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Welcome to the world of the debut release of an inspirational, paranormal YA titled Victoria and the Ghost by Janet K. Brown.
Janet, welcome to the Starsongs blog. Tell us about your book, Victoria and the Ghost.
At fifteen, Victoria, a city girl, loses her mother’s love and copes with country isolation, no friends, and no one who cares, until she meets a ghost.
When her mother leaves the family to become a Dallas trophy wife, Victoria’s dad moves her and her sister to a North Texas farm to herd cattle and raise chickens. Refusing to believe this is more than a temporary set-back, Victoria tries to make new friends which isn’t an easy task. The first one stabs her in the back with gossip and a sharp tongue. Meanwhile, her new stepsister takes Victoria’s place in her mother’s heart. Rejection and anger stalk Victoria like a rattlesnake in the cemetery. Good thing she makes friends with a ghost and through him, a good-looking teenaged cowboy.
Here’s how Victoria recounts the move:
My name is Victoria Peterson. My life isn’t fair. I never thought that when I was fifteen-years old, I would end up away from my mother, my friends, and the city. Dad got this really dumb idea to move my seventeen-year-old sister and me away from civilization. He even expects me to tend chickens. Can you believe that? Why, my nail job won’t last a month.
It’s only temporary. When Mom returns from her honeymoon, she’ll move me back to Dallas to live with her. I am her favorite, you know. Maybe then, I can buy a decent pair of shoes.
What inspired you to tell this particular story?
I’m a Dallas girl, but awhile back, we moved our family to Wichita Falls which is about three hours northwest of Dallas. My husband and I discovered the true-to-life Texas ghost town of Clara. The area captured my interest. We walked among the tombstones. I read everything I could find and learned about the man and the ghost of Colonel Hermann Specht.
He was a colorful fellow. North Texas owes him a debt for his foresight and belief in the area though the town itself withered and died. He changed the landscape in a few short years. After losing his cherished wife and being stranded in Germany when World War I started, it is said he returns in search of his wife, Clara, for whom the town was named.
When my granddaughter, Victoria, (her real name) reached the rebellious teen years, and her single mom couldn’t do anything right, God brought the story to my mind of a girl that really faces rejection and isolation in her teens. What would happen if this poor, unhappy teenager met a ghost who prowled a cemetery with a sad heart?
Why do you think the supernatural is such a compelling subject for teens?
Teens find the supernatural interesting. So do I. I don’t see why non-Christians get to make up tales of evil and fear without Christians having input. God is the author of the supernatural. Though still fearful, why can’t there be more to it that just scaring us?
What do you see as some of the problems teens face today?
Teens struggle to make sense of things that happen in their lives. Divorce has become the new norm. Often, a young person battles rejection and guilt. In a big city such as Dallas, the superficial lifestyle of name brand tennis shoes and the latest fads tempt young girls to place undue importance on that which has little affect. Like Victoria in my story, they live in permanent denial of what really torments their thoughts.
I pray that Victoria and the Ghost will speak to them of forgiveness and allowing God to mold them into the treasures He foresees in them, despite trauma fostered on them.
Have you written other novels?
Though I’ve written seven complete manuscripts, this young adult was the first to sell. I thank 4RV Publishing and Vivian Zabel, the owner and president, for being willing to take a chance on a new author. Great editors like Harry, Robyn, and KC helped strengthen my story, and Aidana Willowraven did a super job on the cover art.
I’ve started a sequel to Victoria and the Ghost that I will present to 4RV Publishing when it’s finished.
What do you like to do when you are not writing?
My husband and I love to travel with our RV. He is my sweetheart and my best friend. We have three beautiful daughters, two great sons-in-law, and three perfect grandchildren, who give me lots of inspiration for my teen short stories and novels. I enjoy reading, traveling, line dancing, Bible studies, and lunch with friends. I keep busy in retirement, my husband loves to remind me.
Janet loves to hear from her readers. Here's how she can be contacted.
Here’s how you may contact me. I love to hear from my readers.
e-mail: Janet.hope@att.net
Website
FaceBook:
Twitter:
Janet, thank you so much for spending some time over here at Starsongs!
I am proud to introduce author K Dawn Byrd. She shares some information about her book, A Case of Fatal Attraction, herself, and her main character, Zoe Mac. Leave a comment to be placed in a drawing to win a free download!
Hello Dawn and welcome to the Starsongs blog. Tell us about your book, A Case of Fatal Attraction.
Zoe is thrilled when she lands her first paying case until she learns she'll be going undercover at a local blood bank. The fact that she faints at the sight of blood makes working there more than difficult. Who would steal blood and what would they do with it? Is her creepy vampire-like coworker using it in a cult ritual?
When Zoe learns that Nate will be working undercover with her, she's overjoyed. She soon finds that the gorgeous Rikki's attraction to Nate is too distracting and considers throwing him off the case. Zoe questions his loyalty even as Nate proclaims that she's the only girl for him.
Nothing is as it seems and Zoe has no clue who can be trusted. Who's stealing the blood? Is it the director? The vampire-like guy with the fangs who wears all black? Or, her gorgeous co-worker who has a thing for Nate?
How did this story come to you?
Sometimes I get the strangest ideas! I love a good mystery and I love romance, but you don't find the two together very often. Also, there are very few books available with college-age characters. I pitched the idea of combining all of the above to Desert Breeze and the rest is history.
Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
I had already published several books with Desert Breeze when they opened a young adult line. I'm excited that they liked the idea for this new series.
Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
1) I own two hairless Chinese Crested dogs.
2) I love sour things....pickles, lemons, sour candy.
3) I used to ride a Harley, but gave it up in order to have more time to write. (My husband always wanted to stay out way too long and take the scenic route home. He still has his bike, but I don't miss mine at all.)
What is your favorite writing tip?
Write something every day. All of my books are written in 30-day marathons. I decide how many words I want to write in 30 days and map them out on a calendar, so I can keep track of where I am and where I need to be.
What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I'm working on my December release, which is the third book in the "Identity Series." It's called Double Identity and is about two seventeen-year-old identical twins who never knew about each other. One, raised by her mom, is a Christian, the other, raised by her father is a wild child. When the two meet up and the wild one falls for the Christian one's boyfriend, sparks of the worst kind begin to fly.
Parting comments?
Thank you for hosting me! For those of you who love Christian fiction, please check my blog for weekly book giveaways. I interview 3-5 authors a week who give away their books.
Interview with Zoe Mack.
Tell us about your latest mystery.
My grandfather owns a detective agency and needed my help, but he was afraid to give me this case. It involved going undercover in a blood bank and finding out why blood is disappearing. My grandfather knows that I faint at the sight of blood. It wasn't easy and I had my moments when I became really sick, but I'm no quitter.
What was the greatest obstacle to solving this case.
My boyfriend, Nate, went undercover at the blood bank too. He worked as a janitor and once, when I puked after an accident with the blood, he got to clean it up. I thought I'd die of embarrassment. Back to your question, the greatest obstacle in some ways was just having Nate hanging around. You see, I had this gorgeous coworker named Rikki and she had a crush on Nate. We couldn’t tell her that we knew each other because that would blow our cover. Do you know how hard it is watching another girl go after your boyfriend, especially a gorgeous girl?
What did you learn from working on this case?
I learned that I can do things I never thought possible. I never overcame becoming queasy at the sight of blood, but I did learn to live with it. I also learned that I hate snakes and that sometimes creepy vampire-looking guys who wear black aren't all bad. I also learned to trust my instincts even when Nate says I'm wrong.
So, how is your relationship with Nate after solving two mysteries together?
We had some rocky times, mainly because of Rikki, but I've learned that sometimes, things aren't as they seem and you have to learn to trust people. Nate is a great guy and I love him more than ever. I've learned to accept the fact that my mother will never be crazy about him, but that's another story.
Will there be another case any time soon?
College is getting ready to start up and I’m taking a little time off to concentrate on school. Of course, if Gramps needs me, I'm always up for a good mystery!
K. Dawn Byrd is an author of inspirational romance and romantic suspense with seven books published so far. Recently, she tried her hand at young adult fiction and found that she really enjoyed writing it, which led to a contract for four young adult books for 2012.
She's also the moderator of the popular facebook Christian Fiction Gathering group
When not reading or writing, K. Dawn Byrd enjoys spending time with her husband of 16 years while walking their dogs beside a gorgeous lake near her home and plotting the next story waiting to be told.
Links:
Blog
Twitter: kdawnbyrd
Book trailer on youtube
Don't forget to leave a comment by September 30th to be placed in a drawing for a free download of K Dawn's book, A Case of Fatal Attraction.
Our new Starsongs Magazine is up for sale, and it's got some great stories and articles.
Summer may be over and some of you are already back in school. Still, a summer short story is a good read anytime.
Whether you're entering fourth grade, your senior year, or somewhere in between, it's never too early to start thinking about college. This issue has an excellent article about ways to begin preparing for your higher education now.
15-yr old Jordan Romero is the youngest mountaineer to summit all seven of the world's highest peaks. We caught up with him in cyberspace with a few questions.
Poetry is a great form of self-expression. You'll find some of that in this issue of Starsongs as well.
The deadline for our STARBRIGHT novel writing contest is a little over six months away. You'll find the entry rules in the sidebar. Check out our adult guest writer's advice on how to craft a first chapter that is bound to hook your readers.
Click on the link above to preview Starsongs. Check us out today!
HI! Welcome to the Starsongs web site. I hope the NextGen conference has provided you with new and exciting ways to improve your writing. Thank you for attending and for participating.
If you are visiting this web site, I hope it means you are considering sending a submission to Starsongs. Visit the Starsongs guidelines page found in the sidebar to learn the specifics about how to submit. If you are an aspiring novelist, check out our STARBRIGHT annual novel writing contest.
Visit our sample writings page to read some pieces that have appeared in Starsongs.
Go to our Meet Our Authors page and read about some of the young people who have contributed to Starsongs. You will find many of them are just like you, young people with a desire to write and be heard.
I urge you to check out the post before this one, written by a Starsongs contributor. She talks about taking your time with your writing. Leave a comment after that post before August 31st to be entered in a contest to win a free download of our new Summer 2012 issue.Older posts address some helpful tips on writing and submitting your work.
Would you like to share some of the things you have learned about writing? Email me at starsongs.mag@gmail.com with your idea for a blog post. I'm looking for young bloggers to guest on this site.
Leave a comment. What do you like about the site? What do you not like? What else would you like to see? What subjects would you like to know more about related to writing and publication? I want to hear from you!
Thank you so much for stopping by!
Today, Starsongs is excited to welcome guest blogger Mary Kate Crockett.
Mary Kate Crockett, a homeschooled high
schooler, has penned three novels and dozens of poems and short stories. She has
published a few poems in the past and continues to submit to publishers as she
improves her craft. Last semester, Mary Kate taught a writing class and loved helping
others learn to enjoy writing. In her free time, Mary Kate travels, reads, and
experiments with other arts and crafts. She lives in San Antonio, Texas with
her family and occasionally blogs about
her writing hobby.
In today’s hurried world, temptations to rush through projects often arise. Hurry through breakfast so you can get to school. Hurry through school so you can get to chores. Hurry through chores so you can get to dinner. Hurry through dinner so you can finally slow down and watch a little TV... right?
Whatever happened to do your best or practice makes perfect or finish what you started?
Even in writing, young authors often send their work to friends, family, and even publishers within minutes of writing those two little words The End. Guilty of this for quite some time, I could barely put down my pen before reading my work to any family member who would listen. Thankfully, I never submitted to a publisher until I was a little older and had been practicing my craft for several years. Even with a few publications under my belt, I still have a tremendous amount of writing and editing to do before I become an expert.
 Researchers have found that most people who are experts in their job skill (sports, art, music, business, etc.) have accomplished around ten thousand hours of deliberate practice in their field – practice sessions where their goal was to become better. They weren’t born with some gift to be the “World’s Greatest ____”. They put in the hours of hard work and then reaped the reward of their labor. Check out this article to read more about this research. That’s quite a few hours! If I began calculating the hours I have spent in writing classes, practicing writing, editing essays and stories, and reading about writing, my total would probably come out to less than a thousand hours – I’m not even 10% of an expert!
Humbly put, we’re probably all just a few hours away from being experts in the writing field. So, what’s the rush?
This doesn’t mean we can’t ever submit or share our work with others until we reach an X amount of numbers on a clock. Or that we have to throw out any piece of fiction we wrote before achieving a set amount of hours. But, it does mean we need to slow down when writing, take time to edit, and seek the advice of other writers before sending work off to be published. Writing, although fun, should be treated like any other profession. It takes time and hard work to be an expert.
We’re all learning, no matter where we are in our writing career. So keep an open mind, constantly try to improve your craft, and enjoy the journey.
Are you willing to put in the hours of deliberate practice to become the best author possible?
Leave a comment about Mary Kate’s post between now and August 31st to be entered in a drawing for a free download of the Summer 2012 issue of Starsongs magazine .
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