Friday Launch Week Wrap Up

It's Friday--final day of Launch Week! Thanks to all my blog hosts for having me, and to everyone who visited. I will be tallying up names this weekend for Random.org to work its magic. It's not too late to enter. Remember:

Five books, five days, five winners!

Today I’m guest blogging over at TalliRoland’s blog on Chic-lit in YA, plus she’s giving a review. If you want to see me live,  go to Anne Riley’s blog for my very first VLOG (surprising how nerve wracking it is to talk to your own face on your own laptop--PJ's and wild office mess included! Actually, I'm quite embarrassed--who knew the whole background behind your head showed up?) where I teach on structure and talk a bit about CLOCKWISE.

It's really been a fantastic week, and to end it on a humorous note, I present to you this link from L.A Postcard where Mindy Kaling gives us  a guide to women in the movies. Go read it, I guarantee you'll laugh.

This exerpt is hilarious and a good caution to writers to avoid stereotypes.

--
The Woman Who Works in an Art Gallery
How many freakin’ art galleries are out there? Are people buying visual art on a daily basis? This posh/smart/classy profession is a favorite in movies. It’s in the same realm as kindergarten teacher or children’s-book illustrator in terms of accessibility: guys don’t really get it, but it is likable and nonthreatening.

Art Gallery Woman: “Dust off the Warhol. You know, that Campbell’s Soup one in the crazy color! We have an important buyer coming into town, and this is a really big deal for my career. I have no time for this!”

The Gallery Worker character is the rare female movie archetype that has a male counterpart. Whenever you meet a handsome, charming, successful man in a romantic comedy, the heroine’s friend always says the same thing: “He’s really successful. He’s”—say it with me—“an architect!”
There are, like, nine people in the entire world who are architects, and one of them is my dad. None of them look like Patrick Dempsey--

And in case you haven't seen this yet, a little Canadian humour:

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Thursday on THE Tour! And my not so secret wish...

Wow, hard to believe Launch Week is almost over! Today I'm at Leigh Moore’s blog where she is reviewing CLOCKWISE and interviewing me--find out why I chose Boston as my setting.  I’m also being interviewed by Elana Johnson where I reveal something that most people don't know about me.

I don't know about you, but I want to get me one of these:

It's times like this that I wished I still lived in the States. Must convince Amazon that life exists north of the 49th!

How about you? Are you planning to buy a new kindle?

Hump Day, Launch Week! Come and see what I'm up to and a Contest!

I have to say, I'm loving launch week. Thanks to everyone who has already bought a copy of CLOCKWISE--so appreciated!!

There's a lot going on today. I’m guest blogging for Denise Jaden on  Why Writing History is Cool.

Heather McCorkle at Heather’s Odyssey and Caroline Starr Rose are interviewing me. Find out what inspired CLOCKWISE and what I'm working on next.

If you want to know if CLOCKWISE is worth reading, these lovely ladies all have read an ARC and are giving a review; Laura Pauling, Sara Larson, Tamara Heiner Hart.

And don't for get the contest--five great books up for grabs!

See you around the blogsophere! *party hat is on!!*

Teaser Tuesday - CLOCKWISE

It's Teaser Tuesday for the launch week of CLOCKWISE!  Here's the third and final one. Let me know what you think. Oh, and I'm over at Laurel at Laurel’s Leaves  where she is interviewing me. Find out who I’d choose if I cast the main characters in a movie and more...

           I gaped at Nate, aghast.

           I spun around and called out to heaven, “You’ve got to be kidding! As if things aren’t bad enough, you have to let him come along?”

        I paced in small circles, trampling the grass, which was very uncharacteristic of me when I returned. I was usually poised, on my toes, ready for anything.

       “What just happened?” Nate said, still calm. Sure he was calm now, but just wait. “Is this some kind of practical joke?”

        I stopped pacing when my pointy heels sunk into a mossy part of the forest floor and faced him.  I could see the wheels behind his eyes working; he was trying to figure out how his buddies had gotten him to the middle of the woods without him realizing it. Also, probably, why it was suddenly mid afternoon.

       “Um, no,” I squeaked out, still trying to process that I was back in 1860, and Nate Mackenzie was there right in front of me!

       “Okay, guys, come out now.”  His eyes darted from tree to tree. I could see the panic forming. “Did they put something in my punch?” His voice took on that high edge that accompanies confusion.

         “Oh, no,” I moaned. My dress. I was wearing a totally inappropriate dress. And high heels! Could this day get any worse?

          “What’s the matter?”

          “Nothing, it’s my shoes.” I took off one shoe and slammed the heel on a nearby boulder.

         “Casey! What are you doing?”

         “I’m, (bang) knocking (bang) off (bang) my heels.” Success. I started with the next one.

         “Why?”

        “Because,” I said in a voice suggesting he should know, though I knew there’s no way he could know, “these are totally inappropriate for what we need to do next.”

CLOCKWISE Launch Week!

I totally get it now, how exciting it is to launch your first book. The kind of exciting that makes your stomach lurch and gurgle. Seeing your book up for sale on Amazon is so heady--is that really me?

So, as I've said, it’s launch week! CLOCKWISE  is available as an e-book on Amazon for only 2.99! To celebrate, I’m giving away five debut books by authors that you can meet on my blog tour which is happening this week.

Books up for grabs:

LOSING FAITH by Denise Jaden
THE CLEARING by Anne Riley
THE SECRET OF SPRUCE KNOLL by Heather McCorkle
PERILOUS by Tamara Hart Heiner

THE HATING GAME by Talli Roland 

How to win?  Just sign up for my newsletter. I promise I won't swamp you, I just want to let you know when I have new news and hopefully a few other interesting publishing/writing nuggets.  If you’d like extra entries,  leave a comment on any blog in the tour. The more blogs you visit and comment on the more chances you have to win. 

 And if you want even more chances you can tweet this:  Celebrate the launch of CLOCKWISE by @elle_strauss for a chance to win1/5 Debuting YA books.  #clockwise #winbooks

And Facebook this: Celebrate the launch of CLOCKWISE by Elle Strauss for a chance to win these Debuting YA books; LOSING FAITH by Denise Jaden, THE CLEARING by Anne Riley, THE SECRET OF SPRUCE KNOLL by Heather McCorkle, PERILOUS by Tamara Hart Heiner and THE HATING GAME by Talli Roland 

Five books, five days, five winners!

Here is the blog tour schedule.

Tuesday: Laurel at Laurel’s Leaves is interviewing me. Find out who I’d choose if I cast the main characters in a movie and more...

Wednesday (we are hopping this day!): I’m guest blogging for Denise Jaden on  Why Writing History is Cool.

Heather at Heather’s Odyssey and Caroline Starr Rose are interviewing me. Find out what inspired CLOCKWISE and what I'm working on next.

If you want to know if CLOCKWISE is worth reading, these lovely ladies all have read an ARC and are giving a review; Laura Pauling, SaraLarson, Tamara Heiner Hart.

Thursday: Hop over to Leigh Moore’s blog where she is reviewing CLOCKWISE and interviewing me--find out why I chose the Boston as my setting.  I’m also being interviewed by ElanaJohnson where I reveal something that most people don't know about me.

And finally on Friday: I’m guest blogging over at TalliRoland’s blog on Chick-lit in YA, plus she’s giving a review. If you want to see me live,  go to Anne Riley’s blog for my very first VLOG (surprising how nerve wracking it is to talk to your own face on your own laptop--PJ's and wild office mess included!) where I teach on structure and talk a bit about CLOCKWISE.

Aren’t all these authors marvelous? I'm so honored and excited that they all agreed to be part of my tour (and I didn't even have to bribe or twist arms!) If you haven’t checked out their blogs before, make sure you do so. This week!

Teaser Tuesday - CLOCKWISE

Launch day for CLOCKWISE is coming soon and I thought I'd do a little teaser each Tuesday up to the launch week of Sept 26-30. Here's the second one. What do you think?

            “It's Nate,” Lucinda whispered. I know, Nate, Nate, Nate. She nudged me again. I looked to my right. I felt like a girl dying of thirst in the desert, convinced there was a stream of water running toward her. It really looked like Nate was walking our way.

            I glanced behind me. Just a wall. Back to Nate. Yup, he was still walking towards us. My eyes popped wide. My brain was shutting down. I tried to remember my mantra. Hate Nate. Hate Nate.

            He stopped right in front of me. The only thing I could think of was how tall he was. Even with my heels on, he had to look down at me.

            “Would you like to dance?” he said. To me. Nate to Casey. Wants to dance.

            I should have said no. My mind understood this. My spirit understood this. Somehow my mouth got it wrong and I heard myself say, “Okay.”

            The thing was it was a slow dance. He took my hand in his and put his other hand around my waist. I wasn’t breathing. I put my free arm on his shoulder and gulped. Maybe I'd fainted from lack of punch and standing against the wall for too long, and this was just a hallucination. He sure seemed real. He smelled good, spicy. Was I moving my feet?  I was still standing so I must be breathing. My heart beat wildly. I was going to hyperventilate.

            When I dared to look at his face, he smiled. I was so confused! I stole a glimpse at the crowd by the punch table. Nate's friends were laughing.

            Jessica looked really mad, and pulled Craig tighter, if that were possible. I was starting to enjoy this.

            We didn't talk, just swayed to the music. I wondered what life was going to be like for me post-dance. I would be miserable. Purely miserable, since Nate would surely never set eyes on me again. Jessica would make certain of that.

            I decided to just enjoy it for what it was.

            “You look very nice tonight.”

            What? He spoke! He thought I looked nice. I was hyperventilating. I felt faint, dizzy. Was that bad? Nate was so strong, he would hold me up.

            Uh-oh, it was bad. Very, very bad. I wasn’t dizzy because of Nate.

            Oh, no!

Author Polly Courtney Quits Big 6

What the heck is going on? She quit Harper Collins? Can you do that? Why would you want to?
Well, Polly Courtney, author of IT'S A MAN'S WORLD, did just that.

Why? She didn't like the title and she didn't like the cover. She felt it was sexist and degrading to women and didn't accurately reflect the sober content of the book.

Isn't this something that we all secretly fear? That we'll hate the cover and/or the title because we know going in that we have no say. Fortunately, most authors I know who are traditionally published like their titles and covers, or at least they made peace quickly.

Polly Courtney is a woman of conviction. This isn't the first time she left a job because of sexism. In fact, her experiences working for the City gave her fodder for this novel.

And she got a multi-book publishing deal with one of the big six (a dream for many of us).  It takes a set to walk away from that based on personal principles, I'll give her that.

This isn't the first time this book has made the news in a less than flattering way. I first heard from Passive Guy about a cover scandal (also not the first cover scandal for HC).

So, what's Polly Courtney going to do now?

Self-publish.(Is it just me, or has the publishing world turned on its head in the last year or so?)

What about you? Would you quit a Big 6 Publisher for these reasons? For any reason?

And the winner is...

According to Random.org, the winner of the £25 Amazon coupon is.....

                                                                      !!PIPPA!!

Pippa,  I've DM you the coupon number via twitter.  CONGRATULATIONS!


Thanks to everyone for entering. :)

My first VLOG --How to Write Structure

I'm guest teaching on STRUCTURE over at Jenni James Writing Secrets Class

My first VLOG!! (You can't see this, but I'm wearing my PJ's. And yes, that's my office--it's organized confusion--okay?)

Check it out and you'll get a bonus visit by my muse, Spiff!

Happy Saturday!!

Friday Four or Five

1. If you haven't already heard, my launch for CLOCKWISE is coming up Sept 26. And the way good fortune sometimes follows exciting announcements, a kind twitter friend has offered to make me a teaser book trailer. :) I don't know if it will be ready by then, but as soon as it is, you'll be hearing about it.

2.Don't forget to enter to win £25 Amazon coupon. Tell your friends!

3. I'm doing my first ever Vlog Saturday, over at Jenni James Writing Secrets class. If you want to see me in my nervous twitchy glory, check it out--I'm teaching on structure and you'll get a surprise visit from my muse, Spiff!

4. Okay, this is funny. It's a short teaching on story shapes. Don't know what that is? Watch and find out. You'll wonder why you never thought of it yourself.




Have a great weekend!

Songwriters Are Writers Too - Words and Music Against Injustice

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Written by singer/songwriter Norm Strauss(my husband), this video is his way of aligning his voice with those who speak against the injustices going on currently in Libya and Syria.

Watching Willow Watts Launches Today!

About Watching Willow Watts

For Willow Watts, life has settled into a predictably dull routine: days behind the counter at her father's antique shop and nights watching TV, as the pension-aged residents of Britain's Ugliest Village bed down for yet another early night. But everything changes when a YouTube video of Willow's epically embarrassing Marilyn Monroe impersonation gets millions of hits after a viewer spots Marilyn's ghostly image in a frame.

Instantly, Willow's town is overrun with fans flocking to see the 'new Marilyn'. Egged on by the villagers -- whose shops and businesses are cashing in -- Willow embraces her new identity, dying her hair platinum and ramming herself full of cakes to achieve Marilyn's legendary curves.

But when a former flame returns seeking the old Willow, Willow must decide: can she risk her stardom and her village's newfound fortune on love, or is being Marilyn her ticket to happiness?

Buy WATCHING WILLOW WATTS on Amazon.com or Amazon.uk 

Talli Roland wants to know: If you could be anyone, who would you be? (check link to find out what others are saying.)

I had a hard time coming up with an answer for this. There are so many incredible women in history, but most of them had to make huge sacrifices to accomplish what they did.  Hmm, I don't know if I can take their glory without embracing their sacrifices. I think this is something Willow Watts discovers too.

So my answer..... I dunno. I have it pretty good, so I think I'll just stick with being myself.

Congratulations Talli, and all the best with your fab launch!

Teaser Tuesday - CLOCKWISE

Launch day for CLOCKWISE is coming soon and I thought I'd do a little teaser each Tuesday up to the launch week of Sept 26-30. Here's the first one. What do you think? 

A large, colorful new poster hung on the wall near our table. I caught Lucinda’s eyes darting towards it repeatedly.     

“What’s up?”

“The Fall dance is in two weeks,” said Lucinda.

 With a mouthful of chili I said, “Yeah, so what?”

  “I think we should go.”

 I examined her dark eyes and wondered if she’d gone mad. “We never go to dances.” I sipped a bit of soda.

 “But, this is our last chance.”

 Did I miss something? “Our last chance for what?”

 “It’s our last chance to practice for, like, the junior prom.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t exactly planning on going to that.” I took another bite.

 “Casey,” Lucinda wiped her mouth with a napkin. “If we don’t practice for the Junior Prom we won’t know what to do at THE Prom.”

  “So, you want to go to the Fall Dance in order to practice for the Junior Prom in order to practice for THE Prom?”

   Lucinda nodded with a big wide smile.

  “But, THE Prom’s still two years away and I probably won’t go to it anyway.”

   Lucinda blew her bangs out of her eyes. “You totally have to go to THE Prom. It’s like a rite of passage or something. The Fall Dance is a chance to learn, to see how it’s done.” She pulled a compact mirror out of her purse and checked her teeth.  “Also, we don’t want to screw up due to ignorance at the Junior Prom and thus screw up at THE Prom.”

  She had been thinking about this. A lot. “Okay. So, this is sort of a fact finding mission.”

            “Yes, totally.”

            “No actual dancing?”

            “Of course not.” Lucinda shuddered.

            “I don’t know.” I put all my garbage on my tray. “It sounds risky.”

            Lucinda reached into her purse and pulled out two strips of thin, shiny cardboard.            

            “You already bought tickets?” I said through clenched teeth.

            “Casey,” Lucinda cocked her head and said gently. “It will be fun.”

            She thought it would be fun. I thought it would be a nightmare.

A Contest for my British Friends - 25 Pounds Amazon Coupon!

This is a re-post from last week which I had to take down due to a crummy hacker. All is good now, so the contest is back up and running!

Okay, you're probably wondering how a Canadian got hold of an Amazon coupon in British Pounds (dang, I wish my keyboard had a Pound sign. And yes, some kind soul did tell me how, but now I forget who. And how.)

You may have heard me talk about taking a Teaching  English as a Second Language course, which I did, and, if you recommended the course to someone and they registered, you got this great Amazon coupon. My son registered and I got the coupon.

But instead of trying to figure out how to spend it from this side of the pond, I thought, why not give it away to one of my British friends. Old or New!!

So here's how to enter:

Just sign up for my newsletter (see link, top left column). It's new you see, and when I finally send out my first newsletter, I'd like to have actual people to send it to. Also, I love the British and I want more British friends.

Yes, I've  been to England, luv, a few times. Actually saw Shakespeare In Love in the cinema, once. (Did you catch my British accent there? =)

If you want an additional chances to win just tweet and FB this:

@elle_strauss wants British friends. Find out how to win a 25 Pounds Amazon card at www.ellestraussbooks.blogspot.com #scotlandrocks #englandrocks

You can enter even if you don't live in England, as long as you know how to shop at Amazon.co.uk

Just tell me in the comments if you have 1, 2 or 3 entries.

Contest is open until Sunday. I'll announce the winner on Monday the 19th.

Please pass it on!

Friday Four or Five

1. I survived the Back to the Books Blog hop. =)  I visited every link, over three hundred. It was great to discover new bloggers!

2. I applied for a writers' grant. First time, so I don't know how great my chances are. The deadline is October first and the announcement on whether or not you get the grant isn't until April! I totally will have forgotten about it by then. Maybe that's for the best.

3. My blog was hacked on Wednesday. That sucked. I learned more than I wanted about malware and google crawlers. Everything seems to be working fine now.

4. On an up note-- I'm getting ready for my very first book blog tour! It's scheduled to run Sept 26 - 30, and I'll definitely be letting you in on all the goodies as we get closer. I thought for the next three weeks I'd do Teaser Tuesday,  and share a different little teaser from CLOCKWISE each time. So, stay tuned!

5. I went hiking a lot this summer.  Here are a couple pics over looking Kelowna.

Rose Valley from West Kelowna

Knox Mountain

Bear Creek Park

Have a great weekend everyone!

Well, I Hope That Never Happens Again (and blog hop winner!)

My beloved blog was hacked yesterday! Ugh--such a nasty feeling. Google had the cuffs on it for most of the day. But never fear, NO ONE WAS INFECTED BY ME. I was hit, but never re-hit. So, we're all good now.

Because of that, I had to remove two posts, my British Amazon Card giveaway and my Random Act of Publicity for Denise Jaden's book LOSING FAITH (sorry Denise).
I'll re-post both of them next week.


And on to better news: The Back to the Book Hop winner of POSSESSION by Elana Johnson is...

                                       !!PABKINS!!

Pabkins, random.org chose you! Congratulations! I will contact you by email to notify you of your prize.

Back to the Books Giveaway Hop

This Contest is Now Closed.

I'm so excited to participate in this year's Back to the Books Giveaway Hop hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer & Buried in Books

What is this? you ask. Well, it's book celebration party where all participants shout out and give a way one book.

My choice: POSSESSION by Elena Johnson, because, to use her own well loved word, she's made of AWESOMESAUCE, and if you like quirky young adult dystopian, with a yummy love interest and surprising ending, you'll love her book.

To enter, all you have to do is comment on my blog. That's it.

If you want more entries here's how you can do it:

+1 new or current follower of my blog

+1 new or current follower of Elana's blog

+1 follow me on twitter or facebook (or both if you like)

+1 tweet this: Why is @elle_strauss giving away POSSESSION by Elana Johnson? Find out! www.ellestraussbooks.blogspot.com #giveaway #winbooks

+1 Facebook this: Why is Elle Strauss giving away POSSESSION by Elana Johnson? www.ellestraussbooks.blogspot.com. Find out!

Just let me know in the comments how many entries you get. It's the honor system here. I'm not going to check up on you.

But that's not all! You can win even more books. There are over 300 bloggers  participating in  Back to the Books Giveaway.  Find out about new great books and see how many you can win! Contest runs Sept 1-7. US/CAN