Three Times A Charm with Susan Kaye Quinn

Three Times a Charm is a weekly feature that spotlights authors, illustrators, bloggers, agents, editors or promoters from the publishing industry. 

This week author, Susan Kaye Quinn, joins us. Thank you for agreeing to be a part of my weekly feature “Three Times a Charm.” 

Thanks so much for having me!

I’m especially excited since today is your BIG launch day for Closed Hearts the second book in your Mindjack Trilogy.  Our lucky readers even get to enter your giveaway!  But first, Susan, let’s learn a little about you.

I grew up in California, where I wrote snippets of stories and passed them to my friends during class. I pursued a bunch of engineering degrees and worked a lot of geeky jobs, including turns at GE Aircraft Engines, NASA, and NCAR. Now that I writes novels, my business card says "Author and Rocket Scientist" and I don't have to sneak my notes anymore (too bad!). All that engineering comes in handy when dreaming up paranormal powers in future worlds or mixing science with fantasy to conjure slightly plausible inventions. I write from the Chicago suburbs with my three boys, two cats, and one husband. Which, it turns out, is exactly as much as I can handle.

Tell us about Closed Hearts.

When you control minds, only your heart can be used against you.

This is the tagline for my second novel in the Mindjack Trilogy, Closed Hearts, which releases today! The Mindjack Trilogy is about a future world where everyone reads minds, except one girl. She soon discovers she can control them instead and is dragged into a hidden underworld of mindjackers. (Tag line for the first book, Open Minds: When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.) The future of her, and her fellow mindjackers, is explored even further in the second book. I’m excited to see what readers of Open Minds think of Closed Hearts, while I’m busy writing the third book in the trilogy. All my novels and short stories can be found on my blog. Open Minds and Closed Hearts are available in ebook and print on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

I can’t wait to read it myself! Now, for the Threes. Share with us your top 3’s to help us know you a little better.

• Top 3 tools of the trade you couldn’t live without.

Scrivener for Windows - I use it for keeping all my research organized, including pictures and links, and notes on bestsellers, my current draft, outlines about edits, all kinds of stuff. The only thing I don’t use it for is writing - for that I’m an old fashioned Word gal.

My moleskine notebooks - I have a dozen of them in all shapes and sizes and I tote them everywhere. I especially use them to work through difficult plot points or any kind of struggle I’m having with the story. Writing long hand is a great creativity booster for me.

My corkboard - My newest addition to the “must have” category! I’m using it now to outline my third novel in the Mindjack trilogy. I have different colored cards for scenes, structure, love story, etc. It’s really cool to see it all visually laid out and also works as a creative booster.

• Top 3 personal and/or professional goals.

My Writer’s Mission Statement has four components to it that guide my overall professional goals. From that, I have three (short, medium, long term) professional goals (recently updated in my Market Plan for Closed Hearts):

1) (short term) Finish and publish the Mindjack Trilogy, while also writing a series of short stories as a companion to the series

2) (medium term) Plan/write another series that my readers will enjoy

3) (long term) Make enough money from my indie publishing that it will pay comparably to a part-time engineering position (so I can justify, in a money sense, continuing to write). While it’s not possible to control sales or income, I can control output, so my plan to reach this goal is to continue putting out approximately 2 novels a year (and possibly more titles in short stories), building a backlist that will provide that kind of ongoing income to support my writing career.

• Top 3 professions you wanted to be when you grew up.

Veterinarian (changed my mind when I discovered that blood made me squeamish)

Astronaut (applied; they didn’t want me :))

Engineer (check!)

Susan, where can our readers go to keep up with you and your writing?

Susan on Facebook, Twitter, and her author blog, Mindjack Trilogy website

GIVEAWAY!!!!!!

Announcing the release of Closed Hearts, the sequel to Open Minds by Susan Kaye Quinn.

Book Two of the Mindjack Trilogy

When you control minds, only your heart can be used against you.

Eight months ago, Kira Moore revealed to the mindreading world that mindjackers like herself were hidden in their midst. Now she wonders if telling the truth was the right choice after all. As wild rumors spread, a powerful anti-jacker politician capitalizes on mindreaders’ fears and strips jackers of their rights. While some jackers flee to Jackertown—a slum rife with jackworkers who trade mind control favors for cash—Kira and her family hide from the readers who fear her and jackers who hate her. But when a jacker Clan member makes Kira’s boyfriend Raf collapse in her arms, Kira is forced to save the people she loves by facing the thing she fears most: FBI agent Kestrel and his experimental torture chamber for jackers. Now available! $2.99 Ebook at Amazon (and Amazon UK) and Barnes and Noble Request a Kindlegraph Paper copies available at Amazon or get signed copies from the author

Susan Kaye Quinn is the author of the bestselling YA novel Open Minds,  Book One of the Mindjack Trilogy, available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iTunes. Susan's business card says "Author and Rocket Scientist," but she mostly plays on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

CLICK HERE to join the Virtual Party for Closed Hearts

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Thank you, Susan, for sharing such an exciting day in your life with us. I hope millions of readers discover your Mindjack Trilogy. Happy release day to you and Closed Hearts!

THANKS!