Mundie Moms

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Siren's Song by Heather McCollum, Blog Tour: Guest Post & Giveaway


Hello & Welcome to today's Siren's Song blog tour. I'm so thrilled to have author Heather McCollum on the blog today. Before she takes it away with her guest post, here's a little bit about her upcoming YA release.


About The Book

Published by: Spencer Hill Press
To Be Released on: March 25th, 2014
Pre-Order from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Add it to Goodreads

Jule Welsh can sing. She enthralls people with her bel canto voice. But it takes more than practice to reach her level of exquisite song; it takes siren's blood running through her veins. Jule is starting her senior year at Cougar Creek High when her relatively normal world begins to resemble a roller coaster flying through a carnival scare house. Her mother is diagnosed as insane and committed, a psycho-stalker is snapping pictures of her to put into his homemade Jule-shrine, her voice is suddenly putting people into comatose trances, oh and the gorgeous new guy in town, Luke Whitmore, is interested in her . . . but also wants to kill her.

Read an excerpt HERE

Check out this teaser from the book:

“Your voice.” His smile fades and a crease pinches his eyebrows briefly. “It caught me off-guard.”
My voice. Really? “Yeah, it surprises people,” I say, “but they don’t usually look like they’re going to reach down my throat and rip my voicebox out.”
I watch him swallow, and he inhales as if the visual might be too much for him. I raise one eyebrow. He doesn’t look like the type who shies away from graphic violence.


* * * * * * *

My Writing Process for Siren's Song
Hello everyone! I’m thrilled to be here today on Mundie Moms to talk a bit about the writing process I used to create my newest release. SIREN’S SONG is a paranormal romance and my first ever Young Adult book!
Jule Welsh can sing. She enthralls people with her bel canto voice. But it takes more than practice to reach her level of exquisite song; it takes siren’s blood running through her veins.
Jule is starting her senior year at Cougar Creek High when her relatively normal world begins to resemble a rollercoaster flying through a carnival scare house. Her mother is diagnosed as insane and committed, a psycho-stalker is snapping pictures of her to put into his homemade Jule-shrine, her voice is suddenly putting people into comatose trances, oh and the gorgeous new guy in town, Luke Whitmore, is interested in her . . . but also wants to kill her.


In a perfect writing world, I would have quiet, uninterrupted time to zing fast-paced, witty dialogue back and forth between rich characters while throwing disasters at them like a spinning tri-blade dagger. My life however is far from quiet. I have three rather loud, spirited children (ages 7, 13 and 15) and a rambunctious golden retriever. Between soccer games, hockey practice, gymnastics lessons, car pool and a dog who must go out or she will claw through the glass window each time she sees a squirrel (and we have MANY), I’m lucky if I get one single hour of uninterrupted writing time a day.
When I am disturbed and then sit back down, I must re-enter the world I am creating. This takes time since I am no longer in high school and have to re-immerse myself into the setting.
So I collage.
Huh? Yes, I cut out pictures and paste them down on something.
I sometimes go all out and use beautiful blank books. I fill the first two pages with pictures of my main characters, what they look like, their back stories, their setting. They may not resemble what I have in mind exactly, but the emotion in the face of the pictures must be right. The next page represents their meeting. Then turning points, the dark moment and the happy ending (although I rarely finish to the happy ending because by then I’m done writing the book).
I’ve used poster board for some books so I could see everything at once. I’ve more recently moved to collaging open manila folders because they are smaller and can be stored in my filing cabinet. The concept is still the same as the blank books, but posters and folders take less time to put together. I have even tried collaging a blank canvas, making it into a working piece of art (like I did for Siren’s Song).


My process goes something like this. I write the first couple of chapters of the new book because the idea and opening scene are so exciting to me that I can’t sleep unless I put them down in print. Around the beginning of chapter three I’m not so confident anymore. I don’t really know my characters, so this is when I head to the images on the internet and to magazines.
I have basic ideas of what my hero and heroine look like, so I search for pictures of these people. If you try this at home I must warn you NOT to google images of sexy men without putting the word “clothed” in the search or you will get an eyeful. And if you search for sexy teenage boys (as I foolishly did for my Young Adult romance), you’ll possibly be put on some FBI watch list.
Anyway…I digress. This picture hunt assists me with my plotting as well as helping me understand my characters. For example, when I was collaging SIREN’S SONG, I found a yummy picture of cookies. I cut it out and used it before I even knew what their purpose would be in the book. And actually, I touch on cookies only a bit in SIREN’S SONG, but they washed over to play a bigger part in the sequel, which I’m writing now.
There are also practical reasons to collage. It takes energy to remember how my villain’s nose curves or what the inside hallway of a high school looks like. It is much easier and faster for me to refer to my collage. I also write important facts on the collage like birth dates, eye color, and relationships next to various pictures. It is tremendously helpful.
I’ve also recently created my first book trailer, which you can see here: SS Book Trailer I used my collage for inspiration. Even though I had to use different pictures, which I either bought or took with my own camera, the collage helped me identify the main parts of the book that I wanted to include in the trailer.
I keep all of my collages, even when the poster board bends or the pictures need to be re-glued. They become a tribute to each of my books. Not the complete, edited book, but the journey to reach THE END. I stare at this mish mash of pictures each day as I write for months. I add to the collages and tweak them. They become a woven representation of my book. It’s become the most valuable part of my writing process.
I have taught collaging to various women’s groups. These women weren’t collaging books but their dreams, who they want to be, how they want to spend their time. Keeping the visual before them is a fantastic way to help anyone focus on their goals.
Have you ever collaged? What was the focus? It’s lots of fun!

About The Author


For more information about Heather McCollum and her books, please check out her web site at www.HeatherMcCollum.com. She is also on Twitter at @HMcCollumAuthor and on Facebook as HeatherMcCollumAuthor.
Find Heather here: Website | Twitter | Facebook

The Giveaway
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Happy Spring!

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It's FINALLY SPRING!! I know for many of our readers, you guys thought this day wouldn't come. Hopefully you've seen the last of the bitter cold, and snow. Here's to a fabulous SPRING Day!

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