Giveaway! Beneath the Forsaken City by C.E. Laureano!

Welcome to Writing for Christ C.E. Laureano, it is great to have you here! So you’re a writer? What made you decide to start creating characters and story world?

Thanks for having me, Casey! That’s a tricky question to answer. I’ve loved stories as long as I can remember. In fact, pretty much all of the pictures of me as a child seem to show a book in my hand or within easy reach. I started writing short stories (and very tiny novellas) when I was 7 years old. It wasn’t until I was severely injured in high school and had to put my dreams of being a professional ballet dancer aside that I got serious about writing novels, though. The stories have always been buzzing around in my head; I suppose it just took some age and some confidence to get me to put them down in longer form.

What is the one title that has significantly impacted your life?

I’m going to be a rebel here and pick two. The first title that impacted my life as a reader and a general devourer of stories was The Secret Garden, which I think I read in second or third grade. Up until that point, I’d been reading small kids’ chapter books, which were fun but light. The Secret Garden had this magic and depth that just resonated with me, even as a child. (It probably also helped further my fascination with the British Isles and India, which just so happen to pop up in my writing today.)

The second title that impacted me as a writer is Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. It was the one that

took me beyond Lewis and Tolkein and showed me that there were some fantasy writers doing amazing things. It was primarily because of Kay that I got into both reading and writing fantasy, and I still cite him as the biggest influence on my work today.

If you could get a do-over when it came to learning this whole thing called writing, what would you go back and tell yourself?

Get plugged into a writing community sooner. I only knew about the organizations that catered to published authors; I didn’t know about things like ACFW even existed until I had refined my craft to publication level! I could have saved myself a lot of trial and error and maybe shaved some years off my journey had I known to find a writing group/mentor/organization when I started to write seriously for publication.

5 preference questions:

Homemade or take-out? Homemade. Even on deadline countdowns when I know I won’t cook, I stock up on organic frozen meals so I don’t have to resort to take-out.

Email or snailmail? Email. We’ve gone paperless in our house! It’s a beautiful thing.

Online shopping or Black Friday deals? Online shopping. Crowds make me anxious. A weird thing for an extrovert to say, I know, but people get crazy when bargains are at stake!

Books or movies? Hard one. They’re both vehicles for storytelling and I couldn’t live without either of them! But if you forced me to answer, I’d have to say books.

Note-taker or memorization? Note-taker. My memory is horrible, and the busier I get, the worse it gets. If I lost my planner, I’d be doomed!

               

Yes, I’m asking you to play favorites…which of your books is your favorite, published or unpublished? And if this is your debut novel, has your favorite been published yet?

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Get your copy now! (link below)

This is even trickier than the books vs. movies question. Right now, I’d have to say The Sword and the Song, which is the third and final book in the Song of Seare series (September 2015). It was by far the hardest, most intense thing I’ve ever written, but getting it finished and sending it on its way to publication was like seeing that rebellious child finally graduate from college. I am immensely proud of what it’s become.

Places for readers to learn more about you?

You can visit me at any of these places, but right now Twitter is my favorite:

Web | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | Pinterest

Thank you for being with us today!

Thanks for hosting me, Casey!

Readers, enter to win Carla's book here! AND make sure that you download her first book in this series for FREE the 24th thru the 31st here: Oath of the Brotherhood.

Please leave an email address! If I draw your name and there is no email, you will not win.

For extra entries:

~Be a follower

~Be a subscriber

Contest is only open in the U.S. and void where prohibited. Chances of winning are based on the number of entries and winner is draw from a non-biased third party- Random.org. I am not responsible for any lost or damaged items for said prize.

Thanks for coming by to enter! Contest ends on February 6th

Attn Readers! If you're struggling to leave a comment on my blog, please email your comment entries (in ONE email) and I will submit it for you. But PLEASE only do this after you've failed to leave a comment. My email is: caseym.writer(@)gmail.com