Friday Feature: COVER REVEAL for my next book!

I'm in love with the cover artists at The Wild Rose Press! This is my latest cover for my next release with them, a paranormal tale of ghosts and family secrets. If you're one of the ten very kind people who read my first published book in 2009, the plot may sound familiar...

The rest of you may have read in the press about the troubles authors have had with Ellora's Cave Publishing. They were my first publisher, and my first book was titled Unfolding the Shadows. But. It didn't sell well and I received very little in way of royalties. After several requests, I finally received my rights back and took a hard look at the storyline. There were holes. Gaping holes. The editor should have kicked my butt. The book didn't deserve to sell well. In my case, maybe it wasn't EC's fault.

I went back to basics, and rewrote it. Sent it out for beta reads. And rewrote again. The Wild Rose Press signed the new version for release, with a new title and cover. I'm not trying to fool anyone by re-packaging the story. But I'm very excited to reach a lot of new readers, and give my book the chance it deserved the first time around. I don't have a release date yet, but I'm hoping for a November/December date. Will let you know when I do!

About the Book:

Jillian Rogers Greene worked hard to close the doors on the psychic abilities that defined her youth. For years she pretended to be normal, ignoring the ghosts who whisper to her. When a car crash sets her on a collision course with the past, ugly secrets about her family and marriage come to light. She's forced to reevaluate what she thought she knew...and exactly what the future holds.

Connor Sanderson might be the key to unlocking that future. The grey-eyed artist knows ghosts aren’t real, but his attraction to the beautiful psychic makes him question those beliefs. With her husband plotting to kill her, can Jillian make Connor see the truth before it’s too late?

Ghosts don’t lie. But they don’t always tell the whole story.

Freaky Friday! A ghost story from Nancy Hooowwwl-and Walker

I met Nancy the first day of freshman year, and we've stayed friends ever since, even becoming roommates for a few years when we were both living in the Boston area. After a stint at WFXT, Fox-Boston, and a stretch with ImprovBoston, Nancy moved out to Chicago, where she developed Musical! The Musical and led her own improv group: Chicago Improv Associates. I edited her first book, INSTANT SONGWRITING, released in 2012.

These days, she and her husband Marshall spend most of their time seeing the world, teaching improv and leading workshops on cruise ships! What a cool life!

Nancy first shared her spooky tale on this blog back in 2009, at the time my first book was being published ~ UNFOLDING THE SHADOWS is a paranormal romance from Ellora's Cave with a psychic heroine (available now on Amazon for 99 cents!) Here's Nancy's tale for Freaky Friday:

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

As I was growing up, my family spent the summers in a very old house (around 200 years old) in Nantucket. Because of the age, its design was odd by today's standards. I slept on the second floor at the top of the stairs; my parents' bedroom was kitty-corner from mine, and my little brother's room was in between the two. Because you could only get to his room through mine or my parents room, my brother moved to another available bedroom as soon as he could swing it.

I remember one time being woken from a deep sleep by someone rushing through my room to get into that middle room. It wasn't the footsteps which woke me up, but a huge bustling noise, as if a great deal of fabric was involved. I knew none of my brothers could make that sort of noise, but I sat up and looked into the dark middle room (I usually kept that door open for some reason) and called out. No one answered - the entire household was still asleep.

Another night as I was just about falling asleep, I sensed someone standing over me. I was lying on my back with my eyes shut, and I knew the person was right next to my head.

Whoever - whatever - was exuding an intensely malevolent energy. I was terrified and couldn't move, much less open my eyes. I could only repeat to myself, "Just pretend to be asleep, just pretend to be asleep!"

Without looking, I knew the person was bending closer to me - his or her face was right next to mine.

Then... I felt a finger touching my face, slightly under my mouth at my jawbone. I knew it wasn't the fleshy part of the finger, but felt like a cold, sharp fingernail. Slowly - very slowly - it moved up my face along my jawbone to up near my eye, and stayed there for a few more moments.

I was so scared.

Suddenly, the pressure from the finger was gone, as was the malevolent feeling. I opened my eyes and the room was dark. The house was silent.
 

Boo!

Nancy's book can be found on Amazon ~ although there aren't any ghost stories included, just an excellent primer on writing music and songs on the fly, improv style. It's a great resource for budding songwriters and comedians alike.

About the Book (from Amazon):

Instant Songwriting is the ultimate how-to book for musical improvisers and an excellent resource for songwriters. With over two decades of musical improv experience, Nancy Howland Walker guides you with clear, logical and fun step-by-step exercises, from the very basics of putting a song together, to highly advanced song techniques. Whether you are new to the art form or experienced, your songs are improvised or written, or you do this for fun or profit, Instant Songwriting helps you take your song skills to the next level. Musical tracks are included for each exercise – to accompany you as you practice and master each step along the way. Now go and become the Songwriting Diva you were meant to be!

Writer Wednesday: Research vs. Imagination

Pour a fresh cuppa and pull up a chair. Feel free to share my M&Ms. I'm in the home stretch of my WIP's first draft and taking a little break to wonder about...

Research.

Specifically, when you're writing a fantasy novel and making sh*t stuff up as you go along, how much actual research is an author expected to do?

My current WIP is a sequel to my upcoming release Son of a Mermaid. In this second book, the main character needs to travel from Cape Cod all the way to the Aegean Sea. Now, he is part-merman, so he could just swim there, but the storyline dictates that he needs to travel like a human. You wouldn't believe how much time I *wasted* pouring over airline schedules and travel itineraries, and different types of airplanes employed for the different legs of the journey. Details, details... but do they matter to the readers? A reader will whip through those pages in minutes, if not seconds. Was it worth the hour or so spent looking up options on the internet?

This week, I lost myself for a bit researching Loggerhead sea turtles in the Mediterranean. Readers probably wouldn't know the difference if I gave the wrong description or details, as long as it sounded vaguely turtle-ish. Or would they?

My first novel, Unfolding the Shadows, involves ghosts, hospitals, drug dealers, and diabetes. I spent way too much time researching to get the details right and make it flow naturally, down to researching the floor plan of the specific hospital and the smells that cling to your clothes if you spend time in a meth lab. I visited so many ghost sites I lost track of which ones I'd already been to. (I still get email solicitations for diabetes treatments. Spam may be the biggest downside of research.)

When you're reading a book, do the details matter? Which details are important and why?

When you're writing, how often do you get stuck on an idea and turn to the internet for answers?

If you're reading a fantasy set in our real world, do you like having real world details in there? Or is it okay for the author to make shit stuff up as they go along, details be damned?

As for me, I'm still reading about Loggerheads and Narwhals. (Very cool creatures!)

UNFOLDING THE SHADOWS available in Paperback!

Today I'm celebrating a new release - kind of. My debut novel UNFOLDING THE SHADOWS first hit e-readers in 2009... but as of November 20, 2012 it's now FINALLY available as a paperback, too!

The publisher is Ellora's Cave, for the Blush line of sweet romances, but this is more a romantic suspense wrapped up in a ghost story.

It's available on Amazon for the paperback price of $16.99... and still available as an ebook, on sale for $1.49 for your Kindle.

The back-of-book blurb reads:

Jillian has worked hard to close the doors on her past and the psychic abilities that defined her youth. For sixteen years, she's ignored the ghosts who still try to whisper to her. Even her controlling husband Kyle has no idea that his wife can talk to spirits. But on the day after Christmas, her great aunt's car smashes head-on with a commuter train and Jillian finds herself on a collision course with ghosts who refuse to remain in the shadows any longer.

Long-hidden secrets are coming to light and Jillian's life has to change to accommodate them. With the help of her friends and a substantial inheritance, she sets her life in a new direction, but Kyle's not about to lose out on his share of Jillian's inheritance... even if he has to kill her to get it.

Follow this link to order your copy today:

http://www.amazon.com/Unfolding-Shadows-Katie-OSullivan/dp/1419966723/ref=sr_1_2_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353944949&sr=1-2&keywords=unfolding+the+shadows

Feeling like a "Real" Author

Writers write.

That's all there is to it, right? Well, not quite. You need to keep writing. You need to keep learning. You need to write, revise, repeat, rethink, edit, query, submit, garner rejections, and learn to be resilient. And then - if you are lucky enough to find an agent or a publisher - you get to keep repeating the process (and maybe even get paid for it.)

Why do writers keep going? Especially those of us whose debut novels may have gotten wonderful reviews but not the sales? Whose second novels may be languishing with a defunct publishing house who never sent out royalty checks? Why would a writer - like, umm,  me - keep going?

Hope. The idea that One Day something Great might happen.

And, believe it or not, we keep writing for our Readers. The idea that people are reading our books and being transported into the worlds and scenes we imagine is a powerful motivator.

They say the definition of insanity is to repeat the same actions but expect different results. But in the case of writers, the actions are never quite the same. We should keep learning as we go, and our writing should keep evolving.

And in the meantime, it's hundreds of little things that keep writers going. A compliment from a friend. A compliment from a stranger. The support from fellow writers, in person at critique groups or on blogs and Facebook. A scheduled book signing at a local store. An email from a random reader, asking when your next book is coming out. Or an email from a book group who loves your work.

For instance...

This is a photo of my mom and her sister, my Aunt Kate. (And yes, I'm named after her.)

I got an email from Aunt Kate earlier this spring, asking if I was available to go down to Virginia to meet with her book club. They were scheduled to read my second book, PERFECT STRANGERS, to kick off summer. We were in the midst of track season and some hassles with our neighbors, so I had to decline.

She let me know afterward that the women in her group loved the book. Her email made my day.

This time she didn't ask, as she'd heard from her sister that our house troubles have escalated. But she did send an email yesterday to let me know that the "No Rules" Book Club of Annandale, Virginia read and discussed my debut novel, UNFOLDING THE SHADOWS, this week. And loved that as well. And can't wait to read the next one.

My aunt has always encouraged me to write, and to believe in myself. When I was in second grade and started writing stories, she told me if I finished a whole book, she'd publish it. I did, and she did. The slim volume was bound in heavy yellow velum, with illustrations she added herself and hand water-colored, and entitled "The Mystery of the Haunted House." I was thrilled. And hooked on the idea of being an author.

I can't thank her enough for encouraging me at a kid, and for her continued encouragement even now, when I'm supposedly all grown up.

I hope every writer out there has at least one person like this in his or her life, sending cheerful emails out of the blue to brighten a day and reinforce the idea that You are a Real Writer. I'm lucky enough to have several people like this in my life, but today I'm really thankful for my Aunt Kate.

What keeps you going?

U is for... Unfolding the Shadows

U is for... Unfolding the Shadows

UNFOLDING THE SHADOWS was my first novel. It's a romantic suspense with a paranormal bent, as my heroine is a reluctant pyschic who has hidden her "gift" from her friends, family and even her husband for many years. The path to publishing this novel was not quite a straight line...

I was busy querying agents with my first manuscript, when I took some advice to "start the next one." Which I did. I was 3/4 of the way through the new WIP when I received a particularly disheartening rejection letter. In a fit of unbridled hubris, I sent out a query to a big agent with the new (unfinished) WIP. She loved it. She asked to see the whole manuscript. Which was Unfinished.

I spent a feverish four days writing the last 30,000 words. I had my friend read it through while I did the same... and sent it off to the agent within the week. She read it and Ultimately rejected it. But now it was finished. And ready to go out...

After only two more Unsuccessful queries to agents, I sent a letter off to Ellora's Cave, to their Lotus Circle imprint. Success! I was going to be published! Signed a contract, assigned to an editor, filled out the myriad forms, rushed to set up a website and online presence... And then... after the entire editing process was complete... the publisher decided to fold Up that imprint line.

I spent some nervous time, hoping someone else would like the book enough to want to still publish it. Which they did - Cerridwen Press, another imprint of Ellora's Cave, decided to pick up my contract. Another sigh of relief...

The novel was first published as an ebook in November 2009, but where the Lotus Circle had promised a paperback release, Cerridwen Press made no such promise. My friends and family mostly held off ordering it, waiting for the elusive paperback. Then they all started getting Kindles and Nooks... and Ultimately (finally) "discovered" my book.

And then in 2010, the Cerridwen Press imprint also was folded... with most but not all of the books being folded into the newly created Ellora's Cave Blush line. Another breathless period, Until I got the word that my book would be continued with the new imprint revision to the cover art.

The bottom line is that my novel is still available. Still out there for you to discover and enjoy. That's what matters in the end. A romantic suspense, where the suspense of my publishing journey keeps putting me on the edge of my seat...

Unfolding the Shadows is available for purchase from Ellora's Cave and Amazon.com.

P.S. Check out this wonderful poem in honor of the letter U that I found at Ocean Girl's Live High blog - http://livehighlivemightyliverighteously.blogspot.com/2011/04/usa-usa.html

A "New" Publisher and a New Cover

Cerridwen Press is no more.

As of this month, the books previously published by Cerridwen Press are now going to be published under the auspices of Ellora's Cave, most of them for their new "Blush" line.

Which is funny to me, because when my manuscript was first picked up, it was by Jasmine Jade's Lotus Circle imprint... which was gone before we finished editing the book. I was lucky enough to be picked up by Cerridwen Press at that point (not all the Lotus Circle books were.)

I've gotten the emails, I knew about the change, and yet somehow didn't register the fact that the cover of my book would be changing. Or the fact that the links to my book's page at the Cerridwen Press website would need to be changed. Like... the link on the side of this blog page. Or the links I have in the magazine ads in CapeWomenOnline.com. Or the ones on my own website, over at www.katie-osullivan.com.

Work to do. On the bright side, I still have a book available from Ellora's Cave!

A Holiday Gift for Me - Another Great Review of UNFOLDING THE SHADOWS

While I'm still waiting for my first "official" review of PERFECT STRANGERS, I got an email letting me know this review of my first novel had been posted over at ParaNormal Romance Reviews. It's a good one, so I have to share!

"Drugs, Ghosts and Love."

Jillian didn't know she had inherited everything her Aunt Edith owned - but her husband did. And he was pissed! She had already filed divorce papers but it wasn't final and the only way Kyle would profit is if she wasn't there to finalize the divorce. Sounds like a perfect murder mystery plot, right?

It is! You must add in the fact the Jillian is a "ghost whisperer" who has hidden the talent for many years as she was exploited by her parents as a child. When she goes home to care for her aunt, leaving her children in Vermont with Kyle; she is opening a huge can of worms. Jasper, her deceased twin is waiting to say hello, as is her grandmother and many others. Can she deal with Kyle finding out her secret? For that matter, can she stay alive long enough for him to find out!

Ghosties (no ghoulies, though) help and hinder in this wonderful tale of the paranormal with a little romance thrown in for good measure. I heartily recommend this story and hope that I can find more work by Ms. O'Sullivan in the future! The characters are great, the drama high and the spirits far and away the best!

Reviewed by Nancy Eriksen
Posted December 13, 2010

You can find the whole review page - and many more reviews of paranormal works - by going to www.paranormalromance.org or by clicking HERE.

A 5-Star Review for Unfolding the Shadows!

Received one of those great emails last night, to alert me of a new review for my book.

Siren Review Site gave me 5 "siren stones," their equivalent of stars! I was afraid they wouldn't like the book so much, seeing as how most of the romances they review are much, much steamier than my PG-13 offering. But the reviewer loved it. "couldn't put it down," she said.

*yea*

To read the complete review, go here: http://sirenbookreviews.blogspot.com/2010/09/katie-osullivan-unfolding-shadows.html?zx=216fca8172ecf203

...and don't forget to do a happy dance with me! I'll be dancing in the rain today, but dancing nonetheless!

White Rabbit, White Rabbit!

Happy December!
(in more ways than one!)

And congrats to all you NaNoWriMo winners out there, who plugged along throughout the whole month of November, or sprinted to the finish at the very end (like I did) We did it! We survived a month of having that constant nagging feeling of "I really should be writing now instead of vacuuming/doing laundry/cooking dinner/sleeping..." And it's over! (insert happy dance here)

We had a wonderful long Thanksgiving break, and hope you did too (although having yesterday as an additional day off from school was almost too much for me!) My middle child almost cried this morning to have to go back to school! The other two were excited for the new month to begin: my daughter has her first public Chorus Concert on Friday at the town tree-lighting ceremony, and my eldest starts a week of basketball team try-outs after school today.

Sorry there was no ghost tale last week, and no ghost tale this week either - my creative juices flowed in one direction only for the past seven days...into NaNoWriMo, of course. But, in related ghost tale news, my first real honest to goodness review of Unfolding the Shadows is now posted online at Romance Reviews Today. Click here to read the whole review - she makes it sound like an episode of Desperate Housewives with all the unanswered questions!

Here's hoping for a month of good friends, good times, good luck, good news, and good reviews to all! Happy Start of the Holiday Season!

Cloudy with a Chance...

It's a rainy Sunday on Cape Cod, a good day to spend watching movies. Last night, we took the kids to the movie theater to see "Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs," which was the top-grossing movie last weekend (I don't know yet about this weekend, but the theater we were in was pretty full.) We all loved it, and it appealed to us all for different reasons. We all laughed a lot. And I would totally recommend it.

The movie is based on the classic illustrated children's book of the same title. All three of my kids read this story over the years in their kindergarten classes. My daughter's class wrote and illustrated their own version with their favorite foods falling from the sky. My oldest child is now thirteen, but he still remembered the story. And enjoyed the movie along with his younger siblings (if you have a teenager, you know how unusual it is to please everyone at once!)

This new retelling has added depth, making you care about the characters and not just the zany plot. I got caught up in their stories and forgot to play my usual animated movie game of "whose voice is that?" The only one I recognized right off the bat was Mr. T as the policeman (a brilliant piece of casting.)

The main character is Flint, the child inventor with big dreams but no luck - all his inventions go wrong. Even the food creating machine doesn't work the way he intended. But he doesn't give up.

The whole theme of being true to yourself and following your dreams resonated with me - especially right now as I await the release of my first novel... coming this Thursday. Days away.

Go see the movie with your kids if you get a chance. It's a great way to spend a rainy afternoon. Borrow someone else's kids if you need to. Let me know if you enjoyed it as much as we did!

And don't forget to visit me here again on Thursday to celebrate the release of Unfolding the Shadows. I'll be posting an excerpt of my book and a link to the publisher's site to purchase your own ebook.

A Ghost Tale for Tuesday

Nine more days until my book is available for download at the publisher's website! I'm both excited and nervous about the release - it's my first novel, so I have no precedent for how I should be feeling. It's both the realization of a dream ... and on the other hand, a step forward into new technology for me, as I'm not a big reader of ebooks. But I will be now.

The main character of my story is a psychic. She can both see and talk with ghosts. At a recent cocktail party, someone asked me how I came up with the idea and if I myself am psychic.

While it would be cool to be able to talk with the spirit world, unfortunately I don't have that ability. But I know ghosts exist. And I know one lives in my house.

When we first bought this house, as a summer home, I knew there was something up. My skin would prickle suddenly at odd times, especially if I was up late by myself, or went up to the second floor alone after dark. My husband said I was crazy. Then I caught a few glimpses of movement down a dark hall late at night, when my husband was away on a business trip. Which was often in those years.

I started sleeping with the hall lights on. I didn't know who the ghost was or what his intent was, but I knew he was there (and it was definitely a him.)

I asked an older neighbor about the former residents. We had bought the house from a 90 year old widow. "Oh yes, her husband was a nice man. A horticulturist. He died peacefully in his sleep," the neighbor told me. I knew which bedroom.

The realtor stopped by to check on how we liked the house and neighborhood, and told me a "funny" story of the lady we bought the house from. After having a second stroke, the former owner couldn't live alone any more. The daughter would drop her off each morning at the house, to be with her husband. "She used to hang out with him and talk to him, like he was still here," the realtor said. "Isn't that a riot? Then the daughter would pick her up on her way home from work."

The following spring, the former owner returned with her daughter to take clippings from some of the prize Camellia bushes her husband had grown. The daughter was so excited to see we had kids and dogs running around the yard, she burst out with "Dad must be so happy! He always wanted grandkids, right Mom?"

After that I realized the ghost, "my" ghost, was benign. He was just acting grandfatherly, checking on the kids at night, checking that the doors were locked and the windows shut... taking care of us when my husband was away.

Do you have any ghost stories of your own to share? Does anyone "else" still live in your house with you? Or do you think I'm a little crazy, too?

*Coming Soon* is pretty exciting!

Okay, not to sound like some kind of lunatic, but a few weeks ago I began checking the publisher's "Coming Soon" preview page. Looking for my cover. Not obsessively. Not even every day...well, at least, not at first.

Since getting back from vacation, I've checked every day. More than once. Especially after I saw another cover that won't be released until after my scheduled date. I mean, really!

And tonight as I was playing in cyberspace, I finally saw it there. On the publisher's website, on the now familiar "Coming Soon" page. And I have to admit, it was just as exciting as I'd hoped. A little thrill ran through me as I realized - oh my go, there's my cover! and my name! YEA!

Okay, so the book release itself is still a month away. But I'm celebrating every little milestone as it crosses my desk.

So I'll just get to celebrate all over again on October first, too. I guess I should save the champagne.

100 Days Until My Novel is Released

Cape Cod Weather Today: Same as yesterday. Beautiful.


One Hundred Days. When you say it like that, it sounds... pretty cool.

Does anyone know how I would install a countdown clock app on this page? Just to tease myself? And you?

Another thing to add to my list today.

Still not writing today - need to finish mulching the backyard and getting it ready to open the pool this weekend (it is almost June after all, it's gonna be warm sometime) Never did get to tearing down the wallpaper in the bathroom this week, as I'd promised my husband before he flew off to Nebraska on business. Busy with landscaping. But I told my son yesterday, I enjoy landscaping because when it's done I get a great feeling of satisfaction, surveying the yard and thinking "I did that."

I think the feeling when I see my book in print will be similar. Maybe a little more intense.

I'm looking forward to finding out.

One Hundred Days.

Still Thrilled with My Release Date!

Cape Cod Weather Today: Bright and sunny, 56 degrees but going up to the 70s on Thursday, and maybe the 80s this weekend for Memorial Day! Dare I hope? Dare! Dare!

I'm still tickled pink to know the release date for my first book. I mean, I knew it was coming this fall, but to have an actual date is so exciting!

Thanks to all who've called and sent messages of congratulations! I'm so happy to be able to share my good news and have people happy with me!

My next big project is getting the new issue of Cape Women Online out the door, so to speak - we've completely revised the magazine and the publisher and I are so excited about our new look and the new opportunities we can offer to creative Cape women of all stripes. I'll be posting a link as soon as it's up and running - - and I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks!

Release Date!

I finally got a release date!!!

October first of this year!!!

Here's part of the email I received just a few moments ago:

Hi, Katie,

I wanted to let you know that I just got notification of the release date for Unfolding the Shadows. It’ll come out on October first of this year, and it’ll cost $6.99. The ISBN, should you need it for promotional purposes or reality checks, is 9781419922367.

Congratulations! I hope that this gives a bit of excitement to your Monday.

*Yeah!* I'm busy doing Snoopy's "happy dance" here on Cape Cod! Feel free to join in wherever you are!

I was going to write a post today all about my lovely weekend camping with the girl scouts, but I think I'll hold off on that and just revel in my news. Revel revel revel! Dance Dance Dance!