Stephanie Writes

Exciting News!

2011-06-19T08:44:00.004-07:00

Happy Father's Day, all! :)

Since it is Father's Day (and I'm a horrible wife who has yet to buy hubby's gift!) I'll keep this "Exciting News" post short and sweet.

UNO: I've been invited to contribute to Reading, Writing, and Waiting! Annie's blog is amazing, and you can always count on her for kickass, honest book reviews. Plus, she loves Eric Northman--the only man/vampire who looks good in a tracksuit--just as much as I do!

DOS: LURE hit an Amazon Kindle bestseller list this week! As of today, it's #91 under Children's Fiction: Love & Romance!

TRES: Two words: TRUE BLOOD. One more week left, folks. After becoming so addicted to Game of Thrones and Camelot, it'll be nice to go directly into watching a show I'm crazy about.

Hope you folks have an incredible Father's Day and you eat a bunch of yummy food!

SUBMERGE Cover!

2011-06-01T07:18:00.005-07:00

Yesterday I posted my first SUBMERGE teaser and today I have an even bigger surprise . . . the SUBMERGE cover and synopsis!

Here's the cover:

And here's the blurb:

One month has passed since Charlotte revealed her world to Wyatt and now, she’s running out of time. The Winter Solstice is under three months away, and she’s still immortal. To complicate matters, she’s stuck with Lorelei’s old job of guiding bad souls—a curse that pulls her to the sea like a magnet she can’t possibly ignore. When Matt returns to town and the banished goddess of temptation shows up claiming she’s in charge of watching over Charlotte, it’s apparent that her senior year will blow.

The siren hunter is back, the gods are furious, and as the goddess of temptation toys with the male—and female—population of Gloucester, Charlotte can’t help but notice that Wyatt is pulling away from her. When her time is up, will Charlotte chose love and mortality or protecting the ones she loves from the gods she’s offended?

SUBMERGE Teaser

2011-05-31T07:42:00.003-07:00

So, I'm uber excited about this teaser, guys! It's my first SUBMERGE teaser--the sequel to LURE--which I'm releasing on July 1st. This snip takes place between Charlotte and the new girl at school, Ada. Hope you enjoy!

“Funny,” I said, gripping the corners of the sink. “The last time anyone associated with Matt or his perv dad came to town, I almost died.”

I glanced up just in time to see her roll her blue eyes in the mirror. She spun around to face me and plunked a hand on her skinny hip. “Look, hate to burst your bubble”--she glanced down at whatever was written on her hand--“Charlotte, but killing sirens and nymphs isn't exactly my thing. There's only one head I want served to me on a golden platter and obviously, you're not my dad.”

Great, another demigod with Daddy issues. I was getting more than a little sick of all their melodramatic family drama. I opened my mouth to speak, but she held up a perfectly manicured hand. “But, don't think I won't have a little fun . . .”

“What the fuck does that mean?” I demanded.

She sauntered to the restroom door, the sound of her stilettos grinding the spot between my eyes. Tossing a glance over her shoulder, she winked at me. “Don't you research? I'm the goddess of impulse, darling. You figure out what I mean.”

My Human MUSE Is Coming to Town!

2011-04-21T05:38:00.006-07:00

A few months ago I spoke to a high school friend, and I had a Lady Gaga song playing in the background. He asked me what I was listening to. I told him. And he had no clue who Gaga was.

*FLAILS*

Chances are you've heard at least ONE Gaga song. It's impossible to turn on the radio without hearing her and I'm pretty sure Carrie Underwood, Lil Wayne and Katherine Jenkins (classical) ALL have Lady Gaga covers in their respective genres. If they don't, they should do that ASAP!

Obviously, I think Gaga is a fantastic entertainer--I mean, my kids know the words to Alejandro and Bad Romance--but she's also one of my lit muses. Why? Lady Gaga pushes boundaries. For anyone who hasn't seen the 2009 VMA performance, look it up NOW! And the Bad Romance and Telephone videos? KICKASS!

You're probably still confused about how Lady Gaga's boundary shoving is related to writing. When I wrote my first novel, LYING 101, I was afraid to tell Kinsey's story the way she needed it told for fear of offending someone. Someday I'll revisit that novel and do Kinsey justice because now I'm not afraid of making my characters test the limits. We owe it to our readers to make our characters as believable as possible because not doing so is offensive.

Oh, and Lady Gaga will be in Nashvegas early next week. Can you tell I'm excited?

Inspiration FTW!

2011-04-18T04:46:00.008-07:00

I'm a visual learner. My husband has quickly learned that if he wants me to remember something important, it's best to write it down. And audio books . . . errrmmm, let's just say I fail at them. Forty percent of my writing inspiration comes from music and the rest comes from videos and photos. Of course, when you add music and visual awesomeness together my muse sings! In no particular order, here are some images/ video clips that have MAJORLY helped those funny people in my head make their way to MS Word:

So, I'm dying to know . . . what gives you your writing inspiration?

LURED In!

2011-04-15T19:05:00.007-07:00

So a couple weeks ago, I took a plunge

I self-published LURE! For those of you who missed my posts last year about LURE, it's the story of a girl who becomes a soul-guiding siren. There's mythology, manipulative gods, and sexy time. Okay, okay, no sexy time, but Charlotte does have two love interests.

I'm excited about the LOVE Charlotte and LURE have gotten from book bloggers and members of the Goodreads community. And guys, I'm very humbled. It's a great feeling to read someone's opinion about my work.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for a LURE contest, an interview with Charlotte herself, and interviews with other fabulous self-published and indie writers. Have a kickass weekend, y'all! <3

Disclaimer: LURE does not contain sparkly gods, sirens, or other mythological creatures. Nevertheless, there are characters who enter the room in slow motion. Just warning you.

Teaser Tuesday

2011-03-08T10:39:00.003-07:00

Howdy folks! I realized I haven't blogged in awhile, so I figured I'd post a teaser! This is from one of my WIPs that's pushed to the side right now for Super Seekrit Project. Hope you enjoy it!

Rhys was one of those people you wanted to like but just couldn’t. Okay, scratch that. Rhys was a certified jerk and the only thing saving him from getting his head dumped in the nearest urinal was that Principal Winston and the faculty at Butler Academy licked—oh yeah, I went there—the ground he walked on. And of course, the entire female population at my school also helped his cause. Girls eye-humped him in the halls, the courtyard, and even when he was picking spinach out of his teeth at lunch.

Yeah, my peers were real winners.

Anna leaned on the garbage can and licked her lips, attempting to look enticing. The odor of rancid bananas and day-old, hot mayo was anything but sexy, and he wrinkled his nose. She blinked a few times when he shuffled past her without the customary double take.

“Hope your head is doing better,” he said. He stopped at the first step, peeked over his shoulder, and winked. “But I’m sure you patch up real fast.”

I watched him run up the stairs and wished like hell I had a dart with me. Three or four in his pompous ass would put him out for at least a few hours so I could complete my assignment. Don’t give me that crap about it taking one dart and less than a half an hour to do my job, either. When was the last time you protected the country from an entitled jerkoff?

Never? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Friday Five

2011-02-25T04:53:00.004-07:00

Hey folks! Sorry it's taken me so long to post--damn medical issues and SNI (shiny new idea). My husband mailed out my winners' prizes from my contest this week, so I'm excited and very happy for all the wonderful participation. You guys are made of awesome. Like, Ryan Reynolds and sparkly awesome. Yeah, you're a big deal.

This year, I'm going to dedicate Friday to the Friday Five, five random thoughts of mine for the week that may or may not pertain to writing.

I hope you guys have a kick-ass weekend, and here we go!

1. I have incredibly talented friends. I've been reading the work of some of my writer friends and wow-wow-wee-wa (look, a subtle BORAT reference!) they're damn good. I am amazed AND so happy to know such wonderful people with awesome ideas and even better writing!

2. My kids are terribly funny. Something about a six and four year old break-dancing while singing "Like a G6" tends to make you choke on your Sprite.

3. YA novels will make me poor by the end of 2011. There's so much awesome coming out this year, folks. I want to buy them all and huggle them. No joke.

4. Corny 80s movies are the shiznit. MANNEQUIN? WHO'S THAT GIRL? EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY? They NEVER gets old.

5. Borders makes me sad when I download the wrong ebook listed under the right title. That's okay, though, because my husband will take me to Hendersonville this weekend to pick up the only copy within 100 miles. He just doesn't know it yet. Hey! It's not like he can complain. Hendersonville = P.F. Changs and Chipotle.

And the Winners Are . . .

2011-02-07T10:19:00.005-07:00

Happy Monday, folks! What did you guys think of the Super Bowl outcome? What about the commercials? Who passed out from a nacho dip and tortilla chip overdose? :D My epic contest ended last night, and guess what? We have winners! Using the Random website, I was able to pick my three winners for the Kindle and the gift card.

The winner of the Starbucks gift card is . . .

ALEX (Not to be confused with my husband, Alex)

The winner of the Barnes and Noble gift card is . . .

PAM HARRIS

And finally, the winner of the Kindle is (drum roll, please?) . . .

J.L. CAMPBELL

Congrats, guys! I'll be contacting the winners via email between today and tomorrow, so check your inboxes!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered and stay tuned for my next contest in April. :)

Dear Summer: Hurry Up . . . Srsly

2011-02-04T10:01:00.003-07:00

This is not what you're thinking.

I'm not rushing the summer because of the 30 degree weather. I like being cold so I can sit under a heater. Don't ask, I'm just weird. The reason why I'm rushing the summer is because this summer--the summer of 2011--will be made of awesome movies.

Numero Uno on my list of flicks I'm itching to see is Thor. It had gods and kickass action and Chris Hemsworth (insert fangirl squee here). And guess what? It comes out on my birthday! I'll give you three guesses about where I'll be on my b-day this year!

The second summer movie on my list is The Hangover Part II. It's scheduled to be released on May 26 and if you haven't seen The Hangover yet, go rent it. A.S.A.P. The first movie had Mike Tyson, a drunken dentist who pulls out his own tooth, and a weird guy who was banned from Chuck E. Cheese and elementary schools. Random, yes, but nonetheless awesome.

Finally, I'm grinding my teeth in anticipation for The Green Lantern. I sort of, kind of, really have a crush on Ryan Reynolds. And srsly, after typing Ryan Reynolds and Green Lantern in the same paragraph, is there really a need to tell you why I want to see it?

I LOVE Romance Novels

2011-02-03T07:35:00.001-07:00

Guys, I have a confession to make:

I <3 romance novels.

Even though I write YA and am obsessed with reading the genre (you know, because it kicks butt), I have a soft spot for awesome adult love stories that tug at my heart and keep me up reading until 3 in the morning.

I probably shouldn't admit this, but the first time I read a romance novel was in seventh grade (Hey! Don't judge me!) after my aunt gave me a bag of books someone had given her. I found PETALS ON THE RIVER by Kathleen Woodiwiss--not to be confused with PETALS IN THE WIND by V.C. Andrews--and never looked back. Every time my husband goes overseas, the employees at WalMart start calling me by my first name because I'm there buying a new "adult" romance title almost every day.

I've decided that someday--after these 80 gazillion YA ideas that are currently in my head find their way to my computer screen--I'll write an adult romance novel. At the rate I'm going, I'll be 80, but hell, it should be fun!

-Steph

Road Trip!

2011-01-30T16:42:00.004-07:00

I discovered something this weekend, y'all: road trips + awesome playlist= idea overload! I have, like, a gazillion and one ideas in my head right now and can't wait to get them down on paper when I return to Tennessee next week. Of course, the view from my front porch where I'm at may be helpful for my imagination as well (I promise I'll post pics later)!

What fuels your imagination when you write? Obviously music, long car rides, and kick-ass views does it for me, but I want to know what helps you get sparkly words on paper.

By the way, if you haven't entered my epic contest for a Kindle, go forth and comment! Contest deets can be found on my blog. Remember, Super Bowl Sunday is the last day to enter, so submit your entry now!

Teaser Tuesday

2011-01-25T12:05:00.001-07:00

So, since this is a new sparkleh blog, I figured I'd follow my first post with an old tradition: Teaser Tuesday. Here's a snip from my WIP!

“So, we’re basically like Iron Man and the Green Goblin, huh?” I asked, taking a few steps back. He didn’t answer me—or look at me—so I bent my knees and positioned my fists in front of my face. I wasn’t afraid of him, and if I had to, I’d fight. Again. “My parents ruined your dad and now you want to dissect me for revenge. Sweet—absofreakinglutely sweet.”

He scoffed and circled around me. I moved, too, because there was no way I was letting my guard down. “God, you suck with pop culture. It’s Iron Man and Whiplash, not the Green Goblin. And I never said I want to dissect you, Space Barbie. That’s better left to the professionals.”

Wow, I’d somehow snagged an honorable enemy. He gave me his customary, lopsided grin. I took advantage of the lazy way he lowered his eyelids, extended my arm, and jabbed him in the chin.

Clutching the bright red portion of his skin, he howled, “What th—what was that for?”

“Dude, you want me dead to prove a point. Were you expecting me to fawn over you?”

Epic Contest? Hell Yeah!

2011-01-24T09:39:00.008-07:00

If you've been following me for awhile, you may notice that something is off about my blog. Like, 60-missing-blog-entries off. In honor of a new year--one that I hope will be remarkable for me and you--and the Super Bowl, I'm holding a contest to kick off my blog revamp. What's up for grabs?

Winner #1: A Kindle

Winner # 2: A $25 Barnes and Noble gift card. You can never have enough books!

Winner #3: A $20 gift card to Starbucks. Because, you can never drink just one caramel macchiato, right?

What do you have to do to win? Be an existing or new follower of this blog and leave a comment with your EMAIL ADDRESS! You can also earn additional entries by tweeting and blogging about this contest.

Contest ends Super Bowl Sunday (February 6th) so you have almost two weeks to try to snag one of the prizes! Good luck!