Obviously, my blog didn't start out to feature little essay masterpieces. I started this blog because I was forced to as a school assignment. But in a way, writing a blog is compelling. It's sort of like writing in a journal, but different because it is designed to be public. It's designed to be a communication to others, whereas a journal entry is designed to help one remember, or to sort things out, ruminate to one's self.
But I know that as a writer (future published writer), it's good to have a blog. Readers like them. Hey, I'm a reader, and I like to read author blogs. Especially Stephanie Bond who writes romance, romantic suspense, and romantic comedy. And Chad Darnell, who is a screenwriter. I check in with Tanya Michael's blog on a regular basis too. So, as they said in the recent Moonlight and Magnolia's session on author generated publicity, a blog is perhaps one of the best self-advertisements.
As I said though, I'm not yet published in book form. So I don't yet have any books to promote. And I'm going through this anxiety about posting--it must be good! It must be good!
Oh well, I'm really trying to get over that. I should accept the conventions of the medium. Write off the top of my head. So, that's what I'm doing now. Writing about writing once again.
I bring you:
The Tree Shepher's Daughter, a wonderful new young adult novel by my friend Gillian Summers, a fellow member of the Georgia Romance Writers. I admit, I'm sometimes hesitant to read my friend's books. What if I don't like it? So, even though this book was published several months ago, I have just gotten around to buying it and reading it. And luckily, I have had it signed by the author too! It's marvelous. I started it last night and I finished earlier today. (I decided to pick it up and read it when I woke up from insomnia. It was the wrong book to choose. I couldn't put it down, so I read from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. If you need to get up early the next day, don't pick up this book.)
The target audience for this book is preteens and teens. It falls in the category of fantasy, although it's not the sort of fantasy that is on another planet. In fact, it's set in Colorado! That's one of the things the author did very well. The setting, a Renaissance Fair in Colorado, is beautifully incorporated. The author doesn't go on gushing about how beautiful it is, but you understand that because of the way that the trees, the stream, the meadow are incorporated into the plot line. The leading lady is fabulously written--a real teenager with real feelings of loss and abandonment (and a real twist too). And the supporting characters--there isn't stock character in the bunch. Well, yeah, there is--the best friend, the dad, etc. But they all are written as real originals.
I'm really looking forward to the followup to this book. Hopefully, book 2 in the Faire Folk Trilogy will be out soon.
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