Category: Elixir Saved (Page 8 of 11)

Katie’s 2018 Reading Wrap-Up

December 31, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

My original reading goal for 2018 was fifty books, or rather I should say novels because I don’t keep track of all the hundreds of picture books I read (and reread) with the kiddos. I was way ahead of schedule about halfway through the year, so I amended that to sixty.

Browsing through my Goodreads report on what I’ve read in 2018, it looks like there are a couple of books listed twice on my list and a fantasy box set that is actually three (quite long) books that are listed as one. As of writing this post, Goodreads says I’ve read fifty-eight books with four in progress (one of which I may finish before the end of the year). Close enough for me!

Being in the book business, it doesn’t feel like a lot of books, especially compared to what I’ve done in the past and other voracious readers I know. And there always seems to be so many amazing books coming out every week that I haven’t gotten to that it never feels like I’m reading enough. Still, considering the
average American reads four books a year (see the article “How Many Books Did The Average American Read In The Last Year? This New Study May Surprise You” by Kerri Jarema), I’m pretty happy with what I’ve accomplished.

It was another year where I DNF (did not finish) quite a few titles and another year where I couldn’t get into audiobooks. It seems I’m not a auditory learner and I just can’t figure out how to pay attention when I’m listening to a novel. I’ve been trying to listen to more podcasts to help train my brain in that area. I’ve definitely continued to try and consciously diversify my reading (using the We Need Diverse Books definition of diversity) and I will continue to do that in the new year. I also read what turned out to be a lot of ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies…mostly from NetGalley).

I enjoy reading all those posts where readers list their top-ten lists and do fun things with their reading year in review, but frankly, I just don’t have time for that this year myself. I’m really pushing to finish this draft of ELIXIR SAVED (despite having computer issues for the last few weeks…my hand is sore from all the notebook writing I’ve been doing!). But I’ve peppered in a few covers here to give you a taste of my 2018 list.

Looking forward to 2019, I’m probably going to cut back on reviews, which means reading fewer books from NetGalley. It’s yet another area I just don’t have a lot of time to devote to, though I will try to write a few lines for any small press/indie books I read that I feel like would benefit from it. I’ll also keep mixing in older titles with new releases. And I’ll be reading a lot of ebooks again; every year my reading tips to the digital end a little bit more.

How did you all do on your 2018 reading goals? Any particular books that set your soul on fire? See you next year!

What Is This Life Even?

October 10, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

I’ve got all these thoughtful blog posts simmering in my brain, ideas sketched out in my notebook. What I haven’t got is time to write them. Which is actually a good thing. I haven’t had the time because I’ve been lucky to have a bunch of writing events this fall, I’ve got three wonderful kiddos that keep me busy and laughing and loving, and some days the weather has been too beautiful not to get outside. Plus, I’ve been devoting as much of my writing time as I can to drafting ELIXIR SAVED, and that’s actually been going well (fingers crossed I can write THE END by the end of the year).

And while my personal life is in a good place, the larger country and world is more often than not a trash fire, so on days when I do sit down to write, it’s easy to get distracted by that. And then I feel guilty that I have the privilege to be able to call all the politics and stuff a distraction. Yet I also know that my work of writing books for kids is an important and political act (as is all art), so when I’m working, I’m not actually ignoring those things but contributing (hopefully) to the growth of the very people who will be running the country and the world one day.

I try to remember to pause and be in the moment and appreciate where I’m at. I have this writing life that is gaining a little bit of steam and maybe (maybe!?) one day will be a full-time career. And, of course, I have this beautiful family that is a joy and a pain and a million other things all at once.

I guess what I’m saying is life is complicated in a wonderfully messy way. I love my blog, but lately life has been moving too fast to stop and give it the attention it deserves. But that’s okay…it’ll be here when I have the time for it.

PIRATE ISLAND Event Pictures and News

September 26, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

It’s been a whirlwind this past week with two book events (plus all the usual shenanigans that go on around here with the kiddos and such)! The PIRATE ISLAND One City, One Story event at the library was so much fun. I always enjoy talking about Charles Island, the real island that inspired Pirate Island, and the legends of Captain William Kidd’s lost pirate treasure that may be buried there.

Since I’ve talked about this topic at the library once before I hit some of the old favorite facts and legends but also mixed in some new ones. Then we had cookies, a writing prompt, and pictures…lots of pictures. A photographer from the Connecticut Post stopped by and took a bunch of pictures and put a nice little write up about the event in the newspaper with a slideshow. The librarian also set up the green screen and the kids hammed it up.

Then on Saturday I was at the Milford Barnes & Noble signing books and helping raise funds for the Friends of the Milford Public Library. You can shop online at BN.com/bookfairs through Friday, September 28 with bookfair code 12394516 to help out the Friends! If you’re local, the are probably still some signed copies of PIRATE ISLAND at the bookstore as well.

I’ve got one more event coming up on Saturday, October 13 at the Norwalk Public Library for their Indie Author Day. They don’t have a lot of details listed on their website yet, but I can tell you that it’s an all day event with a ton of authors of all age groups and genres. I’ll be reading in the Children’s Room in the morning and selling copies of PIRATE ISLAND and ELIXIR BOUND (with the new cover!) all day. And hopefully catching up with a few of my author friends that I think are going.

I’ve been slowly but steadily pecking away at the second Elixir book, ELIXIR SAVED. I’ve finally passed that muddy middle and have tipped over into the second half with THE END in sight! I’m hoping to have a good draft done by the end of the year to send out to beta readers for feedback. This in anticipation of releasing it some time next year!!!

My reading goals have been going well this year. I actually bumped up my number goal recently, and I feel like I’ve been doing well mixing in lots of books from underrepresented communities and indie authors as well. So what have you all been up to? Reading, writing, and otherwise?

Summer Writing Update: Elixirs, Witches, and Pirates!

June 21, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

The kids have been out of school for a week and summer break is in full swing here! We’ve made out lists of activities we’d like to do and places we’d like to go this summer. Some we’ve already done or have planned (like going to the zoo and strawberry picking), while others are probably not going to happen this year (like visit NASCAR’s Hall of Fame).

As for my writing, I’ve got a couple of things going on. I’m working on getting my YA fantasy Elixir Bound with the new cover back up for sale. Right now you can get the ebook of Elixir Bound from Amazon and that’s it. I’ll post when I get it up in paperback and on ebook for the other vendors. Plus, I finally created a book trailer for it, which was a lot of fun. It was nice to work a different set of creative muscles for it. (The map it features is part of the map of the Great Peninsula, which can be seen in full in the new version of Elixir Bound.)

I’ve been on something of a roll with drafting the companion novel Elixir Saved. I’ve been drafting this novel for years…yes, I said years! So long, in fact, that I’ve been calling it my perpetual WIP (work-in-progress). But I think I’m finally crested the murky middle section and can see the far side of the hill. I’m hoping to keep that momentum going over the summer and get it ready for beta readers before the end of the year. I’d like to publish this one some time next year (fingers crossed!).

Research for my next middle grade book has been going well. I’ve been doing a bunch of reading about the witch trials that took place in Connecticut (mostly before the more famous Salem Witch Trials) and what colonial Connecticut was like. I checked out a local history book from the library and mentioned it to my dad because he’s a history nerd. He was like, “Is that the book where I helped write and edit the updated history in the 1980s?” Turns out it was! And my grandfather, who was there when I mentioned it to my dad, was like, “My father, your great-grandfather, helped with the version that was written in the 1930s.” So that was an interesting serendipitous moment.

The witchy middle grade book–which in my mind is pitched as Mean Girls meets The Crucible–doesn’t take place in history, but it will be a contemporary middle grade that delves into history and ties it to the present, much like Pirate Island does with Captain Kidd’s history being woven into Billy’s story in the present day. I hope to start drafting this story soon, but I need to focus on Elixir for now.

Speaking of Pirate Island, the ebook is on sale for $1.99 for a limited time, so scoop that up if you haven’t already (links for Pirate Island on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo). I’ve also got an exciting announcement coming up for Pirate Island once my local library makes it public…just to give you a little teaser there. 😉

And I always have stuff I’m waiting to hear back about, so there’s always the potential for good news (or devastating rejections!). Thus is the nature of the publishing biz.

Anyway, I’m excited for the summer weather and hanging out with the boys and family day trips. And a certain writer/mama’s birthday is coming a few days before a certain gentleman’s first birthday. Oh, and I’ll be going to the big SCBWI conference in L.A. this summer. I’m so excited (I won the trip, so the airfare, hotel, and conference fee were paid for!), but super nervous about leaving the baby. I keep telling myself it’ll be fine. Busy times, busy times.

What are your summer plans?

ELIXIR BOUND Is Getting a Makeover

May 28, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

It’s finally time to reveal the big ELIXIR BOUND news that I’ve been teasing about for the past few weeks: it’s getting a makeover! Susan Tait Porcaro, the super talented illustrator behind the PIRATE ISLAND cover, created a brand-new cover for my YA fantasy ELIXIR BOUND! (Check out her website http://susantaitporcaro.com/ to fall in love with all her work.)

I truly loved the old cover, but this one with the bottle and vines and the forest is exactly what I wanted for the new cover (scroll down to see the full paperback cover below). It conveys the magic and atmosphere of ELIXIR BOUND perfectly. And when ELIXIR SAVED, a companion novel, comes out (I think I’m going to actually pull off having it ready for a 2019 release!), it will have a cover with a similar feel.

So what does it mean when a book gets a new cover? Well, for those of you who already have the old version, it’s still the same book inside, so that’s not gonna change. For anyone who decides to get the new version, it will include a map of the Great Peninsula and an expanded blurb.

Katora Kase isn’t the firstborn son nor does she possess the type of magic that can conjure spells or bewitch others.

In the land of the Great Peninsula—an epic fantasy world ruled by the Great Mother Nature and her offspring—those things aren’t a measure of one’s worth. And what Katora does possess is the subtle magic running through her blood that marks her as the next guardian of a secret healing Elixir that is her family’s legacy. It is such a highly guarded secret that Katora doesn’t know of its existence until a rare snowstorm blows through with a message for her father, the current guardian.

Katora sets off on a quest into the wilds of Faway Forest to find the flowers that give the Elixir its potency. Even though she is accompanied by her sister, her brother, an old family friend, and the handsome son of a mapmaker, she feels alone. For it is her decision alone whether or not to bind herself to the Elixir’s magic to serve and protect it until a new guardian is chosen. The forest hosts many dangers, including wicked beings that will stop at nothing to gain power, but the biggest danger Katora may face is whether or not to open up her heart to love.

The new cover also means that ELIXIR BOUND isn’t currently available for purchase, but I’ll update you all once it’s back up for sale. (FYI, I still have a few paperbacks of the old cover kicking around, so it you really wanted that version, email me at katielcarroll(at)yahoo(dot)com (replace the “(at)” with “@” and the “(dot)” with “.”) and we’ll work something out.

The best places to get the latest information about me and my books is to subscribe to the blog over on the sidebar there (mobile users, scroll all the way down and click on Desktop to view the sidebar) or follow me on Facebook and Twitter (@KatieLCarroll). Here’s the full paperback version of the cover!