Musa Publishing's First Anniversary Celebration!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS TO ALL WHO ENTERED!

On October 1, Musa Publishing will have been in business for a full year. This is a major milestone for a new press, as many that start up do not even make it to six months before they have to fold. Although my book does not release until November, I still wanted to participate in this anniversary celebration. I won't be able to giveaway a copy of my book (because ack! it's still in edits!), so my giveaway is going to be a bit different from the others you might see in the Hop.

All the individual author blog giveaways are connected to the Grand Prize giveaway by Musa Publishing -- a Kindle Fire! Details about how to enter are listed at the end of this post.

First off, a huge-mega-ginormous CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who keeps Musa running day-in and day-out. Your hard work is paying off. May there be many more milestones like this one in the future.

Now, for my contribution to this Blog Hop I have to talk about something related to my Musa book, Twin Sense. I chose to tackle the setting.

Twin Sense is a YA contemporary romance. All of the contemporary fiction I've written thus far has been set in the greater Cleveland area. It's what I know. It's what I love. I want to share it with the world.

In Twin Sense I used a fictional town called Brookdale, Ohio, which is based on a combination of the city I grew up in (Lakewood, Ohio) and its close neighbor (Rocky River, Ohio). A note for the stalkers in the audience: although I am still a northeast Ohio resident, I no longer live in even the same county as Cleveland. Don't try to find me there.

One of the main reasons I like using the greater Cleveland area for my stories is that there are so many creative possibilities. Here are a couple of the ones I used in Twin Sense.

We have a front row seat to Lake Erie, often referred to as Lake eerie because, like all of the Great Lakes, it's known for freak storms and tragic shipwrecks. As a kid, I had this morbid fascination with the lake. I was never a fan of swimming in it, but walking along the beach and imagining wild stories that centered around happenings on or near the lake was one of my favorite things to do.

In Twin Sense, the Taylor twins live in a mansion set atop a cliff that overlooks Lake Erie. The lake itself is not a huge factor in the plot of this particular story, but it does add a bit of romanticism to the atmosphere.

Plenty of museums to visit, one of which is world-famous. With its close proximity to Cleveland--literally bordering it on the west--being a Lakewood resident meant easy access to all the attractions Cleveland had to offer. Hop on a bus and you'll be downtown in minutes.

I reference both the art and natural history museums in Twin Sense, and Layna (the viewpoint character) actually visits the Cleveland Museum of Art at one point in the story. I've visited this museum several times in my life, most of those times being when I was a teen or younger. It's a vast, awe-inspiring place. You can't even see it all in one day. If you ever need to jump-start your muse, I suggest going to a museum.

The above image shows a statue of Terpsichore on display at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Terpsichore is one of the nine muses, which Musa Publishing has named itself and many of their imprints after.

The YA imprint is named after Euterpe. For my giveaway, since Twin Sense is not available to give away yet, I'm going to offer a free Euterpe book of your choice. Click HERE to browse the selections.

Please note: There is more than one page of books available from the Euterpe imprint. Some of them are novels and some are novellas/novelettes. Click on the individual book's link for a blurb and word count. Also, there is at least one more new release coming out this Friday, October 5, and possibly others. So please check the website again on Friday to view the new additions before deciding which book you would like to receive, should you be the chosen winner.

And now for the official Blog Hop rules!

There are 70 author blogs participating in this Hop. Each of them is doing their own giveaway.

You may enter EVERY giveaway at EVERY blog, simply by commenting on the post. That's 70 chances to win.

The giveaway on this blog is for ONE free copy of ANY Euterpe book that is available at the time of winner selection. These are ebooks. If you don't have an e-reader then you can opt for a PDF download of your free book. The winner for this blog's giveaway will be selected via random.org.

From the compiled comments of every blog participating in this Hop, Musa Publishing will select ONE person to win the Grand Prize -- a Kindle Fire!

***Grand Prize of a Kindle Fire is for U.S. and Canada mailing addresses only. International winner will receive a $50 Musa Gift Card.

***By entering this giveaway you acknowledge that you are at least 13 years of age.

YOU HAVE UNTIL OCTOBER 7 TO ENTER.
WINNERS WILL BE POSTED ON OCTOBER 9.

Click HERE for more giveaway details, and for links to all the blogs participating in the Hop.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO COMMENT ON EVERY POST, but the more posts you comment on, the more likely you are to win something.

And here are some extras you can do to share the love:

Follow @MusaPublishing on Twitter
Follow @EuterpeYABooks on Twitter

Like Musa Publishing on Facebook
Like Euterpe YA Books on Facebook

Follow the Musa Publishing blog
Follow the Euterpe YA blog

Add Twin Sense to your Goodreads shelf

Thanks, everyone! Good luck, and have a great week!
~Lydia

edited to add:
This should go without saying, but my own comments on this post will not be counted toward the giveaway entries.