Tour Stop: Guest Post with Author Brenda Pandos

The Emerald Talisman blog tour from 10/26-11/23 hosted by Confessions of a Bookaholic and A Life Bound By Books . There will be giveaways, interviews and a scavenger hunt!

 Hello All!!! Today I have a guest post with the lovely Author Brenda Pandos. She is kicking off a tour for the releases of her book "The Emerald Talisman" which is now out on Audio book! I am so happy to be apart of this tour because I recently won a signed copy of another one of her Books with is called Everblue and Loved it(review next week). So I'm a new fan. But before we get to her Guest post lets learn a little about the book!

Book Title: The Emerald Talisman, audiobook

Series name and #: Talisman series, Book #1

Publisher: Obsidian Mountain Publishing

Release date: 9/20/2012

AMAZON/ AUDIBLE/  HEAR THE SAMPLE

You can run from your destiny, but you can't hide. If for no other reason than to help endure the hormonal rush of high school, sixteen-year-old Julia Parker would trade her ability to feel her fellow students' emotions in a heartbeat, especially half the boys in class. When the beguiling Nicholas uses his superhuman strength to rescue Julia from the edge of a cliff before she's devoured by a bloodthirsty stalker, Julia is suddenly thrust into an underground world where people and animals are often one and the same. Fellow high school students disappear and only Julia and Nicholas know the truth. While Nicholas, a vampire hunter, is out stopping the ever-growing coven, an old friend entices Julia to join him on the dark side and a psychic tells Julia she alone is the key to stopping the madness, problem is it'll require Nicholas' life.

Guest post 

  

A typical writing day, by Brenda Pandos

Man… a whole day of writing day? *drools* Now that’s a dream. Actually, because I’m a stay-at-home mom and my boys are four and seven, I don’t have that luxury quite yet. Writing time typically happens in the morning after they both go to school (AM only for my 4 yr old) and I cram in what I can in 3 hours before I have to pick him up.

The magic starts (snort) on my drive home as I let my mind wander and hope I don’t plow into a CHP on the way home. What I hear is typically dialog between characters. Then, I write the scene until I get stumped. Check Facebook, Twitter, email, and jump up to get a snack. Then … I try to write a little more, rinse, repeat. Then I look at the clock to find it’s already 11AM, freak that I’ve only written 300 words and race the clock to make myself write at least 700 words more. Then I dash off to the shower with ten minutes to spare, where I daydream more ways to torture my characters. I jump out and dress quickly, then I write up until the very last second before I speed across town to pick up my son at school in time with wet hair.

It’s not very exciting or effective, but that’s how I try to get my writing in. 

Top 10 things I learned writing the Emerald Talisman:

1.      I can write, (amazing enough), but I can’t spell. Actually, I just decided to write a novel one day and didn’t stop ‘til I’d finished. Crazy, but true. As my son says, “I’m really good at this.” But, yes. It’s exciting to find something that I love that I’m naturally good at and love.

2.      Writing is fun and hard. Editing is an entirely different story. (I couldn’t help it. I love puns) After writing my story, I learned that your rough draft isn’t as amazing as you think it is… it’s actually pretty crappy. Editing sucks.

3.      Distain and disdain aren’t the same word. It’s not so effective to have distain for your enemy, unless you’re running for a pageant and wish your nemesis a dirty ball gown, then it might work.

4.      Shutter and shudder aren’t the same word either. One cannot shutter, unless they are installing them, which is very distracting for a character to bust out and start doing during an intense scene.

5.      I’d sell books to strangers! People I didn’t know (and didn’t beg) would buy my books. That still amazes me.

6.      I’d meet the coooooooooolest people! I can’t believe all the fans, book bloggers, and authors I’ve had the pleasure to be around and get to know. So awesome!

7.      People will LOVE my writing. Love it so much, they’d send me letters, cards, and homemade gifts.

8.      People will HATE my writing and be very mean with their words over their disdain, (Ha! See? I’ve learned the proper usage) and that I don’t have to let the mean reviewers ruin a good thing. Even my most favorite authors/books have been ripped to shreds by some silly person who thinks the sun shines and sets on their opinion.

9.      Editing still sucks.

10.  I will survive.

I loved Brenda's Guest Post. How about you guys? Leave all questions and basically anything else you want to say in the comments, and I will check them out! :D

 About the Author 

Website/ Blog/ Goodreads/ Twitter/ Facebook

Brenda Pandos lives in California with her husband and two boys. She attempts to balance her busy life filled with writing, being a mother and wife, and spending time with friends and family. Working formerly as an I.T. Administrator, she never believed her imagination would be put to good use. After her son was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder her life completely changed. Writing paranormal romance became something she could do at home while tending to the new needs of her family, household, and herself. Three years later, Brenda now has five books published, The Talisman Trilogy: The Emerald Talisman, The Sapphire Talisman, and The Onyx Talisman, and Mer Tales: Everblue and Evergreen. She is currently working on the third book of Mer Tales, Everlost, coming February 2013.