Farsighted

1) What inspires your writing, your muse?

India is my eternal muse for this and everything I write. Farsighted in particular was heavily influenced by the prophecies of Nostradamus (as you’ll see in the epigraph for part III). I also drew a good deal from Zoroastrianism and its core concept of dualism—all light contains dark, and all dark contains light. Oh, and coffee. I was influenced by the desire to go to the coffee shop and order a gigantic latte with extra chocolate sauce, all in the name of writing.

2) If you couldn't write, what would you do?

I shudder at the thought of a world that would deprive me of my desire to write. Fortunately, I have two tremendous passions—one is writing and the other is book marketing. I have my own author PR firm and love the work I do there. I’d still have half of my happiness, half of myself as long as I was able to market.

3) Who is your favorite author? Book?

As a child, my favorite book was Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crocket Johnson. It opened my eyes to the world that could exist if only I was willing to create it—I think it’s what encouraged me to be a writer in the first place. As an adult, it’s A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, definitely. The novel has so many layers and entertains on so many levels. Also the characters in that novel seem more real than those from any other I’ve ever read. It’s just beautiful—that’s the only word for it.

4) When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I was born with a fountain pen grasped firmly in my left hand, at least that’s what my Twitter bio says. But seriously, I do believe writers are born into the craft—we haven’t got much choice, but it’s a great calling to have. As a child, I always had a story to tell. I also loved illustrating my own books and comics. I first became a writer writer when I began doing a book review column for the local paper. That taught me the importance of deadlines and letting the words flow out even when I had no idea what direction they’d take me in.

5) Have you gone the traditional route? Indie route? or both?

I actually wrote a blog post about this (that’s here). I am lucky enough to have a literary agent, but I decided I’d rather go indie to start. Basically, the publishing industry is not only changing – it’s changed. I’m not really sure there is any benefit to being traditionally published anymore, especially if you’re an author who has the know-how and financial/time resources to A) professionally edit your books, B) get a stellar cover designed, and C) market your work. Another reason I’m all gaga for the self-pub world is because it’s what I preach through Novel Publicity. I spend all day trying to convince writers that the indie path can work for them. By choosing that route for myself, I am showing my belief in that statement; I am practicing what I preach. Yes, I have a literary agent and a condition of our contract was that I’d be allowed to self-publish Farsighted. I want the hands-on experience. I want the control. If this works out for me; I’m pretty sure I’ll stay indie forever!

6) What advice can you give for writers out there looking to promote?

You’ve asked a really big question. One I think it will take me at least 20 blog posts to answer (and yes, I do plan on writing these posts in the near future). Marketing Farsighted has been a full-time job on top of a full-time job. I’ve definitely devoted a great deal of man power into my campaign, because I have no limits. I’ve spent an enormous amount of time and energy recruiting bloggers for my launch, and I have over 200, thank you :-) I’m also hiring 6 other blog tour companies to tour my book over the next couple months—getting buzz early on is crucial! I’ve had a good amount of luck with GoodReads pay-per-click advertising too.  I’m also taking out advertising on targeted websites like Parajunkee.com and Night Owl, which cater to fans of my genre, and Kindle Nation Daily and The Frugal eReader, which cater to a mass of eBook lovers. I’ve even taken it off the web and created some Farsighted-themed swag. I’m most proud of my postcards. Readers can request an autographed postcard by filling out a simple form on my website. It’s a fun way to connect with readers that is memorable and only costs me about 50 cents.

7) Name three places readers can find you?

You can find me working at home in my office library, working at the local Panera, or working at Biggby coffee shop. I’m pretty much always working, either on my writing or on PR for my clients.

8) Tea or coffee?

Coffee. LOTS of coffee. And Diet Mountain Dew too. I need my caffeine.

9) Morning or night?

Morning. I sometimes wake up as early as 2 AM to start my day. By the time night rolls around, I’m so exhausted I often wind up in bed around 8 PM. I think I’m on London time despite living in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

10) Cats or dogs?

Birds! It’s pretty well-known that I’m a crazy bird lady. I even made my Sun Conure Ducky the spokes-model for my business, Novel Publicity. You can visit www.novelpublicity.com to see Ducky dressed up as a pirate, a DJ, a book nerd, and all kinds of other fun stuff to represent our different service branches. People really love him. Okay, but to answer your question, dogs.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Farsighted starts with a great premise. A paranormal superpower of seeing into the future and into the distance. Great cover too! For originality it scores stars. And I also wanted to read it for that reason. I like that the main character has a vulnerability, being blond.

BUT I thought this was geared toward adults, the cover even looks like an adult! But actually it is a YA paranormal, about a Sophomore boy who is blind and developed a sixth sense. 

What I didn't get was why this impaired boy was in class with seeing kids? Didn't make sense to me.  Blind students need to read Braille and are in different schools or at least classrooms than seeing students. 

Anyhow, the other aspect I wasn't sure about was when the action would start. I mean when the "gift" becomes important. He has this gift, so I wanted to get to the point. Half way done, and the "gift" serves no real function other than being cool. There is a character Dax whose interwoven into the plot as the eventually point of this gift, but it just felt like all of the interesting drama happened at the last 20 pages. 

I wished there would have been an interwoven mystery through-out much of the novel that kept me more on suspense. 

But other than that, the last quarter picked up and reminded me a bit of the book Portal with the name Simmi and the pace/flow of it. 

I think paranormal fans would like to check this out and some may love it more than me. But for me it was alright.

3 stars out of 5.