RELAX

• take a deep breath, breathe deep into your belly.  Let it out slow and steady until you’ve exhaled entirely.
• take another deep breath.  Exhale.
• One more time.
• Drop your hands to your sides. Yep. Away from the keyboard.  Relax your shoulders away from your ears.  Breathe out.

Finish reading this, then close your eyes and breathe again.

Sometimes serenity is just a breath away.

Enjoy your day!

I’m a little late with my post. We don’t have any power here in Massachusetts.  Twelve inches of wet, heavy snow on trees that still have their leaves causes a bit of havoc with the power lines. We’re on day 3 without power and hotel hopping until it comes back on.  The power company says it could be another few days.  But we’re all safe and that’s what matters.

Now onto something much more fun!

OPEN MINDS!  I was lucky enough to get an early copy to review.  I have to say, I’m very happy to write this review for Susan, her book was brilliant.  OPEN MINDS reminded me of a Scott Westerfeld book, Uglies came to mind when I started reading.  Kira’s world is wonderfully detailed and her story pulls you in without even trying.  I couldn’t put the book down.  Every chapter pulled me deeper into the conflict of having a secret in a world where secrets are the hardest things to keep.  I had to force myself to put the book down to get some sleep each night.  When I got to the last page I was so upset that there wasn’t a link to book #2 so I could buy it that night and continue living Kira’s story!

Great job Susan, you wrote a book that has made me a fan and I’m sure you’ll have a following after today’s release.  I know I’m not the only one anxiously awaiting your next Mindjack novel!

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PRIZES!

Susan Kaye Quinn is giving away an Open Books/Open Minds t-shirt, mug, and some fun wristbands to celebrate the Virtual Launch Party of Open Minds (Book One of the Mindjack Trilogy)! (Check out the prizes here.)

Three ways to enter (you can have multiple entries):

1)      Leave a comment here or at the Virtual Launch Party post

2)      Tweet (with tag #keepingOPENMINDS)

Example: When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep. #keepingOPENMINDS @susankayequinn #SF #YA avail NOW http://bit.ly/SKQOpenMinds

Example: Celebrate the launch of OPEN MINDS by @susankayequinn #keepingOPENMINDS #SciFi #paranormal #YA avail NOW http://bit.ly/SKQOpenMinds

3) Facebook (tag @AuthorSusanKayeQuinn)

Example: Celebrate the launch of paranormal/SF novel OPEN MINDS by @AuthorSusanKayeQuinn for a chance to win Open Books/Open Minds prizes! http://bit.ly/SKQOpenMinds

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When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.

Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can’t read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can’t be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf’s mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she’s dragged deep into a hidden world of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her.

Open Minds (Book One of the Mindjack Trilogy) by Susan Kaye Quinn is available in e-book (Amazon US (also UK, France and Germany), Barnes & Noble, Smashwords) and print (Amazon, Createspace, also autographed copies available from the author).

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I’m planning to self-publish my upper middle grade novel GANGSTERLAND in December.  That’s my target anyway.  I’m still working on revisions and then it goes to the copy editor and finally into production (that would be me again.  I’m former IT, I can figure out formatting, right? Right?)

People have asked that I talk about why I’ve decided to self-publish. And for me the simple answer is that it feels right for me to go this route. I’ve also been writing fiction as my profession for the last 5 years, having studied it for about 10 years prior to putting words to the page.  I’ve attended SCBWI conferences for years and have had my work critiqued by some wonderful agents and editors not to mention my awesome and talented critique group. I know my work is ready for my readers. But I’m also hiring editors to make sure.

When self-publishing lost its stigma of vanity and Amazon introduced its marketing prowess to the eBook world with Kindle, I felt that my career would be best served by self-publishing.

I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit. When I was 10 I would sell my crafts at yard sales that I would create on the fly, no one came except the neighborhood kids.  Guess I had to learn a bit more about marketing and promotion. I still do, if I want to continue with self-publishing.

I was querying and revising when I came across Joe Konrath’s blog.  Not really sure how I found him. Someone tweeted something that caught my attention and I followed. I read his blog and realized I wanted to go into business for myself.  And that’s what self-pub let’s me do.

As soon as I realized this and let go of querying, which was leaving me depressed, story ideas for the series I had created, filled my brain. I was creative again.  I was free of the market, free of the rejection letters and free to begin working for myself.

Having said all this I’m not a diehard Indie fanatic.  I am still open to traditional publication.  There’s nothing wrong with going that route.  But for me, right now, I’m excited again and creative again and that’s important if I want to continue a career as a writer.

Caveat: Any new business requires an initial investment.    Self-publishing is not cheap, in time commitment or money.  I’ve used the internet and connections to find a content editor, a copy editor and an illustrator.  All require payment for their services. My husband and I are willing to put some money up front to start this new business.  We’ll see where it leads.

When you see GANGSTERLAND on sale in December, do me a favor, buy it.  I’ll need the money to pay for my next book’s editors and illustrators!  Thanks!

And if you have any questions for me about writing or self-publishing ask away, I’m here to share my experiences. Good Luck with your own publishing decisions.

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In the blog series “My Choice in Publication” we explore the varied avenues of publication and why we have chosen our own routes.

Tom M. Franklin:Franklin, Ink

Heather Kelly: Edited to Within an Inch of My Life

Kristine Asselin:Writing. For Real.

Lynn Kelley:Lynn Kelley: LynNerd’s Random Acts of Writing.

Ansha Kotyk:Ansha’s Blog – A Writer’s View of the World<– You are here.

Tina Laurel Lee:Tina Laurel Lee: Watch Me Practice

Anita Laydon Miller:Anita Laydon Miller’s Blog

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

I’m back from vacation- see the lovely picture.  Something about getting back to nature, just soothes my soul. Sigh.

And can I just say I love my job as a writer? I mean I’d like to get paid for it one day, but really it’s the best job.  Last night for ‘work’ I hopped on tweetchat and joined a new Thursday evening (9pm est) discussion called #mglitchat.  A group of middle grade readers and writers get together to chat about the genre.

It was a little bit awesome.  Everyone listed their favorite MG novels new, and old and why they loved them.  I now have a gigantic list of novels that I need to read.  Not a problem, I’ll download them on my nook just so I can carry all of them around with me!

So if you didn’t get to join us last night I highly recommend signing into tweetchat.com and checking out the chat at 9pm on Thursdays.

Oh, and for those of you who missed last night but want to know what we talked about, or would like to see that very long list, check out the #mglitchat blog where topics are listed and the transcript for each week is posted.