During their virtual book tour, Janet and Elizabeth with be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit their other tour stops and enter there, too!
Bios:
Daughter
of a Colonel, Janet Schrader-Post
lived the military life until she got out of high school. She lived in Hawaii
and worked as a polo groom for fifteen years, then moved to Florida where she
became a reporter. For ten years she covered kids in high school and middle
school. Kids as athletes, kids doing amazing things no matter how hard their
circumstances. It impressed her, and it awed her. “How wonderful teens are.
They have spirit and courage in the face of the roughest time of their lives.
High school is a war zone. Between dodging bullies, school work and after
school activities, teens nowadays have a lot on their plate. I wrote stories
about them and I photographed them. My goal was to see every kid in their local
newspaper before they graduated.”
Elizabeth Fortin-Hinds knows kids well. She
spent decades teaching teens and adults to write and improve their reading
skills. As a literacy expert and certified coach, she helped both teachers from
elementary to secondary and preservice graduate students learn to improve reading
and writing instruction. She has taught at both the secondary and graduate
level, everything from rhetoric, essays, and thesis statements, to poetry,
short stories, and how to write a novel. She has learned to use both sides of
her brain simultaneously, but enjoys the creative side the most, learning to
play piano, draw and paint, and find time for her own writing since retiring
from her “day” jobs.
A
“true believer” in Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, mythic
structures, she uses that lens when considering manuscripts for Tell-Tale
Publishing Group, a company she founded with some friends from her critique
group a decade ago.
Founded
in 2009, in Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Our company motto of "excellence
in creative entertainment and learning, " informs our artwork, manuscript
selection, editing and publishing. www.tell-talepublishing.com
Welcome, ladies, please share a little bit about your current release.
(Janet)
I wrote The Young Adult Writer’s Journey
with my publisher Elizabeth Fortin-Hinds. She thought the time was right for
this book and there was a need. So, we wrote it. At this very moment, I have a
14-year-old grandson staying with me, a 10-year-old and a 15-year-old
granddaughter lives with me permanently. I had six kids. I know what’s going on
in the minds of teens right now. And that’s the key to writing good fiction for
young adults. The world they live in is much different from the world most of
us grew up in. It’s so much harder. I hear stories, I understand their
hardships and I love them for dealing with school and growing up at the same
time every day.
I
have a YA Science Fiction series out right now, The Vagrant Chronicles, that has won four prestigious awards.
Elizabeth felt like I had the street credentials and the knowledge to write
this book and I felt like she had marketing and publishing knowledge to make it
better. It’s literally, a dictionary for anyone wanting to write YA, whether
they’ve already written books or are just starting.
What inspired you to write this book?
What inspired you to write this book?
A
big push in the back from my publisher Elizabeth Fortin-Hinds who is also my
co-author.
Excerpt from The Young Adult Writer’s Journey:
Excerpt from The Young Adult Writer’s Journey:
Teenagers
make wonderful characters to write about. They are often more uninhibited than
adults, braver, more impulsive. Those characteristics can get them into trouble
and out of it just as fast. They can be very judgmental and equally
self-conscious, hard on each other and themselves. They need guidance, but
often won’t listen to it. They fall in love easily, will do anything for those
they love, and can show deep compassion for those weaker than themselves. These
contradictions are reflected in all great young adult fiction. Katniss Everdeen
was so brave in Hunger Games, she
offered herself as tribute to save her sister. Teenagers are impulsive. Mare,
in The Red Queen, is very hard on
herself. She blames herself for her sister’s injury. But when faced with a new
world, an outrageous situation, she’s brave and resourceful, accepts her new
world, but still remembers those at home she loves.
What exciting story are you working on next?
Elizabeth
and I partnered again and are writing a fantasy new adult series called Beauties
and the Beasties. The first book is written and being edited. It’s called
Annabelle and the Jackal.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
When
I started working as a reporter. You write every day. You get better every day.
You learn to accept criticism, edit, write whether you feel like it or not. Since
I started as a reporter, covering the high school beat, sports, and school
events, in a small town, I discovered I love to write, and I do it every day.
Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I
retired from being a reporter after ten years on the job. My first book was
published that year. Alligator Gold
is a Cracker Western (Florida cowboys) and was published by Pineapple Press.
Since then, I’ve written romance, adventure fiction and young adult fiction. The Young Adult Writer’s Journey was
more like writing a very big feature article. I approached it that way. I did
my research and consulted with Elizabeth through every chapter. I am lucky. I
have enough income to live and write full time.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I
hate adverbs, backwards sentences, and I have to write in the morning. If I don’t
get it done by noon, I will do something else to forward the work that isn’t
actual writing. There are two words that drive me nuts: despite and underneath.
They’re both bastard words and make me crazy. My most interesting quirk is
water related. I get my best ideas floating in my pool or in my gigantic jacuzzi
bathtub.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Free…I
really had no goals. My father was a Marine Corps Colonel. I grew up a Marine. If
you lived with one, you’d know. When you’re controlled to that point, you take
it one day at a time and pray for freedom.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
Writing
for young adults is so rewarding. If you want to do it, please read our book.
It has so many insights into the psychology of the kids in high school today. I
learned a lot covering them as a reporter and as a parent, and when I hit a
bump writing the book, I went to the source, my granddaughter, Laylany. She’s
fifteen and she knows what’s going on.
Links:
Links:
Thank you for being here today!
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6 comments:
Thanks so much for hosting our book on your blog, Lisa. We appreciate all you do for readers and writers.
Thanks for hosting!
Good Morning! Thank you for the book description.These tours are great and we have found some terrific books so thanks so much.
Great post, I enjoyed reading it!
Thanks for sharing!
How much did the story change from your first to final draft? Bernie Wallace BWallace1980(at)hotmail(d0t)com
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