My year in writing - 2011

I did this last year, and thought I'd do it again this year. It's nice to have a summary of the year to remember all the fun I had.

January

Baby it's cold in Utah

January marked my one year anniversary of quitting the day job. It felt so good to make it to that year mark. As for writing, I was revising a YA novel I'd written in the fall. I worked on it during a writing retreat my friend, Lindsey Leavitt, hosted in Utah. So much fun. That's me with rock star author, Becca Fitzpatrick.

February

One day, forever changed

I have written books about love and loss, healing and hope. But nothing can really prepare you for losing a dear friend. On February 23rd, I got the call that Lisa had passed away. A few hours later, I got the call that I had sold my first fantasy middle-grade novel to Holt. As it says in THE DAY BEFORE, "Life is the bad with all the good. The deadly sharks with the beautiful sea stars."

March

Tri-Cities, here I come and Hello, are you serious?

I attended the Cavalcade of Authors in Washington the first part of March and it was SO much fun! Look at all of those kids, excited about reading and writing. I did three back-to-back workshops on revising and then spent the afternoon signing and answering questions. Later in the month, I got the call that CHASING BROOKLYN was a RITA finalist. I'd finally get to go to NYC!!!

April

Paperback releases and YAY Scholastic
IT'S RAINING CUPCAKES and CHASING BROOKLYN both came out in paperback in April. I also got word that Scholastic had picked up I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME and CHASING BROOKLYN for book clubs/fairs in the fall. This made me all kinds of happy. Honestly, getting books picked up by Scholastic has been one of the best things that has happened to me career-wise.

May

I love Oregon Trail Elementary!
The highlight of May was definitely the elementary school visit I did. The K-2nd graders went on an imagination safari with me and Little Chimp from LITTLE CHIMP'S BIG DAY while the 3rd-5th graders learned how baking up cupcakes is a lot like baking up stories. Thanks to my friend Jenn who helped make the school visit happen. I loved every minute of it.

June

THE DAY BEFORE and NYC!!

My fourth YA novel released in June and for the most part, was positively received by readers. The end of June, I headed to New York City for the RITA awards, where I had lunch with my agent, met my fabulous editors in person, had a cupcake party at the S&S offices, and signed books at Books of Wonder. June was an amazing month. More months like June, please!

July

Vegas, baby!

When you combine Lindsey Leavitt and Lifehouse, Lisa Schroeder will be unable to say no. Lindsey tweeted me one day - Lifehouse will be here in two weeks. Wanna come visit? Yes. Yes I do. And so off I went. And what a fun weekend we had, even if it was about 133 degrees outside. Crystal Perkins, the amazing bookseller at B&N even threw together a signing for me. Awesome.

August
Summer time, fun time
August was all about enjoying the nice weather that we'd been longing for here in Oregon and preparing for the release of SPRINKLES AND SECRETS. I made a bunch of videos dressed as a cupcake, which you can see on youtube if you'd like by searching for "Fun with Cupcakes Lisa Schroeder."

September

SPRINKLES AND SECRETS
Yay, after months and months of kids asking if there would be another book about Isabel and Sophie, I could finally say Yes there is and you can read the book now! I also started writing a new book - a YA novel with four different POVs. Oh boy.

October

Wordstock with special thanks to Sara Gundell

I love this picture like WHOA! Hung out with my pals Lindsey Leavitt, Suzanne Young, Sara Gundell, and Corey Whaley, who I hadn't met until Wordstock but fell madly in love with because he is the type of guy you just can't help but adore. The panel with Lindsey, Corey and myself was awesome and I want to do it again. Please, someone invite us - we're an entertaining trio and you will LOVE us! Thanks Sara, for making it happen!

November

Hit me Vegas, one more time

I couldn't resist. I went to Vegas again! My sweet friend, Suzanne Young, and I shared a room and participated in the Vegas Book Festival with a whole bunch of amazing authors. We also played the Wizard of Oz penny slots while drinking Coronas and had a magical night with Dorothy. I'm ready to go again. Suz??

December

First draft done!!

I finished the year with a new YA manuscript. Yay! I'm getting ready to send it off to a beta reader and after that, to my agent. The new year will bring revisions on contracted books (one of which I haven't even announced yet, but hopefully SOON), a new middle grade fantasy I want to write, and a couple of trips I'm really excited about. The best one? A trip to Rhode Island in March to participate as a JUDGE at an event called Cupcake Madness!

I have the best job in the world!! And I just realized I saw Lindsey four months out of twelve this year. Thank you, God. You obviously gave me what I really needed.

Here's to a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year for everyone!

xoxo
Lisa

Writing Retreat 2011

I have known Lindsey Leavitt for a long time. Years and years. We met on Verla's message boards, and swapped our boyish middle grade novels, and I fell in love with her sweetness and sense of humor. I knew she had talent and it would just be a matter of time before she was published. It's not just her writing I love though. I ADORE Lindsey, and am so blessed to call her my friend.

But back to her books. I can still remember when she sent me the first chapter of Princess For Hire. She wanted to know if she should keep writing, and what did I think of it? What did I think of it??? Oh my gosh - so cute, so funny, so good!! Write it, I told her in ten different ways. And write it she did.

And then, there was Sean Griswold's Head. I fell in love with Sean as I read the manuscript. I have an ARC I'm reading now, and it's so fun to see the story I loved years ago transformed into a real book! And lucky you, I'm going to give it away next week. Trust me people, you want to read this book. It's fun and funny and has a whole lot of heart. It's my favorite kind of book. (Bloomsbury, March 1, 2011)

Lindsey and I met face-to-face for the first time a couple of years ago at an SCBWI conference. And since then, I can't get enough of her. When her husband was looking for a place to practice dentistry, I was like, Oregon is a REALLY GREAT PLACE. Unfortunately, that didn't work out. So, imagine my happiness when she suggested a writing retreat at her parent's vacation home. Yes, please!!

So, this past weekend, we gathered in the beautiful state of Utah. Pictures don't really do it justice, but I took a few while on a walk one day, so might as well share.

I will be honest. It was a bit bittersweet going on this trip. Our dear friend Lisa M. was supposed to be on the flight with me. She was supposed to be going out to dinner with us, and standing around the kitchen, chatting with us. I missed her. But I'm really glad I went. I got some writing done, and we had lots of fun alongside the work. The last night we were there, we went in to Park City and had dinner at an Irish Pub. Becca Fitzpatrick, author of HUSH HUSH, let me have some bites of her soup (it was REALLY good soup)! The beautiful lady sitting next to Lindsey is Rachel Hawkins, author of the HEX HALL series. OH! HEX HALL is out in paperback this week. If you haven't read it, you should buy it - it's so good! I'm REALLY glad I got to meet Becca and Rachel (and Emily Wing Smith, who I somehow failed to get a picture of, dang it). I adored them, and hope I get to hang out with them again someday.

Writing can be lonely. It's hard being inside your own head all of the time. It's so nice to get together with other writers, to brainstorm, to talk shop, to laugh until you cry reading, um, well, I probably shouldn't say. But yeah, it's good. Especially when you reassure each other that you WILL get through the WIP and make it out to the other side. Hopefully.

So now I'm home, trying to finish the revisions on this book I've been working on since October. I am hoping to finish it soon and send it to my agent to see what she thinks. I have about 100 more pages to go through and revise. I can do it, right? RIGHT!? If I close my eyes, and pretend I'm back in Utah with the beautiful scenery and the wonderful friends, I bet I can.