Author: Katie L. Carroll (Page 74 of 142)

Still Grounding Myself Every Day

October 1, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

I’ve got lots of writerly things going on lately (still working my YA thriller BLACK BUTTERFLY, my follow up to ELIXIR BOUND called ELIXIR SAVED, and my chapter for the Great CT Caper) and I got my first editing assignment post baby. Seems I’m really getting back into the swing of things now that The Prince is almost four months old (yikes…the time does fly!).

The year anniversary of my grounding experiment–basically my quest to put my bare feet on the earth every day in attempt to help with stress, overall mood, energy, and such–passed by some time in August with little notice or fanfare. The last update I did on this was December, and I’ve been going strong ever since.

I missed some days, especially over the long, cold, snowy winter we had, but I got out in the bad weather more than I expected. Plus I was pregnant for a good part of the experiment, which I thought might make it harder, but it really wasn’t much of a hindrance. As a bonus once the weather got warmer, The Boy showed interest in grounding himself, too, so he’s been joining me from time to time. And my mom started doing it as well, so we’ve been comparing notes and keeping each other accountable.

IMAG1125

Thinking back on my year of grounding, I’ve noticed several parallels to being a writer. You have setbacks, like missing days for reasons both in your control and out of your control; you feel bad/guilty after these setbacks; it’s helpful to have others hold you accountable to help you get it done; when you lose consistency in your task, it’s hard to get back to it, but it’s never too late to get back to it, and it might be hard at first but it will get easier after the initial push; and it’s important not to beat yourself up too much when you fail, as long as you get back on the horse as soon as you can.

I’ve learned some helpful tips along the way. In cold weather, wear your cold weather gear outside even if you’re just going out to ground. Don’t go out in the snow with just a sweatshirt and sandals. First of all you’ll freeze. Second of all it diminishes the affect somehow. After I stripped off my boots in socks, stuck my feet in my little patch of grass surrounded by feet of snow, and put my socks and boots back on, my feet felt awesome, like I was walking on clouds.

Make it part of your routine. I often ground when I go out to get the mail because I do this almost every day. Don’t worry about what others think. My neighbors must have seen me with my pregnant belly and bare feet on the cold ground and thought, “There’s that nutso lady again out there with her feet in the snow.” If you miss a few days, don’t stress about it; the whole idea is not to stress. Just get back to it when you can.

IMAG1303

And finally, mix it up once in awhile: ground in the sand or some other place than grass, or do it at a friend’s house or while on vacation (of course making sure it’s safe to do it wherever you are, and there aren’t say fire ants or animal droppings around), or do it with a friend.

So I guess you’re all wondering if it’s working. It’s hard to say definitively that it’s working or not. I’ve had a particularly stressful, exciting, wonderful year. I’ve had the most challenging year with The Boy since he was born, a new baby to take care of, and lots of upheaval with work being done on the house. I wish I had more patience with The Boy in particular and yell at him more than I’d like to. I get crabby for no reason (being pregnant and now breastfeeding make for some fun hormonal emotions) and take it out on my husband. So on the surface you might say it isn’t working.

But I think it is. I can feel the tension leaving my body often when I ground myself, and this feeling is particularly strong when I’ve missed a day or two or when the weather was cold and I wasn’t outside as much. It’s kind of like a tingling that stops after a minute or two, and is similar to the calming feeling I get when I hold The Prince on my chest while he sleeps, only the feeling is in my feet instead of my chest. So, yeah, for that alone it’s worth it.

IMAG1449

And given all the stress and worry and mixed emotions I’ve had over the last year, I’d say I’m emotional handling myself better than I might have been if I wasn’t grounding. Some times all I have to do is think about grounding when I’m in a stressful situation and it helps to calm me…and maybe that is more a mind over matter thing than the physical affects of grounding, but whatever works, right?

The other thing I like about it is that it’s a pretty simple, straightforward, achievable goal, and one that doesn’t have any dire consequences if I fail. I like having an item to check of my list that’s so easy to do, and it’s one that gets me outdoors, and it’s an interesting talking point, and it might just be helping my overall well-being and health.

So after a year my year of grounding, I have no plans to stop. I’ll keep going out there and putting my bare feet to the ground, I’ll miss days and maybe feel guilty or maybe not, I’ll keep my reputation in the neighborhood as an eccentric lady, and hopefully I’ll feel better for it and will be a better mom, person, and writer for it.

Following Inspiration With J.C. Whyte Author of KARMACK

September 26, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

Today I’m lucky to have the lovely J.C. Whyte, author of the MG fantasy KARMACK (I just love the cover of her book!), on the blog. She’s discussing how important it is to pay attention to those little flashes of inspiration that hit. Welcome, J.C.!

I used to think Thomas Edison got it right, that “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

Now I’m not so sure. Because I learned something valuable about inspiration while trying to get my first book published. That dream came true last year with the release of Karmack, my middle grade novel.

At the time, I had no intention of writing a children’s book. But as I lay awake one night trying to construct a scene for what I believed to be an important teen novel, inspiration struck. Yet it had nothing to do with my teen novel. My mind had drifted to more fanciful ideas. I was thinking, what if a little sprite started boomeranging bullies in true karmic fashion? The idea struck a cord with me. And I knew this would certainly be fun to write about!

So I did write about it, if only to amuse myself. Every time I encountered writer’s block with the teen novel, I’d add a couple more chapters to the children’s book. And before I knew it, Karmack was not only finished but thoroughly edited.

Well, that’s what happens when a writer gets inspiration. Ideas begin to flow, sometimes coming so fast there’s barely time to get them all down. This is probably what possessed Charles Dickens to write A Christmas Carol in six short weeks! And that masterpiece has never gone out of print. Of course, I’m not comparing my work with that of Dickens, but anyone who’s had inspiration understands how this shortcut can operate.

With Karmack complete, I began investigating sources for publication. MuseItUp Publishing promised that if the manuscript was rejected, the editors would let me know why. So I submitted Karmack to Muse, hoping to at least get valuable feedback. But to my surprise, Karmack was not only accepted but published within six months’ time!

Originally released as an ebook in 2013, Karmack continues to receive great reviews and most recently won First Place in chapter ebooks in the 2014 Purple Dragonfly competition. Muse has also scheduled a new paperback edition, which should appear in online stores soon.

Next year, Muse will be publishing a second of my books, an adventure story for adults. This book was also a lark for me to write, especially because two of the characters get trapped in an invisible dimension and are forced to communicate through a psychic’s spirit guide. Most of the action takes place aboard a cruise ship crossing the Pacific, and the narrator is the spirit guide himself. Watch for this one to be released next spring.

My teen book, however, didn’t fare as well – the Muse editors strongly disliked (I should say loathed) that manuscript. I tried endless revisions, but continued to receive only more rejection from publishers and literary agents alike. Eventually I gave up, accepting the fact I’m just not suited to write for the teen market.

The moral of my story? Pay attention to those fanciful ideas which pop into your head. Because that one percent of inspiration may not only point you in a new direction, it could also eliminate needless perspiration. And that’s what I call genius.

KARMACK blurb:

For years, Sully and his gang have tormented students and teachers alike at Higgins Elementary. And for the most part, they’ve gotten away with it. But all that begins to change when a strange little creature appears on the scene. And from that point on, pranks start coming back like boomerangs, smacking Sully and his gang right in their fifth grade butts!

Aimed at children ages 8 to 12, Karmack is also perfect for classroom read-alouds. It’s available at most online stores such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, as well as from the publisher at http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/museityoung/karmack-detail.

To see reviews of Karmack, go to its website: www.karmack.webs.com. Or check out its Goodreads page, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18080078-karmack.

About the Author:

From the age of eleven, J.C. Whyte knew she wanted to be a writer. But by the time she reached college, she realized an author’s income seldom paid all the bills. So she got her degrees in Journalism and Communications Management, and for many years channeled her creative energies into the field of Public Relations.

Marriage, kids, and several more degrees and occupations later (including stints as a travel agent and paralegal), J.C. entered law school – mostly for the challenge of writing creative arguments for the court. While in law school, she became a columnist for the student newsletter, writing humorous pieces on the strange and quirky life of a law student. She was absolutely thrilled when one of these articles was chosen for publication in The National Jurist, a magazine distributed to law students throughout the US.

But after graduating and passing the Bar, J.C. realized within a few years that creative writing was still what made her heart sing. So now, as a grandma, she’s returned to writing. And with publication of her middle grade novel Karmack, she’s finally fulfilled her life-long dream!

Visiting Gillette’s Castle for the Great CT Caper

September 23, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

Last week I dragged the whole family up to the Connecticut River Valley for a trip to Gillette’s Castle. Okay, there wasn’t really any dragging involved. I mean, who wouldn’t want to visit a medieval-style castle overlooking a gorgeous river valley? And the kiddos are still too little to protest much over what family activities we do. 🙂

I was there to do research for writing my chapter of the Great CT Caper, which starts next week! So far all I know for the story is that the castle is going to go missing…and the rest is up to us writers to create.

There’s nothing quite like physically experiencing the place you are writing about, so off we went. The morning rain scared away all the tourists (plus it was a Tuesday), so we had run of the place almost to ourselves. I had already done 664 (1) some research on William Gillette who designed and lived in the castle.

Gillette is probably best known for portraying Sherlock Holmes on stage. Seems he had quite the sense of humor and was a natural entertainer because his home was set up to simultaneously awe his guests and tease them. He had strategically placed mirrors so he could spy on his guests from other rooms, one of which he used to observe his guests struggle with a trick liquor cabinet that Gillette designed. He also had a secret shortcut on his main stairway so he could beat his guests up to the great room and surprise them.

All in all I took a million pictures (many a little blurry because The Prince was strapped to me via the Moby wrap and it made it hard for me to keep my phone steady) and learned way more information than I’ll ever be able to cram into a whole story never mind a single chapter. But I also got really inspired and earned a whole new sense of the castle that I never would have gotten from pictures and descriptions of it. I do hope I get to incorporate a little of that into my small part in the story.

Sibling Rivalry With Mystery Writer Sara Jayne Townsend

September 19, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

Fellow MuseItUp author Sara Jayne Townsend has not one but two books in her amateur sleuth series coming out this fall. DEATH SCENE releases on September 22 and DEAD COOL comes out on November 25. Lets give a big welcome to her as she discusses a topic I know all about: sibling rivalry!

SIBLING RIVALRY

By Sara Jayne Townsend

I am the eldest of three siblings – all female. Middle Sister is two and a half years younger than me; Youngest Sister is eleven years younger. I confess I wasn’t particularly close to either of them when we were growing up. In high school I was a nerd, with terrible dress sense (and old photos carry evidence of this). Middle Sister found me rather embarrassing and preferred to pretend she didn’t know me. When I was fifteen, Youngest Sister was four. I was sometimes obliged to do babysitting duty, and I found this something of a burden. However, now we are all adults, the age gap seems smaller and the differences in personality less important.

There can’t be too many siblings who don’t squabble at some stage while growing up, even if they end up being the best of friends. It seems to be part of family life. And sibling rivalry became important when I created my amateur sleuth, Shara Summers. However, I decided that the teenage resentment she had of her sister Astrid gets carried over into adulthood. The character needed to have family issues. Sibling rivalry was an issue I could relate to, and it made sense for her to still be dealing with this.

Shara’s back story is that she grew up with her younger sister, a Canadian father and an English mother. They start off in England, they move to Canada, and then when Shara is a teenager her parents divorce. Her mother moves back to England, her father stays in Canada. The daughters are given a choice as to which parent to stay with. Shara elects to stay in Canada, as she’s about to start university there. Astrid moves back to England with her mother.

Geographical distance between family members is also familiar to me, but with Shara I wanted to take that a step further. An important theme in DEATH SCENE is that no matter how far you run, you can’t escape loving your family. Shara is holding on to old resentment of her sister, which she is obliged to deal with during the course of the novel. Flawed characters are, of course, more interesting than characters who never make mistakes, but if you want your readers to like your characters enough to stick with them through a series, they need to learn from their mistakes and change throughout the series.

I did not base Shara’s sister Astrid on either of my own sisters. But I was able to use my relationship with them as a reference point. I am a wiser person now than I was then, and this has improved my relationship with my siblings. But I like to think my dress sense has improved over the years, and that may well be a factor, too.

About the Author:

Sara-Jayne Townsend is a UK-based writer of crime and horror. She was born in Cheshire in 1969, but spent most of the 1980s living in Canada after her family emigrated there. She now lives in Surrey with two cats and her guitarist husband Chris. She co-founded the T Party Writers’ Group in 1994, and remains Chair Person.

The first two books in her amateur sleuth series about Canadian actress Shara Summers will be released by MuseItUp Publishing in 2014. DEATH SCENE, the first book (and a re-release) will be available from 22 September, with the sequel, DEAD COOL, released on 25 November. Both are available for pre-order from the MuseitUp online book store: http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/our-authors/70-our-authors/authors-t/420-sara-jayne-townsend

You can learn more about Sara and her writing at her website at http://sarajaynetownsend.weebly.com or her blog at http://sayssara.wordpress.com.

KING OF BAD by Kai Strand Damaged Goods Giveaway

September 15, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

Kai Strand may be giving away a damaged copy of KING OF BAD, but she is a fabulous writer, so even a not-so-perfect copy will still be awesome. So go enter to win it!

Hey everybody, my name is Kai Strand. I was unpacking books at a signing and came across a copy of King of Bad with a torn cover. Bummer. I can’t sell that! But my loss is your gain. Because I can hold a giveaway instead!

Along with a slightly damaged copy of King of Bad, I’m also giving away several sets of character trading cards. These cards have been specially designed for book one in the series. There will be a separate set of cards designed for each book – so be among the first to own a set.

About the book:

Jeff Mean would rather set fires than follow rules or observe curfew. He wears his bad boy image like a favorite old hoodie; that is until he learns he has superpowers and is recruited by Super Villain Academy – where you learn to be good at being bad. In a school where one kid can evaporate all the water from your body and the girl you hang around with can perform psychic sex in your head, bad takes on a whole new meaning. Jeff wonders if he’s bad enough for SVA.

He may never find out. Classmates vilify him when he develops good manners. Then he’s kidnapped by those closest to him and left to wonder who is good and who is bad. His rescue is the climactic episode that balances good and evil in the super world. The catalyst – the girl he’s crushing on. A girlfriend and balancing the Supers is good, right? Or is it…bad?

Available in print or electronic: Whiskey Creek Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Excerpt:

“I guess I’m not comfortable being something. I’ve never aspired to do much of anything and it seems like a lot of pressure to suddenly learn I’m supposedly a super villain and that I have to learn how to do it right.”

“You don’t have to do anything, kid. You are what you are. We are just here for you if you want to learn how to do more.” Pyro leaned back in her chair and crossed her leg. “Let me start closer to the beginning. Once upon a time…”

Jeff curled his lip and grunted. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Yes, I am. This is no fairytale.”

“How many of us are there? Is this the only school or are they everywhere? What happens if I decide not to get training?”

“Whoa, boy! Rein in the questions. I’ll get to them.” Pyro’s foot bobbed as she studied Jeff. “I don’t usually recruit. I work in administration, a fundraiser. They asked me to take you on because they suspected you had fire. So let’s start there.”

Pyro explained Mr. Sims initial encounter with Jeff and how he’d reported to Tubs. “That’s when Tubs got me involved. See, Sims felt your S.V. energy when you blew to fan the flames. Since you were playing with fire, Tubs suspected you had it and he knows that fire is a dangerous new ability and best taught by someone with experience. You know, when I first saw you, kid, I thought they were making way more of it than was needed. You were hanging out with your friends. Giving your sister a hard time. Taking out the trash like a good son, but there was nothing about you that struck me as special. Or even super for that matter. But then you did something that changed my mind completely.”

Jeff sat up straight in his chair then slouched back down again. He felt very conflicted hearing that Pyro had been shadowing him for so long and he hadn’t even known it. “What? What did I do?”

“You blew out a match.”

Jeff frowned. “How could blowing fire out prove I have fire in me?”

“It didn’t. You have fire in your hands, just like I do.” Pyro raised her right hand, palm up. Her fingertips were already swollen and throbbing. A spark emitted from each finger and flowed together in the center of her palm. A marble sized ball of fire ebbed and crackled in the middle of her hand. She studied it. “When you learn control, you’ll be able to start fires whenever you want. But what is unique about you, is you will also be able to douse them.”

Pyro held the fireball in front of Jeff. “Blow.”

Jeff shrugged and blew on the fire as if extinguishing birthday candles. A thin frost doused the flame and coated Pyro’s hand. Jeff blinked, thinking he was seeing things. He scraped a finger through the frost on her palm and touched it to his tongue. Cold and wet.

Pyro wiped her hand on her pants leg. “Fire and ice. I can’t even begin to imagine how you do that. But, Jeff, I can tell you no one has ever had opposing elements. Ever.”

Reviews:

I found myself falling in love with all the characters in the book. I loved the different abilities each one of them have. Kai did an outstanding job writing this book. I could not put it down. It is filled with lots of action and even some romance. Everything you want in a book. Victoria for Page Turners Blog

Can’t wait for the sequel! – Christopher White for Amazon

About the author:

When her children were young and the electricity winked out, Kai Strand gathered her family around the fireplace and they told stories, one sentence at a time. Her boys were rather fond of the ending, “And then everybody died. The end.” Now an award winning children’s author, Kai crafts fiction for kids and teens to provide an escape hatch from their reality. With a selection of novels for young adult and middle grade readers and short stories for the younger ones, Kai entertains children of all ages, and their adults. Learn more about Kai and her books on her website, www.kaistrand.com.

a Rafflecopter giveaway