I’m damned excited to share this news. For a few years I’ve been mulling over the idea of merging my love of music and writing fiction with a fundraising effort of some sort. A Rock and Read sort of event similar to the one US author, Stephanie Kuehnert (I Want to be Your Joey Ramone, MTV Books) did back in 2008 – featuring live bands, as well as readings from young adult fiction authors.

Okay, so far that hasn’t happened, but I’m working on it. ;0

In the meantime, I’ve decided to cut my teeth on a smaller, but incredibly cool – and oh so worthy project, ROCK You Cancer.

With the help of a few friends with fingers on the pulse of the Alberta music scene, I’ve gathered eight bands and singer-songwriters from across Alberta willing, keen, and freaking able to deliver a fantastic compilation CD of diverse sounds. (yeah, okay, my band has one tune on the thing as well.) The talent, musicianship, vocals, hooks, and wicked riffs – I get dizzy thinking about how lucky I’ve been to rally such formidable troops.

A big THANK YOU to all who have contributed. These bands are ones to watch:

Greg Wood
Calista
Jenie Thai
Maria Sue Roberts
The Gibson Block
The Crook Art
Wilder Than We
Rustic Charm

Being from the small town of Cold Lake, I’ve tried to retain a local connection. Some of the bands feature homegrown talent that has moved on to bigger cities, and others have local musicians performing on the tunes. So – it’s across the province, but grounded from home. I like that. And what I also like – proceeds from ROCK You Cancer will go directly to the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. The Lakeland area is hosting a Relay on June 21st and a few of the bands from the CD will perform live during the event.

Cancer’s claws dig into many lives – you can’t live in this world and not have a friend or relative under its shadow. If music soothes the savage beast, maybe our efforts to fundraise and raise our voices will give others hope, inspire, entertain, or even just set a toe tapping.

I’ll post the “buy” links as soon as the CD is live. 
Here’s the Facebook page - please spread the word.
Support the cause….together let’s tell Cancer to ROCK off!

In discussions with the teachers, before or after my presentations, a similar issue was brought to my attention –  the misuse of dialogue in their student’s short stories. Dialogue rambled, was too “every day”, failed to reflect character personalities, there was too much, or too little for it to be effective. I got the sense the use of dialogue in creative writing might therefore become discouraged.

And this information made me rather sad. My writing has always been dialogue heavy, likely why I was attracted to screenwriting in the first place, and, frankly, some of my best lines are words my characters say – not description or action sequences or heavy internal monologues.

Which is why I tweaked my workshops to include a segment on dialogue dos and don’ts. I flipped through my personal collection of writing manuals, googled the topic, scanned YouTube videos, and tossed my own ideas into the mix. The result is a two-page document I’m hopeful teachers, students, and writers will find handy. The PDF version is available HERE.

I believe the key to great dialogue is knowing your character motives / goals / beliefs / values / desires and how that knowledge will influence what they choose to say or leave unsaid. Then make sure what the character wants, in any given scene / interaction, comes through loud and clear. If their goals clash – all the better – your characters will challenge each other, contradict each other, and more importantly try to influence each other to see the situation they way THEY want it to be seen. Instant tension. Instant buy-in from your readers. If you do it right.

Below is a clip from the film The Knight’s Tale. I highly recommend reading the script which you can purchase here, The Knight’s Tale. Watch the clip and evaluate each character’s dialogue. They know what they want and they aren’t afraid to say it. Observe how the main character, William, wins his friends over. Bonus – this scene also sums up the theme of the film…anyone can change their stars.

Great dialogue. I know you can write it too.

January 28: Family Literacy Night. Dr. Bernard Brosseau School, Bonnyville, AB. As a guest speaker, I’ll be discussing the great mystery of “How Inspiration Strikes”, and doing a reading from my steampunk short story, The Steadfast Steam Soldier, published in Winter Wonders. I’ll also share a few key moments from the trip to Europe that inspired the tale.

February 23: Young Authors’ Conference. Sherwood Park, AB. THE BONES OF THE STORY: Screenwriting and FICTION TO DIE FOR workshops

I’ll be sharing my experience writing scripts for film and television and offering tips on the craft of screenwriting. We will delve into how to plot a script using my outline structure, The Bones of the Story.  From gripping logline to epic showdown, I’ll provide students with the foundation they’ll need to create their own dreadfully cool scripts.

February 24: Freedom to Read Week. The brilliant blogger, Amy, from A Simple Love of Reading is celebrating Canadian Freedom to Read Week with guest posts by a number of authors. I’m honoured to be kicking the week off with a post sharing my perspective on censorship – as both a library technician and a young adult fiction author.

Sidenote: I’m a big fan of charity anthologies and am proud to be included in two different works SPIRITED and WINTER WONDERS - all proceeds go to literacy-based charities. Check them out and discover loads of thrilling reads and amazing authors!

NOTE: Contest is CLOSED and the winner is: TAMMY! Thanks to all who entered. 

Comment on this post to enter to win a signed (by me!) copy of the charity anthology, WINTER WONDERS. Twenty young adult and adult authors have come together to help fight illiteracy, one story at a time. The wintry themed tales included in this compilation explore multiple genres, from romance, paranormal, fantasy, steampunk, and dystopian.

My tale within Winter Wonders is a steampunk retelling of the Steadfast Tin Soldier and is set in a German labour camp during World War II. The idea for this tragic love story was sparked during a visit to Berlin a few years ago.

In the spirit of giving, all proceeds from Winter Wonders go to Literacy Inc., a non-profit organization with the following mission statement:

Literacy Inc.’s mission is to fight the growing rate of illiteracy in America’s teens. The tools we use to accomplish that mission are motivational speeches, free books, and the opportunity to win a college education and other prizes.

It is our goal to merge excitement with reading by using concrete, valuable incentives that will encourage high school students to take that crucial first step towards developing a more literate society — reading a book, cover to cover.

Enjoy the giveaways on this very cool blog hop and have a safe, happy – WONDER-filled holiday.

And in the spirit of giving, I’m thrilled to announce the launch of WINTER WONDERS, a charity anthology from Compass Press in which I have a steampunk tale: The Steadfast Steam Soldier. All proceeds from WINTER WONDERS go to Literacy Inc, a literacy-based charity. I’m proud to join the many talented authors in this project and know these tales will warm / thrill / cheer your hearts this winter.

Participating authors are: 

Anne Riley, Heather McCorkle, Alexandra Shostak,Christine Fonseca, C.M. Keller, Crystal Salmen, Lee Strauss, Harley May, Jamey Stegmaier, Jen Stayrook, Jodi Burrus, Judith Graves, Karen Amanda Hooper, Krissi Dallas, Mercedes Yardley, Natalie Cone, Regan Leigh, Tina Moss, TS Tate, and Yelena Casale.

Here is a bit about it:

A unique anthology filled with genres to suit every taste, all tied together with a winter theme. You’ll find everything from contemporary love stories, tragedies, and triumphs to steampunk cyborgs, dystopian worlds, and dragons.

Winter wonders is available on Barnes & Noble in both paperback and Nook format and on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle versions. Coming soon to more retailers.

Enter below for a FREE Kindle edition of WINTER WONDERS:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have a safe and wonderful holiday! Thanks to all who entered!

I’ll be back in full force in December, keen to promote another steampunk short story I have coming out in a fabulous anthology, Winter Wonders, with Compass Press, but for now, find out about my NANO addiction here at the Indie E blog. I hope you’ve joined the madness – and if not – perhaps next year?

Happy WRITING!

It’s also a busy month filled with Halloween preparations and, of course….The Crossroads Blog Tour. Join us October 21-28th as 13 young adult and middle grade paranormal fiction authors visit multiple blogs, sharing Halloween traditions and talking up their current dreadfully cool titles. There’s also a live Twitter chat set for October 29th, hosted by Mundie Moms, with tour authors keen to hang out and be scary.

Don’t forget to check the tour main page to get the daily research question. Then track the answer down by visiting each participating blog and purusing the interviews. Collect all the answers and email them to me (judithgraves at ymail dot com) by MIDNIGHT on October 28th. The GRAND PRIZE you’re vying for? A brand new KINDLE, preloaded with a title from each of the participating Crossroads Blog Tour Authors. That’s right folks, a free KINDLE and 13 free EBOOKS. Winner will be announced on October 31st, HALLOWEEN!

NOTE: Dawn Dalton and I will be hosting authors during the tour, on our Most-Wanted Monsters blog. Drop by and comment to win swag from the tour!

Blog hops are a great way to find fascinating new blogs, bloggers, and win great prizes. This week I’m taking part in a FANGtastic Halloween themed hop: FANGS, FUR & FEY – hop participants are to giveaway a book that features at least one of these elements.

I’m giving away a copy of UNDER MY SKIN, the first book in my snarky monster hunter SKINNED series – and it just happens to have all three.

But the beasties don’t stop there. The creatures in the SKINNED cast are many and varied: vamps, werewolves, dark sprites, witches….and more – all trying to survive the haunting town of Redgrave. If you like your paranormal reads fast paced, filled with dark humour, and a few scares – you’ll want to enter this contest.

To enter….comment on this post, or you can enter via the handy Rafflecopter thingie below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Stealth your way on over to other great blogs on the hop:

TRAILER LAUNCH CONTEST: The SKIN OF MY TEETH trailer has clawed it’s way into this world! Share the trailer on your Facebook page, blog, website, or just tweet about it, and I’ll enter you in a draw for

And here it is for your viewing pleasure: