Guest Post + Giveaway: Debra Anastasia and Crushed Seraphim

I'd like to extend a warm welcome to author Debra Anastasia who's taking over the blog a bit today to talk about her paranormal romance novel Crushed Seraphim. Thanks so much for taking the time to be here Debra!

Hi Guys! Jenny was kind enough to allow me to be a guest on her incredible blog. I decided to dare you to try something. I’m daring you to write.

To Hell with writing what you know.

If I had a nickel for every time I read that advice I would at least be able to buy an ice cream. Mmmm Ice cream. I would pick coffee and chocolate on a cone.

But this isn’t about ice cream, this is about words. Your words.

I say write what scares you to anyone that shows interest in telling a story. I’m not talking horror book stuff, though that can be your focus if you feel drawn to it. Write what flows. You might not know jack and a banana about mob bosses or angels or aliens or mid-century Ireland. But that story might be lying right under your fingertips, waiting to be told.

Not everyone is a writer, and that’s okay. I’m a reader first. Sometimes you see authors say, “Write the book you want to read.” Well, I’ve been reading for my whole damn life and I’ve never found a lack of amazing stuff on my library shelves. Ask the librarian for a good read and her eyes will sparkle. She’ll drag you off to a nondescript cover that holds a story that rocks your world. And I tried writing the book I wanted to read -- it fell flat.

I finally sat down and told myself, “No one has to see, you can always delete the word document.” And then when I wrote from that place? I had something I could work with.

So today’s post is for the people who lived a million lives in their head as a child. Did you grab bowls from the kitchen as a kid so you could turn them into pools for Barbie Dolls? Did the whole neighborhood become a lively town when you got on your bike?

My question for you is: Did you ever consider writing?

Since my book was released, I’ve found myself in conversations with readers and they would eventually get around to the story they knew lived inside them. As grown ups, responsibility really beats the ever-living piss out of imagination. That kid who was wearing a bonnet toting a toy gun to a tree house totally curled into a ball. She’s used to being ignored. Bills, laundry, making dinner numb our mind her pleas to explore again.

Now is the perfect time in the world to write. Your writing implement is right in front of you. If you have a computer, you can try, if you’d like. Doesn’t that feel like wings? A blank document can be anything.

You might surprise yourself. I wrote in third person before I even knew it had a name, a category. It flowed, so I let it have its head.

That’s the first step.

The second is alarming. What happens if you like what you wrote? What happens if you love it? There’s an answer for that too. The internet. There are giant blobs of places you can reveal your writing with out claiming it like an explorer in a new world. Readers can be found in amazing places. You might have a local forums that has a spot for a blog or pick your favorite interactive website and see if they have an off topic section. Starting a blog is free! Want more? Try a site that focuses on writing fiction.

Luckily for me I’m not a thinker. Maybe if I had some common sense I would have shied away from writing, but I’m just a happy cocker spaniel, rarely thinking through the mechanics of a process. But if you are a bit more foresighted, you might wonder, “Well I suck at grammar, and writing a whole book is such an endless seeming process.”

I say, “ppfffttt.” to those concerns. Because on that wonderful internet there are amazing people that will give you a helping hand. They will pre-read for you, help, suggest stuff. They will be kind about it and knowledgeable.

As for writing a book --well anything big starts small. Like elephants and whales, well those suckers are huge at the beginning. God bless those large mommas. But your idea? Your passion? That’s what has to be big. The words will inflate to accommodate them.

So maybe you’re reading this post for a reason today. Maybe I’m daring you to give writing a chance. You can put so much stuff in a story. Your emotions have a place in a book. If you come home screamingly mad from work, lucky you, paint that anger on a screen. It’s tremendously freeing. Are you looking at your kids and feeling such swelling pride you want to just hug them and hug them? Well, do that first, but then you can commemorate that emotion by giving your characters another layer of depth.

For me, I’m writing about angels and mobsters and killers and saviors. I rarely run into those types on the soccer field or at girl scouts. And having people know what goes on inside my head? That scared me. When someone sits down and says that the story was a good way to pass time? That feels amazing.

I’m writing the sequel to my debut novel, Crushed Seraphim at the moment. It’s a story about a foul-mouthed angel tasked with saving the world.

My short story, Shackled is included in the Summer Lovin’ Heat Wave, one of two charity compilations that my fantastic publisher produced. All the proceeds will go to Save the Tata’s. (The other anthology is YA themed called Summer Lovin’ Summer Breeze.)

This November my novel, Poughkeepsie, is being released as well. A simple smile, set on repeat, coming from a pretty train commuter has a deep effect on the homeless man sitting in the shade. When she dares to step between Blake and a bunch of bullies at the train station, her bravery and his kindness flames a love that neither can deny.

So tell me, have you ever thought of it? Have you ever flirted with a blank Word document? You might want to try it if you haven’t.

A thank you to Jenny for use of her Internet real estate!

You're very welcome! I'm one of those people who fears grammar. I'm piss poor at it. I admit it. So that "ppfffft" applies specifically to me ;-) For more information on Debra and Crushed Seraphim, you can find her here:

Website
Blog
Twitter
Watch the Trailer

GIVEAWAY

Debra has generously offered up a digital copy of Crushed Seraphim to give away on the blog today! To enter, please just leave a comment answering some of Debra's questions above along with a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. Since this is a digital copy, this giveaway is international and will run through midnight EST on Friday, August 5th after which time a winner will be chosen and announced on the blog. Good luck everyone!

CRUSHED SERAPHIM:

How does a foul-mouthed angel end up as the last hope for all of Heaven and Earth?

When Seraph Emma is maimed and tossed from Heaven by a rogue angel who's taken charge, she fears she'll never be allowed to return. Tasked with the impossible job of showing the self-loathing (and not even human!) Jason his worth, Emma is sure she's doomed to fail.

Meanwhile, having wormed his way into Heaven, the corrupt Everett has trapped God in Hell and has designs on unleashing evil everywhere. Fortunately, if there's one thing Emma can't do (in addition to minding her language), it's give up. Determined to save Jason and get back to Heaven-even if it means going to Hell-Emma's plan is simple yet impossible: trick the Devil to save God.

What she doesn't count on is the devotion and, well, humanity she finds in Jason; the spirit, hidden compassion, and raw sex appeal within the Devil; and the vulnerability of her own heart. With the help of two unlikely allies, she'll wage the battle for Heaven. But will Emma be sidetracked by a new sort of heaven along the way?

What's truly more dangerous? Falling from Heaven, or falling in love?