Author Heather McCorkle

Though I have a fun creature feature ready for today, I thought you might not mind if I postponed it to next week since I have great news. The cover for The Secret of Spruce Knoll has been finalized and approved! I'm so excited that I just couldn't wait to share it with you peeps. When I received it yesterday there were tears, but very good tears. The wonderful designers at Abbott did an outstanding job of capturing the essence of my character, the nature of the novel, and making it look breathtaking. I'll quit rambling and show you (that is if you didn't already scroll down, which I wouldn't blame you for because I would have ;)! Now you know why I cried tears of joy! There is so much more though, the wrap around and back cover are amazing as well and I wish I could share those with you but I can't just yet. Trust me though, the complete cover is to die for! You won't have to take my word for it for long because in another week you'll be able to hol

The tour for my debut novel is coming! The outpouring of support, even months before the release of my novel, has absolutely floored me. There are no words to tell you all how much I appreciate you and all that each of you have done. Without a doubt, the reading and writing community is the most amazing, supportive group of people that I have ever come across. I'm honored and humbled to be counted among you. Releasing a novel is full of anxiety, excitement, and an ocean of fear. But you all have kept me afloat and given me the courage to keep going. The time draws near, for next month brings the release of my debut novel, The Secret Of Spruce Knoll. I have a lot of fun stuff planned for the release and I'll be telling you all about it around the beginning of next month. Right now though I am in the planning stages for my blog tour, which is where you lovely people come in. Each stop along the way I'll be divulging one secret, either about myself, my characters, th

This week I bring you a lot of great advice from agents and editors to digest, plus a few contests. Since so many of you have been asking, this first one is the first of my big announcements (mark your calendars): @ HeatherMcCorkle Heather McCorkle The first of my big announcements (and the last one happening!): tinyurl.com/4x2rzhy A live chat on YA Bound August 30th! #WritersRoad This one is an indispensible list of great tweets for writers from Jane Friedman: @WritersDigest Writer's Digest Best Tweets for Writers (week ending 7/15/11) - I watch Twitter, so you don't have to. Visit each Sunday for the wee... http://ow.ly/1dQNGP If you love writing contests then you've got to check out Writer's Digest's new contest: @WritersDigest Writer's Digest Win $1000 in our new YA writing competition: http://bit.ly/qehF57 Enter your science fiction/fantasy story in our new competition: http://bit.ly/r0mbe0 Got winning romance? Enter it in our new Romance comp

This lovely (okay, I admit, my opinion of lovely may be a bit skewed), colorful painting is a depiction of a famous tale that inspired me last week. As you may have noticed from the striking button on my left sidebar, I'm working on a piece for Fantastic Fables on Dark Faerie Tales. I don't want to give much away as it is going to be a surprise, but I can say this painting inspired me. I can also say that it is a tale involving one of my main characters of my soon to be released novel, a special short story on them the readers of Dark Faerie Tales will get to glimpse first. And I'm soooo excited about it! I’m now reading GONE by Michael Grant. OMG (yes I did just use that acronym, but really, it's that exciting) why has no one told me how excellent this book is yet? Admittedly, I'm not that far into it, but I'm really loving it so far! Everyone over the age of 14 disappears in a sleepy little town and the kids left have to figure out why, and cope with

All material on these links is copyrighted. You may not copy, or otherwise reproduce any of the material without permission from the publisher.  The first few pages of The Dragon Empire: 1 What he was seeing could be the death of him, he knew, yet Grendar couldn’t look away. The undergrowth that had been hampering his progress through the jungle no longer seemed thick enough to conceal him. His hearts pounded and his throat constricted. What if they saw him? The human guise he was wearing wouldn’t exactly protect him, not considering what they were doing.   Through the ferns and palm fronds he could see them: four dragons the color of a starless night sky. At over twenty feet from hindquarters to nose, they were twice Grendar’s size. They gleamed in the tropical sun, their obsidian-colored scales contrasting with the bright blood on their long snouts and claws. On the beach before them was the source of all that blood. The pa

All material on these links is copyrighted. You may not copy, or otherwise reproduce any of the material without permission from the publisher.  Here are the first few pages of Rise of a Rector: It was raining, again. The rain made it hard to track her prey and it always seemed to be raining in England. She’d take the snow of her homeland over this wet mess any day. Sure it was still hard to pick up an energy trail in the snow, but not nearly as hard. Grinding her teeth in frustration, she stepped inside the pub as she attempted to ring some of the water from her long braid of black hair. Little irritated her more than having to resort to asking the locals if they’d seen her prey. Yet, here she was, forced to do just that. All heads in the crowded room turned to her. Eyes narrowed. She ignored both their looks and the hostile energy rolling off them. Small towns were always like this and she was growing weary of it. Doing her best to look charming and friendly while soaking we

Here are the first few pages of Channeler's Choice, the second full length novel in the Channeler series: “Only the strong and wise shall lead us. One without the other is not acceptable.” ~from Life In A Society. Chapter 1 The cool winter air filled Eren’s lungs as she jogged next to Aiden, doing her best to keep her steps silent. Over a foot of snow covered the forest floor and weighed down the boughs of the spruce trees. Using their channeler’s power to spread out the impact of their steps, they barely sank an inch into the snow. It took a bit of concentration, but after several months of snowy weather, Eren was used to it. Aside from ease of travel, they used their power to soften their steps because a certain amount of stealth was needed for what they were doing; spying. The trees thinned as they reached the bottom of a steep hill. Eren indicated a tree near the top of the hill with a flick of her head. They

This month a great friend of mine's middle grade fantasy novel, Born To Be A Dragon, is debuting! Congratulations to Eisley Jacobs on her first novel. Eisley is a talented story teller and an incredibly giving person, as is evident in the massive giveaway/scavenger hunt that she is putting on to celebrate her debut. Not only has she given away fun swag and books, but she's also giving away a Nook ! Yep, you read that right. And you've come to the right place to get the last clue to win it. To enter to win, read the rest of this post to find the clue, then go here to answer the question! Welcome to Heather's Odyssey Eisley! I'm honored to be the last stop on your scavenger hunt. Take it away! Eisley: First of all, thank you, Heather, for inviting me to guest blog today. Some of you know that today ends the Scavenger Hunt in celebration of my book launch for my middle grade novel BORN TO BE A DRAGON! It’s been an awesome two weeks, and I’m so thrilled to spend my

Last week I didn't have the chance to get on Twitter so I have a special post for you. These quotes are from editor Noa Wheeler (Henry Holt Books) during her talk about writer's block at the Oregon Coast Children's Book Writers Workshop. "Write something, anything, and go from there."  "Tease out the unusual imbedded in the common."  "The reaction between the writer and the subject is what's new." "Set a time limit for yourself and just go" Use twitter, she says.  "Build it first, and then you can make it better." On editing. "Switch your writing location. Get up and go somewhere else!" "By taking little day trips, side roads, you're figuring out who your characters are." On writing exercises. "The outcome can be drastically different based on the smallest thing." On details.  "Every writer asks different questions and gives different answer, which is why there i

All last week my muse was fed by the Oregon Coast Children's Book Writers Workshop . Though the weather was dreary (as is typical of the Oregon coast) it helped me focus and get the most out of the workshop. With greats like editor Martha Mihalick of Greenwillow books, editor Noa Wheeler of Henry Holt books , agent Michelle Andelman of Regal literary , and historical YA author Pamela Smith Hill , I'm glad I braved the Oregon coast weather to attend. The workshop was filled with informative lectures and one-on-one consults with an instructor every day. My consults were with Michelle and Pamela. I came away with so much wonderful information that it will take a few weeks to share it all with you. This was not a pitching type of workshop, there was no pitching to be had anywhere. To be honest, the lack of that took an enormous weight off my shoulders. The atmosphere was casual and friendly and allowed me to improve my writing each day. I found a new friend and mentor in au

I've discovered that if I have writing goals and give voice to them, knowing my friends will help hold me accountable, then I end up getting a lot more writing done. Twitter is wonderful for short bursts of writing inspiration and accountability. We have #1k1hr (one thousand words in one hour) where one of us will tweet that and see if anyone else is game. If others are able to join in then we all use the #1k1hr hashtag and check back in at the end of the hour to see how much we accomplished. There is also #wordwar which is like a sprint to see how much we can get done in whatever timeframe we all agree upon. But there isn't always someone on Twitter that is up for a writing goal or challenge, and I know there are many of you who don't use twitter. So, I've decided to start a new reoccurring post called Wednesday #WriteGoal (sorry about the hashtag for my non-Twitter friends, but this way my Twitter friends can join in too). I won't do it every week because th

I hope you're ready for another great week of tweets! Here we go: Writer (and awesome friend) Monica, is hosting a fantastic agent judged contest. Don't miss it:  @ Monica_BW   Monica B. W.  On the blog: Details about the Agent Pitch Contest with Kristin Miller (D4EO Literary)  monibw.blogspot.com/ 2011/07/detail… Agent Sarah LaPolla gives us her opinion on vamp books (hint, don't query her with them): @ sarahlapolla   Sarah LaPolla   Unless you are an already established author, your vamp book likely won't sell. Don't throw it out; just put it aside & query another novel. Agent Jill Corcoran breaks down publishing for us: @ JillCorcoran   Jill Corcoran  THE HOWs AND WHYs OF GETTING PUBLISHED tinyurl.com/6ajbbqu   # fb Writer's Digest brings us a great post about the writer's platform:  @ WritersDigest   Writer's Digest  The Hidden, Secret Ingredient of Platform: Relationships - Today I'm a guest over at Marketing Tips, a bl

Normally lockers are the last thing that would inspire me. They make me twitchy because they remind me of high school. But since I had to write a chapter that took place in a high school hallway, this picture was the perfect inspiration for me. And the twitchy part didn't hurt either since this chapter is a tense one. This will be the third new chapter I'm adding to this novel, which may sort of seem like it's counterproductive to editing. But, I've found that if I let a manuscript sit then go back to it, it gives me a wider perspective and reveals the holes that need to be filled. I finished reading Possession by Elana Johnson. If you're interested, you can check out my review on Goodreads . Now I'm reading Nightspell by Leah Cypess (one of my favorite authors of all time) and I'm loving it. It's a creepy ghost story of a very different sort. I'm super thrilled that each night this week I'll be sitting on a deck overlooking the ocean,

That is a mouthful of a title for a workshop and from looking at the course outline, it is a lot to chew and digest as well, but in a good way. Thankfully it uses the acronym, OCCBWW . So if you see me using that on Twitter that's what it's all about. It boasts an impressive lineup of instructors that include, picture book author David Greenburg, author Elizabeth Rusch, author Pamela Smith Hill, author Heather Vogel Frederick, author Deb Lund, Henry Holt editor Noa Wheeler, agent Michelle Andelman, Greenwillow editor Martha Mihalick. It takes place next week in a tiny town called Oceanside Oregon. Filled with not only fantastic sessions, but also tons of writing and consultation time, it seems to focus on the actual craft nearly as much as learning. I love workshops of this nature where I get time to apply what I've learned and improve my manuscript on the spot. Since I just finished finalizing the edits for The Secret Of Spruce Knoll and turned them in, the timing couldn

I hope you're ready for another full post of tweets! Here we go. You'll want to get our your planners and take down the dates on this tweet from Jane Friedman of Writer's Digest. She lists great contests for writers of YA, crime, romance, and more! @JaneFriedman Jane Friedman 7 Free-to-Enter Writing Contests That Impact Your Career: http://ow.ly/5lm8E In an #AskYAed session, publisher Egmont USA reminds us of a harsh reality in publishing:  @EgmontUSA Egmont USA Okay - I need to get this out there. Despite the mega-deal advances reported, most advances are not very big. #AskYaed Writer Jolina Joy brings us this insightful tweet from Anne Allen about what agents are doing to prepare for the evolving publishing industry:   @Jolina_Joy Jolina Petersheim How are literary #agents preparing for the future? http://bit.ly/jvV4Fc Agent Laurie McLean is taking notice of Anne Allen's post on the future of Literary agents too:  @ agentsavant Laurie McLean A very inter

Last week as I worked on editing the second novel in the Channeler series my inspiration came from the holiday that I would soon be celebrating. The fourth of July is important to all Americans because it is the celebration of our independence, but as an author it holds a special place in my heart. Our independence day is also a time that we celebrate the many freedoms that Americans enjoy and the freedom of speech is among my favorites. Without the freedom of speech many of us would be silenced. I've been to a few countries, Canada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, and Japan. While they were all wonderful and inspiring in their own ways, they also made me appreciate my home country even more. We have it good here and I’m not sure I'd want to live anywhere else. Of course I know America isn't without it's problems, but no country is. I love it flaws and all.  My muse has been anticipating the open road, great friends, a good BBQ, and fireworks. To all of my American friends, have

Today's Friday Creature Feature has been postponed to celebrate the release of Jessica E. Subject's novella, Celestial Seduction . Jessica has been a good friend of mine who has shared my often tumultuous journey through the world of publishing and has helped keep me sane through it all. When she signed on with Decadent Publishing I knew good things would soon follow and the first of them is her sci-fi romance for adults, Celestial Seduction. Here is a portion of the blurb: At the end of his obligated commitment to the Space Service, Frey Berger decides to stay on Earth to further experience human emotions rather than return to Ginnun where his intended has already mated with another. Looking for real love and someone to accept him for what he is, Frey enlists in Madame Evangeline’s popular dating service. Although he does not understand the concept of a one-night stand, he hopes to find his perfect mate. If he fails, he risks being alone on Earth for the rest of his life. Al