#FreebieFriday LOUDER THAN WORDS is free on Amazon Jan 23rd!

CLICK YOUR FLAG BELOW to go to Amazon for your country to download FREE!

Cybils award nomination and Thank yous and NaNoWriMo

First I need to hand out some "THANK YOUs" to everyone who lent a helping hand on Louder Than Words' release day blitz, participated in the blog tour, especially the hosts, tweeted or Facebooked about the release, and the biggest one of all--purchased, read and/or reviewed my book.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

If you enjoyed it, I hope you'll tell a friend and/or leave a review if you haven't already.  :)

Now, another huge THANK YOU to Slavandria (aka J Keller Ford), who was kind enough to nominate Louder Than Words for a Cybils Award in the Young Adult Fiction category.

Click to see nominees in Young Adult Fiction category

It's a huge list of fantastic books to be nominated beside and very humbling, but thrilling at the same time. The short list will be announced around January 1, 2015 and finalists on Valentine's Day.

Last, I'm working on Lizzy's story, but it got somewhat tangled up in my head, plot-wise, and is taking a little longer than I'd hoped. However, I'm working diligently on it for NaNoWriMo, which I'm happy to say I'm on track, so far, to win for the sixth consecutive year!

Cheers!

Happy Book Birthday to LOUDER THAN WORDS!

It's here! It's finally here!

I have a Blog Tour schedule for my upcoming release, Louder Than Words!

Woo hoo! I'm so thrilled and thankful to see how many bloggers signed up for my blog tour. I worried nobody would other than my Pen sisters and a few faithful beta readers and friends.

The tour is organized by YA Bound Book Tours and here is the line-up as of September 13th (always subject to change):

Blog Tour Schedule:

September 16:

Reader Girls - Review
Worth Reading It? - Review
Underneath the Covers - Review
Katie's Book Blog - Review

September 17:

Once Upon a Twilight - Promo Post
Fic Central - Review
Katie's Stories - Promo Post
Pieces of Whimsy - Spotlight
Kelly P's Blog - Promo Post
Let Me Be Fictional - Promo Post

September 18:

Curling Up With A Good Book - http://curling-up-with-a-good-book.blogspot.com/ - Promo Post

The Book Harbor Reviews - http://thebookharborblog.blogspot.com/ - Review

Keely Brooke Keith - www.keelybrookekeith.com - Guest Post

Amiabooklover - http://www.amiabooklover.blogspot.com - Promo Post

Bitches n Prose  - www.bitchesnprose.blogspot.com - Review

September 19:

♥The Romance Vault♥ - www.theromancevault.com - Review

Between fantasy and reality - http://booklalaland.blogspot.com/ - Review

Girl With a Pen and a Dream - http://girlwithapenandadream.blogspot.com - Promo Post

I'm Shelf-ish - http://www.imshelfish.com – Review

Reading Is Dreaming with Open Eyes - http://www.reading-is-dreaming-with-open-eyes.blogspot.hu/ - Review

Paradise of pages - Www.paradiseofpages.com - Review
The Book Tower - http://the-book-tower.blogspot.co.uk/ - Promo Post

September 22:

Karen Blue Reviews  - http://reviews.hedovibes.com - Review

Lost in Literature - http://lostinlit.com - Review

Margay Leah Justice - http://margayleahjustice.blogspot.com - Promo Post

Read Write All The Time - http://saptarshiprachi-alltimebookreader.blogspot.com/ - Review

The Library Mistress - www.librarymistress.com - Promo Post

September 23:

Books and Starlight - http://daysofbooksandstarlight.blogspot.com/ - Promo Post

Big Book Little Book  - http://www.bigbooklittlebook.com - Review

Her Book Thoughts! - http://herbookthoughts.reads-it.com – Review

Sheryl Winters - www.sherylwinters.wordpress.com - Promo Post
Bibliolatry Me - https://bibliolatryme.com - Review

September 24:

Donnie Darko Girl - http://donniedarkogirl.blogspot.com - Review
The Book Harbor Reviews - http://thebookharborblog.blogspot.com/ - Review

Cheekypee reads and reviews - http://cheekypeereadsandreviews.blogspot.co.uk/ - Review

My Book Addiction - http://mybookaddiction.com – Review

Confessions of a Bookaholic  - http://www.confessionsofabookaholic.com - Review
YA, YA, and More YA – www.yayaandmoreya.wordpress.com – Review

September 25:

Shout with Emaginette - https://emaginette.wordpress.com - Promo Post

Little Whimsy Books - http://littlewhimsybooks.tk - Review

The Phantom Paragrapher - www.thephantomparagrapher.blogspot.com - Review

The Book Cookies - http://thebookcookies.blogspot.com - Review

Book Butterfly in Dreamland - http://purpleshadowhunter.blogspot.com/ - Review

My Devotional Thoughts - http://mydevotionalthoughts.net – Review

Confessions of a Book Geek - http://www.confessionsofabookgeek.wordpress.com - Review

September 26:

The Book Tower - http://the-book-tower.blogspot.co.uk/ - Promo Post

Adventures in Writing - http://thhernandez.com – Review

The Lovely Books - Http://thelovelybooksbookblog.blogspot.com - Review

Sizzling Hot YA Books - HTTPS://Sizzlinghotyabooks.com - Promo Post


In addition to the stops above, I'll be visiting with a few other blogs, mostly dear friends who have promised me space with only a little arm-twisting:

My Teen Me (September 15)
J Keller Ford - Guest Post (September 17)
Joyce Mangola - Guest Post (September 18)
Terri Rochenski (tbd)
Jocelyn Adams (September 22)
Julie Reece (September 23)
Amaleen Ison (tbd)


Watch for the release day blitz on September 16th!! Almost here!

Louder Than Words Available for Pre-Order on Amazon...and a book trailer!

So I made this book trailer thingy. It's short, barely a minute, and not very many words to read.



And if you want to pre-order the book, you can! Here:

Cheers my lovelies!

Louder Than Words...wait for it...sparkly cover reveal

Shhh...



What's it about?

Here's the blurb from Goodreads:

Disappointment has been on speed dial in Ellen Grayson's life lately. Her dad's dead, her mom is numbing the grief with drugs and alcohol, and her so-called friends are slowly abandoning her. Trusting a popular teacher with her troubles should have been safe, shouldn't have led to an unwelcome seduction attempt, shouldn't have sent her running to the girls' bathroom for the final moments of her Junior year. Lesson learned. Best to keep all the sordid details of her life to herself.

Enter Rex Jacobi, a cocky teen recently transplanted from New York and fellow summer camp employee. Though his quick wit and confidence draws her in, she's not letting him get too close, not til she's sure she can trust him. By the time Rex's charming persistence wears down her resistance, it's too late. He's put Ellen on the perma-pal shelf and shifted his romantic attentions to her arch-rival. Even worse, the teacher who tried to seduce her is still misbehaving with impunity.

With her ability to trust as shaky as a chastity vow on prom night, Ellen must decide if she has enough remaining courage to speak up about her teacher and risk retribution, to tell Rex how she feels and risk heartbreak, or hold all her secrets inside, the only safe place she knows.

Wanna add it to your Goodreads shelf? You know you do....

Thank you! :)

Louder Than Words getting Louder!

My debut novel, Louder Than Words, has a cover reveal date and a release date!

On July 30th, I'll finally be able to reveal the cover.

On September 16th the book releases in ebook format from publisher Swoon Romance.

Soon, soon...

See you again (I hope) on the 30th!

In the meantime, here's a Louder Than Words playlist from Spotify I made:

Are you a Brave Girl?

I saw this on Facebook and had to Like them and borrow their graphic. It really reminds me a lot of the heroine of Louder Than Words, Ellen.

Louder Than Words to be PUBLISHED!!

Finally, finally, I can announce:

Yes...I've found a home for Louder Than Words with Swoon Romance, a digital first imprint / sister company of Month9Books. I am so very excited to be a part of the Swoon Romance family. I have read several of their books because I already knew and loved the authors. I also love Swoon's upbeat covers, so perfect for young adult books.

Estimated publish date is September 2014.

I can't wait to share this book with the world.

I can't wait to make my official debut as Iris St. Clair!

Life is good.

Remember:  Never. Ever. Give. Up.

My Love / Hate Affair with Rain

I live in the Pacific Northwest. Yes, it rains here. It rains a lot. While our total rainfall accumulation is not the highest in the nation, it's the constancy that gets to most people. Fall and Winter are gray and cloudy most of the time. Rain, when it falls, comes down like a Chinese water torture--slow and steady and unending.

How could I not cast rain in my stories set in this part of the country?

Answer? Impossible.

Louder Than Words was my second story set in my own backyard. Rain is mentioned at least eighteen times by my own rough Word search count.

Rain represents limitations--either self-imposed or real. It presents the challenge of action over attitude and resignation.

In pondering the instances I found, some of the story's most important turning points occurred during the rainfall--moments of clarity, of hope.

I love that.

As much as we dread our dismal rainy days here, we also know they bring fresh beginnings.

So, on the eve of December as I write this and the skies out my window are a melange of grays and white, the ground still wet from the early morning rain, I too hope I'm at a turning point in this writing business.

We'll see. In the meantime, I'd best get back to my 2013 NaNoWriMo novel set in--where else--the Pacific Northwest.

I'm Editing!!

Finally. Louder Than Words will soon be ready for a new round of beta reads. I've slashed and burned this puppy from its original 105k words to 95k and now to just over 83k. Just have to neatly stitch up all the seams and cauterize any bleeders.

Then query time. Gulp!