Connecting With Creatives

Hi everyone, there's two great things I want to mention today. The first is that my friend Elana Johnson's new book Surrender has hit the shelves! I'm incredibly excited for her, because she's a great person and strong force of good in the Writing Community. Too, she's worked incredibly hard to create a companion book to Possession that keeps us in Vi's world but shows us something new and fresh through the eyes of two new characters, Raine and Gunner.



Raine has always been a good girl. She lives by the rules in Freedom. After all, they are her father's rules: He's the Director. It's because of him that Raine is willing to use her talent--a power so dangerous, no one else is allowed to know about it. Not even her roommate, Vi.



All of that changes when Raine falls for Gunner. Raine’s got every reason in the world to stay away from Gunn, but she just can’t. Especially when she discovers his connection to Vi’s boyfriend, Zenn. Raine has never known anyone as heavily brainwashed as Vi. Raine’s father expects her to spy on Vi and report back to him. But Raine is beginning to wonder what Vi knows that her father is so anxious to keep hidden, and what might happen if she helps Vi remember it. She’s even starting to suspect Vi’s secrets might involve Freedom’s newest prisoner, the rebel Jag Barque....



I love the irony of a city named Freedom in a world where everything is controlled--brilliant. Anyway, slide on over to Elana's blog to see all the awesome release stuff going on (you can read the first 100 pages free!), and add her book to Goodreads if you'd like!



The second big news I want to share is WANA INTERNATIONAL. Many of you know Kristen Lamb, and how she is amazingly adept at understanding and forecasting the twists and turns of Social Media, and how it best can benefit artists without sucking away every drop of time and creativity. Well, with WANA INTERNATIONAL, she's and her business partner Ingrid Schaffenburg, are embracing the vision of having one place for all creatives to gather for support, friendship, knowledge sharing and collaboration.





Meet Francis, WANA's Mascot
WANA’s Mission:



WANA is seeking to fill a vacuum. We were inspired by the movie “Midnight in Paris.” We found ourselves longing for a time when creative people—ALL types of creative people—could all hang out, talk, chat, brainstorm, help each other, etc. 



One of the things that bothers me about social media is that I see a lot of inbreeding. Writers talk all to writers about writing and that is good, but after time it stagnates. No new blood and no new ideas. Thus, WANA will solve this problem. —Kristen Lamb



I don't know about you, but I think there is so much to be inspired by in this world. Each day we see collaborations take place between Technology & Environmentalists, between Google and NASA and the result is a fresh perspective, and incredible results. 

What might happen if writers did the same? What if they reached beyond the writing community to meld withe the talents and ideas of other creative disciplines? If you're interested in seeing how this question is answered, check it out. WANA will offer many opportunities, including a large education component. There's also a Ning site for socializing and to better aid collaboration as well. You can find me there as well.

Becca and I hope to teach a few webinars in the not-so-distant future at WANA, so look for us there in the coming months. :)