Monday, August 27, 2012

My Book Cover & Summary for FINNED!!!

Even as I type this, it feels surreal. I'm elated to share my book cover and summary for FINNED!!! First, and foremost, I'd like to send a BIG thank you and HUG to both The Bookish Brunette and Claudia McKinney for making this dream a reality. Words literally cannot express how much I adore them, not just for their gorgeous work, but for their endless patience with a dorky worrywart, who has a massive inner idiot (uh, yeah, that would be me...really am trying to worry less...the dork part is here to stay, I'm afraid...as is the inner idiot).

So, here it is!!!!!

Cover Art: Claudia McKinney at Phatpuppy Art; Typography: Ashley, The Bookish Brunette


Sixteen-year-old Marina Valentine is a rule-stretcher in an uptight Texas seaside town. She’s hormonally challenged, curious to a fault, hates fish, and has a dating resume that makes the queen look like a slut. It’s not that guys don’t ask her out. They do. She just has an unfortunate reaction to dating—uncontrollable gags. It’s not exactly a turn on.

One by one, her oddball friends start disappearing—much to the joy of the snobby high school royals—and Marina fears she is a walking bull’s eye. Inquiries into their disappearances lead to startling, gag-worthy discoveries. Toss in an increasingly inconvenient attraction to one of the royals—who holds the key to solving the mystery…in his fin—and it’s an anti-fish girl’s worst nightmare come true. Soon, Marina finds herself at the center of a looming underwater war that’s really going to play games with her love life.

As time closes in—and the Merpeople officially come out of the ocean—Marina must choose between the lives of her friends, the future of an underwater utopia, and the life of her first love. There’s just one problem. Where does a love-shy, fish-phobic, non-mergirl even begin…especially when her enemy may be the one person she trusted above everyone else?

Coming Fall 2012! 

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Formatting, My Foe


Formatting just sucks the creativity right out of me…or at least shoves it into a dark, cobweb-covered corner of my mind. It’s bad, too, because the stories are literally begging to be written.

I’m just SO out of my mind worried it won’t turn out right. Anything having to do with technology sends my brain straight to Charlie Brown’s world: “Wah-wah-wah-wah-wah.” Yep, reading all of these formatting instructions is like listening to the adults in Peanuts-land.

It’s at this point where my stress takes over any creative impulse I may have, and then it’s “Hello, hyper-perfectionist, anxiety-overload, never-going-be-good-enough, why-am-I-doing-this-to-myself” mode.

Ugh, I know I need to let go—I need to step, jump, leap, skip, or, better yet, dive headfirst into this adventure. Basically, I need to stop thinking so much…I need to stop dwelling.

I just don’t want to let anyone down—not my mama, my daddy, my characters, or anyone who may read my book. I guess that’s the thing about dreams—you have to face your fears and insecurities to give dreams (and yourself) a chance.

So, I’ll hyperventilate my way through the formatting (note to self: buy supply of paper bags), tiptoe into publishing (yeah, I just can’t jump, leap, skip, or, God forbid, dive), and dust off those cobwebs on my stories (although they seem to be doing a pretty good job of that on their own…while I’m trying to figure out formatting. Timing, stories, timing).