Playlist for THE SEVENTH BLESSING

At a writing conference I attended, one of the speakers (who is a published author) suggested having a different "writing playlist" for each story that you write. These songs could be ones that inspire you to write or that you have playing while you write.

I loved this suggestion because I love to listen to music to get in a writing zone. I especially love Taylor Swift's music. I bought her first album about the time when I started writing my first book. Her second came out when I was writing my second. And her third came out late last year when I was beginning my third book. I also love to listen to classical music when I write, especially Mozart and Vivaldi. Throw in some Disney musical songs, and I'm set! :)  (My iPod has so many different songs on it but that's a whole 'nother post.)

Playlist for THE SEVENTH BLESSING

"A Place in This World" - Taylor Swift  (very much my theme song for this book)

"Today Was a Fairytale" - Taylor Swift (if they ever make a movie from my       book, I would love for this song to be in it!)             

"The Outside" - Taylor Swift

"Tied Together with a Smile" - Taylor Swift    

"I'm Only Me when I'm with You" - Taylor Swift            

"Invisible" - Taylor Swift

"Piano Concerto No. 21" - Mozart

"Moonlight Sonata" - Mozart (for those angsty scenes)

"A Little Night Music" - Mozart (happy music!)

"Air on G" - Bach (this was also my wedding march-down-the-aisle song)

"Some Hearts" - Carrie Underwood
"Dream Big" - Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band
"So Close" - Jon McLaughlin (from "Enchanted")
"I'll Make a Man Out of You" - Mulan soundtrack (I love singing this song loud!)
"You and Me" - Lifehouse

Summary of THE SEVENTH BLESSING

Not all fairy blessings are enchanting . . . 

Unlike most royal eighteen-year-old girls, Samantha finds it difficult to be a prim and proper princess. When she discovers her seven fairy blessings that were bestowed at her birth are a lie, her entire world is turned upside down. Although she can forgive the feuding fairies who made this large error on her behalf, she must find a way to control her real blessings--which may be more trouble than its worth. 

Things start to become complicated when her best friend's brother becomes seriously injured just weeks before the annual knight competition. Samantha realizes the only way to help him and his family is to enter the competition by disguising her true identity. Balancing her mandatory princess lessons while hiding her secret blessings on top of this becomes difficult, but things begin to get challenging when Prince Nolan, a childhood friend, reenters her life. Samantha, bitter about their constant bickering relationship, suddenly begins to see Nolan in a new, and often confusing, light. 

But when she finds out her seventh blessing has yet to be decoded from the ancient tongue, Samantha's most dangerous quest of all is discovering the true power her real blessings hold. Now, the fate of herself, her future, and her kingdom lie in her hands. 

Published by The Little Things Publishing Co.

Coming to a bookstore near you August 15, 2011 
Now available for pre-order!
Available for purchase!





ARC

If you are a blogger interested in receiving press releases and ARC/book copies, e-mail  publicity@tltpublishing.com. In the e-mail please include your name, website, twitter name, address, genres interested in, what books you are interested in reviewing, and how you heard about TLT. In the subject heading put blogger: media relations. 

Media Relations for The Little Things Publishing Co.

Book Trailer Contest!

Who likes to make movies? How about book trailers? (Basically, they are commercials for books.)

You have the opportunity to create a book trailer for THE SEVENTH BLESSING, my YA fantasy novel, and the first book in The Tales of Gymandrol series.

The summary of the book will be posted below the contest guidelines.

So, here's what you do:
• Create an amazingly brilliant book trailer 1 to 2 minutes long. (Attention kinda falls off after the 2 minute mark.)
• Post your trailer on YouTube with the phrase “Seventh Blessing Book Trailer Contest” in the title
• In order for your trailer to qualify, you must post the link to your trailer below (in the comment box on my blog), your name, your blog address, and your Twitter name (if you have one).
• You may also post trailers on Facebook, personal websites, blogs, etc. but remember, in order to qualify as a submission the link must be posted on my blog
• Once the trailer is posted, notify me by emailing me at 4melissabuell(at)gmail.com. When you notify me, please attach the actual video file and the link. Also include a valid email address and name so I can contact you if you win.
• Get as many people as possible to COMMENT, COMMENT, COMMENT on your link on the blog.
Tweet and RT your link! :)
• The creator of the winning trailer will be awarded an autograph copy of THE SEVENTH BLESSING and bragging rights all over Twitter and Facebook!
• Anyone, any age, can enter this contest. Just follow the YouTube code of conduct and other such important information.
• Submissions must be posted by 11:59pm, EST, August 1, 2011.
• Videos will be uploaded to the The Little Things Publishing website and Melissa's site as well
• Winner will be chosen by Melissa. (Though my family will probably have some input. As well as comments on YouTube and Twitter.)

-Music,  images,  and  video  clips  integrated  into  the  video  must  be  legally  licensed  either
by obtaining the copyright holder’s permission, using materials licensed through Creative
Commons  licensing,  or  using  entirely  original  content  created  by  the  teen(s)  submitting
the project.

What else? Have fun! Oh, and I like sparkly things. And imagination.

My fantastic cover!

SUMMARY

Not all fairy blessings are enchanting . . . 

Unlike most royal eighteen-year-old girls, Samantha finds it difficult to be a prim and proper princess. When she discovers her seven fairy blessings that were bestowed at her birth are a lie, her entire world is turned upside down. Although she can forgive the feuding fairies who made this large error on her behalf, she must find a way to control her real blessings--which may be more trouble than its worth. 

Things start to become complicated when her best friend's brother becomes seriously injured just weeks before the annual knight competition. Samantha realizes the only way to help him and his family is to enter the competition by disguising her true identity. Balancing her mandatory princess lessons while hiding her secret blessings on top of this becomes difficult, but things begin to get challenging when Prince Nolan, a childhood friend, reenters her life. Samantha, bitter about their constant bickering relationship, suddenly begins to see Nolan in a new, and often confusing, light. 

But when she finds out her seventh blessing has yet to be decoded from the ancient tongue, Samantha's most dangerous quest of all is discovering the true power her real blessings hold. Now, the fate of herself, her future, and her kingdom lie in her hands. 

Setting Up Author Day Appearances

I am so very blessed to have good friends that know librarians! There are several school librarians that would like to have an "Author Day" at their school and...they want me to be that author! :) :) :)

My mind instantly did that thing (that it apparently loves to do) where I think, "Yes! Awesome! Talking to kids about books and writing! Three favorite things: kids, books, writing." Then my mind shoots the other way and thinks, "But...what do I SAY? How do I talk about books without sounding like a complete nerd? How do I tell them how I write and not bore them to tears?" And then I'm back in super-excited mode - "I know! I'll make it a writing workshop sorta thing! I'll show them how I outline a story, come up with creative names, all that fun stuff."

So. Does that sound like something that would interest you? Or your child? Or a child that you know?? ;) I don't remember ever meeting an author when I was in middle school/jr. high age. Or even as a high schooler. I'm sure there must have been some in the area. (I grew up in Southern California, not the middle of nowhere.) Why didn't they ever come to our school?

That's something that is a big deal for me - being active in the community. Especially when it comes to education. I frequently volunteer at my son's school because it helps the kids and helps to create  a sense of community, even a family with the people who are with my son for hours each day. I'm not preaching at anyone to spend a lot of time volunteering at a school. But you should volunteer somewhere. Find a community activity or event that strikes your fancy. What are you good at? I'm good at talking to kids and talking about books so that seems like a good niche for me.

That's my challenge for you! Go out and get involved! And love it. :)

Happy Father's Day!

Wishing all the amazing dads out there a very happy Father's Day. Be involved in your kid's life. (My husband is an awesome dad.)

Galley Edits and Publicity

Hello happy readers!
I finished all of my galley edits and turned- oh, wait. What's that? What's a galley? No, it's not just a type of kitchen. A galley is the mock-up of what the book will look like when it's printed. The title page, "front matter" such as ISBN, copyright info, publishing info, etc., dedication page, acknowledgments page, and the entire story. This process is VERY important because if there's a mistake, it'll show up in the printing. We don't want that. So. I spent a very long few days reading the galley very closely. I turned in my edits and now it's on to publicity!

I "met" my publicist, Caroline Elsea via e-mail and phone. She's very sweet and excited about my publicity campaign. (I have a campaign! What?!) She's setting up book signings and arranging for those people who would like to receive ARCs to get them. (If you would like to receive an ARC (advanced reader copy), see my previous post about getting one. If you would like to see a book signing in your town/city, let me know! :) (Maybe I can arrange something.)

I'll keep y'all posted when there's more news on the book front. For now, I'm editing my second manuscript, the sequel to "The Seventh Blessing." It's due to my publisher on August 1 so I better get crack-a-lackin' on that...

Want an ARC?

If you are a blogger interested in receiving press releases and ARC/book copies e-mail  publicity@tltpublishing.com.

In the e-mail please include your name, website, twitter name, address, genres interested in, what books you are interested in reviewing, and how you heard about TLT. In the subject heading put blogger: media relations. 

Media Relations for The Little Things Publishing Co. 

And there goes May...

Wow. May just flew by in a flurry of activity. Or activities, if I'm being precise. And I do love to be precise. I subbed eight out of twenty days this month. I had several PTA/School Carnival meetings. My husband and I went to Santa Barbara overnight to take a tour of the Reagan Ranch. (Not the Library, the RANCH.) Yes, where President Reagan actually lived. It. Was. Awesome. I'll post some pics at the end of the post. Mother's Day brunch with my mom and my little sister. My cousin had a baby shower. My mom graduated from university with her B.S.N. (Nursing degree. Yay Mom!) Open House at older son's school. Mom's graduation party. Cub Scout camping trip. Helping my little sister sew her prom dress. (Yes, really. She's amazing.)

Plus all the other regular-home-stuff. Like making sure my kids are washed, fed. and wearing clean clothes. So...yeah. That's why I haven't blogged lately. But! Carnival is on Friday so my duties as Carnival Chairperson will be over shortly. I've loved helping with this and I think it will be fantastic. Games, food, and fun. Yay!

On the publishing side of things - I've "met" my publicist, Caroline Elsea, from The Little Things Publishing Co. She's going to help me navigate the big, scary world of publicity and press kits and campaign launches and book signings. I'm very thankful that she knows about it because I don't. I told my friend Deanna on the phone about my publicist and she said, "Ooooohhhhh. You have People." Yes, yes I do. ;)  (And that's why TLT Publishing rocks!!!)

My galley is scheduled to be in my inbox today for me and my editor, Farrah Penn, to review. I'm looking forward to seeing it all set up professionally and in order. Awesomeness. I'll be searching super carefully to make sure everything is spelled correctly and the punctuation is correct. I dislike it when I read a book and the quotation marks are off or there are random spaces or repeated lines of text. That's just me being persnickety. (So far in this post I've called myself precise and persnickety. What is coming next?!)

I've lived vicariously (via Twitter) through all the bloggers and authors who went to BEA (Book Expo America) in New York last week. I'm saving my $$ to be able to go next year. It sounds like SO much fun. And rather crazy. (One girl was bitten while in line for a book. Bitten! This isn't preschool!) Poor Lindsi. (Check out her blog.) Farrah and Britney have a great vlog and pics from BEA. (Check out their blog.)

In the midst of all this craziness, I've been editing my next manuscript. It's due on August 1. I haven't read it for almost a year so it's been a fun thing to read through it again. I'm changing a few little things and taking out some of my excessive adjectives and tightening up descriptions of things. (Thanks to Farrah who pointed those things out to me!)

Leaving you with a few pictures from this month of busy-ness.

Reagan Ranch

Pier at Lake Lucky

Foggy Fence

I found a friendly horse!

Reagan Ranch House

Mom's Graduation Ceremony