Sarah Fine's Blog, page 6

Sanctum Blog Tour: Review and Interview at Mundie Moms

Today (okay, yesterday evening) I'm at Mundie Moms. Katie B was kind enough to review Sanctum and interview me about which of my characters are most like me--as well as which ones I'd be friends with. I love her questions! Check it out if you have a chance.

And the SANCTUM blog tour begins!

Okay, first, I need to tell you: thanks to each and every one of you who donated and spread the word about Justine Dell's and my fundraiser for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. We raised nearly $1000 between the auction and donations, and I'm going to add my own contribution to that. I am so grateful to you for helping us raise money for this very important cause. Winners will be announced shortly!

And second ...whoa. This is really happening.

Over the next three weeks, I'll be all over the blogosphere, at some pretty amazing blogs, talking about all things Sanctum, as well as a few personal tidbits.

Today, I'll tell you about two posts:

This past Friday, I was at the fabulous 2readornot2read, where I posted about the mythology of Sanctum, including how the Shadowlands works and the origins of the Mazikin--the true baddies of the story. If you want to win Sanctum, check out the rafflecopter at the bottom of the post!

And today, I'm at Fantasy & SciFi Lovin' News and Reviews, sharing my top 5 favorite fantasy and sci-fi novels. It's a pretty eclectic list, but includes an author you might know, because she's also a wonderful member of our blogging community. Anyway--there's another chance to win Sanctum there.

Here we go!

If you're feeling generous and want to save some lives ...

The auction is today! It starts at 11am EST. All proceeds go to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

There are query critiques from:
Victoria Marini of Gelfman Schneider
Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary & Media
Kathleen Ortiz of New Leaf Literary & Media (Kathleen is also offering a first chapter critique of up to 20 pages)

There are also huge YA and adult romance prize packs. I think you should check it out.

Also, we've extended our donation giveaway by one day.

You get one entry for every one dollar you donate.

The prizes are kind of neat.

I know my first book hasn't come out yet, but I do have 7 under contract, so if you win, that's what you'll get from me. My Guards of the Shadowlands series from Amazon Children's Publishing, Scan and Burn from Putnam/Penguin, and Factory Ghost (plus another book) from McElderry/Simon & Schuster.

Also, I won't be able to offer full manuscript critiques once my book is published, so if you're interested in getting a thorough crit from a soon-to-be-multi-published author who has a doctorate in psychology, this is your chance. :)

I can also tell you that Justine is a pretty good critiquer herself--she's read all of my manuscripts and always makes them better.

OH, AND EVERY DOLLAR YOU DONATE WILL FUND SUICIDE PREVENTION.

If you want to donate, enter here ... and send your email receipt to dell(dot)justine(at)gmail(dot)com:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sanctum Sneak Peek IV ...

And here we go! One more little excerpt from Sanctum.

Now, after you read the excerpt, please take some time to enter the giveaway if you haven't already. The more entries we get, the more I'll donate to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, but it won't cost you a thing. The giveaway ends tonight . If you happen to be able to donate, do enter the second giveaway--right now your chances of winning a set of my ARCs (that would be 7-8 books) or a FULL ms critique are pretty good! One entry for every dollar donated there--and that giveaway ends at midnight as well.

And tomorrow, stop by Justine's blog to bid in the auction. It starts at 11am EST and you can bid on agent critiques and several other very cool prize packs.

So many of you have reached out to me and shared stories of losing someone you cared about to suicide. Unfortunately, the latest data from the CDC indicates that suicides are on the RISE in the US. In 2010, over 38,000 people in this country killed themselves, and a million tried to. I have no doubt that between the economy and the wars, people are being pressed to their absolute limits, and some feel like there's no way forward. The VAST majority of people who kill themselves have a diagnosable and treatable mental disorder. Suicide is PREVENTABLE. Please, please. Whatever you can do, from spreading the word, to donating, to volunteering at a helpline, to reaching out and letting someone know they matter: none of that will be a waste.

Thank you.

And now: Lela and Malachi's first meeting did not end how she'd hoped, and now she's back in a cell ...


Giveaway (the more entries, the more I'll donate):a Rafflecopter giveaway


If YOU want to donate, enter here ...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

SANCTUM Sneak Peek III ...

The third excerpt from Sanctum: Lela's first face-to-face encounter with a very important character.

And before you slip away: please consider entering one or both of the giveaways at the bottom of the page. Both will raise funds for suicide prevention. The first won't cost you a penny--help us spread the word about the giveaway (signed books, crits, swag!) and the auction on Saturday (agent crits! prize packs!). The more entries we get, the more I'll donate. Right now, we're up to $100--but if we get 500 entries, I'll donate $200.

ALSO, if you're able to donate to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, you can enter the second giveaway, where you'll get one entry for every dollar donated. The prizes there include signed ARCs of my books through 2015 and a full manuscript crit from me (or the chance to name one of my characters).

Anyway, back to SANCTUM: Lela's managed to sneak into the dark city ... and get herself captured by the Guards.


  
Giveaway (the more entries, the more I'll donate):a Rafflecopter giveaway


If YOU want to donate, enter here ...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

SANCTUM Sneak Peek II ...

Another peek at Sanctum, and more chances to win in our giveaway to raise funds for suicide prevention. You don't have to donate a penny, but the more entries we get, the more I personally will be donating to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (if you DO want to donate, awesome--there's a special giveaway for you, too). Please help us spread the word about this, and the auction at Justine's blog on Saturday, which includes many awesome prize packs and 4 agent crits that will definitely be worth a bid!

Back to the excerpt:

In this one, thanks to a last-ditch effort to say goodbye to Nadia that resulted in Lela's own untimely death, Lela arrives in a beautiful, heavenly afterlife ... and realized everything she saw in those hellish visions was real.
  
Giveaway (the more entries, the more I'll donate):a Rafflecopter giveaway


If YOU want to donate, enter here ...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

SANCTUM Sneak Peek I ...

For the next few days, I'll be posting sneak peeks of Sanctum. When you're finished reading, please consider entering the giveaway below--it won't cost you a thing besides a few moments of your time, and you'll be raising money to fund suicide prevention initiatives. Also, there are prizes.

*dangles prizes*

And here is the first of four brief excerpts from my book, which comes out two weeks from today! As you probably know at this point, Sanctum is story of Lela, a girl who sneaks into hell to rescue the soul of her best friend, Nadia, after Nadia commits suicide.

In this one, Lela's trying to deal with her grief over Nadia's death (she's even gotten Nadia's face tattooed on her arm) ... and increasingly intrusive visions.


 Giveaway (the more entries, the more I'll donate):a Rafflecopter giveaway

If YOU want to donate, enter here ...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

UNITE FOR A CAUSE: Raise $$ just by entering to win!

Okay, here we go! This week, Justine Dell and I are raising money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. We're doing this in a number of different ways, so if you want to help, or even if all you want is some free books and crits and swag--listen up.

On Saturday, October 6th, there's going to be an auction over at Justine's blog. There are three agent query crits and one agent crit of a first chapter (from MY agent. You know, the one who got me three book deals?). You can bid. And win. For crits and A LOT of other great prize packs.

Before Saturday, we have some work to do. We want to spread the word AND raise money that will help save lives.

Below are two Rafflecopter giveaways.

The first is for folks who want to donate directly to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention or to our donation page for the Out of the Darkness Community Walk Justine will be participating in later this month (all the money goes to the same place).

But if you are low on cash, NO WORRIES. YOU CAN STILL RAISE MONEY BY SIMPLY ENTERING THE GIVEAWAY at the bottom of the page. Skip on down there and I'll explain how.
Still here? Okay. If you want to donate, cool.
DONATION GIVEAWAY: I'm offering a set of prizes, and so is Justine. All you have to do is donate, and then forward the email receipt to dell(dot)justine(at)gmail(dot)com. We'll give you one entry for every dollar you donate.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

***A few caveats about the prizes I'm offering:
It says approximately 7 books, because that's how many I have under contract right now, all of which are expected to be published prior to the end of 2015. BUT I don't control pub dates, or whether the publisher makes an ARC for each of these books, or whether the zombie apocalypse hits (which I can only assume would mean that my contracts are rendered null and void because we'll all be too busy fighting for the survival of humanity). SO: you'll get whatever's published through the end of 2015, and if the publisher doesn't make an ARC, you'll get a signed final copy.
  'SPREAD THE WORD' GIVEAWAY:  You want to spread the word about the giveaways and auction? AWESOME. For every 250 entries we get (up to 1250), I will donate $100. That's right: just by spreading the word, you'll be entered to win prizes AND raising up to $500 to fund suicide prevention research and initiatives.

Be sure to leave a comment and tell us what you'd like to win :)  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Easy! My posts this week will focus on this fundraiser (but will include a few sneak peeks of my book ...). Sanctum comes out in about 2 weeks, and next week, my blog tour starts! I'll be all over the place over the next few weeks, at some truly fabulous blogs, so I hope you'll come along for the ride.

Until then, my dear friends, thank you for helping me and Justine raise money and awareness to help save lives. Yes, suicide kills more people than murder and war combined, but we can do something about it!

Suicide kills more people than wars. Let's do something about it.

A snippet from Sanctum:

Malachi held my gaze for a moment, then looked away. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but you’re on an impossible mission. Three thousand people arrive at the Suicide Gates every single day. Haven’t you noticed the size of this city? You could wander for years and never find her ...

When we were preparing to go on sub with this book, my agent flagged this part, wondering if my numbers were accurate. Three thousand people a day??

Here's how I got that number: The World Health Organization estimates that over a million people in the world commit suicide every year (with estimated annual fatalities rising to 1.5 million by 2020). Suicides account for half of violent deaths in the world, more than the number from murders and war combined.

Suicide kills more people than wars.
In the United States, every year, over 35,000 people kill themselves. And if you consider the fact that, for every completed suicide, there are about 10-20 attempted suicides ... that's heinous. That's tragic. That's an epidemic.

When I was in college, I worked for a local helpline, and I took a lot of calls from people who were considering ending their lives. It was an up-close introduction to the anguish some individuals experience--and the need to provide them with support and help that keeps them here with us in the land of the living.

Probably that experience was, in part, why I wrote Sanctum. It's about Lela, who is given the opportunity to rescue the soul of her best friend, Nadia, who committed suicide. But in real life, none of us have that chance. Once a friend or loved one has committed suicide, we are left here to mourn. And to try to keep anyone else from leaving this life because it was too painful to continue living it.

When I got my first advance check for Sanctum, I donated a portion of it to The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, because people who are in despair--who feel alone--need to connect. It saves lives. And when my friend Justine Dell came to me and asked me if I wanted to help her raise money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, there was no way I was going to refuse.

All next week, Justine and I are going to be raising money for this cause. I'm really hoping you'll help.

http://justine-dell.blogspot.com/p/out-of-darkness-suicide-prevention.html

We're making it easy. And fun. Worth your while.

On Saturday, October 6th, we're going to have an auction. Every dollar raised will be donated to the AFSP. You'll be able to bid for things like book prize packs and agent query crits. For a rundown of some of the prizes, check out Justine's blog.

We need your help spreading the word, though (and to give you the chance to raise money even if you can't bid in the auction on Saturday). Starting Monday, October 1, we'll have a Rafflecopter giveaway of prizes here. You'll get entries for spreading the word about the  giveaway and the auction.

And even by doing that, you'll be raising money, because the more entries we get, the more I am personally going to donate to the AFSP. More details about that on Monday.

Plus, if you donate directly to the AFSP and send us your receipt, you'll be entered in a special drawing to win some especially cool stuff.

How does that sound? Would you like to join us in raising money to help stem this epidemic?

Please check out our donation page--that's the place to start if you want to donate to the AFSP's fundraising arm, which sponsors the Out of the Darkness Community Walk that Justine's going to participate in (you can also donate directly to the AFSP here if you prefer), and remember that there will be a cool drawing just for those who do that and email us the donation receipt--one entry for every dollar donated.

Also check out Justine's FB page for this event. She's having it in conjunction with her launch party for her debut novel, Recaptured Dreams.

And please, please: come back Monday to enter to win prizes, help us raise money, and spread the word!

Life in the bubble: Boundaries and burnout in the online world.

Last Wednesday, I talked a little bit about boundaries, and how a lack thereof can lead to burnout. I identified a few areas where writers' boundaries get tested:
The pressure to SHARE personal stuff.The pressure to say YES (when you should probably say NO).The pressure to be ON.
I told you that today, I'd talk a bit about how I manage this.

First, I need to tell you: I'm still working this out. In my psychology life, I know how to do this. But when I became a writer? Whew! I had to work it out again.


 This is Edward Hall's diagram demonstrating personal reaction bubbles. The radii are listed in feet, but they're meant to be subjective, heavily influenced by culture and personal preference.  In the largely online world of my writing career, personal distance is kind of an abstract thing. But I use this concept nevertheless. I think it's useful, because so often, it's just me and my computer. Pretty intimate kind of thing, my fingers on the keyboard. Easy to forget that it isn't just me, my eyes, my brain. Easy to allow my personal space bubble to become permeable--much easier than when I'm at a cocktail party, for example.  But I have to remember, because it helps me decide when to say NO, when to turn OFF, when to keep myself to MYSELF. Examples:  Goodreads: As an author, Goodreads is PUBLIC SPACE. Any place where readers congregate and review my book is considered the same. Like I don't walk up to strangers and butt into their conversations, I don't hang out on Goodreads and interact with people talking about my book. I have made the decision not to review or rate books on Goodreads; I find other ways to promote books I love, namely on Twitter or here on my blog. Not every author has made the same decision--that's because this stuff is subjective. For me, though, it helps set some boundaries around my role as an author and helps me stay out of trouble.  Blog: I consider this blog a SOCIAL SPACE, along with Twitter , which is one of my favorite online places to be. Whether fellow writer or reader or blogger, if you meet me there, you can interact with me. You won't get my most personal thoughts, but you will get content, both intellectual and emotional. I share my ideas and respond to others'. HOWEVER, if I'm super upset or have private stuff going on ... it's not going to show up here. One rule I have: venting is strictly forbidden in the SOCIAL SPACE. But also: I don't talk about my personal life much. My political and religious views, private relationships ... no. The SOCIAL SPACE is for friendly banter, not intimate conversation. Of course I'm tempted to cross this line sometimes, particularly when my emotions run high--but then I force myself to wait until I'm calm before I decide whether or not to share. I usually decide against it.  Email: Online, email is my PERSONAL SPACE, though obviously not always personal. But email is largely 1:1, and I have a few close writerly friends with whom I share triumphs and frustrations. I trust them to maintain confidentiality, and they trust me with the same. We do vent in this space, but it stays there.   My skull: INTIMATE SPACE. Yep, not all my thoughts find their way to another's ears, and I think that's necessary and good. I'm extremely introverted. Some people like to share themselves and draw energy from that, but I'm the opposite. That's part of avoiding burnout--knowing that I can keep things that are just for me, and cherishing that privacy.   When it comes to saying NO: If someone's in my PUBLIC SPACE, I owe them civility and respect, and that is the extent of it. I accomodate requests when possible and not draining, and, frankly, when I see a practical and concrete advantage in saying YES.If someone's in my SOCIAL SPACE, same. If we interact regularly and they ask me a favor, I will do it even if it involves some of my time and little-to-no benefit for myself. If I can't, though, given other demands, I'm going to say NO with kindness but not guilt. After all, I have my limits.If someone has been an established friend within my PERSONAL SPACE, I'm going to go out of my way to help, because I care about them deeply. This means I do say NO, and it's not a rare thing. I don't think that's bad. Especially when the alternative is me feeling resentful, bitter, used, burned out, etc. Ew!  When it comes to turning OFF : I have to rely on what I know about myself--I need to reside in my INTIMATE SPACE sometimes, or else I won't be able to meet my responsibilities. If I don't recharge, I'm going to burn out. Or possibly lose my mind. I turn OFF by reading and writing and oh, actually interacting with the external, physical world. THIS, turning off instead of being plugged in 24/7, is the one I'm still working on--the one I haven't quite figured out. Ask me again in a year. All of this is different for each person. I think the key to maintaining healthy boundaries is actually thinking about it and making some decisions (and, yes, rules) based on what's best for you. Better to be proactive now rather than impulsive and regretful later. So how about it? Do you have online personal space bubbles? How do you maintain boundaries?