Good Stuff To Know

Once again, I have accumulated a bunch of awesome stuff to share with you :)

I found a great post on How To Tweet So People Will Listen by Nina Badzin. It included some great, easy to follow, tips on how to use Twitter more effectively.

I read a great guest post on Morgen Bailey's Writing Blog about Why You Should Enter Writing Competitions by Ben Skinner. I thought he made some really great points.

The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award is currently open for entries until January 14th. So if you're looking for a free competition, then this might be the one for you.

I found quite an inspiring post by Ashley Barron about following your dreams when it comes to writing. It's called: Money, Self-Publishing, and Marketing Plans. I really liked what she had to say.

Thanks to Yvonne Hertzberger's awesome Tuesday Tutorial on Indies Unlimited, I discovered a great site called, Bublish.com. It's a place where you can leave excerpts from your novels and then write a little description about why you wrote the passage or what it means to you. You can check out one of my bubbles here.

And speaking of Tuesday Tutorials - Indies Unlimited has published a book of the tutorials. It is an excellent resource and definitely worth checking out. Tutorials and Tools for Prospering in a Digital World.

I have read some great books this month, one that I loved was Valor by Taylor Longford. I rated it 5-stars. It's currently FREE on Amazon, so I thought I'd let you know about it. If you're looking for a paranormal romance with a unique twist, then this will be perfect for you.

A Personal Ad For A Character I Love

YA writers and bloggers unite each week to share their thoughts on what it's like going indie in today's publishing world.

Today the Indie Carnival is having fun creating personal ads for characters from books they have enjoyed. I am actually going to choose a character from the book I am currently reading. I only have about four chapters to go so I feel like I know her pretty well. So, I would like to introduce you guys to....

MacKenzie from Valor by Taylor Longford. 

High school student from Grove Pine, Colorado. She is intelligent and kind with the courage of a lion. Owns a dog called, Hooligan. Has a shock of red hair that is not only stunning, but could mean she's actually a witch. Oh yeah... and she's in love with a gargoyle named Valor!!!

Even though I have not finished this story yet, I highly recommend it. It has been keeping me up late into the night and I cannot wait until my boys go to bed so I can finish reading it tonight!!
NB: Valor if currently listed for FREE.

If you'd like to read some more personal ads then follow the links below.

Next week: we are running a Christmas Giveaway, so be sure to stay tuned for that. There are some awesome prizes!


And you can also check out the YA Author Club for the latest updates and news on what we're all up to.

1.	Laura A. H. Elliott	2.	Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3.	T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series	4.	Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga
5.	Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog	6.	K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
7.	Gwenn Wright, author of Filter	8.	Liz Long | Just another writer on the loose.
9.	Ella James	10.	Maureen Murrish
11.	YA Sci Fi Author's Ramblings	12.	A Little Bit of R&R
13.	Melissa Pearl	14.	Terah Edun - YA Fantasy

So Many Things To Tell You!!

Well, it's the beginning of December, so time for my monthly progress report.

November saw the release of Betwixt, so that was a great lead-in to one of my favourite months of the year... December. Why do I love it so much?

 Because I love Christmas!! The family time, the presents, the decorations, the food, the history... I love it all.

And speaking of Christmas, that is my first piece of news. I am involved in the Christmas For Authors celebration that is being run by Young Adult and Teen Readers. If you'd like to take part in the Treasure Hunt Giveaway, you can check out my recent blog post here. This celebration will be running throughout the month and there are so many giveaways and awesome prizes. It is definitely worth joining in the event.

December has kicked off with a bang for me as A Tale of Many Reviews is currently hosting the Betwixt Blog Tour for me. Day One was filled with amazing reviews. I am so excited that people are enjoying it so much. Thank you so much to all the participants. I feel honoured to be featuring on your amazing blogs. There is a giveaway running and there will be plenty more posts to come - including interviews, a tweet chat between Nicole and Dale and a few other goodies. If you'd like to follow along, you can check out the tour schedule on my YAlicious site - Betwixt Blog Tour.

The first book of my fantasy trilogy is well underway. In fact I am hoping to finish it before I fly home for Christmas (in two weeks!! Squee!!). I am finding this project extremely challenging, but also so much fun. I have never written anything like this before and it's really stretching me. I currently have a "Name That Troll" competition running through my updates newsletter. The person who comes up with the best name for my monstrous yet completely adorable baby troll will win an Amazon gift card. If you'd like to participate, you can sign up for my Book Updates and Giveaways Newsletter. Entries close December 21st.

I had a photo shoot last week with some of the students from Suzhou Singapore International School. One of the teachers there helped me out and snapped some shots of these gorgeous kids. They are going to be the faces on the covers of my fantasy trilogy - The Elements Trilogy. The books are tentatively titled - Unknown, Unseen, Unleashed. I can't WAIT to see what my talented graphic designer comes up with. We've been discussing ideas and I think these covers are going to be pretty awesome-sauce.

On my YAlicious blog this month I have some pretty cool posts coming up - I have the amazing Patti Larsen visiting the site on Thursday, a surprise book blogger will be doing an interview for me the week after that. I also have some posts planned while I'm away for Christmas, including a giveaway, so keep your eye out for that.

In the meantime, I really hope you have a fantastic December filled with lots of warm, Christmas fuzzies. I know this season can sometimes be stressful, but it's also a season of giving and reflection and I hope you can all come away feeling better for it :-)

Christmas for Authors Treasure Hunt

It is very fun to be involved with such an awesome event. Jodie and Derinda are amazing women and I want to take a moment to thank them publicly for all they do for the writing community. We love you ladies. Keep up the amazing work!!

If you'd like to know more about this super cool event, you can check out the Christmas For Authors Facebook Page.

Okay - so for this game you need to find my hidden word in the text below, which you then add to the rafflecopter giveaway. This hunt is so worth taking the time to participate in. The prize is AMAZING!!

To find my word, you just need to extract the bolded letters from the text and make them into the word.

In honour of the Betwixt blog tour, which starts today, I have chosen an excerpt from the book.

"I stand in frozen shock as I listen to the door click closed behind them.

Breathing in through my nose, I approach the door with shaky steps. My arm is quivering as I reach for the door handle.

My fingers pass through the metal.

"No."

It feels weird. Like, beyond weird. Not hard like metal should be... or cold, it's just... nothing. I feel nothing.

A sharp pain shoots through my brain and I let out a cry. I clutch my head and drop to the floor, squeezing my eyes shut. The corridor begins to spin. I open my eyes as the walls rush towards me. My lungs fill with a scream of terror before everything goes black."

All you have to do to enter is type the word into the Rafflecopter below.

Please Note: Seeing as though the magnitude of this prize is HUGE, we are making it so only people dedicated enough to play along every day will have a chance to win. Only complete entries will be accepted. By complete, we mean that each day will need to be completed with the correct word from each link. Partial entries will not be accepted. I am sure authors would love a 'like' to their page for their effort while you are visiting. Good luck and thank you for playing!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Little Help Required

Being an author is hard work, whether you are traditionally published or flying indie style, it takes energy and perseverance to get your work out there. Rather than blasting everyone with sale-sy tweets and Facebook comments, I really prefer for readers to hear about my work from other people. For some reason it seems to have more impact, don't you think?

That's why it's awesome if you can ask your fellow writers, bloggers and friends for a little help.

But how much help should you be asking for?

Knowing that everyone seems ridiculously busy, I tend to stick to small requests that will only take about 2 minutes of their time, like...

- voting for my books on Goodreads lists
- liking and tagging my books on Amazon
- sharing a Facebook post
- retweeting an important tweet for me

... stuff like that.

I've been trying to get Betwixt off the ground and have been e-mailing and messaging people with little requests for help and the other day, I suddenly felt really bad. Was I asking too much? Would I be putting people off by constantly requesting their help?

I guess it all comes down to this... I will never ask anyone to do something for me that I wouldn't be willing to do for them.

Sometimes it takes courage to ask, but I am always pleasantly surprised by how willing people are to help out.

What do you think about asking for help?
When does it become too much?

2012 - Things I'm Grateful For

YA writers and bloggers unite each week to share their thoughts on what it's like going indie in today's publishing world.

Yay for Thanksgiving!! We don't celebrate it in NZ, but it's always so well advertised that we all know about it... and it always gets me thinking.

At Indie Carnival we thought this would be a great chance to mentions some of the highlights from our year and the things we are grateful for.

I have a wonderful life and find myself with a million things to be thankful for, so I'll just stick with the writing related ones in this post.

2012 has been an amazing year for me. I have released three books - Pure Blood (#3 Time Spirit Trilogy), Forbidden Territory (#1 Mica and Lexy Series) and Betwixt.

I am so grateful for...

- every person who has purchased these books. You guys are helping me write my next book... and my next... and my next.

- everyone who took the time to review the book or tell me what they thought about it. I so appreciate all your support, enthusiasm and honesty.

- the marketing & writing lessons I've learned throughout the year. I have come so far and learned so much. I know I have a long way to go still, but I'm definitely a better writer than I was last year. Long may I be able to say that :-)

- the fun I've had putting these books together. I love writing. I just love it!!

 - Brenda Howson, the co-author of Forbidden Territory and the YAlicious blog. Also my graphic designer. I love you, chick :-)

- ZealousDesign, the website that distributes my books for me in New Zealand.

- the schools I've been invited to visit and the awesome kids I've met. Some of them even wanted my signature. How cool is that?!

- librarians!!! I have met so many of you this year and I think you are all wonderful. Your passion for reading and sharing books with the younger generations is awesome. I have so appreciated your support and enthusiasm.

- the amazing people I've met and connected with through Twitter and Facebook. There are so many cool writers and bloggers out there who love to support indies. I have enjoyed building friendships with you and helping to support your careers as well. The writing world rocks!! Squee!

- Inklings - my writing group that I can go to about anything and they always understand. I love you girls.

- Indies Unlimited - another amazing group that has given me so many opportunities this year. I have learned so much from all of you and I love being a part of this awesome team.

- YA Indie Carnival. You guys are an amazing bunch of writers and I am so honoured to be associated with you. Tina & Laura - I have to give you special mention. You have done the most amazing job with this group and I so appreciate your time and effort.

- the coming year. I have four books planned for 2013, plus the launch of my own website. Excitement!!! There is so much to look forward to and on the days I feel low, I just need to think of all the things I mentioned above and all the cool things that await me in the future and I can do nothing but smile.

If you'd like to find out what the other carnival goers are grateful for, you can follow the link below.

And you can also check out the YA Author Club for the latest updates and news on what we're all up to.

1.	Laura A. H. Elliott	2.	Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3.	T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series	4.	Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga
5.	Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog	6.	K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
7.	Gwenn Wright, author of Filter	8.	Liz Long | Just another writer on the loose.
9.	Ella James	10.	Maureen Murrish
11.	YA Sci Fi Author's Ramblings	12.	A Little Bit of R&R
13.	Melissa Pearl	14.	Terah Edun - YA Fantasy

NB: We are taking next week off, so there will be no Friday post from me on the 30th :-)

Recommended Reading For Writers

In October, I ran an Author-fest. It was so fantastic having such great authors visit my YAlicious blog for a small interview. It was awesome to get to know their work a little better and the history behind some of their stories. One of the most interesting questions for me was...

 If you could recommend any book to aspiring writers, what would it be and why?

There were some fantastic suggestions, so I thought I'd compile the answers into a list for you.
If you'd like to add any others into the comments section, please feel free.

So - in no particular order....

On Writing by Stephen King. He talks about writing with the passion of the story—getting caught up in the story without worrying about perfection or errors. I think a lot of beginning writers get so caught up in their mistakes that they become stymied. My favorite quote about first drafts is “A first draft is a celebration of everything that can go wrong on a page.”

The Writer's Guide to Character Traits by Linda N. Edelstein, PH.D. It's an absolute goldmine for character development, and helps to really make your characters three-dimensional, real people.

And Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder. It's a book about plotting out screenplays but it 

DEFINITELY applies to novel writing. BIG TIME.

Manuscript Makeover by Elizabeth Lyon is hands-down the most comprehensive, helpful book on revision. Lyon covers not only copyediting issues, but also voice, theme and symbolism, pacing and characterization.

And here's one from me...

Writing Great Books For Young Adults by Regina Brooks. This book is full of helpful suggestions and things to consider when writing for a YA audience. I took screeds of notes that I refer to all the time.

I hope you manage to get your hands on some of these books. I know I will be working through the ones I haven't read yet.

Do you have any books you'd like to add to the mix? What's your recommended reading for writers?