My Crusade Group...and Supernaturally Cover!!!

Would you like to meet my awesome Crusade group?  As of right now, and this is subject to change, these are the people I'll be hangin' with until April 30...and probably longer, although not as a group after that :)  

Ciara Knight
Amanda Milner
Jen
Quinn
Alison Miller
Christine Bryant
Chantele Sedgwick
Devin Bond
Christine Danek
Regina Linton
Tessa Quin
Sari Webb
Susan Fields
Patricia A. Timms

Our first Crusade Challenge has been issued and I'm super excited to create my post and share it with you!  Look for it in the next week :)


Don't know what the Crusade is?  Click the linky on my sidebar.  Sadly, it's closed to new members, but there will be other Crusades in the future!


On another completely different note, here is the awesome, amazing, breathtaking, totally swoon worthy cover for Supernaturally, second in the Paranormalcy Series.





Visit Kiersten White at her blog!


Have a great weekend!

You don't know Lisa M. Potts? Read this now!

 Besides this awesome picture, at Lisa's blog, you'll find this...

Born, raised, and still living in the Midwest with my kids and various shelter animals. I write YA, covet all things chocolate, and I'm very glad to meet you. By the way, you look fantastic!

Uh, I think she was talking to all of you, not me.  Unless being sick on a couch for endless days with nothing but a head of unkempt hair and a box of tissues is fantastic.  Some people make it look better than others, but sadly, I'm not one of them.  But maybe I can live up to the compliment again soon :)

And since Lisa loves chocolate, let's pass around a little of this before we get into the interview!

Sweet!  Let's get started.

Lisa, how long have you been writing? 

The writing bug sunk his teeth into me during grade school after I saw a poem I'd written about Spring printed in the school newspaper. I knew I was hooked for life.

(That's awesome!  Nothing like a successful beginning to get you going.)

So, what mad you want to write?

My family moved around the Midwest quite a bit when I was younger because of my dad's job, and writing was my only constant best friend. During those awkward (understatement) fitting-in periods at new schools, I could pour all my feelings into journals and stories. Writing helped give me a stable foundation no matter where I lived.

Do you have any pet peeves while writing?

I know a lot of writers who listen to music while they write but I've never been able to do it. I don't need total silence, but nothing above normal background noise.

If you could sit down and reread any book, which would it be?

To Kill A Mockingbird or Jane Eyre. I reread them both at least once a year  But don't ask me to choose between them, because I love them both for totally different reasons.

Let's say you only had enough time to visit a couple of writing blogs a day, which would they be?

That's tough because I try to visit at least fifty sites each and every day, but I guess Elana's blog for nuts and bolts and Lisa and Laura's blog for my daily dose of humor. Both blogs post every day M-F so I always know there will be something new, and they both have books releasing this year so I always learn from their experience. 

(Fifty sites a day!  That's awesome.  Those are great ones to visit and I like the way you described your reasons...nuts and bolts.  Yay for debut authors!)

If you could meet any author, dead or alive, who would you choose?

I would LOVE to take a walk with Stephen King, or maybe just sit and stare at him while he writes (not creepy in the least). Yes, I'm a bit of a fangirl. But have you read On Writing? 

(Confession:  I have not.  *Please don't throw anything at me* What I mean is that I haven't...yet!  But Stephen King would definitely be one of those that would be worth watching in a non-creepy, kind of awe-struck way!)

What book are you reading right now and which one do you have lined up to read next?

I'm currently reading Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. I have Beautiful Darkness by the same authors andThe Duff by Kody Keplinger on deck.

And last, but not least, even though you've kind of covered this topic anyway, do you prefer fruity candy or chocolate?

Easiest question yet. In my opinion, chocolate should be its own food group. I don't judge people who claim to not like chocolate, but I just can't wrap my head around it.

(I can see both sides.  It's creamy and yummy and absolutely delicious, but sometimes even a small piece can be a little much.  It depends on my mood. :))

Lisa has also been kind enough to leave us with an awesome Random Lisa Fact:

I'm a giveaway junkie. As a single mom of two I don't have a lot of spending money for books (thank God for libraries), so if I want to read new releases before they reach our local library branch, I have to win them. To my blogging buddies who keep lists of current giveaways on their sites, I would like to say thank you!

And I want to thank Lisa for answering these questions today!  

Be sure to go follow Lisa on her blog.  You can never have too many writing friends!   

Just a Reminder

Just wanted to remind you that today is the last day to sign up for my 100 followers giveaway!





Also, I will be posting the Aspiring Author Interview tomorrow, Thursday, instead of Friday this week.  Be sure to come back tomorrow to learn more about a fellow aspiring author!

The Perfect Gift!

You all know how much I love candy right?  And you all know how much I love Janco, my computer.  Well, I want to let you in on another love of my life.  


My husband.

And for Valentine's day, he gave me all I ever wanted.  I'm not one for flowers and since I don't want cheep jewelry from him and am too practical to want to buy something expensive, I got pampered in my own way.  A promise to buy a lapdesk (which has already been named Ari) and the best candy ever!  Lots of taffy and sugar loaded sweet treats.  A girl can indulge every once in a while right?


He gave them to me at random moments around dinner time.  The last one, he actually hid under the pan of cupcakes we were having for dessert!  He's clever like that.

 Sad part.  I have a REALLY BAD cold, so the few things I did eat didn't taste like anything.  All the other goodies have been tucked away in my own personal hiding place so I can enjoy them when my nose decides to let me taste again!


I hope you all had a great Valentine's day!


P.S.  Don't forget about my 100+ followers giveaway!  You have until tomorrow night to comment if you want to win something :)

100 Followers Giveaway!!!

Holy Awesomeness!  I have 100+ followers!  You are ALL amazing!  Really.  I want to first of all send out a huge THANK YOU to all my followers!  Here you go...



So, you wanna know the goods for this celebration right?  I'm SO excited!


To celebrate, I will be giving away 5 First Chapter Critique's.  


And one lucky person is going to win this book...





and some awesome swag to go with it.  A nice matching bookmark and three Across the Universe pins!  Unfortunately, the book giveaway is open to U.S. and Canada residents only.  


If you'd like to be part of the giveaway, just leave a comment here by Wednesday night.  


Old followers get +2 entries
New followers get +1 entry
Blogging about it will get you+1 more entry


The winners will be announced next Monday!





I also want to add that since I have some Crusading business this Friday, my Aspiring Author Interview will be posted on Thursday this week!

Come Explore, Dream, and Discover with Ali Cross!

Yay!  I'm so excited for you all to meet Ali!  If you go to her awesome blog, you can learn all about her including this...

Ali's always been a dreamer. She wanted to be a pilot in the Canadian Air Force, a Royal Canadian Mounted Policewoman, and Prime Minister of Canada. She wanted to be a youth minister, an opera singer, and a ballet dancer. And she wanted to be happy. The good news? Not all dreams stay relegated to dreamland forever.

Ali's been an opera singer (five years with Opera Idaho) and tried ballet for one magical summer when she was thirty years old ("A tutu isn't nearly as cute on a 30-year-old as it is on a 3-year-old," she says). 

And she's discovered new dreams that are coming true even now. Including writing science fiction and fantasy for middle grade and young adult readers that transcend the ordinary. After all, who wants ordinary? Not Ali!

And . . . she's happy. It’s true, she's a dreamer. But man, where her dreams have taken her!

Awesome right?  Totally!  And if that isn't cool enough, she's full of all kinds of ninja awesome, but I'll tell you more about that after the interview.  

Ali, how long have you been writing?

I've been writing in earnest for about eight years. 

And, what made you want to write?

I'm honestly not sure! I didn't grow up wanting to be an author or anything, though I did meet Anne McCaffrey as a young girl and told HER I wanted to be a writer (she told me to never let anyone or anything stand in the way of my dreams); and in university I remember wanting to write a novel starring my favorite Dungeons and Dragons character (which was the first book I ever wrote). 

But I really started writing when, on a drive into the mountains for a weekend getaway with my family, I said something that I didn't even know was true. I said "Someday I'd like write a book". And my husband said, "Me too!" For the rest of the drive we brainstormed story ideas. Just before we arrived at our hotel, we stopped and bought index cards, notebooks, pens and tape and spent the rest of our vacation outlining our novels. Best vacation ever! We set the goal to finish before the New Year of the next year (so, a year later, approximately), and we met that goal! Each of us printed out the last pages of our manuscripts just before midnight, 2003. I've been writing ever since!

(That's so awesome!  My husband and I like to think of story ideas on road trips.  We take ideas from road signs and whatever else passes by.  Way to meet your goal!)

Do you have any pet peeves while writing?  Is there anything that you just have to have for concentration?

Hmm, I don't think I have any pet peeves about writing, per se. And to write, I really prefer to have my headphones on and music that's pertinent to my story playing. Right now, while I'm revising my dark paranormal YA, BECOME, I'm listening to a lot of Depeche Mode, intermingled with some Natasha Bedingfield--there has to be some uplifting music in there, don't you think?

(I totally agree about music being uplifting!  Although, for me, it's not so uplifting while I'm writing, but I like it before just to get me in the right mood.)

What are your favorite genre's to write?

I really love science fiction and that's probably my very favorite to write for both YA and MG. However, I also enjoy angsty paranormal stuff like girls who are part angel, part demon and have no clue where they belong. :)

If you could sit down and reread any book, which would it be?

There is only one book (actually, all three in the trilogy) that I can and have reread: THE FIONAVAR TAPESTRY by Guy Gavriel Kay. Those books still make me laugh, cry, and dream over the story even on the fourth read-through. Otherwise, I can't stand rereading novels.

(Sweet!  Another book, or books, to add to my list!)

Let's say you only had enough time to visit just one or two writing blogs a day, which would they be?

Oh man. Do you know how impossible this is for me to answer? There are so many blogs that are worthwhile and wonderful. But if I could truly only pick a few (notice how I gave myself an extra one?), it would be my real-life crit partners blogs: Elana Johnson (elanajohnson.blogspot.com), Stacy Henrie (stacyhenrie.blogspot.com) and Jenn Wilks (jennwilks.blogspot.com).

(No way, you have Elana as a crit partner?  *Lucky*  I can't wait to meet your other crit buddies.  I'm heading over now!)

If you could meet any author, dead or alive, who would you choose?

Well, I've already met Anne McCaffrey, which was pretty darn awesome. But I truly would love to meet Guy Gavriel Kay. His trilogy, THE FIONAVAR TAPESTRY, changed my life, opened my mind to the possibilities of fiction and daily inspires me to demand more beauty and meaning from the words I write.

What book are you reading right now and which one do you have lined up to read next?

Today I'm going to the library to pick up a copy of HOLD ME CLOSER, NECROMANCER, by Lish McBride, which finally came in. Woot! Next up? I'm thinking DELIRIUM by Lauren Oliver.

And last, but not least, do you prefer fruity candy or chocolate?

Well, I'm good with anything I can pop into my mouth while I'm worrying over a scene, but my absolute fave would be fruity Mike 'n' Ike's.

(Mmmmm.  What a great choice for something to munch on while thinking!  I need to buy those again...it's been too long!)

And now it's time for the real dojo!  Not kidding.  Have you ever felt like writing can be a lonely thing?  Have you ever wished you had more support while crankin' out that novel or working endlessly on revisions?  Well, Ali has the perfect thing for you!  No more waiting for NaNo WriMo every year.  She has come up with something Ninja awesome!

And...she can explain it SO much better than I ever could, so go here now to check it out!  

Thanks Ali for answering my questions!  Be sure to follow ninja Ali on her writing journey.  

Have a great weekend!

Double Awesomeness!

Today I'm excited to share two awesome events with you!  Last year I was able to participate in one, but I just missed the other.  So, I'll start with the one that I was lucky to stumble on through the efforts of a great friend, Shallee.

Over at her blog right now, she's raising money to give her friend, Michael, a chance to go to high school where he lives in Ghana.  As if that wasn't awesome in itself, the prizes for the raffle are beyond amazing! So head over there right now and donate to win one of three critique's from some amazing people!

The other awesome event is the second Writer's Crusade hosted by my lovely friend, Rachael Harrie.  I'm excited to be a part of the Crusade this year!  Here is a blurb from Rachael's blog about the crusade.

Basically, the Crusade is a way to link those within the writing community together with the aim of helping to build our online platforms. The Crusaders are all bloggers in a similar position, who genuinely want to pay it forward, make connections and friends within the writing community, and help build each others' online platforms while at the same time building theirs. 

Don't miss your chance to join the crusade.  Head over there right now to sign up!  

Have a great Monday!  I'll be looking for you all on the Crusader's list :)