The F#@! BOMB Book Release Facebook Party!

Only a couple more weeks before F#@! BOMB is officially released! You can still pre-order your copy on Amazon.

To celebrate my second novel's debut, I'm hosting a Facebook party on March 30, 6-8 p.m. ET. Anyone is welcome to join!

I participated in two of these parties for the LOVE NOTES anthology and they both went very well. It gave me the chance to meet and interact with readers, and we had a lot of fun. Since I've only released my novels as e-books, I haven't had the opportunity to do in-person book signings/readings, so this is the virtual equivalent.

At my upcoming party, I'll be giving away several prizes to some lucky winners, including my handmade jewelry, an Amazon gift card and free copy of my book. It will also be a chance to hang out, meet some new people and have fun.

So please join me for the FB event! And make sure to check out F#@! BOMB, LOVE NOTES and REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD!

My New Novel: Now Available For Pre-Order On Amazon!

Great news! My second novel, F#@! BOMB is finished and is now available for pre-order on Amazon! It will be out on March 30, so you won't have to wait too long to read it.

I've been working on and off on this book for a couple of years, so it's a little surreal for me knowing it's finished. I have that feeling of, "Okay, now what do I do?" but the easy answer is to ... write another book. I began F#@! BOMB soon after the release of REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD and I hope to jump into another project within the next few weeks.

Meantime, I'm really happy with how F#@! BOMB came out. This novel is a heavier story than BAND GEEK, which was basically a romance. I don't know how readers will respond, but I've gotten some good feedback from my editors. More importantly, I'm proud of my work.

One thing I did with this book that I hadn't done with BAND GEEK is make the entire package look professional. I did hire a graphic designer to create my BAND GEEK cover, but I formatted the text myself... which apparently had mixed results. For F#@! BOMB, I hired someone -- Shane Morgan, whose book THE RIGHT SONG is included in the LOVE NOTES anthology -- to design my cover AND text. She did an amazing job! The cover is below, but when you read the book, you'll see the care that was put into the creation of the chapter headers, page breaks, etc. These are details I hadn't thought about when doing BAND GEEK, but every little thing matters. I'm actually thinking of re-doing BAND GEEK's overall design so I can update it and bring it to F#@! BOMB's level.

I hope people enjoy reading my latest book as much as I enjoyed writing it. Here's a blurb to whet your appetite:

Fatty. Freak. Friendless. Failure. Sadie Abramowitz is used to being alone. The morbidly obese college freshman literally doesn’t fit in anywhere and was constantly the butt of jokes in high school.

So far, life at Cunningham University isn’t much better. Her roommate only communicates in grunts while Sadie’s “dream job” at the school paper has her interviewing her fellow students with questions that practically invite them to insult her.

Things change when she’s assigned a story on Griffin Greenberg, the freshman track star who was one of Sadie’s high school bullies. At first, she’s reluctant to work with the gorgeous Griffin, but soon discovers that he’s not such a bad guy. Plus, he’s been keeping a secret: he’s gay.

As their friendship grows, Griffin challenges Sadie to do something she never thought possible: train for a marathon. Meanwhile, she supports him as he slowly comes to terms with his sexuality. Together, they help each other survive their first year of college – and also learn how to stand strong on their own.

Don't forget to order your copy of F#@! BOMB. Also be sure to check out LOVE NOTES and BAND GEEK, all on Amazon.

LOVE NOTES Guest Blog Post And Exciting Update!

The "official" LOVE NOTES Blog Tour ended over a week ago, but Elaine G. Flores of TV Recapper's Delight was kind enough to let me write a guest post for her site. In it, I share how critiquing soap operas for a living led to me writing REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD. Let me tell you, it felt very strange to be writing about soaps again! She and I had a few discussions about which examples I should use in my piece and I felt as if I were going back in time to my days at SOD.

In other news, I've taken a giant leap and have decided to release my second novel, F@#! BOMB in March! I've hired Shane Morgan, author of THE RIGHT SONG, and one of my fellow LOVE NOTES writers, to design my cover. She created the cover for our anthology and I really like her work, so I knew I could count on her to come up with something cool for my book -- and she has. Her concept is simple, but eye-catching, and captures the spirit of my story. I'm going to have a Facebook cover reveal party on March 4 -- and plan to have the book out by March 16.

A few months ago, I attempted to get another agent for this novel, but ultimately decided to again publish on my own. I'll admit, I didn't put as much work into finding an agent as I did for BAND GEEK -- but my heart wasn't in it. I just want to get my work out there without having to go through a bunch of other people. I found that dealing with this aspect of the business made writing a lot less enjoyable for me. I truly respect agents and editors, and the work they do, but I'm just not sure I fit into that world. If I did, I would've found my place in it by now and would have sold a book in the traditional way. Since I haven't, I'm finding another means to do so.

Meanwhile, I'm very excited and nervous about F@#! BOMB's debut! I've gotten some great feedback on BAND GEEK and hope my readers enjoy this one just as much, if not more. So stay tuned for the book's release -- and check out the LOVE NOTES anthology on Amazon.

LOVE NOTES Romance Novel Anthology: Facebook Party!

LOVE NOTES debuted on Amazon this past Monday! So far, things are going well. We're having steady sales online and we've gotten good feedback from readers. I've always been proud of REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD and am pleased that it's getting new life.

To celebrate the anthology's release, we had a Facebook party. Each author took an hour where we chatted with fans and gave away some prizes. I really enjoyed interacting with the readers, who were very enthusiastic and supportive. We had fun discussions about music, rock stars and dating. I also shared a few excerpts from BAND GEEK and gained some new readers.

A couple of people asked if I'd ever consider writing a supernatural novel. One woman in particular requested that I write something about vampires or fallen angels. I love vampire stories, but I don't see myself writing one in the near future. I enjoy writing realistic fiction and there are already many great supernatural series available. If I do a supernatural book, it would have to be something way out of the box... and so far, I haven't come up with a storyline good enough to put on paper. Hopefully, these readers will still enjoy my more realistic take on the world.

Because this event went so well, we are hosting another Facebook party: The LOVE NOTES Valentine's Bash. This one is on Saturday, February 14, 12-4 ET, so you can check in before enjoying your V-day plans. This time, we'll be focusing on the romance portion of our books. Again, we'll be sharing excerpts, chatting with readers and will be giving away prizes, so join us for some fun!

The LOVE NOTES Tour Continues! Plus, Life Imitating Book

The LOVE NOTES tour is still going strong -- and will be until the end of the month! Today REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD is featured on the blogs Teen Hoot Books and Book Groupies. You can read all about LOVE NOTES on these sites and can pre-order it at Amazon! Thanks again to the bloggers for hosting and to fellow authors Kira Adams (PIECES OF ME), Breigh Forstner (STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART) and Shane Morgan (THE RIGHT SONG). Make sure you check into the tour and get the chance to win some cool freebies!

In other news, I'm still putting the finishing touches on my second novel. I'd really like to get it out there by March. I just want this one to be great, even better than the first.

What's funny is that I feel as if I've stepped into the life of my latest novel's narrator, Sadie. Overweight, out-of-shape Sadie makes a life-changing decision when she decides to walk a marathon -- and spends the rest of her freshman year of college training for this event.

Well, for the past year, I've been walking, too. In 2014, I completed my goal of walking 1000 miles (1058 altogether). This October, I'll be participating in Avon's 39.3 mile Walk To End Breast Cancer.

Walking may not seem like a hard-core activity, but let me tell you, training to walk long distances takes work. Over the last year I went from barely being able to walk a mile without stopping to walking 7, 8, 9. 10 miles. This past weekend, my husband and I actually did 12 miles and are working our way up to longer and longer workouts in preparation for the event. I'm hoping to actually run a marathon in the future, but for now, I'll take walking.

The other day a friend commented that I'm following in my character's footsteps and you know what? Sadie has inspired me. There have been days when I haven't felt like getting out and doing those 5 miles I'm scheduled to do, but I thought of Sadie's training schedule and went for it. Maybe it's silly to draw inspiration from a character I wrote, but hey, it works for me, LOL!

I hope to have Sadie's full story out this spring so stay tuned. Meantime, enjoy LOVE NOTES, the perfect read for Valentine's Day.

Resurrecting REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD

I know I've been quiet for a while, but I have some GREAT news! REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD is now going to be part of an anthology called LOVE NOTES, which features music-themed romance novels.

To be honest, I'd taken a little break from writing. I wasn't sure whether to continue with the independent route or to continue pursuing a literary agent. Also, while the revisions on F-BOMB are almost complete, my jewelry business picked up and has kept me very busy. An author named Kira Adams then invited me to join her project, which is this anthology. The set includes BAND GEEK, as well as Adams' novel, PIECES OF ME; Shane Morgan's book, THE RIGHT SONG; and Breigh Forstner's novel, STRAIGHT FOR THE HEART. The anthology will be out on February 2, but is available for pre-order on Amazon.

I haven't worked with other writers since I left the magazine and I'm enjoying the process. The three women are smart and creative, and are way more savvy than I am when it comes to social networking. I met some fascinating people at my former job and in my writing classes, but the Internet has definitely expanded that reach. I love the fact that there are other people who appreciate music and writing as much as I do! Being my first novel, BAND GEEK has a special place in my heart and I'm thrilled that it's getting some new life.

On Release Day, February 2, we will be hosting a Facebook party to launch the set. You're all invited! Check out our page from 12-4, where you'll have an opportunity to meet and chat with the authors -- and will also have a chance to win some fantastic prizes!

Meantime, please spread the word about LOVE NOTES via Thunderclap -- and check out our FB pages:

Kira Adams: PIECES OF ME https://www.facebook.com/KiraAdamsauthor?ref=br_tf

Naomi Rabinowitz: REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD https://www.facebook.com/NaomiRabinowitzAuthor

Shane Morgan: THE RIGHT SONG https://www.facebook.com/AuthorShaneMorgan

Breigh Forstner: STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART https://www.facebook.com/breighforstnerauthor

Book Review: Reasons I Fell For The Funny Fat Friend

I've been writing a lot lately about plus-sized heroines in books, especially since my latest novel deals with a main character who's not just plus-sized, but morbidly obese. I'm writing about an extreme example, but most women are NOT a Size 2; having dealt with a lifetime of weight issues myself, I appreciate when a story features a curvy character who's portrayed as being beautiful, smart and loveable.

Author Becca Ann does a wonderful job in creating such a heroine in her YA novel REASONS I FELL FOR THE FUNNY FAT FRIEND. Hayley is described as being "not fat, not thin," but has many insecurities about her weight, thanks to her belief that she's just the "Funny Fat Friend" (or FFF). Interestingly, the story is told from the guy's POV; through a smitten Brody, we learn how terrific and gorgeous Hayley really is.

I really enjoyed getting the guy's side of the story because girls tend to be harder on themselves -- and each other -- than boys. When I was in high school, I was SKINNY, dangerously so at times, but I seriously thought that I was fat. I remember my guy friends telling me that I was too thin and was very surprised by this; but most of them agreed that they liked girls to have curves.

I was also drawn into Hayley's very toxic relationship with her mother, who has rather unrealistic expectations for her daughter. For anyone who thought the mom is critical in BAND GEEK, this one is far worse! I do wish that we'd seen more of this relationship because the mother came off as being one-dimensional and I feel as if we got only a glimpse into a serious issue. But again, this was told from Brody's POV, so he'd only have so much access to the mother and Hayley's home life.

I also would have liked to have had some more detailed scenes. We never get much information about characters' appearances or even what the town looked like. I had to fill in most of those blanks on my own. But, in a way, the limited descriptions made sense for a male narrator because most of the guys whom I know, including my husband, tend to be less visual than females. If Jon needs directions, for instance, he can just look at coordinates on a map and figure out where he's going. I, on the other hand, prefer directions like, "Turn left by the gas station and blue house." I'm not saying that ALL men think in a more linear than visual way, but a lot do so this felt realistic to me.

What I really loved, though, was the meat of the story which was Brody and Hayley's relationship. They go from being friends to more over the course of the book and Becca Ann did a geat job in showing this progression. Both mains are extrmely fun and likeable, and you can't help but root for them to get together.

Overall, I give this sweet read four stars and highly recommend!

Meantime, please read my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, now only 99 cents!

REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD: The Tale Behind The Title

When it came to choosing my book's title, REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, a lot of thought was put into it. I wanted something that's catchy, shocking -- and captures the dark comedy tones of my story.

This wasn't my novel's original title. It was actually called WHO'S ON FIRST?, alluding to the fight between Melinda and Kathy for first chair flute. However, when my former agent took me on, she immediately told me to nix that title, explaining that it was too vague and too reminiscent of Abbott and Costello's famed "Who's On First?" bit (I was kind of going for a play on that, but I understood what she was saying). Instead, she suggested that I make my title music-related. I suggested a straight-to-the-point FIRST CHAIR, but she again said that it was too vague and advised me to incorporate the revenge aspect. I brainstormed ideas and eventually came up with REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD. My agent loved it! So did many of the editors to whom she sent my manuscript. Though they all disagreed on which parts of my story they liked and disliked, they all got a kick out of the intriguing title.

One of the criticisms I recently received is that the title gives away too much of the story, but I don't think that this is the case. It tells the gist of the tale -- you know that a band geek is going to do something awful in the name of revenge, but you don't know why or how, or if there will be consequences. I mean, take the popular movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre. You know that people will die and you know how they'll be killed, but you don't know the details -- and that's what makes you want to tune in.

Being a journalist, I like to think of my title as being kind of like a headline in a newspaper. It's the lead-in that teases an idea, but doesn't give the entire story away. It's the very first part of a story -- even before you read the first line -- that gets you excited and draws you in. A header like, "Crazy Mom Goes On Rampage In Supermarket" technically tells you exactly what happened, but definitely grabs your attention and makes you want to find out WHY and HOW it happened.

Besides, revenge is only part of my story. There is also romance, friendship, music among other things; it's just that for the title's sake, highlighting the revenge aspect made the most sense to me.

So I'm sticking with my title -- and am confident that others will want to "get revenge," as well.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, FREE on Kindle, today, November 10.

Revenge Of The Nerd, a.k.a. High School High

One of the nicest things that's happened with the release of BAND GEEK is that I've gotten so much support from my former high school classmates. I really wasn't expecting this, but many -- some whom I don't know well -- have purchased the book and have shared my Facebook page with others. Some got it because they wanted to see if they recognized anyone in the characters, but most were just happy to hear about a fellow alum doing well.

This means a lot to me, not just as a writer, but as a person. As I've written earlier, I wasn't popular in high school. I wasn't exactly an outcast and had a group of friends, but I was shy, quiet and often felt invisible. There weren't many photos of me in the yearbook. I didn't win any of the "Most" or "Best" awards that students voted on. I wasn't hated, but many didn't know my name -- or at least I didn't think that they did. Plus, my school Sachem was HUGE. We had 1300 kids just in our class! I knew maybe 200 or so. What's funny is that in real life, I've become the opposite of how I was in high school -- outgoing and opinionated. But I still feel "invisible" when I think back on those days.

In BAND GEEK, my narrator, Melinda, goes from shy, quiet girl to someone who learns to stand up for herself and make herself known to her peers. In a way, this is my story of making myself known to my high school classmates. It only took me 20 years to get there, but my 18-year-old self is very pleased!

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Join Me On My Virtual Book Tour!

It's the first day of my book tour for REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD! Sorry I haven't posted as much as I'd promised; Hurricane Sandy did some damage on my family's home and we're still in California due to canceled flights. Needless to say, my mind has been elsewhere. But I'm trying to get back into gear (especially since I'm not sure if I'll have Internet or power when we return to New York)so let's get this thing started!

Today, my tour begins at the prime hosting site Virtual Book Cafe. Head over to this link and you can sign up to win that grand prize giveaway that I previously wrote about: one winner selected will get a free copy of BAND GEEK, a free autographed FLUTE PATH CD and a free pair of handmade G clef music earrings. Meanwhile, I'll also be giving away more free copies of my book. So head over there or to their Facebook page and sign up. All you need to do is click and add your name; it's that easy.

Tomorrow, my tour heads to Cindy Vine's Blog, where I'll be writing a guest post. Make sure you follow me there and check it out!

Meanwhile, please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, now only 99 cents!

More Excerpts From REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD

Here are a couple more excerpts from BAND GEEK:

Josh offers to drive home Melinda for the first time and she's surprised by his car. FYI, my mother-in-law, Sharon, is an avid Star Trek fan, so his car decor is in her honor:

Josh led me across the parking lot to his car, which turned out to be an old, beat-up station wagon. Several bumper stickers were plastered onto the pea-green vehicle, including ones that said, "Honk if you love Tribbles!" and "I break for Spock."

"What?" Josh said, when he caught me chuckling. "This belonged to my Aunt Sharon. She really loves Star Trek."

"I'm sorry," I said. "This just isn't the type of car I expected you, of all people, to be driving. I thought you'd have something cooler, like a motorcycle." I tried to open the door to the passenger side but it wouldn't budge. He crawled across the driver's seat and pushed it open for me.

"It only opens from the inside," he explained. "But really," he went on, as he cleared a bunch of soda cans off my seat (none were Coke, I noticed). "What did you expect me to drive? I mean, I'm 16 and have hardly any money. I'm just glad my aunt was getting rid of this old thing."

"Well, you're lucky you have your license at all. My parents don't seem too anxious to teach me how to drive when I get my permit." Actually, they haven't wanted to discuss it at all. Whenever I bring up the idea of getting my permit, my mom will be like, "You don't need to drive. There are a lot of crazy people out there." I think she's so reluctant for me to get my license because she hardly drives herself, only on Long Island, but never in the city. But I love the idea of being able to get in a car and go wherever I want. I love the thought of being able to escape when I need to.

Josh turned on the engine and the car made a few choking sounds. "Get someone else to teach you to drive," he said. "It's not like your parents can make you do what they say forever."

"You don't know my parents," I sighed.

In this excerpt, Mel talks about her paintings. Fun fact: In college, I had several Dali posters in my room. I then invited over this guy I liked ... and he was horrified by the paintings. He thought that I was "sweet and nice" and was appalled that I liked Dali's out-there work. Needless to say, he and I didn't end up dating...:

For my last birthday, Lana gave me a professional painting kit, mainly because she thought I needed a hobby other than playing the flute. "It's perfect for you," she said as I opened her gift. "It's artsy and it's the type of thing you can do for hours without having to talk to anyone."

At the time, I'd jokingly told her to shut up, that I'm not that much of a shut-in, but she is right about me loving the arts. Before my dad started working such long hours and my mom began to take care of my grandfather, they'd take me to the city to see concerts and visit the museums. My favorite was the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met is huge; it took us all day to go through about a quarter of it, but I loved how every time we entered a different wing, it felt as if we were going into a new world.

As for my own paintings, I've been on a Salvador Dali kick lately. After Lana gave me her present, I purchased a bunch of art books so I could see what various painters' styles are like. I really like Dali's. His stuff is really strange; for instance, he has this one painting called "The Persistence Of Memory" that has all of these melted clocks in it. I love how his stuff looks like one thing at first and if you keep looking at it, you see something else.

So I've been trying to do some Dali-like paintings myself. Right now, I'm working on one where I'm making everything in my room appear melt-y. I was in the middle of painting a melted version of my bed (which is harder than it looks because the cover is floral and I had to make all the flowers look distorted) when I heard someone come home. I looked at my clock (which isn't melted, by the way); it was 9 p.m.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, now only 99 cents!

Excerpts From My Novel

I've spent a lot of time writing about the story behind REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, but haven't shared too much about what's actually inside my book. In order to whet your appetite, here are a couple of excerpts:

Introduction of Josh

Josh is a junior and is pretty cute with his shaggy, light-brown hair and deep blue eyes. But the feature that stands out -— at least to his many female admirers —- is the lopsided grin he flashes whenever something amuses him.

When it comes to Josh, though, he thinks everything is a joke. He's a musical prodigy and plays trumpet even better than Mr. Francis does, but insists on sitting last chair. If our conductor forces him to audition, Josh will purposely make mistakes. He claims that it's because he doesn't believe in the auditioning process, but I think he just enjoys getting a rise out of Mr. Francis.

Meantime, Josh shows about the same amount of respect in the rest of his classes. Though he aced his PSATs and gets straight A's without studying, he often skips classes. When he is there, he's always pulling pranks on his teachers. One time he brought a lawn chair to math, then plopped down in it holding a beer as if he were at the beach (he got a week's suspension for that). Another time he locked his English sub out of the room when she was clueless enough to step outside (that only got him a week's detention). Last year, he even got us a day off from school. When workers began fixing the roof, several students complained about the fumes but the school refused to let us go home. So what did Josh do? He alerted the media about our "plight." Not wanting to look bad, Principal Muller was forced to let us stay home until the roof was fixed. Needless to say, Josh became the school's hero. Now he's never without a girl on his arm and gets invited to the jocks' parties, even though he's not on any sports teams.

Introduction of Mel's best friend, Lana

Lana Brody and I have known each other since kindergarten when her family moved in across the street from mine. But that's about all we have in common. While I've always been quiet and studious, Lana's more outgoing. She's not afraid to go up to guys at the diner and tell them she thinks they're cute or to do something funny like dance on top of a table at a party. When we were younger, my parents loved it when she'd come to our holiday dinners (since she's Jewish, we always have her over for Christmas) because while I preferred to watch all of the action, she'd chat with all of their grown-up friends. "Why can't you be more like Lana?" my mom would ask me after everyone else had gone home and we were cleaning up the dishes. "All you have to do is talk to people like she does and they'll like you."

My parents don't understand that some people are just born friendly, like Lana. She has this way of making everyone notice her, whereas I always seem to say the wrong thing or even worse, can't think of anything to say at all. This is why everyone likes her and I’m basically invisible. Sometimes I worry that the only thing that keeps us friends is the proximity of our houses, but so far, she hasn't ditched me for the cooler crowd.

Please read and review my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Writing A Novel: Where The Boys Are

While my inspiration for my main character, Melinda, is pretty obvious (myself, duh), many friends have wondered where I came up with the idea for the male lead, Josh. That's a bit hard to answer because he was inspired by many different men in my life.

When I was first writing Josh, he was based solely on my husband, Jon. When he was in high school, Jon was a bad, bad boy, who did things like lock teachers out of classrooms. Yet he's practically a genius (and I'm not just saying that because he's my husband) and got almost a perfect score on his SATs. Still, Jon didn't much care for school or grades, or anything academic. He hated authority and prefered to learn on his own. Now he's the boss of his law firm, go figure.

Taking Jon's history into account, I created a smart, but mischevious character in Josh. He's talented and brilliant, but hates authority and is really kind of bored in school. So as Jon did, he acts up. In the first chapter, Melinda cites a long list of Josh's past misdeeds. Yep, those were all things that Jon did in real life!

As the story went on, though, Josh took on a life of his own and turned into a complex and unique character. He's an amazing trumpet player and is absolutely passionate about music (Jon is NOT a musician, though he did play violin in the 4th grade. Badly.). He's obsessed with classic rock (Jon IS a big classic rock fan and always puts it on the radio when we're driving). Josh does some things that are very good for Mel, but he also gets her into some situations which are, well, questionable. He's blunt and rude and naughty, but is also sweet and tender at times. In other words, he's human and makes a lot -- and I mean, A LOT, of mistakes.

That said, he was influenced by a few different people. I didn't date much in high school, but had many guy friends and I see traits of several in the character. I had one friend who was a great guy, but was extremely competitive and pushed me to my limits. We once got into a big fight at the bowling alley and I yelled at him, "You'll be sorry one day when I'm rich and famous, you a--hole!" Ahem. Not my finest hour. I had another friend who was always "concerned" about me because I tended to be very emotional. And I had another friend from band who encouraged me a great deal in my music.

Josh has elements of all of these guys -- and then has aspects of his personlity that are completely unique to him. That's the beauty of creating your own characters, though. Sometimes they turn out to be quite different from what you planned.

Please check out and review my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Tales Of A Cover

I have a few talents that I'm proud of, but computer graphics is not one of them. Neither is photography. Therefore I called in some outside help when it came to designing my cover. I hired a company called Damonza and think that the artist, Damon, did an awesome job:

It took a few tries to get it right, though. When brainstorming ideas, I told him that I wanted something dark and intriguing, but somehow relating to music. I initially pictured a flute sitting in pieces on top of sheet music, with a few spatters of blood. But he came up with this:

It's CSI: WIND ENSEMBLE! It's a really cool cover (my husband loves it), but that's A LOT of blood. And there are no murders in my book, so as eye-catching as this cover is, I had to turn it down. Perhaps I can make my next work a murder mystery and use this design.

Next up, he sent me this cool, moody cover, which focuses on the chair that's central to Melinda and Kathy's rivalry:

I like this one very much, too, but my friends determined that it was a little TOO moody and still had too much blood. One friend thought that it's a horror novel, which it most definitely isn't. It's a dark comedy. So if I ever go the Stephen King route, I can use this for that book.

One friend suggested that I lighten the background and have him make it pale blue or green because those are colors that you often see used inside of a school. This was a great idea and I shared her thoughts with the artists. I also asked him to clean up some of the blood, please. And that's how he came up with the cover that I'm now using.

So far, I haven't gotten much feedback on my writing; after all, the book did just come out yesterday so those who purchased it are still reading. But I've gotten many compliments on the cover. I know that I made the right choice in going with this artist and in going with this design. So thank you, Damon, for the fab job! Your brilliant work is much, much appreciated!

Please check out and review my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Welcome to Naomi Rabinowitz Author!

Today was a really important day for me. For one thing, it's my husband's birthday. We had a great night out in the city with friends and enjoyed some delicious Senegalese cuisine. But we had more than one reason to celebrate: my book REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD is now available on Amazon Kindle.

I've been working on this novel for quite a long time. I began in 2002, got an agent, made some major edits, almost sold it ... and then nothing happened. I then put it away for a few years, but often thought about it. I finally decided to go the independent publishing route and once again made some major edits. All in all, I'd say that I edited this book about 20 times. Writing is fun, but it certainly isn't easy when you take it seriously!

I chose to write Young Adult fiction because that genre has always appealed to me. Teens are interesting to write about because they're not kids, but aren't yet adults -- and they're still going through many changes and many "firsts" in life. I wanted to write a story that captured that confusing time that we've all been through -- or will go through eventually.

In a nutshell, BAND GEEK is about a 15-year-old girl named Melinda who sees herself as a loser in school. She's chubby, she doesn't have a boyfriend, she doesn't have many friends and her own mom makes fun of her weight. Mel's content to be in the background and hide from life. The one thing she is confident about, though, is that she's first chair flute in band. But even that gets taken from her when her enemy, Kathy Meadows, wins the seat in the next round of auditions.

Mel then teams up with Josh Kowalski, a rebellious trumpet player. He persuades Mel to help him take down Kathy and as they scheme together, they fall in love. Only Mel begin to question just how far she's willing to go to get what she wants and hang onto Josh.

Music, love and revenge are major themes in my book, but the story goes much deeper than that. It explores various friendships, Melinda's relationship with her family, high school dynamics and Melinda's relationship with well, herself. It has some funny moments, but like any coming-of-age stories, a lot of sad portions, too.

While this novel is a YA story, there is some harsh language. Let's be real: teens swear and often say some disgusting things. I wanted my teens to be real, not sugar-coated versions of youth. So my characters screw up and make mistakes, and are sometimes rude. But I tried not to overdo it. I also tried to show how my characters have goals and passions.

As for the cover, it was made by a great e-book design company called Damonza. I gave them my book's summary and they came up with this awesome concept. I love it! It's gotten many compliments from friends, too, which is always a good sign.

So welcome to my blog! I hope you'll check out REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD on Amazon and will continue to check in with me as I write about my literary journey. Happy reading!