Meeting Destiny

Today I'm delighted to welcome Andrea Buginsky to my blog, author of The Chosen middle-grade series, and the new Destiny series. Andrea's offering a free mobi copy of her novel--scroll down to enter your details in the rafflecopter. And today she's going to tell us about what Destiny means to her. Over to you Andrea, and welcome to my blog:




What Destiny Means to Me
by Andrea Buginsky
Destiny is a book I’ve been working on off-and-on for several years. It started out as a project for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), an annual event that takes place in November in which you are supposed to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I wrote and I wrote and I wrote…and I burned out. I couldn’t complete the competition.

But the good news was that I had a great, no, an awesome start, on a brand new book. And it was a book I really enjoyed writing. But because of the burnout, it was a book that I put away and hid from for a long time. Every so often, I would take it out and work on it a little at a time, then put it away again.

Finally, at the beginning of the year, I decided to set a goal for myself: I planned to finish the book and get it published before the end of the year. And here we are, September, and I have completed my goal!

Having Destiny completed means so much to me. It shows me that I can reach the goals I set for myself, that I can, as I tell my readers, reach for the stars and make my dreams come true. It is such a wonderful feeling. And the cherry on top of the sundae is that I did this book on my own. It is my first self-published book, and I enjoyed the process immensely. I had a wonderful support and creative team behind me, including my loving editor and fantastic cover designer. I also have a fantastic mentor who helped me so much throughout the journey.

So now, here I am, enjoying the big release of my book, and seeing how far my baby will go. My other books will always mean a lot to me, too, of course, but Destiny is now the baby of the family, and, as we youngest children know, the baby gets a lot of attention.

Until the next baby is born, at least… (Stay tuned)

Thank you Andrea. I, for one, will certainly stay tuned. I've never dared try NaNoWriMo 'cause November's such a busy month anyway. But I did do my own OctWriMo one year, and I know what you mean about the burnout.

So... a few more details about Destiny and Destiny's Tour... (And don't forget to scroll down for the rafflecopter!) 


Destiny--New Avalon, by Andrea Buginsky is the first in a new middle-grade/young-adult series combining the mystique of Arthurian legends with the modern down-to-earth feel of Harry Potter, and satisfying my childhood wish for more female heroes. The author, Andrea Buginsky, is touring the internet with her new novel (and a great rafflecopter opportunity to win your own mobi copy--scroll down to enter).


Blurb:

Constantly teased and taunted by the popular girls, Elena Baxter desperately wants to fit in. On her sweet sixteenth, she receives two shocking gifts: telekinesis and the surprising truth about her heritage. With high hopes that things will be different now, Elena returns to school to find that nothing has changed. Only this time her hurt feelings and frustration boil into something even she cannot understand.
When her powers explode, chaos ensues and she learns that her new ability is greater than she ever desired. As she learns to control her powers, Elena discovers there’s so much more to her heritage than she ever imagined.

Review:

Lonely Elena’s looking forward to seeing her Godmother Isabel when she turns 16. But her family has some surprises in store as Arthurian myths become Pagan reality in the modern world. The effects of uncontrolled magic in a normal American school in a normal town are a little dramatic. But Elena has unexpected friends who can help her out, and soon she’s travelling to the secret Island of Avalon of the coast of England, where mystery and history combine.
Being English, of course, I wanted to know more about where Avalon might be, why people would take planes rather than trains to travel around England, and precisely which Arthurian legends would qualify as real. But bigger questions give this story its depth: the relationships between good and evil, power and responsibility, and unity and control for a start. It’s a pleasing novella where a studious American high-school girl enters a magical boarding school, meets prophesy and destiny, majors in pizza and alchemy, and learns where she belongs. The story’s light with just a hint of darkness in the wings, nicely tuned to middle school readers, and a fun way to start a new series.

Disclosure: I volunteered to read a free eARC and give my honest opinion.

Excerpt:

As Elena bounded back up the stairs, her mom watched, smiling, thinking about the last 16 years, and of all this next one would bring.  She knew there would be a lot of changes, more so than Elena could possibly know, and she was looking forward to every one of them.  She could hardly wait for Isabel’s arrival the next day so they could finally tell Elena the truth about who she was, and help her to blossom and start to become whom she was meant to be.

 Find out more at the other stops on Andrea's Tour:
 
 
Emerald Barnes 9/16/2013 Interview
Wayne Murphy 9/17/2013 Excerpt
A.R. Silverberry 9/18/2013 Interview
Tammy Hall 9/19/2013 Review/Promo
Sharon Martin 9/20/2013 Promo
Laurie Jenkins 9/21/2013 Author Spotlight/Character Interview
Vincent Morrone 9/22/2013 Guest Post
JLB Creatives Blog 9/23/2013 Interview
Sheenah Freitas 9/24/2013 Guest Post
James DiBenedetto 9/25/2013 Guest Post
Sheila Deeth 9/26/2013 Guest Post
Lisa Day 9/27/2013 Author Spotlight
Alexia Boesen 9/28/2013 Review
Bonnie Trachtenberg 9/29/2013 Guest Post
 


About the author:

Andrea Buginsky is a freelance writer and author. “The Chosen,” a middle-grade fantasy novelette, was her first book, and was followed by “My Open Heart,” an autobiography about growing up with heart disease. “Nature’s Unbalance” is the second story in THE CHOSEN series. Andrea is currently working on another series: a YA fantasy. To learn more about Andrea, visit her on her website

or link up with her in one of the places below:


Twitter: @andreabuginsky


FIND DESTINY AT: http://www.amazon.com/Destiny-New-Avalon-1-ebook/dp/B00F2Y2FI4/

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Comments

Unknown said…
Thank you so much for having me over Sheila. I enjoyed sharing my thoughts on Destiny with your readers.
September 26, 2013 at 12:43 PM
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