Sandra Waugh's Blog, page 2

Lark Rising's unused prologue (and a givewaway)

This is the prologue that I removed from LARK RISING long before it sold.  It's quite short, but those of you who've read the book will understand exactly, and those of you who haven't...  well, here's the fun part:  I am giving away a New Year's gift of a signed copy of LARK and this wonderfully vine-y ear cuff:

I will pick the winner on Twelfth Night (January 6th).

How to enter?  Follow me on Twitter.  (For those of you who already follow me, just retweet and I'll know you want to be included!)  I'll gather the names and (randomly of course!) select one.

Happy New Year!  May it be filled with wonderful things.





No explosion. No shattering of walls; no blinding light. No clash of sword and last gasp of strength. This was but a touch of wine to lips—
And the queen fell.
Screams began then, shuddering sounds of horror and despair.  A hall full of people now frantically swarming—noise and color muddling into a mass, converging to aid, to assist, to share the burden of tragedy—all of them… all but two.
He was frozen with shock, hardly breathing, eyes searching the empty place at the table. And she—she was there still, briefly.  The stranger he’d invited. No longer sitting as she had moments ago in sweet-faced pretense, but standing just back a little in the shadows where the candlelight ceased. She was smiling at him.  Strange—he’d thought her smile exquisite. Now it gleamed and widened in display of sickening emptiness and chasm-like depth.  Thief that she was, she melted into the dark, though the smile hung gaping black long after she disappeared, mocking his pathetic heartbreak, this terrible mistake.  And he stared, unable to move, to help, to stop the inevitable.  Even when the king returned to the hall with sober step and drawn face to say, “The amulets are taken. The Balance is disturbed.” Even when those remaining lifted tear-stained faces to murmur then in a single, hopeful chant, “The Guardians, the Guardians, the Guardians…” he could not move.

He had damned them all.

And a giveaway

So... I thought I should add a giveaway to go along with the prologue on 1/1.  I'll be (randomly) choosing from new Twitter followers ('til noon on 1/6) and current Twitter followers who retweet.

Happy eve of New Year's Eve!

Happy New Year

I hope you'll stop back on New Year's Day to see the deleted prologue to LARK RISING.  Gharain lovers should especially enjoy...

Alternative and Quite Terrible Titles for LARK RISING (aka TAGGED!)

K.E. Ormsbee, author of the lovely, clever THE WATER & THE WILD recently tagged me in the Terrible Titles Challenge.  I happen to love K.E.'s book (coming April '15), with its gorgeous cover and obviously terrific title. BUT I must admit, her terrible titles are quite awesome (check them out on her blog).

The challenge:  To thumb (or scroll) through book (or ms), stopping at eight random spots--what words are landed upon become the titles.  I'm thinking this is how I'll pick all my titles from now on.

Without further ado, these are LARK's alternatives:

1.  A Raven Huge and Glossy

2.  More Was Offered Here

3.  That Strange Whorl

4.  We Should Go

5.  Ignoring the Burn

6.  A Small Ignorance

7.  I Wonder Too

8.  Trimming Haricots


And now I tag the following authors--who just happened to be the most recent four on my Twitter messages: Amber Lough, Melody Maysonet, Kerry O'Malley Cerra, and Kim Ligget.  TAG!  YOU'RE IT!

Hello Dreamers!I've been seemingly lax, but in reality qu...

Hello Dreamers!

I've been seemingly lax, but in reality quite busy--there were mountains of leaves to move, and things to write (hanging on by my fingernails to my goal at NaNoWriMo and most notably today's post over at another blog).  So if you are curious about my navigation of the emotional aftermath of a debut, please check it out:  Adventures in YA Publishing

By the way, the emotional aftermath feels something like this:  


(Although maybe that path is too straight!)
Anyway,  a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  I have something fun planned for posting in December!

YA Scavenger Hunt... has come to a close. Thank you...

YA Scavenger Hunt

... has come to a close.  Thank you all for hunting down the clues, for entering!  Looking forward to contributing my book... and looking forward to participating in a new one!

YA SCAVENGER HUNT!

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors... and a chance to win some awesome prizes!  At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content form each author, you also get a clue for the hunt.  Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize--one lucky winner will receive one signed book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt.  There are SIX contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the GREEN TEAM--but there is also a red team, a gold team, an orange team, a blue team, and an indie team for a chance to win a whole different set of signed books!

If you'd like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participate, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to this YA Scavenger Hunt page.

SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLEDirections:  Below, you'll notice that I've listed my favorite number.  Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the green team, and then add them up (don't worry, you can use a calculator!).Entry Form:  Once you've added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize.
Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian's permission to enter.  To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by October 5th, at noon Pacific Time.  Entries sent without the correct number of without contact information will not be considered.
SCAVENGER HUNT POST
I am hosting the talented Amalie Howard for the YA Scavenger Hunt!  Amalie grew up on a small Caribbean Island where she spent most of her childhood with her nose buried in a book or being a tomboy running around barefoot, shimmying up mango trees and dreaming of adventure.  22 countries, surfing with the sharks and several tattoos later, she has traded in bungee jumping in China for writing the adventures she imagines instead.  She isn't entirely convinced which takes more guts.
(I heard that there were 7 sharks... or maybe tattoos.  I'll have to ask!)
Amalie is the author of several young adult novels including Waterfell, The Almost Girl, and Alpha Goddess, a Spring 2014 Kid's INDIE NEXT title.  Her debut novel, Bloodspell, was an Amazon bestseller and a Seventeen Magazine Summer Read.  As an author of color and a proud supporter of diversity in fiction, her articles on multi-cultural fiction have appeared in The Portland Book Review and on the popular Diversity in YA blog.  She currently resides in New York with her husband and three children.
Find out more by checking out Amalie's website  and  her books
Today, Amalie is sharing with us some inside info from her newest release: OCEANBORN, Book 2 of the Aquarathi series. First, the synopsis:

The coronation is over.But the battle has just begun.Nerissa Marin has won her crown. But can she keep it?  Already, her ties to the human realm are driving a wedge between Nerissa and her people.  When word arrives that her part-human prince consort, Lo, has been poisoned, she makes the difficult choice to leave Waterfell and return landside.  As the royal courts debate her decision, even more disturbing rumors surface: a plot is rising against her, led by someone she least expects.On land, Nerissa learns another shocking truth: Lo does not remember who she is.  As her choice to try to save him threatens her hold on her crown, changing loyalties and uncertainty test her courage in ways she could never have imagined.  Nerissa will have one last chance to prove herself as a queen and save the undersea kingdom she loves.

Amalie has provided us a peek at Nerissa's bucket list!

Nerissa Marin's (aka the Aquarathi Queen's) Bucket List
1.  Skydive... as in jump out of a moving plane at thirteen thousand feet.  I just hope that I don't go full morph from a major panic attack.  Can you imagine seeing a 700-pound sea monster flailing for its life, dive bombing from the sky at a hundred and twenty miles per hour?  Yep, me neither.

2.  Take Jenna on a tour to Waterfell, my underwater home.  But first I'd have to hijack James Cameron's mini-submarine.
     a.  Part 2: Organize a heist to "borrow" James Cameron's submarine.

3.  Explore a rainforest.  Maybe the Amazon.  I'm not really a fan of snakes (sea or land ones), so this one's not a priority.  Maybe I'll see the Northern Lights instead.

4.  Start a non-profit organization to help conserve the earth's oceans and raise global awareness.

5.  Travel into space and maybe see Sana, where my people are from.  I know it's a dead planet, but it would be kind of cool to see where the Aquarathi originated.

6.  Sing in girl band <---- I made that one up to see if you were paying attention.  No, I don't want to sing in a girl band, but it would be awesome to go backstage at a really cool concert.  I'd sell my soul to the sea gods to meet the M83 guys.

7.  Get a tattoo.  Although I'm not sure how this would go on my skin.  Chances are it would disappear the minute I got inked.  Or my scales would decide to break the needle.  If I could though, I'd get this quote in script inside my left forearm: "In one drop of water are found all the secrets of all the oceans."

8.  Marathon swim around the world.


Thank you for sharing this with us, Amalie!

Don't forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Amalie and more!  You need to find my favorite number above (hint: it's big and in green).  Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the green team (and the other teams as well!) and you'll have the secret codes to enter for the grand prize!

Here's a bonus!  A chance to win a signed hardcover of LARK RISING!  All you need to do to enter is tweet about the YA Scavenger Hunt and follow me on Twitter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

AND NOW TO CONTINUE THE HUNT:
To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author! Good Luck!

YA Scavenger Hunt ABOUT TO BEGIN!

We have less than 24 hours until the YA Scavenger Hunt begins! Hopefully you've reserved plenty of time for this one because this time we have 6, count 'em, 6 YASH teams! That means more prizes, news, and fun for all readers!

Take a look  (I am on TEAM GREEN):

TEAM RED INCLUDES:  
TEAM GOLD INCLUDES:  
TEAM GREEN INCLUDES:  
TEAM ORANGE INCLUDES:  
TEAM INDIE INCLUDES:  
TEAM BLUE INCLUDES:  

WHAT LOOT! I am so excited to be a part of this!

The YA Scavenger Hunt begins at noon pacific time on Thursday, October 2nd and runs through Sunday, October 5th. (That means to get through the entire hunt you'll need to go through 1.5 teams per day!)

This is one of those 'a picture is worth a thousand words...

This is one of those 'a picture is worth a thousand words'  times.

GOODREADS GIVEAWAY! August 20 - September 10

I'm celebrating the final countdown to the launch of LARK RISING!

Enter to win an autographed hardcover here:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/104454-lark-rising




Good luck!  Happy August!