One of my Favorite Authors

Yes, we atuhors are people like anyone else. People who are readers no less--otherwise we would never have gotten into writing in the first place. And as an avid reader I have favorite authors too. One of those favorites is Janette Rallison. If you haven't read any of her books, hurry down to your library and check one out immeadately. My favorite book written by her is Just One Wish. Very romantic and sweet and hilarious too. Well today, Janette Raillison blogged about me. Or more percisely, about a necklace I made for her.

I met the gracious Ms. Rallison at a author signing once and went totally fangirl on her. She was kind anyway, and didn't ask for them to move her to a table further away from mine. Instead she did me the compliment of wearing my necklace to Comicon. I'm still geeking out about it. Check it out!

http://janette-rallison.blogspot.com/2012/05/comicon-where-else-can-you-chat-with.html

Forbidden Sea Mermaid Contest Giveaway

I'm hosting a contest giveaway over on my Forbidden Sea book blog. Click here to get more info and see how you can enter to win all the fabulous prizes pictured here. Including the hand made miniature mermaid necklace above!

Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

People often ask me how an author comes up with new ideas for a book. Well, I recently got a great idea for a new novel after reading a bizarre news story. Sometimes the truth is so much stranger than anything we authors could possibly make up in our heads. Here are a few examples of some news articles that would make great beginnings for stories. (I'm not including the one that inspired me just yet. I still need time to work that story out.) I have included a few other articles for your viewing pleasure. Click the links to read more.

Town is Mysteriously Rattled - The cause of this strange phenomenon could be just about anything--especially if it were the plot of a fantasy/sci-fi novel.

Ghost Ship Sails the Sea Without a Crew - According to the article, an unmanned ship is a dangerous thing, so they are attempting to hunt it down and sink it. Think about the adventures a fictionalized crew might have while doing this. What if the "ghost ship" fought back?

Piano Left in the Middle of a Forest - I can't even begin to think of an explanation for this. But I'll bet some budding author out there somewhere can.

Panama Monster - Okay, that's just creepy. I don't even WANT to know.

School Visits Are the Best

I recently did a school visit at a local school near my home. They had never had an author come to visit them before, so they were very excited. The faculty had to turn away some of the classes that wanted to hear me speak because of the fire code's maximum capacity in the gym. I don't think I've ever spoken to such a big group before. They had fourth grade up to ninth grade--with some interested third graders thrown in for good measure. They were a fabulous group and I had a lot of fun talking to them about how you go about writing a book. My favorite part of school visits are the question and answer periods that come at the very end. Here are some actual questions that were asked of me by kids this time:

1) Have you met J.K. Rowling?! (Don't I wish!)

2) Can you name one of the characters in your books after me? (Get in line behind the lovely ladies I work with who think they should all be in my books by now.)

3) Which team are you on--Team Edward or Team Jacob? (Uh--Team Peeta?)

Seriously--I kid you not. I almost burst out laughing right there on stage!

Just a Little Bit Scary

 

As I got  a drink at the water fountain the other day, I noticed there was a little girl crying her eyes out in front of the shorter kiddie fountain. Her mother kept urging her to get her drink but this only made her cry harder. That's when I realized that I was the problem. She was too afraid to get a drink while a stranger was taking a drink at the same time. I quickly vacated the area allowing her to drink in peace. I had no idea I was so frightening. Just call me the scary lady who likes to frighten small children. : )

If You Like Forbidden Sea . . .

 Have you ever wondered how Amazon does their book recommendations? You look up one item and all sorts of great suggestions come up of other books you might enjoy. Click the link below to see an awesome visual re-creation of how this works.

 http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/amazon-book-search-results-visualized_b46441?utm_source=Publishers+Weekly%27s+PW+Daily&utm_campaign=8473fdd026-UA-15906914-1&utm_medium=email

The link below is the visual list created for finding books like Forbidden Sea. So cool, check it out!

http://www.yasiv.com/amazon#/Search?q=forbidden%20sea&category=Books

Dolls in the Dark

My mother and I have been reading one of my new manuscripts--one that has haunted dolls in it. So one day, after reading, my mother went into my room without turning on the light, to place something on my bed. When she turned around, she came face to face with the doll pictured above. Now, you have to understand. This particular doll is big. (two feet tall) He is usually kept in a glass display case out in the living room with all of my other dolls. But a couple of my nieces accidentally knocked him over and I took him into my room and stood him against the wall so that he would be safe until the kids had gone home. Unfortunately, that was when my mother had her run in with him in the dark. He totally scared the snot out of her. I must admit, he does look a little like one of the dolls I described in my book. She said that was why he startled her so bad. It was like my story had suddenly come to life. My mother is not normally a jumpy person. She said, my story had just made it seem so real. We couldn't stop laughing about the incident afterward.