See No Sea

Last night I had the privilege of being a guest author at the launch party for See No Sea, a terrific YA paranormal romance penned by my good friend and fellow NIWA member Roslyn McFarland.

Good company

It was held at the Hunan Pearl Chinese Restaurant in Lake Oswego, OR, a place I had never been to before (the restaurant, I mean. I've been to Lake Oswego before.) My kids and I liked the food so much, we asked them to open another restaurant closer to our house.

See No Sea is a fun, breezy tale about a fifteen-year-old girl named Lee whose height (six feet) and swimming ability (Olympic-caliber) makes her a target for bullies. Things get even worse when Lee has to spend her summer training in a dreary Canadian town full of polluted air and boring suburban landscapes. Eventually, however, she finds herself drawn into an incredible adventure that quickly turns her bland sort-of-vacation on its head.

The book - Roslyn's debut novel and the first of a trilogy - reads like a reality-based teen-relationship story injected with healthy doses of fantasy-type action, and the blend works together in a way that is seamless and effective. I don't typically read many novels in the paranormal romance genre, but I fully enjoyed this one and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a unique and entertaining book for the summer - or any time of year.

From right to left: Lee Thompson, Courtney Pierce, Roslyn McFarland, some dude

Besides Ros and her family and friends, I also got to hang out with fellow authors/NIWA members Lee Thompson and Courtney Pierce, who, if you recall, were guest authors at my relaunch party back in April. Check out Jeremy's Kiss and Island of Regrets by Lee, and Stitches by Courtney.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go eat some delicious leftover Szechuan pork...

Speed Date An Author

So, yeah, I like taking long walks through the bookstore, watching the reflection of the sunset in my e-reader, looking for hip little coffee shops to write in, and...wait, what? This isn't that kind of speed dating? Oops...

Last night I had the pleasure of participating in the Speed Date An Author event, presented by the always-awesome Northwest Independent Writers Association and the Tigard Public Library.

The purpose of the event was to give aspiring authors a chance to talk to those of us who are a little further down the indie publishing road. Conducted in a speed dating format (ten minutes at each table), it was a fun way to share our experiences and pass on a little knowledge. I had a great time and met some cool people with some really interesting ideas.

So if you're a writer looking for an opportunity to meet other writers and pick their brains, I highly recommend coming out to this event next year. Or heck, just join NIWA now and start right away!

Finding More Time to Write

Here's a question I get asked a lot: "Where do you find the time to write?" My response is usually one of the following:

(a) I have no idea
(b) Sleep is overrated
(c) Hermione's Time-Turner

Ms. Granger, can I borrow that?

The answer, of course, is (d) All of the above. Seriously, though, one technique that really helps me find extra writing time is something that I like to call "Writing In My Head."

The basic premise is simple: you don't have to be at your computer keyboard in order to write. You can write while you do other things that you have to be doing anyway.

You can write while doing chores. You can write while tending to personal hygiene. You can write while doing thirty minutes on the stationary bike at the gym (okay, technically you could skip the gym and sit in front of your computer instead, but c'mon.)

And how is this done, you ask? Simple - just think about your writing as you do these activities. I often work out plot points in the shower, come up with character motivations while folding laundry, and, yes, even compose lines of prose and dialogue as I walk through the grocery store (important caveat: make sure that these are activities that don't require your full attention and concentration. Folding laundry is okay, because if you fold your t-shirt backwards, no real harm is done. In most cases.)

Basically, just replace whatever idle thoughts you used to have with productive thinking. A side benefit that this technique has had for me is that it keeps my mind off of how terrible the Mariners are yet again. Another benefit is that, often, doing this will get me into the writing "mode." Or "mood." Whatever. Sometimes I'll get so into a groove that once I do sit back down at the keyboard to capture the idea I was thinking about, the words will just continue to flow. For example, I actually wrote this blog post while I was brushing my teeth this morning.

Well, gotta run and take care of other things on my to-do list. Now where did I leave that time-turner...

Geek Club Books and Special Announcement!

I have a brand new interview up at Geek Club Books, a terrific multimedia site dedicated to creating a community of acceptance for special needs children and their families.

Sign up for their mailing list and then read the interview, in which I make a really cool announcement (spoiler after the jump!)

Indie Writers United

Book One was selected as the Book of the Week by Indie Writers United! Check out their Facebook page here.

And there's more cool news coming later this week. Stay tuned!

Rolling The Book Two Boulder

Here's a Book Two Status Update in graph form:

As you can see, the process has been somewhat Sisyphusian so far. After the initial "winging-it" attempt crashed and burned, the second attempt ended up being over-planned, so I had to scale it back quite a bit. But now I think I'm finally on the right track - cross your fingers - so hopefully we'll have a completed first draft sometime before the end of the year. Isn't the creative process fun?

Speech! Speech!

Here's a video of me talking about - and reading from - Book One at last month's Bards and Brews. Mahalo to Tonya Macalino for filming it! (Warning: contains fake British accent)