Cover reveal~GUARDIAN'S TOUCH~ by LA Dragoni

Today I'm thrilled to be part of LA Dragoni's cover reveal for her next book in the Touched by Afterlife series. If you read Ghost Touch, you are going to love Guardian's Touch. If you haven't read Ghost Touch, be sure to read through to the end for LA's special announcement. And now, here's Guardian's Touch!

Coming August 1, 2017

Guardian's Touch, Touched by Afterlife, Book 2

Life has returned to normal for Tamara and Dex after helping a horde of ghosts cross over. Their brush with the afterlife affirmed one thing: happily ever after is real.

When odd pranks around the farm escalate to destruction, Tamara fears mischievous teenagers are vandalizing the neighborhood. Then Dex starts to act out of character. Meanness slips into his usually playful disposition. One day he even ridicules a co-worker publicly. Tamara watches helplessly as he seems to lose the ability to control his own actions. When Dex's abnormal anger turns violent—toward Tamara—their happily ever after is threatened. Desperate to help Dex and herself, she sends out a silent prayer for help.

She didn’t expect Cal to come to her aid.

Pre-order now!

Mark as to read on Goodreads: 

Follow LA Dragoni on Amazon or BookBub.

***

Ghost Touch, Touched by Afterlife Book 1 ebook
is marked down to just $0.99 for a limited time.

For fifteen minutes each night a portal opens in Tamara’s

barn and a horde of ghosts spills into her yard. Their leader, Cal, a quiet, unassuming cowboy, fulfills an aching loneliness the death of Tamara’s mother left behind. Tamara can help the ghosts cross, but can she let Cal go?

Available in ebook, audiobook, and print from Amazon.

Also available on Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iTunes, and other e-tailers.

But hurry before the price returns to $2.99.




About the author:

LA Dragoni isn’t too particular about who falls in love or where they fall in love. Whether it’s paranormal, mythical, or time travel, LA simply considers it her job to divine their story and share it with you. She lives in Central Oregon with her husband and children, but haunts ghost towns and cemeteries throughout the west, in search of the next adventure to sift through her storytelling brain. Learn more about LA and her work at ladragoni.com

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Pre-order today!

#InkRipples~Fairy Tales

This month's topic seems like it was made just for me! I love twisting fairy tales and have looked to them for inspiration for at least two of my books. (While Charmed Memories appears to be based on a well-known fairy tale, it happened by accident as I was working on it. I actually based it on a retelling of The Prince and the Pauper.)

Fairy tales were often used to teach morality and safety lessons to children. Take Little Red Riding Hood  for instance. It's a warning about talking to strangers or wandering from home and the safety of parental supervision.

Many of the tales we know that have been made into animated movies have been changed to reflect the social customs of the day. [Spoiler: In Hans Christian Anderson's Little Mermaid, the mermaid doesn't get the prince...she's turned into sea foam.) These changes are often to make the movies more appealing to a wider audience. After all, who wants to see Arielle turn into sea foam? [If you want to read the original, you can find it here. And more of Anderson's works can be found here.]

As an author, the fun with getting inspiration from fairy tales is in how you can switch things up. Most everyone will know the original tale you are basing your story on (take Quest of the Hart- it's based on Sleeping Beauty), unless you choose an obscure or tale from another nation that isn't as well know (which is a great way to get someone to check out those unknown stories!) This give you the opportunity to play with so many things. Should the princess be the damsel in distress or the rescuer? Is the hero actually the hero or the villain? Is the villain actually evil, or just misunderstood? The twists are only limited by your imagination.

So, take your favorite fairy tale and create a new story! Share your favorite fairy tale retelling in the comments below (if you're the author, include a link to your website/buy page/etc.)

#InkRipples is a themed meme hosted by Katie L. Carroll, Kai Strand, and me, Mary Waibel. We post on the first Monday of every month. If you would like to participate compose your own post regarding the theme of the month, include any of the images displayed on the #InkRipples tab above, and link back to our three blogs. Feel free to post whenever you want during the month, but be sure to include #InkRipples when you promote so readers can find you. The idea is that we toss a word or idea into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There is no wrong interpretation.

This year's topics are:

June: Blurbs
July: Heroes/Villains
August: Author Options in Publishing
September: World Building
October: Career vs Hobby
November: Finishing that Book!
December: Goals

Pirate Island by Katie Carroll

Today, Katie Carroll is here to share the cover for her new MG tale. Take it away, Katie!!!

PIRATE ISLAND

by Katie L. Carroll (katielcarroll.com)

Cover Illustration by Susan Tait Porcaro (susantaitporcaro.com)

Coming October 2017!

PIRATE ISLAND blurb:

A thrice cursed island, a legendary pirate treasure, and one not-so-brave boy. What could possibly go wrong?

For centuries, the whereabouts of Captain William Kidd’s lost pirate treasure has remained a mystery. When Billy’s best friend, Andy, proposes they look for it on nearby Pirate Island, Billy thinks it’s just another one of their crazy adventures. It’s usually Billy who ends up in trouble as a result, but he goes along for the ride…like always. The more he delves into the life and death of Kidd, the more he thinks the treasure is real and that it might be buried on the small island in Long Island Sound. Billy—nope, call him William—becomes obsessed with the captain of the same first name. He even believes he’s possessed by Kidd’s restless soul. Now he and the spirit of a long-dead pirate are leading the crazy adventure on Pirate Island. And what they find is far bigger than the treasure they imagined.

About the Author:

Katie L. Carroll always says she began writing at a very sad time her life after her sister Kylene unexpectedly passed away. The truth is Katie has been writing her whole life, and it was only after Kylene’s death that she realized she wanted to pursue writing for kids and teens as a career. Since then writing has taken her to many wonderful places, real and imagined. She has had many jobs in her lifetime, including newspaper deliverer, hardware store cashier, physical therapy assistant, and puzzle magazine editor. She works from her home in Connecticut that is filled with the love and laughter of her sons and husband.

In addition to PIRATE ISLAND, Katie is the author of the YA fantasy ELIXIR BOUND. Find Katie on her website, Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

#InkRipples~Revision

I am so behind this month!!! But I got it done. Here’s this month’s #InkRipples post!

Revision. For some authors, this is the best part of writing. For others, it’s worse than a trip to the dentist. But what is it?

I like to think of revision as the art of taking the lump of stone and polishing and cutting it until it reveal the gem that it truly is.

So, what does that look like?

Remember in school, when you had to write a first draft, then a second draft, and maybe a few more drafts before creating the final copy? Well, writing a book is a little like that.

You start with a first draft. Mine used to meander all over the place, as I didn't do much plotting before hand. It was fun, as I got to get a story down pretty quick, but the revision part became a nightmare. Huge sections would be removed completely as they didn’t fit with where the story ended up. In fact, some of my first drafts barely resemble the final product at all. Names changed, descriptions changed. The entire plot changed.

Anyway, once you have your first draft, you go back through it and see what it needs. I usually need to add in descriptions and emotions. Once I’ve added what it needs, I go through again and see what it doesn’t need. What can I take out to make it stronger? Then I look for overused words and phrases. Then I look at my word usage to see if I’ve used the best word choices. Then I send it out to my beta readers* for their thoughts. Then I repeat the process until I think it’s ready to submit for my publisher, or ready to publish on my own, depending on what series I’ve written for.

*[I also send to my betas as I am writing, not so much for feedback, but to make sure I get my pages written. And yes, my betas, I know I owe you all pages. Hoping to have them for you next week!]

Readers: Did you know all that went into revisions?

Authors: Do you enjoy revisions?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

#InkRipples is a themed meme hosted by Katie L. Carroll, Kai Strand, and me, Mary Waibel. We post on the first Monday of every month. If you would like to participate compose your own post regarding the theme of the month, include any of the images displayed on the #InkRipples tab above, and link back to our three blogs. Feel free to post whenever you want during the month, but be sure to include #InkRipples when you promote so readers can find you. The idea is that we toss a word or idea into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There is no wrong interpretation.

This year's topics are:

May: Fairy Tales
June: Blurbs
July: Heroes/Villains
August: Author Options in Publishing
September: World Building
October: Career vs Hobby
November: Finishing that Book!
December: Goals

#InkRipples~ Tropes

This month we’re taking tropes. A trope is a significant or recurrent theme; a motif. For purposes of this post, it means a recurrent theme found in a genre of books.

The romance genre is full of tropes. Billionaire romance. Shifter romance. Step-sibling romance. I'm sure you've picked up at least one of these tropes in your reads.

While every story in a trope is, and should be different, they all carry specific expectations. Billionaire romance contains a a rich guy or girl and someone barely making by on their paycheck. Shifter romances have creatures that appear human but change into something else (wolf, tiger, cheetah, bear, etc.) and the normal human (or sometime unaware shifter) that falls in love with them.

One of my favorite tropes it the best-friend turned lover (or romantic interest.) I've used this trope in The Boyfriend Project as well as the Lightning Quick Reads posts:  Goals, The Best Valentine's Day Ever, One Last Camping Trip and The Price of Freedom. 

I'd love to know, what are your favorite tropes?

#InkRipples is a themed meme hosted by Katie L. Carroll, Kai Strand, and me, Mary Waibel. We post on the first Monday of every month. If you would like to participate compose your own post regarding the theme of the month, include any of the images displayed on the #InkRipples tab above, and link back to our three blogs. Feel free to post whenever you want during the month, but be sure to include #InkRipples when you promote so readers can find you. The idea is that we toss a word or idea into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There is no wrong interpretation.

This year's topics are:

March: Tropes
April: Revision
May: Fairy Tales
June: Blurbs
July: Heroes/Villains
August: Author Options in Publishing
September: World Building
October: Career vs Hobby
November: Finishing that Book!
December: Goals