Erin Armstrong: The Twisted Truth Guest Post

Erin Armstrong The Twisted Truth

Title: The Twisted Truth

Genre: Fiction, Romance, Drama.

Author: Erin Armstrong

Pages: 324

Release Date: 30th May 2013

Publisher: GMTA - Libertine Press

ISBN: 0615804691 (ISBN13: 9780615804699

Michelle Marshall is a strong independent woman with a lot of baggage. Raped right before the start of her senior year of college, Michelle grows to be a caring, single mother to her daughter. Things begin to look pretty grim when the Charity House, the women's shelter she founded, is on the brink of having to close its doors. That is, until Tyler Austin, a mysterious and handsome stranger comes into the picture. Helping Michelle resuscitate the Charity House, Ty also helps her learn to trust, love and feel what she hasn't in years. Not everything is quite as perfect as Michelle would like though, as occasional hints lead her to believe something is not quite right. Her suspicions are confirmed when even more frightening developments occur and start to become...deadly.

About the Author

Erin Armstrong graduated from Franklin High School. She currently works for Easter Seals NJ where she assists families with children who are disabled. She has been with the company for three years. With Easter Seals, her goal is to always live by their slogan which is to enable individuals with disabilities of special needs and their families to live, learn, work and play in their communities with equality, dignity, and independence.

There is no greater reward to her than being able to make a difference in these families lives.

At an early age she knew that she wanted to be a writer. Some of her first stories she wrote when she was only ten years old. It wasn’t always easy for her and she struggled to find her niche. She has written several short stories but never published any of them. Eventually she was able to sit down and write down all of her ideas and was finally able to make her dream a reality.

              Erin lives at home with husband of five years and her two boys Davien and Cameron. She enjoys                   spending time with them and watching them grow every day.

Guest Post from author

How to avoid the rejection blues

Everyone deals with rejection differently. I don't necessarily take it too well myself. Before I was published with GMTA I had found a publishing company that had been written by someone that I knew. I worked with this company for a while. I actually was still writing my book while working with this company and to be honest I have to credit them for the fact that I finished my book because the pushed me to get it done. I was excited to have a publisher because I knew how hard it was to be published by a traditional publishing house. Once I had finished my work and submitted it to the company I was overjoyed and extremely anxious to get my work out to the masses. All of that ended however, when I got back from vacation and opened my mail. I was shocked to receive a letter from the company telling me that they were terminating my contract because my novel "did not fit with the company." Oh boy! I went from having publication practically handed to me to being without a publishing and a bunch of family thinking that I would have a published book in a matter of months! That wasn't going to happen. At first I was angry. I felt like my time had been wasted. Why didn't they tell me from the door that my writing style did not fit their mission?! Surely they had to know from reading only a few pages, right? So immediately, I went to Twitter ? and searched through all of the companies that had pages on the site. I queried those that would allow them without agents and sent my manuscript to companies that would accept it. Still no bites. Rather no bites that I felt fit my needs. Over and over again I submitted my work and was turned down. I almost had given up because there is just so much beating an ego can take! Now, I can tell you that I am a published author with a traditional publishing house. I'm happy and extremely grateful that the process didn't drag on forever. I was dropped by my first company in August and picked up with my current publishing company in February. It seems like a long time but in publishing time, it really isn't. I say this to say, don't get down because someone said no. And don't give up because then no one will be able to see your potential. Keep sending out your work, accept the rejection as a part of the process. There will be no's. But there will be a yes eventually. You just have to keep pushing.


How to make your characters believable

I was very impressed with my characters (not to toot my own horn). When I wrote my book, I wanted to make sure that my characters were real to the readers. If they were too silicone, I knew that I wouldn't have a good book. I know because I hate reading a book and rolling my eyes because one of the characters did something that was so clearly not real! So what I wanted to do was create a girl next door type of person. Someone who I could picture myself having as a friend because let's face it, we have all had a book that we hated simply because we couldn't identify. Like, EVERYONE in your book can't be filthy rich! I don't know anyone who is filthy rich! I had to have someone who we normal people could relate to. That's what we as authors have to understand. Making a character is pretty easy. But making one that is real and believable is really hard. I have stopped reading books for that reason alone. Develop your characters. Sit down and write everything about them. Right down to what they like to eat and how they like to dress. And when you HAVE to have the dreaded character who everyone HAS to hate, you have to develop them just the same. They have to be a believably horrible person. Not over the top (well in my opinion anyway). That's all I can really say, work on developing your characters and they will be more real to your readers.