COVER REVEAL! WHISPER FALLS

Whisper Falls

While training for a mountain bike race, high-school senior Mark Lewis spots a mysterious girl dressed in odd clothing, standing behind a waterfall in the woods near his North Carolina home. When she comments on the strange machine that he rides, he suspects something isn't right. When Susanna claims to be an indentured servant from 1796, he wonders if she's crazy. Yet he feels compelled to find out more.

Mark enters a 'long-distance' relationship with Susanna through the shimmering--and temperamental--barrier of Whisper Falls. Curious about her world, Mark combs through history to learn about the brutal life she's trapped in. But knowledge can be dangerous. Soon he must choose between the risk of changing history or dooming the girl he can't stop thinking about to a lifetime of misery.
 

Title: Whisper Falls (Whisper Falls #1)

Author: Elizabeth Langston

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press (www.spencerhillpress.com) Please feel free to use any images, text, links, etc. from our website.

ISBN: 978-1-937053-42-0

Release Date: November 19, 2013

Formats: Paper, e-book 

If you'd like to request an ARC, please use the reviewer form on our website. ARCs will ship in August or September of 2013. 

And here we have another amazing cover from Spencer Hill!

Kimmy :)

TRIANGLES, Kimberly Ann Miller, Spencer Hill Press, June 2013  

Time and Patience

At the start of 2012 I had three manuscripts needing tending to and I hoped to have at least two of them out on submission to agents by the end of the year. I have had to change those plans as only one manuscript will be out by 2013. One of the other manuscripts I had planned to have out on query rounds was last year's NaNoWriMo project. It has been in the works a long time and taken different turns a couple of times.

I first had the idea for the manuscript in January of 2011. It took all I had to do some research and work the characters out in my head. I had to force myself not to sit down and write the rough draft right away. It was not ready. I was not ready. No matter how much I told myself I knew what the story was about and where it was going to end up, I never felt that it was quite there yet. So, I forced myself to be patient and wait until November. After all that was my original goal, use it as my NaNo project.

In September I had an epiphany of sorts. The story I had been planning all along was not where my characters needed to go. It was not their story. So, I sat down and worked it all out on paper. At this point I was nearing the deadline to have my notes and outline ready. I finished my outline and notes on Halloween, just in time. By the end of November I was thrilled with the outcome of my manuscript and could not wait to get back to it and edit. I had a few ideas on what to change in order to make it better. Yet, I knew I needed to put some distance and time between the rough draft and editing.

My plan was to be back to editing it this summer. Once again, I knew it was not time. When I sat down to edit, I was not ready. The story was not there in my mind like I had hoped it would be. There was something wrong with it and I had no idea where that problem was. So, I went back to a different project and worked on it all summer.

Courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

While editing this other project I found myself reading an intriguing article in Astronomy Magazine. It had absolutely nothing to do with any of my projects, yet everything to do with one in particular. I mulled over the idea of changing my NaNo project, yet again. This time to fit the parameters of a science fiction novel, rather than a dystopian as the rough draft is written.

It has been almost two years since I first had the idea and it this manuscript has driven me crazy at times. Yet, I know that by giving this project time I have had the opportunity to really delve into the world and the characters better. I have had time to mull over the world the characters live in and ask myself many questions. I have had time to research different aspects of a world I hope to share with others.

It has taken a lot of patience not to delve right in and make the changes without first knowing the world and characters inside and out. Now, nearing NaNoWriMo time again, I am finally feeling ready to work on it again and share it with my CPs in the new year as I edit it.

Do you give yourself time between edits? Do you force yourself to be patient while the story and characters evolve? Or do you delve right in?

The Child Within

Writing fiction is as much about staying grounded as it is about suspending belief. You are told that you must follow the rules and make things believable. If you write contemporary fiction, you hear it over and over again –is your story plausible? Would a twelve year old girl really do that? Say that? Believe that? Even if you write fantasies, you must build your world, make the rules of its existence clear and follow the rules consistently. In all this rule thinking, rule remembering and rule following, I have a hard time keeping the spirit of my story alive.

Sometimes the spirit of the story is wonky, whimsical –it wants to run free, do the unexpected, stay unpredictable. It’s a story where the MC is a boy who is thrown into a world that we’ve never imagine. Or about a girl who makes you re-think all the stereotypes about rich, spoilt twelve year olds. Thinking about the rules during my revisions smothers my imagination, reigns in my inner child and dissolves that je ne sais quoi feeling that I like my stories to have.

Don’t get me wrong. We need the rules to guide us through our writing so that we make our stories more engaging and memorable. But sometimes I edit too much. I cut too much. I revise too much. End result? My story just doesn’t feel the same way anymore.

How to follow the rules and keep your inner child alive so that your story stays as your story?

1.      For me, distraction always works, be it song lyrics (Taylor Swift helped me with my last round of revisions), old movies (the Barrymore brothers, do I need to say anything more?) or a History channel reality show (Ice Road Truckers!). Distraction helps me get the rules in perspective and makes me focus on what I liked about my story and MC in the first place.

2.      I like to get moving. Cleaning, running errands, doing the grocery, chopping the veggies, and best of all, yoga! There’s something about feeling the burn in your arms and legs that relaxes the brain and helps to re-visualize a scene. I’m sure that’s some scientific reasoning behind this. Whatever it may be, moving helps me to zone in on the most important piece of a scene or chapter and edit out everything else.

3.      Getting out of my comfort zone also helps. Networking with a large group of people, scuba diving, bungee jumping –doing something that makes me nervous helps me forget about the nagging points of my manuscript. So when I return a weekend or a week later, I only remember the important rules and the important parts of the scene. My mind is quieter and the only voice I hear in my head is that of my narrator.

Do you struggle with keeping your inner child alive? Do you have any tricks that you use to stay true to your story?

COVER REVEAL: OPAL by Jennifer L. Armentrout

No one is like Daemon Black.

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger... and they know it.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Follow this link to an ~~~ EPIC CONTEST ~~~ Announcement. You will want to bookmark this page!

http://jenniferarmentrout.blogspot.com/p/october-1-2012.html

 

 USA TODAY Bestselling author, Jennifer L. Armentrout, lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing, she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell, Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She also writes adult romance under the name J. Lynn.

Find Jennifer on: Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website | Blog

I am so excited to be a part of this cover reveal! Jennifer is one of my favorite authors and the Lux series is one of my favorite YA series. Cannot wait to read Opal!

Kimmy :) 

TRIANGLES, Kimberly Ann Miller, Spencer Hill Press, June 2013 

WRITERS AND PETS

If you’re on any of the social media websites, especially facebook, tumblr, and Twitter, you’re bound to see writers posting pics of them with their pets. I have three cats, and they always hang around with me when I write, especially my male, Tuxedo. He sits on my lap, rubs his face on my laptop, and sits on my charger when the laptop is plugged in. Here he is:

I also have Athena and Aphrodite, but they care less about my writing than Tuxedo does:

How about you? Do any pets in your life help you along in your writing?

Kimmy :)

TRIANGLES, Kimberly Ann Miller, Spencer Hill Press, June 2013

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? :)

COVER REVEAL - Fireblood

Fireblood

To save a kingdom, Zara must choose between a prince who could be the answer and a rising rebellion that threatens to take control.

When Zara Dane is chosen to marry Prince Sebastian Hart, son of the man who ordered her father's capture, Zara knows she must fight to save everything she loves from ruin.

Being betrothed to the prince means a life trapped behind the towering stone walls of the Camelot-forged realm. Under the watchful eye of the prince's first knight, Sir Devlan Capra, changing her future becomes difficult.

When an unlikely rebel reveals the truth about the deadly secrets that fuel King Hart's twisted world, Zara's path to rescue her father becomes clouded by deception. The Rebels clear her path by forcing Zara's hand with an ultimatum: sway Prince Sebastian to join the Rebels, convincing him of his father's evil nature, or they will take him out.

But Zara is uncertain about a future under the Rebels' command and where the prince's heart truly lies. She must decide who to trust, what to believe, and what she's truly fighting for before the king destroys all of Karm, including her heart .

Title: Fireblood

Author: Trisha Wolfe

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press (www.spencerhillpress.com) Please feel free to use any images, text, links, etc. from our website.

ISBN: 978-1-937053-59-8

Release Date: October 8, 2013

Formats: Paper, e-book 

If you'd like to request an ARC, please use the reviewer form on our website. ARCs will ship next summer.

This has got to be one of my favorite Spencer Hill Press covers yet - isn't it amazing???