Author Heather McCorkle

Autumn itself is a huge inspiration to me. I love the rich, golden colors, the crisp feel to the air, the smell of apples, cinnamon, and pumpkin, and of course the taste of candy corn. Pumpkin is probably my favorite food, ever, and Halloween is definitely one of my favorite holidays. It doesn't hurt that I'm a huge scary movie fan. There was plenty of all that around to inspire me last week! There is one special movie that always comes to mind on Halloween for me, The Crow. The original one with Brandon Lee, son of the legendary Bruce Lee. I was a huge Brandon Lee fan and was devastated when he died filming this movie. During October he is always in my thoughts.  Speaking of my favorite holiday, I'm off to celebrate. No trick or treating for me, just a bowl of popcorn and the latest scary movie (which I've really been looking forward to! And certainly a time to re-watch The Crow). I hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween.

I reached my editing goals for book 2 last week! I'm so close to finishing that I'm getting that surge of energy that always comes to me at this stage, love it! The editing on this one hasn't always been this smooth so I'm thrilled that it is finally flowing and coming together. Those of you who follow my author page on Facebook have read the hints that I have a big announcement coming and I'm finally ready to announce it. This holiday season I'll be releasing a special edition of The Secret of Spruce Knoll through Compass Press in both paperback and eBook. It will have a prologue that wasn't in the Abbott Press version, a lovely new cover (designed by myself at CP Design ), a new lower price, and something special. I'm not breaking from Abbott Press, in fact, it's the only place you'll still be able to get a hardback copy (of the original version) of The Secret of Spruce Knoll. The something special; a percentage of the proceeds from each sa...

This week's teaser is from Chapter 2 of The Secret of Spruce Knoll. My main character Eren is about to discover just what she's facing in Spruce Knoll A sound came from the forest, disrupting her from her self-pity. Looking up, she went very still. Had it been a twig breaking? It was probably nothing more than a small animal scurrying about the forest~a rabbit or something. But what if it was a bigger animal? Who knew what lived in the woods beyond the deck. She was being a silly city girl, and she knew it. Ignoring her rising fear, she turned her attention back to the stars. Okay it's your turn! Let me know what you think and/or leave me a teaser from your work in progress or from whatever you're reading! Be sure to come back tomorrow for a big announcement. :)

Last week my inspiration came from a fellow author, the wonderful Susan Kaye Quinn. And in the spirit of New Author Blog Hop (brought to us by the lovely Saba from Of Thoughts and Words) I wanted to spotlight Susan today. I've been reading Susan's indie debut (she previously published traditionally with Omnific publishing, a sweet novel by the title of Life, Love, And Liberty), a young adult dystopian titled Open Minds. I won't get into the novel too much because I'm doing a review of it over on The Indie Elite blog next week but I will say it was amazing! Here is just a teaser about it: When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep. Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can't read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can't be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf's mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to ...

Today I'm celebrating the release of Genesis with author Kristie Cook. This novella is a companion to Kristie's popular paranormal novels, Promise and Purpose. Here is a bit about Genesis: A father who reveals his truth. Twins who take different paths—one light, one dark. Angels who have plans for them both And Demons who do as well. So the Earthly battle for souls ignites… A tale that is over 2,000 years old, this is the story of the Amadis beginnings. Please welcome Kristie to tell us a bit more about Genesis: Kristie: It’s a bit different from the other Soul Savers books. Although the fantasy world I created is the same, the real world is not. After all, it takes place over 2,000 years ago, around 200 B.C. So it required a lot of research to understand life in Greece during that era. For each stop along the release tour, I’m sharing something I learned and how it ties into the story. Today we explore marriage customs. Most wedding ceremonies took place ...

You know that great feeling you get when you're only a few chapters away from finishing a round of editing? I've got that feeling! *happy dance* Good thing this isn't a vlog, you SO don't want to see my happy dance. I didn't just make my goals last week, I blew past them! When I finish this round I'll be revisiting a special project for a few weeks, then I'll be free for two months to work on my new book. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to return to it. I love working on the channeler series but there's nothing quite like writing fresh words. Did you make your writing goals for last week? What are your new goals? Do you love writing a new book or are your best times spent with your manuscript during editing?

Cutting sentences, paragraphs, or even chapters from your novel can be a painful process, but it doesn't have to be. I kept hearing the advice that I needed to cut the prologue from my novel because~according to agents and editors dishing out the advice~no one reads prologues anymore. I disagreed, fought against the advice, and probably got more than a few rejections because of it. Finally I caved and deleted it, but I discovered a way to keep it relatively painless. I'm not saying you should or shouldn't delete prologues because I still love them both as a reader and a writer, but the deleting part is easier for me now. Tip: Keep a file of all the things you delete that you'd rather not, or think might come in handy later. Here's the real gem in the tip; you can use deleted chapters or prologues later as promotional material released on your blog or website.