Set William Free!!!

Oh my. 
Typically I don't read reviews of my books. 
It either puffs up my ego or smashes it. Neither is good. But today I traipsed into that land and wow. WOW. Some people are angry at me. 
They want William, they want to spend time with him and they want to know that he's okay. 
I want the same things. 
Truly I do. 
Thing is, if I rush the story it won't be good for anyone. 
Consider, each book jumps about seventeen years or so, with the exception of Lipstick and Bolsheviks. It went crazy on me. Part one opens in 1905, only nine years after the end of Bluestocking Girl. Part Two opens in 1917. This is crucial to the story. 
The historical part of The von Strassenberg Saga thus far spans 40 years. The contemporary part spans only a month. Book 3 closes in 1917 and we still have three more "Marias" to get through, and a gap of about 70 years to close. 
Things are coming together, I promise. With more revelations and more twists but you have to trust me. It's more fun this way. If you're like me, you don't want to know yet because if you did it would ruin the big AHA! that's coming. 
Stick with me, I know how it ends and you'll love it. Trust me, you want this to happen....

No idea what I'm even talking about? Start with Filter today for $2.99 on Amazon. Now through November 12, 2013 it Filter will be available on Amazon Prime. 

Daily Dialogue: Lipstick and Bolsheviks #2

More somewhat vague dialogue from book three of The von Strassenberg Saga: Lipstick & Bolsheviks. If you're feeling particularly industrious today, copy and paste the dialogue into a comment and add who you think said each line, how they said it, and/or what they were doing at the time.  For instance, "Yes," (and you fill in --->) said Maria. I'm not saying it WAS Maria, it's just an example. Or post your ideas on the von Strassenbergs' Facebook Page under the link for today's blog! https://www.facebook.com/ThevonStrassenbergSaga

“Ah yes, yes. I do recognize you now. You were in the paper, ” said_____________as_________sat down beside ______________.

“Yes.”

“In prison.”

“Yes. I was.”

“Being disorderly, were you?”

“By contemporary definition I suppose I spend much of my time being disorderly; if by disorderly you mean unmanageable. …and if by unmanageable you mean unwilling to go quietly along and suffer in silence and servitude, then most assuredly yes. I am by definition disorderly to the fullest measure.”

©2012GwennWright

The Coming of Book 2

A couple people have asked me today: When does the second book come out? Granted the hint in the back of Filter: Book One of The von Strassenberg Saga gives a vague expected date of publication as Fall 2011. I'm hoping for October. September is feasible, but not if you want a well-edited book. Which, I am sure, you do. Once the house clears of visitors and things settle down and extra drama stops befalling our otherwise quiet lives, The BlueStocking Girl should fly from my fingertips quite quickly. I promise. But you must remember, there are so many twists and turns I must be careful to make sure everything makes sense. So far, aside from the vast number of family gatherings we have had in the last few weeks, has been the biggest hinderance to progress. Plotting, plotting, fact-checking, weaving. It takes time. I do a lot of ruminating. Or, also known as: staring off into space. And reading. I am one of those authors who must read in order to keep the "voices" flowing. The more I read, the  louder they are. So, I will leave it at Fall 2011 and do my best to make it September, while anticipating it will actually be October. Soon, you wonderful readers, soon. 

Together at Last!

My YA family saga finally came out in paperback last week, available at Amazon. Well. The ebook has been out for 9 months or so. The two formats, digital and paperback, had two separate pages.  So if you found the eBook version, you wouldn't necessarily know there is also a paperback version, both are happily joined now with their happy new link!

Might I also mention...Filter was just given another 5 star review on Amazon! Woohoo!

For sample chapters see my archive or follow me on Facebook or look me up on goodreads!

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4191733.Gwenn_Wright

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Filter-The-Von-Strassenberg-Saga/150889648309305

Now In PAPERBACK!!!

It took more than a year of work...ok, not really. Writing the book, scraping the first 100+ pages and starting over, writing the 390 pages of Filter, editing the 390 pages, editing them again and again and again....unpublishing Filter for months because I decided it must be junk because only a few people bought the eBook each month and then re-publishing it because while editing I fell in love with the story again, struggling to get it to look professional in paperback and marketing the eBook almost 24/7....that has taken a year. The initial writing took about five months. There was about a month or two of research before that. Some people complain about the price of paperbacks, but it is 390 pages long, ink and paper cost money. And I'm only making $0.82 per copy. Unless you buy the $0.99 cent eBook, then I'm making $0.61. Rakin' it in. O yea. And now, with all that done (except the marketing, that's constant) you may now read Filter in paperback. A local teen I gave one of the proofs to texted me to tell me it's BEAST. Ok. I'll take that!

Crisis Averted

All right kids....

Thanks to a very helpful thread on Amazon's Createspace and a guy who knew just the right thing to say, we now have page numbers! Woohoo! Page numbers have never been this exciting! Also, whilst finding the solution to our page number woes I also discovered something most of us probably don't even pause to consider: Chapters always start on the right-hand page. Never thought about it, but it's so true! So....we have page numbers and our chapters begin on the right-hand page. Folks around here will probably be a little sad that I have things figured out. I've been giving away the proofs that weren't quite right. Not that there is a hoard of people following me and demanding copies, but there are several people who have been waiting. So, cross your fingers, this may really be it! And, now at 394 pages the book will be $15.99. Maybe that sounds ridiculous but if you bought Filter at your local bookstore that would earn me $0.82. So no, I'm not trying to get rich quick! That's just what it is. If you want to save $15, you can download the ebook for $0.99! It doesn't need page numbers!

Filter~Chapter 1

Nashville, Tennessee

2010

Kevin looks at me and I know he isn’t seeing the little girl I use to be, all pigtails and gangly limbs. He isn’t seeing my mother’s daughter or even my mother anymore. As his eyes linger over me, stopping here and there in the most uncomfortable places, I know he isn’t really even seeing me as I am. The bloodshot eyes staring out of the alcohol-flushed face are seeing a girl, nearly of age, who owes him a tremendous debt of gratitude.

He has had no shortage of women over the years. He kept them from me at first, being careful of what I saw and, disturbingly, heard. But, as I grew older, and he saw that I was not growing into a refined young lady but that the poverty and desperation of our lives has made me something harder, coarser, he stopped caring. There were one-night stands and those who didn’t bother staying more than a few hours; those who got what they wanted, just as he had, who used him just as he used them, and left promptly after. Occasionally one might last a few weeks, but rarely. They didn’t want a man with responsibilities.

I.e. me.

A man with responsibilities and no car and an address that changed at least every fifth month depending on the compassion of our landlord at the time.

I was the only unchanging factor in his life and knew he blamed me for his lack of constants. If he hadn’t done the right thing, if he hadn’t been so good to me and true to the promise he had made to my mother then his life would be different.

But he had been true to my mother’s wish.

She had been obviously pregnant when he had taken her in. And when she had asked him to care for me, he had agreed.

They had pulled me from the hemorrhaging, dying body of my mother and turned me over to the care of the man who was not my father. He had taken me home to their tiny apartment above the old hardware store and done what little he knew to take care of me.

It took less than six weeks for him to realize his mistake. Maybe even less than six hours, but he never abandoned me. He clung to me as though I was the last remnant of some great and powerful love.

And that gave me hope that maybe my mother was really something else and not just some girl who got knocked up by a guy whose name she didn’t even know. She was something special, someone worthy of a man’s loyalty and devotion.

(c)2010 Gwenn Wright

Library of Congress

A PG-15 Read

Some recent discussion I've participated in on Amazon have led me to rethink the marketing of my book. Calling it a teen read is too broad. While there aren't any scenes with sex, there are some darker matters the story eludes to. It's essential to the plot. There is also some sensuality, but it's Rocky's first kiss...not her first "time." It's an innocent enough read but because of the tragedy and the sexual tension I don't know if I would want my 13 year old reading it. 14 maybe. 15 and up would be best. Which is why I have started marketing Filter more as a YA novel. It's just the books that I've read recently...Evermore and A Great and Terrible Beauty had some content that was mild as black pepper for adults but I wouldn't want my 13 year old reading them. So, Filter is a YA suspense/romance/family saga and more of  mystery than you know! (And I sold another book on Amazon! Yea!) 

Fan Page

Is it not kosher to promote another fan page while on another site?
I don't even know.
You can join my little group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=108780859177556&ref=ts

A friend of mine read the first few chapters of Filter: Book 2 the other day and he tells me, "That character eats Cap'n Crunch." So I went back and changed it from "cereal" to "Cap'n Crunch." That was so fun! I would love to do more of that. Obviously not with anything that would interfere with my plot, but the small details that add depth...I wouldn't mind taking suggestions from people who have read the first book. It's a neat idea. We become so familiar with characters we read that we want to contribute from our own personal visions, like what kind of cereal he would eat. 
So if you read Filter, please feel free to give suggestions for the little things. Maybe Raquel likes striped socks or something. I think that would be cool as a reader to read something and know, that was put in there because of me.
So give me some small details here or on Facebook and we'll see what we can do!
And don't forget, at Amazon you can try before you buy!

Filter is Available on Smashwords.

Filter is available on both Smashwords and Amazon.com.
If you actually want to buy it and don't have a Kindle I would recommend getting it from smashbooks for now. I've just uploaded a more e-friendly version to Amazon and it isn't active yet. Sales are going up! I'm just waiting for the reviews. More than anything I want to know people are enjoying reading about Viktor and Katherine and William and Raquel!
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/20957