I believe the best way to beat writer's negativity is to make sure we do the best that we can. No one can do better than their best at any one time. You shouldn't criticize yourself if you have honestly strived to make your story the best it can be. Also, remember why you write. I'm sure you write because you love to write and create. Therefore you shouldn’t judge yourselves against the writing of others or by whether you think the writing is worthy of an audience. In my opinion, your writing is worthy of an audience if you pour your soul into the story and try your hardest.

Don't let the negative half of your brain overpower you, believe in yourself. Do your best and you'll find that with every story you write your ability will improve. Be proud as a writer and remember that not everyone can imagine characters, worlds, scenes, and stories like we do. Don't be afraid to share your gift!

Scarlett Van Dijk

The overall theme of the series is believe in yourself and never give up. But I have specific themes for each book as well. In The Amazing Wolf Boy, Cody turns into a wolf while at a fancy Christmas dinner with his parents. He is subsequently banished to live with an uncle he met only once. The theme for that book is rejection. In book two,Werewolf Asylum, he withholds information because of a promise to a friend. That theme is about how some secrets are too dangerous to keep. The third book, Wolfsbane Brew, starts out with the death of a loved one, and the theme of how to deal with death carries through the entire book.

How do you hide a message in a book? I find it helpful to know your theme before you begin. If you write with the message in the back of your mind, your characters will respond accordingly. Think back to when you were a teen. What was important to you then? What message would you impart to the teenager you were? Then write away. No need to spell it out. Your message will hide behind your words.

Where would you go if you could travel back in time?  Who would you want to meet?  What historical event would you like to witness?  What era’s pop culture, fashion and music would you like to experience?  Of all the concepts, I think time travel would be the most amazing adventure.

That was the idea that sparked our Young Adult series CUL8R (for all you old folks, that’s See You Later).  We wanted our teenagers to be able to go back and see how average people lived, and, along the way, experience the feelings and textures of different times and places.

So when Kelly moves to Fort Myers Beach, Florida to live with her aunt and meets Scott and Austin (who live on the same street), they come up with an interesting way to spend the summer.  Scott, who loves to tinker with inventions, has created a time travel app for his phone, but it takes three points to activate it.  The three teens decide to try it out even though they don’t actually believe it will work.  To their surprise, they are swept back to 1966…but with an unexpected stowaway.

Since that first trip, they have traveled to a deserted island off the Florida coast in 1980, dropped in on a traveling train circus in Texas in 1927 and, most recently, visited the famously haunted Stanley Hotel in Colorado in 1911.  During all of these trips, they risked their own lives to save someone else’s.  But, along the way, they get to bump into famous people and experience life as it was in a circus or as part of the staff of a luxury hotel.

When creating the series, we decided we didn’t want our teens to actually change history or influence major decisions.  Instead, by blending into the masses, they get to see what real life was like back then.  They get to witness historical events, but the actual impact they make is on the life of a single person or family.

The CUL8R series is a lot of fun to write because the four teenagers are free to go back to any time or any place.  They are regular 2014 teens thrust back to save a boy from being killed or a child from being kidnapped.  They still see things through their contemporary eyes, but without any modern conveniences.  Instead, they have to use their wits, their skills and their ability to work together to solve the mystery, save the life or whatever mission they are on, then, most importantly, to get safely back to 2014. 

Hopefully, along the way, they…and our readers…will get an unusual look at people and places from the past. 

Where would you go if you could travel back in time?  Who would you like to meet?  What would you like to see…and hear…and feel?  Come along with Kelly, Scott, Austin and Zoey and have some fun.

I hope when someone reads my stories that they are engaged and entertained. I hope that they can have a few moments of escape from reality, and maybe they’ll pick up on something that sparks their interest. I’m a big fan of anything that gets people to react, to feel, to think. It would be amazing if I did that for someone else. Even if it’s just one person.

For my ebook, Wolf Moon: A Grazi Kelly Novel, I became sort of obsessed with the idea of drawing from my own background. Italian, Catholic, private schools… That’s what all the greats advise, isn’t it? Write what you know. Ooh, and write something that my kids could read and identify with. 

So yes, we are Catholic. I just wanted to note that I am not trying to convert anyone through my work and sure I have problems with Church politics and policies. Nobody’s perfect. And religion rarely is. I strongly feel religion is a personal choice and all faiths should be treated with respect.

I also wanted my writing to be interesting and entertaining. So I thought, okay, teenagers, Werewolves, Witches and Demons. Cool. Grazi, my main character, is Catholic and is bound by contract to serve the Hounds of God, a secret Werewolf organization that essentially works for the Roman Catholic Church. I also have her attending a Catholic high school, which is where I drew on some of my own experiences. 

Wolf Moon is the first installment in what I intend to be a series of books. It is also the shortest. Under 60,000 words. It is a fast paced read, told from her point of view, that I designed to introduce Grazi and her world.

The fact that it is a world I created sort of makes me geek out at times. I mean, wow, it is something alright. A whole universe came out of the jumble that is my mind. That very same mind that sometimes forgets where the keys are, or to pick up shampoo at the grocery store. Yeah, that one. Very cool.

Being a writer is scary, exhausting, sometimes confusing hard work, but absolutely the most awesome work experience I have ever had. 

I just want to say thank you Scarlett for hosting me here and thank you all of you for taking the time to read this!

Be sure and look for me, C.D. Gorri, author of the Grazi Kelly Novel Series on my website www.cdgorri.com, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Cdgorribooks Twitter @cgor22, Google+ https://www.google.com/+CDGorribooks, and Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/CDGorri. You can find my ebooks on Smashwords, Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, Google Play, Itunes, Kobo and more.

Thanks and happy reading!

del mare alla stella,

C.D. Gorri

However, despite this fear, I will continue to stick to my original morals as a writer. I write for the love of writing. My novels will be all mine, hence when I publish I will self-publish and create my own cover. I will continue to make my writing affordable for my readers to buy because I wish to make it accessible to anyone who would like to read my writing. This isn't my job. It is my soul.

Scarlett Van Dijk

Sky Stone is available on CreateSpace.com and Amazon.com at present. The eBook is a mere 99c, the paperback is $8.95.