Emily Rachelle Writes

Today, it's just me, lovely readers. I'd like to discuss several upcoming changes in 2014. I couldn't for the life of me come up with a unique title, so I figured movie quotes are always a safe bet! (To those of you wondering, it's the tag line from Meet the Robinsons .) My shiny new Facebook cover banner! First order of business:  Sixteen's big day is rapidly approaching! Woohoo! I can't wait to get this book out into the world. I know most books undergo severe change before release to the world, but honestly, it feels like this final version of Sixteen isn't even the same book I still have saved from first-draft-days. Even beta readers will be surprised to find no less than three whole new scenes. I love this book-baby of mine, and I can't wait to introduce you all! Second matter to discuss: To celebrate my debut, sixteen wonderful blogger-friends will be hosting me on a tour! I've hosted plenty of tours, interviews, and gues...

Who or what has had the most influence on you as a writer? Well, that's a hard one. I guess I'd have to say my values and the love that I have for a good story greatly influenced the way that the first trilogy of mine, The Bandit Trilogy , came/is coming out. Though, for my entire writing career, poetry included, my family has been the major factor of how I am as a writer. Do you base events or people in your books off of your life, or your friends' and family's lives? Well, there is the huge antagonist that ends up murdering -- I mean, haha, no. In all reality, I use quirks of people, or tiny fragments of events to incorporate in my novel, but not enough to see, and especially not enough to point the finger at for "tarnishing someone's reputation." That had always been a huge fear of mine, so, I rather not. What was the biggest obstacle to getting published for the first time, and how did you overcome it? Now that question right there brings back p...

Tell us a little about yourself first. I am a young lady who loves to read -- and write. I have won multiple competitions for my writing with "Nextgen Writers" and placed first in some writing contests with the "Go Teen Writers" blog and am a proud member of ACFW. I live in Missouri where I attend high school, act in community theatre, eat donuts, and read every Inspirational Historical Romance I can get my hands on. I am proud to say that my first novel was professionally published while I was only sixteen years old. What do you do when you're not writing? When I’m not writing, you can usually catch me reading, cross stitching, or working on memorizing the lines for the next play I’m in.

Happy Blogiversary! from Cidney Swanson Upon the anniversary of a blog, it seems appropriate to consider mile-markers, so today I thought I’d take give you a tour of some Marsian mile markers for people in my Saving Mars Series. For those of us in late twentieth and early twenty-first century Earth growing up in America, a few early milestones might include losing your first tooth, learning to read, and, if your family celebrates Christmas, figuring out Santa Claus isn’t the one filling your stockings. Kids on Mars have these same experiences, although on Mars, Santa is understood to travel by planet hopper as the atmo would pretty much kill any flying reindeer. A kid growing up in the USA would add middle school graduation and getting a learner’s permit to operate a car to their tween/early teen experiences. Kids on Mars have it a little different. They don’t observe eighth grade graduation as the school system only includes six annums of school. Now, before everyone on ...

Striking Mars  by Cidney Swanson Book Five in the Savings Mars series Amazon Page GoodReads Page Author Website My Review of  Saving Mars  (book one) My Review of Mars Burning  (book four) Amazon Summary: Fleeing for their lives, Jess and Pavel make it to the Moon, narrowly avoiding the attack on Space Station 92-AE. They should be safe and happy, but they discover they are not alone on Tranquility Base. The stranger they encounter seems uniquely qualified to leak their presence to Chancellor Lucca Brezhnaya, especially when the Marsians contemplate airing Lucca's political dirty laundry. But Lucca has already shown she would destroy worlds rather than see her secrets exposed. My Thoughts: Many of my blog and review readers are well aware by now that Cidney Swanson is my favorite author. Once again, she does not disappoint.

How to Care for Your Writer for Dummies by Natalie Noel Truitt Have a writer in your life? No idea how to understand them? Looking for ways to bond with your writer? Well, here are seven ways to make your writer's -- and consequently your -- life easier. Seven easy steps to caring for one of the most confusing organisms on earth: writers. Step one: Give your writer time to write. This point is crucial. If your writer doesn’t ever get to write, your writer will shut down (see step number five on how to deal with your writer if they shut down). For most writers, working with their characters is equally -- if not more -- important than social interaction. Step two: Realize that if your writer talks about their character (or to their character) as if they are real, they are not crazy  -- well, not very crazy. Your writer is fully away that this is a figment of their imagination. But at the same time, the writer may develop strong feelings for this character and may talk about it...

Curing the Tendency to Dump by Victoria Grace Howell Every writer of fiction and maybe even some non-fiction have had the problem with dumping. It’s a very common beginning writer problem. So what exactly is dumping?  Dumping is when you over-explain and over-describe in your writing to the point it stops your story. This happens often in the beginning of your story -- especially with fantasy writers. You created this big world, so now you want to describe your amazing scenery and tell about that background of the royal family that dates back two thousand years. Well, the thing is, this gets really annoying when you’re reading. Let me give you an example.

Good morning, my lovely readers! How's life after Christmas break? I'm struggling to get back into schedule, too. Anyway, we've had so many wonderful guests for interviews this year - from indie authors to traditional authors to a future Olympist. I thought perhaps some of you who missed the last two parties might enjoy going back in time today and seeing guests of parties past. Our first year of partying, 2011, focused more on guest posts. We did, however, host three interviews: Marc Franco , author of indie bestseller Catching Santa Cidney Swanson , now my favorite author and an Amazon bestseller of YA speculative fiction And the really big deal:  Robin Jones Gunn , arguably the best writer of Christian YA ever (although Melody Carlson comes really close)

Tell us a little about yourself first. I am 21 years old and I have written four novels over the last ten years. I attended college in Pittsburgh, PA, and I am a coffee-holic. My latest YA science-fiction novel, Embassy , is being released on January 14, 2014, through Amazon and other major retailers. Who or what has had the most influence on you as a writer? I’d have to say Christopher Paolini, who wrote the Inheritance Cycle, had the most influence on me. He’s the reason I started writing when I was eleven years old, and his personal story really shows that you can create your dream as long as you work hard and stay active with it. Do you base events or people in your books off of your life, or your friends' and family's lives? Embassy didn’t start out as the emotional story that it is today. It was much more plot-driven rather than character-driven, but it changed as I realized the story I wanted to tell. In some ways, it reflects the change I’ve undergone between J...

Treasures by Elizabeth Liberty I hate winter. I love winter. I've hated winter for a long time. And ever since I've had a camera, I have watched for the little glow above the shade in my bedroom that means it snowed last night. And then I would vault up, rush through my chores, gulp a little breakfast, loop my camera round my wrist or neck, and stared out the back door at the lovely, hateful snow. I don't remember when I stopped playing in the snow. I just know that one year it became very cold, and nastily wet, and not worth the trouble. I suppose that was the year I grew up. I can't pinpoint the first moment I lifted my numb foot out of the snow, shook the ice out of my sock, and thought this is not worth it. I just...did. That is, until the camera.

I'm Kat Zhang, author of the Hybrid Chronicles! Currently, Books One and Two ( What's Left of Me and Once We Were ) are out. Book Three, Echoes of Us , will release this fall. I like thunderstorms (when I'm not in them!) and hate the cold, which is probably why I live in the South ;) How long have you been writing? I started fiddling around with writing poetry when I was really young, like seven or so. I'd gotten this book of children's poetry and got really enamored with it. I used to sit and read them aloud to myself constantly. I was about eleven when I started getting into writing stories, and twelve, I think, when I started my first novel ("started" being the imperative word--never finished it!). I began What's Left of Me during my senior year of high school, and wrote the series all through college. So writing has always been a big part of growing up, for me.

Once upon a time, preteen Emily found out her good friend from her homeschool group had discovered a cool winter sport. Despite her friend's disbelief, Emily was firmly convinced the girl would be in the Olympics one day. Fast-forward several years, and Hannah Miller, slider extraordinaire , is raising money to train internationally - and, yes, be in future winter Olympics! Commence the insane squealing! I totally called this. Anyway, to help Hannah get the word out about her unique sport and her fundraising needs, I invited her to hang out with us today. I just know you're going to love her, my lovely readers. For starters, tell us a little about yourself.   Well, I suppose I'll start out with saying that my name is Hannah Miller. I'm sixteen years old and have been homeschooled since first grade. Besides luge, I like to spend my time reading and staying fit while spending time with my family. As you'll read on through this, you'll learn that I'v...

Because a dreamy chocolate cake recipe is exactly what we need to complement all those lose-weight resolutions... Deep Dark Chocolate Cake  by Stephanie Kehr - Ingredients -  2 cups of sugar 1 3/4 cups of flour 3/4 cup cocoa 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs 1 cup milk 1/2 cup vegetable oil 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup boiling water buttercream frosting (see recipe below) - Instructions - 1. Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans or one 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. 2. In large mixer bowl, stir together sugar, flour , cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of electric mixer 2 minutes. 3. Remove from mixer; stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans. 4. Bake 30 to 35 minutes for round pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan, or until wooden pick inserted in center ...

From Cassia's Camera by Cassia Schaar Hey there! I'm Cassia, I'm a high school student from Canada and I've been doing photography for about three years now. To be perfectly honest, getting into photography was a fluke. I signed up for a class that was supposed to be for film but I was mistaken. I hated it at first but pushed through it, not wanting to be a quitter. At the end of the class, I won an award for 'best female photographer' and thought that maybe I was ignoring a gift God had given me. So I took it up. The below photos are a result.

What do you do when you’re not writing? I spend a lot (definitely too much) of time on the internet. YouTube, Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit... you name it. I also love to play piano and read. Homework from school also takes up some time. I think the internet thing comes with the job. ;) What inspired your book? How did it all start? Well, I talk enough about what inspired my first book, The Dreamers , so maybe I’ll talk about my upcoming book, Lies . In my American History class last year, we were reading in our textbooks about pre-colonial America, the 1600’s or so. While reading, I was appalled to see that the Salem Witch Trials were mentioned once. The textbook summarized the events and moved on in one paragraph. I had always been kinda fascinated and horrified by the Salem Witch Trials, and to see them almost blown off in a class textbook was... shocking. We’re talking about an event that hugely inspired our modern judicial system--an event that speaks boldly about human nature, a...

It's that time again, my lovely readers. Time to pack up the tree and toss out the wrapping paper. Time to find homes for all those Christmas presents. Time to get ready for New Year's Eve! Along with a new year comes new year resolutions. After a whole year of honing in on just one little word, dream, I've decide d to keep up OneWord365 as a tradition. So for this year, my one word will be... What to Do With Your One Word Originally posted Dece mber 30, 2012 Claim your word  - with  free blog buttons  made by Melanie, personalized with your word to match your blog design (the images above? those are buttons she made for me!).  You  can also share your word on  www.myoneword.org , and link up a post about it on Melanie's blog  here . Wear your word  - on personalized jewelry from Etsy!  You might know of an Etsy shop that makes personalized, hand-stamped jewelry.  If not, here are a few I've found:  Tiny Tokens De...

Tell us a little about yourself first. Well, let's see. I am a Christian, and was a pastor's daughter for the first 15 years of my life. I'm now a student at the University of Akron, working toward an English major and Political Science minor with an end goal of teaching high school English. I've lived all over the country, including a five year stint in New York City where my family planted a church. I'm currently working as a cook at my parents' ice cream and BBQ shop and as an English tutor. British literature is my passion, especially Charles Dickens and Shakespeare - definitely Shakespeare. In my "spare time," I'm also an equestrian in the process of retraining my exracehorse, Moose, and have recently taken up acting as well. In other words, I'm a very busy person, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Who or what has had the most influence on you as a writer? I would have to say my faith in our Savior has had the greatest inf...

Tell us a little about yourself first. First and foremost, I am a Christian. There, now that we have that settled, we can move on. ;) I am seventeen years old (almost eighteen!) and I write mostly fantasy, but a little bit of dystopian and sci-fi. I published my debut young-adult novel in June of 2013 and am working on many more ideas. I am a musician; I play the piano (10 years), the drums (5 years), and the bass guitar (2 years). I LOVE – as in, I’m obsessed with – iced tea. Like, seriously, I have to have it EVERYDAY. I am currently unemployed and searching for a job. Right now, my only source of income is from my book,  Paradox , and the drum lessons I provide to a member of my church. How long have you been writing?  Since I was about 11, I believe. I started with short stories and poems. Then it grew into my first novel, which I realized had little potential. Now, it is permanently shelved, but I can’t say I’ll ever forget it.

I was supposed to have a guest post in for you today, but a few of my guest bloggers this year have been behind schedule. Therefore, my lovely readers, today you get lucky. I felt it wouldn't be right to just leave you with nothing today, so piggybacking off yesterday's cover reveal for Sixteen , today I have for you... the back cover copy! Yes, here it is! The official summary/blurb for my debut Christian novella, Sixteen : Nicole "Nikki" Johnson has never gotten along with her mother, so when she meets a great new guy, it's no surprise that Matt's age is all her mom sees. Just because he's twenty-four and she's sixteen doesn't mean he's a creeper! Thankfully, Nikki's dad allows Nikki and Matt to be together and see how things work out. Their relationship is fantastic and Nikki is on cloud nine...  Until the Fourth of July picnic, when things go too far. Now a very changed Nikki has to make choices that will affect her every relat...

Today we're taking a break from the party to celebrate Christmas. However, before you go back to opening presents and sipping hot chocolate, I have a gift for you, my lovely readers.... SURPRISE! It's cover reveal day! This, friends, is the beauty that is my first book cover. All credit for the lovelies goes to Melody Simmons at  http://ebookindiecovers.com/ . I can't wait for you all to see the book when it releases in January! Merry Christmas!