FREE ebook: Small Press, BIG Success

Posted on January 18, 2016 by AJ Cattapan

Do you have a book that’s being published by a small press? Or are you hoping to do so soon? Wondering how you might get your small press book noticed in the quickly changing and constantly overcrowded world of publishing?

Subscribe to my newsletter here and receive a free copy of my ebook Small Press, Big Success: Your 10-Step Guide to Turning Your Small Press Book into an Award-winning Bestseller.

Get the FREE ebook on how to turn your small press or indie book into a big success. Find out what 10 steps A.J. Cattapan took to turn your debut novel into an Amazon bestseller and a multiple award-winner.

During my eleven-year journey toward publication, I learned a lot about how authors can effectively market their books. In the end, I’m glad it took me eleven years to get published because there was just so much to learn! I went to many writing conferences, read numerous books, watched (and copied!) some of the best small-press authors out there, and gathered information from the many writing groups I’ve joined. But it doesn’t have to take you as long as it took me.

Eleven years of learning and observation have now all been boiled down into a 10-step process to give your book a fighting chance at hitting the bestseller lists and winning awards, just like my debut YA novel Angelhood. However, this FREE ebook will only be available for a limited time to my newsletter subscribers. Why would you want to subscribe to my newsletter? Well, besides the free ebook, you’ll also get to watch firsthand as I release my next book. And honestly, while I’ve learned a lot from writing conferences and writing groups, some of my best learning has come through watching what others do.

Sign up here, and you’ll be among the first to get your hands on my free ebook when it releases in February!

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The Greatest Gift My Mother Ever Gave Me

Posted on January 6, 2016 by AJ Cattapan

The wise men may have given Jesus gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but those gifts are nothing compared to what my mother gave me.

The wise men may have brought Jesus gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But those were nothing compared to what my mother gave me.

On the morning of my mother’s funeral, I awoke before my alarm went off. That wasn’t too surprising. It had been kind of hard to sleep in those final days of Mom’s life. When you know someone you love might not make it through the night, it’s kind of hard to get the mind to shut off. Even the few nights between her passing and the funeral Mass were a little restless.

As I lay in bed, waiting for the alarm clock to tell me I absolutely must get up and shower, I marveled a bit at the fact that I wasn’t a sobbing heap. We were about to bury my mother that day. Why wasn’t I a puddle of tears?

Don’t get me wrong. I had done plenty of crying in the months, weeks, and days leading up to her death. And I had wept in the early morning hours when my brother called to tell me she had just passed. And another hour or so later, I wept at her bedside with my brothers and my father nearby.

Tears had definitely been shed, but on that morning of her funeral, I was remarkably calm. Sad still, but calm. Why wasn’t I sobbing hysterically, liked I’d always imagined I would do when losing a parent?

With my head still on my pillow, I searched for an answer. What could possibly have made this grieving less horrendous? And then the thought occurred to me: Maybe I was calm because I knew my mom was at peace–and not just as in no longer in pain, but that she was in heaven. There was no doubt in my mind she was with God. How could she not be? I mean, seriously, if my faith-filled, loving mother didn’t make it into heaven, I dare say we all have reason to worry.

At that moment, I realized what a gift my mother had given me. She had lived a life full of faith. She had taught me to love God and to always try to do His will. She did this mostly by example. Simply by being what Mathew Kelly would call “the best version of herself,” (in other words, by trying to live a holy life), my mother gave me a great gift. The gift of peace at the time of her death. The gift of knowing she would find happiness in heaven. So that on the morning of her funeral, I didn’t have to worry about what had happened to Mom. I knew she was in good hands. The best of hands. Jesus’s hands.

“It’s the greatest gift she ever gave me,” I said aloud. No one was there to hear me. But I think maybe Mom heard me.

A few weeks later, I had another birthday (funny, how those little stinkers sneak up on you every year!), and I realized that I would never again receive a birthday present or a Christmas present from my mother. But that’s okay. She’d already given me the greatest gift a mom could give a daughter, just by being herself.

Thanks, Mom!

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Monday Book Review: NEED by Joelle Charbonneau

Posted on January 4, 2016 by AJ Cattapan

I squeezed in another YA book over winter break! My doctorate program at Loyola doesn’t restart for another couple weeks, so I’m hoping to squeeze in at least one more book review before the month is out. For right now, here’s another book from Joelle Charbonneau, whom I met at an ACFW meeting last March and who is the author of the New York Times bestselling dystopian trilogy The Testing.

Monday Book Review: NEED by Joelle Charbonneau. Check out this latest thriller from the author fo the New York Times bestselling dystopian trilogy The Testing.Title: NEED

Author: Joelle Charbonneau

Genre: Thriller

Age group: YA

Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Kaylee Dunham knows what she needs–a kidney for her sick younger brother. However, the person who might best be a match is her dad, and he’s run off. Meanwhile, a new social networking site has appeared, and it’s quickly gathering popularity at Kaylee’s high school. All you have to do is tell it what you need, and then it gives you a simple set of instructions to follow in order to have your need request fulfilled. The instructions seem harmless at first, but the consequences quickly turn deadly. For example, one boy is told to leave a package on the front steps of the house of a girl he likes. He doesn’t know that inside the package are cookies made with ground peanuts, and the girl he likes has a severe peanut allergy. When Kaylee figures out the dangerous game the NEED system is playing with them, she needs to put an end to hit before someone she loves gets hurt. Or worse.

This is definitely a YA book, not a middle grade. I would say that if parents are okay with their children reading The Hunger Games or Divergent, then they’ll be fine with this one, too. What I really like about it is that it could become a good discussion starter for the dangers of social media. Charbonneau raises some interesting questions about how far someone may be willing to go to get what they think they need and how “anonymity” online can make people behave in ways they wouldn’t otherwise.

NEED and meThe book was definitely chilling in the way it built up the creepiness factor as the story progressed. After a while, it’s pretty hard to put down. That’s why on my Instagram account, I posted the photo to the right with the caption: “If you NEED me, I’ll be reading this book by @joellejcharbonneau.” The book is 334 pages, but I polished it off in just a few days during my winter break.

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My Word-of-the-Year and a new “Good News” Jar

Posted on January 2, 2016 by AJ Cattapan

Find your word of the year. Skip the New Year's Resolution!If you’ve been around the blog for a few years, you may have seen my previous posts about picking a word of the year. Instead of making a list of new year’s resolutions, I choose one word to focus on. Whenever I feel like I’m losing my way or need a little guidance, I think of that word and it brings me back into focus.

My first year, I picked the word optimism. I wanted to shake off the negative feelings I’d had toward my writing career and think positively. I think it helped a little because 2013 was the year my first Chicken Soup for the Soul piece was printed, and then at the very end of the year, I decided to give my young adult novel Angelhood one last try.

For 2014 my word was trust. I had just finished revisions to Angelhood and decided to submit it to one last publisher at the start of the year. I was going to trust that whatever God had planned for it would work out fine. Well, a few months later, I got the acceptance email from Vinspire. I also worked a lot at trusting God about getting me to Italy that year, and in fact, He got me there not once but twice, but that’s a whole other story!

For 2015, I picked the word grace. I knew many things were going to happen in 2015 that would incur a lot of stress and require a lot of grace from me. My book launched, and I had to keep reminding myself to handle all the new-found attention with grace. How do you promote your book but not come across as obnoxious about it? I prayed for lots of grace, and I hope I succeeded. Then my mother passed away, and I started a doctorate program while still teaching full time. Lots more grace needed. My mom had lots of grace. I hope I inherited a little from her.

For 2016, I have chosen the word mercy. Yes, I was inspired by Pope Francis declaring this the year of mercy, but I think it will be good for many reasons. It will remind me to perform works of mercy toward others, but also to have mercy with myself. With trying to juggle teaching, a doctorate program, and writing, I tend to beat myself for not doing more. Can you believe it? I feel like I’m not using my time wisely enough. I should spend less time on social media. More time writing. Less time fretting over my own homework. More time being with people. I need to give myself a break. Yes, mercy toward others, but also mercy toward myself when my perfectionist tendencies start to rear their ugly heads again.

Mercy Word of the Year

Now as for the “Good News” jar . . . if you haven’t heard of it, it’s simply an empty jar that you use to collect your “good news” throughout the year. It can also be called a Blessings Jar.

Good news jar 2016 PinterestAll you have to do is write down something good you heard about or that happened to you that day and put it in the jar. Last year, I started off doing a great job with this, but after my mom fell and my book came out, I started to ignore the jar. A few times I thought of something good to write down, but then I realized I hadn’t cut up any more slips of paper to write on and I’d be too tired, so I’d just forget about it.

So this year, I’m pre-cutting lots of slips of paper! Bring on the good news in 2016!

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Why Christian Authors are Gaga over Star Wars

Posted on December 30, 2015 by AJ Cattapan

As the days drew closer and closer to the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the hype and excitement online grew palpable. As more and more people talked about it on Facebook, I noticed that a great deal of the excitement was coming from my fellow Christian authors. Sure, you’d expect the sci-fi geeks among us to get all excited, but why would Christian authors be talking about it so much? In fact, I think I saw more posts about it from my Christian author friends than my sci-fi geek friends.

So why? What about Star Wars has so many Christian authors fangirling over it?

Why is it about the Star Wars saga that has all the Christian authors gaga over it?

I’ll start with some of the generic reasons and then move on to the more explicitly Christian reasons.

1. Authors love a good hero story. At its heart, Star Wars is more than a sci-fi adventure flick. It’s a hero story. George Lucas has admitted he used Joseph Campbell’s theory of the monomyth (the idea that all hero stories throughout all time and all cultures are essentially the same) in order to craft his story. If you need more information on this, check out my three-part blog series on the monomyth, complete with comparisons to Star Wars and Harry Potter and The Wizard of Oz.

2. Authors love good characters. This is one of the reasons that the original trilogy is superior to the prequel trilogy. The characters in the original movies complemented each other so well. We had all the great story archetypes:

  • a beautiful, brave, and feisty princess who may appear to be a damsel in distress at first but can really fend for herself, thank you very much
  • a young man ready to make the transition from lost soul into hero, all while desperately missing the family he lost
  • the rogue good guy who doesn’t really want to be a good guy, but he just can’t seem to help himself–and it doesn’t hurt that he’s terribly good looking and the princess is falling for him
  • humorous sidekicks in the forms of robots and a Wookie
  • an evil villain who looks scary, sounds scary, and acts scary–and to make it even better, has an interesting backstory!!!
  • an elderly mentor to help guide our young hero and who demonstrates what it means to sacrifice yourself for a cause worth fighting for
My gingerbread and fondant versions of Princess Leia and R2-D2 for a school gingerbread house decorating contest.

My gingerbread and fondant versions of Princess Leia and R2-D2 for a school gingerbread house decorating contest.

3. Authors love imaginative world building. This is probably especially true for all the speculative fiction authors among us, whether we right dystopian, fantasy, steampunk, or supernatural. We enjoy the fact that Lucas built a whole world out there, filled with knights, lightsabers, alien creatures, all sorts of droids, various planets with different climates, and a plethora of space ships. And we feel as if we could step right into that world and be a part of it.

4. Authors, Christian authors in particular, love a story about good versus evil. Again, at its heart, Star Wars is a hero story, but even deeper than that, it’s a story of good versus evil, sin versus redemption. Christian authors are always writing stories about people dealing with faith issues and/or finding God, and at its essence that is what Star Wars is about, too. The characters are struggling to find the good in the galaxy. The Jedi knights in particular are fighting for the good side of the Force to win out over the dark side.

There are lots of ways “The Force” can be interpreted within a Christian worldview. Lucas himself admitted that he put the Force into his movie because he wanted people to at least question whether or not there is a God (which he does believe in, but doesn’t have a particular religion he’s promoting in his movies). According to the 2000 documentary The Mythology of Star Wars, Lucas said this when asked if the Force represented God:  “I put The Force into the movies in order to try to awaken a certain kind of spirituality in young people. More a belief in God than a belief in any particular religious system.”

Yet for those of us who are Christian, it’s easy to see how the Force may represent God, or at least one part of the Holy Trinity, that is the Holy Spirit. In Star Wars: A New Hope, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi described the Force to young Luke Skywalker by saying, “It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.” In a way isn’t that what we believe about the Holy Spirit? In John 14:16-17, Jesus says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” You can’t see the Force, but those who “know” it are considered “strong” in the Force. It lives inside them, just like the Spirit lives in Jesus’s followers.

When you have the Force, you can do amazing things that you can’t do on your own. Likewise, when we allow the Holy Spirit to work through us, we can do amazing things. In the Acts of the Apostles 2:1-13, the Apostles receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and then they are able to go out and make bold proclamations in every language even though they hadn’t spoken these languages before! We saw similar “miracles” happen in the original Star Wars trilogy when Luke starts training in the ways of the Force, and in the new Star Wars movie, Rey finds out she’s an even better pilot than she expected and that she can wield a lightsaber and fight off a trained member of the dark side–okay, he’s been injured at this point, but still . . . these are probably not things she could have done before figuring out she may just be strong in the Force.

Jedi knights have training periods where they go away to prepare for battle. Luke has to travel to the distant Degobah system in order to train with the Jedi Master Yoda who tells him that “a Jedi’s strength flows from the Force.” Before Jesus begins his ministry, he heads out to the desert. We are told in Luke 4:1-2 that “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, then returned from the Jordan and was conducted by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, where he was tempted by the devil.” Fans of Star Wars will remember that when Luke was training with Yoda he was “tempted” by the dark side when he faced a vision of Darth Vader in a cave. In both cases here, we have someone preparing for the ordeals they will face ahead, both are filled with the Spirit/Force, and both are tempted by evil.

Speaking of evil, just as there are fallen angels who have taken God’s gifts and tossed them aside in order to wreck havoc in this world, so are there “fallen” members of the Jedi order. Ones who left the good side in order to join the “dark side.” We see this imagery of light versus dark often in the Star Wars series. In the new Star Wars movie (major SPOILER here, people), Leia tells Han she believes there is still “light” in their son who has turned to the dark side. In Return of the Jedi, Luke tells Leia that he has to go save their father because there is still good/light in him.

Dark and light imagery is prevalent in the Bible many, many times. In 1 John 1:5, the evangelist tells us that “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.” And in John 8:12, we hear “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'”

So important is this theme of the light versus the dark in both scripture and Star Wars that one of my Christian author friends, Pepper Basham, dressed up her kids as Star Wars characters for her Christmas card and then included the quote “The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.–John 1:5.” You can see it on her author Facebook page here.

Then, of course, we have the common themes of self-sacrifice and redemption. Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross. In Star Wars, we see many characters sacrificing themselves. Obi-Wan sacrifices himself at the end of the A New Hope. Vader sacrifices himself in order to destroy the Emperor at the end of Return of the Jedi, and (SPOILER AGAIN!), Han’s actions at the end of The Force Awakens are quite sacrificial as well. He knew he was putting his life at risk to go save his son, but he did it anyway.

As for redemption, we have the ultimate redemption story in Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. In Episode 1, we are told that Anakin comes from a Virgin birth. He is believed to be the one who will restore order to the galaxy and balance to the Force which has fallen to the dark side. However, he falls to the dark side himself in Episode 3, but in a move that is very Christian in nature, he is redeemed (by his son, of course!) at the end of Return of the Jedi when he turns back to the good side and throws the Emperor down that chute. (Yeah, I know, I’m really technical with my space station terms. 🙂 ) And of course, we’re all hoping Han and Leia’s son will find redemption by the end of this new trilogy.

And if all that isn’t enough to convince you of the Christian themes within Star Wars, check out this Buzz Feed article on the 5 Reasons Ignatius of Loyola was the First Jedi Master. Apparently, Lucas may have purposely based his Jedi Knights on the Jesuit Order of priests. As you’ll read in the article, they do have a lot in common: service and humility, self-awareness and self-mastery, spiritual direction, detachment, and finding God in all things.

IMG_0911

Does this mean all Christians, or even just all Christian authors, will love Star Wars? No. Some may like their Christian messages to be more explicit and less allegorical. Some may simply not like sci-fi. And that’s okay. But as the Jesuits would say, “God meets us where we are.” And for some of us Christian authors, that’s in the movie theater.

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Merry Christmas 2015!

Posted on December 29, 2015 by AJ Cattapan

So I meant to post this about five days ago, but you know, Christmas happened!

In case you haven’t seen it already via my Facebook page or my newsletter (and why aren’t you signed up for my newsletter, yet?), here’s my video Christmas greeting for 2015!

Enjoy the rest of the Christmas season! It goes until the Feast of the Epiphany, you know! 🙂

 

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Monday Book Review: 10 Steps to Girlfriend Status by Cynthia T. Toney

Posted on December 21, 2015 by AJ Cattapan

Last year, I reviewed Cynthia Toney’s first book Bird Face, which has been renamed 8 Notes to a Nobody. A few months ago, Cynthia sent me a copy of the sequel 10 Steps to Girlfriend Status, and I’ve been eager to read it ever since. Unfortunately, a full-time teaching job plus an incredibly demanding doctorate program has meant I haven’t had time to read any YA since last August! Ugh! I am way behind on my TBR list!

Anyway, Christmas break is finally here, so I hope to get in some good books before my two weeks are up. 10 Steps is a quick read, so I was able to finish it first.

10 Steps to Girlfriend Status FC tinyTitle: 10 Steps to Girlfriend Status

Author: Cynthia Toney

Genre: contemporary realistic fiction

Age group: YA (but okay for preteens too)

10 Steps to Girlfriend Status is a lovely tale about a young teen (freshman in high school) who is learning how to manage her many changing relationships. First, she’s hoping her guy friend will become more than just a friend. Second, her mom has just remarried, so she’s figuring out how to be part of a blended family, complete with a stepdad, stepsister, and stepbrother. Third, her surrogate grandmother who lived next door to her old house is developing Alzheimer’s.

As someone who recently lost her mother, I found this last changing relationship the most emotionally moving. While my mother didn’t have Alzheimer’s, it’s never easy to see someone you love lose their grip on life. Cynthia Toney does a lovely job handling this difficult topic.

Parents, this is a “clean” read for your young teen. It has a light faith element in the story, but definitely nothing overly preachy. A very enjoyable read.

 

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The 99 cent sale of Angelhood

Posted on December 16, 2015 by AJ Cattapan

We’re halfway through the month of December, and that means you only have 15 more days to get an ebook copy of Angelhood for 99 cents!

That’s ALL ebook versions: Kindle, Nook, and iBook.

Grab a copy or buy one as a great last-minute Christmas gift!

Get the bestselling YA novel Angelhood for only 99 cents this December. www.ajcattapan.com

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Book Talk Time — Theresa Linden’s Roland West Loner

Posted on December 2, 2015 by AJ Cattapan

In lieu of my lack of book reviews recently (hopefully, winter break will give me some time to rectify that situation), I thought I’d share with you some of the books on my very long TBR pile. First up is Theresa Linden and her YA novel Roland West, Loner.

Theresa LindenTheresa Linden is a homeschooling mom who lives in northeast Ohio with her husband, three boys, and one very old dog. Her father was in the Coast Guard, so she moved often growing up. She lived through Typhoon Pamela on Guam, got stung by a jelly fish on Hawaii, and came face to face with a doe in California. She is a firm believer that life is an adventure. Faith in the invisible realities has only increased this belief. She hopes that the richness, depth, and mystery of the Catholic faith arouse her readers’ imaginations to the invisible realities and the power of faith and grace. Her love for faith, family and freedom inspired her other published books, Chasing Liberty and Testing Liberty, books one and two in a dystopian trilogy.

Here’s a review about Roland West, Loner that Theresa shared with me:

“If I could choose but one novel this year that was not only sheer delight to read, but also had the most profound impact on my spiritual life, it would be — without a shadow of a doubt — “Roland West, Loner” by Theresa Linden. I wish I could give this book to every Catholic teen I know (and their parents too!). At first glance, the story is on a purely natural level: a teenage boy, alone and friendless in a new school, trying to cope with his cruel older brothers. But the plot swiftly moves into a new and unexpected realm — that of the supernatural — sweeping the reader way beyond the halls of West River High and plunging straight into the doctrine of the Communion of Saints. The way Linden accomplishes this will take your breath away.

Roland West LonerWhen we first meet Roland, our 14-year-old hero, he is on the verge of a trip to Italy with his father. This is Roland’s chance to escape his brother Jarrett and the nightmare of school. But Jarrett wants the trip for himself, and will stop at nothing to get it. While their father is away, he locks Roland in the cellar and puts his scheme into action.

But, unknown to Roland, he does in fact have a friend: someone special in Heaven, who likewise has a scheme and is putting it into action. Roland’s life, and the life of all the characters, is about to be changed forever.

When Roland is rescued from his prison by a boy from school named Peter, a friendship springs up between them. The two are drawn together especially by a mysterious locked box that Peter has been given as an inheritance. What it contains is literally out of this world — a gift directly from Heaven. But someone else wants the treasure too. The race is on to keep the box and its precious contents safe. 

Peter’s secret inheritance is the very heart of this suspenseful and heartwarming story. Once you’ve read this magnificent novel, you will never again think of the Saints as being far away!

I cannot recommend this novel highly enough. A rare work by an extremely talented author!”   ~Susan Peek, Author of A Soldier Surrenders

If you want to learn more about Theresa Linden, you can find her online here:

Website: http://theresalinden.wix.com/theresalindenfiction

Author FB page: https://www.facebook.com/theresalindenauthor

Twitter handle: @LindenTheresa

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/TheresaALinden/catholic-teen-fiction

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Roland-West-Loner-Theresa-Linden/dp/0996816844

Amazon (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0189FKSPE

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Cyber Monday Deal! 30% off!

Posted on November 29, 2015 by AJ Cattapan

If you want to buy a copy of Angelhood for someone you love this Christmas, Cyber Monday is the day to do it! Amazon is offering 30% off with the promo code HOLIDAY30.

Plus, you can still get two free gifts with purchase.

Go here to buy the paperback on Amazon. Then go here to claim your two free gifts!

Angelhood Cyber Monday

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