Guest Post & Giveaway: Amanda Arista - CLAWS AND EFFECT

Hi Everyone. Please help me welcome Amanda Arista to AsianCocoa's Secret Garden today! Amanda is here to talk about how journaling helped her in writing her new novel Claws and Effect. 

Hello there and thank you for having me over at AsianCocoa’s today to talk about my new book Claws and Effect and how the journaling process helped me write it.

            Even though my series is called Diaries of an Urban Panther,  I really never kept a daily account of my life. I think it stems from perpetual low self-esteem: I wasn’t interesting enough to waste the pages of all the pretty journals I got with the boring things that happened to me.

            My characters were a different story all together. Their lives and struggles were amazing and fantastic, so I fill the many diaries with their stories instead. I started writing every day somewhere in 6^th grade. I’m not going to be daft and say that all of the stories were just about my characters. I’m sure that the first time I liked a boy, a character fell in love. I know that when I lost my father to cancer, all of a sudden, my characters seemed to be orphaned as well. Journaling their lives became my daily ritual to help deal with my own struggles. Probably still is.

            If I can impart one thing to the world, it would be to write every day. About yourself, about someone else, about tuna fish. It doesn’t matter. Just write. Or get a therapist- but that’s another blog post all together.

           My education background will tell you that writing is a way to solidify one’s understanding of new material. Writing through something helps you make sense of it and I think that we can all agree there is a lot of crazy stuff that needs some sense made out of it.

            My emotional background will tell you that writing is a way to get it out. There is a joke that you should never make a writer mad because they will kill you off as a character in one of their books. It’s true- we get that anger on the page as soon as possible. “Keep the drama on the page,” my writer professor told us. Journaling helps get it all OUT, because keeping it IN will only hurt you. Write about the frustrations you have at work or the tension that you feel between you and a sister you stopped talking to. Make up names, put them in Portland or some other place far away if you need to distance yourself from the emotion of it, but do get it out. Just not on Facebook.

            My writer background will tell you that journaling daily will help the words flow. Journaling daily helps with fluency in reading and writing. The more you write, the easier it is to write. Claws and Effect was a contracted book; I had a very small time frame to get it to my editor. Because I journaled daily and set a schedule for myself, I was able to crank it out in three months. I was able to sit down, get focused, and write what I needed to write for that day because I always sat down, got focused and wrote something. Some days it was complete crap, but other days, it was awesome.

            Journaling, professionally or privately, is a recommended tool, not only to possibly spark a creative endeavor but a way to organize the thoughts running around in your head and possibly help you make sense of the craziness that we don’t have control over.

            So do you journal? Send dream e-mails to yourself first thing at work? Leave a comment and you will be entered to win a $25 gift certificate.

            Thanks and Happy Writing!

Claws and Effect
by Amanda Arista
Series: Diaries of an Urban Panther, Book 2
Release Date: December 27, 2011

Violet Jordan Rule #2 of being a superhero: Find reliable sidekicks

Dear Diary,

Once I took down Haverty, the Primo of the city, I thought life was going to get better. After four assassination attempts, I’m thinking not so much. Haverty's pack needs a new leader and I've just about run out of reasons why I'm not right for the job. Besides, having loyal followers would definitely help me fight off whoever's out for my blood. Especially since my boyfriend is always busy playing White Hat to every wanderer except me. It's nice that he thinks I'm tough enough to handle my own business, but a little extra back up would be nice.

So now I just need to figure out how to mentor new shifters, run a pack, keep my "real" job, and have some sort of personal life. I guess it's all in a day's work for this horror movie writer-turned-shapeshifting panther.

Author bio:

         Amanda was born in Illinois, raised in Corpus Christi, lives in Dallas but her heart lies in London. Good thing she loves to travel! The summer of second grade, she read every book in the young adult section of the library, so she started making up her own stories and hasn’t stopped.

         She has a husband who fights crime, one dog who thinks he’s a real boy, and another who might be a fruit bat in disguise.  When not writing, Amanda often dreams of co-opening an evil bakery and sell despicable desserts. Her particularly favorites are larvaceous lemon bars and sinful cinnamon streusel.

         She spends her weekends writing at coffee shops, practicing for the day that caffeine intake becomes an Olympic sport, and plotting character demises with fellow writers Wolvarez, Killer Cupcake and Keith (names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent).

Amanda can be found at: 

Website:www.amandaarista.com

Twitter: @pantherista

Facebook- Amanda Arista, Author

Giveaway:

Amanda will be giving away a $25 Amazon gift card to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour. The more comments you leave the better your chances of winning.

 

To Enter:

Answer Amanda's questions from the post or leave a comment or question for her and include your email address.

Be sure to visit the other blogs on this wonderful tour. Click on the tour button below for a list of participating blogs.