Cover Reveal for Brigid Kemmerer's Latest Book in the Elemental Series: Sacrifice!

I'm happy to help spread the word about--and cover love for--Brigid Kemmerer's fifth book in the Elemental Series: Sacrifice!

To drag out the anticipation even longer, I'll post the blurb first:

One misstep and they lose it all. For the last time.

Michael Merrick is used to pressure.

He’s the only parent his three brothers have had for years. His power to control Earth could kill someone if he miscalculates. Now an Elemental Guide has it out for his family, and he’s all that stands in the way.

His girlfriend, Hannah, gets that. She’s got a kid of her own, and a job as a firefighter that could end her life without a moment’s notice.

But there are people who have had enough of Michael’s defiance, his family’s “bad luck.” Before he knows it, Michael’s enemies have turned into the Merricks’ enemies, and they’re armed for war.

They’re not interested in surrender. But Michael isn’t the white flag type anyway. There will be blood on the ground tonight…

Ooo, those eyes give me shivers! And here's a surprise bonus--the Australian cover!

So where can you get more info on Sacrifice, Brigid Kemmerer, the Elemental Series, or add it to Goodreads? Take your pick of the links below

Brigid Kemmerer website

Brigid on Facebook

Brigid on Twitter

Goodreads  

  

Amazon link to Elemental Series

Barnes & Noble link to Elemental Series

Book Depository

iBooks

IndieBound

Still, and Once Again, A Writer

I've posted before about my cancer experience, but a recent post got me thinking about it in a different way. Brigid Kemmerer posted last Friday in response to a reader's question: How do you get back into writing after a long absence or life event? She has some great insights and interpretations on how life events shape both you and your writing. Go read it here--I'll wait.

For me, writing over the last few years has been intertwined with a cancer diagnosis and the treatments. I had my 2nd biopsy the same week I got a serious R&R on my first book, and then crammed a rewrite in before my surgery. It still wasn't where I wanted it, so I did another one after the surgery and before my radiation started. Then was so out of it for a few months that I have huge gaps in my memory for that period. Wouldn't be surprised if I someday come across a file with stuff I'd written during those months, with no idea I'd done so!

But once it seemed like I was out of the woods, the book idea I'd had rattling around became my "hope" book. A sign that I was making plans again, that I had ambitions beyond my recliner. A book where I could lose myself in a world in my head, since I didn't have the energy to do much physically. Crow's Rest became the book where I threw my voice--quite literally, since I had vocal cord paralysis on one side for about 5 weeks after the surgery.

And after several stops and starts, when I had a finished book and polished it up again, it helped me feel like I was more than cancer. (Or even more than post-cancer, since I had a clean scan last January.) I was still, and once again, a writer. And as Brigid said, I'd also learned to take risks. I didn't feel like I was working on the same timeline as I'd had before--"I have time to develop as a writer" didn't feel so safe anymore.

So if nothing else came from this experience, it cured me from the tendency to pants a book without an outline, and as a result has made my writing much tighter. I also worry less about being taken seriously, or being a Great Writer of High Falutin Literature, and whether people think writing for children is training wheels for eventually writing for adults.

Because I'm writing exactly what I'm supposed to be writing, for here and now, for who I am now.

Connections

This might read like Six Degrees of the Writer World, but some years ago I approached Brigid Kemmerer about beta reading one of my manuscripts. We'd commented on a lot of the same threads on Absolute Write's Water Cooler forum and seemed like a good writerly match.

Alas, Brigid was just starting the sweet insanity of deadlines for multiple books under contract and wasn't able to read for me then. But, she did have another writer-friend, Alison Kemper who was willing to give my pages a look. Brigid thought we'd be a good team, and she was right! Alison and I share a quirky sense of humor and a mutual love of each other's sarcastic main characters.

Then, last year, Alison sent another writer my way who was looking for some query help. Karen McCoy and I ended up trading manuscripts and cheering each other along on our writing journeys. So when Karen said she'd be passing through Sacramento, I jumped at the chance to meet up with her in person.

We chose the Crocker Art Museum because it's right off I-5--and because I love their exhibits and cafe. We didn't have too much time to see the exhibits (there were Important Writing Conversations to be had!) but we each got fantastic salads and had a great visit. And because Alison was in our thoughts and conversation, I added her to the souvenir photo of the day.

That's Karen on the left (who looks so young that the guy at the desk gave her a "Youth" sticker when I checked us in on my membership), me in the middle, and Alison on the right, all the way from North Carolina. Yay for writer friends, and their support in this crazy undertaking called writing!

P.S. I'd be remiss not to mention another writer connection--I met Laurie Dennison at LA SCBWI last year, and I sent her Karen's way when they were looking for an additional beta. They each thanked me for that, so it must have been another successful connection!

Maybe I should add Laurie next to Karen in the photo?