Happy Birthday to Dream Smashers!

Dream Smashers celebrated her first birthday in March all alone. I'm a horrible book parent and didn't even throw her a party. To make up for it, I gave her a facelift. I hope she likes it. And I hope her readers like it, too.



Take a look. Isn't she pretty?

Dream Smashers has needed a new cover for a while now. It's an important story, but often gets overlooked. The original cover, which I love, wasn't sitting well with the readers. It even was nominated for a most ugly cover list over on Goodreads. The second cover was an experiment, something I whipped up myself, and not very professional.  I believe this new cover captures the emotion of the story, but also has appeal for the readers. I adore it!

About Dream Smashers:

Letting go is hard to do, but sometimes, it's all you can do.

Sixteen-year-old Autumn is a human heartache. Everywhere she turns people are stomping on her hopes and dreams. Her mom's a tweaker. She's lived with her chain-smoking grandmother for as long as she can remember. Even her best friend has issues. Autumn seems to be the only responsible person she knows and she's sick of putting up with it all.

When she meets Evan, a hot guy without a worry in the world, she can only wonder if he's for real or just another Dream Smasher.

A girl who no longer wants to care and a boy who cares enough for the both of them. Dream Smashers is a love story, but most of all, it's about letting go.

Thanks to my good friend, Megg Jensen, for inspiring me to get 'er done, and Rashelle Workman who referred Megg who then referred me to the cover artisan Steven Novak. Go check him out. He's awesome.

Dream Smashers is available on Amazon Kindle and wherever else eBooks are sold.  It may take a day or two for the new version to be available.



So tell me, do you like it?

When life hands you lemons, say screw the lemons and bail.

That's right, Magan is releasing a new book!

The other girl named on the cover? That would be one of my best friends (life long friends since first grade!) About two years ago she gave me the idea for this story, together we worked on writing it (her giving me idea and me writing) and now it has come time for the book to be published!

Here is the description:

Bentley Evans had it all, that is, until her dad got laid off. Now she has been forced to move from her sprawling brick home into a two bedroom apartment across town.

Just when she thinks things can’t get any worse she meets her next door neighbor, Kai Rowe. Not only does he have a lip ring and tattoos, but he also finds every way he can to get under Bentley’s skin.

The more she gets to know Kai, the more she realizes that things might not be so bad on the other side of town. But when a dark secret from  Bentley’s past life emerges, Bentley’s new life and her old life come head to head and she isn’t sure which side will win.

Planning for an April/May release date. You may all be wondering, does this mean we wont be seeing the next My Alien Romance book for awhile? Have no fear, the next book in the series should be released early summer and a cover should be released in the next few months with the title and blurb :)

Are you excited for this book? Want more info? Want to promote it?

You can also now add it on Goodreads!

Cover Reveal: Sleepers by Megg Jensen

Introducing the new artwork for Megg Jensen’s bestselling novel

An adoptee raised in a foreign land, sixteen-year-old Lianne
was content with her life as handmaiden to the queen, until a spell
cast on her at birth activated. Now she's filled with uncontrollable
rage and access to magic she thought had been bled from her people
years ago. Even her years of secret training in elite hand-to-hand
combat and meditation can’t calm the fires raging inside her.
Her heart is torn between two boys, the one she’s always loved and the
one who always ignored her. But when the kingdom threatens to tear
itself apart due to rumors surrounding the queen’s alleged affair, who
will Lianne protect and who will she destroy?

On sale now for only 99 cents!

I know I'm going to get my copy, have you got yours?

HTDA hangs out

To celebrate the release of my paperback of HTDA, she decided to celebrate and hang out with some of her other book friends.

Going for a little stroll with SoulKeepers

Kicking back and watching TV with Dream Smashers

Playing some Final Fantasy on the PS3 with Into The Shadows

Taking a bath with Severed

Dunking over Exiled

Taking a nice little ride on a dinosaur with Bound

Why I went Indie

The big question on most of your minds is:  Why the heck did I go Indie instead of the traditional route?

Well, I guess I can give you all the long and short of it.  The short:  I was tired of waiting and struggling, and now the long:

After college I decided that I wanted to take a jab at writing a novel and getting published.  I took a stab at an adult thriller, failed miserably, and then started on a love story about a college aged girl in the south.  This story would be My Paper Heart.

I loved my story, my beta readers loved it, but it didn't seem like a winner with agents.  Sure I got a lot of requests, but ultimatley it was turned down because of the character's age.  After entering a contest and failing miserably, I decided to start working on How to Date an Alien.

 The whole process for HTDA was much better.  My writing was better, my editing great, and my critique partners seemed to love it.  So I sent it out into the world.  Agents had contacted me and I had queried them.  With 4 fulls out, I thought 'This is it, I'm going to get an agent.'  But all those fulls ended in rejections and not even bad ones.  Infact I didn't get a single bad rejection just alot of, 'I love the story, but it's not right for my client list.'

I was totally bummed.  After spending alot of my free time querying, I decided to work on something new and bring it to my RWA meeting and that is where I met GP Ching.

She read the first chapter of a Sci-fi novel that I was working on and said, "You need to come join the Darkside."  At the time I wasn't sure, I still thought that I wanted an agent and to go for the big deal, so I talked to my husband and friends about it.

My husband point blank said, "You have been waiting years to get your book out there, why not submit to an Indie publisher?"

I thought about it.  Years of waiting and other books had been published.  Even if I did get an agent that didn't gurantee that I would even get published.  It was time to get my book out into the world and stop waiting, so I submitted to Darkside and I've never looked back.

Have you submitted to an Indie publisher or ever thought about going Indie?  Do you have any questions regarding Indie publishing?

OH, look a guest post!

Today I shall direct you elsewhere and you can check out my post on Tymothy Longoria's blog.

It's titled:  Always a Writer

Enjoy!

The Soulkeepers and Dr. Silva's Pumpkin Cocoa

Jacob Lau's life truly began the day he died.  But as he was brought back from life he learned that his mother was missing and that he would have to move from his home in Oahu to the small town of Paris, IL with his estranged uncle, whom he'd never met or knew about.  As if moving across the country wasn't enough he also has to face racisim by his new classmates and strange dreams of his neighbor, Dr. Silva, visiting him in the night.  Things only get weirder when Jacob finds out he is a Soulkeeper, a protector of good.  But how does he know who really is good and who really is evil?  And will he be able to hone his new ability in time to save the people that he loves?

Release Date:  June 24, 2011
Page count:  308
Genre:  Young Adult
Similar to:  Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers
Recommended to:  Boys and Girls 10+
Stars:  5/5

*The Good:

*FINALLY, I have been waiting for a story that doesn't have your typical all-american white bread teenagers.  A half-chinese boy and an Indian girl as the leads?  Now that is something that you don't see in YA literature, or any literature for that matter and it was very refreshing.

*You could tell that Ching did a lot of research for this novel because the details were so vivid and the story was so well put together.  Ching told me that Soulkeepers was based in actual angel lore and you can tell that she did her homework and got down such wonderful details that made me feel like I learned something, yet kept me enthralled with the story.

*The Not-as-good:

*The only thing I could say that I didn't like was the fact that I wanted just a little bit more romance.  BUT GP says that there is much more romance in the sequel, so I'm looking forward to reading that!

All in all, this is a very recommended read for girls and boys, so you should go read it NOW.


Dr. Silva's Pumpkin Cocoa

serves 4-6

Ingredients:

4-5 cups whole milk
11 ounces white chocolate chips
4 teaspoons cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pure pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions:

In a heavy saucepan, combine 2 cups of milk, white chocolate, and cocoa powder. Cook over medium heat, whisking periodically, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is well combined. Whisk in the pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, allspice, and ginger. Add the remaining milk, 1 cup at a time, until the desired consistency is reached.
If desired, serve topped with whipped cream and a sprinkling of nutmeg. Just be sure not to fill the mugs too full before adding the whipped cream, or you might have some overflow.

The How-I-Got-Published Post

Usually everyone posts these 'How I got my Agent' stories and I admit that I was looked longingly on these posts wondering when I'd have an agent of my own.

I sent out 53 queries.  By some standards that isn't a lot and I actually got a lot of positive responses.  But it was the positive responses that were driving me nuts.

"I love the story, but it just doesn't fit in my client list."

"I love your characters, but I just don't see where it fits in the market."

"It's just too quirky for my book of business."

I was getting frustrated.  I had been querying for the past two years (two different stories) and had come so close, but everything just seemed so far away.  Then my wonderful critique partner, Leta, suggested going for a small press or Indie publisher.

I thought, that wasn't what I wanted to do, that I wanted to see my book in the bookstores.  So I talked to my husband and another critique partner and they said the same thing.  "You've been waiting two years, why not give it a shot?"

So, I really thought about it.  Did I want to sit around another two years and wait for an agent?  Or even sit around another two years after that while I waited for a publisher to pick it up?

I then decided that I wanted to submit directly to publishers and after reading SoulKeepers, I decided that Darkside was the place that I wanted to be.  I sent in my manuscript, crossed my fingers, and hoped for the best.  I got a message from Gen saying that Megg Jensen loved my first five pages and requested a full.

I was so excited, but then my husband took me back down to Earth, saying this wasn't my first full and the other ones ended in rejections.  So I waited.  But I kept getting messages from Megg and Gen seeing how I was, asking if I read their work, so I started to really get my hopes up and prayed that it wouldn't end up in a big fat R.

Then I finally got it, THE CALL (or the text) from GP Ching asking me to join Darkside.

And the rest is history.

I've joined the Darkside

For those of you that didn't figure out after this video, my novel is going to be published with Darkside publishing!  I'm super excited to bring my alien into the world and looking forward to having all of you read it!

More info will soon be coming, but you can always check out all of my girls at Darkside.com until then!

Fangirl Friday: G.P. Ching

GP Ching is the author of The Soulkeepers series and rebel suburbanite who makes wicked cookies, kicks patootie at Guitar Hero, and thinks guinea pigs are the perfect pet.  You can find her online at GPChing.com

The Fangirl met G.P. at a local RWA meeting, after much proding from her crit partner (Kienna Riley), she decided to ask G.P. for an interview.  After being sucked into the first book of the SoulKeepers series, The Fangirl wants to share her Fangirlness of G.P. with the world.

Magan: For those that haven't read the Soulkeepers series, can you tell them what it's about?

Warning: Spoilers. If you haven't read the Soulkeepers yet, you may want to skip to the second question.

G.P.: Weaving Destiny is the second book in The Soulkeepers Series. In the first book Jacob Lau discovers he is a Soulkeeper after a brutal car crash leaves him orphaned. A Soulkeeper is genetically gifted human being that has the power to fight Watchers, otherwise known as fallen angels. Soulkeepers only come into their power when a stressful event activates the gene.

At the end of the first book, Jacob's girlfriend Malini shows signs of carrying the Soulkeeper gene. Weaving Destiny is Malini's story and picks up three months after the end of The Soulkeepers. Malini desperately wants to determine if she's a Soulkeeper. She's frustrated because she's thrown into The Soulkeepers' battles without the necessary power to protect herself. Fitting in matters because the Soulkeepers are so much of Jacob's world and she's afraid if she doesn't find her power, she'll lose him. It doesn't help that a new Soulkeeper named Mara comes to town who takes an interest in Jacob. Malini has to sort out her insecurities about Jacob while she figures out who she is and what she is becoming.

Magan: What inspired you to write this novel?
G.P.: After I wrote The Soulkeepers, which was inspired by a conversation I had about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Weaving Destiny just came to me. The characters in my head decided what would happen. I wrote the book in a fraction of the time it took me to write the first.

I will say that as the story unfolded, I thought a lot about self-esteem in young women. Girls sometimes define themselves by their boyfriends. Sometimes, women don't give themselves enough credit for what they can accomplish on their own. It was important to me that I write a story where Malini is the hero of her own destiny. She changes during this book from someone who things happen to, to someone who makes things happen.

Magan: Did you have to do any sort of research to write this novel? How did you go about that?
G.P.: I did some research on the game of cricket. There's a scene where Malini has a vision of her father and grandfather talking about a game. Of course, since Malini is Indian, it couldn't be baseball. The more popular pastime in India is cricket. So, I needed to learn enough about the game to write the scene. Most of the other research was done as part of book one.

Magan: How did you decide to go with Darkside publishing? What makes it the best home for your novel?
G.P.: DarkSide Publishing specializes in Young Adult novels for the eBook market. There have been many publishers in the romance genre that have done this for years but for YA it's still an emerging market as more young people get eReaders. I think ePublishing is the way of the future and felt that DarkSide had the most attractive business model.

Magan: Did you have any pitfalls or times that you wanted to give up on writing? What kept you going?
G.P.: I've never seriously considered giving up writing entirely. I love writing. I'll do this until I die. I certainly have enough manuscripts started to keep me busy until I die!

As far as pitfalls, sure I have bad days when I'm not happy with a review or with how many books I've sold that day. That stuff can be frustrating. But reviews and sales are just the icing on the cake. The joy is in the writing itself.

Magan: What's next for you writing-wise?
G.P.: The Official Weaving Destiny Blog Tour starts September 12! Visit www.gpching.com to enter to win your choice of Kindle or Nook. Plus over a dozen blogs are participating with reviews, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways. If you want to win a free copy of either of the Soulkeepers eBooks, follow the tour!

Return to Eden, Dr. Silva & Gideon's story, will be available Winter 2012. There is room in the story for additional books beyond Return to Eden if readers want more from the series at that point.

I also have a stand alone YA called Grounded, a futuristic dystopian. I can't talk too much about that one yet, but I'm very excited about the possibilities.

Magan: Did you have any sort of a musical playlist for this novel? If so, could you share it with us?

G.P.: Yes. My playlist is available at www.thesoulkeepersseries.com, on the Weaving Destiny page. You can also watch the book trailer there.

Magan: If Soulkeepers were to be made into a movie, who would you cast in the lead roles?
G.P.: This is a tough one. I think Jacob and Malini would have to be played by yet unknown talent. There just aren't enough young multi-cultural actors. However, generally speaking, if I had to pick well-known actors that fit the descriptions in the book, I would say Parminder Nagra as Malini, and a young Keanu Reeves as Jacob.

Magan: Favorite book, movie, food?
G.P.: My favorite books (I couldn't possibly name just one): Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, Memiors of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, and The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.

My favorite movie is a classic - Better Off Dead with John Cusack.

My favorite food is a cheeseburger and onion rings from Schooners in Bloomington IL.

Magan: Words to live by?

G.P.:"Don't you know about destiny, Malini? Destiny is not a place that we navigate to like a pinpoint on a map. Destiny is a fabric woven from our choices. It is the cloak we wear every day and the shroud that covers us in our death. You can't wait for destiny to find you. You make it for yourself." -From Weaving Destiny


Thanks again for the interview!  And blog readers, look for my upcoming review of SOULKEEPERS and a special giveaway!