Belle Whittington

I’m in lovely Croatia today visiting with the wonderful Matea! Come by and see what we’re talking about! And while you’re there, leave some bloggy love in the comments section of her adorable blog! :-)

Happy Tuesday, Peeps & Peepettes! I’m back in gorgeous Romania today, visiting lovely Madalina ♥

Stop by to see what we’re talking about. While you are there, please leave some bloggy love in the comments section! ♥

I’ve had the fantastic opportunity to spend the day visiting, I Rawr Books, lovely Tamanna’s blog and chatting about books! Stop by to check it out! Don’t forget to leave her some bloggy love in the comments on her adorable blog!

I’m back in beautiful Romania today! Whew! I’ve been doing a lot of traveling this summer! Check out what lovely Stefana Alexandra and I are discussing!!!

Don’t worry … she posted a link to the English version, too! ♥

It’s Friday, and we’re back in the lovely country of Romania! Check out what we’re talking about today over at Steph’s place! ♥


http://ciudatica-s.blogspot.ro/2012/08/7-questions-belle-whittington.html

Happy, Saturday, Peeps & Peepettes!

Guess who’s back in Romania? Yep! “Cicada” and I are back in Romania as a guest of the lovely Carti cu Colti!

Check out the interview! Enter to WIN! Leave some bloggy love!

http://raftul-cartilor-vampiresti.blogspot.com/2012/07/interview-with-belle-whittington.html

1) Can you tell readers a bit about yourself- your writing history/journey　your novel(s)?

First of all, I’d like to thank you for having me over to your lovely blog for a glass of lemonade and a chat! I’m so happy to have a chance to get to know you and your readers!

I suppose I’ve been writing stories for as long as I could put a sentence together on paper. Before that, I was daydreaming stories. Nowadays, I still daydream stories, weaving them in my mind and heart until they feel alive. Then they find their way through my fingertips and onto the page.

Part of my writing journey has been fueled by my love of literature. Reading a beautiful, ancient heroic ballad, such as Beowulf, or a well-written contemporary novel, such asHunger Games, is like eating a large slice of the best chocolate cake in the world! 

And so, with my love of weaving words and daydreaming worlds into reality, writing has become a natural part of my heart and soul.

My YA Paranormal Sci-Fi novel, Cicada, was released last July, and boy has it been a wild ride! Cicada has developed sort of a cult following, and I love my readers! Cicada is the first of a trilogy. Firefly, book two, will be released late this summer (‘Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, as the old folks here in Texas say!). I included the first few chapters ofFirefly at the end of Cicada, so readers will have a little something to whet their appetites! Check out the book trailer for Cicada and let me know what you think! I love getting message from my readers, and I always respond! 

Click here to read the rest and show this lovely blog some love by leaving a comment! <3

Today I have Belle Whittington author of Cicada in the spotlight!

Welcome to the blog Belle, What inspired you to write CICADA? 

There’s not any one thing that inspired me to write Cicada. I find inspiration in everything around me, and there are a lot of cumulative memories of inspiration from over the years that all culminated 

Growing up in Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas, afforded me summers full of adventure with my friends. I call on those adventures and memories a great deal for my YA stories. Cicada has a lot of the energy of those childhood adventures spun throughout. One of them is something that actually happened to me when I was thirteen years old. I was on one of my adventures in the woods with my dog, Dusty. We made our way through the woods to a neighboring pasture and crawled through the barbed wire fence. When we got to the top of one of the rolling hills in the grassy field, I realized I was standing in the middle of a giant circle imprinted in the pasture grass. No one had ever told me about crop circles at that time in my life, so I just thought it was an odd occurrence that there was a strange circle in the tall grass. Now that circle is forever memorialized in a YA novel, Cicada! 

Indie publishing- Why do you think it’s becoming so popular? 

Traditional gatekeepers (agents, etc.) have long held the power of setting trends of what was published and when it was published, thereby deciding for the masses what would be in vogue in the writing world. The pendulum has swung toward the readers and book bloggers/reviewers, who are now the new gatekeepers. I think Indie Publishing is becoming so popular because authors finally have a venue to publish their works without having to conform to what the traditional gatekeepers want. Indie authors are now able to offer readers a wider variety within each genre, which is better for the reader. Also, there are so many viable options for indie publishing available now, allowing authors to create quality books for readers. That’s my two-cents-worth! 

CICADA has become a movie, who is playing your main character and why? 

Oh, I really do love this question, because I actually have in mind a list of actors who could easily step into the shoes of my characters. By no means did I pattern my characters after these actors though. However, I feel they would fit the parts very well! How about I go a step further and show you who I think could fill all their shoes? Drum roll………..

Wanna get to know me better?  I know you do! LOL!  Pop on over to Books Complete me Book Blog and read her interview with Moi! 

Don’t forget to leave a comment on her post and then head on over to the Rafflecopter form to enter to win the GRAND PRIZE!!!!  It’s really cool!  I know you wanna win!

First off, let me just say how much I appreciate Tiffany for having me over to her lovely blog for a cup of hot tea and a chat! 

Interview Questions:

How did you come up with the idea for cicada? 

That’s a really good question!  There were actually a lot of little things that came together to form the idea for Cicada.  For instance, there really is a suspicious-looking building across from the drive-in.  And there really is a small forest that looks extremely spooky and haunted…especially at night!  And…there really is an old storage facility that has an odd number of bunnies living withing the confines of the chain-link surrounding the property. But it goes farther back than that!

Click here to read the rest of the interview and show Tiffany’s blog some luuuvvvv! <3

Post by Tiffany

Well, here’s my podcast interview from yesterday! :-)

And, yes, I’m from Texas!  LOL!

Belle Whittington is the author of the Cicada, a YA novel.

 NS:    Do you have any pet peeves?

BW: Absolutely!  My biggest pet peeve is for someone to smack while eating.  I can’t imagine anything more annoying that someone chewing with one’s mouth open and making all that noise!  I’m irritated just thinking about it!  LOLOL!!!!!

NS:  What is your favorite quote? 

BW: My favorite quote of all time is by George Eliot:  “It is never too late to be what you would have been.”  That one quote was literally a life-changing quote for me.  Once upon a time, that one sentence encouraged me to take a huge step that changed everything about my life.

NS: Where is your favorite place to read/write? 

BW: I have two favorite places to read: 1.) In my car on my lunch hour  2.)  In my bed in the evenings.  That’s when I read myself to sleep!   My favorite place to write is in my room…either sitting on the floor, at my little desk, or on my bed.

Click here to read the rest and show this lovely blog some love! <3

Post by Katie

One of the biggest joys of writing fiction is getting to know the characters as they form themselves into personalities that seem real and almost tangible.  Once a writer has gotten to the point that his/her characters are more than fiction on the page, finding an actor or actress who could fill their shoes is like searching for treasure.

The lovely Jessica posed the question of which actors/actresses could fill the parts of the characters in Cicada.  It was, indeed, a fun exercise in choosing who could fill in for whom!

And here they are!

Click here to read the rest and to enter the giveaway!

Go here to for my interview on Rachel’s book review blog! :-)