Playing with Monsters: Connie Constance 'Stars'

Intuition

Here is a fun article on Intuition, friends of Naomi would appreciate.
I tried to become a psychic & it was more revealing than therapy.

Over the Moon about this book...

I've been reading this with my 10 and 12 year old, and we are all three LOVING it!

 

I spent the weekend in the woods with Naomi, polishing all the pretty words. 

Revised title:

After spending two weeks at the Lighthouse Writers Workshop Lit Fest discussing Naomi, I've decided to change the name of the novel to The Land Between.

Book Talk

Met the Novelistas today!
Great workshop today on pitching your work performed by The Novelistas, Sara Jade Alan (YA Debut Novel: Spontaneous Combustion out on Oct. 2!) and Susan Knudten. The two were not in character for the workshop, but gave authentic tips on presentation and talking to an agent about your novel at the Lighthouse Writers Lit Fest.

Lighthouse Writers Lit Fest - I'm excited to attend on the Business Pass the next two weeks!

Feedback

This week I have two friends reading through Naomi, The Land Between (Book One), providing me with suggestions on how to polish the book. Feedback is essential, when writing. It is difficult to see the flaws when you've been working for so long on something. Naomi popped into my head in April of 2016 and I decided to listen and record. Thirteen months later, I am polishing the piece and looking for an agent.

Thank you Elizabeth Fatica and Tanya Cook for reading through the novel for me! 

Book Two in the Naomi Series

The second book in the Naomi series has just begun. The portals are open! What happens to The Land Between? What is fifteen year old Naomi's role? Does she have the powers she had in The Land Between?

Introducing... Lucy and Jack

Below is an introduction to a new Middle Grade Series I am working on Lucy and Jack. The first book is A Summer of Pranks.

Intro

Lucy leaps into the air and tucks her knees to her chest. Her arms radiate round and round like propellers slicing the air. She is airborne. And then - gravity reaches up and grabs her. She hugs her knees and falls through the air. Ssppplllllaaashshshshshshsh! The water slaps her skin, and a wave of water rises around her. It curls slightly before it falls heavy on Betty and Jack.

Her brother, Jack, yells, “Whoooooa!” and clutches his belly. He laughs while rolling on the warm wet cement.

Betty, on the other hand, is not laughing.

Lucy's babysitter, Betty, sits seething on a beach towel draped over a lounge chair. Her dripping cell phone is perched at her ear. Pulling it away, she glares at Lucy. Her mouth is scrunched together, and her perfectly crimped blonde hair hangs - now, perfectly drenched. Tiny streaks of pink water bleed over her white bathing suit from her newly dyed highlights. Her face is red, and Lucy swears steam is rising from her nostrils. 

Slinking lower into the water, Lucy keeps one eye barely over the edge of the pool – watching. She can feel heat in her cheeks as they push her wide eyes into narrow slits. Her hand slips from the edge of the pool to block the bubble of laughter trying to escape. Lucy holds her breath and sinks to the bottom of the deep end.

Brandy Mello © 2017

Naomi in The Land Between

In the haunting days following her mother’s death, fourteen year old Naomi learns that her soul must leap from her body to guide her reluctant mother, Celia, into the afterworld. Once Naomi pulls Celia beyond the world of the living, the two grapple with letting go. Still maintaining the caretaker role she adopted during her mother’s illness, Naomi gently persuades Celia to venture into the land of the dead - without her.

Now that Celia is gone, Naomi must find her way back home, where her body struggles to preserve its fragile connection to her soul. Guided solely by intuition, Naomi finds herself in a lost and forgotten world of mythical creatures, trapped for centuries by a tyrant ruler. Naomi grasps that she has not stumbled into this land between by mistake. She has been led here to free these creatures - and they must escape before her soul’s connection to her earthly body dissolves.


Graphic is a combination of Pixabay images.