Saturday, March 21, 2015

Book Spotlight: Ignite (Ignite #1) by Erica Crouch

Ignite (Ignite #1) by Erica Crouch
Publication Date: June 11th 2013
Genre: YA Paranormal fantasy
 
 
~Summary~
 
Penemuel (Pen) fell from grace over a millennium ago, yet there are still times she questions her decision to follow her twin brother, Azael, to Hell. Now that the archangel Michael has returned, threatening Lucifer’s vie for the throne, she begins questioning everything she has always believed.

As Hell prepares for war - spreading a demonic virus and pilfering innocent souls to build an army - the lines separating the worlds blur. Fates erase and the future is left unwritten. Azael is determined that he and his sister will continue to serve as demons together, but for the first time in her life, Pen is not ruled by destiny. She has the freedom of choice.

With choice comes sacrifice, and Pen must decide which side she’s willing to risk everything fighting for: the light, or the dark
 
 
~About The Author~
 

Erica Crouch is a young adult and new adult author from Baltimore, Maryland. She has a strange blended aesthetic of cute and spooky, and her books reflect her ever changing mood. (You may find romance, you may find gore—sometimes both in the same book, but probably not at the same time. Probably.)

Erica is the cofounder of Patchwork Press, an author-powered publisher of middle grade, young adult, and new adult titles. She is the head of editorial services and design, with nearly fifty projects to her name.

You can find a complete list of Erica’s books here, or connect with her on Twitter at @Erica_Crouch. She loves having online friends, so feel free to email her at becausebooks@gmail.com if you want to talk to her about any of her books, pygmy goats, or the ghosts that haunt her. For free bonus content and semi-regular emails from Erica, subscribe to her newsletter and become a pen pal with benefits!

 
 
 
 
 
~Guest Post~
 

The Secret To Writing

Last night, right before I fell asleep, I was scrolling through my Facebook timeline (as I always do when I’m procrastinating actually going to sleep). I’m a member of a few different “writing groups” on Facebook — like Maryland NaNoWriMo, or my school’s writing degree program group. Anyway, I was scrolling and came across an article, brazenly titled something like: FIVE SECRETS TO WRITING A BEST SELLER. And then a little farther down I saw SEVEN SECRETS TO BEATING WRITER’S BLOCK. Article after article, revealing all these great secrets about writing. Man, people are really using the word “secret” loosely.
 
I read all of them, more out of curiosity than anything else. And they bugged me. Big time. They were paltry offerings of help — bland suggestions like “think outside the box.” What? What box are you even referring to in this suggestion? Another tip was not to start writing before you were ready. ??????
 
The reason why these articles tick me off so much is that they are useless fodder. Their titles are clickbait oriented and the content of the articles are flat and useless. And the gall to say that these are the secrets that will help you be THE period BEST period WRITER period EVER exclamation point.
 
You want to know the real secret to writing? There’s no damn secret. Not really. There’s no easy shortcut you can take from beginning to write to having a best seller on your hands.
 
The secret to writing is that it’s a lot of hard work. What’s hard about writing is different for everyone. Some people (me) loathe first drafts; others relish the beginning. Others strain over revisions. Or maybe it’s just the formatting or marketing that’s getting you down. But whatever it is, you trudge through it the long way. A short cut reads like a short cut, and you won’t be fooling anyone.
 
No, the real secret to writing is that you’re going to love and hate it, depending on the day. And there is nothing you can do to stave of writer’s block but to just write. You push through it because — theoretically, if you want to be an author — it’s your job. People have rough days at work; this will just be one for you. It’s all par for the course.
 
There’s no guarantee at a best seller, unless your name is Stephen King or J.K. Rowling. You write your damn best, edit your damn best, and publish. That’s it. You write more, and more, and more and don’t let your writing muscles atrophy.
 
So, there’s no secret to beating writer’s block or writing a best seller. Not seven, not five, not one.
 
But here’s a tip if you want to become a better writer: keep writingNot much of a secret, is it?
 
 
 
 
I hope she doesn't mind me taking this blog post and putting this as a guest post because this is 100% truth and it hit the nail on the head. Then finding out she's my age, you never ask a girl her age, but we're both 22 and this is absolutely inspirational for me! This also makes me even more excited to read and review her book!
 
 
Thanks for stopping by!


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