Saturday, March 1, 2014

Countdown to Rainbow Con With Author Zoe Lynne!

Today I have a guest post from author Zoe Lynne to kick off the Countdown to RainbowCon!  

Admittedly, I always find writing these things a little hard to do. I asked the lovely people at Amethyst Dreams to give me a topic to write on and I would let my imagination soar. I’m going to talk about RainbowCon and I’m going to give away some books. They said they would love for me to talk about my writing process, well…

Jenna is tapping on my shoulder. (Holds up a forefinger) One second please.

Jenna: Let us do this.
Stella: (Nodding behind her, grinning from ear to ear)
Me: I’m not giving you the keyboard.
Jenna: Puhhhhhleeeeaaaaassseeeee
Me: (Brow crooked. Sighs.) Fine. Behave please.
Jenna: I’m an angel.
Me: Yeah. Yeah.

~Jenna (From Being True #1: Finding Ashlynn)~

Miss Zoe tries being patient with us. She really does, but we’re totally loud and we’ll keep nagging until she lets us come out and play. But we couldn’t come to life without her. She gets us, like really puts our voices out there. We tell her our story, let her really get to know us, then we keep chattering until she gives in. When she sits down to write us, we let her do the physical work, but she’s kinda like a car and we’re her drivers.

(throat clearing in the background) Oh, that’s Stella. She wants to talk now.

~Stella (From Being True #2: Freeing Stella)~

My book was really scary for Zoe. She’d never written a transgender book before and didn’t know much about being a transgender teen. She spent lots of time talking to kids in her local youth group, listening to them talk about their loves and fears and lives, and she grew from that experience. She walked away with more knowledge and more confidence. I did my best to be patient. I kept assuring her she could write my story, that she just had to let go of her insecurities and put the words to paper. When she finally did, I was so proud of her and her work. She not only told my story for me, but put so much passion in it I had tears.

Jonathon: Hey, can I talk now?
Stella: Your story isn’t even told yet.
Jonathon: I know. That’s why I can talk about how the stories come to life. You guys are old news. Like totally yesterday.
Jenna and Stella: (unified eye roll)
Jenna: Just let him talk. He’ll drive her crazy until he’s allowed to say something.
Stella: Kinda like we did?
Jenna and Stella: (unified laughter)
Stella: Okay, but make it quick. Zoe has something she needs to say too.

~Jonathon (From the upcoming Being True #3: Saving Jonathon)~

It always starts this way. We make a brief appearance in one of the previous stories. The reader might look at us and think, hmmm…wonder when he’s going to appear. Then, we pop up and the next book is all about us. That’s what’s happening to me right now. See, I jumped in line with Jenna and Ashlynn, but those two are loudmouths, so I sorta got drowned out. Then everyone wanted to know about Stella. I did the polite thing and stepped aside because I knew Zoe would give me a chance. I stayed church-mouse quiet. Well, my patience is paying off right now. Zoe sat down a few weeks ago and started laying out my book. I don’t know if I want her to give me a boyfriend or anything like that, but I would like a loving home. It’s been a while since I had one of those. My parents didn’t want me anymore. They said I could only stay home if I went to one of those pray away the gay places. I totally couldn’t. It felt wrong. Anyway, that’s gonna be my story. So when she gets it done, please read it. I think it’s going to be intense.

Me: You guys done now?
(They all nod)
Me: Thank you.

As you’ve probably noticed, I don’t have any control over the characters in my head. I tried to make the rules once or twice, but they stop talking when I try to make them do what I want them to do. I’m sure the entire gang will want to come out and play at Rainbowcon too. I’ve signed up to sit on a panel for each of them. My good friend DC Juris will be sitting on the Transgender panel with me. I think I’m doing the Lesbian panel alone, which is okay…save for the horrid stage fright I get. My friend Jeff Erno will be on the Young Adult panel with me. I’m looking forward to those. Most of all, I’m looking forward to meeting all the readers and fangirling over my Facebook friends. That’s one of my favorite things to do at conventions.

Oh, and if you’re coming to Rainbowcon, be sure to find my table. I’ll be giving away a Kindle Fire HD to one lucky winner, and I have mounds of swag to giveaway: autographed books, t-shirts, bags, stickers. It’s going to be a riot!

But in the meantime, I’m going to giveaway an ebook from my backlist to one lucky winner here.

Thanks for giving me a little of your time. It’s been fun.
(Looks at the cast of characters) Tell them thank-you.
(All in a chorus) THANK YOU!

You can find out more about Zoe Lynne on her blog, Facebook and on Twitter.  She has a FREE READ up on her blog right now so check that out too!  She writes fiction for Gay, Lesbian and Transgender youth.  Thanks Zoe for stopping by and I hope you have a great time at RainbowCon!

To enter to win one of Zoe Lynne's ebook backlist, just leave a comment on this post with a way to contact you (email address in this format: yourname AT email DOT com or Twitter handle).  This giveaway will end at the end of the Countdown to Rainbow Con Event! 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please count me in!

vitajex(At)Aol(Dot)com

Mary Preston said...

This was fun to read through thank you.

marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

Emily said...

I can't wait for RainbowCon, thanks for stopping by Zoe!

tiger-chick-1(at)hotmail(dot)com