Dust by Kara Swanson // cover reveal + preorder goodies!

My friends, today I get to share with you the cover for Kara Swanson’s new book Dust!

Kara is the author of the novella The Girl Who Could See. Her book Dust, which is a Peter Pan retelling/sequel, releases this July with Enclave Publishing.

And the cover is gorgeous:

Even if I didn’t know anything about the story, that cover would make me want to read it.

About the book:

The truth about Neverland is far more dangerous than a fairy tale.

 

Claire Kenton believes the world is too dark for magic to be real—since her twin brother was stolen away as a child. Now Claire’s desperate search points to London… and a boy who shouldn’t exist.

 

Peter Pan is having a beastly time getting back to Neverland. Grounded in London and hunted by his own Lost Boys, Peter searches for the last hope of restoring his crumbling island: a lass with magic in her veins.

 

The girl who fears her own destiny is on a collision course with the boy who never wanted to grow up. The truth behind this fairy tale is about to unravel everything Claire thought she knew about Peter Pan—and herself.

flotsam and jetsam | 3

Hello, friends!

I’ve taken an unintentional blogging break since Christmastime, and it’s likely to extend for a while (because I have SCHOOL), but I have a few things I’d like to share with you today. So welcome to flotsam and jetsam #3.

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First: voting is open for the Best of 2019 Blogging Awards, hosted by Megan @ A Barefoot Gal! Some of my very favorite blogs are on the list, including Allison @ A Farm Girl’s Life, Charis Rae, Essie Writes Poetry, and many others I’m forgetting. Go vote!

the Christmas spirit tag

Hello there! I’ve been tagged for this tag by a good friend of mine. I’m not allowed to say who she is (for reasons you’ll soon understand), but I’m thankful for her and for her tagging me, and I’m excited to do her tag.

But first:

the rules

1. This is an anonymous tag. DO NOT link back to the creator or whoever tagged you — the goal of this tag is to spread Christmas spirit anonymously. Consider it a sort of “pay it forward” — you don’t know who started it, but you’re there to continue it. You can say thank you, of course, in the comments of whoever tagged you, but it’s all very “Secret Santa” when you create your post.
2. Answer the copy-and-paste-able questions (GIFs, photos, song lyrics, poem extracts, etc. are all welcome).
3. Share one thing Christmas taught you.
4. Tag as many people as you can thing to help spread Christmas cheer around the blogosphere (my word, that rhymed).

And now…

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the questions

(and my answers)

What is your favorite Christmas Bible verse?

I absolutely love all of Isaiah 53, especially in the NIV (which is strange, because in almost every other case I pick the ESV). It’s not technically a “Christmas Bible verse,” I guess, but it reminds me that Jesus came to die. That the reason He was born as a baby was so he could save us from our sins. And in that way, it really is a Christmas verse. As is nearly every verse in the entire Bible (:

know the novel part three: it is written // a writers linkup

Hello, my friends! Today I’m participating in Christine’s third NaNo linkup, where I’ll talk about the retelling of Fiddler on the Roof that I wrote in November. (Find parts one and two here.)

If you’d like to participate in this, check out her post for the rules. (All writers, including those who didn’t do NaNoWriMo, are welcome!)

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1 // Firstly, how did writing this novel go all around?

It went well! I thoroughly enjoyed myself (although I did stay up too late writing several nights…) and made the full 50k without feeling completely drained. Maybe next year I’ll try for 60 or 70k… maybe. Anyway, the writing was great.

2 // Did it turn out like you expected or completely different? And how do you feel about the outcome?

It turned out how I expected, mostly. Of course, the characters pretty much did what they liked and wrecked my ideas, but I was expecting that because my only outline was the musical script. And I liked the final outcome!

3 // What aspect of the story did you love writing about the most? (Characters, plot, setting, prose, etc.)

Asa!!! I love my fiddler very much. I also enjoyed writing the funeral scene (which came completely out of nowhere) and Hadassah’s writing (also a surprise).

admission // a poem

Sometimes — 

always —

it’s hard to admit you’re wrong. 

Hard to let a dream die. 

You hold it and you nurture it

and for one moment — 

at least — 

it’s real. 

Your dream, 

a reality. 

So even when it becomes more and more difficult

even when you’re starting to know it can’t happen

you won’t let the dream die. 

You hold on and on. 

Darling, do the hard thing. 

Let it die

let it go

You’ll find reality is sweeter when it’s real. 

You’ll see how glorious it is to be unburdened

of a dream that was never meant to be. 

Darling, let it die. 

It’s always hard — 

but, oh, so right — 

to admit you’re wrong. 

Tales of the Lonely Sun // blog spotlight + interview + GIVEAWAY

Hello, friends!

Today I’m participating in the blog tour for a brand-new blog: Tales of the Lonely Sun! This amazing blog is run by four teen girls, and it features posts about books and writing, plus a short story contest! The winners for their contest will be announced on Thursday, so subscribe to their blog to be notified about that (and get the info on how to enter the next contest; they happen every two months).

This post is going to be long, but I promise it’s all interesting.  And if you stick around to the end, there’s a giveaway!

About the blog:

We’re four girls who love reading, writing, and most importantly, Jesus. The Lonely Sun emblem symbolizes the Light amidst the Darkness, an illustration of the world and how it’s always been.

We hope to focus on reading and writing books that are full of light opposed to books centered around darkness. The Tales of the Lonely Sun team are spreading the word about good moral books, and how to write them.

We host a seasonal writing contest for writers looking to share their work, and offer book reviews for the book dragons among us.

Tales of the Lonely Sun is run by Carlye, Merie, Jorja, and Mya. I’ll share their bios later. But first, I’m excited to show you our interview! I asked the girls some questions, and one or more of them answered each one.

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interview

1 // What first inspired you to start this blog? (Whose idea was it?)

Merie: Funny thing — Carlye and I both had this idea around the same time! I actually contacted Abigail Harder about it first, but then Carlye contacted us, and so we decided to merge the two together. (Abigail doesn’t post, but she judges for the short story contests 🙂 ) 

2 // Why do you write?

Jorja: I write because there is no feeling quite like reading an amazing book for the first time, and I want to share that feeling with people through my writing. I also want the world to have less books where, if you recommend them to someone, you have to start out by warning them of inappropriate content. I blog for pretty much the same reason, I want to share books that have given me that “this is an amazing book” feeling, and give people some advice that has helped me so that they can write their own. 

Dust to Flame by Hope Ann // book launch!

Hello, my readers and friends!

Hope Ann’s wonderful book Dust to Flame releases TODAY, and I’m so excited to be participating in the launch! If you’ve never heard of Hope or her books, you’re in for a treat. Hope writes fantasy stories about important things: family, relationships, fear, power, and more. She also works for Story Embers and has an amazing blog.

And today you get the opportunity to buy one of her books!

Inktober 2019 // poetry snippets

Hello, my friends!

NaNoWriMo is over (and I won, which was stressful but worth it – more on that later). I still have more work to do on my Fiddler novel.  I’m about to start work on my short story and poetry collection. Christmas is coming.

So naturally, I’m sharing some snippets of poetry that I wrote in October using the Inktober prompts.

. . . naturally.

Let’s ignore the fact that the timing of this post doesn’t make much sense and focus instead on the fact that I wrote 31 (34, actually) poems in October, a few of which are worth reading, and that today I’m going to give you the pleasure of seeing some of them.

And let’s begin.

I’ll be sharing quotes from my favorite poems of the month, along with pictures (courtesy of Unsplash) that I’ve chosen to go along with them.

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day 1: ring

This smell of fall is a whisper,
A glimmer,
A glimpse of your grandeur.

Dust to Flame by Hope Ann // cover reveal

Hello, friends!

Today I have a very exciting post. One of my favorite authors, Hope Ann, is revealing the cover for her newest book today. Dust to Flame is a fantasy story about a story-actor who accidentally gains immortality, powers, and someone to care for.

The book will release on December 10, 2019 (which is only 11 days away!), but for today only, you can pre-order a copy on Amazon for $0.99 (after today, the price is $2.99 — which is still a great deal).

And here’s the cover:

the aesthetically pleasing book // a tag

Welcome, friends!

Today I’m doing a tag that I first saw on Tales of the Lonely Sun, where Carlye did it. It originates from DreamlandBookBlog, so thanks to Beatrice for creating it!

There don’t appear to be any rules, so I’ll begin by answering the questions and we’ll see where I go from there.

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1 // best color combo on a book cover

cover design by Seedlings Design Studio

I still haven’t read this book, but the cover is so beautiful. I love the double exposure and the gorgeous fonts. (If you’ve read it, please tell me what you thought of it!)