Outlander Sisters Unite!

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending the Outlander Fanatics of WA State Craft Fair and Palooza event in Tacoma. There are talented, crafty women in the group!

I gave out tissue packets with the Aiden's Angels logo, since my books may make you cry!

My friend, Molly, Ringle, and I did an author panel at the event. I talked about the Between series and she discussed her Chrysomelia Series, of which Persephone's Orchard is the first book.

Molly with Amy White

Huge thanks to everyone who worked to make the event a success and especially to those who attended the panel. What fun to talk about books with folks who love Scotland like I do!

Amy Kirsch is awesome.

Wendy Nay rocks!

YA Indie Carnival Kick-Off!

I saw there was a YA Indie Carnival starting and asked if I could join in. They said yes, so get ready to  binge on cotton candy and popcorn 'cuz we're going on a thrilling ride! Every Friday, we'll post about all things YA Indie for authors, readers and reviewers. This week's carnival topic is all about...


ME!


Okay, not me exactly... (ahem). We're introducing ourselves to give you a sense of what makes us tick and why we do the crazy things we do! So without further ado (just what is an 'ado' anyway?)...


My debut novel, Between, came out on June 1. It's a love story between a modern girl who dies in a car accident and the 18 century Scottish Highlander who comes to take her to heaven.


I fell in love with Scotland (and hunky guys in kilts) while reading Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series (which is not YA). Not being of Scottish descent myself, I hadn't given the wee country much thought before Outlander, but Scotland took up residence in my heart and has moved in for the long haul.


I wanted my own Highlander, so I created Aiden MacRae who (aside from Jamie Fraser) is the epitome of fine in my opinion. I love spending time with him while I write and hearing his accent in my head as my fingers click across the keys. If he could materialize in front of me, I'd be a happy girl (my hubby probably wouldn't like it much though- hehehehe). When I began writing, my voice came out YA (who knew?) so that's how I made the leap from Outlander to young adult. Between still has some steamy scenes (it's definitely for older teens) but YA is its home.


Check back every Friday to learn more about my publishing journey. Get to know the rest of the YA Indie group and leave a comment to say hi!


Dani Snell
Patti Larsen
Courtney Cole
Wren Emerson
Nicole Williams
Fisher Amelie
Michelle Leighton
Laura Elliott
Amy Maurer Jones
Rachel Coles
T.R. Graves
Allie Burke

Paying homage

Any blog where I write about inspiration would be sadly lacking without mention of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. In my previous post, I said that I was inspired to write Between after reading Twilight. I'd watched an interview with Stephenie Meyer where she'd said she had a dream about the meadow scene, and just started writing. She was a nobody (like me), so I figured I could give it a try.

So I wrote a scene, not the beginning but the lynchpin, critical scene. It wasn't good. I let it sit for a couple of months while I kept reading.

So I picked up Outlander at a friend's suggestion and to this day, it is my favorite book. Originally, I'd planned to make the hero of my book from England because I like accents. It didn't occur to me at the time that English accents are hard to convey on paper. It wasn't until after I had finished (yes, finished!) the whole Outlander series that I went back to writing. By then, I wanted my hero to be a Scottish Highlander. I couldn't get enough of Jamie Fraser so I had to make my own Highlander: Aiden MacRae.

I was surfing the net, looking for information about cairns and such when I followed a random path of links to Eilean Donan Castle's website. It was exactly what I was looking for by way of backstory for Aiden, and he was born. Just like that. And he has brought me great joy ever since. By the time I got around to rewriting the critical scene of Between, I didn't use anything I'd written the first go around!

So I'd like to say thanks, Diana! Maybe someday, I will be able to send you a signed copy of Between. I told you once that Jamie's name will be in my acknowledgments section, and I still intend to do that. And even though their paths would never cross (Aiden died before Jamie was born), I think they would have gotten along swimmingly.