TWO covers and a trailer reveal one now, one later...

FIRST, check out the "placeholder" cover I did for Kate Milford's Kairos Mechanism on Goodreads. Once the project is funded and the amazing Andrea Offermann creates a cover illustration, I'll be doing the actual design.

check out the KAIROS MECHANISM on Goodreads!

SECOND:  
I HAVE A REALLY BIG ANNOUNCEMENT
This Friday, April 27, 2012, right here on this blog, I will be revealing both the cover AND the trailer for my forthcoming book BREAKING GLASS. I'll also be posting an excerpt from the book.

So stay tuned!

Guest Post by Kate Milford, author of the Boneshaker, the forthcoming The Broken Lands and the hopefully forthcoming Kairos Mechanism

Folks--I'm letting Kate Milford take over the blog this week as which she ruminates on the pitfalls and rationale for self-publishing while still also contracting with publishing companies. Kate, is without a doubt, one of the most fascinating, insanely brilliant and creative people I know. (And I really do know her---live---in person for five years in which she has been a member of my killer critique group, the Cudas, and a very good friend). I hope you'll help Kate with her new project, THE KAIROS MECHANISM. I've had the good fortune to have read it and also, (oh yeah!) I am designing the book cover which will feature more art by illustrator Andrea Offermann (of whom I am a fawning art fan girl).

Visit Kate's website

I’m now a week and two days into a project that, if successful, will be the first installment in this mad idea I have to write and self-publish a companion novella alongside every traditionally-published book I do from here on out. Each will be related to the novel it accompanies, either directly or indirectly. The idea will be to provide extra content in different formats, and to try and use self-publishing and traditional publishing in tandem, to see what they can do to work for each other.

Pre-order The Broken Lands

There’s a lot of flak flying back and forth right now between the two big camps in publishing, especially with the DoJ nonsense going on at the moment. On the one hand, I’m firmly in the pro-publishers camp, or I would be if you put a gun to my head and made me pick one. I like my publisher, I think my editor forces me to make smarter choices in my storytelling, and my first two books are truly beautiful objects. I couldn’t have afforded to do what they’ve done. On the other hand, I don’t like being made to take sides, and I think it’s silly for anyone on either side to ignore the potential of the entire field. And I’m just organized enough—just barely, mind you—to pull off this self-publishing thing. I think. Early indications are that I am. Whatever. I’m not worried about it. (Actually—obviously—I’m totally worried about it, but I’ll deal.)

I’ve discovered in the last year that I have WAY more stories in my head than anybody’s ever going to pay me for. Some of them are too short to be good prospects for a publisher to take a risk on; some of them are just too weird. Mind you, I like weird, and I know there are readers out there who like weird, too—but weird is notoriously difficult to sell at the publisher level. I understand why. Still, all these bizarre little stories in my head interconnect and relate to each other, and to my two first books, The Boneshaker and The Broken Lands, which makes me think readers might be excited to have them.

They come to me at night, when I ought to be dreaming. That sounds so much nicer than the raw truth, which is that I’m an obsessive-compulsive, occasional insomniac with breathing problems who frequently wakes up at 3am and doesn’t fall asleep again until 5. How do I spend those hours? I lay awake in bed and try unsuccessfully to shut down my brain so I can go back to sleep. During this time I have racing thoughts. Usually they’re worries, or regrets, things like little panic attacks about the post office box I forgot to renew or a maybe-dumb thing I said to someone a week ago or how long its been since I last went running. But I’ve learned that if I give my brain some direction, I can turn those racing thoughts toward more productive work. Like stories.

They also come to me when I’m trying to work on something else: research for Project A I suddenly throws in my path something glimmery and distracting that just begs to be turned over and over until a story begins to evolve around it. Some of these shiny bits of things will combine with others, or will turn out to be exactly what I need to solve a story problem I’ve been grappling with in a different project. Some will germinate into separate books of their own. Still others will not immediately fit with anything else; nor will they immediately feel like the kind of things I want to expand into a full-length novel. But some of the ones that fall into this third subset will still be shiny and glittery and enticing enough to keep me from being able to put them away. They’re like the little bits of ephemera I keep on my desk that I find myself staring at when I need to turn my eyes away from the computer screen for a bit.

These little baubles, it turns out, are perfect candidates for my self-pub project, which I’m calling the Arcana. The first installment is The Kairos Mechanism, which is on Kickstarter now through June 9^th. The next few volumes are still taking shape. Some are novellas; a couple are looking like they might morph into collections of folk tales; others are still just shiny and hanging around at the edge of my peripheral vision, waiting to take their final forms. Here’s hoping you find them to be as delightful a set of little gems as I do.

Now, I know how I got to thinking this project would be a good idea, but I’m curious. Readers: what kind of extra content do you long for when you’re immersed in a world? Writers, how do you go about using extra content to enhance the reader’s experience? Have you experimented with ways to use both self- and traditional publishing?

Heidi Ayarbe; WANTED trailer world premeire contest and giveaway

Goodreads Book Giveaway

  

         

  

       Wanted       

       by Heidi Ayarbe       

    

      
Giveaway ends April 16, 2012.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
      

      Enter to win      

The Backstory Buggaboo

Lately I've been working with a few lovely and talented beta readers and I notice they grapple with a common issue. Back story overload. Once I cut away two thirds of what they had written (and my their writing was lovely!) the wonderful stories they were telling emerged, glistening and lovely as morning dew. And, to their credit, each of them accepted the bloodbath and rewrote, to excellent results. I've been calling this bloodbath, "Killing Your Darlings" for years, a phrase I have gleefully borrowed from Stephen King from his book, ON WRITING. (If you haven't read it, get it NOW.) http://www.amazon.com/On-Writing-Stephen-King/dp/0743455967

I also find that backstory, how little or how much to include, still gives me headaches at the beginning of any new WIP. When I noticed this excellent blog post about back story dos and dont's I had to share it (with Janice Hardy's generous permission). You really should check this out. I think I'm going to look at this website every day. It's a huge treasure trove of writerly information.

http://blog.janicehardy.com/p/contact.html

So how do you deal with the distraction---I mean multi-tasking?

Lately, I've found myself wishing either for an extra five-ten hours in the day or perhaps a pills that would let me do without sleep. And while we're at it, how about a personal chef and a very intelligent robot that can clean my house and buy my groceries. (and maybe do the laundry as well?). Then I'd also like a personal assistant to keep track of my appointments and someone to do---oh never mind. You get the point right?

Between thinking about marketing myself, doing design work, keeping up with my job, the household stuff (which includes paying attention to what my teenage daughter and college boy are up to) and oh yeah--the three WIPs I have going (did I mention critiquing and beta-reading?) I'm kind of on a creativity overload. I'm not complaining---it's all good. But, I've never been known for my cool methodical temperament. When you think of me, think of a cheerful storm, or as my colleague and I call ourselves once we get going--a detonation.

Yeah. It's an exciting time for me. But I am wanting to do everything at once. And I am finding it a little difficult to focus on writing with so many other cool projects begging for my attention (blog design, designing my website, book cover design, illustration---shall I continue?). Plus, my amazing publisher Spencer Hill Press and the incredible Kate Kaynak seems to be just like me--full of ideas and energy (but much more organized about it.) She's got me so excited, I'm about to bust (but I'm not breathing a word of what she's got me excited about--CIA swear as one of my students says.)

So, I want to know--how do you all handle it? I do drag myself to the gym and that helps. But seriously--maybe most of you aren't as kooky as me? If you are, I want to know (not you, Michelle!--I already know all about it, lol). This morning I'm really proud of myself--I ate breakfast before noon, showered and even painted my toenails..but it was a struggle.

How do you spell multi-tasking? D-I-S-T-R-A-C-T-I-O-N?

Meet Sandi B. Jones, blog contest winner.

 To celebrate our collaboration, Sandi and I have interviewed each other. To read my interview, visit Sandi's blog at: http://sandibjones.blogspot.com/

Tell us about your the book you are current working on.

Not to be all mysterious, but I can’t say much right now! My latest is a Gothic novel for young adults, currently under consideration with agents. I’d describe it as dark, romantic, Southern, and psychological. I’ve also published a few paranormal romances for adults under a different name.

What was your inspiration?

I’m a big history geek. One of the few assignments I enjoyed in high school was a research paper on Frankenstein. Digging in crumbly old books, I was enthralled by the Romantic poets and their Gothic stories. If I had a time machine, I’d go back to that era and hang out with them for a day or two. And…well, I have to confess a crush on Gerard Butler as the Phantom of the Opera. After watching that film, I wanted to write something similar to the story with the combination of love, yearning, fear, and horror.

If you could cast a movie of your book, who would be the main characters?

I didn’t have any real people in mind as I wrote the story, but I think I would cast Logan Lerman as my tortured hero. I thought Lerman was fantastic in Gamer. (Just realized that movie also starred Gerard Butler. Hmmm.) The main character would be harder to cast. Maybe a sixteen year-old version of Rihanna.

What made you decide to be a writer?

I wrote my first book before I started Kindergarten. It was about a duck! Haha! But seriously, when I was bored out of my mind in school, I started writing short fan fiction for my friends. I might cast my bff as the main character and Jon Bon Jovi as the hero. In no time, I’d crank out thirty steamy pages. I really hope my friends threw those stories away! Honestly, though, there’s nothing more satisfying to me than writing.

Tell us about teenage Sandi!

Most of the time I looked like I stepped out of a Tim Burton movie. Big hair, heavy makeup, and lots of black clothes. Actually, I haven’t changed much! Haha! I’ve always been quiet, so the way I dressed was my self-expression. I was a punk rocker at heart! I took denim and embellished it with fringe, leopard print, lace. I wore black alligator boots, and I was BAD. To look at me, nobody ever guessed I kept a paperback novel stowed in my spiked leather purse.

What books are your favorites?

This is a hard question. There are so many! One of my all-time favorites is The Bride Finder, which is a fantastic Gothic romance. I also like Pride and Prejudice, Sherlock Holmes, and anything written by Agatha Christie, Stephen King, or Poe.

More recently, I’ve enjoyed Darker Still, Nevermore, Jane, The Devouring, and The Hollow.

If you could be anything else besides a writer, what would you be?

I have two of the best possible jobs for me, being a high school librarian and a writer, but if I had to do something else, I would be a marine biologist. I’d join the crew of an ocean vessel and save a whale!

Contest Winner, Sandi B. Jones' Blog Makeover!

Here it is! I'm thrilled with the result, and I hope Sandi is too! It was fun trying to capture the essence of Sandi—funny, dark, gothic, romantic and Southern. I hope I succeeded.

I already loved Sandi's blog, which is one of the reasons she won this contest (in addition to following the rules and begging so eloquently). Sandi is a YA writer and a school librarian with some incredibly useful insight into the minds of actual real life teens (wow!) and their reading habits. She is also funny, interesting and super nice. It's really been great (and easy) working with her. So....

Please visit Sandi on MAD, BAD and DANGEROUS TO KNOW.

http://sandibjones.blogspot.com/