Briana Vedsted's Blog, page 30
May 3, 2013
Meet the Character: Louise (Meyer) Hayes
Hello everyone. I know, it has been awhile since my last character interview. But I been working very hard to find a character who has a little more patience than my last three interviewees, and I think i finally found her. Please meet Mrs. Louise Hayes, mother of Desiree Hayes.
Birthday: February 6th
Favorite Movie: Sound of Thunder
Favorite Food: Anything with pasta
Me: Hi Louise, how are you today?
Louise: I’m just wonderful, thank you for asking! And thank you for inviting me here today. Come now, don’t be shy! I don’t bite…humans, that is!
Me: Oh, oh yes! Hahaha! I wish you’d have taught your daughter not to bite.
Louise: *shakes head sadly* Ah yes, you’ll have to forgive my daughter. She’d dealt with many hardships in her young life.
Me: Hardships?
Louise: Her father died when she was young and she was in a very rough relationship.
Me: Oh I’m sorry. I didn’t know—
Louise: Not many people know. After the breakup, Desiree became very distant. She has a close circle of friends and doesn’t venture out often to meet new people. The only person she’s made any attempts to be friend with in the last four years is Viviana Vancouver, my trainee. Other than that, she’s stuck like glue to Margery and Kate.
Me: She thinks very highly of you, too.
Louise: Yes, that’s true. She’s idolized me, I’m afraid. And she’ll be content with nothing less than being like me. For some reason she seems me as a pillar of strength and bravery.
Me: Some say she’d have been a good alpha.
Louise: Ah, that would have made me so proud! But Desiree isn’t alpha material. She lets her heart rule her emotions. She doesn’t think clearly at times. She’s judgmental and has a sharp tongue. Kenneth and I grew up together. He was a year older than I was, but I always knew that no one would have made a better alpha. Not Rodger Vancouver and surly not me. his sisters, Jana and Missy, were the sweetest, pretties girls in the whole pack, and Kenneth was the smartest, most handsome boy I’d ever met.
Me: Do I hear a hint of jealousy, Louise?
Louise: *blushes* Of course not. I’ve never been vain of my looks. But if only you could have seen them: when the three of them walked down the hallways at school, it was if a god and a pair of goddesses had stepped right out of heaven. Their very aura glowed and rang with power. They were unstoppable.
Me: Do you see the same thing when you look at Vanessa and her brothers?
Louise: *laughs* I’ve never seen a trio of more mismatched alphas in my entire life! There is nothing uniform about those three! Ness is a wisp of a girl with a shock of strawberry blonde hair, Johnny is lean and high headed, and Dustin is a burly teddy bear! There is something missing to them. Perhaps it is because Vanessa waited so long to join the boys. If she’d made the decision sooner, perhaps they’d have grown together in beauty and power.
Me: Is being an alpha about looks?
Louise: Of course not, my dear! And alpha is all about heart!
Me: But you said Desiree wouldn’t be a good alpha because her heart rules her.
Louise: Yes, her heart rules her. And alpha rules with their heart, it is hard to understand for a human, no offense. Don’t think too hard about it, dear. Now, it’s bed time. you need your rest.
Me: Thank you very much Louise! I hope I’ll have a chance to talk to you again!
Finally! A sweet Slayer to talk to! Does anyone have a question for Louise?
May 2, 2013
To self-publish
Self publishing can be a free and easy option. You don’t have to query agents or publishers, receive rejection letters, or wait months and months to see the finished product.
There are two options I’ve found to be the easiest way to self-publish: Amazon and Smashwords.
Amazon is where I was directed to by P.n. Elrod. She told me that it is a better option than going through any traditional publisher. I don’t really want to self-publish all my books, but I needed to build up my ‘platform’ before my book, Me and Billy the Kid, is released in November through Tate Publishing and Enterprises LLC. So I signed up for an account, followed the formatting instructions, created a book cover, choose the price, select the channels it will be distributed on and presto! your book is published! It is accessible to the world in as little as 24 hours and you can have your first royalty check deposited into your bank account just as soon as you accumulate $10 is sales.
More recently, I discovered Smashwords after searching for an easy way to get my book to Barnes and Noble. The fastest way to do that is to self-publish through Smahswords. But I use the word ‘easy’ lightly. I’ve never been one for following directions. If I buy something that comes with an instruction manual, I throw the booklet aside and only seek its guidance after repeatedly trying and failing miserably to put my new toy together.
That’s what I did with Smashwords. I ignored the formatting guidelines and submitted my book. (Raise your hands if you think that the color red should never be used for proofreading purposes!) After seven failed attempts to get my book into the premium catalog where it would be distributed through Barnes and Nobles, I finally turned to the directions.
After reading the formatting guidelines one single time, I resubmitted my manuscripts and four hours later, I’m notified that my book had been accepted! Who’d have thought it could have been so easy? Let that be a lesson to all you newbie authors out there: directions are made for a reason! Follow them and you’ll get fewer headaches.
I’ll update you in a week or so and let you know if my book made it to Barnes and Noble, the Apple Store, Sony, and Kobo. (What is Kobo???)
If not, its back to the drawing board…and maybe I’ll reread the direction to see if I missed anything.
Guest Author: Briana Vedsted
Reblogged from ...and then there was Sarah:
My guest today is Briana Vedsted, young author of over 25 YA and Western books! Please join me in reading about the lovely Miss Briana and all of her projects.
If you are interested in participating in the program, you can submit here.
Briana Vedsted
1.Tell us your name, and a link to where we can find you (blog, Facebook, etc).
My author interview by the wonderful Sarah Cradit! You should go by her blog and sign up to participate in her guest author program or check out the A-to-Z blog challenge she did in April..
May 1, 2013
Book Contest
I would like to sell one hundred copies of my book by July, and if I can do that, I’ll randomly select three people to win one of the three prizes: a PDF copy of my novel, Me and Billy the Kid, $10 Amazon.com e-gift card, or $5 Kindle e-gift card.
There are several websites that are featuring my book, The Night I walked off of Boot Hill;
Book Pinning: http://www.bookpinning.com/?sws=home/books&genre=young-adult
Ask David: http://askdavid.com/item/b00bc1h1xa
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/311734
CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/4141208
Beginning of a Hero Goodreads Giveaway!
Reblogged from Legends of Windemere:
For the month of May, I am running a Goodreads Giveaway for Legends of Windemere: Beginning of a Hero. Two free, signed copies of my book will be the prizes for two lucky contestants.
You can join by going to the Giveaway Website.
Please enter the giveaway and spread the word. Thank you for the support and good luck to everyone.
The eBook version is great, but nothing can beat having the paperback version of Beginning of a Hero.
Super Sweet Blog award
Thank you so much to Charles Yallowitz at http://legendsofwindemere.com/ for nominating me for the Super Sweet Blogging Award! That was so very, well, Sweet of you!
The Rules:
Thank the Super Sweet Blogger that nominated you.
Answer five Super Sweet questions.
Include the Super Sweet Blogging award image in your blog post.
Nominate a baker’s dozen (13) other bloggers.
Notify your nominees on their blog.
The 5 Super Sweet Questions:
Cookies or Cake? Cake: devil’s food with whipped cream for the frosting!
Chocolate or Vanilla? Vanilla
Favorite Sweet Treat? Jelly Beans
When do you crave sweet things the most? In the evening.
Sweet Nick Name? Bri
The Bakers Dozen (13) Nominees:
http://frannychallenge.wordpress.com/
http://lesimonis.wordpress.com/
http://myscrapmuseis.wordpress.com/
http://sarahcradit.wordpress.com/
http://biljanazovkic.wordpress.com/
http://khmazzola.wordpress.com/
http://balconyviewz.wordpress.com/
http://meglatorre.wordpress.com/
http://nwharrisbooks.wordpress.com/
Author Interview Program #14
Finally! Another author to interview! Hallelujah! And here she is, Ms. Lauren Simonis!
Where can we find you?
What is your author name?
Lauren Simonis or L.E. Simonis, haven’t quite decided yet.
Title of the book you are currently working on:
No Sun
What gene do you write?
YA (a little bit of sci-fi, a little bit of romance)
3-4 sentence synopsis of your book:
A girl finds out instead of living out on Earth without the sun, she’s really on the moon in an experimental colony for when the sun does explode. She convinces her parents to let her attend a sort of University on Earth, leaving behind her best friend who is in love with her. While she’s on Earth, the moon colony enters crisis mode. [I'll stop there, wouldn't want to spoil the ending
]What inspires you to write?
I was initially inspired by J.K. Rowling as a kid. I wanted to be that person who could write something that would make people want to read.
Self-publish or traditional?
I know this is a great debate, especially for authors, like myself, who haven’t been published yet. I would lean toward traditional publishing because it is the more traditional route and I think has many benefits. However, I can see, as an unpublished author, how the appeals of getting it out and receiving the profit yourself as beneficial for self-publishing. It’s something I am going to need to think about more as I have my book more complete.
Any advice for your fellow authors?
My advice would be to write what you want to write. I’ve always wanted to write a novel but had a hard time finding a story that was sufficient for that sort of length. This past November I did NaNoWriMo which helped force me into a novel, which is where No Sun started. That’s another thing. Do NaNoWriMo. It really helped me not worry about minor details and get a larger picture of what I wanted in my mind. Is the novel good? Absolutely not, but it’s a first draft and one I probably would never have had without NaNoWriMo.
Thank you Lauren!
When One Book Just Won't Do
Reblogged from Legends of Windemere:
So, you’re writing your book and burning through your story like an author possessed by a word-obsessed demon. You’re nearing the end of your manuscript with a twinkle in your eye that is just slightly brighter than the bit of anxious drool in the corner of your mouth. Then you stop like somebody slapped you. The story will end and the characters will no longer be at your fingertips.
Important information if you want to write a book series. You should visit Charles's blog to learn basically all you'll ever need to know about writing and self-publishing your book.
April 30, 2013
Smashwords
My book is now on Smashwords for $0.99!
“The Night I Walked Off Of Boot Hill” can be found here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/311734
This Mother’s Day, give the special mom in your life something she’ll really love — Scentsy Fragrance!!
Reblogged from Charming Sensations:
The Warm Her Heart Gift Bundle makes a memorable, fragrant gift. Simply tie the box of goodies with a bow and write a heartfelt message in the Sincerely Scent card.
This bundle is valued at $60, but available for purchase for just $45
The Warm Her Heart Gift Bundle includes:
• Mother’s Day Scentsy Warmer
• Sincerely Scent Mother’s Day card with a Vanilla Cream Scent Spot…
Mother's Day is just around the corner!
