I’m not even kidding. In exactly one week I’ll be staying in a haunted house for four whole days. HAUNTED. Like for reals.
You know I love this shit. I mean, duh, I wrote about it. I’m obsessed with the paranormal and I love watching shows about ghosts or ghost hunters. But that’s on TV.
As in from AFAR.
I am not down with close and personal ghost encounters. I repeat: I am not down with it.
You want to know why books like Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl are such a hit? Because they’re smart and unexpected. In the literary world, plots tend to get diluted and predictable, and it’s awesome when an author is enlightened and brave enough to break out of formulaic confines and actually surprise readers.
(cough-giveaway ahead-cough)
Because I consider you to be the savvy sort of reader, I bring you a novel whose author did exactly what I described above. DEAR STEPHANIE by Mandi Castle. (< hit that title to go straight to Amazon and order! Released TODAY!)
Guys. It’s live. Right this second. Order of Seven is on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. It has my name on it. Because I wrote it. My name is on a book.
MY NAME IS ON A BOOK.
I must say the coolest thing about being an author is knowing other authors. First and foremost, I’m a reader and a fan of writers. And when I say I’m a fan, I mean embarrassingly so. Like, I would stand in line to meet an author before I’d go to a concert, and that claim is not even a little bit exaggerated. Authors are my rockstars.
So I bet you thought I was dead, or had been taken by sweaty cowboys for ransom, or maybe ran off with a dirty, tattooed musician….
Nah.
I’m happy, safe, and well. I’m sure you all were just worried sick.
The good news is I’m writing! Or editing. Or both, rather. Working on that novel like a MOFO. I needs to get ‘er done, you know what I’m saying? And now I have to, because I’m trying to enter a YA manuscript contenst by Oct. 1st. *nervous laughter*
I can do this, right??? RIGHT?
I’m sure you all know Marcia of Menopausal Mother, right? I thought so. I mean, who doesn’t?? You’ve probably asked yourself, when is she going to put all her crazy-hilarious stories together in a book? I’m thrilled to announce that she did! Just for us!
COMING SOON: July 2014!
Will be available in eBook and print!
Dying to know more?
Can’t wait to see the cover and blurb?
THIS IS YOUR LUCKY DAY!
OMG I love this girl like chocolate, you have no idea! I found her book blog forever ago and immediately knew I’d found my long-lost sister. Fortunately, she was tolerant of my stalker behavior, and we’ve been buds ever since.
Katie was brave lovely enough to answer a few questions about her novel, Miss Mabel’s School For Girls. Don’t worry, the interview is silly and sweet, like Katie. And short. Not Katie, the interview. Actually I don’t know her height. This is taking a weird turn. Like Katie. She’s weird in the absolute best of ways, which is why I love her. Have I made that clear? LURVE.
Today I have the sublime pleasure of being a part of a blog book tour for Morgan Dragonwillow’s new poetry book, Wild Woman Waking. I’ve read this book from cover to cover and can attest to its absolute deliciousness. Not only are her poems tiny, intricately laid stories that take you somewhere far away, but each one is also accompanied by Tui Snider’s stunning photography.
I am also spotlighted on Morgan’s blog today, where she said some lovely things about me. (check’s in the mail, Morgan)
I had the opportunity to ask both of them some questions: (more…)
IT’S MIDNIGHT IN THE ABYSS…DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR DARKLINGS ARE?
As a ginormous fan of things that go bump in the night, I jumped at the chance to interview one of the nine authors of an exciting collection of spine tingling delights set to launch on HALLOWEEN. I mean, could you ask for a better release date?? (The answer to that is hell-to-the-no)
I’m here today with contributing author to Midnight Abyss, Jennifer M. Zeiger. I’m a HUGE fan of the adventure stories she writes on her blog so I’m beyond thrilled to have her hanging out on mine for a bit. She’s been generous enough to answer some questions about herself and the book.
Who are all the authors of Midnight Abyss?
In addition to me, we have Doug Langille, Gregory K Shipman, Shaun Adams, Raymond Tabaygo, Matthew X. Gomez, Theresa Briscoe Tschetter , Anisa A. Claire, and Kelleigh Perry.
Except for Anisa and Kelleigh (who are the masterminds behind all of this), I think we all met on Writer’s Carnival, which is a workshop site for writers. We’ve never met face to face. It boggles my mind how, in this day and age, such collaboration can happen without actually meeting. We span geographically from Canada, East to West coasts of the U.S., to the Isle of Wight in England!
Ah yes, Writer’s Carnival. I think I’ve heard of them (wink, wink:). The cover is awesome! Who designed it?
I love the cover=) Something about it just makes me think ‘that’s perfect!’ And this is another aspect of this collaboration that worked out really well. Anisa’s husband designed it for free. (As some of you know, in the self-publishing world, design stuff can cost a lot.) He does a lot of the design work for Writer’s Carnival and made up several ideas for the cover for Midnight Abyss just to give us options. This is the one that won the vote=)
Was the title a collaboration?
Yes. I missed that Google Hangout, darn it! But couldn’t be happier with the title. Everyone’s so creative in the group that sometimes I feel like I need to up my game or I’ll miss the creative bus=)
Did you learn anything about self-publishing you didn’t know before?
All sorts of things. I was always under the impression that self-publishing was really expensive, and it can be. But it doesn’t have to be. The key is to make connections and to not be afraid to ask for help. Most of the time, people are more than willing to lend a hand if they can.
I’ve also learned a lot about marketing. I’ve always looked at marketing as an annoying aspect of self-publishing but it doesn’t have to be that way. What really makes marketing work, in my humble, inexperienced opinion, is the human connection. Anisa and Kelleigh are really good at this. They’ll spend an hour on Twitter and have conversations with a dozen people. They build the relationship and everything else falls into place naturally.
Those are probably the two biggest things I learned.
How many stories does each author contribute to the book?
Most of us contributed two stories. One long piece between 5,000-7,500 words and one short piece under 1,500 words. Some of the authors used poems too, so there’s a nice variety.
Is this the typical genre you write? What inspires you?
a. Fantasy’s my typical genre. Sometimes I’ll add a darker element to my stories but Midnight Abyss was a stretch for me since it’s horror and dark fantasy. It’s great for my writing because it challenged me to dig deeper, to figure out what scares me and makes me feel emotion.
b. Sneaky Beth, you put two questions in one=) What inspires me? Reading’s a big one. I’ll finish a book and want to sit down to write immediately. Usually whatever I write has a flavor from whatever I read. If I just read romance, I’ll write a more emotional scene or if I read something along the lines of action, I’ll write something with swords or thievery.
Scenery. I love the mountains, the trees in the fall, the smell of pine, fresh fallen snow… but I also love to see new places. Each new place sparks ideas for me. I want to capture all that makes a place unique whether it’s apples growing on trees or types of stones found on the beach or fields growing with wheat. It all inspires me to add texture, depth, to the stories I write.
And I’d say people inspire me. Things people say, the way they act, their views of the world. People are amazing and diverse. And they’re a wealth of ideas. They’re the stuff of stories.
How do you feel now that it’s done and about to be published?
Wow, that was a wild ride! And still is. Unlike with traditional publishing, we don’t have a marketing team working with us, so we’re still working on getting the word out. That work won’t be done for a while, but having a finished product feels amazing. Holding a hard copy book with my name on it, indescribable.
Are you working on any other projects right now?
Several. I’m always working on the blog and the stories and adventures I post there. It keeps me rolling, as it were=)
I’m also working on a novel involving dryads and werecats. I’m about 50,000 words into that one and hope to have the first draft finished by the end of the year.
And lastly, I’ve the first novel I wrote, Escaping Shadows, that I’ve been shopping around to agents. It’s the first in a trilogy, so I’m also working on editing Racing Shadows and Chasing Shadows.
Needless to say, I stay busy when I’m not at my 9-5=)
To learn more about Midnight Abyss:
Facebook: Midnight Abyss
Twitter: @AbyssMidnight
Goodreads: Midnight Abyss I believe we’re going to do some giveaways for reviews here, so that’s definitely something to look forward to.
Tumblr: TheMidnightAbyss.tumblr.com
Thank You Jennifer for a great interview, and for yet another reason to be excited about Halloween!!!
Beth Teliho 