Guest Post With Patricia Carrigan

I love to see the good in people and at times I run across wonderful examples of authors giving back.  Today I've invited one of those authors to guest post for me.  Patricia Carrigan is an amazing young woman who has turned her dream into reality at an early age.  A teen, she has seen her first book published and is working on her second while still in high school.  But she's not keeping her success to herself.  I'll let her explain.  *wink* 

Hi, I'm Patricia Carrigan,

I am a young author who was first published at the age of 16.  My book, Antiserum was released in December of 2010.  It's my own different twist on the vampire story.  I've been very pleased how well it is doing.  Marketing has been interesting to learn on the fly, but I keep my good humor.  My second book, Part II in the Antiserum series, is about halfway through and it's exciting to think about everything that is going on.

I'm about to attend my senior year in high school with my twin sister, but I have an older sister who's a pastry chef and it's because of her that I started donating to The Burn Institute of San Diego.

When Amber (my older sister) was nine years old, she was burned all down the left side of her face and body. At the hospital she and my parents found out about Camp Beyond the Scars which is a camp hosted by The Burn Institute to help re-establish the self esteem of young burn survivors. I've always remembered how happy Amber would be after each year she's attended the winter and summer camps. Amber has attended Camp Beyond the Scars for nearly twelve years and is becoming a counselor. I've always wanted to give back somehow for all the wonderful help they gave my sister and gave to so many other people who are now some of the coolest friends and people I have ever met.

Once I became an author, it finally dawned upon me that, now, I have some way I could give back to The Burn Institute for giving so much to my sister. And now I'm donating half of my profits to them, I volunteered at this last camp in July and am going to be attending the next year's summer and winter camp as an L.I.T. (Leader In Training). The Burn Institute has definitely become a part of my life and I'm willing to do anything to help them in any way for as long as I can.

Antiserum

by Patricia Carrigan

 

Sixteen year old high school student Jocelyn loves blood; she lives for it.  She's a blood addict.  But that's not all that's going on in her life.  Strange dreams haunt her sleep; she can read minds; and she hears voices in her head.  And she discovers that J.B. - her twin sister- and their friends Sadie and Nikki all have similar powers.  She learns that all of them are part of a group known as the Genetic Race. 

But their powers and existence are threatened by another group known as the Others, and their only hope lies in traveling to Transylvania. where they must locate a special blood-filled amulet.  On this trip, with the help of the very attractive Adrian, Jocelyn will discover that the very substance she needs to survive may have become her new and very deadly addiction.

~ * ~

I don't know this man's name, and it doesn't really matter... right?  I mean he's just dinner.

I was trying to find a reason to feel sorry for what I was about to do.  Really, I searched and picked my way through his mind to try and find something that told, "I have something to live for!"  He hated his parents, and being an only child meant that there were no other siblings to miss his existence.  It's not like his friends would blink an eye at him.  They were never there for him, just for the latest parties and hook-ups.  The only thing that was worth loving to him was his girlfriend, and to my knowledge, she was already being killed.

Purchase your copy of Antiserum by clicking Here!

You can find Patricia at her Website and connect with her on Facebook.

http://www.patriciacarrigan.com
http://www.facebook.com/patriciacarrigan

Where It All Began

As I come to the end of book two in my series, Chronicles of Shilo Manor, I'm finding my mind wondering back to where it all started.  The idea.  The actual birth of the story. 

If you don't already know, this series blossomed from a dream I had.  Well, I "thumbed" through my archives and found the original scene I wrote--what happened in the dream.  As I read it, I realized this short would be a perfect freebie for my ShiloManor.Com site.  So, I took a little break from Cornerstone Deep Echoes and went into site admin mode.  I added The Transformation of Anna to the Extras page on the site dedicated to this series.

If anyone is interested in how it all began...and, well, how my sleeping mind works, lol, hop on over and read the portion of the dream that actually grew from a nightmare to a paranormal romance.

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Dealing With Rejection Letters - FFW

** Notice:  Names have been changed to protect the innocent **

To Eagerly Seeking Agent,
 
Thank you for submitting to All Mighty Literary Agency.
 
We greatly appreciate your submission, and have given The Greatest Work Ever our careful consideration. Unfortunately, your project is not a good fit for us at this time.
 
We wish you the best of luck in finding an enthusiastic agent and in your writing career.
Again, thank you for thinking of All Mighty Literary Agency.
 
With best wishes,
All Mighty Literary Agency

Okay.  We’ve all got them.  Rejection letters.  Or worse, we got no reply at all.  It’s hard not to let it discourage you.  I have a friend that wrote a book several years ago and has submitted it a total of three times.  She took each rejection so hard that she had to wait until the sting wore off enough and she built up more courage to send it out again.

While rejection hurts, it’s important not to take it personal.  It might be that your story truly isn’t what the agent/publisher was looking for at that time.  Move on to the next one on your list. 

Famous authors went through it just as we have.  But they persisted.  Let me share a few notes that some of them received.  Most of these are taken from Andre Bernard's little book Rotten Rejections:  The Letters that Publishers Wish They’d Never Sent.

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D H Lawrence

'for your own sake do not publish this book.'

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

'an absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull.'

On Sylvia Plath

'There certainly isn't enough genuine talent for us to take notice.'

The Deer Park by Norman Mailer

'This will set publishing back 25 years.'

Lust for Life by Irving Stone

(which was rejected 16 times, but found a publisher and went on to sell about 25 million copies)

‘ A long, dull novel about an artist.’

Carrie by Stephen King

'We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias.  They do not sell.'

Catch – 22 by Joseph Heller

‘I haven’t really the foggiest idea about what the man is trying to say… Apparently the author intends it to be funny – possibly even satire – but it is really not funny on any intellectual level … From your long publishing experience you will know that it is less disastrous to turn down a work of genius than to turn down talented mediocrities.’

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

‘... overwhelmingly nauseating, even to an enlightened Freudian … the whole thing is an unsure cross between hideous reality and improbable fantasy.  It often becomes a wild neurotic daydream … I recommend that it be buried under a stone for a thousand years.’

So, keep it all in perspective and don’t give up.  Remember, it’s happened to the best.

Check out the other Fantastic Friday Writers’ blogs!

Lost In Amazon...Book Promo

I’m always on the look out for more places to promote my book, Cornerstone Deep.  So, when my publisher mentioned a few more opportunities on our group loop, I checked them out. 

Okay, this might sound like an add for Amazon, but I was surprised at how much they offered by way of author involvement.  To be honest, when I checked around the Amazon world, I was intimidated.  It’s huge!  And I found it difficult to sort it all out.  One of our fellow authors said that she got lost in Amazon.  We all agreed that would make a great title for an adventure novel.  *teehee*  Lost In Amazon. 

Anyway…

My publisher, to my delight, provided easy access links to get me to the right places.  Author Central seemed to gather the most conversation with several mentioning how it helped them. 

With Author Central, you can upload your book trailers, link your twitter feeds, announce upcoming events like book signings, etc.  Your book information is taken from Amazon’s “shelf” and available for readers to check out…including reviews that have been posted.  You can access your books’ sales information and find out where they’re selling best and in what format.

Shelfari is another place to share your works.  What I like about this was that you can add information about your book; the characters, settings, and favorite quotes.  Your readers can also add their favorite sayings from your book.  Others can add tags to help your book be found in more places when readers search and reviews can be added there too.  It’s set up in a way that makes it easy to keep track of what’s on your TBR list and what you’ve read and rated.  If anyone wants to swap reads and review, let me know. *wink*

I haven’t looked into it yet, but they have an area for Kindle users.  You can sign up to allow readers to highlight and comment on parts of your book, and you can leave little bits of added information for them…interact with your fans. : )   

I hope this gave you a few things to check into if you haven’t already gotten involved.  If you know of anything that is working great for you, do share!

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Ravencraft Romance Realm Grand Opening

I've joined with the women of Ravencraft Romance Realm--five romance authors blogging about...that's right, romance--and our Grand Opening is coming up!  I had to let everyone know now because we have so much planned for that week you'll need to mark it on your calander.  Talk about a line-up!  Guests, outstanding topics, contests and prizes!

Just let me share the announcement with you...

 

Announcing RRR's Grand Opening Celebration!

 

 

Ravencraft Romance Realm is celebrating its Grand Opening July 25th through July 29th !!!!!


This is going to be a HUGE event! There will free give-aways each day of the week, contests, and over $100 in awesome prizes including romance books from well-known RWA authors, gift cards to Amazon, Barns&Nobel, Victoria's Secret and more, book marks, tote bags and these other goodies:

 

 

 

We'll also have guest appearances from romance authors Delilah Devlin, Carol North, and Kate Douglas!


So mark your calendars, the fun starts July 25th!!!!!!

 

 

I'm the lucky soul to be interviewing Carol North on Wed. July 27th.  She will be featuring her novel, Savannah Heat, and on that day alone you'll have the chance to win a signed copy of her book with a matching tote!

 

 

 

It's exciting with so much happening, you have to drop by and enter to win the daily give-aways and the grand prize give-aways at the end of the week.  There will be first, second, and third prize drawings, this is so big!  Honestly, most of the books in the grand prize drawing are straight from the RWA conference.  I've donated three signed copies of Cornerstone Deep and they will be part of package too.

 

Here's the daily line-up:

 

Monday - Danielle Ravencraft, author of A Trace of Love.

Tuesday - Marsha A. Moore, author of Tears on a Tranquil Lake and Tortuga Treasures.

Wednesday - Charlene A. Wilson, author of Cornerstone Deep.

Thursday - Kay Dee Royal, author of Big Girl's Don't Cry Wolf, One Plus One, and How to Net a Prince.

Friday - Sharon Hamilton, author of Angel.

 

We all look forward to a great week.  So, join in the fun and I'll see you there!

 

 

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