Winner of the Dragumon Art Contest!

Isn't this great!

Philip Bartles was the only one up to my challenge, and I think he did a wonderful job. I love the energy coming off the staff, love the texture of the scales with the smooth yet reflective quality. The talons are wicked and I definitely would not want them slicing into me. The best part is the head is moving in the right direction. More dog like and less snake like.

Great job!

Philip will be getting a signed copy of The Magic Wakes in the mail, and when I finish the Dragumon novella he will get a copy of it.

I actually get more excited about this picture every time I look at it!

About My Debut Novel--A Meme

I grabbed this meme from Chantele Sedgwick a few weeks ago. I think I'll do a couple of them--one for each of my completed novels. What a fun way to fill the summer!

Feel free to grab the questions and do the same. I know I'd love to hear more about your novel or current wip.


1. What is the name of your book?
The Magic Wakes

2. Where did the idea for your book come from?
The original seed came from a freaky dream I had when I was 19 combined with another one I had when I was 28. It's changed so much over the years that it's almost a new animal.


<---pretty close to the creatures I saw in my dream when I was 19. They were chasing me through underground tunnels filled a foot deep with water with one purpose-kill me. I still don't know why, but that dream stuck with me for all these years.

3. In what genre would you classify your book?
Speculative fiction would be the easy answer because it's complicated. :) See question 10 for more details.

4. If you had to pick actors to play your characters in a movie rendition, who would you choose?

I made this for a Now Showing Blogfest in April 2011. It mostly works now, although I'm thinking I need to find a younger Talia. Any suggestions?

5. Give us a one-sentence synopsis of your book.
As her nightmares of invasion and death become reality, a scientist embraces her hidden magic to save her world from an ancient mistake.

Or, if given more than one sentence--
Everyone has secrets. Talia Shannon’s will save her world and destroy it at the same time. Only she can decide if the price is worth it.

6. Is your book already published/represented?
It will be released Winter of 2013 by WiDo Publishing.

7. How long did it take you to write your book?
It's been ten years since I started playing around with it, but I only got serious about writing in 2008. That's when I knocked out the completed first draft for Nanowrimo. This is where the novel was really born because I threw away everything that had come before. I wrote two and a half other books since then, but kept coming back to this first story.

8. What other books within your genre would you compare it to? Or, readers of which books would enjoy yours?
I hate this question because I'm never sure how to answer. I read more YA (I'm fixing that) and so I compare myself to those authors, but this is not YA because of the age of my characters. But I think people who like Elana Johnson, Beth Revis, Janice Hardy, and Stephanie Meyer will enjoy my writing style.

This is what I would consider an easy read--high adventure, fast paced, but not so technical that you get bogged down in details. Those who enjoyed Alex Cavanaugh's CassaFire might enjoy this as well.

I would hope that people who enjoyed Michael Offutt's Slipstream would enjoy this even though I'm no where near as scientifically detailed as he is.

In general, I wrote this with the purpose of showing my Non-science fiction friends that they could read the genre and enjoy it. So everything is basic when it comes to the tech stuff. 

9. Which authors inspired you to write this book?
I've devoured books since the 5th grade and there are way too many authors to list. I love to read authors who make the book about the story rather than the science or the particular brand of magic. Those elements should flow through seemlessly.

10. Tell us anything that might pique our interest in your book.
I guess the fact that I REALLY love it myself isn't what will get you to buy it, huh? :)

This book was written as an escape for me, and for you. There's a little science, a little fantasy, lots of adventure and chases, aliens, a dragon, and a little romance. The dragon has only a small part in this book, but will play a greater role in upcoming sequels.

Dust it Off Blog Hop--Day 3

Theresa Paolo and Courtney Pearson are hosting this blogfest. Here is the idea:

We've all had those manuscripts that we poured our heart into, fell in love with the characters and still think of them at random, but unfortunately had to shelf. Now it's time for a little spring cleaning. Take out those manuscripts and Dust It Off!

The third day, May 7th: Post what you learned from this WIP. You become a stronger, more rounded writer which each manuscript and we want to know what this particular work taught you. 

I've been sharing my Nanowrimo 2009 WIP Draguman. This novel will always hold a special place in my heart for two reasons:

1. As the second completed novel, it proved that I could do this writing thing. That first novel wasn't an accident. After Draguman, I knew that I could sit down and write a novel if I wanted to because I'd done it twice.

2. It helped me understand the history of this world I had created. I knew going into Draguman that it would all be back story, but I like back story. I need to understand all the characters on multiple levels in order to write about them. As I went through the creation, education, presentation and rejection of these creatures from my mind, I began to understand their pain. It is that pain that motivated them to do all that they did.

The rest of this novel covers years on a planet named Demaria where they were exiled by the dragons. Here they suffered through slavery and learned how to give in to their anger and hurt. This propels them across the galaxy leaving pain and death in their wake until they once more return to Sendek. That's where Talia's story begins.

The problem with this novel? It made me feel too much sympathy for my antagonists. They aren't as mean and nasty as they should be, but hopefully my editor will help me there. ;)

Have you ever done that? Liked your antag so much you didn't want anyone else to hate them?

Dust it Off Blog Hop--Day 2

Theresa Paolo and Courtney Pearson are hosting this blogfest. Here is the idea:

We've all had those manuscripts that we poured our heart into, fell in love with the characters and still think of them at random, but unfortunately had to shelf. Now it's time for a little spring cleaning. Take out those manuscripts and Dust It Off!

Second Day, May 5th: Post your favorite excerpt from Ol' Shelvy. 300-350 word limit. ;)

From my Nanowrimo 2009 WIP--Draguman. (Note: This takes place in Sendek's ancient past, thus 3 moons and 2 suns adorn the skies. I have to admit that as I read through what I had written I was pleasantly surprised. There is a lot of work to do, but there were lots of nice scenes. Because of the word limit, I decided to share two snippets from the first five pages. Elvin is 14 and thus it sounds a bit MG although the book is not.)

It was just as beautiful in the moons’ light as it was in the suns’ light. He placed his hands on the sides of the egg and let the warmth flow through his fingers. Concentrating on the life energy he could feel coming through the hard shell, he let his mind drift until he could almost see it. He focused his thoughts into the shell searching for the brightest spark of life. Elvin wasn’t sure if that spark was the brain or heart, but he knew that if he could find that place he would be able to form a connection with the creature growing inside.

When he found the brightest point of light, he wrapped his mind around it, sent some of his energy to that spot, and felt the creature reaching back. The jolt of electricity almost made him drop the egg.

None of the other forest creatures had ever done that. This being was intelligent and had magical abilities of its own. Elvin only knew of one creature that would lay an egg this large and as sentient as what he now sensed—a dragon.

Elvin's gaze darted to the sky, expecting the mother dragon to swoop down and swallow him whole. His tremor of fear was answered by the baby dragon. A gentle nudge moved him to more peaceful thoughts. Whatever had happened, the egg had been alone for most of its life. No dragon was coming for it as far as it knew.

_______

Source

Elvin could see a fine network of cracks webbing their way across the surface of the egg, with one small hole on the side where a small horn like appendage pushed outward.

The egg pulsed with each breath the dragon took, slowly pressing the shell outward, weakening the tough membrane trapping it inside. The cracks grew wider, small pieces flaked away with each breath. Elvin could now see other body parts trying to stretch their way out. He wanted to help, but he knew not to. For a moment, the egg shrank, collapsing in on itself, and then the dragon chick exploded outward as it broke free of the shell. 

It lay exhausted from the effort, green and wet from the moisture that had protected and nourished it. He watched it breathing as it searched for how to use this new body. The egg horn fell off when the little guy rolled over brushing it against the rock. It finally found its hind legs and wobbled into a sitting position, bringing its long neck around so that it could look at the boy. The deep brown eyes looked into his violet eyes. Elvin almost laughed at the comical tilt of the chick’s head, but then he felt an intense hunger burning in his stomach.

And so begins my Sendek Saga. What do you think?

Dust it Off Bloghop Day 1

Theresa Paolo and Courtney Pearson are hosting this blogfest. Here is the idea:

We've all had those manuscripts that we poured our heart into, fell in love with the characters and still think of them at random, but unfortunately had to shelf. Now it's time for a little spring cleaning. Take out those manuscripts and Dust It Off!

The first day, May 3rd: We want you to post a 1-2 sentence pitch (Great way to practice pitches) about the shelved WIP.

I'm going to share my Nanowrimo 2009 WIP--Draguman. This wip will never see the light of day, but it was a great experiment.

Pitch--
When a young man accidentally binds himself to a dragon, he discovers an endless potential for growth for both species. In an effort to share this joy, he creates a creature that is part dragon and part human, but not even the dragon-kin can accept this abomination.


That really doesn't do it justice and there are some clunky phrases I don't like.

Any suggestions?