Mindee Arnett
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PROXY Release Day – Giveaway and Excerpt!

That’s right! Proxy, the digital novella and prequel to Avalon is available for download! For only 99 cents! It even includes the first full chapter of Avalon! To celebrate I’m giveaway a signed copy of an Avalon arc as well as a $25.oo gift card to the winner’s choice of either Amazon or Barnes & Noble. See the entry details below. I also want to give a big thank you to all the bloggers who are hosting the giveaway! You guys rock!

Proxy

SYNOPSIS

If you need something stolen from any star system in the Confederation, you need look no further than the Shades. Jeth Seagrave and his band of teenage mercenaries have been making a name for themselves for being able to steal anything—and for disappearing before anyone is the wiser. 

Their latest job, a jewel heist on Grakkus, should be no different. But when Jeth’s boss replaces a key member of his crew just before takeoff, and Jeth discovers a betrayal within his own ranks, he begins to suspect that not everyone is going to becoming back from his job alive. 

Proxy is an action-packed introduction to a world like nothing readers have seen before.

READ AN EXCERPT OF PROXY HERE

GIVEAWAY;

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

 

Dusty Goes to Germany!

And she gets a new face while doing it. That’s right, the cover for German edition of The Nightmare Affair has been released. What do you think? Personally, I think it’s adorable. And I love the cat. It cracks me up. Anyway, if you speak German or would just like to know more, check out the post here.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Call for Bloggers: Proxy Launch

Hello all my lovely blogger friends and readers. I’m putting together an awesome giveaway to celebrate the launch of Proxy, the digital prequel novella to Avalon available for download December 3rd, and I could use your help! If you’re willing to help host the launch and giveaway, please fill out this google document.

By doing so, you will earn my eternal esteem and affection. Seriously, it would totally rock.

The Myth of the Crappy First Draft

First, let me start this post with two caveats.

1. As with any writing advice ever given, the only truth is this: Find what works for YOU and stick with it.

2. With a first draft of Avalon 2 to deliver, I really don’t have time for blog posts, but I feel compelled to write this one. Please excuse all typos and other awfulness in terms of grammar, punctuation, or even logical sense.

Okay, so I know a whole bunch of you are in the middle of NaNoWriMO, and I think that’s great. Ra-ra! You can do it. I’ll be your cheerleader, promise. It really is great…but, I’m here to tell you that it’s okay if you’re not doing NaNo or if you decide to cool off and not meet those strenuous word counts, if you decide to take your time in other words. And here’s why:

The myth of the crappy first draft is a myth.

There, I said it. Now, before you roll your eyes or accuse me of being some kind of snob or first draft show off, let me explain. I used to buy into the crappy first draft thing. The first 4 novels I wrote were all written with the idea that I just needed to write as fast as the gingerbread man runs and worry about correcting everything in the second draft. However, those first 4 novels sucked. They never saw the light of my agent’s inbox, or any agent inbox for that matter.

It wasn’t until I started writing my 5th novel, The Nightmare Affair, that I came to understand why those first books were so bad and why I failed at them so completely. The answer? I am not good at writing a crappy first draft. Wait, that’s not right. I’m actually really good at it. Too good. I used to write first drafts so bad that no amount of revising or rewriting could ever turn them into something other than total stinky crap.

Now, by first draft I mean the moment when you have a beginning, middle, and end all together, when you’ve taken the protagonist from reaction to action, from inciting incident to denouement. That’s usually what people consider a first draft. For me, in those early books, I reached that end point really easily. I flew by each word and paragraph and chapter certain that whatever I got wrong I could fix later. This idea, is in fact, very true. You CAN fix everything later. The problem was not with the method behind the idea of crappy first drafts. The problem was with me. I tried to rewrite those bad books but by the time I’d torn everything down and rebuilt it again twice, if not three times, I’d lost my faith in the book. Even worse, I’d lost my love for it. In the end, I set the books aside, broken and forlorn, and moved on to greener pastures of a new story. I wouldn’t be surprised if that sounds very familiar to some of you.

When I started Nightmare, I decided that I was going to take my time with the first draft. I was going to revise each chapter and scene as I went, doing my best to correct mistakes and to keep the story in line right from the start. If I went off track, which happened a couple of times (always does), I would stop and rewrite until I was on track again. I’m here to tell you, people, this change was storytelling magic for me. Nightmare was by no means perfect or submission ready by the time I wrote The End, but it wasn’t crappy either. It was actually kinda decent. Even more importantly, I’d managed to write a solid story. The structure was good. It didn’t need to be torn down and rebuilt multiple times. The relief of discovering this was so great, I’m still feeling it, honestly. It enabled not to get discouraged and to ultimately write a book publication worthy.

I’ve written 2 novels the same way since and both of them are more less the same in structure and character arcs as they were when I wrote the first draft. Don’t get me wrong. I revised a lot. A whole lot. I just did it while drafting. It’s a method that works for me. Who knows, it might work for you too.

Happy writing!

Buckeye Book Fair 2013!

First off, I’ve got to apologize for me overall absence from the Internet of late. I’ve got a dozen excuses for this, but none that really matter other than the obvious one — deadlines! Yes, I’m under a totally panic-inducing deadline to finish Avalon 2, aka the “Killer Book,” thusly named because writing it might actually result in my death. Kidding. It’s just been a challenge, but nothing worth doing is easy, right? hehe.

Anyway, I wanted to write up a big post about New York Comic Con, but there’s no time. Instead, I posted a bunch of pictures down and dirty like over on Facebook. You can find them here. But the short of it is I had a blast in NYC and I can’t wait to visit again some day. I met a ton of new people and had an awesome time.

And now to the my main point. I’ll going to be participating at the Buckeye Book Fair 2013, this weekend in Wooster, Ohio! I’ve heard this is an awesome event and there are a TON of young adult writers going to be there, including Rae Carson and Cinda Williams Chima. Anyway, if you live anywhere around the Wooster area, I really hope you’ll come out and see us.

Cheers!

New York Comic Con Schedule

I can hardly believe that in two days I’ll be on my way to NYC for Comic Con!!!! Seriously, those exclamation points just aren’t expressing my enthusiasm loudly enough. But I am. Enthused. Ecstatic. It’s going to rock.

I know that there will be plenty of popular fandoms going around, and you can click here to see the favorite comic characters by US state which will inevitably be very well represented in costume, but I’m equally excited to see all the other fandoms too!

All of my events take place on Sunday. Here’s the breakdown:

  • 12:00 pm: Signing The Nightmare Dilemma* arcs at the Tor Booth (2223)
  • 1:15 pm: Panel – “We have done the impossible, and that makes us might”: A Discussion of heroes and heroines in science fiction. The other authors are Kass Morgan, Cristin Terrill, Phoebe North, Robinson Wells, and Adam Sternbergh. Moderated by Ali T. Kokmen
  • 2:30: Signing Avalon arcs (Table 21)

At my Avalon signing, I will be giving away 50 signed poster to anyone who wants one. See them below modeled by my 5-year old daughter.

I’ll also have the usual bookmarks and other swag. I’m so looking forward to meeting everyone. I’ll be checking my twitter feed as much as possible, so if anybody wants to meet up to chat or hang up send me a message

See you Sunday!

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*I’m not 100% certain that it is in fact Dilemma arcs, but to the best of my knowledge it is. Either way, Tor Books rocks and they should be at the top of your visit list

PROXY Reveal and AVALON Giveaway

I’m so excited to reveal the awesome cover for Proxy, the prequel novella to Avalon, which is available for download on December 3rd for only 99 cents!   I don’t have flap copy for it, but it’s basically a caper story, where you get to meet Jeth and his kickass crew as they’re sent on a mission to steal a precious artifact from the emperor of a foreign planet. In print form, it’s over 80 pages long, in case you’re curious.

In order to celebrate the release, I’m giving away two signed ARCs of Avalon through the rafflecopter contest below. It’s open internationally, and I’ll draw winners next Thursday. So take a look at the awesome cover for Proxy, read about Avalon and then enter to win. Good luck!

Avalon

From Goodreads:

Of the various star systems that make up the Confederation, most lie thousands of light-years from First Earth-and out here, no one is free. The agencies that govern the Confederation are as corrupt as the crime bosses who patrol it, and power is held by anyone with enough greed and ruthlessness to claim it. That power is derived from one thing: metatech, the devices that allow people to travel great distances faster than the speed of light.

Jeth Seagrave and his crew of teenage mercenaries have survived in this world by stealing unsecured metatech, and they’re damn good at it. Jeth doesn’t care about the politics or the law; all he cares about is earning enough money to buy back his parents’ ship, Avalon, from his crime-boss employer and getting himself and his sister, Lizzie, the heck out of Dodge. But when Jeth finds himself in possession of information that both the crime bosses and the government are willing to kill for, he is going to have to ask himself how far he’ll go to get the freedom he’s wanted for so long.

Avalon is the perfect fit for teens new to sci-fi as well as seasoned sci-fi readers looking for more books in the YA space-and a great match for fans of Joss Whedon’s cult hit show Firefly.

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Contest:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Quasi-Hiatus

Sadly, I’m writing this post on the eve of my first day back to the day job after a blissful, 7-day vacation. That’s the bummer of vacations. They always have to come to an end.

So you might’ve noticed I’ve been a little scarce this last week, and yes, that was due to the vacation, but I’ve decided to keep up the scarcity for a bit. The reason being is that I’ve got to hit the grindstone hard on Avalon 2. I’m nowhere near where I need to be on it, and I’ve got to get there quick. That said, I’m going to try to avoid my favorite online haunts for the next couple of weeks. I will check all @ replies and any messages aimed directly at me, but I will be avoiding my feeds for the most part. So if you need me, just holler. Also, if you have any awesomesauce news, shout it at me, because I hate missing out on good news.

Anyway, I will be back in a few with details about upcoming events, including an appearance at New York Comic Con!!!! I can’t wait to tell you more. But for now, it’s off to the writing cave, Batman.

 

Joseph Beth Booksellers YA Beach Bash

Hey Guys,

Just a quick reminder that I’ll be at Cincinnati Joseph-Beth this Saturday at 1:00 for an awesome YA Beach Bash. There’s going to be a ton of amazing authors: Liz Coley, Julie Kagawa, Kristina McBride, Saundra Mitchell, and Aprilynne Pike!!! We’re going to talk books and writing and all things shiny, and there will be giveaways throughout the panel. For me, I’m giving away the items below–a hardback of The Nightmare Affair, a cover proof of The Nightmare Dilemma, and an advanced readers copy of Avalon! Hope to see you there.

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p.s. Here is what the title page of Avalon looks like. How cool is that?

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Avalon Blurb!

That’s right! I’m so thrilled to announce that Avalon has received its first blurb. By none other than the super-fabulous, NYT bestselling author Kiersten White! I’m so absolutely grateful to have such an amazing writer give my little space thieves books a shout out. And here it is:

“AVALON will pull you into the darkest reaches of space—and you’ll be glad to be there. A heart-pounding, tense joyride of a novel.” -Kiersten White, author of the NYT Bestselling Paranormalcy 

Oh, and I believe that physical arcs will be arriving this week. Hooray! But don’t forget the book is also available for request on Edelweiss.