the road to book 2

I am having a moment.

Later this morning, I will be sweating over my laptop, stressing about new words in a new manuscript. This afternoon, I will be hosing off my car after a very muddy trip to the mountains. And tonight, I will be cleaning up a scrapbooking mess I made in the living room.

But right now... right this second... I am having a moment -- a good one. I have the day off work, and I'm starting it off on the back patio watching the sun shine on the yard and drinking a cup of coffee (iced. This is Arizona after all. It's only 8:30am, and my temperature gauge already reads 90 degrees.)
This sunny caffeinated moment is how I am celebrating the launch of my second book, DEAD ENDS. (out today!)

I remember, after selling BUTTER, thinking the 2 year wait to publication would feel like a lifetime. In hindsight, it went by in a flash. But that flash was nothing compared to how fast it seems DEAD ENDS was published. We sold this book in the spring of 2012, so it's been a little under 18 months from sale to pub. For all but 1 of those 18 months, I was also planning my wedding, so I had very little time to obsess about this launch the way I did the first time around.
In fact, this quiet moment right now may be the very first time I've actually reflected on the road to book 2 at all.

I wrote the first draft of DEAD ENDS the month after we sold BUTTER, in part to keep myself from clicking on my email inbox every two seconds. *Best advice ever, by the way! There is a lot of waiting around on the path to publishing. Use that down time to write something new! Once edit letters and blog requests and cover comps start rolling in, you may find your writing time is being eaten away!

After my speed-drafting, I sent the manuscript (then-titled Billy D. & the Bully) off to one of my crit partners, who told me what I already suspected - I had a good start, some great characters... and not much plot.
So I spent the next 9 months or so rearranging, revising and rewriting. By the end of the year, with more help from crit partners, I had something worth submitting.
It was another few months before we sold it, and then I hit a wall of "now what?"

See, the first time around, every moment is a milestone.
book sale? champagne dinner out on the town!
cover reveal? splatter the internet!
launch party? everyone you know is coming!

It's a two-year-long party to celebrate a dream come true. But if book 1 is the dream, what is book 2?
It took me some time to figure out BUTTER wasn't the end of a journey but the start of a new one. And DEAD ENDS is the first step down that new path - a path that forks off in many directions, like a "choose your own adventure" book.
Do you want to write full time?
Do you want to explore a new genre?
Do you dream of longevity as an author?

It's a path of nothing but possibility, and it's a little intimidating, because once your biggest dream comes true... do you dare dream bigger?

For today, my dream is this: that readers who pick up DEAD ENDS will meet Dane, Billy D. and Seely... share their journey... and find something to love.

Rebel Bully Geek Pariah

once upon a time, an aspiring author wrote a manuscript. it was a huge accomplishment, because after decades of writing, it was the first time she ever got to "The End" in one of her stories.

but that story was bad - like so many first attempts at novels. this would-be writer had a lot to learn, and by the time she understood what needed to be fixed, it seemed less daunting to just write an entirely new book.

so that first book went into the trunk to collect dust. the writer pulled it out every so often to steal things from it - scenes, ideas, snippets - until finally this aspiring author became an actual author and nearly forgot about that first trunked story.

until one day... she opened the manuscript looking not to steal from it but to rebuild it. she held this idea that had been so close to her heart in her hands and thought, what if? what if this book could see the light of day? what if the only line that stays the same is "The End" and the rest could be rewritten from scratch?
what if your first love was "the one" after all?

i'm pleased to announce my own "first love" is coming to bookstores in 2015!

i can never make those PM announcements fit on my blog! so, in case you can't read the pic, my next book will be REBEL BULLY GEEK PARIAH, a story of 4 teens with nothing in common until they find themselves on the run, with only each other to trust. part thriller, part Breakfast Club on wheels.

and if you can read the pic, you'll see there's a 4th book coming after that, but more on that in the pretty distant future! ;)

Dead Ends Jacket Reveal

Two big Ws have kept me away from the blog for far too long - Writing & Wedding. But as soon as this wedding planning winds down, I will be gearing up for the release of DEAD ENDS in September!

 

And you can't have a book release without a cover, right? If I was thrilled when I saw the front cover for DE, then there are no words for how I feel about the full jacket. Well, maybe one word. Amazeballs.

 

Are we still saying amazeballs? I'm usually behind on these things.

 

Anyway, enough of the drum roll. Check out the jacket!

 

I love it love it love it. Every inch of it. The whole thing just begs you to lean in closer. And for those of you who may have read an advanced copy of DE already, how cool is it that Seely is on the back cover?!

Win an ARC of DEAD ENDS!

COVER!

CONTEST!

CAPITALIZATION!

In honor of some very important news today, I am writing this post with all the proper letters capitalized. (Well, hello there, shift key! Remember me?)

Today is the day I get to share my new cover for DEAD ENDS, coming September 3, from Bloomsbury. (Yes, I give you permission to just scroll down now for the reveal.)

I am in love with this cover. Each time I look at it, I see another layer of the story - the road, the backpack, the grit, the way a true friend can lift you up, the way we sometimes hit a wall even when it looks like the whole wide world is right in front of us... It's just perfect.

So, to celebrate this perfect new cover, I simply must give away an ARC! See the contest details below! (It's easy peasy to enter, I promise.) But first, without any further drumroll, I give you the cover for DEAD ENDS!

 

Dane Washington is one suspension away from expulsion. In a high school full of “haves,” being a “have not” makes Dane feel like life is hurtling toward one big dead end. Billy D. spends his high school days in Special Ed and he’s not exactly a “have” himself. The biggest thing Billy’s missing? His dad. Billy is sure the riddles his father left in an atlas are really clues to finding him again and through a bizarre turn of events, he talks Dane into joining him on the search.

A bully and a boy with Down syndrome makes for an unlikely friendship, but together, they work through the clues, leading to unmarked towns and secrets of the past. But they’re all dead ends. Until the final clue . . . and a secret Billy shouldn’t have been keeping.

Add DEAD ENDS on Goodreads!
Pre-order it here, or here, or here, or wherever else books are sold!

OR... WIN an advance copy by filling out the form below. Two winners will be selected at random.

UPDATE: THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. The entry form has been removed. Thanks to all who entered!  2 Winners to be announced Thursday morning and contacted via email. :)

Thanks for celebrating with me! *Happy Dance*

love from london

Good morning!
or, to all you lovely folks over in London, Good afternoon!

BUTTER hopped the pond today to make his UK debut.

and what a welcome!!

i woke up to this review in The Telegraph. (link! click it!) and some amazing well-wishes.
i'm also excited to say BUTTER is a book of the month at the Victoria Station branch of WH Smith!

thanks to author Mo O'Hara for snapping this shot!

more British BUTTER fun to come with a blog tour later this month! (click on the banner below for details.)

but for now, i just want to say to my news friends overseas,

Thanks for making a girl (and her characters) feel welcome!

 

social media slacker

it's been 4 days since my last tweet.
17 days since i've posted on facebook.
21 days since i've blogged.

...one week since you looked at me, cocked your head to the side and said "i'm angry" five days since you laughed at me...
sorry. couldn't resist a little Barenaked Ladies interruption.
and yes, if you know that song, it will now be in your head all day.
you're welcome.

i'm posting my sorry social media stats to illustrate what happens when i'm writing. i'm always tinkering with something, but usually that something gets tossed into the "No!" or "maybe later" files with other partial manuscripts. then it's back to the interwebs!
but this thing happens when i break through the 10,000-word barrier, and suddenly i'm a woman obsessed - tossing aside everything BUT writing.
and that includes social media.

i used to stress about this. i used to worry that if i wasn't being loud online, then no one would hear about my books. i actually put more pressure on myself to tweet than to write.
...until one day i looked up and realized i hadn't reached "The End" on anything new in more than a year. somewhere along the line, my writing time had turned into email-tweet-post-promote time.

i still don't know if any of those things help sell a book, but i know this much: they won't help you write the next one. so i've learned to give myself permission to be a social media slacker every now and then. and if you're like me and find yourself choosing between writing and tweeting, then i give you permission too. a few weeks of internet silence won't kill your career. blank pages just might.

and so ends another post about my love-hate relationship with social media. i will tweet it. i will facebook it. and then i will crawl back inside my writing cave and not worry about it.
...at least for a few days. ;)

Dead Ends

sorry to be so mysterious, but i had to do a little magic to make this post disappear. ;)
keep an eye out for a new cover for Dead Ends coming soon!

 

UK Cover

Hiatus Interruptus once again! This time so I can squeal over my UK Cover for BUTTER.
Singular, deceptively simple covers are my absolute faves, so I am lucky to now have 2 such covers for B!

...and perhaps a third, for DEAD ENDS, but more on that later. ;)

Anyway, introducing the delicious new BUTTER cover, coming from Faber on March 7th, 2013...

YUM!

introducing...

i interrupt this holiday hiatus to bring you a bit of news!

if you cruise around this blog, you'll find many a mention about a little book called Billy D. & the Bully.
like BUTTER, this is a book i named after my main characters. what can i say? i'm a little lazy when it comes to titles.

fortunately, there is a great team of pros at Bloomsbury to help me come up with something just as fitting for the story but not quite such a mouthful.

so i'm super excited to announce next year's book is now titled....

DEAD ENDS

and the cover is awesome!!!! i can't wait to show it to you! stay tuned.

3-2-1 Launch!

i love a good party. i love planning a good party. heck, i even love cleaning up after a good party.

but i always dread the days leading up to the party - when you start to count on your fingers who RSVP'd and who didn't - when you start to wonder whether anyone will show up. because it's not a good party without guests. that's why i have to say THANK YOU to everyone who came out Saturday night to help me launch BUTTER into the world.

Thank you for your enthusiasm, for your laughter...

Thank you for buying BUTTER and waiting so patiently in line to get it signed...

and Thank you especially for eating the food!! :D

as much as i loved having my friends and family there to support me, the biggest - and BEST - surprise of the night was seeing so many new faces. what a rush to meet the fellow writer who came out because she was touched by something i had written here on the blog... the reader who had reached out to me via email to share a very personal story after reading BUTTER... the young man who just happened to be browsing for books and stopped to listen to the talk and then stayed to buy a book. you all made my night!

i have to admit, all the preparations for the launch and my nerves had me wishing slightly that i could just get it over with. but from the moment i said hi to the first guest until i'd signed the very last book, i was having the time of my life.
it was a thrill like riding a roller coaster - you love every screaming soaring minute of it, but when it's over, you realize it's gone by too fast, and you just want to turn around and get right back on.

writing is such a solitary thing. it's hard to know if what you're doing will reach anyone in a meaningful way. maybe that's why moments like holding my book for the first time and seeing it in stores didn't hit me the way i had hoped they would. for me, the most powerful moment of this journey so far happened Saturday. meeting readers face to face and talking with them about the book reminded me that writing may start out as a solo effort, but when that book gets out into the world, it's like sending an invitation to one great big party. and i, for one, hope the party never ends.

Happy Birthday BUTTER!!

sooooo.... it's release day.
officially.

i think i'm supposed to say something really profound on this day. but all i can think is:
eek! hee hee hee! wheeee! whoa. huh? wha?? really? wheeeee!

sometimes words fail me.
or i fail the words, to be more accurate.
i'm having a tough time putting them together in a meaningful way today.

i know i should write a long post thanking everyone who helped make BUTTER come to life, but it would read an awful lot like the acknowledgements in the back of the book.
which you can now read.
because it is published!
eek! hee hee hee! wheeee!

so let me say for now "ditto" to those acknowledgements and promise more thank yous to come. because what i really want to do today is say something to all of the writers out there still dreaming of publishing.

Dear Writer,

every single day you put words down on paper to tell a story is a miracle. every rejection you shrug off in order to keep writing is a triumph. every writing rule you break in order to tell the story you want to tell is an achievement. every friend you make along this bumpy path to publishing is a gift. and every moment that you get swept away by your own words - writing for the pure joy of it - is priceless.

publishing is not the promised land. your imagination is. you have the gift to create your own worlds to escape to whenever you wish. and if your dream is to share those worlds with readers, then all you have to do is keep writing. authors come up from the slush pile all the time. i should know. i'm one of them. i can't tell you how to get published, because every writer's path is different. but i can tell you there's only one way to 100% guarantee you will not get published - and that's to stop writing.
so keep getting up every day and putting words down on paper.
one day those words will come to life inside of a book.

i didn't fully believe it myself until today.
whoa. huh? wha?? really? wheeeee!

really? really.

so this happened...

it sure looks like a real book, but somehow it still doesn't feel real, and i'm starting to think i will never wrap my brain around the fact that a lifelong dream is coming true.

over the years, i've had the unfortunate opportunity to learn how i handle grief. each time in my life i've heard devastating news, i've let myself feel it for just a moment - maybe a day or two at most - let myself cry until i can't breathe. then a survival switch flips inside me, and i shove any pain into a little compartment in my heart, so i can move forward.

i think that may be how i handle elation as well. my survival switch is keeping my emotions in check, because if i allowed myself to fully feel this moment, my heart might literally explode with joy.

my mom recently sent me a box with hundreds of pages of writing from before i could even spell. in the back of one story, i wrote myself this little bio:

My name is Erin Jade Lang (yes, I misspelled my own last name) and I am eight years old. When I grow up I want to be a writer.

i guess in many ways, i still feel like that 8 year old girl, playing pretend and wishing on a star. but sometimes there's just a split second - a flash of a moment - when i actually take it all in, and it's like that wishing star goes shooting across the sky. in those moments i have to look at myself in the mirror and have this conversation:
Is this happening?
It's happening.
Really?
Really.

BUTTER book jacket and interview!

Dear Readers,
i know how these posts go. i tell you i'm about to unveil the full book jacket for BUTTER, and you scroll straight past anything i write here to the picture. so let me save you the strain of scrolling and just say, TA DA!!!

CLICK THE PICTURE FOR A LARGER LOOK!

guys, i am over the moon about this jacket. i love the butter yellow of the inside flaps, the little pop of color on the back and the tiny butter dishes on the spine. as i've said before in this vlog, i think the spine may be the most important part.

so who designed this awesome thing anyway?! well, her name is Regina Roff, associate designer at Bloomsbury Children's Books, and she generously agreed to give an interview here on the blog today!

Welcome, Regina!
Where do you begin when starting a cover design, and how does the process evolve from there?

Cover design doesn't always begin in the same way for every project, but ideally (at least for me) I get the pitch of the book from the editor, decide I want to tackle it, read the manuscript, come up with an idea, execute and refine the idea, and then BOOM, book cover. :) 

How many concepts did you go through for BUTTER, or did you have a specific vision at the start?

BUTTER was a challenge because any book having to do with food can easily go into the 'food memoir' imagery territory. A lot of the initial brainstorming ideas from the team were too food-centric and didn't have the edge that BUTTER needed. I really wanted to do something type driven, at first, to keep it modern and interesting and not get hung up on the food aspect. I actually only went through 2 concepts: 1 type driven and the final that we ended up with. It was one of those serendipity moments where one photo search led to another which led to another which led to the idea.

I love all the little details on the jacket for BUTTER, such as the measurements just like you would see on a stick of butter wrapper. When do those details come into the design process?

For me, those details happen when the editor gives me the flap copy, a little later in the process. Before the measurements ended up on the jacket, I had a whole 'nutritional facts' design on the back with the reviews in the space where the ingredients go. It was decided that was a little to humorous for the book, so I brainstormed a bit more and thought that the measurements would be an interesting and minimal design element that could tie everything together visually without overloading on the butter dish. It made me think about the additive process of Butter's food list and there was something macabre to me about the idea of literally 'cutting butter'.

How did you get into cover design? I imagine you have to be a book lover.

I am a total, absolute, crazy book person! Even before I could even read, I loved books. There was something magical to me that books had whole worlds living inside of them. I was always artistic and loved to paint and draw, so when I wasn't reading, I was usually painting. I went to college to pursue a degree in illustration and while I was there I fell into book design from taking my illustrations and putting them into layouts for presentations. I realized I loved making the layouts just as much as making the art, so I shifted gears and went headfirst into trying to start a design career. I managed to get my first design job a few months after graduation and have been loving it ever since.

How many people have input into a cover, and how does that impact the final product?

A LOT of people have cover input and that can really shape how a cover evolves. First and foremost is the opinion of our fabulous art director, Donna Mark. I go to her with my ideas before presenting them to the editors. The editors have a huge say in the book covers and generally decide if the cover ideas are aligned with how they want the book to be positioned. In addition to the editors, the sales and marketing team also look at the cover and decide if the look is good and fits into where the book should be positioned in the market. Finally, the book buyers have the final yes/no as to whether they'll take the book and oftentimes a good cover means a bigger buy. Never say that you don't judge a book by its cover! At any point if one of those parties decides the cover isn't working, it gets thrown back to the designers to rework. It's a really collaborative process and sometimes covers evolve quite a bit during the process of moving it through all the necessary channels. For BUTTER, it was simple: aside from teeny tweaks like kerning letters and author name fonts, BUTTER was loved by all!

What's your favorite part of the BUTTER cover? (my fave is the spine. love the tiny butter dishes, and i always say the spine is almost more important than the front!)

The front cover is my favorite part because I feel like the cover is a little like telling the story in a visual poem. BUTTER is simple and graphic, so it's like a visual haiku and I love that about this cover. You don't get bogged down in imagery, it's direct and engaging. Also, it's not a sad girl in a big dress (which, while beautiful and definitely has its place on the shelf, is a trend I'm getting tired of)!! You're absolutely right about the spine though, it can sometimes be more important, especially if you're not shelved face-front. I'm glad you like the spine so much!

Thanks for letting me talk about working on BUTTER. I had a great time reading it and a great time designing it!

Thanks, Regina, for stopping by the blog and for this fabulous cover. I am so thrilled!!

You can find Regina Roff online at reginaroff.com and on Twitter: @reginaroff

before and after

okay, i'm going to tell you a secret.
or i'm going to make a confession.
or maybe it's both.

writing is harder after you sell a book.

not for everyone, i'm sure. and not forever, i hope.
but for me, it's been a difficult year for writing.

when i wrote BUTTER, i had no idea obesity and suicide were risky topics. no one had told me yet that "boy books don't sell." i didn't know my grammar wasn't perfect (truly, i thought it was. silly, silly me.) and i was still clueless about the "rules" in general.
i just wanted to tell a story. and it all worked out.

when i wrote BILLY D & THE BULLY, i knew a few more rules, but i had just sold BUTTER, and i wasn't yet fully initiated. i didn't know anyone would call what i was writing "disabilities YA," because i had never even heard of such a thing. i certainly didn't know that i had a year of revisions ahead of me, because i didn't know what i was doing wrong in that first draft. again, it all worked out anyway.

but by the time those revisions were done, i was in a different place as a writer. somewhere along the path to publishing, i had stopped thinking of writing as a hobby and started thinking of it as a job. suddenly, i couldn't just explore any old idea that delighted me. first i had to make sure the idea hadn't been done. then i had to rewrite every paragraph 40 times to make sure it was as polished as my other books are in their final drafts. then i had to outline the story to assure myself i had a direction and wasn't wasting my time, y'know... just having fun. because who has time for fun when you're writing for work?

the joy is still there. i still love love love writing. but the joy got a little buried under something else... pressure.
i was chatting with some of my fellow 2012 debut authors tonight, and i asked them if they found it harder to write now. i was comforted by a chorus of "yes!" followed by that word... pressure. i think a lot of new authors must feel that - a sense that everything you write has to have the potential to be published.
for me, it was paralyzing. i took weeks off writing. then, after a few false starts on new projects, the weeks turned into months, until finally i'd forgotten how i ever made time for this at all.

i'm getting my feet wet again - revisiting some of the ideas and pages i abandoned this past year out of fear - and i'm rediscovering the joy.
but i wanted to share the struggle here in case anyone else can relate. and i also wanted to share this much that i've figured out:
the only one putting that pressure on me was ME. and the only person i need to please when i'm writing is ME... because i'm writing for the joy of it.

BOOK NEWS !!!

pssst!!!!!!

can you keep a secret?
me neither.

that's why i'm SO glad i didn't have to sit on this news for very long.

what news?
this news:

I SOLD ANOTHER BOOK !!!

here is the official announcement:

BUTTER author Erin Lange's BILLY D. & THE BULLY, about two very different boys who reluctantly team up to find somebody who doesn't want to be found; their only clue is an atlas full of riddles, again to Caroline Abbey at Bloomsbury Children's, for publication in Fall 2013, by Jennifer Laughran at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (NA).

i want to tell you i'm excited, but that word doesn't begin to describe how i feel. i am over the moon.
this book started with two characters i just could not get out of my head. i wrote scene after scene for them before i ever really knew their story, because i liked them so much and just wanted to hang out with them. actually finding their story and getting it all down on paper was one of the biggest challenges i've ever faced as a writer, but the struggle was worth it to be able to introduce them to all of you.

Happy Day !!!
:D :D :D :D :D :D

BUTTER on TV

pssst. i got my ARCs!
(or galleys or advance copies or whatever term you prefer)
point is - i got 'em. YAY!

and before i even had time to tell you about them, the news was on TV!



our chief meteorologist told me he had a weather photo from my hometown, so that i would be watching when he surprised me with a picture of BUTTER. love that Royal and Patti are both in this clip, because they have been two of my biggest supporters.

anyway, after i stopped blushing, i was very touched.

spreading BUTTER around the world!

i have some exciting news to share today.

BUTTER is spreading! to other corners of the world!

i'm thrilled to announce BUTTER will be published in the United Kingdom and Germany!

the UK version is coming in spring of 2013 from Faber Children's Books.
the German version is coming in winter of 2013/14 from Rowohlt.

i am ecstatic and can't wait to share new covers and such.

COVER REVEAL !!

no point writing much here at the top, as i suspect most of you will scroll past any excess words to get to the good stuff.

so let's get right to it, shall we?

i'm pleased to reveal the cover for BUTTER!!!!


A boy everyone calls “Butter” is about to make Scottsdale High history. He’s going to eat himself to death live on the Internet – and everyone will watch.

He announces his deadly plan to an army of peers and expects pity, insults or even indifference. Instead, he finds morbid encouragement. When that encouragement tips the scales into popularity, Butter has a reason to live. But if he doesn’t go through with his plan, he’ll lose everything.

i expect to be posting this all over the internet soon, but starting today, you can also find it here, at my unofficially official website!

other exciting things are happening, and i can't wait to share them with you, but for now, i hope you'll forgive me if i put the regular features on hold in order to keep this beauty front and center on the blog for a bit!

UPDATE 2/24: cover refreshed with tagline! :)

suddenly

something exciting happened this week.
this week, when someone asked me when my book was coming out, i was able to say THIS YEAR!
when i sold the book in October of 2010, "this year" seemed so far away. but suddenly, here it is!

suddenly.

i never thought i'd use that word on this journey. so much of publishing is about waiting and being patient and clicking refresh and watching the clock tick away ever so slowly. if you are at any stage of the waiting game, i just wanted to let you know that sometimes it feels like "suddenly," and one day you go from counting the years to counting the months.

before i know it, i'll be counting the days, and i'm actually okay with waiting for that countdown. i have high expectations for 2012, and i want to enjoy every minute. i hope your own 2012 is filled with some "suddenly" in between all the waiting!

copy edits, a lesson in humility

every author fantasizes about some moment along the path to publishing. maybe you daydream about a 6-figure deal or a starred review or a cover that makes people swoon.

me? i used to dream about the day my copy edits would arrive. the manuscript would have a big STET stamped right on the front with a note from the copy editor saying it was the cleanest ms she'd ever read.

haha. haaaHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
joke's on me.
there is a reason we have copy editors, folks.

i think i can still hold my head up high and say i have pretty darn good grammar, but it's certainly not perfect. and no matter how many times you read your story - no matter how many other people read it - there are errors that slip by.

i am halfway through my copy edits, and so far, my character has:
- demanded to speak to the manger at a restaurant.. (and mary and joseph too!)
- eaten two entire deserts.. (can i get some chocolate sauce on that cactus?)
- let out a peel of laughter and peaked over something.

the good news is, my copy editor is almost as fond of em-dashes as i am and even more fond of commas. it's been educational and humbling to read through her marks. and above all, it makes me so grateful for absolutely everyone who has a hand in making BUTTER the best book it can be.

it really does take a village.