Madeline Smoot's Blog, page 13

11 Reasons Why . . . To Love Today

Lots of stuff happens today, and since it's the 11th day of the 11th of the month of the 11th year, I've come up with 11 reasons to enjoy today.

It's the first day of Austin Comic Con.  True, it's not exactly the same as the big one in San Diego, but it still is pretty awesome.
As part of Comic Con, we of course, wear costumes, but today since I also will be loading in stuff, I won't be wearing one today.  So costumes this weekend, but not getting dressed up today is a great reason to love today.
The Writing Ninjas have a booth at Austin Comic Con this weekend.  We're going to be there signing and giving things away.  If you are in Austin you should definitely consider coming by.
Today is my first large-scale real author event.  I've worked these types of events in the past, but always as a publisher pushing my authors' books.  That of course, makes it a very special day to love (or hate).
We have the BookSpot from Round rock running our book sales today and the rest of this weekend.  Do you know what that means? I won't be tied to the booth the entire time running sales.  I don't have to count change.  I don't have to swipe credit cards.  This miracle alone would make this day a great day.
I got my author business cards yesterday, and I'll be giving them out today.  I've had editor and publisher cards before, but never author.  It's very exciting.
I also got the postcards for my book.  Again, I've done ones for the books I've published, but never for my book.
Today, I am a published author, and I'll be telling lots of people all about it.  I suspect the first time this happens to be very awe inspiring.
Yesterday, our Harper Collins rep did a small sales presentation for the kids' staff at the store (BookPeople). I now have 6 new readers and a signed Sendak book.  This will give me something to do on my down time (if I have any) today.
The 8th Harry Potter movie comes out on video today.  I haven't seen it so, yes, this excites me.
Today is Friday.  Do I need another reason to love today?

Why do you love today?
And to see what other indie authors think about this 11/11/11 kind of day, visit some of the blogs below:



1.
Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween, Book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series
2.
Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series


3.
Heather Self
4.
T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series


5.
Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga
6.
Darby Karchut, author of GRIFFIN RISING


7.
Lexus Luke
8.
PJ Hoover, Author of SOLSTICE, Blogging at ROOTS IN MYTH


9.
Cheri Schmidt, author of the Fateful Trilogy
10.
Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog


11.
K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
12.
Patti Larsen, The Hunted series and The Hayle Coven series


13.
Courtney Cole, author of The Bloodstone Saga
14.
Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy


15.
Dani Snell's Refracted Light Reviews
16.
Fisher Amelie, author of The Understorey


17.
M. Leighton, Blood Like Poison Series, Madly, The Reaping
18.
Abbi Glines, author of Breathe and The Vincent Boys


19.
Kimberly Kinrade, Bits of You & Pieces of Me, Forbidden Mind
20.
Madeline Smoot, Missing, Summer Shorts, and The Girls


21.
Cidney Swanson, author of Rippler
22.
Nicole Williams, author of Eternal Eden, Falling Eden


23.
Gwenn Wright, author of Filter

And to check out what's happening this week, head on over to the YA Indie Carnival Site.

Halloween Remembered

Halloween was always one of my favorite holidays. It was the only time of the year when my friends and I could dress up in whatever we wanted and run around knocking on neighbor's doors. And unlike a dance recital or a play, I got to pick out the costume, and I didn't have to practice before wearing it. And I often wanted to go in a costume my mother didn't like.

The best year was the one where I went as the Count vonCount from Sesame Street in one of those plastic costumes you used to be able to get at the grocery store. My mother's best friend had offered to sew me a beautiful princess dress, but 3 year old me was having none of that. I was going to be the count, and no one would dissuade me.

Writing Characters

Supposedly when you write, all of your characters become like your babies — people that you are emotionally attached to.  One of the problems I run into as an editor is people being so invested in their character that they have difficulty re-imagining him/her in a way that might work better for the story.

So, imagine my relief when I discovered that I was not the type of person who falls in love with their own characters.  Don't get me wrong, I like Liv and Issy, don't think very highly of Emma, and I have a weakness for Morte, but I have seriously considered every character note I ever received on them and incorporated the ones I felt made sense into my revisions.  (Believe it or not, Emma used to be a lot harsher.)

But even this rather clinical view of my characters doesn't mean I don't have a favorite.  I do, and by far it's Morte.

How Liv sees Morte.

Morte is an interesting character.  Since he is the one who is "missing," he only physically appears in 4 chapters.  However, he permeates the entire novel — both the "real" Morte and Liv's not entirely reliable perception of him.  Morte is witty and personable although Liv not only can't see it, she wouldn't acknowledge it if she could.  And really, the duality of this is what makes him so interesting to write.  It's hard to balance the real with the perceived and make Liv's perceptions not sound completely insane. And that is fun to write.

Of course, I'm not the only one who enjoys writing about her characters.  Check out the other authors in the Indie YA Carnival:

 

Dani Snell's Refracted Light Reviews
Patti Larsen Author of The Ghost Boy of MacKenzie House, The Hunted Series and the Hayle Coven Novels
Courtney Cole Author of Every Last Kiss, Fated, Princess, and Guardian. Also a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
Nicole Williams Author of Eternal Eden, and Fallen Eden. She is also a contributing author in the Glassheart Chronicles
Fisher Amelie Author of The Understorey, as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
Laura A. H. Elliott Author of Winnemucca as well as 13 on Halloween, book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series
Amy Maurer Jones Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
Rachel Coles. Geek Mom. Book Reviewer Author of Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, Whistles, Beergarden, Plagues, Bees of St. John, and Mushrooms
T. R. Graves T.R. Graves: Author of Warriors of the Cross
P.J. Hoover Author of Solstice, The Emerald Tablet, The Navel of the World, The Necropolis
Alicia McCalla Author of the upcoming science-fiction novel Breaking Free
Heather Cashman Author of Perception
Abbi Glines Author of Breathe, and the upcoming Existence and Vincent Boys
Cheri Schmidt Author of Fateful, Fractured, and Fair Maiden
Lexus Luke Author of Manitou, The Sky People Saga
Suzy Turner Author of December Moon and Raven
K. C. Blake Author of Vampire Rules
Gwenn Wright Author of Filter
Kimberly Kinrade Author of Bits of You, Pieces of Me and Forbidden Mind
Darby Karchut Author of Griffin Rising and the upcoming Griffin's Fire
Madeline Smoot Author of Missing, Summer Shorts, and The Girls
M. Leighton Author of the Blood Like Poison Series, Wiccan, Caterpillar, Madly & Wolfhardt & The Reaping
Cidney Swanson Author of Rippler

And some of our Carnies have some really exciting announcements for this week:

 Beyond The Veil: A Ghost Story Anthology by Rachel Coles is out on Kindle and at Smashwords at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/94161
Griffin Rising by Darby Karchut is a nominee for the 2011 Cybils Awards (YA fantasy). (I know I also saw Solstice by PJ Hoover nominated too.)
Laura A.H. Elliot will be in Portland, OR Tonight, Friday Oct 7th 6:30-8:15 pm at the West Linn Library, West Linn, OR 97068. She'll be on tour with The Rain Boots Required Young Adult Authors talking about "The magic of magical realism"!

Also at Wordstock Oct 8-9:)
Dani Snell will be interviewing fellow carnie Kimberly Kinrade on the blog with a giveaway for her first book in the Forbidden series, Forbidden Mind.  http://refractedlightreviews.com/?p=2580

My Dream Cast

Doesn't my book look good on one?

I am a huge technology junkie. I love gadgets and always like to look at the coolest new toys that are coming out.  So, I was interested this week when I saw the new Kindle Fire that Amazon put out this week.

It does all sorts of stuff besides read great books by indie authors like me and my fellow indie carnies, including play movies.

And that got me thinking, who would be my ideal cast for the movie version of Missing?  (Conveniently that is the theme for this week's YA Indpendent Author Carnival).

So, who should play who?

Well, clearly someone gorgeous should play since she is loosely based on me.  (I mean really loosely.)  Since she pretty much isn't described in the book, and I envision her having either brown or red hair, I choose Molly C. Quinn who plays Alexis on one of my favorite shows, Castle.

For Morte, I had a hard time choosing.  It's not like Hollywood is known for going for skeletal leading men.  Even the character actors tend to be pretty good looking.  (And Steve Buschemi who is a fantastic actor and has the perfect bone structure probably is a little old for a fourteen year old role.) But maybe Dylan Riley Snyder from Disney's Kickin' It would work. I have never seen the show, but he looks to be about the right age, and like he could be related to Molly C. Quinn.  (Although not thin enough — Dylan looks healthy and all — maybe they can do some sort of effect like they did for the Captain America movie.)

Issy is technically a blonde, but I like Ariel Winter from Modern Family.  She's could do Issy's intelligence justice, and she has the added bonus of looking like a high school freshman.

Emma is pretty and outspoken, so I like Brit Robertson who stars in The Secret Circle on CW.  I've seen an entire episode of the show, but I think Brit would be great.

And finally, the only other major role is Mandy, Liv's other best friend.  I would cast Kat Graham from the Vampire Diaries. Admittedly, I've never seen that show, but she's pretty, and I'm sure she could portray sympathetic, quiet Mandy.

On the whole though, I don't really ever see Missing by itself being made into a movie — maybe the whole series if I ever write it, but not just the first book.

To read everyone else's casting choices for their books, catch the rest of the carnies at their sites:

Dani Snell's Refracted Light Reviews
Patti Larsen Author of The Ghost Boy of MacKenzie House, The Hunted Series and the Hayle Coven Novels
Courtney Cole Author of Every Last Kiss, Fated, Princess, and Guardian. Also a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
Nicole Williams Author of Eternal Eden, and Fallen Eden. She is also a contributing author in the Glassheart Chronicles
Fisher Amelie Author of The Understorey, as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
Laura A. H. Elliott Author of Winnemucca as well as 13 on Halloween, book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series
Amy Maurer Jones Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
Rachel Coles. Geek Mom. Book Reviewer Author of Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, Whistles, Beergarden, Plagues, Bees of St. John, and Mushrooms
T. R. Graves T.R. Graves: Author of Warriors of the Cross
P.J. Hoover Author of Solstice, The Emerald Tablet, The Navel of the World, The Necropolis
Alicia McCalla Author of the upcoming science-fiction novel Breaking Free
Heather Cashman Author of Perception
Abbi Glines Author of Breathe, and the upcoming Existence and Vincent Boys
Cheri Schmidt Author of Fateful, Fractured, and Fair Maiden
Lexus Luke Author of Manitou, The Sky People Saga
Suzy Turner Author of December Moon and Raven
K. C. Blake Author of Vampire Rules
Gwenn Wright Author of Filter
Kimberly Kinrade Author of Bits of You, Pieces of Me and Forbidden Mind
Darby Karchut Author of Griffin Rising and the upcoming Griffin's Fire
Madeline Smoot Author of Missing, Summer Shorts, and The Girls
M. Leighton Author of the Blood Like Poison Series, Wiccan, Caterpillar, Madly & Wolfhardt & The Reaping

Indie YA Idols

I will confess that I'm new to the indie YA scene. Although I have been reading YA from the big houses for years, I have only recently entered the indie YA market.  However, that doesn't mean I don't have some favorites.  In particular, there are 2 independent YA authors that I find particularly inspirational. (And yes, they do both happen to be authors I work with, but that's not why I find them inspirational.)  Let me introduce you to Denise Getson and PJ Hoover.

Denise Getson

My first acquaintance with Denise's writing began when I ran across her manuscript in the slush pile at Blooming Tree Press.  She had written this intriguing dystopic novel (back before the onslaught of dystopic novels) set in a world with very little water.  Although originally contracted with Blooming Tree, I negotiated long and hard to purchase her contract for my own press CBAY Books.  In fact, Denise's novel is what made me want to diversify my press into YA.  Up until her manuscript, I had been content to stay a press dedicated to middle grade fantasy and science fiction.  That changed with Dry Souls.

Dry Souls is the tale of Kira, a girl who discovers that in her drought stricken world she can create water.  Kira dreams of refilling the lakes and streams, but the government, who uses water to control its population, has other ideas.

Dry Souls came out last spring, and is one of my favorite teen books on the market right now. (I don't just say that because I published it.  It is really a great book.) I highly recommend it.

PJ Hoover

PJ has been a major inspiration to me — in fact she is the person who inspired me to self-publish my own teen novel.  PJ was the first person in my direct acquaintance to decide to explore direct ebook and POD publishing.  Although I have known PJ for years (I published her middle grade trilogy), I was amazed at the depth of her writing when I read my copy of Solstice, her new young adult novel.  Also debuting last spring, Solstice, has earned (and deserved) many 5 star reviews from the readers who have devoured it.

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Set in a world of permanent summer, Piper discovers there's more to her life than she had previously believed. A mysterious box, two very hot and intriguing guys who like her, and an overprotective mother all come together to make Piper's life very strange indeed.

Although I've heard many books described as "Percy Jackson meets Twilight," this is the only book to date that I feel truly deserves that description. The Greek mythology is woven into the story masterfully, and the romance is both intense without being overpowering.  Another great book for fans of YA fiction to read.

Although I know that there are many other great indie YA authors out there, these are two of my favorite.  Hopefully, they will become 2 of your favorites as well.

 

Missing Now Available at Amazon.com

I think one of the biggest milestones for an eBook is when it shows up on Amazon.  Don't get me wrong.  I think Smashwords and its ability to provide a consumer with literally any eBook format is truly amazing.  If you've never been to their site before, you should definitely head over.  Besides my book, they have some of the best of indie teen publishing out there.  (Might I suggest Solstice by PJ Hoover?)

However, the number one question I've gotten when I tell people I've published an eBook is: Is it on Amazon?

And the answer now, is a big, loud YES!!

To purchase Missing for your Kindle, you can get it at Amazon here.

Missing Now Available!

Missing is now out (sort of). Admittedly, distribution is limited at the moment, but you can start downloading Missing for just about any eReading device (including Kindles) at Smashwords.com.  And although it normally costs $2.99, I am currently offering it for FREE until 9/12.  All that I ask for this free book is that you send me some feedback (good, bad or otherwise) on what you thought.  Obviously, I'm looking for some positive reader response to put up on my this website as well as the other places I promote my book. I look forward to starting to see Missing popup in all of the major retail hotspots (Apple iBookstore, Amazon, B&N, etc) in a few weeks. However, until then, get your free copy now.How to get your free copy:Go to Missing's Page at Smashwords. com.Purchase the book.Enter Coupon Code CS66X *Enjoy!*Offer only good through 9/12/2011

Get Missing Free!

Missing is now out (sort of). Admittedly, distribution is limited at the moment, but you can start downloading Missing for just about any eReading device (including Kindles) at Smashwords.com.  And although I went ahead and priced it at $2.99, I am currently offering it for FREE until 9/12.  All that I ask for this free book is that you send me some feedback (good, bad or otherwise) on what you thought.  Obviously, I'm looking for some positive reader response to put up on my Missing website as well as the other places I promote my book.

I look forward to starting to see Missing popup in all of the major retail hotspots (Apple iBookstore, Amazon, B&N, etc) in a few weeks. However, until then, get your free copy now.

How to get your free copy:

Go to Missing's Page at Smashwords. com.
Purchase the book.
Enter Coupon Code CS66X *
Enjoy!

*Offer only good through 9/12/2011

Liv's Blog is Up

During the whole horribleness that is Liv's journey through Missing, I had Liv keep a journal.  It never appears anywhere in the book since the book is first person.  Instead, I used this journal to help me write and craft the story.  I have now taken a few of those entries (those that Liv wouldn't have minded becoming public), and I've created her own blog.  It's short, but it shows some of what is happening to her in that first month after her brother Morte's disappearance.  Click the link at the top of the page, or visit her blog here.

Cover!

I'm so excited to reveal the cover for Missing.  A couple of designs were considered, but this is the one I got the best feedback on.  May I present the look of Missing: