Writing Tens List by Holly Cupala & Giveaway (Don't Breathe a Word Blog Tour)

Today we have Holly Cupala here for a guest post! This post is part of The Teen Book Scene's blog tour for Don't Breathe a Word by Holly Cupala. You can find out more about the tour here. Make sure to visit all the other stops of the blog tour if you'd like to know more about Don't Breathe a Word!

Hello to Hannah and readers, and thanks so much for inviting me to your blog! DON’T BREATHE A WORD is on the shelves (as of last week!) and I’m really excited to be here.

Hannah invited me here to tell you my ten favorite things about writing Don’t Breathe a Word:

1. More secrets. I guess I’m just a secrets-suspense-superhot hero kind of writer, but I love to uncover my characters’ secrets.

2. The day the idea hit—my novels always seem to come like a movie trailer in my head, where I have the characters and emotional arc and major events in a flash, enticing me to sit down and write. I love getting ideas! (The hard part is writing them…)

3. Creed. After writing Tell Me a Secret, I wanted a character with honor and courage, a boy worthy of Joy’s love. I sort of fell in love with him, too!

4. It was fast! I spent four years (off and on) writing the first draft of Tell Me a Secret, and Don’t Breathe a Word came out in just four months. Is it too much to hope this next novel takes four weeks…?

Joy's moment of fear with Asher
(from the graphic chapters)

5. I got to write about one of my great loves, music.

6. Santos and May! They are homeless, scrappy, and full of heart. I love them. If they were real people, I would want to adopt them.

7. All of the connections between DBAW and Tell Me a Secret and the next book I’m working on...I love putting in all of the secret links!

8. Although it was hard at the time, getting to the depths of Joy’s relationship with Asher. He is dark and alluring and harsh—and I had to be willing to go into my own memories (I wrote my true story in the Dear Bully anthology). My hope is that DBAW will help women recognize when a relationship is unhealthy or abusive and to find their own power.

9. Revisioning. Oh, I can’t even tell you how much I hate revising and editing, but I love that it transforms the words on the page. (I have to constantly remind myself of this!)

10. Readers. I’m grateful for all of you who love Joy, Creed, Santos, and May, and who feel the heartaches and swell of triumph right along with them as their lives play out. Thank you. <3

Thank you so much, Hannah, for hosting me! And I hope you all enjoy Don’t Breathe a Word. Visit the rest of the DBAW tour for secrets, swag, and lots of chances to win signed books!

Check out the other stops of the tour here, and visit Holly on her website, the official site for Don't Breathe a Word, Twitter, and Facebook.


You can read a sneak preview of Don't Breathe a Word here!


Make sure to keep your eye out for Don't Breathe a Word, which has already been released!

Don't Breathe a Word by Holly Cupala

(Amazon | Goodreads)

Joy Delamere is suffocating. From asthma, from her parents, and from her boyfriend, delectably dangerous Asher, who is smothering her from the inside out.
Joy can take his words—tender words, cruel words—until the night they go too far. Now, Joy will leave everything behind to find the one who has offered his help, a homeless boy called Creed. She will become someone else. She will learn to survive. She will breathe...if only she can get to Creed before it’s too late.
Set against the gritty backdrop of Seattle’s streets and a cast of characters with secrets of their own, Holly Cupala’s powerful new novel explores the subtleties of abuse, the meaning of love, and how far a girl will go to discover her own strength.

Giveaway


Harper and Holly were so generous to offer multiple copies of Don't Breathe a Word for giveaways, so we will be giving away one per day!


Rules:
- There will be one winner a day, and winners are chosen at the end of each week.
- It doesn't matter when you enter; your entries will count for each week.
- This giveaway is international (as long as the Book Depository ships to your country - check here), but there will be no more than one international winner per week.
- International winners will  be getting a copy from the Book Depository; US and Canada winners will be getting a signed copy directly from Holly.
- This giveaway is open from now until midnight of January 14th.


There is one automatic entry, and you can get extra entries for
- each post in the blog tour you comment on
- each way you promote this giveaway (Twitter, Facebook, blog)


To enter, fill out THIS FORM. Please fill out the form seperately or each entry, and make sure to include the links for your extra entries!