Writers on Wednesday: Gabrielle Arrowsmith

Welcome back to Writers on Wednesday. This week, YA novelist, math teacher, soccer trainer and actress Gabrielle Arrowsmith answers my questions ...



Tell me a bit about yourself …

Hello! I’m Gabrielle Arrowsmith, a YA novelist, math teacher, soccer trainer, and actress. I have lived all of my twenty-something years in Ham Lake, Minnesota. I’m itching for the snow to melt so I can partake in some of my favorite outdoor activities, especially trail running and playing soccer. I also enjoy reading, watching movies, listening to music, and spending time with my family, friends, and pets!

Tell us about your most recently published book?

My latest book, Released from the Darkness (Concealed in the Shadows #2), came out just weeks ago. In this novel, eighteen-year-old Sydney fights to re-establish rights that citizens in this futuristic society have been denied. In book one, the reader learns that unforgiving laws limited Sydney’s contact with her younger sister and confined her to a designated county. In book two, the stakes of Sydney’s fight are heightened as terrible secrets are revealed.

Tell us about the first time you were published?

I self-published Concealed in the Shadows in December, 2012. I was a first time author with a tiny following, so my debut novel gathered dust on the virtual shelves. I was very fond of the story that I had poured my heart into, so I had to keep working to bring it to more readers. I found a home for Concealed in the Shadows with Clean Teen Publishing, who released the revamped version in May, 2013.

As writer, what has been your proudest achievement so far?

Finishing a novel and then signing a contract for it were huge achievements - both of which I never expected to happen when I began writing it. Yet, my proudest moments have come as I’ve watched Concealed in the Shadows’ rank improve in the YA action and YA dystopian categories on Amazon. All I ever wanted was to share the story with readers, so it’s been wonderful to have that dream realized.

What books or writing projects are you currently working on, if anything?

I’m currently working on the third installment in the Concealed in the Shadows series, and also doing outlining for a new series that I am very excited about.

Aside from your own books, of course, what is one book that you feel everybody should read?

It’s so hard to pick only one! I have to go with Flowers for Algernon because the reader is taken on a very unique and emotional journey. In the YA genre, I recommend The Hunger Games because the trilogy is simply awesome and it inspired me to finally put Concealed in the Shadows on paper.

Get Gabrielle’s Books:

Concealed in the Shadows (FREE eBook)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CUJ3QQE
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/concealed-in-the-shadows-gabrielle-arrowsmith/1116523440
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/x/id815155073
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/405035

Released from the Darkness
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IP15Z06

Watch the Book Trailers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz7D0--LrTs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79l88BmPobU

Connect with Gabrielle:
https://www.facebook.com/ConcealedInTheShadows
http://www.gabriellearrowsmith.com

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6880655.Gabrielle_Arrowsmith

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Peppermint Patty: I Cried and Cried and Cried

Image
Unrequited love is a common theme in the Peanuts Comics and is one that I have previously explored on this blog. We know that Lucy loves Schroeder, Sally loves Linus and Charlie Brown has a crush on the unseen, unnamed and utterly unattainable Little Redhaired Girl. But perhaps the saddest unrequited love stories from the comic is that which ran in late June 1972. It was the series of strips where the usually self-confident Peppermint Patty came face-to-face with the Little Redhaired Girl with the intention of thumping her and then something surprising happened: Here we have a usually self-confident girl, who is funny, unashamedly herself and talented at sports reduced to tears by the realisation of who she is not and never can be. I really feel for her in this series of comic strips. She knows that Charlie Brown can never love her, when he is so hung up over a girl who represents a supposedly ideal feminine beauty. Fortunately Linus, the most spiritual member of the Pean
Read more

Charlie Brown, Lucy Van Pelt and the Football

Image
One of the longest, and arguably, most infuriating, running gags in Charles Schulz's otherwise brilliant Peanuts comic strip, is where Lucy promises to hold a football for Charlie Brown and then pulls it away at the last minute, causing Charlie Brown to fall flat on his back. A typical strip looks like this: Source: Go Comics The gag is one of the darker themes in the strip. It works on the concept that every year, Lucy promises to hold a football for Charlie Brown. Every year, Charlie Brown is initially filled with doubt but is eventually pushed on by a kind of optimism that perhaps, this time, Lucy might just let him kick it after all. As a metaphor for life, it is pretty simple. It talks of the moments when we choose to put our trust in people who have let us down only to be taken by surprise when they let us down, again. Lucy is, arguably, one of the crueller characters in the comic. Described as crabby by the other characters, she is often selfish, takes delight in wilfully hu
Read more

Phrases and Idioms: Tickets on Himself

To have tickets on himself: (Australian slang.) To be conceited or vain. To have an overinflated opinion of oneself.  He's got tickets on himself if he thinks that any woman would fall for that. I was thinking about this particular bit of Australian slang the other day, after my boss said, "He's got tickets on himself," to describe the actions of a particular individual. At the time, I smiled, knowing exactly what the boss meant. Later on, I started to ponder on this unusual phrase and wondered where it might have come from. A search on google helped me find the definition, but that was about all. There are no references to it being used in pop culture or literature (if you find one, let me know,) and at the time of writing this post, Tickets on Himself was not listed on Urban Dictionary. (I tried to add it, but the fuckers rejected my definition. They probably think I have tickets on myself or something for trying to add a relatively common piece of A
Read more