Book Launch Party!! Come Meet Shellie Neumeier

This is a book launch party for my first YA novel:


           If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor    


There will be champagne and I am giving away a copy to the person who has my favorite comment! Please help yourself to the virtual champagne and the virtual homemade chocolate chip cookies freshly baked! 

Joining me today for the party is Shellie Neumeier, who is telling us about her new book, a YA novel, Driven available from Risen Fiction. You are all invited to join too and please grab a glass of champagne and a cookie.


Hi Shellie. Welcome to my blog and you are here on the right day!! Our new books have something in common. They are both about high school and the kinds of things that can happen to a teenager there. Let's find out a little more about you:

Shellie Neumeier holds a degree in Secondary Education from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with a minor in Psychology, Sociology and Social Studies. A devoted mother of four, Shellie previously worked on staff with Northbrook Church as the King’s Kids ministry assistant (serving children in grades 2nd through 5th), developing and writing curriculum, involving families and volunteers in King’s Kids programs and encouraging the spiritual growth in school-aged children. Shellie’s YA novel, Driven, is available from Risen Fiction. She is an active member of SCBWI and ACFW as well as a contributing author at various blogs including Samiesisters.com, thebarndoor.net, and sutie101.com. Married for over 20 years, Shellie and her husband have four wonderful kiddos and two goofy greyhounds. After receiving her undergraduate degree in Secondary Education from the University of Wisconsin—Madison, she went on to acquire an early childhood education certificate. Shellie also served in youth, children’s, special needs and family ministries for over twenty-two years. Now she enjoys teaching her teens how to drive and chauffeuring her preteens across the Wisconsin countryside. And once in a while, she loves to read big people books (you know the kind without pictures). Shellie writes because it keeps her away from her husband's power tools and because every now and then, she doesn't have the choice, it just takes over. Her best inspiration comes from the occasional walk along a country road with her greyhounds.

Shellie's novel for MG, The Wishing Ring is being published by MuseItUp Publishing.

 Here is a bit about Driven by Shellie Neumeier:

Blurb:
Robyn can’t help but notice the handsome new guy at her school. She ignores, however, the arrival of another being at Brookfield Central High School—a demon assigned to destroy her…
Robyn loves her friends, enjoys her youth group, and looks forward to meeting cute Caleb Montague. But when a caustic news reporter challenges her school’s prayer team, Robyn must choose: defend their right to meet on campus and pray for whomever they wish or back down at the principal’s request.
Now she must learn what God wants her to do. And she had better learn fast, because there’s a supernatural enemy in town whose sole mission is to stop her—no matter the cost.

Excerpt (first page):
"From a comfortable height above the trees, Sebastian circled the abandoned paper mill, drinking in the atmosphere of dereliction and decay surrounding the property. This place has more character than most of the humans I know. Half broken windows winked like the evil eyes of wayward souls, while snow drifts gathered in the corners. The wind toyed with the snow, whipping trails that could chill his feet and ankles. If he had feet and ankles, that is.

Slipping through a second-story window, Sebastian watched a rat scurry across the dusty floor in a dash for the shadows. Like an angry cloud—black as asphalt, thick as cigar smoke—Sebastian floated after the rodent, watching with mild interest as it raced for another shadow and nearly collided with an old tom cat whose eyes glowed bright with hunger. The tom sprang, but Sebastian turned away. He didn’t have time for these cat and mouse games today, no matter how much he enjoyed them. He had bigger game to consider, and as he moved over the room, he thought about the girl he’d come to destroy."

Wow, as if high school isn't bad enough, this girl has a demon after her!!


Please tell us about the novel you are publishing with MuseItUp Publishing, my publisher too! It's so great to have you here with the Muse family.


Here is a little about the book. Shellie doesn't have a cover yet!


Blurb:
The King’s castle stands alone atop Grand Ur Mountain, but even that does not match the solitude surrounding Princess Ali. With a carrot-shaped nose, she trudges through her princessly duties with the most unfortunate face. With her pet greybar (a creature with the head of a greyhound, body of a polar bear, and wings of an eagle) as her only friend, Ali dreams of becoming a beautiful princess.

When Cory, a ninja-in-training, drops through the royal chimney, he does not intend to enlist the help of anyone, much less a girl, but she holds the key to the Creator’s map. The ancient map marks the secret hiding place of the magic Wishing Ring, a ring grants the wearer one wish.

Cory’s mysterious need for the ring and Ali’s dream of a beauty send the pair to a forgotten land. Only the war ravaged clan of Odana can translate the map’s key. But even if they manage to find a translator, the question remains—can they beat the Ogre who guards the ring?

Excerpt (first page):
             "Did she dare? No, she didn’t. But she really wanted to.
Princess Ally tugged a small wooden box beneath the castle’s window. They might see her. Oooh. With a stomp of her slippered foot, she spun around and sat on the crate. Her chin sunk into her palms and then a whiff of something delicious flitted through the window. Cooked pork, yeasty breads, and baked pies—pumpkin if she wasn’t mistaken. Oh. She had to peek; it was Market Day after all.
She climbed upon the crate and lifted her eyes above the sill.
The noise alone made her curious. Shouts and squeals from human and animal alike, filtered through the iron bars of the open window. But the sights beat it all. Chicken feathers and children flew this way and that. Women in torn sackcloth sold wares to ladies in silk and satin dresses. Oh, what she wouldn’t give to be able to move freely among the stalls."

Thank you, Shellie for joining the party and I wish you the best with both of your books. Please find more about Shellie at her website:
http://shellieneumeier.com/ Shellie is part of the MG/YA Blog-A-Thon and she has Lawna Mackie as her guest today. Leave a comment during this month on any of the participating blogs and you might get the grand prize. Anyone leaving a comment here might win a free copy of my book, today's star: If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor. Leave me a comment telling me about your high school experiences and make it good!!


Until the next time I am hoping you will come by and toast our new star novel. Thank you to my new followers and of course, thank you to the people who have continued to follow my meanderings.:) I am so happy to be celebrating with all of you!!!

MG/YA Blog-A-Thon with Sue Perkins

My guest today is Sue Perkins, who writes YA fantasy and romance. She lives in New Zealand, so I have left her spelling here, since it is her native language. Her book is releasing in October and I am very happy to have her here to tell us all about it.

Sue Perkins' Bio

Sue Perkins grew up in Devon, England. but emigrated
with her young family to New Zealand.
Sue and her husband live on a three acre property at the top of
New Zealand’s South Island. She works as a graphic artist for a
local trade paper. Her interests include writing, reading,
genealogy, zumba and line dancing.

Sue’s first romance novel was released in May 2007 quickly followed
by her Sky Castles fantasy trilogy, available at Whiskey Creek Press.
These books will also be released as a Megabook on 1st September 2011.

A contemporary romance Three Hearts is available from
Desert Breeze Publishing. A free read prequel Broken Heart is
also available from this publisher.
Blitz, a 20th Century Romance is now available
from this publisher. A free read companion book
Santa's Present will be available Christmas 2011.

October 2011 Spirit Stealer, a Middle Grade book,
will be released by MuseItUp Publishing.

January 2012 Reva's Quest, a Middle Grade book,
will be released by MuseItUp Publishing.

January 2012 Dragon Flame, a Young Adult book,
will be released by Desert Breeze Publishing.

Hi Sue. Thank you for joining me with your busy schedule. I can't wait for you to tell my readers all about your new book!

My thanks to you, Barbara, for inviting me to visit your blog today. The MuseItUp Publishing Young Adult and Middle Grade Blog Tour has really taken off and gives readers of this genre an exciting look at many different styles.

I agree. I don't think my blog has seen so many different genres in such a short period of time. You know this is all due to the efforts of Marva Dasef who helped us organize it. You can check the schedule for the tour on her blog.

One of the most important things I think an author needs to do is read. How can I know what my readers like if I never read a book? Lucky for me the only problem I have is whether to read or write.
My mother always said I’d read a telephone book or cornflake packet if there wasn’t anything else to read. I have to blush when I admit she has been proved right. I have resorted to reading both those articles. In my defence the phone book has a rich supply of surnames and some first names too. I seldom use them but an unusual name will kick my thoughts onto a new path for my character’s name.

Which brings me to the subject of this post. The names I use in my books.
If I have difficulty naming a character, I have difficulty writing the book. I may start off with one name, but as the plot progresses a little voice in the back of my head nags me, telling me the name isn’t right.
For instance Fader in Spirit Stealer was originally named Faker. I wanted him to be poor and honest, but Faker sounded like a shifty person who might be tempted to steal. As I drifted off to sleep one night the name came to me. Fader - a person who fades into the background.

Amelia and Tyler - the other two characters in Spirit Stealer fit their names perfectly. Tyler always had the same name, but Amelia answered to Mary at one stage. Or didn’t answer I should say. After a few pages she objected and demanded to be renamed. Amelia fitted the little girl, and the lady she hoped to become.
I’m not going to tell you the real name of the green phantom who the book is named after, it would spoil the story. Suffice it to say I didn’t know until the end the importance of his name. I hadn’t even thought to call him anything but his original titles until a few chapters from the end of the book, but his name fitted in so well to the story.

So what is Spirit Stealer about? The easy answer is the nighttime world of the library. The doors are locked and darkness falls - then what happens? The phantoms come out to play. Fader is the first person to see them. He lives on the streets and the warm library building provides him with a perfect place to sleep. The green phantom arrives and traps Fader in the library but when Amelia is also trapped he tries to help her with disastrous consequences.

The book covers over one hundred years. Tyler arrives later in the book and helps in the fight to get rid of the spirit stealer.

I found Spirit Stealer an interesting book to write with the story developing in its own direction no matter what I did. It will be released by MuseItUp Publishing in October 2011 and I invite you to visit their bookstore to read an excerpt.

Thank you Barbara for hosting me today.

The pleasure has been all mine. Please leave a comment for Sue. She will be letting us know if she is giving away anything. Still, she will be available to answer any questions or comments. Here are her links:

http://sueperkinsauthor.blogspot.com
http://www.sueperkinsauthor.com
http://museituppublishing.blogspot.com/p/muse-bookstore.html

Until the next time, thank you to all who have been reading and commenting during this month-long Blog-A-Thon and thank you to my new follower. As you know there will be a grand prize at the end of the month. Meanwhile, in two days on Friday my first YA novel, If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor, is going to be released by MuseItUp Publishing. I am going to have a giant party all day Friday on this blog. Come over and help me celebrate and drink virtual champagne. Yes, I will have my virtual homemade chocolate chip cookies too. Maybe there will be a guest or two dropping in as well. I'm giving away a free copy of my book to the person who leaves my favorite comment!!! Also I will be celebrating on Facebook too!!! It has been eight years coming and I'm going to celebrate!!! Come party with me!!!

Blog Jog Day - Deciding on a Cover

Welcome anyone who has wandered over here. I hope you will browse the archives to learn more about me:

When you go to the bookstore or you browse through the thousands of titles on Amazon and Kindle you see all of the book covers for each author's work. We all know that most authors do not do their own book covers unless they are self-publishing and even there many of the covers are done by professionals. At MuseItUp Publishing we are blessed with extraordinary award winning cover artists. So when the process of deciding on a cover began for me I though it would be easy.:)

As I said in the blurb to my blog, nothing is ever easy with me, but I keep hoping it will be. The process began when my cover artist sent me three possible covers. One is the cover I have today, actually, the first cover I ever saw and even then I did get a little jump of excitement. The next two were not what I had hoped to see and I rejected them, but I kept the first one asking for a few font changes. But still I thought the first cover too dark and intense for my story, so I asked the cover artist for a few more and suggested my own ideas. She sent me more and they didn't work. Then she worked very hard on a totally illustrated one and that didn't work either. She didn't have the secondary character, Jennifer, looking like I wanted her to look. This went back and forth like this for about two or three weeks. Finally, after much deliberating and soul searching and after my publisher and the head cover artist had discussed this with me, I had to admit that my idea was not going to be done and I had to make a decision.

I'm never good at deciding anything when there are too many choices unless one of the choices is exactly what I want. In this case, I still had reservations about the first cover, but according to everyone else on the publishing team, this was the one I should choose. I agonized over the choice. Examining it and then leaving it to go back to later. Each time I looked at it, I started to like it more. Then I sent it to a few of the people who had helped me with my book, both of my editors and the person who is doing my book trailer. All of them said they liked it. So I had to admit this was the final decision and finally picked the cover you see now!!

Everyone was so thrilled the whole cover debacle was over, and my publisher, who thank goodness knows exactly what works and doesn't work, told me next time to leave it in the hands of the cover artists. Good idea!!! I was reminded of the times when I went shopping for different items of clothing, especially over coats and I tried on one coat and really didn't like it. I didn't discard it, but it wasn't my favorite. Then I tried on many more coats which didn't excite me at all. I wound up going back to the first coat and suddenly I loved it!! That's what happened with my cover. As soon as I chose it I fell madly in love with it as others were doing!! Crazy, right?

Anyway, so glad the whole thing is over and I'm just waiting for my galleys for the final process for publication. From November to the present this has been such a long and educational process from the copy editing to picking a cover. I learned so much about my own writing and in the process I have made some great author friends from the author's loops. My admiration for writers and the job we have to do has increased since I first found out I had a contract and my manuscript was accepted at last!! I don't think I will ever have the joy I had then except of course when I got married and the birth of both of my children.:)

So until the next time, thank you to my new followers and of course, a big thank you to the people who have continued to come over here to read my ramblings.:) This is a special post for Blog Jog Day. My next guest author will be Kim Bacellia. Stop by to learn all about her and her new book, Crossed Out. 

Welcome to Blog Jog Day! Please enjoy my site then click over to www.soulmatetips.blogspot.com
to see what the next Blog has to offer! Lost in the links? You can always go back to the main Blog Jog Day Blog at http://blogjogday.blogspot.com and find a new link to jog from. Thank you for stopping by my site!

Welcome Guest Author Eric Luper!

Today I am welcoming Eric Luper as our guest author. Eric has been the subject of an Examiner.com article and was recently my guest for April on Red River Writers Live Tales from the Pages. He is the author of three YA books, The Big Slick, Bug Boy, and his new book, Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto.

About Eric Luper

Eric Luper has lived in Albany, New York since 1999. Before that, he hopped from town to town depending on where he was going to school or working. As an English/Creative Writing major at Rutgers College, Eric tried to escape his literary destiny by going to chiropractic school. Soon he discovered that, although he made a great doctor, his heart was somehow wrapped around putting words onto paper. more

The following is basically the conversation Eric and I had Thursday, April 22nd on the Blog Talk Radio show, Red River Writers Live Tales from the Pages. Anyone who would like to hear our voices please tune in and listen to the archives.

The Interview with Eric Luper

Barbara: It says in your bio that you have lived in several places. You grew up in Springfield, NJ. Lived in Merrick, Long Island, New Brunswick, NJ and finally Albany, NY. Which was your favorite place to live and why?

Eric: There are good things and bad things about every place I’ve lived, but I’d have to say that location matters less to me than the people I associate with. I’ve been blessed with great friends and that can make even the most boring place interesting.

Barbara: What one thing changed your mind about just being a chiropractor?

Eric: Chiropractic care and writing occupy a different part of my brain. Likewise, they satisfy different hungers within me. I like doing both and cannot imagine what life might be like without writing.

Barbara: You came to writing late. What made you decide to become a full time writer? Did you have a mentor? Who was it?

Eric: Technically, I’m not a full-time writer since I still have my practice, but it’s likely I put in as many hours at the keyboard as a full-time writer. My mentor would have to be Mr. Frank Hodge. Frank used to own a children’s bookstore here in Albany NY. Not only did he give me a harsh dose of reality when I showed him my first stab at childrens’ writing, but he always put the right books in my hands to illustrate what he was trying to teach me.

Barbara: Did you start by writing short stories or novels? Are any of these early pieces published?

Eric: I wrote mostly short stories and one novella in college, but when I started writing in earnest it was novels all the way. Short stories are a tough sell and it’s nearly impossible to make a living writing short stories for childrens’ magazines. I do have a few articles published in Highlights and Weekly Reader though.

Barbara: How long did it take you to publish your first novel? Would you take us through the process?

Eric: After a five-year stretch of rejections, I started fresh and wrote BIG SLICK. The book took me around 5 months to write and a few more to polish and it was accepted on one of my first submissions. Farrar, Straus and Giroux was great through this process and we had the book edited and ready in a rather short time. The novel came out in 2007.

Barbara: Bug Boy is about the racing world and explores what it was like to be a jockey in the thirties. Why did you decide to write about this?

Eric: My eyes were opened to the topic when I read Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand. During the Depression, children were sold into the horse trade. They were used and abused, many being beaten or traded from stable to stable like commodities. In researching the subject, I discovered that not much has changed over the decades when it came to the living and working conditions of track workers. BUG BOY quickly became a passion project; the research was maddeningly addictive.

Barbara: Seth Baumgartner’s Love Manifesto caught me and held me the whole way through the book. Did you base this character on anyone you know or maybe on yourself as a teen?

Eric: First of all, thank you. SETH BAUMGARTNER’S LOVE MANIFESTO is something of a departure for me and something I consider to be quite risky. The reception I’m getting for it has been quite encouraging. Humor is not an easy thing, especially when dealing with heavy subject matter. I think all of my characters represent a facet of me in one way or another, so, yes, Seth is partly me. However, he’s also partly someone else. But if you’re asking me if I’ve based him on anyone I know or used any real-life situation for the book, the answer is no.

Barbara: What is your writing process? Do you have a specific routine?

Eric: I tell people that I write between the raindrops. With two kids, a business, and working full-time, it’s rare for me to have blocks of time to write. The concept of a regular writing routine is unthinkable. Likewise, I tend to think on my story for long periods of time and then write in bursts of inspiration rather than trudging through a specific word count each day. I’m not an outliner and I find I make lots of wrong turns before I find the right one. But that’s okay; It’s just how I create.

Barbara: What was the reason you decided to have your first book signing for Bug Boy at Foxwoods Casino?

Eric: I love to support my independent bookstores, for sure, but I think it’s also important to find signing venues whaere you’ll find a higher concentration of people with interest in your subject matter. Foxwoods not only has the largest race betting parlor in the country (which was perfect for BUG BOY) but it’s also the home of the World Poker Tour poker room (which was perfect for BIG SLICK). And it was a wildly successful signing!

Barbara: Tell our listeners something that is not in your bio about you.

Eric: Gosh, that’s a hard one because I rewrite my bio so often. I’m not sure I ever mentioned that I spent 5 months traveling through Europe after college and spent a good amount of time volunteering on a reconstruction project at a medieval castle in the Loire Valley in southern France. I learned so much about history and masonry while I was there. It was fascinating.

Barbara: Do you have any plans for another novel? Who will publish it and when will it be published?

Eric: I have plans to keep writing as long as I can see my computer keyboard! After SETH BAUMGARTNER’S LOVE MANIFESTO, which releases on June 8th, I have a middle-grade novel coming. Currently, the title is JEREMY BENDER VS. THE CUPCAKE CADETS and it’s sort of Bosom Buddies meets the Girl Scouts. That one is slated for release sometime in 2011 with my current publisher Balzer + Bray (an imprint of Harper Collins).

Barbara: What are your plans for future book signings and book events? Please tell our listeners where and when they will be.

Eric: I had a book signing at the Hudson Children’s Book Festival on 5/1 in Hudson, NY. Check it out at www.hudsonchildrensbookfestival.com. (Unfortunately this is coming out after the weekend.)

I also have a signing coming up at Book Expo America (BEA) on Thursday, 5/27 at 10:30am. I’ll be signing hardcover copies of SETH BAUMGARTNER’S LOVE MANIFESTO. I can’t wait for that one!

Then, the official release of SETH BAUMGARTNER’S LOVE MANIFESTO will be at The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza here in Albany on Saturday 6/12 from 3 to 5pm. I’m doing a dual signing that day with author and friend, Coleen Paratore, who will be signing a few of her books as well!

Be sure to check my website (www.ericluper.com) or my Facebook page for any additional information. I’m usually pretty good at updating things and announcing things.

Thank you for visiting Eric. Anyone who would like to ask Eric a question please leave your comment here. Eric will be available to answer your questions through the weekend. Anyone who leaves a comment or question will be in the drawing for an ARC of Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto. Of course Eric and/or I will respond to your comment too.:)

Until the next time, thank you to my readers and welcome to my new readers! Since April is over I am no longer writing a poem a day, but I will be writing a poem a week on Wednesdays. I haven't decided if I am going to post those or not. My thanks to everyone who commented and helped me to choose the 5 poems to send for submission. Here they are:

Empty

Memories
Pochahontas
Self – Portrait
Letting Go

Wish me luck! I am up against so many talented poets that I don't think I have a chance.:)

What writers make your heart sing?

This is the base

Last week I wrote about Words Matter Week. I had hoped to take part in every blog challenge, but my real life interrupted. More about that later. What follows is the blog challenge:

Writers are people who take isolated words and craft them into memorable phrases, stories, poems and plays. Who are the writers who make your heart sing? What is the magic ingredient?

The joy of reading for me comes from having read authors who do make my heart sing. You know you are reading a memorable piece when you can't predict the ending and the author has used words that bring images to your mind. You start reading the story and suddenly you are transported and no longer realize you are reading. I have been so mesmerized by a story that I have spent hours in one place reading. I have forsaken creature comforts to finish a story that is gripping me. Why does this happen? What will cause a reader to do this?

For me it's the writing. The author catches me practically from the beginning, but if I am not captured by the story it is the writing and the descriptions that will keep me reading. I have read two or three chapters sometimes without getting that spark, but if the writing is clear and to the point at some point I will be glued to the pages. These are my favorite writers and while I'm reading one of these books I will find any excuse to pick up the book and read.:) Only a few authors have elicited this kind of behavior in me. However, if it is not a story by one of my favorite authors, if the story makes sense to me and the characters are believable I might have that response.

My taste in reading is fairly eclectic. Lately I have gotten into science fiction and urban fantasy. But my favorite novels are usually ones with several different characters whose stories run parallel until they meet and then their intertwining creates a situation that moves to the climax of the novel. However, I like suspense too and if it is done right I might even read a mystery. As a YA author I read a great deal of YA novels. Occasionally I find one that I can't put down or that intrigues me so much I am unable to stop reading it.

Here are the authors in no particular order whose words make my heart sing: Stephen King, Barbara Kingsolver, John Irving, Jim Butcher, Kate DiCamillo, Paula Danziger, Mark Twain, Jane Austin, Louisa May Alcott, Carolyn Keene, Avi, Richard Peck, J.K. Rowling, E.L.Konigsburg, Lois Lowry, Anne M. Martin, Francine Pascal, Cynthia Rylant, Jerry Spinelli, George Simenon, Nora Roberts.

At one time in my life each of these authors has written something that has gripped me so much I couldn't stop reading. It's hard to say what was the magic ingredient that did that for me, but it was probably well written books with believable characters and situations that kept me on edge until the end. You will also notice that this group is composed of both adult and YA authors. Now who are the authors whose writing makes your heart sing? Why not take the blog challenge and become part of Words Matter Week, like I just did? Also, please leave a comment and let me know your favorites and why.

Now for a totally different topic - my continuing saga to try to get settled after the fire damaged my home and we had to move. Here is one more f---ed up chapter in that saga. Our marble table was damaged by the smoke removal people when the guys moved it without padding over stone steps and damaged the top by taking a 3 inch chunk of marble off of it. We are now in our new apartment and the table top is in the middle of our living room!! We have come to a standstill in unpacking, because we can't move the table and have no table at all! To their credit the ServPro people are going to absorb the cost of the table, but they need to remove it.

It makes me sad because we have had this table for almost 30 years and they no longer make this size table in travertine marble, like the one we have. I have put the pictures of the damaged table here so you can see what a beautiful piece this is. But my husband is ready to move on and get a new wooden table to replace it. I can't wait until my life goes back to normal. Oh, wait, what is normal?

Thank y0u to any new readers and of course, thanks to the readers who continue to follow my crazy meanderings. Seriously, this blog has kept me relatively sane.:) I appreciate all the great comments you have given to me. They have helped me so much!!