BEASTY BLOG TOUR

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Tour Dates:
~Part 1- February 25th- March 12th
~Part 2- March 12th- March 27th
For: A Beast Within and A Beast Anew
By: Tyffani Clark Kemp
The Book Title: A Beast Within Series: The Beasty Series Author: Tyffani Clark Kemp
Genre: Paranormal/Supernatural Romance
Publisher: SideStreet Cookie Publishing LLC
Format: Ebook & Paperback Length: 311 Pages
Links: ~Goodreads
Release Date: February 25th, 2013
Quote: "I'm a man, Luna. That is my curse. To live alongside humanity…"


Guest Post - Writer growth, relate to writing the novels - or overall writing journey, personal adversity

I have been writing since I was eleven years old. I always knew that writing (and acting) was something that I wanted to with my life and I studied hard. If there's one thing that will make me shelve a book without blinking it's poor grammar. I read anything that interests me and sometimes things that don't, just for growth, so the last few months I was feeling a little smug. I powered through BEAST WITHIN in seven days, let it sit for a month or so, and ran through the edits in about four or five days. Honestly, that's the fastest I've ever written anything in my life. I had no idea I could even do that.

I started BEAST ANEW immediately after finishing BEAST WITHIN and it didn't take me long to realize I had no direction. I saw a meme on facebook that said something to the effect of, "It's okay to start writing, even if you don't know where it's going." I thought, "Yeah. That's me. I can do this."

So, during NaNoWriMo while I was working on my NaNo novel I pressed through BEAST ANEW until I made it to the end. It took a month and a half. That's nothing to sneeze at, of course, but compared to it's prequel that was like a lifetime of work for something that I wasn't even happy with. I finished it at 40K, put it down, and put it off for a whole month while I worked on cleaning up BEAST WITHIN.

When I picked it up again I didn't know what to do. I got halfway through edits when I realized it was just crap. The story wasn't well developed, it was too short, there wasn't enough backstory. You name it, I had it. With the help of a good friend of mine, J.A. Howell, we were able to figure out what was bothering me and why. The story just did not take the direction it needed to, so I had to rework it so it was more fitting with the previous storyline, yet was its own story.

I have never struggled so much with a story in my life. When I sit down to write I usually have a beginning, middle, and end in mind. All I have to do is connect the dots. With BEAST ANEW, I had a few little connecters and some ideas, but no set plotline for the story to follow. But that's okay. You can't grow as a writer (or anything else) if you keep doing the same things over and over. You have to try different approaches to grow and learn and better yourself.

BEAST ANEW finally came together and is so much stronger because I stuck with it. If I'd given up at the beginning and hadn't written even though I didn't know where I was going with it, I wouldn't have a finished product.


Gabriel Slade Book Trailer:
 

Blurb:
Gabriel Slade runs Hollywood with his gorgeous blue eyes and egregious temper. No one knows that underneath it all is a man with a frozen heart, cursed to become a beast at every full moon. For seven days he has no choice but to roam the earth as a vicious animal, until he meets a woman who can change it all.

Luna Grace has a hatred for everything Gabriel Slade stands for; but she doesn't even know what he looks like. When a chance encounter reveals feelings Luna never knew she harboured, it stands to reason that she would run. Can Luna overcome her hatred and break the curse? Or will Gabriel's temper keep her from realizing her true feelings, dooming him to remain the beast forever?

 Excerpt One:
"This is nice."

"Yes, it is," he agreed and felt a little vain.

She unwound the red scarf from her neck. The gray cardigan almost fell from one shoulder where he saw the red straps of a bra and a camisole. A soft scar marred the perfect skin of her collar bone. Without thinking, he crossed to her and traced the scar with a finger. He looked into her eyes.

She'd stopped breathing.

Gabe traced his finger down to the top button of her cardigan and fondled it until the button popped free. It was nothing for him to be so brazen, but tonight, with her, something about it felt dirty. But he continued. God in heaven, the camisole underneath was the same bright red. When he looked up again her eyes almost glowed.

 "What happened?"

"Oh, the scar? Um," she stuttered.

He couldn't help but smirk.

"My dad…"

His head snapped up, furious. Her father had done this to her?

"No!" she said in a rush. "We were practicing. It was my fault. I wasn't paying attention. I can't remember… I think I was upset about a boy at school or something. I didn't get my sword up in time. It was an accident."

Gabe nodded as he ground his back teeth together.

Finally, the last button was free. He pushed the cardigan from her shoulders, brushing her arms with his fingers as he did. Her skin reacted to his touch and she shivered.

"Do you think it would be okay if…" She motioned to the bathroom.

 He shrugged when he wanted to laugh. "Why not? It's just a toilet."

The red popped against her olive skin and all Gabe wanted to do was see more of her. When was the last time he'd lost control of his lust? She took her drink with her and closed the door. Finally the moment of truth. Gabe slipped out of his suit jacket and unbuttoned his shirt. He rolled the sleeves up out of comfort and habit and tossed back his drink. The glass he set on the dresser, and walked out onto the balcony for some fresh air, hoping it would calm him down. Hurry up, little one.

Excerpt Two:
"No, Michael. We've been over this."

"Maybe you can show me how it's done then. You're the all-knowing." Gabe seethed, though he knew his friend was trying to help him out.

"Fine. Luna!"

"What?" He turned when she snapped at him.

The tension in the room grew again, but this time the stunt people were the ones panicking. How dare she speak to him that way? What made her think she could get away with that? Gabe smiled inwardly. She could get away with anything. Outwardly, Gabe let his exasperation with her free.

"Come demonstrate with me. You know these steps better than I."

She rolled her eyes, those shockingly green eyes, and moved to him around the people that stood on their marks. Luna took the sword handed to her by the woman opposite Michael and glared up at him.

"From the top!" he shouted and waited for the director to call action.

 When the call was made, Gabe stepped against Luna, circling her as the others fought around them. The ring of steel called to memory a day long past and he pushed the thought away.

"Words fail where betrayal cuts deep, my love," he uttered the lines that belonged to Michael. "Spurned from one side of the world to the other, my heart bleeds to realize what we had was all a lie."

"Pretty words for a man, don't you think?" Luna surprised him by breathing the words back.

There was a force behind them he didn't care for, a spark in her eye that caught flame and burned with some unknown hatred. "Pretty? Hardly. Rhyme and verse, perhaps. The kind that comes from a broken heart and dashed hopes."

"Your heart lives only for the sea, your hopes only dashed by rough waters." She struck then, a blow he deflected with his own blade.

He caught both wrists in both his hands; she was tiny, so easily broken. "My heart beats only for you," he breathed. Gabe looked down into her widening eyes as she saw the truth in the words he'd changed to fit his liking.

Excerpt 3:
"You call this a party? I call it debauchery. That girl there," she pointed to a woman in a pink cardigan and neon fuck-me heels, "she's on her fourth man of the night. I'm convinced she's trying to sleep with everyone here."

"Why are you here?" That was the real question, wasn't it? If she hated it so much, why was she really here?
 "I came with my roommate who thinks she's going to get lucky - she usually does - and my friend who is off chatting up a girl he won't call because he's in love with someone else."

"And she's not into him. Is that it?"

There was something about the way she said that. Her tone held frustration, annoyance.

"That's exactly it. He may get himself into the outer courts though." Gabe laughed a deep, resonating, gleeful sound.

"Outer courts? Is that what they call them?"

"That's what I call them. Beautiful set up though." He caught himself just before he said thank you. Time to move a bit. He stood, brushed off his trousers, and offered her a hand. "Come," he said. "Let's go into the outer courts."

Strange words that hadn't been uttered in so long, they tasted bitter and cold.

About the Author: Tyffani Clark Kemp has been writing since she discovered in the sixth grade that it wasn't enough just to read about fantastic places, but she could create her own. She weaves small bits of herself into everything she writes whether it be a science fiction piece about aliens or a dramatic romance fraught with conflict and love. She lives in South Carolina with her family and her fluffy shii tzu-mix dog who thinks he's a Saint Bernard.

Links:
Goodreads
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Facebook
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Website

The Schedule:
February 25th Ren Reidy
February 26th Mary Smith
February 27th Kristin Mckittrick
February 28th Donna Hole
March 1st Jodie O'Brien
March 2nd Kathryn Jacob
March 3rd Tammy Hall
March 4th Amy Erstad
March 5th Deborah Carney
March 6th Felicia Tatum
March 7th Kristina Haecker
March 8th Jennifer Howell
March 9th Brianna Lee Reviews
March 10th Tara Lynne
March 11th Christina Condy
March 12th Shaina Rene Salisbury-Abbs

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