Yay!

I got my bracelets today, yes that's plural. The awesomely fantastically wonderful Ali Cross sent me two bracelets! So now if one breaks, I'll have a back up. Thanks, Ali! :D

Honestly, I have nothing else to say, just excited about the bracelets lol.

It's Wednesday, and hot outside, plus I'm behind on critiques. Planning on catching up today, and maybe even finding some time to write. I have some cleaning to do though and getting caught up on crits are more important to me, so we'll see what happens. On the bright side, I'm anxious to get back into writerly stuff more. I think the nicer weather is picking me up.

I hope you all have/are having a wonderful Wednesday. :)

Week Wrap Up - WINNERS!!!!

My week has been fairly dull really. My kids are CRAZY and I'm busy trying to get them in line or writing or revising or critiquing. Nothing exciting. Except this post....

I hosted a giveaway of Ali Cross' books: BECOME and DESOLATE!

And today it's time to announce those winners...



BUT WAIT!

So many awesome people entered my giveaway. So many of you AWESOMELY WONDERFUL people that I couldn't just choose two winners...

For real?!?

Yep, I couldn't pick just two. Couldn't do it. What can I say? Y'all are full of awesome. :D  So, I picked six people...


Say WHAT?!?!

Oh yeah, you read it right...SIX people won these awesomely amazingly fantastically fabulous books.

So, who you say? Here's the list:

Stephanie Adele
EB Black
Kendra Conine
Caterina Torres
Floetic Flo
SC_Author

WOOT!! Congrats WINNERS!!!

Keep an eye out for your email from Ali. It should be soon. :D

Thank you Ali for all of your awesomeness! And thanks to all who entered. Keep an eye out for another giveaway-I love them and I'll come up with one soon. :D

Happy Saturday Everyone! :)

An Awesome Announcement (or two) :D

(Before I kick-off this special Friday post, I want to say to please check out my TAG! from yesterday with Kendra C. She's a really awesome writer and friend.)

Now on to the reason for today's post...

The wonderful

Special

Fantastic

SUPER AWESOME

Ali Cross has just released book two in the Desolation Series...DESOLATE!!!

I'm so beyond excited that this book is out. I've read book one - BECOME - and reviewed it on my blog, but I'm not linking to my review because there were a couple (minor) *sort of* spoilers and I'm not spoiling this book because it's a must read.

BUT the really exciting part of this post?

I've got TWO GIVEAWAY PACKAGES!!!!

TWO people will WIN an eBook of both BECOME and DESOLATE!

YAY!!!

Let me give you a little something about each book:

BECOME
(Book one of the Desolation series)

(Isn't that cover AWESOME!)

It’s never too late to choose.

Sixteen-year old Desolation Black wants nothing more than to stay in Hell where it’s cold and lonely and totally predictable. Instead, she’s sent back to Earth where she must face the evil she despises and the good she always feared. 

When Desi is forced to embrace her inner demon, she assumes her choice has been made—that she has no hope of being anything other than what her father, Lucifer, has created her to be. What she doesn’t count on, is finding a reason to change—something she’s never had before—a friend.

DESOLATE

(Book two of the Desolation series)

(Isn't that cover AWESOME too!)

Where darkness lives, all will become desolate.

It’s been two months since sixteen-year-old Desolation Black chose Earth over Hell and her friend Miri over her eternal love, Michael.  

Desi goes through the motions of life: school, training, remaining vigilant against the forces of darkness, but her dreams are full of the choices she wishes she could change. When she’s injured by a strange demon, old temptations arise, and the lines between good and evil blur. Desi discovers those choices aren’t so final after all.

And this time, the power of love—for a friend, for a lover—may not be enough to save her from the darkness that lurks within.

Ali Cross is the sensei of the Ninjas Write Dojo where she holds a black belt in awesome. She lives in Utah with her kickin' husband, two sparring sons, one ninja cat, two sumo dogs and four zen turtles.

So, there are the blurbs and the awesome covers. And here is the entry form via Rafflecopter. Enter and spread the word.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you Ali and thank you everyone for stopping by. :)

Good luck and happy entering. :D

Review: Become by Ali Cross

Five Stars to BECOME by Ali Cross


This book was a (surprise) win from NiNoCon. When I entered the contest it was a Become swag pack, but the book (and is that not a fabulous cover!?!) wasn't a part of my win at first. Ali is one of the most awesome people I've met (on or off-line) and she's one of those authors that writes awesomeness and is still a sweetheart. That author you LOVE who you meet and you're like, wow-she's genuine and nice...real.

Needless to say, I was super excited to read it and it went beyond my expectations. Make sure you add this book to your TBR if you haven't, it's worth it. Check Ali out at her website, you can read her TAG! here, she's also a member of the Indelibles, and the Sensei at Ninjas Write. Check her out, she's AWESOME!!!

Desolation Black is a special kind of girl, being the daughter of Lucifer and having lived in Hell for most of her life. She's awkward and unsure and super likeable. As I went through page after page of this unique take on Angels vs Demons, I loved Desi more and more. Each time I had to put the book down was saddening because I just wanted to read, read, read.

This is another book I hate to give spoilers on, but if you realllllly want it, go ahead and click read more. Though I really think you should just go read it.

Thursday TAG! - Ali Cross

Ali Cross is an amazing author that I found first on the Indelibles blog and I've followed her personal blog ever since. I'm a Writing Ninja thanks to the site she came up with and because of that site, I found out about NiNoCon, attended AND won three awesome books. One of those books was Become by Ali Cross. She is a fantastic writer and a genuinely nice person. Ali tweets @ali_cross, she's on Facebook, and Goodreads.

1. When did you start writing?
I started writing my first book in October of 2002. I remember exactly when it was because...

2. What made you want to write?
My family and I were driving into the mountains for a weekend getaway and I was telling my husband how much I loved Guy Gavriel Kay’s books THE FIONAVAR TAPESTRY and how I would love to be able to write a book as beautiful as that one day. We brainstormed ideas, and by the time we got to the resort we were BOTH ready to start writing our own books! And we did!

3. When did you decide you wanted to write to be published? (As opposed to writing just to write)
I think wanting to be published went hand in hand with wanting to write from the very beginning. I never wanted (and have never envisioned having) great success—like, I never thought “I want to be a famous author like J.K. Rowling!”. But I did want to be read. I wanted people to receive the story I was sharing, right from the very beginning.

4. What genre(s) do you write?
I write dark urban fantasy, dystopian, and science fiction for teens and adventurous fantasy and science fiction for middle grade readers.

5. Why that(those) genre(s)? Ooh, good question. I write dark stories for teens because that’s what I know from my own life. I tend to write about the power of hope—and there’s no doubt I’m writing to the girl I once was (and someone else like me) with the desire that I can give her hope that things can get better.
I write fun, adventurous middle grade stories because I’m a mom of boys so I often think of stories they would like. These stories are still pretty emotional, which seems to be a constant in my stories, but they are definitely geared toward active boys.

6. Do you have any particular ritual when you write? (A specific way things are done during the process)
I do a particular type of outlining which is like storyboarding a screenplay. I’m very visual so not only does it help me to visualize my story as if it’s a movie, it helps to have the storyboard in front of me when I’m writing. I don’t need it there all the time though (I can write virtually anywhere, anytime), but the exercise of putting it together really cements the story in my mind. Then, I just write like a crazy madwoman. I don’t stop to second guess myself or to question what I wrote—that comes later!
My revision process tends to be long and arduous, lol—probably because I write like a crazy madwoman!

7. Do you use an outline, or do you just start writing?
Ha! Yes indeed, as I mentioned above! I am a 100% firm believer in the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet. It’s a screenwriting tool, but it works really well for me.

8. Is there something you MUST have when you're writing? (Aside from the typical writer tools-computer, pen, paper, etc)
Nope! I used to eat Mike ‘n Ikes like they were going out of style, but I write so often these days that if I always ate candy I’d never be able to get out of my chair. :) I do really enjoy my super-comfy-awesome-fatabulous headphones and Pandora. I <3 Pandora.
9. Do you write out your story on paper and then transfer to a computer, or straight to the computer?
One hundred percent on the computer. Drafting is always done that way because I tend to write very, very fast and there’s no way my penmanship could keep up with how fast I draft.
But I tend to do all my revisions offline, pink pen to printed manuscript.

10. How many books/short stories have you written? (Published or not, even those you wrote and then thought-what the hell?)
I’ve got seven full-length novels written and one short story. :)

11. Is there, or has there been, anyone in your life (real or online) who thought you being a writer is/was just another hobby? Or that you are/were wasting your time as a writer?
Ha! That’s such a good question. My whole life my family has pretty much thought I was just a dreamer and tended to discount most everything I did. However, when it came to writing, people have been very supportive. Almost like they all went, “Writing? Huh. Now THAT’s something I can see Ali doing!”

12. Do you do Social Media sites? If so, which ones? If not, why don't you?
Yes, I do, albeit badly. I blog, which I love. I’ve tried not blogging (because it’s so time consuming), but gave up. I need blogging. It’s like air to me. I Tweet—pretty much love that, too. I love the connectedness it gives me. I’m on Facebook and Goodreads but I’m sure I don’t utilize either of them like I should. And I’m “on” Google+ but I’ve spent even less time figuring that out than I have Facebook and Goodreads!

13. Any advice for writers that makes you cringe every time you hear it? (I know there is some cringe-worthy advice still worth following, so only advice you don't follow.)
I often received the advice, “Don’t stop querying! One day you will find an agent/get an editor/get published!” Sometimes, you DO need to stop querying. Sometimes I think it’s best to take your career into your own hands. Not every story gets it’s day by traditional means.

14. Have you always been interested in Mythology or is it something that piqued your interest when you started writing?
I love mythology. I studied Latin (with all its accompanying history) for five years through high school*, then Russian and Slavic history through university. I am fascinated by all mythologies and love learning even more through my eleven-year-old son who is just as crazy about it as I am! *Where and when I lived in Canada we went to grade 13 in high school. Oh the horror!

15. Become is not the typical YA (meaning your supernatural element is not what you usually see in YA), what made you want to write about the devil's daughter?
Do you want the standard answer? Because I thought it would be cool, a neat twist on the usual wanting-to-rebel-against-your-parents kind of teenage angst. If you want the real answer, then I’d say, because I am a girl who has often had to face her past. I’ve often wondered if it’s possible for a person like me to move forward, to truly be worthy of good things. BECOME is my answer to those fears.

16. Are you completely self-published or are you Indie Pubd?
I am completely self-published. It’s all me, myself and I. :)

17. Why did you go that route?
I didn’t initially choose this route. BECOME was contracted with a small publisher and should have been released in July of 2010. Obviously, that didn’t happen. Then I had a New York agent who turned out to be a flake so . . . It was either go independent, or go back through the whole arduous process again. I decided to jump in with both feet and do it myself.

18. What inspired you to create the Ninjas Write site?
I’ve been into martial arts for a long time and think that the black belt mindset is wholly relatable to what it takes to be a published author. For the past year I’ve done all the ninja stuff on my blog, but it’s grown a little too big for me to manage on my own, and I didn’t want my own personal “room” in the blogosphere to be cluttered with We Love Brandon Mull posters. So now Ninjas Write (or the writer’s dojo) is my “office” where we get to go all swoony* over all things author-ish, while my home is alicross.com where I get to hang loose and just be me. *I had no idea this was an actual word, but apparently it is!

19. What do you do when you aren't writing?
Read, read and READ!!! I also love to watch a ton of movies—they are inspiring to me!

20. Any words of wisdom for anyone who is thinking of becoming a writer, or just something you think all writers should know?
Hmm. I guess my word of wisdom would be to love what you’re doing. If you’ve lost the love for your story, it’s okay to put it away (for a while) and write what’s calling your name. Sometimes I think we writers feel we need to power through and not “give up”. But I don’t think it’s giving up—I think it’s responding to the creative inspiration in us to go where our muse takes us. Now, I don’t want to be misunderstood lest anyone think I’m advocating story-jumping. There are times when we need to press on, even when our story is giving us fits. (Probably lots and lots of times, honestly). But there’s a difference between pressing on and denying our creative instincts.
This is probably a very good reason why I don’t often give advice because it tends to be convoluted and confusing!