Introducing SURRENDER by Elana Johnson and guest post on Why Whining Won't Help

I'm thrilled to be part of Elana Johnson's blog tour for her book SURRENDER!  Read on for a guest post and to learn more about the second book in her Possession Series.

Why Whining Won’t Help

A guest post by Elana Johnson

Okay, so I like to whine. I complain about the first draft, and how I want it to be perfect. I wonder why someone else can’t edit my books to make them better, why revisions have to be SO HARD.

 

I whine when things don’t move as quickly as I’d like. I wonder if I’m doing enough to market my book. Or too much. I worry that everything on the publishing side of writing is robbing the fun on the creative side of writing.

And that’s when I realize that it does no good to whine. Yes, writing is hard. That’s why not everyone does it. It takes patience (which I have little of), and steadfastness, and dedication. It takes constant self-scrutiny, and continual re-dedication to the craft.

It does no good to whine about those things. In fact, I daresay they are what makes the writing fun. Thinking back over what SURRENDER first was when I spit it out, and what it is now? The growth is tremendous. And I think, “I did that. I molded and shaped that word vomit into something worth reading.”

The hard work has a reward at the end of it. It has an amazing story others can read.

And there’s no whining involved when you can hold your book and know you’ve bled over every word. So today I pledge to be whine-free! Who’s with me??

 Raine has always been a good girl. She lives by the rules in Freedom. After all, they are her father’s rules: He’s the Director. It’s because of him that Raine is willing to use her talent—a power so dangerous, no one else is allowed to know about it. Not even her roommate, Vi.
 

All of that changes when Raine falls for Gunner. Raine’s got every reason in the world to stay away from Gunn, but she just can’t. Especially when she discovers his connection to Vi’s boyfriend, Zenn.

Raine has never known anyone as heavily brainwashed as Vi. Raine’s father expects her to spy on Vi and report back to him. But Raine is beginning to wonder what Vi knows that her father is so anxious to keep hidden, and what might happen if she helps Vi remember it. She’s even starting to suspect Vi’s secrets might involve Freedom’s newest prisoner, the rebel Jag Barque…. 

Purchase your copy here: http://books.simonandschuster.com/buy/Surrender/9781442445680/from-other-retailers#book_retailers

 Elana's work including POSSESSION, REGRET, and SURRENDER is available from Simon & Schuster wherever books are sold. She is the author of From the Query to the Call, an ebook that every writer needs to read before they query, which can be downloaded for free on her website. She runs a personal blog on publishing and is a founding author of the QueryTracker blog. She blogs regularly at The League of Extraordinary Writers, co-organizes WriteOnCon, and is a member of SCBWI, ANWA and LDStorymakers.

She wishes she could experience her first kiss again, tell the mean girl where to shove it, and have cool superpowers like reading minds and controlling fire. To fulfill her desires, she writes young adult science fiction and fantasy.

Blog: http://elanajohnson.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/possessionthebook

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/elanaJ