Pixelated by L.S. Murphy – Inspiration Strikes and can last (Guest Post)

Item: Pixelated
Author: Danny

Posted 8 May, 2015 by Danny in Author Interview, Blog, Danny / 1 Comment

Hey Everyone and Happy Friday (don’t we love Friday’s?!) and I have a special Guest here today who will tell us a little more about her exciting upcoming release Pixelated. I am personally pretty excited about the story and can’t wait to read it!

Pixelated by L.S. Murphy – Inspiration Strikes and can last (Guest Post)

Pixelated by L.S. Murphy
Published by Bloomsbury, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, Bloomsbury USA Childrens on 2015-06-30
Genres: Country Life, Football, Lifestyles, Love & Romance, Sports & Recreation, Young Adult
Pages: 250
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Goodreads

Senior Year.
Middle of nowhere.
What's the new girl to do?

For Piper Marks, the answer is simple. She’s determined to have her photography rock the cover of National Geographic someday, and moving to Clarkton, Iowa for her last year of high school is not going to stop her. Even if her usual subjects have changed from bright lights and skyscrapers to fields, cows…and more fields.

But when photographer at the local paper quits in a huff, she steps into his spot. Her new job keeps Piper busy capturing tackles, and zooming in on first downs and end zone dances, not to mention putting her directly in the path of varsity football star Les Williams IV. Her new friends warn her off, but she can’t resist the pull she feels toward this mysterious country boy. But this small town is keeping a secret, and it’s one that could destroy any chance they have to be together.

It’s up to Piper to decide what to do with the distorted truth. Can she risk exposing her heart? It might be worth it, 'cause Les is about to change her world from black and white to fully saturated color.

And here is L.S. Murphy with Inspiration Strikes and can last

Inspiration Strikes and can last….

One of the most common questions an author hears is “where do you get your ideas?” And the most common answer is “ideas can come from anywhere.” The idea behind my debut novel Reaper (J. Taylor Publishing) came to me after I read the umpteenth YA novel with a poor girl suddenly coming into some form or supernatural power. I wanted to twist that. So I asked myself “What could I do to make the most popular girl in school miserable” I know! I’ll make her DEATH.” For my story “The 13^th Month”, I was given a prompt by my publisher. That ignited the story.

For Pixelated, the idea goes waaaaaaay back to a seed planted by a teacher when I was still in high school.

Before cell phones.

Before the internet. (Yes, I’m old. Let me get my walker. J)

Mr. Wirsig was my eighth grade English teacher and also the creative writing teacher for the high school. During my eighth grade year, he took one of my stories (with my permission) to the creative writing class for a critique. I was over the moon. Even if I did get a nasty note calling my writing amateurish. No really.

Anyway, when I was finally able to take his class as a junior, I started to find my voice as a writer and as a person. One of the greatest things about Mr. Wirsig was that he would argue with me. OVER NOTHING. And I loved it. But I always knew he’d be totally honest with me and he’d listen.

One fine spring day, Mr. Wirsig took us on a walk about. Small town, small school. We were allowed to do things like that without parental consent. Good times. We walked three blocks to the town square and stayed there pretty much the entire class period. Nobody say anywhere near anybody else. We positioned ourselves in the park and wrote in our notebooks. It was glorious.

He wrangled us up and we started the trek back to school with Mr. Wirsig in the lead.

Then he stopped suddenly and threw his arms in the air.

“IF THAT’S NOT INSPIRATION, I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS!” he shouted. I’m fairly certain most of the school heard him since we were almost back.

He pointed excitedly toward the parking lot.

Tractors lined up under the trees. John Deere, Allis Chalmers, Massey-Harris, even a Duetz Allis.

I thought he was crazy.

Funny thing about that. Chapter two opens up with Piper pulling up to her new school and seeing a row of tractors.

Guess he wasn’t all that crazy. That’s my I dedicated the book to him. Really, it’s all his fault.

Since I am now also a “Teacher” (at University and not at High School, but still..) I found this especially adorable that a teacher had such an impact and that he got even a book dedicated to him!

About L.S. Murphy

L.S. Murphy obsesses about St. Louis Cardinals baseball, fangirls over her favorite authors, and watches every episode of Doctor Who like it’s the first time. When she’s not doing those time-consuming things, the former farm-girl turned city slicker turned suburbanite writes sweet romances for teens and adults.

Find her online

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Blog

Pre-Oder contest

Anyone who pre-orders Pixelated and emails me a pic or receipt will receive 1) a signed postcard of the cover, 2) two “Piper marks” photos, 3) a handmade ribbon bookmark with a camera and football charm, and 4) automatic entry to win a signed copy of my debut novel REAPER. It is international!