BIG DAY TODAY! Special note: today's post will be extra long with Bonus announcements at the end - most of my a to z posts will be short, but this is a Blessed day! Bonkers!Here's a quick summary of my plans for the A to Z challenge this year. The A to Zs of:
- Writing Advice
- Tidbits from BROKEN BRANCH FALLS, BEAST WORLD Book 1, which comes out in June (Including the titles of my posts, which are some of the chapter titles in BBF!) Yes, I went crazy!
- And some laughs at the end!
A to Z Writing advice:
As you know, Bob… It's a common mistake for new writers, as I found out early on that I did it. This blunder involves a more experienced character explaining backstory in detail to another character. Like when someone gets a new job and the office gossip gives the goods on all the other characters – it's too much telling and not enough showing.
Visiting BROKEN BRANCH FALLS:
Black Dog Forest – where the werewolves live
Blood Lake – where the vampires live, of course
Bluffs of Ruin – where the giants roam
Book of Ages – source of laws and government for all beastkind
Broken Branch Falls – the town where ogres, pixies, elves, and goblins live
And for laughs:
An alphabetical list of reasons men are happier people... (courtesy of my mom)
B is for Bathrooms
A man has six items in his bathroom: toothbrush and toothpaste, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel.
The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 337. A man would not be able to identify more than 20 of these items.
BONUS 1:
A short note for IWSG - for those new here, the Insecure Writers Support Group meets the first Wed of each month, conceptualized by our Grand PooBah, Alex J. Cavanaugh. There's lots of helpers and clones and even a facebook page. Here's my insecurity this month...
A short note for IWSG - for those new here, the Insecure Writers Support Group meets the first Wed of each month, conceptualized by our Grand PooBah, Alex J. Cavanaugh. There's lots of helpers and clones and even a facebook page. Here's my insecurity this month...
I am getting nervous about Broken Branch Falls coming out soon! I planned my POP TRAVEL blog tour to the hilt and it was wonderful. But, BBF is MG and I'm still figuring out how to market it. If you are interested in helping me, I could use any advice or aid you got. I'm looking for help with:
- the cover reveal (May)
- an ARC review (May/June)
- release day announcement (June)
- then there's the blog tour (June - Sept)
BONUS 2:
BREATHLESS! A Romantic Flop Blog Hop
To celebrate Krista McLaughlin's release of BREATHLESS, we are telling embarrassing love moments. Here's mine:
In the summer before eighth grade, I got my first boyfriend. We met at camp. Holding hands was such a thrill at that age! But when camp was over, we had to go home and we lived forever apart (30 min is forever when you can't drive). We wrote letters (yes, I'm old. we used paper and pen and licked envelopes and stamps! We were so deprived) and we actually talked on the phone!! with a cord! (love the 80s!) Anyway! We got our parents to drop us off to play raquetball at an outdoor court (I lived in Florida). Being a dumb boy, he whipped my butt. Being a dumb girl, I got mad and pouted. So, he threw his raquet down and came over and kissed me. My first kiss. Awkward, but so sweet =) Awww!
Here are the links for BREATHLESS:Eighteen-year-old Lainey is the only witness to her best friend losing her life to the depths of the ocean. She stays close to the water, a small part of her hoping to surrender to the same fate. On her birthday the waters almost overtake her, but a mysterious young man rescues her and disappears.
Lainey can't stop thinking about the stranger from the beach, and one night she finds her rescuer naked and bleeding on the shore. Jon doesn’t know what pancakes taste like, how microwave popcorn cooks, or own shoes, but he seems to be just what Lainey needs. As the anniversary of her friend’s death looms, Lainey opens herself in ways she never thought possible. But when Jon’s identity comes to light, Lainey has to save him before she loses another love to the sea.
Happy Bee Day!
32 comments:
Wow BREATHLESS is breathless. I want to read it! I love the little story you shared for it. Also, I'm willing to help you with your book :D Thank you!
Happy to help with an ARC review of BBF on Swagger Writers. You can contact me at kimvansickler@gmail.com . Good luck with the promo!
Goodluck with Broken Branch Falls release.
I can help with the cover reveal, but I don't have any good advice (or even any bad advice :P ) for marketing an MG. ;)
You have quite a few B things in your novel! Noice. ;)
I would love to help with BBF! Just let me know what you need. :)
One of the (many) things I am doing as I edit is eliminating instance of tell vs. show. Weak verbs are also outta there. We don't realize how much we insert our everyday writing into our manuscript until we read it and it is full of was doing, was reading, was thinking, was gripping, was blah blah blah.
A suggestion on the book tour since it is still a ways out. Do you have ARCS or e-books to send out for early review? I did that for someone and their MG book recently. It gets reviews up on Goodreads before the book comes out and I posted it on my blog. If you are doing something like that, I'd be interested. I am also willing to host you for some sort of promo on my blog during that time:)
Would love to help with your release day announcement and blog tour! I'm going to be on vacation in May so I don't know for sure if I can help with the cover reveal. If the reveal is during the first half of the month mark me down - I'd be happy to participate. Good luck!
Love your first kiss story. At least that young guy knew how to deal with a pout.
Hi, Tara...
What fun... I LOVE THE SOUND of you new baby!
Yes, I can certainly help out. Love an ARC to do a review and can help with reveal and tour... just give me the dates, and i'll work them in..
You have my email....
I can't imagine having nearly that many items in my bathroom. I also never needed a support group to go to the bathroom, like many women seem to. I've often felt I must've been a man in at least one former life, since I've never been particularly stereotypically feminine by modern American standards.
This post was certainly jam packed with stuff. I couldn't fit 300+ objects in my tiny bathroom even if I wanted to!
I think we've all been guilty of the infamous Bob at some point. :)
I'm sure you've got a ton of volunteers, but if you want a stop on my blog, you are more than welcome! I'd love to have you again!
thanks for this. info-dumps drive me CRAZY! but they're easy to fall into, especially with fantasy/sci fi.
and funny about the bathroom products... my collection does not number in the hundreds, but when husband and i first married, he was always, you need more make up? why can't you get the other (cheap, crappy) soap? what's with all the lotion? haha. silly guys.
my husband still cracks on me once in a while bc i do buy high quality moisturizers. finally i said, "what are we going to tell the grandchildren when they ask, why does grandma look 40 and grandpa looks 104?"
he didn't even blink and responded, "i'll tell them grandma's a witch."
Tara! Hit me up for a Writerly Wednesday during your tour. June 25 is my last June date. (I hope that's during your tour.) Also, have you stumbled across Middle Grade Mondays? There's a whole ring of people who participate in them, and that would be the direction I'd point you.
Serious digging on a lot of things in this post: the terribly cool minion badge, the story excerpt. I could go on. And I hear you on those low-tech days of the 80's (and before for me). When I saw the Wizard of Oz for the first time, it was all in b&W because we did not have a color tv yet!
If you still need folks to dish about your upcoming tour, count me in!
LuAnn Braley
AJ's Hooligans @AtoZChallenge
Back Porchervations
You're right, 'tell not show' needs to be used in limited ways. It is so tempting to info dump, especially if I've been doing a lot of back story work, but it is so much more satisfying when 'show' works :)
Sophie
Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles - A to Z Ghosts
Fantasy Boys XXX - A to Z Drabblerotic
Congrats on the new book coming out soon! So exciting. I'm sure it will be a great hit. :)
Nerves are alright, just get together your blogger friends for assistance and listen to your instincts and publisher. Too much telling is bad but so is boring showing.
Oh crap I'm a man! Well, according to your bathroom thing because I have less than 20 items for myself.
That's Captain Ninja Grand PooBah!
Just kidding.
I will help you with any and all of those, Tara.
Love the post. I especially like your formatting. I am not that good on the formatting part in my blog. Congratulations on the new book coming out.
Juneta at Writer's Gambit
My gosh, I'm Breathless just looking at all this stuff! Wowsers, you're a busy gal. Hope you're enjoying A to Z!
"Breathless" is officially on the reading list! Might be a while before I get to it as the Blog-o-Sphere has inspired my reading list to be a mile long right now, but it shall be read!!
Wow. I didn't realize the average woman had that many things in the bathroom. It frightens me! I maybe only have ten more things than my husband.
Anything you need help with for BBF, count me in. :)
MG books are different to market for sure. MG readers aren't really as active online in the usual book blog circles, but their parents are and they're the ones who buy it. Though that doesn't help you. Good luck!
And what I wouldn't give for a bathroom of my own! That would be heaven!
You know I will do anything for you! So, sign me up for whatever you need.
Have you noticed how often movies do the info drop now? Or is it that I am just aware of what they are doing?
Did you do all the drawings for Broken Branch Falls? They are so cool:)
Hi Tara .. looks like you've got lots of offers of help here - and I'm sure Broken Branch Falls will start your Beast World Series off so well ..
Love all your Bs too .. good luck and that first breathless kiss .. always the special one ..
Cheers Hilary
LOVE your story for the Breathless blog hop- adorable.
As for BBF I'm in for whatever I may be able to help with- seriously, you need a particular day, the blog is yours. Just let me know.
For some reason "Bluffs of Ruin" just stands out to me.
Love the little love story you shared!
anna
Deeply Shallow
Congrats on the release : ) How exciting!
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