Authors, Kai Strand & LA Dragoni

    Lexi's Pathetic Fictional Love Life    Lexi Middleton has been socially invisible to her classmates, but starting her junior year, that’s going to change. First, she’s determined to hook a boyfriend, ensuring dates with flowers and possible kisses on the doorstep. Second, she wants to be a writer for the school paper, even though it freaks her out to think of everyone judging her by her punctuation and metaphors. High school is difficult enough—keeping up her grades, dealing with increasing sibling rivalry, and trying to stay out of the way of her personal nemesis, Amberlee—but when Lexi catches the eye of her long-time crush, she also becomes the focus of mean-girl tactics. Caught between who she was and who she wants to be, Lexi must decide how to confront a bully, and choose who to let into her heart. Purchase from AMAZON * Barnes & Noble   Tour Schedule   Author Jo Noelle Jo Noelle grew up in Colorado and Utah but al...

It’s Friday! Time for my blog feature, Building Character in which you get to meet characters from a book. Talking to a character outside of their book is fun! Huge. Amounts. Of fun.  This week Strands of Thought plays host to Reece from Faery Marked. Reece, I reviewed your story earlier this week, but for the sake of this interview, let’s pretend I’m a clean slate. Why don’t you start by telling our readers a little about your swoony self. Hi, I’m Reece Michaels and I’m a Guardian. I know what you’re thinking. I’m some kind of bodyguard. And you’d be right. But, you’d also be wrong. See, a Guardian is a role, but it’s also a race of Fae. So, what do I do? Right now, I’m charged with watching Callie Rycroft to see if she is the chosen Champion. That means I hang with her as much as possible watching for a sign that she has magical powers. Definitely not the worst assignment I’ve ever had. You’re right, that doesn’t sound too tough. So, what kind of conflict are you up ...

The Story That Almost Wasn’t Guest Post by Mary Waibel marywaibel.blogspot.com All authors work in a different way. Some write and edit their own drafts. Some send weekly chapters to a critique partner (CP) to get feedback while drafting. Others write a draft, edit it, then send it out to either CP’s or beta readers for feedback. I’ve done a mix of all the above, but the thing that I’ve found most helpful is a group of CP’s who have different skill sets. Kai is one of my CP’s. We trade chapters on a weekly basis (or try to!) or sometimes send a complete draft to each other. When I send my work to Kai, I know she’s going to call me on places where I haven’t been true to my characters, places where she doesn’t understand what I’m saying, or can’t picture what I’m describing. These are all great things I need to know, as I can’t always see them myself. Another of my CP’s will point to areas lacking tension. Places to beef up the story so the reader has to keep turning the pages to get to ...

Oh my gosh! I think I might be as excited for this book release as the author Mary Waibel is. Okay, probably not, but I'm a very close second. Full disclosure: Mary is my critique partner and I've read this book many times while she sweated and toiled over the construction of it. Seriously, it has to say something about the quality of the story that I still LOVE it after having read it several times over. I'm so excited about Faery Marked's release I'm devoting my blog to Mary this week. Today - RELEASE DAY - I'm posting my review. As the week progresses, we will also have a guest post from Mary and a character interview. Please be sure to visit for those as well. And since you'll be buying the book and reading it immediately, update us on your reading progress as the week goes along! Congrats Mary Waibel on the release of FAERY MARKED. About the book: When Callie Rycroft wakes to find purple flames flickering on the ceiling, she believes she’s st...

I'm thrilled to participate in another fun group giveaway. When considering what to share as part of the hop, I considered a story about one of my favorite-ever Christmas gifts--a 3 foot tall, stuffed Snoopy I received when I was four years old. I thought about sharing the story of my husband's and my engagement (during the Christmas holiday.) However, I decided the most fun for both me and you--the reader--would be for me to provide a BONUS WORTH THE EFFORT story. How would Ayden surprise Ella at Christmas? Now you'll know. If  you haven't read my WORTH THE EFFORT series, treat yourself this holiday season by starting with ELLA'S STORY . Can't beat it at less than a dollar! Then be sure to enter to win AYDEN'S STORY as part of the hop - entry below the story. Or just pick it up too from Amazon . Enjoy Ayden's Christmas ! AYDEN'S CHRISTMAS      “Did the blindfold slip? Are you peeking?”      A small smile tipped the ends of Ella’s m...

I'm excited to announce that Lumpy and Wheezy will be taking their story on tour! Starting tomorrow, December 10th, THE LUMPY DUCKLING and I will be touring the blog-o-sphere with book spotlights, reviews and interviews. And though there will be fun galore, my tour host, I Am A Reader, and I are offering a giveaway of a $25 Amazon gift card or PayPal cash as extra incentive to join the fun. You'll find the tour schedule here . Please make your way through the stops and thank the hosts for their generous time and attention on THE LUMPY DUCKLING. Help me spread the word. Click the bird to tweet about the tour:   Join us December 10th through the 18th. See you around the blog-o-sphere!

If you'll be participating in Cyber Monday, I wanted to let you know about a couple deals I'm offering on my print books. First, have you visited my MARKETPLACE ? I recently set up a storefront through Square, which allows me to offer signed copies of my books. In order to celebrate the recent release of THE LUMPY DUCKLING, I'm offering 10% off your order when you get a complete set of the Weaver Tale series. These books are written for 9 - 12 year old readers. They are individual stories, all set in the same fictional village of word weavers (storytellers). The softcover are $9.95 each and the hardcover are only $15.95 (already discounted from the Amazon price). But the 10% discount applies to the complete order, so load up on all my books or several copies of a favorite story to share with the kids, teachers, librarians in your life. As long as you have one complete set of the Weaver Tales series on your order, you qualify to use discount code #WTSDISCOUNT upon chec...

It’s Friday! Time for my blog feature, Building Character in which you get to meet characters from a book. Talking to a character outside of their book is fun! Huge. Amounts. Of fun.  This week Strands of Thought plays host to Maggie Mae from Detective Extraordinaire The Case of the Missing Cookies. Hey Maggie!Thanks for joining us. We’d love to hear more about you. Hi everybody! This is my first interview ever. I’m Maggie Mae. I’m 6 years old and have one older brother who is always sneaky. I love, love, love solving mysteries with all my detective stuff, like my notebook, pencils and magnifying glass! Oh, and I even have a detective’s badge that I got at a fall fair at my school. Solving mysteries sounds very exciting. In your new Detective Extraordinaire story – The Case o f the Missing Cookies , what conflict are you up against?  I asked my grandma what conflict meant and she said it meant a problem. Well, we have a big problem. Grandma was baking cookies...

Today on Three Times A Charm we welcome, Ruth Silver. I love introducing my readers to the people who work in children’s publishing. Thanks for joining us, Ruth. Would you please tell us a little about your awesome self? I’m the author of the best-selling YA Dystopian trilogy, Aberrant. I’m passionate about writing and I love story-telling. I’ve been actively writing two series: Royal Reaper and Orenda. My interests also include traveling, reading, and photography. My favorite vacation destination is Australia. I currently reside in Plainfield, Illinois. You can find me on Twitter, Facebook, and my book blog Write Away Bliss. Please tell our readers about your work. I love YA novels. My favorite genres are paranormal, dystopian, and fantasy. I’ve written three series one falling in each of the above categories. For lovers of paranormal, my Royal Reaper series follows the life of Princess Ophelia as she’s murdered and gets the opportunity to become a grim reaper. It...

It’s Friday! Time for my blog feature, Building Character in which you get to meet characters from a book. Talking to a character outside of their book is fun! Huge. Amounts. Of fun.  This week Strands of Thought plays host to Queen Boudicca from Boudicca; Britain’s Queen of the Iceni. Thank you for joining us, Your Highness. We’d love to hear more about you. I am Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni tribe in what the Romans call Britannia.  Descended of queens and kings among the Aedui in Gaul, I spent my early life as a slave following Roman conquest of my people generations before.  When I was nineteen years old, I escaped my abusive Roman mistress, a sister to Roman Governor Gaius Suetonius Paullinus.  Crossing the channel from Calais to Dover, I made my way north to Camulodunum where I met King Prasutagus of the Iceni.  Two months later, we were married, making me queen of the Iceni.  It was a happy marriage cut short Roman violence against our people...

Today on Three Times A Charm we welcome author, Tracy Clark. I love introducing my readers to the people who work in children’s publishing. Tracy and I connected after she noticed I live in the same town as her best friend. Small world, huh? Glad you could join us, Tracy. Can you tell us a little about yourself, please? I am allergic to bios. Just kidding. I’m actually allergic to some vinegars but that’s probably not what you’re interested in. I live in northern Nevada with my two teenage kids and on teenage cat. I love to read YA and I LOVE to write YA. I’m a private pilot who used to skydive but never at the same time. I also volunteer as RA for the Nevada chapter of the SCBWI. http://www.scbwi.org/ When I was young and my big sister and I had dishwashing duty, we’d wash a spoon first so we could take nips out of the vinegar decanter while we worked. I absolutely love vinegar. I’m very sad for you right now. Even if you’re like, “No really, it’s okay.” You write...

It’s Friday! Time for my blog feature, Building Character in which you get to meet characters from a book. Talking to a character outside of their book is fun! Huge. Amounts. Of fun.  This week Strands of Thought plays host to Leah from An Absence of Light. Leah, I just started reading your story yesterday and I’m already pulled in. So, if you don’t mind, I’d love to speed through this interview so I can get back to it. Why don’t you start by telling our readers a little about yourself. Hi, my name is Leah. Thanks for having me. It freaks me out a little to talk about myself in public—I’m pretty sure most anyone would think I’ve lost it if they knew what I do. I guess I wonder that, too, sometimes. But, someone’s got to fight the Shadows, right? And that sounds a little better than alien invasion preventer, I think. Oh – aliens? Is that the conflict you’re up against? Most everyone I’ve ever told about the Shadows hasn’t believed me, but I’d love to see them gone. ...