Eliza Wass: “Where I Write” + The Life & Death Parade Blog Tour Contest

Today, we’re pleased to be hosting a stop on the official blog tour for The Life & Death Parade by Eliza Wass. Be sure to keep reading to learn more about the book and enter to win a copy!

We as authors can be a superstitious bunch. We say things like, “I can only write in the morning” “I can only write when it’s quiet” “I’m better in the summer” I’m perfect on a harvest moon.” We say these things and we believe these things, even though they inhibit us, they put a stopper on our creativity, they effectively keep us from finishing our books.

So why do we do it? Effectively, to keep ourselves from finishing our books. To stop ourselves, because we’re scared. We’re scared of our creativity; we’re scared of not being good enough. We’re even scared (especially as women) of being too good.

So we create excuses, we say I write here and ONLY here, at this time and under these exact circumstances.

But the truth is we can write anywhere, any place, any time.

The truth, when we say, “I can’t write when my life is falling apart”, is that we don’t like it, we find it difficult, but we still CAN.

We may not be good at it, at least not right away. We may not be good at writing with the door open at 3 in the morning or on a crowded train during rush hour commute, but we can do it. We can practice. We can get better.

So when people ask me where I write, the truth is I write anywhere I can, and I can write anywhere.

I write in the early morning hours before I start work at the stable, I write amidst the chaos of a family vacation with my eight brothers and sisters and their twenty children, I write at night before I go to sleep, I write with a cat, I write in a hat. Because I have to. Because if I let myself believe that I can’t, then I never will, and I won’t be a writer anymore. I won’t be me.

I write because when I finish a book, I know I am the best me I can be.

One year ago, Kitty’s boyfriend Nikki Bramley visited a psychic who told him he had no future. Now, he’s dead.

With the Bramley family grieving in separate corners of their home, Kitty sets out to find the psychic who read Nikki his fate. Instead she finds Roan, an enigmatic boy posing as a medium who belongs to the Life and Death Parade–a group of supposed charlatans that explore, and exploit, the thin veil between this world and the next. A group whose members include the psychic… and Kitty’s late mother.

Desperate to learn more about the group and their connection to Nikki, Kitty convinces Roan to return to the Bramley house with her and secures a position for him within the household. Roan quickly ingratiates himself with the Bramleys, and soon enough it seems like everyone is ready to move on. Kitty, however, increasingly suspects Roan knows more about Nikki than he’s letting on. And when they finally locate the Life and Death Parade, and the psychic who made that fateful prophecy to Nikki, Kitty uncovers a secret about Roan that changes everything.

From rising star Eliza Wass comes a sophisticated, mesmerizing meditation on the depths of grief and the magic of faith. After all, it only works if you believe it.

In Stores June 26th: Amazon | B&N | iBooks | TBD | Goodreads

Eliza Wass is an author, journalist and the wife of the late musician Alan Wass. Her debut novel, The Cresswell Plot, was published in 2016 to critical acclaim by Disney-Hyperion. She has contributed articles to The Guardian, Grazia, NME, Shortlist and THE FALL.