Please help me welcome Author Tracy Lane to my blog today!
About the Author:
I was fascinated
with the paranormal when I was very young. I always felt like someone was
around me even when I was alone. It caused me to be inspired to write a
paranormal book where a teenager can see and hear ghosts and actually makes
friends with one.
I use to love to
write short stories in school and always wanted to be a writer. But raising
children and working jobs I just could not find the time to indulge my passion.
Then my children grew up and I ended up having two teenagers at home who did
not need as much attention from me. I started toying with the idea of writing
once again. So setting aside 5 to 10 minutes per day to write at least one page
I could end up with a book a year. Now Paranormal Properties is published and I
have a list of 8 more books to write. I don't think I"ll be slowing down
anytime soon.
It caused me
to be inspired to write a paranormal book where a teenager can see and hear
ghosts and actually makes friends with one.
I use to love to
write short stories in school and always wanted to be a writer. But raising
children and working jobs I just could not find the time to indulge my passion.
Then my children grew up and I ended up having two teenagers at home who did
not need as much attention from me. I started toying with the idea of writing
once again. So setting aside 5 to 10 minutes per day to write at least one page
I could end up with a book a year. Now Paranormal Properties is published and I
have a list of 8 more books to write. I don't think I"ll be slowing down
anytime soon.
Author Interview:
Author Interview:
What is your name? Do you use a pen name (if so, why?)?
My name is Tracy
Lane. I do not use a pen name, I want everyone to know who I am.
Tell me a bit about yourself:
I am a single mother
who works and writes in her spare time.
What type of genre do you write?
I love Young Adult,
fiction and fantasy.
What genre to you personally read?
Fiction is my
favorite, I love to escape in worlds I wish existed. Paranormal books are
great, magical ones take me away to a place I wish I could stay in.
Tell me about your latest?
It is my first,
Paranormal Properties. It is about 14 year old Jake, a skeptic who helps his
parents on their ghost hunting show. One day he finds out ghosts are real when
he meets Frank Barrone, Dusks oldest ghost.
What sparked your passion for books and the art of a good
story?
When I was in
elementary school I could not get enough books to read. As soon as I finished
one I was looking for the next to take me away. I guess reality did not hold my
attention the way books did. Plus I fell in love with the characters. I would
daydream I was in the story living it.
Is there a particular book that changed or affected your
life in a big way?
I loved A Wrinkle In
Time. I remember reading that book a few times. There was something about
traveling from world to world with a crazy old lady that intrigued me. The characters were fun and at times the
children seemed so grown up, the way I had always felt.
Is there a message in your book that you want readers to
grasp?
Nothing is
impossible! Never believe that just because you can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.
That’s like saying there is no air because it is invisible to us. Keep your
mind open and experience all you can. Life is much sweeter that way don’t you
agree?
What challenges have you faced in your writing career?
Writing is the
challenge. Ha ha. I tried for 6 years to write this story. I just didn’t have the self-discipline or
confidence to get it written. When I would try I thought I had to sit and write
for hours to get at least a chapter down on paper. Then one day I read that if
you wanted to write a book to just set aside 5 to 10 minutes a day to write at
least one page. Do that every day and you would end up with a book by the end
of a year. I thought I had tried everything else, why not try it this way. It
actually worked! It did not take me a year but doing the writing in baby steps
did not seem as menacing to me as trying to write for hours. And on some days I
would get 2 pages done instead of one.
What has been your best moment as a writer?
At first I thought it
was when I finished my book and had it edited.
But two weeks later when I had a publishing contract in my hand I knew
that moment was the sweetest I had experienced so far. All the doubt just vanished. I was actually
being taken seriously as a writer.
Who is your author idol?
Stephen King. His
imagination is unsurpassable by anyone I have read. He pulls me in and makes me
want to cry when it ends. If I could write like that I could quit my day job.
Do you see yourself in any of your characters?
Yes in Jake’s mother
Stephanie. I put my personality in her. I am fun loving and serious about
ghost-hunting. When you read about her, you are reading about me.
Do you feel like your dream has come true or is there much
more to do?
The first part of my
dream has come true. I would love to be
a full time writer and quit my day job. To tell the truth I was not sure I
would get this far. Getting a publisher for Paranormal Properties happened so
fast it took me a few weeks to fully process I was getting published. I had heard it was almost impossible to get a
publisher for your first book and if you were lucky enough to get one it could
take months of waiting. Neither which happened to me.
What does your workspace look like?
Actually pretty neat.
Just my computer, my coffee cup and the flash drive I save it all on. Keeping
it clean keeps it easier to focus on writing.
Have you ever had a day when you just wanted to quit?
All the time in the
beginning. It was a constant struggle. But the feeling of wanting to be a
writer kept me coming back to try time and time again. Persistence finally paid
off.
What do you do when you’re not writing?
I am either working
or spending time with my kids. There are times I need more hours in the day to
accomplish all I need too.
What are the most important attributes to remaining sane as
a writer?
I don’t think I am
sane. Being a bit insane helps your imagination to kick in and help with the
creative process of writing. It brings that pizazz every good story needs.
Did you have a moment when you realized you were meant to be
a writer?
Getting a publisher
so quickly gave me that AHA moment that this was meant to be, that I hadn’t
wasted all those years thinking I could be a writer. I was now actually a
published writer.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Do not give up! If
you feel it in your soul that this is what you were meant to do, then do it!
Find a way that works for you, either type for hours or a bit at a time. Don’t
worry what it looks like, if the story is good get someone to edit it for you
and clean it up. Everyone has a story in them, get yours out.
After this book, what is next?
I am now working on a
Young Adult book called Entwined Courage. It is a mystical story with romance
and I am falling in love with the characters. I can’t wait until I finish it
and share it with the world.
Your website?
Your blog?
Other websites?
Where can your book be found?
On Amazon.com
Paranormal Properties
Paranormal Properties Book One
Paranormal Properties Book One
Tracy Lane
Genre: YA Paranormal
Publisher: Pants on Fire Press
ISBN: 978-0982727171
ASIN: B00BMHF6X6
Number of
pages: 192
Word Count: 33,000
Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/NwIoLYHHznU
Book Description:
Jake Weir, while on
the set of his parents ghost hunting TV show, agrees to help a ghost
investigate a 61 year-old murder.
Jake Weir is not
like the other kids in Dusk, North Carolina. Then again, Dusk, North Carolina
is not like other cities. Known as one of the most haunted cities in America,
behind Salem, Massachusetts and New Orleans, Louisiana, Dusk is ground zero for
Jake's ghost hunting parents.
The Weir family has
arrived in Dusk eager to scope out some of the town's 127 reported
"paranormal properties," which just happens to be the name of their
own ghost hunting show: Paranormal Properties. What Jake doesn't know, and what
his parents could never imagine, is that Jake can see ghosts! And hear them.
And talk back to them! This talent comes in handy when he runs into Dusk's
oldest, most famous ghost: one Frank Barrone, a one-time lounge singer made
famous by his booze-soaked ballad, "Barroom Eyes."
“Paranormal
Properties is a great, family-friendly Young Adult novel about a boy who can
talk to ghosts. Equal parts Scooby-Doo, CSI and the Hardy Boys, you will enjoy
getting to know Jake, Frank and Tank as much as I did. Now, if only ‘Paranormal
Properties’ was a real show I could watch on TV every week…” ~ Rusty
Fischer, author of Zombies Don’t Cry
Short Excerpt:
“Silas…”
The voice was eerie, barely above a whisper. Jake paused, his sneaker
poised above a grave as he stood in the middle of Dusk Cemetery.
It was nearly midnight and he’d grabbed the wrong flashlight before
sneaking out of his bedroom window. It had run out of juice halfway through the
graveyard, and he’d been blindly stumbling around ever since.
The moon was full, but it was frequently obscured by heavy cloud cover
and he had to wait until another patch moved through to see very well.
He wasn’t scared, so much. Jake had a special relationship with
graveyards, and this was far from his first time at the rodeo. Still, it was
the first time a headstone had ever talked to him.
The voice grew louder.
“Silas…”
It was a female voice, sounding dark in a way a ghost might: dark and
deep and frosty.
He risked another step, letting the moonlight guide his path. It was a
big cemetery, and well-maintained as cemeteries go. There were headstones
everywhere, some leaning, some taller than Jake.
“Silas…”
Jake turned to the left to follow the sound. It was coming from a
massive tombstone two feet taller than he was, and three feet wider. He pointed
the flashlight at it, but the beacon was dim, even after he banged it three
times on the palm of his hand.
Then, suddenly, it lit, falling upon the dead soul’s name: “Rose
Colder.”
It was there on the grave stone, but the flashlight flickered out just
before he could read the dates.
“Silas…” came the eerie voice again, so close he could hear the ghost’s
lips smacking.
But, wait. Did ghosts really have lips to smack?
Jake parted his own lips and spoke for the first time since walking
into the graveyard. “R-R-Rose?”
He hadn’t meant to stutter, but he couldn’t help it. He heard a rasp,
or a cough, and then the crunch of dry leaves behind the headstone.
“Silas?” was the reply, and then the rustling of cheap plastic against
flesh. The clouds broke, the moon shone down, and a giant, yellow monster
reared from behind the headstone, smiling.
Smiling?
“Gotcha!” said the beast, in a boastful, girlish voice. It was a girl,
a giant girl, a living girl in a big, yellow raincoat.
“W— who are you?” Jake stammered, trying to hold his ground. He had to
look up a good four inches to see her face.
Her eyes glittered beneath her short, greasy hair. She was heavy, but
with her big smile and that cheerful way about her, she looked more nice than
scary.
“I’m Tank,” she said proudly, inching closer to him with big black and
white sneakers crunching over dry, dead leaves. “Who are you?”
“Jake Weir,” he said, relieved he didn’t stammer that time. “And
who…who’s Silas?”
“Don’t you know?” she asked, sitting down on one of the large marble
slabs that surrounded Rose Colder’s grave. She patted the one next to him, and
he sat, too.
He didn’t know why, but even in a graveyard, even after pranking him in
her big, yellow raincoat that made her look like a linebacker for an NFL team,
this “Tank” girl didn’t scare him.
Much.
“No,” he replied.
Tank frowned. “Rose Colder,” she explained, “snuck out at midnight to
meet her boyfriend, Silas Miner, in this very cemetery over a hundred years
ago. But Silas’s Dad didn’t approve of his son dating a commoner, so he kept
Silas from seeing her and sent a couple of local thugs to teach Rose a lesson.
When the thugs showed up, Rose fought back…and lost. They buried her here, and
legend has it that every night, at midnight, she rises from her grave to take
revenge on the men who ended her life.”
“So…so that’s why you were calling me Silas?”
Tank nodded, and then slugged him on the shoulder. “What are you doing
here, anyway?” Jake shrugged. He didn’t really want to tell her.
She pulled a flashlight from her raincoat pocket and flicked it on,
right in his eyes. “Hey!” He held up a hand to shield his face.
“Wait, hold up.” Tank pointed the beam up. “What’s that on your hat?”
Jake blushed. He’d grabbed the hat at the last minute, not thinking
about it. He had so many of them, and they all looked alike: black ball cap,
neon green writing that spelled “Paranormal Properties.”
“You…you work for that TV show? The ghost hunting one?”
“You know about it?” Jake was surprised. They’d just gotten into town,
and his parents hadn’t even filmed an episode here yet. That’s what he was
doing out in the graveyard at midnight, trying to find something extra special
for a new episode.
Of course, they’d kill him if they found out, but he figured it would
be worth it if they finally got more than a handful of people to watch.
“Know about it?” Tank shouted. “I watch it every week! You know, the
live feed on the web page. We don’t have any local channels that play it.”
Jake beamed in appreciation. “Cool,” he said.
“So,” Tank urged, nudging his knee with her own. He noticed she was
wearing plaid pants under her yellow rain coat. “Do you work for it or what?”
“My Mom is the host. My Dad is the cameraman.”
Tank gasped and shoved Jake with each word. “No. Way! Get. Out. Of.
Town!”
She stopped
shoving him and stood up instead, yanking him by the sleeve of his T-shirt.
Dragging him from the cemetery, she said, “I love your Mom. You have to tell me
all about her.”
“Where are we going?” he asked, finally regaining use of his feet and
catching up to her.
“Famous?” he chuckled as he followed her past the cemetery gate. His
Mongoose bike was sitting there, dry and rusty, just where he’d left it.
“Sure thing.” She reached behind some bushes and lifted out a green ten
speed with just one hand.
They mounted their bikes and, now that he was looking for it, Jake saw
the neon sign for the Dusk Diner just around the corner. Yet, something was
still bugging him. “Hey,” he said, “what were you doing in the graveyard at
midnight?”
Tank shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“So you went to a cemetery?”
Goodreads
http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/46688-paranormal-properties Please thank Tracy for joining us today. She is having a giveaway below:
Tour Wide Giveaway
4 signed print books and sets of 2 trading cards
6 sets of two trading cards
Open to US shipping
Giveaway Display Link
Check out her links, enter the drawing and buy a book!
Keep Writing!
Jodie Pierce
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