Because We're All Idiots...and like Free Stuff

Have you made any bad choices? Well no worries. Today I'm going to make you feel 100% better about yourself because chances are you've never done this:

Or this:

Or this:

This: 

Maybe this: 

Perhaps even this:

Or definitely not this:

See? Don't you feel so much better about yourself?

And now for THE NOT SO ACCIDENTAL BLOG TOURIST HOP. (OR SKIP TO AN AWESOME BOOK GIVEAWAY BELOW.)

This wandering tour is a quick flash of blogs by artists – writers, musicians, painters, photographers, and more. I was invited by Dianne Salerni:

DIANNE K. SALERNI is the author of The Eighth Day MG fantasy series (HarperCollins) and YA historical novels, The Caged Graves (Clarion/HMH) and We Hear the Dead (Sourcebooks). Dianne was a public school teacher for 25 years before leaving the profession to spend more time hanging around creepy cemeteries and climbing 2000 year-old pyramids in the name of book research.

Now, for my part in the tour …

1. What am I currently working on?

Surviving. Yuppers. Between houses, prepping for a blog tour & book release, and occasionally working on TIMELESS (book 3 in the Maiden of Time series) or a mini series... Oh yeah, and minding those things that eat my food and dirty my house. In some realms they're known as "kids."

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I'll refer you to one of my reviewers: "Certainly there is no new story under the sun, but some stories strike as original. Moonless is this kind of story ... The specific supernatural element is not really something I've seen before, though I'm sure some readers will draw a parallel with something. I have not seen it, though."

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

When life is unfair, I trap it in a book.

4. How does your writing/creating process work?

Dream. Write. Edit. Eat cheese.

Now I’m going to pass the blog hop torch to the next artist – who will participate on Monday, August 4. 

Nata Romeo a.k.a ArtistaDonna, is the author and illustrator of her first children's book titled Alphabet Wildlife A to Z.

Originally from Toronto, Canada, she now brews and sprinkles her art and stories from the Philadelphia skies. She dreams that her work gets swept up and tangled into a massive storm front so that her world can travel across the universe and beyond.

Ready to guess the lie and win a book? 

Last week, the hilarious T.C. Mckee shared THE BONE TREATY with us, along with two truths and one lie. Those who guessed the lie correctly were entered into a random drawing for the chance to win her eBook. 

T.C.'s game: 

1. When T.C. was seventeen, her friend stole 50 plastic Easter bunnies from a nearby neighborhood and stuffed them in the back seat of her car. They rode around with them for a week. Sometime she can still see their faces staring at her from the rear view mirror.
2. She reads the labels of almost all products and if she can't pronounce the name or doesn't recognize the ingredients, she won't buy it. Her house really is all natural.
3. It took her one whole year and seventy-seven days to write The Bone Treaty. 

And the lie is:

#3. Surprise!  

Way to guess those of you who got it right! (It was a tricky one.) And the winner is:

...DRUM ROLL...

Gina Stoneheart!

Congrats Gina! 

And now to today's feature:

Sixteen-year-old Hutch McQueen is a smart kid who can barely read. He makes one bad choice after another, trying to find a way to escape his rotten life at home and at school. Each time he gets into more trouble.

Get your copy HERE.

C. Lee McKenzie is a native Californian who grew up in a lot of different places; then landed in the Santa Cruz Mountains where she lives with her family and miscellaneous pets. She writes most of the time, gardens and hikes and does yoga a lot, and then travels whenever she can. 

She takes on modern issues that today's teens face in their daily lives. Her first young adult novel, Sliding on the Edge, which dealt with cutting and suicide was published in 2009. Her second, titled The Princess of Las Pulgas, dealing with a family who loses everything and must rebuild their lives came out in 2010. Her short story, Premeditated Cat, appears in the anthology, The First Time, and her Into the Sea of Dew is part of a collection, Two and Twenty Dark Tales. In 2012, her first middle grade novel, Alligators Overhead, came out.

Her favorite cheese Parmesan and ideally you'll find her munching on it in Venice. 

Lee gave me two truths and one lie to test your "lie detector" skills. Those who figure out the lie will go into my magic hat for the chance to win your choice any of her eBook's: Sliding on the Edge, The Princess of Las Pulgas, Alligators Overhead or Double Negative. 

You have until Tuesday, August 5th, at 1 p.m. EDT to guess--and be sure to come back for the answer on August 6th.

TRUTH OR LIE

1. Lee's favorite sport is spelunking.
2. She irons her sheets.
3. She's going to Myanmar in November.

You have one more chance to win today:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

LASTLY, sign up for my blog tour. 

DO IT! (There will be cheese.)

Which is the lie? Have you seen anyone make one of those bad choices--or something like them? Have you ever worked with a troubled teen? Do you like books that deal with deep issues? 

Epiphany, The Bone Treaty, and Easter Bunnies?

Some days you know you're maturing, right? Like the days you get slammed with a piece of wisdom that belongs with wrinkles and white hair? (Not that I've anything against my wrinkles or white hairs...)

I was teaching a group of teen girls, ages 12 to 18, about things that really matter in this life. Now I've accomplished some pretty cool stuff--been a studio singer, written a musical, finished nine full-length books (the second of which will be published this fall), rubbed shoulders with producers and lived through the big city AND small town experience. It's been amazing to hear people rave about my performances, music, and books, but in truth, it's terribly fleeting. I'm SUPER stoked about those things one day and down in the dumps the next. Do you know what gives me a lasting high?

My kids.

When one of them accomplishes something that was difficult for them, or does something nice for someone else, I swell up with pride. My heart nearly bursts with joy, and it doesn't go away.

Long after the accolades of professional accomplishment fade, I know where my happiness will stem--from seeing the little people I've devoted so many years and so much effort to succeeding in life. Will I be happy about my own successes? Sure. But nothing measures up to seeing them excel.

Ready to guess the lie and win a book? 

Last week, we broke from tradition to celebrate my new cover reveal. Everyone was given the chance to share their favorite supernatural creature for a chance to win an eARC of SOULLESS, and the winner is...

...DRUM ROLL...

Gary

And his supernatural creature, Penny the Jack Russell dog and modest internet superstar.

Congrats Gary! You'll be receiving your book as soon as ARCs July 28th.

And now to today's feature, from my amazing and incredibly supportive buddy:

A power as old as King Solomon awakens when a seventeen-year-old girl marks the brooding-hot abductor ordered to seize her.

Addie Heaton’s not your average high school student. Orphaned at two, she’s spent most of her life reading the emotions of others. It’s a little trick she likes to call color-vision. But lately, a stranger has been trailing her, putting off shades of black and red—colors Addie hasn’t seen since the night her parents were killed—colors Addie never wanted to see again.  

But when Addie comes face to face with Conal Reed, owner of the terrifying shades, she learns her stranger’s a little different too. He’s brooding hot, mysterious, and all too elusive. Conal loves to materialize, and then vanish at all the wrong times. Nice.

 Not.

After years of keeping her ability a secret, Addie’s found another person with gifts, someone who may know what she really is. But Conal’s not talking. He’s having more fun showing up uninvited, teasing her senses, and disappearing at all the wrong times. Instead of finding answers, Addie finds herself reconsidering ever being alone and naked again.

This is where I confess I got to critique some of this book early on, and it was  AWESOME. So much attitude and voice. I can't wait to get my copy. Add it now.

T.C.Mckee is the author of The Bone Treaty. She loves fiction, Great Danes, laughing babies, oatmeal cookies, and coffee. Owns two small business, one that has absolutely nothing at all to do with writing, and BookFish Books, a small publishing house that has everything to do with writing. She lives with her family in Virginia.

Her favorite cheese is Muenster. She can be found munching on it at home or at this local sandwich shop that melts two slices of it over a ham sandwich with cole slaw. (She says: "OHMIGOSH! It's heaven.") 

T.C. gave me two truths and one lie to test your "lie detector" skills. Those who figure out the lie will go into my magic hat for the chance to win an eBook of The Bone Treaty. 

You have until Tuesday, July 29, at 1 p.m. EDT to guess--and be sure to come back for the answer on July 30.

TRUTH OR LIE

1. When T.C. was seventeen, her friend stole 50 plastic Easter bunnies from a nearby neighborhood and stuffed them in the back seat of her car. They rode around with them for a week. Sometime she can still see their faces staring at her from the rear view mirror.

2. She reads the labels of almost all products and if she can't pronounce the name or doesn't recognize the ingredients, she won't buy it. Her house really is all natural.

3. It took her one whole year and seventy-seven days to write The Bone Treaty. 

LASTLY, sign up for my blog tour. 

DO IT! (There will be cheese.)

Which is the lie? Have you had any epiphanies lately? Where do you find your greatest happiness? Doesn't The Bone Treaty sound great?