"Rash guards" are not an ointment. Did you know?

I'm a white girl. I burn easily. I'm going to Hawaii in November, when my tan has faded to pastiness. You see the problem here? 

SUNBURN 

I tried to go tanning this weekend. I was there for an hour. Never got to tan. The girl working the front desk was special needs. Poor girl couldn't figure out how to work the computer that runs the beds. Not her fault, but I'm not going back there. 

The next closest tanning place is twenty minutes away. Maybe you have 40 minutes in your day. I don't. 

My solution: rash guards. But seriously. Who thought up such an awful name for a piece of clothing. I fe

el like it's something you should get at the backdoor of your pharmacist. 

Also. Do they have to be ugly?!? Most are black. Some have colors but that's usually accompanied by HUGE advertising (cause that's what I want across my chest)

. The top one says For Ever Wild. Because forever is obviously two words in the "rash guard" world. 

Rawr. 

I came out wearing that, my husband would laugh his face off.  

I dont' mind the purple one. But still. Who designs these things? 

Choosing the cover for Winter Queen

I can't believe I'm already at the point where I need to start looking into cover art. Eve Ventrue did the covers for my two previous books, and I had planned on her to work on Winter Queen (she was going to start in January). 

But she sent me an email this week. She has a big client right now and doesn't think she'll have time to fit in any other commission work. 

Soooo . . . that leaves me with searching for another cover artist. I've already begun. 

Here's one artist I really like, Laura Sava:

http://anotherwanderer.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d4bffwg

http://anotherwanderer.deviantart.com/gallery/

http://anotherwanderer.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d39pe6u

http://anotherwanderer.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=72#/d2dszav

Another artist, Melanie Delon:

http://www.melaniedelon.com/

Pretty much everything she does is amazing. 

Nene Thomas is another, but she's way out of my price range, as is Bente Schlick. 

I'd post pictures, but I don't want to violate the artist's copyright. 

So what do you guys think?

Why I bought pepper spray

At my signing last Saturday, I met one of those creepers who makes you want to wear a puffy coat and baggy sweat pants. It went like this:

Wandering the store handing out bookmarks, I see a guy watching me and stroking his goatee (should have been my first clue). Being that I was at my book singing, I told him about my books. We chatted a few minutes, then it became weird. 

Creeper: I told my friend I was gonna come hit on the hot author. 

Me: *blushes* Well, I'm married so . . .

Creeper: So am I. 

Me (not with a little disdain): How would your wife feel about this?

Creeper: Well, she's not here. 

Me: *blinks* I'm gonna go over there. *jerks thumb over shoulder to where fellow author Heather Frost is sitting with her Dad. Scoots chair closer to Heather's dad. "Can you look mean and scary for me?"

You know why this really infuriates me? Where does he get off thinking he can make me into some kind of object? I am a woman. I am powerful. I am strong. I demand to be treated with respect. If you cannot treat me with respect, I will either 

1. stop interacting with you or 

2. Tell you off. 

I want you all to hear this: People will treat you how you demand to be treated. If you let someone run all over you, call you names, insult you, they will continue to do so. 

Stop them. 

Don't put up with it. 

You deserve to be treated with respect.  

If the person is someone you have to interact with (family member, neighbor, classmate), limit your contact with them. Yes, I mean avoid them. If someone consistently brings you heartache, their involvement in your life needs to decrease in direct proportion to how much damage they're inflicting. 

Sometimes you can train them. If a family member is always harping on you about how you need to loose weight/live your life/raise your children: leave. Hang up. Change the subject. It might take a few times, but they'll figure out that if they bring it up, pretty soon they're talking to an empty room. 

Sometimes you need to calmly tell them how it makes you feel. Use a lot of "I" statements. When you do _____ it makes me feel ____.

But whatever you do, start on the mild end of things (talking things out if it's someone important to your life or avoiding an acquaintance who's a jerk) and move on to telling them off (just remember to stay in control. Screaming your head off makes you look crazy).

If you're a kid . . . I'm so sorry.  

I know how damaging bullying is. I dealt with it through middle and high school. My teachers didn't stop it ("You need to learn how to deal with this." Right. I'm 12. You're in your 40's. If someone put a fist sized rock in their coat, spun it around their body like a shot-putter, and hit you with it, they'd be in jail right now. But I'm supposed to learn how to deal with it.)

Talk to your parents. Talk to your teachers. If they won't listen, talk to the principal. The superintendent. The cops. Change schools. Be home schooled. Anything is better than spending a decade or two trying to heal the scars left behind from cruelty. Whatever you have to do short of something illegal, do it. 

Might I recommend pepper spray? It comes in pink (that was a joke, don't really use pepper spray on your annoying neighbor).

Also, I have three events this week:
Wednesday the 17: Signing at Rich High School in Randolph, UT from 3-6
Thursday the 18th: Garland Public Library (Utah) from 5-7 pm.
Saturday the 20th: Signing at Serendipity in Evanston WY from 1-3

Logan Utah signing

Join myself and fellow YA author Heather Frost (Seers and Demons) for our signing tomorrow (Saturday the 13th) at the Logan Hastings from 4-7. 

The next big thing blog chain

When Ali Cross contacted me about doing a blog chain, I immediately had middle school flashbacks to the whole "pretty panties" chain. You know, where you send someone five pairs of panties. Then send out a letter to five more people who each send you five pairs of panties. Ali had never heard of it. So I posted on facebook about pretty panties chain, and wasn't it funny all the weird things we did as kids. 

No one else had heard of it either. 

*I'm starting to think someone was pulling a prank on me . . . (are you beginning to get a feel for what middle school was like for me?) 

Anyway, it was Ali asking, so I couldn't very well say no. I mean, her character is Satan's daughter. That's one girl you DO NOT want to mess with. 

So without further ado: 

What is the working title of your book? 

Witch Fall

Where did the idea come from for the book? 

It's the third book in the Witch Song series. I'm letting Lilette's story, the story of the Witch's fall from the most powerful and revered entity on earth, to the most hated and feared. 

What genre does your book fall under? 

Young adult high fantasy. 

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? 

Joshen would be played by Chris Hemsworth (he's HOT). Brusenna by Meaghan Jette Martin or maybe Emma Roberts (did you know Julia Roberts had an actress daughter?). 

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? 

A thousand years before Brusenna's birth, another Witch stands between the witches and a war that will spell their slow decline into ruin.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? 

I traditionally published my first book. The next two are self published (it's totally true that you make more money). 

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? 
Witch Song took 1 month plus 2 years of on and off editing. Witch Born took about 9 months start to finish. I've just started on Witch Fall, but I'm up to 18k words (about 20% done) with the first draft.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? 

I write in the same vein as Kristin Cashore, Rae Carson, and Robin McKinley. My style is very similar to Jessica Spotswood. 

Who or What inspired you to write this book? 

I wanted to take evil, chanting witches and transform them into something beautiful and natural. Hence, my witches sing beautiful songs to control nature. 

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? 

Brusenna grows from a very insecure, haunted child into a mature, but still imperfect, woman. The romance is very believable and gradual (no love at first sight stuff). Also, there's a sea battle (complete with cannons) and singing. And horses. And a Irish wolfhoud. And people. Bugs. There might even be a chicken at one point . . . 

(Admit it, I'm funny) 

And on to the next peeps: 

Shelly Brown - Shannon Wixom - Karen Hoover - Wendy Riggs Burr - Michelle Garcia - Heather Lamb - Lynette White

*HA! I looked it up after I wrote this post: http://chainletters.net/chainletters/pretty-panty-exchange/

Winter Queen off to edits!

My next manuscript is off to my editor. This book is kinda my baby. I'm exceedingly proud of it. It's the strongest book I've ever written. At the same time, I'm a little anxious to see how it's received. I have ten year-olds reading my Witch Song series. They love it and their moms love to have them read it. 

Winter Queen isn't something I'd let my 10 year-old read. Where Witch Song went from young adult down to middle grade, Winter Queen goes up from young adult. I'd say 14 and up. 

The themes are more mature, as are some of the situations. It's also a lot more violent (think axes and battles to the death). 

BUT, I've been waiting to share this book with the world. And in just a few months, you'll be able to read it. That's exciting. I feel like it's a milestone in my career. 

Here's the Goodreads link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15829917-winter-queen

The back cover: 

Mortally wounded during a raid, seventeen-year-old Ilyenna is healed by winter fairies who present her with a seductive offer: become one of them and share their power over winter. But that power comes with a price. If she accepts, she will become a force of nature, lose her humanity, and abandon her family.

Unwilling to pay such a high price, Ilyenna is enslaved by the one of the invaders, Darrien. While in captivity, she learns the attack wasn’t just a simple raid but part of a larger plot to overthrow her entire nation. 

With the enemy stealing over the mountains and Darrien coming to take her to his bed, Ilyenna must decide whether to resurrect the power the fairies left behind. Doing so will allow her to defeat Darrien and the other invaders, but if she embraces winter, she will lose herself to that destroying power—forever.

If you'd like to sign up for the blog tour, the link is up in the tabs bar above. 

*Hugs to you all*

So . . . I've gain 10 pounds

Okay, I just never really lost it after my baby was born (she's three. Shut up). I've always been the really skinny girl that all the other girls hated. I remember in high school one of my friends (I use the term in the loosest possible way) was lamenting her "cottage cheese". I looked at her blankly and asked what "cottage cheese" was (it's the bumpy, fatty skin).

Yeah, I was that skinny. 

And tall. I was 5'11" in high school (I've shrunk an inch since then, WTH!). 

Anyway. Skinny. Tall. That's me. I'm still pretty thin, but for the first time in my life, I have a few curves (once again, SHUT UP). 

But here's the thing, the point, the crux of it all: I don't care. I'm not saying I LIKE it, but I'm not going to forgo eating a cookie or up my workout by another hour. I'm fine with the way I am.

Plus, there's a few things that are kinda nice. Example: I'm not freezing all the time anymore. 

I've always been cold. Cold feet. Cold hands. Freezing cold. All the time. 

But since I've failed to loose those ten pounds, I'm not burying myself under blankets all the time--even in the summer. In the winter, I'm not shivering for an hour in bed before I can warm up enough to fall asleep. I can type without my hands losing feeling. 

Maybe I'll keep those curves. If you can't beat 'em, at least enjoy the ice-cream. And be smart and hide behind signs whenever your picture is taken (see above). ;)