Book Trailers of a Fun Kind!

Book Trailers are so yesterday! Okay, not really. But I want to spice my up a bit. Do something a little different. And there are probably other authors who have done this, though I’m not sure for MG. I’ll be doing a movie type book trailer.




Book Trailer? Um, no. Not THAT kind!

 I’m writing the script (taking some of the scenes from the book and condensing to make as an attention grabber) and we’ll will be shooting at a local school—hmmm, mayber near the girls’ room?? I’ve found some girls who fit the part of my main book characters of GOSSIP. I thought, okay, actually my husband came up with the idea so I must give credit where credit is due, it would be cool to bring my book characters to life if even for a moment.

They won’t have speaking roles, just parts acted, and my son and a few of his friends will play the crush and the boy roles. Yes, they will look like the characters too. I’ll put it together as a normal book trailer, with the words on the screen, and music in the background. We will be doing this soon, and updates will be on Sofia’s blog too since she’ll be asking for more friends in the area to come out if they want to help.

BTW, today is the last day to enter Sofia’s Gossip Contest to become a character in the next book!

Ed Gale, The Man Inside The Chucky Doll

He's so cute, I wanna put him in my pocket!

One of the terrific things about the Horror Art Event I participated in this weekend was meeting fabulous people. Among those people was Ed Gale. He was very easy to talk to and loved answering questions about his career, the movies and stage sets, you name it. And until the event, I had NO IDEA there was an actual person in Chucky until this event.

Ed Gale explained there were two sets. Since the doll was much smaller than him, an actual doll was shot on one set as a close up. Anytime the doll was moving, that was him, shooting on the duplicate set.  Ed Gale was also Howard the Duck, played in Spaceballs (I watched this movie so many times! He played a dink. He said this was his first Dinky roll, haha) and in the 1990's Land of the Lost, along with so many other films. It was a pleasure to talk with him and have my picture taken with him.

Another funtastic thing I got to do? I had a Boa wrap itself around me! Her name was cuddles and she was the sweetest thing. Ever. But afterwards, boy, were my arms tired. Oh, and she even wrapped hersellf around my neck.She's very quick.

Even with her being so small, I can definitely feel her stength.
Imagine when she becomes full grown!

Sac Horror & Sci-Fi

What a weekend! First, the art aspect of it. Frustrating. Me and two of my art friends shared a table. For the first time ever, I went through an entire event without selling one. single. piece. I had everything from the hanging art dolls (which i've posted on here) to prints, originals, framed prints,and sculpted minatures. I'm kicking myself for not having the "little" things that I usually bring such as booksmarks and magnets of all my drawings which are really cheap to buy and usually draws people in. Either way, I lost money. I only have two more art shows this year, I've cut way back because of book deadlines, so I think i'll open an etsy shop.

On the show aspect of it, I had a blast. I met so many incredible people. It was worth going this weekend just for that. The other vendors, visitors, the celebrities, it was so much fun. I have a ton of pictures I'll be putting up tomorrow and this week. I just happened to get snap some shots of people holding up my book (like The Repo Man) that's how awesome they were!

Among some of the people I met, Derrick Mears (the actor who plays Jason in Friday the 13th-He is so down to earth and nice!!), Ashley Palmer (Actress in Paranormal Activity-she is every bit as lovely in person!), and Ed Gale (He was the actual person inside the Chucky Doll-did you know there was a person in there?).

So pictures to come tomorrow and hopefully my etsy shop will open by the end of this week if anyone is interested in artwork or prints!

Bacon Lovers Unite!

In a world full of bacon products, who could possibly resist the temptations?

Funky Fresh is right! Turn your funky odors
into a freshness of cooked bacon! Image all
the stares you'll receive if you string this from
your car mirror. You know, because you're
THAT funky cool!

Mmmmm. Smack your lips, lick them twice, three
times and down another bottle of water to wash away the
saltiness that only Bacon Balm can promise!

Who could possibly resist a slab of bacon throw 
over their open wound? Don't worry, just like Cracker
Jack, you're promised a free toy Surprise inside! Should
you dig through the bacon first or wait till the box is empty?

What manly man could EVER resist holding up their pants with
the worlds longest piece of bacon? "Honey, do these pants make
me look fat?"  "No, dear, it's not the pants, it's the bacon." Hmm, I
wonder if the bacon comes in lean.

Awwww, how sweet! Baby's first bacon!
How can you NOT have this? Every baby should
have this to gnaw on. Unless you're raising your
baby to be a vegetarian.

Bacon Floss, you know, to cover up
that fresh minty I've-Just-brushed-and-have-a
clean- mouth feeling.

Ironically, we've all seen this Bacon sign in the restrooms.
Is there no getting away from bacon?
P.S. This reminds me of a Candyland Picture.

This is what we all need. Seriously. A bacon wallet. To use when we spend
our money on lots of bacony stuff.

Happy Friday!

Artfully Departed

Last night my friend Shannon came over and bought one of my favorite art pieces. The exchange went something like this:


Me *sigh*



Her *yay*

It was hard to see it go (as is most of my pieces) but I'm super happy to know it's going to a great home!

You might remember The Corpse Bride from recently. Well, I was lucky enough to spot her last night and catch her on camera. It looks like she's still searching for her groom, her one true love, through the dangerous and forbidden territorties. My camera has super zoom so at times it looks like she spotted me but I was pretty well hidden and definitely in a safe spot. It's so sad, really. I hope Lillith can eventually find her groom and happiness one day.

The Black Widow

Looks like Sofia posted The Best Contest. Ever. On her blog today! And don't be surprised if her parrot starts repeating things he hears on my blog. He seems pretty nosey.

My art show is only days away and I'm scampering around trying to get things together. I made a second hanging art doll, which is much smaller than the first, but I like her just as much. I'm hoping to crank out one more by Friday. So today, I'd like to introduce you to her and tell you a little about her story.

The Black Widow

It's hard to tell from the picture, but her
dress is also covered in cobwebs

Abigail met a tragic, untimely death when an insanely terrifying dream about venomous spiders will needle sharp teeth proved too much for her sickly heart. She woke up in a world surrounded by nothing more than black widows. Her biggest fear. The fear that sent her spiraling to her death. But the widows offered her nothing more than peace and companionship. Now Abigail unhappily floats aimlessly, waiting for the day when she will have a pleasant dream, often forgetful of any previous life, hopes, and happiness.

Sofia's Blogtastic! Blog

Sofia’s blog is officially up and running! Thanks to the wonderful Crissy who never ceases to amaze me! So everyone should visit Sofia and send their tweens too (even though really, my blog is better). Although I do have to admit she is having the most awesome contest.

How Awesome?

Bacon in a bottle awesome?

No, think bigger.



The Survival of Zombies awesome?

No, even bigger.

Like the awesomeness of being in a book with Sofia!

You can’t enter till tomorrow, but you can check out the details today either on the sidebar or under “super secret stuff.”

Sofia loves comments and emails, and she’s always open to suggestions if you want her to post anything specific or add something to her site. She’s a real people pleaser. Especially if you have lots of friends and she can gain popularity points just by associating with you.

BlogtasticNovel.com



Cutest Cover. Ever.

My editor sent me the actual cover of GOSSIP and I LOVE it!!! It so glossy and the pink and plaid are matte. The back cover (which is diff from the arc's) is adorable and now I'm even more excited to have the book released!  And my cover isn't crooked, it's my phototography skills. I actually used my real camera and not my phone this time, but apparently I can't hold a camera straight. This is the reason why I took up writing and not photography.

  

Back Cover enlarged to show detailed cuteness



Sofia's blog is being pushed back till tomorrow, and i'm having a super awesome contest to kick it off. So,  if any of you are tweens or have kids that you think would like this book, then send them over! 

Words that don't exist...but should!

First, congrats to Gossip winner Candyland!! The runner ups are also mentioned on Jen's Blog. Thanks for the totally fun contest, Jen!  And Second, Sofia's blog will be up on Monday! The design looks fantastic, I just need to add the content and it will be ready to go!

In my Blogtastic! books, I love making up new words, so I thought this list would be fun!

Words that don't exist...but should!

Ramdumbtious – Cross between being rowdy and not too bright.

Realicious – Really delicious.

Repettyettyettyettyettyettitive – When you repeat something so much that you can’t stop.

Rememberize – Remembering and memorizing.

Aeroma- The odor from an exercise room after an aerobics workout.

Bovilexia-The uncontrollable urge to lean out the car window and yell "Moo!" every time you pass a cow

Anticiparcellate-Waiting until the mailman is several houses down the street before picking up the mail, so as not too appear too anxious

Aqualibrium-The point where the stream of drinking fountain water is at its perfect height, thus relieving the drinker from (a) having to suck the nozzle, or (b) squirting himself in the eye.

Arachnidiot-A person, who, having wandered into an "invisible" spider web, begins gyrating and flailing about wildly.

Bazookacidal Tendencies -The overwhelming desire of most individuals to reach out and pop the gigantic gum bubble billowing from someone's mouth.

Cheeriomagnetism - The quality of cereal that causes the last five Cheerios in the bowl to clump together.

Phonesia- Dialing a phone number and forgetting who you were calling just as they answer.

A Corpse Bride

I just finished my first OOAK hanging art doll! She's made of paper clay and acrylics, with yarn for the hair, fabric for the dress and her purse, and reindeer moss stuck on her dress and randomly in her hair. Her dress is tattered, torn, and very worn.

Meet Lillith. She was lighthearted and full of spunk when she met the man of her dreams . She was only eighteen, but he was a good, kind man and showered her with love. They were to be married just four months later.

A love that was doomed from the start, her groom was captured by a rare pack of Eastern Dragons. Lillith fled the hills and headed straight to the mountains, the dragons’ territory. She would find a way to be united with her groom, whether it was in life or death. The ragged terrain proved to be too much for her weakening condition and she fell to her demise.

To this day, she still searches for her groom. A small smile plays upon her lips, as she knows she will someday find her true love again.

On a side note, check out Project Mayem where I post about Finding Your Niche!

The Many Faces of Rejection

Once your book gets published, the rejection ends there, right?

Nope.

The other day on Goodreads, someone had my book on their list. And they rated it. How did they get my book? who knows. The ARCs are out. They could know someone in the industry, whatever. But here’s the thing. The didn’t review the book, they just rated it. Now, since my book really isn’t out yet, these little things stand out to me because, well, nobody really has it yet. So this person gave it two out of five stars. Hmmm. Okay. No biggie. I guess. I know people aren’t going to like my book. I get that. There are authors who write bestsellers that not everybody likes. People have diff tastes. I’m expecting this. Really, I am. BUT, I’m not prepared for it.

This was the first rating of my book I saw out there. And the first rating is from someone who doesn’t like it. My first instinct is to message this person and just say, “Hey, why don’t you like it? can you at least post a review?” But I know it doesn’t matter. Because whatever the reasons, it doesn’t change their opinion or the way I feel about their opinion.

Now, say there were like 100 reviews and some were bad. That’s fine I can live with that. But I think because it was just this one out there, it got to me. Then it caused me to second guess myself. What if everyone hates my book? What if it’s a huge flop? What if I totally embarrass myself>

I stop and realize what my journey to publication was really all about. It was never about the money. Or popularity. It was about the dream I had when I was twelve. When I first said I wanted to become an author. And then six years ago when I seriously started submitting and refused to give up. All I ever wanted was to see my book in a bookstore someday. And in January, that will happen.

I have to remember not to loose my head in this. There’s no sense in worry about anything I can’t control and the best has already happened. Anything else is icing.

BTW, a tween emailed me a review of my ARC that she read this weekend. She loved it and I’m hoping to share her review on Sofia’s Blog/Site with her permission! <----This right here is serious chocolate fudge icing!

Wool Comes From Cows

When you live in L.A. too long...this is what happens!

These commericals are promoting the L.A. county fair--and stating why they need one. These are my top two fav and I had to share. I needed a Friday laugh, how bout you?








Happy Friday!

xo,

A New Blogtastic Blog?

Don't forget to enter the Gossip Giveaway!!

So, I spent yesterday eve at the home of YA writer, Stephanie Boman.  BTW, if you haven't visited her blog, you should after this post. She rocks!!! She invited me to talk with her girls’ activity group about being an author/illustrator. It was a small, intimate group and the girls were mostly 6th-7th graders. The perfect tween group and they were full of awesome! That includes you too, Steph and Shannon!

This is what I brought with me to share:

1. My embarrassing sketchbook: I take it everywhere with me. It has all my notes, stories, and silly drawings. It contains the start of all my stories.

2. The interior design of GOSSIP: To show the girls what the book looks like before it’s corrected and goes to press.

3. The ARC: Their eyes lit up. I loved seeing this!

4. Bookmarks: I made laminated bookmarks for all of them that matched the cover of GOSSIP.

I had an hour with the group, which seemed to fly by. The only other time I’ve talked to kids about my book was back in June at my son’s school. It was in the MP Room, in front of 66 kids. I had to whisper loudly in a microphone because I had just lost my voice. So this was a totally diff experience for me. I loved being able to talk with them in a close setting like this.

Most of all I enjoyed talking to this age group, answering their questions, and watching their expressions. Seeing how much they liked this book and wanted to read it gave me hope that others their age will want to do the same when GOSSIP hits stores in January.

I will also be doing a blog just for Sofia, my main character. It will focus on the Blogtastic Series. This will be a site more for the kids. I realized this blog/site is geared towards writers, which I love. But I also want a kid audience and I think it would be hard to combine the two in one site. So if you have tweens, I’ll be putting this site up soon. If I can get enough kids for that site, I’ll do an ARC giveaway just for the kids. I think Sofia (and her friends) could blog a few times a week, maybe have her own comic over there. Any ideas for what else the kids might like? I can’t wait to start!

MEET MIA ST. CLAIRE:
She wears a bow plastered to her hair of lusiousness,has cute dimples (gag)
and a perfect smile (so yesterday!) She's $$ loaded $$ like a baked potato and
transfered her popularity from elementary school to middleschool. AND she
has caught the attention of Sofia's forever crush.  It's so obvious why
Sofia wants to TAKE. MIA. DOWN.

(GOSSIP FROM THE GIRLS ROOM)

Gossip and Giveaways!

Today is a super fun day! First, stop by Adventures in Children's Publishing. I'm really lucky to have a post on their blog for WOW Wednesday today. If you've missed my posts in the past about my journey to becoming published, this post tells all!

The next must stop is Jen at Unedited's blog. Confession: She's the first person to read my ARC. Don't worry, I am doing a giveway soon for another ARC! Jen will share with you her thoughts on my book (fingers crossed!) AND she's doing a give away of Gossip from the Girls' Room! And here's the super fun part. To enter,  you MUST spread some gossip. All the details are on Jen's blog so...what are you waiting for? Go, go, go!

How Well Do You know Your Character?

It took me several weeks and countless drafts to figure out who my main character is. When really, I could have made this a lot easier on myself. I realized I’m the type of girl who doesn’t plan, but writes as the ideas pop into my head and see where it takes me. Sometimes this works. It did for my book, Gossip. But not so much this time around.

The voice is harder to nail and even when my crit friend asked me a question about this character, I couldn’t answer. Because I didn’t know. And that’s when I realized what my problem was. I didn’t know my character. How can I expect her to face and solve problems if I didn’t even know how she was or supposed to react?

Then I remember the advice from my critique group. It is so important to have a crit group, people! Interview your character. Write out questions for your character and and interview her. Find out everything you need to know about her. And more. Get inside her head. Find out her insecurites, her fears, her dreams. Learn the simple things about her, such as her laugh, what she wants to be when she grows up, what qualities she looks for in a best friend. What does she look like? Make your MC real to you. And then, when you write about her, she’ll be just as real to your readers.

And your story will flow. You can anticipate how she’ll handle each situation. She’ll write the story for you. And at the end, it will be like saying goodbye to an old friend. Isn’t that so much better than struggling the whole through and trying to figure out your character page by page? For me, I’m glad I’m figuring this out now. For some of you, you probably already have or you do exercises to get this down. Or maybe some of you play it by ear and it just comes to you like it did with me and my first book.

But if you struggle at all with voice and wonder why, then maybe this could help. When you nail the voice of your character, you know it, because something just “clicks.” And to have the voice, you have to have a strong character.

Hide Your Women, Hide Your Children

Here's video news coverage of an actual event. In no way am I laughing at the actual "event" but just take a look at the brother.




  

Happy Friday!

Ghostwriter

So for the last few weeks I’ve been working on my new book, dealing with a bit of a paranormal theme. Notice I said weeks.

Then yesterday I take a nap. While napping I have a dream. A very detailed dream. About my book. And it rewrites my book. We’ll, the first chapter of it. But it might as well have been the whole book because it took the story in a completely different direction, ie. new MC, voice, everything.

It played out in my dream similar to a movie, but the girl (MC) was narrating it, like she would in my book. I followed her through my dream, all the while wondering what she was up to. She captivated me. At points I was telling her, “No, you probably shouldn’t do that.” But she did. She’s a bit of a rebellion. Something she wasn’t in my original story. Her name is different too. But if felt comfortable. Which is really weird because in my original story it took FOREVER to come up with a name for my MC. Amie can back me up on that one.

So at the end of my dream and I realized what the girl was doing I thought, okay, that makes sense. Because really, I knew why she was doing it. Afterall, it was still my story. But then there was a small twist and I thought,”What? Did that just happen? Oh no.” and that’s when I woke up. My dream ended at chapter one, leaving off with a cliffhanger.

So now what do I do? Here in one hand sits almost three complete chapters that I’ve been working on for a few weeks. In the other hand, the first chapter of the same story taken in a whole new direction that was practically written for me, in mere minutes.  And…um, where do I go from here?

I mean, when I went to bed last night, I hoped I would have dreams that would write chapter 2 for me, but nope. No such luck. Someone said that maybe I brought a ghost home with me from the ghosthunt. My reaction? Good! If it writes for me, I’m all for it! Heck, I’ll even loan him out to you guys when I’m done!

But what kind of ghostwriter only writes the first chapter for me, leaves me with a cliffhanger then says, figure the rest out for yourself?

Ghosthunt: Wells Fargo Coach Stop Part 3

We followed a downwards slope into complete darkness, leading us straight into a heavily wooded area. Even with our flashlights, it was still difficult to see much. We gathered at a huge rock so we wouldn’t get lost and wander off by ourselves (which we started to do) and slowly, one by one, our gazes lifted to a hill behind us. At the top of this hill sat a lone tree. And the set up was perfect. Like something right out of a horror movie. So image this. A single tree with crooked, wide branches, filling up all the empty space beside it. And behind it, the nighttime sky is gray and very cloudy with just a sliver of the moon peeking out. Just enough to cast a eerie glow.

It was a strange moment. A large group of us completely still, completely speechless, looking in the same direction. And then one person breaks the silence.

“Something is watching us! On that hill!!!”

She was frantic. Enough where it gave me goosebumps and made me want to hide behind the rest of the group. Okay, so I actually did. But whatev.

Then two other people cried out, at nearly the same time, “It’s running down the hill towards us! Right now!”

I struggled to see what they saw. A shadow? Were my eyes playing tricks on me? Had to be. I wanted to leave. Everyone else wanted to take pictures. Figures.

Our team lead then took my friend to the front of the group and said, “If someone is here, pose with Frankie (my friend).” And then everyone continued to take pictures. Nothing was showing up on film.

My brother said, “Hey, I hear someone crying.”

“That’s me,” gasped Frankie.

I pushed my way towards the front of the group to get a better look at her. She was clenching her throat and had tears streaming down her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“I…can’t…breath…” she explained.

She started clawing more severely at her throat.

Our team lead told her the spirit was with her. But it wasn’t choking it. It was showing her the way he died. And then she shouted for the spirit to leave Frankie alone, and to latch onto her instead. Almost right away, Frankie stood up, able to breathe better, wiping her tears away.

Our Lead, however, was hunched over, complaining of severe backache. Once again, pictures were taken.This time, the pictures revealed something. On several photos, it showed two large disfigured masses on her back. Once we left the Coach Stop area, her back pain was gone. Photos revealed nothing on her back anymore.

I found out later on that it’s been said someone had been hung from that tree on the hill.

So, that sums up my ghost hunting experience.

I do, however, have a taperecording of a “voice” that I recorded off of someone else. It happened in the two story barn. She asked if it was the bad spirit in there pretending to be that little girl and, ifyou listen carefully, you hear a distinct “nooooooo” that follows. It’s really creepy. So if anyone wants to hear, leave me your email and I’ll send that to you.

My next experience will be in October when the Paranormal Team attempts to solve a murder!

Ghosthunt: The Two Story Barn Part 1
Ghosthunt: The Two Story Barn Part 2