer Diaries and she is a crazy talented writer!

But before I do the unveiling, here's a little teaser for Paranormal Keepers :

Everyone thinks Harper Young killed her boyfriend. No one will say it to her face, but the signs are everywhere.

It’s almost been a year since Gavin was torn from Harper’s arms and brutally murdered. The police wrote it off as a freak accident, deciding Harper’s strange testimony was given under duress. But she knows something unnatural was involved and refuses to stop looking until she finds his killer, even if it means her reputation as a senior is ruined. Even if it means there really are monsters living among us.

With the discovery of the mothmen, witches, vampires and all the creatures she always suspected were out there, Harper finds herself amidst a complex bundle of unseen heroes who call themselves "Keepers", sworn to keep the secret of the paranormal creatures that walk this earth. As she tries to understand what’s so special about her that she’s able to break an old Keeper law, Harper has a baffling vision of kissing a mysterious guy before a blade is brought down on him. Before she can get a handle on her future, she becomes central to a battle between the questionable “heroes” and the evil she’s been training to fight, leaving her to wonder if there’s any way to change the fate that has been foretold before it’s too late.

Amazing! Paranormal Keepers comes out March 4, 2014 from Phantom Owl Press!
Now, what you've been waiting for....

And waiting for...

Bam! Here you go!

HOLY SMOKES!!! Look at those eyes! 

Don't forget, March 4, 2014 is the release date!

Thanks, Jen for letting me be a part of this big day!

Gratitude

I’m taking a break from my normal writing posts to comment about gratitude.  No, it’s not Thanksgiving and you haven’t missed the entire year.

The truth is, I have realized just how easy it is for people to lose sight of what is important in the world. I think it was the arrest of Justin Beiber that made me stop to take inventory. Can you say #firstworldproblem? Out of exhaustion from the 24 hour a day news cycle, I decided to unplugged and reflect on the concept of gratitude.

It was harder than I thought it would be. You have no ideas how many “problems” I had to muddle through before I could get down to the nitty gritty. But even those problems, when looked at from a different POV, have hidden moments of gratitude.

For example, last month, my husband hit a deer and then a few weeks later, a guard rail. Between the two accidents, we had almost $10K in damaged to our car. And, because the accidents happened during two separate incidents, we have to pay 2 deductibles. That’s a chunk of change not in our monthly budget. But through some re-arranging and prioritizing and more eating in, less eating out, we have the money for the repair and the remainder of the car rental not covered by our insurance. Let’s not overlook the fact that we have insurance in the first place. We have a warm home that protects us from the -40 degree wind chill that is sweeping through the Midwest as I type. We have the food to keep us healthy and should we become ill, insurance and a health savings account to cover trips to the doctor.

Don’t get me wrong: we are by no means rich, but we have the means needed to live a secure life.

So why is it that I have a hard time being content? I’m staring down the barrel at the big 4-0 and there aren’t a lot of things I would change. I have a husband who adores me (and puts up with me), two children who are empathetic and smart (and probably a little bit spoiled), I’m less than a year from seeing my life dream of being a published author come into being and I finally feel like I am coming into my own when it comes to writing. Add to that a handful of extremely close friends (you know, the ones who know too much about you to ever be your enemy) and an even larger circle of people I enjoy being around. Our needs are covered and most of our wants, so what else is there?

I think my goal in the next year is to focus on the things that matter most and let go of the things that are #firstworldproblems. So go forth, my friends and BE FEARLESS when you face what really matters in your life! I think you might find yourself a lot less stressed if you do!

Being Fearless

Indiana is bracing for record breaking cold and blizzard like conditions. And something about the enormity of the weather has got me thinking about 2014 mantra I've adopted.

For years, I've signed off almost every blog post with BE PASSIONATE. This year, I decided I needed to change it up so I decided on BE BRAVE. It seemed appropriate. I am embarking on a new stage in my life and there will be times I will need to step out of my comfort zone and do things a wanna-be hermit would never do.

So BRAVE made sense. And then I saw this:

And I realized BRAVE isn't enough. I need to be FEARLESS. While I think some of these people might be a little crazy, each and every one of them started with a single flip. And each of them probably slammed into a cliff or broke a bone or endured some other painful experience. But they got up and did it again. And again. And again. Until it wasn't about being brave. It was about not letting fear determine how close to the sun you will soar or the depth you will dive to do the thing that drives you, that excites you. 

We live in a world of fear. Of things we don't know, don't understand. And as a species, we have belittled, conquered and even killed out of fear. And yes, maybe those are the extreme, but I'm a writer and that's how we roll. Perhaps fear has stopped us from reaching out to people because they might not want to be our friends. Maybe fear has kept us from following a job or a boy or doing something else that requires us to open up and be vulnerable. To do something that's a risk. Maybe fear has even made us afraid to be who we really are. 

But fear is all in our head, and yes, for those of you who know me well, I am the pot in this kettle/pot scenario, but if I can conquer my fears, there is nothing to hold me back from taking the life and the time I have been blessed with to new heights. So, my friends, I wish you to BE FEARLESS in whatever it is that moves you. Whether it's base jumping, sending your cherished manuscript out into the world to face the probability of rejection, or letting go of your past so it stops messing up your future, conquer whatever it is that holds you back! 

Welcome, Everyone, to 2014!

As the ball dropped in Times Square, kidlet #1, who, in all fairness, is my more visibly emotional child, broke down in tears. When pressed as to what was the matter, he’s simple reply was, “I’m going to miss 2013.”

I had to stop myself from saying, “Well I won’t” because a. I’m working on being a supportive mom, b. he was tired, and c. I wasn't exactly sure why I wouldn't miss it.

Last year has a special place in my life timeline, especially in the world of writing, but also in my personal life. As I have said about 100 times, I found MY agent, who is awesome. I even got a couple book offers as the year closed out. I started another book that has me excited to get back to it and I think I've finally found my “voice” for writing.

The kidlets have both reached the age of conversation with me, but also with each other. They’re so close together in age that I swear they speak a language I don’t understand. My husband says they speak boy. Mystery solved. In addition to having chats, I am seeing their wonderful and very different personalities starting to come into their own and yes, I have my hands full.

Life wasn't always great this year. There was enough family drama to kill a camel, but still, that didn't answer the question of why I was glad the New Year had finally arrived. And then it hit me.

 

I wasn't happy 2013 was over. I was excited that 2014 was here. This is a big year for me. I turn 40. I’m not ashamed to admit it. I have earned every wrinkle laugh line and have some pretty great adventures in my scrapbook. Did I mention that a childhood dream of becoming a published author will be coming true this fall. What? I have? Get used to it. I have lots of self-promotion plans in the works.

But even more than these two moments, I think, for the first time, I am excited about the unknown. This is indeed very odd for me as I am a girl who needs a plan. I don’t really care if the plan gets pulled off perfectly, but for the love of everything that is holy, I need a plan.

That being said, I am looking forward to the unknown. Of celebrating the successes of my friends and knowing that, while not everything works out the way we want it to, there is always a plan. So good-bye 2013. It has been a year worth remembering, but not one worth crying over. It is the past and I am a better person because of it, but it does not define me or any of us.

And before I go, I realize that there have been one or two Downton Abbey-esque phrases turned here or there, and for that, you are welcome, but remember, no matter what life throws at you, BE BRAVE. (Yes, BE PASSIONATE has been retired for 2014.)

A Writer Walks Into A Marketing Meeting and Bangs Head on Desk

On Tuesday I posted a “Tuesday Topic” over on The Writer Diaries that was all about Marketing. This is a topic that has been on my mind a lot! When I was discussing this issue with my awesome agent, she said, “Think about how people in Nebraska are going to find out about your book.” Now, I should mention that I actually have family in Nebraska, so at least they will know, but beyond that, I see her point.

So the question remains: How does a Writer, with no marketing experience and a very limited budget, help their book make a splash in the enormous literary ocean?

Gone are the days of PR campaigns for debut authors. Oh, I’m sure some lucky blokes can wrangle some attention grabbing events from their publishers, but for most authors, we have to force our creativity off the page and into the business world of the industry. It’s just the way of the business.

Now, while I don’t have my marketing campaign figured out… or even thought about in complete sentences, I have come up with a list of directions I want to approach while drafting my plan of attack:

1. Grassroots. Many moons ago, I was a political campaign manager. Okay, that sounds really grand. What I actually did was run a state-wide campaign for the State Auditor position. Do you know how boring the State Auditor position is to voters? In a word: excruciating. But, when the votes were counted, our campaign had the closest margin of the other statewides. Never mind that we lost. More people voted for us (percentage wise) than any of the other “flashy” offices. Why? Grassroots. I live in a farming state and my candidate was a former watermelon farmer. So we hooked up a tractor, loaded a truck full of watermelon and took our message to the people.  We hit almost every county in the state. We didn’t win, but by the end of the campaign, people knew who we were and, generally, they liked us. Maybe not enough to actually cast a vote for us, but they liked the watermelon.

 

2. Working with the mainstream. I will do the press packet. I will submit as many articles as I can think of to write to a variety of publications. I will send press releases to all the alumni mags I can. I won’t like this part as much as the next, but I will do it because, if I can land an article in a regional or even national publication, more than just my family might start talking about this awesome book.

 

 

3. Looking for “outside of the box” places to promote my book. The other night, while I was cheering on our school team to a b-ball victory… Go Crusaders!!... I had a chance to catch up with a friend who happens to work at the local Wellness Center which has a full-service spa, rehabilitation center and state of the art workout facilities. When I mentioned the book was coming out in October, she was so excited. She's known me since I started penning my first book... in other words, a long time. She knew this was a big deal. And she also knew how we could help each other. She's starting a 2014 program that will focus on a the 6 aspects of health, including Intellectual (like reading a book) and Social (like being in a book club and talking about a book... with food, of course... probably healthy). So she's going to put the book in the gym AND use it as the book club book.  Every single person who walks in to that center will see my book on display. And you can bet I will have the QR code on the sign for people to buy the e-book. Out of the box thinking!

4. Getting to know the people who know books. I'm lucky. I live in a part of the country where there are ten major metropolitan cities within driving distance. It might not be NYC, but it's not bad. And everyone of those metros have booksellers... and not just any booksellers, but Independents. Normally owned by the same person manning the store. Even though I might feel a little like a snake-oil salesperson, you can bet that I am going to do everything I can to meet with those people who stock the shelves. How am I going to get people in Nebraska to find out about my book? Well, I'll probably visit my family and just happen to stop in to a bookstore and pick up a must-have novel. And that family vacation to Florida? We are so driving and stopping at shops along the way. Can you say ROAD TRIP?

There are more plans, but I don't want to give them all away right now. I have to keep you hanging on for the next installment! In the meantime, how are you going to spread the word about the things YOU'RE Passionate about?

Biggest News Ever!

Okay, perhaps the Camp David Peace Accords and the end to WWII were bigger news, but for me, the writer, this is the biggest news to date!

I have accepted a publishing offer!

 

 

Thank you! Thank you so much!

 

Now, please, wipe your eyes of joy and hear me out... The amazing publisher is Strange Chemistry and we're looking at a Fall 2014 release date.

  

 

 

I KNOW, RIGHT!

 

 I can't tell you how excited I am! Of course, I owe a HUGE thanks to my agent, Liza Fleissig from Liza Royce Agency for all her words of encouragement, belief and also talking me down off the ledge a time or two... or three.

I'm sure over the next several months, there will be all sorts of observations from behind the publishing curtain, but for now, I'm just going to bask in the glow of years of hard work and rejection paying off!

Please, whatever you do, Be Passionate!

 

Debut Author Interview: Alison Cherry

I am so excited to be able to introduce debut author Alison Cherry! Alison grew up in Evanston, IL, then went to Harvard and got a degree in photography. (Yes, that is possible. Although they like to call the visual arts "Visual and Environmental Studies," for some unknown reason.) Then she spent the next three years as a freelance lighting designer for various theaters throughout the Northeast. Eventually, Alsion got tired of hanging out on ladders and wrestling with faulty electrical equipment for 80 hours a week while getting paid almost nothing. I know—shocking. She spent the next four years working as a photographer for the Metropolitan Opera. Alison represented by the lovely and amazing Holly Root at Waxman Leavell.

Her book RED, which is available now, is about Felicity St. John who has it all—loyal best friends, a hot guy, and artistic talent. And she’s right on track to win the Miss Scarlet pageant. Her perfect life is possible because of just one thing: her long, wavy, coppery red hair.

Having red hair is all that matters in Scarletville. Redheads hold all the power—and everybody knows it. That’s why Felicity is scared down to her roots when she receives an anonymous note:

I know your secret.

Because Felicity is a big fake. Her hair color comes straight out of a bottle. And if anyone discovered the truth, she’d be a social outcast faster than she could say "strawberry blond." Her mother would disown her, her friends would shun her, and her boyfriend would dump her. And forget about winning that pageant crown and the prize money that comes with it—money that would allow her to fulfill her dream of going to art school.

Felicity isn’t about to let someone blackmail her life away. But just how far is she willing to go to protect her red cred?

Sarah: OMG, that is outstanding. First of all, as a redhead, I LOVE the idea of a place where the Ginger's rule the roost! Sign me up! So, where did you come up with the idea for RED?

Alison: In early 2010, I read a very alarmist article that said redheads were likely to go extinct in the next one hundred years. Since I'm a natural redhead, I found this very upsetting, and I wondered if I should archive my DNA for scientific purposes or something. Fortunately, it turned out the article was just a hoax perpetuated by a hair dye company—the genetic mutation that makes red hair happen is safe and sound. But the whole experience got me wondering what would happen if redheads really WERE an endangered species. Would people work to save them from extinction the same way biologists work to protect pandas and snow leopards? That led to the idea of a National Redhead Sanctuary called Scarletville. I essentially have a news ticker of ridiculous ideas scrolling through my head at all times, so I remember emailing my mom and asking, "Is this incredibly stupid, or could it actually turn into a story?" She thought it was funny, so I decided to give it a shot, and RED was born.

Alison: If you take Felicity at face value, she and I are pretty different. Having red hair is the only thing that matters in Scarletville, so Felicity is significantly more popular than I've ever been, in high school or after. And because she knows she'll lose everything if her secret comes out, she's willing to do some pretty reprehensible things to maintain her status. I like to tell myself I'd never sink so low, but it's unfair of me to berate her—Felicity wasn't lucky enough to grow up like I did, with loving, supportive parents and a diverse community where being different wasn't considered bad. Scarletville is all she's ever known, and if I'd been in her shoes, who's to say I wouldn't have acted the same way? If Felicity had gone to my high school and had been allowed to focus on the things she loved, we might actually have been friends. We have very similar interests; we both took dance classes all through our childhoods, and we're both passionate about visual art. I majored in photography in college, just as Felicity wants to do. I can totally picture us working side by side in the darkroom and commenting on each other's portfolios.

Sarah: I think characters who are hiding something are my favorite to read! I totally connect with them. So, let's talk about the process. How long did it take to complete the project starting with the idea and ending when you signed your book deal?

Alison: I started writing RED in April of 2010, and I got my book deal in October of 2011.

Sarah: Okay, now that all the readers and green with envy, what about your agent? How did you find her?

Alison: My agent is Holly Root at Waxman Leavell, and she is ridiculously awesome. I found her through AgentQuery, which is a fantastic resource for anyone looking for an agent. I actually queried her with an entirely different book in early 2010, and when she read it, she contacted me and said, "I really love this story, but I'm positive I won't be able to sell it." She asked me if I was working on anything else, and the first three chapters of RED were in pretty solid shape by that time, so I sent them her way. She told me she was smitten with them and that I should write the rest of the manuscript and send it to her right away, so I spent the next six months furiously drafting and revising. Four days after I finished, she offered to represent me. Moral of the story: when an agent rejects your manuscript but asks you to send her the next thing you write, DO IT. She's not trying to let you down gently—she sees something she likes in your writing, even if that first project wasn't the right fit for her.

Sarah: So, now that you're behind the gate and walking among the published, what surprised you most about the publishing process?

Alison: The WAITING. For some reason, I thought that after I sold a manuscript, things would zoom along and I'd have a finished book on the shelf in no time. NOT SO, my friends. RED's publication date is almost exactly two years after the date I sold it, and that's pretty standard. The word "soon" starts to mean anything from "next week" to "five months from now." This isn't anyone's fault—there's a ton of stuff I don't even understand that goes on behind the scenes in publishing. But it was definitely an adjustment.

Sarah: I've heard that before! So, any more advice for the "not yet published" writers out there?

Alison: In the words of the great Maureen Johnson, don't be afraid to suck. You're not going to write a perfect book on the first try. You probably won't do it on the second or third or fourth try, either, and that is TOTALLY FINE. That's what revisions are for. Even your very favorite books by your very favorite authors started out as totally crappy first drafts, I promise. None of us get it right the first time around.

Sarah: Words to remember! What's next for you? Any new projects coming up? Is there a sequel to RED in our future?

Alison: RED is a stand-alone, so there's no sequel in the works. However, I do have another unrelated contemporary YA coming out in late 2014. It's called FOR REAL, and it's about a pair of sisters who go on reality TV to take revenge on a cheating ex-boyfriend.

Sarah: Every author has that one line in their book that they love. Care to share one with us?

Alison: "All of the furniture was strangely undersized, as if it had been harvested before it was done growing."

Sarah: Love it! It conjures an image of a giant walking up and down the field picking off beds and couches and vanities. Alison, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me! I am so excited to read RED,in fact, I'm on my way out the door to pick it up now! Cancel all my plans, followers! I'm heading to Scarletville! And remember, always read what you are PASSIONATE about!