December's Indie Author of the Month

Can you believe it is December already?! Well, I've got lots of great things planned this month from wrapping up the semester, gearing up for Christmas, throwing a few release par-tays (tons of good books are about to hit the shelves), and of course honoring the last Indie Author of the Month for 2012!

Who would that be you might ask? Well, this month's Indie Author of the Month has provided me with a few of my all time favorite book boyfriends! (I have a running list and three of her hotties are in my top ten.) Not only that but 2012 has been kind to her and I couldn't be happier! Anyone as talented and amazingly humble and gracious as her deserves all the awards and accolades that exist. 

So, who is December's Indie Author of the Month? None other than the New York Times AND USA Today bestseller M. Leighton!!!!!! *dances excitedly around the room*

For those of you who don't know M. this should get you up to speed...

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author, M. Leighton, is a native of Ohio. She relocated to the warmer climates of the South, where she can be near the water all summer and miss the snow all winter. Possessed of an overactive imagination from early in her childhood, Michelle finally found an acceptable outlet for her fantastical visions: literary fiction. Having written over a dozen novels, these days Michelle enjoys letting her mind wander to more romantic settings with sexy Southern guys, much like the one she married and the ones you'll find in her latest books. When her thoughts aren't roaming in that direction, she'll be riding horses, swimming in ponds and experiencing life on a ranch, all without leaving the cozy comfort of her office.

M. being the sweet darling she is took some time out of her super busy schedule of epicness to chat with lil ole me this week and here's how it went down. ;)

I guess, technically I should be calling you a "hybrid" now since you've got yourself a publishing contract and an agent (which is super awesome) but how did you find yourself in the world of self-publishing/indie authorhood?

Like many others, I queried a little in the traditional world before I decided to go the Indie route.  My husband is the one who (after months of chipping away at my resistance) talked me into independently publishing.  I don’t know how much longer I’d have stuck it out trying to get my foot in the door the old-fashioned way  Not much longer, I suspect.  It’s a very discouraging process!  LOL

Sounds like you have a very smart hubby. I'm so glad he talked you into it. ;) How long have you been full-time writer?

Well, I quit my job to write The Reaping at the end of November, 2010.  I didn’t publish until the end of January, 2011, though, so I’m not sure which you go by.  Either way, at most it’s been 2 years.  Two WONDERFUL years!

What is the last book you read?

Hearts in Darkness by Laura Kaye.  I started seeing her name pop up all over and she’s a super awesome person when I run into her on Twitter, so I thought I’d give her stuff a whirl.  It’s fantastic and won’t be the last I read of her.

What has been your favorite 2012 moment/memory so far? (I'm guessing you may have a few so you can list as many as you like.)

In the interest of not boring everyone to death, I’ll just do one. LOL  There are, like, a zillion, but professionally speaking, the best moment of my year was seeing my name on the New York Times Bestseller’s List.  In a way I still can’t believe it.  To say it’s surreal is a grave, grave understatement.  LOL  When it happened, I thought to myself that, no matter what happens in my life and my career, no matter how many books I sell or where I go, no one can ever take that away from me.  It’s mine.  Forever.  And if no one else had ever found out, it would STILL have been mine and every bit as special. 

What's next for M. Leighton?

Right now I’m working on Up to Me, the sequel to Down to You.  Obviously.  LOL  It will release on January 6, 2013.

Oh, I really can't wait. I have been having Cash withdrawals and I'm not talking about the green stuff. ;) So, any big plans for 2013? Events? Books?

I’m a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants girl, so planning does me no good whatsoever.  There are many places I’d like to go, events I’d love to attend, but things change so quickly around here, I hate to be firm until a little closer time.  I’m hoping to attend an event in Boston in March if I can get my third book done on time. Then there’s an event in Vegas and one in Atlanta I’d like to attend later in the year.  But it’s hard to say.  Maybe I’ll make ‘em all!  That would be awesome!

Who would be your dream fictional character you’d like to have as a real life bestie?

Probably Jersey from Madly.  I love that girl!  Next would be either Jenna from The Wild Ones or Ginger from Down to You.  They’re both awesome, too.  I like the funny chicks that tell it like it is.

Who would be your dream fictional character love interest?

Yikes!  That’s a tough one!  Bo was probably my first love.  But I adore Jackson, too.  And then there’s Trick and Cash.  Eeeeeeeee  I might have to go with Cash.  I love a bad boy!

~sigh~ Don't we all. ;) Excuse me while I daydream for a moment. 


Okay, I'm back on track. ;) Alrighty, what is the one thing you cannot live without? 

I like to think there isn’t any one thing that I can’t live without, but aside from my husband, if there was such a thing, it would either be chocolate or coffee.  I’m a bear without either one.  LOL

Time for the speed round…respond with the first thing that comes to mind:

Color?  Red

Song?   You and I by Paper Route

Food?   Asian Zing wings from Buffalo Wild Wings (it’s what I just ate- LMAO)

Place?   New York, my dream spot

Book?   Up to Me (it’s what I’m working on—I have a one track mind)

Season?  Winter.  Don’t shoot me

Holiday? Christmas.  I’m so unoriginal

Animal?  Dolphin.  I don’t have one, but I’d love to swim with them.  I think they’re super cool and so smart!

Thank you so, so much for having me, my friend! You are one awesome lady!

  No, M. thank you so much for stopping by! The pleasure has been all mine!

Now, for those of you who are new to how Indie Author of the Month works, let me fill you in super quick on the details. Each week will be a new feature related/honoring the lovely M. and each week there will be prizes! Yay! The first three weeks during December you can enter the weekly giveaways. The fourth and final week is SUPER MEGA AWESOME GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY week. Now, here’s where it gets good, for each valid weekly entry during December you earn an additional chance towards the SUPER MEGA AWESOME GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY! This means you can get your name in the pot up to four times for the grand prize! Cool, right?! So, what’s the SUPER MEGA AWESOME GRAND PRIZE ? Well this month it includes the usual swag from yours truly, a signed M. Leighton paperback, and a $10 Amazon/B&N gift card! Epic, right?

Now that we are all on the same page. Let this week's giveaway begin! Oh and don't forget to Share The Love!

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Celebrating Michelle Muto & Don't Fear the Reaper

Hello there, friends!

First off big congrats to all of my week one participants, you have all earned your first entry (out of 4) for the SUPER MEGA AWESOME GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY!

And a big congrats to my week one winner Michele! (I swear I didn't plan that…it was all rafflecopter's doing.)

Now, this week I've got a special treat for you. The magnificent Michelle Muto has so graciously decided to share the first chapter from Don't Fear the Reaper! I have to say this is one of my all time favorite books ever. If you've read it, you'll know why. If you haven't, then get your butt moving and grab a copy of it! 

 Here's the synopsis to wet your whistle before we get to the good stuff…

Haunted by memories of her murdered twin, Keely Morrison is convinced suicide is her only ticket to eternal peace. But in death, she discovers the afterlife is nothing like she expected. Instead of peaceful oblivion or a joyful reunion with her sister, Keely is trapped in a netherworld on Earth with only a bounty-hunting reaper and a sarcastic demon to show her the ropes.

When the demon offers Keely her ultimate temptation--revenge on her sister's killer--she must determine who she can trust. Because, as Keely soon learns, the reaper and demon have been keeping secrets and she fears the worst is true--that her every decision changes how, and with whom, she spends eternity. 

Alrighty, folks! Are you ready for more? Well, here it is! Chapter one of Don't Fear the Reaper.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for they are with me.

I repeated my version of the psalm as I watched the ribbon of blood drift from my wrist. I’d hoped it would be a distraction—something to stop me from wondering what my sister’s dying thoughts had been. Exhaling slowly, I let the emptiness consume me.

Jordan had kept my secrets and I had kept hers. In the end, it came down to just one secret between us that took her life. Now, it would take mine. I should have said something, but nothing I said or did now could bring her back or make anyone understand what she meant to me.

Are you here, Jordan? Are you with me? Tell me about heaven...

I told myself Jordan was gone, never coming back, but her memories continued to haunt me. I had no idea if there even was an afterlife. If God existed, I was convinced he had given up on me. Not once did I sense he’d heard a single one of my prayers. I wasn’t asking for the world—I only wanted to know if my sister was safe and at peace. What was so hard about that?

She should still be here. It wasn’t fair.

I’d been the difficult one—much more than Jordan. For a while, I’d even gotten into drugs. Mom and Dad had worried I’d get Jordan into drugs, too. But I wouldn’t. Not ever. Besides, that part of my life had been over long before Jordan’s death. A small gargoyle tattoo on my left shoulder was all that remained of my previous lifestyle.

Mom and Dad started treating me differently after Jordan’s funeral two months ago. She and I were twins, so I understood how hard it was for them to look at me and not see her. Sometimes, they wouldn’t look at me at all. Mom went to the psychiatrist, but no one asked if I needed to talk to someone about what happened. No one asked if I needed sleeping pills or antidepressants. Yeah, sure. Don’t give the former addict pills of any sort.

Not one person saw the all-consuming suffering that gnawed at my soul. Why couldn’t anyone see? Jordan had been more than my sister—she’d been my Samson, my strength. I would have done anything for her, and yet, I’d failed her. I wasn’t the one who’d killed her, but I might as well have been. How could I ever live with that? My heart had a stillness to it since her death.

I shall fear no evil.

I couldn’t very well recite the first part of Psalm 23 because it said I shall not want, and I did want. I wanted to go back in time. I wanted my sister back. Clearly, goodness and mercy were never going to be part of my life ever again. In my mind, I saw myself walking through the iron gates of hell with demons cackling gleefully all around.

I didn’t want to die. Not really. I was just tired and didn’t know of another way to stop the pain. Doctors removed a bad appendix. Dentists pulled rotten teeth. What was I supposed to do when my very essence hurt, when the cancer I’d come to call depression made every decent memory agonizingly unbearable?

Before I’d gotten down to cutting my wrist (I managed to only cut one), I’d taken a few swigs of Dad’s tequila—the good kind he kept in the basement freezer. I’d used another swig or two to chase down the remainder of Mom’s sleeping pills in the event I failed to hit an artery or vein. Then I’d set the bottle on the ledge of the tub in case I needed further liquid encouragement. Instead of using a knife or a razor, I attached a cutting blade to my Dad’s Dremel. The Dremel was faster, I reasoned. More efficient.

It would have been easier to OD, I suppose. But I felt closer to my sister this way, to suffer as she’d suffered.

I recited the line from Psalms 23 again. It had become my personal mantra.

The words resonated in my parents’ oversized bathroom. I’d chosen theirs because the Jacuzzi tub was larger than the tub in the hall bathroom. Jordan and I used to take bubble baths together in this same tub when we were little.

Innocence felt like a lifetime ago. I searched the bathroom for bubble bath but came up short. Soap might have made the laceration hurt more so it was probably just as well. Besides, the crimson streaming from my wrist like watercolor on silk was oddly mesmerizing.

The loneliness inside proved unrelenting, and the line from the psalms made me feel better. I prayed for the agony inside me to stop. I argued with God. Pleaded. But after all was said and done, I just wanted the darkness to call me home.

I tried not to think of who would find my body or who’d read the note I’d left. I blamed myself not only for failing Jordan, but for failing my parents, too.

My lifeline to this existence continued to bleed out into the warm water. Killing myself had been harder than I’d imagined. I hadn’t anticipated the searing fire racing through my veins. I reached for the tequila with my good arm but couldn’t quite manage. Tears welled in my eyes.

Part of me foolishly felt Jordan was here. The other part feared she wasn’t.

Give me a sign, Sis. Just one.

I imagined seeing my parents at my funeral—their gaunt faces, red-eyed and sleepless. How could I do this to them? Wasn’t the devastation of losing one child enough?

No. Stop. A voice in my head screamed. Don’t do this. Don’t. Please...

I shifted my body, attempted to get my uncooperative legs under me. I could see the phone on my parents’ nightstand. I could make it that far. Had to. The voice was right. I didn’t want to do this. I felt disorientated, dizzy. Darkness crept along the edges of my vision. Focusing became difficult. A sweeping shadow of black caught my attention. Someone stood in the bathroom—not my sister. A man. Had I managed to call 911? I couldn’t remember getting out of the tub. And why’d I get back in? Did I use a towel?

Mom is going to be pissed when she sees the blood I’ve tracked all over the bedroom carpet.

“I’m sorry,” I told the man in black.

“It’s okay, Keely. Don’t be afraid.” Not my father’s voice. It was softer, with a hint of sorrow. Distant. Fleeting. Later, I’d feel embarrassed about this, but for now I was safe from the nothing I’d almost become. My teeth clattered from the chill. My eyelids fluttered in time with my breaths. The tub water had turned the color of port wine. The ribbons, the pretty, red watercolor ribbons were gone.

Dull gray clouded my sight.

A voice whispered to me, and my consciousness floated to the surface again.

“—okay, Keely.”

Cold. So cold.

“I’m right here.”

There was no fear in me as the man bent forward, his face inches from mine. He was my father’s age, and yet strangely older. His eyes were so...blue, almost iridescent. The irises were rimmed in a fine line of black, and the creases etched at the corners reminded me of sunbeams as he gave me a weak smile. The oddly. Dressed. Paramedic. A warm hand reached into the water and cradled mine. My fingers clutched his. I sighed, feeling myself floating, drifting. Light—high and intense exploded before me. No! Too much. Too much! I shuddered and labored to catch my breath, but it wouldn’t come.

Finally, the comfort of darkness rose to greet me.

Doesn't that make you want more?! Be sure you mark your calendar and stop by next week to hang out with me and the hottest demon I know aka Daniel! It's going to be hot and dangerous!

Oh, don't forget to enter this week's giveaway below! It just involves a bit of tweeting and stalking! And until next week, be sure to Share the Love!  

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