Book release for Peculiars and POD with live music, food, wine and a great audience of Seattle friends old and new.

I think the success of a book launch depends on how much fun the audience has and this was a great celebration. Thank you Secret Garden!

And it was a party! The Peculiar/POD book launch at Barnes & Noble was a great way to celebrate with over seventy Tri-Cities friends and kick off our May book events.

Alien Brain Wave Deflecting Device. Bet you want one!

And you can always get signed copies at our launch parties…B&N Kennewick, April 28th at 4 pm or Secret Garden Books, Seattle/Ballard May 4th at 7 pm.

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“…But only certain sentences breathe and shift about, like live matter in soil. The first sentence of a book is a handshake, perhaps an embrace. Style and personality are irrelevant. They can be formal or casual. They can be tall or short or fat or thin. They can obey the rules or break them. But they need to contain a charge. A live current, which shocks and illuminates…”

And two lovely Peculiar reviews :

“… this is a top notch book with all the qualities of a great story. It’s definitely intended for the YA audience, however, the annoying new YA-Supernatural-Romance-Stupid-Girl tendency is completed avoided. The characters are smart, relateable and completely fascinating.” Book Snob

“…It is a reminder that we need to try and not only accept but embrace the things that make us all so different no matter how much we don’t understand why they are. And possibly most importantly it tells us that things may not always be what they seem and we need to learn about them before we judge based on appearance or what we may have heard from others. Predjudice in any form is wrong.
I have not been so swept away by a book in a very long time. This was such a unique and meaningful YA novel.” Desiree

Come celebrate with both Steve and me at Secret Garden Books Friday May 4^th 7pm.  Wear Steampunk, dress as your favorite alien, compete in our goblin VS alien trivia challenge.  Or just come for wine, munchies and live music.  We’d love to see you there.

Read up. Join the discussion. As we age, we begin to realize we don’t have it all figured out. YA agrees with us–there are more questions than answers, and adds something much of adult lit. forgets we crave…hope.  In the end, Emily Dickinson’s “thing with feathers” sings.

Recently a friend told me about two labels, conceptual and intuitive, for two different types of writers.  The labels address that old writing rift between those who outline and know every or almost every step of their story before writing, the conceptualists, and those need the story to unfold for them as they write, the intuitives. My friend is definitely of the conceptual variety.  He has notecards for each scene before his fingers hit keys. He has notecards for his notecards. I’ve always thought of myself as somewhere in-between. A writer who knows the direction the story is going, who knows many of the major destination points along the way, even if I couldn’t fill in all the blanks. That is until this manuscript.  Every time I try to think ahead, fill out a card, plan a plot point, my brain freezes.

So I’m beginning to wonder if it isn’t the story that decides. Stories that are closer to the bone depend more heavily on the subconscious. Or maybe the story reflects the way my life is unfolding right now. Lots of things are out of my control. I can’t plan how Peculiars will be received. I don’t know what will happen next. That’ scary.  Some days I wonder if I’ll ever plot again. For this story, for this time my subconscious is taking me out of the driver’s seat and saying wait ‘til you see what I’ve got to show you. It means more work for me. More revision, more days when I feel stuck. More times when I talk to writing friends and say what do think? But at the computer, most days, it’s like I’m sitting down to a story being told and I’m listening in.

From the Examiner.com “McQuerry’s lexis as a poet lends itself to her writing, masterfully crafting the stunning visuals aboard an aerocopter’s (flying carriage) maiden flight as well as the intimate sentiments Lena experiences as a young lady in search of herself.”

And a wonderful review from Ninjagirlreads
“First, I don’t know if “Maureen Doyle McQuerry” is a penname or what, but I LOVE that it fits the actual book. Quirky, a little fantastical, part romance novelist/part adventurer, and definitely out of the norm. I’ve noticed that sometimes a great penname can set you up for what’s to come, and this one definitely did that.”

Who would have thought that my name adds to the book’s cache?

And here’s the mystery. We are on the third, yes, third round of covers. Each one keeps getting better and better. I haven’t seen the most recent. That is I hadn’t seen it, until Brennan told me to check out Goodreads. And sure enough, there was a cover I had never seen before. Apparently it’s not the final, final cover, but it’s close. How did it get on Goodreads before it showed up anywhere else? It’s a mystery. I’ll keep you posted.

And since the final, final cover isn’t finalized yet. Well, I’ll keep that under wraps.