Barbara's Meanderings: Crimson Dream

The Winner of the Book Drawing from David Normoyle

Charlotte K. Volnek Wednesday, June 22, 2011

I always love it when a friend is picked in the drawing and I am happy to announce that the winner of the free book of Crimson Dream from David Normoyle :

Charlotte K. Volnek

I can assure you my daughter drew the name sight unseen!!!

Congratulations!

This is going to be a short post. Lots of great things are happening for me and most of my friends know about them, but I'll put them here anyway. Last week I learned that my poem, "Broken Balloons" is going to be in an anthology, The Long and Winding Road, which is a book with poetry from and about the period of the late 60's and early 70's. Since I went through that period I decided to enter the poem and I was thrilled when I heard it was going to be included.:) It's being published by Dzanc Books, which is a non-profit publisher with a good heart. I'm very excited!!! The book will be available in the first quarter of 2012.

The other good thing is that I am going to be reading an excerpt from my soon to be published YA novel, If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor on August 14th. I will be with two other authors on a webinar to bookstores and other members of the publishing community. Here is the flyer they sent to me advertising the reading:

A LIVE BOOK READING

Sunday, August 14th 2011 @ 8pm EST

Join Authors:

Billie J Garrett (Non-Fiction/Self-Help) Escape from Crazyville – A collection of poems, essays & stories about surviving domestic abuse. www.copeoutreachservices.com

Barbara Ehrentreu (YA Fiction) If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor – A story about memorable protagonist Carolyn Samuels, whose freshman year in high school becomes a series of lies to cover Jennifer Taylor's terrible secret in return for popularity. www.barbaraehrentreu.blogspot.com & www.museitppublishing.com

AND
Host Talitha K. McEachin (Adult Science-Fiction/Fantasy) The Elements Trilogy – The tale of the Kishnu & Lungi people of Nchiyamolekuli or Pangea as we call it in modern times, who have to come together to fight a common foe, whom they both loathe but need in order to survive. www.theelementstrilogy.weebly.com

This is a completely FREE (virtual) event that will take place via a webinar & a simultaneous conference call line, so feel free to join us from wherever you are! The reading will last approximately from 8-9:30pm (EST) to include a brief Q&A session. Please visit www.theelementstrilogy.weebly.com and click “Events” for registration. If you have any questions or if you are a writer who would like to share your work in this forum please send an email (with a brief bio & excerpt) to theelementsbook1@yahoo.com for consideration.
All are Welcome & We look forward to having you!

I hope some of you can tune in to hear this. It's also very exciting.:)

Until the next time, my guests for RRWL Tales from the Pages are Beth Reinke and Salvatore Butacci. Beth was my guest author here as I mentioned last time. Salvatore is a poet and short story writer. This should be a great show with some surprise callers as well. Please call in to talk with either of these guests.

The day after the show, a real star is going to be here, Lea Schizas, my publisher. She is also a celebrated and many published author and I am looking forward to having her here. Then later in the week I welcome Viviane Bretanos to the blog with a post of her own.

I hope you will be able to join us for these exciting posts. Thank you to my new followers. I am so happy you found me and of course, thank you to everyone who continues to enjoy my meanderings.

HAPPY SUMMER EVERYONE!!!

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Welcome David Normoyle Guest Author

Australia Monday, June 13, 2011

Welcome, David. It’s so nice to be hosting another Muse author.

1. I noticed you were born in Australia, but you moved to Ireland. When did you move and how did this affect you?

I was three years old, so I was possibly kicking and screaming. My parents, who are Irish, got engaged in Ireland and went to Australia to get married where I was born. My father inherited a farm back in Ireland so we all returned. I've done plenty of travelling since I hit my twenties, not sure if the early globe crossing caused the wanderlust. I used my Australian citizenship to spend a year there; it's a beautiful country.

2. What was it like growing up with nine siblings on a farm? Do you have a story or two you can share with us?

It was interesting growing up in such a big family. Nowadays, when everyone is back for Christmas, it's a madhouse. There's always about twenty conversations going on at once. If we put on a movie, we need subtitles to follow what's going on over the hubbub of ever-present noise. And that's after the younger generation have been put to bed. There's certainly many interesting stories from the old days. I can remember putting my two year old sister in a dryer and turning it on. I was very young and had no idea how dangerous it was. She later pushed me out of the milking parlour attic onto a herd of cows.

3. Do you ever use your experience in your writing?

I don't consciously use my experience of growing up on a farm. But I'm sure most writing comes from the subconscious, so who knows how much of what happened when you were younger affects later artistic works.

4. Your bio doesn’t say where you are living now. Please let our readers know and why you decided to live there.

I live in Dublin. It's a young and vibrant city and I've always liked it. (It doesn't rain as much as the west coast of Ireland, only every other day.) It's a good job I'm happy here because my house is in severe negative equity right now due to Ireland's economic woes.

I'm so sorry to hear that. Our housing market is severely depressed now, but there is hope it will improve.

5. Please describe a typical writing day for you. Do you have a set writing routine?

A writing day generally consists of me thinking of ways to put off writing. Then eventually I'll run out of things to do and be forced into putting fingers to the keyboard. Then I'll start writing emails. Not sure how I finished anything, to be honest. Some times I'll have huge enthusiasm and make create great progress, other times I can't motivate myself to write a word.

6. Here is a question I have started to ask all my guests. Are you a “pantser” or a “plotter”?

I think I'm a combination. I'll plot out some ideas and once I know roughly where I'm going, I'll start writing. The pantser writing sessions determine the personalities of the characters and some of the minor twists and turns. After I've written a few early scenes, I'll flesh out the major plot further. So the pantser part of my writing drives the plotter part, and vice versa.

7. How did you get the idea for Crimson Dream?

I'm not sure. I just decided I wanted to write a novel and started thinking of ideas. I kept the ideas I liked and ignored the ones I didn't until I had enough to start writing. The ideas evolved during the writing process, but the core idea that drove the novel remained the same. What would someone do if they dreamed their sister would be killed? How would they protect her?

8. How long did it take you to get this, your first novel, published?

It took four years from when I started writing to when I finished, a very on-off process, which also included plenty of learning about how to write. Then another year and a half of shopping the manuscript around until I was accepted by MuseItUpPublishing. Then almost another year before it was finally published.

9. How did you find out about MuseItUp Publishing, which is my publisher too?

I found it through online searching. I got lucky, in that MuseItUp is proving to be a great place with fantastic writers, editors and cover artists. It's still new but I'm sure it'll be a success.

Wow, that's fantastic that you found us through online searching. Do you know about the Muse Online Writer's Conference? Lea is in charge of this too and it is a great place to meet publishers and editors as well as agents. I knew Lea a long time, but I did pitch my novel to her at the conference. Yes, there is a pitch session for each publisher there too. All of this is done completely online and free of charge.

10. How long has your book been out and how have you promoted it? Are you planning to do any book signings or appearances?

My book has been out for four months. I've created a webpage and tried a bit of social media but I haven't had much success building a platform. Does keeping your fingers crossed that people will buy it count as promoting? Perhaps when the print version comes out, I'll make more progress.

If I could suggest something to you, it might be a good idea to have a personal page on Facebook. I saw you only had an author page. Also, it's a good idea to friend people who are writers. I usually only friend people who have mutual friends with me. This helps build your presence. Also this blog post should help you a great deal.:)

11. Do you have any WIPs ready for publishing?

My current WIP is close to completion and should be ready for submission within a few weeks. It's another YA fantasy. I'm really excited about it and hopeful that it can land a good publishing deal. It's called 'Odin versus Zeus' and contains real myths with the idea of being educational as well as entertaining. Here's a taste:

The Norse and Greek Gods take Joseph on a journey through some of their most famous myths. Joseph has to survive failing out of college, a thunderbolt from Zeus, the threat of being committed to a mental home and sinister drug dealers. All while judging who has the greatest mythology. The Norse or the Greeks. Odin or Zeus.

12. Where can we find your book? Will it be out in print soon?

I've just found out that there's a good chance the print version will be out in the next month. I can't wait to hold the copy in my hands. At the moment it's available from many ebook stores, including:

Amazon: http://www.tinyurl.com/KindCrimsonDream

MuseItUpPublishing: http://tinyurl.com/34jxb8x

You can read the first three chapters and find out more details at my website: http://www.davidjnormoyle.com/

Thank you for being my guest and here is an excerpt from Crimson Dream.

Book Blurb:

Centuries ago, Deren's people fled to a hidden valley deep in the mountains chased by the Domain, whose powerful Seers could not find them.

Deren’s safe world disintegrates when his vision foretells his sister’s death by a Domain soldier. Deren can't defend Bennie because of his asthmatic attacks, so he trains her in archery and prepares his people for war against their ancient foe.

As the invasion advances, Bennie's mastery of the bow leads her along unexpected paths. Although she hates killing, she must make hard choices. Her loved ones will die if she doesn't help them.

Will Bennie’s encounter with an enemy prince prove the key to survival? Can Deren overcome his physical weaknesses and the doubts of his own father to lead his people?

With fate and overwhelming force stacked against them, it seems their best efforts will be in vain.

Excerpt from Crimson Dream

Deren tried to get up to help Oso and Bennie and fell onto his back. He began to gasp, his breath labouring through his lungs, fighting for every mouthful. He took deep sucking drags of air, clutching his neck with his hands. His own lungs were drowning him, refusing to breathe. He looked into the sky, thinking he would die. Although it was only twilight, a ghostly moon peeked over the trees.

Whistling noises crept up and down his throat. He prayed to the Goddess of the Moon. Yenara, help me. Please, don't let me die. Bennie needs me. Please.

A face swam across his vision. "Deren, are you okay?" the face asked. "Deren, try to calm yourself."

The voice was laden with worry. A hand touched the side of his face. Warm drops landed on his forehead. "Don't give up on me," the voice said in a fierce whisper.

I asked David to send us more, but this is all he wanted us to read. If you are hooked on this story please head over to The Muse Bookstore and grab a copy of Crimson Dream.

Until the next time, thank you to my new followers and a big thank you to the people who continue to enjoy reading my meanderings. This month is going to be full of guest authors and one author/publisher our own Goddess of Publishing, Lea Schizas will be gracing my blog. She will be here June 24th.

On my next Blog Talk Radio Show, RRWL Tales from the Pages my guests are Beth Reinke, a past guest author on this blog and Salvatore Butacci, poet and short story writer I know from Poetic Asides. It should be a great show. Tune in on Thursday, June 23rd at 3PM Central time, 4PM EST and please give me a call if you can. I put everyone who calls on the air, so be prepared. :)

Please leave a comment for David. At this moment I am not sure if we are giving anything away for commenters, but I might offer something of mine. Of course, you will have to wait until September to get it.:) We'll see. Meanwhile, have a great week and keep writing too. I don't get to do that much, but I'm going to get back to it as soon as this thing with my husband gets better.

He is still in the hospital and waiting results of the culture to determine if he still has any infection left in that wound. I hope he will get out tomorrow and then a visiting nurse will help him with the bandages. It was hard just before he went into the hospital again, because I had to do all the bandaging. Anyway, it should be a little easier when he gets back.

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