This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. One randomly drawn commenter via Rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN Gift Card. Please click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Today, the author is sharing a little about what makes her afraid as an author. Thanks for visiting our blog!
As an author what scares me the most is handing over my work for the first time. As much as I believe that the story is more inside of me than created by me, it is still mine to protect. I let it out of my mind and nurture it, shaping, editing, and revising. Then one day, I have to let it go. It must be similar to what a parent feels when sending their child off to school for the first time. You desperately want everyone to like (heck, love) your child, but you know that there are going to be some who don’t.
I was so afraid when I handed off the first book. I deliberated a long time on who I should ask. I finally chose my niece. She has the kindest heart of anyone I know. Even with that being said, I was terrified. I wanted her honest opinion but I also wanted her to like it. She later told me that she was also afraid. She wasn’t sure if she’d like the book and was afraid to hurt my feelings. Luckily for both of us, she enjoyed the story.
This fear is getting a little more manageable since I’ve received good feedback on my first two books. I now have a group of beta readers, mostly family, who I can trust to give me honest feedback (I also know that they like my genre and style – so that helps). I don’t think that there will ever come a time when I don’t fear the feedback the first time I release a book. I still get nervous when I see a new review on Amazon. I say a little prayer that it will be a good review and if not that then at least a kind one. However, I do think that this fear will lesson with time and experience. I wonder what fear is waiting in the recesses of my mind to takes its place.
Now it's time to check out the books!
In a world where class distinction means the difference between imprisonment and freedom and even life and death, being chosen to stay in the encampment and breed is the only way to guarantee survival for a teenage Producer.
Every year after harvest, the finest examples of teenage Producers are assigned mates; the rest are loaded onto carts and hauled away, never to be seen or heard from again. Trinity, a sixteen-year-old Producer, knows that she has no chance of being chosen to stay. She isn’t even full-blooded Producer. Her father is a House Servant and she’s spent her entire life hiding her differences, especially her claws and fangs.
She has one week to sneak into the forest and discover what happens to those who are taken. Her plan is simple, but she doesn’t count on being hunted and captured by predators long believed to be extinct. Can she elude her captors to uncover the fate of her kind and return to camp before her escape is discovered?
Trinity's plans have gone horribly wrong and she is now fleeing for her life, but at what cost to her friends and family. Can she save any of them without sacrificing herself?
Hugh Truent, an Almighty, learns of Trinity’s escape and that she is the offspring of two different classes which is supposed to be impossible. If it’s true, it would be the discovery of a lifetime, but he needs scientific proof. In his quest for answers, he soon realizes that there are those who will kill to keep this find a secret.
Trinity’s struggle to survive in a society based on absolute segregation of the different classes along with Hugh’s dogged determination to find the truth at any cost, sets into motion a collision between the groups that shatters the foundation of their world.
Read an excerpt from ESCAPE
She ran blindly away from the sound of the Guards, her backpack slamming against her spine with each stride. If they catch my scent, they will find me. She skidded to a stop. The forest had ended. A rock wall loomed in front of her, stretching to both sides as far as she could see. Little crevices and divots peppered the wall, but it was too steep to climb. She had to make a choice. The wrong one would cost her freedom, maybe her life.
The trees rustled behind her. Too late. They found me. This had all been for nothing. Now, the best she could hope for was to be taken with the others. Her chest tightened. She had to make sure that her mom and Remy weren’t punished because she escaped. She raised her hands to her shoulders and slowly turned. Her breath caught in her throat. A Tracker, the deadliest of predators, stood on its back two legs, towering above her, front legs hanging down like arms. Brindle fur covered its body and its eyes glowed yellow in the shadowed forest. Its tongue lolled out the side of its mouth, exposing a row of sharp teeth on the other side. Someone should tell it that they no longer exist in the wild.
About the Author: L. S. O'Dea grew up the youngest of seven. She always wanted to do what her older siblings were doing, especially reading stories.
Ill at a young age, she immersed herself in books. Her life changed when she read a short story written by her older brother and realized that normal (somewhat anyway, since her brother was a bit weird in her opinion) people created these amazing stories. From that day forward, she wanted to write.
However, as with all good stories, obstacles rose in her path (mostly self-created obstacles) and it took her many years to put finger to keyboard and type her first book.
The first book of the series is on sale for $0.99 until the end of the tour.
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ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting.
ReplyDeleteGreat excerpt, thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for following Rita.
DeleteEnjoyed the posts, sounds like a great read, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for following, Eva.
Deletethanks for hosting
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the bio~!
ReplyDeleteHi Betty, you should take a look at the bio on my other book Conguise Chronicles: Rise of the River Man. It's pretty funny. I outed my brothers for something they did to me as a child.
DeleteI can only imagine how it must feel to hand over your story for feedback. As you say - scary!!
ReplyDeleteYes, Mary it is very scary and hard to find the right person to hand it off to. As I said, I picked my niece. I knew she'd be kind even if she didn't like it. I also knew that she would let me know if she didn't like it. She wouldn't come right out and say - This is horrible -- or something like that, but she'd let me know. And truthfully, the honesty is as importance (perhaps more so) than the kindness.
DeleteI don't want to be one of those people like on American Idol who's family has told them that they have talent, but they truly don't. I would have rather my family tell me that the book was no good than to let me put it out there.
I was lucky. My family liked it and so do most people who read it.
If you do read it, let me know what you think.
Hi Victoria, thanks for following.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad it worked out for you!
ReplyDelete--Trix