UNICORN KEEP - Release Day Party!

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Title: Unicorn Keep

Author: Angelia Almos

Genre: YA Fantasy

Jiline of Ainsley is dismayed when her best friend is selected by the mages to become a unicorn keeper at the Keep, an isolated mountain fortress. Especially since Madelen is in love and engaged to the richest boy in the village. Jiline on the other hand has no prospects of marriage or a trade in their small village. So, she comes up with a plan to take Madelen’s place at the Keep and hopefully flunk out of unicorn keeper training before the mages can discover the deception. Unfortunately, the unicorns have their own plans for her.

Mage Herrick, son of the Keep Mage, returns home to the Keep as the trainee keepers arrive. A chance encounter with Jiline, who he believes is Madelen, on the trail sparks a magical connection between the two. Knowing he can’t feel a magical draw to someone who has no magic, he tries to prove Madelen (Jiline) has magic within her. His attention brings unforeseen complications for both of them.

UNICORN KEEP is available from:

Amazon - Print Book
Amazon - Ebook

Create Space - Print Book

Barnes and Noble - Ebook

Smashwords - Ebook

Author Bio

Angelia Almos formed a lifelong passion for horses at the age of five when she talked her parents into riding lessons. Horses often play a prominent role in her young adult fantasy books. She also write horsey nonfiction and space opera. She lives in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with her husband, two daughters, two dogs, two cats, and one pony (she often thinks of bumping that number up to two).
Visit her website: www.angeliaalmos.com

Twitter:  www.twitter.com/angeliaalmos
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/AngeliaAlmosAuthor

Want to win a copy of HORSE CHARMER, also written by Angelia Almos? Enter the giveaway! (Make sure you actually leave a post in the Comment Box below the Rafflecopter giveaway gadget. You can't leave a post in the gadget itself. :-)

Six-Sentence Saturday 04/28/2012

Hello again, devoted Saturday readers! Hopefully most of you have been well.

1.) The ending of Wall-E -- that bit where Eva fixes him up and then he doesn't remember her!! -- ALWAYS makes me cry like an idiot.

2.) I've just discovered something called Evernote, which is pretty awesome!

3.) I'm working on a language right now for one of my worlds, and discovered I have a passionate weakness for the letter "A".

4.) I'm researching AGENTS! (Woot woot!)

5.) I came up with a name yesterday that I love, but I don't want the wheels in my head to start churning out a story for him yet, 'cause I've got too many other stories to work on! (The wheels don't seem to care.)

6.) Have you ever heard of airbnb? This is how I'M going to travel when I go to Italy. (Notice I said when, not if. I'm being positive here. :)

That's all for now!

God bless

Cat

And here's a funny clip. I don't always like watching his videos one after another, but he makes some really good points, and he makes me laugh. Enjoy!

Word-crafting

I love fantasy.

The problem with fantasy is that it needs languages.

The problem with languages is that you cannot simply schmear a bunch of nonsense together and call it good.

In my WIP (work-in-progress, for the uninitiated :-) the story takes place in a world created on two fallen stars. Each of these stars broke into smaller pieces, forming the continents of this land.

It's a realm of power, founded on and ruled by all manner of magics. For such a world I need a really tight language. So, right now I'm reading this book, and exploring this website, and browsing this website, and trying to resist the impulse to purchase the book form of the website. I'm using a notebook and some fine inky pens to inspire my creative juices to be really, really impressive. And after a bit I'll need to work on an alphabet.

So guess what I'm doing this weekend? Yep, you've got it. How about you? Who else is going to go a bit mad and start creating a language? It's going to be fun! :-)

Here's my lovely world. Don't you SEE why it needs a lovely language??? I drew this as a doodle at work - first I drew a rough sketch of a dragon, and then a rough sketch of a unicorn, and then I imagined what they'd look like as continents. Voila! Not bad!

Blogger has (once again) messed around with its formatting. I hate this. Why can't it go back to the way it was? So hard to WORK with it. Shriek!

Today is the feast of St. Mark the Evangelist. Happy feast day to all the Marks in the world!

Oh, and here's a word for all those people who find makeup to be a necessity:

FARD

To apply cosmetics

All right ladies and makeup artists, FARD carefully!

God bless!

Cat

Six-Sentence Saturday 04/21/2012

Good morning, everyone! It's back to Saturday. I'm going to Barnes and Noble today, so I have to make this a quickie post.

1.) I do not like the new dashboard layout blogger is using.

2.) I got my new computer bag for SCBWI! It's absolutely perfect.

3.) I surprised myself by liking Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, though I think the main reason was Jeremy Renner, who I liked instantly from seeing him in Thor as Hawkeye. (There is one scene where the main girl character is wearing a NAUGHTY DRESS, and afterward she is changing in the car with Tom Cruise in it!!! Shame on her. Other than that, I THINK it's pretty clean.)

4.) Everyone who thinks that the Bourne Legacy should have been called something other than BOURNE Legacy (since Bourne isn't IN it) raise your hands... though, I'm glad Jeremy Renner is going to be the "new" Bourne. But still! How about Blackbriar Unleashed, or something corny like that?

5.) For some reason, my printer is acting like it's out of ink, though I happen to know I just changed the ink cartridges in it. Stupid thing.

6.) THIS looks pretty awesome. One day...

That's all for now! Talk to youse all later, my dears.

God bless!

Cat

If You Be A Writer...

Read!

Seriously, all writers must read. And not just novels, either. Do you remember those readers you'd get in school? YOU know, those books you'd have in second, third, and fourth grade? Yeah, those books, with the hundreds of short stories in them?

I remember when I had absolutely no books to read, I'd go into the school room and pull out all the readers I could find and devour those from cover to cover. When I was done with those I'd go into the living room and pull out Mom's storybook collections. She still has them. They are the Colliers Junior Classics readers, the "Young Folks Shelf Of Books." There are a bazillion stories in there that I bet very few people remember reading.

For instance, who knows the story about the Funny Thing that would eat children's dolls? "And very good are they - dolls," it would say with a smile. Come on, let's see those hands.
No one? Please, check it out! It's a great wee story, and I only remembered it because I was visiting my brother in Kansas and we were having some sort of nice food, and I said with a pseudo-quote, "And very good are they - (whatever-it-was-we-were-eating)," and no one knew what I was quoting! So then I started asking if they remembered stories such as Peter Churchmouse, or Poppy Seed Cakes featuring Andrewshek's Auntie Katushka? (Say that three times fast. :-) How about Evie and the Wonderful Kangaroo?

Apparently only my older sister and I were weird enough to read every reader in the house. But I am full of stories because of it.

So read your readers! Even now, I enjoy pulling down a reader, or Grimm's fairy tales, or just any short-story collection and reading it through.

Because they're full of ideas.

And you never know which story will inspire your imagination.

God bless!

Cat

Six-Sentence Sunday 04/15/2012

Oopsy, I hate it when I miss my Saturday! Drives me crazy. Well, here's Six-Sentence Sunday again! :D

1.) I love the AutoCrit Editing Wizard

2.) I am becoming seriously addicted to Pinterest

3.) I must be a hopeless Phantom fan - I have listened to three different versions and I adore them all!

4.) I drew an apple yesterday... in COLOUR!!!

5.) I really, really, really love Jason Bourne. Like a lot.

6.) YAY! I've hit 100 followers! I'm going to have to have a giveaway. Yummy.

That's all for now!

God bless!

Cat

Writing Challenges

I recently posted a comment over at Talking Animal Addicts about writing challenges, and this made me start thinking. What is one of your writing challenges?

Me, I challenge myself to take notes, all day long. I have to take notes, because with my job I do not always have the luxury of writing full scenes as they come to me. That has to wait until lunch break at least! But I always have post-its in my pocket, and when that little voice speaks inside my brain, I KNOW I'm going to regret it if I don't write a note down and capture the essence of the idea. If I leave it and try to commit it to memory alone, I know that little gem of an idea will go away and ne'er return. I have piles and piles of post-its that I bring home, with occasional snippets of dialogue and quick sketches of characters done while I'm on the phone and able to multi-task. These are my "scraplets." Once I get them home I input them in the computer. Some become full-fledged novel ideas. Others simmer on the back burner of the "Hmm" stove until I can decide whether they're usable or not.

Another challenge I set for myself is to always, always, always write down my vivid dreams. I've jerked myself awake before, sitting upright and grappling for a pen before I've fully woken in order to frantically scribble down details before I forget them. I've had three fully-plotted stories come to me, and I've actually finished the manuscript for one just the other day, and it's a doozy! So, always write down your dreams.

How about you? What is your writing challenge, or goal you recommend for other writers?

Until later, God Bless!
Cat

The Sunshine Award

My normal Six-Sentence Saturday is temporarily suspended since I've received the muchly-appreciated Sunshine Award from my friend and fellow critique partner, Katie Clark. Thanks so much, Katie!

The rules for this reward are simple:

1. Thank the person who nominated you (which I did, but I'll do it again. Thanks, Katie!)
2. Answer 10 questions about yourself (**gulp** okay)
3. Write a post about it (All righty)
4. Pass it along to 10 other bloggers (which is FUN! I get to introduce you to ten other bloggers!)

Here are the questions, and I hope you enjoy reading my answers.

1. Favorite color? Green. Hunter green. Sage green too, but hunter green most. Think Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games movie. Yeah, that green.

2. Favorite animal? Real or imaginary? Real, I'd have to say dog. Imaginary, unicorn.

3. Favorite number? Okay, this is embarrassing. I don't have one. Numbers are just... numbers. Just to comply, how about 2? I like to make a cursive tail on it, so it's fun to write.

4. Favorite drink? COFFEE! Oh yeah.

5. Facebook or Twitter? Since I haven't taken the time to become savvy with the hashtag thing with Twitter, I prefer Facebook.

6. My passion? (Um, haven't you been following my blog?) LOL. Okay, seriously, I have several things, that make me passionate: Writing, Singing, and Drawing. Everything else is just cream. 

7. Getting or giving? I adore giving. I love getting something for someone, thinking "I'll save this for Christmas!" and then, later, I'm like, "Heck! Why wait?"

8. Favorite pattern? Plaids on clothes, bags, and shoes (check out Ness by Post if you can't visualize plaid on shoes) and this, this, or this on plates.

9. Favorite day of the week? The first day of my weekend.

10. Favorite flower? Lilacs. Mmmmmm


So, I have to pass this award along, and I chose 10 blogs I follow that always spread sunshine. I hope you'll check a few out!

Amanda Beth

C. Lee MacKenzie

Amanda

Melissa

Amber

Mikki

Bree

Taurean

Claudine

Angela and Becca

That's all for now, folks! Thanks for stopping by. God bless, and have a blessed Holy Saturday.

Good Friday

Most people forget that Easter Sunday can only be reached if we go through Good Friday. Without Good Friday there wouldn't BE an Easter Sunday. Without His death, there would be no resurrected life.

Today, bow your head and remember: God died for us. He hung on the cross for three hours. Every agony He suffered was for YOU. Bow your head, and remember.

ONLY ONE SACRIFICE

He came to save, He came to die--

His Sacrifice encompassed all

beneath the shadows of the sky.

Men mock and jeer with jaundiced eye--

their bitter hearts do not recall

He came to save, He came to die.

"Behold Thy Son." Who will reply?

His blood, as drops of payment fall,

beneath the shadows of the sky.

The Magdalen is standing nigh--

His Mother gazes, strong and small.

He came to save, He came to die.

In pain He hangs-- the wind keens by.

They offer vinegar and gall

beneath the shadows of the sky.

At last it comes! He gives a cry!

His blood is spent-- He's given all.

He came to save, He came to die,

beneath the shadows of the sky.

For God So Loved Men.

Words on Wednesday: Revision

First off, thanks to Katie Clark over at The Ramblings of a Cancer Kid Mom for the Sunshine Award. I'll accept, post, and pass on that award this Friday. Thank you, Katie!

Next, I'm being interviewed over at Rate Your Story today by the fantastic Miranda Paul. Head on over and check it out! She had some fun questions for me to answer. :)

(edited to add: Due to some blogger issues, this interview may not be available until later today. Sorry about that!)

It's funny, I've been so busy with revisions that I completely forgot I had this interview today. It took an email from Miranda to remind me. Isn't that sad?

Most of the time I hate revision. I don't know why. Maybe my head gets tired trying to figure out how to repair massive plot holes I (somehow) totally looked over before. Maybe I get overwhelmed with the need to cut, cut, cut. For the first time ever (and now that I FINALLY got through the middle portion of the book that was holding me up) I'm actually enjoying the revising. Maybe the longer you work at it the more rewarding it is to CUT that unnecessary bit of description, or that superfluous bit of dialogue, or that really unimportant character out of your manuscript.

Or, maybe as you get closer to the climax of the story, you're just so excited to see how thrilling it is that you hardly notice the revision process at all. I don't know. But for the first time ever, I'm having FUN!

What are your thoughts on revision?

As always (sounds like a letter, doesn't it?),

Cat

God bless!