Elizabeth Kirke: Christmas For Authors

Hello and Happy Holidays! I’m Elizabeth Kirke and I write the Young Adult, urban fantasy series, More than Magic. I’ve recently started watching several TV shows and they’ve gotten me thinking about the keys to successfully writing a book.

I’m a million years behind, but one of these shows is Dexter. That show is the ultimate example of a character who isn’t strictly good or strictly evil. I mean, come on, he’s a serial killer who basically only kills other serial killers. Looking at it from a character development perspective, it’s brilliant. Dexter is exactly the sort of character you want to read about. He wouldn’t be the ‘hero’ if he was just an evil guy who went around killing people. The reader has to feel empathy for him, on some level. How can you root for the main character if he’s all evil? But, the fact he battles his violent desires and turns them to good – a dubious good, but hey, he tries – makes him appeal to the watchers.

L.M. Steel: Christmas For Authors

As Once Upon A Set of Wheels goes through the final stages of a fresh editing process, readying for paperback release, I find myself going over the story with fresh eyes and thinking about the other characters that we meet in the story.

I am already writing a trilogy of books with regards to the family of one of the most evil characters; Miss Astin. However I find myself wondering about the others who cross Lotus’ path.

Having already written a 5000 word short story, written in five chapters about the life Lotus’s greatest friend ‘Tempo’ led up to meeting the dangerous little girl: The Beat Boys. I have decided to a compile a few more short stories about the people who wove in and out of Lotus’ life and how they reflect back on the time they spent with ‘the little girl, nobody calls their own.’

Aria Williams: Christmas For Authors

The following paragraphs are here to give the reader a special insight into the mind of AJ, This scene is the very first morning that he has opened up shop and knows that at any moment, Nardia will be walking towards the shop to get the morning fix. This morning she will unexpectedly find a handsome stranger in the place of her friend Stan.

As I opened the shop up for the very first time jittering nerves chased my loving memories of Sariel’ into a deep dark crevice of my beating heart. Anxious thoughts created serious doubt, I consciously tried to swat them away. This was not the time to doubt myself, well it wasn’t actually me I doubted but Sariel’s feeling for me.

My name is Israfel and I am the angel who inspires music into the hearts and emotions of the human race. I fell from Heaven roughly eight hundred years and in that entire time I have been living in an immortal human body searching from the ultimate treasure. The value of this prize I seek has no monetarily value, no one can ever conceive a price worthy of this one true gem. I sound strangely like a pirate describing his plunder. The riches I seek is my angel love, my soul mate, the love of my existence. She is the reason I have wandered the world for nearly a centry getting myself into all kinds of strife. And trust me when I say my side kick and partner in trouble has been the cause of most of my hassles, but at least having another angel around provided some entertaining conversations

My search has brought me to the large island country named Australia and more specifically to a small town called Forbes. Hidden in the small town of only 35,000 people was gods most holy instrument and favourite fallen angel. Myth and legend followed so many of the fallen or as we have come to call ourselves ‘The grigoli’. But as Sariel’ was the most specialised Angel on earth God and the Arch angel had made sure no fables circulated the world about this adored jewel. They did this for two reasons the first being to keep her safe and the second to guarantee that I never find her and warrant an eternal misery for me and that I remain a broken man forever.

All of that is about to change; The Angels in heaven are restless, something is going on and I need to find Sariel’, confess my love and protect her from what ever this threat is.

                                                                               

Copyright Aria 

Melissa Groeling: Christmas For Authors

So my parents recently made the switch from Comcast to Fios. It was a huge money-saver and while the seemingly endless list of available channels is somewhat daunting, it’s enough that they shouldn’t have any problems finding something to watch. At least that’s what I figured until I decided to do a little channel-surfing myself. Now I’m not much of a TV person but I do like movies so I headed in that direction and whoa, how disappointing! Not in Fios—that part was fine but all the selections, the choices, the absolute mind-boggling what-do-I-watch running through my head came to an abrupt half when I noticed that there…was…nothing…on.

Maegan Provan: Christmas For Authors

Hi there! My name is Maegan Provan and I am the author of The Night Touched Chronicles. Book One: Celine is out now and Book Two: Jeremy is due out early in 2014.
I really couldn’t decide what to write about for this post. I thought about touching on the complete wall that is up in my brain in regards to the sequel. I thought about writing something about NaNoWriMo, but I kind of feel like everyone is talking about that right now. So I decided that I would write about my hopes for the next year and what I’m planning to release.

Lisa Kessler: Christmas For Authors

Hi everyone –
Thanks for having me on the Booky Ramblings blog! :-) I love the holiday season. The house glowing with lights, the scent of pine wafts through the air, stockings on the fireplace, and wreaths decorate the doors.
There are many holidays celebrated this time of year, and no matter which one you celebrate, I hope they were bright and full of fun and laughter. Santa was good to us this year, and now that the rush of wrapping gifts and running from one gathering to the next is over, I almost feel like I have a hangover.
Christmas afterglow.

Nicki Scalise: Christmas For Authors

How many of you are currently nursing an eggnog hangover ? I see a few hands. How many of you are in various states of turkey coma? Few more hands on that one.

Now not all of you raised your hands which leads me to believe the rest of you are needing bail money. Did you get tossed in the clink for choking dear Aunt Edna, who mentioned one too many times that you’d never find a man if you didn't lose some weight? Yeah, I know. It's okay. Don’t worry, your mother is on her way with the cheque book.

While we wait for you to be sprung from the joint, I thought I’d impart my wisdom on how to avoid causing serious bodily injury to the family driving you completely insane during the holidays.

Rene Folsom: Christmas For Authors

Shuttered Affections (Cornerstone #1)

After escaping to a college town, Juliana Petersen was determined to put her troubled past behind her and make the most of life.  She was satisfied with her current situation, or so she thought.  It wasn’t until the day her new photography professor stole her parking spot that she realized there was such thing as lust at first sight. Now, she must struggle with the decision to break the rules and fall in love, or step back and let the chance of a lifetime pass her by—all while her past relationships come back to haunt her.

How many men will it take to break Julia’s hold on reality?

S.L. Dearing: Christmas For Authors

Book Ramblings by S.L. Dearing

Well an opportunity to ramble, Thank you!!

I do indeed ramble, quite often and about nothing, but I will endeavor to entertain nonetheless.  I am in fact an author, which is why I was invited.  I do have several books (you can see them at the bottom), but let’s talk about something else.  I know, let’s talk about what it is to be an Indie Author.

Now, an Indie Author as we know is an author who has chosen to publish their work on their own, independently of a publishing company.  I know most of you think that we have done this because we couldn’t get a publisher to pick up our books.  Tsk, tsk… for if you believe that, you would be incorrect.  Most of us have chosen this path.  Why, you ask would we do this? Well, let me tell you.

Kandi Steiner: Christmas For Authors

This is my first time guest blogging, and I have to admit I sat down and racked my brain for hours trying to figure out what in the world I would blog about. I figured I could probably bore you with a Q & A about myself, have a character interview with my characters that you may or may not know by now, or I could possibly talk about all the books I like to read. I just wasn’t sold on any ideas, so I put off this post longer and longer until finally, three days before I had to turn it in, a good friend of mine asked me a simple question:

Pixi Bunnell: Christmas For Authors

Hello! I am Pixi Bunnell..
A while back I was invited to write something for the blog and in typical Pixi fashion ….I almost forgot, so much like a child with a homework assignment I am doing this the day before so be patient with me. I have a good excuse however! I swear! I have been hard at work on the follow up to my last book Diary of a Bad Mother and Crappy Housewife. The new book will be called Get the Dog Out of Your Pants and will have the return of the main character Jen Philips but this time, instead of a chronological account of her misadventures as a wife and mother, it will be more of a conversation between the insane Jen and her sister Donna, who’s sense of humor is just as nutty but with a wry twist.

Meradeth Houston: Christmas for Authors

Every once in a while I receive comments on my book about how it has such a great “message.” These always give me pause: I totally didn’t set out to write a message-oriented book, and in my head that’s not what I was going for. But apparently there’s one in there :-). After thinking about it a while, I’ve decided I kind of like the thought. Here’s why:

My main characters belong to the Sary (I made them up, so don’t worry if you’ve never heard of them before!), who are charged with helping people out when they’re in need. Usually this is to try to keep people from taking their own lives, but other times it can be as simple as lending a helping hand when it’s needed—giving someone a pen in the grocery line, or even offering a smile, finding a way to make a day a little brighter. I think we’ve all had an experience or two when someone’s been there to help out when we’ve been in a jam.

Amanda Heartley: Christmas For Authors

Hello y’all and thank you Booky Ramblings for inviting me to your blog!

I grew up in the Midwest and moved to Southern California a long time ago. However, I find that my Midwestern values migrated with me. After 30 years of living in So Cali, I still have a twang, people still ask me where I am from and I have dinner every night with my family.

I love to write, hang out with the kids, watch movies and I’ve recently started working out. Don’t like that yet, but I do it. I also do some work for a friend and have finally found the delicious pleasure in writing erotic romance.

Bryony Pearce: Christmas for Authors

Ten things I learned when I was teaching myself to write.

Growing up I knew that I wanted to write.  I loved to make up stories, write them down and illustrate them (I gave them as gifts to family members).  My favourite lessons at school were the occasional creative writing sessions that popped up during English class.  My love of English literature led me to do English at university, but there was no creative writing module at Cambridge, so I continued to scribble stories in my room with no professional guidance.

After university the muse failed me.  I ended up working in the Market Research industry and found myself unable to write (a combination of exhaustion and self-criticism prevented me from finding anything that inspired me to put pen to paper).   Finally, in a desperate effort to reignite the creative spark, I did a short story writing course with the LSJ.  I learned a lot about writing short stories, getting into the action and immediacy of prose, but perhaps more importantly my ideas started to flow again and when I left London in the winter of 2003 I also took with me one of my short stories (Windrunner’s Daughter), which I planned to turn into a novel.

Heidi Garrett: Christmas For Authors

The Last Week of the Year

December is one of my favorite months of the year. It wasn’t always that way. There were often times when I dreaded “the holidays.” However, when I became more proactive, that began to change.

I started small.

I was loosely raised in a traditional religion, and though I never found my spiritual home there, I’ve always had a strong faith/belief in some sort of overarching intelligence that permeates the universe. Always seeking truth, I found myself intrigued during a certain point in my life with goddess religions. And though I never converted—I seem loathe to ascribe to any spiritual dogma—I loved learning about the roots of some of the religious celebrations that persist today.

Ilsa Madden Mills: Christmas For Authors

We like a little horror in our house, especially those scary movies. Slasher movies rock because they clear my cluttered head so I can think and then later write. It’s like breathing fresh air to watch one. Perhaps it scrubs my brain of all those romance books I read and write? Yes, it’s strange, but I go with what works.

I made a list of my top five, which tend to be the older flicks. They seem less on special effects and more on character and plot. Enjoy.

Julie Cassar: Christmas For Authors

With all the buzz of the holiday season quickly approaching, not only do I have a lot of shopping and baking ahead of me, but I also have a lot of writing on my plate.

Having just finished the fourth book to my Ruby Blue Series, I keep getting the same questions, "It's not over?!? There has to be more!!?? Can't you write more to their story?!?" This is my official answer.

K.J Dahlen: Christmas For Authors

There is nothing more exciting for a writer than to actually see his work published in an E-book or print version. Although I prefer an actual print version, I guess I’m old school enough to want to hold my book in my hand and know it’s really real.
One of my latest releases, From Beyond Death, is about the murder of an officer of the law, Elijah Hanover.

His soul stays behind to solve three murders, including his own.
As a ghost Eli can’t do much but he finds a partner, a woman officer who can hear the voices of the dead, to help him in his quest, J. D. Hawkins. J.D. has a partner Jake and the fact she can hear Eli’s voice tends to freak him out, but together they find and solve Eli’s cold cases.

Garrett Addison: Christmas For Authors

Do you really want your favourite author over for dinner?

Have you ever wondered where your favourite author got his/her ideas from? Hands up if you don't believe those authors who attribute their stories wholly to a fertile imagination.

I'm not suggesting that imagination isn't important and necessary, more in some stories than others. JK Rowling is almost certainly of 'muggle' origins and so I have to assume that all of the Happy Potter universe is entirely of her creation. But what I find really interesting is where imagination ends and experience starts to kick-in to seed a great story. That inspiration has to come from somewhere and of late I've become obsessed with where the line between imagination and reality lies.

Sallie Lundy-Frommer: Christmas For Authors

Why Vampires, why did I write about about vampires when there are so many out there.

Why my subconscious selected these mythical creatures as inspiration, that’s open to speculation. Since I don’t have access to a psychiatrist or someone to analyse my dreams, I’ll take a stab at it answering the question of why I chose to write about vampires….:-)
The easy answer would be to say that I’m a huge fan of vampire books and moves. I’ve seen every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and watched Christopher Lee drain more than a few damsels in distress. I read Stephen King’s, Salem’s Lot and the first time I saw the movie, I had nightmares for a couple of weeks. And let’s not forget Octavia Butler’s, Fledgling. Who can forget Shori who appears to be a child of maybe eleven years,but is actually 53 year old.

Alexia Purdy: Christmas For Authors

Guest Post

By Alexia Purdy

World building in the YA scene

The dreaded world building! Okay, today I’m highlighting this from my series A Dark Faerie Tale series where a young girl named Shade stumbles upon the parallel world of the Land of Faerie and discovers not only does she have magical abilities, but she’s meant for greater things beyond her control. That’s if she can survive multiple attempts on her life and the affections of two very different warriors. In the end, it’s tough to be Queen.

Jonelle Patrick: Christmas for Authors

Five Steps to Hosting a Killer Book Club Meeting!

Book clubs are fun, aren’t they? Good books, good friends, good conversation, and (occasionally) juice-a-licious gossip! But you can’t have a teacher running off with the headmaster every month, so if you’d like to make sure everyone walks away from your front door saying, “I can’t wait for her turn to host again next year!” here are a few ideas that will spark great discussion, raise some eyebrows, and make sure all your friends are sorry when the evening ends!

D.T.Dyllin: Christmas For Authors

Hey everyone! A great big thanks to Shona and the rest of the Booky Ramblings of a Neurotic Mom crew for the invite to be here today! I’m always tickled when asked to stop by someone else’s blog to do a guest post. It’s almost like they’re trusting you with the keys to their house when they’re out of town. I’ll clean up after the huge party I throw, I swear! It’ll be like I was never there. Just do yourself a favor and don’t flip the cushion on your couch over. Thanks. ;)

Jenna Galicki: Christmas For Authors

Jenna Galicki,

Author of Adult Contemporary Romance 

Jenna Galicki is a strong advocate for LGBT rights and marriage equality. When she's not writing, she volunteers with God's Love We Deliver, preparing and delivering meals to people with HIV and AIDS and other life threatening illnesses. She actively raises money and participates in AIDS Walk New York and is a proud sponsor of Children International.

Tyffani Clark: Christmas For Authors

I really struggled over what to write for this post. I even put it out there to Facebook to help me find a topic, but then, I realized, it's Christmas. Why not just write about that?

Christmas is my favorite holiday. When my fiance and I started dating and I told him that, he said, "I figured it would be. It's a lot of people's favorite." See, he doesn't celebrate Christmas because of his religious beliefs. On the other end, Christmas is important to me because of my religious beliefs. I'm a Christian. After Easter, Christmas is the second most important holiday to me, but I like Christmas best. There's just something enchanting and magical about Christmas, even if you don't celebrate it for religious purposes.

Ripley Patton: Christmas For Authors

The Movie of My Book

I'm a big movie buff. I especially love the big flux of movies that come out over the winter Holidays when I can snuggle into a warm, dry theatre and be taken away to other worlds.
And as an author, one of the most common interview questions I get asked is "Who would you have play your main characters in the movie of your book?"
Of course, I love that question. Who doesn't want to see their book on the big screen, while eating popcorn, surrounded by people oohing and ahhing over YOUR story? But I also hate that question because I am terrible at casting actors and actresses. First, I can never remember any of their names. Second, I have very specific pictures of my characters in my head, and they aren't Hollywood-looking people. They're just your average teenagers. But finally, it is because I don't want any actors or actresses to play my characters. I want something very different for the movies of my books.
I want them to be produced by Hayao Miyazaki. (Never mind that he just retired this year- I'm dreaming here).

Andy Siegel: Christmas For Authors

Thank you Booky Ramblings of a Neurotic Mom for reading my debut novel, Suzy’s Case, giving it such a wonderful review and allowing me to be your guest Blogger.

With the story of little Suzy Williams and her resourceful mother, June, I wanted to put a human face on a reality I know so well from my daily working life: the intensity of the experience of personal injury victims and their families. Anyone, in the space of a heartbeat, can --- without warning --- find himself damaged in devastating ways.
None of us expects this, and therefore no one’s ever prepared for it. Suzy’s Case chronicles an instance when the victim is an innocent little girl whose future had been filled with tremendous promise. It also accounts a mother’s strong, deep, committed love for her child.

Christian Schoon: Christmas For Authors

Hi and a big holiday-themed, pine-scented thanks to the BookyRamblings crew for letting me hang around for the day and put my feet up on the furniture here at the blog (I took my shoes off first; I do have some semblance of manners).

I’m a recently minted science fiction writer. My young adult novel Zenn Scarlett tells the story of a young exoveterinarian working with immense, often dangerous but dependably fascinating alien life forms. While dealing with a range of unexpected events during her novice year of training at a science-based cloister near a struggling Earther colony on Mars, Zenn also has to put up with the attentions of  young towner boy Liam Tucker, who may or may not be hazardous to more than her emotional health.  Off-world intrigue ensues…

Fifi Flowers: Christmas For Authors

Hello Everyone... I'm thrilled to be part of Booky Ramblings of a Neurotic Mom's Christmas For Authors special event!!!  Since it's Christmas I thought I would share one of my FAVOURITE things during the holiday season... Holiday Decorated Store Windows!!!  They actually inspired me to write my debut novel "A Window to Love."

Bundled up in jackets, scarves and mittens strolling along Fifth Avenue in New York City and seeing these displays can surely get anyone into the spirit, non?

A.T. Douglas: Christmas For Authors

A blank page.  There is nothing more simple and exciting than that blinding white space of nothingness just waiting to be filled.  It can become anything.  Fold it a few times and you have a paper airplane.  Splash paint on it or scribble across it and you have artwork.  Write a music staff and notes on it and you have a melody.  Type words of descriptions and dialogue on it and you have a story.

A story.  Everyone has a story or can conjure up characters, places, and events to develop a story, but until recently getting one’s story out into the world in a widely accessible format was difficult.  I’ll venture to say that most people have at one point or another in their lives thought, “Hey, I’d like to write a book someday.”  In the past I would say 99% of those people were probably dreaming, that they’d never take the time to write a book and even if they did their chances of becoming traditionally published were slim.

Bart Hopkins: Christmas For Authors

Many thanks to the Booky Ramblings ladies for allowing me to host this post!

Stumbling On Pop Culture

Have you ever wondered what happened to Steve Sanders?

Do you even know who that is?

He’s of no relation to American fried chicken icon, Colonel Sanders.  Or football star Barry Sanders…

How about Ian Ziering—ring any bells?

Well, actually, Steve is Ian, and Ian is Steve … they’re the same dude.