Monday, July 30, 2012

Colonization Cover and Contest!




I'm happy to be a part of Aubrie Dionne's cover reveal because:

1) She's the most prolific, hard-working writer I know.
2) She's helped me with my writing countless times.
3) I critiqued this book.


Finding a new home has never been so dangerous.

       Andromeda has spent all seventeen years of her life aboard a deep space transport vessel destined for a paradise planet. Her safe cocoon is about to break open as Paradise 21 looms only one month away, and she must take the aptitude tests to determine her role on the new world and her computer assigned lifemate. As a great-granddaughter of the Commander of the ship, she wants to live up to her family name. But, her forbidden love for her childhood friend, Sirius, distracts her and she fails the tests. The results place her in a menial role in the new colony and pair her with Corvus, “the oaf”.

       But when Andromeda steps foot on Paradise 21, her predestined future is the least of her worries. Alien ghosts from a failed colonization warn her of a deadly threat to her colony. And when Sirius's ship crashes on the far ridge in an attempt to investigate, she journeys to rescue him with Corvus.

       Andromeda now must convince the authorities of the imminent danger to protect her new home. What she didn't expect was a battle of her own feelings for Sirius and Corvus.

       Can she save the colony and discover her true love?




Author Bio:

Aubrie Dionne writes science fiction fantasy with romantic elements. Her writings have appeared in Mindflights, Niteblade, Silver Blade, Emerald Tales, Hazard Cat, Moon Drenched Fables, A Fly in Amber, and Aurora Wolf. Her books are published by Inkspell Publishing, Entangled Publishing, Lyrical Press, and Gypsy Shadow Publishing. She’s also a professional flutist in New England.


Please visit her website: www.authoraubrie.com
Twitter: @authoraubrie





Giveaway! – Open for US and UK only.

We have a very cool keyring as a giveaway.
Below is the rafflecopter link:

For Bloggers:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

For Wordpress:


Sunday, July 22, 2012

Agents and Authors



I have an article on the Writer's Digest Blog:


It's from the author-agent panel at this year's NE-SCBWI Conference.  Read what authors and their agents had to say about a variety of topics.



Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Possession vs. Surrender


Elana Johnson is here!  



You're now the author of two published books. I'd love you to compare/contrast your writing and promoting experiences between Possession and Surrender.  



           What do you wish you knew when you were a debut author that you know now?  



This is such a hard question. I learned a lot of things about publishing Possession. I learned that it helps to have other people talk about your book. I learned that there are some things out of your control. I learned that some of the marketing things I did weren’t as effective as the time/money I put into them. 

I wish I could go back to that pre-release stage. We spend so much time waiting for our books to come out, but it’s the most precious time. Once your book comes out… It’s all about how it performs after that. And that kills some of the excitement. So I wish I knew to keep things in perspective, do what I could, and then move on.


What was better about writing Possession?  

There’s much more joy in writing your first book. Less pressure. More time to get it right. I didn’t experience as much joy in writing SURRENDER, and there was way more pressure and way less time to get it perfect. So that’s hard. Looking back, writing POSSESSION was definitely more fun.

What was better about writing Surrender?

I no longer had to worry as much as world-building. The society was already set in POSSESSION, and while SURRENDER takes place in another city, and I needed to establish setting, the whole world didn’t have to be conceived. It already had been. So that made writing SURRENDER much easier.

How is promotion different between the two books?

The pressure! With POSSESSION, I didn’t really know what would work and what wouldn’t. I did things because I wanted to do them. With SURRENDER, I went through a period of time where I seriously contemplated doing nothing. Maybe mentioning the book on release day. Then things changed, and I decided I did need to do some promotion for the book. And the pressure that brought! So much pressure.

Because, remember, now everything is about sales. How many copies are selling? How close is that bringing me to earning out? What else can I do to reach readers? Will they buy it if they only see the book once?

And on and on. There is intense pressure to promote SURRENDER, to ensure that it sells well enough to warrant a continued writing career.

General questions:

Surrender is a companion novel.  Which characters reappear in this book?
Okay, so readers will see Vi and Zenn and Jag again. Thane Myers also plays a heavy role in SURRENDER, just as he did in POSSESSION. Let’s see, who else is there? I think that’s it.

Do you prefer butterflies or hummingbirds?  Explain. 
It depends! I have some beautiful jewelry for each, and butterflies are definitely more common in almost everything craft-wise. I definitely prefer the butterfly cover over the hummingbird one, so maybe butterflies? Yeah, let’s go with that.

What are you writing now?

I just started working on a YA contemporary novel. It’s going well, but it’s much harder than I expected it to be.

What else do you have in the works that you want to tell us about?

So many things! I’m hoping I’ll get to unleash my YA sci fi on the world one day. As well as my YA fantasy… Oh! And I wrote a whole novel in verse. I’d love for that to get published too. So we’ll see. Hopefully, there are many upcoming things for me!



About SURRENDER: 

Raine has always been a good girl. She lives by the rules in Freedom. After all, they are her father’s rules: He’s the Director. It’s because of him that Raine is willing to use her talent—a power so dangerous, no one else is allowed to know about it. Not even her roommate, Vi.

All of that changes when Raine falls for Gunner. Raine’s got every reason in the world to stay away from Gunn, but she just can’t. Especially when she discovers his connection to Vi’s boyfriend, Zenn.
Raine has never known anyone as heavily brainwashed as Vi. Raine’s father expects her to spy on Vi and report back to him. But Raine is beginning to wonder what Vi knows that her father is so anxious to keep hidden, and what might happen if she helps Vi remember it. She’s even starting to suspect Vi’s secrets might involve Freedom’s newest prisoner, the rebel Jag Barque…. 



Friday, July 6, 2012

The Power of Words


I know a writer who wrote
A picture book manuscript
And had the courage to pursue—
Querying.

We know what it’s like to send
Our babies into the world
Like blowing wishes in the wind
Hoping.

One agent is well known ‘round
The social networking sphere
And was doing what agents do—
Advising.

This agent sent the writer,
Not a form letter, but still
One writers dread, anticipate—
Rejection.

But
It
Didn’t
Stop
There.

The agent
Actually said
It was awful and called
Her a terrible writer.

The writer
Wanted to quit.

Another
Writer who is
Published and Established
Told her it was super—keep

Trying
To
Get
It
Published.
The writer didn’t give up
Because the published writer
Did what all good agents should do—
Support.

Writers
Make
Mistakes
Learn
Grow.

We all start somewhere humble
Before we make our mark.
Doing what writers do with time—
Blossoming.

Nobody
Has
The
Right
To

Crush dreams.

What one agent calls DRIVEL
Can leave another agent DAZZLED.

Don’t
Give
Up
Just
Yet.






Keep writing
xo
Theresa



P.S. My poem is included in


Please read “Catty-Corner” on pages 41-42. 

This poem illustrates the power of words for me.