Monday, November 26, 2012

Post-Thanksgiving Blues





After a long rambunctious weekend of family holiday celebrations,
I’ve decided to share a sermon with you.
Although it was originally from a January 1st Holy Day of Obligation Mass,
I thought it would work quite well here…


In the name of Father,

the Son,

and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.



I’m tired.


You’re tired.




In the name of Father,

the Son,

and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.



Have a nice week, everyone!



Friday, November 23, 2012

EDGE OF TRUTH Cover Reveal!


YA Dystopian Paranormal Romance
Coming June 6, 2013 from

Citizens who report to work on time, obey the Overlord’s laws, and stay off the Synbot’s radar, live long lives. Long, dull, monotonous lives.

It’s not a bad plan for someone with a hidden, emotion-based ability to trigger earthquakes. In a world pitted against her, sixteen-year-old Rena Moon strives for a life beyond working herself to death at the factory. Seeing an alternative, she risks selling relics from the forbidden lands at Market. It becomes the worst decision she ever made. Someone kidnaps her best friend in exchange for the one thing that would end her oppression.

Driven by loyalty, Rena and seventeen-year-old Nevan Jelani, soulful composer, green thumb extraordinaire, and the secret love of her life, plot to rescue her friend and reclaim her salvage. Still, the thought lingers whether Nevan is a true hero or another thief waiting for his chance at her loot. Events spin wildly, deepening Rena’s suspicions and pushing her limit of control. With more than her chance for freedom at stake, she must decide if she’s willing to kill to protect what’s precious to her. For once, the Overlord isn’t holding all the power, but can Rena live with being reduced to what she’s trying so hard to escape?

Where to find Natasha:

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE   |   GOODREADS   |   BLOG   |   FACEBOOK   
FACEBOOK FAN PAGE    |   TWITTER   |   PINTEREST



Edge of Truth

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Monday, November 19, 2012

Big, BIG News is a Comin'! I Think...


Hey, I had this whole raving-lunatic-post written and ready to go for today, ‘cause you guys are like, you know, awesome and always ready and willing to rally around a writer in need, but there’s some big, BIG news coming down the pipeline and it just doesn’t feel appropriate right now.

Sooooo… there goes my post. 

Now I got nothing because I can’t, or shouldn’t, really, say what’s coming.  And to be frank, I’m a bit confused.  I mean, I thought I knew what it was, and, for once, I felt like one of the super cool kids included in on the secret, however inadvertent.

A hint, it has a little sumpm sumpm to do with this bad boy:


Then another little birdie whispered something in my ear and now I’m not so sure.  But I can’t say.  I guess by the time this hits the press, you’ll all know, or at least have an inkling, even while I’m still snoring away in ignorance out here on the west coast.

*sigh*

Well, at the very least, I have this to report:  In case you forgot, or I forgot to remind you, I’m guest posting today over at Arlee Bird’s Tossing It Out.  Check it out and tell me what you think.


Also, in case you missed it on Friday, here’s the awesome new book trailer for Lisa Regan’s debut novel, Finding Claire Fletcher, launching December 6th.  I’m reading this book again, for the 4th time, this time in paperback, and it is even better than I remembered.  Easily one of my favorite books of all time!  Check out the trailer and see for yourself…


And lastly, you might have heard that I will be working with Stephen Tremp, Mary PaxC.M. Brown, and Christine Raines and their new support group, Writere4Writers, which will feature my book, The Mistaken, on the W4Ws December 6th debut campaign.  Participants will join in and help bring awareness to newly released novels and hopefully increase sales.



If you’re interested in the Writere4Writers promotion,
please feel fee to sign up using the Linky Tool.
I could really, REALLY use your help!!


Friday, November 16, 2012

The I Miss You Blogfest...and More!



Welcome to the I Miss You Blogfest,
hosted by

Here’s the rundown:

The bloggers we really miss…
and the ones we would really miss!

Do you have a couple blogger buddies who aren’t posting as often? Those who’ve pulled back and seem absent from the blogging world? Do you have blogger buddies you are grateful they are still around and would miss if they vanished? Now is your chance to show your appreciation and spotlight them!

On November 16, list one to three bloggers you really miss and one to three bloggers you would miss if they stopped blogging. Then go leave a comment on those blogs.

Our blogger friends are special – time to let them know! 

I only blog on Mondays, my day to post and make the rounds, but there are a couple of blogs I visit every day or every day I know there’ll be a new post.  And while I follow and love so many blogs, and most of them are active, there are a couple of bloggers who don’t post as much as I would like.

First, two I miss because they don’t post as often as they used to:

Jennifer Hillier at The Serial Killer Files – Jenny’s a big time author now with two incredibly popular books, her 2011 debut, Creep, and this year’s follow-up, Freak, plus she’s working on a new novel, so it’s no wonder she doesn’t post as often.  But I really, really miss her, especially since she moved away from Seattle almost a year ago.  Lucky for me, we chat via text, email, Facebook, and phone calls so I never truly lose touch.

Janet Reid’s Query Shark – Yes, I know, Ms. Reid has her own regular blog here, but I really love Query Shark.  I’ve learned so much from that blog.  But she hasn’t posted since September 30th, and for months before that, her posts were sporadic, at best.  I miss waking up on Sunday mornings and tuning in to read how The Shark has ripped to shreds yet another query written and submitted by someone who’s failed to read all the other queries, as directed.  Better still, I miss those few queries that hit it spot on the very first time, even when they break all the rules—like the query for Josin Mcquein’s Premeditated.  I realize I’m past this query stage, but I still learn a lot from reading them. 

Which brings me to a blog I would miss if it were to ever disappear:  In fact, when this blogger took a short break earlier this year, I found out just how much I did miss it.  And him.  And that blogger is…

Matthew MacNish at The QQQE or The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment – Much like Janet Reid, Matt has serious skills when it comes to dissecting and analyzing queries and determining what works and what doesn’t then suggesting ways in which to fix it.  So if you have a query you are thinking of submitting to agents, send it to Matt first.  The man knows what he’s talking about.  And his commenters help a lot, too.

And finally, the one blog I never, and I mean NEVER, EVER miss, is your friend and mine…

Alex J. Cavanaugh - There are very few bloggers out there who are as consistently and truly inspiring, relentlessly selfless, and remarkably entertaining as Alex.  He is the highlight of my Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings.  In fact, I typically read his posts before I even get out of bed in the morning.  So if Alex’s blog were to ever cease to exist, I would be crushed.  He is a lesson to us all on how to be humble and pay it forward.  And what's more, I've met most of my Blogger friends through Alex, so he's kind of a matchmaker of sorts.  Many thanks and cheers to you, Alex!


With less than 3 weeks until the December 6th launch of Lisa Regan’s debut novel, I’d like to share with you her book trailer for Finding Claire Fletcher.  So without further ado…


    

Monday, November 12, 2012

In the News Today...


Although today is my regular day to post, I’m gonna hold off on anything major until Friday,
when three of my favorite guys,
I Miss You Blogfest.


The bloggers we really miss…
and the ones we would really miss!

Do you have a couple blogger buddies who aren’t posting as often? Those who’ve pulled back and seem absent from the blogging world? Do you have blogger buddies you are grateful they are still around and would miss if they vanished? Now is your chance to show your appreciation and spotlight them!

On November 16, list one to three bloggers you really miss and one to three bloggers you would miss if they stopped blogging. Then go leave a comment on those blogs.

Our blogger friends are special – time to let them know! 

So drop by and sign up if you haven’t already.

Also in the news...


Blogging buddies Stephen Tremp, Mary Pax, C. M. Brown, and Christine Rains have put together a new group called Writers4Writers.  This group is all about promoting authors and their books.  Here’s their mission:

• Help writers bring awareness of their book(s) to tens of thousands of new people
• Help writers reach Amazon Top 100 in at least one category (suspense, free, whatever)
• Increase sales of their book(s) after the promo is over
• Drive new traffic to their blog and increase following
• Create verbal and viral buzz.

Every month, one to three spotlighted authors will choose a social media avenue such as Twitter or Facebook (or both).  On the selected day, the authors will post pre-written Tweets on their blogs.  At your convenience, simply copy and paste Tweets into Twitter. Or go to #W4WS on Twitter and Retweet other Tweets. 

And for Facebook, the authors will also post an image of their book along with a short blurb and a link to Kindle on their blog. Visitors simply click the Facebook page then share the link with their FB friends and Writers Groups.

That’s an incredibly large new audiences the author could not reach on their own.  Imagine, a hundred bloggers over a few days Tweeting and sharing links for new books and reaching potentially tens of thousands of new people!

As an author with a new release, this is super exciting.  But what’s even more thrilling is that I am their first featured author!  Can you imagine how delighted I was to be asked to kick-off such an amazing new project?  

If you’re interested, go to the hosts’ websites and signup using the Linky Tools.  And if you're on Facebook, click here to like their page.  I’d love to have your help in not only promoting my new novel, but many others, as well.  And when the time comes, you may be asked to be a featured author, too. 

Talk about paying it forward!

And last, but not least, one of my five blog tour runner-up winners of an ebook copy of The Mistaken asked that I award it to someone who actually owns an e-reader.  So, on behalf of Gary Pennick at Klahanie, the winner chosen by Random.org is #33...


Rachel, if you’re interested, please email me at acadia1997@msn.com.  I’ll also email you directly.         

Interested in the I Miss You Blogfest?
Wanna join Writers4Writers and help promote other authors?
Have any other news to share?



Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Book Giveaway, Alex's Awesome Surprise, & the IWSG



Today is the first Wednesday of the month, time for

But first…the results for my blog tour book giveaway!


There were 76 entries total, way more than I anticipated.  My thanks to all for dropping by and commenting during my tour.  Your support means everything to me! 

All right then, I wrote down the names of every follower who commented, assigned each a number, then used Random.org to generate the winning numbers, starting first with the runner-ups.

Those five runner-up winners of an ebook copy of The Mistaken are:

#18      Samantha May
#52      Chris Fries
#48      Klahanie
#38      L. Diane Wolfe
#64      Emily R. King

And the grand prize winner of my last signed ARC of The Mistaken is:

#66      Julie Luek

Winners, please contact me at acadia1997@msn.com
so I can get your info and send out your prize.

One more thing before my brief IWSG post:

Did you happen to see Alex J. Cavanaugh’s post last Monday?  Alex is one of three published authors who “blurbed” for my book.  His name and quote appear on the very first page along with Jennifer Hillier, author of Creep and Freak and New York Times bestselling author, Kevin O’Brien.


Alex said, “That’s even more exciting than my name on the cover of my own books.”  I sent him a signed copy with a nice little note of thanks for both his blurb and for being the driving force behind my blog tour and helping me every step of the way.  I could not have done it without him!

THANK YOU SO MUCH, ALEX!!

Okay, so now that I’ve accomplished my goal and have published my debut novel, I find myself worrying more than I ever thought I would.  Sure, I told myself it really didn’t matter how well my book sold.  I just wanted to get it out there.  But yeah, it kinda doesn’t work that way, at least, not in my mind. 

I want people to read it.  And I want those who do to love it, or at least like it, even just a little bit.  But more than anything, I want readers to rate/review it on Amazon and Goodreads.  So now I have a whole new slew of things to worry about:  Is it selling, will they like it, and will they spread the word?  It’s really way too early in the game for me to be obsessing over these things.  It’s a marathon, not a sprint.  Still, it’s there.  *sigh*

But oooh, look!  I have 499 GFC followers!
Maybe I’ll do another ebook giveaway once I reach 500. 
  
Any suggestions on how to do that one?


Monday, November 5, 2012

Hit F2 for Recovery Mode


Just a very brief post today as I’m still recovering from my whirlwind 12-day blog tour.

This week, I’m reserving my strength for
on Wednesday.

 
At the end of my IWSG post, I will announce the
grand prize winner of my one and only ARC of The Mistaken,
plus the 5 runner-up ebook winners.


So please, come on back around on Wednesday and help a writer out
as she frets over a whole new set of insecurities.





Thursday, November 1, 2012

THE MISTAKEN Blog Tour: Day Twelve - THE END!



HOORAY!  I made it to Day 12!  This is me kissing the ground.  Yes, yes!!!
I am TOTALLY burned out, man.  But before I go have a celebratory drink
-- or 5 --
I have 2 more blogs I need to stop by.
Okay, okay, I know what you're thinking,
"Look at your tour badge dates, dude!"
But I had some additions to accommodate,
wonderful friends who wanted to participate, so sue me!  


You can find me over at my new friend, Livia Peterson’s Leave It to Livia where I discuss the importance of building a platform if you want to get published.  Livia is an absolute doll!         

I'm also over at Angela Orlowski-Peart's.  She has an excerpt from The Mistaken and other juicy bits.  Angela and I met via Alex Cavanaugh's blog and found out we lived only a few miles apart.  Now I have a fellow writer I can meet for coffee!  How cool is that?!


Well, it’s been a busy two weeks, and I’m positive you’re all sick and tired of seeing me around, I know I am, but I’m not done quite yet.  As a follow-up, I’ll be posting again over at Arlee Bird’s Tossing It Out on November 19th.  And on December 3rd, I’ll be back over at Livia Peterson’s again for a guest post on my writing journey. 

Thank you all for hangin’ out with me during my first ever blog tour.
I'd like to especially thank those of you who came by every single day, or nearly so:   


If you're not already, follow these people!  You will NOT regret it!

If you haven't already, go ahead and follow me, as well, then drop me a line, because every follower who comments here during my tour will be entered into a drawing for an
ARC of The Mistaken and a bookmark.
Plus, 5 runner-up winners will each receive an ebook copy.
Winners will be determined using Random.org and notified via email.   


And if you get around to reading my book, I’d love to hear what you think, good or bad.
Rate and/or review on Goodreads and Amazon.  See ya!

Okay, can I please go to sleep now? 

__________


THE MISTAKEN  ~  the hell of revenge, the hope of redemption



Available at:
Kindle   Barnes and Noble   Nook   Amazon   Kobo   iBooks

Coming soon to SonyDiesel Bookstore, and Baker & Taylor.


Are you glad to see me go?