Only 2 Days Left!

There are only two days remaining in the giveaway for Filter: Book One of The von Strassenberg Saga. (see sidebar--->) And, since more than 500 people have entered to win the 5 signed copies of Filter, I will also be giving Advanced Readers' Copies of The BlueStocking Girl: Book Two of The von Strassenberg Saga, to the winners upon the novel's completion (those copies won't arrive until Octoberish)! 
This is not your typical YA series, think more of if Dean Koontz wrote Wuthering Heights. See earlier posts for sample chapters! 
Also, you should know, that if you happen to not win this giveaway there will be another in September, prior to the release of The BlueStocking Girl, after all book 2 will not make sense if you haven't read book 1. This is not a stand-alone kind of series. Each book is vital to the next and even to the previous...which you will discover as the series continues. So if you want to know what's going on with future giveaways follow my blog or join me on Facebook, look for The von Strassenberg Saga page. 
Good luck! I can't wait to see who wins! 

Almost There!

We have almost reached that magical 500 point for The von Strassenberg Giveaway (see sidebar)! If we reach 500 I will  send Filter (book one) now and Advanced Readers' Copies of Book 2 (before it is available to random citizens...probably around October) to the 5 winners! Also, as a side note and a bit of a warning to readers, I am more Dean Koontz than Stephanie Meyer. When I was a teen girl we didn't have a lot of money, so I usually wound up borrowing books from my father's library. This was mostly comprised of Koontz, Grisham and Patterson. In my grade school-middle school years I never read Sweet Valley High but rather preferred Lois Duncan and Carolyn Keene and Christopher Pike. So if you want an idea of what you're signing up to win, imagine if Dean Koontz wrote Wuthering Heights...it's something like that. I have stopped listing The von Strassenberg Saga as a romance, people expect certain things of a romance that you won't find in these books. While there is a strong romantic element, this is, after all, a family saga. And what good would a family saga be if everything went perfectly.....
If you're a pessimistic sort of person or just plain impatient, you can buy Filter at Amazon  (or for less...$10...at Barnes and Noble http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Filter/Gwenn-Wright/e/9781461053002?itm=1&USRI=gwenn%2Bwright)

The Other Side of Writing

It stands to reason that in order to write well one must read well. Read extensively, that is. Read a variety of literature. Yes, I love teen novels filled with angst and suspense. But I also love my classics (Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, The Witch of Blackbird Pond), poetry (Margaret Atwood, Theodore Roethke, TS Eliot), thrillers (Vince Flynn novels) and adore my British cozies. And let's not forget that my bedside table is stacked with original pulp fiction.

The danger of reading all the same stuff all the time is that you will begin to write just like everyone you are reading.

It's kind of like leaving New York to go live in Texas for ten years. Eventually you will begin to sound like the natives.

The voices of the writers you read seep into you.

Expose yourself to something different every so often.

Even if you have to push your way through it and it feels like torture. (Yes, I know, that means I have to finish A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius or else I shall be a hypocrite).

So today, I have written nothing and have been both pushing myself through Eclipse and finding myself, at odd intervals, racing through it.

Unplug and read.