Updated Covers for Possession & Surrender

When the fabulous Elana Johnson announced via Twitter that she had a secret to reveal, I dropped my cookies and jumped at the chance to help her reveal it.

You remember these covers, right?:


Gorgeous, right? Well here's what landed in my inbox from Elana...

First, I present the newly-designed cover for the POSSESSION paperback:

I love (and own) the original cover in hardback, but I think the graduated background colour really compliments the the butterfly in the ice. And did you notice the new tagline?

And here is the hardback cover for SURRENDER:

Again, I think the colour of the background makes the bird in the jar pop.

I'm normally a bit on the fence about cover redesigns. I like my books (especially the ones in a series) to compliment each other when they live on my bookshelves (I know, I'm weird *grins*). But I do love these new covers. Plus the cover backgrounds just happen to be two of my favourite covers. :)

What about you? What do you think about the POSSESSION and SURRENDER covers?

Elana's Book Comes Out This Week!

It's a great book week this week. Why? Because tomorrow sees the release of Possession by the awesome Elana Johnson.

Goodreads blurb:

Vi knows the Rule: Girls don't walk with boys, and they never even think about kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn...and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi's future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself.

But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they're set on convincing Vi to become one of them...starting by brainwashing Zenn. Vi can't leave Zenn in the Thinkers' hands, but she's wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous--everything Zenn's not. Vi can't quite trust Jag and can't quite resist him, but she also can't give up on Zenn.

This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.

I'm so excited to read Possession (and I know it's awesome because 3 of my CP's have already read/raved about it). It kind of makes me want to do this:

Can't wait to get this in the post this week.

What books are you looking forward to reading?

Half-Way Day

Yay it's Wednesday. It's also cold and getting dark early.

I don't know about you, but it makes me want to wrap up warm, watch the previous Harry Potter films (my The Deathly Hallows countdown for Friday) and eat cookies. I also want to attack my MS with the red pen of editing death and do some more plotting/writing on my wip, but that's a given. :)

But there's the slump of doubt that kicks in this time of year. Holidays are fast approaching along with the daily routine. It ends up feeling like there's so little to do and so much time... strike that, reverse it.

How to combat this? I would suggest copious amounts of cookies/chocolate or any other treat of choice. Also, pop over and see Elana.

Oh, I'm also posting over on Operation Awesome today. 

So what do you do to combat the winter slump?

Computer Fail, OA Chats and WIP Progress!

Is it Friday already?

I closed my little eyes at 4am this morning, but it was so worth it. Last night (or this morning for me) was the awesome query chat with Elana Johnson. The verdict? Woot.

We had questions galore, winners of critiques and a rather important discussion about Alexander Skarsgaard from True Blood (thoughts on that topic a) yum, b) Amparo, where are those pics?). Anyway, it wasn't without its disasters. Okay, my disaster.

Forty minutes before the chat started, my laptop decided it didn't want to play. Nothing loaded. I had no Internet access (apart from my phone) and everything shut down. After lots of eye rolls, reloading and "Crap, my CP's and Elana are gonna kill me" thoughts, I made it. Phew. For anyone who couldn't join us, or just wants to soak up the ninja's awesome advice, the transcript is available over on the OA blog.

Although, Kristal did mention my computer may have been protesting due to sheer exhaustion. Why? Last night I finished the first draft of my wip. Woot. Now it's time to revise, revise, revise and NaNo for book 2.

I might take a little nap first though. Oh, and if anyone can recommend a nice new laptop, I may be in the market soon enough!

Happy Friday everyone. :)

P.S. Amparo has an amazing guest post by Janice Hardy over on the OA blog today!

Writing, Writing, Writing...Ooh, Today's The Day

I've finally got the Hot Dog song out of my head from goddaughter sitting yesterday. Woot. So today I'm writing. Yes, I shall be in my happy space tapping on the keyboard. I've got blogs to read, a plot twist to finish, my ending to complete; I'm swamped.

Okay, I'm paraphrasing Prince Humperdinck from The Princess Bride there, but you get the idea. :)

One question though? Can you hear me squee? Yes, today is the Operation Awesome query chat with Elana Johnson. In case you need it, Kristal has posted a handy reminder form over on the OA blog. 

My love of spreading the awesome means I am to sacrifice my cookie/plot dreaming sleep to be awake at 2am. Fear not, I'm prepared. I've saved my writing procrastination episodes of this weeks The Vampire Diaries and Criminal Minds to keep me busy. Although you've seen where I write so I don't have to go far. I'll be the one moderating in my PJ's. I promise I'll brush my hair though. :)

There's also only three days to get your entry in for the beautiful UK edition white Twilight covers (bought and sent by yours truly). Contest closes at Midnight GMT.

And now other things.

Over the last month the goddaughter has started the copying phase. I rested my chin  on my hand, she did the same. I stood in the doorway...so did she (she even looked how my feet were positioned and did the same). If she had any sense she'd copy someone less of a klutz than her auntie, but I guess she's learning other actions. Other ways of expressing herself by watching me.

Then I realised that I do the same when I write. We all do.

We take our notebooks and jot down actions, moments and reactions we've seen and twist them to use for our own literary purposes. We magpie various tones of voice, facial gestures, traits and ticks for characters. We are the ultimate developing children who use our experiences to layer into our richly created worlds.

And that's got to help us learn to be better writers, right?

Hope to see you at the chat. :)

Reminder

Two things today.

1) Today is my post day over on Operation Awesome. I'm talking about a write query process. Feel free to pop over and check it out. 

2) Tomorrow is the epic of epicness live query chat with Elana Johnson (and us OA girls). If you have some time, join us over on the OA blog at 9pm EST. We have copies of Elana's eBook as prizes and Elana is generously giving away three query critiques.

Happy Wednesday everyone.

P.S. Sorry if I don't get round to your blogs today, I've been on goddaughter duty. She doesn't let me use the computer in her presence. I have to play with toys and watch The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. lol.

Awesome And Reminders.

When Operation Awesome launched we had an amazing one-sentence pitch contest. And I did a happy squee when I found out one of the entrants, Nancy Herman, has been offered representation with our September Mystery Agent, Mandy Hubbard.

For all the amazing info check out Katrina's post over on OA.

Oh, and polish those one-sentence pitches. You may need it sooner than you think. :)

And don't forget on Thursday the 28th of October is the frawesome query chat with Elana Johnson and all us OA gals.

Now I have to go finish my entry for Hannah's contest before midnight. Wish me creepy thoughts. :)

Happy Friday everyone. :)

Queries, Chat, OA and Elana J!

Okay, I'm double duty today. hee hee. (Sorry, had a FRIENDS flashback then with double doodie. haha)

Anyway, enough about that, here's the awesome news.

Hate them or love them, we all have to write query letters. I know, I know, I get those days where I'd rather write another 70k MS than sit down and slog out 250 words about my plot. But we must.

Like those L'Oreal adverts, you know your MS is worth it.

So put down the pen. Step away from the synopsis and come chat with us.

Yep, Operation Awesome is having a query chat on Thursday the 28th of October at 9pm (EST)/2pm (CT).
We'll be taking how to/what not to do, the things you MUST include and everything inbetween. Oh heck, it's just a huge query chat. And that's not all. Did I mention we have a special guest? Yes, joining us is the query goddess herself, Elana Johnson.

And we want you! That's right, come chat with Elana and the Operation Awesome gals.

As always I'll prepare virtual cookies, but we have other prizes as well. There will be a few copies of Elana's awesome query ebook (which will get you a handy-dandy free crit with purchase).  And Elana has generously offered 3 query critiques as extra prizes.

Can you say frawesome?

Okay, I really need to lay off the cookies.

So, join us on over at OA on the 28th and lets talk queries.