Question: Your path to becoming a published author has been anything but traditional. You became an overnight success after self-publishing your books on Kindle, and a publishing contract with AmazonEncore followed shortly thereafter. What finally made you decide to take matters in your own hands by self-publishing your books? Was that a difficult decision?
Karen McQuestion: No, it was an easy decision! For years I tried to get published the traditional way. When I learned that anyone could self-publish an ebook (for free!), I decided I had nothing to lose. I’m very glad I took the plunge.
Question: What advice do you have for struggling writers out there who find themselves in the same position you did years ago with no publishing contract, but stories to share with the world?
Karen McQuestion: If you’ve gotten feedback from others, and are convinced your writing and stories are solid, take advantage of the new opportunities for writers today. Between blogs, online publications, and ebooks, writers can get their work in front of readers faster and easier than ever. And of course, keep writing, because that’s the only way to improve.
Question: Your first book, A Scattered Life, was a huge success--a Kindle bestseller (reaching #5 in the Kindle Store) with more than 100,000 copies sold and over 150 days in the top 100. What has this success been like?
Karen McQuestion: It’s been unbelievable. I was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, appeared on ABC's World News Now and America This Morning, and the novel was optioned for film by an L.A. production company. But the best part? After years of having the novel languish on my hard drive, people were finally reading it and enjoying it.
Question: A Scattered Life is an adult novel. Your two new books, Favorite and Life on Hold are young adult novels. Have you always wanted to write for teens and young adults?
Karen McQuestion: I think young adult fiction has gotten smarter and better than when I was a teenager. When my daughter started reading YA novels, she’d recommend books to me. I found that I loved them and started to get ideas for YA novels I wanted to write.
Question: Life on Hold is about 15-year-old Rae Maddox who has spent her entire life on the move thanks to her mother. To protect herself, she’s decided to put her life on hold until she turns 18 and can make her own decisions. This is a really sad concept. Do you think a lot of teens out there can relate to Rae? If so, what do you hope they take away from this book?
Karen McQuestion: I think everyone can relate to the feeling that something in life is holding you back. If only you had a different job, or lost weight, or were done with school, or owned a car, things would be better and you could finally live the life you want. But the truth of the matter is that today is all we’ve got. A person could wish their life away if they don’t find things to appreciate in the here and now.
Question: Favorite has a mysterious element to it. Part thriller, part coming-of-age, it is about a young girl in search of her mother who went missing years before. Nothing--and no one--is quite as it seems in this book. Was it fun for you to write a story that has elements of a mystery/thriller in it? Do you think we’ll see more of this from you in the future?
Karen McQuestion: I loved writing the book, but since I don’t outline I had no idea how it was going to go. More than once, I wrote myself into a corner, which was a little scary. I’d love to write another book in this genre, but next time I’ll think it through beforehand.
Question: Your path to becoming a published author has been anything but traditional. You became an overnight success after self-publishing your books on Kindle, and a publishing contract with AmazonEncore followed shortly thereafter. What finally made you decide to take matters in your own hands by self-publishing your books? Was that a difficult decision?
Karen McQuestion: No, it was an easy decision! For years I tried to get published the traditional way. When I learned that anyone could self-publish an ebook (for free!), I decided I had nothing to lose. I’m very glad I took the plunge.
Question: What advice do you have for struggling writers out there who find themselves in the same position you did years ago with no publishing contract, but stories to share with the world?
Karen McQuestion: If you’ve gotten feedback from others, and are convinced your writing and stories are solid, take advantage of the new opportunities for writers today. Between blogs, online publications, and ebooks, writers can get their work in front of readers faster and easier than ever. And of course, keep writing, because that’s the only way to improve.
Question: Your first book, A Scattered Life, was a huge success--a Kindle bestseller (reaching #5 in the Kindle Store) with more than 100,000 copies sold and over 150 days in the top 100. What has this success been like?
Karen McQuestion: It’s been unbelievable. I was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, appeared on ABC's World News Now and America This Morning, and the novel was optioned for film by an L.A. production company. But the best part? After years of having the novel languish on my hard drive, people were finally reading it and enjoying it.
Question: A Scattered Life is an adult novel. Your two new books, Favorite and Life on Hold are young adult novels. Have you always wanted to write for teens and young adults?
Karen McQuestion: I think young adult fiction has gotten smarter and better than when I was a teenager. When my daughter started reading YA novels, she’d recommend books to me. I found that I loved them and started to get ideas for YA novels I wanted to write.
Question: Life on Hold is about 15-year-old Rae Maddox who has spent her entire life on the move thanks to her mother. To protect herself, she’s decided to put her life on hold until she turns 18 and can make her own decisions. This is a really sad concept. Do you think a lot of teens out there can relate to Rae? If so, what do you hope they take away from this book?
Karen McQuestion: I think everyone can relate to the feeling that something in life is holding you back. If only you had a different job, or lost weight, or were done with school, or owned a car, things would be better and you could finally live the life you want. But the truth of the matter is that today is all we’ve got. A person could wish their life away if they don’t find things to appreciate in the here and now.
Question: Favorite has a mysterious element to it. Part thriller, part coming-of-age, it is about a young girl in search of her mother who went missing years before. Nothing--and no one--is quite as it seems in this book. Was it fun for you to write a story that has elements of a mystery/thriller in it? Do you think we’ll see more of this from you in the future?
Karen McQuestion: I loved writing the book, but since I don’t outline I had no idea how it was going to go. More than once, I wrote myself into a corner, which was a little scary. I’d love to write another book in this genre, but next time I’ll think it through beforehand.
Don’t miss this spectacular new series that will steal your heart and haunt your dreams, Welcome to Shadow Falls camp, nestled deep in the woods of a town called Fallen…
One night Kylie Galen finds herself at the wrong party, with the wrong people, and it changes her life forever. Her mother ships her off to Shadow Falls—a camp for troubled teens, and within hours of arriving, it becomes painfully clear that her fellow campers aren’t just “troubled.” Here at Shadow Falls, vampires, werewolves, shapshifters, witches and fairies train side by side—learning to harness their powers, control their magic and live in the normal world.
Kylie’s never felt normal, but surely she doesn’t belong here with a bunch of paranormal freaks either. Or does she? They insist Kylie is one of them, and that she was brought here for a reason. As if life wasn’t complicated enough, enter Derek and Lucas. Derek’s a half-fae who’s determined to be her boyfriend, and Lucas is a smokin’ hot werewolf with whom Kylie shares a secret past. Both Derek and Lucas couldn’t be more different, but they both have a powerful hold on her heart.
Even though Kylie feels deeply uncertain about everything, one thing is becoming painfully clear—Shadow Falls is exactly where she belongs…
Ida B. Applewood believes there is never enough time for fun.
That's why she's so happy to be homeschooled and to spend every free second outside with the trees and the brook.
Then some not-so-great things happen in her world. Ida B has to go back to that Place of Slow but Sure Body-Cramping, Mind-Numbing, Fun-Killing Torture—school. She feels her heart getting smaller and smaller and hardening into a sharp, black stone.
How can things go from righter than right to a million miles beyond wrong? Can Ida B put together a plan to get things back to just-about perfect again?
Come and mend your broken hearts here. In this retelling of the classic tale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," the eldest princess must fight to save her family—and her heart—from an ancient dark magic within the palace walls. "Full of mystery, lush settings, and fully orbed characters, Dixon's debut is both suspenseful and rewarding."—ALA Booklist
Just when Azalea should feel that everything is before her—beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing—it's taken away. All of it. And Azalea is trapped. The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. So he extends an invitation.
Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest, but there is a cost. The Keeper likes to keep things. Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late. "Readers who enjoy stories of royalty, romance, and magic will delight in Dixon's first novel."—Publishers Weekly
Supports the Common Core State Standards
The Gods have abandoned Ai Ling.
Her mysterious power haunts her day and night, and she leaves home—with just the moon as her guide—overwhelmed by her memories and visions and an unbearable sense of dread. For Ai Ling knows that Chen Yong is vulnerable to corrupt enchantments from the under-world. How can she do nothing when she has the skill and power to fight at his side? A dream has told her where he is, the name of the ship he is traveling on, his destination. So she steals off and stows away on board.
The ocean voyage brings with it brutal danger, haunting revelations, and new friendships, but also the premonition of a very real and terrifying threat. Zhong Ye—the powerful sorcerer whom Ai Ling believed she had vanquished in the Palace of Fragrant Dreams—is trapped in Hell, neither alive nor dead. Can he reach from beyond the grave to reunite with Silver Phoenix and destroy Chen Yong? And destroy whatever chance Ai Ling has at happiness, at love?
In this sequel to the acclaimed novel Silver Phoenix, four lives are woven together and four destinies become one, now and forever.
A rich and luminous novel about three generations of women in one family: the love they share, the dreams they refuse to surrender, and the secrets they hold
Samantha is lost in the joys of new motherhood—the softness of her eight-month-old daughter's skin, the lovely weight of her child in her arms—but in trading her artistic dreams to care for her child, Sam worries she's lost something of herself. And she is still mourning another loss: her mother, Iris, died just one year ago.
When a box of Iris's belongings arrives on Sam's doorstep, she discovers links to pieces of her family history but is puzzled by much of the information the box contains. She learns that her grandmother Violet left New York City as an eleven-year-old girl, traveling by herself to the Midwest in search of a better life. But what was Violet's real reason for leaving? And how could she have made that trip alone at such a tender age?
In confronting secrets from her family's past, Sam comes to terms with deep secrets from her own. Moving back and forth in time between the stories of Sam, Violet, and Iris, Mothers and Daughters is the spellbinding tale of three remarkable women connected across a century by the complex wonder of motherhood.
Celeste Jackson has fought all her life against a fog of hallucination and substance abuse, but it’s not until she meets her protector, Azrael, an angel who has left the safety of the Light, that she learns of the evil forces that have been trying to ruin her, and why. A fierce battle for control of the mortal realm is brewing, and only Celeste—with the help of the Remnant, her half-human, half-angel brethren—can stand in the way. Together, Celeste and Azrael must gather an army of sensitives to defeat the dark powers that have ruled humanity for centuries, but time is running out. If Azrael surrenders to his growing desire for Celeste, he risks being trapped among humanity forever. But the longer he stays, the harder she is to resist. To save the world, Celeste must draw on her own dark experiences with addiction to help Azrael overcome the one temptation that could possibly make him an eternal prisoner—his obsession with her.
Luck has never been on Gavyn Donatti’s side. Anyone else with magic abilities inherited from a distant genie relative would have it made, but not Donatti, descendant of a cranky, shape-shifting genie named Ian. The prince of a murdered kingdom, consumed with revenge and driven by an unbreakable curse, Ian is determined to hunt down and destroy every last one of his enemies in the power-hungry snake clan—at any cost, including his life. Or Donatti’s.
Obsessed by his own rage, Ian has never really taught Donatti how to use his abilities. So when a powerful cult of magic-users captures Ian’s wife, the princess Akila, and then Ian himself, Donatti is left alone to take on dozens of half-djinn and their mysterious leader with designs on world domination.
Facing an impossible mission, Donatti is forced to turn to an enemy for help—one who claims to know how to unlock his true potential. Trusting a snake might be the last mistake Donatti ever makes—but if he doesn’t learn to wield the power inside him, everyone will pay the ultimate price.
It would be nice to go back to that old suburban life…or some grown up, high school version of it, complete with nice, normal boyfriends who wear crew neck sweaters and like social studies. So, what’s wrong with normal? Well, kind of everything. She knows that, of course, why else would she learn bass and join Jam Band, how else would she know to idolize infamous wild-child and high school senior Emma (her best friend Sarah’s older sister), why else would she get arrested while doing a school project on a local freedom school (jail was not part of the assignment). And, why else would she kind of be falling in "like" with a boy named Monster—yes, that is his real name. Janie was going for normal, but she missed her mark by about ten miles…and we mean that as a compliment.
Frances O’Roark Dowell’s fierce humor and keen eye make her YA debut literary and wise. In the spirit of John Green and E. Lockhart, Dowell’s relatable, quirky characters and clever, fluid writing prove that growing up gets complicated…and normal is WAY overrated.