On Book Review Wednesday, we're previewing a book that will be launching in just a week or so...

Wicked Rescue Mission

Wicked Rescue Mission is the second novel in The Valhaven Island Trilogy. You can find the first book, Wickedly Misunderstood on Amazon.

Blurb:

What do you do when the world is perfect one moment and in shambles the next? When your girlfriend’s kidnapped and taken to Hell by the Devil’s son. All we know is that Ember overheard a conversation between Piper and her father one night before Blade kidnapped her. She left us a message on a crumpled painting that gave us pieces of information. Leaving the eight of us to put it together to save her. Our only mission is to get her back because our lives mean nothing without her. But, we’re only teenagers with superhuman powers, we don’t have the power to walk between Earth and Hell. So, we turn to the only person we believe we can trust. That’s when the unthinkable happens and we’re left back at square one. Can we keep fighting and save Ember from her exile? Does someone work out a plan to travel to Hell to save her? The people we thought we could trust are turning against us in ways we never expected. So now, we must hurry to save Ember before it's too late. Release Date: December 7th, 2015 Release Event on Facebook

Tell us a little about yourself and your background?

My name is Chasity Nicole and I’m a book nerd. My actual background isn’t in writing at all, I have three degrees that pertain to criminal justice. I’m a quite shy person that would rather stay in and read then go out and be in a group of people. I recently married my wonderful, geeky husband in June and he’s my biggest push to publish. In fact, if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be answering these questions for Andy.

Were you good at English?

Nope. English was my worst subject in school. I actually had an English teacher in middle school tell me my writing would never amount to anything and that I should give up because I sucked at it. I really want to tell her thank you, because her comment drove me to really do it once I realized I enjoyed it. But, I was awful at English and even now I’m glad I have an editor.

So, what have you written?

Rather than saying the titles of all the short stories I’ll just list the titles of all the anthologies I’m in. It’ll keep down on the confusion and keep things neat. o Novels

• Wickedly Misunderstood
• Wicked Rescue Mission (December 7^th, 2015)

o Anthologies

• Anything Goes
• Darkly Never After
• Sins of the Past
• Thirteen 2: The Horror Continues
• Haunted: Fact or Fiction
• Sins of the Future

What genre are your books?

My novels are fantasy and my short stories are horror. I plan to branch out in the future and write in other genres but right now I’m staying in genres I know and love.

Why do you write?

I write because I struggle with actual human interaction and interact better with characters on paper then in real life. That sounds a little crazy, but a lot of authors will say they write to dull the voices they hear in their heads and a lot of that’s true. I write because it helps me cope with certain situations going on in my life. Writing helps me be myself and understand myself a little bit better, which again sounds sort of crazy. And, I also write because I enjoy telling stories.

Do you write on a typewriter, computer, dictate or longhand?

It all depends on what I’m working on. For some reason certain stories I can type in Word without any issues, other stories I have to write in a notebook. For example, Wickedly Misunderstood and Wicked Rescue Mission were written in spiral notebooks, and Rebuilding the Misunderstood will be as well. But, The Moonstone Fairy, I’m typing in Word without any problems at all. Also, I type my short stories and don’t hand write them, I think I’ve handwritten two short stories, and that’s only because they dealt with a touchy subject.

Where do your ideas come from?

Most of them come from my really weird dreams. Wickedly Misunderstood is product of a dream I had one night. While some of my short stories stem from things I’ve experienced. If it isn’t a dream I had or something I’ve lived through it’s an idea my husband randomly thought of as we were heading to the grocery store, and I’ll never run out of writing ideas because he always seems to have an idea for me.

What is the hardest thing about writing?

Actually writing. I procrastinate like crazy and will crunch when it comes time to have something done. I set personal deadlines and really try to stick to them, but I falter at times. My rule used to be to write a chapter a night, which I’ve tried to stick to for Nano this month, but some nights I’m just not in the zone to write and just decide to play catch up the next time. Eventually falling into that mindset of putting it all off until the next day, because something else strikes my fancy. So, for me, the hardest part is actually sitting down and writing.

Any tips on how to get through the dreaded writer’s block?

Writer’s block is EVIL. I haven’t had writer’s block lately, and now that I say that watch me suffer for saying it. But, my usual way of overcoming it is to step away from the piece and work on something else for a little while. A lot of the time I like to paint until I think I’m ready to write. If painting doesn’t help I generally read for a little while and at some point the writer’s block wall crumbles and I’m able to write again. Sometimes it’s only an hour, a day, then other times it’s a month. Writer’s block and me don’t get along, but I think that goes for most writers.

Tell us about Wicked Rescue Mission, the book to be launched in early December…

Wicked Rescue Mission is part of a series. The series is called The Valhaven Island Trilogy and it follows Ember and her friends as they struggle to be teenagers with superhuman powers. Ember just wants to live a normal life, but can’t because of a cousin that can’t keep her mouth closed. But the teens, get involved in something larger then themselves and you watch as Ember tries to piece it together as the clock ticks away.

For your own reading, do you prefer ebooks or traditional paper/hard back books?

At first I hated the idea of e-books, then my husband bought me a Kindle and now I don’t leave the house without it. However, I still have paperback/hardcovers. If it’s a favorite author, or a favorite book then I’ll get the physical copy of the title over the e-copy. I like e-books because I’ve found a lot of great indie authors that have their books listed for free. But, there’s nothing like the smell of a new paperback.

How are you publishing this book and why?

I self-publish because there is just something about knowing you’ve done all the work that really drives it home. I feel more accomplished in what I’ve done because I’ve done it on my own without someone there. I’d love to publish traditionally one day, and plan to submit my children books to traditional publishers once they are ready.

How do you relax?

Relax is a word that isn’t in my dictionary. In all seriousness though, I try to relax by reading, painting, etching, writing, or listening to music. Usually when I’ve had a really stressful day the best thing for me to do is come home and turn on some music and just drown out everything around me. When that doesn’t work, painting seems to be my go too tool for relaxation because I forget everything when I paint, it’s like I’m in my own little world. I’m that way when I write too, but certain scenes prove to be stressful and just add to the chaos at times.

What is your favourite book and why?

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol because I’ve always had a love for the story since my childhood. A part of me has always wanted to be Alice and travel to Wonderland to go on the adventures that she does. In a way I envy her for falling down the rabbit hole and meeting The Hatter and The Cheshire Cat. It’s my favorite story because it’s a fantasy world created by a brilliant man and it’s easy to get lost in his words and make up your own Wonderland as you read the book.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Just write! Don’t worry about what others are going to think about what you have to say or how it sounds or whether it’s grammatically sound. Write it out and worry about the other stuff later. If you worry about everything, you’ll forget what you need to say and you won’t actually say it.