Lisa Sanchez's Blog, page 12
August 15, 2012
July 26, 2012
RWA day three
Okay, so one of the things people tell you at this conference (I've heard this over and over) is to pace yourself. There's a lot going on, and as much as you might want to cram as many seminars on craft and world-building as you can, it's impossible to do everything.
I attended three seminars, and a luncheon.
And I'm dog tired.
Lol! This could be because my pillow morphed from a soft, billowy cloud in the middle of the night, to a flattened piece of sheetrock that woke me up at 4am. Nevertheless, come 4pm, I'd pretty much fallen into a coma-like sleep and am a groggy, drooling mess.
This doesn't exactly make going out and doing the social thing easy. Eeck!
The sessions I attended were all great, and I came away with a wealth of useful information.
The keynote luncheon was fun as well. I sat next to a very nice woman who writes inspirational novels for Harlequin.
Until tomorrow!
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July 25, 2012
RWA day #2
Hello, my peeps!
I'm enjoying a little downtime right now, so I thought I'd open up my Blogger app and chat with you.
Of all my days here, Wednesday is my least busy. Other than the Literacy signing this afternoon, I had nothing scheduled or planned.
Gotta say: a day of relaxation is just what the doctor ordered. After breakfast (where I chatted with a lovely lady from Canada) I wandered over to the Goodie Room and picked up a couple books and a few odds and ends for the girls.
After unloading my books and swag, and answering and sending a few emails, I took a nice leisurely stroll over to Downtown Disney. The weather is beautiful with a slight breeze, so perfect! And thank goodness for maxi dresses. They're cute, comfy, and provide a good amount of air flow, lol!! Going to rest for a little bit before heading down to the book signing. So excited!.
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July 24, 2012
Hello from RWA 12!
Hey, peeps!
Quick post today. I've been in the car for a better part of the day. Finally made it to Anaheim a bit ago and am so excited about the conference.
The hotel we're staying at (Marriot) is hopping, and we've (I'm here with my awesome crit partner, Kristin Miller) and we've already seen several noteworthy authors.
Yep... I'm offically in fan girl mode. I'm not pitching while I'm here, but I'm practicing it anyway, just in case. I'm pretty shy and quiet, but am determined to step out of my comfort zone and talk to people. Think some good thoughts for this quiet, small town girl.
I've added a pic of the bag of books I received at registration above. Woot!
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July 10, 2012
I'm on Pinterest!
Hey, peeps!
Quick post tonight to let you all know I've succumbed to the Pinterest craze! Seriously, that site is like crack. I can't stop pinning!
Anyhoo... Along with some fun boards featuring my favorite things like fashion and food, I've created boards for each of my works. I'm in the process of adding some fun stuff to each of the boards, so get at it! Re-pin, comment, and post away!
Lisa's Pinterest Board
Have a great night, peeps!
July 6, 2012
My books are on sale!
Yeah, baby!
During the month of July, both Eve Of Samhain and Faythe Reclaimed are both on sale! Woot!
Eve Of Samhain is available for $2.99 on Amazon, as part of Omnific Publishing's Freedom Sale.
Faythe Reclaimed is currently 50% off on Smashwords with coupon code SSW50.
Click the links above and get at em, peeps! They won't be on sale forever!
June 21, 2012
Reviews: I need them!
Happy Thursday, peeps!
This is a big blogging week for me, lol! Three posts in a row!
Today's post is a request, and one that I hope you'll take me up on.
I've got over three hundred ratings on Eve Of Samhain over at Goodreads. I've got 25 reviews on Amazon.
Eeck! I need to remedy this!
The same can be said for my other works as well.
I've got a proposition for you. I recently stumbled across the first chapter of Soul Harvest (Hanaford Park #4). As I've mentioned several times recently, book four is permanently on hold right now. I'm willing to post the first chapter of Jessica's book if I can get my Amazon review count up. Once Eve Of Samhain hits 50 reviews, I'll post the chapter.
Easy! Leaving a review takes just a few minutes, and it really helps me out. And yes, I'm asking for HONEST reviews. So if you didn't like the book, leave a review anyway.
And please... If you've read any of my other works, would you consider leaving a review? You'll totally make my day!
Here's the linky doo :) Eve Of Samhain
Thank you! Mwah!!!!
June 20, 2012
Eureka! I've found a home in New Adult
Happy Hump Day, peeps!
I've got to say, I'm pretty darn giddy about today's post. Let me give you a little lead-in.
Three years ago, when I was querying my first novel, Eve Of Samhain, I kept hearing the same thing over, and over, and over from agents.
Books set in College aren't marketable. They don't sell.
I had a publisher (not mine) recommend that I age my characters. In the original manuscript, Ryann was a college freshman, not a senior like she is now. I was told the book would be more believable if the characters were older/adult.
In love with my book and my characters, I aged them a little, but kept them in college. Surprise, surprise... I had zero luck getting picked up by anyone. That is, until an up an coming small publisher took a chance on me and gave my story to the world.
Eve Of Samhain and the two following books in the Hanaford Park series are humorous paranormal romance. Clueless about the "New Adult" genre at the time, I marketed my book as straight "Adult" pnr. However, I kept seeing readers ask if the book was YA because of the dialog and some of the situations. My answer was always "No" there are some definite mature themes and situations in the book that clearly knock it out of the YA category. Mainly the sex. (Yes, I know there's sex in a lot of YA, but the shmexin' in my books is a bit racier, lol!)
Fast forward to the beginning of this year. I purchased Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire, fell in love with the story (which was set in college, btw!) and have since gone on a reading binge, purchasing and reading as many similar books as I can find. The common denominator amongst all the books I've been reading (Easy, by Tammara Webber, Flat Out Love, by Jessica Park) is that these books all fit into a genre I just recently discovered: New Adult.
The characters in this awesome genre are tend to be in a state of transition. They're on their own for the first time in their lives. They're relying on themselves, not their parents. Oftentimes, they're in college, or they're starting a full time job. The characters are making huge life decisions. Couple those life decisions with romance, and some great conflict, and you've got the makings for some great reading.
I'm giddy because for the first time, I feel like my Hanaford Park series finally has a category it truly fits in. Set in a college town, my characters are struggling to learn how to live on their own while going to school, and working. They've also got demons, vampires and shmexy supernatural beings chasing them down, lol!
I LOVE this genre. I'm most comfortable writing characters this age, and finally feel like I can write the stories I love and not have to worry about changing anything to fit a certain "mold."
Yay!!!!!!!
June 19, 2012
The Delphi Bloodline tour with Donna Del Oro
Hey, peeps! Please join me in welcoming author Donna Del Oro to my blog today. She'll be talking about her latest work, The Delphi Bloodlines, and giving us a peek into the world of ESP. Make sure to scroll all the way down to see an excerpt as well!
Check out the cover!
Blurb:
Athena Butler is the modern-day descendant of an ancient bloodline of gifted clairvoyants. She’s trying to live a “normal” life as an artist, but with the disappearance of her mother and other notable psychics, she finds herself dragged into danger. She, too, is a target.
Kas Skoros, the son of a psychic, is a Guardian, one of a secret society whose task is protecting the Delphi bloodline. He rushes to rescue Athena and uncover the mastermind behind the kidnapping plot.
Athena and Kas stay one step ahead with Athena’s psychic abilities and Kas’s training in law enforcement. When they seek refuge at the Skoros compound in the Sierra Nevada foothills, the FBI convinces them that the only way to stop the kidnappers and trap the mastermind is for Athena to offer herself as bait.
Behind THE DELPHI BLOODLINE: My Personal Research into ESP Phenomena
By Donna Del Oro
It started with my cousin. She was a full-time, practicing psychic. People came from all over California for her “readings”, at which she claimed an approximately 85% accuracy. One day, while in my 40’s, I decided to get a reading from her. Extremely skeptical—although I’d known her all my life and knew she wasn’t a con artist—I arrived, fully expecting a lot of lucky guesses on her part. An hour later, I left dazed and confused. How did she know that my husband and I were deliberating over which of two investment opportunities to take. We hadn’t mentioned this to anyone, not even anyone in my family or my husband’s. The one my cousin advised against—and which we didn’t take, fortunately—ended up in bankruptcy a year later. There were other revelations that day that proved true in the months to come.
And so, I became intrigued by this strange phenomena known as ESP, or sometimes psi. Whatever you called it, it was known as “extrasensory perception”. My cousin claimed to be a “clairvoyant”, or able to “see” what most humans cannot see. Her insights into people, their health, and other personal facts were amazing to me. People in my family both welcomed and dreaded her phone calls. It was often: “You’ve got diabetes,” “You have a cancerous tumor in your bladder. See a doctor immediately”, “Your appendix is infected. Get yourself to a hospital now!” One close friend of the family received one of her calls. She told her that her brother was dying of cancer and that this friend should call him as soon as possible. The friend insisted that her thirty-five year-old brother was perfectly healthy and they’d just spoken days before. However, my cousin persisted and prevailed, even over objections of the friend’s brother. Two weeks later, the friend’s brother called back. He’d seen a doctor, had gotten a series of tests, and his prognosis was grim. He died a year later after a valiant battle against cancer.
When I probed my cousin, she explained the genesis of her visions and revelations. As a child of eight, she began having dreams. Some occurred at night while she slept, while others happened as daytime visions. A recurring vision puzzled her but one day it suddenly made sense. Her parents—my aunt and uncle—had announced that they were moving to Hollister, California and had just bought a house with property attached. My cousin “knew” what it looked like and proceeded to describe it to her parents, who hadn’t shown pictures of it to anyone. What she described, from the house to the trees, driveway and outbuildings, matched the place her parents had just put a down payment on.
After that, the family believed my cousin to have a gift from God. That experience prompted me to open my mind and begin a thirty-year exploration into ESP. What I’ve learned has convinced me that clairvoyance does exist, and that perhaps to some extent, precognition. Many people have incredible, intuitive abilities and many share this gift with others, at no intent of monetary gain but simply a desire to help others. A poll cited in the Journal of Parapsychology showed that at least sixty percent of Americans believe that they have had at least one psychic experience in their lives.
The difference between a true psychic and a charlatan, or someone who uses trickery and seeks profit or notoriety? Only one does it for monetary gain. True psychics, as do the psychic women in THE DELPHI BLOODLINE, share their gifts quietly and gratuitously.
Like my cousin.
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Pyramid Valley, Nevada
Thursday AM
Athena Butler’s eyes blinked open and she sat up.
Coming back from The Flow was always jolting. Emerging from the stream of spirits was like a water skier lurching out of the water, pulled by a strong, invisible force. The mind caught up later to the body as if it required a rough snap to break free.
Likewise, to go there was like jumping out of a plane and feeling the air rush to your face, your limbs weightless and wobbly. Most of the time, it was a joy to enter this world of unseen spirits. Athena welcomed her visits, especially at night when she found herself invariably alone.
When she was a child, she’d often emerge from The Flow with a fearful whimper and a cry. She’d wept and wanted to stay in The Flow. Now, at twenty-six, Athena had grown accustomed to her mental flights. They were no longer fear-inducing for she understood their purpose. But her exits were still mind-wrenching and she often lay in bed, disoriented.
This morning, fear clutched her heart and she could barely breathe. With a trembling hand, she reached for her phone. Breathless, she raked her other hand through her hair and kicked her legs over the side of the bed. She punched her mother’s mobile numbers. It was nine o’clock East Coast time.
“Thank God, Mama! Where are you?”
“I’m in Baltimore, near the--.”
“Mama, I had a dream about you. A Flow Dream. The spirits—they want me to warn you! Whatever you’re doing right now, get off the streets. Go home and lock the door. Call the police!”
Her heart felt like a ticking bomb in her chest. Athena could barely speak. But her mother knew her and understood her Flow dreams. They were seldom wrong though sometimes a little off in timing. Today, a threat was imminent. She knew it.
“Slow down, Thena. Take a deep breath and tell me slowly about your dream. I don’t doubt you but we must be able to interpret it correctly. You know how these Flow Dreams are. Sometimes the symbolism is strange and difficult to interpret.”
“Okay--just go home and lock the door. Now, Mama!”
About the author:
Donna Del Oro spent her childhood in two places, Silicon Valley, CA and the countryside of East Texas, as her father tried several job opportunities. Finally settling in Silicon Valley, she grew up in a bilingual, bicultural world--Spanish on her mother's side and English on her father's. Comfortable in both worlds, she decided upon retiring from teaching to write about her Hispanic side. Four women's fiction books resulted and a series about professional singers, their careers and love lives. Retired and devoting much of her abundant free time to exercise, writing, singing and her grandson, Donna has finally reached a point in life that totally satisfies her. Life is good and she has no complaints, just a lot of gratitude for her many blessings
Author Website
June 5, 2012
Faythe Reclaimed Pin It Contest
Hey, peeps!
Faythe Reclaimed has been out for a few weeks now, so I think it's time to have a Pinterest contest! Woot! I'll be giving away one e-copy of Faythe Reclaimed. Rules and details below.
Running through a strange forest with a bloodthirsty demon hot on her heels wasn’t Taylor’s idea of a rockin’ evening. Then again, neither was soaring backward through time and space. Time travel chafed and left a rank, nasty aftertaste. So, when she finds herself floundering amidst a sea of Commandment-loving holy rollers who fling accusations of witchcraft and bedevilment like hotcakes in a diner, finding her way home jumps to the top of her to do list. Too bad she can’t remember who she is or where she came from. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Taylor realizes she's falling for the mysterious Latin warlock living on the edge of Salem Village, Gabriel Castillo.
Battling an identity crisis and lost in a time that’s not her own, Taylor is determined to find her way back to twenty-first century Hanaford Park. But first, she and Gabriel must work together to uncover the dark scourge lurking in Salem's shadows, and in doing so, save their own lives, and the lives of countless innocents from a lethal date with the hangman’s noose. Contest rules:
This one is real simple: pin the cover art above. The person with the most repins will win an e-copy of Faythe Reclaimed (Hanaford Park #3)Contest runs through Monday, 6/11/2012Winner has three days to contact me to claim their e-book. Should you win, please do not upload the free copy onto a file sharing site. That would make me very sad :(
