Raine O'Tierney's Blog, page 4
October 20, 2014
"Pure, Passionate, and truly forever!" Reviewers love Most Beautiful Words plus #Giveaway! #MMromance
I've received three truly incredible 5* reviews for Most Beautiful Words in the last week or so that I'd like to share.
Prism Book Alliance says:
I was unprepared for the beauty and power of Most Beautiful Words. I was swept away by the desperate pain and fiercely loving relationships depicted within this story. Autumn and her Grand-Pop love each other mightily, and it’s a love so all-encompassing for young Autumn that she cannot imagine living without Grand-Pop physically with her. Tommy’s love of Roy is pure, passionate, and truly forever, as is Roy’s love of Tommy that does not fade with the passing of life or time.To read the entire review go here
Rainbow Book Reviews says:
If you like bittersweet stories that contain a large dose of reality, yet manage to end well, if you don’t mind reality and fantasy intermingling for the purpose of a great story that just needs too be told, and if you’re looking for an imaginative, very sweet, and touching story about family and love, then you will probably like this novel. I was pulled in from the beginning, and think it is absolutely brilliant.To read the entire review go here
Inked Rainbow Reads says:
This is not merely a book about two men who fell in love at a time when they had to keep everything secret. It’s also not merely a book about a dying man and his relationship with his beloved great-granddaughter. It’s about how all relationships are complex and multi-faceted and how love doesn’t just have one size or shape.To read the entire review go here
Remember, you can get your copy of Most Beautiful Words at Dreamspinner Press (ebook) | Dreamspinner Press (paperback) | All Romance eBooks | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
ALSO! Don't forget, it's STILL *~*~GIVEAWAY TIME!!~*~*
Follow the official Most Beautiful Words blog tour around to snag all your chances to enter the rafflecopter for a $25 Amazon gift card
Tour Dates/Stops:October 10: Angel Martinez | My Fiction Nook | Up All Night, Read All Day | Fallen Angel ReviewsOctober 13: Amanda C. Stone | Decadent DelightsOctober 14: Jade CrystalOctober 15: LeAnn’s Book Reviews | Velvet PanicOctober 16: Full Moon Dreaming | Dawn’s Reading NookOctober 17: Wake Up Your Wild Side | Scattered Thoughts & Rogue WordsOctober 20: Parker Williams | Inked Rainbow ReadsOctober 21: Cate Ashwood | Love Bytes | Book Reviews, Rants, and RavesOctober 22: Regular Guys, Hot Romance | Emotion in MotionOctober 23: EE Montgomery | MM Good Book ReviewsOctober 24: Iyana Jenna | Prism Book Alliance
a Rafflecopter giveaway
October 10, 2014
20 Year in the Making! + 3 #Giveaways! #MostBeautifulWords #MMRomance
So...............................................a dream of mine just came true. Written that way underplays it a bit, I think. Let me rephrase: A VERY IMPORTANT *~*TWENTY YEARS IN THE MAKING*~* DREAM OF MINE came true today!
Today, I am a published novelist.
I dreamed and I worked and I fretted and I worked and I wanted to quit but I didn't quit and I dreamed some more and I fretted some more and I worked and I worked and I worked and here it is: the product of all of that.
I think my eighth grade self, writing in her notebooks and dreaming, would be very proud. I know last year's Raine O'Tierney is proud!
Okay, enough of the self-pats on the back. Let's get down to business. What's this novel I'm yammering about? And where are the GIVEAWAYS we were promised?!
Twelve-year-old Autumn's world is shattered when her beloved Great-Pop, Tommy Johnson, suffers a stroke that leaves him comatose. With everyone around her resigning themselves to the inevitable, Autumn is the only one not willing to give up. She and Great-Pop have more secret stories to share with each other, after all. More stories about Roy McMillan—the great love of Tommy's life whom he lost fifty years ago.
Autumn struggles to keep Great-Pop on this side of death's door. But how can she compete with the beautiful and mysterious Valley—a place of surreal magic where the sun never fully sets? Especially when there's someone familiar in the Valley who will do everything he can to keep Great-Pop from returning to her.
Available from Dreamspinner Press (ebook) | Dreamspinner Press (paperback) | Amazon
Exclusive excerpt:
“No,” he said. “You wanted a story I never told anyone. Well, this is it. It’s a story about friendship.” “I thought he was your love?” “All good loves start out as friendships, princess,” Great-Pop said, his hands warm and firm on her back. “Do you want to hear?” Oh how she wanted to hear. More than anything she’d ever wanted before. Autumn nodded quickly. “I noticed him at church first.” Autumn looked around the yard. The sun was burning out of the sky, leaving a swath of sunset colors in its wake, and near the edges of the yard where the juniper bushes grew, tiny bursts of green illuminated the growing darkness as the fireflies came out to dance. “He kept his hair long, which wasn’t the style at the time.” She thought again about Joey Sullivan on That Rocks! It was the best show on television, and all the girls in her grade thought Joey was the cutest. Of course he was her favorite too. He had a really great smile with a dimple and really long hair, almost as long as hers. He tied it back in a ponytail. “And he dressed really casual for Sunday service. My step-momma—your great-great-grandmother—used to say that his family was poor trash and that the bank ought to do us all a favor and take those acres of dust they called a farm and drive them out of town. Step-Momma was a snob, and we were poor too. But we weren’t poor like the McMillans, and that made her think she was better than them.” It was the first time she’d ever heard him say anything about his stepmother. She decided anyone that had anything bad to say about the young man her Great-Pop loved wasn’t a good person, and she immediately disliked the great-great-grandmother she’d never known. “What did he look like, Great-Pop?”“Handsome. Mischievous.” “What color was his hair?” “Brown.” “And long,” she repeated for herself. Joey Sullivan had blond hair, so she had to adjust for that. “With bright blue eyes.” She fixed that too. “So you talked to him at church?” she spurred him anxiously. She wanted more!
Great-Pop moved quietly over to the rust-stained iron chair next to the bushes. “I met him at the little library. The librarian there was an old maid named Miss Palmer, and she was mean….”
*~*~GIVEAWAY(S) TIME!!~*~*
Check out my interview over at The Hat Party and comment for your chance to win an e-copy of Most Beautiful Words.
There's a second chance to win an e-copy of Most Beautiful Words if you follow along with my Dreamspinner Press Blog Release Day Party posts from 9 a.m. CDT to 12:30 p.m. CDT today!
And finally, follow the official Most Beautiful Words blog tour around to snag all your chances to enter the rafflecopter for a $25 Amazon gift card
Tour Dates/Stops:October 10: Angel Martinez, My Fiction Nook, Up All Night, Read All Day, Fallen Angel ReviewsOctober 13: Amanda C. Stone, Decadent DelightsOctober 14: Jade Crystal, NephylimOctober 15: LeAnn’s Book Reviews, Velvet PanicOctober 16: Full Moon Dreaming, Dawn’s Reading NookOctober 17: Wake Up Your Wild Side, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue WordsOctober 20: Parker Williams, Inked Rainbow ReadsOctober 21: Cate Ashwood, Love Bytes, Book Reviews, Rants, and RavesOctober 22: Regular Guys, Hot Romance, Emotion in MotionOctober 23: EE Montgomery, MM Good Book ReviewsOctober 24: Iyana Jenna, Prism Book Alliancea Rafflecopter giveaway
Today, I am a published novelist.
I dreamed and I worked and I fretted and I worked and I wanted to quit but I didn't quit and I dreamed some more and I fretted some more and I worked and I worked and I worked and here it is: the product of all of that.
I think my eighth grade self, writing in her notebooks and dreaming, would be very proud. I know last year's Raine O'Tierney is proud!
Okay, enough of the self-pats on the back. Let's get down to business. What's this novel I'm yammering about? And where are the GIVEAWAYS we were promised?!
Twelve-year-old Autumn's world is shattered when her beloved Great-Pop, Tommy Johnson, suffers a stroke that leaves him comatose. With everyone around her resigning themselves to the inevitable, Autumn is the only one not willing to give up. She and Great-Pop have more secret stories to share with each other, after all. More stories about Roy McMillan—the great love of Tommy's life whom he lost fifty years ago. Autumn struggles to keep Great-Pop on this side of death's door. But how can she compete with the beautiful and mysterious Valley—a place of surreal magic where the sun never fully sets? Especially when there's someone familiar in the Valley who will do everything he can to keep Great-Pop from returning to her.
Available from Dreamspinner Press (ebook) | Dreamspinner Press (paperback) | Amazon
Exclusive excerpt:
“No,” he said. “You wanted a story I never told anyone. Well, this is it. It’s a story about friendship.” “I thought he was your love?” “All good loves start out as friendships, princess,” Great-Pop said, his hands warm and firm on her back. “Do you want to hear?” Oh how she wanted to hear. More than anything she’d ever wanted before. Autumn nodded quickly. “I noticed him at church first.” Autumn looked around the yard. The sun was burning out of the sky, leaving a swath of sunset colors in its wake, and near the edges of the yard where the juniper bushes grew, tiny bursts of green illuminated the growing darkness as the fireflies came out to dance. “He kept his hair long, which wasn’t the style at the time.” She thought again about Joey Sullivan on That Rocks! It was the best show on television, and all the girls in her grade thought Joey was the cutest. Of course he was her favorite too. He had a really great smile with a dimple and really long hair, almost as long as hers. He tied it back in a ponytail. “And he dressed really casual for Sunday service. My step-momma—your great-great-grandmother—used to say that his family was poor trash and that the bank ought to do us all a favor and take those acres of dust they called a farm and drive them out of town. Step-Momma was a snob, and we were poor too. But we weren’t poor like the McMillans, and that made her think she was better than them.” It was the first time she’d ever heard him say anything about his stepmother. She decided anyone that had anything bad to say about the young man her Great-Pop loved wasn’t a good person, and she immediately disliked the great-great-grandmother she’d never known. “What did he look like, Great-Pop?”“Handsome. Mischievous.” “What color was his hair?” “Brown.” “And long,” she repeated for herself. Joey Sullivan had blond hair, so she had to adjust for that. “With bright blue eyes.” She fixed that too. “So you talked to him at church?” she spurred him anxiously. She wanted more!
Great-Pop moved quietly over to the rust-stained iron chair next to the bushes. “I met him at the little library. The librarian there was an old maid named Miss Palmer, and she was mean….”
*~*~GIVEAWAY(S) TIME!!~*~*
Check out my interview over at The Hat Party and comment for your chance to win an e-copy of Most Beautiful Words.
There's a second chance to win an e-copy of Most Beautiful Words if you follow along with my Dreamspinner Press Blog Release Day Party posts from 9 a.m. CDT to 12:30 p.m. CDT today!
And finally, follow the official Most Beautiful Words blog tour around to snag all your chances to enter the rafflecopter for a $25 Amazon gift card
Tour Dates/Stops:October 10: Angel Martinez, My Fiction Nook, Up All Night, Read All Day, Fallen Angel ReviewsOctober 13: Amanda C. Stone, Decadent DelightsOctober 14: Jade Crystal, NephylimOctober 15: LeAnn’s Book Reviews, Velvet PanicOctober 16: Full Moon Dreaming, Dawn’s Reading NookOctober 17: Wake Up Your Wild Side, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue WordsOctober 20: Parker Williams, Inked Rainbow ReadsOctober 21: Cate Ashwood, Love Bytes, Book Reviews, Rants, and RavesOctober 22: Regular Guys, Hot Romance, Emotion in MotionOctober 23: EE Montgomery, MM Good Book ReviewsOctober 24: Iyana Jenna, Prism Book Alliancea Rafflecopter giveaway
September 12, 2014
Positivity for Writers #3: Don't Let Others Dictate Your Pace
I can't believe it's already week three of the positivity posts! I hope you've found them helpful. I'd love your feedback. :)
--Raine
With the current culture of ebooks, indie-publishing, and small-press publishers, the pace at which it seems authors want to (or more often, need to) write has really changed. Growing up, I had a favorite Harlequin author, Jessica Steele, and on the very best of years, when her releases fell just right, she put out two books in a calendar year. That was fast. That was insanely fast.
Now, it's almost as if two books a year is standard, if not a little on the slow side. I know authors that release every two months. I know authors that seem to release every month. I know authors who do this *and* have full-time jobs. Is your head spinning yet?
I admit it, I lost myself to the pace for a while. People cheered me on. You can do it! Write more! Write faster! And so I did, and I felt good. Faster, faster, faster... Until my fastest wasn't fast enough. And then I didn't feel good at all.
Between April and December 2014, I will have put out six works. But those works were percolating for YEARS and many were in various stages of drafting and editing before 2014! They just happened to get clumped together and published in a relatively short span of time. So what happens in 2015...?
A very dear friend gave me a piece of advice that I wrote down in journals, on my hand, on scraps of paper, anywhere I might stumble upon it. It's, well, pretty much everywhere. I have to keep it nearby because if I don't, it slips right out of my brain.
Simply put, she said:
Remember: this is not a race, my friends. It's an art. :)
Until next time!
Raine O'Tierney
--Raine
With the current culture of ebooks, indie-publishing, and small-press publishers, the pace at which it seems authors want to (or more often, need to) write has really changed. Growing up, I had a favorite Harlequin author, Jessica Steele, and on the very best of years, when her releases fell just right, she put out two books in a calendar year. That was fast. That was insanely fast.
Now, it's almost as if two books a year is standard, if not a little on the slow side. I know authors that release every two months. I know authors that seem to release every month. I know authors who do this *and* have full-time jobs. Is your head spinning yet?
I admit it, I lost myself to the pace for a while. People cheered me on. You can do it! Write more! Write faster! And so I did, and I felt good. Faster, faster, faster... Until my fastest wasn't fast enough. And then I didn't feel good at all.
Between April and December 2014, I will have put out six works. But those works were percolating for YEARS and many were in various stages of drafting and editing before 2014! They just happened to get clumped together and published in a relatively short span of time. So what happens in 2015...?
A very dear friend gave me a piece of advice that I wrote down in journals, on my hand, on scraps of paper, anywhere I might stumble upon it. It's, well, pretty much everywhere. I have to keep it nearby because if I don't, it slips right out of my brain.
Simply put, she said:
Your Creator didn't give you a lifetime's worth of stories, so that you could write them all today.Write at the pace that works best for you. If a release a month WORKS for you and you are happy--keep doing that! But don't feel like you have to. We want you to take the time you need to craft the story in your heart with love and care. (Except in November: November is NaNoWriMo. Mwahaha!)
Remember: this is not a race, my friends. It's an art. :)
Until next time!
Raine O'Tierney
September 9, 2014
Ta-Da! Most Beautiful Words! #MMromance #Coverreveal
A very special thank you to Brooke Albrecht who put together my lovely cover and to Will Parkinson who set up the cover reveal. :) And to YOU for stopping by to check it out. Isn't it pretty? <3
Book Name: Most Beautiful WordsAuthor Name: Raine O’TierneyCover Artist: Brooke AlbrechtPublisher: Dreamspinner Press
Blurb(s):
Twelve-year-old Autumn's world is shattered when her beloved Great-Pop, Tommy Johnson, suffers a stroke that leaves him comatose. With everyone around her resigning themselves to the inevitable, Autumn is the only one not willing to give up. She and Great-Pop have more secret stories to share with each other, after all. More stories about Roy McMillan—the great love of Tommy's life whom he lost fifty years ago.
Autumn struggles to keep Great-Pop on this side of death's door. But how can she compete with the beautiful and mysterious Valley—a place of surreal magic where the sun never fully sets? Especially when there's someone familiar in the Valley who will do everything he can to keep Great-Pop from returning to her.
Excerpt:
“So what’s my prize?”
“I’m gonna let you kiss me,” Roy said with a big, devious smile.
“Yeah?” Tommy asked, thinking he was being put on. “All right, I guess I’ll take the consolation prize then.”
“That leaves me with the grand prize by default.”
And he leaned in, and as sweet as anything Tommy had experienced in his whole life, Roy kissed his slightly parted lips. Even when Tommy stiffened, Roy did not pull back. Instead, slowly and deliberately, he gathered Tommy to him with a hold that was loose enough for him to escape from, but tight enough to be a real, romantic embrace. He kissed Tommy until he had to draw breath, and even then he did not let him go all the way.
“You… really wanted to?” Tommy asked, his head spinning. In that moment he had a single, solitary regret. It wasn’t coming out here to shoot arrows, and it wasn’t that he hadn’t pulled out of Roy’s embrace or even that he’d been kissed. It was that he hadn’t kissed Roy first. Because Tommy liked the kissing. A lot. And he wanted to do it more.
Available from Dreamspinner Press (ebook) | Dreamspinner Press (paperback)
About the Author: Called "Queen of the Sweetness" (well, two or three people said it anyway!) Raine O'Tierney loves writing sweet stories about first loves, first times, fidelity, forever-endings and...friskiness?
Raine O'Tierney lives outside of Kansas City with her husband, fellow Dreamspinner Press author, Siôn O'Tierney. When she's not writing, she's either asleep, or fighting the good fight for intellectual freedom at her library day job. Raine believes the best thing we can do in life is be kind to one another, and she enjoys encouraging fellow writers. Writing for 20+ years (with the last 10 spent on M/M) Raine changes sub-genres to suit her mood and believes all good stories end sweetly. Contact her if you're interested in talking about point-and-click adventure games or about which dachshunds are the best kinds of dachshunds!
Raineotierney.com | Dreamspinner Press Author Page | The Hat Party (LGBT Author Interviews!) | Facebook Fan Page | Twitter
Tour Dates: 9/10/14
Tour Stops: Parker Williams, Prism Book Alliance, Cate Ashwood, Velvet Panic, Fallen Angel Reviews, Regular Guys, Hot Romance, Wake Up Your Wild Side, Iyana Jenna, Elisa - My Reviews and Ramblings, Love Bytes, MM Good Book Reviews, Amanda C. Stone, LeAnn’s Book Reviews, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Up All Night, Read All Day, A_TiffyFit's Reading Corner, Rainbow Gold Reviews, Nephylim, EE Montgomery, Inked Rainbow Reads, Andrew Q. Gordon, Emotion in Motion
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Book Name: Most Beautiful WordsAuthor Name: Raine O’TierneyCover Artist: Brooke AlbrechtPublisher: Dreamspinner Press
Blurb(s):
Twelve-year-old Autumn's world is shattered when her beloved Great-Pop, Tommy Johnson, suffers a stroke that leaves him comatose. With everyone around her resigning themselves to the inevitable, Autumn is the only one not willing to give up. She and Great-Pop have more secret stories to share with each other, after all. More stories about Roy McMillan—the great love of Tommy's life whom he lost fifty years ago.
Autumn struggles to keep Great-Pop on this side of death's door. But how can she compete with the beautiful and mysterious Valley—a place of surreal magic where the sun never fully sets? Especially when there's someone familiar in the Valley who will do everything he can to keep Great-Pop from returning to her.
Excerpt:
“So what’s my prize?”
“I’m gonna let you kiss me,” Roy said with a big, devious smile.
“Yeah?” Tommy asked, thinking he was being put on. “All right, I guess I’ll take the consolation prize then.”
“That leaves me with the grand prize by default.”
And he leaned in, and as sweet as anything Tommy had experienced in his whole life, Roy kissed his slightly parted lips. Even when Tommy stiffened, Roy did not pull back. Instead, slowly and deliberately, he gathered Tommy to him with a hold that was loose enough for him to escape from, but tight enough to be a real, romantic embrace. He kissed Tommy until he had to draw breath, and even then he did not let him go all the way.
“You… really wanted to?” Tommy asked, his head spinning. In that moment he had a single, solitary regret. It wasn’t coming out here to shoot arrows, and it wasn’t that he hadn’t pulled out of Roy’s embrace or even that he’d been kissed. It was that he hadn’t kissed Roy first. Because Tommy liked the kissing. A lot. And he wanted to do it more.
Available from Dreamspinner Press (ebook) | Dreamspinner Press (paperback)
About the Author: Called "Queen of the Sweetness" (well, two or three people said it anyway!) Raine O'Tierney loves writing sweet stories about first loves, first times, fidelity, forever-endings and...friskiness?
Raine O'Tierney lives outside of Kansas City with her husband, fellow Dreamspinner Press author, Siôn O'Tierney. When she's not writing, she's either asleep, or fighting the good fight for intellectual freedom at her library day job. Raine believes the best thing we can do in life is be kind to one another, and she enjoys encouraging fellow writers. Writing for 20+ years (with the last 10 spent on M/M) Raine changes sub-genres to suit her mood and believes all good stories end sweetly. Contact her if you're interested in talking about point-and-click adventure games or about which dachshunds are the best kinds of dachshunds!
Raineotierney.com | Dreamspinner Press Author Page | The Hat Party (LGBT Author Interviews!) | Facebook Fan Page | Twitter
Tour Dates: 9/10/14
Tour Stops: Parker Williams, Prism Book Alliance, Cate Ashwood, Velvet Panic, Fallen Angel Reviews, Regular Guys, Hot Romance, Wake Up Your Wild Side, Iyana Jenna, Elisa - My Reviews and Ramblings, Love Bytes, MM Good Book Reviews, Amanda C. Stone, LeAnn’s Book Reviews, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Up All Night, Read All Day, A_TiffyFit's Reading Corner, Rainbow Gold Reviews, Nephylim, EE Montgomery, Inked Rainbow Reads, Andrew Q. Gordon, Emotion in Motion
a Rafflecopter giveaway
August 9, 2014
Positivity for Writers #2 : Just Bloom, Beautiful Flower
Welcome to week 2 of my Positivity for Writers series. My intention with these posts is not to say THIS IS WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO TO BE HAPPY! but instead to share some of things that have worked for me. I hope they will speak to you!
--Raine
It's going to happen to you at some point. I don't care if you are the most well-adjusted, self-assured, confident writer on the planet. At some point, hanging out on FB, traversing the internet, attending a con, or, heck, just browsing Amazon.com, the feeling is going to hit you: you're not as good as Mr/s Writer Person X.
Darn Writer Person X with their fancy sales and their fancy fans and their fancy success! And as you try to shield your eyes from the glow of their awesomeness, that feeling of not being good enough is going to get into your bones and you're going to think: what am I even doing? Why am I even trying?
For a while I thought it was just me, being awed by others and then feeling small and insignificant. Then I read a status update from an author I admire (and one who I consider 'big time' within our community) talking about he felt small and insignificant. But really Writer Person X?! You're Writer Person X! How can you feel small, too?
Because he has his own Writer Person X looming over him with their fanciness!
And because ANY time you compare yourself to someone else, especially through the filtered glitz of facebook, you're going to come out feeling less than.
In my lowest moment, when I thought I might just give up, author JC Wallace (who has his own special condo in my heart!) sent me this picture:
(thank you @and_spiritually_speaking!)
The saying struck me in just the right way.
I started taking mindful breaks from the Facebook community. I started putting on blinders (figuratively!) when I was writing. I made a chart of my sales, not to compare to others, but so I could set goals against myself and compete with me.
I get it, I'm small-time right now. One day, I may not be. But there will ALWAYS be someone bigger than me and always someone coming up from behind to take my spot. If I don't want to lose my mind to competition and feelings of worthlessness, there's only one thing I can do: stop looking at the other flowers, and just bloom.
I hope you will too!Raine
--Raine
It's going to happen to you at some point. I don't care if you are the most well-adjusted, self-assured, confident writer on the planet. At some point, hanging out on FB, traversing the internet, attending a con, or, heck, just browsing Amazon.com, the feeling is going to hit you: you're not as good as Mr/s Writer Person X.
Darn Writer Person X with their fancy sales and their fancy fans and their fancy success! And as you try to shield your eyes from the glow of their awesomeness, that feeling of not being good enough is going to get into your bones and you're going to think: what am I even doing? Why am I even trying?
For a while I thought it was just me, being awed by others and then feeling small and insignificant. Then I read a status update from an author I admire (and one who I consider 'big time' within our community) talking about he felt small and insignificant. But really Writer Person X?! You're Writer Person X! How can you feel small, too?
Because he has his own Writer Person X looming over him with their fanciness!
And because ANY time you compare yourself to someone else, especially through the filtered glitz of facebook, you're going to come out feeling less than.
In my lowest moment, when I thought I might just give up, author JC Wallace (who has his own special condo in my heart!) sent me this picture:
(thank you @and_spiritually_speaking!)The saying struck me in just the right way.
I started taking mindful breaks from the Facebook community. I started putting on blinders (figuratively!) when I was writing. I made a chart of my sales, not to compare to others, but so I could set goals against myself and compete with me.
I get it, I'm small-time right now. One day, I may not be. But there will ALWAYS be someone bigger than me and always someone coming up from behind to take my spot. If I don't want to lose my mind to competition and feelings of worthlessness, there's only one thing I can do: stop looking at the other flowers, and just bloom.
I hope you will too!Raine
August 3, 2014
Positivity for Writers #1 : The Year of Writing Dangerously
This is the first in a series of positive thoughts for writers. I think the best thing we can do in this community is build each other up and support one another as creative individuals. These are some of my thoughts, some of the things that have worked for me. I hope they will speak to you as well.
--Raine
Last year, on my birthday, I set off on a journey. I called it The Year of Writing Dangerously and I was guided by one principle: write bravely. No matter what, don't let the fear (or in my case, the obsessive thoughts) rule you.
Be bold, be true, be lionhearted in all your writing endeavors.
Exactly one year later, I released my very first ever published novella.
I'm not saying that setting off on a 365 day journey of brave writing = publication. Besides, publication is not always the end-all goal. But I am saying that writing despite a head full of little demon doubts is the greatest feeling in the world!
I kept a journal of each brave day and it's interesting now to go back and re-read it. The doubts and the successes, the frustrations and the excitement. The day I'd given up hope that Dreamspinner Press would ever want me and the day after when I got to write: I signed the contract.
Writing bravely isn't about not having those fears and self-doubts, but instead, moving through them, for yourself and for your goals.
I proved to myself that I could be brave. Now, I'm trying to decide what my next journey should be. The Year of Writing __ ? I'm excited to see what I can do with another 365 days. What will you do with your year?
--Raine
Last year, on my birthday, I set off on a journey. I called it The Year of Writing Dangerously and I was guided by one principle: write bravely. No matter what, don't let the fear (or in my case, the obsessive thoughts) rule you.
Be bold, be true, be lionhearted in all your writing endeavors.
Exactly one year later, I released my very first ever published novella.
I'm not saying that setting off on a 365 day journey of brave writing = publication. Besides, publication is not always the end-all goal. But I am saying that writing despite a head full of little demon doubts is the greatest feeling in the world!
I kept a journal of each brave day and it's interesting now to go back and re-read it. The doubts and the successes, the frustrations and the excitement. The day I'd given up hope that Dreamspinner Press would ever want me and the day after when I got to write: I signed the contract.
Writing bravely isn't about not having those fears and self-doubts, but instead, moving through them, for yourself and for your goals.
I proved to myself that I could be brave. Now, I'm trying to decide what my next journey should be. The Year of Writing __ ? I'm excited to see what I can do with another 365 days. What will you do with your year?
July 7, 2014
More #MMRomance Than You Can Shake a Stick At! or New #Contracts! (Heh, she said "Stick"!)
I'm so stinkin' excited, y'all! Just this week I signed TWO more contracts--one with Dreamspinner Press and the other with Dreamspinner's YA imprint, Harmony Ink. (Yup, the revise and resubmit has been revised, resubmitted, and accepted <3)
Here's the new estimated release schedule as it stands:
The Most Beautiful Words in the World (OCT 2014)
Autumn's world is shattered when her beloved Great-Pop, Tommy Johnson, suffers a stroke that leaves him comatose. With everyone around her resigning themselves to the inevitable, Autumn is the only one not willing to give up. She and Great-Pop have more secret stories to share with each other, after all. More stories about Roy McMillan--the great love of Tommy's life who he lost fifty years ago.
Autumn struggles to keep Great-Pop on this side of death's door. But how can she compete with the beautiful and mysterious Valley--a place of surreal magic where the sun never sets? Especially when there's someone familiar in the Valley that will do everything he can to keep Great-Pop from returning to her.
Bowl Full of Cherries (EARLY DEC 2014)
Porker, Fatty, Tons-of-Fun, Roly-Poly: Crowley Fredericks has heard it all. He’s dropped a lot of the weight since his high school days, but he’s still a big guy, and the painful words follow him. Rejected—again—because of his weight, Crowley’s starting to think that maybe love just isn’t meant for huskier men. And then his roommate, Tyler, invites him home for Christmas in snowy Susset and everything changes.
Averell “Rell” Lang is one half of the Lang Twins. But where his brother Tyler is snobby, elitist and the consummate ‘hipster’, Rell is funny, laid back, and yes, maybe a bit of a slacker. The twins couldn’t be any more different. So when Tyler brings home his roommate for the holidays, Rell expects the worst—a Tyler clone. What he gets instead is Crowley. Beautiful, funny, fascinating Crowley. Rell’s never looked at a man this way before, and what he sees in Crowley Fredericks has nothing to do with his weight.
Can both men overcome their hang-ups to unwrap more than Christmas presents this holiday season?
Alchemy Ever After (with Siôn O'Tierney) (LATE JAN 2015)
The city of New Alexandria is filled with marvelous wonders: the largest library known to man, powerful magicians-in-training, mechanical follies, and much more! Yet it is not this thoroughly modern metropolis that lured Idrian from his hometown, but the promise of learning the new art of alchemy. Master Maketh is a scholar combining the spectacular new technology of the era with the ancient art of magic, and he’s taken Idrian in as an apprentice. Together, they are animating a living sculpture from ice. It is the culmination of years of research, and Idrian cannot wait to unveil it alongside all the other marvels being presented at the annual Spring Festival.
But after witnessing his master in a passionate embrace with one of the students from the New Alexandria Academy of Engineering & the Magical Arts, naive Idrian's mind is no longer strictly on things alchemical. When his warm touch accidentally awakens the consciousness within the living sculpture, Idrian learns lessons firsthand about passion and physicality.
I'll Always Miss You (MAR 2015)
Isa Zaman could forgive his parents for taking in a friend of the family's son if only he wasn't the most boring teenager in the universe. Macklin Cormack’s only interests are "reading and the outdoors"? Yeah, right. Isa's convinced that "Mackie" is either a pyro or a klepto. Plus, as a white kid, Mackie looks ridiculous in the Zaman’s Arab-American household. Forced to share a bedroom with the new intruder, Isa keeps butting heads with Mackie, until a hilariously absurd fight breaks the tension between them.
Isa’s just starting to figure things out: this new house guest, his cultural identity, school, and girls, when the whole family is suddenly uprooted from their home, for reasons Isa can't understand. They move from their tiny apartment in the city to a giant, old house in a small town, hours away from all he's ever known. Oh, and the new house? It's probably haunted, or so says the ten-year-old next door who can't make facial expressions. As if things weren't weird enough, Isa's friendship with Mackie just took a strange new turn, down a path he's not sure he wants to follow. Mackie Cormac? Not near as boring as Isa imagined.
~ ~ ~
My life's work, right there... I know it seems like I squeezed out all these novels at once, but actually, all my releases have been in various stages of completion for the last decade.
Now what?
Writing, of course! I've got more stories to tell and hopefully I'll be able to get back into the swing of things soon.
--Raine
Here's the new estimated release schedule as it stands:
The Most Beautiful Words in the World (OCT 2014)
Autumn's world is shattered when her beloved Great-Pop, Tommy Johnson, suffers a stroke that leaves him comatose. With everyone around her resigning themselves to the inevitable, Autumn is the only one not willing to give up. She and Great-Pop have more secret stories to share with each other, after all. More stories about Roy McMillan--the great love of Tommy's life who he lost fifty years ago.
Autumn struggles to keep Great-Pop on this side of death's door. But how can she compete with the beautiful and mysterious Valley--a place of surreal magic where the sun never sets? Especially when there's someone familiar in the Valley that will do everything he can to keep Great-Pop from returning to her.
Bowl Full of Cherries (EARLY DEC 2014)
Porker, Fatty, Tons-of-Fun, Roly-Poly: Crowley Fredericks has heard it all. He’s dropped a lot of the weight since his high school days, but he’s still a big guy, and the painful words follow him. Rejected—again—because of his weight, Crowley’s starting to think that maybe love just isn’t meant for huskier men. And then his roommate, Tyler, invites him home for Christmas in snowy Susset and everything changes.
Averell “Rell” Lang is one half of the Lang Twins. But where his brother Tyler is snobby, elitist and the consummate ‘hipster’, Rell is funny, laid back, and yes, maybe a bit of a slacker. The twins couldn’t be any more different. So when Tyler brings home his roommate for the holidays, Rell expects the worst—a Tyler clone. What he gets instead is Crowley. Beautiful, funny, fascinating Crowley. Rell’s never looked at a man this way before, and what he sees in Crowley Fredericks has nothing to do with his weight.
Can both men overcome their hang-ups to unwrap more than Christmas presents this holiday season?
Alchemy Ever After (with Siôn O'Tierney) (LATE JAN 2015)
The city of New Alexandria is filled with marvelous wonders: the largest library known to man, powerful magicians-in-training, mechanical follies, and much more! Yet it is not this thoroughly modern metropolis that lured Idrian from his hometown, but the promise of learning the new art of alchemy. Master Maketh is a scholar combining the spectacular new technology of the era with the ancient art of magic, and he’s taken Idrian in as an apprentice. Together, they are animating a living sculpture from ice. It is the culmination of years of research, and Idrian cannot wait to unveil it alongside all the other marvels being presented at the annual Spring Festival.
But after witnessing his master in a passionate embrace with one of the students from the New Alexandria Academy of Engineering & the Magical Arts, naive Idrian's mind is no longer strictly on things alchemical. When his warm touch accidentally awakens the consciousness within the living sculpture, Idrian learns lessons firsthand about passion and physicality.
I'll Always Miss You (MAR 2015)
Isa Zaman could forgive his parents for taking in a friend of the family's son if only he wasn't the most boring teenager in the universe. Macklin Cormack’s only interests are "reading and the outdoors"? Yeah, right. Isa's convinced that "Mackie" is either a pyro or a klepto. Plus, as a white kid, Mackie looks ridiculous in the Zaman’s Arab-American household. Forced to share a bedroom with the new intruder, Isa keeps butting heads with Mackie, until a hilariously absurd fight breaks the tension between them.
Isa’s just starting to figure things out: this new house guest, his cultural identity, school, and girls, when the whole family is suddenly uprooted from their home, for reasons Isa can't understand. They move from their tiny apartment in the city to a giant, old house in a small town, hours away from all he's ever known. Oh, and the new house? It's probably haunted, or so says the ten-year-old next door who can't make facial expressions. As if things weren't weird enough, Isa's friendship with Mackie just took a strange new turn, down a path he's not sure he wants to follow. Mackie Cormac? Not near as boring as Isa imagined.
~ ~ ~
My life's work, right there... I know it seems like I squeezed out all these novels at once, but actually, all my releases have been in various stages of completion for the last decade.
Now what?
Writing, of course! I've got more stories to tell and hopefully I'll be able to get back into the swing of things soon.
--Raine
June 25, 2014
For the Low, Low Price of NO DOLLARS...Some Advice on #Writing and #Creativity!
This was originally written for Wedbriefsfic.com on my Under the Table and Into His Heart blog tour. Published Mar 25th, 2014.In my day-to-day life, I am a library lady and as such library things interest me. In a meeting with our programming department, we jokingly asked if we could get Neil Gaiman as the author for our NaNoWriMo after-hours party this November. Mr. Gaiman’s appearance fee is a well-earned $30,000—so, no go. But have you heard the man speak? He is SO motivating.I am no Neil Gaiman.But in my 20+ years of writing, I have developed a small set of advice that I keep close to my heart. For the low, low price of NO DOLLARS, I want to share it with you now.Be brave in all things.Writing is scary. Writing can be downright terrifying even. If you aren’t scared of writing, there is always sharing your stories, editing, soliciting for publication, blurb writing, release day, promo, reviews, self-doubt, and the NEXT story. There’s always something to be nervous about. That’s why you must be brave to pursue your dreams.Write boldly.The bolder the better. Don’t let anyone set limitation on your story. Write with the graceful wordcraft of an adult and the imagination of a child.Write for yourself.Money is awesome. Writing and getting paid to write? Awesomely awesome. But writing FOR money? It’s taxing. It’s draining. I don’t care if you are following trends or not as long as, at the heart of it, you are saying something meaningful for yourself. Speak with your voice, not the voice they want you to have.You have a lifetime of stories, they don’t have to all be written today.This is not my advice—it is my friend Lisa’s. She drilled it into my head. When you craft, craft with precision and care. The goal is not to write 100 mediocre stories when a little more effort and a little more time would produce five AMAZING stories.You are a creative being.Prove it! Write, draw, sing, knit, garden, dance, bake, design, sew, anything. Get your fingers moving and your brain flowing. Be creative in all things!Dream, dream, DREAM!We’ve all been told at one point or another that dreams are for babies and dreaming is pointless. SCREW. THAT. Dream big! Dream bold! Dream in defiance! DREAM. And then do something about those dreams.I believe in you,
Raine O’Tierney
Raine O’Tierney
June 7, 2014
"Somebody Nice!" *TOTALLY FREE* sweet novella w/ a touch of spice! #mmromance #freefiction
It's here! It's here! It's finally here!
I participated in the M/M Romance GR Group's Love's Landscapes event this year, writing a free fiction based on a prompt provided by one of the group members. This was my very first time writing for the event and I've been all nerves and excitement over it.
Somebody Nice! is the result of the following prompt, which the lovely Vera developed:
Dear Author,
VeraThe story has been available to the group since June 3rd, but as of today, it is now made public and is available to download in .mobi, .pdf, and .epub!Check out the M/M Romance Group site for more details!
I participated in the M/M Romance GR Group's Love's Landscapes event this year, writing a free fiction based on a prompt provided by one of the group members. This was my very first time writing for the event and I've been all nerves and excitement over it.
Somebody Nice! is the result of the following prompt, which the lovely Vera developed:
Dear Author,
NewYorkDating.com ProfileSincerely,
Name: DannyAge: 35Location: New York CitySexuality: Male seeking MaleLooking for: a nice person! Who loves dogs! And children!About MeThis is Danny, he is a very nice person and he is very funny, but I think he is lonely. He helped me when my mom wanted to sell me to a reality show and now I live with him and I wanted to do something back for him so I want to find someone for him, because he has only me and Bunny, that’s his dog, who is really big. And I’m 7 years old and Danny is 35, which is really old, but that doesn’t matter he looks younger. Miss Portwood, my teacher said I need to say what Danny likes to do and he likes to walk with Bunny and work out and play football with me and Bunny and he works also, I think he is a police officer or something, he has a really cool car! And he has a ring in his nipple, which I think is really ouch, but he says people like it. I don’t understand why but Danny says I need to be older but I’m already 7.Hugs, Melissa
VeraThe story has been available to the group since June 3rd, but as of today, it is now made public and is available to download in .mobi, .pdf, and .epub!Check out the M/M Romance Group site for more details!
May 30, 2014
NEVER Apologize For What You Read or What You Write! #IntellectualFreedom #ProudReader #ProudWriter
It started out as a worry. This will not surprise those who know me.
I worry often and about everything. This particular night I was worrying about what people would think if I wrote something totally fluffy. Would they like it? Would they hate it? Should I apologize for wanting to write fluff? I should apologize! I should get on Facebook and APOLOGIZE!
"Dear Facebook friends and fans...I'm so sorry this story isn't Sweet Giordan or Most Beautiful Words--it's JUST going to be fluff."
I started to write the apology six or seven times in different ways over the course of several days. I bit my nails to nubs. I fretted. I made myself sick over it.
And then, while writing another incarnation of the apology, this came out of me instead:
Please please please don't apologize for what you write or what you read. Don't apologize for writing too much sex or not enough, for changing genres and styles, for following your heart story to story. You are amazing, and your intellectual freedom is amazing!
As a library lady, I promote intellectual freedom all the time. READ WHAT YOU WANT AND NEVER APOLOGIZE! So why wouldn't this translate to writing? I shouldn't be--and I will not--be sorry for chasing the story that's on my mind. That may be angst angst angst or it may be cotton candy. Hell, it could be a combination of both! (Black cotton candy?)
I would not stand for ANY author apologizing for their story, why would I let myself get away with it?
Listen. Really listen. You are amazing. You are unique. You are an author or a reader or both. Your preferences are your own. Your loves are valid.
DO.
NOT.
APOLOGIZE.
FOR THIS.
EVER.
Proudly me,
Raine O'Tierney
I worry often and about everything. This particular night I was worrying about what people would think if I wrote something totally fluffy. Would they like it? Would they hate it? Should I apologize for wanting to write fluff? I should apologize! I should get on Facebook and APOLOGIZE!
"Dear Facebook friends and fans...I'm so sorry this story isn't Sweet Giordan or Most Beautiful Words--it's JUST going to be fluff."
I started to write the apology six or seven times in different ways over the course of several days. I bit my nails to nubs. I fretted. I made myself sick over it.
And then, while writing another incarnation of the apology, this came out of me instead:
Please please please don't apologize for what you write or what you read. Don't apologize for writing too much sex or not enough, for changing genres and styles, for following your heart story to story. You are amazing, and your intellectual freedom is amazing!
As a library lady, I promote intellectual freedom all the time. READ WHAT YOU WANT AND NEVER APOLOGIZE! So why wouldn't this translate to writing? I shouldn't be--and I will not--be sorry for chasing the story that's on my mind. That may be angst angst angst or it may be cotton candy. Hell, it could be a combination of both! (Black cotton candy?)
I would not stand for ANY author apologizing for their story, why would I let myself get away with it?
Listen. Really listen. You are amazing. You are unique. You are an author or a reader or both. Your preferences are your own. Your loves are valid.
DO.
NOT.
APOLOGIZE.
FOR THIS.
EVER.
Proudly me,
Raine O'Tierney
