Author Heather McCorkle

To read my entry for the last day of the I Love Dark YA blogfest (which is the dark YA novel I'm most looking forward to) go here !

To celebrate the release of the special edition of The Secret of Spruce Knoll: A Channeler Novel from Compass Press, I'm doing a special giveaway. Tomorrow the mini-tour for this novel begins and so do your changes for winning a prize. From December 1st~17th:  The Spruce Knoll For Endangered Species tour and giveaway is occurring! Between it's publication date and 12-12-12, a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of each Compass Press edition of this novel (all formats) will go toward my favorite charity that specializes in saving endangered species. My goal is to raise at least $10,000. Together we can make a difference. To see a list of the tour stops, click on the News/Events page. 1st place:  *A symbolic adoption of an endangered species ($50 donation by me. Symbolic stuffed animal and adoption papers sent to the winner). You get to choose the species  here .  *A signed hardback of the Compass Press special edition of The Secret Of Spruce Kno...

Teaser Tuesday is postponed to celebrate the book birthday of my friend Shelli (S.R.) Johannes's Untraceable . This is one book you don't want to miss, trust me (and I LOVE this cover)! Here's a bit about it to show you why: 16 year old Grace was reared in the wilderness. Her first pet was a bear named Simon. Her first potty, an oak tree. And, her first swing, a forest vine. Grace has lived in the Smokies all her life, patrolling with her forest ranger father who taught her everything he knew about wildlife, tracking, and wilderness survival. When Grace's dad goes missing on a routine patrol, unlike everyone in her sleepy mountain town, she refuses to believe he’s dead. After finding a Cheetos bag and stolen government file, Grace is convinced she’s one step closer to proving all the non-believers wrong. Soon she’s enmeshed in a web of conspiracy, deception, and murder. And it’s going to take a lot more than a compass and a motorcycle (named Lucifer) for t...

I'm happy to be participating in a great giveaway in support of four debut authors. There are many ways to win so be sure to read through all the details. Here they are: Support Four Debut Authors and Snag $125!  On November 28 and/or 29, purchase 1 or all 4 of the debut author’s books listed here. Then forward proof of purchase (the receipt Amazon sends you will do just fine) to: motionsrider@yahoo.ca and get up to 4 entries into a draw for a $100 Amazon gift card ! It’s that easy, no reviews, no hoops to jump through. Just a great .99 book or two. Or three or four. AND, if the person who wins the $100 Amazon Gift Card has purchased all 4 books, an additional $25 Amazon Gift Card will be awarded to the winner! On top of that, 2 random commenter’s picked from 2 of our participating blogs will receive $5 gift Amazon gift cards . So, be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think of the promo, the books, or the authors. Winners will be chosen randomly, one entry p...

Today’s Friday Creature Feature is special because it is in celebration of the release of Tangled Tides, by Karen Hooper. There is a war going on amidst the sea creatures and those of us participating in Karen’s tour are taking sides. Take a look at this amazing cover. Doesn’t it make you just want to pick it up?! Here is a bit about the book: Yara Jones doesn’t   believe in sea monsters—until she becomes one. When a hurricane hits her island home and she wakes up with fins, Yara finds herself tangled up in an underwater world of mysterious merfolk and secretive selkies. Both sides believe Yara can save them by fulfilling a broken promise and opening the sealed gateway to their realm, but they are battling over how it should be done. The selkies want to take her life. The merfolk want something far more precious.  Treygan, the stormy-eyed merman who turned Yara mer, will stop at nothing and sacrifice everything to protect his people—until he falls for Yara. The tides...

Today is sadly the last post for the I Love Dark YA blogfest. I've been having so much fun and have met so many amazing people. For today's post we have to choose a dark YA book to feature that has touched our lives. I've chosen the very first dark YA book that I read as a teen. The only reason I read it was because it was required reading, and I'm so glad it was because it opened my eyes and changed something inside me. Friendship, love, hardship, tragedy, and learning to accept people as they are, The Outsiders has it all. It was a classic then and still holds the title today. What dark YA novel has touched your life? Scroll down to see my entry for the New Author Blog Hop, and enter the giveaway!

I'm honored to be participating in Saba's~from Of Thoughts and Words~New Author Blog Hop. I'm to provide details about my book and links where it can be found, and as the special edition from Compass Press has just released, the timing couldn't be better. Here is a bit about my YA urban fantasy, The Secret Of Spruce Knoll : Following the death of her parents, Eren Donovan moves to Spruce Knoll to live with an aunt she’s never met. Little does Eren know, the entire population are channelers—magical people who immigrated there when they were driven out of their homelands. Channelers are tied to the fate of the world, and as it slowly dies, they are going extinct—and they alone have the power to save the earth. Soon, Eren learns she not only lives among them, but she is one. When she meets local boy Aiden, his charm convinces her that being a channeler may not be all bad though. As Eren and Aiden’s relationship develops, so too does a mystery in Spruce Knoll. The tow...

Last week was a rough one for me and my writing for many reasons. My friends helped pull me through it though (yes you!) and I emerged on the other side, perhaps not unscathed, but I emerged! As writers we all go through rough patches where something is challenging us, rejections, editing, outlining, that first draft, or outside forces. This tip~and you wonderful people~got me through it. The most important writing tip ever: Never give up. The moment you do, that's the moment you fail. But if you never give up, then you can never fail. Friends will be there to pull you through. Don't be afraid to talk about it or even ask for help.  One of the helping hands that lifted me up and made me smile last week was Christie from The Ficiton Enthusiast who wrote this sweet review of The Secret Of Spruce Knoll and blogged about my upcoming giveaway. How about you, any writing tips of your own to share? 

This beautiful snowy view out my window with the bald eagle kept me going and inspired me despite the fact that I felt like I was stuck in an eternally burning pit with demons snapping at my heals (formatting will do that to you). It was a rough week to put it lightly. But all is well, and I’m back on track. Whew! For anyone who has every had one of those days (weeks, months, years), I’m raising a glass of wine to you tonight during the #WritersRoad chat on Writing Helping Hands. I hope you’ll join us. It’s a half hour chat followed by a half hour word war (writing sprint). Click here to join us at 6pm PT. These last few weeks I’ve been reading Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan. I had trouble in the beginning. The writing just didn’t pull me in and the striking (and numerous) similarities between this and a friend of mine’s book ( Across The Universe by Beth Revis, which I loved by the way) were too hard to ignore. The deeper I got into the book though, the more I realized how different...

Today for the I Love Dark YA Blogfest we're picking one of our favorite dark YA novels, casting it, and giving it a soundtrack. There are a ton of YA novels I love, but because I'm strapped for time~and because I thought you might like to know who I'd cast~I'm going to pick The Secret Of Spruce Knoll. Vanessa Hudgens are Eren Donovan. Her hair is a bit light since Eren has truly black hair, but that can be fixed. Otherwise, she has the same slightly exotic look, and despite some cheesy roles, she can act (no seriously!). Taylor Kisch as Aiden Moldovan. Need I say why? *sigh* Those hazel eyes are just perfect and his ability to play a lost, slightly sullen teen is unparalleled. Okay, maybe not, but I'm smitten, what can I say? Sure, he'll be too old by the time the movie is ever made, but a girl can dream. I've always thought Michelle Rodrigues would make the perfect Aunt Sylvia. It's time someone gave the lady a role besides a bada** ...

This week's writing tip is one that I didn't always embrace. It can be hard for us writers to share our babies with others. There is a lot of fear in handing over your work to someone else for their critique. However, it is essential to having a truly polished novel. Your critique partners, beta readers, or editor will catch things you can't. Tip: Find someone whose opinion you trust and have them read your novel, or at least key chapters of your novel, to help you with it. If you don't know anyone then it might be time to join a writer's forum, find other writers on Twitter (the weekly #WritersRoad chat on Twitter every Monday night is a great place), blogger, or even on Facebook. Reach out, there are always people who are willing to help.

Last week I was deeply inspired by the amount of friends who wanted to be part of my mini-tour for the release of the special edition of The Secret Of Spruce Knoll. Thank you so much to all of you, I'm touched. The tour will be from December 1st through the 17th. This tour is dear to me as it is the launch of the novel that will help save endangered species. Between it's publication date and 12-12-12, a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of each Compass Press edition of this novel (all formats) will go toward my favorite charity that specializes in saving endangered species. My goal is to raise at least $10,000. It's a lofty goal, I know. But I figured why not reach for the stars? Of course there will be prizes on this tour! Entrants must be followers of this blog. Winners will be drawn December 18th and announced December 19th. An extra point/entry will be given to those who follow the blogs that are stops along the tour (one extra entry/point for each that you ...

We're interrupting Friday Creature Feature to bring you the fabulous Dark C.A.R.M.A. tour ! Three of my friends are having a book birthday today and you don't won't to miss these amazing books. Be sure to stop by the link above to enter the giveaway. But first, a bit about their books: Become, by Ali Cross: Sixteen-year old Desolation Black wants nothing more than to stay in Hell where it’s cold and lonely and totally predictable. Instead, she’s sent back to Earth where she must face the evil she despises and the good she always feared. When Desi is forced to embrace her inner demon, she assumes her choice has been made—that she has no hope of being anything other than what her father, Lucifer, has created her to be. What she doesn’t count on, is finding a reason to change—something she’s never had before—a friend. Bound, by C.K. Bryant:  When a photo shoot ends in tragedy, Kira discovers her best friend, Lydia, has been keeping a secret. Knowing the truth, and...

This week during the I Love Dark YA blogfest we're supposed to write a 500 word short on this photo. Here goes: The hatch protests with a horrible screech as it opens for the first time in ten years. Pale sunlight pours into the tiny opening to the surface world, blinding even it's softness. But it's beautiful, warm on my skin. I have forgotten how it looked, how it felt. But it isn't the bright, beautiful yellow I remember. It's white and muted, like it used to look on cloudy days. With limbs that shake from anticipation, I climb the hatch ladder. The natural light hurts my eyes, forcing me to shade them as I take my first steps onto the surface. Peeking through my hands, I see that the world is now washed out shades of gray. Where is all the green? Gone, all gone. My eyes sting with tears. A twig snaps, a hollow, dead sound. I am not alone. Now I'm off to visit the other blogfesters ! I hope you'll join me. 

Before we get to Teaser Tuesday, I need to announce the winner of Kristie Cook's Soul Saver swag pack from her Genesis tour giveaway! And the winner is: Anonymous: christina.irelan@gmil.com (I'm not sure if that's your complete email address so be sure to leave a comment so Kristie can get a hold of you). Congratulations to Christina! Now for Teaser Tuesday. Today's teaser is from The Secret Of Spruce Knoll page 14: Eren's knee hurt and her elbow stung, but she forgot about them both in an instant. Above her hovered the most amazing hazel eyes framed by a shock of tousled brown hair streaked through with black highlights. It was a boy, and he was lying on top of her. She fought a flush of embarrassment and lost. Okay your turn! Leave me a teaser from your work in progress, or from what your reading if you would like!

Last week the snow was my inspiration. The way it blew in and blanketed the world around me, heralding the arrival of winter, seemed to reflect what is going on in my writing life (for those who are wondering, this view is out my back door. I know, I'm so lucky!). Things are a whirlwind of activity with my special edition of Spruce Knoll coming out at the end of this month, but in a good way. I'm starting to get ready for preparing my mini blog tour in December so if you'd like me to stop by your blog leave me a comment! The focus of the mini tour will be Spruce Knoll For Endangered Species. I'm reading Glow by Amy Ryan. The writing style reminds me of the way sci-fi used to be written, with a bit of detachment. While tons of people love this style, I'm not one of them so it hasn't exactly pulled me in yet. I'm hoping it will grow on me though. It has kept me reading after 50 pages so I have hope! What inspired you last week? Reading anything good, or hav...

Every Wednesday this month I'm joining my co-hosts  Christa , Kelly , E.R. ,  YAtopia and many other blogger friends in celebrating my love of dark young adult novels. So you won't see my Wednesday Writing Goal posts for a month. But the timing is great since I know many of you are busy with NaNo. Each week we have a different theme. You don't want to miss all the stops because it will be a ton of fun and we'll be doing a giveaway at the end of the month. To see what the themes are, and who is participating, click here . This week we're blogging about our favorite dark YA novel (s). There are so many great ones that I had a lot of trouble choosing so I'm featuring three. The first is Crank by Ellen Hopkins. It is the epitome of dark. In fact, it's a subject most people don't want to touch and Ellen tackled it beautifully. Any and all of Ellen's books fall under this beautifully dark category. She isn't afraid to go where others won't ...

Teaser Tuesday is postponed until next week so I can join in the launch party celebration for Open Minds by Susan Kaye Quinn. This book is just as fantastic as its cover. Check out my review of it on the Indie Elite blog. It's a dystopian YA novel of a different (and fantastic) new flavor. To celebrate I'm joining several bloggers in sharing a story about keeping open minds. I've always been one to keep an open mind, from birth my mom says. My eyes see the world differently I've been told. To me there is no separation of the races, sexes, lifestyles, or even beliefs. As long as it's legal and doesn't harm anyone, I've never had a problem with diversity in any form. I seem to crave it, in fact, as to me, it spices up life. And I do love my life spicy. Living this way has introduced me to amazing people and has allowed me to grow as a person. I am a black belt twice over, I was a reserve police officer, am a Sergeant in a correctional facility, have been...