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As a child of the eighties (okay, the seventies and the eighties,) I never gave much thought to women’s lib even though I heard the term bandied about a lot on television. I suppose it just never occurred to me that I couldn’t do what I wanted to do. And what I wanted to do was wear acid washed jeans, perm my hair unto an inch of its life and go to prom. Seriously though, my mom worked, most moms I knew worked and feminist issues just weren’t discussed beyond equal pay for equal work.

As a young mother, my husband and I decided that I would stay home with our children. Day care was prohibitively expensive and I’d just started going to a church where such decisions were not only approved of, but preferred, though at that time I was still under the illusion that the church supported all women equally.

Naive much?

It wasn’t until my children were in fourth and fifth grade did I start to question my choices. Even though I was homeschooling my children, (for educational purposes not religious reasons and wow, what a difference that made!), I began writing almost full time with an eye on publication. I wrote both fiction and nonfiction and between that and the Internet, my world grew and grew.  I became aware, uncomfortably aware, that many women around the world didn’t enjoy the rights I had taken for granted or simply let slip away.

For suddenly, things were changing on my home front. As I grew and my writing became more successful, I could no longer be at the beck and call of my family.  While my kids quickly adapted, my marriage went through some growing pains and for the first time feminism became very, very personal.

Well, we survived, and both my husband I grew from the experience, though we did end up breaking with the church we’d been attending. But that was the moment when feminism reached up and slapped me in the face. I began reading on the topic, both fiction (Marilyn French!!!) and nonfiction and  journaling about women’s issues,  though it has rarely come to the forefront in my writing. (Except for Bloom in Winter, where one of my heroines is a suffragette) However, it has become very important to me that my characters grow as both women and human beings.

Writing expanded my world. As my own world expanded, I became more conscious of the issues women here and around the world face, issues such as economic empowerment, education, maternal mortality, sex trafficking, rape culture and gender based violence. I feel rather foolish now to realize how oblivious I was.  But out of the many gifts writing has given me, that is one of the most precious.

For more information on international feminist issues check out Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Life changing stuff.

*Image courtesy of Marcus / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So as many of you know, I have all sorts of pretty damn good ideas rattling around in my head. Some of them are perfect for the brand I’m trying for, others are so far out there, they aren’t even in left field. But there are only so many hours in a day and I have this thing called a personal life that I’m trying to balance along with everything else.

It’s enough to make an author crazy.

Then you add in authors who are taking advantage of all the new opportunities afforded by our changing landscape and creating success out of nothing. There are authors who have made the leap into promotions, agenting, teaching, and book packaging. You have authors who are juggling indie publishing with traditional publishing and coming out on top.

Does this give you a complex? Cause I’m getting a damn complex.

I want to be one of those authors. I want to write four books in a year (check) run successful marketing campaigns and have a side business. I want to throw a cool conference or intensive, help others, change the world and make big money in the process.

(Right now, I have that stupid song stuck in my head: I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan, and never, ever let you forget you’re a man, cause I’m a woman…)

Sorry for the earworm.

I don’t want to jump on someone else’s bandwagon or hitch myself to their star… I want to have my own damn bandwagon…  I want to be my own damn star. The term hybrid author has been bandied about quite frequently and I guess that is what I am aiming for.

I want to do and have it all. Do you?

So what is keeping me from that? I need the big idea, for one thing. Nothing has quite gelled for me. (Business–wise, not book-wise) I also need to ditch that little inner imp inside that makes me feel as if I’m an imposter. That I don’t have any wisdom to offer. Why do so many smart women let that imp control us? I wrote about that here.

How about you? What do you want? What do you need to overcome to get it?

In a market flooded with dystopian novels, award-winning author Karen Bass brings readers a fast-paced story about a real-world era of censorship and struggle too often forgotten by history: Soviet-controlled post-World War II East Germany, where one boy fights for self-expression and the freedom to build his own future.

Speaking out in East Germany is forbidden, but sixteen-year-old Wilm has found his voice. At night he wages a graffiti campaign against the police, who answer to the Soviet Army that controls the country. “Marionetten,” he writes—puppets. And Wilm’s war of embarrassment feels good. It feels powerful. If only Wilm can keep that power he won’t ever end up weak like his father. And he won’t ever stand by and let Soviets—or anyone—hurt his sister again.

But to keep his newfound power Wilm has to become more and more like his adversaries. And when he crosses one line too many, the victims may be the very people Wilm wants most to protect.

Read the first chapter here.

Reviews:

Helen Kubiw of “CanLit for Little Canadians” gave Graffiti Knight a 5-star rating and said, “Bass provides enlightenment via a new perspective.” (http://canlitforlittlecanadians.blogspot.ca/2013/07/graffiti-knight.html)

John Wilson, YA Canadian author, reviewed Graffiti Knight for Canada’s book and publishing news magazine, Quill & Quire: “Bass has artfully recreated an historical time and place peopled by realistic, three-dimensional characters grappling with their own emotions and global forces they can only barely understand.” Full review here. (http://pajamapress.ca/news_reviews/?p=1980)

Pick up a copy!

• Amazon.ca (http://www.amazon.ca/Graffiti-Knight-Karen-Bass/dp/1927485533/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377302127&sr=8-1&keywords=graffiti+knight)
• McNally Robinson (http://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/9781927485538/karen-bass/graffiti-knight?blnBKM=1#.Uhf2t47jZUQ)
• Canadian Indie Bookstores
• Or pre-order at Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Graffiti-Knight-Karen-Bass/dp/1927485533/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377373537&sr=8-1&keywords=graffiti+knight)

Find Karen online:

Website (www.karenbass.ca)

Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/karenbassYA)

Twitter (https://twitter.com/karenbassYA)

Goodreads (http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1370935.Karen

10 Great Authors, 10 Unforgettable Adventures. With every “Today’s Adventure” post between August 1 and August 13, you can register to win the featured book and the grand prize of all 10 books. We’ll announce winners on August 14.  You may enter today’s contest by leaving a comment on Susanna’s blog.

Here’s Susanna:

Nicola’s not looking for adventure. But when a client brings a family heirloom—called “the Firebird”—to her gallery to be appraised for sale, she has to help, despite the fact that helping means she’ll have to use the psychic “gifts” she’d rather hide, and call a favor in from an old boyfriend, Rob, whose gifts are even greater than her own.

Using Rob’s abilities to “see” the distant past, they start their search in Scotland for the client’s long-dead ancestor, a little girl they know will one day own that family heirloom. When they find her, she’s in danger.

Anna sat up fully, straightening her back as her own gaze slipped to the colonel and she asked him, ‘Is the devil really on his way here?’

Colonel Graeme, as he often did, delayed his answer with a question of his own. ‘And do ye fear the devil, Anna?’

Anna heard again the wicked wailing of the wind, and was not sure. She looked to where her mother and her father stood, and then towards the door that was still blocked by Captain Jamieson and guarded by the colonel, and it seemed to her that nothing could so easily get past those two men and their swords, and suddenly she knew that she was not afraid. Not really.

So she said as much. And when she asked the colonel, ‘Can your ship outrun him?’ she felt something stir within her, like the thrill at the beginning of a great adventure.

Nicola knows there are risks in following a firebird. In Russian folklore, when a firebird drops a feather, any fool who picks it up and tries to chase the bird itself is in for trouble. But…

A single white feather had snagged on a low clump of blowing grass and withered wildflowers, fighting the wind that was trying to tear it away.

It was only a gull’s feather, ragged and plain, not a feather of flame from a firebird, but I felt Rob’s amusement before I looked up at him.

There were those eyes again, daring me, waiting.

‘That’s how it begins,’ he said, ‘isn’t it?’

Hands in his pockets, he patiently watched while I looked down again at the feather. The wind caught its end and it started to lift and on impulse I bent down and reached for it.

So two women in two different times set out on separate quests, connected by a simple carving that—just like the Firebird in the fairy tales—may lead them to a treasure nothing like the one they each set out to find.

Leaving a comment on Susanna’s blog gets you entered to win The Firebird and the other nine stories. Keep up with the latest adventures and get more chances to win through any of the authors:

Alison Atlee, The Typewriter Girl    Facebook

Jessica Brockmole, Letters from Skye         Facebook

T.J. Brown, Summerset Abbey: Spring Awakening  Facebook

Sarah Jio, The Last Camellia           Facebook

Susanna Kearsley, The Firebird      Facebook

Katherine Keenum, Where the Light Falls

Stephanie Lehmann, Astor Place Vintage Facebook

Kate Noble, Let It Be Me        Facebook

Deanna Raybourn, A Spear of Summer Grass       Facebook

Lauren Willig, The Ashford Affair Facebook

10 Great Authors, 10 Unforgettable Adventures. With every “Today’s Adventure” post between August 1 and August 13, you can register to win the featured book and the grand prize of all 10 books. We’ll announce winners on August 14.  You may enter today’s contest by going to the Astor Place Vintage Facebook page and liking it. Find links to all the authors below–follow any of them to keep up with the latest adventures.

Here’s Stephanie:

Adventure? What do I know about Adventure? I’m not an adventurous person. I’d rather stay home than travel. And if I do go anywhere, the natives will speak English, wifi will be available, and the restaurants will ideally offer hamburgers and apple pie. If I’m feeling particularly daring, I’ll get cheese on my pie.  Activities that will never appear on my to-do list are sky diving, mountain climbing or African safaris. I like my routines. Give me the same streets in my boring old neighborhood any day.

I suppose Olive, the heroine in my novel ASTOR PLACE VINTAGE, does something pretty adventurous, especially for a woman in 1907. Soon after moving from a small town to New York City, she experiences a catastrophe that will impact the rest of her life. Instead of moving back to the protective circle of her childhood home, she decides to remain in the city, where she’ll have to forge for herself with no emotional or financial support.

It’s not a coincidence that I moved to New York City at almost the same age as Olive. I came to attend NYU, and though I did have emotional and financial support, the city scared me in a big way. I was timid, quiet, and easily intimidated. Moving to Manhattan seemed like the last thing I would do – even to me. And then, as it turned out, I never left. Coming to New York wasn’t on the order of trekking to the North Pole, but it may have been the most adventurous thing I’ve ever done.

I suppose “adventure” is a relative concept. Some people won’t fly in planes. Some people are afraid to go outside. Some people are even afraid to write fiction. And writers must have the dullest, safest routines of anyone as we sit at our keyboards all day, perhaps venturing out to the library or a coffee shop.

But I have been told by more than a few aspiring authors that a novel is inside, clamoring to get out. They just can’t seem to sit down and write it.

Could it be that writing a novel counts as an adventure? The endeavor does involve undergoing a huge challenge while facing the unknown with totally uncertain results hanging in the balance. The threat of danger just happens to be mental, not physical.

Of all my novels, ASTOR PLACE VINTAGE would certainly have to be my most adventurous. I actually dared to travel back in time. When I began, how did I have the audacity to think I’d be able to re-create the social customs, food, clothes, and language particular to New York City in 1907? I didn’t even know if people back then used toothpaste.

But, I suppose, like an adventurerer, my audacity also involved some bravery – the kind that involves faith that you will rise to the occasion… even as you stay seated at your desk. I have to say, I do feel proud of having traveled to the past and returned unscathed. I’ve definitely become a more well-rounded person, and not just because of the weight I gained from all those hours in front of my computer. I have to say, Olive handled herself pretty well, too. She’s just lucky I didn’t make her take a ship bound for Malaysia to hunt wild boar.

Remember to like the Astor Place Vintage Facebook page, and you’ll be entered to win it and the other nine stories. Keep up with the latest adventures and get more chances to win through any of the authors:

Alison Atlee, The Typewriter Girl    Facebook

Jessica Brockmole, Letters from Skye         Facebook

T.J. Brown, Summerset Abbey: Spring Awakening  Facebook

Sarah Jio, The Last Camellia           Facebook

Susanna Kearsley, The Firebird      Facebook

Katherine Keenum, Where the Light Falls

Stephanie Lehmann, Astor Place Vintage Facebook

Kate Noble, Let It Be Me        Facebook

Deanna Raybourn, A Spear of Summer Grass       Facebook

Lauren Willig, The Ashford Affair Facebook

10 Great Authors, 10 Unforgettable Adventures. With every “Today’s Adventure” post between August 1 and August 13, you can register to win the featured book and the grand prize of all 10 books. We’ll announce winners on August 14.

To enter today’s giveaway, please leave a comment on Deanna’s blog.

Here’s Deanna:

The very last thing Delilah Drummond expects when she goes to Africa is a proper adventure. Most travelers journey there on safari, but Delilah is banished abroad by a family that has weathered one too many of her scandals. She’s a flapper with a sharp black bob and a slash of scarlet lipstick, a party girl with a penchant for gin and men other women have left lying around unattended. She is a woman who has seen it all and done most of it.

But nothing prepares her for Africa. Exiled to her father’s savanna manor house, Delilah finds to her dismay that Fairlight is the crumbling, sun-bleached skeleton of a faded African dream, a world where dissolute expats are bolstered by gin and jazz, cigarettes and safaris.

And against the frivolity of the expat community, Ryder White stands in sharp contrast. He is her guide to Africa and all its dangers and thrills—and he is more than a match for the complex beauty of this new land she comes to love. For Delilah, letting down her guard just might be the greatest adventure of them all…

Commenting on Deanna’s blog gets you entered to win A Spear of Summer Grass and the other nine stories. Keep up with the latest adventures and get more chances to win through any of the authors:

Alison Atlee, The Typewriter Girl    Facebook

Jessica Brockmole, Letters from Skye         Facebook

T.J. Brown, Summerset Abbey: Spring Awakening  Facebook

Sarah Jio, The Last Camellia           Facebook

Susanna Kearsley, The Firebird      Facebook

Katherine Keenum, Where the Light Falls

Stephanie Lehmann, Astor Place Vintage Facebook

Kate Noble, Let It Be Me        Facebook

Deanna Raybourn, A Spear of Summer Grass       Facebook

Lauren Willig, The Ashford Affair Facebook

10 Great Authors, 10 Unforgettable Adventures. With every “Today’s Adventure” post between August 1 and August 13, you can register to win the featured book and the grand prize of all 10 books. We’ll announce winners on August 14.  You may enter today’s contest at Sarah’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/sarahjioauthor. Find links to all the authors below–follow any of them to keep up with the latest adventures.

Here’s Sarah:

The year is 1940. The world is on the brink of war. Can you imagine being barely twenty years old and leaving your home on the quiet, safe Atlantic Coast and traveling to an unknown country to an unknown manor house, where you will be required to go beyond your comfort zone in ways you’ve never even imagined?

 My character, Flora, in my fourth novel, The Last Camellia, does just that. She’s brave, she’s bold, and for those she loves, she’s willing to do the unthinkable.

I thought a lot about adventure while writing Flora’s character, namely because I still regret not spending a year in Europe during my college years (I stayed home for the reason many of us do: a relationship that ultimately didn’t end up working out).

 But I got to be adventurous and travel alongside Flora in writing this novel—at least, in spirit. I followed her on her voyage to England, roam the great halls of the Livingston Manor, explore the gardens, and ultimately make life-changing discoveries. It was the adventure of a lifetime—for both of us.

 To enter the giveaway, please like Sarah Jio’s Facebook fan page: www.facebook.com/sarahjioauthor.  Keep up with the latest adventures and chances to win through any of the authors:

Alison Atlee, The Typewriter Girl    Facebook

Jessica Brockmole, Letters from Skye         Facebook

T.J. Brown, Summerset Abbey: Spring Awakening  Facebook

Sarah Jio, The Last Camellia           Facebook

Susanna Kearsley, The Firebird      Facebook

Katherine Keenum, Where the Light Falls

Stephanie Lehmann, Astor Place Vintage Facebook

Kate Noble, Let It Be Me        Facebook

Deanna Raybourn, A Spear of Summer Grass       Facebook

Lauren Willig, The Ashford Affair Facebook