Sea Witch by Sarah Henning: Launch Party Recap & Giveaway!

Launch party for Sea Witch by Sarah Henning in conversation with Renee Ahdieh

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to attend Sarah Henning’s Launch party of, Sea Witch at The Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kansas. A charming independent bookstore in the heart of the beautiful, historic downtown beckons passersby to stop in for a spell to be whisked into a land of enchantment.  Holding true to its magical feel, Ngaio (the bookstore’s black cat) greets you upon entering, while her fellow employee cat, Dashiell monitored the quickly growing crowd.

In the evening Kansas heat, a bustling crowd quickly swelled to overwhelming numbers, as the shop seemed to expand at the seams to accommodate. A tremendous show of support for their local author, as well as comradery from fellow authors, there was no doubt that this debut will be one to remember.   

NYT Bestselling author of The Wrath and The Dawn duology, and Sarah’s first “book friend,” Renee Ahdieh moderates the event, asking questions that were insightful, heartfelt, fun and enlightening, allowing everyone to see the woman behind the mesmerizing, dark story of Sea Witch. Let’s jump right into the conversation:

Renee: Who is your favorite villain?

Sarah: The sea witch, but she doesn’t feel like she is a villain. What about you?

R: Ursula.  She is an incredibly misunderstood villain. First off, she had Ariel sign a disclaimer, Ariel knew what she was getting into! What are the top three emoji’s used on your phone?

S: Double pink hearts, laugh cry emoji, and of course the mermaid!

R- Why this story?

S – As a kid of the 80s, and 90s, I grew up on Disney’s Little Mermaid, but when I got older and read the actual tale I wondered, where did Disney even come up with their ideas? I am originally a mystery and thriller writer, so I wanted to blend it all together.

R- What is your advice to those trying to write?

S- Take something familiar, and turn it into something new. Get to know yourself and write, and write, and write. You also must read a lot, in order to write well, you must be well read.

R-Do you start with a character or a plot?

S- Generally somewhere in the middle. I am a hybrid. I’m going to see the plot points pretty far apart, and then I fill them in. What about you? Are you a plotter or a pantser?

R- I am an extreme plotter. I dream in words. I start with worlds, backdrop canvas, theme, then characters.

S- I find the hook, then fill the characters on the page.

R- What are the cooler moments of the process?

S- This (pointing to the audience) is really cool. Social media is so different now and is a great way to interact. I sold this book 3 years ago, then marketing pushed it to 2017, then said how about 2018?

R- This is definitely not an overnight process! What did you turn to for inspiration, in an industry that is all about rejection?

S- I became a journalist because I didn’t think being a novelist was a great idea. I wanted to tell people’s stories. But you can’t run away from your dreams. When I get down, I realize I would be doing this anyways. I also read other author’s books published with the same agency. It shows that they have done it too.

R What do you have coming up next?

S- Throw Like A Girl, it’s a story of a girl who is the not-so-backup quarterback on her boyfriend’s football team. I was a sports journalist for a long time, so this is for my “sporto’s,” and girls who want to keep up with the boys.

R-What book are you currently reading right now?

S- Darius the Great is Not Ok, is currently on my nightstand, by Adib Khorram who is actually here in attendance.

R- Hogwarts House?

S- Slytherin and Hufflepuff. But I feel that I am more a Divergent.

R- I am a Slytherin ( as she says with laughter)  What was your favorite character to write besides the Sea Witch?

S- Prince Nick. He’s a romantic and a friend.

R- Judging a beautiful book by its cover. Is this what you see when you see the Sea Witch?

S- I sent my editor a private Pinterest board of inspiration, and she sent it to the artist who lives in Scotland. I see her a little closer to the arc cover, which is different from the final cover.

R- If it’s not a spoiler what was your favorite part to write?

S- The flashbacks. I originally only had a few flashbacks, but my editor talked about the prism of grief, so we added more. I wrote them all in big chunks. It was very chartist to write what happened 4 years ago. 

R- Was there anything you had to cut in the editing process that you are upset about?

S- Yes! This was a very different book originally. It had a lot more happy things, but there was not enough space. 

With the, Sea Witch being the most breathtaking read of the summer, this was seriously such a delightful launch, with an amazing line up of questions, answers and a whole lot of information, and take a look at Renee’s shoes ♥

Are you ready to discover the magic for yourself?  To celebrate this amazing launch, I am hosting a giveaway, starting Saturday August 11, on my instagram page Amy_Fortheloveofbooks for an autographed hardback copy. Good luck and Happy Reading.  (image links to giveaway!)

Marissa Meyer Event Recap & Signed Cress ARC Giveaway x 2!

A few weeks ago, we drove an hour through pouring-down rain into the bay area to see Marissa Meyer, the author of my favorite series, The Lunar Chronicles.  As much as I hate driving in the rain and traffic, hearing this incredible author talk about her books and writing was 100% worth it.

We walked into the children’s section of  Book Passage, a sweet little book shop in Corte Madera, and found plenty of shelves stacked high with the gorgeous new copies of Cress, as well as Scarlet and Cinder for those who needed to catch up.  In the signing room, there was a table of fun bookmarks, buttons and purple hair combs with the Cress title on them, so clever to go with the Rapunzel theme of the book! 

Marissa Meyer was introduced and first and foremost, she apologized for bringing the rain with her from Seattle, where she had just flown in from.  She delighted the crowd with many fun stories about growing up in a family of nerds (driving the point home by mentioning she had an uncle who remodeled his attic to look like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise—I wish she’d had pictures of that!) and shared a really awesome picture of herself as a child dressed up as a cling-on at the opening night of one of the Star Trek movies.  Some of her early writing was fan-fiction based on her love of Sailor Moon, and was ecstatic that so many in the audience were familiar with the show!  So the world of Sci-fi and fantasy definitely runs in this author’s blood. 

She share that early versions of the Lunar Chronicle stories were written during NaNoWriMo, an event that she is a huge fan of and definitely encourages every aspiring writer to try.  A really early version of Cinder was written as an entry to a Seattle-based contest where the person who wrote the most words in a single month would win a walk-on role on a Star Trek episode. Sadly she missed the prize by 1000 words, but found out later that they never filmed the episode anyhow!  AND she ended up with a book that would later get her her first publisher deal---a perfect consolation!

Lastly, before open up the floor for questions, she treated the audience to a little storytelling! We got to pick which story out of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, or Snow White (which the final book, Winter, will be based on) and she told us the original fairy tale version, in all its grim and dark detail.  We chose Rapunzel, to Marissa’s relief---she mentioned that Red Riding Hood is the most gruesome and there were some small children in the audience that night! 

She then graciously answered tons of questions, and even more graciously signed tons and tons of books, all the while chatting away with her excited fans.  It was a great night!

Oh, and most exciting for me, she confirmed for me that there is definitely some Han Solo inspiration in Captain Thorne.  I suspected as much! ♥♥♥

*GIVEAWAY!*

I had 2 ARC copies of Cress, but of course I bought a gorgeous finished copy at the signing for my own collection, so I'll pass those two ARCs on to two lucky winners! 

Enter below!

•Must be 13 or older, or have parent permission

•US mailing addresses only please

•Ends March 5th, 2014 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Super Six Sunday: My six favorite author encounters!!

Super Six Sunday is a meme hosted by the fabulous Bewitched Bookworms. Join in the fun...see upcoming themes here!!

One of the most exciting things about being a book blogger and all-round book lover is meeting the wonderful people who give us these amazing stories to read.
In the past three years, I've definitely been lucky in being able to meet some of my very favorites.  Here are my top 6!!

Anna Carey
Such a sweet person to chat with. When I met her I had recently interviewed her on the blog and she remembered the cupcake question.  She signed my book "To Becky, My Sweetie!" :D

 Stephanie Perkins

This girl has so much fun energy!  I saw her and Maureen Johnson together in San Francisco and they both looked like there were have a blast together.

Tahereh Mafi

If you ever have a chance to meet this amazing author, TAKE IT.  She is so inspiring and fun to hear speak.

Jackson Pearce

I got meet Jackson Pearce at ALA. She is one of my favorites, so I was just so greatful to finally catch her on one of her rare visits to the west coast!

Ransom Riggs

Another amazing author to hear speak. SO much great writing advice and lots of funny stories. That's Michelle Gagnon and Tahereh Mafi on either side of him, and the three of them together were hilarious.

Kendare Blake

I met Kendare at ALA last year and her's was my most-wanted book at the conference.  I think she was the first author to tell me she knew my blog so you can image just how much that made my day!!

So that's my list!!  It's always fun to meet great our favorite authors and I hope I can meet many more in the coming years! :)