Preview: INTERIM by S Walden

Hi all, today I'm happy to host a blog tour featuring S. Walden's New Adult thriller: Interim. It releases April 14th, 2015.

Here's the blurb:

High school seniors Jeremy Stahl and Regan Walters aren’t friends. Not even close. He’s a picked-on, picked-apart loser outcast. She’s a cool kid running with the popular crowd. It’s unlikely they’d ever speak to one another. Too bad he’s madly in love with her. But what does it matter, anyway? He’s got no time for love. Only revenge.

Meticulously detailed in the pages of his battered red notebook is his master plan: April 14, 9:30 A.M., two guns, eighty rounds of ammo, backup knives, eleven victims. He’s finally ready to answer every single taunt, jeer, and flying fist—unwarranted abuse that’s spanned six years of his lonely life. He’s justified. He’s ready. But he never readied himself for her.

Regan finds his journal. She reads it, and when he discovers her intrusion, he has to switch tactics. She’s a liability now.

Better fix that.

Sounds tense, right? You can pre order here: Amazon | Smashwords or add to Goodreads

Here's the cover:

And a teaser:

Who was he? What was his purpose? He knew it once. Once, a long time ago, he decided to be a hero. He decided to avenge himself and all the other kids who were helpless against abuse. Once, a long time ago, he learned the difference between justice and mercy. He learned when justice was required. He learned when mercy was allowed. Once, a long time ago, he faced himself in the mirror and saw a stranger—a better boy than he could ever be. A boy with a mission. A boy with convictions. And he reached out to take hold of that boy, through the looking-glass, falling into a wonderland where righteousness ruled supreme and evil was destroyed with the pop pop! of a gun. The world made sense to him. Then.


Sounds like a dark thriller with lots of suspense and emotion. Interim releases April 15, 2015 so preorder here: Amazon | Smashwords or add to Goodreads


About the author:

S. Walden used to teach English before making the best decision of her life by becoming a full-time writer. She lives in Georgia with her very supportive husband who prefers physics textbooks over fiction and has a difficult time understanding why her characters must have personality flaws. She is wary of small children, so she has a Westie instead. She is the USA Today bestselling author of Going Under. When she's not writing, she's thinking about it.

For more info on S Walden find her here:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

February 2015 Month in Review

**Recapping my monthly progress serves two purposes: first, it keeps me honest and accountable to my goals; second, it allows me to truly capture just how much work I’ve done over the last year. So let the recapping begin!**

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I love February. Not because of the weather (ugh, winter) and not because of Valentine’s Day (or the post Valentine’s Day chocolate sale- although, yum). I love February because it’s my birthday month!! Woot woot.

I had a birthday and celebrated with my friends and family. Here’s a pic of my so-fabulous-I-must-document-it birthday hair.

Oh, and don’t you just love my super nerdy glasses. I love having them around to help out when I’m reading. So far I use them more at the Day Job than at home. But they are helping.

And of course I celebrated Valentine’s Day with Handsome Jack. We had a nice homemade date night. Dinner in and movies from redbox. We do romance right ;)

I even spent some time crafting, thanks to Pinterest. I got a fever, and the only prescription is more mason jars. Check out this thing I made (with the help of Handsome Jack of course).

On the Manuscript side, February saw another MSWL (Manuscript Wish List). I love love love MSWL. Don’t know about it? It’s where agents and acquiring editors post about what they are looking for in subs. It is so fun to see what is piquing the interests of agents and editors – not to mention inspiring. Also, if you are preparing to query a project it is a must. You can flip through older MSWL’s on this site. Go check it out.

Perhaps the most exciting/strange/scary part of the month was when I actually went to my future law school and sat in on a class. I felt a bit like Elle Woods in Legally Blonde when all the students took out their laptops and books and I had nothing.

But sitting in on class was ah-mazing!! I was hoping to sit through two classes (Civ Pro and Contracts) but Civ Pro was cancelled. Instead, I got to hang out with a really real 1L Contracts class. I was riveted.

With all this going on it might be hard to imagine I was able to get any goal related work in – but I did. Here are the details for February 2015:

1 Awesome Amazing Birthday dinner (with Margs)
1 Adorable Valentines night in (with yummy, homemade food)
1 Law school visit complete with classroom observation
11 gym workouts (including elliptical/treadmill and personal training)
1 complete revision done on my Romance draft. Now on to structural edits. See how I tackle edits in this post.
2 novels read for fun (and there are a few more burning up my Kindle I’m dying to start)

And on top of all of that I still had words. *does happy dance* This month’s grand total is 5,219 words. This brings my total ‘tracked’ word count for 2015 to 12,764! Not too shabby. I still feel like I’m off to a good start. (note: I gave up on tracking ever word during revisions - it as madness. Now I only track if I have net gain).

And as for miles, this month’s grand total is 21.4 miles, bringing my total ‘tracked’ mileage to 95.7 miles. I don't have any races on the schedule for the rest of this year. Not sure where running will take me in 2015 but I'm running anyway.

All in all, February was fun and over way too soon. I’m still feeling good about my start to 2015. #NeverGiveUp #NeverSurrender

How are your writing goals coming along?

TBT: Taking Criticism Gracefully Can Make You a Better Writer

I recently blogged about how I tackle revisions to a MS. But a large part of surviving the crit process has to do with skin. As in thick skin. And having it. Because having thick skin is a necessity in the book biz. In fact, it’s a necessity in a lot of businesses.

I wrote today's TBT post back when I struggling to commit 100% to my Day Job. I wanted to throw myself into my writing and never turn back. But Handsome Jack and I needed money (and still do - you know, for bills and food and stuff). So I had to keep working. At first, keeping the Day Job felt like a waste of time. I could be learning and growing as a writer instead of toiling away as a paper pusher. To make my job more bearable I started looking for connections between my Day Job and my writing career. Essentially, I was looking for ways to grow as a writer while maintaining a traditional 9 to 5. What I found was there are many lessons we learn every day, just through everyday life, that can make us a better story teller and a better writing professional.

For today's TBT I'm sharing How The Day Job Can Make You A Better Writer: Taking Criticism.

Enjoy!

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Criticism is a valuable part of the writing-publication journey. In this business there is no end to criticism one receives and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Criticism makes us stronger and forces us to grow. Perhaps one of the most humbling and important lessons I learned was how to take criticism gracefully.

Listening to suggestions or negative feedback about your 80,000 word baby is hard. No - It’s FREAKING hard. But it’s essential to becoming a better writer.

This time of year at the Day Job (DJ) we are going through year-end reviews. A big formal way to receive criticism about your work. There are people who are better at this than others. Some bosses pack the year-end review with feedback you've never heard before. This type of criticism is a confidence grenade and can leave you in a million little pieces. Then there are the bosses who are totally upfront. You've heard from them all year about the things you need to work on and you know where you stand.

Luckily, with few recent exceptions, my DJ bosses have been in the latter group. I’m constantly receiving feedback about my work: Like when my boss tells me she hates how I handled the conference call, or my team tells me they think I could do a better job of communicating standards and goals, Or when my peers just flat out think I suck at my job. Receiving criticism can feel a lot like this:

Getting feedback isn’t enough. How you handle that feedback is what matters. That little elephant get's back up. So should you.

If you received difficult feedback at the DJ you would never dream of firing off an angry email to your boss telling them how wrong they are. Not if you expect to stay employed, anyway. When it comes to our DJ's we've learned to take criticism gracefully (even if that means going to an empty parking lot where no one from work can see you cry).

Experts at taking criticism gracefully seek the constructive in the negative. The goal is to learn from feedback (no matter how much the feedback hurts to hear).

In writing we have a ton of 'bosses' giving us constant feedback: Agents, Editors, CP's, and Readers. If we are going to grow we'll need to learn to turn criticism into improved craft.

I was reminded of this a few years ago when I won a crit for a super-awesome-famous-cooler-than-cool HarperTeen editor. I was thrilled and honored to have someone so knowledgeable reading my work.

The editor read my first 25 pages which included a prologue. (*cringes at use of prologue*) I know, I know. But I'd heard all the advice about 'hooking readers immediately' and 'opening with action' so I figured the best way to do that was with a prologue.

The HarperTeen editor said the prologue didn't work in my case. She agreed that it was action packed but stated the reader wouldn't give two flips about the characters or the action because they didn't know the characters. (I'm paraphrasing here because the super-awesome-famous-cooler-than-cool HarperTeen editor was professional, generous, nice and really sweet about the entire thing. The point is, the feedback, no matter how kind, can sting.)

By dropping the reader deep into the action without allowing them to invest in the characters my 'thrilling' scene was boring and tedious. The editor urged me to reconsider my opening and suggested I start with a normal day-in-the-life-of-the-MC. That way the reader could get to know my character.

I hated her idea. I was a little smug about it too (I'm ashamed to say). But I didn’t tell her that. I thanked the super-awesome-famous-cooler-than-cool HarperTeen editor and focused on all the feedback that really clicked with me.

I chewed on her feedback (aka criticism) for months. How am I supposed to hook my readers if the story opens with a normal boring day?

I ran through all the reasons why her idea was bad. Why my current opening was awesome. How I could never make her idea work in my narrative, yadda yadda yadda....until it hit me: the tiny pebble of truth (or in this case a giant boulder of truth). Her idea was AWESOME! It was just freaking hard and I didn't like that. Her idea challenged me and I didn't like that. It meant a huge rewrite of the first half of the book and I didn’t like that.

When I decided to try the editor's idea I was really pleased with the result. I even did a few happy dances:

Turns out it's possible to hook a reader even if the story opens with a 'normal' day.

It can take time to understand advice that, at first, seems like criticism. If you can master this you'll be successful at anything you set out to do. This is especially true in the wild world of writing where criticism is constant.

Good writers aren’t born, they're made. They train and work hard. They learn and grow. Take this time to thicken your skin and you'll be better for it. Just another way the DJ makes us better writers.

Have you learned to take criticism with grace? What helped you get a thicker skin? Share your stories here:

Want more on taking criticism? See Chuck’s ideas on getting the most out of a crit