Blog Tour: Seven Years by Dannika Dark (Guest Post + Giveaway!)

Welcome to my stop on the Seven Years blog tour hosted by Enchantress of Book Blog Tours.

First of all, I would like to thank the author for writing a guest post for the blog! I enjoyed reading it! It made me smile and know a little bit more of what it's like to be writing and sharing some of her experiences. More on that below! Check it out! Plus, there's a great giveaway for you to enter and participate!

Book Blurb:

Seven years ago, my world ended.

Seven years later, my new life began.

It's been seven years since Lexi Knight lost her brother in a tragic accident. On the anniversary of his death, her brother's best friend shows up unexpectedly - a man she hasn't seen since the funeral. He is no longer the boy Lexi once knew, but a dangerous-looking man with tattoos and dark secrets. He broke her trust and abandoned her family, yet what he reveals makes it impossible to stay angry. Lexi has been secretly infatuated with Austin since childhood, so finding out he's a Shifter just makes him sexier. Dammit.

Austin Cole has returned to the city where he grew up, and just in time. He's lived a hard life these past seven years, and the shadows of his past are threatening to destroy Lexi's family. It's time that she learned the truth about her brother, but there is a shocking twist that Austin never saw coming. Now he must protect her family when her mother and sister wind up in mortal danger. Will Lexi learn to accept the truth about who he is, and can Austin salvage a relationship from the ruins of their past?

Guest Post

A DAY IN THE LIFE

When I worked a full-time job in an office, a day in my life was insanity. I worked 8-10 hours on that job and spent up to an additional 6-8 hours writing. It left no personal time in my life and was taking its toll. As of this year, I am now a full-time author. The days are less insane, or at least, it’s on a completely different level.

Most people imagine an author spends their day writing. This isn’t true. There are days when I get no writing done. Writing seems to consist of 50% of the job. I usually get up around dawn, not because of an alarm clock, but because my cat uses me as a trampoline. I spend the first hour catching up on social networking and emails. After I’ve had coffee (or a quick trip to McDonalds), I begin writing/editing and work until noon. The TV is never switched on, although some mornings I’ll confess to watching “Let’s Make A Deal”. I can’t help myself; I have to know what’s behind the curtain.

It’s critical to get out of the house on a daily basis, so around noon, I head to the post office. It’s kind of like Cheers where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came (Except at 5pm when they close and you better get your ass out of the line). Everyone refers to me as Miss Dark, and the guy up front almost seems to find humor in saying my last name should have been “Light”. (Blame my Irish genes)

I’m least productive in the early to mid-afternoon hours, so I run errands. Wal-Mart seems to attract a lot of firefighters, but I’m just there for the vitamin water. Swear it.

The afternoon is spent on marketing, promotions, formatting, and other misc. tasks. Multi-tasking is critical, and it’s one thing I excelled at with my last job. But there never seem to be enough hours in the day to get it all done.

In the evening, I work on editing or writing, depending on what my main project is. It’s light work in the early evening so I can catch up on my shows, but after 9pm, I turn everything off and start getting down to business. Sticking to a schedule is difficult to adhere to, so I have to tackle my goals on a daily basis and try to set a timeframe for each task. Sometimes I devote an entire day to cover design.

The most important thing I’ve learned is to not get consumed by work, and that’s easy to do when you work at home. I schedule days off so I can go out to eat, bowl, check out a movie, visit with family/friends, shop, and do regular things.

I probably work the same hours as I did when I had two jobs, only now it feels more sane.

About the Author

This is the segment where you learn a little more about who I am, so here's what I can tell you: I drink copious amounts of vitamin water placed precariously close to my laptop while writing. These are two healthy habits I have no intention of breaking. I'm a transplant living in the south, but I was born in the 70's to a military dad who moved us around the world.

When I'm not writing (which is all the time), I'm hunting down Indie music, watching movies, reading, eating Tex-Mex, discovering new ways to humiliate myself bowling, and burning up my laptop battery on the Internet. I have a relaxed, easy-going personality and don't like drama. I live with a cat who thinks she is a dog, or a goat (she eats plastic, so I'm not sure which).

Throughout my life, I've had insomnia. Counting sheep never worked and eventually I would imagine those sheep were the sole source of food after an apocalyptic battle where only thousands survived. I made up stories in a futile attempt to bore myself to sleep. The problem was, I got so wrapped up in my "head stories" that I would continue them through the following nights, changing it up each time to make it more exciting. Eventually, I started writing my ideas down - creating short stories, and then I discovered my love for poetry.

It's almost embarrassing how many spiral notebooks and stacks of paper I have of poetry and lyrics.

Another passion: digital art. I design all my book covers, marketing, and series art. I'm a very visual person and pursued photography as an avid hobby for many years.

I am not a YA author (I feel like I have to state this only because I've had a few people ask), but I think it's wonderful there are so many books available to teens in Urban Fantasy and Paranormal.

I am finally doing what I have always wanted to do: giving my characters a pulse through writing full time. I focus on adult urban fantasy romance, but I don't like labels and I enjoy blending genres to break out of the confines of predictability.

But it's what I love to do.


Danni


Website/Blog: http://www.dannikadark.blogspot.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DannikaDark

FB Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dannika-Dark-official/148451945238628?ref=ts&fref=ts

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5181752.Dannika_Dark

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/dannikadark/

GIVEAWAY TIME!

You may want to read the giveaway Terms and Conditions before entering the giveaway as Queekie Girl Reads is not responsible for the prize.

• 1st prize: 1 autographed paperback of Seven Years 1 key necklace 5 autographed bookmarks
• 2nd prize: 1 autographed paperback of Seven Years 5 autographed bookmarks
• 3rd prize: 1 Dannika Dark ebook (Winner's choice) 5 autographed bookmarks

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow the Tour

Check out the full schedule of the blog tour on the tour page - Click HERE or the graphic below.

Event organized by:

Thank you for visiting the post above! Let's have a great day reading everyone! :)