Jennifer Bray-Weber's Blog, page 73

Link of the Week – Amazon Keyword Issue

I recently did a post on metadata and key words. Keywords are very important by way of driving readers to you books. But the wrong keyword can get your book removed by Amazon. It’s not new to link your style of writing or similarities of your stories/genres with other authors and their titles. It’s a marketing tool. But if you do so in your keywords and/or description on Amazon, you are misleading the public and they will take action.

To read more about this in greater detail, check out the post on Author Marketing Experts.

http://www.amarketingexpert.com/author-alert-resolving-amazon-keyword-issue/

Happy Thanksgiving

 

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” JFK

From all of us here at MuseTracks, may you have a safe, joyous holiday filled with love, laughter, and tryptophan.

Hump Day Kick Start – Kitchen Edition

Song of the Day: Ex-Girlfriend by No Doubt

Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or just a visual treat.

Take break from your Thanksgiving preparations for a little kitchen fling.

Who is our couple? Newlyweds? Old friends rekindling suppressed feelings? For him, would she be just another conquest ? Is she desperately trying to get him to stay by making him breakfast? Take notice of the details: his leather wristband, the running water, the fact he’s wearing a towel, his initial tattoo. Why are they smiling? Did they  find an epic recipe on Pinterest? Are they rejoicing that the  in-laws can’t make it to dinner? Could they be whipping up a poison to get rid of their spouses? Maybe she’s stirring up a chocolate body paint for dessert. Yum!

What’s your take? Love to hear what you can cook up.

Link of the Week – Iconfinder

This laptop icon came from Iconfinder.

Need icons for your website? Got ya covered at Iconfinder. And these just aren’t your everyday icon social media buttons, either.  Sure, they have those, but you can also find icons for shopping, holidays, business, media, animals, places, and lots more. And some of them are free!

https://www.iconfinder.com/

Dancing, Gremlins, and Determination

Song of the Day: Undaunted by Adrenaline Mob

Little know fact: I am an assistant director of a league drill team with girls ranging from 3 to 13 years old. Yes…I’m insane.

This past weekend we had our drill team competition. It was an emotional day for all filled with anxiety, stress, excitement, drama, and many, many tears. For anyone who has done dance/drill competition, you know there are many opportunities for something to go wrong. After all, you are only as good as your weakest link. For my team, the unthinkable happened.

About halfway into the senior team’s pom routine, the music shut off. Fortunately, the girls didn’t miss a beat and kept going—something they had been taught to do—and danced as if the music never stopped. But things went from bad to worse. The music restarted from the beginning. Again, the girls continued on as if the catastrophe never happened. Not one of them stopped. The music and the beat were completely at odds with their dance and should have been confusing and throwing them into a hot mess. Yet the smiling girls danced on, finishing with few mistakes to a standing ovation. It was remarkable. My heart shattered and swelled simultaneously. Now, as soon as they exited the  gym, as you can imagine, the tears flowed. A full gamut of emotions was felt by all dancers, coaches, directors, and spectators, alike.

We were asked if we wanted a redo. After consideration, the head director and myself decided to let the judging scores stand. They are strong. They will pull through no matter what happens or what the scores were and be better dancers for it. We didn’t tell the girls of our decision, not until right before they were allowed to take the floor for the pom routine at the end of the competition. They had worked hard all season and they deserved to let everyone see them shine.

What does this have to do with writing? Just as the gremlins tried to derail our girls from success by stopping the music, so, too, could a completely unexpected incident happen to authors. A computer crash, death, birth, illness, starting (ahem) a new job, or a one-star review from someone who didn’t read your book, or a yahoo who thought they were reading a thriller instead of a romance even when the title indicated it was a romance, or some troll who compared your literary talent to cheese whiz. Anything that disrupts or impacts your writing in a big way can be detrimental if we let it.

The point is, and you’ve heard it before, you must practice perseverance. You must not let events that are beyond your control rule you. You must be strong and stay on course. Adjust. Recalibrate. It can be hard. As Dory from Finding Nemo said ‘just keep swimming’, even if it’s against the current. You can and will pull through, prevail, even.

By the way, despite the set-back, the girls triumphed, taking first place by a large margin. And THAT brought on a whole new set of tears.

It’s Editor Shopping Day!

Good Morning All!

And welcome to another round of Editor Shop.

This was an interesting pitch session. Here’s why. It was the first time I had to screen for genre specific pitches, beyond romance.

We’ll get the stats out of the way first as always.

Pitches received:44

Pitches accepted:18

Pitches rejcted: 26

12 – Too long (One of these was by one word! Ugh.)
8 – Not New Adult (And I varified this with the authors)
4 – Missing information
1 – No pitch
1 – Spam

Now on to the pitches!

Please welcome Karen Grove. The launch of Entangled Publishing’s Embrace line is exciting. I love reading New Adult.

Thanks for visiting us today. If you see any pitches you like, please email me thepitch number, title, and what you’d like to see from the author. Happy shopping!

****

#1

There Was a Boy

New Adult Romance

98,000

They met under the worst circumstances imaginable…

One night when she was just twelve years old, Bliss Hartwell witnessed the murder of her father.

But she wasn’t alone that night. There was a boy there with her. A boy who held onto her and promised her that everything was going to be all right. A boy who got her through the worst possible night of her life. A boy who also happened to be the son of the killer.

But she never forgot him…

For nine years, Bliss has wondered about that boy, about what happened to him after that horrific night. Wondered, and secretly wished to see him again, to thank him for getting her through the worst night of her life. She even wrote him letters she knew would never be mailed to him, for living under the watchful eye of her mother – who treats her like a fragile doll one step away from breaking into pieces – gives her no opportunity to do so. But all that is about to change when Bliss enrolls in the same college as the boy. And Gideon Lennox has no idea what is about to hit him.

#2

No Place in Heaven

NA Fantasy

94,000

In an aerial peacekeeping guild where students are Blessed with supernatural abilities, eighteen-year-old Quinton Petronis remains Unhallowed. Turns out that if your crazy mother tried killing the Guild Father twelve years ago, you don’t qualify for his Blessing. Who would’ve thought?

When he’s finally assigned his first undercover mission, Quinton thinks his luck has changed. He joins the Guild’s best Silencer – assassin is such an unpleasant word – on a trip to the Deadlands below the clouds, where a rebel organization against the Father has taken root. Here’s Quinton’s chance to prove treason isn’t hereditary. He just hopes he’s granted some kickass abilities to help nip the rebellion in the bud.

But the people down here aren’t terrorists after all, the Father’s not the magnanimous leader the Guild paints him to be, and the “Blessing” Quinton’s granted is actually the worst curse he can imagine. A curse that, left unbroken, will turn him into the Father’s primary tool against the rebellion Quinton has come to support.

Looks like treason will have to run in the family, or the Father’s reign will overtake heaven and earth — not to mention Quinton’s identity — forever.

#3

‘The Lady in the Mist (The Western Werewolf Legend # 1)

Paranormal/western

45K

The Civil War took Sonja Brooks’ husband and left her alone. Unprotected and scared, she runs headlong into a life changing event when she’s attacked by a wolf. Her fate as a werewolf is sealed. When she stumbles upon Ty Loflin, a Rebel soldier dying of his wounds, she nurses him back to health. He’s the perfect mate, but will he want her once he knows the truth? Her blood made him a werewolf.  Now vampires, masquerading as Yankee soldiers, covet her blood because it allows them to walk in the sunlight. Ty and Sonja are destined as mates and must defend against the evil vampires who’ll do anything to get her blood.

#4

Above The Game

Literary Fiction

70,000 words

Eliot MacKenzie dreams of escaping his small New England town of Granite Harbor. Suddenly, there is no more dreaming, no escaping. Eliot MacKenzie is dead.

His life is over but not his tale. Over a several year period in the mid 1990’s, Eliot narrates a story of grief, anger, conflict, estrangement and resolution as family members struggle to deal with their loss.

Eliot’s abrupt death shatters the deceptive harmony of his family’s life. His twin brothers reaffirm their private bond, but each pursues a separate path out of the rage and confusion rising from the loss of their brother. Eliot’s mother contends with a second family crisis that not only provides escape, but also helps her deal with the death of her son. His father remains lost in the present and tied to the past as he indulges in one-sided conversations with his dead son. Eliot’s narrative follows his family members as they emerge from tragedy and anticipate futures beyond their small town and their fragmented family

Eliot alone remains above the game – a spectator, confined to Granite Harbor forever.

ABOVE THE GAME was shortlisted for the 2013 Faulkner Society Novel-In-Progress Award.

#5

Tell Me My Name

Romantic/Suspense

101,000

When twenty-four year old Reece Stewart regains consciousness in a small town emergency room, she discovers three critical things have happened that have altered her life forever. She doesn’t remember the bullets meant for her that killed her boss and co-worker, nor her dramatic kidnapping. She doesn’t even remember the car accident that occurred while trying to escape. She does remember that her first name is Reece, and that somebody wants her dead.

The hysterical emerald-eyed amnesiacs insistence that someone wants to kill her, has Dr. Rafe Haulster perplexed. Rafe’s indecision to believe Reece comes at a very high price when his nursing assistant is tortured, and killed, for information as to Reece’s whereabouts. The nursing assistant leaves a cryptic message for Rafe before dying; that the killer is coming for Reece, and Rafe needs to get her to safety. A deadly game of cat and mouse begins through the forests of the Grand Teton Mountains of Wyoming. Falling in love may not be enough to save them from their unknown killer; they fear the only chance of survival, and stopping a killer, may rest on the return of Reece’s memory.

#6

Deadly Magic

New Adult Paranormal Romance

83,000

Vin Archer, a power-hungry vampire, seeks to be an Infinitis, a vampire-witch hybrid believed to be extinct. Indestructible, with magical abilities, the Infinitis make other creatures fall to their knees, begging for mercy. To become an Infinitis, Vin must drain a powerful witch and bind her essence to him. He even has a witch in mind, Lexi Brighton, but Vin’s rival, Connor Weatherstar, threatens his plan.

Lexi has no knowledge of vampires or her Wiccan heritage. She isn’t looking for love, but Vin has a hypnotic effect on her, and she can’t shake her need for him. As their relationship evolves, peculiar things happen. She rationalizes everything, until Vin reveals he’s a vampire, then betrays her, inverting her world and nearly making her favorite place her grave. But Connor saves her.

Lexi has been drawn to Connor since the day they met, but after learning he’s also a vampire, her feelings become uncertain. But Connor’s kind-heartedness earns her affection. Vin won’t stop until he possesses Lexi, and Connor will do anything to protect her. If Lexi is to hold on to Connor, she must acknowledge her Wiccan heritage and fight to save the one she loves, or lose everything.

#7

Kilt Over

NA Historical Paranormal Romance

10K (part 1 of 3 in a series)

Totally broke college student, Brenna Sweetwater inherits a vintage clothing store from her great aunt in Scotland.  Having survived a recent series of bad luck experiences, she hopes that this new business venture will be just the change of luck that she’s been searching for.

When she tries on an old Scottish kilt that she finds hidden away in the back of the store, she unwittingly opens a portal to ancient Scotland.  After falling through the portal, she awakens to find herself in the chambers of one sexy…naked Scot!

What happens when a twenty first century shop girl is transported to the sixteenth century Highlands on Christmas Eve?  Will her holiday season be ruined?  Or will this be the Christmas blessing that she’s been dreaming of?

#8

The Fairy Godmother’s Rulebook

New Adult w/ Paranormal Elements

85,000

“Being a fairy godmother isn’t all ‘bibbidi bobbidi boo,’” according to Aviana Willowbrook. “It’s hard work, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. We don’t handle cash, jewelry, real estate or revenge, and we can’t get you or your mother a date with Ryan Gosling.”

Aviana is an underachiever struggling to find her way in the world until her 25th birthday when she learns that she’s the last of an ancient family of fairy godmothers.  Aviana thinks she’s found her purpose helping people find their Happily Ever After until she falls in love with a man destined to be someone else’s Prince Charming.

Aviana’s story is about finding yourself and the courage to be true to who you really are. Will she follow the rules and use her fairy godmother magic to make someone else’s dreams come true, or will she break the rules and use her magic to win the man of her dreams? And if the man of her dreams falls in love with her, is it just a bit of fairy magic? Or is it true love that will last forever?

#9

The Dead Days Journal

Dark Urban Fantasy

81,400

The end of the world is a blessing for Vincent Marrok, a Doomsday prepper prepared for the worst Mother Nature has to offer. Vincent’s family, along with several other survivors, are alive because of him. Together they form a strong family unit, the kind needed to survive mankind’s extinction.

Twenty-two year-old Leo Marrok understands survival is everything in a post-apocalyptic world. She will do whatever she can to protect her home and family, until her father orders her to do the unthinkable. Fearing for her safety, Leo flees, but does not get far when a blood-thirsty creature that was only rumored to exist takes her prisoner.

When Leo learns her home is under attack by a ravenous Horde, she escapes captivity. On her own, the odds are insurmountable. Leo lacks the power to save her family. However, there is one viable option: her recent captor. Leo’s courage and strength will be tested when her uneasy alliance with the one she calls “Halloween” results in alienation from the people she is trying to save. In the end, Leo must decide who the real danger is to her family — the hungry beast outside their door, or the father she always trusted.

#10

The Found Girl

Contemporary paranormal romance

100,000

Jonas Kavanagh’s life was predetermined.

One day he will be king to a magical elf kingdom and he will also be the first in the royal line to take a human as queen. Only two complications stand in his way. First, the human woman fated to be this queen doesn’t believe in love, magic or even the prediction. Second, and far more difficult to overcome, the person assigned the task of finding this human wants nothing more than see Jonas joined with someone else and he possesses enough power to accomplish this.

Alvina McKellen’s life has been one loss after another. Orphaned and unwanted by relatives forced to care for her, then framed by a man who said he loved her, she seeks a new life far from where she began. She sure never expected that new life to involve a frightening man with strange abilities and an unexpected marriage to a supposed king.

Together, a reluctant elf king and a lost girl find passion, love and their destiny together, something not even the most powerful magic of one who would tear them apart can destroy.

#11

Urquhart Plight

Paranormal Romance/Sci Fiction

103,987

“Alice is the key to set Nessie free. From loch Ness comes the tale of hope, love and a girls need to save her true love. The Urquhart Plight has been coming for thousands of years and Alice could end it all.”

#12

Switch

Dystopian New Adult

78,000

Becoming a soldier to protect her nation from rebels isn’t the way twenty-year-old Allesra92 expected to spend her birthday. Heck, she’s as far from a kick-ass heroine as she can get. So acting like a soldier while posing as her twin brother borders insanity. But she’ll do anything to keep her mentally challenged brother out of Asylum – a place where those who aren’t ‘normal’ are sent and never return.

Pretending to be part of the male fart-belch-fight club is a piece of cake compared to finding out her entire nation is nothing more than a higher government’s biological testing dome. Outside the dome isn’t much better when a rebel attack places her under the control of a bipolar(ish) rebel leader who wants to sacrifice her and her brother to the authorities to further his own cause.

And the government wants her brother – badly. Enough that anyone she comes in contact with becomes a target as well, and she’s faced with the ultimate decision between her brother’s safety and the freedom of a nation. With rebels who lie, authorities who kill, and a handsome rebel she doesn’t want to like, any direction she chooses looks like a deadly end.

#13

Marie’s World

Contemporary Romance/Drama

75,957

“Exposed and with no where turn. Marie must face the aftermath of her sister exposing her secrets to the world. Lies, betrayals, dance and the past are about to collide, will Marie find a way to survive.”

#14

Norse Gods Immortals: Carla

103,585

“Carla was a normal girl, now she is one of the Norse Gods Immortals. She must fight for her

life or lose all those she cares about.”

#15

A Heart Trapped Inside A Highlander

Timetravel/Paranormal

40,566

“Born in the wrong time, thrown back to the right time. Adrian was about to get his first love,

only she isn’t like any other woman he’s ever met and he can’t let her die.”

#16

Winning the Player

New Adult/ Contemporary Romance/Sport

82,200

Aubree Taylor has spent the past two years travelling overseas after an injury obliterated any hope of playing basketball for Australia. Growing up Aubree felt like a freak being tall and athletic, taunted for her tomboy ways. Basketball was her resolve, and fleeing her way of coping with the disappointment.

Returning to Adelaide she bumps into Hunter Stone, star Australian Rules football player, her best-friend’s cousin, and the guy she ran out on the night before her flight overseas.

Twenty-five year old Hunter is famous, for his ability as a player on and off the field, which is why Aubree ran. Her gut tells her she should run now.

Bitter about life and the cards dealt to her, a relationship with Hunter is the furthest thing from her mind.

Yet after dinner dates, hiking in the hills, and unexpected intimacy, Aubree uncovers another side other than the arrogant footballer. She lowers her guard and begins to trust him, despite his past that keeps rearing its ugly head in the form of jealous girls who didn’t run from his bed like Aubree. To feel special again, Aubree must open her heart and take a chance on life and love.

#17

All or Nothing

New Adult

89,900

Chase Embry had it all. A full boat scholarship, a girlfriend every guy wanted, and an epic inheritance.

That was before one night of partying. One night that ended when he crashed his car, killed his girlfriend, and ran from the only life he’d ever known.

Losing himself in New York City, Chase finds out how easy he’d had it, how hard others have it, and how hard it is to go back and set things right.

#18

I Am The Bigot

New Adult

72,000

Twenty year old Dawslyn’s Sociology project starts out fun. She’s supposed to study human behavior, reactions, and outcomes when her ‘subjects’ are faced with a difficult topic.

She could have settled for abortion, politics, or war, but when a public service announcement about racism catches her attention, she knows what her topic will be.

Setting up twelve different websites, each that portrays a group working to help only a certain race, Dawslyn starts sending out emails as advertisement and keeps open chat boards for each site.

At first the data is great. But as more and more people find out about the sites, tempers flare, public figures start taking sides, and the campus is rocked by a division in reactions, Dawslyn’s identity is revealed.

Now she has to defend her beliefs, her project, and the fact that she’s been labeled a bigot.

It’s Pitch Day at Editor Shop with Karen Grove of Entangled Publishing.

Good Morning and welcome to another round of Editor Shop.

Make sure you follow the rules for pitching. You can find all the details under the Editor/Agent Shop tab above.

Good Luck!

GO!

We have the awesome Karen Grove with Entangled Publishing as our guest Editor, and she coming with a BANG!

Entangled just launched it’s New Adult line Embrace, and they’re doing a mega give-a-way! Here is the link to the Embrace Launch Giveaway. It is open to everyone (whether you’re pitching or not) and it will run through the end of the month:

http://www.entangledinromance.com/2013/11/11/10365/

They’re giving away a Kindle Fire, an iPod Shuffle, and a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card.

And even more… Entangled is doing something special for some of our ‘pitchers’. They’ll be giving away some advance reading e-galleys of Embrace’s upcoming December releases!

• Forged by Fate by Reese Monroe (NA paranormal)

• Sneaking Candy by Lisa Burstein (NA contemporary romance)

• Ruined by Jus Accardo (NA paranormal)

*FROM KAREN: [Please note that these are early peeks at upcoming books, and they may have errors in them as galleys are made from uncorrected proofs…but a few tiny errors are worth getting a first look, aren’t they?]

AWESOME!

And here’s some information about what Karen is looking for:

Embrace is seeking fresh, strong voices that capture the emotions and complexities of characters straddling the line between high school and the adult world of work and family. Our ideal protagonists are from 18-24 years old; these characters are legally adults but are still finding their way to adulthood, separating from their parents, heading off to college, experiencing full-time employment, searching for love, and even beginning families. For these characters, it’s a time of experimentation and metamorphosis. Embrace novels are digital first and priced from $2.99 – $4.99.

At Entangled, we believe New Adult is an extension of Young Adult fiction—dealing with many of the same issues of identity and exploration but with a more focused perspective toward breaking away from parental supervision and the impending responsibility that goes with adulthood. We are looking for books told from the point of view of the emerging adult, defining a critical period of decision making and growth. There should be an element of romance in every Embrace title, though it does not need to be the main focus of the story.

Entangled New Adult publishes across genres, and we are looking for engaging voice and bold, fresh stories in

• Contemporary

• Romance

• Mystery

• Suspense/Thrillers

• Historical

• Fantasy

• Science fiction

• Paranormal

And here’s a bit about Karen!

Karen Grove, Editorial Director of Embrace (New Adult) and Senior Editor

Karen Grove has been an editor for 28 years, working with authors at Harcourt and then Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, concentrating in young adult fiction. She has worked with such prestigious authors as Han Nolan, Carol Plum-Ucci, L. A. Meyer, Ann Rinaldi, Adele Geras, Kathryn Reiss, Gary Paulsen, and New York Times bestselling author Susan Beth Pfeffer. The majority of her books have earned starred reviews from major review journals and such prestigious awards as the National Book Award, Michael L. Printz Honor, multiple Edgar Allen Poe Awards (Mystery Writers of America), and a RITA Award (Romance Writers of America). In addition to her editing, she owned and operated a local business newspaper for 10 years. She resides in Southern California with her husband and college-age son.

Karen looks for stories with quirky characters, compelling voices (even snarky ones, if there’s heart behind it), and settings that are so strong they become characters themselves. She adores small-town and Southern novels, with their strong sense of community and personal relationships, as well as stories with deeply flawed characters that she can both love and hate. Karen reads across a wide range of genres and enjoys gritty contemporaries, dark urban fantasy, apocalyptic stories, suspense/thrillers, mystery, romance, and tales that contain elements of the supernatural as well as sports (hockey, soccer, football, equestrian)—though maybe not together. Although Karen edits both Adult romantic fiction and YA, she is especially interested in stories that feature protagonists grappling with life after high school…those 18-24 year olds embarking on their first foray into independence. The only topics that don’t particular interest her are high fantasy (she prefers her fantasy to be firmly grounded in the real world) and deeply rooted science fiction. No matter what the age group or genre, Karen wants a story to move her—to make her laugh, cry, tense in fear, or cause her to think in some way she hasn’t considered before.

Good luck everyone!

I’ll see you Saturday morning around 10:00am E.S.T. Wait until you see me post the word GO!

Happy reading and writing.

~Candi

Editor Shop! This Saturday with Karen Grove of Entangled Publishing.

Hi everyone!

Guess what? Pitch day is THIS SATURDAY!!!!

We have the awesome Karen Grove with Entangled Publishing as our guest Editor, and she coming with a BANG!

Entangled just launched it’s New Adult line Embrace, and they’re doing a mega give-a-way! Here is the link to the Embrace Launch Giveaway. It is open to everyone (whether you’re pitching or not) and it will run through the end of the month:

http://www.entangledinromance.com/2013/11/11/10365/

They’re giving away a Kindle Fire, an iPod Shuffle, and a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card.

And even more… Entangled is doing something special for some of our ‘pitchers’. They’ll be giving away some advance reading e-galleys of Embrace’s upcoming December releases!

• Forged by Fate by Reese Monroe (NA paranormal)

• Sneaking Candy by Lisa Burstein (NA contemporary romance)

• Ruined by Jus Accardo (NA paranormal)

*FROM KAREN: [Please note that these are early peeks at upcoming books, and they may have errors in them as galleys are made from uncorrected proofs…but a few tiny errors are worth getting a first look, aren’t they?]

AWESOME!

And here’s some information about what Karen is looking for:

Embrace is seeking fresh, strong voices that capture the emotions and complexities of characters straddling the line between high school and the adult world of work and family. Our ideal protagonists are from 18-24 years old; these characters are legally adults but are still finding their way to adulthood, separating from their parents, heading off to college, experiencing full-time employment, searching for love, and even beginning families. For these characters, it’s a time of experimentation and metamorphosis. Embrace novels are digital first and priced from $2.99 – $4.99.

At Entangled, we believe New Adult is an extension of Young Adult fiction—dealing with many of the same issues of identity and exploration but with a more focused perspective toward breaking away from parental supervision and the impending responsibility that goes with adulthood. We are looking for books told from the point of view of the emerging adult, defining a critical period of decision making and growth. There should be an element of romance in every Embrace title, though it does not need to be the main focus of the story.

Entangled New Adult publishes across genres, and we are looking for engaging voice and bold, fresh stories in

• Contemporary

• Romance

• Mystery

• Suspense/Thrillers

• Historical

• Fantasy

• Science fiction

• Paranormal

And here’s a bit about Karen!

Karen Grove, Editorial Director of Embrace (New Adult) and Senior Editor

Karen Grove has been an editor for 28 years, working with authors at Harcourt and then Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, concentrating in young adult fiction. She has worked with such prestigious authors as Han Nolan, Carol Plum-Ucci, L. A. Meyer, Ann Rinaldi, Adele Geras, Kathryn Reiss, Gary Paulsen, and New York Times bestselling author Susan Beth Pfeffer. The majority of her books have earned starred reviews from major review journals and such prestigious awards as the National Book Award, Michael L. Printz Honor, multiple Edgar Allen Poe Awards (Mystery Writers of America), and a RITA Award (Romance Writers of America). In addition to her editing, she owned and operated a local business newspaper for 10 years. She resides in Southern California with her husband and college-age son.

Karen looks for stories with quirky characters, compelling voices (even snarky ones, if there’s heart behind it), and settings that are so strong they become characters themselves. She adores small-town and Southern novels, with their strong sense of community and personal relationships, as well as stories with deeply flawed characters that she can both love and hate. Karen reads across a wide range of genres and enjoys gritty contemporaries, dark urban fantasy, apocalyptic stories, suspense/thrillers, mystery, romance, and tales that contain elements of the supernatural as well as sports (hockey, soccer, football, equestrian)—though maybe not together. Although Karen edits both Adult romantic fiction and YA, she is especially interested in stories that feature protagonists grappling with life after high school…those 18-24 year olds embarking on their first foray into independence. The only topics that don’t particular interest her are high fantasy (she prefers her fantasy to be firmly grounded in the real world) and deeply rooted science fiction. No matter what the age group or genre, Karen wants a story to move her—to make her laugh, cry, tense in fear, or cause her to think in some way she hasn’t considered before.

Good luck everyone!

I’ll see you Saturday morning around 10:00am E.S.T. Wait until you see me post the word GO!

Happy reading and writing.

~Candi

Hump Day Kick Start – Road Side Assistance Edition

Song of the Day: Interstate Love Song by Stone Temple Pilots

Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or just a visual treat.

It’s another hit and run today. Day job has me super busy, so I thought this picture prompt might be appropriate.

Who is our couple? Socialite and her boy toy? A girl who was driving her boyfriend’s/daddy’s/boyfriend’s daddy’s car and broke down on the side of the road getting some much needed help from a cute good Samaritan? A car thief seducing her unsuspecting victim before she jacks his ride? Maybe they are a modern day Bonnie and Clyde on the run, but he’s run out of steam and she’s about to tell him to suck it up. Is she miffed he forgot to put gas in the car? Or maybe this is a “perk” to road side assistance. 

You tell me. What’s you take on the photo. Happy writing and let me hear from you!

Hump Day Kick Start – Hunk and Hound Dog Edition

Song of the Day: Undaunted by Adrenaline Mob

Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or just a visual treat.

After 13 years of being a domestic goddess, and 6 years of being an author, I’ve gone back to work full time. No, I don’t suck at book sales, but times are a-changing and a wee bit of insurance is a good thing. However, according to my author friend Nina Cordoba, every time an author goes back to work, an angel loses it’s wings. Oops. My bad.

I started my new adventure this week. As I type this, I’m completely wiped out. So, I needed something to perk me up. What better way than with a hot, scruffy guy and a puppy?

Now you get to tell me about him. Who is he? Is he frustrated/mad/heartbroken? If so, why?  Who is he looking at?  Is the cute puppy with the studded collar his, or did he dog-nab the canine? Maybe he lost a bet and is dog-sitting. But why is he disheveled and  barefooted? Did a beautiful stranger take him for all he had and leave him with nothing but the pup?

What’s your take? I’d love to hear from you.

Bonus points if you know who this is.