Katy Huth Jones's Blog, page 22

Friday Author Spotlight: Annie Douglass Lima

Today I have the privilege of interviewing one of my new favorite authors, Annie Douglass Lima whose newest YA, The Collar and the Cavvarach will be released tomorrow, May 9th.

Q: How did you get the idea for an empire with elements of modern technology mixed with slavery and gladiatorial contests?

Annie: I've had the idea growing in my mind for the last few years. It started as just a picture of the setting and its culture (with legalized slavery), and the plot and individual characters emerged little by little. The martial art of cavvara shil didn't enter my imagination until just before I started drafting.

Q: After reading the advance copy of The Collar and the Cavvarach, I looked up "cavvarach" to see if it was a real weapon and couldn't find it. Is there an inspiration for that?

Annie: I wanted to create a challenging martial art that was a combination of two or three different fighting styles, involving elements of unarmed combat as well as the use of a weapon. It took a few false starts before I had a fighting style I liked. At first I just pictured using a sword, but I wanted something a little less stereotypical. The cavvarach, with its hook, ended up being just right for what I had in mind. Combatants try to snag their opponent's hook to tug the weapon out of the other person's hand, which is one way to win a duel. (They can also knock it away with their own cavvarach, or kick it away.) Besides disarming an opponent, you can win by knocking them over and pinning their shoulders to the mat for five seconds.

Although this never gets mentioned in the book, I picture a cavvarach having been an ancient weapon of warfare thousands of years ago in that world. Warriors could fight with it much as they would with a sword, but the original purpose of the hook would have been to snag the legs of horses (when wielded by a warrior on foot) or to grab at enemy fighters and pull them off their horses or out of their chariots as they galloped past.


Q: Isn't this the novel you completed during last year's NaNoWriMo? If so, how did you manage to write an entire novel while teaching fifth grade? I'd love to know about your process.

Annie: I wrote the first (very rough) draft during NaNoWriMo in 2013, yes. And let me tell you, it was not an easy task to complete it while working as a full-time teacher! I love my day job and would never want to quit, but I often wish it left me with more time for writing. One of the secrets to my winning NaNo was getting up early and putting in an hour or two of writing before school started. Sometimes I set my alarm for as early as 4:30 a.m. Fortunately, I am a morning person, but it was still hard to get up that early! I pulled some late nights, too, and that was even harder for me. On Saturdays and Sundays I would often spend most of the afternoon writing at a little table outside one of our many neighborhood teashops. Since I didn't have Internet access there, it was easier to stay focused (and the convenient access to hazelnut milk tea and many of my other favorites didn't hurt either!).

Q: The descriptions of the martial arts contests in The Collar and the Cavvarach sound authentic. Are you a practitioner? Or just a very good researcher?

Annie: Designing cavvara shil (and the necessary training and practice for it, as well as rules of the tournament) took a LOT of research. This was one of the most challenging aspects of writing this book. I am not a martial artist myself, so it was all the more difficult to make sure this martial art was feasible and would make sense to readers who practice "real" martial arts. I spent hours researching online and in books, as well as talking to athletes I know. I'm glad to hear that after all that, it does sound authentic!

Q: I'm fascinated by your background, growing up in Kenya and now teaching in Taiwan. Where else have you lived or visited that made a big impression on you, and where would you like to live or visit?

Annie: I've been to a total of nineteen different countries and lived in four of them. Besides Kenya and Taiwan, Indonesia holds the biggest share of my heart. I once spent a year there, teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in a town at the edge of the jungle in New Guinea. What an unforgettable experience! I love to travel anywhere, though, and there's nowhere in the world that I would specifically not want to go. But Asia is my favorite continent to live in, and the next country on my bucket list to visit is Cambodia.

Q: Any plans for a sequel to The Collar and the Cavvarach? How about another book in your Alasia series? 

Annie: Yes to both! I'm working on two more novels at the moment. King of Malorn will be the next one in the Annals of Alasia, and I'm hoping to have that published sometime this summer. The other one is The Gladiator and the Guard, which takes place four years after the events of The Collar and the Cavvarach. I drafted it last November (another NaNoWriMo project), but it still needs a LOT of work. I hope to have it ready for publication by about this time next year, but we'll see.

Thanks for stopping by, Annie! I really appreciate you letting me preview The Collar and the Cavvarach. (My review on Goodreads.) It's an excellent story and I hope MANY readers will discover this book as well as your other YA fantasy series, The Annals of Alasia, which have replaced Anne McCaffrey's Harper Hall Trilogy as my all-time favorite fantasy series. (And I can't wait to read King of Malorn!)

You can order The Collar and the Cavvarach on Amazon or Smashwords, and you can follow Annie:



Email: AnnieDouglassLima@gmail.com
Blog: http://anniedouglasslima.blogspot.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnnieDouglassLimaAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/princeofalasia
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnGoodreads
Amazon Author Page: http://bit.ly/AnnieDouglassLimaOnAmazon
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AnnieDouglassLima
LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnLinkedIn
Google Plus: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnGooglePlus

Making (Mostly) Beautiful Music

Once upon a time, in the small town of Kerrville, Texas, home of Schreiner University, a community orchestra was born. The very nice director asked me annually for several years if I would play with them, but I politely declined because with my crazy schedule (homeschooling our two sons plus other children for band, science, Shakespeare, creative writing; Boy scouts; teaching flute sectionals and private lessons at area schools; teaching Bible classes at church, etc.) I couldn't possibly add another commitment to my overloaded schedule. I would have loved an opportunity to play instead of teach, but I just had to say no.

Then my life came to a dramatic stop while I fought cancer, and suddenly I didn't want to say "no" to playing classical music with the community orchestra that had now grown to become a quality regional symphony.

I first played with the Symphony of the Hills almost ten years ago when I subbed for their piccolo player at an all-patriotic Pops concert. The conductor, Dr. Jay Dunnahoo, asked me to stand for the solo in Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever," which made me REALLY nervous, not because of the notes but because I was still nearly bald after my recent chemotherapy.

The following January there was an opening in the flute section, and I said, "YES, I will play with the symphony." I've been with them ever since and loved almost every concert we've done.

It isn't often our performances are recorded, but I'm putting several here, in case someone is interested in listening to some of our finer moments.

The above performance of Verdi's "Nabucco" is proof one must practice at a faster-than-marked tempo in case your conductor gets excited and goes faster...and faster. I think my piccolo was smoking by the end of this song.

One thing our conductor has tried to do over the years is "gently" introduce newbies to classical music with arrangements like this one. His philosophy has been to make the final song of the concert one that the audience "can leave humming or singing to."

Now I've just learned that Dr. Dunnahoo is retiring after this month's final concert of the season. He is one of the kindest men I've ever known, and I will greatly miss him. This piece we recently played is how my heart is feeling right now. Thanks, Dr. Dunnahoo, for your generous spirit, your creativity, and your encouragement. I'll miss your smiling determination on the podium.

Young Wife v. Old Wife

The Jones fam 1994It occurred to me in the early morning hours (when I do my best thinking) that my attitudes have changed since I was a young wife and mother. There was a time when I enjoyed "time off" from my husband and sons. For years we were involved in Boy Scouts, and once a month hubby and the boys would be off on a campout. That was my writing binge time, so I eagerly looked forward to the peace and quiet. In our youth we think we have all the time in the world, so it's easy to take those we love for granted.
2014
Since my own experience with cancer, I've lost several dear friends my age, and now my attitude has completely changed. I no longer look forward to separations from my husband, even an overnight, because that just means one less day and night to be with him, and those days and nights are more precious than all the riches this world can offer.
As the hero in my WIP says on page 351 of book 1: "That seems to be a great secret of life, to be happy with what you have and who you share your life with for as long as God wills."

And the winner is....

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Clean Indie Reads March Madness blog hop! There were 319 entries and one lucky winner of 41 books was chosen at random by a computer program. And the winner is...

Shelly Hammond!
If you haven't already visited the Clean Indie Reads site, I highly recommend it! There are many genres from which to choose, and regular sales, including freebies!

It was so much fun to participate in a giveaway, I'm going to think of something for next month, so stay tuned!

Clean Indie Reads March Madness

I joined a writer's group called Clean Indie Reads almost a year ago, and not only have I made some wonderful new writing friends, I've read many fantastic books by these authors, and nine of the ten best books I read in 2014 were by CIR authors.

In addition to some great prizes during this week's blog hop (see the list of books HERE), for which you can enter in the form below, there are many wonderful books on sale at the Clean Indie Reads website. If you like "flinch-free" fiction (with restrictions on language, violence, and sexual content), this is the place for you!

My books are featured on the CIR website, but please browse around; there are many genres to choose from. If you like what you read, please don't forget to leave a review for the author at Amazon, Goodreads, etc. One thing I've learned in the past year is how important reviews are to help an author "get the word out" about their books.
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Be sure and visit the other blogs in the blog hop and enter at each one for more chances to win!
Or you can find links to the other blogs HERE!

The very strange journey of two books

Exactly ten years ago I started nuclear-bomb strength chemo for a rare combination of two non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, one of which was fast-growing and aggressive. The chemo turned my life inside-out and upside-down, but one good thing that came from it was the genesis of a middle-grade fantasy. I had already been pondering how to write a novelization of the story behind Mozart's "Magic Flute" opera, but during the worst days of chemo when all I could do was lie on the sofa in a nauseated fog, a little bird kept singing to me. When I finally identified him as a Carolina wren, then all thoughts of Mozart went out of my head, and this wren became a different character named Songcatcher.

I wrote a novel about a fourteen-year-old flute player with lymphoma who is taken to the fantasy land of Finian Jahndra by Songcatcher because he believes she can save their magical world from dying of a "canker" which is similar to what the girl has just faced. Finian Jahndra is populated with sentient birds of many species as well as a small number of trusted humans who are allowed to live there.

Because I was recovering from the effects of chemo (physical, mental, and emotional) I just printed out copies to give as gifts, not really expecting to try to publish the story. But when all the feedback was favorable (including encouragement by THE Jane Yolen at a weekend writer's retreat), I sent out queries and received polite rejections. A few years later, quite by accident, I stumbled upon a new publisher called Cool Well Press whose stated mission was to provide quality fantasy for teens. I loved the quality of their website and published books and sent a query. They accepted LEANDRA'S ENCHANTED FLUTE and published it as an ebook in January 2012.
Then my wonderful editor, Christine Nodes, wondered if there wasn't another story about Leandra and Songcatcher and Finian Jahndra so Cool Well Press could publish a double paperback with both stories. I brainstormed and came up with an unexpected but very fun-to-write storyline. Christine liked it and CWP accepted it, but shortly after I signed the contract, things started feeling "weird." Christine sort of "disappeared" and things on the website started changing. The book did come out in February 2013, but one month later, Cool Well Press was no longer in business.

Since two other devastating events happened in March 2013, I was not in a position to learn the new skill of self-publishing. It took another year before I re-published the two books on Amazon (digital only). A dear friend offered to make covers for them using a photograph I'd taken of a fourteen-year-old girl holding my flute, and later a cover designer "tweaked" it to make it better "pop" on the screen, also coming up with a totally different idea for the sequel to make it stand out, too.

I know these books will never make any money, and I'm okay with that now. After all, I've already had my 15 minutes of fame. There are millions of books being published, and a huge percentage of them are not quality books, either in terms of editing or subject matter, so little books like mine will get lost in the vast ocean. I'm keeping these in print for the sake of the dear ones to whom I've dedicated the stories--fellow cancer survivors who wanted to live, and whom I would send to Finian Jahndra if I could.

Fun Friday: Solve the Mystery Message to Take the Treasure!

What do pirates, explorers and children have in common? They all love treasure hunts!THE ULTIMATE READING QUEST will end on Monday, January 19th, at midnight. This is your last chance to explore new books and authors, and to take home free prizes and books. Plus, one lucky winner, will get aMYSTERY BONUS TREASURE!
To enter your name for this SPECIAL TREASURE you must prove yourself worthy by collecting the 49 letters of a secret message! Just by reading this post you already have two of the letters (A and B).
Find the rest within the Quest, writing them down as you go. When you have all 49, unscramble them to decode the secret message. Enter the exact words of the message in the Mystery Prize Rafflecopter here: http://questteaching.com/wordpress/2015/01/15/solve-mystery-message-take-treasure/

As you're searching for the letters, be sure to leave a comment for each and every author. Not only will you get to chat with the amazing Quest authors, but each comment will earn you extra entries in the general Quest prize giveaway that includes free books! ">
What are you waiting for? TAKE THE TREASURE!

KidLit411, or you can't have too much encouragement!

The reason I love writing for children is the same reason I loved raising and teaching children--they still have pure hearts and are just beginning their journeys of discovery and creativity. It fills my heart with joy to be part of that process (or else I just never grew up and can better relate to children).

For years I was a member of SCBWI but found it less and less helpful, so I let my membership lapse. One of my critique group partners encouraged me to join again last year, but I haven't found their website to be very user-friendly.

Now, thanks to a fellow children's writer, I have discovered a WONDERFUL, EXTREMELY user-friendly site: KidLit411. And right now there's a giveaway for an agent to read a finished PB or MG manuscript submission. What a great idea for a giveaway. These are my kind of folks! Check them out!

P.S. As an added bonus, they have cute birds in their masthead! This was meant to be! :D

Join the Quest! The Ultimate Reading Quest!

The Ultimate Reading Quest is an interactive quest for readers, ages eight to adult, to find books by authors who write in their favorite genres. There are giveaways for participants, including Amazon gift cards and free books.

This is a great idea for upper elementary/middle school language arts teachers, and my MG fantasies LEANDRA'S ENCHANTED FLUTE & RETURN TO FINIAN JAHNDRA are included!

Find out more about The Ultimate Reading Quest. Pass it on!

The Grinch Was Right

Every December I love to watch the animated version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". The song is hilarious ("You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch") and the animation adorable, but my favorite part is when the Grinch finally "gets it" and his heart grows three sizes, giving him the strength to rescue the falling sled full of stolen decorations and presents.

It occurred to me when we received our 1,000th catalog in the mail the other day that many people chase happiness as if it were something to find or buy or hold in their hands. They haven't yet reached their Grinch moment. I hope they will someday.

Now that I've tasted the bitterness of grief, loneliness, betrayal, cancer, depression, and anxiety, joy is all the sweeter in comparison. It comes from within us, and it is meant to be shared.

How can we find happiness or its deeper expression, joy? It's deceptively simple: being thankful in all circumstances, seeing the good in ourselves and others, giving rather than taking, and putting the needs of others above our own desires.

Here's to your own Grinch moment. May you find joy and spread it to others. After all, it's a gift that never stops giving.