Blog Tour Guest Post and Giveaway: Claws and Effect - Amanda Arista

We're participating in the virtual book tour for Claws and Effect by Amanda Arista.  For our tour stop, Amanda is guest blogging with us confessing about herself, her loves and her book.  Let's take Amanda's advise.  Grab a drink and help me in welcoming Amanda to Cocktails and Books!

 

Confessions and Cocktails.

           

            Thank you for having  me over at Cocktails and Books Today. Grab a drink and get ready for some confessions about me, my loves, and my new book, Claws and Effect.

            I’m in love with Jensen Ackles. He’s an actor on the CW’s Supernatural that I’ve followed around since FOX’s Dark Angel TV series in the early 2000s. I’ve watched every movie release he’s been in and even listened to him voice a character in an animated Batman movie. My love is deep and true and I will probably keep following his career until I can’t anymore.  I will never say that the Urban Panther series is an elaborate love letter to him, but don’t look too closely at the physical features of the romantic lead, Chaz Garrett.

            We all need muses. Something that sparks the creative, something that feeds the inner recesses of our minds, souls if you will. Mine just happened to be an superhot actor from Texas. Doesn’t mean that you muse will like him (besides- he’s mine). Doesn’t mean that your muse will like anything even on TV. Maybe she’s a reader. Maybe she likes food. Maybes she’s an adrenaline junky.

            The key is to find what feeds your muse, your creative, vital center, what the inner YOU really enjoys, and let it feast every now and then. Life’s too short to not go see that art exhibit you’ve always wanted or to not read the latest book from your favorite author. A starving muse is a dead muse. You’ve got to give a little to get a little.

            I studied in London for a semester in college and was able to see some of the best art collections in the world. It was the first time that I saw a real Van Gogh. I’d studied the technique that he used and had seen his Sunflowers plasters across everything, but until I saw it, I didn’t really see it. Even as his technique was improving, you could still see what fed his muse: life. In the people, in the flowers, in the stars that shone above. Life fed his muse and he let us see that. His was a well-fed muse.

            Though I will never compare my work to that of Van Gogh’s, Claws and Effect is the project of a half-sated muse, a still hungry muse. Though the classically chiseled features of Jensen Ackles got me started, the story that was underneath all that handsomeness is what drove not one, but two books and possible more to come. I’ve found that the story is what keeps me writing now. That my muse and I both love to write about Violet’s misadventures and the pain that keeps her going, keeps her loving, and fighting. And we will only be finished with Violet’s tale when the story has filled us completely and we are happy with it.

            What feeds your muse? Music? Good literature? Bad Literature? Are you still searching for it?

            I’ll be checking in all day so leave a comment about what feeds you’re creative instinct and you’ll be entered to win a  $25 gift certificate.
            Thank you!

Tour Wide Giveaway

Amanda will be giving away a $25 gift certificate to one lucky person out of those that comment to her Tour posts.  The more comments you leave throughout her tour, the better your chances to at winning.  To find additional tour dates, click here

 About the Author

         Amanda was born in Illinois, raised in Corpus Christi, lives in Dallas but her heart lies in London. Good thing she loves to travel! The summer of second grade, she read every book in the young adult section of the library, so she started making up her own stories and hasn’t stopped.
         She has a husband who fights crime, one dog who thinks he’s a real boy, and another who might be a fruit bat in disguise.  When not writing, Amanda often dreams of co-opening an evil bakery and sell despicable desserts. Her particularly favorites are larvaceous lemon bars and sinful cinnamon streusel.
         She spends her weekends writing at coffee shops, practicing for the day that caffeine intake becomes an Olympic sport, and plotting character demises with fellow writers Wolvarez, Killer Cupcake and Keith (names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent).
 www.amandaarista.com