My YA swimming romance Streamline has been stroking through the blogosphere, visiting some lovely locations. Please stop by!
***Danya from A Tapestry of Words hosts PSYCHTEMBER, a celebration of YA novels featuring mental health issues. I love this idea and was thrilled to participate with a guest post about prescription drug abuse in teens HERE. Enter a giveaway for a Streamline ebook until 9/30/12!
Streamline‘s hero Leo learns the hard way about prescription drug abuse, and he also learns how to live a better life without oxycontin.
***YA author Cherie Colyer (check out her magical novel Embrace!) hosted me for a naughty excerpt from StreamlineHERE.
***Congratulations to Adriana for winning an ebook of Streamline from Laurie’s BLOG, which featured an excerpt.
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Now onto my current WIP On Best Behavior (The Conduct Series #3). For the blog challenge “The Next Best Thing”, here’s my question for the week:
What genre does your book fall under?
That’s an easy one: ROMANTIC SUSPENSE.
I did write a love scene this weekend *blushes* and I’m up to 75,000 words, about 3/4 done!
Authors, how are you progressing on your WIP?
Readers, how are you progressing on reading and reviewing?
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Finally, I’m happy to announce my publisher’s FALL SALE!
That kooky author Alex Cavanaugh is at it again, hosting a fun blogfest HERE.
Genre Favorites Blogfest, September 17, 2012
One blogfest, four favorites!
List your favorite genre of:
Movie
Music
Books
And a guilty pleasure genre from any of the three categories!
Okay, here goes:
1) My favorite MOVIE genre is…
DRAMA/ROMANCE
Titanic is my favorite movie (quit laughing!) and here’s a deleted kissing scene from the epic ship flick:
I also love The Shawshank Redemption, Speed, Godfather II, Terminator II, American Beauty, Gladiator, Die Hard, Moonstruck, Working Girl, A Fish Called Wanda, Grand Canyon, Prince of Tides, Ordinary People, and so many more.
2) Favorite MUSIC genre:
MAINSTREAM ALTERNATIVE
Now that’s an oxymoron! What I mean is that I love music that’s “alternative” but not too far out there.
My favorite song is With or Without You by U2.
Gah. What a beautiful, sorrowful song. Other artists I love are The Fray, Jack Johnson, Colbie Callait, Indigo Girls, John Mayer, Adele, Snow Patrol, and The Script.
3) Now, BOOKS! My favorite genre is…
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
…which isn’t a surprise if you know what books I like to write. I adore author Pamela Clare, and I also enjoy fiction and YA contemporary.
4) Finally onto my GUILTY PLEASURE…
NEIL DIAMOND!
I love singing along to his songs, and there are SCADS of good ones like “Forever in Blue Jeans”:
To continue on with The Next Best Thing Challenge, today I’m answering the following question about my work-in-progress On Best Behavior:
Where did the idea come from for the book?
On Best Behavior is the third and final novel of my romantic suspense The Conduct Series, so most of the book follows the natural progression of my hero and heroine Grant and Sophie.
But I often find inspiration in movies, and Donnie Brasco (with Johnny Depp, yummy) sparked the idea for the plot. Grant goes undercover to immerse himself in Mafia life, risking not only his life, but that of Sophie and his nephew Ben as well. Eek! I love messing with my characters.
I’ve set a goal to finish this novel by December but my progress last weekend wasn’t great. My kind father came up for a visit to drive me for a steroid injection in my back, and we spent time watching football (yay for Denver beating the Steelers–love to see Payton Manning back in there) instead of writing. Now my back feels great but I’m a bit behind, and I have to work this Saturday too, waah!
Onto the Author Blog Bounce by Omnific Publishing–see instructions, here and enter a giveaway for my novel Streamline. Authors and readers, join us!
Thank you to author Terri Guiliano for hosting the Celebrating Bloggers Blog Hop!
Why do I love bloggers? Let me count the ways!
First, why I love book bloggers, then author bloggers.
Book Bloggers. I’d never even heard of book bloggers before my first novel launched. Now I’ve had the pleasure to interact online and even meet bloggers in real life.
I love book bloggers for the FRIENDSHIP with these lovely ladies:
* Smash at Smash Attack Reads Ash/Smash is a licensed social worker so we’ve had fun exploring psychology and therapy in books. Our reading tastes are different–she likes to escape into paranormal and fantasy, whereas I love reading books about dysfunctional families and trauma in gritty reality. (And that brings me to another reason I love bloggers–exposure to books unfamiliar to me). Still, Smash took the time to read and review my psychological thrillers With Good Behavior and Bad Behavior.
* Autumn at The Autumn Review and Andrea at The Bookish Babe Autumn is a swimmer (yay!) and Andrea likes heart-wrenching stories, so we bonded on my book tour for Streamline. These two gals are great friends too. I love how tight the book blogging community is.
* Jenny at Supernatural Snark and Dani at Refracted Light Reviews Jenny and Dani both live in the same Ohio town where I reside. I’ve had the opportunity to meet them both, and it’s great to chat with fellow book lovers. Jenny made some beautiful business cards for me (she has a wedding business) and Dani wrote a fantastic review of Streamline.
Author Bloggers. I’ve met some really cool people who happen to write books.
I love author bloggers for their SUPPORT through this writing adventure.
* Nicki Elson at Nicki Elson’s Not-So-Deep Thoughts (that blog title says it all, heh) Nicki is a fellow Omnific Publishing author who’s a ton of fun, and her sexy 80’s romp Three Daves carries on the fun theme.
* Jessica Subject at Mark of the Stars Jessica has supported my writing and I loved her alien short story Celestial Seduction.
* Alex Cavanaugh at Alex J Cavanaugh Do you see that Insecure Writers Support Group button on the sidebar of my blog? Alex created that group, and he amazes me with the amount of support he provides to fellow authors. He writes sci-fi.
* Kyra Lennon at Write Here, Write Now I met Kyra through Blogging A to Z and delighted in her posts about her sports romance Game On. I love sports romance and I can’t wait to read her book.
So there you have it — friendship and support are the two biggies for why I love bloggers. Check out the Celebrating Blogging Hop HERE.
ISWG Update: A couple of months ago I posted about setting the best price for ebooks. I’m happy to report that when my publisher lowered the price from $6.99 to $2.99 for two of my novels, sales improved for all three of my novels! Now, it’s not to the level where I can consider quitting my day job as psychologist (not even CLOSE), but it makes me happy to know that more readers are finding my books.
Today’s post is in response to author Darcia Helle tagging me for the blog challenge THE NEXT BIG THING. It all started from author Gail Baugniet HERE. The rules are:
Answer 10 questions about my current WIP (Work-In-Progress) Tag five other writers and link their blogs so we can all hop over and read their answers.
What is the working title of your book? Where did the idea come from for the book? What genre does your book fall under? Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Who or What inspired you to write this book? What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
I liked Gail’s idea to answer one question a week, with the hope her WIP would be finished at the end of ten weeks. I’m 70,000 words into my WIP, so that’s a challenging yet realistic goal for me with my full-time job.
So, today’s question is: What is the working title of your book?
On Best Behavior (The Conduct Series #3)
Ta-da!
Now I’m tagging five writers for The Next Best Thing Blog Challenge. Tell us about your WIP…
Nicki Elson (blog) Carol Oates (blog) Jessica Subject (blog) Cherie Colyer (blog) Roland Yeomans (blog)
Two announcements to end this post:
1. I’m giving away an ebook of YA sports romance Streamline at Laurie’s blog until 9/22. Stop by to hear why I use a pen name and other strange information.
2. Thanks to fellow author Carol Oates, my free YA short story Swim Recruit has a new cover and wider availability on Smashwords.
This is my first story up on Smashwords and I’m finding it to be an awesome site. If you enjoy an Irish faerie short story, check out Carol Oates The Summer PrinceHERE.
Writers, here’s to being bold and confident this month. *cheers*
It’s back to school time! And for many high school and college students, it’s a time to experiment with alcohol. For adults harangued by work stress, parenting, or political mumbo-jumbo, it might be time to chug a glass of wine. For authors waiting to hear back from agents or publishers, it’s time to drink. A lot.
My question for you is: If you choose to drink alcohol, how do you get the good stuff without the bad stuff? (Aren’t you lucky I’m writing this blog post between psychotherapy clients?)
I’ve learned a lot about extracting buzz, relaxation, and fun from alcohol (while avoiding hangovers and beer goggles) from the amazing University of Washington researcher Dr. Alan Marlatt. He and colleagues published an interactive journal titled “CHOICES” related to the information in this book.
…and I want to pass along some golden nuggets to YOU.
First of all let’s talk about the choice to drink alcohol. Did you know about 20% of college students don’t drink at all? (The percentage of non-drinkers older than college age is undoubtedly higher).
And for the students who do drink, most drink responsibly (fewer than 6 drinks a week)? If you believe everyone drinks in your crowd, then you probably have a skewed group of friends.
If you do choose to drink alcohol, what are some pros and cons about drinking? I like to drink to feel giddy and/or relaxed, particularly in social situations. But I don’t like headaches or fatigue.
What you might notice about your pro/con list is that the stuff you like comes from LOWER doses of alcohol, whereas the stuff you dislike comes from HIGHER doses. So the secret to getting the good stuff from alcohol is sticking to a limit–about 1-2 standard drinks for women and 2-3 standard drinks for men.
So what’s a “standard” drink? One hint…it’s smaller than a keg! *12 oz. beer *10 oz. microbrew *4 oz. wine *1.25 oz. 80 proof liquor (a shotglass)
For the average sized man, each standard drink raises his Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) by .02. So he could have three drinks in an hour and be under the .08 legal limit for driving.
But for the average woman, each standard drink raises her BAC by .04!!! That’s because women have less water, more estrogen, and are typically smaller. Women can easily hit the legal limit for driving with just two drinks in an hour.
For every hour, our body removes about .015%. Therefore, if I drank 5 glasses of wine right before going to bed at midnight, my BAC would be .20. If I subtract .015 each hour, then it won’t be until 2:00 the next afternoon until the alcohol completely leaves my body. If I wake up at 8:00 a.m. and think I’m hungover, I’d still technically be drunk (BAC = .08)!
If you want the nice buzz and social facilitation from alcohol, drink up to a BAC of .055 and then stop. That’s the best alcohol has to give you and you won’t feel any better if you keep drinking. For women that’s 1-2 drinks; for men that’s 2-3 drinks.
.055 is known as the “point of diminishing returns”.
So have that drink or two, feel the buzz, then move on to enjoy your evening! *cheers*
Time for the Omnific Publishing Author Blog Hop! Check out instructions HERE.
Every once in a while a psychological thriller comes along that indeed thrills this psychologist/author (psycho author). That book is Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
…only I’m not sure who plays the role of the psycho Glenn Close character — the wife Amy or the husband Nick?
Gone Girl is a fascinating read, an emotional rollercoaster featuring two “whackos” (thanks for that apt description, AnneOK) who have the misfortune of marrying each other. Nick is a magazine writer from Missouri who feels guilty for his charming good looks. Amy is also a writer, a beautiful blonde, and the daughter of two psychologists (the poor thing — she’s definitely screwed for life with parents like that!)
Nick and Amy meet in NYC and fall in love with each other…or who they think is each other. When they both lose their jobs in the recession, they move to Nick’s small Missouri hometown. Amy hates it there, and Nick isn’t loving life either. When Amy suddenly goes missing, is Nick to blame? Did he murder his wife?
I love how the author manipulated my emotions so well. First I liked Nick. Then I hated Nick. Then I hated Amy. Then I thought they were both nutjobs who deserved each other!
The author’s voice is fun and snarky. Here Nick watches Amy cook him breakfast the night after they have a blow-out argument:
When she spied me lurking there in grubby boxers, my hair in full Heat Miser spike, she leaned against the kitchen counter and said, “Well, hello, handsome.”
New Yorker Amy is so disdainful of small town Missouri.
Yep, I have gone cold turkey off all things East Coast and I have earned my thirty-day chip (here it would be a potato chip).
Here Amy describes her neighbor Noelle, and I cringe from the spot-on snide remarks about my Midwestern home:
The Midwest is full of these types of people: the nice-enoughs. Nice enough but with a soul made of plastic–easy to mold, easy to wipe down. The woman’s entire music collection is formed from Pottery Barn compilations. Her bookshelves are stocked with coffee-table crap: The Irish in America, Mizzou Football: A History in Pictures, We Remember 9/11, Something Dumb with Kittens.
Amy’s character is simultaneously scintillating and scary. Her cognitive intelligence is stellar (thanks for that insight, Mitzi) but her emotional intelligence is abysmal. I think she might meet criteria for both Borderline Personality Disorder and Antisocial Personality Disorder. When she catches Nick doing something naughty, she sizzles with a revenge plan.
I had a new persona, not of my choosing. I was Average Dumb Woman Married to Average Shitty Man. He had single-handedly de-amazed Amazing Amy.
Nick’s got his own issues. I diagnose him with Narcissistic Personality Disorder!
This novel takes a while to build up to the drama and suspense, but it’s well worth it. All the background and characterization of the first 200 pages is likely necessary to manipulate the reader’s emotions so well.
Recommended for: single people who want validation for never marrying, and married/partnered people who want to feel good about their marriage by comparison! View all my reviews
Authors–join us on Omnific’s Blog Bounce! Instructions here.
I’m happy to be a stop on the blog tour for Swimming Out of Water by Catherine Garceau. Thank you to Babs from Babs Book Bistro for hosting the tour!
I truly enjoyed this memoir by synchronized swimming Olympic medalist Catherine Garceau. She struggled with eating disorders, crises of faith, and countless disappointments to represent Team Canada at the 2000 Sydney Games. Although I was a speed swimmer and utterly graceless in the water, I have done psychotherapy with athletes with eating disorders, so this memoir intrigued me.
It’s an interesting format for a memoir, flashing back to the past from a perilous present. Catherine decides to take one last hike before leaving Las Vegas, where she’s been working in a Cirque du Soleil type of water show after retiring from swimming. Unfortunately, she hops down a mountain ledge only to find she’s stuck there, with no one to help and no water or food. Perched on the ledge, she scribbles in her journal, and these memories and bits of wisdom form the bulk of her story.
As a seven year old, French-Canadian Catherine started competitive swimming, and soon after began synchronized swimming (two vastly different sports–speed swimming is like track whereas synchronized swimming is like gymnastics underwater). At age eleven she had to choose to “synch or swim” and she chose synchronized swimming. Later she questions that choice:
Throughout my years in competition, especially when I cried more than I laughed in the sport I had chosen as my vocation, I imagined what my life would have been like if I had remained a speed swimmer and continued accumulating accolades in backstroke.
I admit I wondered what that would be like for Catherine as well. As a judged sport, synchronized swimming is brutal in its politics. Speed swimming is simply about who gets her hand on the wall first. But Catherine obviously made the best of her choice, winning an Olympic medal and more importantly discovering some important life lessons like:
Today, when I catch myself feeling down, discouraged with my progress, or judgmental of others, I bring compassion to the situation and choose to move forward with love. I’ve come to accept that if I do lose myself in negativity for a while, it’s probably Life asking me to walk through another tunnel in order to see the Light. This involves choosing to feel and release the arising emotions instead of avoiding them with exercise or food. And in the event that I succumb to old habits of eating instead of feeling, I remind myself that the journey towards emotional freedom and the acceptance of imperfections is always unfolding.
Compassion for self and others is key. I also agree that eating disorders and other addictive behaviors develop when we don’t cope with our feelings effectively.
When Catherine sees a sport psychologist, she works hard to manage feelings better:
Learning how to deal with my struggles was a journey of balancing outside support with my own work of getting to know myself — and getting to know how I was wired to think. I read inspiring books, I wrote in a journal, I reflected on my feelings, and I learned to recognize my negative tendencies. The process took much dedication and sometimes made me feel hopeless.
Sounds quite realistic as a therapy experience. At one point Catherine goes swimming with dolphins — this is definitely on my bucket list! I wasn’t aware that dolphins have unique healing abilities.
Catherine claims that chlorine can be damaging to those who are most sensitive to its effects. I’ve been around chlorine all my life and haven’t had negative physical consequences other than bouts of bronchitis each swim season, so at first I was a bit skeptical. But she argues that some are more susceptible than others, and I can buy that. Catherine does share interesting findings about the “brain” in our gut, and how food can have a strong impact on mood and physiology.
Like many athletes, Catherine struggles when she retires from synchronized swimming. There’s no structure, no urgency, no beta-endorphin high. Athletes suffering from eating disorders have it doubly hard upon retirement due to the fear of weight gain. She talks about the personalities that take over during binge eating episodes — Miss Sweet Eater, Mr. Car Eater, Forget-All-Rules Eater…reminding me of the fantastic book Life Without Ed. Luckily Catherine also gets to know Ms. Nurture-U as she learns to eat more wholesome and organic foods.
At first the writing style seemed stilted, but when I learned that English is Catherine’s second language, it all made sense. I loved all the quotes and references she includes.
My favorite part of Catherine’s story is how she uses heartache and struggle to teach her optimism and strength.
Clearly, moments of despair are catalysts for profound change and action.
Amen!
I’ll leave you with a video of Team Canada’s medal performance at the 2000 Olympics, honoring different Olympic sports. Check out their awesome representation of rowing and cycling!
Authors, after countless hours spent writing and polishing your novel (your baby), isn’t it lovely when you hear positive feedback? I’m sharing a few great reviews book bloggers have bestowed recently.
Additionally, for a limited time, you can buy my babies ON SALE. If $2.99 is too rich for your blood, you can enter giveaways of my babies!
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Streamlineis a Young Adult swimming romance. Julie from A Tale of Many Reviews hosted a YA Summer Reading event, providing interested reviewers with a copy.
Bookworm Lisa called Streamline “stunning” in her review. That brought a big, fat smile to my face!
Karen from Nose in a Book gave Streamline a 5 star review!
Omnific Publishing put all its YA titles on sale for $2.99 as part of the reading event. Get Streamline on sale HERE.
And check out the sidebar of this blog to enter a giveaway for a signed print copy of Streamline from Goodreads.
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With Good Behavior is book one in The Conduct Series–adult romantic suspense.
Amanda from On a Book Bender called With Good Behavior “engrossing, entertaining, and thought-provoking” HERE. Hop over to enter the giveaway!
I’m happy With Good Behavior is still on sale for $2.99 HERE.
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Thank you to book bloggers Lisa, Karen, and Amanda for taking the time to read my babies, and thank YOU for stopping by!
I’m excited to reveal the new cover for YA Paranormal IRIDESCENT by Carol Oates!
Simply gorgeous. I have book one in this series — Ember — waiting for me, and I can’t wait to start it.
Ember is only $2.99 as part of Omnific’s YA Celebration…get it HERE so you’re ready for Iridescent‘s release in October!
Sign up for the blog tour for Iridescent at A Tale of Many Reviews TOURS. Candra Ember used to dream of saving the world one person at a time. She never expected to become an angelic weapon and the last hope in the battle against ultimate darkness.
Falling for a Nephilim wasn’t part of Sebastian’s plan. Distraction is something he can’t afford when his rival, Draven, wants what Sebastian has.
Lies, manipulation, and corruption are twisting the lives of the citizens in Acheron. The Arch is missing from Heaven, and a demon is intent on claiming the city. At a time they should be growing closer, grief and paranoia is driving Candra and Sebastian apart.
If the price of restoring the Watchers to Heaven is a human soul, who deserves to be saved?
Jennifer Lane Books 