Today is release day for Bob Morris, a fellow Clean Reads author! Check out his original young adult sci fi, "Six Pack: Emergence," book one of an exciting new trilogy!
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What if society was controlled by a drink, but there was another drink that might allow one to change the way things were? 
 
Tyler Ward is set to graduate from secondary school when he learns the truth about the nation of Novusordo and how the government controls the population. He and his five friends visit a professor’s house, consume another drink and gain strange powers. Now they find themselves part of a movement against the government and must learn to control their powers and how they might change society. But can they trust the movement… or even each other?
 
Six Pack: Emergence, a young adult, science fiction, dystopian novel is written by B.W. Morris, a longtime writer for small-town newspapers, though it took him a while to embrace his inner comic book geek and put his overactive imagination to work through novel writing. 

Let's face it, agents and publishers get thousands of manuscripts submitted to them every single year. The two things they tend to look at are story and writing. But how can you make your writing better and more attractive and how important is writing versus story?  ​

A while back I had the pleasure of chatting with Lieze Neven, blogger and podcaster of The Write Way. We talked about making your writing memorable and she put out the interview on her 2/26/17 episode of The Write Way. 

Listen to the free thirty-minute episode here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-write-way/id1109877627?mt=2

You'll get a few laughs, some ideas on how to incorporate your unique voice into your writing, and fresh facts about the Insurrection series. You'll want to check it out! The podcast is free and Lieze was such an enjoyable host.

Share it with your writer friends! We always need some good tips and tricks, and Lieze has some great interviews on her podcast. Tune in and subscribe!

"That's the way things come clear. All of a sudden. 
And then you realize how obvious they've been all along." 
- Madeleine L'Engle
 
Mrs. L’Engle is my favorite author. She has a way of turning phrases, turning pages, and inspiring my deepest breaths. Her writing packs a punch, if you will. What writing do you remember? Why do you remember it?
 
No matter what you write, use all those glorious tools in our writing tool boxes to create your best writing possible. I’ve provided a checklist, which will help you quite a bit, but I want to extend this thought to you:
 
Make your writing memorable.
 
How do you do this?
 
One way to make writing interesting is to move up a level from the basic sentence. Re-think ideas and make them personal to you.
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How do we identify “basic sentences”?
In my own writing adventures and self-editing, I have found some tricky words that make me stumble, stutter, and fall into lame sentence writing.
Here is my list of Boring Words:
It
Is
As
That
Are
Were
Was
The
 
Make your own list! What words do you use too much? What words do you use incorrectly?
Sometimes these words are helpful. See right there? But I am aware that I used ‘are’ and know that possibly I could use something more effective. What is a more effective word than ‘are’?
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Question your writing.
Each sentence offers possibility or boredom.
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Avoid cliché and instead create your own word pictures.
 
Here is an example of a way to make your writing interesting:
Example: Having my sister come for a visit was heaven on earth.
Example: I like when my sister visits.
Those sentences are okay and whatnot. Sure, they convey a basic idea. How can they be more interesting, detailed, intrinsic, and thought-provoking?
Revised Example: Having my sister show up on my doorstep, one bright smile and hearty hug, greeting me with her unique flair and cinnamon scent brought tears to my eyes. Her presence was chocolate cupcakes. Her hug crammed the room full of sunlight. Her smile filled my soul with bubbly, pink sweater fuzzies.
 
See how that helps you experience the sister?
You would write this sentence completely different from me. How would you get to your version of this revised sentence?
Start by re-thinking what is your ‘heaven on earth’? What makes you happy?
If you are inclined to write, “I liked doing that,” instead explore the why and what behind what you were doing. What did ‘like’ feel like? Your ‘like’ is different than mine, and isn’t language the beautiful tool to explore how it compares?
 
This is where imagery meets metaphor. This place is fun. This is one reason I love writing.
 
Example 2: Have a good day!
Revised Example 2: May your day be sunny, life-affirming, and lined with laughter!
 
Example 3: The baby cried, looking so sad. There were no words to capture his wail.
Revised Example 3: Shadows shimmied away from the wailing toddler, his bald head wrinkled red with frustration and hunger. Tears dripped in large droplets down his scrunched up cheeks, pooling with sighs and hopelessness in the gnarled blankets by his feet. Paci had disappeared.
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Give life to inanimate objects. If one object seems too difficult to explain, then illustrate objects or people’s reactions.
Give an object personality. Is it warm? Soft? Cheerful? Threatening? Prideful? Scornful? Lonely?
 
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I hope you can take these ideas and carry them with you into all of your writing. Pack these ideas up, put them in your wallet, and take out as often as you need. 

Warning: Be careful, as this, if taken to heart, will change your communications forever. People will suddenly pay attention because you wrote or said something interesting. Be memorable. Use those gifts God has given you to communicate light, power, and passion to the darkness.

Today I wanted to host a fellow Clean Reads author whose debut novel just dropped! I thought my readers would be interested in her young adult novel, packed with action and fascinating characters.
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Emory Fae enjoys leading a quiet, normal life. That is until two mysterious, and handsome soldiers show up at her apartment, and the life she knew is instantly whisked away. Memphis Carter and Brokk Foster come from the magical and war ridden world of Kiero, and upon Emory's arrival she will discover she is the long lost heir to the Royal Line and is thrown into the Black Dawn Rebellion with a dynamic role to ignite the rebels and reclaim her throne. 

With both men being darkly woven in her past Emory uncovers hidden secrets, a power held long dormant, and will soon realize there are worse things than supernatural humans, love, loss, betrayal, and a Mad King.

Some things are better left in the shadows.

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“Her mind was a tornado, unforgiving and pure destruction. Memories, images, noises swirled around her mind, battling to find the truth, each one trying to find its place once more in the timeline of her two very different lives. It was like dropping a pebble into an ocean—Memphis watched his added memories fight against the tide of her consciousness. He relived every moment with her.”

​Mallory McCartney currently lives in London, Ontario with her husband and their two dachshunds Link and Lola. Black Dawn is her debut novel, the first in a series. When she isn’t working on her next novel or reading, she can be found dog grooming, book shopping and hiking. Other favorite pastimes involve reorganizing perpetually overflowing bookshelves and seeking out new coffee and dessert shops.

Follow Mallory on

Facebook: 
https://www.facebook.com/authormalmccartney/

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/MalMcCartney

Carl Wayne invited me on his morning radio show on KOXE and we were able to chat about the Insurrection series and *Incomplete*'s release. I'd love to share the moment with you! Feel free to listen in for about ten minutes of fun.

​Listen HERE!