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Laura Teagan's Blog, page 36
May 11, 2014
Pinterest For Writers
Lately, I've noticed a big jump in the number of authors using pinterest. All of us bloggers love pinterest, but I've been trying to build an author side to my pinterest account, so here are some great ways to use pinterest for your books.
1.) Book boards - I've been trying to build boards for a few other books, but the big one I have is obviously for The Assassin. I have quotes that I feel apply to the book, I have pictures of people who look like my book characters. My favorite part though is the map part. I'm able to map out important places in the book series.
Haven't seen the map option yet? That thing is amazing.
I also have book boards for Super Ordinary (Which I'll talk about soon), and a new idea that I've simply titled Designer Child for now. I literally got that plot bunny yesterday afternoon, so it's exciting to be plotting this early.
2.) Writer Advice - I also have a board full of writer knick knacks. There's advice about carrying notebooks, technical tutorials about using Scrivener (the word processor that I use to write), there's a t-shirt on there about correcting grammar, like I said, kicks and knacks but I love it as a place to look at things.
3.) Bookshelf - I don't use this one very much, but one of the biggest ways to help an author out is pinning links to buy the book. I have a board full of books that I've read, including ones by authors I know. I'm still getting into this one, but I really hope to boost other authors up by helping them out.
April 23, 2014
Chapter One
being the thorough author that I am, all of my important characters have birthdays. Well, at least in my mind. And no character has a more important birthday than Ms. Cassie, the protagonist of The Assassin.
And, since Cassie is as real to me as anyone else, it's time to celebrate (at this point, everyone who isn't a writer is probably thinking what the hell is wrong with her?). But see, y'all benefit from this because today is the big day!
So, happy birthday to Cassie, and to celebrate her birthday, I've got a birthday present for y'all!
How does the first whole chapter sound for a birthday present? My poor beta, Lydia, and I have been going back and forth forever on this chapter - I wanted it to really capture the reader's attention and we finally found just enough sass and snark from Cassie sprinkled in with some good ole fashioned spy fun.
I hope you enjoy!
March 8, 2014
Back Story: Part One
First, total proud sister brag moment. My little sister, Amy, made that for me for Christmas. The Assassin takes place in Washington DC. So, Amy found a Metro ticket stub from our trip to DC a few years back and combined it with an old book cover from the inkpop days. Isn't she freaking talented? I could never do that!
Since it's a new blog and a new time, I guess it's time to share the story. Back stories are important to a character, to a plot, to a book. And my book and I have quite a back story.
It all started in.... 2007. Eighth grade science class. We were watching a video in class, so it was dark. There was a little green notebook in my bag. During the video, I managed to write a little murder scene between a man named Brent and a woman named Maria. Well, later on she'd be named Sarah.
Funny, you never realize just how much one single moment can change your life. That was one of those moments. All because I didn't want to pay attention in science class.
Over the next few years, I realized that I really wanted to have a book published. 2008 and 2009 were spent trying to figure out how to make my book sellable and how the publishing business worked.
January 24, 2010, it was a day in web mastering class. When we finished our assignments, we were allowed to do some free work on the internet. I don't even remember what I googled, but I soon found out about this online website called inkpop. well, it was blocked on the school server, but the more I read about it, the better it sounded.
That afternoon, I made an account.
January 29, 2014
COVER REVEAL
THE ASSASSIN
After eighteen years in the foster care system, 20-year-old Cassie Dreandry has embraced her new life in the FBI. Without a family to call her own, Cassie spends time perfecting the art of espionage.
When an assignment falls apart, Cassie learns she’s powerless over her job and her emotions. To solve the case, she must turn to a young man, Connor, who knows more about her assignment than he’s willing to let on.
Cassie discovers that life outside the FBI is just as dangerous. Connor is involved in a web of conspiracies with a personal tie to Cassie she didn’t know existed.
Can Cassie remain the bright young mind in the FBI? Or will breaking the rules for justice cost her the job -- and her life?
January 15, 2014
The Writer: Beginnings
I plan to self-publish my book, The Assassin, this summer. While I mentioned it briefly, I think this new beginning is a time to really go back and go into detail about my writing career. So, every week (at least for the next few weeks), I'll talk about different aspects of my writing career.
Writing is something that just comes very naturally to me. I wouldn't be a blogger if I wasn't! The first time I really remember writing every week, on a consistent basis, was in seventh grade. Every Friday, we would have to write all class period. We could write a letter, a diary entry, a story, whatever we wanted. I remember writing a story about a girl who found out her dad was the king of a little nation. Now that I think about it, that sounds a lot like The Princess Diaries. Whoops.
However, it wasn't until a year later, in eighth grade, that I really began writing for fun. I had a bright, little green notebook. One day in science class, when we were watching a video and it was really dark, I wrote this murder scene, between this man named Brent and a woman named Maria. Well, six years and many incarnations later, that's the unseen backstory to my main character, Cassie Dreandry.
When I finished the story, I remember, I was in tennis, study hall because it was raining that day. I finished the story, talked to a few girls on the tennis team, and about ten minutes later, I started writing the second book. I didn't know what else to do!
Little did I know back then, but that scene was going to start one of the biggest things in my life. Here, six years later, I'm about to take the biggest jump of my career and I can NOT WAIT.
January 10, 2014
Welcome to the New Site
I'm so excited to be in this new, pretty space! It's a great place to help grow my writing career. There's still a few holes in the site, but I promise, those will soon disappear! I've got some new, exciting announcements coming soon, like a cover reveal, an official release date, and news about new projects!
October 2, 2013
Cover Reveal Sign Up
Every book cover I could find of The Assassin between the blog and on facebook. These go back to the inkpop days.After eighteen years in the foster care system, 20-year-old Cassie Dreandry has embraced her new life in the FBI. Without a family to call her own, Cassie spends time perfecting the art of espionage. When an assignment falls apart, Cassie learns she’s powerless over her job and her emotions. To solve the case, she must turn to a young man, Connor, who knows more about her assignment than he’s willing to let on. Cassie discovers that life outside the FBI is just as dangerous. Connor is involved in a web of conspiracies with a personal tie to Cassie she didn’t know existed. Can Cassie remain the brightest young mind in the FBI? Or will breaking the rules cost her job--and her life?
Well, okay, it's not quite time yet, but it's time to share the exciting news! During my brief stunt as a book publicist for Entranced, I learned a lot about the publishing industry, including cover reveals. Cover reveals are a big deal in the publishing industry, and we like to spread the love and let others help us reveal the cover.
So, in November, I'll be showing the cover, the real, legit cover that you'll see when you buy it on your e-reader. But, I want to celebrate this exciting news with other people and I hope y'all will want to help me celebrate. Which is why I'm asking you to help me spread the word the day of!
All you need is a blog and a promise to post it the day of the reveal, NOT BEFORE. That's all I'm asking of ya! Interested? You can sign up here!
August 30, 2013
Edit Machine
Lately, I've been an editing machine. At least on paper. I hate editing the computer draft, I'm always distracted. But when I've got my paper copy, I'm a monster.
I edit all the time.
Lunch, breakfast, before class, after class, sometimes during class (I started writing the very first draft of The Assassin in eighth grade science), at night, on the elliptical at the gym.
That picture of above was taken yesterday. It was a note I made while sweating my butt off at the gym. Can't wait to get this round done!
Happy Friday and have a great weekend!
July 31, 2013
Tying Down Details
What have I done in the past week?
Nailed down a release day (-dances-)!Worked out a vision on what I want the cover to look likePicked a cover release dayAdded The Assassin to GoodreadsFinally began the first round of edits.
I'll be posting the very first chapter up next week as my teaser, and every month, I'll add a little bit to the teaser until the release day!
July 7, 2013
When is Your Book Going to be Published?
I get that above question a lot. Ever since inkpop and my harpercollins review. That was almost three years ago. Crazy to think, three years ago, I was hovering in the 40s, struggling to get my book higher. I remember going on vacation for a week and having to tell all my friends "take care of my baby while I'm gone!" because I knew whatever damage happened while I was gone was going to hard to undo.
Three years.
That's after I kept my writing private for two and a half. I still remember the day I came across inkpop, but that's another story. In August.....no, September, it'll have been six years since I started my book. Six wonderful, frustrating and agonizing years.
But you can only retell the story so many different ways before you either hit gold or hit the wall.
And I think this time I've hit gold.
A few friends have read the just finished (but still needs MAJOR editing) draft, and the response has been wonderful - giving me hope.
The plan has always been to eventually finish it, query, snatch an agent, land a book deal and become a best selling author. Those were the rules of the game, that's how they've pretty much always been.
Then last week, I saw the plan change in a instant. Well, okay, maybe it didn't change in an instant, but I saw the change in an instant. In fact, I feel like this has been a long time coming.
I decided to hell with the rules. I want to make my own rules.
Which is why I'm going to self-publish.
But.... There is a catch. Because of my financial situation (thanks college!), I'll only be publishing it as an ebook, at least for the moment. I know The Assassin will be on kindle and nook, that's a given. iBooks is to be determined. There's a lot of research that goes into it. I know those are the three major ebook platforms, but if there are others, please, by all means, let me know!
As far as when it'll be available, I don't know. Probably some time next year, maybe May? That's a total shot in the dark, it's got a lot to go through before it's ready for the world to see, but I'm excited.
So, now, this is where I need y'all. Self-publishing is scary and exciting, but I can't do it on my own. Publicity is hard, I worked publicity in the publishing industry - I know. Any love you wanna give me, I will love you forever!
But, to everyone who has followed me and supported me throughout the years - thank you times a gazillion, and I hope you'll stick around just a little bit longer!
