Book blogger and fellow author Colleen Chesebro has read and reviewed Drake’s story, and I’m blown away by her thorough feedback. Here’s a bit of it: I love YA fiction and strong characters because I think these portrayals give hope to our teens in a chaotic world. Fictional heroes have a way of letting kids…
The title is a question I get asked fairly often, and after writing out what I’m about to write out here several times I said to myself, “Self, you know that blog thingy we have? Maybe write it all there and then share the link when someone asks.” Myself can be pretty smart sometimes. It’s…
“Creating that all important sense of danger, wonder, and high adventure that genre fans crave she delivers a thoughtful narrative that engages and enthralls from the very start, achieving an equitable balance between her reimagined human world and fantasy that tugs at the heart strings.” How cool is this?? Drake and the Fliers received an…
Over two years ago, I participated in a genre mashup flash fiction challenge – the “genres” I was randomly assigned were dystopian and shapeshifting. I took some literary license and went more post-apocalyptic than dystopian, and I created a short story about a teenage boy who survives a global pandemic only to be gifted the ability…
Fellow authors, I need to tell you a secret – you can create a book trailer for free. Last night, my son (he’s 11, by the way) showed me a “trailer” he made with his school iPad. It was pretty cool, so I asked him to show me how me made it. He directed me…
Welcome to the latest Bonus Material post for Drake and the Fliers. This one’s gonna get a little musical. Some writers use music for inspiration. I know of a couple who got whole story ideas from a song (I had one for a short story). This isn’t quite like that. As I write, I hear songs…
One of the Great Truths in the Writer’s Bible is this: the cover can make or break the success of your book. Doesn’t matter how good the stuff inside is. If the cover isn’t intriguing (or worse, if it’s deterring), if it doesn’t compel the potential reader to buy/borrow, it hasn’t done its job. Period. Since…
A way cool review of Drake and the Fliers came out today on the site Talk Nerdy With Us (cool name, huh?). I’m not able to reblog directly from there, but I wanted to share the review with you guys, so I got permission from the author, Tracy Miller, to copy and paste it here.…
Welcome to the fourth and final installment of the Drake and the Fliers prequel/serial. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the posts as much as I enjoyed writing them. If you missed the earlier posts and want to start at the beginning, click here. Before the Flight – Part 4 Drake held Kelsey’s fevered hand as…
Welcome to Part 3 of the prequel/serial to Drake and the Fliers. If you missed Parts 1 and 2 and want to start at the beginning, click here. Before the Flight – Part 3 “Why aren’t we sick?” Drake asked. Kelsey sighed and leaned against the window of the Denver hospital, focusing on the ceiling. “I…
Allison Maruska 