Showing posts with label writing life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing life. Show all posts

Monday, May 6, 2013

Musical Monday: Helen Boswell and Mythology

Welcome to another installment of Musical Monday! Every Monday I will feature a book and the music that inspired it! This is an awesome opportunity to showcase your book and also inspire other writers looking for new music. In case you missed it, last week's post can be found here.


Today on the blog, we have the fabulous author Helen Boswell!

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by Helen Boswell

Goodreads blurb: 
Hope Gentry doesn't believe in Fate. Born with an unusual power to see the dark memories of those around her, Hope just wants to be a normal teenager. But on the first day of her senior year of high school, she finds herself irresistibly drawn to a transfer student named Micah Condie. 

At first glance, Micah seems like a boy that most girls would dream about. But when Hope's powers allow her to discover Micah's darkest secret, she quickly becomes entangled in the lives of mythical entities she never dreamed existed. Was this her destiny all along? And will her powers help her survive the evil of the Demon Impiorum? 

Mythology isn't just for English class anymore.


Where to find Mythology:

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Playlist for Mythology 


Song list: (title : artist : album)
Demons : Imagine Dragons : Night Visions
Resistance : Muse : The Resistance 
How to Save a Life: The Fray : How to Save a Life
All the Sand In All The Sea : DeVotchKa : 100 Lovers
When You Were Young : The Killers : Sam's Town
Butterflies & Hurricanes : Muse: Absolution
This Is Your Life : The Killers : Day & Age
Only The Young : Brandon Flowers: Flamingo
For Better...Or Worse? : The Postmarks : Memoirs at The End Of The World
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Notes from the Author
...Some of the songs are natural carry-overs into the playlist for MYTHOLOGY: THE WICKED (out Fall 2013).

Why these songs?

Some because they gave me all the FEELS
e.g., Butterflies & Hurricanes gives me the tingles :)

Some because I could picture the songs playing for specific scenes
e.g., Micah riding away on The Triumph to the beginning of Resistance

Some because of their specific lyrics
e.g., Demons fits Micah to perfection.

"When you feel my heat

Look into my eyes
It's where my demons hide
It's where my demons hide

Don't get too close
It's dark inside
It's where my demons hide
It's where my demons hide"
5. Author information (pic is attached)

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Mythology Excerpt and Word Cloud

Excerpt from Mythology:


It’s an interesting photograph, the one by Draper. It’s of the crowd at a city train station like the one on Exchange Street. The subjects of the photograph are a man and a woman on opposite ends of the frame. They’re highlighted, but by being transformed to black and white while everything else in the photograph is in true color. There’s almost a tragic feel to it, like they’re forever imprisoned apart from each other in monochrome.

I take a step back to look at the photograph from a distance. But the other person in the gallery must have been standing right behind me, and I crash into him. I step forward and spin around.

He’s wearing all black – a black suit with simple, elegant lines, a black dress shirt, black shoes. He has dark eyes, a dark complexion, jet-black hair. I wonder if he dyed it to match his suit. 
His eyes are fixed on me. And this is exactly where I stop noticing anything about the rest of his face because there’s an eerie white fire blazing in his pupils." 

“Do you want to know the story behind Fate?” he says suddenly.

“Huh?” I immediately wish I hadn’t said anything. I have no idea what he’s talking about, but that doesn’t mean I have to sound so... inarticulate.

“Fate,” he repeats with an indulgent smile. “The title of the piece you were examining so closely.”

I know the placard doesn’t show the title for the photograph, but I glance over my shoulder anyway. Nope, just the name of the artist.

“Is it yours?” I ask.

“Oh, no,” he says. “But I know its story.”

“Okay,” I say gamely. Maybe he read about it somewhere. Maybe he made up the name himself. Either way, I’m too curious not to ask. “So what’s the story behind ‘Fate’?”

“It’s about finally meeting someone. And never meeting someone.”

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About the Helen Boswell

Helen was a complete bookworm from the time she could sound out the words on the page. She'll always be thankful for her mom allowing her to read at the kitchen table during mealtimes. Reading naturally led to writing by the time she was eight or nine - she started with fantasy stories, dabbled in contemporary fiction, and even tried a little romance. MYTHOLOGY is an urban fantasy/love story and in that way reflects some of her earliest writing interests.

Things that inspire Helen to write are bowls of ice cream with lots of Magic Shell, the lack of cats or other things she's allergic to in the vicinity, and plugging into playlists with her Neff headphones - the knit ones with the bear's ears.


Where to find Helen:
Website
Twitter
Facebook

Monday, March 25, 2013

Musical Mondays

Hi Guys,

I have an exciting announcement! 

I'm starting a new blog feature called "Musical Mondays." Every Monday I will feature a playlist an author made while writing a specific book. This is an awesome opportunity to showcase your book and also inspire other writers looking for new music.

I welcome any traditionally published authors and self-published authors. I also welcome authors not yet published as long as you have a finished manuscript, a polished book blurb, and a place where readers can find out a little more about you or your writing.

If you're interested, please shoot me an email at: jolene.haley(@)gmail(.com) <-Just remove parenthesis

This is the information I'll need from you:

1. Your name.

2. Name of the Book, Genre, and pub date (past or future, if at all).


3. Links you want me to include. This could be the Goodreads, Amazon, feature on your personal website, wherever you're selling it, or if you're in the middle of a blog tour we can feature a list of where your blog stop tours have been.


4. Your list of songs for your playlist (if you already have them compiled in a playlist or have the links, go ahead and send them over. If they aren't already compiled, I can put them together if you tell me the exact song information.

5. If you have any commentary as to why each song, commentary on the feel or mood of the music, etc., feel free to let me know and I'll include it. Otherwise, I'll just post the songs.

6. Author information, bio, social media links, and pic (if you want that included).

7. Extras if you so desire. If you want me to include any extras such as a chapter excerpt, etc. I'm happy to.

8. Two different Monday dates you'd like to see it up (in case one is already taken).

Alright. I think that covers it. Let me know if you have any questions! 

Hope to feature your book soon!



Monday, December 31, 2012

Happy New Year's Eve!

Happy New Years!

We made it through 2012. We survived two Ends of the World, bath salts, and Honey Boo Boo. Damn. We are resilient. And since silver and gold glitter always make me thing of New Years, here you go.
And here.

Now that glitter is out of the way, here are my New Year's resolutions.

New Year's resolutions:

1. I will read more. Last year I read around 70 books. Then again I did join Goodreads late, so this number could be higher. Either way, whatever number of books I read, I will always think I need to read more.

2. I will do more things that make me happy. I am a slave sometimes to technology. I need to shut down more and focus on friends and family. That said, I need to clarify something in #3.

3. Don't neglect my social media. I know #2 mentioned shutting down my electronic devices more, but I can still do that and get even more blogging/tweeting done. It just means that I can't waste hours on Pinterest looking at glitter gifs or reading TMZ.

4. Lose weight. 2012 was the first time I'd ever had a normal desk job after working previously in my life as a retail slave, camp counselor, waitress, hostess, and misc. office bitch. This means more sitting for me which means that I'm not as trim as I used to be. I need to get out more!

5. Spend more time with my family. My brother and mother both live in Colorado and we see each other 1 to 3 times a year or less. Even my family that lives nearby, sometimes I can go weeks without talking to them because I'm busy. No. This isn't right. I need to be there. I can't live without my family.
6. Help more writers. I remember how lost I was when I first started writing. I needed help. I didn't have anyone. I'm here writers. I'm here for you.
7. Write more. I'm not just talking about blogging because between all of my blogs and blogs I contribute to Pen & Muse, Brazen Reads, YA Stands, Let's Get Nerdy, Thursday Night Book Club, Season Qs Academy, my secret poetry blog that shall remained mysterious, and the blog I'm trying to get off the ground 365 Days of Kindness, I actually do write a lot. But I'm talking about actually writing my WIPS and giving them the love and devotion that they deserve. Write more. This should actually be my number one.

8. Stop hating e-readers. Meh. Actually. Scratch that one. I love to hate them.

9. Read more than just YA. YA is my passion but it's also important for me, with running Pen & Muse, that I'm well versed in all genres. 

10. Go to more conferences for writing and reading. I'm still afraid of flying but I don't let it stop me.

11. Pay off my credit cards.

I'm trying to think of more but those are the biggest ones. I hope I can do at least some of these and make it happen. 

What about you? What are your New Year's resolutions?  Did you meet your goals from last year? I'd love to know in the comments below! 


Monday, November 12, 2012

NaNoWriMo Check In

We're at the 12 day NaNoWriMo mark. Thus far, most of us have written about 2000 words a day, which means that if we want to finish, we should have roughly 20000 words written by now. I know. The sound of that probably makes you cringe, or do this:



I'm just slightly behind schedule, but fear not, I plan on making it up tonight. And so, how is everyone else out there doing with NaNoWriMo? Anyone way ahead? Way behind?

Also, shout out to Pen and Muse's Ultimate NaNoWriMo resource guide. Lots of helpful links, including pretty NaNoWriMo calendars. I recommend stopping by if you're feeling in a rut. And as I've said before and on my other blogs, no matter what happens this month, congratulations are in order.

You're attempting to do something that most people will never try to do in their entire lives. 

Take pride in that.

Keep on readin' on,
Jolene