Redfeather nearly ready to roll

It might be your grandfather's car -- but it's not your grandfather's road trip.

I just received the proof copy of Looking for Redfeather.  One correction necessary -- the title page -- and it will be good to go! 

It's been a long haul!  I wrote the first draft of Looking for Redfeather during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), 2007.  Every year, during the month of November, writers all over the world pledge to write a 50,000 word novel in thirty days.  It's a fast-paced process, ugly in spots, but it gets done.   

I had a hell of a ride with these runaway teens in a stolen (actually, borrowed without permission) Cadillac Eldorado, and when I was done I let the manuscript rest for several years before having another look.

Wow! Rereading it, I found I really liked these three teens and I wanted to bring their story to life.  It's taken me about three years to revise the novel.      

I landed an agent who also believed in the book - but he wasn't able to place it.  Most of the editors of the major houses replied with something like, "Loved the characters and the voice -- just have to take a pass."  Or, "Great voice and quirky characters, but we just published a road trip story."  Or, "Excellent writing, but where's the depraved sex?"  (Just kidding -- I made that one up!)

I created my own imprint Fiction House, Ltd. and published Looking for Redfeather, hiring Create Space for comprehensive editing services, interior design, printing and distribution.  It's been a real learning process, the publishing process!

At Fiction House, Ltd we're almost ready to roll with Looking for Redfeather, so keep your eyes peeled for a champagne-colored Cadillac crusing with three runaway teens.

ISBN  0989365301
ISBN 13 trade paperback  978-0-9893653-0-7

Soon to be available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Indie bookstores too.  Available in electronic format NOW on Smashwords!

  

My latest novel, Looking for Redfeather, is now available on Smashwords.  For a limited time, you can download it FREE with the coupon code yy58y  Hurry!  Offer ends soon!  Trade paperback book to follow...

Life is a highway…

Fifteen-year-old Ramie Redfeather leaves Cheyenne with music in his pocket and his thumb in the air.  He’s looking to find his father, a man he’s never met.  Ramie gets a ride with Chas Sweeney, a seventeen-year-old driving a “borrowed” Cadillac Eldorado with Maryland tags, who just happens to be passing through Cheyenne.  Chas is running from the wreckage that is his world, sixteen hundred miles away.  In Denver Ramie and Chas meet Mae B. LaRoux, an enchanting young singer from Baton Rouge.  LaRoux, who struggles with a learning disability, is on a mission to become a professional musician.  The three runaways band together and set out on a fast-paced road trip to get to the Austin Music Festival, looking for Redfeather along the way.  They’re on the road –but it ain’t Jack Kerouac’s road trip!

Linda Collison’s first novel, Star-Crossed, published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2006, was chosen by the New York Public Library to be among the Books for the Teen Age – 2007 and inspired the Patricia MacPherson Nautical Adventure Series.  Her coming-of- age story With a Little Luck won the former Maui Writers Conference Grand Prize in 1996.  Born in Baltimore, Linda moved to Wyoming when she was twenty-four and has been on the move ever since.  Follow her on her website www.lindacollison.com. 

 Fiction/ Coming-of-Age/Young Adult

2012writers STILL ALIVE: Linda Collison and Barbados Bound

2012writers STILL ALIVE: Linda Collison and Barbados Bound: Adventurer and author, Linda Collison , swaps sea stories with me and tells us about her latest novel, Barbados Bound (Patricia McPherso...

A Sea of Words

Check out Linda Collison's author blog, Sea of Words http:/www.lindacollison.com/blog

Tazmanian author blogs about Star-Crossed

http://www.margaretmuirauthor.blogspot.com/

Is it just me, or is there a draft in here?

The book is published, now comes the anxiety; how will your readers respond? It feels like one of those dreams when you discover you're somehow naked in the middle of a crowded room where everyone else is fully dressed.

I think you have to find a balance between accepting and learning from well-intended criticism and deflecting snipes from those readers who -- ZING!-- can take you out with one devastating remark. Praise too, can be hard to accept, though I'm not sure why.

Having written and published two novels and two nonfiction books, I now read with a more critical eye, yet a more empathetic understanding for fellow authors. Writing, like life, is a learn-as-you-go endeavour.

That said, I'm happy to share the first review of Surgeon's Mate, from David Hayes of Historic Naval Fiction, who recently interviewed me.

Interview with Astrodene's Historical Naval Fiction

It was a little intimidating, being interviewed by David Hayes of Astrodene's Historical Naval Fiction, David being a Brit and all. To have Surgeon's Mate included on his site is a feather in this Yank's cap, for sure. Well it seems I have a series to write, so back to the 18th century I go...