My year in writing - 2010

Inspired by Shannon Messenger's month-by-month look back, I thought I'd do something similar. I like the idea of having this post to look back on when I'm having a bad day/week/month to remind myself I can be productive when I really put my mind to it.

January

New book, new career, new story:

On January 5th, my third novel, Chasing Brooklyn was released. It received good reviews. Many readers told me it was their favorite book of mine yet. I breathed a big sigh of relief. On January 15th, I worked my last day at the day job so I could write full-time. I should have been on top of the world, but I received some rejections that I had to shake off, and it wasn't easy. But somehow, I did it, and the end of January saw me beginning a brand new story. 

February

The month of love

On February 4th, I wrote this in a blog post about disappointment: "Believe it or not, I'm now thankful for that disappointment! Isn't that amazing? I'm actually THANKFUL for it! Because I am now writing a  story that I love with my WHOLE, ENTIRE HEART." 

March

A dream come true filled with cupcakes

Middle grade fiction has always held a special place in my heart. The first three novels I wrote (that were not good enough to be published) were middle grade. The strongest memories I have from my childhood around books and reading are during the middle grade years. Books were a lifeline for me then. So what a thrill to have my first middle grade book released to the world. And even more fun? Having a book release party with CUPCAKES!!

In addition to the release, in the middle of March, I sent a new verse novel manuscript to my agent. She replied back, after reading it, "I LOVE this book." 

April

It's going to be a book, hello Texas, and a companion

It's always a good month when a book sells. And the book I worked on night and day for two months, The Day Before, sold to Simon Pulse. And then I was off to San Antonio, for TLA, where I did a panel with Sonya Sones and Ellen Hopkins. Wow, I had SO much fun at that conference, and trust me when I say Texas Librarians are AWESOME! A highlight of that trip was chatting with Suzanne Collins (THE HUNGER GAMES) on the Skylink train in the Dallas airport. When I got home, I began working on a companion novel for It's Raining Cupcakes.

May

Rochester and a new story

The highlight of May was definitely the Rochester Teen Book Festival. So fun meeting all kinds of amazing writers, including Joanne Levy who I sat by at dinner one night, and my on-line friends Deena and Kate from the Author2Author blog. And how many times does a person get a POSTER made of him/her? So cool. The end of May, I started writing a new MG novel, while we waited to hear back on the proposal and five chapters for the companion novel to It's Raining Cupcakes.

June

LOTS of writing

I wrote fast and furious the first two weeks of June. I finished one middle grade novel and then decided, on a whim, to fast draft the rest of the companion novel to It's Raining Cupcakes. Yes, lots and lots of writing. And then revisions came for The Day Before and I spent long hours every day working on that. A vacation to Disneyland at the end of the month was a welcome break. And a signing at Vroman's, where I met Shannon Messenger, Alyson Beacher, Christine Henderson, and others I'm forgetting right now. Ack!

July

LOTS of revising and a sale!!

More revisions for The Day Before. And, hooray, Aladdin buys the companion novel to It's Raining Cupcakes, which stays untitled for the next few months. And of course, lots of summer fun.

August

LA SCBWI, Write On Conference, and The Contemps

The SCBWI in LA is always a fun time and this was no exception. Lindsey and I scored a suite and we were the talk of the conference. Ah, good times. The first annual Write On Conference was a huge success and I was honored to be a part of it, with my video on writing romance in YA. AND, what an exciting time, launching the new group of contemporary authors called The Contemps. 

September

Welcome to the world Little Chimp, and more revisions

I sold Little Chimp's Big Day a long, long time ago. When it finally released, it was almost like - I wrote this? Yes, I did. And Lisa McCue's illustrations are so adorable, and what fun to do a reading and signing with a group of little kids and share Little Chimp with them. And my friends Lisa and Sara too, who were so kind to drop by.

I spent most of the month in revision mode. Again. For the companion novel to Cupcakes.

October

A title, FINALLY and a new story

We decide on the title Sprinkles and Secrets for the follow-up book to Cupcakes. Yay! I love it, it's perfect! And I start in on a new YA project. It is nice to be out of revision mode and back to writing something new.

November

New web site, lots of writing and cover revealed

I moved my web site over to blogger to save money and to make it easier to update it myself. So far, I'm happy with that decision. I continued working on the YA novel, none of it very easy going this time. I just kept telling myself, keep writing, keep writing, keep writing.

And, I got the cover for The Day Before. When I shared it with the world, the reaction was very, very positive. So excited to share Amber's story with the world in June!!

December

First draft done!!

I finished the year with a fourth manuscript complete. Yay! I will work on revising it in January and then, see what my agent thinks. There's a middle grade novel up there in June that has been in a bit of limbo for a while, but I'm crossing my fingers for good things for that book (one really close to my heart) in 2011!! 

Wishing you all much success, as well as health and happiness, in the new year!

On fear and what I learned in 2010

The dedication of my next YA novel, THE DAY BEFORE, reads:

This one is for all of you
who feel the fear and do it anyway,
in writing and in life

It's interesting to me, but perhaps not surprising, that my next book tackles the subject of fear when 2010 has been a year where I myself have had to, again and again, feel the fear and do it anyway.

A year ago, I had given notice at the day job and I can't even describe how scary that was for me. I'm not a bestselling author! Yes, I get royalty checks, but they are about ten to fifteen percent of what I made at the day job. I would have to sell not one, but TWO books in 2010 to make up for my loss of income. And the one and ONLY book I had completed had already garnered a number of rejections.

But I believe in listening to the still, small voice and trusting it. And it had whispered to me, after lots of discussions with my husband and prayerful consideration, "It's time."

I'm going to do a month-by-month look at 2010 tomorrow or Friday, but I've learned a lot about myself this year. I've learned trusting God is hard sometimes, but I'm getting better at it. I've learned over and over again, the only thing I can control is the writing, and it's not always easy, but the key is to keep writing. When something isn't working, it's okay to scrap it and start something new. No writing is wasted writing. It is a journey. As I started my new career of full-time writer, I had to shelf a completely good manuscript that took me an entire YEAR to write, because no one wanted it.

Was I afraid? Abso-freaking-lutely

But I dug deep, told myself I didn't have to understand why things happen but needed to trust it was for the best, went for walks, scribbled in my idea notebook, and after even more rejections on other projects, I began writing what would eventually become THE DAY BEFORE.

A book about fears - big and small - and how we can help each other through but ultimately, it's about confronting them straight on and not letting the fear win.

So, my biggest accomplishment this year?
Not that I wrote four books.
Not that two of them sold.

No. I think it might have been - I didn't let the fear win.

Remember this? One of the best movie scenes of all time.

"You must believe." Oh yeah.

A Thankful Heart

On Saturday, as the kids played new games, I flipped through channels trying to find a Christmas show to entertain me and my husband before we had to leave for Christmas dinner at my brother's home.

I stumbled upon the The Muppet Christmas Carol.

Thank the good Lord, I stumbled upon the The Muppet Christmas Carol! I was smart enough to hit record, since we'd have to leave before it was over. So, later on, we all sat down and watched it from (almost) the beginning, the whole family. And my kids loved it too.

How I've managed to go through almost twenty Christmases since it was released and not watch that movie before this weekend is beyond me. I was mesmerized. Michael Caine was BRILLIANT. I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more.

When I was a child, I listened to a record called The Frog Prince over and over and over again on my little record player in my room. Back then, we didn't have DVRs or even VCRs (I know, the horror!), so I saw the movie once, and then it lived on through the record. It's fun to revisit the movie on youtube now. Anyway, until now, that was my favorite muppet movie:





But now, I have The Muppet Christmas Carol. Ahh... love, love, love!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

A modified version of the Christmas letter I sent with cards this year.

As always, Scott has been working hard in our back yard.

Lisa is really enjoying her job as full-time author.

Our sweet little boys... oops. Our teenagers (gulp) keep us on our toes.

Wishing you all the joys of the season, and a happy and healthy new year!

Winner of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE ARC

Wow, what a great response to the contest! It was fun to read what books people are looking forward to. It really is going to be a great year of books.

So, drum roll please....

Congratulations to Germain, who is the winner thanks to the random generator! Germain, I sent you an e-mail.

Thanks again and I'll definitely participate in another giveaway hop in the near future. Probably to give away one of my own ARCs!!

Happy holidays!

Midwinter's Eve Giveaway

I'm really excited to be participating in the Midwinter's Eve Giveaway Hop, hosted by Kathy Habel at I am a Reader, Not a Writer. Every month, Kathy organizes a "hop" so blog readers can quickly hop from blog to blog and enter to win lots and lots of prizes. Cool, huh?

Since I'm in the giving mood with Christmas just a few days away, I decided it was a perfect time to put my name on the list and give something away!

So... want to know what you can win?

A highly sought after ARC of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis which comes out in just a few short weeks from Razorbill. You can read the amazing first chapter HERE.

From Goodreads: Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Source of the book: Publisher

Entering my giveaway is EASY. I'm so excited about all the great books coming out in 2011! It's going to be a great year for YA, don't you think? Maybe I'm telling myself that because I have one coming out myself? Nah - it really is going to be great! :)  Anyway, all you have to do to enter to win ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is leave a comment and tell me one of the books you are looking forward to reading in 2011. Please make sure you give me a way to contact you if you should win. The contest runs today AND tomorrow, and is open to anyone who has a US address. Deadline to enter is 11:59 PM, December 22, 2010.


I will announce the winner on December 23rd!!

If you're new to my blog, thanks for stopping by! If you're one of my regular readers, thanks, as always for reading!

(Below is the list of blogs participating in the giveaway - click on as many links as you'd like and enter to win many more cool prizes!)

The Friday Five

1. I have this longing to go to a movie theater and spend a whole day watching film after film. To just get swept up and away in story after story. Should I do it? Have you ever done it?

I want to see THE KING'S SPEECH, THE TOURIST, TANGLED, DUE DATE, BURLESQUE and HARRY POTTER!!

Of course, I've had SCOTT PILGRIM VS the WORLD sitting here to watch at home for over a week, and have I made time? Uh, no.

2. Speaking of movies, have you seen the trailer for WATER FOR ELEPHANTS? I loved that book. And the trailer makes me squeal with joy. It looks magical!

3. I just posted my Christmas list on Facebook. Here it is:

FALL FOR ANYTHING by Courtney Summers and FIXING DELILAH by Sarah Ockler
Taylor Swift's Target Special Edition CD
Trip to Paris

4. I'm a little sad today, as I say good-bye today to the girls and readers of the Author2Author blog.

5. My copy-edited manuscript of SPRINKLES AND SECRETS is calling to me. I better get to it.

Have a great weekend everyone!