Elizabeth Kolodziej Blog Tour Stop

Today, we're lucky to welcome Elizabeth Kolodziej as her blog tour makes a stop at The Daily Harrell.  Elizabeth's debut novel, Vampyre Kisses, came out in May.

Here's a description of Vampyre Kisses, which I'm sure you'll want to get:

Vampyre Kisses is an enthralling story about a young woman named Faith, who was content with her life, but deep down craved more excitement. Then a mysterious man named Trent enters her life and everything changes. Surprising to Faith, Trent is a green-eyed vampire from Ireland. She is even more surprised to find out that she is a witch, and the last of her kind.

Faith finds out that she is destined to restore her witch line and becomes more powerful as she gains confidence and knowledge, but danger lurks everywhere. Especially when unknown assailants steal the most important gems from the vampire master and werewolf royalty..

Now surrounded by a world full of mystifying vampires and werewolves, can Faith gain enough power to help her friends and rescue the stolen gems?

I’m fascinated that you were able to weave lore from witches, vampires and werewolves together.  Where did your inspiration come from?

My inspiration comes from everything around me. A lot coming from books I read, especially those on folklore which is one way I do my research. When I read old folklore it gives me ideas of what I might want to include in my own book with my own twist.

Also, the people around me, my friends, movies, music they all inspire ideas in my mind.

We know you spent a TON of time researching for this novel.  How much do you think that helped your writing?

I think it is what made my writing so unique. Without doing the research I would not have been able to come up with the ideas that I did. It really does help to inspire my writing and make it unique.

We read on an earlier stop in your blog tour that Greek mythology with a twist plays a big role in Vampyre Kisses.  I’m hooked.  Please tell us more about that – what myth(s) you used and how you twisted them.

I have always been interested in Greek Mythology. I have been reading those stories for ages. I guess I got to understand the gods and by doing so I was able to make my own kind of mythological story about how vampires were first created and why. I also wanted to make sure I included the gods and goddess in my story so they are actual characters and play a role in what happens.

Right now I am taking an old Greek/Roman myth from the first werewolf story and mixing it into the second book to explain their history and how they came to be.

When it comes to witches I have studied a lot of books on magic and decided to incorporate some spells and empowering spells to help Faith come more to life in the book.

I applaud you for being brave enough to self-publish your novel.  How did you make that decision?

I spent a couple years trying to get an agent. But I don’t think my query letter was that great though I worked on it and got people to help me with it. I tried revamping it a dozen times but it never got people really interested.

Finally I said that’s enough and decided to see what I could do on my own. Plus with the economy being the way it is not many agents were taking authors on unless they were sure it was a sure thing. Finally my dad said lets try it this way and the adventurous part of me took over and I said ok lets do it and see what happens.

Are there any tips you’d offer for novelists like yourself who are considering the self-publishing route?

My advice would be to let them know that it is VERY difficult. You are going to have to do everything yourself and make mistakes along the way. I am just hoping I can get on enough blogs and get enough people interested in at least picking it up and giving it a good read.

Where to buy the book:

Publisher’s Website: http://bit.ly/9aYtXo

Barns and Noble: http://bit.ly/dpJsLC

Amazon: http://amzn.to/byci6O

Kindle: http://amzn.to/bMzSKN

Website: www.vampyrekisses.com

Facebook.com/kweenkitten

Twitter.com/ejkolodziej

Giveaway Contest: http://www.vampyrekisses.com/?page_id=511 

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRR08B3xed8

Thank you, Elizabeth.  We wish you loads of luck with this book and your upcoming werewolf-heavy sequel.  All - I recommend checking out the trailer - it's really good!