Majanka Verstraete's Blog, page 30

Author Interview with Sal Di Leo

I’m interviewing Sal Di Leo, author of nonfiction “Did I Ever Thank You, Sister?” today. Welcome to my blog!

Author Interview

When or why did you decide to write your book?

“This was my first and only book. I wasn’t intending on writing a book when I started out, I just wanted to write down what had happened in my life, so I could finally face my past and go forward. It was a very healing process, to say the least.”

What inspired you to write your book?

“It was a phone call from a Newspaper reporter from Joliet, Illinois, who had found me via an old Nun who raised me in the orphanage in Joliet. He was doing a story about the 100th Anniversary of the Founding Of The Guardian Angel Home and was looking for people who had been there back when it was still an orphanage. He wanted to know what I thought of my experience, now it had been years since I left. He and I talked about an hour and when we were through, he suggested I write down my life story.” Several years later, I did.

 

What is your editing process like?

“Since I was not a professional writer by trade, I asked my 17 years old daughter to help me with editing. She was in a program with the Minneapolis Star Tribune Newspaper for high school students and was focusing on Journalism. She did the only editing at the time. She was good at it. It was difficult however for her to read some of the things I put myself and my family through in my earlier years that she had no idea about. She later on attending the University Of Missouri and received her Undergraduate and Masters in Journalism there.”

What was the most challenging part about writing this book for you?

“Going back into my past and really putting down what had happened, without sugar coating it. I cried a lot”

Is this your first book?

“Yes. I truly had no intention of actually seeing this become a book. It just turned out to be one as people I trusted read it and encouraged me to get it published. The rest is history.”

Are you working on something now?

“I am working on my second book, this time with a purpose other than just trying to heal. This book has been on my mind for about 10 years now. I am almost finished with it.”

About the Book

Title: Did I Ever Thank You Sister?

Author: Sal Di Leo

Genre: Nonfiction

Sal Di Leo returns after 30 years to the Catholic orphanage outside Chicago that he and his siblings called home in 1963. This is the beginning of a journey of discovery and remembrance as Sal is forced to reconstruct his life as it really happened, including some of his most difficult years at Boys Town in Nebraska. As an adult, Sal tried to rise above his turbulent past in an aggressive quest for power and money. Successes soon led to failures. Eventually, a wise friend convinces Sal to go back to his roots and look for the good experiences and valuable lessons he learned as a nine-year-old orphan.

 

Author Bio

An entrepreneur who has successfully tackled many challenges in business and in life, Sal volunteers much of his time serving those in need. With his family, he founded St. Francis Lodge, a free retreat center where nuns, priests and others can reflect and rest to enhance their lives and work. The State Fish Art contest, which he started in Minnesota to help kids learn about conservation through art, is now offered in all 50 states and 12 countries. Sal has been actively involved with Rotary and the Lions Club, and he has spoken to service clubs around the United States about his life and the importance of gratitude. His self-published memoir, Did I Ever Thank You, Sister?, rooted in his childhood experiences in a Catholic orphanage, is available worldwide. The proud father of two adult daughters who have successfully left the nest, Sal has been married to his lovely wife Beth for more than 30 years. A longtime resident of Minneapolis, he is a 1977 graduate of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Links

Goodreads

Amazon

Website: http://www.saldileo.com/

Author Interview with Wanda Kay Knight

I’m interviewing Wanda Kay Knight, author of middle grade fantasy “The Peacock Door” today. Welcome to my blog!

When did you know you wanted to be an author?

You know that feeling that you had when you were a kid—that feeling that there are a few things that you have to get done during your lifetime or you won’t feel like you finished whatever it is you’re supposed to do.  Well, for me, I always felt like I had to write something.

That feeling got even stronger after I read Little Women. In the book, Jo, one of the main characters, is writing her own book. In one scene, Jo’s sister gets mad, tosses Jo’s manuscript into the fire, and (since they didn’t have back-ups or thumb drives or computers in the 1800’s) destroys it.  I was beyond devastated with that scene.  Then, to make matters worse, even in the next book, Jo didn’t appear to continue writing. Again, devastation.  Ultimately, Jo married well, was a teacher, and had a good life, but she didn’t write her book. (Actually, she did continue writing because Jo’s real-life persona is Louisa May Alcott, but I didn’t know that at the time.)  So, I decided that I would write a book but, I wouldn’t let anything (including bad sisters) get in the way.  So, here we are years, marriages, life, and lessons later, and I finally decided that if I was going to keep that childhood promise to myself, I better get started and just do it.

What inspired you to write The Peacock Door?

I have always wanted to write an allegorical tale for young people—because those types of stories mattered to me when I was young—and they still do.  I also wanted to consider some of my own questions about life and the journeys we take as well as the consequences of the paths we choose.  You know, those question like what happens if we make the wrong choice when we are making important decisions?  What happens when we decide to get lazy and take the easy way out?  What happens when we misunderstand the purpose of a certain path?

Now, quite frankly, I am not a philosopher and certainly don’t have the answers to those questions. I’m just a person who wonders how in the world I got from Point A to Point C without passing through Point B when my intension was to go in another direction altogether.

So, in an effort to consider these questions, ideas, and mishaps, I took eight cousins on a journey.  Now, I don’t think the story line is an obvious allegory—it is my hope that it is simply an easy to read tale of magic and adventure—but, for me, while I was writing—I was also considering the impact of the journeys we take and the paths we choose.

What is your editing process like?

My editing process took several different and rather haphazard forms.  Some sections came out almost exactly as they are now in the book, but, I struggled over many sections and ideas for days or even weeks.

For example, one day, I was sitting in front of an old bookstore in a small coastal town. The sun was creating sparkles on the water and it was simply beautiful.  I happened to have my mini-laptop setting on the back seat.  I pulled it out, wrote a brief description about the place, and saved it with the idea that someday I might be able to use the description in some piece of writing or, worst case scenario, have the description as a reminder of that precious scene. That ended up being the first couple chapters in the book without any changes at all.

There were other times as I was driving or taking a shower or going on a walk that a few words, plot ideas or character motivations suddenly came to me and I quickly wrote them down and put them away in a folder without really knowing if I would ever use them.

By the time I decided to get real about writing my book, there were bunches of little pieces of paper and jotted down notes in a binder or saved in a folder on the laptop.  I bought a binder, and some really smooth writing pens, compiled my notes and pieces of paper and began to put ideas together—those pieces or descriptions ended up all over the place within the book.

For most of the book; however, I had to set goals for myself and just keep on keeping on. I found it best to write one small section or a few pages per week. On the first day of the writing week, I typed out the general idea for the section without worrying about grammar or punctuation.  The next day, I took that section or chapter and began cutting unnecessary ideas and/or rearranging/replacing words. Finally, by the third day, I was generally ready to tidy everything up—put that small section or chapter through spell and grammar check, print it off and add it to the binder.  Even then, however, most of it was not really written in chronological order.

In the end, I took all those sections, rearranged some more, made loose ends go away, filled in holes and put it the entire book through spell and grammar check over and over and over.  I think it might possible to spend a lifetime fixing and changing and putting your work through spell and grammar check; but, at a certain point, I simply decided that I was done.  There is a story of a poet who kept working on the same poem for 20 years and was never totally satisfied.  I can see how that is very possible because there is always feels like something could be better and it always feels like there are more mistakes to be fixed. But, for me, in the end, I also came to a point of accepting some imperfections and just being happy that I had accomplished my goal.

Is this your first book?

Yes, it is my first book. I have written several full-length plays and skits for young people and students, but this was my first book.

Did you set any writing goals for 2017?

I began 2017 with the goal of finishing this book.  It actually took longer than I thought to put the finishing touches on it, but I was finally finished in May of 2017.  I have spent the summer going to local bookstores, creating posters, and bookmarks and learning how to promote The Peacock Door. Once school starts, I will be doing readings or presentations in the local schools.

However, now that most of the initial promotion work is underway, I am ready to begin another book during the month of September.  After all,  I have another little blue folder sitting on my desk with a disorganized bungle of notes inside of it waiting to become a part of something.

 

 

About the Book

Title: The Peacock Door

Author: Wanda Kay Knight

Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy

In a magical tale of adventure, eight cousins sneak through forbidden treehouse doors, only to find themselves separated from each other and lost in strange worlds. In their quests to return home, they must unravel mysteries, escape snares and villains, find one another, and search for the elusive Oracle. The Peacock Door is a rich story of camaraderie, loyalty, love, and determination with a bit whimsy sprinkled throughout.

Author Bio

Wanda Kay Knight lives in the Pacific Northwest, teaches literature, strives really hard to keep up with her adventurous/competitive family, makes things out of yarn (mainly unique hats), enjoys collecting pretty rocks, and writes a lot.

 

Links

Website: www.thepeacockdoor.com

Youtube video

Youtube video

Email address:    wandakayknight@thepeacockdoor.com

My personal email:  wkayknight@gmail.com

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The Adventures of Marisol Holmes: All About Spiders

In this week’s post, I’m going to talk to you about one type of shifter species in The Adventures of Marisol Holmes series that we haven’t discussed yet. Spiders. In the books, the mortician / coroner is a spider named Mormont.

Spiders are arthropods, meaning they have eight legs. They also have fangs that inject venom. There are at least 45,700 spider species and 113 spider families. That’s a lot of species! On top of that, spiders are found worldwide on every continent except Antarctica (so for those of you who have arachnophobia, like I do, let’s head to Antarctica!).

Male spiders have complex mating rituals to avoid being eaten by the females of the species. Males usually survive a few mating rituals in their life. Females weave silk eggcases after mating, each of which may contain hundreds of eggs. Females will often carry their young around or share food with them.

Social behavior among spiders is often complex. Some spiders such as the widow spiders are solitary creatures, but other spider species hunt co-operatively, or even share food.

Some spider species have venom dangerous to humans but most venom is harmless. Spiders use it to hunt their prey (not, contrary to popular belief, to hunt down human beings at least a hundred times their size). Spiders capture their prey by creating sticky webs, which they then manipulate to capture prey. When a prey is captured in their web, they inject the prey with venom, paralyzing the fly / bug / whatever else insect they captured.

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Promo Post The Sullivans Boxed Set

About the Set

Title: The Sullivans Boxed Set

Author: Bella Andre

Genre: Contemporary Romance

More than 6 million readers have already fallen in love with the Sullivans! Now get ready to meet your new favorite family in Bella Andre’s New York Times and USA Today bestselling contemporary romances with the first three books in the #1 hit series.

“Not since Nora Roberts has anyone been able to write a big family romance series with every book as good as the last! Bella Andre never disappoints!” Revolving Bookcase Reviews

THE LOOK OF LOVE

Chloe Peterson is having a bad night. A really bad night. The large bruise on her cheek can attest to that. And when her car skids off the side of a wet country road straight into a ditch, she’s convinced even the gorgeous guy who rescues her in the middle of the rain storm must be too good to be true. Or is he?

As a successful photographer who frequently travels around the world, Chase Sullivan has his pick of beautiful women, and whenever he’s home in San Francisco, one of his seven siblings is usually up for causing a little fun trouble. Chase thinks his life is great just as it is–until the night he finds Chloe and her totaled car on the side of the road in Napa Valley. Not only has he never met anyone so lovely, both inside and out, but he quickly realizes she has much bigger problems than her damaged car. Soon, he is willing to move mountains to love–and protect–her, but will she let him?

FROM THIS MOMENT ON

For thirty-six years, Marcus Sullivan has been the responsible older brother, stepping in to take care of his seven siblings after their father died when they were children. But when the perfectly ordered future he’s planned for himself turns out to be nothing but a lie, Marcus needs one reckless night to shake free from it all.

Nicola Harding is known throughout the world by only one name – Nico – for her catchy, sensual pop songs. Only, what no one knows about the twenty-five year old singer is that her sex-kitten image is totally false. After a terrible betrayal by a man who loved fame far more than he ever loved her, she vows not to let anyone else get close enough to find out who she really is…or hurt her again. Especially not the gorgeous stranger she meets at a nightclub, even though the hunger – and the sinful promises – in his dark eyes make her want to spill all her secrets.

CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE

Gabe Sullivan risks his life every day as a firefighter in San Francisco. But after learning a brutal lesson about professional boundaries, he knows better than to risk his heart to his fire victims ever again. Especially the brave mother and daughter he saved from a deadly apartment fire…and can’t stop thinking about.

Megan Harris knows she owes the heroic firefighter everything for running into a burning building to save her and her seven-year-old daughter. Everything except her heart. Because after losing her navy pilot husband five years ago, she has vowed to never suffer through loving – and losing – a man with a dangerous job again.

Author Bio

Bella Andre is the New York Times, USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of “The Sullivans”, “The Maverick Billionaires”, “The Morrisons”, and the NYT bestselling “Four Weddings and a Fiasco” sweet romance series written as Lucy Kevin.

Sign up for Bella’s newsletter at www.BellaAndre.com/Newsletter

Visit Bella’s website at www.BellaAndre.com

Follow Bella on twitter at www.twitter.com/bellaandre

Join Bella on Faceboook at www.facebook.com/bellaandrefans

Having sold more than 6 million books, Bella Andre’s novels have been #1 bestsellers around the world and have appeared on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists 32 times. She has been the #1 Ranked Author at Amazon (on a top 10 list that included Nora Roberts, JK Rowling, James Patterson and Steven King), and Publishers Weekly named Oak Press (the publishing company she created to publish her own books) the Fastest-Growing Independent Publisher in the US. After signing a groundbreaking 7-figure print-only deal with Harlequin MIRA, Bella’s “The Sullivans” series is being released in paperback in the US, Canada, and Australia.

Known for “sensual, empowered stories enveloped in heady romance” (Publishers Weekly), her books have been Cosmopolitan Magazine “Red Hot Reads” twice and have been translated into ten languages. Winner of the Award of Excellence, The Washington Post called her “One of the top writers in America” and she has been featured by Entertainment Weekly, NPR, USA Today, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and TIME Magazine. A graduate of Stanford University, she has given keynote speeches at publishing conferences from Copenhagen to Berlin to San Francisco, including a standing-room-only keynote at Book Expo America in New York City.

If not behind her computer, you can find her reading her favorite authors, hiking, swimming or laughing. Married with two children, Bella splits her time between the Northern California wine country and a 100 year old log cabin in the Adirondacks.

Connect with Bella

Sign up for my new release email

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Links

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

iTunes

Kobo

Google Play

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The Adventures of Marisol Holmes: All About Foxes

As you know, The Adventures of Marisol Holmes features a school of shifters, and one of the shifters who appears in the story is a fox shifter. Foxes are small-to-medium-sized, and “fox” is actually a group name given to twelve distinct species of “vulpes”. On top of that, there are also 25 current or extinct species often called foxes.

The red fox is the most common subspecies of foxes, and currently has 47 recognized subspecies.

Foxes are smaller than wovles, jackals and even than domestic dogs. Foxes typically live in small family groups, but some foxes, in particular the Arctic fox, are known to be solitary.

Foxes are omnivores. They often eat insects, reptiles and birds, but can also eat eggs and plants. A female fox is called a “vixen”. Unfortunately, fox hunting was a popular sport since the 16th century in particular in the United Kingdom. While it’s now banned to hunt with dogs, hunting without dogs is still permitted.

In Asian culture, foxes are depicted as familiar spirits. They have magical powers, and are seen as mischievous tricksters. These spirits are called “kitsune”. Kitsune can take on a human form, and can duplicate the appearance of a specific person, in particular beautiful women. While the fox shifters in The Adventures of Marisol Holmes are also quite mischievous, they don’t have additional magical abilities like the Japanese kitsune.

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Becoming: A Multi-Genre Anthology for Not Quite Adults

I have exciting news to share. Last year, one of my publishers, Patchwork Press, contacted me to write a story for their anthology. I did and now, many months later, the book is up for preorder.

Becoming: A Multi-Genre Anthology for Not Quite Adults is an anthology of several new adult stories, including a story I wrote that’s based on a secondary character in one of my other series, Mirrorland. The character it features is Felicia, although an all grown-up version of Felicia, who is now going to college.

I enjoyed writing the story and I hope you’ll enjoy reading it. While fans of the Mirrorland series should definitely check it out, everyone can enjoy the story as it’s completely stand-alone.

Becoming: A Multi-Genre Anthology for Not Quite Adults is available for preorder from Amazon, Apple, B&N and Kobo. The book releases on September 18, 2017.

Here is the book synopsis:

“Am I doing this right?”

Whether you’ve just started your first marketing job after college, are a mercenary trying to make it on your own for the first time in the 2300s, or are part of a magical study group where nothing ever goes according to plan, figuring out how to adult usually leads to a few adventures, and even more disasters.

Join the authors of Patchwork Press in eight genre-hopping stories all about figuring out adulting in a hodgepodge of worlds that can feel anything but easy to navigate.

Featuring stories by: Kellie Sheridan, E. Latimer, Katherine Bogle, Taylor Hondos, Eliza Boyd, Majanka Verstraete, Janna Jennings & Angela Shelly

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Book Spotlight: My Sophomore Year of Rules

Title: My Sophomore Year of Rules

Author: Jennifer DiGiovanni

Genre: YA Romance

Colette Rodriguez hates rules. Just ask her perfect, older, gorgeous, rule-following sister, Jana.

But now that Jana’s away at college and Colette’s a sophomore in high school, things are going to change. She’s gotta find a way to get out from under her sister’s shadow.

The problem is, everyone, including the boys, remembers perfectly-hot-Jana and they constantly compare Colette to her.

With Jana finally out of the house, Colette decides that sophomore year is the best time to make her mark on the world. She vows to follow the rules, although rule-following has never been her strong point. When a teacher asks Colette to lead a STEM Mentoring project, working with middle school kids, Colette sees her chance to stand out, though she doubts her ability to take charge.

Enter Will Gamen, junior football star. Looking for a club to boost his chances of a college scholarship, Will signs up for STEM. From the first meeting, when Will inadvertently takes over, Colette wonders if he should really be the person to run the project. And, in an even more confusing turn of events, Will starts to drop by her house for unplanned study dates. After the two spend one fabulous Saturday night together, he suddenly backs off.

But Colette and Will started out as friends and she’s determined not to let one meaningless kiss come between them. Plus, keeping Will on her team is the best thing for the STEM project. And it also gives her more time to convince him that they work better as a couple.

Links

Buy on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2vQphjY

Add on Goodreads

Author Bio

Jennifer DiGiovanni is a freelance writer and YA author of the School Dayz series. When she’s not writing, you can find her reading, working on home design projects, or trying to meet the daily goals on her Fitbit. She also likes to try new sports and activities, from archery to ballroom dancing, with varying degrees of success.

Swoon Romance on Twitter: @SwoonRomance

Swoon Romance on Facebook

Giveaway

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A Study in Scarlet vs. A Study in Shifters

The Adventures of Marisol Holmes: A Study in Shifters is completely different from Arthur Conan Doyle’s “A Study in Scarlet”, but the title is based on it. “A Study in Scarlet” was published in 1887 and marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Since the Marisol Holmes series features a heroine who is the great-great-granddaughter of Sherlock Holmes, and who has the same intelligent, sharp mind as her ancestor does, it made a lot of sense to base the title of the first book in the series on the title of the first Sherlock Holmes book. And admit it, “A Study in Shifters” sounds pretty cool either way.

In “A Study in Scarlet”, Dr. Watson (the narrator) meets Sherlock Holmes, who reveals he’s a consulting detective. They first meet in a laboratory where Holmes is experimenting and explains to Watson the importance of bloodstains as evidence in criminal trials. In A Study of Shifters, Marisol too explains the importance of bloodstains in crime scenes.

Watson is amazed by how perceptive Holmes is, considering the consulting detective notices right away that Watson served in Afghanistan, without the doctor telling him.

Holmes is asked to consult on a murder case, but he’s reluctant to do so. Watson urges him to reconsider, and then Holmes invites Watson along. While Watson is on the sidelines, more a spectator than an active participant in solving the crime, and most of the credit goes to Holmes, he does offer some helpful suggestions that help Holmes along the way.

The Adventures of Marisol Holmes: All About Otters

One of the main characters in The Adventures of Marisol Holmes: A Study in Shifters, Wyatt Johnson, is an otter shifter. Now, otters look adorable, but they’re much more to otters than meets the eye–and the same counts for Wyatt. Let’s learn a bit more about our otter friends.

Otters have long, slim bodies and short limbs. They have powerful webbed feet which they use to swim, and seal-like abilities which permit them to hold their breath underwater. They have sharp claws on their feet and long, muscular tails. There are actually thirteen species of otters.

For most otters, fish is the number one item on their menu. Sometimes they also add in frogs, crayfish and crabs. Otters are active hunters, chasing prey in the water or searching the beds of rivers and lakes. Otters require a lot of food: European otters must eat 15% of their body weight each day. Sea otters need even more, 20-25%, depending on the temperature of the water. Most species hunt for three to five hours each day, and nursing mothers even hunt for eight hours each day.

Did you know an otter’s den is actually called a holt or couch? I had no idea!

Otters are popular animals in Japanese folklore. In Japanse folklore, otters fool humans the same way foxes do (think of the kitsune). They can apparently, according to the stories, shapeshift into beautiful women. They will answer questions in a crytical way. However, there’s also a story of an otter shifting into a beautiful woman, and luring males to their deaths by eating them. Yikes! Turns out these cute animals are quite dangerous after all, at least in folklore.

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The Adventures of Marisol Holmes: All About Leopards

In The Adventures of Marisol Holmes: A Study in Shifters, two of the characters, Elise Fell and Reyna Fell, are leopard shifters. Leopards are closely related to jaguars, from the way they look to the way they hunt, but despite the resemblances, there are some stark differences between the two species.

Just like the jaguar, the leopard is one of the five big cats in the genus Panthera. It has relatively short legs, but a long body and large skull. It’s smaller and lighter than a jaguar. There are 9 subspecies of leopards recognized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), namely the African leopard, Indian leopard, Arabian leopard, Persian leopard (also known as Central Asian leopar or Caucasian leopard), North Chinese leopard, Amur leopard, Indochinese leopard, Javan leopard and Sri Lankan leopard. As you can see, most of the species are divided based on their hunting grounds and where they’ve been found.

All these subspecies have small morphological differences from one another. On top of that, the texture and colour of a leopard’s fur often varies too by climate and geography; leopards in forests are darker than those in deserts.

The leopards primarily occur in Africa, and eastern and southeast Asia. They’re very adaptable, and can thrive in forests as well as in savannas. They can climb on trees and are often resting on tree branches during the day. They even drag their kills up trees and hang them there. Leopards are solitary predators.

Leopards often appeared in mythology. Egyptian priests wore the skin of a leopard, in particular the skin of black panthers, which they saw as a symbol for the spirit of Set.

 

 

 

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