Hidden Magic Cover Reveal with a Giveaway

Hidden Magic

by 

Melanie Crouse

Release Date: 

Friday, November 24

From the back cover:

Jenny feels trapped by her overprotective family. When she has the opportunity to spend the summer with her sister, a small slice of freedom is all she's really hoping for. Instead she finds something else altogether:

Electricity.

That's what Jenny feels when she looks at Arram. She knows he’s drawn to her too, but electricity doesn't seem to be enough to entice the brilliant mage-in-training.

Stung, Jenny turns to Arram's former best friend, Jack. But Arram and Jack's rivalry is much darker than Jenny suspects, and so are Jack's intentions. Soon she's caught in a mystery of old murder, ancient prophecies, and magic hidden where no one has thought to look.

When Jenny uncovers a secret magic, she is offered two choices. Arram wants her to keep her safe. Jack wants to show her the easy way out. Whatever Jenny decides, her life will irrevocably change.Either way, freedom may be the one thing Jenny can never have.

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Long Beach, California, Part 2

1. On Sunday, I took a taxi cab to church. It was only about five miles away, so I was absolutely flabbergasted when the fare came to twenty-five dollars. Holy cats, that's a lot of money. I was busy texting when I first got in the car, so the fare was already up to fifteen dollars when I finally looked up. After I finished coughing and sputtering, I managed to ask how much longer it would be before we got there. We were almost there, he said. Still, those last two miles seemed to last forever as I watched the fare creep steadily higher.

2. The congretation was Spanish speaking. I didn't hear one word of English the entire time. It was awesome. I've often heard people say that you can still feel the Spirit in sacrament meetings, even if you can't understand the language, and it was definitely true for me. It is very comforting to recognize the pattern of the meeting, even if I didn't understand the language. They did a confirmation and (of course) the sacrament. Then they did the children's presentation. In LDS congregations, once a year the children ages 3-12 do a presentation about what they learned that year. They sing songs, give talks, and have speaking parts. So I recognized all the tunes to the songs. And kids are adorable to watch, even if I don't understand the language. I was moved to tears more than once.

THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE TRIP 3. Luckily I didn't have to take a taxi back to the hotel. Instead (drum roll please) Sabrina West picked me up. Yes, THE Sabrina West, famous author and ornithologist. She picked me up and we went to the Cafe Crema for lunch. I had this amazing panini with roast beef, mozarella and jalepenos. It was, by far, the best food I've eaten for a long time. Then Sabrina took me to the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in search of the elusive coastal sage brush. Not just any sage brush. It had to be the exact right kind, because our next book is set in Carlsbad, California, and I need to know what it looks like there. Luckily, Sabrina is an expert. We also saw an incredible variety of birds, and Sabrina knew ALL their names. (I'm hoping she'll send me a list, because, as she knows very well by now, I have a memory like a sieve.) There were terns and pelicans, even a harrier falcon and a several plovers. There were some curlews and merganzers...I know I'm forgetting a bunch, but it was a beautiful place to get to be in as I got to know this woman who has become such an important part of my life. Actually, it didn't feel like I was getting to know her at all. Her personality shines very authentically through the internet, and I feel like I've known her for a long, long time.

4. Did I mention that I got to meet SABRINA WEST? I'm not certain I'm giving this part of my trip the weight that it deserves. We talked plot lines for quite a while. It was a blast.

5. All too soon, our visit ended. I had to be back to the hotel by 5:00 because the board members at Roger's conference were all going to the Queen Mary for dinner. We went, and it was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity for us to be aboard the boat. The dinner was good, and the company was wonderful. Roger works with some awesome people. When it was over though, I think we both felt like we'd made a mistake. It was still the Sabbath, after all, and it felt like we'd missed something important.

6. Monday I went to the fitness center, where I must have done something painful to my hip. I spent the rest of the day shopping, which entailed miles and miles of walking, and as I walked, my hip got more and more tender. I tend to ignore stuff like that though, or to attribute it to the aches and pains I wouldn't have if I was in better shape.

I spent way too much money and probably need to return a few things, since I have a very limited amount of luggage space. Afterwards, we went to a reception, and then watched the Red Sox win the fourth game of the world series!!!!!!!! It is so much fun to watch those games on the east coast, because it isn't after midnight when they end. So then Roger wanted to go for a walk, and how could I say no? He'd been at work while I played all day long. Besides, I got to try out my new shawl.

7. We walked to a section of town I hadn't seen yet, and I've GOT to go back there today. It was beautiful, with walking trails and the ocean (but no real beach. Is there a beach in Long Beach?????) And there was a HUGE used book store, and all the books were just a dollar each. I may have to buy some more luggage. :)

But as we walked, I became more and more aware that this pain in my hip wasn't just some phantom ache from exercising more than usual. By the time we got back to the hotel, I was limping pretty badly. I took some aleve and went straight to bed, where I tossed and turned and finally got back up. I got in the bathtub and put the hottest water I could stand in, and it helped to relax my muscles, and made me very sleepy, so I was able to get some rest, even though my hip was still sore.

I'm about to go sit in the hot tub for a while, and then I'm going to go ask for some ice. I'm hoping to get in a lot of fun stuff today, but I might have to explore the wonderful world of public transportation instead of trying to walk everywhere today.

Insecure Writer's Support Group

I haven't written one of these for awhile. There are a lot of reasons for that...I've been focusing on my other blog, and I never get to post on Wednesdays on that blog. Then I was working on a novel, and then I was figuring out how to market said novel, and somewhere in the middle of all of that I was wallowing in apathy from all the editing. But I love this idea, and I love this group, and so every month, as I visit my favorite blogs and read their IWSG posts, I've really wanted to join. But something else was holding me back. More on that later.

Being a writer is a weird, weird thing. First of all you spend so much time trying to keep yourself off the internet while you write a book, and then, when the book is written, you suddenly have to force yourself back on to the internet to do this thing called marketing. The potentially most fulfilling way to market is unfortunately the most time-consuming. It works though, at least that's what I'm told. That is to find a group of like-minded bloggers and help each other out.

At least from the outside, that's exactly what IWSG is.It's a group of people who found each other at the right stage of their lives and who have bonded tightly. They are the first ones to post comments on each other's blogs, they critique each other's manuscripts and promote each other's works and participate in each other's cool blog events. And then there are the rest of us--the ones who came a little late to the party. We still gain from being part of the group, and with a little luck, maybe we'll bond the way those first members bonded. 

It's the same with some of the huge blog challenges and hops I see. They've gotten too big to be as useful as they were for the original participants. And yet somewhere, out there, I know members of my tightly bonded group are waiting. Will I find them at IWSG? Only if I actually participate. 

G Is For...Goals

Lots and lots and lots of goals. I am focusing on Book Projects, My Home, Relationships, Joy and Health on this blog, and in my life. Each main goal has several smaller ones, most of which I've been working on haphazardly for years. 

Book Projects:

1. Straighten up all my files so I know exactly how many books I've got in the works and where they are.

2. Combine all the pieces of Lost Magic into 1 rough draft and begin editing.

3. Read all of Ironwood and make notes for my meeting on Thursday.

4. Keep waiting to hear back from the editor about Hidden Magic.

My Home:

1. Buy paint for the family room and dining room.

2. Box up my family room bookshelves for their trip downstairs.

3. Paint the family room and dining room.

4. Buy new couches, a new entertainment center and a few other odds and ends.

5. Get the deck attached to our house.

6. Buy the rocks for the patio, benches and fire pit.

Strengthening Relationships:

1. Make an effort to stay off the computer while the kids are at home.

2. Keep reading with the kids, cycling who I pick the next book for.

3. Do more projects together.

4. Do my visiting teaching every month.

Joy:

1. Sign up for 2 classes.

2. Make a list of the things that bring me joy.

3. Write in my journal for 2 minutes every night.

4. Find more things that bring me joy.

Health:

1. Sign up for the 5K on June 8.

2. Train for the 5K: 

     Swim on T, Th

     Strength Train on M, F

     Walk on W, Sa

     Yoga every morning

3. Remind myself where I am and where I am headed.

4. Take vitamin D for 10 weeks and get all my blood tests retaken. Deal with the results.

5. Get off of aleve and still have no shoulder pain.

The A-Z Challenge

A Is For American Pie

B Is For...Blue

C is for...Carriage Roads

D Is for...Diets

E Is for...The End

F Is for...Fred Rogers

E Is For...The End

If you are following both The Prosers and my personal blog, you should know that although the beginnings are similar, the 2 posts are very different, so keep reading!

I'm a great starter. This afternoon I sorted through my many Word documents and found at least 11 manuscripts in various stages of being edited. I made up my own quiz, which you can take over at The Prosers, and ranked each story. Here's the list:

(Partially) Completed Novels by Melanie Crouse

1. Hidden Magic--I got a 7/8 on this story.

2. Lost Magic--The sequel to Hidden Magic. This got a 3/8.

3. Lost Magic--Another sequel to Hidden Magic from a different point of view. Nearly finished, but will it be added into the first Lost Magic or turned into a 3^rd novel? Ack! 3/8

4. Lost Magic--again. Can you see how this book has given me fits? This one is probably mostly backstory, but I'm still rather attached to it. 2/8

5. Nanowrimo 2009--Tess's story. A completed rough draft. 3/8

6. An Old-Fashioned Girl--a partially completed screenplay 2/8

7. Pathway Through Insanity--Ick. What a dreadful title. Still, this gave me shivers of joy to find, because it was a fantastic story idea, and I didn't think I'd ever written it down. It turns out, I hadn't just written it down, I'd actually begun working on it! Partially finished. 2/8

8. Nanowrimo 2011--Amye's story. A completed rough draft. 3/8

9. Ironwood--My most recently completed rough draft, and my first attempt at a collaboration. It is in the beginning stages of being edited. 4/8

10. Ironwood--the sequel. I've written chapter one. 2/8

11. Lark Meets Alias--Not really a title, more a description. 1 ½ chapters written. 2/8

Somewhere, hidden either in this computer's memory or only in my head, is a story about a boy and a girl who hide out in her deceased uncle's home. The uncle was a hoarder. 1/8 

I also have plans to compile a Prosers e-book one of these days. (1/8)

Do you see how few of these projects are finished? Hidden Magic is the only one, and every now and then I still think of things that I really ought to tweak.

I became aware of the direness of the situation when Sheena, Sabrina and I finished the rough draft of Ironwood, and for some reason, I was completely pumped up about starting the sequel--immediately. For various reasons, which probably included sanity, Sabrina and Sheena were not ready to dive right into another book, and there was only so far I could go without their input (to be precise, I could write one chapter.)

In an effort to direct all that energy somewhere, I brainstormed a whole new story, which became novel number 11 on my list. It was great, and I was delving into my character's families and backstory and having a fantastic time when I stumbled upon some correspondence from several years ago. I was struck by one thing--my writing career hasn't really changed much over the years. There's really no excuse for that, except that I've become a chronic starter. A finisher? Not so much. One of my main goals for this year is to change that. Compiling this list was a huge leap toward...

The End

The A-Z Challenge

A Is For American Pie

B Is For...Blue

C is for...Carriage Roads

D Is for...Diets

The End of the Challenge

This 31 Day Challenge has been awesome for me. Granted, I only did maybe, um, 10 of the posts, but I learned a lot of great things from it. Here's a few:

 1. I want to write to my kids, but this blog isn't the way to go. I couldn't even get them to look at it! And a lot of the things I wanted to say were not really "Hey World! Listen-to-me-talk-to-my-kids" things. They were Write It-In-My-Journal things. So, because of this post, I've begun writing in my journal again. I only give myself about 2 minutes a night to write, and I don't allow myself to go over. This gives me 3-6 lines a night of thoughts about my day. For 2 weeks now, I've been at 100%. It's a whole different format than the old "Write 10 pages once a year" that has been so successful for over a decade now.

 2. I still want to keep this blog. In that very first challenge post  I made a list of things I wanted to write about in this blog. Here they are:

• I'm shelving any writing projects that aren't already well underway. The ones that I truly care about will get my attention until they are finished. 
• I'm making my health a priority. 
• I'm going to turn my house into a home. 
• I'm going to strengthen the relationships with the most important people in my life--my family. 
• I'm going to find joy in the things I love to do.

I thought about doing it the way I see so many people blog--you know what I'm talking about Mojo Monday, Top Ten Tuesday, Works For Me Wednesday...but that isn't me. OK, cute titles for the days of the week might be me, but sticking that tightly to a schedule can't be me. Not if I'm going to be busy doing all the things on that list up there. Two or three random days a week is more my style.

3. I do want to be part of the IWSG. It's a great group, and I don't post on The Prosers on Wednesdays. But I CAN DO IT HERE!

Ta Da! 

Stay tuned for my first "Making My Health A Priority" post.