22.10.12

Guest post by Lisa Bouchard & Giveaway!

Today I'm happy to welcome Lisa Bouchard, author of the newly released The Shattered Door, to Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf! Today's she's here to talk about how the book came to be, and be sure to check out the awesome giveaway at the end of the post!

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What Was I Thinking? Or How I Wrote The Shattered Door

Deep back in the mists of time, I decided it would be fun to write a novel. I read a lot, how tough could it be, my naïve younger self thought. 

I joined National Novel Writing Month and wrote a novel. By the end of November, I had a finished novel. How cool was that? 

But then I re-read it in January and wow, was it terrible. Really terrible, like make your eyes bleed it’s so bad. So bad I didn’t even know where to start editing it, so I didn’t. I reveled in the fact that I wrote a novel, and made plans to write another one. 

At this point, I had a 5-year-old, a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old so writing plans were on hold for a while. But when the next November came around, I was at it again. I wrote another triumphantly terrible novel. 

But I didn’t mind, because the second novel was a little smoother, the ideas were a little more complicated and it wasn’t quite so tough to get them onto paper. Then again, this might have been the hormones talking, because I was pregnant with my fourth (and last) child. 

This goes on for several more years, writing during November and trying to squeeze a little more writing in throughout the year. I really liked writing and wanted to write more, but if you’ve been paying attention, I had four children in seven years. I decided to be good to myself and just do what I could until my youngest turned six, and I would spend those years learning about writing and reading great books. 

Fast forward six years (or this will be a very long post) and I start to get serious. I wrote a paranormal mystery – it was bad. I wrote a post-apocalyptic novel – good idea, but needs more work. I rewrote the mystery – getting better, but still not great. I wrote a steampunk novel. I rewrote the mystery a third time. At this point, I really like it, but it’s still not good, so I replot it one more time and that is the novel I’ve just published, The Shattered Door

Phew! What a trip! 

So what did I learn? Persistence. When a story sticks with you, don’t give up on it. You can set it aside, write other books, learn more, but always come back to the stories you love.

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Thanks so much for stopping by, Lisa!

Here's a little more about the book:
When publicist Kathleen Harrison is executed in her suburban home, the obvious suspect is her client and lover George Wynton, a known telepath. Boston attorney Dan Stevens is hired to defend George, but he has no use for telepaths, and so hands the investigative reins to Morrison Investigations.

Novice private investigators Darcy and Olivia Morrison reluctantly agree to help Dan with the case. They recognize how invaluable the experience of working the high-profile case will be, but know it increases the risk of their secret being revealed. Once they accept the challenge, there will be no turning back, no matter how great the stakes.

From Commonwealth Avenue to the Back Bay, The Shattered Door sweeps readers down into an underworld born from fear and bigotry, and up into the lives of Boston's elite class where the real darkness lies.
The Shattered Door is the first case in the Morrison Investigations series.

Thanks to Lisa, I have one eBook copy of The Shattered Door to giveaway!

To enter, just fill out the Rafflecopter form below. This giveaway is open to everyone ages 13 or older!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

12 comments:

  1. So your NaNoWriMo novel was eventually published? That's great! I always wondered what happened to all those novels written in November.

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  2. Yes, but it bears very little resemblance to the novel I wrote then - just names and telepathy are the same. Everything else changed at least once from the first version to the last.

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  3. This sounds incredibly familiar. To read the first draft of the book I have about to come out in January, you'd think I wrote it with my feet...when I was five. Okay, well, maybe not THAT bad, but it was bad. Congrats on The Shattered Door!

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  4. Just wanted to say that I appreciated Lisa talking about her Nanowrimo experience. Tenacity, commitment, perseverance.I'm looking forward to reading THE SHATTERED DOOR!

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  5. Count me in too, sounds like a suspenseful read.

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  6. Wow! I don't check comments for a few hours and look at you all! Hi everyone.

    colbymarshall - best wishes for your book in January - email me when it comes out.

    Beth - You're very welcome. I credit a lot of my perseverance to having a family who thinks I'm awesome.

    Tore and Liene - good luck in the contest.

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  7. So excited for this give away, winning or not I must get my hands on this book the teaser chapters were amazing.

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  8. Hi Elise,

    I'm glad you liked the first chapters - I hope you love the rest of the book, too.

    Lisa

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  9. Nice post. Sounds like a good book.

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  10. Is it a stand alone book or part of a series directly or indirectly?

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  11. Hi Glenn,

    This is the first book of an open-ended series, but I am purposely writing all of the books as though they are stand-alones.

    You shouldn't have any problems reading them out of order.


    Lisa

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  12. Hi bn100,

    Thanks for the compliment!

    Lisa

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I love comments so never be afraid to leave one!

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