Ian T. Healy and Just Cause Universe Interview

Today I'd like to welcome one of my buddies I first met through the Amazon contest several years ago. Ian is an interesting guy whose novels use a great mix of action and humor. He is a perfect fit for that super-hero realm, especially as his heroes seem to be a bit twisted... and I mean that in the nicest way. Ian has a book release coming, so we decided on an author interview to let all of you know a little more about him... so without further ado... Wecome Ian!

[Tart in Purple, Ian in Blue]

So you'll have to humor me a bit. I am sort of a novice as to Super Heroes and Mutant worlds, so just make fun of me if I ask something stupid...

So I'm curious how much of your world building followed prototypes of comic worlds you grew up with and how much was totally out of your head?

I was out of my head most of the time. No, not really. I grew up reading (and still read) DC Comics, and that's the comic world I'm most familiar with. That being said, the Just Cause Universe doesn't relate to it very much. DC is populated with fictional cities like Gotham and Metropolis, while the JCU has actual places. DC has heroes that can toss planets around like playthings and are generally like gods living among men. Nobody in the JCU is particularly powerful. The strongest man in the world once pulled an aircraft carrier into dry dock by its anchor chain, but that was mostly a publicity stunt thing. Most JCU heroes are just like you and me, only a bit better.

Who were your early favorite super heroes?

The very first comic book I ever owned was Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #15, which was a funny-animals comic like something Disney might produce. Before that, my favorites were the characters of Shapiro and O'Toole, from the book Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang, by Mordecai Richler. I wanted to be them sooooo bad!

I love how whimsical your story sounds: the Cockroach God? Rabbit recruits (snark and jumping high as super powers--NICE)? So is that whimsy typical in the genre, or are you adding an element of fun that is a super bonus? And if so, how did you get the idea?

There has always been a place for humor in the superhero genre, whether in movies or comics. Even the really grim movies like the most recent Christopher Nolan Batman films have humorous moments in them. Life is funny, when you really look at it. Some characters respond to the funny bits better than others, and Jackrabbit for me is one of the great snarkmeisters of the JCU. He can find the humor in any situation and when he mouths off, it tends to distract his opponents. I could see him forestalling a fight entirely by causing his opponent to break down into gales of helpless laughter.


So you've written several books in this series. Can you give readers an idea how they all fit together? (and do they stand alone, or should they be read in order?)

All of the JCU novels are stand-alone books that could be read in any order. That being said, I always recommend people read them in this order: Just Cause, The Archmage, Day of the Destroyer, Deep Six, The JCU Omnibus Vol. 1, and finally Jackrabbit. The first two books focus on the core character of Mustang Sally in her place on the core team of Just Cause. The next four books broaden the scope of the setting and history, whether focusing on Mustang Sally's mother as part of the team in the '70s, the prison for convicted superpowered felons, or whatever. This fall, I will be returning to Mustang Sally's story once again in the book Champion.


And if there are Gods of Rabbits and a Cockroach God... that really gets the imagination rolling. What are some of the other gods and what powers can they impart?

Well, the thing is . . . Most gods signed the short form when they became gods, because hey, you're a god, you don't have time for all that paperwork. By signing the short form, they opted out of a lot of the rights and abilities of gods, such as the creation of Heralds. A few notables spent the extra time to go through everything and because of them we had such historical Heralds as Jesus, Mohammed, Shiva, etc. Leporidus, the Rabbit God, spent the extra hundred years to fill out all the forms, as did Cialia the Bluebird Goddess. When Blattodeus the Cockroach God (who is actually a god created by intelligent cockroaches, whereas all other gods were created by humans) invades Gods' Home and Earth, only Leporidus and Cialia have the authority to create Heralds to fight back. I'd also like to make a special mention of Anurus, the Frog God, who happens to be Leporidus' best friend.


How many of these do you have in the hopper? And what are you currently working on?

Champion is done and in the revising stages now. After finishing my two current WIPs (a mainstream YA called The Scene Stealers, which is in final revision now before going to my agent, and a horror western called Ghost Plain), I'll be taking on the next JCU book, which I've begun outlining and has a working title (that will probably change) of Patriotic.

Ian Thomas Healy is a prolific writer who dabbles in many different speculative genres. He's a ten-time participant and winner of National Novel Writing Month where he's tackled such diverse subjects as sentient alien farts, competitive forklift racing, a religion-powered rabbit-themed superhero, cyberpunk mercenaries, cowboy elves, and an unlikely combination of vampires with minor league hockey. His popular superhero fiction series, the Just Cause Universe, is ever-expanding, as is his western fantasy epic The Pariah of Verigo. He is also the creator of the Writing Better Action Through Cinematic Techniques workshop, which helps writers to improve their action scenes.

Ian also created the longest-running superhero webcomic done in LEGO, The Adventures of the S-Team, which ran from 2006-2012.

When not writing, which is rare, he enjoys watching hockey, reading comic books (and serious books, too), and living in the great state of Colorado, which he shares with his wife, children, house-pets, and approximately five million other people. Follow him on Twitter as @ianthealy and on Facebook as Author Ian Thomas Healy. Check out his exclusive publishing imprint, Local Hero Press.

March Madness is COMING!!!

And by March Madness I'm not talking about all that ball-bouncing silliness...

I'm talking about WRITING at great speed!

I'm talking about EDITING MADNESS!

I'm talking about Setting yourself a DEADLINE and pushing yourself hard!

When does it happen?

*cough*

Erm... did you READ the headline? MARCH.

But unlike NaNoWriMo, BuNoWriMo, or NaNoEdMo YOU get to pick your project. You can pick the size, you can pick the type... But the SAME support system as BuNoWriMo...

In fact BuNoWriMo on Facebook is where we'll be coordinating... (just ask to join—we'll let you in).

So what are my PLANS?

I HAVE to finally finish the first draft of the end of my serial. AND I need to get What Ales Me edited. That is about 30,000 new words and one serious edit...

I. CAN'T. NOT.

For anyone clueless at this, there are two repeating themes I will be discussing today:

My FOMS (Fear of Missing Something)

and

ABNA (The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award)

I seem to be unable to step away from this particular activity... It is still OPEN by the way... will be for a couple weeks for any category that doesn't fill up early...

So what IS the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award?

Every year Amazon has a contest for novels—they let in 10,000 entrants: 2000 each in the categories of Young Adult, General Fiction, Romance, Fantasy/Sci Fi, and my own category this year, Mystery/Thriller.

Every month the list gets narrowed, first, based on the 300 word pitch which cuts the playing field from 2000 per area to 500 per... Second month narrows the 500 to 100 based on the first 3000-5000 words (these are quarterfinals). And then the NEXT narrows it from 100 to 25 (semifinalists)... Then finally, there are the finals.

So see, this stress fest drags all the way out for 5 months... Who WOULDN'T want to be part of it?

But seriously, the WE-ness of it is awesome. It is one of those things like bootcamp or initiation or nursing school—you know—create forever bonds between people who share the experience.

My History with this Contest:

I entered for the first time with Confluence (my first novel) and got knocked out at pitch round.

I entered the next year with Kahlotus Disposal Site (my 6^th) and made it to the semifinals.

I entered the third year with Legacy (my 2^nd, substantially revised) and made quarterfinals.

Last year I entered Medium Wrong (my 11^th?) and got knocked out at pitch...

So this is my 5^th year and I am entering the first set of A Shot in the Light.... Here is the pitch.

A beach covered in dead seagulls brings Sidney Knight's quest for quiet to a halt. She's come to the Oregon coast to hammer out a few freelance deadlines but this breaks her concentration. According to her brother, a scientist at the Centers for Disease Control, the avian flu has reached epidemic classification. His warning not to get the flu shot, contrary to authority recommendations, scares her.

Back in Portland she begins to dig and notices a disturbing trend: the shot, rather than reducing risk, is increasing deaths. Health departments, hospitals, and news sources are silent and care providers have been warned not to “scare people”. Sidney, young and green, doubts she can handle a story this big, but what if she's the only one looking? When the CDC is locked down with her brother inside and one of her closest friends dies from the vaccine, Sidney's mind is made up. Green or not, she has to figure out how this happened, who is responsible, and who can set it right.

A Shot in the Light is a new adult epidemic conspiracy thriller and will appeal to people who like a complex plot, powerful relationships and an emotional roller coaster.

Who else is entering?

Watch and Learn (or, don't make my mistakes)

Halo, fine friends! And welcome to 2nd Wednesday's Indie Life
In which Indie authors share their support and wisdom.

Not feeling very wise at the moment, but I'll give it what I've got.

So I've been releasing a serial since September... 7 episodes are out... I started off promoting each time, but it was for not much, so I've sort of petered off... see... I've heard enough people say for things like that they wait until it's all there, and all will be 12 (pace to finish is about one a month)... nobody is beating down the door. I'm losing money because I am paying editing and cover costs... I made all of $39 last year or some such thing... less expenses... which puts me way in the hole.

Now I have faith. Once they are all out, I will push hard, but I sort of feel right now like it is a lot of effort for naught to do it every book.

So what would I do differently next time? 
I'm glad you asked.


1)  I would NOT have a serial be my first thing out the door. I would have a backlist of three or four books so if someone read the start of the serial and loved it, they could READ ME while WAITING FOR ME. The other advantage to this is you get the practice formatting and publishing without the time crunch of NEXT ONE NOW looming. And you can learn all the OTHER formatting venues, so you aren't stuck with just one—not that Amazon isn't great, but I'd like to be everywhere. I just haven't had time to learn all the other formats because I've been WRITING (and having a full time day job that has exploded since last summer—used to be able to do little things there—no more)

2)  I would write my WHOLE first draft (all the books) before I started publishing. (in fact I'd have the first reader beta job done, too) I think there is time between optimal book release to EDIT, but not to write and edit and polish... because a month apart is too long (which gets to my next)

3)  A month apart is too long. HA! See how I did that? I'd say 2 weeks is good. 3 maybe.


Did I do anything right? Why YES, as a matter of fact I think I did...

1)  I am pleased with the length. A penny a page seems like good value to me I think the sweet spot for these is 60-100 pages. It is long enough for a nice, meaty piece of story with some ups and downs...

2)  Giving away the first FREE is good.

3)  I also think my offer to give the NEXT to my first 10 reviewers is a good idea. Maybe it is 20 reviewers... Though I still only have more than 10 reviews on the first book.

But for a little perspective, I have a TRADITIONAL book (Keeping Mum) coming out March 4 and the work I have had to do for that (post writing) is SO microscopic by comparison. I mean I had my beta readers—always do. But They do all the art, formatting, prepping. I even have a publicist who has arranged a blog tour and giveaway—I wrote a couple posts but ALL that organizational stuff SHE is doing.

I really think for the part time author, traditional is a much EASIER route (not getting in—I know it's very HARD to get in). And I know it isn't the same money once you get going, but I will count those sales in the thousands, not the dozens. If I didn't have the day job, I could do a little of both, but since I DO, I really can't both write and promote at the same time. It just seems SO MUCH EASIER to be carried on the water and obey when they say jump. Now I KNOW that isn't for everybody. In fact it probably isn't for ME eventually... but in conjunction with the full time job? I will keep the traditional in my mix.

Guest Sean McLachlin and Radio Hope

Many of you probably know blog buddy Sean McLachlin... he's the guy who, when I go over to his long standing blog, is immersed in some cave or telling some cool historical story...  He's a nice guy... AND he is dappling in my domain, so many of you who like all that apocalypse stuff (which is a bunch of you) may be very interested in what he is up to... but here, let HIM tell you:

How none of our sins will go away with the fall of civilization (except texting)

It’s a hundred years in the future, and humanity has reverted to its barbaric past. A century of economic and social upheaval, environmental catastrophe, and biological warfare have left the world ravaged. The few survivors live by scavenging the ruins of a once-advanced civilization or cultivating the few remaining patches of fertile land.

Otherwise, people pretty much go on like before.

The apocalypse will change a lot of things, but it’s not radically going to change us. Sure, we’re going to be a bit paranoid, sneaking through the wasteland armed to the teeth, assuming we still have teeth, but we’re going to have all the little frailties we’ve always had. That’s what makes post-apocalyptic fiction, indeed all fiction, so compelling—we get to see ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances and imagine ourselves in their shoes.

People being people, it’s no surprise that my post-apocalyptic novel Radio Hope opens in a bar. I mean, if 90% of the population is dead and the world is a toxic wasteland, wouldn’t you want to get loaded? In New City—really just a town and the only settlement of any size—the biggest business is a bar called $87,953. The name is another story, and involves another sin.

Drinking is big in New City, and since many of the scavengers don’t get to partake on a regular basis, when they come in from the wildlands they booze it up like there’s no tomorrow. They could be right about that. Annette Cruz, one of my protagonists, is the bouncer and has to deal with fights, sexual harassment, and hate speech on a regular basis.

These aren’t the only sins that have survived the apocalypse. Over on the other side of town, Fly Daddy Bradley offers a bevy of girls for company, and the farmers outside town like to grow hemp for cloth and “medicine.” A lot of people seem to need medicine these days.

Nor has tobacco fallen from grace. How could it? Barely a hundred years after tobacco made it to Europe, it was still expensive but people of all social classes spent fortunes for their daily dose of the “foule weede”. When Sir Walter Raleigh was imprisoned from 1603 to 1616 in the Tower of London, he grew tobacco in Tower Green. The fact that the space was also used for hangings and beheadings failed to curb his cravings!

So if you think that “living the simple life away from technology” will free you from the world’s sins, think again. At least it will get rid of people texting or talking loudly on their cell phones on public transport. The problem is, with the destruction of the world’s communication systems, all the Internet trolls will go back to being barroom bores who back you into a corner and won’t let you go until they tell you how much of an evil loser their neighbor is and how he should really just die a horrible and embarrassing death.

Yeah, I think I’ll stick with civilization.

Sean McLachlan is an archaeologist turned writer who is the author of several books of fiction and history. Check him out on his blog Midlist Writer.

Book Blurb: In a world shattered by war, pollution and disease. . .
A gunslinging mother longs to find a safe refuge for her son.
A frustrated revolutionary delivers water to villagers living on a toxic waste dump.
In humanity’s last city, the assistant mayor hopes he will never have to take command.
One thing gives them the promise of a better future--Radio Hope, a mysterious station that broadcasts vital information on surviving in a blighted world. But when a mad prophet and his army of fanatics march out of the wildlands on a crusade to purify the land with blood and fire, all three will find their lives intertwining, and changing forever.

Buy Link 

My Writing Life By Genre (An Insecure Post)

Halo, fine Insecure Friends (and guests of the Insecurity movement). As you may have guessed, it is first Wednesday, and therefore Insecure Writer's Support Group. Since I am feeling a it overwhelmed and out of sorts, I thought I would try on my writing life in different genres today and see how it goes...

Tragedy

Girl yearns to write but is forced to toil in advertising. Loses belief in self, so works endlessly at second career. Ironically learns she has writing talent and adds that to what she is working on. And then the second career takes over her life completely, leaving her with no time at all and a broken heart.


Action

Girl kidnapped by evil corporate forces! Rescued, but forced into army of do-gooders. While she believes in the cause and fights real battles, she yearns for home. She is given ONE LAST very large mission, and then she will be free! But can she do it!?


Drama

Girl tortured by being misunderstood as a child turns to writing. It begins to blossom, but she is convinced by powerful others that it is irrational and she must pursue something practical. She briefly likes the fast-paced, wild life of advertising, but refuses to give up her soul and so is banished. She Works for YEARS, slaving over a hot stove to pay for a higher education to seek another practical degree, but learns she still loves writing, so for years she lives a double life, always fighting the inner turmoil of what is practical and where her passions lie.

Comedy

Goofy girl finds herself in advertising office of mean people, so she begins to write funny stories about them and is discovered and courted by a big magazine, but it is so stressful she has to start making things up and it causes great stress with the people she used to work for who start sending her obscene gifts and embarrassing her in public, but she has the last laugh as the most outrageous story of all is entirely true and makes her a fortune.


Noir

It was a dark and stormy evening when the body was dumped on my doorstep...


I tried a couple more, but I am not nearly as profound or ironic as I think I am... Pretty sure it is the action genre for me...

But you know... no matter what version of my writing life I follow, probably nobody is going to say anything quite as nice as they have about Alex Cavanaugh's CassaFire (which for a limited time is only 99 cents, so you should really go get it)

“…delivers on the promise of its predecessor, combining military action sequences and political intrigue with strong, memorable characters. Reminiscent of the action-driven stories of Robert A. Heinlein's early fiction…” - Library Journal

Alex J. Cavanaugh’s CassaFire just .99 for a limited time!
Amazon - http://tinyurl.com/qaz7kxr

Naked World Dominatrix Issues Orders

I hereby order the following:

SUN: Show up EVERY DAY for the next 3 weeks. You've made a very poor showing and you really need to make up for it.

POLAR VORTEX: You are henceforth BANISHED! Nobody likes you. And while that may not be adequate for banishment, the pain and suffering you caused in January are. There IS a young man in the Netherlands willing to host you from time to time, but other than that, you would do well to stay above the 60th parallel.

SNOW: Give it a rest already, will you, you attention hog? We get it. You are pretty and can keep us at home in our jammies all day long. But you know what? Some of us have LIVES to get to, and frankly, it's getting a little old. Especially this collusion with your buddy vortex that has kept us from just throwing you out when we got tired of you. I don't want to see you fall from the sky again for 3 weeks, at which time you may fall on a Friday and Saturday and then say your good-byes for the year. Got it?

FEBRUARY: You are ordered to move along at a normal pace. None of this wibbly wobbly taking three months in spite of having twenty-eight days stuff you normally get up to. And while we're at it, you've posed a very poor role model for March, so by the end you need to clean up your act.


So, erm... Guess you've noticed by now I'm back... I'd like to say I'm all rejuvenated, but that isn't true. Work just keeps getting larger and larger. It is AMAZING, FABULOUS work we have ahead of us. A real difference we can make. But MAN, my brain is frequently fried at the end of the day.

29 Days to Keeping Mum!!! (Seeking Blogs for a Tour)

Since I have a book promotion coming up, I need to get back to it, whatever it takes. Speaking of... I only have a couple blogs on my blog tour scheduled (Alex and Dru Ann at Dru's Book Musings) but if anyone is willing to host me, here is what I propose... CHALLENGE ME! Give me an oddball topic of your choosing and I will do my best to tie it back to my series, characters, mysteries in general... Ought to lead to at least some bendy laughter, eh? You can either leave it in the comments and I will come find you to schedule, or you can email me (so we can surprise people) (hartjohnson23@gmail.com)

I ALSO am releasing Book 7 from my serial this week (Thursday or Friday, I think) and ideally book 8 before the end of the month so I can concentrate on the Cozies in March.

Brief Break

See... LOTS of ducks.

I hate to do this. I feel like the blog keeps me attached to so many of you, but for months now, with my job transition, I've done it VERY badly. Well now I've reached a real crunch time at work, where things would, should I try to continue, get even worse, so I am taking the rest of January to try to align my ducks, so to speak.  The hopefully I can come back at a reasonable pace in February and get back to dropping in on all of you... So... Until February, if you need me, I will still check email and Facebook, so you can reach me...

Review: The Last Dead Girl

I am tardy on this... I should have posted LAST week so you could have been appropriately tempted to go buy the book the first day it was out.  I ALSO went to Harry Dolan's Launch at Nicola's and I should have got a picture with him, but I was having an ugly day... I have those more and more often as the skin under my eyes gets looser. I just think.... Nope... no pictures. you just look TOO TIRED...

And I ALSO am suffering from the procrastination caused by overwhelmingsomeness... erm... surely I am so overwhelmed my word needs multiple endings, yes?

BUT, this was such a FABULOUS book and I REALLY DID want to get the review posted, for you, and because I like to post it HERE before I paste it over to Amazon and Goodreads.  So without further ado... my review of Harry Dolan's The Last Dead Girl...

[Isn't that title brilliant... my first thought was, you mean there were more before her?]

*cough*

Anyway...

Compelling Mystery, Rich Characters

I loved Harry Dolan's first two books, Bad Things Happen and Very Bad Men--five starts loved them. But I see this one as hand and fist over the others. I'd give it six stars if they let me. I don't want to go back and give the others fours because they are fives in the grand pool of books I've read in recent years, but this one really IS better.

The difference to me is in the connectability to all the characters. Older Loogan (David from the first two books) is reserved and the tone carries to the story telling. Younger David (Daryl David Malone), before his name change that we knew was coming from the first book, has not yet learned the same reserved caution (learned it the hard way, beginning in this book) so I found him easier to know and relate to.

But more than that, Dolan's other characters are rich and shining, even his villains. Yes, villainS. There are more than one or two people doing rotten things. But Harry does a brilliant job of showing them as complex reasons with rationales that may not be good enough for us, but you can see how they justify the actions for them. We get to understand why they do what they do and see a peek at their humanity, however limited.

I finished this in December and probably rank it the top book I read in 2013.

A Geekisborg, Just for You...

Shun-SHENG duh gao-WAHN! It has been WAY to long since I just indulged you in a good old time, so I have a few treats for you. Most of these came to me through Facebook shares. There are some perks to having a reputation as a nut. People share vast silliness with me all the time. First... your tutorial on what the above phrase...

Fifteen Best Firefly Chinese Phrases: 

Any of you who have not yet watched Firefly really should get on that. It's fabulous. And until then, Holy Testicle Tuesday to you!!!




ALSO in the meantime... Let's revive some old phrases, shall we?

20's Phrases that need Reviving:

And HEY Game of Thrones Geeks!!!

The Season 4 Trailer is OUT!!!:

And when My buddy Joshua shared the above, Matthew McNish shared the first Complete History and Lore For Game of Thrones:

There are two of these, more than an hour a piece, but an EXCELLENT education for those of you who haven't read, and reminder for those of us who have.


And HEY, because I can be useful too... this video could save a life (watch to the end for specifics) but it's delivered beautiful:


So there!

Jade Jamison and Fully Automatic!!!

Jade is one of my writing buddies and seriously awesome, super reliable beta partners and her latest book, Fully Automatic is COMING!  She writes erotic fiction, which I know isn't for all of you, but some of you love this stuff and I think some of you who have been afraid to try might find Jade's style of it more appealing... her common theme in her Bullet series is Rock Stars, and who DOESN'T want to dive into something hot with a rock star, eh? And more than that, her characters are fully developed, three dimensional, and face some true-to-life demons that I find missing in some romance, let alone erotic fiction.  So here is the scoop!

You might think you know Brad’s story, but think again. There’s so much more to his story than what Valerie told. See Brad before Valerie came into his life and, when he was playing back burner to Ethan, see what Brad was up to when no one else in the band was looking.

Valerie might have thought she and Brad were inevitable and maybe, in the back of his mind, Brad might have felt that way too, but he didn’t just sit around waiting for her. See the secret side of Brad that you had no idea existed. What kept the driving force behind Fully Automatic focused even while his heart was breaking?

When Brad caught Nick outside the apartment after work, he asked him to take a walk. “How you feeling?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the past few weeks have been pretty emotional. You holding up okay, man?”

“Yeah.” Nick shrugged. He was quiet for a little bit but then said, “Things have been a little weird, though.”

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “I was thinking about calling a meeting.”

“You think that would help?”

Brad took a deep breath. “Honestly? I have no fucking idea. But…I hate the idea of waiting for the next time, you know? I’d like a promise from Ethan that we’re done with this phase of our lives.”

“You don’t really think he’d make a promise like that, do you?”

“No. Wishful thinking.”

They walked in silence for a minute and then Nick said, “You know what’s going on with Val and Ethan, right?”

A ringing started in his ears, and he felt dread as a shiver tickled his spine. He knew he wasn’t going to like what Nick had to say, but he needed to know. “What?”

Nick stopped walking and Brad turned to face him. “I’m only telling you this because it’s only fair to you. I’m not sure what all is or was going on between you and Val, but I don’t want—anyway, uh…Ethan proposed to Val.”

It felt like the air had been knocked out of his lungs. When he got his bearings, he sucked in a deep breath of air. Had he heard Nick right? “What?”

“Ethan asked Val to marry him. I, uh…don’t know if it’s totally official yet, but…”

Brad couldn’t hear him after that, and it felt as though the world turned black. He already knew. If Ethan proposed, he knew Val accepted. He felt numb.

Somehow he had the presence of mind to say, “Don’t say anything about me and Val to Ethan. That shit’s over.”

“Yeah. No way. It’s not like she was cheating on him.”

Brad felt like he was going to throw up. He grew quiet, walking back to the apartment with Nick, but his mind was trying to find a way to deal with the worst news it had ever received.

GOODREADS / FACEBOOK / WEBSITE

Jade C. Jamison was born and raised in Colorado, moved from one city/town to the next, and she’s decided she likes it so much she wants to stay…although travel is not out of the question. She lives in a big town in Colorado (not unlike Winchester!) with her husband and four children. She is working on becoming a crazy cat lady. Okay, so maybe not.

Still want more? Jade has a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Theater, a master’s degree in English, and a master of fine arts in Creative Writing. Obviously, she loves school and the student loan folks love her. She works in human services by day, teaches English and creative writing at night, and—in between playing soccer mom and community leader—writes like a fiend. Someday soon, she’ll narrow it down to just writing, but let’s get all those kids off to college first.

AMAZON / BARNES & NOBLE / SMASHWORDS

AMAZON / BARNES & NOBLE / SMASHWORDS / KOBO

AMAZON / BARNES & NOBLE / SMASHWORDS / KOBO

Hosted by:

Insecure Writer's Post

IS COMING... Time seems to be dumping on me, so mid-day--you are not forgotten,


Or not... my day totally got away from me... had to WORK the entire work day!!! Not even a real lunch break. So I am insecure about not being able to manage it all!!!

Seriously.

I have heard from my agent... she likes the premise and location for What Ales Me, but a ton of work to do...

I STILL need to write books 10, 11 & 12 for my serial (that is about 300 pages)...

And I have an ABNA novel to polish!!! (going to submit Medium Wrong again--with some editing, but I never even passed pitch round with it last year, so I'd like some actual feedback on it)... or maybe I should get back to the already seriously revised Kahlotus Disposal Site... Not sure... feeling insecure about BOTH these days and that's no good...

Three Things

1)  Nothing else I post this week will be as cool as hosting Harry Dolan yesterday, so you should go read THAT.

2)  The New Normal has released!!!

3)  Laurel Garver is hosting me today at Laurel's Leaves.

Interview with Harry Dolan for The Last Dead Girl

I WIN!!!

And by I win, I mean Harry Dolan agreed to do an interview with me for the release of The Last Dead Girl, his third book, which releases Thursday!!! Both Harry's other books have been best sellers (deservingly so) and you know what? This is my favorite of the three!!! It's really fantastic! I am working up a better review, but FOR NOW, I am just going to let you watch me talk to the Fabulous Harry Dolan--hows's THAT!?

1)  This book is a prequel, rather than a sequel (earlier even, than David changing his name). What made you decide to head into David's past instead of going forward?

The idea for this book evolved over time. It began with the story of the victim, Jana Fletcher, an idealistic young law student who’s involved in an Innocence Project—she’s working to exonerate someone she believes has been imprisoned for a murder he didn’t commit. And her involvement in this project leads to her death. Originally, I intended to set the story in Ann Arbor, and Jana was going to be an intern at Gray Streets magazine; I thought that would be how David would get drawn into the story. I tried to work out the plot along those lines, and it wasn’t working. I wanted to introduce another character, a fellow student who would be Jana’s lover and would be driven to uncover the truth about her death. But then there were too many characters and things got too complicated. And I realized that if I set the story in David’s past, then he could be the one who was romantically involved with Jana. And then everything became much simpler.


2)  This book showed a David who was more candid than he is in later books—he is more open with the reader about his thoughts and emotions. Was that a conscious decision? And if so, what was your decision process there? (It made sense to me, but I want to see if I am following your thinking or making stuff up.)

I think you’re right that he’s more open in this book, but that wasn’t a conscious decision on my part. It probably has to do with the nature of the story. In my first novel, Bad Things Happen, part of the mystery revolved around David’s identity: What sort of person was he? Where did he come from? So in that book I didn’t always reveal what he was thinking and feeling. And the book was written entirely in the third person, which lends itself to the keeping of secrets. The Last Dead Girl, on the other hand, is mostly written in the first person, and David is much more emotionally invested in the victim than he has been in my previous novels. So that’s probably why I wound up revealing more of his thoughts and emotions, even though that’s not something I deliberately set out to do.


3)  And as a follow up—do you plan to give readers a bit more about how David changes to become a much more cautious man that he is in your earlier books? And if it ISN'T going to be in the books, could you maybe share what you see as the impetus for the change?

I think the change is probably a natural result of age and experience. In The Last Dead Girl, David is twenty-six years old; in Bad Things Happen and Very Bad Men, he’s in his late thirties. If David is more cautious and more guarded in the chronologically later books (and I think he is), it’s because he’s learned to be that way. You could think of The Last Dead Girl as the story of the first really bad thing that happened to David: his first serious encounter with violence and loss and grief. And I think that definitely shaped his character.


4)  You are also in a new (old?) location. Rome, New York. I know you did your education in rural New York. Is this the city? Is this a place you know as well as Ann Arbor? And did you go to visit, or did you rely on memory? Any challenges to writing about a location that isn't your current home town (compared to the two books set in the one that is)?

I grew up in Rome, New York, and I still have family there, so I visit at least once a year. It’s a small city located in the central part of the state. It used to be the home of an Air Force base, but the base shut down in the 1990s and the population has declined since then. The version of Rome in the novel is slightly fictionalized: it’s a bit bigger and more prosperous. And the real Rome doesn’t have a university with a law school, so I invented one for the sake of the story. But apart from that, I use a lot of real street names and locations. Much of the action is set on the back roads on the western edge of the city, not far from where I grew up. We lived in a house on a rural highway, near an old section of the Erie Canal. I used to go for walks alongside the canal, so I couldn’t resist setting a scene there. It’s a perfect place for a murder: isolated, remote, and if you need to dispose of a body, the water’s right there.


5)  You have a couple really rotten people and a couple murders (including some overlap, obviously), but I felt like you did a really fantastic job in making us 'get them'. I didn't always sympathize, but I could at least understand how THEY saw it. Did you use any tricks or rules or make a plan to ensuring your antagonistic characters were three dimensional and that their actions had a certain historic sense?

Villains are always tricky to write, because you want them to come across as real people, not just as devices to move the plot along. I try to keep that in mind. As I’ve mentioned, most of the scenes in The Last Dead Girl are written in the first person, but there are also scenes scattered throughout in the third person—scenes that reveal the thoughts and actions of the main villain in the book, whose identity is disguised until the end. (I refer to him only as “K.”) I’ve used this first-person/third-person structure in my last two books, and I find it’s useful for revealing the killer’s motives. In this book there are several scenes near the beginning that pair K with a young woman named Jolene. Jolene is just someone who stumbles across K as he’s staking out one of his intended victims, but I found that K seemed to come alive when he encountered her. They’re together only briefly but they have an interesting rapport, and I think that goes a long way toward humanizing him.


6)  I'm wondering if there are any details in this book that come from a real life experience worthy of a story. What brings up the question is the incredible detail and quirk to the landlady, Mrs. Lanik—the food, the drink, the sour temperament but brief shots of kindness. She just seemed like someone you may have known or at least drawn from someone. If not, though, any other people or events inspired from real experiences will do...

Sometimes you get lucky and a character shows up fully formed. Agnes Lanik was one of those. She’s a woman in her seventies, Jana’s landlady who lives right next door. She’s originally from Czechoslovakia, so she speaks with an accent and cooks food from the old country and drinks Becherovka, a bitter liqueur which is supposed to taste like a cross between cinnamon and mouthwash. She’s not really modeled after any real person, though some of the food she cooks is based on personal experience. I’m thinking especially of holubky, which are cabbage rolls stuffed with ground beef and rice and covered with tomato sauce. I had an aunt who used to make those—though she was Polish and called them galumpkis.

7)  And finally, what are you working on now? Same MC? If so, early, or later? Maybe give us just a little teaser!

I’m working on a new book now, and all I can tell you is that it’s a stand-alone novel with a new main character. It’s liberating to step away from David Loogan temporarily—and also a bit scary. But I fully expect to come back to him in the future, and to catch up with Elizabeth Waishkey and her daughter Sarah as well.


Thank you so much, Harry! You've been fantastic! And for anyone even a little local to Ann Arbor, Harry is doing a reading/signing at Nicola's on West Stadium Thursday night! If you have a chance to be there, you won't be sorry! (and you'll see ME, besides!)

Ouroboros

As the year eats its own tail and begins again, it is time for that annual reflection on “Did I Managed last years' goals?” and “What the heck is the plan for this year?”

I've been known to do a string of these, draw out my goals with piles of specificity, and I believe that helps, but somehow with my two weeks off, I've managed to fill the with crazy 'didn't get done yet' stuff that needed doing. So I will be a bit briefer than in past years.

[I heard that sigh of relief]


Fitness

Last year's goal: Lose about 80 pounds...
Last year's result: Lost 54 pounds, but in the last three months have gained about half back.
Conclusion: I did pretty good, then not so good, but at least this year I only have 50 to lose.

The How for 2014: Weight Watchers, Walking... Pretty much exactly the same as I did it LAST YEAR but without changing jobs and publishing a serial (both of which have made things super hard since July). I find the new year is a good time to just get my nose back to it. If you want the REAL specifics, just see LAST YEAR'S PLAN.

Also... I now have a carpet in my basement and a yoga mat, so I have a more feasible plan for getting some core stuff into my routine.

Balance

Last Year's Goal was about Family stuff, and there we had a pretty good year. I am very proud to say as of Friday, HWMNBMOTI has had a year of sobriety. This has meant some changes at home, 98% of them good. My daughter successfully graduated high school and completed her first semester at community college. There was a juvenile delinquency misstep with Thing 2 and some graffiti, but it is over and there are no lasting repercussions. I've come to accept that my children are just never going to do things the easy way. It is the price of marrying the hot bad boy... tell your daughters.

My 2014 balance goals are a little more loosey goosey. I am trying to get each of my family members to commit to a TV show with me—I know it sounds pathetic, but none of them want to walk with me and the other things my kids would want to do with me all cost money, so we are starting with this.

And READING... I haven't done a specific reading goal before—I sort of fit in what I can between editing and beta reading. But I found one that looks like the PERFECT size, hosted by Lori at Escape with Dollycas. It is to read through the alphabet, which is just one book every two weeks. You DON'T have to go in order. I think it will help me push myself just a little and be a good excuse to work in some of those 'classics' we are all supposed to have read that I haven't managed yet... and it will give me a way to pick WHICH of all of your great books I plan to get to next (because if I don't PICK I end up doing something silly like rereading because I am overwhelmed... this is a way to whelm me... or something)


And then the Writing Plan:

GREEN: 2013 goal MET
RED: 2013 goal NOT MET
PURPLE: 2013 goal MIXED
BLUE: 2014 goat SET

Medium Wrong DID get polished and into ABNA, but didn't pass the pitch stage... I have notes for another revision so I think it will also be THIS year's ABNA (but hopefully with a passable pitch)

What Ales Me: DID have it's revisions and is currently with Ellen (and out of my hands) SUCCESS in terms of what I could control. 2014 plan is to leave it in Ellen's capable hands unless and until she tells me otherwise.

Kahlotus Disposal Site: I sort of petered out on this. After Amy didn't have luck submitting and admitted she'd fallen out of love with it, I decided I needed a little time to think about it and haven't worked back up to it yet. My 2014 goal with it is really to decide where it fits in with my other stuff, as there is a YA PLAN *BUWAHAHAHAHAHA*

Begonia Bribe was successfully released and work prepping Keeping Mum is done. 2014, March 4, I release Keeping Mum (so need to do a marketing campaign).

Wrote Also Appearing for BuNoWriMo and unexpectedly wrote much of a teen armageddon one (Endangered) for what I dibbed March Madness. The FORMER is part of my 2014 YA plan, the LATTER I will release serially, but not until 2015.

And from there the rest of the 2013 plan went to heck because I INSTEAD decided to serially release Shot in the Light, which has been an INSANE adventure—tons of writing, editing, learning... It hasn't been a financial success, and it isn't DONE yet... I've released 5 of 12... it fits better at this point with my 2014 plan than my 2013 review, so lets change gears.


Shot In the Light: Episodes 6 and 7 to release in January, 8 in February, 9 in March, 10 and 11 in April and 12 in May... I am ALSO releasing them in paperback (bundled 4 at a time). 10-12 still need to be written, though there is a path for each character—closer to an outline than I normally do.

That, and the release of Keeping Mum, are big enough jobs that the only OTHER thing I plan to do in 1st quarter is this ABNA prep.

2nd Quarter: Finish Shot release until DONE. Revision of Also Appearing (see plan below), and Writing 2nd Artful Ales Book (BuNoWriMo)--It is my deep hope Ellen will be able to sell the Artful Ales series... I should KNOW by the end of 2nd quarter, but even if I don't KNOW, I am going to release them one way or another, and there will need to be at least 3, so I might as well keep writing.

3rd Quarter: I want to get my YA house in order. Kahlotus Disposal Site and Medium Wrong are both stand-alones that may just have to wait to see how the plan goes. Because I have decided Also Appearing will be the first in a series of 'place' YA books, each independent, but all connected to Lake Chatcolet,w here I spent much of my childhood... it is lake furthest south of one BIG lake that is actually Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, a place with tiny towns, an Indian Reservation, rustic summer cabins... and serious potential. I looked through my book ideas and at least 4 of my 'good ideas' in addition to Also Appearing, could ALSO be set there (or around there) and I think that strong, familiar set of place makes for stronger books. There are a lot of issues that can be hit—some spooky, some serious (there is an Aryan Nation headquarters to the north, so teens thinking about issues of race, there is an area known for 'Devil Worshippers' so good ghost story fodder... and then there is normal teen drama...) I'm excited, know which book will be next—for NaNoWriMo maybe (Summer Bones).

Some of you may not agree with me, and that's fine, but I still happen to think YA can be a lot bigger with a publishing house behind me, and I KNOW how much work self publishing is now. So I am at least going to attempt to make this plan go traditionally. I may change my mind. Querying is at least as painful as sorting all the publishing details. But at least with querying, you reach a time you can let somebody ELSE take over all those details. I will try Amy again, first—I loved working with her and think it was the BOOK that was the trouble, not the two of US. And if I end up with an agent to help with ALL my YA stuff, maybe she can also help sort what PLAN makes most sense (though I do think this series all set in the same place is the right idea).

What about all of you? Do you have a PLAN!? *BUWAHAHAHAHAHA*

In Which Time Fails to Materialize

Wibbly Wobbly, it may be, but somehow the stuff fails to show up when I really need it. I'm really not sure what I was thinking... the PLAN, as it was, was madness...

Which PLAN you ask? *BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA*

*cough*

The one where I format the paperback and load into all the other formats in plenty of time to be available for Christmas...


Obstacles

1)  I got behind on my timing of Book 5 in the serial, so was tangled in production when I should have been writing. This has set me back across the board. I THOUGHT I would be done writing 'all 10' by now... but I am NOT done with 10 and there actually will be 12...

2)  I had a couple beta readers hit obstacles for reading book 6, so that is running a bit behind, too.

3)  Formatting the paperback is more complicated than I thought.

4)  The DAY job has remained SWAMPED. Normally I sneak a few things in on any given day because WORD (which I have at work and not home) plays more nicely with all those uploading programs (I have tried to upload books from home twice now and Kindle doesn't like my home computer. And with no time to steal at work, I haven't managed to do that other formatting, partially for this reason.

Accomplishments

1)  I DID manage to do my final cleanup of What Ales Me and sent it to Ellen.

2)  I page-proofed Keeping Mum.

3)  I edited Book 6 for 2nd readers.

4)  I DID format the paperback. It is books 1-4 of the serial and available HERE

5)  And Joris created the BEAUTEOUS full cover (front/back, spine... did you know dimension of spine changes with page number? I know that now)

6)  And I've written almost all of book 9, started book 10 and plotted a couple character strands of 11... so getting there.

7)  Got my proof copies (and ordered some promotional ones) (I will take a picture, but not probably until this weekend... I'm not sure where the camera is)


Still To Do

1)  Shop, send Christmas presents and a couple gifts... (I know. Not a writing exercise)
2)  Finish formatting for various OTHER formats (can you format for formats?).
3)  Finish 9 and 10 THIS month (plot 11 and 12)
4)  First Edit of book 8
5)  2nd edit of book 7
6)  3rd edit of book 6
7)  If POSSIBLE (which I don't think it is) Publish book 6—this will PROBABLY be early January rather than December.)

So There... It feels an awful lot like I'm making a lot of excuses these days... hopefully my TWO WEEK vacation, which begins at 4 on Friday, will give me the time I need to finish up.

A Little Christmas Love

I have not one... not two... but THREE friends with Christmas romance novellas recently released, so I wanted to share them with you today, in case you wanna fall in love this week!!!

Last Christmas by Talli Roland

You guys ALL know Talli, right? One of our longtime blog friends!  I haven't read this one, but Talli does a fabulous job with romantic comedy, so I'm sure this one will deliver, too!

Here is the blurb: For Lucy, the best Christmas present is forgetting the past.

Eager to banish the ghost of Christmas past - when her boyfriend dumped her on the streets of Paris - Lucy is determined to make this the best Christmas ever. She rallies friends and family for an epic celebration that just happens to fall on the same day as her ex's festive wedding. Furious at how she's been treated, Lucy can't help relishing the party v wedding smackdown.

But when the wedding is threatened and only Lucy can help, can she find the spirit inside to save the day, or will this Christmas be even more disastrous than the last?

Meet Me Half Way by Amber T. Smith

Amber is actually part of my writing group and I've been friends with her several years. (She is secretly Tara, who was my first reader clear back when I was writing fan fiction) Meet me halfway is a heart wrenching tale of a couple who lost their baby and in their grief have managed to become estranged. I'm about 2/3 done reading this one and it is a tear-jerker so far!

Here is the official blurb: Beth can't forgive her husband for cheating on her just after they lost their son during childbirth. Struggling to come to terms with his infidelity, Beth decides to push Mark out of her life for good, and books herself on a prolonged cruise just as the anniversary of their son's death approaches.

Mark is still devastated at Beth's complete lack of trust in him, and has given up trying to reconcile with his wife. When he learns of her cruise plans, it shakes him out of his stupor, and fills him with a renewed determination to woo her back.

With the cruise booked to depart in just a few short days, and with Christmas just around the corner, Mark has no choice but to re-open old wounds, with the hope of convincing his wife that they should never have parted.

But Beth has secrets of her own. If they are to reunite, she'll need to forgive not only her husband, but herself, too...

Starting From Scratch by Stacy Gail 

I had the fortune to be a beta reader on this one... Stacy had one of her manic sprints last spring—a story that absolutely wouldn't let her be, and I promise, if you read it, you will be able to tell why. Stacy and I have been friends and critique partners many years, and I always love Stacy's writing—she has the true emotion, well developed characters and always includes a bit of the humor that can often be absent in romances. It's a fabulous balance.

Here is the blurb: Christmas is the perfect time to start from scratch.

Lieutenant Sully Jax saved his unit during an IED attack, but he couldn't save his marriage. He can't even remember it. Recovered from his injuries, he's come home to the family and friends he knows—and an ex-wife who's a stranger to him.

Lucy Crabtree was heartbroken last Christmas when Sully announced his plan to go on one last tour of duty, and devastated when he asked for a divorce after he awoke in the hospital with no memory of her. She's finally moving on from her hurt and from losing the man she loved more than anything, and her cookie-baking business is taking off just in time for the holidays. But now Sully's back, and she can't deny she still loves him. But how can she trust her heart to someone who breaks it every time she sees him?

Sully might not remember Lucy, but something inside won't let her go. With every bite of her cookies, he finds a new love for Lucy, and he soon realizes he wants to rebuild his life…with her by his side.


So there you have it... three shortish love stories to get you in the mood for the holiday! Interesting that two of them have heroines named Lucy and themes around forgetting, but they sound very different.

You should go get them! Because who DOESN'T need a little more love at Christmas?

Publishing and Money

Second Wednesday is for Indie Author stuffs...

I ran across an article last week that was a fabulous dose of reality about which kind of authors made how much money. Not that money is the be all and end all, but it is nice to know what we are in for...

http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/self-publishing-debate-part3/

See here is my thing...

I have a day job. I will HAVE TO have a day job until I make enough writing to make up for NOT having said day job... because my retirement and insurance are really good, this is quite a LOT of writing income I have to make, or I really CAN'T quit... And not just once, but a good guess it will continue in the foreseeable future. That means I really need to be in that LAST, six-figure group to quit the day job. (not my income, but my income plus insurance for my family plus retirement put me very close—close enough that when I start TAXING the money that buys insurance, it would push the need over)

[now I LOVE my dayjob in a lot of ways, I'd just really prefer to do it maybe half time—the content is great, the people are great, the cause is great... but it just ISN'T writing fiction to my heart...]


So I need to keep the income in mind... do I write a little and not worry about it, or do I try to write enough to cross over and be a WRITER?

That's why I'm talking about the money.


See, the OTHER thing about the money (and time and jobs)... When I have so little writing time, I REALLY only have WRITING time... and I have some projects I'd like to commit to as an INDIE publisher... An Indie person needs to be a jack of all trades, but with a JOB, I just don't have time for that—not even to DO it, but REALLY not to LEARN IT. Does that make sense?

I didn't really get it until I started publishing my serial, which I can only do Indie, there being no formal serial mechanism annallat... but there is a LOT of time involved (and money)--covers and editing—I am paying for these, but it means thus far I've lost money. I KNOW this will be worth it—to not have a sub-par product out there, but time and money... time and money... time and money... neither of which I have.


So back to the graph... did you know I am a number nerd by day?

These are all percentages, so it gets a little hard to know what is what in real numbers... I assume there are MANY more aspiring writers than published writers, though self-publishing makes crossing that bridge a lot easier... so N for aspiring is biggest, followed by self... but I have NO CLUE how traditional and hybrid categories compare.

Comes out March 4--my 3rd Cozy

What I KNOW is I fell into the $1-$4,999 category this year... and last year... and the year before that. In 2010 I was the next category up because a three book contract with an advance meant I got a portion (40% of the advance for all three books) at signing. But in 2011 and 2012, I would have fallen in that 'traditional' $1-$4,999 category... this year I became purple... me and my $30 of Indie income *rolls eyes * Actually I've lost money on that so far, because I am paying for covers and editing, but I have hopes now that I am bundling it will get better, and once it is DONE, it will improve even more.

What gives me HOPE though, is that distribution of purple... hybids. That's me.

I sent a book that would be first in a second cozy series to my agent this week. I think it will sell. I'd frankly like to ALWAYS have a traditional series going. It gets me invited places. (is that shallow?) I think breaking out is easier with an icebreaker... and my personality just is NOT charming enough to break out otherwise. I am awkward.

And while hybrids have about 26% of us sitting here where I am ($1-$4,999) the next bump is at the $20K-$40K slot and 14% of us are making over $100K... I can be top 14%!


I will believe forever that publishing route should be a match of goals, genre and personality, but I am SO RELIEVED to see I am not dooming myself going about this sort of willy-nilly as I am... I'd felt very uncommitted...but I'm NOT uncommitted! I am a THING! A HYBRID!