Blog Hop! My Writing Process

Hello there! It's Heather. I don't have my own author blog...yet. I have a blog, but I'm really bad at keeping it up so I'm using Dash for this :)

Anyway, Erica tagged in in a fun blog hop so I'l be answering a few questions about my writing process. It should be fun!

1. What am I working on?
Right now I'm working on We Were Us, my first novel! It's a cute little coming of age story. I think you'll like it. 

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I write NA/Contemporary, and I think my books are different from others I've read because the heroine I feel, is a real girl, strong and confident. She has her faults of course, and learns to rise above her worries. I want others to be able to relate to her and feel her emotions right along with her. 

3. Why do I write what I write?
Everyone has a story to tell, and I just want to tell it. I'm inspired by what's around me and I want to tell everyone what I see. I've had stories in my head my whole life and written them down, and now I have the opportunity to tell them. 

4. How does your writing process work? 
I'm extremely random. I have an idea and hand write it out really quickly then write random scenes. I piece it together when I'm done. It's chaos and I repeat myself a lot. Sometimes I get so lost I just have to stop. I have 40,000 in a story that I just can't finish right now because it's too random. For We Were Us I kind of did the same thing, but I stopped and wrote a basic outline of what I wanted to happen. It's still really random and there are no real chapters set yet, but I'm happier with the way this one is turning out!

5. Next week on the Tour:
Komal Kant. 
Erika Van Eck

Thank you Erica Cope for tagging me! Find her blog HERE
You can also find her in these places:
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Amazon

LOVE! 
HEATHER

Indie Author Mash-Up

What the heck is an Indie Author Mash-Up you ask?  

Well I'll tell you!  Tiffany Tillman of This Redhead Loves Books, is hosting a huge event in Springdale Arkansas where you (the reader) can get up close and personal with some of your favorite authors! How awesome is that?  I know I love reading and I take book and author recommendations very seriously, so when I heard about this event, I knew I had to go. 


So what is an Indie Author? 

Great question! An Indie Author is one who self publishes, does his or her own advertising and relies heavily on word of mouth and social media as a way get their books out there.  I have a special place in my heart of Indie Authors.  They work hard at what they do and are some of the nicest people I've ever met. I know several personally, and I'm definitely looking forward to meeting so many more at the Mash-Up.
Hey Heather, how do I sign up for this and get in some awesome Indie Author action? 
Head over to Facebook and join the event!
https://www.facebook.com/events/588778474497692/
Then you can go here to buy your tickets:
http://www.indieauthorevent.com/

Hotel costs are extra, but I believe a light lunch/snacks will be provided at the event (from 10am-4pm on Saturday October 26th). And if you choose to attend the after party, dinner will be served! And you get to party all night with the authors, muses, and models! Yay!  So I'll be there representing A Dash of YA.  Komal and Erica will be there representing themselves as authors and Michelle will be a ninja in my phone participating all the way from New York! 

So go get your tickets now!  Now!

Oh yeah, also! Proceeds from this even will benefit Haley's Second Chance. You can learn more about this cause here: https://www.facebook.com/events/751999794814308/

That is so Mesh...

"What? Mesh? Heather, what are you talking about?"
I'm talking about Open Minds by Susan Kaye Quinn, my currant favorite book!  But wait, this is only book one of the Mindjack series.  There are two more!  "What is this book all about?" you ask.  Good thing I'm reading it so I can tell you!

In world (our world but in the future) where mind reading is the norm, Kira is a Zero. She can't read minds at all, until she meets the super hot, super sexy, super strange, Simon. He tells her she's a Mindjacker.  Kira can hack into other people's minds and make them do whatever she wants.  Cool right? Not so much.  While Simon uses his mindjacking to make other Readers (those who read minds) believe he's one of them, Kira finds it overwhelming and isn't comfortable with all the lying involved.

I don't want to give any more away, but you must read this book. Simon isn't all he's cracked up to be and betrayal looms.  Raf, Kira's super hot, super sexy, Portuguese soccer playing stud of a BFF loved her even when she was a Zero and will do everything to save/help her.

In the midst of all that, we learn about this future world we live in.  Everything is mind controlled, from cars, to phones, even the fridge! They use words like mesh (cool), scrit (text), and they live in Chicago New Metro which takes up half of Illinois and house have to be a certain distance apart so you are out of "range" of your neighbors thoughts.

It's been difficult for me to read Paranormal YA for a long time.  Too much vampire drama for me and nothing seemed original.  I loved Melissa Pearl's Time Spirit Trilogy-original content and very entertaining and well written.  I'm anxiously awaiting the second book in Erica Cope's Lark series (I know you've been busy!).  And I'm loving Open Minds so far and I hope it won't disappoint in the next two books.

Ok, that's all for now!!!
Love!

I haven't even finished a book....

Shame on me!  I kind of don't even know where my kindle is...
I started a book and I couldn't get into it because all the names had a K sound in them.  I know that's a really silly excuse to put down a book, but really it hurt my brain to read them all. Then I started another one, but it was kind of confusing, but interesting so I'll pick it up again, and then Komal insisted that she'd just finished the most awesomely fantastic (my words not hers) book ever and that everyone everywhere MUST read it NOW. So of course I do what she says and I've started a third book.  I have to say, it's is pretty fantastic so far.  I know what you are thinking right now "Hey, Heather, what are the titles of these three books?"  Good question! I'm going to give you a list of book I'm currently reading but haven't finished and it's more than three.  They aren't in any particular order so don't think they are.  I'm going to attempt graphics here too...We'll see how that turns out.  I like to think I'm technologically savvy, but sometimes I'm really not.

Ok.

1. True Love Story by Willow Aster.
 

 2. Breath of Life by Sara Marion











3. Stitch by Durante

4. Bully by Penelope Douglas

5. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maude Montgomery

6. The Thirteenth Tale (Not YA) Diane Setterfield

7. Destined by PC and Kristen Cast

So anyway.  Those are all the books I'm currently reading.  I'm not sure when I'll finish them.  Too many good books are coming out soon!
I guess this is my summer reading list. I wasn't sure I was going to post one since Michelle and Erica did already.  I didn't put a summary with the books, but if you are interested, then you can look them up on Amazon or B&N.

Ok, now back to reading my super fantastical book (again, my words not Komal's).

So, go read a book.  If you don't have time, yes you do. Just do it.

Forever Too Far by Abbi Glines

Here’s my review for Forever Too Far by Abbi Glines….No one hate me….

Oh where do I begin?  First I want to say that I did like Fallen Too Far, I hated Never Too Far because it was too short and I felt that it was cranked out just to appease fans, that story could have been an epilogue, or fleshed out a little and made into a better book or released as a novella. I was disappointed that I paid $3.99 for it. 
Anyway. Over to Forever Too Far.  To say the least, I’m disappointed (for the first half of the book).  Abbi Glines, I like you, you seem like a really sweet person and you love your fans and actually listen to them when they speak, and I love your voice it’s cute.  But this book was annoying.  I hated that it went back and forth between Rush and Blaire so much. Half the time I didn’t know who was speaking and I had to go back and check.  I would have liked it better if you’d stuck with one or just let it go for a couple chapters so I could connect with them better.  I was left feeling confused and unsure how each really felt.  And I HATED Grants POV.  Wow, what a perv and I would never want a man to think of me in that way.  He referred to Harlow as a walking sexual fantasy.  I would never want my son to think of women in this way and I hope that no boy my daughter is interested treats her as an object of a fantasy instead the respect that she deserves.  I understand that men think with their downstairs brain, but really, this was just really wrong.  If I was Harlow, I would run in the opposite direction, ESPECIALLY when I found out he dated Nan.  I would never want to do anything to ruin Nan further than she already is. 

So, it WAS sweet how protective Rush was of Blaire, but it quickly became too much.  Let the girl breathe!  I don’t believe what Rush is showing to Blaire is love.  All he does is drag her around and not talk to her and then get mad when she talks about Nan.  I also think that Blaire has devolved into this shy, weak, wimpy mess.  She used to be kick ass.  She took care of her mom and pulled a gun on Grant and Nan, but now she just slinks off into the corner and lays in bed the whole time.  And what the heck about her cramping and bleeding.  What doctor would allow her to fly off in a plane the next day? And sex would be a huge no no.  For real. A doctor would have explained all that upon discharge.  Also, Blaire supposedly needs no stress and says she needs time to think while at her dad’s so when Rush asks to come see her, she should have said NO! “No, I need to think, give me a day.” But no, she lets him come. And then her dad drops that, oh, by the way, you have a brother! And the Rush says “hey, you have a week to plan the wedding…” Yeah. No stress my patootie. 

Ok, the book turns around after the wedding.  Rush and Blaire’s wedding was sweet and simple.  It was cute what Rush did right before the wedding.  I almost cried.  I almost cried again when she was walking down the aisle, and yes, I bought the dang song on itunes.  Its ok, Rush’s voice is weird.

I LOVE that Blaire had a natural birth and that she’s breastfeeding…I’m a mom, I did those things so it resonates with me. 

And Blaire did her kick ass back a little at the end.  I liked that, but I wish it would have been there the whole time. 

I still feel really sorry for Nan.  She needs someone.  Anyone.  Please Abbi, let Nan fall in love.  There doesn’t always have to be a villain.  Everyone deserves to be loved and shown love and to have someone in their life who cares. Second chances are awesome, even if it’s the 10^th second chance. 

Iron Butterfly By Chanda Hahn

Iron Butterfly by Chandra Hahn. 

Firstly, this is the first book in a trilogy.  Book 2 is Steele Wolf and the third book is yet to be released, so I will review only Iron Butterfly and not the entire story.

Brief Summary

Thalia, was held in a torture prison, where the evil Septori performed medieval style torture on her.  It is unclear why or for how long until she escapes with the help of Kael, a worrier who fight the Septori guards and directs her to safety.  With no memories, Thalia is found by two Denai travelers on their way to the Denai capitol city of Haven where the younger of the two, Joss, is to be a student at the Denai School called the Citadel.
Thalia is brought before the Denai high council and found to be harmless and I put to work at the school.  A series of events leads her to become a student at the school and because of attacks against her from an unknown source, she begins combat training with the schools professors and eventually learns of her heritage. 

So many questions were raised in this book that were left unanswered.  Who are the Septori? Who are the Denai? Where and in what time does this story take place? Why was Thalia taken? Why is she so special? Who is Kael and why does she have this pull to him and why does he want her to hate him?
I understand that this is part one in a series, but as an author, you can’t leave so many questions unanswered and then open more in the last chapter-why does her family suddenly show up? Why do the Denai just let them take her? Why does her family clan hate the Denai so much? 
I was confused most of the book because I felt like I was already supposed to know the people who lived in this (unnamed) land.  I have no idea what everyone looks like and how Thalia is different from them physically (because it’s mentioned more than once that there are physical differences between Denai and other races). 

I felt that there wasn’t good flow throughout the story.  The author just told me what was happening instead of taking the time to create a story, setting the scene and showing me what was happening.  It was choppy and storylines seemed to be introduced out of convenience instead of necessity.  For example, Thalia had apparently been spending time in the stables with horses, but no mention was made of it until she had to meet Faraway the horse.  And then Faraway ends up being her guardian that she called upon, but then it’s not explained what a guardian is or why he was summoned, only that Thalia is the first person to call upon one in hundreds maybe thousands of years. 

This story is also written in the first person, but when new characters are introduced Thalia seems to know their names and who they are and what they do.  She also knows the names of buildings and places even though she has no memories and has never been to Haven before. 

Even with all the confusingness, I’m still drawn into this story.  I’m invested in Thalia and finding out who she really is and where she comes from, and what makes her so special.  I want to find out her relationship with Kael and Joss. 

I will continue to read the series and hopefully find out the answers to all the questions. 

Over all, it was well written, the ideas needed to be fleshed out a little, but the story is very intriguing and I can’t wait to continue with it.  

Thanks for reading!

Heather