Posts in Category: The Grave Winner

#petthecover – Oh, It’s My Cover!

On April 1, 2013 by Lindsey Loucks With 9 Comments - Crescent Moon Press, Leigh, Pet the Cover, The Grave Winner

Single tree in field during winter 2

Do I even need to tell you how much I love it? Probably not, but I will anyway.

When I first saw the email from Crescent Moon Press with a subject line that said ‘Grave Winner cover art,’ I stopped breathing. What if I hated it? What if I liked it?  What if I loved it so much I started crying? I’d been waiting for that moment for a long time, after all. I was at work in the school library at the time, and I quickly glanced around to make sure no one would see me open it in case I did cry. Hey, don’t judge. I’m a crier.

 

I opened the email and gasped. There was Leigh, just like I’d imagined her, sitting on tree roots in a graveyard. It was absolutely perfect. I didn’t cry, probably because I repeated to myself over and over, “Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.” I replied back in all capital letters how much I loved it.

 

The cover designer is Liliana Sanches, aka the Princess of Shadows. She’s a genius and a wizard. I sent her a gushing thank you through Facebook when I got home from work that day.

 

I’ve accomplished very little since I saw the cover because I can’t stop staring at it.

 

Don’t forget to add this to your Goodreads list if creepy YA paranormal fantasy is to your liking! Oh! I guess I should tell you it releases May 15, 2013.

The Year of the Snake

On February 10, 2013 by Lindsey Loucks With 8 Comments - Crescent Moon Press, The Grave Winner, Wendy Russo, Year of the Snake

yearofthesnake

 

Today marks the beginning of the Chinese new year. According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2013 is the Year of the Snake. Some of the things that the snake represents are deception, delusion, and opportunism. Dun, dun, dun!

 

Wendy Russo came up with the brilliant idea to help celebrate the new year and those cunning snakes by posting a scene from our writings that has to do with deception, delusion, and/or opportunism.

 

Here’s my scene from The Grave Winner:

 

The [news] woman turned towards me. Her eyes grew brighter as she click-clacked her ruby red high heels faster than I’d ever seen anyone go. Before I could run or react, she took my elbow and dug her sharp red fingernails into my arm.

“What do you think is causing the dead to return to life?” She shoved her furry microphone at me.

I glared at her over-excited, makeup-plastered face. “I… try not to think about it. But people like you make that impossible.”

Something flickered across her eyes, and she gasped. Was she shocked that I wasn’t eager to participate in this news circus? She stared at me a beat past uncomfortable, smoothed an eyebrow, then smiled into the camera. “Perhaps it’s the result of too much processed food. We’ll have more at ten on this developing story.”

“And we got it.” The cameraman lifted the bulk off his shoulder and pressed several buttons.

“What do you think you’re doing?” a female voice hollered. Mrs. Rios, the Spanish teacher, dodged reporters and trotted up to the woman. “There’s no way you had enough time to contact this student’s parents for permission to put her face on TV. You just got here.”

The news lady removed her grip from my arm. “Relax.” She turned and glared at me. I was getting a lot of that today. “We’ll cut her attitude and just use a shot of her lunch tray.” She gave Mrs. Rios a chilly smile. “No harm done.”

 

Yep, it’s short and non-spoilery, and it’s deceptive and opportunistic in more ways than one. My evil laugh goes here.

 

If you’d like to read more slithery Year of the Snake inspired scenes from other authors’ works, here is a list of participants. You should definitely check these out!

 

 

 

My Knickers Aren’t in a Twist Over Word Count – Are Yours?

On December 4, 2012 by Lindsey Loucks With 7 Comments - A Boy and Her Scratch, First Drafts, Life, Real life, Sequels, The Grave Winner, What Gifts She Carried, Word Count, Writing

From openclipart.org

 

So NaNoWriMo is over, and while I didn’t participate, I did try to write a little every day on A Boy and Her Scratch. I didn’t succeed, and I didn’t even come close to 50,000 words. But I’m okay with that.

 

The story and characters have solidified in the 10,338 words I’ve written on it, which is always a plus. I keep fighting the urge to go back and “fix” things because the first draft is supposed to look like word vomit, and it does, so yay! I’ve decided to keep writing this story until December 31st, and then at midnight, instead of turning into a pumpkin, I’ll start writing like a mad woman on What Gifts She Carried.

 

From January onward, I won’t be staying the night at work (something I did do in November), I won’t have as many loooong work days, and I won’t be going out of town. It gets too cold in Kansas to do anything but stay home in my pajamas and write anyway!

 

My point to all this rambling is that I’m trying this new thing where I don’t stress about writing. I let it happen, word by word. It’s slow going, but I’ll get there.

 

Does word count stress you out? Does getting the book finished twist your knickers?

Make Nice With Your Muse

On November 6, 2012 by Lindsey Loucks With 6 Comments - Critique Partners, First Drafts, Ideas, Mood, NaNoWriMo, Sequels, Story Ideas, The Grave Winner, What Gifts She Carried, Word Count, Writing

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

No no NaNoWriMo. I won’t participate in you this year or next year or never but I will cheer for participants from the sidelines.

 

Why? I’m a slow writer, like 1000 words in three hours slow. I try not to stress about making things look pretty in a first draft, but I do anyway. Plus, I have to stop and picture what’s happening in my head. It’s like watching a movie in painfully slow motion.

 

But I’m using NaNoWriMo as inspiration to learn how to not worry so much and speed up the pictures. I’m also using it to get inspired to write after I get home from school. I used to think a sleepy brain tells sleepy stories, but a sleepy brain is the norm now, and sleepy brains still have stories to tell.

 

The story I should be telling is the sequel to The Grave Winner, but it’s still coming together in my head. So my muse has hammered another story into my brain (ow!) while I let the sequel percolate. That’s the story I’m working on now, and I feel like I should make nice with my muse in case it flips me the bird and abandons me.

 

This new story has ghosts in space, in case you’re wondering. It also has some sexy times in it because it’s not YA. The title is A Boy and Her Scratch.

 

The sequel to The Grave Winner is coming, I promise! Please don’t hate me, Fabulous Editor Melissa and my Must Have Critique Partners and my Totally Tubular beta reader and everyone else who has made it this far through my ramblings!

 

Anyone else have a muse? Anyone else pet it and feed it cookies so it won’t flip you the bird?

 

P.S. I voted today!

A Subscribe Button!

On September 29, 2012 by Lindsey Loucks With 2 Comments - Crescent Moon Press, New Website, The Grave Winner

If you look to the right, you’ll see a brand new subscribe by email feature. Do you see it? I double dare you to type in your email address. You know you want to! That way you’ll hear all the Grave Winner news as soon as I announce it!

My Editing Cave Has Chocolate

On September 18, 2012 by Lindsey Loucks With 12 Comments - Editing, The Grave Winner
photo by FotoosVanRobin on Flickr


If it seems like I’ve vanished, I haven’t. I’m still here, hunkered over my keyboard editing The Grave Winner until it’s all sparkly. Actually, I’m done editing. Now I’m just reading through it for the millionth time to see if everything flows and makes some kind of sense. This might be the last time it’s in my hands before it grows up to be a real book. *sniff, sniff*

I’ve read this story so many times now that it’s hard to know if the setting is described perfectly, if character actions and reactions are realistic, or if the plot stemmed from the brain of a crazy person. Oh, wait – it did come from a crazy person! So yeah, that writer self-doubt is creeping in big time.

My solution? Chocolate. That stuff can cure anything. Do you have a papercut? Smear some chocolate sauce on it. Headache? Take two doses of chocolate chip cookies and chase it with chocolate-flavored coffee.

I did crawl out of my editing cave long enough to pitch a novella to three editors from three different publishing companies. Two requested to read it. I’ll let you know how everything pans out with that.

Okie-doke. I’m heading back now. Peace out.

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop!

On September 5, 2012 by Lindsey Loucks With 7 Comments - Aaron Eckhart, Anna Dressed in Blood, Crescent Moon Press, Deborah Ann Woll, Kendare Blake, Next Big Thing Blog Hop, The Grave Winner

Mysti Parker has tagged me in the Next Big Thing Blog Hop. Thank you, Mysti! I will answer ten questions about my book, and then tag five other authors for next week.

Here are the ten questions and answers:

1. What is the title of your book?
The Grave Winner

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?
The title came to me when I was writing another book. I thought it sounded strange, since why would anyone win a grave? My mind started whirring, I started writing, and I eventually found out the answer. Hint – it’s not a good thing to win a grave.

3. What genre does your book fall under?
YA paranormal fantasy romance

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Aaron Eckhart would play my main character’s dad. Deborah Ann Woll would play Gretchen who’s one of the baddies, but we only see her picture in this book. As far as the other characters? I have no idea. I don’t know of anyone else who resembles my other characters.

5. What is a one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Leigh Baxton is terrified her mom will come back from the dead — just like the prom queen did.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It will be published by a boutique publisher called Crescent Moon Press.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
About four months. Then I rewrote a few parts, polished, and scrubbed for another nineteen months. It was so messy!

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Lots of people, but mostly my critique partners. Their enthusiasm kept me motivated!

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
A strong heroine, twists and turns, and enough chills to keep you awake at night!

Tag! The following five people are IT!
1. Liz Grace Davis
2. Trish
3. Tania F. Walsh
4. Rachel McClellan
5. Jamie Ayres

Flexing the Ole’ Writing Brain

On July 31, 2012 by Lindsey Loucks With 3 Comments - Procrastination, The Grave Winner, Washington DC
brain in profile by pearish - side view of human brain with colored background layer
My brain kind of looks like a pre-cooked turkey when I flex it.

Because I’m procrastinating on book two of The Grave Winner, I’m branching out a little in all things writerly. I just finished my first novelette, which is between the lengths of a short story and a novella, so roughly 7500-15000 words. It was great fun, and I think I’ll do it again sometime.

I also did something in the novelette I’ve never done before – write some steamy scenes. Sure, I’ve written scenes with major sexual tension, but nothing like this! Whoo! *wipes sweat off brow* That was also great fun, and I think I’ll do it again sometime.

So procrastination has some pluses. Yay! But I truly think it’s beneficial to write something you’ve never written before. It stretches your creativity, which is always good.

P.S. Our trip to Washington DC was a great success despite the blisters all over my feet and the sweltering heat. Hey, that rhymed! The BF put together a video of some of the sites. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhc77G7u7p4

A Midsummer Night’s Blog Hop Character Interview

On June 21, 2012 by Lindsey Loucks With 8 Comments - A Midsummer Night's Blog Hop, Crescent Moon Press, Diane Haynes, Leigh, The Grave Winner, Wendy Russo

My lovely and talented Crescent Moon Press sister Wendy Russo put together a super fun blog hop. I joined (duh!), and Wendy paired me with the lovely and talented Diane Haynes, also a fellow Crescent Moon Press sister. Our main characters were to interview each other. Leigh is my main character from The Grave Winner. Micah is Diane’s main character in her book Rift Healer (more info about it below). When these two characters got their mouths flapping, sparks flew, and not the romantic kind either.

This is how it went down:

Leigh: Hey. How’s life?

Micah: Good, thanks. Hey, what’s with the hair? And the piercings?

Leigh: What about my hair? You have a problem with my hair? Of all the things to pick at, like my combat boots or my decapitated doll shirt, you have a problem with my hair. It’s a normal shade of blond, genius. Just like my mom’s. Now back off.

Micah: Is that a knife in your boots? Real classy. I carry a wand.

Leigh: A wand? Huh. My sister would love you then. She’s all into wizards and stuff. She’s read the entire Before Merlin’s Beard series three times. So do you do magic?

Micah: Yeah. But it’s nothing I can tell a ‘muggle’ about. And, umm…sorry, but I’m not really interested in speaking with your sister–I’m in love with a genuine angel. Her name’s Haley and she’s the most beautiful girl in the world. You wanna talk about magic? She’s IT.

Leigh: Oh, ouch. I just got burned. My sister’s nine, by the way. You’re probably a little too old for her, lover boy.

You can’t, you know, raise the dead or anything with your magic, can you? If so, stay away from Heartland Cemetery or else your face will soon get a nasty visit from my fist.

You’re in love with a genuine angel? Cool. I’m not in love with anyone. I thought I was in “like” with my best friend’s brother, but he turned out to be such a liar. But there is that one boy who always lurks around the cemetery… I can’t believe I just told you that.

So, this Haley girl-what’s she like?

Micah: I see the dead and sometimes I talk to them, but I avoid cemeteries–they’re a bit too crowded. Haley’s wonderful. She can heal the earth. There’s no one like her and I can’t believe I finally found her.

Oh, and lay off the tough-girl thing. You don’t fool me, or anyone else.

Leigh: Tough girl thing? Whatever. You must think you’re soooo smart. Don’t think for one second that you know me. You don’t know how it feels to have your mom die. You don’t know how it feels to have the prom queen come back from the dead the same day as your mom’s funeral. So take that big brain of yours and–did you just say “heal the earth”?

Micah: I’m sorry about your mom, but the prom queen? I see that sort of thing everyday. No biggie. And yeah, Haley just points her wand and the gashes in the earth close. She’s amazing. I have the ability to see people who’ll be important to me in the future and Haley is all over my future. I knew about her months before I even met her. The things I can do made her nervous at first, but now–we’re good.

Leigh: Yeah, right. No biggie. I suppose the inky darkness that seeps from her feet and kills everything is no biggie either, huh?

But gashes in the earth? What kind of gashes? Ones caused by earthquakes or something? We don’t have earthquakes in Krapper, Kansas, so  I wouldn’t know about those.

So you can see people who are important to your future? Can you see into my future?

Micah: I think you’re imagining the inky crap–that stuff just doesn’t happen. The gashes in the earth were caused by a rare earthquake in MA. and monsters were leaking out. It was up to us to heal the earth and close the rifts.

And, no. I don’t see anyone else’s future. Nice try.

So, who’s taking care of you and your sister?

Leigh: It’s so easy for you to dismiss everything I say, huh? It’s “no biggie” about the dead prom queen, or I’m just “imagining the inky crap.” Are you always so dismissive of people who aren’t “important to you in the future”? If Haley wasn’t important to your future, would you dismiss her too? You sound like you’re really full of yourself.

And my dad is taking care of me and Darby. Not that it’s any of your business.

Micah: Hey, let’s calm it down a bit.

Okay, so what did the prom queen say? Did you know her? Why do you think she appeared to you?

I don’t dismiss those who aren’t important to my future, I just…hmmm. Maybe I do. It just seems like there’s never enough time. You wouldn’t bother with someone just walking down the street–unless maybe they were in trouble, right? That’s how I feel about most people. Other than this conversation, you and I will never see each other again, but here I am, trying to understand you. And see how much fun I’m having?

Let’s leave Haley out of it.

Leigh: I’ll calm down when I feel like it. Yeah, I knew the prom queen, but her social circle is my social nightmare. I don’t know why she appeared to me. Probably because she was in the graveyard, and I ran off after my mom’s funeral. I almost stepped in the black inky stuff dripping off her. I thought my grief was making me see things. But I wasn’t.

I only dismiss people who are wrapped up tight in their own lives to even glance at other people. Like the prom queen’s social circle. Are you the prom king type?

Micah: Why are you so angry? Are you always so rude to people who try to help you?

It’s no wonder you’re not part of the prom queen’s circle–if I were as socially awkward, angry and jealous as you, no one would want to be around me either.

And yeah, I was the Prom King–what of it? What does that prove to you? That I’m good-looking? Not my fault. That I have a good personality & people like me?ALL my fault. You see, I make an effort to be nice to people and get along with them. Something you probably can’t even imagine.

You’re not bad looking. You might have been Prom Queen or even had a DATE, if you smiled occasionally.

You need an attitude adjustment.

Leigh: I’m angry because my mom’s dead, the prom queen came back to life on the day of my mom’s funeral, and I’m afraid my mom’s going to come back next, okay? My mom can’t come back from the dead looking like the prom queen with her mouth hanging wide open, looking terrified, and dripping darkness everywhere. She just can’t!

And I don’t see you trying to help me. All you’re doing is dismissing me and telling me I need an attitude adjustment. That helps me how? Why don’t you take your Prom King self and go make out with Haley or go heal a gash in the earth or something.

Micah: I’m sorry your mom’s dead. Really.

And I can help you. I talk to the dead, find out what they want and send them back. The drippy prom queen’s just looking for attention. They do weird stuff like that when they have something important to say. She will follow you around until you figure it out. I don’t think your mom would do that to you.

Since it all started at the cemetery, let’s go there.

Honestly, I’ve done this before.

Leigh: Okay. I’ll go to the cemetery with you. The prom queen just speaks in unintelligible whispers though, but maybe you can understand her.

Once we’re there, what will you do? Just talk to her?

Micah: You know, you’re kinda pretty when you’re not growling like a mad dog.

Leigh: You’re not so bad yourself for a prom king.

*They both head to the cemetery.*
They didn’t kill each other! *throws confetti* Yay! This was great fun. Special thanks to Diane and Micah for putting up with Leigh and me. If you would like more information about Rift Healer, here’s the cover and blurb:



After a minor earthquake, the enchanted forest in Bidwell, MA, is infested with monster-spewing rifts.
Gisele’s great nephew, the gifted Micah, and his distant cousin, Selena, arrive to assist. Together with Gisele’s summer students, twins Haley and Lacey, they will try to help the magical forest.
Much to the consternation of the beautiful Selena, Micah identifies Haley as The One whom he’ll share his future. But after witnessing a terrifying display of Micah’s Gift, Haley cools to his advances and unexpectedly discovers her own Gift– she can heal the earth.
Monsters, mayhem, and teenage angst follow the small group as they confront evil in the forest and a dangerous prediction that ‘one will fall’. Will they heal the rifts in time? Can they save the unicorns? And is Haley really destined to be with Micah?
It sounds awesome!!!
If you would like more info about my book, The Grave Winner, here’s the blurb and a link to add it to your Goodreads page (I don’t have a cover yet):
Leigh Baxton is terrified her mom will come back from the dead — just like the prom queen did.
While the town goes beehive over the news, Leigh bikes to the local cemetery and buries some of her mom’s things in her grave to keep her there. When the hot and mysterious caretaker warns her not to give gifts to the dead, Leigh cranks up her punk music and keeps digging.
She should have listened.
Two dead sorceresses evicted the prom queen from her grave to bury someone who offered certain gifts. Bury them alive, that is, then resurrect them to create a trio of undead powerful enough to free the darkest sorceress ever from her prison inside the earth.
With help from the caretaker and the dead prom queen, Leigh must find out what’s so special about the gifts she gave, and why the sorceresses are stalking her and her little sister. If she doesn’t, she’ll either lose another loved one or have to give the ultimate gift to the dead – herself.

If you wold like to follow the rest of the blog hop, see below:
The Interviews!
Gregor Caine + Circe (Christine Ashworth & Claire Gillian)
Sydney + Poseidon (Cindy Young-Turner & Sasha Summers)
Caleb + Arland and Kate (Kinley Baker & Krystal Wade)
Leigh Baxton + Micah Fuller (Lindsay Loucks & Diane M. Haynes)
Shayla Dormyr + Kara Magari (Raven Bower & S.M. Boyce)
Kellyn O’Brien + Julianna (Louann Carroll & Siobhan Muir)
Ivory + Sara Wiley (Rebecca Hamilton & Sandra Bunino)
Xylia and Landon + Avant (Avery Olive & Kary Rader)
Asar + Matty Ducayn (Jean Murray & Wendy Russo)

Research, baby. Research.

On June 12, 2012 by Lindsey Loucks With 2 Comments - Research, The Grave Winner, What Gifts She Carried

There might be another post with this same title, but whatever. It’s summer, and I’m lazy. Anyway, I’ve been doing research lately on superstitions for What Gifts She Carried (book two in The Grave Winner series), specifically on the rhyme “Step on a crack, break your mother’s back” and lilacs.

For example, did you know this rhyme dates back to the late 19th century? According to The Committe for Skeptical Inquiry, it originated when racism was rampant and warned against marrying an African American. The original rhyme went “Step on a crack and your mother will turn black.” Yikes, this is offensive. The rhyme evolved into “break your mother’s back” in the 20th century, and the number of cracks stepped on equaled how many bones your mother broke. Ouch.

Credit

Also, lilac is used for protection against evil. That actually worked out well for me since lilacs are a big part of the story. I wish I could say I’d planned it that way all along, but nope. So if evil is crouching right behind you, sighing its icy breath against your neck, break out the lilacs!

Credit

Has anyone else run across anything especially interesting in your research?