#strangelit – Tara Tries To Write

BLOG TOUR: #IncredibleTruths Author Interview | Kristel Ann Cruz

April 26, 2016 No Comments

This is the final week of the #StrangeLit blog tours, and my final stop features an interview with Kristel Ann Cruz, author of A Sky of Wishes, which is included in the #IncredibleTruths bundle.

A Sky of Wishes

A world governed by logic and rules does not have time for childhood fantasies like wishing stars, or so we thought. After Stella gets diagnosed with a terminal illness, Aries turned to the sky and pleaded for his mother to be healed. Imagine his surprise when a Star manifests itself to him, willing to give him anything he wishes for. There is only one rule: Everything comes with a price. With his mother’s life on the line, how far could he go? In a battle between fates and wishes, what would Aries be willing to give up?

Buy the #IncredibleTruths bundle on Buqo to read this story.
Add it on Goodreads.

Click on the Read More button for the interview.

Interviews, The Writing Community

BLOG TOUR: #KillerSeasons Author Interview | Chrissie Peria

April 20, 2016 No Comments

First of all, my apologies for this interview being late. There was just a lot of things going on for the past few days and guh, okay, I’ll stop making excuses. Welcome to my (late) stop for the #StrangeLit #KillerSeasons blog tour!

I chose to interview author Chrissie Peria, author of The Last Night of Her Wake, for this stop, and here’s what her story is all about:

The Last Night of Her Wake

There is a wake in Sitio Lumawig.
A young woman, barely seventeen, left her hometown, only to return home in a wooden box.
Brutally murdered, there are no witnesses. Nobody knows what happened. When it happened. Or who did it.
All they know is that there was pain—so much pain in her passing.

As her father keeps vigil over her battered body, a single question keeps him company.
Who is to blame for his daughter’s death?

Buy the #KillerSeasons bundle on Buqo to read this story.
Add the bundle on Goodreads.

Click on the Read More button for the interview.

Interviews, The Writing Community

BLOG TOUR: #DarkestDreams Author Interview | Therese Barleta

March 22, 2016 No Comments

Today is the last day of the #StrangeLit #DarkestDreams blog tour, and the last day to be able to purchase the bundle (10 stories in one!) for only P45! For my stop, I am featuring an interview with the author of When it Rains in Mystic River, Therese Barleta.

When it Rains in Mystic River

Whenever sirens sound off, Naomi is always worried that Seth is somewhere being chased by the police, if not already gunned down by rival gangs that pollute the south side of Boston. “Please help me just this one last time,” Seth would always tell her, but Naomi just wants to live a normal life as a pretend human being, not Seth’s Encantada girlfriend who always bails him out of his shady dealings. As soon as Seth finds an out from this life he’s known forever, he takes the opportunity before Naomi can even say no. How could she when this is the exit they’ve both been waiting for? Or is it a shortcut to their doom?

Buy the #DarkestDreams bundle on Buqo to read this story.
Add the bundle on Goodreads

Therese and I didn’t get to do a face-to-face interview, so Keyword Q&A wasn’t an option. This interview was done entirely via Google Docs (one of our favorite online resources), snuck in between answering e-mails and doing other work-related tasks.

Click on the Read More button below to read the rest of the interview.

Interviews, The Writing Community

BLOG TOUR: #FatefulTurns Author Interview | Chi Yu Rodriguez

March 8, 2016 No Comments

Hello and welcome to my stop for this week’s blog tour featuring the #StrangeLit bundle, #FatefulTurns! For this round, I’ve chosen to interview Chi Yu Rodriguez, author of Sparks of Circumstance.

At eighteen, Jana Cross begins to dream.

Sometimes, her dreams are of a cafe that sells a different kind of coffee. Here, espresso shots are focus and discipline, sugars and syrups are encouragement, tea and milk are calm, and whipped cream is joy.

Sometimes, she dreams of another realm, an enchanted forest with different creatures doing her bidding and her subjects calling her by a different name. She dreams of power, of striking fear. She dreams of things that aren’t real.

Or are they?

When danger finds Jana, she begins to follow her dreams. Will they lead her to her death? Or will they finally lead her to the truth?

This is the beginning of her story.

Get the #FatefulTurns bundle (ONLY P45 this week!) on Buqo to read this story.
Add the bundle on Goodreads

I wanted to try something different for this interview, so I prepared small note cards on which I wrote a few keywords I got from reading Sparks of Circumstance. I asked the author to pick cards (which were presented face down) and she answered questions based on the keywords on the cards she picked.

This is the very first Keyword Q&A I’ve done, and I intend to do more of it in the future, but for now, here’s Chi Yu Rodriguez talking about her favorite thing about the book, a bit about her writing process for SoC, and a brief introduction on what’s to come.

Click on the Read More button to read the interview.

Personal, Writing

How many firsts can you squeeze in a year? A LOT, apparently.

January 1, 2016 No Comments

First things first: From my family to yours, a very happy new year. I wish we all have an amazingly blessed 2016. <3

And now for a proper yearender post.

Personal, Writing

COVER REVEAL: The “Forget You” Brew

November 19, 2015 No Comments

*sings* Isn’t she lovely~

Back in September, I finished what was to become my second published manuscript, The “Forget You” Brew. It was part of a five-week long online workshop called #StrangeLit, in which we were taught the basics of writing in the paranormal/urban fantasy genre.

At the beginning of the workshop, a shiny perk was dangled in front of us: the promise of a pretty book cover, IF! 1) we finish a novella length manuscript (15K words and above), and 2) our story meets artist Tania Arpa’s standards. Only one story was to be chosen as the lucky winner of a book cover, and I remember feeling pretty competitive after the announcement.

Short & Tweet

{ Short & Tweet } Episode Four

November 9, 2015 No Comments

I haven’t done this in a while, but let me do something new just because. I’m going to introduce two Twitter accounts today, @eastgenproject and @KaipuhanKafe, both “managed” by fictional characters from stories I wrote.

In April, I joined a writing workshop called #SparkNA, which brought forth to the world (in a manner of speaking) a Korean pop-rock band called East Genesis Project aka EG Project. In the process of creating these characters, I’ve always had the urge to write side stories and interviews involving them and putting those together in some pseudo-band website. Of course, I never really got around to doing that yet, but I did start this:

The day's not over yet, folks. And my arms are ready to welcome you. 안아줘! --S pic.twitter.com/sglcTo5u5G
— East Genesis Project (@eastgenproject) October 10, 2015

Short & Tweet

{ Short & Tweet } Episode Three

October 15, 2015 No Comments

Because it’s been two weeks since the #StrangeLit bundles were released, and I have been getting nakakakilig comments about The “Forget You” Brew (which really make my very busy days more bearable), let me share with you some of my favorites.

@krissyfied: Omgahhh ten+ hearts for The Forget You Brew by @twostepflight! What an enjoyable and beautiful read! StrangeLit #KillerSeasons
— Kristel Ann Cruz (@krissyfied) October 11, 2015

^ Squeeeeee! <3 Krissy even mentions the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind while tweet-reviewing my novella, and while I haven’t yet seen it (I’m so sorry I have this . . . thing), being put in the same category as a film most of my friends like/love is a lovely compliment. Thank you, my dear.

Giveaway

#StrangeLit Giveaway: Day 2 [ CLOSED ]

October 10, 2015 No Comments

Here’s the second wave of my #StrangeLit giveaway, and it’s really really easy to join. Check it out:

In The “Forget You” Brew, a drink called Afforgeto Coffee gets served to one of the characters. On the Kaipuhan Kafe menu, the drink is described as A scoop of vanilla-flavored nostalgia drowned with a shot of coffee liqueur. For those who long to forget.

Click on the image for the original tweet found on @tarafrejas. To join, simply RETWEET the original tweet with your answer to the question and that’s it! You’re qualified for an entry! Easy, right?

Here’s what’s up for grabs this time around:

20151004_230436 — Giveaway Prize #2: Mini notebook, two bunny paperclips, one bunny post-it, one pad of sticker stamps, and a Paper Planes Back Home bookmark with a code to download the eBook on Buqo for free! ^_^

The #KillerSeasons bundle is currently selling on Buqo for only P90/$0.99! Take a chance on ten new paranormal/urban fantasy stories by indie Filipino authors. Click here to buy a copy.

Giveaway

#StrangeLit Giveaway: Day 1 [ CLOSED ]

October 6, 2015 No Comments

Right on the heels of the #StrangeLit bundle release was the announcement of the launch event which will happen at Recession Coffee, Eastwood on October 24, from 2:00-4:00 PM. Now that should’ve made me really excited because it’s going to be the first time I’ll be attending a launch for something I wrote, but it’s my high school kabarkada‘s wedding on that day as well, and I CANNOT miss that or she’ll have my head on a platter.

So because I can’t really have fun giving away stuff on that day, I’ve decided to do my giveaways before the launch instead. If you’d like to join these giveaways, all you need to do are the following:

Buy the #KillerSeasons bundle on Buqo. (It’s just P90 right now, P250 in a few weeks, so take advantage of the introductory price!)
Read my novella, The “Forget You” Brew.
Follow me on Twitter (@tarafrejas) and like my Facebook page (/taratriestowrite)
Stay tuned for GIVEAWAY ALERTS, like this one below:

Do you know the answer to this question? Hurry and DM the answer to me @tarafrejas (and remember NOT to tweet the answer). I will be accepting entries until midnight tomorrow, October 6.

Two winners will receive the following:

20151004_232630 — Giveaway Prize #1: A mini notebook, a bunny paperclip/bookmark, two kinds of bunny post-its, and a Paper Planes Back Home bookmark with a code to download the eBook on Buqo for free! ^_^

Hope you guys join! <3