The Crossroads Blog Tour Day 5

Welcome to day 5 of The Crossroads Blog Tour and you can believe that I have ANOTHER two special guests on the blog today - Joy Preble and Dawn Dalton. If you have no idea what The Crossroads Blog Tour is, then you are seriously missing out and URGENTLY need to click here to find out more information as there are TONS of fabulous prizes to be won!

First up is Joy Preble, author of the Dreaming Anastasia series.

Welcome Joy! Please give us a revelation about your newest or upcoming book (something new, something no one else knows)

Ooh! Great spoilery question! Hmmm…. We actually are just beginning the editing process for Again and Again (DA3), so I never know what will stay and what will go, but I will say that Anne ends up having to confront Ethan’s past… and gets to find out more about a past love of his! Let’s just say that it’s interesting…

Ooooooh! Tell us, how do you get your inspiration for story ideas?

Lots of places. The Dreaming Anastasia series is obviously influenced by history. But beyond that, I think I’m always looking and observing. I study what happens to people around me and I think – what would happen if… Usually I’m taking some seed of a real life idea but I’m intensifying it to bring out the drama. Like when Anne meets Ethan. Lots of us wish we would meet this hot, handsome stranger. But what if he was from another time? What if he had a mission? What if he turned your life upside down? Life isn’t usually that exciting. But in a novel – anything can happen!

True, I would love to live in a novel *sigh* Are you doing anything special for Halloween this year?

Not sure yet, but in a related topic, I will be working on my costume for Austin Comic Con. I will be at our Writing Ninjas of Texas booth in my lilac rusalka costume! For the uninitiated, a rusalka is a malevolent Russian mermaid that is the main supernatural creature in Haunted and also plays a large role in book 3 of the Dreaming Anastasia series, coming out next year!

What are you working on after this series ends?

I am so very excited to announce that I am finishing up a completely different book called The Sweet Dead Life, which will release in 2013 from the new Soho Teen imprint. I’ve gotten to work with the delightful and brilliant Dan Ehrenhaft again, which has been awesome. TSDL is another paranormal, but it’s definitely a little edgier, a lot funnier, and it’s set right here in Texas. The basic blurb goes like this:

THE SWEET DEAD LIFE, in which a sixteen-year-old stoner returns from a fatal car accident as his dying sister's guardian angel and helps her solve a vast family mystery.

Oh, I am liking the sound of that *adds to wish list*. Thank you for answering my questions Joy! To find out more about Joy and her books, click here to visit her website. Next up is Dawn Dalton, author and contributor to the paranormal anthology Spirited: 13 Haunting Tales.
Welcome Dawn! Please give us a revelation about your newest or upcoming book (something new, something no one else knows)

They say every character has a little of the writer in them, and for the most part, I believe that. But the character in my current work-in-progress is more about who I WISH I could be – she’s outspoken, confident, athletic, and packs a pretty punch, figuratively and literally.

I love a strong, female character :) How do you get your inspiration for story ideas?

Everywhere! I read a lot of magazines and newspapers, eavesdrop on conversations, and carry a notebook with me at all times. One of my current projects was even inspired by a cliché.

Really? That's piqued my interest! Are you doing anything special for Halloween this year?

Halloween is a big deal at our house. We spend more money and time on Halloween décor than Christmas! My husband even built a coffin last year, and when the local trick or treaters came by, he gave them all quite a scare.

This year we moved out to the country and our yard is fenced – so we’ve rented the community hall and are throwing a great Halloween party for the local youth. We have animated ghosts and goblins, a creepy tombstone garden, and lots of gadgets that light up and make noise. I know, a bit overboard, right?

My family also does a pumpkin-carving contest, though my husband always wins. He’s quite the artist, and a construction worker…last year he carved his entire werewolf pumpkin with a skill saw!

Wow, I can't believe you make more of a deal out of it than Christmas. I'll bet Halloween is fun at your house! What are you working on next?

I always have a handful of projects on the go. I just finished a children’s graphic novel called Gotta Jet! (not creepy), and am co-writing with Judith Graves a series of non-fiction books for middle grade readers calls Most-Wanted Monsters (creepy!) I also write adult thriller and paranormal romance under the name, Dawn Ius.

To find out more about Dawn and her books, click here to visit her website. Thank you to both Joy and Dawn for being my guests on the blog today.

Don't forget that each day of The Crossroads Blog Tour, a new research question will be revealed on The Crossroad Blog Tour main page here and each day the answer to that question will be found within one of the different blog posts by Crossroads Tour authors. Your job is to get the question, read the blog posts, and collect all answers by the end of the tour, on Halloween. Answers are to be emailed to bridgesocialmedia@gmail.com by October 31st at MIDNIGHT. Winner of the grand prize will be announced on November 1st, the DAY OF THE DEAD. I will also be holding a contest in the near future and details are coming.

Follow the tour on Twitter here and on Facebook here

BRIDGE Social Media is holding a special promotion for public libraries. Libraries that actively promote the Crossroads tour (post a link on their website, mention it in their newsletters, etc) can email us proof of their promotional activities by midnight on OCTOBER 31st to be entered in a draw to win a FREE SKYPE AUTHOR VISIT FOR THEIR LIBRARIES – WITH BEST-SELLING YA AUTHOR, RACHEL VINCENT.