The Devil's Temptation (Book 2 in the Devil series)

Yay! It's here. The second book in the Devil series is hot off the presses!

  

Synopsis:

Fighting the Devil brought Cooper and Grace together. But without a little evil to spice things up, the everyday life of a normal teenager is pretty dull. A summer job crewing on a billionaire’s yacht in sunny Italy might be just the ticket to rekindle passion. While the setting is perfect, the winding, sinister back streets of Naples are also the perfect playground for a scorned Lucifer to wreak havoc. And if evil doesn’t rip them apart, the sultry billionaire’s daughter and the sexy First Officer might be what it takes to finally destroy Cooper and Grace’s love forever.

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All For One Giveaway

Wendy Russo, Joanne Brothwell, Shawna Romkey, and myself, have come together to give you, our lovely readers, a kinda-sorta Buy One Get THREEFree deal on our books. That averages out to $1.99 per book!

The BOOKS:

• Silencing Breath, by Joanne Brothwell
• The Devil’s Triangle, by Toni de Palma
• January Black, by Wendy S. Russo
• Speak of the Devil, by Shawna Romkey

And that’s not all! Some participants of the All For One event will also be eligible to win all four books in print, each signed by the author, PLUS a June ebook release from Crescent Moon Press.

Sound too good to be true? Well, there is an itsy-bitsy catch. You have to post an honest* review on Amazon to get each successive book.

The RULES:

1. Participants may start with any of the four books, but they must progress through the books in order.

Silencing Breath → The Devil’s Triangle → January Black → Speak of the Devil

2. After reading, each participant must post an honest review on Amazon. Star ratings alone do NOT count toward a free ebook without an accompanying review of at least 20 words.* A link to this review should be emailed to the book’s author AND the author of the ebook being requested to receive the next file.

3. The authors participating in this event have no expectations of positive reviews. To comply with FCC rules, participants must state either at the top or bottom of the review that the book was given by the author in exchange for an honest opinion.

4. Extra points toward the grand prize will be awarded for reviews left on Goodreads, blogs, or other sites. These URLs will be entered into and tracked by Rafflecopter.

5. All reviews must be posted by 11:59 PM US Central time on June 15, 2013, to be counted toward the grand prize.

*We are looking for honest reviews that will help other readers to decide whether or not they’d like our books. If you don’t like the book, please say so, and for the benefit of other readers, please say why. If for any reason we feel your review is not honest, your entry into the grand prize will be disqualified.

This event is open internationally.

And YES. If you’ve already reviewed any of these books, you can play!

The Emails:

If you have reviewed “Silencing Breath,” send the link to:

joannebrothwell [at] gmail [dot] com, writertoni [at] yahoo [dot] com

Subject: Requesting ALL FOR ONE Copy of “The Devil’s Triangle”

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If you have reviewed “Devil’s Triangle,” send the email link to:

writertoni [at] yahoo [dot] com, wendysrusso [at] gmail [dot] com

Subject: Requesting ALL FOR ONE Copy of “January Black”

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If you have reviewed “January Black,” send the link to:

wendysrusso [at] gmail [dot] com, shawnaromkey [at] gmail [dot] com

Subject: Requesting ALL FOR ONE Copy of “Speak of the Devil”

---

If you have reviewed “Speak of the Devil,” send the link to:

shawnaromkey [at] gmail [dot] com, joannebrothwell [at] gmail [dot] com

Subject: Requesting ALL FOR ONE Copy of “Silencing Breath”

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What Keeps Me Writing

I recently began teaching a Creative Writing class. The class is an elective and most of the twenty students are Seniors. When the opportunity to teach the class came up, I was ecstatic. I dreamed of students who, done with the core requirements of their majors, were open to the prospect of having a little fun with words. From the beginning I attempted to establish an environment where, at least on the blank page, there were no rules. And I encouraged each of them to throw out the rigid thinking that comes with formal education. I encouraged them to ask themselves the question What If?

Well, other than a few standouts who show up bright-eyed and willing to take a chance on the page, the rest of my students have proven to be...how can I say this kindly...duds. They sit with their backbones pinned to their chairs, legs thrust out, with a thick glaze of boredom pasted to their faces. Part of me wants to scream, "Why the heck did you take this class?" I'm sure some would respond that they needed the credits or the class seemed like an easy A. But I suspect that some of them actually signed up for the class wanting to write. But if the lackluster prose they are turning in is any indication of their level of committment to the craft, I sincerely wonder if they know what they want.

This has me thinking? We all know the people who say they want to write? But what is the difference between the person who says it and the person who does it? Now, I'm not standing here professing myself to be perfect. There are days and sometimes a week or two when I don't actually write anything. Usually though I am reading or journaling or pondering about my character. Yes, it has taken me years to get to this point and so writing has become a habit. A habit that a young person with so many other distractions in their life might not have had the chance to cultivate. But what about those people who have made excuses for ten, twenty or evern thirty years? The ones that continue to profess that writing is their passion, but don't actually do anything about it.

Perhaps, I'm being harsh or cranky. Life happens to people and sometimes it knocks them down like a two ton semi without ever giving them a chance to get out of the way. I can forgive that, but let me ask you something. Can you forgive yourself?

Do you know what keeps me cracking away at this? I wish I could say it's the huge royalty checks that I receive every quarter, but I have more respect for you than to lie so blatantly. No, what keeps me writing is my own mortality. Yes, that's correct. Death keeps me writing. I've hit middle age and well, the end is a lot closer than it used to be. I've had friends who died in their thirties, forties and fifties and so death doesn't feel as remote to me as it did when I was a teenager. So when I think about the end of my life, I think about the feeling I want to hold in my heart about the life I lived. And what I want most is to not be disappointed. With myself. This could be rooted in the guilt that those nuns from St. Anselms fed me all those years ago, but wherever it comes from, the idea that I didn't give my writing life its best shot feels way too overwhelming. So that's why I continue.

If you're reading this and just don't get what I'm trying to say, well all I can say is, lucky you! I actually envy the fact that you don't feel the deep down physical need that I equate with writing. But if writing really does mean something to you, I implore you. Don't kick back. Don't waste the chance. Don't allow your eyes to glaze over. No! Seize the moment. Open your eyes and be mindful and write like you're going to die tomorrow.

And as Cher says in Moonstruck...

The Devil's Triangle Releases and Contest Winner!

                                    Congratulation to...

                               
                                   RICHA PARANDE!!!


Thanks to everyone for entering. If you want to get your own copy of The Devil's Triangle, here's the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Devils-Triangle-ebook/dp/B00BEGPLZI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1360890415&sr=1-1&keywords=the+devil%27s+triangle

                                        Happy reading!

The Devil's Triangle Contest! Blake's Song.

                                               
THE DEVIL'S TRIANGLE will be released tomorrow (February 15)! To celebrate, each day this week, I'm introducing you to one of the characters from the book, along with a song and video that gives you a little hint at their personalities.

Plus, if you make a comment and add your email, you'll be entered into a drawing to win a free copy of my book! I'll even autograph it for you. Not bad, right?

So here's our fourth song. This one belongs to Blake.

Blake's a fake. He's pretending to be best buds with Cooper, while he's really just one of Lucifer's minions. Blake is scamming Cooper, pretending to be his best bud, but keeping his eye on Grace for the big guy. If anyone's locked out of heaven, it's Blake for all the terrible things he's done to poor Cooper and Grace. 

 

Toni's Links:

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/465309.Toni_De_Palma
Devil's Triangle Goodreads page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13610688-devil-s-triangle
Website: http://tonidepalma.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ToniDePalma1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/toni.depalma

The Devil's Triangle Contest! Lucy's Song

                                       
THE DEVIL'S TRIANGLE will be released in three days (February 15)! To celebrate, each day this week, I'm introducing you to one of the characters from the book, along with a song and video that gives you a little hint at their personalities.

Plus, if you make a comment and add your email, you'll be entered into a drawing to win a free copy of my book! I'll even autograph it for you. Not bad, right?

So here's our  third song. This one belongs to Lucy.

Lucy, the Devil's sister, is nasty and spice and not so nice, especially when it comes to Cooper. She's made him a bet, she wants him to regret, but all he wants is Grace.

 Toni's Links:

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/465309.Toni_De_Palma
Devil's Triangle Goodreads page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13610688-devil-s-triangle
Website: http://tonidepalma.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ToniDePalma1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/toni.depalma

The Devil's Triangle Contest! Grace's song

                                        
THE DEVIL'S TRIANGLE will be released in four days (February 15)! To celebrate, each day this week, I'm introducing you to one of the characters from the book, along with a song and video that gives you a little hint at their personalities.

Plus, if you make a comment and add your email, you'll be entered into a drawing to win a free copy of my book! I'll even autograph it for you. Not bad, right?

So here's our second song. This one belongs to Grace.

Grace has a heart so big, she'd go up against the Devil for the boy she loves.

 

Toni's Links:

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/465309.Toni_De_Palma
Devil's Triangle Goodreads page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13610688-devil-s-triangle
Website: http://tonidepalma.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ToniDePalma1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/toni.depalma
Twitter:

The Devil's Triangle Cover Reveal!!

                                           

It's Here!!!  The cover reveal for my new book. Let me know what you think?

The Devil's Triangle

by Toni De Palma

When 17 year old Cooper dies in an attempt to burn down his school, he finds himself in the afterlife. Lucy, the Devil's sister who has crossed party lines, decides to give Cooper another shot at heaven. The deal? Cooper returns to Earth and has to find a girl named Grace. The rest is up to him.

While Cooper figures out his mission, he's thrown into the life he's always wanted. Great parents, a spot on the Varsity football team and a real future are all within reach. But what he really wants is Grace, a feisty girl with an abusive boyfriend who can pound Cooper into pulp if he doesn't watch out.

While Lucy plays demonic-puppeteer, clues to an unknown past between Cooper and Grace start to unravel. Cooper discovers that what's keeping him and Grace apart is far more sinister than anything this bad boy could have ever imagined.

ISBN for Devil's

978-1-939173-03-4 Devil’s Triangle print

978-1-939173-04-1 Devil’s triangle Ebook Find Toni and The Devil's Triangle here: Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13610688-devil-s-triangle Website:http://tonidepalma.com/published-works.html Twitter:https://twitter.com/ToniDePalma1 Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/#!/toni.depalma

Ship Breaker is a Heart Breaker

     In America's Gulf Coast region, grounded oil tankers are being broken down for parts by crews of young people. Nailer, a teenage boy, works the light crew, scavenging for copper wiring just to make quota - and hopefully live to see another day. But when, by luck or by chance, he discovers an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, Nailer faces the most important decision of his life: Strip the ship for all it's worth or or rescue its lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl who could lead him to a better life...

    I have to admit that what attracted me to Ship Breaker were the two shiny awards on its cover. Ship Breaker was a National Book Award finalist as well as the Michael L. Printz award for 2011. The last time I read a fantasy novel that was equally lauded, it was Nancy Farmer's House of the Scorpion, a book that I recommend to everyone who has not read it. Perhaps it was for this reason, the inevitable comparison to Farmer's masterpiece, that I went into Ship Breaker expecting so much more.

    Mind you, Ship Breaker is a well written book. The plot works well and the writing is often poetic, with wonderful imagery and world-building. But, it's the main character, Nailer, who leaves me flat. Yes, he is the victim of an abusive father and he does the right thing in circumstances where doing the right thing is not easy. However, he felt like a character I've met before and he didn't feel special or stand out in anyway.

    Oh, how I hate being critical. I know how hard it is to write and this book is really good on so many levels. Perhaps I am jaded. Perhaps I have read too many books in this genre. Or perhaps, a long time ago, I fell hard for House of the Scorpion, and no other book in this genre could ever live up to what I felt for that book. Such is the life of a reader I guess...

Listing To Your Own Voice

I started writing a memoir a few days ago. Yes, a memoir. Even to me, that sounds strange. I've always considered myself a fiction writer, and a fiction writer for children and young adults at that. So the idea of writing something so personal and for adult readers strikes me as odd. Who knows if I will finish it. Who knows if it will be accepted for publication. Who knows, who knows, who knows. The important thing is that I had something to say and I needed to say it. And I'm listening, to my own voice for a change as oppossed to listening to my character's voice. But what is the distinction?

In the case of fiction, voice is how your character expresses him or herself. Voice is their choice of words, their cadence and the patterns of putting sentences together. It's much like the way real people speak and it's identifiable and unique to the person doing the speaking.

In contrast, there is the writer's voice. The writers voice also includes choice of words, syntax and pacing, but it's also about a sense of style. I think we can all readily agree that when you pick up a Jane Austen novel and a Meg Cabot novel, that both women have different author voices that reflect the time period in which that author lived/lives, their sensibilities, values, culture and life experiences.

How do you find your own voice? While it's challenging, I believe it's something that happens with time and the practice of craft. After a day of being away from the memoir, I started working on it this morning. Reading a few passages I'd already written, it was as if I'd come to a cafe, sat down with an old friend, and picked up on the conversation from where we'd last left off. There was an automatic intimacy, as if I knew her, and knew how she/I spoke, and what were her concerns, dreams, values. It's this intimacy that we strive for in our work, that comes through our voices. It's this intimacy that our readers connect with and why they want to spend time with us, and in the worlds that we create.

If you're still seeking your voice, look to other authors whose work you return to over and over. You might be naturally attracted to their voice because it is similar to your own. Notice how they put sentences together. Are they short and clipped or long and flowing? Are chapters action packed and quickly paced or are does the author use long passages and delve deeply into the internal world of their characters? These are clues into your own voice and style. Follow the clues.

What A Zombie Taught Me About Writing

I like to watch movies. My son, a filmmaker, and I sit on the couch and we like to discuss the shape of the film as it would be written on the page in the form of a script. It helps I think to visualize how I am laying out my own current WIP. We talk about plot and subplot and about a character's emotional arc. But yesterday, while watching a movie called 28 Days Later, which is a pretty good zombie movie I must say, I noticed something about the main character's emotional arc or rather lack thereof.

28 Days Later is about a zombie invasion that centers around London. The opening scene shows a group of survivors hold up in a country house. The first characters we meet are a couple. As the wife cooks one of the last can of beans left in the pantry, she is overcome by emotion. Her husband lovingly kisses her to console her. A few minutes later the house is overrun by zombies and given a chance to save his wife, the husband wusses out and runs for his own life. "Quick, stop the movie!" I yelled to my son, for this was the optimal moment I thought to discuss a character's emotional arc. "You see how the writer set it up in the audience's mind that this was an upstanding guy, but now he's gone and done the unimaginable and abandoned his wife?" I said. "Now for the rest of the movie he's going to have to face his demons and his own cowardice. At some point he's going to have to redeem himself in order to conclude his own emotional journey." I must say I was rather proud that I could identify from a writer's point of view what the screenwriter was doing. But then I was surprised by what happened next. The main character was not the main character. When his wife is found alive (it appears she possesses a special immunity), she gets her own revenge by kissing him, therefore passing on the virus and turning him into a virus. Dang, I thought. I was wrong. But also intrigued. I loved how the writer took me on a completely different path than I expected.

So what's the point I'm trying to make here? Well, I have a few. For one thing, I think movies are a great way to learn about story. Of course the rules of the screen don't always apply to the rules of writing a novel (for instance scripts are often about action and not much description), but sometimes the chances a screenwriter takes to shuffle a story around could inspire you to write in a different way than you ever conceived before.

Also, as I go along in this process, I see that the most exciting work is the work that breaks the steadfast rules I've worked so hard and long to learn. Not to say that it's not important to learn these rules, but great stuff is about thinking outside the box.

So tell me, have you watched any movies lately that have inspired your writing?

Writing Habits

I once heard about a girl who slathered her naked body in vaseline and then wrapped herself up in cellophane wrap before she got in front of her computer to write. While I don't have quite such exotic writing habits as this, I have found a few things that work for me:

I'm a morning person. I always have been. Even during my teen years, sleeping late never went beyond ten. Being a morning person, I have most of my energy both physical and mental in the morning and so this is the time I find best for writing.

I like doing it in the kitchen best. When my husband and I bought our new house 7 years ago, I was so excited about the prospect of having an office. I decorated the space, filling it with books, pictures, bits of sea glass and other stuff to make it feel homey. Well, after six months of trying, I realized I hated that space and moved myself back to the kitchen.

I need quiet. I've heard of writers who work to rock music, symphonies, alternative etc... Not me. The only sound I want to hear is the tapping keyboard.

I need snacks. A cup of tea in the winter, some crackers, hummus is nice too for a jolt of protein. I try not to overdo the snacks though.

A special writing wardrobe. There's nothing better than my polka dot robe to make me feel all snug and ready to write. My robe is looking a bit ratty these days but it feels like an old friend that's come along for the ride.

So what works for you when you write? Do you have any usual writing habits? I mean aside from smothering yourself in Vaseline?

Writing "habit".....   Get it? :)

Bite Me and Other interesting ways to Market Your Book

I'm just back from the grocery store and something caught my eye. On my way out of the store, I noticed something on the community billboard, amidst the flyers for chinese auctions and weight loss plans. It was an adorable postcard of a dog with wings. Above it the title BITE ME. Since I love dogs (and who doesn't), I took the time to read the few words on the card. BITE ME is a memoir written by a meter reader. Now isn't that clever I thought. Not only the premise but also the way in which the meter reader/author was marketing herself. Now I haven't always been a friend of the marketing aspect of the whole writing world. In the beginning of my career, self-promotion was a downright uncomfortable thing. In fact, when the marketing person at my first publisher invited me to a lunch with a bunch of New York librarians and asked me if the date was good for me, I initially said, "Well, if that date doesn't work for me, you can go ahead without me." There was a pause on the other end of the line at that point and then she proceeded to explain that the luncheon was for me. Well, that freaked me out! As did many other attempts I made at getting me and my book out there in the public sphere. For a shy person like me, marketing has always been as comfortable as putting on a suit made of pine needles.

But since the internet has taken over our lives and turned the publishing world on its ear, marketing has become a bit more palatable for me. I recently had a consultation with Eliza Cross from Cross Media. Eliza is a publicist and an author herself. She maintains four blogs, each one focused on the various aspects of her creative and professional life. She has a bacon blog for her bacon cookbook and a blog for her upcoming contemporary romance. In our discussions, Eliza emphasized that an author needs to be present on the internet. She said an author's first priority should be Goodreads.com. Having an author page on Goodreads that links your blog and gives your readers an opportunity to interact with you on the one passion we all have in common - reading - is great. Next, she suggested I create a dedicated author page on Facebook. Previous to this, I had my personal FB page, but Eliza said that my author page should be focused on all things writing, rather than personal tidbits. The last thing Eliza recommended was having a Twitter account. I was rather relieved, however, when she said that Twitter should take up no more than five minutes of my day since the stats show that Twitter does not reap a lot of rewards due to the rapid fire pace of the feeds.

So going back to BITE ME. Aside from a great title and a cute picture on the postcard, I loved that the author had the chutzpah to pin the card in a place where I least expected it. I don't know if I'll buy the book, but it has made me curious. And it's that curiosity that we want to spark in our reader because the next step, we hope, is a purchase.

So tell me, have you come across a book in an interesting way and has that way made you want to buy that book?

Weaving Plot and Theme

I recently heard famous Hollywood producer, John Landau say that today's filmmakers should be more concerned with theme than they are with plot. He went on to say that theme is what brings an audience in and makes people want to see a movie. This made me think about how writers tackle plot and theme.

So what is the distinction between plot and theme? Plot is what happens to a character, the obstacles and intricacies that keep a reader interested. Theme however is more like a mission statement or a message that the writer wants to convey. Lots of writers don't like the word message when talking about their writing. Writers don't (and shouldn't) preach and a reader doesn't want to be preached to (I'm sure there are plenty of other places to go for that sort of thing). However, for a story to be satisfying to the reader, a character's journey must mean something.

As writers we often fall in love with a character or a plot idea first and don't really consider the deeper undercurrents of our story until we get to that yucky middle part of our novels where we hit and wall and ask ourselves, "What the heck is this all about? And what do I do next?" I've been at that wall many a time and it has driven me to despair, usually resulting in a huge carb binge and stuffing the manuscript in the drawer, never to be seen again. A way I've come to avoid hitting this wall is to do some preliminary journaling or just plain thinking about my character, the plot and what the heck I'm trying to say with my story. I also ask myself two questions: WHAT DOES MY CHARACTER WANT? and WHAT DOES MY CHARACTER REALLY WANT?

On the surface, these questions may appear to be the same, but let's look at an example from my soon-to-be released YA, Devil's Triangle.

Here's the premise (the short version): 17 year old Cooper gets another chance at life when Lucinda, the Devil's sister, sends him back to earth to find Grace, a girl he has known in another life.

So what does Cooper want? Cooper wants to find Grace, figure out what Lucinda has up her sleeve, and avoid Hell. This is essentially the plot.

But what does Cooper REALLY want? Well, if I had Cooper lie down on my therapist's couch, he would reveal to me that what he really wants is to feel worth-while. That, in his previous life as a juvenile delinquent, he realizes he did wrong and that this new life is a way to finally get it right. So the theme of my book, if I had to summarize it in a word is REDEMPTION. Now redemption or forgiving ourselves for screwing up is something we've all dealt with so when a reader reads Cooper's story, they will see a bit of themselves.

So that's the difference between Plot and Theme in a nutshell. What do you think about this topic? Are you conscious of the distinction when you write your stories?

Authors and Books that Take You Places!

Kimberly Ann Miller is the author of the forthcoming Paranormal YA Triangles  published by Spencer Hill Press. Welcome Kimmy! We here at TheWritersbytheshore blog believe in BIC (butt in chair), but we also think that writing (and life) should take us and our readers to fun destinations. So here we go...

Tell us a little about your book. Will we need our passports?

Absolutely! Here is the blurb from Spencer Hill Press’s website:

A cruise ship. A beautiful island. Two sexy guys. What could possibly go wrong?

In the Bermuda Triangle—a lot.

Hoping to leave behind the reminders of her crappy life--her father's death years ago, her mother's medical problems, and the loser who’s practically stalking her--seventeen-year-old Autumn Taylor hops on a ship with her sister for a little distraction. When she wakes up in the Bermuda Triangle, she fears she's gone nuts for more than one reason: that loser’s suddenly claiming they're a happy couple... a hot guy is wrapping his arms around her and saying "Happy Anniversary"... and suddenly, she’s full of bruises, losing her hair, and getting IV medication. Autumn visits the ship's doctor, hoping for a pill or a shot to make the craziness go away. Instead, she's warned that these "alternate realities" could become permanent.

She just has to ask herself one question—how the hell is she going to get out of this mess? 

Wow! Sounds great. So, if I was going to have dinner with your main character, what exotic locale would we be dining at?

Either on the ship out in the beautiful open sea, or on the amazing island of Bermuda.

Who is the character you would vote as "Most likely not to make it through customs" and why?

Hmm…Probably Marcus, because he would be the one to try to smuggle some alcohol in his carry-on!

If your main character was stranded on a desert island, what would be an essential travel item for them to take along?

A satellite phone to call someone to pick her up!

What advice would you offer to other writers embarking on their own writing adventure?

Be persistent and never give up. Breaking into publishing takes time, effort, and desire. Hone your craft, get yourself some wonderful critique partners, and take criticism with grace. I learned early on to listen to the advice of other writers because we share the same goal—to make my manuscript the best it can be. Most of all, enjoy the journey! There are amazing people out there all over the internet ready, willing, and able to help out!

Thanks, Kimmy and Bon Voyage!

Toni De Palma
http://www.tonidepalma.com/

Goodbye to a Dear Friend

Ellen Levine passed away this week after a long, valiant fight with cancer. I first met Ellen when I was getting my MFA at Vermont College where she was a teacher and mentor. Ellen was a tried and true New Yorker. Whether it was the fact that we both had New York blood running through our veins or her hearty laugh, Ellen had a way of making an insecure writer like me feel as if what I had to say mattered.

This past Spring semester I taught a Childrens Lit class and I used Ellen's Henry's Freedom Box as an example of a nonfiction picture book. My students were enchanted by the story.As I read it, I thought of Ellen. Her voice and unique spirit came through on every page.

While Ellen is no longer with us in physical form, I know she is here in spirit. Her chutzpah was amazing and whenever I feel down about my own writing, I will think of her. To me she is what childrens literature can be.

Authors and Books that Take you Places!

Carol Behrman is the author of Freedom Passage, a historical MG published by Aerodale Press. Welcome Carol! We here at TheWritersbytheshore blog believe in BIC (butt in chair), but we also think that writing (and life) should take us and our readers to fun destinations. So here we go...

Tell us a little about your book. Will we need our passports?

No passport necessary unless there is a document required for traveling back and forth in time. Freedom Passage takes place in the summer of 1963, the height of the civil rights struggle. Thirteen-year-old Peggy and her family have just moved from their cosmopolitan neighborhood in Manhattan to the quiet beach town of Bay Point at the Jersey Shore. Peggy is fearful about starting junior high in a strange place with no friends. Things pick up when she finds a potential best friend named Julia living next door, but what will Peggy do when she discovers she will have to betray that friend to be accepted by a popular peer group. And what about that mysterious, locked closet in her attic room that gives off vibes of mystery and danger?

Wow! Sounds great. So, if I was going to have dinner with your main character, what exotic locale would we be dining at?

In Bay Point, dinner on the beach is an attractive option although it might lead to an ugly scene of racial hatred. An alternative might occur when Peggy and Julia undergo a frightening trip back in time to the days of the Underground Railroad before the Civil War. The food in the safe house (station) would be good, but how much could they manage to swallow before the evil slave hunters charge in with their heavy boots and deadly rifles?

Who is the character you would vote as "Most likely not to make it through customs" and why?

The runaway slave, Titus, has the least chance of making it through anything and his options for survival are slim.

If your main character was stranded on a desert island, what would be an essential travel item for them to take along?

If stranded on a desert island, Peggy would need courage, fortitude and clever thinking to survive and/or find a way out--the same qualities she needs in her predicament in Freedom Passage.

What advice would you offer to other writers embarking on their own writing adventure?

Speaking as a long-time writer (35 books for children and YA, the first ones written in the 1970's), I must point out that the publishing field is so different today, it is almost like living in an alternative universe. Some of my experiences are no longer relevant, but there are basic rules for writing success that never change. First, it helps to have a strong inner compulsion--a need to express yourself in writing. Most successful writers I know are great readers and have a deep love of language. Then, whichever story you choose to tell, be sure that the characters, the plot, the setting, etc. are REAL to you. If you can feel the characters breathing with every breath you take, if you can feel inside yourself their fear, their joy, their yearnings, etc., then you can possibly convey this to your readers. Work hard to hone your skills as a writer through books, the internet, and classes (and the best way of all--JOIN A WRITER'S CRITIQUE GROUP). Developing good writing techniques can be learned, but it takes work. Be open to criticism and comments. And above all, DON'T GIVE UP! I know wonderful writers who never succeeded because they gave up too soon. Persistence is the key!!!

Thanks, Carol and Bon Voyage!

Toni De Palma
http://www.tonidepalma.com/

Let Me Introduce Myself :)

Hi there! Let me introduce myself. My name is Toni De Palma and I am a writer living at the Jersey Shore who writes YA and Middle Grade books.

See that first picture of me? That ravishing creature above (ehem) is me in my first official headshot. May I add, that it's also my last official headshot since it took approximately three hours and one long bath and some Ben Gay aftewards to achieve that "natural" look. That's right, in order to achieve this circa 1970's Cheryl Tiegs pose, I had to hug myself like that for three freakin hours! The second picture is also me, this one in Paris, standing in front of the Seine. Notice the smile? What can I say? A little bit of good French wine can make for a much more pleasurable photo op!

So, as I was saying... I am a writer and have been for longer than I can remember. My first contemporary YA novel, Under the Banyan Tree, was published by Holiday House in 2007. My second novel, Jeremy Owl, a fantasy about a boy who turns into an owl and who wages war against fairies came out in 2010 and was published by Aerodale Press. My third novel, a paranormal YA titled Devil's Triangle, comes out later this year from Crescent Moon Press.

In addition to writing, I LOVE to travel. I also get seasick, airsick and carsick, so I never leave home without my seabands :)

I'm so happy to be hanging with my buds, Heather, Kimmy and Archana, here at TheWritersbytheshore.

You can check me and my books out at: http://www.tonidepalma.com/

Or find me at:
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Crescent Moon Press