Call for Relief Society Articles

If you're a writer, this might be the chance you've been looking for. Author JoLyn Brown is collecting personal stories about the goodness/joy/blessing that Relief Society has been in our lives. Here's a quick blurb from her blog about what she's looking for :

"They don't have to be obvious miracles (though those would be great too,) but think about those times in your life when a kind word came at the right moment, when a prayer was answered by a friendly face, or when you were able to see clearer for a service you gave. The greatest miracles are often the simple things, each leading to another in a chain reaction."

 

If you have a story and you'd like to contribute, check out the rest of her post here.

Christine Bryant--What She Did Right: Emotional Honesty

Debut author, C.K. Bryant, has just released her first novel in the "Crystor series." Because I enjoy imaginative, paranormal novels (though I'm not much into vampires and werewolves), I was really quite interested in reading this novel. The good news: I was not disappointed.

Book Description:
When a photo shoot ends in tragedy, Kira discovers her best friend, Lydia, has been keeping a secret. Knowing the truth, and accepting it, will change Kira’s life forever and thrust her into a world of ancient curses, magical objects, and savage enemies. What happens next will challenge everything Kira knows about her world, herself and the shape-shifting warrior she’s falling in love with. No longer the timid mouse her mother accused her of being, but a woman who finds the mental and physical strength to endure and survive. BOUND is a heroic tale of true friendship, infinite sacrifice and untamed love.


As you can tell from the description, there are many intriguing elements in  BOUND that kept me reading, but what most captured my attention was a tiny plot line about Kira and her mother. I won't "spoil" your read by revealing it here, but suffice it to say that Bryant's emotional honesty felt so real that my heart broke alongside Kira's.

If you like YA paranormal novels--or imaginative sci-fi for that matter--you ought to check out BOUND by C.K. Bryant.

National Family Week--Launching My New Book

Thanksgiving week is National Family Week. To celebrate, between Monday, November 21 and Saturday, November 26, readers can buy the ebook version of The Hidden Kingdom at the promotional price of .99 at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. The print version is 6.99, but if readers want to purchase an autographed copy from me during that week, I will provide free shipping within the United States. Just go to rondahinrichsen.com for more details.

Suspense-Building Decisions

Today, I'll share a post from my blog, Suspense Secrets:

The main character of every story, no matter the genre, must have a goal he or she is trying to achieve or there is no story. I emphasize the word trying because that is the key to the suspense. Without effort, characters may have bad things happen to them, but if they simply defend against those obstacles, they appear dull and passive. Interesting characters, on the other hand, choose a path and deal with the tightening noose that follows. For example, if Pinocchio hadn't gone looking for his father, he wouldn't have been swallowed by the whale. And if Frodo, in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, hadn't decided to trust Spiegel instead of his best friend, he wouldn't have been lured into the spider's den.

Even worse, we, the audience, wouldn't have been on the edge of our seats, wondering how--or if--the character was going to get out of his peril.

FIVE INGREDIENTS FOR SUCCESS--BY David Farland

So, I’ve been asked to talk about five things that my novels must have in order for me to feel that they’re successful.  That’s a brilliant question.

1)      Every tale needs an interesting setting, one with unexpected depth and richness, that transports a reader.  Ever look at the fifty bestselling movies ever?  They all take you to another time or another place.  Some of them, like Star Wars, even do both!  The same is true of bestselling novels.

2)      My story needs characters that people care deeply about.  As an audience member, I don’t necessarily need to “fall in love” with a character, but I must be able to empathize, put myself in his or her place.

3)      Each story I write needs characters who act on their impulses.  By that I mean, my characters can’t sit around and just think about saying and doing the right things, they have to confront any problem thrown at them.  They have to go out and change their worlds.

4)      My story must have fascinating twists.  As an author you have to constantly be thinking, “I know what other authors have done with stories like this, but where else could this go?” Then you have to take the reader there.  You want your novel to be novel, unique, unlike any other.

5)      Ultimately, each story needs to make the audience see the world in new ways.  When my reader closes a book, I want them to realize that no matter what harrowing things I’ve put them through in fiction, they feel wiser, energized, and more capable of handling whatever it is that life throws at them.

See David Farland's new Writing Tips blog at www.davidfarland.com

Find out about his new book at www.nightingalebook.com

Spooktacular Blog Hop

Christmas is Coming! Wahoo! I know, I know, it's really almost Halloween, but if you're anything like me, you're already thinking about what you want to give your loved ones for Christmas or even purchasing them. So, for this Spooktacular Blog Hop, hosted by I Am a Reader Not a Writer and The Diary of a Bookworm, I am offering a great gift for the early reader in your life. Actually, for this blog hop only, I'm offering TWO of them. That's right. Two lucky winners will win a free Kindle versions of my latest release, "The Hidden Kingdom (A Chapter Book)." It is book #1 of my series Heroes of the Highest Order.

From the backcover (print version will be available soon):

The dark enemy never rests, but neither do the Heroes of the Highest Order.

A magical playground whisks Dan and Page into the Hidden Kingdom where a skinny giant quickly registers them for hero training camp. There, they learn they must gain skills and earn treasures by travelling back in time and walking in the footsteps of a real historical hero.

If you'd like to read Chapter 1, click here.

To enter my drawing:
+1 Mandatory entry:  You must follow this blog and leave a comment telling me so. Also include any of the following entries in your comment.
+1 Tweet what I am offering on this blog hop.
+1 Facebook what I am offering on this blog hop.
+1 (Honor system--grin) Share the blurb for my book with someone else and tell me who you told (i.e., child, friend, mother, etc.).
+1 Subscribe to this blog by email.
Total: 5 possible entries!

And that's it! Merry Christmas--er--Happy Halloween. :)

12 Books in 12 Months--Author Michelle Erickson

That's right! This amazing author has accomplished what to me seems like an impossible goal. And guess what? She's here to tell us about her journey and her latest book, Pic Jump. Welcome, Michelle. Please tell us a little about yourself.  

I was born and raised in Utah, transplanted to Idaho after I married the best man in the world for me - he's exactly what I needed. 


How long have you been writing?


I've been writing since 7th grade, but didn't really make the decision to write professionally until a few years ago.   

And yet, when you did decide to write professionally, you went all out. In fact, you are a writing dynamo! You've just completed your goal of writing and publishing 12 books in 12 months. 

I didn't really make up my mind to write 12 in 12 until I already had 2 books out there and I thought:  go for it! I had no idea what I was getting into or I wouldn't have made such a rash announcement! I will not be doing it again anytime in the foreseeable future. It involved a lot of re-writing while writing new books. 

Please tell us a little about your writing process, including how you're able to write so much so quickly.

Here is my writing process pared down to bare bones: Dream, Desire, Discipline, Determination, Destination

1) Dream: you need a fantastic idea that really rings the dinner bell on your salivating creative side

2) Desire: write like your life depends on it (I take Sundays to 'cool' off and de-stress)

3) Discipline:  treat writing like a business

4) Determination: rewrite as needed

5) Destination:  to reach where you want to be as a writer, repeat above steps for 10 -16 hours a day, six days a week for a year (this is how I did it so 'quickly')

Whew! I've had quite a few weeks of day and night writing, but an entire year? It makes my head spin just to think about it. But with all that writing, I can't help but wonder, are you a plotter/outliner, or do you write by the "seat of your pants?"

I'm a little of both, but more 'seat of the pants' because my characters seem to take me for a ride regardless of where I tell them they need to be.  I had one particular character that never seemed to be where I wanted her to be (I wanted to kill her off).  That character had so much chutzpah to her, she had me rewriting entire chapters!  P.S.  She STILL isn't dead!  She will be featured in other books.

Where do you get your ideas?

5 Blanks was based on a dream, Klaus was just my love of Christmas exploding out of my head and onto the computer nearly as fast as I could type, Pic Jump was a branch off the plausible/impossible ideas I had while writing 5 Blanks, and the 9-book epic Chest of Souls came from a story I told my oldest daughter when she was a little girl (it was originally sci-fi and bears NO resemblance to the story I wrote).   

What genre do you write in? Are all your books in that genre?

I've written at least five genre's. Historical fiction (short story) Post-apocalyptic science fiction, Epic Fantasy, Romance-Fantasy, and Speculative 

What is your favorite genre to read in? Any favorite authors?

Whatever catches my fancy. I've read over 50 books in the first month after I was finished with my 12. 

Favorites? I like so many authors, I can't choose just one. I've literally read thousands of books over my lifetime. 

Holy cow! When you go for a goal, you really go for it! What's on your horizon now? Any new goals?


My new goal is to catch up on all the things that took a back seat while I was driving down the creative writing highway at 200 mph. While I play catch-up, I'm working on a paranormal romance (Hallows Gate), a fantasy trilogy (Sky Signs), and a ten-book series that I've been considering for years (Heart and Soul).  

Please tell us about your latest book. 

The final of the 12 is titled Pic Jump. It won a Readers Favorite award in the Romantic Suspense category and is now nominated for the Whitney.  Pic is about a woman that falls in love, marries the man shortly after they meet, and on their wedding day, they are in an accident that leaves her in a coma. 

She is granted the ability to transfer from one set of printed eyes to another and has to save a little girl named Emma armed with nothing more than her wits and a Barbie head.

The first third of the book is the romance (I had to give Pic what she wanted before I mercilessly ripped it away from her).  The last two-thirds are the suspense which has children in peril and Pic unable to physically help while they are chased by a mercenary hired by terrorists. 

While writing the book I had to take frequent breaks and continue to remind myself to not kill the antagonist (but I REALLY wanted to).

Any writing advice?

One thing that has really helped me:  Buy a small digital recorder for those times when genius burns and record the flavor of your thoughts. 

Thank you very much for taking the time to visit with me today, Michelle. If you'd like to learn more about Michelle, you can find her at www.12n12.blogspot.com. Right now, she is also giving away a copy of each of the books that won awards this year to three lucky winners who can choose Ebook or soft cover on www.iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.