New YA novel coming March, 2022!

Exciting news!

I sold a YA novel in March to a fairly new line at Penguin Random House called Underlined. It focuses on page-turning reads for teens and publishes most in paperback, so they are more affordable. I just love that! I haven't had a young adult novel published for over five years, so I'm excited to be back in that space again. But that's not all - it's my first mystery, a murder mystery to be exact. When I wrote this book, I was substituting in libraries and when I would work in middle and high school libraries, just about every other student that came in asked for a mystery. I thought, "Maybe I should write one." So I did. 

We have worked hard and quickly to get it ready for publication for spring of 2022!! And the REALLY good news is that it is already up for pre-order on many sites. Pre-orders help authors so much because it lets the publisher know there is interest which may cause them to put a bit more into marketing and promotion.

The premise: When a boy finds a girl's body in the ditch on prom night, he becomes the primary suspect in her murder. 

Here's the cover:

Follow this LINK to see all the places it's available to order. I appreciate your support so much!

YALSA YA Lit Symposium 2015

It's no secret that I LOVE libraries. I use my fabulous public library weekly. And librarians have a special place in my heart, because they do what they do with such joy and passion - they love books, and they love bringing books and people together. It's a wonderful thing.

This year, the YALSA YA Lit Symposium was in my backyard here in Portland, Oregon so my publisher had me attend the book blitz Saturday evening, which was SO much fun. Librarians in attendance were given six tickets each and with those tickets, they were able to go around and get signed books for themselves and/or for their library. I was able to chat with a bunch of librarians and signed a WHOLE bunch of books, and it makes me happy to think of some of those books making their way back to find homes in libraries or even some teens' homes when they're given away as door prizes and other things.

Three especially fun things happened during the book blitz.

1) A librarian said, "Since The Bridge from Me to You is on Soaring Eagle list, I'm wondering if you'd sign this bookplate for my own personal copy back home?" I was like - the what list? Turns out Wyoming has a state reading list called The Soaring Eagle list and my book is one of fifteen books that are nominated for the award that will be announced in the spring of 2016. Landing on a state reading list is always a fun thing!

and

2) A librarian came up to me and said, "You're probably not going to believe this but I'm Mrs. Smith's daughter-in-law. You know, your old teacher, Patsy Smith?"

She then proceeded to tell me that she was reading All We Have is Now back at home when she saw this dedication:

for Mrs. Smith, my favorite high school teacher, who asked the question, if you only had 24 hours...

and wondered if it might be the Mrs. Smith she was related to. What are the chances, she wondered? Still, she asked, and of course Mrs. Smith didn't recognize my name, because it's my married name. But when she saw my picture she was like - yes, that was one of my students!

So I got to sign a book for that teacher who I adore so very much. Isn't that cool?

3) A librarian (do you see a pattern here?) told me All We Have is Now is one of the best YA novels she's read in the past TEN YEARS! Holy Moly. Do you know how nice it was to hear that? Very, very, very nice.

Thank you YALSA and librarians for a great evening, and for all you do for teens and YA literature!

A great thing you can do for a book that you think might be good for reluctant readers is to nominate it for the YALSA Quick Picks List. I've had two books on the list in years past - I Heart You, You Haunt Me and The Day Before. Anyone can nominate by filling out THIS FORM. Publishers love it when books make these lists.

Have a great week!

I write about teens and for teens

This past week, there was yet another article posted about YA lit that caused a lot of controversy. I didn't read the article, because I didn't want to add another click, but I gather that the gist was basically this: adults who read YA should be ashamed of themselves.

Whatever. We've heard it before. When I saw people on twitter talking about it, I just rolled my eyes. Again. For approximately the fifty-second time.

I proudly read YA, and MG too. It is rare for me to pick up a book written for adults, because they often bore me. (I did, however, finish THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY by Gabrielle Zevin recently and really enjoyed it). More and more adults are reading YA, and that's great! Just like we are allowed to pick what we watch on TV, decide what we put in our mouths, we, as adults, are also allowed to read whatever the heck we want. No shame, people.

There are some authors that have huge legions of adult fans. Melina Marchetta comes to mind. Also, Maggie Stiefvater. A.S. King. Stephanie Perkins. Andrew Smith. Cassie Clare and Laini Taylor. Now, lots and lots of teens love their books too. But I know these names come up again and again by adults who read and love YA.

The thing is, you will not find my name mentioned very often by adults who read YA. And I'm not saying that to get sympathy or whatever, it's just a fact. Are there some adults who enjoy my YA books? Sure. But not many, really. Yesterday on twitter, some YA authors were talking about how they don't write *for* teens, they write *about* teens. That anyone can read them and enjoy them, and I get what they're saying. I also feel like that is what the market wants right now - YA novels that are about teens but that anyone will read and enjoy.

I'm not sure my books fit in with that notion, and it scares me a little bit. Because what I *don't* want to happen is for the teens to be forgotten in all of this.

Editor Julie Strauss-Gabel tweeted something that I really liked yesterday.

Although teens of all ages read my books, they've especially found a sweet spot with 7th and 8th graders. It can be a tough time for them, reading-wise, because they are over middle grade novels, but many of the YA novels have content that they may not be ready for. When I'm writing my YAs, I try to keep that 13-year-old in mind. Maybe, technically, I'm not supposed to do that. Maybe I'd be a lot more successful if I didn't do that. Maybe my career will be over soon because I'm doing it all wrong.

I don't know.

I did an event last weekend in the Dalles at Klindt's bookstore, the oldest bookstore in Oregon. Here are all of the authors along with some of the staff.

And here I am at my table, talking with a couple of teens.

When I walked up to my table, about ten minutes before the official start time for the event, there was a teen with her mom, standing there, waiting for me. I can't remember her name for sure. It started with an M. Mikayla maybe?

Anyway, M. had two new books in hand, one of which she'd read but wanted her own, signed copy, and another she hadn't read yet. She said, "I should have brought my other books from home for you to sign." She paused and quietly said, "You're my favorite author."

I may not be mentioned much on twitter by adults who read YA. I may not be the one people think of as an author who writes great YA for any age. I may not ever write a YA novel that sells enough copies, to adults and teens alike, to hit the NYT bestseller list. There is a lot I don't know, and even more I worry and wonder about when it comes to this sometimes-crazy business of writing YA novels.

But I do know this. I love reading YA lit, and I love writing it too. And I am at least one teen's favorite author. I can't even express how honored I am by that.

YA novel coming in 2014

Publisher's Weekly announced my latest YA news last week, so thought I'd share with my blog readers.

To see the official announcement, go HERE and scroll down a bit.

I call it my small town, big sky, driving aimlessly, football is king novel. Yes, football is a part of it, but it's not really a football book. As I told someone on twitter, I had to do something with all that Friday Night Lights love in my heart. The official short summary says, "It is told alternately by a 17-year-old girl who is new to a small town with a family secret, and the star football player she meets who is having a tough year and has big dreams beyond the field."

So for all the fans of Chasing Brooklyn who liked how the story alternated between Brooklyn and Nico, this one alternates between Lauren and Colby (Lauren's part is told in verse, Colby's part is told in regular prose).

There's actually a lot of my own high school experiences in this book, and I'm sure I'll talk more about that as it gets closer to publication. In the meantime, I went looking for some images that convey a little bit of the feel of this book, and here's what I found (all images courtesy of morguefile.com)

You can add the book on goodreads if you're into that kind of thing: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18520398-the-bridge-from-me-to-you

I'm really excited about this one and hope you are too!!

If I were Queen of YA covers

Jeri Smith-Ready revealed the cover for her new contemporary YA novel coming out in 2014. I commented on twitter that I love it. (You can read a synopsis of the book here)

If I were Queen of YA Covers, I would say, let's have more artistic covers like this, please!!

I was browsing a great web site, yalit.com, which gives an easy-to-read list of upcoming YA releases, and although I hardly found any artistic covers in my quick scan, I did find some that feel different to me than the usual fare, and I'm curious if others like these that are different, or is it just me?

I need to get back to revisions, so I don't have time to link to indiebound so you can learn what these books are about, but do look them up if you're curious. Mostly I just felt like crowning myself Queen of YA Covers for a day, or you know, five minutes, where I say - more creative and different covers, please!

A side note: There is a series my 16 YO son loves, but I don't think he ever would have read them if he wasn't able to take the covers off so he could take them to school. The covers feature a teen boy and girl (though they look older) and he really hated the covers. A lot. I feel like so many of the covers are marketed toward girls, and if we want boys to pick up books and read them regardless of whether a male or female tells the story, publishing really needs to try and do a better job with covers.

All right. Carry on. I have other royal duties to attend to, haha.