Join me for Indie Author Day on October 8th at the Alhambra Civic Library!
Over 300 libraries from all across North America will host their own local author events with the support of the Indie Author Day team. I, along with my a dozen other indie authors — including my dad, Dennis Sanchez — will be at the Alhambra library from 1-4 pm.
At 2:30 pm I will be part of the “Writing for Young People”, so be sure to be around for that. Authors will have books to sell and sign. Please come say hi!
Reviews are still coming in for “Tick”, which is fantastic motivation as I slog through edits of part two in the series, “Vice”. It is so easy to get deterred during the editing process, and then positive reviews remind me that there was a reason why I started writing Jo Bristol’s story in the first place, so hurry the hell up and finish, dumbass!
Ah. Had to get that out. I feel better now, thanks.
Anyway, here are some snippets of those reviews, in case you haven’t read “Tick” yet and are looking for a reason to:
Rose is a good writer of dialogue, and is deft at slowly doling out information to locate the reader within Jo’s world. The story is exciting, fast-paced, and full of surprises… TICK is a terrific book, which more than stands its ground in a crowded field of dystopian fiction featuring awesome, if “wrett” female heroes.
Side note: Props to the reviewer for using my slang!
…Author Allison Rose kept the essence of thrill and action all the way till the end. This is one of those novels that will keep your heart beating and make you live the life of the character. I was completely invested in the story from the first chapter. Jo is the type of character that you root for right to the very end. She was awesome and very reflective.
Thanks for those reviews!
On the subject of book two of The Tick Series, I can’t say for certain when it will be released. It’s a complicated story with a lot of elements involved, which makes editing tricky. I don’t, however, want to rush the process for the sake of a release date, but I assure you, it is coming. Patience, grasshoppers.
Last March, I published my first novel, Tick, the first in a YA Science Fiction series. To be more specific, I self-published. I knew full well the challenges of being a self-pubber (I’d done my research), and while I was certain I could get an agent to bite, I was determined to have full control over my work and that it was good enough to sell on its own, dammit.
A year later, I had serious doubts about my decision to not take the traditional route. Sure, I had some awesome reviews on Goodreads, and the people who read it continuously ask when #2 is coming out (it’s coming, but slowly… more on that in another post). But, I wasn’t selling many books. In fact, it has been a struggle to get any return on my investments. Several bloggers reviewed Tick, and some even asked me to do guest posts, but it didn’t sell any books. I participated in a couple Facebook Author Bashes, but I didn’t sell any books. People in my personal life shared the info with their friends; still didn’t sell any books.
A few people encouraged me to keep writing, saying that many new authors don’t hit their stride until their series is complete; although I am still a ways from that. Keep on truckin’, they said. Truth is, the problem began with me. As hard as I initially to tried to have a strong social media game, I still couldn’t get myself to keep up with it as much as I should have. When it was going great, I had things to talk about. When confidence waned, I didn’t want to even mention it. It’s hard to respond enthusiastically to fan inquiries when that damn elephant just won’t leave the room. After awhile, I stopped talking about my book so much. I stopped asking people to write reviews, or even read it. Was I giving up? Not completely, but the train had lost some serious steam.
Then, with a last-minute decision, I decided to sign up for a Book of the Day promotion hosted by the lovely people at OnlineBookClub.org. It’s mostly a place for book nerds to chat literary, but it’s also a great resource for authors. Last June, I got a fantastic review from them, yet again, it didn’t sell any books. So I decided to try out The Book of the Day thing, but there was a catch. Since it was a special event, I either had to recede my price to $2.99 or make it free for the day. I had a decision to make; either I could try the price reduction and see if it would finally get people to bite, or make it entirely free. Continue reading
In Part One of The Science of Sci-Fi, Tick Style, I discussed the use of optogenetics as a possible cure for mental illnesses in the future. It is exciting science, to say the least, especially with the implications of it being a non-invasive way of giving so many people piece of mind. However — as the skeptic that I am — I can’t help but wonder about the abuse that could come out of such a technology. Where does the desire to “fix” one’s self stop? Who is to determine what exactly is a defect worthy of fixing? And if all the mental abnormalities are removed, what does that do for the creative muse?
It begs the moral question: Is the creative muse a neural defect and should it be fixed?
the road to mental recovery
My research of optogenetics not only aided me in the extensive rewrites of Tick, but also made the threat of brain alterations feel that much more real, and therefore real for my main character, Jo. Over the course of my scientific research, I had a bit of a mind-bending experience.
Let me get a little personal on you for a moment. In my formative years, I was plagued by a severe depression. No matter how brutal it was at times, I continually battled against the idea that whatever depression I was suffering was not the result of a chemical imbalance in my brain as the psychiatrist insisted. It was environmental, I argued. I was always an overly perceptive kid. People called me an “old soul” when I was 10. I knew my compulsion to create art and express myself was not just a product of an excessively emotional teenager. Still, I couldn’t function in the “real world” so they put me on anti-depressants. My mind was not my own on those drugs, those thoughts were that of someone who could care less about literally anything at all. I made no art. I wrote no music. I was a shell of my former self. After a couple of years, I stopped taking those drugs and took the time to simply grow up a little. A decade later, I am living life depression-free, but the experience has forever changed my perception of my own mind. Continue reading
“They’re called botheads!”
I have been thinking for some time about writing a post about the scientific research that went into Tick, but found that the information (and the many connections to my book series) was an intimidating amount, too much to add into one block. So, I have decided to break them down into more readable chunks so that I can share with you the science behind the science fiction in my debut YA series, Tick. This post commences Part One.
Let’s go back a bit. I honestly can’t say exactly where the inspiration came from for my YA sci-fi series, which is, in short, about Josephine Bristol, a teenage girl desperate to become an artist in a drone-surveyed Los Angeles where neuroscientists permanently “fix” people with brain disorders, a task perhaps not so daunting were she not plagued by a violent mental and emotional dysfunction. I have mentioned in quite a few interviews that my main character’s “tick” — as she calls it — bears resemblance to issues of my own adolescence, although not in the “art imitates life” sort of way that has caused readers to question my husband’s safety (people are worried!). Jo’s tick is rather a dramatized representation of my years suffering from a deep and dark depression and the journey I have taken to finally write a book about it. In my series, the use of these brain-adjusting doctors is a futuristic evolution of psychiatry, and I am in awe of how many readers have noted the possibility that sometime in the near future, neural brain adjustments can become something not only used for medical purposes, but for personal advance as well.
I didn’t just make this concept up. Scientists are in the process of targeting specific neurons in the brain to inhibit or assist the movement of signals between synapses, thus altering certain cognitive functions. The purpose for this research is hoped to be applied in treating brain disorders such as schizophrenia and depression, but it takes no stretch of the imagination to see how easily this technology could be used to “fix” people of minor inflictions, like their compulsion to drop $20 at a fancy coffee shop every day. The science is called optogenetics, and I’ll get to the specifics of it later in this post, but first I want to get into how I even learned about optogenetics in the first place. Continue reading
I am so pleased to bring you the Official Book Trailer for Tick!
I got to use my old (aka rusty) video editing skills on this. I hope you enjoy it!
just sitting here selling myself … err, my books
Yesterday, I had the privilege of partaking in a Local Author Signing Day in South Pasadena. My fellow authors included Koji Steven Sakai and Dennis Sanchez (who is my dad, and also my writing inspiration). For my very first event, it went swimmingly. I sold a fair amount of books, got to hang out with some great people, and also received some valuable publishing advice.
But of course, there is always more going on behind the scenes than meets the eye. Every moment is a learning experience, is it not? Here are five things I learned from my first book signing, and I hope you can take something out of it too.
I had this plan to ride my bike to the South Pasadena Farmer’s Market and pass out fliers for the signing. I thought it would be easy, considering the city is populated by educated and eclectic residents, so of course they would want to support local authors. I thought it even might be fun because I would get to talk to people about my book. But when I pulled those fliers out of my bag … I froze. I am a social person for the most part, but not amongst hundreds of people I don’t know. My initial spiel included my introduction, who I was representing, and a run-down of the event. Most people sat politely while I interrupted their afternoon for that whopping 30 second lecture, but after the fifth group, I nearly gave up right there. Not only did I feel like an ass for jumping in the middle of their conversations, but I felt that I was wasting my time. After anxiously texting my husband that I was failing miserably, he suggested I shorten my spiel to “Support local authors!” and basically shove the fliers in unsuspecting hands. That was even less do-able. I am not one to take immediate rejection easily, and less people are willing to take anything from a peddler shoving things in their faces. Needless to say, I went home early.
As it turns out, I’m not as good at this self-promotion thing as I thought. I still have people telling me “I didn’t know you wrote a book!” because I’m just not that good at talking about myself. I am a writer and an artist, but I’m now also a salesman. It is a frightful combination. I’m still trying to figure that part out. Continue reading
fuel for the mind, circa 2002
People often ask me, “Have you always been an artist?”
“Of course I’ve always been an artist,” I say with an undertone of resentment for the fact they didn’t already know this. “Just because this is the first time you’ve ever seen me paint something, doesn’t mean I’m making it up right here on the spot. I didn’t become an artist overnight.”
That last bit is never said out loud, of course, because I’m not an asshole, and it’s not really their fault they don’t know what I do when I’m not pretending to be a respectable citizen.
Even while I internally fume about how still — even in my adult age — so many people have a terrible misconception of who I am, I understand why. Outwardly, I don’t give off the “artist vibe”. I’m not covered in tattoos, I dress fairly conservatively, I don’t spend my days yammering about artsy things. Quite frankly, I don’t find most meetings to be appropriate for such conversations, but given the right time and place, and I’ll talk your ear off about music or books or movies or politics. I didn’t gain an interest in those topics overnight, either; I simply choose to not talk about them all the time.
Perhaps the reason why I don’t expose myself as an artist in my daily life is because I’ve learned to compartmentalize those versions of myself. Growing up, most people in my life didn’t understand that I had such an incredible need to express myself. I channeled my emotions through any medium I could — music, art, graphic design, poetry, storytelling, anything — because the real world did not offer me the platform to truly speak my mind. Both my parents have artistic backgrounds (my dad is a writer, my mom has done fine art for decades), yet both their lives followed a path that halted their progression as artists. You know … the real world. So when it came time for me to graduate high school and decide what the hell I was going to do with my life, the voices of family members and friends alike resonated through my head: “You won’t make money as an artist. Pick something else.” Continue reading
We all dream of being on a bookstore shelf
Good news, everyone! You can now purchase Tick at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, at either their Pasadena location near Old Town or at their Hasting’s Ranch location. If you don’t see it on the shelf, ask one of their lovely booksellers to stock more. It’s only available for a limited time, so get your copy today!
This is very exciting news for me, as I have dreamed of seeing my name stocked on a bookstore shelf. Vroman’s is a very well-known place in the Los Angeles area, and hundreds of people go through those doors every day … I am fortunate they offer this opportunity to local authors.
In other Tick-related news, I have several events coming up:
First, I have been asked to write a guest blog post where I will be answering questions about myself and my book, to be posted on March 30th. Stop by and leave a question in the comments section!
Second, on March 29th, I’ll be a guest on the Good Nerd Bad Nerd podcast, for which I will do my best to not embarrass all you nerdy people (I may not be that nerdy, but I’ll try to pretend). The podcast will most likely be posted the next Monday (March 30), but I’ll keep you posted on that.
Lastly, Charlie’s Coffee House in South Pasadena has offered to host a local author signing day on April 22 at 4pm. I will be joined by a few other local authors, so stay tuned for more details on that.
That’s all for now, lovelies!
a fan’s interpretation of the characters … Felix is hot!
The Reading Nook NZ is hosting an international Giveaway on their blog. Entry requirements are to sign up and leave a blog comment including a question for me. On March 30th I will be writing a guest post on the blog, and answering all the questions!
The giveaway is active through March 30th, after which three winners will be picked. One prize of a signed paperback, and two ebooks. Enter now and leave a question about me or my book, Tick. Read their review of the book itself.
While you’re at it, you can enter my Goodreads Giveaway, which ends on March 31st.