Nancy Straight's Blog - Posts Tagged "nancystraight"
Blood Debt's Cover!!!
Thank you to Dreamscape Covers for once again, outdoing themselves. I absolutely love Blood Debt's cover and hope you all do, too!!! For any authors out there looking for a great designer, definitely give Danielle a shot!
I've published the first chapter of Blood Debt here at this link. http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
Blood Debt's Release Date: Jul 15, 2012
Blood Debt's Synopsis:
Her whole life, it had just been the two of them. Before her mother’s last breath, she gave Camille the information she had craved her entire life: the identity of her father. Daring to contact him, Camille was welcomed by an entire family she never knew existed. But nothing comes without a price, as she discovers when her family claims a legendary heritage tracing back to a centaur touched by Zeus.
As she learns the secrets of her Centaur bloodline, she is drawn into a forbidden love with Drake. Her life may be the blood debt required to pay for her mother’s transgressions. The same person who once held her mother captive, and forced her into decades of hiding, now controls Camille. Her only chance is to seek a piece of her mother’s past that will win her freedom and the life she desperately wants.
Win an Advanced PB Copy of Blood Debt!!
The last contest I held went so well, I thought I’d try another one. Blood Debt will release on July 15 so I thought it might be fun to give away some advanced signed paperback copies. Here’s how it’ll work. You can have one entry for doing each of the below:
1. Add Blood Debt to your, “to-read” shelf on http://www.goodreads.com
2. “Like” my Facebook Author page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Nanc...
3. Leave a comment on my Facebook Author page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Nanc...
4. Send a tweet that reads: I want to win a PB Copy of BLOOD DEBT by @NancyStraight BEFORE it releases on July 15. Enter to win: http://www.authnancystraight.blogspot...
5. Follow me on twitter: @NancyStraight
6. Become a member of my blog at: http://www.authnancystraight.blogspot...
For each of the above, you’ll get one entry. If you do all six – I’ll give you ten entries. In the comments on the blog, insert a comment with either: (1) your email address, (2) your goodreads username or (3) your twitter ID telling me what you did. For example:
@NancyStraight I did 1, 3, 6 or
Nancy_m_straight@yahoo.com I did all six
The contest will run beginning today through Jun 30. My 7 year old will select a winner EACH day from the entries submitted, beginning Jun 15 through Jun 30. Yes the sooner you enter, the better your chances!
Good Luck & Happy Reading!
1. Add Blood Debt to your, “to-read” shelf on http://www.goodreads.com
2. “Like” my Facebook Author page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Nanc...
3. Leave a comment on my Facebook Author page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Nanc...
4. Send a tweet that reads: I want to win a PB Copy of BLOOD DEBT by @NancyStraight BEFORE it releases on July 15. Enter to win: http://www.authnancystraight.blogspot...
5. Follow me on twitter: @NancyStraight
6. Become a member of my blog at: http://www.authnancystraight.blogspot...
For each of the above, you’ll get one entry. If you do all six – I’ll give you ten entries. In the comments on the blog, insert a comment with either: (1) your email address, (2) your goodreads username or (3) your twitter ID telling me what you did. For example:
@NancyStraight I did 1, 3, 6 or
Nancy_m_straight@yahoo.com I did all six
The contest will run beginning today through Jun 30. My 7 year old will select a winner EACH day from the entries submitted, beginning Jun 15 through Jun 30. Yes the sooner you enter, the better your chances!
Good Luck & Happy Reading!
My Detroit Adventure
Grab a cup of coffee, because this will be a long post. Keep in mind, I write fiction so you may think some of these events are a figment of my imagination or have been embellished for story purposes – they haven’t!!
So, I was in Detroit last week and had quite an adventure. I arrived on Sunday and had driven there so by the time I got to my hotel, I was exhausted. I didn’t do any of the normal preparations, like hanging up / ironing clothes for the next day because I was spent. I grabbed my kindle, read a little and went to bed. I have this pesky internal alarm that wakes me up nearly every morning around 5 am. (Detroit is on EST so it was okay but it doesn’t re-adjust when I go to cities in different time zones). I set the hotel alarm clock for 6 am just in case – a habit I’ve had for years.
Monday morning I awoke, looked at my watch and sure enough, it was 5 am. I reached over to un-set the alarm clock and noticed it was flashing. I didn’t think much of it, other than there had to have been a “power hit” sometime during the night. I went down stairs, grabbed a newspaper and began my usual morning ritual. When I returned to the room I turned on a light switch and was frustrated to find the light bulb had burned out. I went to another light switch and got the same dark response. “Crap, no power.” Oh well, I don’t need lights to take a shower, I went into the bathroom and turned on the shower and nothing happened. “GREAT, no power and no water.” I called the front desk and in my most polite voice said, “Hey, this is Nancy Straight in room XXX, I don’t have any power or water in my room.”
A hurried voice answered, “We’re going to make an announcement.” I heard – Click as the front desk promptly hung up on me. As I stood there looking at the receiver, the intercom in the hotel blared to life, “There is an emergency in the hotel. Please evacuate the hotel immediately. Do not use the elevators, use the stairs.” The person making this announcement made it no less than ten times and it’s surprising how loud the emergency intercom is in a hotel. I very methodically picked up my cell phone, my iPad, my kindle and my purse – always be prepared, right? I looked around the room to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything important. I smelled an odor that I hadn’t smelled since the day my husband and I installed a new oven improperly in our kitchen – that’s right, melting electrical wires. I joined fifty or so people on the stairs making my way the eight floors down.
As I stood outside I looked at the structure, there was no billowing smoke or spreading flames so I assumed whatever the problem was it would be fine soon. Then it hit me, my laptop was up in my room and the first draft of my latest book, Blood Ties, was on it and I didn’t have it backed up anywhere. YIKES! I kept watching the windows hoping not to see flames appear. Not too long after this revelation, we got the “all clear” and were allowed to return to the hotel. *Wipes sweat from brow.* (Incidentally, I have since backed up Blood Ties to a USB Key).
I called the people I had meetings scheduled with for Monday morning and successfully moved them to Monday afternoon. Two hours passed, the power and water were still not restored so I went down to the front desk and was told the hotel would have power by 9:30 pm that evening. Obviously, this wasn’t going to work for me so I had the hotel relocate me to another property in downtown Detroit and they worked it so that I could check in early in the morning rather than wait for the customary 3 pm check in.
I loaded up my car, programmed the address to the new hotel into my GPS and was on my way. Three blocks into my trip, the display inside my car gave me a message that I had four flat tires and told me to pull over immediately. Yes - this is the point that I nearly screamed.
I pulled into a parking lot with a few cars. I got out and looked, all four tires appeared to be okay to me. I turned off the car, turned it back on and the car was still convinced that my tires were flat and I shouldn’t be driving. I called roadside assistance and told them what was going on, that I believed some sort of sensor had gone haywire and asked for the address to the closest dealership. After finding my location, the roadside assistance operator said there was a truck that was only a few minutes away and he’d send it just to check me out. No problem, things are looking good now.
I picked up my phone and started checking out emails when I heard: KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK – there was a man standing outside my window. I rolled it down and he said, “I’m really hungry.” Without thinking I blurted out, “You know what, pal? I’m really hungry, too.” Now, when speaking to a homeless man, it’s probably bad form to complain about: a hotel fire, the fact that you’re in a city you aren’t familiar with, your car believes it should not be on the road, or the fact that you haven’t eaten in almost twenty-four hours. I politely told him, “I don’t carry cash” – which I don’t. (Cash mysteriously evaporates out of my wallet every time I put some in there.)
The homeless man who was hoping for a sandwich walked away. (I did offer him a bottle of water that I happened to have with me, but he declined). I looked off to my left and another homeless man was standing against a building, with a sword. Yes, that’s right. Not a switchblade, not a hunting knife, not a dagger - a sword.
Right about now a normal person would say, “Screw it, I’m outta here,” and drive away. Instead, I did a not so smart thing and called a friend of mine that was in Arizona. In my mind, if I was going to be attacked by the Samurai wanna-be to my left, I wanted the attack on record. Yes – a week after the fact and I DO know this was stupid, but at the time it seemed like a good plan. My window was still rolled down from the first homeless guy that had stopped by so I was sure Samurai-man could hear me. My conversation started with, “You’re not going to believe what my morning’s been like. . .” I told her about everything up to that point and added, “. . . and to top it all off, there’s some Fruit Loop with a sword standing 20 feet away from me.” (Yes, I called him a Fruit Loop and yes, I know this was a dumb idea, too.) Before said Fruit Loop could respond by gouging out my eye or scratching the paint off my car, the cavalry arrived – the tow truck driver. He confirmed that I did indeed have air in my tires and my car was mistaken.
The tow truck driver noticed the man with the sword and asked if he’d been bothering me. He hadn’t. He hadn’t brandished it, or asked me for money for a sandwich, or anything, but really – Who carries a sword in downtown Detroit? Isn’t there a city ordinance against something like that? If not, I think one should be passed because homeless people with swords have got to be bad for tourism!
So, I got to the dealership, my car checked out okay, they were able to get the message to stop displaying that I was driving on four flat tires, they washed my car, and even gave me a rose! All in all – this was a day that I will be talking about for years to come.
Can you believe after all that, Monday still wasn’t the most memorable part of my trip to Detroit? The most memorable part was, Wednesday night when I got to go to dinner with Amy Bartol – Author of the book: Inescapable. I am a huge fan and I was super excited to get to meet her! For any of you that are also her fans, YES – she is just as cool in person as I thought she’d be. We had a great dinner, great conversation, and made plans to meet at the Decatur, GA Book Festival over Labor Day!! (Swords will be optional).
So, I was in Detroit last week and had quite an adventure. I arrived on Sunday and had driven there so by the time I got to my hotel, I was exhausted. I didn’t do any of the normal preparations, like hanging up / ironing clothes for the next day because I was spent. I grabbed my kindle, read a little and went to bed. I have this pesky internal alarm that wakes me up nearly every morning around 5 am. (Detroit is on EST so it was okay but it doesn’t re-adjust when I go to cities in different time zones). I set the hotel alarm clock for 6 am just in case – a habit I’ve had for years.
Monday morning I awoke, looked at my watch and sure enough, it was 5 am. I reached over to un-set the alarm clock and noticed it was flashing. I didn’t think much of it, other than there had to have been a “power hit” sometime during the night. I went down stairs, grabbed a newspaper and began my usual morning ritual. When I returned to the room I turned on a light switch and was frustrated to find the light bulb had burned out. I went to another light switch and got the same dark response. “Crap, no power.” Oh well, I don’t need lights to take a shower, I went into the bathroom and turned on the shower and nothing happened. “GREAT, no power and no water.” I called the front desk and in my most polite voice said, “Hey, this is Nancy Straight in room XXX, I don’t have any power or water in my room.”
A hurried voice answered, “We’re going to make an announcement.” I heard – Click as the front desk promptly hung up on me. As I stood there looking at the receiver, the intercom in the hotel blared to life, “There is an emergency in the hotel. Please evacuate the hotel immediately. Do not use the elevators, use the stairs.” The person making this announcement made it no less than ten times and it’s surprising how loud the emergency intercom is in a hotel. I very methodically picked up my cell phone, my iPad, my kindle and my purse – always be prepared, right? I looked around the room to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything important. I smelled an odor that I hadn’t smelled since the day my husband and I installed a new oven improperly in our kitchen – that’s right, melting electrical wires. I joined fifty or so people on the stairs making my way the eight floors down.
As I stood outside I looked at the structure, there was no billowing smoke or spreading flames so I assumed whatever the problem was it would be fine soon. Then it hit me, my laptop was up in my room and the first draft of my latest book, Blood Ties, was on it and I didn’t have it backed up anywhere. YIKES! I kept watching the windows hoping not to see flames appear. Not too long after this revelation, we got the “all clear” and were allowed to return to the hotel. *Wipes sweat from brow.* (Incidentally, I have since backed up Blood Ties to a USB Key).
I called the people I had meetings scheduled with for Monday morning and successfully moved them to Monday afternoon. Two hours passed, the power and water were still not restored so I went down to the front desk and was told the hotel would have power by 9:30 pm that evening. Obviously, this wasn’t going to work for me so I had the hotel relocate me to another property in downtown Detroit and they worked it so that I could check in early in the morning rather than wait for the customary 3 pm check in.
I loaded up my car, programmed the address to the new hotel into my GPS and was on my way. Three blocks into my trip, the display inside my car gave me a message that I had four flat tires and told me to pull over immediately. Yes - this is the point that I nearly screamed.
I pulled into a parking lot with a few cars. I got out and looked, all four tires appeared to be okay to me. I turned off the car, turned it back on and the car was still convinced that my tires were flat and I shouldn’t be driving. I called roadside assistance and told them what was going on, that I believed some sort of sensor had gone haywire and asked for the address to the closest dealership. After finding my location, the roadside assistance operator said there was a truck that was only a few minutes away and he’d send it just to check me out. No problem, things are looking good now.
I picked up my phone and started checking out emails when I heard: KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK – there was a man standing outside my window. I rolled it down and he said, “I’m really hungry.” Without thinking I blurted out, “You know what, pal? I’m really hungry, too.” Now, when speaking to a homeless man, it’s probably bad form to complain about: a hotel fire, the fact that you’re in a city you aren’t familiar with, your car believes it should not be on the road, or the fact that you haven’t eaten in almost twenty-four hours. I politely told him, “I don’t carry cash” – which I don’t. (Cash mysteriously evaporates out of my wallet every time I put some in there.)
The homeless man who was hoping for a sandwich walked away. (I did offer him a bottle of water that I happened to have with me, but he declined). I looked off to my left and another homeless man was standing against a building, with a sword. Yes, that’s right. Not a switchblade, not a hunting knife, not a dagger - a sword.
Right about now a normal person would say, “Screw it, I’m outta here,” and drive away. Instead, I did a not so smart thing and called a friend of mine that was in Arizona. In my mind, if I was going to be attacked by the Samurai wanna-be to my left, I wanted the attack on record. Yes – a week after the fact and I DO know this was stupid, but at the time it seemed like a good plan. My window was still rolled down from the first homeless guy that had stopped by so I was sure Samurai-man could hear me. My conversation started with, “You’re not going to believe what my morning’s been like. . .” I told her about everything up to that point and added, “. . . and to top it all off, there’s some Fruit Loop with a sword standing 20 feet away from me.” (Yes, I called him a Fruit Loop and yes, I know this was a dumb idea, too.) Before said Fruit Loop could respond by gouging out my eye or scratching the paint off my car, the cavalry arrived – the tow truck driver. He confirmed that I did indeed have air in my tires and my car was mistaken.
The tow truck driver noticed the man with the sword and asked if he’d been bothering me. He hadn’t. He hadn’t brandished it, or asked me for money for a sandwich, or anything, but really – Who carries a sword in downtown Detroit? Isn’t there a city ordinance against something like that? If not, I think one should be passed because homeless people with swords have got to be bad for tourism!
So, I got to the dealership, my car checked out okay, they were able to get the message to stop displaying that I was driving on four flat tires, they washed my car, and even gave me a rose! All in all – this was a day that I will be talking about for years to come.
Can you believe after all that, Monday still wasn’t the most memorable part of my trip to Detroit? The most memorable part was, Wednesday night when I got to go to dinner with Amy Bartol – Author of the book: Inescapable. I am a huge fan and I was super excited to get to meet her! For any of you that are also her fans, YES – she is just as cool in person as I thought she’d be. We had a great dinner, great conversation, and made plans to meet at the Decatur, GA Book Festival over Labor Day!! (Swords will be optional).
The Next Big Thing
Thanks for stopping by! You can see this same post with active links and pictures incorporated in the post on my primary blog at: authnancystraight.blogspot.com
There’s this blog hop post going around lately called WIP: The Next Big Thing. Two authors, who I think are a riot on-line, both tagged me in their posts. So before a third points me out for being a slacker I figured I’d better get hopping. Thank you Paulina Ulrich and Christie Rich!
Alright, let me explain how this "blog hop" works. Once you’re tagged in this blog hopping post, you need to do a few things. One of them is to thank the person who tagged you...THANK YOU PAULINA and CHRISTIE! It’s wicked cool that you both thought to include me in this new-generation chain-letter, LOL!
The next thing is for me to answer the questions that go along with the post. The questions are about my work in progress (WIP).
Lastly I’ll be choosing 5 other authors to tag at the end of my post.
Here it goes!
What’s the working title of your WIP?
Centaur Legacy is in the final stages of editing now. It is the second book in the Touched Series and is on schedule for a November 15 release. (Yay!!!)
Where did your idea come from for your book?
I’ve always thought Centaurs were interesting, but there is almost nothing written about them, at least not any I’ve enjoyed that were devoted to a Centaur theme. Although I LOVE to read about Vampires, Werewolves, Demons, Angels and pretty much any paranormal creature – I really wanted to create a series that was unlike any other. This was the inspiration behind the Touched Series.
What genre does your book fall under?
The Touched Series falls under young adult / new adult paranormal romance with a heavy dose of Greek Mythology.
Which actors would you pick to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Anna Kendrick would be an exceptional Camille, and Josh Hutcherson for Drake.
What is a one sentence synopsis of your book?
This is tricky but here it goes: When Camille’s mother died she felt alone in the world; she dared to find a father she’d never met who welcomed her into a new world she never could have imagined.
Will your book be self published or represented by an agency?
Proudly self published! I like having full control over my novels, using the words or phrases that I want the characters to use, and the ability to publish on my schedule.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
The first draft took two months, and it’s been followed by four months of editing. Centaur Legacy is on its fifth draft right now.
What other books would you compare this story within your genre?
Wow, that’s a tough one. I’d have to say. . . nothing. I read a lot. Like all the time, and I haven’t run across a story that is anywhere close to this series in terms of the Centaur story line. From the romance perspective, it’s a little bit of a “forbidden fruit,” scenario and it has similarities to Reed and Evie’s relationship in Amy Bartol’s Inescapeable.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
A lawyer made me do it! I used to work with a lawyer who I had a great deal of respect for, one day out of the blue he said, “Mrs. Straight, you are one of the most compelling writers I’ve ever known.” That was one of the most unexpected and flattering compliments I had ever received. His compliment stuck with me for months, until one night, I started typing.
What else about your book might pique the readers interest?
There is an unexpected villain in the story. If I write about who it is, it could spoil the moment. There is also a point in the book (85%) where I inevitably get tweets and messages on Goodreads from angry readers, only to have those retracted twenty minutes later. I can’t tell you why, but there is definitely a shocking part of the story that most don’t see coming.
Now that I’ve answered the questions, I’ll tag five authors who I think are amazing. I’d love to know what they’re working on!
· Shannon Dermott (Cambion Series)
· Rachael Higginson (Star-crossedSeries)
· Charlotte Abel (Channie Series)
· Tiffany King (Saving Angels Series)
· Georgia Cates (Going Under Series)
There’s this blog hop post going around lately called WIP: The Next Big Thing. Two authors, who I think are a riot on-line, both tagged me in their posts. So before a third points me out for being a slacker I figured I’d better get hopping. Thank you Paulina Ulrich and Christie Rich!
Alright, let me explain how this "blog hop" works. Once you’re tagged in this blog hopping post, you need to do a few things. One of them is to thank the person who tagged you...THANK YOU PAULINA and CHRISTIE! It’s wicked cool that you both thought to include me in this new-generation chain-letter, LOL!
The next thing is for me to answer the questions that go along with the post. The questions are about my work in progress (WIP).
Lastly I’ll be choosing 5 other authors to tag at the end of my post.
Here it goes!
What’s the working title of your WIP?
Centaur Legacy is in the final stages of editing now. It is the second book in the Touched Series and is on schedule for a November 15 release. (Yay!!!)
Where did your idea come from for your book?
I’ve always thought Centaurs were interesting, but there is almost nothing written about them, at least not any I’ve enjoyed that were devoted to a Centaur theme. Although I LOVE to read about Vampires, Werewolves, Demons, Angels and pretty much any paranormal creature – I really wanted to create a series that was unlike any other. This was the inspiration behind the Touched Series.
What genre does your book fall under?
The Touched Series falls under young adult / new adult paranormal romance with a heavy dose of Greek Mythology.
Which actors would you pick to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Anna Kendrick would be an exceptional Camille, and Josh Hutcherson for Drake.
What is a one sentence synopsis of your book?
This is tricky but here it goes: When Camille’s mother died she felt alone in the world; she dared to find a father she’d never met who welcomed her into a new world she never could have imagined.
Will your book be self published or represented by an agency?
Proudly self published! I like having full control over my novels, using the words or phrases that I want the characters to use, and the ability to publish on my schedule.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
The first draft took two months, and it’s been followed by four months of editing. Centaur Legacy is on its fifth draft right now.
What other books would you compare this story within your genre?
Wow, that’s a tough one. I’d have to say. . . nothing. I read a lot. Like all the time, and I haven’t run across a story that is anywhere close to this series in terms of the Centaur story line. From the romance perspective, it’s a little bit of a “forbidden fruit,” scenario and it has similarities to Reed and Evie’s relationship in Amy Bartol’s Inescapeable.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
A lawyer made me do it! I used to work with a lawyer who I had a great deal of respect for, one day out of the blue he said, “Mrs. Straight, you are one of the most compelling writers I’ve ever known.” That was one of the most unexpected and flattering compliments I had ever received. His compliment stuck with me for months, until one night, I started typing.
What else about your book might pique the readers interest?
There is an unexpected villain in the story. If I write about who it is, it could spoil the moment. There is also a point in the book (85%) where I inevitably get tweets and messages on Goodreads from angry readers, only to have those retracted twenty minutes later. I can’t tell you why, but there is definitely a shocking part of the story that most don’t see coming.
Now that I’ve answered the questions, I’ll tag five authors who I think are amazing. I’d love to know what they’re working on!
· Shannon Dermott (Cambion Series)
· Rachael Higginson (Star-crossedSeries)
· Charlotte Abel (Channie Series)
· Tiffany King (Saving Angels Series)
· Georgia Cates (Going Under Series)
Win a $50 Gift Card!!
Title: Meeting Destiny
Author: Nancy Straight
Genre: New Adult Paranormal Romance
FREE from ALL bookstores
Age Group: New Adult
Link on Amazon: Meeting Destiny
Link on Barnes and Noble: Meeting Destiny
Book Description:
Lauren is visited in her dreams for years by a stranger claiming to be her destiny. Destiny becomes reality when paths cross during a failed robbery attempt. Lauren and the stranger experience chemistry like no other and now her doubt over her long time relationship with her high school sweetheart is not her only secret…someone else knows about her keen intuition and sixth sense.
A mysterious clairvoyant seeks Lauren out and tells her not only of her life now but what the future may hold. Soon Lauren is in the middle of a murder investigation and a questionable friendship with the key suspect. Law enforcement, friends and family are concerned for Lauren but unfortunately they are unaware of the true danger…Sinister forces are at work and will stop at nothing to destroy Lauren’s abilities.
Enter in the Rafflecopter and you could win a $50 Amazon (or Barnes and Noble) Gift card!
