Your mother taught you the benefit of good habits and when it comes to writing, consistent practice is essential. In the busyness of life, how do we accomplish this? When I first started writing, m…
Source: The Habit of Writing
The Habit of Writing
Butterfly Bones Cover Reveal
Butterfly Bones
by Rebecca L. Carpenter
Genre: YA Sci-fi
Lakewater Press
Summary:
Bethany should be dead, just like the doctors predicted. But along came the butterflies, altering the order of nature.
And now nature is hell bent on revenge.
Because when fate’s path is disrupted, it’s only a matter of time before balance must be restored.
Add to Goodreads
About the Author
Rebecca Carpenter is a native of western Colorado. She is married with two grown children and has been blessed with four amazing grandchildren. She owns and directs a large childcare center where she shares her love for books. In her spare time, she freelances as a copy editor, helping others attain their writing dreams. She finds solace and clarity while spending time with her husband exploring the beautiful mountains of Colorado.
Author Links:
Website│Twitter│Facebook│Goodreads
Cover Reveal Organized by:
YA Bound Book Tours
In the Blood Book Tour
<strong>In the Blood: The Witchbreed, Book One by R.L. Martínez</strong>
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: <a href=”http://lakewaterpress.com”>Lakewater Press</a>
Date of Publication: March 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9944511-0-1
ISBN: 978-0-9944511-1-8
ASIN: B019X8WCWI
Number of pages: 370
Word Count: app. 122,000
<strong><em><a href=”http://elwicker.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ebookinthebloodgirl.jpg” rel=”attachment wp-att-1890″><img class=”aligncenter wp-image-1890″ src=”http://elwicker.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ebookinthebloodgirl-660×1024.jpg” alt=”ebookinthebloodgirl” width=”331″ height=”514″ /></a></em></strong>
<p style=”text-align: center;”><strong>Blurb</strong></p>
<strong><em>The Warrior</em></strong>
The war between Dosalyn and Roanaan has ended, but a new battle begins for prisoner-of-war, Ottilde Dominax. Dreams of her witchbreed twin sister are visions of death and betrayal. Driven by their grim warning, she escapes her captors and races across nations to save her sister.
But she may arrive too late…
<strong><em>The Witch</em></strong>
Oriabel Dominax has kept her healing magic secret while she cares for her family’s struggling estate. But the arrival of a new lord with secrets of his own, the discovery of a dark and addictive magic, and threats from a cruel blackmailer push Oriabel closer to disaster. Through it all, the Witch’s Tree calls…
Cover Artist <a href=”http://elwicker.com”>E.L. Wicker</a>
<a href=”http://lrd.to/in-blood”><img class=”alignleft wp-image-2023″ src=”http://elwicker.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/available_on_amazon_badge-300×148.png” alt=”available_on_amazon_badge” width=”130″ height=”64″ /></a><a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27689746-in-the-blood” rel=”attachment wp-att-947″><img class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-947″ src=”http://elwicker.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/add-to-goodreads-button.png” alt=”Add-to-Goodreads-Button” width=”134″ height=”45″ /></a>
<p style=”text-align: left;”><span style=”font-size: medium;”><strong>Excerpt</strong></span></p>
“296.”
Angry hisses and mutters rippled through the assembly at the announcement of Ottilde’s number.
The guard at the front of their formation watched with a bored expression as the other inmates spat at her feet. “King Killer,” the woman next to her hissed. Ottilde swallowed and her grip on the heartstone tightened. Chroy had not been a king when she threw her knife into his throat, not yet. But he had been their future, their hope.
Ottilde raised one hand into the air. “Here.” The commotion died down after he called a few more numbers and Ottilde let out her long-held breath. She loosened her fingers from around the heartstone. They came away aching with the force of her hold.
When all the prisoners were accounted for, several inmates broke formation to walk to the dining house for breakfast. The guards, however, growled at them to remain in line, shoving some of the slower ones back into place.
Ottilde frowned at the change in routine, and peered around. Prison Chief Wilder Coomb strode towards them on the other side of the wire fence that formed the front of the yard, his adjutant close at his side. One of the guards unlocked the yard gate and stood back as the Chief entered.
Wilder Coomb was a formidable man. He might once have been handsome, but life had bullied him viciously. His shaved head sported a deep, curling scar on one side of his scalp, while his face and neck carried similar gruesome marks. One earlobe was missing, which gave his head a cock-eyed appearance when viewed straight on. A jagged horizontal line along his neck indicated someone had tried to cut his throat at one time. But Ottilde believed the most impressive scar lay behind the patch over his left eye. The silvery tail of the wound snaked down his cheek and neck to disappear in the stiff collar of his forest green officer’s coat.
Upon reaching the front of the prisoner formations, he folded his hands behind his back and swept a contemptuous eye over them. Ottilde could only imagine what he saw as he stared at them, the ragged unlucky soldiers taken prisoner during the recent Pleinour War. For a moment, Chief Coomb’s hard, dark eye settled on her and she lifted her chin, refusing to show him how much he intimidated her. But his gaze moved on, and she sensed the subtle shift of discomfort in the prisoners around her when one of them felt the whip of his gaze
He held up a sheaf of folded papers; a letter, judging by the regular creases.
“Queen Kuonrada has fled and Deauxerr has vanquished her armies.”
The prisoners shuffled and muttered. The cold air warmed with the force of their anger and humiliation. Ottilde kept her eyes on Chief Coomb’s face, though she felt a good portion of their collective rage focused on her. She knew she held blame for breaking the back of Roanaan’s fighting spirit.
“Over the last several weeks,” Coomb continued, “those with authority in such matters have considered what to do with you all. I have a list of officers and knights to be traded for Deauxerr soldiers now held by the remnant of Roanaan’s military as an act of diplomatic faith. Step forward when I read your number. You will be readied immediately for transport to the exchange point.” He snapped his fingers and his adjutant took the letter from his hand, replacing it with a single sheet of dark paper. Coomb scanned it and shouted out prisoner numbers.
Ottilde’s breathing grew irregular with hope as each man or woman came forward in answer to the prison chief’s summons. But he reached the last number on the list without calling hers. Her stomach soured as she watched a contingent of guards escort the fifty or so fortunate prisoners from the yard.
Once the yard gate had shut again. Chief Coomb’s adjutant handed him another paper. “Now, King Talin of Deauxerr has decided to offer those of you with reports of good conduct and no criminal past the opportunity to swear fealty to the Deauxerr crown. Talin has granted you permission to return to Roanaan or settle in Deauxerr; also, you will be given a small subsidy to start your new life. If you wish to accept this offer, step forward when I read your number.” He sounded off another list of prisoners. Again, Ottilde listened tensely for her number, though she knew how unlikely it was she would hear it this time.
Coomb must have called a hundred numbers or more, but Ottilde estimated only forty prisoners stepped forward. They averted their eyes from those who remained in the formations. Another handful of guards led this group from the yard.
“As for the rest of you,” Coomb said, “you are to be moved to a civilian prison facility where you will no longer be my concern.” He folded his arms behind his back. “Remember, as long as you remain in this camp, or in the custody of my staff, you will obey Lachlas regulations. Everyone will appear for morning roll every day. You all know what will happen should even one of your numbers go missing.” He gave them a last menacing glare then stalked to the yard gate.
<p style=”text-align: center;”><strong>About the Author:</strong></p>
<a href=”http://elwicker.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Martinez-Photo.jpg” rel=”attachment wp-att-1891″><img class=”aligncenter wp-image-1891″ src=”http://elwicker.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Martinez-Photo-300×201.jpg” alt=”SONY DSC” width=”405″ height=”272″ /></a>R.L. Martinez writes fantasy and science fiction with dark edges and corners. She began writing when she was in the seventh grade when her teacher assigned a creative writing project. She lives in Norman, OK with her husband, two young sons, a mouse-killing cat, and two naughty pooches.
Website – <a href=”http://robinlmartinez.com/”>http://robinlmartinez.com/</a>
Twitter – <a href=”https://twitter.com/RobinLMartinez”>https://twitter.com/RobinLMartinez</a>
Facebook – <a href=”https://www.facebook.com/robin.l.martinez400″>https://www.facebook.com/robin.l.martinez400</a>
Goodreads – <a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8121315.R_L_Martinez”>https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8121315.R_L_Martinez</a>
Pinterest – <a href=”https://www.pinterest.com/robinlm488/”>https://www.pinterest.com/robinlm488/</a>
<strong>Tour giveaway, enter <a href=”https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/YmEwMmZjMmFhNmZhMGNiZWIzM2Y2ODgzY2Q0OGUyOjI=/”>HERE</a>! </strong>
1 swag pack (book, bookmark, postcard, heartstone necklace) and
3 ebook copies
If My Characters Were Cocktails…
Since today I celebrate the release of In the Blood, I thought it might be fun to talk about… alcohol. Namely, what alcoholic beverages (e.g. cocktails) remind me of the primary characters (a…
Source: If My Characters Were Cocktails…
Oh, Comma!
Source: Oh, Comma!
Oh, Comma!
For the past three months, I’ve had the privilege of interning as an assistant editor for a small press. I’d like to say that most writers understand and correctly use grammar and punctuation, but they don’t. The most common mistake I see is the incorrect use of commas. So for the next few weeks I’m going to focus on correct comma usage, starting with the most basic.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, a comma is a punctuation mark indicating a pause between parts of a sentence. It is also used to separate items in a list and to mark the place of thousands in a large numeral. This post will focus on the pause between parts of a sentence, as this seems to be most difficult for writers to learn.
An independent clause is a sentence that stands alone as a simple sentence. It contains a subject and a predicate and makes sense by itself.
Independent clauses can be joined by using a comma when separated by a coordinating conjunction, such as for, and, nor, but, or, yet, however, etc.
A conjunction is a part of speech that connects words, sentences, clauses, or phrases, and a coordinating conjunction is a conjunction placed between words, phrases, etc.
In the most basic of descriptions, a subject is the person or thing that is being discussed or described.
The predicate is the part of a sentence that expresses what is said about the subject.
Now that definitions are out of the way, let’s take a few examples of sentences that are independent.
Example: Mark shifted from one foot to the other. The sentence makes complete sense alone and contains a subject and a predicate.
Example: He couldn’t ease the tension building in his gut. Again, this sentence stands alone and contains a subject and predicate.
If I were to join these two sentences by using a coordinating conjunction, a comma must be used.
Example: Mark shifted from one foot to the other, but he couldn’t ease the tension building in his gut.
Since both sentences are independent, a comma is inserted before the conjunction.
Exceptions to the rule: Do not use a comma in between two independent sentences when the conjunction as is used, because as indicates both are happening at the same time and negates the need for the pause. Also, a comma may be omitted if both independent sentences are short (four words or less) or at least one is four words or less.
Example: He screamed and he cried.
Although both phrases are independent, since they are less than four words, a comma does not need to be used.
But if one sentence is short but longer than four words, while the other is long, a comma should be used.
Example: Cindy cowered on the floor, and it wasn’t long before the entire school surrounded her with thunderous laughter.
The most common mistake I see is people using the Oxford comma, but not the first comma in a sentence.
Example: Mallory clenched her hand into a fist and she swung with all her might, but she missed her mark and spun to the ground.
Because the sentence has three independent clauses, the comma must be used to separate the first two (before the first and), and the third is optional. I prefer the Oxford comma and think the sentence flows better with it, but many people are opting not to use it. Either way it is a stylistic choice, so whichever you decide, be consistent.
The last mistake I’d like to mention for the comma is using them when the writer feels there should be a pause in the sentence, but the sentence doesn’t actually call for one.
Example: Brett struggled, for a breath, and slumped over the steering wheel.
While the commas before and after “for a breath” are for emphasis, the correct way to write it would be:
Example: Brett struggled for a breath and slumped over the steering wheel.
If the writer wanted a stronger visual, he/she might write:
Example: Brett gasped, struggling for a breath, and slumped over the steering wheel.
That’s the comma lesson for this week. Next week we’ll tackle dependent clauses and why one should not use a comma with them.
Merry Christmas from Kate and Winell Road
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Happy Christmas from Kate and Winell Road!
When Winell Road: Beneath the Surface was released back in April, Kate didn’t embark on a great deal of promotion. Because of a lot of ‘things’. So, to make up for that and to kick off the festivities for her favourite time of year – Christmas! – she’s taken Winell Road on a little tour, hoping to spread the word and introduce lots of new young readers to, what she believes is, a great big dollop of sci-fi fun and adventure.
Here’s a little info…
BLURB!
Twelve-year old Jack Mills lives at 5 Winell Road and has probably the world’s weirdest neighbours. Like freakishly weird. And to top it off, he lives with Mum: nosy, interfering, a hideous cook, and Dad: unsuccessful inventor of the Camera Belt and Self-Closing Window. All in all, it’s a boring, embarrassing, dead-end place to live.
So when Jack arrives home from school one day, a close shave with a UFO is the last thing he expects. But the fact it doesn’t abduct him, and that no one else, not even Mum, sees the gigantic flying saucer hovering over the street, adds a whole new layer of strange.
Soon after, an alien encounter threatens Jack’s life and he becomes embroiled in a galaxy-saving mission. With the assistance of his new neighbour, frighteningly tall Roxy Fox, he discovers Winell Road is hiding secrets—secrets Jack might wish he’d never uncovered.
REVIEWS!
If you’re still not sure, here’s a couple of reviews…
‘Winell Road: Beneath the Surface is a fast-paced middle-grade adventure story with the feel of Men in Black. Jack is a smart, resourceful boy with more abilities than he’s ever dreamed off, and he finds out that the world is a far stranger place than he imagined. The action is non-stop and will keep readers riveted.’ examiner.com
‘This book will work wonderfully read aloud in class. There are enough cliff-hanger chapter endings to keep them begging for more. It will also promote discussion about making snap judgments while providing plenty of scope for related art projects.’ Buzz Words Magazine
Go to Goodreads to see a few more.
ABOUT KATE!
Kate is an Englishwoman on the Gold Coast in Australia. A middle grade writer, freelance editor, the editorial director at Lakewater Press and all around lover of the written word, she is ruled by her three sons, husband and spoodle pup. Not one to have a quiet day, she spends her free time mentoring new writers in contests like Nest Pitch and Pitch Wars, judging writing contests and helping out at Writers Activation on the Gold Coast. Other than that, she likes laying in bed or by the pool with a book!
GIVEAWAY!
It would make a great stocking filler for children. BUT, if you’re feeling particularly lucky, she’s giving away three signed copies just in time for Christmas! Yippee!
Click here to enter!
GO BUY IT!
If you don’t win, then the book is available all over the virtual world.
Amazon UK Amazon.com Booktopia Jet Black Publishing
Thanks for stopping by. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Cover Reveal for Poor Boy Road by James L. Weaver
I am pleased to bring you the cover reveal of Poor Boy Road by James L. Weaver, a pulse pounding thriller following a mob fixer as he returns home for the first time in sixteen years.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rs-NMyFD8nE/ViZbORY5iyI/AAAAAAAAKqU/08dW-SoPW8I/s1600/pbrebook.jpg” imageanchor=”1″ style=”clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;”><img border=”0″ height=”640″ src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rs-NMyFD8nE/ViZbORY5iyI/AAAAAAAAKqU/08dW-SoPW8I/s640/pbrebook.jpg” width=”400″ /></a>As a mob enforcer, Jake ‘The Fixer’ Caldwell is in the dark business of breaking kneecaps and snapping bones. But each job sends him one step closer to turning into the man he swore he’d never become – his violent and abusive father. Leaving the mob is easier said than done. When his boss offers a bloody way out, Jake has no choice but to take it, even if it means confronting ghosts of old.
Arriving in his Lake of the Ozarks hometown, Jake has two things on his mind: kill ruthless drug lord Shane Langston and bury his dying father. What he doesn’t expect is to fall in love all over again and team up with his best friend Bear, the Sheriff of Benton County, to take Langston down. Racing through the countryside searching for Langston, the web of murder, meth and kidnapping widens, all pointing toward a past Jake can’t escape and a place he never wanted to return – Poor Boy Road.
<br />
<br />
About The Author
<a href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h1GGhk4r6bM/ViZbjdxEMwI/AAAAAAAAKqY/13KfLdd9q6M/s1600/Weaver%2Bphoto.JPG” imageanchor=”1″ style=”clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;”><img border=”0″ height=”133″ src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h1GGhk4r6bM/ViZbjdxEMwI/AAAAAAAAKqY/13KfLdd9q6M/s200/Weaver%2Bphoto.JPG” width=”200″ /></a>James L. Weaver is the author of the forthcoming Jake Caldwell thrillers, Poor Boy Road and Ares Road. He makes his home in Olathe, Kansas with his wife of eighteen years and two children. His previous publishing credits include a six-part story called “The Nuts” and his 5-star rated debut novel Jack & Diane. Author note: a handful of those who’ve rated it are actually not related to him!
His limited free time is spent writing into the wee hours of the morning, playing parental taxi cab to his kids’ sporting endeavours, and binge watching Netflix.<br />
<br />
<a href=”https://weaverwrites.wordpress.com/”>Website</a><br />
Review of Winell Road: Beneath the Surface by Kate Foster
<a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25597250-winell-road” style=”float: left; padding-right: 20px”><img alt=”Winell Road” border=”0″ src=”https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1432539690m/25597250.jpg” /></a><a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25597250-winell-road”>Winell Road</a> by <a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13831685.Kate_Foster”>Kate Foster</a><br/>
My rating: <a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1419020830″>4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
When Jack has a close encounter with a spaceship on Winell Road, the world as he knows it is flipped upside down and turned inside out.<br><br>Then the Freogans come. These small aliens convince Jack he must save them by locating their stolen Vitax, a power source that protects the alien’s galaxy. Jack’s astounded to learn the Vitax is hidden in a very-well guarded alien world that just happens to be located under his street. <br><br>Armed with alien cards and a code-breaker, Jack and his new friend, Roxy, accept the challenge and embark on a perilous adventure to retrieve the Vitax. But no one and nothing is as they seem in this exciting adventure full of aliens and danger around every corner.<br><br>Winell Road: Beneath the Surface, is an exciting and a fun read. The storyline will definitely hook MG readers with all the aliens and keep them on their toes until the end. There were a few words I wasn’t familiar with that slowed my reading and a few places that pulled me out of the MC’s head, but overall I enjoyed the story and feel of the book. I especially liked the fast-paced, adrenaline- pumping ending with a twist I didn’t expect. I hope the author is writing a sequel!<br>
<br/><br/>
<a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/31266656-rebecca-l”>View all my reviews</a>
What Pitch Wars Has Taught Me
For the second year in a row, I’ve entered Pitch Wars, the yearly contest from Brenda Drake where featured mentors pick one manuscript out of those submitted to them to critique and prepare for the coveted “agent round.” During the agent round, agents may request manuscripts and after reading, offer representation or decline. The goal of course is to find representation and become a traditionally published author.
Last year, I did not get picked. But did however receive some great feedback. One mentor pair that I subbed to said, “We loved your story, but fell in love with a different one. But what you have here is really great and we’re sure that you’ll be published in no time and we will be celebrating right along with you.” Even though I wasn’t picked, that made me feel awesome.
So I queried and entered other contests and received request from agents from those. Each time, the reply was the same: Not connecting with the story.
So I enrolled in a one-on-one first pages workshop through Writer’s Digest, where an agent read and critiqued the first chapter. Other than a few suggestions, she had great kudos for me: compelling title; solid writing; intriguing heroin; engaging voice; believable high school setting; well-drawn characters; and good grasp of the elements of fiction. But even with those noted strengths, she didn’t request any more from me.
Not sure where to go, I asked a few writers to read the first pages and give me their take on what the story was missing. One suggested changing the tense from past to present and POV from close third to first, citing that this is easier for readers to connect with. All of them mentioned more voice, inner monologue, and adding stronger descriptions.
A month later, I had scoured the entire manuscript, changing the tense, POV, and adding as much “spice” as possible. I must say, I liked it better. A benefit of changing the tense and POV, I could see story holes that before were hidden. This all occurred in July of this year.
With my revised manuscript and a surge of confidence, I was looking forward to entering Pitch Wars in August.
I belong to a professional writer’s org. called, “Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers” and received an email for a workshop regarding “Beginnings” the weekend before Pitch Wars opened. Perfect. I could go to the workshop and get validation that my manuscript was ready.
Then the unthinkable happened; the Pitch Wars contest opened early! But I wasn’t worried–I was ready. Plus, I had until Monday to submit–plenty of time if anything needed to be changed.
The workshop was incredible. Best I’ve been to in a long time. I learned that my inciting event, or the thing about that day that was different than all the others, needed to be as close to page one as possible. Where was mine? Page eight. Crap.
I also learned that the place where your story takes a dramatic change needs to occur about 10% into your story. For instance, if the story is 300 pages, the change should occur around page 30. Mine was page 79. Crap, crap, and triple crap! These aren’t hard rules, but definitely good guidelines to follow.
The rest of the workshop, my head spun. How in the world was I going to make the changes and be ready? I decided if I couldn’t, then I wouldn’t enter Pitch Wars. End of story.
When I returned home, I sat my butt down and began the arduous task of moving the story into the right place, as well as changing details to match the new placement, and shifting chapter endings and beginnings to create appropriate page counts. Like a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces are cut alike, it took me several tries to get it right.
At 1:00 a.m., I finished the revisions. The next day, after another read-through of my changes, I completed the form and entered Pitch Wars.
Will I be picked as a mentee this year? I have no idea. But Pitch Wars has taught me to never give up, keep honing my craft, ask others for help, keep moving forward, and to work my butt off for the things that are important to me.
Just like my protagonist, Bethany, who has to go through metamorphosis, our stories should do the same, until emerging a beautiful work of art.
Crossing my fingers for all of us that whether we get a mentor or not, this will be the start of a great manuscript!
Rebecca Carpenter, copy editor and author 
