The B-Boy is here!

Hey, folks, guess what? The B-Boy is officially available on Amazon in paperback, ebook, and on Kindle Unlimited! I'm so excited for this one because I wrote it last November during NaNoWriMo and I've been working with it since then, eagerly awaiting its release day.

Red's story was one that deserved to be told and Zara was the perfect person to help him tell it. I can't wait for you to read it and enjoy it. Here's a little blurb:

Now that high school's over and he's left his life as a bully behind, Red finally has time to focus on what he wants: boxing. For as long as he's able, that's what he'll do.

Zara's passion for dancing is rivaled by none, but her dreams are shattered when her dance partner sprains his ankle weeks before their showcase. With no other options, Red's cousin and Zara's best friend suggests they team up.

Now Red has a tough decision to make: stick to what he's always known or find the courage to love something new?

The B-Boy is avaible here. And we can't forget about Cherry! Rinkside is still on pre-order here and will be available in just one week!

            

 

Happy reading!

- Natasja

The B-Boy book trailer!

For the first time ever, I've released a book trailer for The B-Boy!! I've posted it on pretty much all my socials, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, but for your viewing pleasure, I've also embedded it below.

As with most things in my self-publishing career, I had a lot of help making this video. Specifically from the super-duper talented Joel Wright - musician, songwriter, and movie music mastermind. Thanks so much for the catchy tune that really makes my trailer pop!

You can now pre-order The B-Boy here. You can also now pre-order its companion novella, Rinkside here.

Happy reading!!

- Natasja

News - Standup Guy

Those of you who have read Knockout Girl (and I'm assuming that's all of you) know that I left you with the first chapter of a planned sequel. Well I'm happy to officially announce that, if all goes to plan, I'll be publishing Standup Guy sometime this month. A little about the book:

Best friends, Elli and Julian are back and this time, they'll be fighting in a huge boxing tournament with an even bigger prize. Julian struggles with his new identity as both and academic and an athlete while fights for equality...and true love.

Things get rough for Julian with his focus split between school, boxing, and Cherry. When a poor decision causes him to almost ruin his friendship with Elli, he must decide: is his dream worth the risk?

Elli's boxing team struggles for the attention they deserve from the school, so she steps up and puts everything she has into saving her team. Can she depend on Adrian for his support when he seems too preoccupied with partying, looking good, and playing hockey?

 With Elli and Julian each fighting for what is true and good, there's a lot more at stake than just a championship.



Happy reading!

- Natasja

Nanowrimo 2018

Those of you who follow me regularly on Facebook and Instagram know that I completed my 50,000 words for National Novel Writing Month on November 12. For me it was just like this blur and whirlwind of words that whipped past me in some more or less coherent way.

My stats

 I can't say too much about the book I just wrote because it's a sequel to a sequel so spoilers abound. But I will say there was a lot of dancing involved in it, which got me thinking back to my very first nanowrimo, which I've written about here. That was when I wrote My Best Friend's Brother/The Summer I Turned Into a Girl, a story about a dancer and a soccer player who switch bodies.

It was kind of fun revisiting a dancing character but it also reminded me how very little I know about dancing. I was very much out of my element the whole time (especially since I feel like I've been writing so much about boxing lately).

It also got me reflecting on my New Year's Resolutions, so I want to take a look back...

1. Three books to finish writing.
2. One book to write for nanowrimo.
3. An entire series, consisting of eight books to edit.

Well, I've written two books this year, but one of those was for nano. Honestly, I can't remember whether I meant for the nano book to be a part of the three books, but I'm going to go with yes. And I definitely think I can squeeze out another book this year if I try really hard. (Read: don't sleep at all). The series is still being edited - that one is taking me a little longer, but I'm working on it. One thing I didn't have in my resolutions was publishing a book, but I think that's a pretty big accomplishment. I will definitely add that to next year's resolutions though!

One other thing I wanted to do today was post a couple of interviews that I did this month in case you missed them on my social media. There are some interesting questions in there and I gave one of them the exclusive honour of posting the first look at my next book cover!
https://cynthiabrandel.com/2018/11/06/author-spotlight-natasja-eby/
https://journal.media/life-as-a-self-published-author

For anyone who's still working their way through nanowrimo, hit me up if you need some encouragement!


- Natasja

News - Knockout Girl

October 3 ^

"My life has always been absolutely beautiful. Amazing. Perfect. Floating in the salty ocean, lying on endless sandy beaches, school, surfing, boys, beach parties, night dips. Everything has always been exactly as it should be. Until one day it all came crashing down.

Picture yourself—not on a boat on the river—lying on a towel, stretched out on white sands, the sound of the ocean waves calming you as a breeze filters through your salt-tangled hair. The palm trees sway back and forth, offering you occasional shade from the hot rays of light.

Then you leave forever, because the next day you’re on a plane bound for Canada in the dead of winter. And you just keep wishing that you’d wake up back in the real world. You keep wishing that you never had to leave. But you do. The stupid plane keeps heading farther and farther north.

Obviously this story is about me, and not you. But you get the idea."

Thus begins Elli's journey in my new novel called Knockout Girl. You've already read about it (if you haven't, click the link), and you've been treated to the cover reveal through my social media. So I'll keep this short and sweet.

If all goes as planned, Knockout Girl will be released as a paperback and an ebook on October 3, 2018 on Amazon. I'm going to try to give some more updates and maybe a few more excerpts before then, but for now, mark your calendars! This is a story you won't want to miss, I promise.

- Natasja

Hello and Other Things

As you can see from my last blog post, two years ago I joined nanowrimo. I did actually win in 2015, then in 2016, and again this year. I've had a few questions about what I've been writing the last couple of years and the answer is:

The Onepian Chronicles

I call the genre of this series "light sci-fi," or a space soap if you will, because it centres around real human beings doing real things, except they have space ships, live on different planets, and it's set far into the future. It's a little like Star Trek, but without alien races and a little less technical. Each book focuses on the story of a new set of characters that have been previously introduced, so they read well as stand-alones but are part of a bigger overall story arch. The series is nowhere near ready to be published (or even read by people who don't love me unconditionally). I mean, one of the books isn't even finished and two or them don't have titles. (Contact me if you want to take a crack at that.)

Other than that, I've been working on perfecting another young adult novel called Knockout Girl. This book is very dear to me as it's one of my favourite books I've ever written. Elli, the first person narrator, is witty and sarcastic and at least half-full of teenage angst. But she's got a good heart and genuinely wants to see her friends succeed. Currently Knockout Girl is going through some rounds of beta reading and last touches, after which I plan on self-publishing again.

Of course, none of this is possible without the help and support of my amazing friends! Writing a manuscript is one thing. But having it edited and read over and over again and then publishing it requires a lot of work and is hard to do with a small group of people, let alone by yourself. So just know that I appreciate each and everyone one of you lovely people.

- Natasja

Knockout Girl

I've spoken a lot in the past about a book I have called Less Than Perfect. It's a book I wrote a few years ago that I hope to one day have published (either traditionally or self-published). However, I've been rethinking it and reworking it and it's just not ready to go anywhere yet. But that's okay! I have plenty of other books and today's post is actually about one of those.

Knockout Girl is a new young adult novel that I finished writing a few months ago. It's about a girl named Elli who is forced to move from Hawaii to Toronto in the dead of winter. Although she's rather resistant at first, she makes friends with Julian, who she discovers is being used as a punching bag for the school's boxing champion, Red. Elli quickly realizes the only way to get this guy off her friend's back is to beat him at his own game. With the help of a cute jock, a sweet tattooed loner, and Elli's burnt out boxing champion uncle, she and Julian enter a boxing tournament where Julian will have to face his bully in the ultimate showdown.

Why I love this story so much is because, for starters, Elli is hilarious. She's moody, sassy, and generally unhappy with her life, which somehow comes across in the funniest of ways. Once she learns that living in Canada is not the end of the world, however, she becomes a pretty good friend to Julian. (Just friends.) Julian is a perfect counter-part to Elli's narration - he's calm, cool, and collected. He's smart and and a self-admitted loner. But he's also compassionate to Elli's plight in having to be the new girl in school and in a new country.

This story isn't just about bullying or how two people learned how to beat someone up. It's a coming-of-age story about finding friendship in unlikely places and having courage in the face of adversity. I don't want to give away the ending,* but I will say that before Julian even fights Red, he's already won in the eyes of his peers.

So there it is! This story is already being sent around a little bit. With a few minor tweaks, it would be ready for publication. If I can't find a publisher or agent who wants to take it on, I'll do it myself, because I really believe in this book. (My mom says it's great, so obviously it is.) No matter what, I'll see this manuscript turn into a book.

- Natasja

*Interested in finding out what happens? Ask about being a beta reader.