Four Uses for an Insecure Writer & Evernight Teen Giveaway

Alex Cavanaugh's Brain Child

Awesome co-hosts today are Allison Gammons, Tamara Narayan, Eva E. Solar, Rachel Pattison, and Ann V. Friend!Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!SIGN UP HERE




You're washed up before you begin. Nobody wants to read your stuff. The rejections come back before the send key is cool. 

What's so strange then about being just a little INSECURE? 

Nothing, but to ease any tension--should any of these be nagging at you--I've come up with some alternative uses for you... and me. Don't thank me, please. I'm preparing for all of these after this post goes live.


Inspect Keyboards


Do Line Edits


Generate Memes

Function as a Door Stop

Any other uses for Insecure Writers that you can think of? For heaven sakes share! But call me first because this was my idea. And read on because there's some free books and a $100 dollar gift certificate waiting for you below.





Visit EVERNIGHT TEEN to see all of their books.

EVERNIGHT TEEN is celebrating their anniversary this month with a 3rd Birthday Blog Hop. It’s EVERNIGHT TEEN’s birthday but we're giving out the presents with a Grand Prize of a $100 Amazon gift certificate!
EVERNIGHT TEEN books feature fresh teen fiction that is raw, gritty and real. Whether paranormal, contemporary, sci-fi or suspense, our books are about real issues and pack a strong emotional punch. You’ll find cutting edge fiction that today’s young adults can relate to and will keep you turning the pages long into the night.


Here are some excerpts of some reviews.

By Carla Davis

I decided to give Double Negative a try because the sample dragged me in from the first paragraph until I had to read the whole thing! It's so rare to see well done first person, but this book does it masterfully. Hutch has a real voice that must be rendered in the way the author has chosen. No lazy writing here!


By ltg584

I could tell within pages that this book was pure genius and it only became more apparent the deeper I was pulled into the story. I devoured it as quickly as I could… and now it’s over! :( I wish there was some way that it could be a series, just so I could have more! I have already been perusing the author’s other works, debating over which one to read next.

By Night Owl Reviews

Double Negative is just amazing. Reading it felt like being on emotional roller-coaster.



I’m proud to be an EVERNIGHT TEEN author. Enjoy this tease from my book, Double Negative.
"My life was going, going, gone, and I hadn't been laid yet. I couldn't go into the slammer before that happened." Hutch McQueen
TEASE: This is a short bit of a scene between Hutch and Fat Nyla. They're get along most of the time, but not today. Nyla's one of my favorite characters in this book because she's often fragile and under attack by the "in-group" of girls, especially on a website called Mona Knows. Yet Nyla refuses to be beaten. 


I see her before she sees me, but when she does, man, does she shoot lasers at me with her eyes. I walk fast and stop her at the edge of the lawn. “Look, I’m a sleaze, okay? I’m sorry, but that’s just the way I was made.”

“What do you need?” 

“Nothing.” That’s pretty much the truth at the moment. By using one eye to read I’m doing more of the homework. If I hold one of them magnifying glasses over a page I can even look up words in the dictionary, so while it takes a lot of time, I can almost get through Deek’s assignments. Still I don’t want to take any chances. Nyla’s brain could be the difference between me staying a junior for a long time or making it to my senior year. I need to be on her good side.

She passes me and starts toward Larkston High.

“I said I’m sorry. Liz and me . . . well we kind of—”

“Just shut up.” She keeps walking, her eyes down.

“I came to try and—”

She wheels around so fast I run smack into her and have to back up.

“You’re a creep.” Nyla pokes me in the chest with her finger, and I back up some more. “I know what you call me. Not to my face, but when you talk about me to other kids.”
I try for one of those neutral looks, like I don’t know what she’s talking about.
“Let me refresh your memory.” She’s squared off in front of me with her hands on her hips. “Fat Nyla! That’s what you call me. That’s what Mona Knows calls me, and she got it from you.”
“Mona who?”
I don’t expect her to sock me, so when her fist comes at me I take the full wallop on the left side of my jaw. One minute I’m there with the sidewalk under my feet and the next that sidewalk is pressed against my cheek. 






I'm offering two eBooks of Double Negative during Evernight Teen's super celebration.  All you have to do is say you'd like a copy and leave your email in a comment. I'll put your name in the "hat".


Be sure visit each stop on the BLOG HOP for more chances to WIN the GRAND PRIZE of a $100 Amazon Gift Card. You’ll receive bonus entries for commenting on each blog!a Rafflecopter giveaway







Beware the White Rabbit (Anthology: They Call Me Alice), Leap Books, Summer '15
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Two and Twenty Dark Tales (Anthology story: Into the Sea of Dew