I've met some of the nicest folks over at the LinkedIn writer discussions. One of these is Lisa Fender who blogs at Lisa's Djen Den. Since Lisa's got a new book out I invited her over to Tossing It Out to talk about the book and her road to publication. Leave a comment today and you'll be eligible for a contest drawing. See details at the end of the post. And now Lisa:
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| Lisa Fender, author |
Thanks for having me as a guest on your blog, Lee,
this is a really exciting time for me. I have wanted to write a book for as
long as I can remember. Reading has always been one of my first loves and I
excelled in it through school. But as time went on, life got in the way, or
should I say, I let life get in the way. I always held onto one day writing a
book though, and once the opportunity presented itself, I jumped on it. I guess
there’s always a ‘right time, right place’ for everything.
Let me begin by saying, I am literally the waitress
that wrote a book! Besides going to school and getting a license in Aesthetics,
the only other work I did was in restaurants. I did try to move up the ladder,
but with two children at home and I was a single mom for a while in my life,
waitressing was the best alternative. The hours were daytimes and I could be there
for the kids.
After the kids were on their own, I could begin to
fulfill my own dreams. I found myself laid-off from work and that’s when the
world of the Djen came to fruition. I sat down one day and began making up this
world and what powers they would have and what their purpose was. The last
thing I wanted to write about was the typical Vampire, werewolf, and the like,
so I thought maybe a takeoff of the Djinni. That evening my sister, Toni, came
over and I told her about my idea. I asked her how I should spell the world’s
name, Genrye or Jenrye, she said “how about Djenrye, like the true Djinn. Thus,
Djenrye was truly born.
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Lisa with sister and co-author
Toni Burns |
I wrote the rough draft in 3 months, but I knew the
manuscript needed a lot of help. I asked my mother, who was an editor at one
time in her life to help me, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on the issue
either since she edited non-fiction. I then sought out a writing coach and
found out what the problem was, I needed to learn creative writing skills.
After that, my writing got better and better and I brought my sister into the
mix as a helper with editing. She fell in love with the story so I asked her to
co-author with me, and the rest as they say, is history.
We have had a lot of fun with this story and getting
the book finally launched on Amazon was the most amazing day for us! I don’t
think I could ever capture that wonderful feeling again. When the first books
arrived for my launch party, I cried for an hour. I couldn’t believe it!
Holding the book in my hands was the most surreal moment, other than when my
kids were born, in my life.
It was a lot of hard work, four and a half years to get
it to this point, but it was all worth it! The title is Fable – Book 1 of The
Lorn Prophecy. We have several more novels planned, and we also are writing
novella’s in between each novel that reaches into the world of Djenrye with
more depth and understanding. The first novella should be out this fall. Its
title is Fated – From the Chronicles of Djenrye.
Fated gives you a look into how my main character,
Stevie Barrett, ends up growing up in Golden, Colorado, and the events that led
up to it. Both books are filled with adventure, action, magic and also, love. I
hope that some of you will give our books a read and
then let me know what you thought.
I will leave my links to my sites below. Feel free
to contact me or join my blog. It would be great to have more followers and
maybe even Djen fans.
Synopsis:
Stevie
Barrett lives an ordinary life in Golden, Colorado, where nothing remarkable
ever happens. That is until right before her high school graduation, when
Stevie’s life takes a bizarre turn. Her best friends, Jack and Alyssa, want to
be supportive, but are confused by the events plaguing Stevie.
Stevie’s
mom is attacked by men with glowing gold eyes. A strange being spies on Stevie,
hidden in shadow. She has waking visions of a people called the Djen and their
archaic world. And when her and her BFFs don’t think it can get any weirder,
Stevie heals a stranger with a touch. The abilities build until they are a
tidal wave awakening within her and threaten her sense of reality.
Her
efforts to understand what is happening lead her and her friends to discover a
group known as the Rebellion. These warriors from another dimension are hunting
her. Their leader is a man bent on destroying Stevie and possessing her legacy.
In order to stop him and save everyone she loves, Stevie and her friends must
embark on a quest to find and return Tecton, one of the five Orbs—relics—of the
other plane she comes to know as Djenrye. The journey will alter everything she
believes, propelling her into another world and another life.
The link to Amazon for the book is:
Fable: Book 1 of the Lorn Prophecy -- You can find book excerpts on that page.
For those of you who leave me comments, I will put
your name in a hat and draw a winner of a copy of my book and a Starbucks gift
card for 10.00. The winner will be announced on my blog site on Sunday evening June 9th. I look forward to your questions or comments and until then enjoy
the blurb and excerpt from the book!
Thanks again for having me as your guest Lee and
thanks to those of you who participate in the comment box and who give Fable a
read!
