Check out Milena Veen’s interview on her book, Just Like a Musical, an awesome adventure of a unique young girl to gain her independence and find herself. Milena also talks about writing habits and her own experience self-publishing.
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Happy Release Day for Angelblood!
Angelblood, the fourth in the Dark Angel series by Hanna Peach, is here!
Calling All Critiques: Entry #8
Thank you to everyone who has shared their work for us to critique! We hope that our feedback is useful.
Also, please note that we still have spots open. Submit your first 500 words to Critiques@Saboviec.com for inclusion in this week’s blog posts. We need it by tonight at 8 p.m. if you want to be included tomorrow and spots are still open.
For critiquers (and if you’re an entrant and you critique, you’re a critiquer), feel free to enter our Rafflecopter giveaway. One lucky person will win a $10 Amazon gift card, an eCopy of It Ain’t Easy Being Jazzy by Quanie Miller, and an eCopy of Guarding Angel by S. L. Saboviec.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/6928ae2/
Entry #8
*Author: Kim Johnson*
*Website:* http://kimcjohnson.wordpress.com/
*Title: Her Only Escape*
*Genre: YA Suspense*
The last place a senior wants to be cooped up is the career counseling office. But I like the quiet. I like the college posters filled with smiling faces. The stacks of possibilities filed in the cabinets. Even the obsolete typewriter. But most of all, hearing the tick, tick, tick, of the clock. A sound to drift to if I can stay undetected in the far corner.
Hunched over, my long hair drapes my face on my desk and I let my glasses dangle at the tip of my fingers.
*My legs flutter above ground, whipping high in the sky. I land. Move my feet sharply like scissors to complete an arabesque, dangerously close to the edge of the stage. With my feet perfectly on pointe, I arch my back, keeping the length of my arms straight. I’m dancing like my life is on the line – reckless chances. Maybe it’s because I know he’s watching me from the back corner. I dance faster so he doesn’t disappear, but my body is tiring. I stumble glancing in the shadows. He is gone. *
The bell rings and I jolt my head up. It takes a second to place myself. I wipe the drool from my mouth, and throw my bag over my shoulder. Adrenaline charges up my body, raising my energy beyond containment. I refuse to let anything stop me from dancing again. I swallow the pain choking up to my neck thinking about Michael. About his warnings. About him being gone.
I practically skip to the doors adjacent to the indoor weight facility at Eugene Highland high school. We use it as our makeshift studio. The first time I found out it, I stalked the dance practice through the window for weeks before I brought the subject up at home.
“Maybe you shouldn’t,” Mom said after I mentioned wanting to take up dance again. I did a double take, to make sure I heard her right. She repeated once more. Hearing it a second time, it stung like she slapped my face. Dad left the room to refrain from yelling at the top of his lungs.
I wanted him to. Just once lose it, in front of me. But he didn’t.
Mom continued, “I only mean, you should try something new, Samantha.”
My mouth still hung open a bit. What she won’t say is, *do something else*. *Anything else.* As long as it doesn’t remind her of Michael.
Mom is all about forgetting.
Shoving it down.
Burying it.
Dad usually gives in to Mom, but this was one thing he wouldn’t let be taken away from me. I found him upstairs, unpacking my dance boxes.
“For when you’re ready,” he said, before kissing my forehead goodnight.
And dance began burning in my heart again. Calling me to the floor. Gripping me until I couldn’t breathe. Till the only thing left for me to do was dance.
There’s more to critique!
After leaving your comments, you can head over to one or more of these blogs to see some more great entries:
- Before Ink Dries
- Magic & Mayhem Book Reviews
- MM Jaye Writes
- Official Blog of Brian Basham
- Quanie Talks Writing
Thank you to the entrants and the participants!
Calling All Critiques: The Rules
We have less than one week before Calling All Critiques starts accepting its inaugural entries! Today I’ll introduce the rules. You can read more about the event and participating bloggers here: Calling All Critiques: A Cross-Blog Event and Introducing Your Hosts.
What to Enter
The schedule for the weekly critiques is as follows:
- Week of May 26: First 500 word critique
- Week of June 2: Cover art critique
- Week of June 9: Book blurb or query letter critique
For this coming week, you may submit your first 500 words, finishing at the end of the sentence. (That is, your entry could be 505 words long … or 510 words … or 515 words … but let’s not get too crazy with our run-on sentences!)
How to Enter
Starting Saturday, May 24, 2014 at 6 a.m., submit your entry to Critiques@Saboviec.com. Cut and paste the following template into your email and fill it in.
Your name/pseudonym:
Your website (optional):
Title:
Genre (include audience, such as YA/Adult, and category):
Entry:
Your email will be kept confidential. What you submit is what will be posted, so double- and triple-check your spelling and grammar. (We may correct crazy formatting errors as a result of email quirks, but still, make sure it’s clean before you press send.) You may resubmit an entry, but it goes to the end of the queue; if you submit it past the 35 entry cutoff, you’ll have lost your spot.
Your entry will be assigned a number in the order in which it was received. Our cutoff is 35 entries or until 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 25, 2014. Entries 1-7 will be posted on our blogs Monday morning, entries 8-14 will be posted on our blogs Tuesday morning, etc.
All 35 accepted entrants will be entered into the prize draw, and the winner will be chosen by their assigned number through Random.org.
And I will say this one more time: if you don’t want both positive and negative feedback, please don’t enter. This event is for us to help one another grow as authors and maybe to make some friends in the process.
Some fine print: entries that don’t include the above information will be discarded. At our sole discretion, we may also discard other posts for reasons such as offensive/distasteful material. Erotica may be confined only to certain blogs, and we may put an adult content warning on it.
If You Enter, Please …
Critique other entrants. The sky’s the limit on how many other entries you critique, but we ask that you at least provide feedback to four other participants.
Also, when you receive feedback on your entry, be gracious if you decide to respond. Don’t be defensive or explanatory; these critiques are for you to improve your writing. Take what you want and leave the rest behind.
And If You Critique, Please …
Be nice. Be constructive. Be specific. Be polite.
Mean-spirited or spam posts will be deleted. General “I love everything about it and I think you’re the next J.K. Rowling, ZOMG!” obviously-written-about-your-best-friend comments won’t be deleted, but that’s not helpful. Instead, let the author know what exactly worked and didn’t work.
Less than one week until we begin accepting critiques!
While you wait, check out all the participating blogs and bloggers:
- (Website not yet live) Before Ink Dries – Mike Verbickas
- M.G.’s Fantasy Blog – M.G. Silverstein
- Magic & Mayhem Book Reviews – S. L. Saboviec
- MM Jaye Writes – MM Jaye (Twitter / Facebook)
- Official Blog of Brian Basham – Brian Basham (Twitter / Wattpad / Facebook)
- Proof Positive – Christie Stratos
- Quanie Talks Writing – Quanie Miller
We look forward to seeing you back here soon.
Any questions? Leave them in the comments!
Bound by Lies – Awards! & a sneaky look inside book 2…
Proof Positive’s awesome author Hanna Peach is up for an Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, so be sure to download an excerpt of her novel, Bound by Lies, for free and leave feedback!
I’m looking for bloggers for a cross-blog critique event
Proof Positive is going to be part of a cross-blog critique, where authors can have their work critiqued by fellow writers, potential readers, and editors like me. On top of that, we’ll have prizes for participating! You can also join us as a blog host. Check out this exciting opportunity!
Released! Bound by Lies (Bound #1)
Another of Proof Positive’s outstanding authors has published a book today! Hanna Peach’s new Bound series has begun with Bound by Lies, now available on Amazon and Smashwords. Congratulations, Hanna!