Monday, May 5, 2014

Author Guest Spot by Julianne Alcott

 

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Today I want to introduce fellow South African and author, Julianne Alcott who is visiting my blog.  Julianne’s new book, The Ripmender, will be released tomorrow and we are all so very excited.  To celebrate, Julianne has shared some of her thoughts below.  Enjoy!

Boys aren’t the most important thing in the world, even though they feel like it sometimes!
By Julianne Alcott

I love writing love stories. I love reading love stories. I love being in a love story myself!  So my novel The Ripmender might be a sci-fi action adventure for young adults, but it’s primarily about a boy.
A very special, unusual boy.
Cathy has had a crush on Nathan Jake for four years. It seemed like an impossible crush, because she is an ordinary girl from a tiny town in South Africa, and he is an internationally famous American rock star. The chances of them even meeting each other are practically zero!
And then he becomes part of her life, in a way that she never expected. And do all her dreams come true? Of course not, because this is life, and this is love, and both of them can be painful and agonising and heartbreaking.
Boys! Those impossible, strange creatures from another planet, who can make us feel like we are soaring on clouds of happiness, or make us wish we could crawl under our duvets and never come out again.
And it doesn’t get easier. Boys are just as puzzling when they are men. Dating is just as confusing when you are forty.
But it also feels just as amazing, when the guy you really really like looks at you and says, “You are so beautiful! I love you so much.” Then you feel like you can conquer armies, climb mountains and do all your maths homework, even though it sucks!
I think the trick here is to not make them too important.
As girls we tend to revolve our whole lives around the latest guy.  The relationship affects everything; what we wear, how we feel, what we think about. If things are going well, we are happy and cheerful, but if we are hurting because of something our special guy did, then our whole life seems to be painted with a grey brush.
We don't try a new shampoo, and then base all our thoughts and needs on whether it is a good shampoo or not. Of course the relationship we have with our guy is important, but if we make it the most important thing in our lives, we are going to be stressed, and end up being all crazy.
Yes, that guy is amazing. We love the way his hair curls at the base of his neck. We love his brown eyes and his smile. We love the way he looks at us. But it’s a whole lot better if he is just one part of our lives, and not everything in our lives.
I am trying to do that at the moment! I’m trying to concentrate on writing this blog, and not let myself pick up my phone and tell him that I miss him. I’m going to stop thinking about him and finish writing this. And then I’m going to work on my assignment and my next book, and then go and spend time with friends this afternoon.
Boys aren’t the most important thing in the world, even though they feel like it sometimes! If we can get that balance right, we can work on our own hopes and goals in life, instead of spending time dreaming about the next kiss. And when the next kiss does come along, we will be strong, happy girls who can love our special guy all the better, because we are the best we can be at being ourselves.

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Julianne Alcott is the author of The Ripmender that will be published by Wordsmack Publishers on 6 May as an e-book.

Ripmender final cover
The Ripmender by Julianne Alcott:
"In the real world, your idol usually ends up in rehab or, even worse,
at a wedding altar in some tacky Vegas chapel. What they don't do is
tell you they are from another planet... Just my luck!"
Cathy Slater dreams of meeting the love of her life ... teen rock
sensation, Nathan Jake.
He is adored by millions, while she has trouble even fitting into her
own family! Although he is a tutor at her university, there is no way
she can compete with the packs of worshiping fans constantly
surrounding him.
But then fate intervenes and her life changes forever when she
stumbles onto Nathan's biggest secret... She wasn't meant to see what
he can do ... what he is ... Now there's no going back.
Who are the Ripmenders and what is their purpose here on Earth?
Follow Cathy across the galaxy as she uncovers the truth about the
shady organisation behind Nathan's secret. Can she ever truly
understand the mystery behind the man she loves? ... Or will an enemy
from the past ruin everything?

To pre-order, go to:
http://www.word-smack.com/#%21the-ripmender-preorder/c152j

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Juliannne Alcott lives in Durban, South Africa, where she works as a school librarian by day and writes young adult novels by night. Her latest book, The Ripmender, is a young adult sci-fi romance and will be published 6 May 2014.  She gets a kick out of creating plots that give her interesting things to research. “I have rubbed stinging nettles onto my arm, visited a mall in a borrowed wheelchair and eaten boiled leaves, all to make my stories more real.” She has a blog: http://juliannealcott.wordpress.com and is on Twitter: @JulianneAlcott
You can also stay up to date with her latest book, The Ripmender, here: http://www.word-smack.com/#%21the-ripmender-preorder/c152j

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