It's a Little Haywire is Live and Free!

My middle grade IT'S A LITTLE HAYWIRE is FREE on kindle for the next three days.

This is a book that is dear to my heart for a number of reasons. I spent many of my childhood summers in a town similar to Haywire (except a Canadian prairie version). Long hot days trying to find ways to turn the mundane into adventure.

Laura Pauling says "IT'S A LITTLE HAYWIRE reminds me of Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. It's that good."

(Thanks, Laura :)

http://www.amazon.com/Its-a-Little-Haywire-ebook/dp/B0072Z5DWQ

Owen True is eleven and eleven twelfths and has been “exiled” to the small crazy town of Hayward, WA, aka, Haywire, while his mother is on her honeymoon. All he has to whittle away the time is the company of Gramps, his black lab Daisy, and his Haywire friends, Mason and Mikala Sweet. They don’t look so hot this year, in fact, the whole town has gone to pot since the mill shut down.

Owen has his first encounter with a real life homeless man who ends up needing Owen’s help in more ways than one. But how does a rich city kid help the small town’s suffering citizens?

And what is Owen to make of the fog train and its scary, otherworldy occupants that appears out of thin air on the old tracks behind Gramps’ house? Do they have the answer Owen is looking for?

Comes with illustrations and hyperlinks to Charlie True's golden oldie playlist

Pick up your copy today!

Friday Four or Five

1. This was me this week:

substitute laptop for computer and pajamas for clothes

- good thing my husband was out of town

2. And a lot of this:

Why do I write historical fiction? It would be so much easier if I didn't have to worry about things like facts.

3. Good news is there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that big pile of papers scattered on the floor in my living room (see last post), is almost gone and I will get ClockwiseR to my lovely betas on schedule. Whoot!

4. IT'S A LITTLE HAYWIRE, is releasing on Monday January 30th and if all goes well, will be FREE for three days. Watch for it!


5. Now with my foray into Middle Grade, I'm interested in posts like this:
Are Tweens a thing?Actually, I was interested in it before I wrote middle grade because I've always thought there was a missing section in the children's genre. I'm glad it's getting some attention now.


How about you? Do you think publishing is missing an important age group?

Happy Weekend everyone!

Monday Musings - All the Plates in the Air

A lot of things happened this weekend.

1) I got my first big author blurbage for Clockwise, which I'm completely stoked about. This is it:

"I loved Clockwise! A great read, and I love your Casey/Cassandra. Congratulations."
- Wendy Orr, author of Nim's Island

(Nim's Island!)

It was due to a serendipitous meeting on twitter plus the fact that Wendy is just a super nice, down to earth person.

2) CLOCKWISE IS FREE TODAY on Amazon, the last day of five days. I've spent most of that time in the top 100 of the kindle free store, which I'm quite happy about. There are a lot of advantages to free promotion, and I have to attribute #1 on this list in part to that.

3) You don't get a review like this everyday: Banning the bullsh*t.  Thanks to Saffi for that. 

4) I'm busting my braincells working on ClockwiseR, the sequel to Clockwise.

watch your step

 5) I've never been busier but I'm enjoying myself despite semi-regular panic attacks.  I've made my own schedule, so my busyness is entirely my fault. 

The thing about indie pubbing is you GET to do everything yourself and the other thing about indie pubbing is you HAVE to do everything yourself. 


Another thing I'm learning as an indie pubber is that things always take more time than you schedule for them. And that there are a lot of things. SR Johannes has an excellent post for writers considering indie publishing that will scare the pants off you.

How about you?  Are you good at pacing your writing tasks?

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE - Tween book by SR Johannes

Today I'm privileged to be part of author SR Johannes's blog tour of her up coming Tween book, 

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, releasing January 31.

Gabby is a disgruntled tween angel who has just been assigned to protect her school nemesis and ex-beffie. Problem is her ex-beffie is dating Gabby’s longtime crush. Instead of protecting Angela, Gabby pranks her (since when is sticking toilet paper to her shoe or spinach in her teeth a sin?) Soon, Gabby gets out of control and is put on probation by her SKYAgent, who has anger management issues of his own. Determined to right her wrongs, Gabby steals an ancient artifact that allows her to return to Earth for just one day. Without knowing, she kicks off a series of events and learns what can happen when you hate someone to death.

1. What inspired you to write On the Bright Side?

It was Dec 08 at Christmas time. I had just finished reading Cynthia Leitich Smith's Eternal and Lisa Schroeder’s I Heart You, You Haunt Me. I was subbing Untraceable to agents and needed to pass the time. I happened to sit down and watch one of those "Near Death Experience" shows. The man was talking about his "near death experience" and how he felt totally peaceful and happy when he crossed over. He didn't want to come back. I wanted to play with that. What if when we die - we are happy and we aren't sad? What if all those negative feelings end - no matter who you leave behind or what happened in your life. I wondered if I could do a book about death in a humorous way and get away with it.

The question became “what if a disgruntled angel is the only one who isn't happy. What if she is forced to protect someone she doesn’t like?" Brought back all the times I wished I could be a fly on the wall, listening to my crush and eavesdropping on my frenemies. Then I thought about the opposite of death. What if a girl didn't want to be a cool angel? What if she just wanted to be human again?

That became much more interesting. I knew if I was going to do a middle grade, I needed it to be less heavy and more fun and light and hip. Something more like Meg Cabot or Ally Carter.


On the Bright Side is funny and light even though death, loss, forgiveness, and the fear of moving on are at its core.

2. Why did you decide to write tween?

I tend to do mostly YA Thrillers so this one came out of left field. I didn't decide on tween - I guess it just found me. I got this idea for an angel story - to show the dead side. Most books seemed to show the hot angel or the person the angel was going after. I wanted to explore death form a dead person's perspective.It started out as a heavier YA. But the voice sounded funny, which made Gabby sound younger. Trust me, I tried to make it YA. Even tried taking it down to MG. Especially because of all the hoopla about tween not being a shelf at B&N and a hard sell. Editors asked me to age up or down but I couldn't. Gabby was just 14. I must say, it was fun to write and Gabby makes me laugh :) That was nice after Untraceable, which is much heavier and not happy.

3. What are you working on next?

The Indelible's have an Anthology, "In His Eyes" coming out Feb 14th, all short stories from the perspective of hot guys. Mo, from Untraceable, makes an encore as he talks about meeting Grace.

Beyond that, all I see right now is Uncontrollable, the sequel to Untraceable. And I can't wait to get back on it. It's scheduled for some time in the summer.


Oh, I've heard about that anthology, *wink*.  On the Bright Side sounds so cute. Can't wait to read it.

Free for the Next Five Days!

This is a public service announcement.

CLOCKWISE is FREE on Amazon for the next five days!

Go get your copy now!

Bonus: Includes first two chapters of the sequel, ClockwiseR!

Body Image Funnies

My brain is fried. I have to finish the first draft of the sequel to Clockwise this week and the companion book by the middle of February if I want to make my deadlines. And I have blog tours set up already, so I can't fudge on this.

So, here's the best I can come up with that doesn't require a lot of brain power. Both of these are their own commentary on the modern view of "cool" and beauty.

Funny and scary at the same time.

If you believe in evolution, then you have this to look forward to. :)

And this: Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting...

What Matters Remains

Four years ago a good friend of ours died. Henk Boesten was a good husband, a good father and a good friend. It was hard to say goodbye.

It's easy to forget what really matters in life, especially when we get so crazy busy with our stuff. I know I do. Every once in a while it's good to be reminded that life is short, to slow down and smell those proverbial roses, whatever that looks like to you.

Last year Henk's son, Nico, had a dream about his dad. It was a profound dream which included these words of wisdom: What matters remains.

Nico wrote a song. Then he told the story. Both videos are here. Stop for a moment, take a look and a listen. Breathe.

You'll be glad you did.

Winner of CLOCKWISE and IT'S A LITTLE HAYWIRE

First of all, thanks to everyone who dropped in on the Indelibles Blog Hop. So much fun. I had both of my books up for grabs, an e-copy of  my YA time travel CLOCKWISE, and my brand new, not officially released, MG, IT'S A LITTLE HAYWIRE.

The winner chosen by Random.org is...

                                               VALERIE!!

Valerie, contact me by email, ellestraussbooks at gmail dot com and I'll make sure to get those to you.

Make sure you check back in with the Indelibles to see if you are the winner of the Kindle Fire!

Introducing the Indelibles- and WIN!

INDELIBLES ON FIRE!


Welcome to the Indelibles Blog Hop!

In celebration of our official launch, we are giving away a  
KINDLE FIRE! If you’d like to start at the beginning of the INDELIBLES ON FIRE GIVEAWAY BLOG HOP, then please start here: http://indeliblewriters.blogspot.com/


If you are already mid-hop, then welcome to your next stop! By following the link at the bottom of this post, you can proceed to the next author (and check out the awesome, individual giveaways we are doing along the way!). If you are entering to win the KINDLE FIRE, don’t forget to make a note of the keyword at the end of every blog post - the words spell out a phrase you will need to enter the contest on the last stop.


Marketing guru Shelli Johannes Wells has teamed up with twenty-four other indie and small press authors to bring you the Indelibles.

“We are indie authors who write middle grade and young adult fiction.

We are dedicated to leaving a permanent mark on the world with our stories and words.

We are The Indelibles.”

Each week, we’ll explore fun, fabulous, and fierce topics for today’s teens, drawing on pop culture and themes from the books we write. Check out our official launch TODAY, January 9th for fun giveaways at http://indeliblewriters.blogspot.com/. We’ll also be having a “blogger” chat on January 11th and a writer/author chat on the 18th to answer questions about self and indie pubbing. See our blog for details.


Who am I?
I'm Elle Strauss, author of the YA Time Travel fantasy, CLOCKWISE and the middle grade contemporary/magic realism book, IT'S A LITTLE HAYWIRE.
You could win both e-books!

A teen time traveler accidentally takes her secret crush back in time. Awkward.

And my brand new baby, not yet officially released!

A rich city boy helps a poor small town when inspired by mystical beings.
 

Owen True is eleven and eleven twelfths and has been “exiled” to the small crazy town of Hayward, WA, aka Haywire while his mother is on her honeymoon. All he has to whittle away the time is the company of Gramps, his black lab Daisy, and his Haywire friends, Mason and Mikala Sweet. They don’t look so hot this year, in fact the whole town has gone to pot since the mill shut down.

Owen has his first encounter with a real life homeless man who ends up needing Owen’s help in more ways than one. But how does a rich city kid help the small town’s suffering citizens?

And what is Owen to make of the fog train and its scary, otherworldy occupants that appears out of thin air on the old tracks behind Gramps’ house? Do they have the answer Owen is looking for?

Comes with original illustrations and hyperlinks to Charlie True's golden oldies playlist!

Click the It's a Little Haywire tab at the top of my blog to read the first chapter.


Just "like" my author Facebook page (top right of right column), sign up for my newsletter--I promise I won't spam you! (top of left column) and leave a comment with your name and I'll enter you in to win both e-books!

The keyword for this stop on the hop is: FIERCE

Continue the hop and visit the next Indelibles author, JESSIE HARRELL.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Friday Four or Five - Starting Off with a Bang!

Weather wise, January has been unseasonably mild, but in other ways it's blasting through. I have so much going on writing wise, (and otherwise, but I'll stick to the writing wise) so I'll let you all know what's going one in the immediate future.

1) I've joined this fantastic group of writers called THE INDELIBLES, see the cool button on the right to check out our new website! We are launching in a big way on Monday with a blog hop and a chance to win lots of free books and a KINDLE FIRE.

2) I'm being published in an anthology! IN HIS EYES is a collection of short stories by The Indelibles, featuring our book boyfriends. Curious about how Nate McKenzie from CLOCKWISE felt when he accepted the dare to ask Casey to dance? He was in for the time of his life!

The anthology is being released on February 14th, in time for Valentines Day. :)

3) I'm almost ready to release my new middle grade, IT'S A LITTLE HAYWIRE.  Cover reveal coming soon!

4) Check out my newly updated Writing and Publishing Tips tab, where you'll find links to my free, exclusive to Wattpad, book CRAFTING YOUR BEST STORY.

5) As you can see I've been busy. It's one of the reasons I haven't been "present" on the blogosphere as much as usual lately. There is a season for everything, and as I look ahead to all my writing projects and an upcoming move (=a lot of renos=blah=double blah), I will be posting less often on my blog, just until I get caught up.


Have a great weekend everyone, and we'll see you Monday at the Indelibles launch!!

Goals and Confessions Take 3

Well, it's that time of year again. I can't believe this is my third January 01 post. It's kind of scary looking back at former goals and confessions now that I can track results.

2011 was an interesting year for me. I started off 100% on the track to pursue traditional publishing and half way through jumped rails into self/indie publishing. A couple things brought that on, besides the whole publishing is being turned on its head thing.

1) I had three books go out on submission and none sold.
2) My second agent and I decided to part ways.

Two pretty good reasons to give self-publishing a go.
So, after being in the do-it-yourself throes for half a year, what do I think? I think it's pretty exciting. And I think it's pretty hard.

But not so hard that I won't keep going. I went into it knowing I'd be learning as I went a long, starting from a foundation of knowing basically nil. Now I'm going into 2012 with a foundation of some knowledge, a better strategy and more realistic expectations. I feel like 2012 is opportunity for a do over. I'm not going to waste the first half of the year waiting for someone else to make something happen for me. And what I do do for myself, I'll do smarter.

This doesn't mean I'm done with traditional publishing. I'm still of the philosophy that diversification is a good idea.

If the first part of this post was my confession, this part is my goals.

1) continue to self-publish the Clockwise series
1b) learn how to better market and publicize myself and my books.

2) self-publish middle grade book, It's a Little Haywire

3) pursue traditional publishing with current wip

4) pursue small press pub with historical YA when its ready

I'll stop there. If I can manage these in the year I'll be happy.

How about you? Do you have publishing goals and confessions for 2012?