Valia Lind Writes : Falling by Design

Showing posts with label Falling by Design. Show all posts

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Get to know Laura Darrell, the Narrator for Falling by Design Audiobook! (Plus a GIVEAWAY)

Hey lovelies,

So today I'm super excited to have Laura Darrell on the blog talking about her work! I LOVED having her read Falling by Design!!! Once I heard her audition, I couldn't wait for the rest of the book. I asked her if she'd be willing to answer a few questions for us and she said YES! Stick around till the end of the post! There's a giveaway :) Now, onto the questions.

1. Hi. Tell us a little about yourself.

  So I'm a professional actress, voice-over artist, and audiobook narrator, living in NYC, although I also have a base in Los Angeles. I was born and raised in a small town outside of Portland, Maine. I split my undergrad between Tisch, NYU and USC in LA. I love traveling, food (all cuisines), reading, and I'm also transitioning into being a vegetarian!

2. What got you into voice acting?

I got into audiobook narrating through a voice and speech teacher of mine at Tisch, NYU who thought it would be a good fit for me; I think because I have very clear diction and I love reading. Haha:) She recommended me to Audible and the rest is history!

3. What is your favorite part about your job?

  Well, I suppose I can't reiterate it enough but I think my favorite part of it is that I love reading and I love talking! Hah! I'm happiest when I'm lost in a good story. I used to read children's books aloud to younger kids in lower grades in grade school as part of a reading program setup there and I really enjoyed it. There's something really freeing about setting up camp in a dark booth and only being able to use your voice to tell a story. It's a lot of fun.

4. What is the hardest part about your job?

  One of the hardest parts is that you have to somehow vocally distinguish many, many characters and you only have one voice! So you really have to explore your entire range, accents, pace/speed, and various speech patterns that you can use to distinguish 15-30 characters.

5. Are there any actors who inspire you?

  I really love Cate Blanchett, Kathy Bates, Glen Close, Cherry Jones...For guys I like Michael C Hall, Sean Astin, Leonardo Dicaprio, Daniel Day Lewis, Tom Hanks...

6. Any funny anecdotes about your job you can share?

  Funny anecdote...Well the microphone in most recording studios is very sensitive so let's just say any little noise, intentional or not, gets magnified pretty intensely in there; makes for some good times with the engineer! Hah!

7. What was the best part about recording Falling by Design?

  I love your voice as a writer and the dry, sarcastic humor that I found throughout. It was a fun, easy read that flew by. The characters made me laugh a lot.

8. How did you prepare for the job?

  Preparation usually involves reading the book as many times as I can and then highlighting the different characters so I can really differentiate them in my mind and start assigning vocal choices to them. I make sure I'm hydrated, I'm wearing comfortable clothing, and then I do the work!

9. Any other interesting tidbit about you or you job you'd like to share?

  Well, I really enjoyed working on your book and I hope people love it as much as I did! If people want to follow me I can be found on facebook.com/thelauradarrell or twitter.com/lauradarrell or my website is www.lauradarrell.com! Till the next time!

Thanks Laura!

Here are the links for my book!

Audible: http://www.audible.com/pd/Teens/Falling-by-Design-Audiobook/B00N1Y6RLI/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srImg?qid=1409166709&sr=1-1

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Falling-by-Design/dp/B00N30HRPU/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409167417&sr=1-1&keywords=falling+by+design

Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/audiobook/falling-by-design-unabridged/id914019825

And now for the GIVEAWAY! Just enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Much love,

Valia

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Giveaways and more giveaways!

Hey lovelies,

I know I've been a little MIA lately, but I'm writing like the wind so you have to forgive me. But there are quite a few giveaways going on around the web for my books so here we go.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Falling by Design

by Valia Lind

Giveaway ends September 25, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Edge of Falling

by Valia Lind

Giveaway ends September 25, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

And there's still 5 days left to enter the tour giveaway over at Good Choice Reading:
http://www.goodchoicereading.com/2014/09/post-tour-highlight-giveaway-edge-of.html

Go forth and enter!
And make sure to keep checking back here because I've got more awesome coming your way!

Much love,
Valia

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

News: Falling by Design Audiobook is here!!!

Hello lovelies,

Yes, yes you've read that title correctly. Falling by Design, book one in my Falling companion series, is now an AUDIOBOOK!!!
Celebrate good times, come on!

Can't even tell you how absolutely excited I am about this. The amazing Laura Darrell did a FANTASTIC job bringing Brooklynn to life. I just want to listen to the book over and over again!

You can get the book now!

Audible: http://www.audible.com/pd/Teens/Falling-by-Design-Audiobook/B00N1Y6RLI/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srImg?qid=1409166709&sr=1-1

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Falling-by-Design/dp/B00N30HRPU/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409167417&sr=1-1&keywords=falling+by+design

And Itunes link coming soon!!!

Ah, I'm so excited to share it with you all! Let me know what you think!

Much love,

Valia

Saturday, June 7, 2014

BEA 2014 Recap!

Hello lovelies,

I know, I know, FINALLY. A lot of you have been asking for a recap, but I really didn't want to post one until I filmed my BEA Book Haul. Well, I guess it'll have to be a different post, because here we go.

Day Before.

In a cab from the airport.

I got into NYC on Wednesday, around 17:00, and didn't get to my hotel till about 18:00-18:30. My CP, Amy, was already in town and she went to the Teen Author Carnival. After situating myself at the hotel, that's where I headed to meet up with her and go to dinner. Getting there meant taking the Subway...by MYSELF. I walked over to Times Square (which is about seven minutes walk from the hotel) and got on the train. JUST LIKE A NEW YORKER. BOOM.

Just taking a stroll.

I met some authors at the carnival, but ended up taking a picture with Jen and Cara only. I know, I'm horrible. Julie Kagawa was there as well! They're all such sweethearts, I can't even.

Jen Jen!!!

The amazing Cara!!!

Afterwards, we went out to Mac Bar for dinner. Amy introduced me to DJ (who is the nicest ever) and Liz (she has amazing hair). New friends, yay!

Yum!

Day One.

Or another name would be- LET THE MADNESS BEGIN.

The coolest CP around, Amy!

This was my first year at BEA, so I had no idea what was going on. Amy and I walked over to the event together, since we were staying in the same hotel, and started out our day with Starbucks. Bless the book people and their love for coffee! Also, I might've freaked out over the fact that my badge said Author! :)

I created a list of events I wanted to go to, but let me tell you, that only worked for a few. It's so different once you're there and the energy is flowing and you just want to be everywhere at once. Amy and I separated randomly throughout the day, but ended up sitting in a few lines together.
The Harlequin Teen lines was nuts, but we actually got there in time to get to meet everyone.

I also got to meet R.L.Stine which was such a huge deal for me, I can't even describe it. When I first came to America, I read a lot of his books and Christopher Pike's. It was fun to chat with R.L. Stine about Russia (since his grandparents are from there) and we even got to take a picture!

AMAZING!!!

The other HUGE highlight of the day was meeting Brenda Pandos face to face (FINALLY). We've been reading each others books for years and have never met. I spent a good hour trying to find the Amazon Publishing booth and when I finally did, Brenda found me! She is seriously one of my favorite people and I'm so excited we were able to meet up.

Such a sweetheart!

There were a few "big" names around, so I took pictures walking by. Billy Idol ended up throwing a punch my way and that was kind of cool.

I actually ended up leaving the even around 16:00. I didn't buy tickets to some of the later signings and I was honestly so tired by then. Plus, I was so hungry. You really don't get to take a moment to eat if you don't plan on it.

I ended up going out to dinner with Brenda, Kristi Cook, and Chrissy. We went to this Italian family restaurant and had some delicious pizza. Afterwards, we decided to walk the streets of New York, instead of getting a cab and that was just fantastic. We talked and laughed and got turned around a few times. It is definitely one of my favorite memories from this trip.

Keste Pizza and Vino

Washington Square Park

Empire State Building

Day Two.

Or another name would be - OMW IT'S MY SIGNING DAY.

It started out with coffee and a breakfast sandwich from a local deli. Fuel, baby!
Then, while we were standing in line, DJ and Amy pushed me WAY out of my comfort zone and made me go down the line, giving out my bookmarks and inviting people to my signing. I can't even tell you how proud I was of myself, because like most authors, I just rather sit and write. Coming up to random people is not my forte.

I have to be honest, I was excited about the day and all the authors I would meet, but my mind was on my signing pretty much all day. I was bummed we didn't get to Sarah J. Maas line, but people waited more than 2 hours in that line, so it just didn't work out for us.

Also, more big names were around!

Kathy Reichs!

Jane Lynch

I also got to meet my girl Rachel Harris. And the awesome Erica Cameron. And Megan Whitmer (who I did not get a picture with. Fail). And Kelsey Macke.

They're so pretty, I can't even handle it!

Another point of awesome, I got to meet Jesse the Reader, Kat from Katytastic, Christine from PolandBannanasBooks, Ariel Bissett, and Jeremy West. Yes, I'm a huge BookTuber fan and these guys are FANTASTIC. They were the sweetest, while I fangirled all over them, so yeah. That happened.

And I would insert a picture here but I didn't take one so ALL THE TEARS.

Then, it was time for my signing.

I honestly don't even know how to talk about this without tearing up a little. It was the best experience ever. I had a line pretty much as soon as I sat down, and I was out of books in 20 minutes.

20 MINUTES, people! WHAT????

I basically have no words. So here are some pictures.

This girl was the sweetest! So glad I got to meet her!

AH! There I am!

A LINE!! Woot woot!

After the event was over, Amy and I ended up going out to dinner at Times Square. It was awesome to spend time with my CP, talking about books and life in general. She is the best and I am beyond blessed to have her in my life.

Day Three.

Or another name would be - WHAT WHERE THEY THINKING?

Seriously, MADNESS. It was the day of BookCon and they just didn't plan this out well because it was way too crazy for words.

Yes, Cassie Clare in the house!

I did, however, get to meet Lanie from Ginger Reads, Shannon from Cozy Tea Reads, and Kassidy Voinche. I'm a huge fan of them on BookTube as well, so that was lots of fun! They are the sweetest!
(And yes, once again, I've failed at taking pictures. Boo).

I also got to meet and hang out with two amazing ladies, Vicki Leigh and J.A. Ward. We ended up standing in line for Maggie together. I also met Tawny Bland there, which made me laugh because she's from AZ.

Maggie!!!

Sadly, this was my last day at NYC and I had to leave the convention center by 11:30 to make it to the airport on time.

The view from my room. It was hard to say goodbye.

I cannot even describe the amazing experience I had in the city. I loved being in NYC, I love that city so much, but what made it so much more special are all the amazing people I met.

I know I'm forgetting names, I'm sorry! I cannot even describe how amazing it was to have people come up to you and know you before you have even introduced yourself. As exhausting and crazy as this experience was, it was the best and it has rejuvenated my author blood and I can't wait to get to know all of these wonderful people better!

Well, this was a long post! Hope you made it through! I'll be filming and posting a Book Haul video from the event, maybe today or tomorrow.

Also, if you did meet me, make sure to say hi! I want to keep in touch with all of you beautiful darlings!

Much love,

Valia

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

BEA 2014, Here I Come (in gif form)!!!!

Hello lovelies,

So, in case you can't tell by my title, I am excited about BEA! So SO excited.

Does that mean that in my excitement I am all ready to go? That would be a definite no. I have one outfit in my suitcase. Maybe.
But that's besides the point because it's BEA time and I'M READY!

Now, if you're going, I WANT TO SEE YOU!

In case you missed it, I have a signing:

Friday, May 30th 1:00-2:00pm Location: Table 3005

I'll be signing copies of Falling by Design and talking about my new book, if you're into that kind of a thing.

I'm so excited to have the opportunity to go and meet all the wonderful bookish people. If you're around, come say hi! I'll probably be the one giddy with glee, walking (or skipping) around. Seriously, if you see me, DON'T BE SHY. Come say hi!!!

Much love,

Valia

Monday, April 28, 2014

BEA, BEA Signing, and Other Randomness!

Hello lovelies,

Today I'm here to talk about shoes. No, I'm kidding. You all know I'm here to talk about BEA because DID YOU SEE THAT HEADER?
That's right, ladies and gents, yours truly is going to BEA.
*Round of applause*

Oh thanks you guys!

I can't even tell you how much of a dream come true this is for me. It was complete and total miracle for me to get the time off necessary to go and I'm so beyond excited. The MOST exciting part (except for meeting all you wonderful people) is the fact that my book is to be feature in the New Title Showcase. That's right. You get to see my pretty for the duration of the conference, in all of it beautiful glory. (No, I'm not biased at all).

This brings me to the other MOST EXCITING part of BEA. I have a SIGNING! That's right. I, Valia Lind, author of Falling by Design, will be signing books at the New Title Showcase on Friday, May 30th at 1pm.

CAN I GET A HOORAY???

Okay, yes, I'm excited. I can't wait to go to NYC and spend time with all the wonderful people who make up the book community. If you're planning on being there, LET ME KNOW! I'd love to meet you and I'd LOVE for you to come to my signing!

In other random news you all want to know....

1. My YouTube channel is getting a bit of an upgrade. I decided I wanted to feature some book reviews along with all the other things I already do on the channel. Make sure you come and check that out!
2. Book 2 of Falling series is in full swing! Chance and Dakota are having a blast dominating my writing right now and I'll be sharing some snippets of their story soon. So be on the lookout for that!
3. In case you missed the little doodley-do on the side, you can now order SIGNED copies of Falling by Design from yours truly. If you can't make it to BEA, this is a great opportunity for all of you.
4. Speaking of Falling by Design. Some of you have had questions for me in regards to the story and I want to be able to answer all of them. So if there is something that you would like to know when it comes to my book, ASK!!! I'll do a post where I answer all the questions I can!

Okay, phew! I think that's all for now. HOW EXCITED ARE YOU?? I'm excited. Excited. Excited.

Hope you all have a fantastic week!

Much love,

Valia

Friday, April 11, 2014

Special Surprise Just for YOU!!!!

Hello lovelies,

I have some special things for you. Are you excited? Because I'm excited to share them!

First of all, I hope you all are following the blog tour put on by the amazing Amanda over at Good Choice Reading. There is a GIVEAWAY going on for $25 Amazon Gift Card and all you have to be is a follower. Easy peasy right?

Second of all, tomorrow marks a ONE MONTH anniversary of Falling by Design being out in the world! Can you believe it? I'm amazed. Seriously. So much has happened since I clicked save & publish and so much more to come.

Third of all, in leu of my one month anniversary I decided to give you a special opportunity. Are you ready?

For 3 DAYS ONLY, Falling by Design is going to be $1.99 across all ebook platforms!

Yay sale! Everyone loves a sale right?
The special promotion will go from April 12-April 14 and the book will go back to regular price on the 15th! So get it while you can!

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Falling-Design-Valia-Lind-ebook/dp/B00IY9ZM2K/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397234455&sr=1-1&keywords=falling+by+design

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/falling-by-design-valia-lind/1118734529?ean=9781495967801

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/411119

I have lots of exciting news to share with you in the coming months, so make sure you follow me across all platforms.
Thank you all for your wonderful support!! Hugs!

Much love,

Valia

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Falling by Design Blog Tour is Here!!

Hello lovelies,

Guess what? It's blog tour time! Ah, I'm so excited. The lovely Amanda over at Good Choice Reading has done an awesome job coordinating everything and making sure I did everything I needed to do. Seriously, she's great! I'm so beyond thankful she put all of this together.

I'm a huge fan of blog tours and I'm excited my baby of a book gets to do some "traveling". Make sure to check out all the stops on the tour and don't forget to enter the giveaway!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule

April 2^nd

Total Book Geek (http://totalbookgeek.blogspot.com/) | Top 5

YA Book Madness (Http://youngadultbookmadness.wordpress.com) | Review

April 3^rd

My Favorite Things (http://heffroberts.blogspot.com) | Review

Camisado Mind (http://camisadomind.blogspot.com) | Teaser

April 4^th

Living Between Books (http://livingbetweenbooksblog.blogspot.com) | Review

That Fandom Chick (http://thatfandomchick.wordpress.com/) | Excerpt

April 7^th

Shortie Says (http://www.shortie-says.com) | Excerpt

Books are Love (http://hello-booklover.tumblr.com) | Teaser