Wednesday, July 16, 2014

* GUEST * MARGO DILL * AUTHOR * FRIEND * BOOKS * PRIZES *

* It's Major League Baseball's All-Star Week *

I'm happy to have Margo Dill as my guest blogger today. Margo and I met when I attended my first writers conference in 2007. She was the Missouri Writers Guild conference chair that year and in charge of a huge production. She was so kind and helpful to a very green, unpolished, untrained, in-awe-of-the-entire-experience, writer -- yours truly! We became fast friends, partly because we're authors, but also because we have the same sense of humor, and in my book..... that's everything! Margo also helped edit my memoir and she didn't just fix grammatical errors; she suggested different things that I mostly agreed with! If you saw us standing next to each other, we're quite a unique sight. Anyone who remembers an old cartoon strip named Mutt & Jeff will know what I mean. J 
(I'd be the short one!)


Margo is here today to share some thoughts on books, and writing, and fictional characters, and she also brought along some fabulous PRIZES! So, without further ado, Margo, take it away.....

~~~~~
 
The other night, I couldn’t sleep. There was a storm; my daughter crawled into our bed; then our power went out, which made me worry. So I grabbed a flashlight and a book I had been mildly interested in, Beautiful Oblivion by bestselling author Jamie McGuire, thinking it would put me right to sleep.

WRONG!

Turns out, McGuire drew me in with her hero and heroine, both twenty-something flawed, delightful people trying to figure out love and life, and I couldn’t put the book down. I stayed up past 5:00 am, trying to finish it. I couldn’t figure out why I had been so drawn in.

My mom (I know it’s my mom, but just bear with me) said the same thing about my second novel, Caught Between Two Curses, which is a young adult novel with love, magic, and baseball. She read the whole thing in one day, and the only reason this makes me a bit happy is because it took her weeks to finish my first middle-grade novel, Finding My Place (if she ever really did finish it!). So what was it about my YA novel that made her stay up all night? Why did I stay up reading about people 20 years younger than me?

 
My mom’s theory is these books take us back to our youth, something about the characters makes us connect with them and reminds us about ourselves. I think she’s on to something here. Most readers have connected with Julie, my 17-year-old main character trying to figure out love and what sex has to do with that while also breaking a curse that’s been on her family for decades. But a couple haven’t, and those reviews have read something like: “Margo Dill is a good writer, but I didn’t like Julie and wished she wouldn’t be so stupid.” OUCH! But these readers didn’t connect with her, so that’s okay.

I checked reviews on Beautiful Oblivion—most were 4 and 5 stars, but she got a few bad ones and most people just didn’t get the characters.

So is that what draws us in? Characters that remind us of ourselves in some way? I think this is probably true for 95 percent of readers—think about books that are a series—most of the time a book is part of a series because a good writer has created a remarkable character, and readers want to know MORE about this character. I can name a hundred (I won’t, Becky would kill me), but think about it: Harry Potter, Alex Cross, Mma Ramotswe, Katniss Everdeen, and so on.
 
So here’s to the characters we love—whether we write them or we read them. And hopefully if you have a chance to check out Caught Between Two Curses this week during the All-Star Sale and Contest (details below), you’ll connect with Julie, just like my mom did.



Margo Dill
 
Thank you, Margo! And now bloggers, please continue to read all about Margo's very generous sale prices and FREEBIES!

 
DETAILS: Margo’s book, Caught Between Two Curses, is on sale this week thanks to baseball’s All-Star Game!

You can find out all the details about the sale here (http://margodill.com/blog/2014/07/10/all-star-week/),

but basically, the e-book for KINDLE is on sale for $1.99 (July 16-17) and $2.99 (July 18-19).

An autographed copy of the print book is available for $5.00 off the cover price--$6.95. 

Thanks to All-Star week, she is also having a contest with a prize of one $25 gift card to one of 5 restaurants (Olive Garden, Starbucks, Panera Bread, Applebee’s, TGI Friday’s) (U.S. mailing addresses only please)

And a 3000-word free edit (anywhere in the world, English-language only).

Enter to win those prizes on the Rafflecopter form below—no purchase necessary!

Check out more about Margo and her books at: http://margodill.com/blog/




 

21 comments:

  1. Drat you both. I am going to say what I say far too often here in the blogosphere.
    Unfair. I am a woman of little (no) will power where books are concerned. And it is easier than taking candy from that proverbial baby to put temptation in my way. Easier - and a bit mean too.
    My unread tower is still at horrific heights and you Becky, and you Margo ARE NOT HELPING. And probably feel no guilt.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sorry, EC....I totally understand "no willpower." But hey, books are NOT a bad addiction! :)

      Delete
  2. Oh, I am a bit sorry because I do understand! My Kindle app and my book basket are so full and my wish list even fuller! Thank you for stopping by and checking everything out!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fun post! Congrats on your books. I'd love to win the critique or gift card.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I tried to reply to this so sorry if this is a repeat. I don't see the comment. Thanks for stopping by, Janet, and I'll pick winners on Monday morning. :)

      Delete
    2. Thanks for stopping by and joining in the fun, Janet!

      Delete
  4. Becky P! HOW did you get the Rafflecopter thingy to work??? Hahahaa! I'm glad you did, though, and just wanted to add that I liked Julie, too, and I'm NOT Margo's mother. :-)

    I felt her frustration, being pressured by a guy into something she wasn't ready for--and I think that resonates far more than teens like to admit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's so nice to have someone that is not my mother like the book, too. LOL Thanks, Cathy, for all of your support.

      Delete
    2. Hey Ms. Cathy C ~ All I can say about Rafflecopter is this: I just followed the directions! LOL. Seriously, I was shocked when I saw that it worked!!

      Delete
  5. Congrats on your reviews, Becky, and good luck with your book, Margo. Looks great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Karen! Thank you for the congrats! Great to see you here!

      Delete
  6. What a fun post. Delightful to meet Margo. Thanks Becky.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by. Nice to meet you too.

      Delete
    2. Hi Myrna! Thanks for stopping by today! Margo really is a delightful gal, too!

      Delete
  7. I haven't read the new book as I am nothing for ball at all, but I sure have read the one about living in a cave in the Civil War South! Great one!! I don't usually read series books...I do like to follow various books by the same author though.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Claudia, thanks for checking out my first book. I don't know if you ever read Cathy C. Hall's blog, but I talked about this baseball thing. The book is not really about baseball. It's about a 17 year old girl who has a curse on her family which is connected to the Curse on the Chicago Cubs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Claudia! I thought the same thing that Margo said in her reply to you. This book really isn't about baseball, so don't let that stop you! :)

      Delete

  9. Okay, to get the points for sharing a "strong woman" quote, it said to post it here in the comments: "A really strong woman accepts the war she went through and is ennobled by her scars." --Carly Simon

    (I'll leave other comments in a different spot!)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for stopping by my blog, Becky, and welcoming me back to blogging. I'll never get as involved as I once was, but I've missed stopping by such blogs as yours. It's obvious you're enjoying writing, blogging, supporting other writers, etc. etc. You are such an upbeat person, and I'm so glad I met you through your writing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Ann! And as I said in my comment on your blog, I'm SO happy to know you'll be posting again, no matter how little it may be. I'm very glad we met through blogging and our writing, too. Your memoir is one of the best I've read in a long time!

      Delete

I'm still getting quite a few spam comments that are Anonymous, so I'm trying "User with Google Accounts." If anyone tries to comment that I know, and it won't let you, send me an email, okay? Thanks so much.