YA Indie Carnival

I'm afraid I'm a bad carni this week (Bad Carni, Bad... I'm slapping my hands!). For personal reasons I haven't been able to write this week's Ya Indie Carnival post, which should have been an interview with a villain, but I still want you to head on over to all my wonderful Carni pals and check out their amazing posts:

Click here for more Indie News:

Check out my fellow Carnis:
1. Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween, Book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series

2. Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3. Heather Self

4. T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series
5. Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga 

6. Cheri Schmidt, author of the Fateful Trilogy
7. Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog 

8. K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
9. Patti Larsen, The Hunted series and The Hayle Coven series 

10. Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy
11. Dani Snell's Refracted Light Reviews 

12. Fisher Amelie, author of The Understorey
13. M. Leighton, Blood Like Poison Series, Madly, The Reaping 

14. Kimberly Kinrade, Bits of You & Pieces of Me, Forbidden Mind
15. Madeline Smoot, Missing, Summer Shorts, and The Girls 

16. Cidney Swanson, author of Rippler
17. Gwenn Wright, author of Filter 

18. TG Ayer
19. Melissa Pearl, Author of The Time Spirit Trilogy 

20. Heather M. White, author of The Destiny Saga
21. Roots in Myth, PJ Hoover 

22. Courtney Cole Writes

YA Indie Carnival: What reading teaches me as a writer

I think reading is crucial for anyone wanting to write for a living. We can all learn from other writers. For example, I know I've mentioned it before, but last year I had a fellow author read my first book, Raven. She picked up a few things that could do with improving and also made a few suggestions as to how I could make the story better as a whole. I made notes and made some alterations.
And then, a few months later, she asked me to return the favour and so I read her book. I have to say I was totally blown away. Suddenly, all those things she had talked about seemed to make perfect sense. I could see exactly what she had been trying to tell me (sometimes it's difficult to put these things into words). I felt like I'd had the perfect English Literature lesson. It wouldn't have made as much sense to me if I'd not read her book and seen where I was going wrong and where she was going so right. Her writing is simply amazing, her descriptive passages awe inspiring and her imagination wonderful. But then I believe that all us writers have wonderful imaginations. We wouldn't be writers if not.
Over the past few months I've read quite a lot of books, mainly ebooks by self published authors and I do believe that I've learned so much from each and every one of them. It has also strengthened my belief in myself as a writer and that is incredibly important.
Oh, and if you're wondering, the name of that author is Michelle Isenhoff and the book, The Quill Pen.

Click here for more Indie News:

Check out my fellow Carnis:
1. Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween, Book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series

2. Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3. Heather Self

4. T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series
5. Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga 

6. Cheri Schmidt, author of the Fateful Trilogy
7. Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog 

8. K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
9. Patti Larsen, The Hunted series and The Hayle Coven series 

10. Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy
11. Dani Snell's Refracted Light Reviews 

12. Fisher Amelie, author of The Understorey
13. M. Leighton, Blood Like Poison Series, Madly, The Reaping 

14. Kimberly Kinrade, Bits of You & Pieces of Me, Forbidden Mind
15. Madeline Smoot, Missing, Summer Shorts, and The Girls 

16. Cidney Swanson, author of Rippler
17. Gwenn Wright, author of Filter 

18. TG Ayer
19. Melissa Pearl, Author of The Time Spirit Trilogy 

20. Heather M. White, author of The Destiny Saga
21. Roots in Myth, PJ Hoover 

22. Courtney Cole Writes

Unfurl Blog Tour with Cidney Swanson

Five Q&A’s with The Ripple's Samantha Ruiz

Sam, what one place in the world would you most like to visit and why?
One? Seriously? Just one? Umm, okay. If I could only pick one I think it would be London. For one thing, I could read all the signs and talk to everyone. Also, I think it would be really cool to get British copies of the Harry Potter books. And I want to eat a scone with some tea and figure out what the heck a crumpet is. I don’t know if I want to eat one, though, until I find out what it is. I would like to visit whatever kind of memorial there is to Diana, Princess of Wales. Her sons lost her close to when I lost my mom.

What’s your favorite place you’ve been so far in your life? Is it in France?
Well, the castle of Chenonceau was pretty magical, but there’s actually something higher on my list of beautiful places. Yosemite National Park. If you ever get the chance to go there, run-don’t-walk!!! I visited Yosemite about a bazillion times when I was little, but it never ceased to amaze me how majestic that place is. If you can only see one part of Yosemite, it should be the valley. But if you get a chance, be sure to drive up both sides of it. (Crane Flat to Tenaya Lake to the top of Yosemite Falls on one side/Chinquapin to Glacier Point with a stop at Washburn Point on the other side.) And hike a trail or two.

Why is Will Baker perfect for you?
I’m blushing. Seriously. Umm, well, he just is. He’s gorgeous, at least to me. His eyes are this dark brown that I could seriously drown in. Also, he kind of gets the whole thing about my mom and how losing her changed everything and how time passes but you don’t ever really, truly get past that loss. In some ways. Also, he’s a great running partner!

What’s one thing you Know For Sure?
Oh, good one. Okay, here goes. If you are a loner or even a lonely person, it doesn’t mean something is wrong with you and it needs to be fixed. I mean, maybe you do need to find someone to talk to like a teacher or librarian or your coach (someone you trust), but you shouldn’t feel like being alone makes you wrong or says anything about you. Also, middle school sucks. But you will get past it into better stuff. Actually, high school can kind of suck too. But if I got through middle school, hey, I can get through this too!

What’s one more thing you Know For Sure?
Love is more powerful than hatred. Kindness is stronger than cruelty. I know it doesn’t always look like those things are true, but I know this. For Sure.

Cidney Swanson is the author of The Ripple Series, of which Samantha Ruiz is the main character. If you'd like to be in with a chance of winning a Kindle set of the trilogy, please enter below...
For more information about Cidney and her books, visit:
http://cidneyswanson.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/cidneyswanson
http://twitter.com/#!/cidneyswanson
http://www.amazon.com/Cidney-Swanson/e/B005344OTQ/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/cidney-swanson?keyword=cidney+swanson&store=allproducts
http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=cidney+swanson
http://www.goodreads.com/search?query=cidney+swanson
http://www.librarything.com/author/swansoncidney