Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Author interview: Chynna Laird

Hi I have Author, Chynna T. Laird, on the Hot Seat


Janice: Tell us about yourself?

Chynna: Wow, let’s see…I’m a very busy mom of four children: three girls Jaimie (eight), Jordhan (six) and Sophie (two) and a beautiful little boy Xander (four). All of us live crowded together, along with my life partner Steve, in our tiny townhouse in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada).

When I’m not running around with my kiddos, I’m studying to complete my degree in psychology with a focus on special needs children and families.

Janice: Sounds like a lot of work. When did you start writing?

Chynna: I’ve always loved reading and books. Rumor has it that I started reading when I was two. My uncle was a distributor with Golden Books at that time so I used to get tons of his sample books and I eagerly devoured every one of them. I think that’s where my interest began in wanting to write stories like the ones I read.

Then in Grade Four a publisher came to our class to teach us all about the world of writing, editing and printing books. We even got to write our own books, with illustrations, and have them bound. My book was called, ‘The Tales of Super Bug’ a brave crime-fighting bug whose only fear was a size thirteen sneaker (sadly, that’s what caused his sudden demise).

Okay, so the cover was laminated construction paper and the ‘binding’ was staples but STILL! To me, that was the coolest thing in the world. After we’d ‘published’ our books, our class got to put them in the school library to be borrowed by fellow students. We were supposed to have taken them home at the end of the school year but I’d completely forgotten poor Super Bug on the last day of school.

Several years later, my younger sister came home from school waving a book she’d taken out of the library. She was SO excited to show me her book had MY name on it! It was SUPER BUG!! And there had been so many names listed inside of who’d taken it out over the years. That was my sign that writing was what I was meant to do.

Janice: That’s wonderful. What a thrill it must have been for you. Who was the biggest influence on your writing?

Chynna: I’d have to say my grandparents were my biggest influences. They believed so much in me and encouraged me to go as far as I could on whatever path I chose. I even named my writing business after them: Lily Wolf Words (Grandma’s name was Lillian and Grandpa’s was Wilfred.)

Janice: A very nice homage to your grandparents. How do you go about your writing? Do your prefer pencils to pens or is it all straight computer work?

Chynna: I do most of my work on the computer. It’s just a lot faster. But I do enjoy journaling. I have a notebook with me everywhere I go so I can jot down ideas for stories or articles wherever I am.

Janice: What influences you in your writing? Music, movies, reading, or straight research?

Chynna: Every day people and experience influence me the most in my writing. Especially those who have had to face tremendous adversity in their lives and show us how we can overcome the tough times thrown on our life’s journey. I’m also tremendously influenced and inspired by my children.

Two of my children, Jaimie and Xander, have special needs. They often struggle with the simple things the rest of us take for granted. They each inspire me every day as they teach me new ways of seeing the world, of doing things and learning about things. They are a wealth of writing ideas, let me tell you.

Janice: When do you write morning or evening, or are you a late into the wee hours of the morning person?

Chynna: I have to fit writing in around my children’s schedules (eg: picking up/taking them to school, homework, Jaimie and Xander’s sensory games and therapy, etc.). I have sprinklings of time throughout the day but I get most of my writing done in the evening after we (finally) get the kids in bed. I’m not really either a morning or night owl…I’m just a ‘Write until I’m so tired I’m not making sense anymore’ person. HA!

Janice: Who in charge you or your muse?

Chynna: Definitely my muse. I don’t seem to be able to shut the thoughts and ideas off! Hence the notebook. A good writer friend of mine told me she gets tons of story ideas and creates a separate folder for each as they come to her, complete with title and brief plot. She’s told me she has many, many folders to go back to! I’ve actually started doing the same thing as I go through notebooks like crazy!

Janice: Use only one word to describe your writing style? Or at least what you want your readers to take away from your writing.

Chynna: Emotionally-charged. (Is that two?) I’ve been told I elicit deep emotions from my writing. I often write about some tough issues in my work based on personal experiences. I’ve always thought this is the way to get people talking about these issues, especially those considered ‘taboo’ so we can learn about them, understand them and accept them.

Janice: What other books have you written?

Chynna: In addition to my YA book, ‘Blackbird Flies’, I’ve also authored an award-winning children’s book (I’m Not Weird, I Have SPD), two memoirs (the multi award-winning, Not Just Spirited: A Mom’s Sensational Journey With SPD and White Elephants), and an adult Suspense/Thriller (The Gift to be released late 2011).

Janice: What influenced your recent book, the one you are promoting here today?

Chynna: Payton, the main character in my book, is loosely based on a few experiences I’ve had, only he’s a lot younger than I was during those experiences and he made better choices. I grew up with a mother who lived with bipolar that she refused to acknowledge or treat and she died due to maladaptive ways she chose to cope with her issues. Blackbird Flies is my way of discussing issues like mental illness, peer pressure, drug abuse, etc. in a non-threatening sort of way. People seem to be more wiling to talk about and learn about these issues when presented in a ficitional sense…at least that’s what I’ve found.

I’d love to see these issues become less ‘taboo’ so those going through them will feel better about needing, and seeking, the help they need to live their lives more effectively. I always say, “Through knowledge comes understanding.” If we’re willing to take in the information and absorb the knowledge, the understanding will follow.

The most important part about this book is that Payton shows us that kids can go through tremendous adversity and still come out okay. All they need is a positive distraction just that one person who believes in them. Payton’s distraction was his music and his grandparents believed in him.

Every one of us has the power to fly. We just need to allow ourselves to be carried.


Buy link: http://www.astraeapress.com/#ecwid:category=662245&mode=product&product=3028835

Blurb: Fifteen year-old Payton MacGregor is a musical prodigy. To him, though, his music is merely a way for him to escape from the chaos that surrounds him. All of his life, he’s had to care for his mother, who copes with her bipolar disorder with booze instead of turning to her own musical talents. He refuses to become a statistic. Then he’s thrown a curve ball.

His mother suddenly dies, leaving him to be cared for by his aging grandparents. As much as they love him, they decide to send him halfway across Canada to live with his father, Liam—the man Payton always believed abandoned him and his mother. Payton isn’t making the relocation easy on anyone until he finds out he's going to attend the prestigious School of the Arts for musically gifted youth. Any second thoughts he has about his new life are erased when he meets Lily Joplin. Their connection is instantaneous.

Lily is a talented singer, but her struggles with drugs and bipolar disorder hit too close to home for Payton’s comfort. And when her issues become all-consuming, he wonders if his music will be enough to carry him through.

Excerpt: The following excerpt is taken from the part in the book where Payton begins to understand why he was really packed up and shipped off to Edmonton to live with his Dad—the man he’d believed had abandoned him as a child. This scene shows the anguish Payton is in and the love-hate emotions he carries around with him about his mother. It also shows his passion for his music—what he’s always turned to when times were toughest. We also feel his initial attraction to Lily, his romantic interest:

The Dean led Payton into the opera hall. “Your Dad told me you are a bit of a pianist.”

Payton resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “I guess you could say that.”

“Well, we haven’t moved the piano back to the music room yet since our recital last night,” the Dean said, nodding toward the stage. “Would you like to have a go?”

Payton’s gaze switched to the stage where a full black lacquered grand piano sat. Its lid opened towards him, exposing its gorgeous strings…beckoning him. It had been days since his fingers last caressed the keys of a piano. There was nothing that would have made him happier or given him more inner peace at that moment than to play his music.

He didn’t answer the dean . He just walked down the stairs to the stage. A spotlight still shone on the piano. It didn’t even matter to him that the leather seat was hot from the lights. He sat down, pushed the seat back to account for his long legs and positioned his hands over the keys. He closed his eyes.

He played Chopin’s Nocturne—one of his favorites. He’d learned it completely by ear, listening to his mother play it. She’d played the piece with such emotion, it pained his heart. He wished the music flowed half as beautifully from his own fingers as it had
through hers.

As a young boy, he liked lying under the piano bench while his Mom practiced. When she’d gotten really into her playing, the bench shook in time with her hands flying across the keyboard and her tiny feet pumping the pedals. Being only five feet tall, she’d often had to sit right on the edge of the piano seat so the pedals wouldn’t snap back up.

When Payton struck the last chord, the notes lingered high above the auditorium stage, echoing for several seconds. Then silence. Payton removed his glasses and wiped his eyes on his sleeve then heard…applause? It wasn’t just his dad and the dean.

He put his glasses back on and squinted, trying to block the glare from the lights with his hand. A small group of students had sat down in the first couple of rows while he’d been playing. He was embarrassed at first, but when he stood, the students rose, cheering, “Bravo! Awesome!”

He fidgeted for a few seconds then shot a peace sign and walked off the stage. Walking back up to where his dad and the dean stood, he saw that girl again…the one that looked like Alicia Silverstone. He got a closer look at her. Even in the dim light, he saw her face perfectly. Her hair was all one length and ebony. It draped around her shoulders, hugging her gorgeous oval-­shaped face. Her dark emerald eyes were highlighted with perfectly sculpted eyebrows and long eyelashes—the same darkness as her hair. Her creamy skin looked like the sun had never touched it. Her pink, plump lips stretched into a half-­smile when she noticed him staring at her. She gave him a thumbs-­up.

He just hoped his mouth wasn’t open.

“Son, that was incredible,” Dean Fenehey said. “You’ll definitely be an inspiration to other people here. And you can almost bet if you keep up your practicing you’ll get that
scholarship.”

Practicing? Scholarship? What the…?

Saturday, April 16, 2011

E-book sales top paperbacks for first time


NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The publishing tide is shifting fast: E-book sales in February topped all other formats, including paperbacks and hardcovers, according to an industry report released this week.
E-book sales totaled $90.3 million in February, up 202% compared to the same month a year earlier, according to a study from the Association of American Publishers. That put e-books at No. 1 "among all categories of trade publishing" that month -- the first time e-books have beaten out traditional publishing formats.

Friday, April 08, 2011

Interview with Kay Springsteen

I have Kay Springsteen author of Lifeline Echoes with me today.

Janice: Tell us about yourself?

Kay: I grew up in Michigan but transplanted to the south about 10 years ago and now reside in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia with my five small dogs and two bigger ones. Two of my four children live nearby, a married son who has a daughter of his own, and one of my twins. The other twin lives just outside of USMC Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. My oldest daughter still resides in Michigan. When I'm not writing, I transcribe and edit medical reports. Besides being an avid reader, my hobbies include photography, gardening, hiking and camping, and of course spending time with my terrific G-baby. I really am a firm believer in happily ever after endings and I believe there's one out there for everyone; it just may not be exactly what you expect or think you want.

Janice: When did you start writing?

Kay: I think from the time I could hold a pencil. I loved writing the essays for school and the book reports. I loved telling the classic back-to-school story of how I spend my summer vacation. I wrote stories off and on for years but I only began to seriously write while my kids were young, about 10 years ago. Then I put it on hold again, when I found myself a single mom. But last year I found myself living on my own, kids all out in the world, and unemployed from my medical transcription job. While I looked for a new job, I started writing. I was introduced to a wonderful friend, who became a writing mentor and a most awesome crit partner, mystery author J. Gunnar Grey. J. Gunnar is Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) to my Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) from the Karate Kid 2010. Everything I wrote before J. took me on as a crit partner was lacking. The embers of the stories were there but the flames, the ability to present them wasn't polished.

Janice: Who was the biggest influence on your writing?

Kay: Other than my crit partner, I would have to say my mom was a great influence because she got me interested in books and in reading, and she used to tell stories off the top of her head when I was small. My dad used to love everything I wrote, which of course encouraged me tremendously. In terms of authors, it was all things romance for a while, then on to science fiction, back to romance, into mystery. I was, and still am, a voracious reader. So there isn't one single influence.

Janice: It sounds like you have two very supportive parents. How do you go about your writing? Do your prefer pencils to pens or is it all straight computer work?

Kay: It's all about the computer. I type over 100 wpm, not quite as fast as I think but close, and someone who types for a living thinks in terms of letters instead of words. It's easier to work on the computer for me. I do carry a notebook to jot ideas when not near the computer, but the stories themselves pop out on the computer.

Janice: What influences you in your writing?

Kay: Music, movies, reading, or straight research? A combination of all these things. I make sound tracks for my stories and have certain theme songs for the characters and the moments. When writing the scenes, a song might be put on repeat on the MP3 player until the scene is finished. But movies and TV are a huge part of my life also, not for the story lines but because I watch the actions of the actors during various scenes, and as I'm watching them, I think in terms of how I would write the description. It helps me keep the action beats going in a story when, for instance, I pay attention to how two cops in a car all day chat back and forth, what they talk about not being nearly as important as their tiniest idiosyncratic actions that can be described. And as far as research, the nature of my day job is research, so that comes naturally to me. I like my stories to be as authentic as I can make them, so when I wrote a blind character, I researched all things to do with blindness. For Lifeline Echoes, it was things like rock climbing, or the things firefighters and dispatchers did 10 years ago. I talk to people, research on line, go to the library. Pretty much whatever it takes to learn enough to be comfortable in writing what I need to write.

Janice: When do you write morning or evening, or are you a late into the wee hours of the morning person?

Kay: My best stuff seems to come just before I start my job, so it often has to be put on hold for 6-7 hours. But when I stop working at 11 p.m., it's usually had time to steep and when I'm ready after work, it just spills out. I might write until 4 a.m. on those nights.

Janice: Who's in charge you or your muse?

Kay: It's a combination. I have an ability to write in my head and maintain the integrity of the story until I get to the computer. So if I'm on the road driving and the muse wants to work, we put on some music and go for it. Then when I can get to the computer, again, it all spills out.

Janice: That’s a very good talent to have. Use only one word to describe your writing style?

Kay: Descriptive. Or at least what you want your readers to take away from your writing. My vibe. That is, the vibration from the creative strings I'm plucking when I put words together.

Janice: What other books have you written?

Kay: My debut novel was a digital publication released March 1, 2011, called Heartsight, the story of a U.S. Marine who had been blinded in battle, and was more or less hiding out in his house on a secluded beach...until a divorced woman and her daughter with Down syndrome arrived and shook up his world.

Janice: That sounds like a wonderful story. What influenced your recent book, the one you are promoting here today?

Kay: Lifeline Echoes came about as the result of a challenge between myself and my crit partners. Originally, we were supposed to write a Harlequin-length novel - we were to choose a line from Harlequin and research the requirements. I thought perhaps a suspense. But I didn't have a clue what to write, and I was sitting at my desk with my MP3 player on wondering about it, when Garth Brooks came on, When You Come Back To Me Again (it's from the movie FrequencyI ). Basically, the song is about someone who's in trouble and he finds hope in knowing someone's out there who still believes in him. The chorus goes "On a prayer, in a song, I hear your voice and it keeps me hanging on..." That was my premise. A voice lifeline and falling in love with just the voice. It morphed a little from the original thought, since I was torn between a military theme and a firefighter theme. I considered using a September 11 story but really wanted this to be my own and didn't want to steal from the importance of that day. So I moved the story to the West Coast, created an earthquake, and stuck a firefighter under a building and a dispatcher in the office, who would try to give him the will to live until help could get there. As soon as I set that in place, the story took off on its own. I had the first 90K draft written in under three months, way more than a Harlequen but it didn't matter. My main crit partner told me it was a winner, with the right amount of tears, laughter, and suspense. And if you ever read any of J. Gunnar Grey's stuff, you'll understand why I found hearing those things very uplifting. My editor told me she stayed up all night reading my submission; she couldn't put it down. When people say those things, I know I've done something right.

Contest: I would love to give a free PDF copy of Lifeline Echoes to one of your commenters by drawing.

Buy link: http://www.astraeapress.com/#ecwid:category=662253&mode=product&product=3465733



Blurb:
Voices form a powerful connection. The day the earth rocked LA, Sandy Wheaton became a voice lifeline over the radio for trapped firefighter, "Mick." Less than twenty four hours later, she had fallen in love with him. Shattered when she learned that rescue came too late, she sought solace Wyoming, the home state he had loved. Now, seven years later, she's made a life there as the owner of a popular local bar. But her wounds are still fresh, and she longs to let go of the past and her lost love so she can begin living again. That opportunity presents itself when the local prodigal son returns home. The attraction between them is instant. It feels like she's known him far longer than just a few days.

Sixteen years ago, Ryan McGee left home in the midst of controversy. After living through a harrowing trauma, he finally returns home when his family needs his help through some troubling times. All he wants to do is make amends with those he hurt most and to get back to the life he'd never wanted to leave in the first place. When he meets the sexy bartender, he starts thinking in terms of forever. But there's still someone out there he wants to find, someone who once believed in him and gave him hope.

Excerpt:
The job was all that mattered now. Sandy made herself disregard the toppled shelves and scattered books. She blocked out all thoughts about the likely state of her own home. As she listened to the chatter on the official channels, she kept meticulous handwritten notes regarding the status of each unit checking in.

"Battalion 9 Alpha, this is Engine Squad 9-¬Bravo, do you copy?" The connection was filled with static and the voice was muffled, hard to hear.

Sandy waited for the response of the battalion chief on scene. None came.The callout was repeated, the voice sounding a bit more urgent.

"This is L.A. Engine Squad 9-Bravo, dispatched to the Convention Center—" Again static broke the transmission.Following protocol, after the second unanswered call, Sandy intervened. "Copy you, ES-9-Bravo. This is central dispatch. Your transmission is breaking up."

The response was drowned out by a loud burst of static in the earpiece.

"Nine-Bravo, be advised you're breaking up," she repeated.

More harsh squawks of static burst from the receiver. Sandy winced, feeling like her head might explode. Then, amid the static, she clearly heard the code every dispatcher dreaded.

"Nine-Bravo is 10-¬60, this location. Code three, code three, code three . . . trapped. . ."

The code for imminent danger!

Static filled the airwaves again as Sandy punched buttons on her console, frantically trying to boost the signal."Dispatch, are you there?" The voice was screaming. "Central! This is 9-¬Bravo in need of assist. The building's coming down around us!"

Afraid to switch over to relay, with the risk of losing contact altogether, she motioned to Ellen, the dispatcher sitting next to her.

Quickly, Sandy wrote on her notepad in bold black ink: UNIT IN TROUBLE.

At the next desk, Ellen nodded and switched channels to contact the Battalion 9 squad leader over the comm.

"Nine-Bravo, this is Central Dispatch," Sandy acknowledged. Only with great effort did she prevent her stomach-wrenching fear from leaking into her voice. Dread shot out little tentacles of hopelessness to curl around her lungs, squeezing the breath out of her. "I'm reading you, sending help your way. What's your location?"

"Civic Center parking garage—A level. The building's coming apart! We need extraction." The voice was still urgent but now without the panic.

She had to get her own panic under control and keep it that way, Sandy reminded herself, or she couldn't help anyone."Copy you, 9-¬Bravo. Who am I speaking with?"

"Mick-" More static, then, "Mic-key."

Sandy scribbled everything she could make out into her hand-¬written notes. "Mickey, you're breaking up very badly. How many do you number? How long have you been trapped?"`

"Two confirmed, dispatch, possibly three. I can feel my partner.He's not moving. I heard someone else moaning down here earlier. I don't know how long it's been. I think I've been unconscious—I'm pinned—can't move. It's dark—can't see a thing."

Sandy passed off the information to Ellen so her coworker could convey it to the battalion chief. The sarcastic part of Sandy's mind registered the irony of having crossed into the twenty-first century and being reduced to the mockery of a child's game of telephone.
With a pointed shake of her head, Ellen caught Sandy's eye and handed her a message from the battalion chief. As she read, Sandy's heart fluttered in her chest briefly before moving upward to stick in her throat.

Her free hand came up of its own volition to cover her mouth, as if to prevent herself from saying the words she was reading. Her stomach threatened to pitch up her breakfast.

The Convention Center had collapsed with several men inside.Some of them were buried under four floors of rubble, while above them, the fire from the gas main explosion burned fully involved and uncontained. Rescue efforts would be delayed and prospects for extraction were grim. A chaplain was en route.

God help them all! How could she tell someone he wasn't going to be rescued? What could she say to a man when her words were likely to be the last he'd ever hear?

Monday, April 04, 2011

Talk To Me by Cassandra Carr

BLURB:


Radio producer Jamie MacMahon is in over her head with ex-hockey player-turned host Drew Milan. She’s attracted to the man who earned the nickname “the Beast” during his playing days from the moment they meet, but he’s her boss and she loves her new job. She’s made plenty of mistakes with men and loathes the thought of being yet another plaything for Drew, a man who sleeps with women but doesn’t date them.  

Drew doesn’t want to lose a great producer and knows Jamie deserves a real relationship, but can’t stay away from the sizzling chemistry they create every time they’re together. Jamie’s insecurities and the very real prospect of having to leave a great job if this thing doesn’t work out, coupled with Drew’s fears about opening his heart and the possibility of losing his first competent producer clash.


EXCERPT:



By the time the show ended and Jamie thought about how long it would take her to shut everything down for the night, then hustle herself off to the subway station and take the three different trains to get to her apartment all the way out in Brooklyn, she was truly afraid she would self-combust.

Drew ran out of the place like a bomb scare had been called in, so at least she didn’t have to worry about him anymore. Nonetheless, Jamie waited a good ten minutes past when she was finished with her nightly duties, then made her way back to the small production room where she and Drew had recorded his promo earlier. She knew a copy of it would still be stored on the computer in the room, and after scooting in and shutting the door, she booted it up. She told herself she needed to check it one more time before giving it to the station manager tomorrow, but who was she kidding? She needed to hear him but in a safe environment. Where she couldn’t do anything stupid. She needed his voice to weave inside her, through her, like a drug.

The rough yet strangely melodic sounds of Drew’s voice drifted over Jamie as she leaned back in her chair. Closing her eyes, she pictured his face in her mind -- his to-die-for lips traveling down the length of her body, just as her hand was doing at the moment; his navy blue eyes, focused only on her as he brought her to orgasm… She reached the button of her jeans and eased them open, propping her feet up on the desk.

She couldn’t believe she was doing this at work, but no one was around, and if she didn’t do something to assuage this ache, she was likely to jump him the next time she saw him. Bad idea. Bad, bad idea. Fantasizing about the man was one thing; straddling his powerful, muscular thighs in the studio chair and offering herself to him was another. That thought brought another rush of heat to her pussy, and she moaned. She needed serious help.

At first she just teased herself a little, rubbing outside her panties, but it soon became too much. She needed relief too badly to continue to torment herself. As Drew’s voice continued to assail her from all directions in the small, windowless room, she pushed her hand down inside the waistband of her panties and through her curls until she found the damp center of her sex. The sweet smell of her musk wafted up to tickle her nose, arousing her even more.

Twirling her fingers as much as the constricting position allowed her to, she imagined they were Drew’s tongue instead. She let out a plaintive moan as the picture caused her juices to flow even more, soaking her fingers. Plunging two of them into her pussy, she pressed her thumb on her clit, craving the direct stimulation. Jamie gasped as shock waves of pleasure shot from her pussy through her clit and up her spine, her back arching. And through it all, Drew’s voice urged her to new heights.


BIO:

Cassandra Carr lives in Western New York with her husband, Inspiration, and her daughter, Too Cute for Words. When not writing she enjoys watching hockey and hanging out on Twitter. Her debut novel, Talk to Me, was released by Loose Id on March 22, 2011. For more information about Cassandra, check out her website at http://www.booksbycassandracarr.com, "like" her Facebook fan page athttp://www.facebook.com/AuthorCassandraCarr or follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Cassandra_Carr.

BUY LINK:
http://www.loose-id.com/Talk-to-Me.aspx

Amanda Racette Twentyfive
writing as Cassandra Carr

Talk to Me, out now from Loose Id!
Uniform Behaviour, out now from Andrews UK!

Writer website: http://www.booksbycassandracarr.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorCassandraCarr
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cassandra_carr
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/CassandraCarr
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Cassandra-Carr