Amie Borst

I'm so excited to announce that for one day only--Monday, July 28th, 2014--my publisher will be offering Cinderskella for the discounted price of $2.99!! You can purchase the ebook at Amazon for this super steal of a price! So tell your neighbors, tell your friends, tell your students, your kids, nieces, nephews and grandchildren! Then buy a copy and enjoy! And don't forget that the best way to show your support for an author, after you've read their book, is to leave a review. If you purchase a copy of Cinderskella during the sale, send me an email at Cinderskella (at) aol (dot) com and I will send you a swag pack! Limited to the first 50 sales, notified by Tuesday, July 29th, 2014. Also, be sure to stop on by the Jolly Fish Press blog, Jolly Fish Talk , where I've written a guest post. See what books have inspired me throughout my life, learn where one of my children gained their name, and find out which book inspired me to become a writer! Happy Monday! (

B is for B eta Readers! What is a beta reader?  A beta reader is someone who reads your WIP (work in progress). The purpose of a beta reader is to provide feedback--both with punctuation and grammar, as well as structurally with plot and characterizations--so that you can improve your WIP. No, you don't need a professional editor to beta read for you. No, you don't need to pay someone to beta for you. Ideally you'll want to ask another trusted writer who is familiar with your genre or someone who is an avid reader in your target audience to read your WIP.  You wouldn't want an adult romance author to read and critique your middle-grade fantasy. They probably won't be familiar with the things that appeal to kids and may end up questioning and/or not understanding your fantasy world.  That's not to say it's impossible for them to provide a valuable critique, but if you can, you should try to find someone who understands and frequently reads your genre

A is for A uthentic! Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Authentic as: real or genuine: not copied or false. If you've been in the writing community for any period of time, one of the phrases that you'll hear repeatedly is "write what you know", and it really is a good piece of advice. For the most part. I think this advice can becoming limiting in our own minds when we start to tear things apart, wondering if we really are experts on that topic. Or when we believe that we have to keep our writing only to things we experience. We might think we can't write a dystopian novel because we haven't lived in a fictional society that dehumanizes us, or we can't write a zombie novel because we're not running scared with a machete in our hands. Or maybe we think we're not able to write romantic fiction because we've never been in love.  Whatever it is you've limited yourself to, stop! You CAN write these things! If you're authentic in

I'm so excited to announce that I'll be presenting at TWO libraries! If you have middle-grade kids that want to learn the craft of writing or just want to hear about my publishing journey and how my daughter and I co-write together, then be sure to attend one of these two events.  There will be prizes and interactive activities! The first event takes place at a library close to my heart. It is my childhood library - the place I first discovered a love for reading. The place where I enjoyed crafts, projects, story hour, and the summer reading program. Be sure to join me at the  Olive Free Library   in Shokan, NY. The presentation, activities, and signing will take place on   Saturday, July 12th at 2pm! The second event is at the  Town of Esopus library in Port Ewen, NY. Join the fun on Friday, July 18th at 3:00pm ! Look forward to seeing you at the library!

Starting next Monday, July 14th, I'll be starting a new blog series entitled Tips For Teens! Each post will be alphabetized and provide (hopefully) helpful writing tips for teen authors, whether they're a new writer or a seasoned expert. As I've given talks, presented at libraries, and skyped with teachers/classrooms, I've seen the need for these blossoming writers to have a resource geared just for them. There's a lot of interest from young writers and I hope to inspire them to reach their goals. As the mother of teens, one of them my co-author, I thought it would be fun to present them these tips in a fun and exciting way. If you're not a teen, I encourage you to stick around. I guarantee you'll find the tips useful, too!

It was a gamble for Eleanor to rejoin humanity, but she was driven to it. She’d been too successful forgetting. The last vestiges of her family hung by a thread in her transformed brain and drove her to be reckless. Ten years later, Eleanor hides in plain sight. She is an average girl getting average grades in a small Wyoming town: poor but happy, lonely but loved. Her mother, Tabitha, is there for her and that’s all she’s ever needed. But now her mother is sick and David has returned. The only friend she’d ever had, the only other person who knows her secret, is back. And Eleanor again becomes reckless. Eleanor is a modest girl, unremarkable but extraordinary, young but old, malleable but fixed. She is scared and confused. She is a liar and a thief. Eleanor is not what she appears to be. Amie: Why did you want to write YA? Johnny: Thematically, it was important for me to have ELEANOR be a young adult novel. Young adult is the time of our lives when we undergo the most chang