When you're a writer, you also find yourself doing a lot of speaking engagements, panels, workshops, conferences, classes, etc. Basically, if you hate public speaking this isn't the career you want--ha ha! But during these events, I often reference some of the books I've learned from and thought I'd share a few of my favorite go to books with you. Some I've talked about a lot like, The Creative Call, which was the book I credit with changing my mindset and got me published.

​​Find it here on Amazon: 
As an Amazon associate I may earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

​There are others in my storefront that you can access as well in the link at the bottom of this post. The Paris Review interviews were recommended by my creative writing professor in college. I used a gift certificate to buy a set years ago and they are amazing. I can't recommend them enough. Here's a couple, but there are several  volumes to pick from.

Another must read if you want to write was recommended as required reading by a lit professor I loved. In fact, I ended up doing an independent study with her after reading this one. I included another favorite of Sarton's in my store link at the bottom, but all her journals are amazing.
​

Some other books that have helped me include: biographies, memoirs, and autobiographies of writers, as well as craft books and books about the creative mindset and you can see all  of my other recommendations (such as books on craft and the writing life) listed in my storefront here: 
amzn.to/3e4ZNta 

Hope this helps!

Are you looking for some sweet and wholesome young adult romances? Check out this box set of 5 YA books from Victorine E. Lieske on sale for only 99 cents for a limited time! 

Find it here on Amazon: 
As an Amazon associate I may earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.
​

Excited to share the YA Vampire Innocent Series by Matthew S. Cox with you. Book 13 in the series just released.

Genre: YA, Genre: Dark comedy, vampires, urban fantasy, paranormal

Intended audience: Ages 13 and up

Sarah Wright was a happy, well-adjusted ordinary suburban high school grad looking toward college with equal parts excitement and dread. All her life, she’d been the good girl who never did anything wrong, except for dating Scott Deacon.

Death normally gets in the way of plans, and Sarah’s no exception. After she wakes up in a morgue with no memory of how she got there, she soon learns there’s much about the world she never knew―like vampires are real.

On top of her anxiety about moving out of state, being killed pushes her straight to “can’t even.” Sarah rushes back to the safety of her home and family, who seemingly take her news in stride.

While she may have the powers of an immortal, she’s still living (more or less) under her parents’ roof and beholden to their rules. She once thought high school came with a lot of drama…
 
But it’s got nothing on being a vampire.

Book One: A Nighttime of Forever

Sarah Wright woke up a few times after parties in strange places―but the morgue’s a first.

At eighteen, she’s eager for a taste of independence, moving out of state to attend college. A change of scenery is extra-needed due to a bad breakup with her boyfriend, Scott. However, soon after escaping the body cooler, she makes two startling realizations: vampires are real, and she is one.

There’s nothing quite like an untimely death to ruin plans. California’s sunny beaches aren’t the best place for vampires to chill, and worse, not only does she wind up stuck in Seattle, she’s still living (figuratively) with her parents.

They take the news surprisingly well―after all, it’s better than burying her―even helping move her bedroom to the basement. A disinterested sire, distraught friends, nosy Men in Black, and awestruck younger siblings complicate her adjustment to the new normal of being an immortal still subject to her parents’ rules.

Undeath has its perks, but it also brings enemies. Without a copy of ‘Fangs for Dummies,’ Sarah’s left scrambling for answers when one such new enemy attacks her siblings and friends. If she can’t figure out how to vampire, her attempt to spare her family the grief of losing her may wind up killing them.

Reviews for the series:

“It's whimsical and wicked funny and it's heartwarming. But also bloodcurdling in spots.”

“Cox makes Sarah come alive as a millennial teenager turned unwitting vampire. She is relatable and quite amusing. You feel her pain and her joy just as vibrantly as she does. Her indomitable will is the only thing that sees her through. I can't wait to see what she will get up to next!

This series is suitable for mature young adult through adult readers who enjoy quirky heroines in their offbeat young adult supernatural comedic thrillers with plenty of laughs and hijinks to dampen the horror and tragedy until they are tolerable.”

“Sarah and her family's escapades are never ending!there is always something new and exciting wherever they turn. Plenty of action, adventure and growing pains for vampire and human alike. A very entertaining world!”

Author Bio: Originally from South Amboy NJ, Matthew has been creating science fiction and fantasy worlds for most of his reasoning life. It took a while, but he eventually decided to take writing seriously. His first published novel, Division Zero, released in 2014.

His books span adult, young-adult, and middle-grade fiction in multiple genres, predominantly science fiction, cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic, and fantasy.
Matthew is an avid gamer, a recovered WoW addict, developer of various homebrew tabletop RPG systems, and a fan of anime, British humour, and intellectual science fiction that questions the nature of humanity, reality, life, and what might happen after it.

He is also fond of cats, presently living with two: Loki and Dorian.

Follow Matthew here:

Website: http://www.matthewcoxbooks.com/wordpress/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/mscox
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MatthewSCoxAuthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7712730.Matthew_S_Cox
Twitter: @mscox_fiction
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/matthewcox10420/

Awards:

Prophet of the Badlands (excerpt) – Honorable Mention – Writers of the Future

Evergreen – 2019 Reader’s Choice awards honorable mention (YA Action)

The Cursed Crown – 2019 Reader’s Choice awards honorable mention (LGBT)

My Dad is a Mad Scientist – Reader’s Favorite Gold Medal (Children’s lit 2020)

The Girl Who Found the Sun – Reader’s Favorite Silver Medal (Dystopian 2020)

Book 13:  Hunting Vampires for Fun and Profit just released!


 Find all the books in this 13 book series here: amzn.to/2P1WNU1
As an Amazon associate I may earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

                                                                                                                         Book one

Happy to have  Courtenay Kasper on the blog today! She's a  middle grade author and her love of the genre really shines through as you'll see below! 

Tell us about your work.

Thank you so much! I write primarily middle-grade fiction. I haven’t always stayed with one genre so I write steampunk, fantasy, dystopian, and one western even!
 
What made you want to write middle grade books?

I started writing stories when I was 8 and won a lunch with a local author. From that point on I wanted to write stories. I have always enjoyed speculative fiction most and frequently refer to myself as being stuck in “Middle-Earth.” I like the YA genre, but my heart belongs to the fantastical, whimsical, and vibrant storylines in Middle-Grade Literature.
 
What was your favorite book when you were growing up?

That is a tough one! I think it is a tie between The Phantom Tollbooth (Norton Juster) and The Secret World of OG (Pierre Burton). Both had these fantastical worlds with excellent word play and interesting side characters.
 
I always reread my favorite books when I was a preteen. Did you reread books and if so, which one(s) have you reread?

Absolutely! I re-read my favourites over and over. I have read The Chronicles of Narnia dozens of times. My favourite is a Horse and his Boy. If I can tell one story half as well as that, I will be thrilled.
 
Who are some of your favorite middle grade and/or YA authors?

Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl, Suzanne Collins Gregor the Overlander, Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan, Christopher Paolini’s Eragon. S.D. Smith’s Green Ember, Catherynne M. Valente’s Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making.  All fantastic. There are so many.
 
A lot of creatives (artists, writers, musicians) have talked about how the pandemic has impacted their creativity. How has it been for you?

To start with my creativity was struggling when the pandemic hit because I had also torn out my shoulder, so typing wasn’t happening. It took several months before I could write anything again. I used the time to do a ton of reading and listening to audiobooks and came out of that with even more book ideas.
 
What are you working on now?

I am working on the sequel to Here There Be Griffins – The Cartografist’s Map. This book is more focused on a secondary character’s journey to becoming an Atlantian Map Maker and bringing back the fallen city. I am also helping one of my daughters with the graphic novel she is working on which is challenging my digital art skills in a great way.
 
Follow the author here: 
https://www.facebook.com/clkasper  my FB Author Page
https://courtenaykasper.wordpress.com/ my Blog
https://www.goodreads.com/courtenaykasper Goodreads
 
Here There Be Griffins
 
When 12-year-old Molybdenum McTavish finds a griffin’s egg in her grampa’s towing yard she is thrown into a whirlwind adventure that takes her beyond the north wind and off her own map. Moly must find out who she is and who she can trust before the last of the griffins is brutally murdered and the people of Hyperborea made slaves. Can a girl and her newly-hatched Tiger griffin take down a horde of one-eyed Arim before it’s too late? 

Find the book here at Amazon:
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

Check out this beautiful new cover for Competing with the Star!

The perfect guy, the perfect location. What could go wrong?

Hadley Daniels’s life seems perfect. Before the beginning of sophomore year of high school, Hadley and her family move to a beautiful beach town, where she makes amazing new friends and lands the boyfriend of her dreams. She and Nick form a deep bond, but insecurity sets in when Hadley discovers her boyfriend once had a huge crush on her friend—who just happens to be the beautiful teen TV star, Simone Hendrickson. Nick claims to be over Simone, but then Hadley is blindsided with the news that Nick and Simone kissed after school. Now Hadley must determine who is telling the truth.

Love, betrayal, friendship…who needs TV drama when you’re busy competing with a star?

Pick up a copy here:
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

​It’s finally here! I’m so excited to be able to rerelease Next Door to a Star. I’ve had so many people helping along the way and it’s been both scary and exhilarating. I thanked so many in the acknowledgements, but once again it takes a village to raise a book baby!

I hope you enjoy reading about Hadley and her journey to find where she belongs, learning about how to make friends as well as be a good friend, a swoony first kiss and first love, and a sweet sense of family.

Thank you for being part of this journey with me! ♥

If you’d like to pick up the book, you can find it here in both ebook and paperback:
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

Check out author Cherry Christensen's Secret Valentine playlist!

​Blurb: Professor Hannah Wagganer spends her days teaching history, and her nights dating Glen Arbor’s new mail carrier, Jasper Morgan. Not only does he spark Hannah’s heart, but he has become best friends with her cat, Jingles.

As Hannah happily prepares for the church Valentine’s Day potluck and makes cards for local veterans, a snowstorm sends her plans, and her relationship with Jasper, on an unexpected detour. She seeks refuge from the storm at Jasper’s cottage, and finds him to be a warm and gracious host. But, at the same time, the spark is gone—when it comes to romance, he's turned as cold as the February wind. Doubt creeps in, leaving Hannah worried that she’ll end up spending another holiday alone.

Then, once again, unexpected blessings abound in town, when an anonymous donor pays to have the church pipes repaired, and other locals suddenly find solutions to their problems. Is it coincidental, or the work of a secret valentine?

Pick up the book here:
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Bio: Cherry resides in the Mitten State with her husband of 19 years and a tabby cat named Caden. A true Michigander, she points at the palm of her right hand when telling people where she lives, drinks Vernors ginger ale when she’s under the weather, wears shorts and a sweatshirt at the same time, and measures distance in minutes, not miles. She also cheers for her favorite football team, the Michigan Wolverines. Go Blue!

A confirmed night owl, Cherry wholeheartedly agrees with whoever said, “I could be a morning person, if morning happened around noon.” It’s no surprise then she prefers to write in the evening. She’s a bit of a pantser writer, meaning she dreams up stories without using an outline, so every day is an exciting adventure as she waits to see where the characters lead her next!

A lifelong avid reader, Cherry turned to writing as a creative outlet. Drawing partly from her own experiences, and partly from her wild imagination, she weaves romantic tales with a smidgen of religion and a hint of mystery. Cherry’s first novel, The Fearful Heart, debuted in 2014, and she has never looked back. She continues to grow as an author, learning more about the writing craft with each book.

Social Media: 
​Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cherry-Christensen-Author-1427146804175227
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9872402.Cherry_Christensen
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/cherry-christensen

Check out the cover reveal for A Secret Scottish Escape by Julie Shackman. The book is being released in e-book on 21 May and in paperback on 19 August. Check out the blurb:

​Escape to the beautiful Scottish Highlands for a heartwarming and feel good cosy romance that will whisk you away from lockdown!

When Scotland’s sleepiest hamlet becomes the centre of hot gossip, Layla Devlin finds herself caught in a mystery…

When Layla’s fiancée has an unexpected heart attack and dies – in another woman’s arms, no less – Layla is determined to pack up and leave Loch Harris, the village she’s always called home. But an unexpected inheritance and love for her quiet corner of Scotland send her down a new path.
​
Now Layla finds herself facing a whole new kind of drama. Rumours swirl that a celebrity has moved into Coorie Cottage and Layla is determined to have him headline her opening night at local music venue The Conch Club. But the reclusive star is equally determined to thwart Layla’s efforts. Rafe Buchanan is in hiding for a reason, and soon his past comes to Loch Harris to haunt him…

Pre-order the book here:

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Check out the new cover for Next Door to a Star! The updated book will be out very soon! Thanks to Cora Graphics for the beautiful cover and for everyone who helped find the best way to represent Hadley's story ♥

Can't wait until you see the next one! 

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.