Um, seriously? It does not get any cooler than this:
I'm so honored that BUTTER made YALSA's 2013 TEENS' TOP TEN list!
28 nominees and 32,000 votes means a lot of teens were out there reading, and a lot of librarians were connecting kids with books. How awesome is that?
To all of those teen readers and librarians who spent a little time with Butter over the last few months, thank you Thank You THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart. you so completely rock.
Showing posts with label appreciation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label appreciation. Show all posts
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
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.
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.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
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,
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!
Monday, January 14, 2013
party like it's 2013
if one simply must have the flu, i say it's best to have it at precisely the right time.
for me, the right time was the middle of last week, so that i could be 100% contagion-free before shaking hands with dozens of fabulous people. and when i say fabulous people, of course you know i'm talking about teachers and librarians!
this past Saturday, a group of Arizona children's authors hosted a Thank You event for local teachers and librarians, and it was an honor to meet so many dedicated educators and book lovers. i was also thrilled to be hanging out with these folks:
i think the event properly kicked off 2013 for me, so consider the blog hiatus over!
one of my goals for this year is to do more events, and this was a great way to start. here's what else is ahead in the new year:
you'll find me at YAllapalooza later this month. (click the cool banner below, created by Changing Hands, for more information on this writing conference and general kid lit extravaganza!)
for me, the right time was the middle of last week, so that i could be 100% contagion-free before shaking hands with dozens of fabulous people. and when i say fabulous people, of course you know i'm talking about teachers and librarians!
this past Saturday, a group of Arizona children's authors hosted a Thank You event for local teachers and librarians, and it was an honor to meet so many dedicated educators and book lovers. i was also thrilled to be hanging out with these folks:
 |
| Host Authors! (I always end up front and center in group photos. Something to do with being 5'1") |
i think the event properly kicked off 2013 for me, so consider the blog hiatus over!
one of my goals for this year is to do more events, and this was a great way to start. here's what else is ahead in the new year:
you'll find me at YAllapalooza later this month. (click the cool banner below, created by Changing Hands, for more information on this writing conference and general kid lit extravaganza!)
and coming up in March, i hope to see you at the Tucson Festival of Books. (link! click it!)
in the meantime, watch the blog. i'll have a little something to show you very soon!
Monday, October 8, 2012
book trailer
it's National Bullying Prevention Month, and i'm planning a few things here on the blog over the next few weeks to participate.
one thing timed specifically for this month is the release of the book trailer for BUTTER! (feel free to scroll down now. i give you permission.)
you know, i always say i didn't intend to send a message with this book. i just wanted to tell a story. but i write about teenagers, and to me, bullying is a natural part of the teen experience - whether you're a target, a witness or even the bully.
so i'm honored to have BUTTER on bookstore shelves during this important month.
okay, enough rambling. here it is!
one thing timed specifically for this month is the release of the book trailer for BUTTER! (feel free to scroll down now. i give you permission.)
you know, i always say i didn't intend to send a message with this book. i just wanted to tell a story. but i write about teenagers, and to me, bullying is a natural part of the teen experience - whether you're a target, a witness or even the bully.
so i'm honored to have BUTTER on bookstore shelves during this important month.
okay, enough rambling. here it is!
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, February 27, 2012
not really news at all
one of the perks of working in TV news is getting up close and personal with creatures you otherwise only get to see from the other side of a piece of glass or a chain link fence.
that's right. i'm talking lions, tigers and bears. oh my!
okay, not lions... yet.
but tigers and bears? you bet.
every few weeks, we have four-legged creatures visit our newsroom to appear on our morning program. before their moment in the spotlight, they spend a few minutes relaxing around our cubicles while we act like the paparazzi, snapping photos and asking lots of questions.
most often, these visitors come from one of our local zoos, courtesy of an excellent wildlife expert. it's said you learn something new every day. on the days the critters come to visit, i know that's true.
i have learned that baby bears need to be taught everything, including how to drink milk, and that arizona has the most venomous snakes in the country. i've learned that penguins are fearless and even a bit aggressive and that otters have a stink that will stay on your hands all day, no matter how much you scrub them clean.
sometimes, behind the scenes, my job is less about the news of the day and more about getting an education on the world at large. on these days, i feel so lucky.
that's right. i'm talking lions, tigers and bears. oh my!
okay, not lions... yet.
but tigers and bears? you bet.
every few weeks, we have four-legged creatures visit our newsroom to appear on our morning program. before their moment in the spotlight, they spend a few minutes relaxing around our cubicles while we act like the paparazzi, snapping photos and asking lots of questions.
most often, these visitors come from one of our local zoos, courtesy of an excellent wildlife expert. it's said you learn something new every day. on the days the critters come to visit, i know that's true.
i have learned that baby bears need to be taught everything, including how to drink milk, and that arizona has the most venomous snakes in the country. i've learned that penguins are fearless and even a bit aggressive and that otters have a stink that will stay on your hands all day, no matter how much you scrub them clean.
sometimes, behind the scenes, my job is less about the news of the day and more about getting an education on the world at large. on these days, i feel so lucky.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
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!
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!
Saturday, December 24, 2011
happy holidays
Just a quick note today to say happy holidays!
After being stranded (twice!) by the storm that devoured New Mexico, my parents (who insist on driving 2,000 miles b/c they don't trust the airlines during the holidays) have made it through that snowy beast into the sunshine of Arizona... which means I am getting all I want for Christmas.
I hope your holidays are just as bright. :D
After being stranded (twice!) by the storm that devoured New Mexico, my parents (who insist on driving 2,000 miles b/c they don't trust the airlines during the holidays) have made it through that snowy beast into the sunshine of Arizona... which means I am getting all I want for Christmas.
I hope your holidays are just as bright. :D
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
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.
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.
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