Chapter Snippets!

    Hi guys! *sweeps away the blog cobwebs* Here I am epically failing at keeping my blog entries up again. Sorry about that. The reason you ask? I'm officially 4 weeks from deadline. *EEEEEE* From the way things are going, I'd even go so far as to call this a deadline dash. LOL!

    So just to let you know I am thinking about you and not ignoring you guys, I thought I'd post a few chapter snippets this month to tide you over. Everyone can thank my friend Danyell for putting in the request. Over the next few weeks, check back often because there will be more tasty tidbits to share. :) 

Here goes and hope you like!

Till then,

KD

“Your lips,” he whispered, holding a piece of my hair to his nose. “I taste him in your kiss and smell his sweat on your skin.” He squeezed his eyes closed and turned away. “It hurts so much more than I imagined.”

2010 Property of K.D. Wood and is prohibited from being copied or electronically distributed without the expressed written permission of the author.   

Crazy Town, Table for 50 please...

    Welcome to our new visitors from Jordan and Georgia! I hope you find something on the blog you enjoyed and want to visit again.

    It’s official. My poor blog is suffering from deadline neglect. We rolled over the 6000 mark this week folks and I missed it. Can you believe that!!! I can't. I thank you all so much. Without your visits that number wouldn't be possible. To say thank you, I’m hoping this odd post makes up for my lack of blog discipline.

    For those who write, you will understand when I say my characters are constantly chatting away inside my head. Some are kind and wait their turn but others don’t have such good manners. It’s been a busy few weeks in my noodle. I’ve spent half of my work time trying to shut the characters that aren’t on deck up and coax the ones who are onto the pages. Sometimes they win, sometimes I win. Like I said, it’s been busy.

    As the title suggests, I have A LOT of characters to sift through. They are sorted over eight different manuscripts which are in various stages of completion. To give you a better idea (and to relieve some of the pressure they’re putting on me) I agreed to let them ALL visit the blog today since lately I’ve been focused on one particular manuscript. So here goes.

    To set the scene: imagine a living room. This is the place inside my head that my characters reside. It’s a comfortable place with lots of chairs, supple brown carpet and exactly eight mahogany tables. The lights are soft and the walls are painted a soothing caramel. There’s a huge fireplace made of river stones. I’m tired today so the usually roaring fire of my imagination is down to glowing embers. Each table has a lamp with a black number embroidered on the shade. Scattered on the tables are various games; Uno, Boggle, Scrabble, Candy Land and Poker to name a few. There’s everything but Monopoly because K.D. can’t stand the Monopoly. Plus, Book Five’s characters are always fighting over the damn racecar and paper money.

    There are lots of people too. The folks at Table One are really tired because we worked from midnight to six in the morning on their manuscript before starting this post. They’re lounging, eating donuts and waiting for me to stop fiddling with this blog and go to bed.  Everyone else is chatting away. Dear readers, this is your chance to eavesdrop on a very secret place in my head. Enjoy!

(Book One)Hayden: How long is this blog crap going to take?

(Book Six): Shut it Dude! *A cheese puff lands on Hayden’s arm and laughter erupts* You had your turn.

(Book One)Hayden: Real immature Six

(Book Six): We’re a Young Adult novel; it’s sort of a requirement

(Book One)Hayden: Smart mouth

(Book One)Nathan: Where’s Five? Nib owes me twenty bucks from last night’s Poker game.

*From the darkest corner of the room, a lamp snaps on. Eight pairs of slanted eyes focus on Nathan. Black wings uncurl and tentacles shiver when table five’s occupants begin to yawn and stretch.*

(Book Five): Come and take it flesh-bag…if you’re brave enough.

(Book One) Nathan: Hey man … you can give it to me when you can. It’s cool.

*The kids at Table Six snicker and make chicken sounds until those alien eyes turn in their direction*

(Book One)Neely: Thanks for waking them up Nathan. Now K.D. will never fall sleep.

(Book Five): We will do our best to respect our mistress’ slumber today.

KD: Thank you Nib

(Book Five)*He smiles large enough to show the double row of fangs in the back of his mouth* As my mistress wishes.

(Book Four) *props his boots on the table* It’s getting deep in here today.

(Book Five) *Hisses* Four, being shelved has made you abnormally grouchy.

(Book Four) *flips Five off*

(Book Seven) Come on over here with us Nib. We’ll keep you company. *The Chick Lit girls raise their glasses and cackle with laughter* Plus, we have mimosas!

(Book Five)*A feminine tentacle smacks the back of Nib’s head when he starts to stand* I’m afraid I must decline, but thank you for the offer ladies.

(Book One) Nathan: I’ll be over in … I mean … at Seven if y’all need me.

(Book Seven) *Naughty cougar cheer*

KD: Okay guys, it’s time for you to play nice on your own. I’m off to bed.

(Book One) Neely: Thank goodness. Hey, can rest my head on your shoulder Hayden?

KD: Come on Eight, we have a few things to discuss.

(Book Eight) Can I bring my gun?

KD: Of course.

So there you go folks. Hopefully this little peek into a writers mind will help you understand us a little better. Especially when we stare at a wall and say huh when you ask us a question.  

Till then,

KD

 

Welcome Joelle Charbonneau to the blog!

    Thanks for visiting the blog! You're in for a special treat. I can honestly say I've met some of the coolest folks since joining the writing community. But there have been a few true standouts too. Today's guest makes me want to squish our home states together just so we can hang out. She is a doll! Please welcome Joelle Charbonneau, a gorgeous, flame-haired songbird and accomplished author. She's hanging out for a bit to tell us about how she began her writing journey and her new book.

KD: Thanks for visiting with us today Joelle. I'm really excited to tell the folks about your new book MURDER FOR CHOIR. But first, tell us what led you the writer’s life?

Joelle: Hi KD.  Thanks so much for asking me to visit!  I’d never dreamed of writing a novel. In fact, my undergrad and graduate degrees (from Millikin and DePaul Universities) are in music and theater.  For years, I performed dinner theater, opera and children’s theater around Chicagoland.  However, I loved to read. Then one night while driving home from a performance I had an idea for the opening line of a book and I started to write. I found my passion for creating characters lived on the page as well as the stage, which was a total surprise to me.  
    I still teach voice lessons and sing for the occasional professional event. But the rest of my time is spent with my husband and son while dreaming up new and interesting stories. joellecharbonneau.com

KD: As a former Glee Club member at West Jones High (GO MUSTANGS!)  the title really sparks my curiosity. Tell us a little bit about the book.

Joelle: Murder For Choir is about a classically trained singer waiting for her big break in the opera world.  Since she needs to make ends meet, she takes a job as a high school show choir coach thinking that it shouldn't be too hard to teach a group of teenagers.  Wrong!  The teens want to win competitions this year and they don't think a classically trained singer is what their show choir needs.  To top it off, she stumbles across the dead body of a rival director and her best male singer comes under suspicion for the director's death.  Determined to prove her student's innocence and win over the choir, she starts asking questions and finds her own life in danger.

KD: Congratulations Joelle, MURDER FOR CHOIR sounds like a really exciting mystery. Did the inspiration for the story come from your experiences as a voice coach and singer?

Joelle: Ha!  Yes:)  I know a lot of people think the inspiration was Glee, but I have to admit (and please don't throw tomatoes) that I don't watch Glee.  I keep meaning to, but a four-year-old in the house means I'm mostly watching Blues Clues and Elmo.  However, I am lucky that Glee is so popular because it made using my life experience as a singer, stage performer and voice coach a popular choice among publisher.  The sleuth of MURDER FOR CHOIR, Paige Marshall, is near and dear to my heart because I have felt all the things she is feeling.  I know what it is like to go to audition after audition and get close but not quite make it in the door.  I, like Paige...or she like me, turned to teaching to help the bottom line.  However, I immediately loved teaching and am grateful I still get to do it.  Paige...well, she's still attempting to find the joy in working with ambitious teens.

KD: Paige sounds like a very interesting character indeed. I'm anxious to discover how her character evolves. MURDER FOR CHOIR being the first of the Glee Club books, can you tell us how many adventures there will be for Paige?

Joelle: Good question!  The answer is--I have no idea.  Honest!  I'm not being coy.  Thus far, three books are under contract in the series.  So there will be at least that many opportunities for Paige to get into trouble.  END ME A TENOR will be coming out on April 2, 2013 and the third book will hit shelves sometime early in 2014.  Hopefully, readers will connect with Paige and her supporting cast so I can keep writing this series long into the future.  Trust me, after working as a professional performer for fifteen years, I have lots of material to get my inspiration from.

To reach Joelle, email talktojoelle@aol.com
On Sundays, Joelle blogs at Do Some Damage
On the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, Joelle blogs at the stiletto gang
Joelle’s events are listed on her Facebook page
You can also contact @jcharbonneau on Twitter

Skating Over The Line ~ Out Now! ~ Minotaur Books

Murder For Choir ~ July 3rd ~ Berkley Prime Crime

Skating On The Edge ~ October 2nd ~ Minotaur Books

The Testing ~ Spring 2013 ~ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's

What's on the Nightstand #43-#64

Hope you guys had a wonderful holiday! Sorry my blog is late this week, summer has been busy, busy, busy around the Wood house. But that’s not unusual. What is different this year is that we spent nearly the entire month of June hanging out with the family down south. What a great time! All the boys really seemed to enjoy being able to spend some real quality time as cousins. And the precious nephews are growing like weeds!

All that family time meant there wasn’t much left over for working. So I’m spending the first few days of July scrambling to catch up on pages. Last count I had ten to go before I’m caught up. (p.s. that’s amazing, you should be shocked) Mad props go to the hubs and boys for finally understanding that a closed office door means I don’t care what Sponge Bob or that crazy Cajun who catches gators just said, so don’t come in and tell me.

Not working also meant I had lots of time to read. I read many of my old favorites in June but here are a few new ones too. WOW! I just realized how long it's been since I did a nightstand post. (whoopsie!) Sorry guys, revisions tend to push everything else to the periphery. This post will catch us back up though. To save time, I'm going to skip the ones we've already talked about and just hit the new books. :)

Be it a new release or treasured favorite, give a book some love this week. Additionally, thank a librarian for all his/her hard work in the name of books and those who love them.

Till Then,

KD

#44 Cinder by Marrissa Myer - This is a wonderful retelling set in a futuristic world of droids and post-apocalyptic ruin. Myer did a great job with the protagonist. I immediately became invested in her story. A great read that I highly recommend for teens and adults.

#45 White Horse by Alex Adams - This was one of my favorite kind of finds. I stumbled across it at Walmart never having heard a thing about it beforehand. The jacket blurb did it's job well enough for me to take it home. Alex did a wonderful job hooking me into this story. I read it in one day because I HAD to know what happened. That's my favorite kind of read. Highly recommended for Adult readers.

#46 Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward - Let it hence forth be known that I support my fellow Mississippi writers. Why you ask? Because the jacket blurb alone wouldn't have enticed me to pick up this book. I don't usually read reality based fiction. Fantasy and paranormals draw me in quicker. I'm happy to report though, it was well worth the read. What an excellent story! Jesmyn did a wonderful job creating some excellent characters around something so horrible and sad. Not an easy task but she nailed it. Others also agree because this is an award winning story. Excellent read for adults. 

#47 The Death Cure by James Dashner - The third book in the maze runner series. I'll admit this. I was upset with the second book. The cliff hanger was so abrupt and harsh it made me want to pitch the book across the room. I was hooked, invested, panting for those kids and the ending pitched me out on my head! Bravo Mr. Dasher, I love a story that can take me to the edge. Great teen read. 

#48 Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris - Sookie is facing some real hard choices in this book and breaking my heart. It was great to see her go there though and stand strong. I'll be sad to see this series end with the next book but boy it's been a great ride. THANK YOU CHARLAINE! 

#49 Destined by Aprilynn Pike - YA Day bud Aprilynn closed this series with exactly the right amount of everything. I'll miss the characters but the journey was fabulous. Thank you Aprilynn, especially for the letter at the end. 

*are you sensing a theme yet?* I haz a sad because all my series are ending... 

#50 City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare - Guys, if you haven't started reading these books I don't know what you're waiting on! This is one of my favorite series. Best of all, the first book, CITY OF BONES is in pre-production as I type. This will be the next Hunger Games type blockbuster. City of Lost Souls is book number five in the Mortal Instruments series and it doesn't disappoint. I read yesterday that Cassie delivered her next manuscript. What an awesome way to put some bang in your 4th! Congrats Cassie! Don't want to be left out of all the fun do you? SO GET TO READING!   

#51 Oracle's Moon by Thea Harrison - This is the next book in Thea's Elder Races series. Thea has yet to disappoint me with these books. The romance is rich, colorful with just the right amount of flaws. Great read and can't wait for the next one.   

#52 Shine by Jeri Smith Ready - Jeri is another YA Day bud who writes a wonderful story. I paused in my reading to thank her for the near cardiac event she gave me on page six. Her answer sounded gleeful, as all writers do when their work is spot on. Bravo Jeri, I loved these books and look forward to reading more of your work.

#55 Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver - This is a fabulous series and isn't that cover to die for gorgeous? The way Lauren uses a concept we all take for granted and turns it against the characters is amazing. This is a wonderful teen series and I'm looking forward to the next book.

#57 A Secret Rage by Charlaine Harris - This photo shows a refreshed cover for this book from 2007. My library carries the original blue and white cover and you can tell many hands have lovingly caressed it's pages in the over twenty years since she first penned the story. While we were at Daddy's Girls Weekend hosted by Carolyn Haines in April, A Secret Rage was recommended to me by NY Times Best Selling Author Dean James who writes cozy mysteries as Miranda James. And he was right (of course) this is a fabulous read. There are some things you can wing as a writer, and some you can't. Violence and how it feels on your person, the bomb it sets off in your life and what it does to you afterwards isn't something you can "sort of" know about and pull off on paper. Charlaine's depth of understanding really shines with these characters who have to face some pretty ugly faces of the old and new south. If you haven't read this story, do.

#62 Revenant by Carolyn Haines - This book is one of my top two favorites of Carolyn's stand alone books. The story took me to a familiar place, Biloxi, MS and then dumped me into a thriller I'm still wrapping my head around. This is a book I would LOVE to see adapted to the screen. If you haven't read Revenant you should, immediately.

#63 Kiss the Dead by Laurell K. Hamilton - Anita Blake has jumped head first into some pretty heavy police work in Laurell's next Vampire Hunter book. The last two chapters had me by the throat, so to speak. *wink* This book set several new threads in motion I wasn't expecting so I'm looking forward to what Laurell has in store for Anita next time.

#64 Bonefire of the Vanities by Carolyn Haines - What a fun experience it was to attend the launch weekend for Carolyn's new Sarah Booth Delaney mystery. My friend An'gel and I spent a spooky weekend in a fabulous antique bed and breakfast with Carolyn and the gang as she signed books until the store sold out, went on a ghost tour and a few other things only the guilty parties are privy to. What happens in Vicksburg stays in Vicksburg, right girls... Bonefire is a sexy, scary read and Carolyn's characters don't fail to bring the funny along too. The first book in the series is THEM BONES so get started if you haven't already.

Hattiesburg, MS YA Day

    Hey guys! Hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far. It’s been a super busy one here. The kids are out of school so that means getting my work done is more challenging than usual. Slowly but surely, despite the extra noise and activities the pages are piling up thank goodness. Work is always there but I’m finding some time for fun things too!

A very special vistor! My doctor, Rebecca
Boyd not only came by to support YA
Day but gave BEATIFUL CREATURES
a new home.

    One of the highlights of the last week was YA Day at Books A Million in Hattiesburg, MS. Over the past six months every event has been different but this one really took things to a whole new level. Inevitably there are down moments when no one is coming into the store. I get nervous and tend to fidget while I wait. But on Saturday, there wasn’t an ounce of down time to catch my breath. Every minute I was either having a conversation about writing, about a particular book or searching for a book. The customers were so interesting to talk to and there were several budding writers who hung around even after making their purchases to talk shop.

This was a fantastic gift bag featuring
a signed copy of EVERNEATH by
Brodi Ashton along with a very cool
Dead Elvises necklace.

    As always, the Books A Million team has been extremely supportive. I’m very thankful for their willingness to participate in YA Day. Special thanks to Tim Jackson manager of the Southaven Books A Million for being the first to take a chance on me and this idea of paying it forward for my writer buds. Tim is on Facebook and please drop him a thank you if you've enjoyed all the fun with YA Day. It wouldn't have been possible without him.

    I’m sad to see the first season of YA Day’s coming to an end but boy has it been a blast! Big thanks go out to all my writing pals who participated with retweets, messages of encouragement and took time out of their hectic writing schedules to send swag. Most of all, thanks for writing great stories to give YA Day a purpose. Jonathan Maberry, Rachel Cain, Colleen Houck, Cassandra Clare, Aprilynn Pike, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, Tera Lynn Childs, Bree Despain, Brodi Ashton, Sophie Littlefield, Bekka Black, John Corey Whaley, Becka Fitzpatrick and Jeri Smith Ready . A special thanks to my writer bud, Michelle Ladner who co-hosted with me at the Biloxi Books A Million. YA Day wouldn’t have been nearly as fun without you!

this young lady won The Dark Divine
gift bag complete with a signed copy
of Bree Despain's the Dark Divine and
The Savage Grace nail polish.

    The new season for YA Day starts up again in the fall. Keep an eye out for dates and times because you never know, YA Day might be coming to your town. And as always, give a book some love.<3

Till Then,

KD

   

    

Visiting the Ninja Peas

 The Ninja Pea Blog
On April 27th the Ninja Pea's invited me to visit the pod and talk about how I find balance as a writer mom. In case you missed it, follow the link to the Pod.
Enjoy!
KD


Hop on over and visit the Peas, they have cake!

    

What's on the Nightstand? #30-#42

    The word of the month here is BUSY folks. Honestly, I have no idea how I’ve survived April with my brains intact! On the other hand, busy can be another word for productive and there’s plenty of that going on too.  Speaking of productive, a huge thank you to all who have visited the blog for pushing our numbers past the 5,000 mark! Additionally, a big hello goes to new friends from Jordan, they make the 55^th country collected on the blog. Hmm, that’s a lot of five’s isn’t it? LOL!   
    All this travel, writing and activities also means I’m not as far along on my reading goals for 2012. I do have a few really great ones to share though plus a few of my old favorites I re-read. Here’s the latest Nightstand titles #30-#42.

Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

Tera Lynn Childs is the award-winning author of the mythology-based Oh. My. Gods. and Goddess Boot Camp, the mermaid tales Forgive My Fins, Fins Are Forever and Just For Fins (July 3, 2012), and a new trilogy about monster-hunting descendants of Medusa

  

The Dark Divine, The Lost Saint and The Savage Grace

                                             by Bree Despain

Bree rediscovered her childhood love for creating stories when she took a semester off college to write and direct plays for at-risk, inner-city teens from Philadelphia and New York. She currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband, two young sons, and her beloved TiVo. THE DARK DIVINE is Bree's debut novel.

  Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Dragon Bound, Storms Heart, Serpents Kiss by Thea Harrison

Thea Harrison wrote her first book, a romance, when she was nineteen and had sixteen romances published under the name Amanda Carpenter.
She took a break from writing to collect a couple of graduate degrees and a grown child. Her graduate degrees are in Philanthropic Studies and Library Information Science, but her first love has always been writing fiction. She's back with her paranormal Elder Races series. You can check out her website at: www.theaharrison.com, and also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

   Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Laini Taylor is the author of the National Book Award Finalist Lips Touch: Three Times, as well as the novels Blackbringer and Silksinger. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, illustrator Jim Di Bartolo, and their daughter.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Tahereh Mafi is a girl.
She’s 24. She was born in a small city somewhere in Connecticut and currently resides in Orange County, California, where she drinks too much caffeine and finds the weather to be just a little too perfect for her taste. When unable to find a book, she can be found reading candy wrappers, coupons, and old receipts. 
SHATTER ME is her first novel.
Foreign rights have sold in 20 territories
to-date and film rights have been optioned by 20th Century Fox.

The Edumacation of Jay Baker by Jay Clark

The Edumacation of Jay Baker is the debut young adult novel of ... none other than Jay Clark. A tennis enthusiast and former teaching pro, Jay's essays and articles have appeared in The Washington Post and Tennis Magazine.
Until recently, Jay resided in Columbus, Ohio, in a condo owned by his sister, paying his post-grad dues at various lame jobs for zero financial gain. He did hold a gym membership during this dead-end tenure, albeit by masquerading as his sister's "husband" on her corporate account. Jay now lives in Virginia with his girlfriend, Caroline Baker, whom he met through a tennis blog (long story). Things are looking up.

    I hope you guys see something here you want to check out. It’s my standing rule to only talk about books I enjoy and I stand by all these as great reads. Writing is a tough, lonely business sometimes. So if you fall in love with a book, drop the author a note and tell them you love it! Trust me, they will appreciate it.

Till Then,

KD