If I Die Young Cover

As I've been saying, Streetlight Graphics did the cover for my fourth book, The Ultimate Sacrifice. When I saw the amazing job they did, I asked them to also do the cover for my third book, If I Die Young. Since If I Die Young is coming out soon... hopefully within the next 1-2 weeks, I wanted to release the cover.

If I Die Young is about a 16-year-old who needs a heart transplant. Official blurb to come :)

Without further ado...

Two New Tabs

Two new tabs have appeared at the top of this page. If I Die Young and The Ultimate Sacrifice. Those are the next two books I'll be releasing, so I figured I better get started on promoting them.

I'll focus on If I Die Young because that one will be first. If I Die Young is about a 16-year-old girl who needs a heart transplant. I hope to share my blurb this weekend and some information about where the story takes place. Streetlight Graphics is working on the cover for this book, so that will be revealed very soon.

Many of you know that my fourth book, The Ultimate Sacrifice, is my first YA paranormal. It's been a very exciting and scary time for me. I hope that my readers like it as much as my YA dramas. The book is almost ready to be sent to some people for review, here's hoping they enjoy it!

Book Cover

I am very excited about my paranormal book cover. I hired Streetlight Graphics to do it for me and it is amazing! I absolutely love it and I hope my readers do too. He did SO good, that I have hired him to do all of my other covers. I can't wait to see what he comes up with.

Up and Down

The beginning of April started out good. I had a good number of sales. But, the second part of April hasn't been so good. Maybe it's spring break? Maybe people are busy with Easter? It's definitely been slower. I'm okay with that though. I know it's a roller-coaster ride.

It wouldn't be so bad if I could break my habit of checking KDP or Pubit 3-4 times a day. I'm obsessed with clicking on the link to see if any more sales popped up. It's hard to stay away from that, when I'm already on the computer writing, editing, or promoting. It's sooooo easy to just open another tab and click on the bookmark.

Sigh.

I'm trying to focus on editing the rest of my 4th book. I might have another scene or two to add before sending it off for reviews. FOCUS - Talia - FOCUS!

Sneak Peek

Have you ever wondered what goes on at the school hidden in the mountains?

This Week in Talia News

Here is the second edition of my weekly update.

Sales were slow this past week, but the books are still selling, so I can't complain too much.

My two books were listed on Breakthrough Bookstore website.

Damaged: Natalie's Story was featured on Adventures in Writing.

I'm waiting to hear from one more person reviewing my 3rd book. I think I settled on a title. Well, it's in between 2. Problem is one is an old movie and one is a newer song. I also got the blurb written.

I finished my first edit on my 4th book. I also wrote the blurb and found a title! Then I submitted it all to the cover artist!! Very excited about this one. My oldest daughter read it and loved it. So, I'm hoping other people will too. I hope to get it sent out to my reviewers by the end of the weekend.

This Week in Talia News

I'm going to try to keep a weekly update of how things are going. So, here is the first edition of 'This Week in Talia News'.

I was interviewed on two blogs:

Adventures In Writing

David Cleinman's Works and Writings

The article I was interviewed for in a local publication came out - however, there were a lot of spelling and grammar errors in the article. I'm worried that people will think that's how I write.

I received a good review for Damaged: Natalie's Story on Goodreads. I love it when I get good reviews. I love seeing that people are enjoying my books.

I finished the second draft of my third book and sent it to a couple people to read and review.

Next week's goal: I haven't decided for sure. If the reviews come in quickly, I'll get to work on them. If not, I'll do the first edit on my fourth book. Lots of promoting - I slacked a little the past two weeks trying to finish a couple of things.

Happy Endings

I am one of those people who loves a happy ending. I recently had a few people tell me they don't like happy endings in books because it's not what happens in real life.

Yes, well, we are talking about fiction books and not real life. Which kind of makes me contradict myself. Here I am, writing 'real life' stories and I like giving my characters happy endings. Hmmm.

I don't know what it is, but when I come to the end of reading a book, I want closure. Now, I know this isn't possible in series, lots of them will leave you hanging. But, many books can be closed properly. I like to know what happens.

My first two books have endings that show what happens in the future. That is what those characters needed.

My third book will not have the same kind of ending. But, it is still a 'closure' type of ending.

My fourth book, I think I'll leave open. It will have enough closure for my liking, but will leave it open for a sequel or for reader's minds to wander.

I'm not sure what I'll do after that. I think each character needs their story told until they are happy. Whether it's leaving it open or having an epilogue of some sort. I'm just the writer. The characters are the ones in charge.

What do you think about endings? Should the end of a book have closure? What about happy endings? Should we not write them because they don't always happen in real life?

Author Interview

Time for another author interview. Find out more about me here:

David Cleinman's Works and Writings

Questions for Writers #4

Last week, I asked whether you like it noisy or quiet when you write. Many of you said you listen to some sort of music. So, here's the next question:

Do you have a playlist for your books? How many songs are on it? Do they fit the story? Or are they songs you enjoyed while writing? Do you post the playlist somewhere?

I do have a playlist for my books. Sometimes it's only one or two songs, and other times it's many more. Mostly, they are songs I think fit the characters or the story line, but sometimes it's just a song that I think these characters would like.

Featured Author

I'm being featured on a blog today! The Cozy Corner Reading Room has samples of my books and an interview. Please check it out!

Book #4

Tonight, I feel on top of the world! I finished the first draft of my fourth book. I began writing it March 11, 2011. So, it took less than a month to complete. I'm very excited about this book - and a little worried. It's my first paranormal story making it new territory for me.

I'm not ready to go into details yet, other than to say it's not about vampires or werewolves. It's about teens with 'gifts'.

Right now, I'm setting it aside. I'm going to go back to my third book which needs some editing. I had a few people read it and tell me what they thought. Now, I'll be taking their opinions and going back through it. After the edit, I'll send it back out to these people to see how they like the new version. Then another edit and I hope to get it out for summer.

Once that it is done, I'll go back to this book and do my first edit on it. I'm very hopeful that I will have this one released by the end of the year.

And... I already have book five in my head - and a little on paper. I had to write down some things, the character kept yelling in my head : )

Questions for Writers #3

Do you like it quiet when you write? Or do you like some sort of background noise? TV? Music? Can you write when there are people around talking? Tell me about your writing environment.

Me? I "can" write anywhere. I prefer to write when I can hear myself think, however, 99% of the time I need some background noise. Sometimes it's the TV, but most of the time it's music. Music helps my creative juices flow. Writing when the kids are fighting or whining doesn't go well at all. If I'm writing when that is going on, I have to stop.