Tuesday Teaser/Opening ~ Pay It Forward

This week I'm reading Pay It Forward by Cathrine Ryan Hyde. You may remember the movie.


Blurb:
THE MIRACLE OF INNOCENCE
The story of how a boy who believed in the goodness of human nature set out to change the world.

Pay It Forward is a wondrous and moving novel about Trevor McKinney, a twelve-year-old boy in a small California town who accepts the challenge that his teacher gives his class, a chance to earn extra credit by coming up with a plan to change the world for the better--and to put that plan into action.

The idea that Trevor comes up with is so simple and so naïve that when others learn of it they are dismissive. Even Trevor himself begins to doubt when his "pay it forward" plan seems to founder on a combination of bad luck and the worst of human nature.

What is his idea? Trevor chooses three people for whom he will do a favor, and then when those people thank him and ask how they might pay him back, he will tell them that instead of paying him back, they should each "pay it forward" by choosing three people for whom they can do favors, and in turn telling those people to pay it forward. It's nothing less than a human chain letter of kindness and good will.

Opening:
Maybe someday I'll have kids of my own. I hope so. If I do, they'll probably ask what part I played in the movement that changed the world. And because I'm not the person I once was, I'll tell them the truth. My part was nothing. I did nothing. I was just the guy in the corner taking notes.

Teaser:
It's trite to say, but your life divides up into before and after, and you don't have trouble placing things in time anymore. You can almost date them, something like B.C and A.D.

Would you keep reading?

Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: Grab your current readOpen to a random pageShare two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! To see what others are sharing on the Teaser Tuesdays, check the comments at: http://adailyrhythm.com/





Share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you are reading. Here's the link: Bibliophile By The Sea

Tuesday Teaser/Opening ~ Crossing

Several years ago, I read Jan Yoors book, The Gypsies, so now I'm reading Crossing: A Journal of Survival and Resistance in World War II.

Blurb:
Crossing is a unique inside view of a young man's coming of age in the horror and violence of Nazi-occupied Europe. In it, Jan Yoors describes, simply, evocatively, with the restrained power that made The Gypsies a "beautifully written treasure," what happened to his Gypsy "family" and friends, and to him, in those bitter years: how they were hunted down by the Gestapo; how he made the agonizing decision to persuade the Gypsies to join the resistance, against their beliefs and their most profound instincts; how they (and he) were initiated into the arts of sabotage and killing; how they suffered death and torture and the destruction of their way of life; how in despair and loneliness they retained their courage and their will to live; and how he himself, imprisoned, beaten, driven to live alone as a hunted fugitive, drunk with the daring of his own acts, learned once more, in the words of his Gypsy foster father, Pulika, "to open again the closed fist--for only life makes sense."
  Crossing is a moving and gripping work of literature, at once an unforgettable portrait of a vanished way of life, a decimated people, a nightmare of experience, and the precise description of what happened to the mind and soul of a young man for whom violence and death became, by force of circumstance, the ordinary themes of life.

Opening: (from the prologue)
  Until the age of twelve I grew up in what seems to me, in retrospect, to have been as close to paradise as any man, or child, can wish.
  My father was a painter who became a stained-glass designer. Of Flemish stock, he had grown up in the south of Spain, and his fond recollections of Andalusia pervade my own early memories like reflections of the Garden of Eden itself. And of those memories the Gitanos (the Gypsies of Spain) were an integral part. As long ago as I can remember, the Gypsies were part of my world.

Teaser:
With a smile semi-recognition dawned, and I told Pulika that which obviously he knew--that though we were doomed to die we were still capable of wanting to live a while longer. Had not he himself admonished me once not to let the knowledge of death get between myself and life, to do as true Rom did even in the face of darkness; to assert joy.

Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: Grab your current readOpen to a random pageShare two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! To see what others are sharing on the Teaser Tuesdays, check the comments at: http://adailyrhythm.com/





Share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you are reading. Here's the link: Bibliophile By The Sea

Nuggets for September

This is a series about promoting on BookBub, but much of it applies to other book promotion sites as well.
http://nicholasrossis.me/2015/08/24/bookbub-insights-how-to-get-your-book-selected/
http://nicholasrossis.me/2015/08/26/bookbub-insights-how-long-should-a-promo-last/
http://nicholasrossis.me/2015/08/28/bookbub-insights-increase-sales-of-standalone-books/
http://nicholasrossis.me/2015/08/30/bookbub-insights-launch-a-new-book-thats-part-of-a-series/
http://nicholasrossis.me/2015/09/01/bookbub-insights-get-more-reviews/
http://nicholasrossis.me/2015/09/03/bookbub-insights-9-ways-to-market-your-book/

Looking for some good, free fonts for your book?
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2015/08/5-favorite-free-fonts/

What makes a good banner for facebook?
http://insights.bookbub.com/stellar-examples-of-author-facebook-cover-photo-designs/

Have a character who's telling lies? Make sure you use the right body language.
http://www.leelofland.com/wordpress/i-know-youre-lying-cause-your-pants-are-on-fire-and-other-tell-tale-signs/

There's a lot in this podcast transcription, but what I found most interesting is the part about blurbs. That starts at about the middle, if you want to skip down to it.
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2015/09/14/book-sales-description-bryan-cohen/

Want to know what your front matter should include? This will help.
https://nailyournovel.wordpress.com/2015/04/12/indie-authors-are-you-making-these-mistakes-with-your-print-books/

Thursday Writing Quotes ~ Burke

A first draft is a courtship—terrifying and stimulating. Infatuation is allowed. Revision is noticing that your lover’s voice is a little grating when she gets excited, or finding his car blocking yours in the driveway when you’re late to work, or discovering a receipt from the local No Tell Motel in your lover’s pocket—and you’ve never been to the No Tell. ~ Jan Burke

Tuesday Teaser ~ The Dark Hand of Magic

I've been rereading an old fantasy series by my all-time favorite author Barbara Hambly. I'm not sure I ever read these three novels straight through, one after the other. Though each one can be read as a stand-alone, like most series, reading them together enhances the story. I'm currently on the third book, The Dark Hand of Magic, so I thought I'd share a little of it.

Blurb:
Ever since he first learned he had the power of magic, Sun Wolf and his beloved Starhawk had be searching for a master wizrd to teach him the full skills needed for its use. But true wizrds were rare since the time of the evil Aliokis. He had learned a little, but never what he needed.

Now his old company of mercenaries had come to him for help. They had been hired to conquer the city of Vorsal, but all the efforts had been ruined by a series of minor and major mishaps that could only be caused by a wizard, working for the city.

Sun Wolf found and removed most of the hex marks that were everywhere, freeing the company. But the wizard eluded him--until the night of a storm that he attempted to turn. Then he met the wizard--a dark hand among the storm clouds--who laughed at him and swore to enslave him. Sun Wolf knew it was no idle threat.

He had found the one sought. Now could he escape?

Opening:
Sun Wolf's capture, as Sun Wolf himself reflected at his execution, was sheer, stupid ill luck, which Dogbreath of Mallincore would have told him was only to be expected under the circumstances.

Teaser:
He knew who'd ambushed them, of course, and why.
Lying in the deep sand of the was with an arrow in his back, he wondered why he'd been under the impression that this wasn't the sort of thing that people had to put up with after they became wizards.

So what books and/or authors are your favorites to revisit?

Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: Grab your current readOpen to a random pageShare two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! To see what others are sharing on the Teaser Tuesdays, check the comments at: http://adailyrhythm.com/




Share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you are reading. Here's the link: Bibliophile By The Sea

Eight Sentence Sunday ~ LLTW ~ Jackson

I thought I'd share a snippet from my upcoming release Liar, Liar, Tabloid Writer.

In this scene, Alec's boss Nigel has just assigned him to show the tabloid's new reporter the ropes. It's not an assignment he wants. Jackson, Alec's friend and coworker, wouldn't mind the assignment because he thinks Cleo is hot.

  “Are you sure Alec is the best one to shepherd our prize reporter, Nigel?” Jackson asked.

  Good old Jackson. Alec mentally promised his buddy a six pack for coming in swinging on his behalf.

  Jackson slid half a step closer to Nigel. His voice dropped as though speaking confidentially, but not enough to actually exclude anyone in the immediate vicinity. “I mean, with her background, she’s gonna wanna see his green card, and then she’ll be calling the INS—”

  “Hey!” Alec protested. “I was born here!”

  “Yeah, but your folks were illegals—”

  “They were refugees from Cuba, you asshole.”

And here's the blurb:
Investigative journalist Cleo Morgan’s stories have created Pulitzer buzz, but circumstance push her into a lucrative but career-destroying job writing for a tabloid.

Alejandro Ramirez is blown away by the new star reporter. There's definitely chemistry. Except she thinks she's better than everyone at the tabloid where they work. That grates on him since she's going to be writing stories about aliens and Elvis sightings just like the rest of them.

In spite of the chemistry, she doesn't want to have anything to do with the smug news whore she thinks he is. Except she's already having fantasies about this hot Cuban ex-pat who's showing her the ropes at her new job. Before they have a chance to make this attraction work, Cleo's mother, an ex-Vegas showgirl, is charged with the murder of a Las Vegas casino owner. To clear her mother, Cleo will have to see that Alejandro hasn't sold out, and he will learn that she really is as good as she thinks she is.

Liar, Liar, Tabloid Writer is available for pre-order now for the introductory price of 99 cents.

Links to other Eight Sentence Sunday snippets by other authors.are available.

Thursday Writing Quote ~ John Long

A character without inner turmoil or contradictions belongs in vestments or in a coffin, not in a story. ~ John Long

Coming Soon! Liar, Liar, Tabloid Writer

It's been some time since I've talked about the next book.

Liar, Liar, Tabloid Writer has been in the works for awhile. I've alternately loved it and hated it. Mostly, I hated it because there's a mystery subplot. I'd never tackled a mystery before, and it was a challenge. Enough so that I've sworn off ever writing another. Which probably means I will someday because I noticed years ago that the universe conspires against me whenever I say never.

What made writing a mystery so difficult? Let me count the ways. Clues. Red herrings. Multiple suspects. Figuring out who done it. Figuring out how they done it. Figuring out how my heroine figures out who done it and how. Figuring out how to present all that without telegraphing the who and how to the reader but still playing fair with the clues.

I gotta tell ya, I don't know how mystery writers do it over and over without giving up and moving on to something simpler to write. It took a lot more time than I anticipated to get it right. (At least, I hope I got it right.) It also took a lot more words. With the story weighing in at around 150k words, I realized I might need to turn it into two books. I like that idea, in large part, because it eases my guilt for taking so long to get this story into it's final state. (Or near final. The first half goes to my editor in October.) A year and a half to write a book. That embarrasses me. But if it's two books, well, that doesn't seem so bad.

Without even counting the story itself, there are other ways where the work doubles up when I split it in two. Two titles, two covers, two blurbs, two release days.

The second title was tough. I wanted there to be an obvious connection. I wanted to love the second title as much as the first. I had to accept that that was probably not going to happen because I LOVE

Liar, Liar, Tabloid Writer

I don't think anything could be as good, but I think I've come close with:

 Liar, Liar, Heart's Desire.

I don't have a second cover yet, but I have been working on the blurbs. Keep in mind these aren't set in stone yet because I have a tendency to tinker right up to the last moment.

Here's the blurb for Liar, Liar, Tabloid Writer:

Investigative journalist Cleo Morgan’s stories have created Pulitzer buzz, but circumstance push her into a lucrative but career-destroying job writing for a tabloid.

Alejandro Ramirez is blown away by the new star reporter. There's definitely chemistry. Except she thinks she's better than everyone at the tabloid where they work. That grates on him since she's going to be writing stories about aliens and Elvis sightings just like the rest of them.

In spite of the chemistry, she doesn't want to have anything to do with the smug news whore she thinks he is. Except she's already having fantasies about this hot Cuban ex-pat who's showing her the ropes at her new job. Before they have a chance to make this attraction work, Cleo's mother, an ex-Vegas showgirl, is charged with the murder of a Las Vegas casino owner. To clear her mother, Cleo will have to see that Alejandro hasn't sold out, and he will learn that she really is as good as she thinks she is.

And here's the one for Liar, Liar, Heart's Desire:

Cleo Morgan is a liar.

And they’re not little, white liars but big, black whoppers. She’s lying to everyone in her hometown, letting them believe she still works for a reputable paper when, in reality, she’s sold her soul to The Inside Word, a tell-all supermarket tabloid  no one wants to admit they read.

She’s lying to Alec Ramirez, the tabloid’s star reporter, who is training her to write their kind of story their way. He doesn’t know the woman who’s been arrested for murder in the story they’re covering is her mother. Or that she’s conspiring with her old boyfriend to steal that story out from under him and using it to buy her way back into her old life.

And she may be lying to herself that leaving Alec behind when she goes will be easy. Because she absolutely, unequivocally, beyond the shadow of any doubt does not want him in her life on a permanent basis.

I'm fairly happy with these blurbs, but there was more work to be done.

Turning the story into two books meant I had to revamp the beginning of the second book because it needs to read like the start of a story but there also needs to be reminders of what happened in the first book in case someone hasn't read that book or if time has passed since they did. But the story shouldn't grind to a halt either while I deliver those reminders. It's a bit of a balancing act but I think I've pulled it off.

By now, I'm hoping you're asking when you can get your hands on Liar, Liar, Tabloid Writer. The answer is that it's scheduled for release November 22nd. You can, however, pre-order it from Amazon now. And even better, it's available at the introductory price of ninety-nine cents because I want my per-existing fans to get the best deal Amazon will allow me to give them. I call it a loyalty bonus. Hopefully, you'll think I've been loyal to you as well by telling a great story.

Thursday Writing Quote ~ Poncela

When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing. ~ Enrique Jardiel Poncela

Thursday Writing Quotes ~ King

When your story is ready for rewrite, cut it to the bone. Get rid of every ounce of excess fat. This is going to hurt; revising a story down to the bare essentials is always a little like murdering children, but it must be done. ~ Stephen King