Release of Rising Book 1: Resistance, by Laura Josephsen

I couldn't be MORE excited to announce the release of this book! 

Blurb:

All Alphonse wants is a quiet summer at home before his final months at university. What he gets is a half-dead stranger on his doorstep and the task of delivering a package to the leader of his home country. Not long after he boards a train toward the capital, he's attacked by knights, elite soldiers of the neighboring king.

Alphonse is temporarily rescued by Mairwyn, a mechanic with a haunted past and a deep hatred of knights. Together, they attempt to carry out Alphonse's urgent errand, only to learn that if they fail, countless people will die.

And even if they succeed, they may not be able to prevent the war that lurks on the horizon.

Now, I had the pleasure of reading this myself a few months back. First of all, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Laura's writing. She always yanks you right into the story and writes characters that refuse to leave you alone when you are trying to sleep at night. Her book, Resistance, does all of the above! 

It's such a unique blend of fantasy, sci-fi, and romance (my favorite!) with characters you either love at first (um, headstrong Mairwyn!) or grow to love (the endearing Alphonse.) The character development was rich and solid and completely intriguing - sometimes those tortured pasts were difficult to read - and the romance unfolded beautifully as Mairywyn and Alphonse discovered their love for each other while discovering themselves. I can't wait for the sequel! (Seriously, Laura, get on that! *twiddles thumbs* *waits* *WAITS*)

Author Bio:

Laura Josephsen lives with her family in Tennessee. She is a co-author of the Restorationseries and the author of Confessions from the Realm of the Underworld (Also Known as High School). She likes music, reading, socks, rainy days, chocolate, coffee, and sci-fi and fantasy tales.

Now, for the good stuff...


The links!

Rising Book 1: Resistance:

Kindle at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0079DJ3HC
Paperback at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Rising-Book-1-Resistance/dp/1469904357/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329773440&sr=1-4
Nook at B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rising-book-1-laura-josephsen/1108828628?ean=2940013930056
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/132824
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13412367-resistance


Also, go check out her awesome blog at:  http://laurajosephsen.blogspot.com/

HAPPY READING!!

Inspiration and Talking Frogs...

KERMIT.

I. Love. This. Billboard.

I don't know why, really. Maybe it's because I grew up on Big Bird and Miss Piggy and Vampires that "count." Maybe it's because I like talking frogs. Whatever the reason, I saw this, and could not stop laughing.

But then, of course, like any good ad will do, it made me think...

People may not always understand your dreams. They may not agree with them or like them. They might sneer and snicker and smirk. They might stand back and ogle you like you've grown a third arm and suddenly started speaking parseltongue...

And that's okay. They're YOUR dreams, not theirs.

Like Mark Twain said, "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."

I love things that inspire us to be better and challenge us to conquer the world, so after seeing this brilliant billboard, I decided to look into its sponsor: The Foundation for a Better Life.

Their values?

"The Foundation for a Better Life recognizes that everyone views the world through a unique lens and our objective is to provide a wide spectrum of values that are universal, encouraging and inspiring." 

"How wonderful!" says I, and then I started clicking around.

They've got more slogans like Kermit's, and loads of quotes (my favorite!...if you couldn't tell...), like this one:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Mark Twain (1835-1910)

(I know, I know, another Mark Twain quote...)

You can find the website HERE.

Go have a look around, and be inspired to do something great!


What are your dreams?...And what are you doing to live them?


More eyewitness accounts...

***If you like YA Fantasy, check out my book, GAIA'S SECRET. The sequel is coming soon!

My Sequel!! (An Update)

First of all, I must say THANK YOU for all of your support and encouragement, comments, feedback, and enthusiasm for GAIA'S SECRET! Without you guys, I wouldn't be sitting here today, writing a post about her sequel. 

That being said, the following is a result of your pokes and prods regarding GAIA #2 (thanks for the pressure, guys :P ), so I decided to shed some light on the matter. Publicly. 

I've been working on GAIA #2 for about a year, now. I had her outlined, wrote an entire draft and it was, well, all wrong. Wrote more drafts...still all wrong. SHE JUST WASN'T COOPERATING! Then the holidays hit, and no matter what I wrote, she sat and glared at me, like this:

So, I stopped working on my current draft, sucked it up, and spent a few weeks fixing everything via writing an extensive outline (it's a lot easier to alter points in an outline than it is to alter entire chapters). The result? A TWENTY-THREE PAGE OUTLINE with a separate character reference guide! O_o

Needless to say, I am quite excited and the story is moving forward at ludicrous speed (Space Balls, anyone?) and I HOPE to share her with you this summer :D

Thanks for your patience! (I know, you don't REALLY have a choice in the matter...)

A Tribute to Jim Butcher...Or, More Accurately, His Tribute To Himself...

Every so often, I'll search the world wide web for information on authors I love. You know, it's kinda like that quote by J. D. Salinger in the Catcher in the Rye (one of my favorite books, btw) :

"What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though."

Well, for me, one of those authors is Jim Butcher, who wrote The Dresden Files and one of my favorite fantasy series, Codex Alera. I even have an autographed map of Alera (thanks, John!!).

His books are so much fun - I LOVE his sense of humor - and he writes some of the best battle scenes I've ever read. Not that I'm an authority on the subject...

Which brings me back to the topic of "the author bio." Yeah, yeah...I know what you're thinking. "He went to X school and studied INSERT-ENGLISHY-SUBJECT and currently lives in Z, Washington."

Pshaw! If only....

This is JIM BUTCHER.

His author bio is as entertaining as his novels!

Ahem! *clears throat*

"Jim Butcher read his first fantasy novel when he was seven years old--
the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. By the time he turned eight,
he'd added the rest of the Narnia books, the Prydain Chronicles, every
book about Star Wars he could find, a great many Star Trek novels and
the Lord of the Rings to his count.

So he was pretty much doomed from the start.

Love of fantasy, his personal gateway drug, drew him toward a fairly
eclectic spread of interests: horseback riding (including trick riding,
stunt riding, drill riding, and competitive stunt racing), archery,
martial arts, costuming, music and theater. He played a lot of role-
playing games, a lot of fantasy-based tactical computer games, and
eventually got into live-action roleplay where players beat each other
up with boffer weapons.

So, really, he can fly his nerd flag with pretty much anyone, and
frequently does.

He took up writing to be able to produce fantasy novels with swords and
horses in them, and determinedly wrote terrible fantasy books until,
just to prove a point to his writing teacher, he decided to take every
piece of her advice; fill out outlines and worksheets, and design
stories and characters just the way she'd been telling him to do for
about three years. He was certain that once she saw what hideous art it
produced, she would be proven wrong and repent the error of her ways.
The result was the Dresden Files, which sure showed *her*.

She has not yet admitted her mistake and recanted her philosophy on
writing.  ( <-- I love this!)

Jim has performed in dramas, musicals, and vocal groups in front of
live audiences of thousands and on TV. He has performed exhibition
riding in multiple arenas, and fallen from running horses a truly
ridiculous number of times. He was once cursed by an Amazon witch
doctor in rural Brazil, has apparently begun writing about himself in
the third person, and is hardly ever sick at sea.

He also writes books occasionally.

Jim stands accused of writing the Dresden Files and the Codex Alera.

He's plead insanity, but the jury is still out on that one. He lives in

Missouri with his wife, romantic suspense and paranormal romance writer

Shannon K. Butcher (who is really pretty and way out of his league), <--I love this, too!

his son, and a ferocious guard dog."

Awesome. :)

See why he writes great battle scenes??  :)

FLY THAT NERD FLAG, JIM!! (while you're writing more books, please :D  )

***If you like YA Fantasy, check out my book, GAIA'S SECRET. The sequel is coming soon!

Watch Out Muggles...Harry Potter is coming to Universal Studios HOLLYWOOD!!

I AM SO EXCITED!!


If you don't already know, in June 2010, they opened a Wizarding World of Harry Potter at the Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. The hubs and I went there about a year ago (I blogged about it HERE). 

Me and Hogwarts - I hadn't purchased my gryffindor scarf yet.

Hogsmeade

Ollivander's!

*sigh*

I had bemoaned the fact that they had chosen to build Hogwarts at the Florida location (I'm a west coast-er). I mean, I can't justify driving a few thousand miles for butterbeer on an annual basis. So you can only imagine my elation when I saw the following:


On December 6th, 2011, "Universal Studios Hollywood announced plans to bring the wildly popular Wizarding World of Harry Potter to the California theme park." - Brady MacDonald, LA Times staff writer. 


You can find the actual article HERE.


In the mean time, I shall wait...impatiently...*twiddles thumbs*


***If you like YA Fantasy, check out my book, GAIA'S SECRET. The sequel is coming soon!

Sequels and Middle Child Syndrome

WARNING: For those of you that happen to be middle children, understand that the following is merely a generalization, used for comparing the art of writing a series, and is by no means intended to cause offense.

Many of you already know about three months ago I FINALLY let my oldest child, Gaia's Secret, out into the world. Very soon after, I gave birth to her sister, Gaia #2.

"This should be EASY," I had preened. "This time I know the process, I've read tons of books and blogs about writing and I've practically got John Truby's Anatomy of Story memorized...heck, I've already got all the characters and the ENTIRE series outlined. What could be so difficult?"

*anvil drops on head*

I didn't account for the fact that Gaia #2 is a different child, entirely.

1. Birth Order Personalities (aka WHOSE CHILD IS THIS, ANYWAY?)

I mean, really, what did I do wrong? I didn't remember having so much trouble getting my first born to talk and my first born didn't incessantly fight me over word choice and sentence structure and the direction of the plot. "Time Out" wasn't working, either, in fact, Gaia #2 seemed perfectly happy sitting in that corner all by herself...not talking.

Then I found this nice little quote:

"Middle kids bemoan their fate as being ignored and often grow resentful of all the parental attention given to the oldest and the baby of the family, and feel short-shifted." - Stacy DeBroff

Ah ha! And I suppose it doesn't help that I don't have a concrete title for Gaia #2, yet... *taps chin* 

Which brings me to...

2. Favoritism (aka Why Can't You Be Like Your Sister?)

Okay, so your first child went out into the world and is doing just fine. People seem to like that child, and some people even take a moment to tell you how much they like that child. (Of course, not everyone likes your children - but you learn to be OK with that...sorta...)

Naturally you're drawn to the child that is more like you. "Gaia's Secret" was happy, fearless, took control. Gaia #2...not so much. She is melancholy, lonely, and has an overwhelming sense of emptiness. In fact, she sort of reminds me of Eeyore with the raincloud permanently over his head. Too much time with her, and I walk away feeling depressed, drowning in a sea of woe...

And that's okay.

She just wanted to know that I was there for her, that I'd be patient and give her all the time and attention she needed. Once I did that, once I let her simmer there, in that empty corner, she grew bored and came around and started talking. I don't particularly like (or agree) with what she's been saying, but I listen. I try not to compare her to her predecessor and I try not to remind her of all the work her predecessor had done. I also try not to remind her of the expectation, set by Gaia #1, that would be inevitably put on Gaia #2.

Which leads me to my last point...

3. Sibling Rivalry (aka My World is Better than Your World)

It exists. Stay out of it. Make sure each has your constant support, and let them sort it out. Hopefully, given time, they'll be able to appreciate each others' differences and how those differences make them better and more complete.

And try not to make them feel like this:

After realizing the above, handling Gaia #2 has been infinitely easier. In fact, I'm learning a lot from her and being challenged in ways I hadn't expected (like somehow keeping track of all these characters and subplots...O_O )

And for those of you that know my first born, Gaia's Secret, I want to say THANK YOU!!! You guys have been AWESOME -  leaving so many comments, giving feedback, and sharing her with friends. That support has been enabling in countless ways, and helps me better prepare Gaia #2 before sending her out into the world :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

P.S.  If any of you are/have been writing a series, PLEASE share!

A Weekend at the Capitol

Washington D.C.

Our nation’s capital, and I’d never been. *holds out hand for vicious slapping*

So, I went. And…

OH MY GOSH I LOVED IT!

I didn’t really have any expectations, well, other than a few museums, a statue or two, walls of white marble pillars, Men in Black, Starbucks…

We (meaning me and my work friends) left Newark, Delaware bright and early on Saturday morning and drove a quick two hours to DC (thanks, Jean-Francois, for driving your van, and Carolyn for being our road-trip DJ! I'm even listening to Kid A as I write this...)

Mandarin Oriental

We checked in to our hotel, the Mandarin Oriental, where they had warm, damp hand towels waiting for us (um, it was so gorgeous inside and out that, for a moment there, I felt famous - no, really), and we headed straight for the Capitol like a bunch of unsuspecting, bright-eyed tourists. And...

 .

WOW!

There I was, minding my own business, when we turned a corner and...*gasp* 

Washington Memorial
(The crew, from left to right: Philip, Jean-Francois, Carolyn, Me, Veronique)

Everywhere I looked were big beautiful buildings and monuments and water fountains and landscaping (aside of the huge yellow crane…) – the sun was bright and warmed us from the cool breeze. It was…perfect. *sighs*

The very first thing we did (after waking from momentary paralysis) was go to the National Museum of Natural History. 

Dinosaur bones. *cues Jurassic Park theme*

I remember dreaming about them when I was little (those pictures in history books are tantalizing); it was INCREDIBLE looking upon them with my own eyes. It was also pretty funny seeing the T-Rex surrounded by little kids, gazing up wide-eyed and open-mouthed, saying things like, “Mommy, I’m scared!” and then crawling into the safety of their stroller.

We meandered through the past and through the continents, in no particular order, while I kept thinking about Night at the Museum. (I kept my gaze on that lion. *narrows eyes*) Once we went through all the rooms, including a VERY impressive gemstone exhibit harboring the Hope Diamond (Ben, I saw some gorgeous emeralds…*nudge nudge*), we continued our private tour through the capitol.

Now, for those of you that haven’t been to the capitol, everything sort of coagulates around the National Mall. No, this is not a shopping mall, nor are there any stores. It’s a long-LONG! lawn of green, with a fence made of monuments and museums. Before me was the capitol building, behind me was the Washington Memorial, to my right was the Air and Space Museum, to my left was the Natural History Museum (I spun in circles taking photos and, consequently, ran into innocent bystanders). And the greatest part about it was that ALL of it was FREE! The Smithsonian Institution was a "gift" to our nation from the British Scientist, James Smithson, for the "increase and diffusion of knowledge."

U.S. Capitol

Library of Congress

Christmas tree inside Library of Congress

Guess what...IT'S THE LIBRARY!!! *jumps up and down, clapping*

Supreme Court

From left to right: Philip, Carolyn, Jean-Francois, Veronique, Me

As the sun began to set, we took off for dinner at a Greek/Lebanese/Turkish tapas restaurant called Zaytinya, where we had lamb and domas and tzaziki and kibbeh...our mouths (and tummies) were in ecstasies...

Jean-Francois, Carolyn, Philip (pre-dinner :D )

Veronique & Me

After we had our fill (um, 2.5 hours later), we headed for the White House to see the Christmas tree. Well, I WISH I could go on and on about how beautiful it was, but, truth is, we sorta looked at it with tilted heads and crinkled noses and said, “That’s it?!” (We’ve since learned it fell over and part of it broke off, so “they” decorated the remnants…but still. You would agree the tree in the Library was waaayyyyyyy better.)

The White House at night and decorated for Christmas

We walked a large loop through all the monuments and memorials, smiling and loving every minute of our shoes rubbing the skin off our heels…

World War II Memorial

Freedom Wall: "Here We Mark the Price of Freedom"

Lincoln Memorial

We finally got back to the hotel around 11:30ish, to a lobby/lounge filled with women in beautiful gowns and men in suits and a live jazz band (we found out later that there were a lot of celebrities in town because the Kennedy Awards were that weekend). We took a seat, some wine, watched and listened until our eyes glazed over…

The next morning we headed straight for the National Air and Space Museum.

Me, Jean-Francois, Carolyn and a Russian rocket :)

Carolyn and the Hubble (replica...well, the "ship," not Carolyn)

Saturn V engines...there were five of these on the real one.

Planes and rockets and spaceships hung from the ceiling, and so many of the displays were interactive and constructed in a way that helped you visualize things like gravity & lift, that our planet is a microscopic speck in the universe…

I love these sorts of things. The sun is that sliver of
yellow on the left and Earth is the small blue ball.

We finished the afternoon with more monuments...

The White House, during the day, obviously.

Washington Memorial...again.

World War II Memorial, during the day, with Lincoln Memorial in background.

Jefferson Memorial

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

"...I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
 - Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800

View from Jefferson Memorial. (Those aren't ants. Those are
two Americans and a Canadian :D )

...and then we drove "home." (aka the Hilton.)

Thanks to my Canadian friends (Veronique & Jean-Francois) and my American friends (Carolyn and Philip) for such a FABULOUS weekend – it’ll be a memory I’ll always think on and smile :D

p.s. you are all beeezarre.