Blog Tour: The Marked Girl by Lindsey Klingele

ETA: Apparently my carefully scheduled post was eaten. Sigh.

10 emotions you have when writing a book

1)      Curiosity. Ideas in general can come from everywhere – from conversation, from songs, from articles, from other books you’ve read, or from a combination of all these things. I like to think about what I see in the world that excites me, or what I wish I could tell people about, or what I wish existed. For instance, I recently wished that Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood music video was an epic television series with six seasons and a movie. So I wonder what that would look like, and then I get --

2)      Excited.  I always know The Idea from all of the other regular ideas because I won’t be able to stop thinking of it. It’ll keep me up at night. It’ll make me have to do the dishes twice because I was too busy thinking about The Idea to wash the dishes properly the first time and now all my bowls are still covered in leftover mac & cheese crust. From this emotion, it’s easy to slide right into--

3)      Dedicated. Or also, industrious. The first 50 pages of any new project generally go by the fastest for me because I’m still driven enough to get the idea down before it flies from my head. But I can’t get attached to this stage, because then I’m onto—

4)      Stuck. It happens. There’s no stopping it from happening. At some point, I run out of steam and the words don’t come as easily as they did at first. Maybe I second-guess a character or a plot point or even the whole Idea altogether. At this point, I can either move on to something else, or I can get—

5)      Determined. Because no project worth doing is easy, and if I’m still passionate about something, this is when I have to buckle down and finish the draft, no matter how many cups of coffee it takes. This usually pays off, because when I do finish a draft, I’m—

6)      Elated. This is the best. I wrote a book! Even if it’s not a good book, it at least exists in some form. This is when it’s time to celebrate, usually with chocolate! And just in time for revisions, or—

7)      Despair. Now I have to take that first draft and make it good. That is hard. Getting notes helps a lot. But sometimes notes can be tricky. Especially notes that point out a major problem in the draft that I didn’t see there and now I can’t un-see it and now I have to fix it. This is when it’s time to lay my head down against my desk and think about how I’m a terrible, no-good writer and anyone who says otherwise is a liar. This emotion is also accompanied with chocolate. But it is followed by—

8)      Gathering perspective (i.e. pretending I don’t care). Sometimes the only way to keep myself going after the despair stage is by reminding myself that while stories and writing are important, they are not the most important thing all the time. Family, friends, food, community, the fate of the world, and also television are also important. In the grand scheme of things, getting a sentence wrong isn’t the end of the world. I am zen. I can do my best, work hard, and tell myself that’s all that really matters…right?? Anyway, it usually pays off. The book gets done. And then there’s –

9)      Pride. Woo-hoo, I wrote and revised a book! It’s really done! Woo-hoo again!!! And now the book is being published? Time for—

10)   Excitement (redux)/worry/nervousness/joy/fear/etc. etc. I wrote a book and it’s out in the world and people might hate it! But also they might love it? Probably there will be both! That inspires a LOT of emotions, but it’s okay because at this point, I’ve earned them. And also more chocolate.

ABOUT THE MARKED GIRL

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away (Los Angeles)…

When Cedric, crowned prince of Caelum, and his fellow royal friends (including his betrothed, Kat) find themselves stranded in modern-day L.A. via a magical portal and an evil traitor named Malquin, all they want to do is get home to Caelum—soon. Then they meet Liv, a filmmaker foster girl who just wants to get out of the system and on with her life. As she and Cedric bond, they’ll discover that she’s more connected to his world than they ever could’ve imagined…and that finding home is no easy task…

LINKS: Amazon | B&N | Indiebound | iBooks | The Book Depository

ABOUT LINDSEY KLINGELE:

Lindsey Klingele grew up in Western Michigan, where she read every book she could get her hands on. She eventually moved to Los Angeles (the real land of make believe) and worked as a writers' assistant for TV shows such as THE LYING GAME and TWISTED. She still loves living in LA, especially since it's home to great television shows, truly excellent cheeseburgers, and her pitbull, Bighead.

LINKS: Website | Twitter | Facebook

Tour Schedule:

Week 1:

6/13: Two Chicks on Books - Q&A

6/14: Across the Words - Review

6/15: The Bookkeeper's Secret - Graphic Art

6/16: Charmingly Simple - Review

6/17: Bibliobibuli YA - Q&A

Week 2:

6/20: The Book Cellar - Review

6/21: That Artsy Reader Girl - Makeup Inspirtations

6/22: I Am Shelfless - Review

6/23: The Irish Banana Review - Top 10

6/24: Fiction Fare - Review

Giveaway:

3 Finished Copies of THE MARKED GIRL (US Only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway