First Love Hop feature with Shelly Lieber

About the Author

Shelley Lieber is an author with a split personality. As The Wordy Woman, publishing consultant, she wrote 4Ps to Publishing Success and Publishing Made Easy & Profitable for new and aspiring authors.
Her wilder side writes erotic fiction under the nom de plume Elyse Grant. The Prince Charming Hoax, her debut novel, introduces two female protagonists with strong and sometimes conflicting personalities that match her own inner selves: smart, creative, and nurturing vs. sassy, ambitious, and daring.
A third personality common to both Shelley and Elyse is Vegan Novelist, who writes about her adventures with vegan food and lifestyle.

 The Prince Charming Hoax Blurb

THE PRINCE CHARMING HOAX, a novel by Elyse Grant (aka Shelley Lieber), is the steamy hot and often funny story of best friends Leah Gold and Roxanne Stein, each trying to break free of the “happily ever after” fairy tale myth. Abandoned by her latest Prince Charming on the eve of what she expected to be the start of a new life, Leah begins an introspective journey through her past for answers. When she discovers what really stands between her and happiness, she sets off on a mission to help spare other women the pain of looking for love in all the wrong places—even though she knows her crusade may just be a battle that destroys her real prince. In contrast to the reclusive Leah, Roxie teeters on the edge of self-destruction as she tries to satisfy her unquenchable thirst for excitement. Drugs and sex don't diminish her cravings, and the man she falls for, while charming, is no prince. Once they team up on a crazy trip from their South Florida home to Philadelphia and New York, they stumble onto how to save themselves, each other, and perhaps womankind—a surprise to everyone, especially themselves.

Interview with Shelley Lieber (Elyse Grant)

What genre do you write?

I write contemporary women’s fiction, some might call it erotic romance ;-)

What’s the best part about being an author?

I can create characters that do the things I don’t dare in real life. Also, I can “get even” with real-life people by creating characters like them and then putting them in embarrassing situations.

What’s the worst part?

I’m not really sure there is a down side, but I guess having my computer hijacked by characters that want to steal the story is a bit of a struggle. In THE PRINCE CHARMING HOAX, I battled with Roxie all the time. I finally promised that if she behaved, I’d write another book where she’d get the lead the role.

How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing for as long as I’ve been reading. I still have my first book that my father brought me and I wrote all over it with my own additions to the story.

What are some of the things you’re passionate about?

I’m a passionate person, so I do most things all out or not at all. Many of my “causes” are based in freedom (civil rights, women’s rights), but I’m also passionate about nutrition and health; conscious living; and “green” lifestyle.

At the end of the day what keeps you “moving forward”?

I keep many quotes posted around my office. The very first one I posted was, “Write on your heart that every day is the best day of the year,” from Ralph Waldo Emerson. That keeps me looking forward to my next “best day.”

When you’re depressed what helps bring you out?

Being grateful is the best mood-lifter I know. 

If there were one statement you could make that you stand for what would it be?

Be yourself. Everyone else is taken. (Someone else thought that up, but I like it!)

How do you “combat” negativity when it presents itself?

Love, love, love. I feel it, show it, express it. Can’t help but feel better! Also, journaling is a good release ;-) 

What’s your favorite movie?

Don’t laugh. “The Little Mermaid.” Think about it...it’s got it all: romance, coming of age, good vs. evil, action scenes, great music, colorful characters, and a happy ending.

Who is/are the people that inspire you to keep moving forward?

I am inspired by stories of people who move forward regardless of obstacles. It doesn’t have to be a famous person or celebrity...it’s the stories of everyday people who do amazing things that inspire me most because it reminds me that we each have the potential to be the hero or heroine of our own story.

Do you have any links that you’d like to share with us?

Sure, thanks for asking!

Elyse Grant blog: http://elysegrant.blogspot.com

Shelley Lieber blog: http://shelleylieber.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/shelleylieber

Twitter: http://twitter.com/wordywoman

Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/shelleylieber

Amazon: http://amzn.to/Y5YRaC

 

Author Interview with Brian Bigelow

Welcome Brian... 

Here's more about him:  I'm an author living in Colorado with my wife Brandy and our fuzzy children, a Chihuahua that protects from fire hydrants and Cat who is quite the critic at times.

More recently, I also got a bit better acquainted with my camera. If there's a picture in one of my books I probably shot it.

I'm also an organic gardener and I've been a job hunter.

Wanna know more???

Read our interview here:

1. Please tell the readers a bit more about you.  I live in Colorado just below Pikes Peak with my wife, Brandy, a ferocious Chihuahua and a black cat. 

2. What types of books do you write?  I mostly write horror these days.

3. Who's your main audience?  Anyone that likes a bit of darker fiction.

4. When it comes to writing- what are your strong points?  My main strong point is a lot of story with limited words. What are your weaknesses?  Would like to write longer stories but very limited on time with my full-time day job.

5. What do you think of this term- Writer's Block? How do you overcome it? It happens to most writers at some point. For me, it’s not because I can’t think of an idea, sometimes there’s too many at the same time. Usually I have multiple writing projects going on at the same time so I just change projects.

6. How many books have you written? 19

7. How many are published? 15

8. Are you self published or traditionally published? I’ve been self-published all of last year, just signed my first contract with Perseid Press for a short that will be in Terror By Gaslight. 

9. What's the hardest part of the writing process for you? That would have to be creating an outline. I don’t necessarily write the beginning first on all stories. Some I’ve started in the middle, some the ending. Whatever comes to me first.

10. What type of books do you enjoy reading? Sci-Fi, Thrillers, Horror.

11. Who's your favorite Author? Presently J.K. Accinni

12. What's your all time favorite book? There are so many that’s difficult to answer. I could probably make a list of about 80 all-time favorites.

13. How long does it take you to write a book? Depends on the book, my present project has taken a month and a half but it’s about 15k at present.

14. Out of all of your characters, which is your favorite? Why? That would be Angel who is in Liturgy. She is a very strong woman after getting some hard knocks.

15. What is one of the most surprising things you've learned as a writer? I have a real imagination that I never knew I had. 

16. What does your family think of your writing? The four legged children don’t seem to care too much as long as I feed them. Brandy won’t read horror so I haven’t really asked.

17. What does your writing schedule look like?  Get off from my day job and open up my work in progress, start writing for a couple of hours.

18. Do you manage to write every day? Yes

19. What's the latest news you'd like to share? Around March 1^st Horror Bent 2 should be coming out.

20. Do you have any advice for new writers? Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t succeed and never give up. Make sure you read daily, I read about an hour every evening. Get a grammar manual, read it from cover to cover. Better yet, get a couple of them. Your stories will be written better to begin with which will make editing and rewriting much easier.

Find Brian here:

http://brian-bigelow.blogspot.com

http://www.amazon.com/Brian-Bigelow/e/B00667745A

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/brianbigelow

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/brian-bigelow?keyword=brian+bigelow&store=ebook

First Love Blog Hop featuring Gillian Joy

Good morning/afternoon depending on where you are. I want to thank you for stopping by. Today on The Writing World we are going to hear from Gillian Joy, author of Guardian and Forever. 

One step when publishing a book is picking the right book cover for your book. Gillian is here to talk about how she chooses the correct covers for her books.

Good morning Gillian. It's great to have you here. 

Book Covers! Why is it so hard to make a decision?

So you've written this amazing story, your almost ready to publish and now your book needs a nice cover, something simple but effective. There are pages on the web that let you design your own cover for a minimal charge and I remember when I started with Guardian I figured, hey I design houses for a living how hard could it be to design a cover for a book?

So I start with something basic and come up with a few options but then I can't decide which I like better. So I jump on Facebook and upload a couple of the options so people can let me know what they think. Problem there is that different people like different covers. This is a lot harder than I realized.

 I've managed to come up with a couple of alternatives I quite like but nothing that really stands out at me. I think to myself that here has to be something else, and luckily there are. There are quite a few book cover designers out there who know exactly what they're doing and after perusing a few recommendations I jump on the paragraphic site and have a squiz. Wow, some of those covers are absolutely fantastic but still none is quite right, there's one girl who looks perfect for Hannah but the rest of the cover is just too prissy, so I contact Tisha and she is more than happy to help come up with something else, she plays with some of the images and we do a little to and fro before I settle on the final design that I love, but even so, I still feel a bit apprehensive. It's so hard to be unbiased when it comes to your own cover. I can look over covers on the bookstore all the time without so much as a second glance at what could be a really good book. But how do I know if I would do the same thing to the cover I'd decided on. So I go back to Facebook again. This time around the praise is unanimous, maybe I'm on the right track.

 Not only was the new cover the most popular by far, but it even managed to triple the number of likes on the page at the time. Defiantly all good. If people were liking the page because of the new cover then they'd defiantly pick up the book. Wouldn't they? Some eighteen months later and I still cant be objective. I do love it though. What do you think?

Thank you so much Gillian for your time and sharing your thoughts. It was great having you here.

******************************************************

About the Author

I'm a 41 year old mother of two who designs houses for a living and lives to write.
I grew up in the Western Suburbs of Sydney Australia the eldest of five children. I had two younger brothers and two much younger sisters. I say had because one of my brothers died when I was only nineteen. 

I once had a boss who told me I had had a hard life but I never actually saw it that way. Life is what it is, and I had food, clothes, a roof over my head and a family who loved me. What's so hard about that?

These days I live on the Mornington Peninsula, south east of Melbourne Australia where I spend as much spare time as I can either with my nose in a book or writing away on my phone. I love it here, there aren't too many places in the world that with less that a ten minute drive you can watch the sun rise over the water, or you can watch the sun set over the water, and there's just something extra special about watching the sunset over the beach, something dreamy and romantic. I live with my husband, two beautiful but will full kids a few fish and a very spoilt English Staffie named Cleo.

I'm sure you don't want my whole life story so that's about it in a nutshell. I suppose though I should add that I really am a proud Australian. I love bbq's, thongs and Vegemite sandwiches and I even call my friends "mate". Oh and in winter I can't live without my "ugg" boots.

Guardian Blurb:
Headstrong and determined, Hannah always knew that she would become the Guardian. She was the keeper and the protector of all supernatural. What she didn't expect was that it would mean she would have to endure the agonising death of her mother first hand as their supernatural connection brings her to her knees, or that it would mean that she could never be with the man she loved.

Blond haired, blue eyed Gabriel was her handsome childhood friend, but would circumstances prevent her from ever being able to explore her true feelings for him?

Jesse, the dark alluring but incorrigible vampire would give anything to be with her, but as the guardian Hannah is forbidden to fall in love with the supernatural.

With her life in turmoil over her conflicting emotions about Gabriel and Jesse and her frustration at being unable to exact revenge for her mother’s horrific death, Hannah flees her life in an attempt to start over. But can we ever really escape from ourselves?

There is no escaping destiny no matter how hard she might try and Hannah must learn to reconcile her commitment to her family with her responsibility as the Guardian and her duty to her heart.

Forever Blurb:
Hannah’s life has never been easy, despite her strong willed determination and her extra “gifts”, it's still always been hard work keeping an entire world full of the supernatural under control, but having achieved a small semblance of control over most of the custas, Hannah was hoping to be able to slip back into her life of normalcy. Wishful thinking when you're the guardian of all supernatural.

With all the issues she’d had to endure in her past, she'd never had to worry about the mermaids before, so why would they choose now to suddenly start haunting her dreams and her life. Then there are the fairies to contend with as well, just when she manages to get one aspect of the crudelitas under control, the others decide it’s time to start causing problems.

All Hannah wants is some quiet family time and a chance to reflect on her feelings for Gabriel but instead she's thrown back into the thick of the supernatural world, and this time it threatens to invade the quiet family life she has worked so hard to establish. There's no running away this time, she has to front the challenges head on, but forever can be a long time if you can't be with the one you love.

And coming soon Revenge (no cover art available at this time)

Revenge Blurb:

Hannah finally has everything she wants out of life, devoted friends, a loving family, and the man of her dreams. Or does she? Life is never easy when you are the “Guardian” of all the supernatural beings, but surely this much heartache is more than one person was ever meant to have to contend with?

The Nephilim are on the hunt again but this time it’s not only the vampires they are hunting; and knowing that Hannah is still on the lookout for a new Custas, why would the witches be willing to work in conjunction with them? Then there’s Gabriel; after waiting for centuries to be with Hannah, what could possibly ever entice him to want to kill her. With all the supernatural issues she has to contend with how is it even possible a human could be any sort of a threat to the family life Hannah has built.

For over three centuries, one thing has been Hannah’s main driving force, but is it even possible for her to ever track Phelip down and get the final Revenge, and the final peace she has been hunting for.

If you would like to know more about Gillian you can visit her here:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

Amazon