Sunday, December 29, 2013

"If the Silver Slippers Fit..." coming soon to Amazon!

If The Silver Slipper Fits…
Two feisty witches. 
Two wickedly impossible dilemmas. 
Two modern day realms infused with a little mischievous magic. 
One pair of totally awesome and very sassy shoes.
 
If The Silver Slipper Fits begins with a story about Glinda, a teenage witch, who, like any other teenager in the modern world, is envious of another woman’s pair of shoes.  However, these shoes belong to her sister.  After stealing the shoes for her hot date, she trips on a crack in the Yellow Brick Road, falls through a portal and lands smack in the middle of New York City.  Of course, she lost her grip on the shoes when she fell and now Glinda not only has to find her sister’s Silver Slippers in a city of 8 million people, but she has to find another portal to get herself back home in time for her date.  Unfortunately, a subway train full of degenerates, a Naked Cowboy and herd of anorexic fashion models stand in her way.  And to top it all off, the shoes change their look as the owner’s personality changes.
The second story takes place many years later, and centers around Glinda’s youngest daughter Giselle, who already has way too much baggage for a normal teenager.  She has been banished to Las Vegas because she set her high school on fire, and to make matters worse, she supposedly is the recipient of a Goblin Curse.  To top off her really crummy year in exile, a Blood Moon shows up at the wrong time, making her powers go out of control.  She steals her Aunt’s Silver Slippers (sound familiar?) and suddenly her luck, and the shoes, begins to change…for the worse.  Can Giselle’s Lightning Power save the ones she loves most?  Or is it really all just about the shoes?
About the Authors
Thirteen years and nine states apart, Stephanie Greenhalgh and Jennifer Paquette met at a mutual family party over a bag of tortilla scoopers and homemade bean dip. Besides a spooky amount of things in common, they also realized their overflowing creativity complemented each other and within mere months their vault of stories began to grow.   If The Silver Slipper Fits is the first sneak peak into the 2Muses vault, and is the first in The Precious Gems series, where a pair of shoes can be either very naughty or very nice. 
 
"If the Silver Slippers Fit..." will be available on Amazon January 5, 2014!
 
 
 

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Tagged for a Blog Hop by Tianna Holley!


I am thrilled to be on a very short sabbatical from work, known to teachers around the world as WINTER BREAK! It is so nice having some down time even amidst a wicked winter cold and a hectic holiday season! But thankfully, I found a bit of time to participate in a Blog Hop (my first by the way). I was very happy to be tagged by the talented Tainna Holley!

Here’s how a blog hop works. She tagged me, so I answer the four blog hop questions in my blog, which I will link to Tianna’s answers to the same questions on her blog. Then I will reach out to five random authors to continue the hop! (Be sure to check out Tianna on Twitter as @holley_tianna  or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/authortiannaholley.)  

Read on to find my answers to the blog hop questions.

What are You Writing?

I am trying to finish up my first self publishing venture, “If the Silver Slippers Fit…” co-authored with the talented Jennifer Paquette. This is a novella in the form of two short stories that intertwine. In the first story, Glinda, we follow a young Good Witch of the North after she stumbles through a portal and lands in NYC in the middle of fashion week. She has lost her sister’s ‘Silver Slippers’ and must navigate her way through the city to retrieve the shoes AND get back home. In the second story, Giselle, we follow Glinda’s youngest daughter and the ‘Silver Slippers’ into exile in Las Vegas. As her exile draws to a close, Giselle is tested with a Blood Moon, a Goblin Curse and the infamous Lightning Power. It has been a fun little project and I am excited to see how it all turns out!

 How Does This Differ From Your Last Work?

This is VERY different from my last piece, The Twistedly True Tale of Ruby Hood! Ruby Hood is my debut novel, which was released in October 2013. Ruby Hood is young high school senior living in Woodsville. After suffering extreme loss, Ruby learns her true calling and must find the strength to prevail and embrace her new role. This is very loosely based on the fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood”. Yes, it has certain parallels: a grandmother, a red cloak, wolves, and huntsmen, but I like to think I’ve put my own original twist on it.

Why Do You Write?

Honestly, it’s my zen, my outlet, my release, my hobby. It keeps me sane. One day, I would love to make it a career, but until then, I will write because I love it. I write for the same reason I run, read and hang out with my pups…it makes me happy and brings me peace.

What is Your Process?

I have to develop my character first. They HAVE TO have names, faces, and personalities. After that, it’s sort of a free for all and I really don’t have a specific process as each story follows a different path. But in general, the characters play out their story and I write. Once a story is written I revise, edit and rewrite until it is the way I want it!

This all usually takes place in my writing room. It is the perfect little rabbit hole, complete with good lighting, a sound bar connected to Pandora, a scentsy wafting my favorite smells, and usually a cup of coffee or tea…sometimes wine (only when I’m writing, though). I ALWAYS edit sober! J

Thank you so much for being a part of my first Blog Hop! I intend (I hope) to have the December edition of ‘Latest Reads’ out on time this month!

It will feature:

Solstice by Damian Stevenson,

The Magicians’ Assistant by Ann Patchett (yes, finally finished this one!)

The Wishing Spell  by Chris Colfer

And maybe a few others, depending on whether or not I can get them finished!


 

 

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Eclectic randomness with a review! (Late November Latest Reads)


 

 

               Alright…I have to start with: I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED THE 4TH GAME OF THRONES BOOK…and it only took me FIVE MONTHS!!!!

I know Latest Reads is late, but we’ve all heard this song and dance for the past several editions…I’m a busy slacker! And I checked my goals for November…epic fail! My self-publishing debut did NOT happen NOR did I finish a WIP. Now, failure is something I seek out from time to time…maybe I’m sadistic…maybe I’m just a realist and I know the road to success is littered with failures. So according to my warped way of thinking: the more failures, the greater the success! Plus, I like that failures build character…something the world is sorely lacking these days. And personally, I like being filled with character…it keeps things interesting;-)

OK, onto other things: This busy holiday weekend was loaded with tons of Ruby Hood promo! A feature on the Stephanie Meyer fanpage via Facebook, a Ruby Hood Blog Tour hosted by the up and coming BBTour Services, AND a $.99 black Friday sale on Ruby Hood on amazon. My lil vixen has been ALL over the place this weekend! And just to fluff my feathers a bit…she made it down to a sales rank of 23,000 at one point…it was fleeting, but she was there!

In between, promos, movies, and errands, I pushed my grading and report cards aside so I could finish “A Feast for Crows”…finally! Here is it goes…the only entry in the LATE Latest Reads for November!

 

A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin:

In this installment of the ‘The Song of Ice and Fire’, Martin leads the reader on a rather interesting path. First, we follow some of our favorites: Jamie, Cersei, Sansa, Arya, Sam, and Brienne. We see what has transpired in their worlds after the Red Wedding and the intense killing of many characters from the third book. However, what happens when you kill a bunch of characters??? Well, one must introduce some new ones to fill the void. And that is exactly what George R.R. Martin did! There are pages upon pages from the perspective of new characters in this book. Personally, I did not care for this aspect, especially since so many of my favorites were left out of this edition: John, Daenerys, Bran, Tyrion, and Ayra (yes, she was in the 4th, but VERY briefly). And we don’t hear a lick about the Wall or the direwolves. Why you ask? Well, Martin told their story as well, but they are in the fifth book, which runs parallel with the fourth (of course, Martin waits until the last chapter to fill the reader in). This is brilliant from an author standpoint, but fairly brutal for the faithful reader, especially, after the book-gasim of the third book! I did quite enjoy the addition of Lady Stoneheart, she is one creepy character! And the book certainly moved forward. Jamie has grown and changed as a character now that he’s lost his sword hand. He happens to be one of my favorites now. Cersei’s scheming has finally begun to backfire on her. Sansa has transformed from highborn Sansa Stark into bastard born Alayne. Arya has taken a new and interesting path, which I hope we learn more about in the next one. And the honorable Brienne and Samwell have found themselves in some rather sticky situations even thought they are only trying to fulfill oaths to others. But it just wasn’t enough! I am a Stark fan through and through…I’m still pretty pissed Eddard Stark was killed in the first book. I thought for sure he would be the hero of the whole series, but now his family is split apart or dead. One can only hope, the remaining Starks can find each other again and seek vengeance for the fallen!

Final thought: I can’t wait to read ‘Dances with Dragons’! It’s the whole reason I pushed through the doorstop of four!

What’s next, aside from hoping to be on time???

·         The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett (Yes, I know this one has been on my list for months…it’s so far out of my wheelhouse, it’s taking longer than I thought).

·         The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer (Apparently, the author is from Glee. I’m reading it along with several students of mine.)

·         Solstice by Damian Stevenson