The Burn and Infraction Giveaway: Winner Announced

To celebrate the release of Infraction, I'm giving away an ebook of both The Burn (so you can catch up if you haven't read it yet!) and the sequel, Infraction, as part of the Dystopian Giveaway Hop.

Just fill out the rafflecopter form, and be sure to check out the other great blog and prizes being offered in the giveaway hop! (Just click Read More below the rafflecopter form.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

LDS Authors Giveaway Hop: Winners Announced

Thanks to The Book Bug and I Am a Reader, Not a Writer for hosting. Check out the linky below the rafflecopter form for the list of other blogs participating. There are some great blogs and great prizes. But the greatest prize of all?

Enter to win a signed paperback (US only) or an ebook (Int) of Bound.

Showers of Books Giveaway Hop: Winners Announced

Welcome to the first giveaway hop I'm participating in! I love giveaway hops, and I hope you'll enjoy the ride. Thanks to One a Day YA and I Am a Reader, Not a Writer for hosting.

Enter to win a signed paperback of Bound (US only) or one of 3 ebooks of Bound (open internationally).

The first rafflecopter form is for the paperback. Scroll down for the ebook giveaway.

This Is Indie YA

Coming in March I'll be participating in the awesome extravaganza "This Is Indie YA" event over at What's Your Story Book Reviews.

Every day in March, Ashley will feature a different Indie author. There will be giveaways, quizzes, author interviews, character interviews, guest posts, and more. I'm getting excited just thinking about it!

I'll be giving away a signed paperback and an ebook of The Burn. Don't miss out on the chance to find some great new authors and books and the chance to win some awesome prizes.

So, please mark your calenders and join the fun in March with us!

Win a Signed Paperback of The Burn!

So to say Happy New Year to everyone, I'm doing a giveaway. That's right, the very first one on my blog. And what could you win, you might ask? A signed copy of The Burn! So if you're interested, here's what you do: 

Leave a comment with your name and email address

for EXTRA ENTRIES:

+1 EXTRA entry for being a GFC follower
(leave your GFC name in your comment)

+1 EXTRA entry for following @annie_oldham on Twitter
(leave your twitter name in your comment)

+1 EXTRA entry for tweeting about the giveaway
(leave link in your comment) 

+1 EXTRA entry for spreading the word via Facebook
(leave link in your comment)

Giveaway closes January 31. Good luck!

Indie Frenzy

Ashley at The Bookish Brunette runs a great feature called Indie Frenzy, where she spotlights different indie authors. You'll find amazing new reads and authors to follow.

She featured The Burn today, and asked me what my inspiration for the story was. Some of you probably know that The Burn was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's A Little Mermaid. But you should click your way over to her blog to find out why that's waaay different from the Disney version, and how I fit a story about a fish into a post-Apocalyptic dystopian novel.

She also has a giveaway up for an ebook, so be sure to enter! The giveaway closes on December 20.

15 Things You May Not Have Known

If you've never been to the Literary Junkie book blog, you should click on over there and peruse a bit. Lots of fun YA book stuff going on. Sonny is a great blogger, and she's just a lot of fun in general. She posted an interview with me and a giveaway for three ebooks of The Burn. So if you'd like a chance to win my book, head on over there. The giveaway runs until December 24.

The interview is 15 Things to Know about Me. Some things you may not have known:

• I'm a twin, and no, we can't feel each other's pain
• I'm a stay-at-home mom, and writing helps me stay sane
• I'm a runner. And I don't listen to music while I run, I listen to audiobooks. If you listen to music while you work out, you should try audiobooks. I'm telling you, it's a lifesaver

If you want to find out more, check out the rest of the interview.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

The ebook versions of The Burn and Dragon Sister are 99 cents during the months of December and January!

Amazon and Smashwords already have this happy holidays price, and other ebook retailers will have this price in a little while.

It Makes My Day

I heard from one of my readers that she stayed up late into the night because she had to finish The Burn.

Being an author is hard work. I probably spend more time promoting my book than I do writing. I hope one day that won't be the case, but as I'm just getting started, that's the way it has to be right now. When I finish doing marketing stuff for the day, and I switch over to writing, my brain just breathes a sigh of relief and says, "Finally. This is what I love."

The writing is what I live for. But if I want my book to go anywhere, then I need to work for it, and work I do. Sometimes I get so frustrated I want to yank my hair out and rant for a few hours and just throw something. Don't worry. Nothing was harmed in the making of my novels.

But then I hear comments from readers like "I stayed up late just to finish it," and suddenly all the frustration melts away and all the work I've put into it is totally worth it. Because I know that feeling when I have to stay up late to finish a good book, and I'm so grateful to the author for all the hard work that went into the book.

So to you readers who've read and enjoyed The Burn and Dragon Sister, thank you. Thanks for reading. Thanks for making me smile.

Writing the First Draft

Several people have asked me how I write a first draft. And so in honor of finishing the first draft of my new project, I shall tell you all. Don't get too excited though, it's not a magical formula. It has changed a bit every time I've embarked on a new novel. I think every story is different, and so needs to be treated differently.

While writing my first novel (you know, the horrible one no one has read, the one no one will ever read, the one I think I've lost thank goodness), I used an outline. And I clung to that outline for dear life. It was my life line while writing that novel, and I can definitely say the story suffered because of it. There was no creative give or take. It was the outline or nothing.

From that experience, I decided to write Dragon Sister without an outline. I knew what the beginning was, what the ending was, and then the middle was a nebulous haze that I solidified as I wrote. It was refreshing and fun to write it that way, just the words spilling out as fast as my fingers could go. But it did require quite a bit of reworking...okay, a lot of reworking...to get the flow of the story where it needed to be.

Then onto The Burn. That novel was interesting to write because I had an outline created for me. Since it's inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's A Little Mermaid, the main plot points are there: Terra comes from the bottom of the ocean, she goes up on land, she falls in love, etc. (I don't want to put too many spoilers since it's still such a new book, but if you're familiar with the original fairytale, you'll know those plot points, and the ick factor involved in a couple of them) And so I had that basic skeleton for the story, and I added the flesh to it. But the final version is very different from that initial draft. The initial draft was boring. But I think the process of rewriting should be its own post.

And now my new project. I liked the way The Burn came together with having the main plot points and then rounding out the story. So that's what I did with my current novel, and it's been a lot of fun working with it that way, tweaking the basic outline along the way. It was a good way to get the story arc put together and not meander in the middle.

And that's how I've done a first draft. Like I said, no magic formula. I've changed it up for every novel. For me, the most important part of a first draft is to get the words out. All the perfectionism and beautiful language and story tweaking can come later. And you know what? It's been a blast every single time.

The Talent around Me

I am so grateful for the people that have helped my books come about. I wrote Dragon Sister off and on for a few years as I worked full-time, stopped working and had two babies, moved a few times, and generally got used to my life as a mother. Things were a little calmer when I wrote The Burn. I'm so grateful for my amazing husband. He's not a reader, and it's like pulling teeth to get him to finish a book. But he has been wonderfully supportive in this writing craziness of mine. I'd never be able to do it without him.

I'm also astounded at the talent of three amazing ladies who've helped me with covers. My dear sister painted the cover illustration for Dragon Sister. Then I used the miniscule design knowledge I have to add the text. Yup, not very pretty, and I've been tweaking it almost constantly, but I'm just not good at this kind of thing. So I contacted a friend of mine who's a graphic designer, Jen Foxley, to spruce it up a bit. She sent me a draft a few days ago, and I LOVE IT. It'll start popping up here soon. I'll be sure to post it on my News page when it's finished.

And then I'm grateful for Renee Barratt who's working on The Burn cover. Looking at the myriad of other covers she's already completed, and what a breeze it has been working with her thus far, I know I'm in good hands. She's going to send me a first draft any day now, and I can honestly say I CAN'T WAIT to see what she's come up with.

So to my darling husband and the three of you fabulous women...thank you. I couldn't have done it without you.