Guest Post and Giveaway Loving Your Lies by Piper Shelly

Description:

Julian is drop-dead gorgeous, annoyingly provocative, and he's fast becoming her best friend. But he also has a secret that makes the little hairs on her arms stand on end...

My name is Jona Montiniere, and that’s pretty much the only good thing to say about me.

I’m seventeen, I’m snarky, and I’m a crap-load of trouble. Or so they say. But what did they expect from me really, when they dumped me in an orphanage at age five? That I’d grow up to become the new first lady? Nah, I think it’s much more fun to raid Camden Market in London with my friend, Debby. She’s cool. She lives on the street. I learned so much from her.

The only thing she missed to teach me was how to tend to a vineyard. And yeah, that’s what I’m going to do for the next 6 weeks, courtesy to this darn judge, who sent me off to France after I was caught stealing again. Fair enough, the vineyards are okay, and so are my aunt and uncle, who I haven’t met up ‘til now. What isn’t okay, and I mean it, is that I have to live in the same house with my mother, that god-awful dragon, who spurned when I was only a child. And now she wants me back? Demands my forgiveness? Why, because she’s about to die of cancer? Uh-uh. Sorry, but that’s not gonna happen. I want no contact with that woman, thanks.

But what’s Julian got to do with all of this? About my age, he’s too young to be my mother’s lover. So why doesn’t he leave her side? Ever. He’s different, as in the paranormal kind of different, but he’s sa-woon-worthy gorgeous. He obviously has secrets, but he’s also get-under-my-skin charming. In short, he’s a riddle to me. But he likes me, and that’s scaring the shit out of me. I sure won’t let anyone come too close.

So now I'm wondering only two things: How did he manage to hold me in his arms after only three days? And how the hell do you keep an angel earth bound?

GUEST POST

5 THINGS EVERY WRITER SHOULD KNOW

Hello everybody!

Today I’ll talk about the basics. Some things you might already know or have come across, others might be new to you. So, here we go…

1. Your first draft will not be published.

I’m not saying this because I want to demoralize you, I’m telling you this because it’s the truth. And you should be prepared. If you’re an aspiring writer, there are things you have to learn. And you can only learn during the process of writing. Start with an idea. Write what you like. Write it how you like it. But after you’ve finished that first draft, let it sit for a few days or maybe even a couple weeks or more.

When you get back to it then, you should have gained enough distance to your work that you can look at it with an objective mind. You’ll find that in some places you could have done a better job of describing something, that maybe the chemistry between two characters needs more work, or that you added stuff which isn’t really helpful for the plot or anything. If you’re lucky, you only have to do little revisions.

As for me, I rewrote my first book from scratch. ;-)

2. Writing is a full time job.

Never think that writing isn’t hard work. Even if you have a day job and only write in your spare time, you’ll find that, if you’re a committed writer, you’ll spend many more hours with your books than in your ‘real’ job.

I have a 4 hour day job as an accountant, and an additional 8 hour writing job. Now try to imagine how hard it is to squeeze in time with my family, or for housekeeping, or, oh my words, for friends.

And even if I only sit on my behind most of that time, I’m exhausted like hell at the end of each day. People often wound me up that I shouldn’t complain when I was only playing at the computer all day – which resembled doing nothing for them. But coming up with stories, being creative, working things out, making sense of stuff you write; it all is hard work. Brain work. Never underestimate that, and NEVER let anyone tell you that you’re actually doing nothing when you give millions of readers a good story to drown in.

3. You need help.

You’re not alone in this. And that’s good. No author can write a book without help. Since you work out all the details of your story in your mind, they are so clear to you that sometimes you forget to transfer them onto the page as well. That’s when a critique group comes in handy. They read your stuff, edit it, point out mistakes or vagueness. Take each single advice serious, but never stop to trust in yourself. If you’re unhappy with any changes they suggest, then just don’t take them. They are all here to help you with their opinions, not to make you write something you don’t like.

Of course, if you’re a more experienced writer, you won’t need as much help as a beginner, but still there’s the importance of a reliable critique partner, editors, proofreaders, etc. If you release a book, make sure it’s as polished as it can be.

4. You can’t please everyone.

That’s a hard lesson to learn. Whatever you write, there will always be those who love it, and those who hate it. In between you’ll find the occasional reader who doesn’t care.

But if you did your homework and wrote a really good story, don’t let bad reviews bring you down. Find out if there’s a point in what they say and make changes, but if it’s just about personal taste, don’t even waste a minute on being depressed because of it. It will happen. Time and again. Nothing can change it. So focus on the positive feedback you get and let that build your self-esteem.

5. Self-publishing isn’t as bad as some might try to make you believe.

A few years ago, the only chance an author had to publish his stories was with a traditional publishing house. Times have changed. The web made it easy for us writers to bring our stories to our readers. Faster and with more profit.

If you go the traditional way, you have to write a book, then query a literary agent and wait for a response for let’s say three months. You’ll probably be rejected, but if you’re lucky, you can send them your full manuscript and wait another six to eight months until you hear from them again. If they like your book, they’ll query a publisher. Response time? No idea, 4 to 6 months? And if a publishing house finally offers you a contract, there will pass another couple of years until your book is being released. Do the reckoning yourself and then compare it to this:

I write a book. I send it to an editor who returns it to me within two months. I do a final read-through and then release it. Job done. And I get 70% royalties instead of 6-10% a publisher grants me. Duh!

Some may think that self-published material is subprime work. That’s in no way true, because every author who takes his profession serious will do everything in his power to present the best possible work they can. They hire professional editors and proofreaders, who are just as qualified as those at AVON or SIMON & SHUSTER. Most often you can’t tell the difference between a self-published and a traditionally published book. So there’s only a plus side to this: Many, many more awesome stories are being released at the same time. :-)

Think about it!

Cheers,

 Piper

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About the author:

The quick-and-dirty:
I’m a cool girl with a passion for writing.
The genres you’ll find me hanging out at are contemporary and paranormal YA, but I’m also snooping into some adult paranormal right now. All of them romances…of course.
The nitty-gritty:
I’m an Austrian lass—totally uncomplicated and up to anything fun.
I grew up in Vienna, not by free will but because my parents decided to move there when I was only 4 years old. I. Hated. The. City. Everything about it. So right after graduation I moved back to Upper Austria, where I settled down with a nice husband and an awesome laptop.
I’ve been a storyteller all my life. Already in kindergarten, I came up with the most exotic fantasies and tales. My teacher would call me a liar. I call it the cornerstone of my writing career.
People always told me you can’t make a living with being an author. So when my first novella PLAY WITH ME came out and shot straight to the stars within the first week, I was totally dumbstruck. Took me a while to realize what was happening, LOL.
And the personal stuff:
At the (awesome) age of seventeen, I met the love of my life. But he was a playboy, and I was so not going to be his next trophy. It took him another four years of fighting for me until I finally decided to give that “couple-thing” with him a shot. I’m now married to this man. ;-)

We have an eleven-year-old son, and together we travel a lot…although I sometimes wish the trips were shorter because I can’t wait to get back to my laptop and my many stories. Unless we’re in Disneyland. No stress to go home then…

If you still want to know more about me, my FAQ page is the right address for you. ;-)

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