Tag: amwriting

story spinning, Threadwalkers

Threadwalkers Blog Tour Day 5!

Joanna V.

It’s been a whirlwind week, but here we are at the last day of the virtual book tour! I had fun doing this, and hope you enjoyed reading the bits from other folks, and guest posts I wrote.

With no more ado…

Blog Tour Links for March 9

  • Here’s a review of Threadwalkers from SMADA. [read more]
  • And here’s another guest post I wrote over at OD Book Reviews! [read more]

Thanks so much to everyone who hosted me, reviewed the book, or generally promoted it this week. I truly appreciate it and am glad that so many of you enjoyed my time travel story!

Hey, Sailor

For my last bonus-share of the week, I figured I’d leave a serendipitous photo that I happened to grab today: J in his dress blues!

jo and jared in uniform

He had an event today that required him to be all dressed up, and even though I didn’t attend, I took advantage of the opportunity when he got home to (with the help of my remote shutter) grab a couple of photos. 🙂

joanna irl, story spinning, Threadwalkers

New Year, New State

Joanna V.

Well, here we are.

It’s 2018, we’ve moved halfway across the country, and life is beginning to show the signs of settling back into some sense of normalcy in our household. J went back to work and I am waiting on school to start and generally speaking we’ve got an idea of the next few months.

If you follow me on instagram, you’ve seen some of our recent local adventures, now that we’re back in southern California.

View this post on Instagram

Silver and gold sunset

A post shared by Joanna (@joannavolavka) on

It’s been good to be out of the cold weather, and I can already feel my mental health improving. It also helps that not only do I have friends still here, but I actually have, somehow, more friends here than I did when we left three years ago. Some have moved here and others have naturally grown from acquaintances to friends from just being in my broader circle, and I’m grateful for all of them. And, unlike my usual moves where I don’t have a niche (which is an ongoing issue for military spouses, and one that I should probably blog about separately), I also have a cohort to join and which has already been welcoming and happy to meet me.

So all in all, things are good.

And what of the writing?

Well, I’m working on a couple of things. The first is a fresh media push for THREADWALKERS, including a local book launch sometime in the next couple of months. (I’m seeking book bloggers/vloggers/etc for reviews and interviews and all, so if you are interested or know someone who is, please get in touch!)

I’m also working on the next book… It’s not a follow-up to THREADWALKERS but a new thing entirely. It started as a pet project to get some ideas out of my head but has grown into a thing that might turn into a Book. We will see. There’s still a lot of work to do.

What can you expect in 2018 from me?

  • I’ll be going to some conventions this year (would a schedule on my About page be of interest?).
  • New content related to military spouse life.
  • New content related to writing.
  • More travelogue things because you know I won’t stop traveling and that’s what I enjoy writing about here the most.

So there’s the update! If there’s anything you’d like to know more about, just get in touch! 

story spinning, Threadwalkers

Threadwalkers news: COVER TIME!

Joanna V.

Last Friday, my publisher (50/50 Press) hosted an online cover reveal party and I got to be part of it, releasing the cover of Threadwalkers out into the wild for the first time. WOOT!

I really love the cover, and it fits very well with the story, though of course you won’t get to find out exactly how until it comes out this fall… but trust me when I say it’s pretty much perfect.

As part of the event, I took questions from social media, and will leave them here, in case you wondered any of the same things.

Did you get to design it?
I did not get to design this cover, but the publisher was very generous in taking my preferences into account. (I specifically requested no headless female torsos, which has been a bizarre trend in YA covers for years now.) I was sent some mock-ups to look through and my favorite was the one that eventually developed into the final cover. It was the publisher’s favorite, too, so that worked out well.

What was the hardest part of this whole process?
Honestly, every stage has been hard in its own way. Plotting time travel stuff? Hard. Editing and getting good feedback from beta readers? Hard. Querying agents/publishers? HARD. But it’s also hard in a satisfying way, like how I imagine people who enjoy working out feel after a really good workout. I am not one of those people, but I can imagine it’s similar.

What was the most exciting part?
Finding people who were excited about the story, too. It’s easy to write for yourself, but finding someone else who likes it, and who wants to make it into a real, physical Thing? That’s something else entirely.

When can I pre-order it?
Not just yet…. but I should know soonish (meaning, by end of the summer). It’s currently set for a mid-autumn release, so I imagine it’ll turn up online a little before then. I’ll keep you posted. Promise.

Is it going to be available in my country?
This one’s important to me because I know so many folks around the world, and I can tell you that YES it will be available internationally. I get to have some input on that, which I really appreciate. Will be it everywhere? No…. but it’ll be on Amazon in a lot of places, which is fantastic. Again, I’ll keep you posted.

So there you go. If you’ve got any other questions, just ask and I’ll do my best to answer.

Do you want to know my favorite thing about the cover? It’s got my name on it.

story spinning, Threadwalkers

Save the Date: Cover Reveal Party!

Joanna V.

Hey, all! I’ve got a small bit of NEWS related to my book!

Are you ready?

NEXT MONTH, my publisher will be having a cover reveal party and my book is one of the covers they’re showcasing! YAY!

art thanks to Em Somerville Illustration

So SAVE THE DATE!

  • When: June 9
  • Time: TBD but probably afternoon
  • Where: I’ll post here, and on social medias including my Facebook page!

I can’t tell you anything about it except that I like it, and that I really like how it goes along with the story itself. (I know, that’s totally not helpful to you at all. Sorry!)

In the meantime, have you read chapter one yet? You can check it out over on the book page!

story spinning, Threadwalkers

Book news and website updates PLUS a sneak peak of chapter one!

Joanna V.

Hello!

Yesterday was a little busy for me online! If you didn’t notice, I launched a Facebook page where you can follow news updates as I post them, and maybe events and things. I’m not sure yet. It just seemed like a good way to connect with folks who don’t follow me here. Regardless, you can mosey on over here if you like and give me a follow, or maybe share the page. That would be nice.

In the meantime, you may have noticed a few changes to this site in the last two days. It’s nothing huge in terms of design, but you’ll notice some tweaks to the tabs up at the top, including a new one with information about the book. AND if you click on it, you’ll find that there’s a link to a SNEAK PREVIEW. You can read chapter one as well as the summary of what it’s about. Yay!

I can’t post much more than that right now, but I’ll keep updating it with info as I have it, including dates and the cover reveal and all. Stay tuned!

image by Em Somerville Illustration

Upcoming Event:

Next month my publisher will have a cover reveal party on Twitter, and that includes the cover for Threadwalkers! And of course I’ll post it here once it’s public, but I’m really excited to share it with you. For now all I’ll say is that it’s got my name on it, which to be honest is still a little surreal. In any case, I think you’ll like it. I do. ^_^

So there’s all the news I’ve got for now! Enjoy the sneak peak!

story spinning, Threadwalkers

April Update: Big News on the Writing Front

Joanna V.

I know it’s been quiet over here for a couple of weeks, but life has been moving at breakneck speed, leaving me very little time to blog anything for a bit. I’ve got another post coming on Thursday where I’ll talk a little about PCSing with my cats (which is always the most stressful part of moving but I’ve also gotten fairly practiced at it) but in the meantime how about a life update?

Because I have NEWS.

As of last week, I am officially signed with 50/50 Press to publish my debut novel, Threadwalkers. Yay!!

I don’t have any more details just yet as I still need to go through the editing process, not to mention formatting and cover design and all kinds of things I probably haven’t thought of yet, much less setting a publication date, but trust me that I will keep you posted.

I know.

A little about the book: Threadwalkers is a YA science-fiction time travel story, told from the point of view of a 16 year old girl whose life starts to unravel around her as small changes in her past have big implications in the present. And that’s all I’ll say for now! There will be more as I can share it, I promise.

I’m excited to share this story with all of you, and hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.

ALSO check out this AMAZING family portrait by my friend Em Somerville!
Volavka family portrait by Em SomervilleI love it so much! It’s now the featured photo on my “About” page. She even included my dinosaur necklace. ^_^ Thanks, Emma!!