Book Recommendations

First - how do you like the new design? She still has to add the social media buttons, but other than that, it's done and I have to say -  I LOVE IT! When Lauren, the person I hired to do a custom blogger design, sent me the pink typewriter image as an idea, I freaked out a little bit. I had mentioned the idea of a pen or pencil or maybe some typewriter keys as ideas for the header, and from that, she suggested the pink typewriter. How did she know that's so ME??? I'm not kidding when I say every time a pink typewriter shows up on tumblr, I reblog it. If you would like to give your blogger site a makeover, I highly recommend Lauren. You can find out more by visiting her etsy shop HERE.

Anyway, I haven't done a book recommendation post for a long time. I sometimes worry that people will have their feelings hurt if I don't mention one of their books. But, I can only read so much. I mean, I wish I could read ALL the books that everyone I know writes, but alas, I cannot. And until a week ago, I've been on deadline after deadline, and I didn't even have much time to read. So, right or wrong, here are some books I've read recently that I recommend.

Middle Grade:

A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd

Beautiful language along with lots of fun and unique characters make this one a winner:

Doll Bones by Holly Black

A little creepy but a delightful adventure story that highlights the difficulties of growing up:

Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald

A fun mystery with cool art history facts:

How to Outrun a Crocodile when your Shoes are Untied by Jess Keating

This is such a fun novel for tweens, filled with humor and heart (out June 1st):

Young Adult:

Better off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg

Really cute - if you enjoy light and fun contemporaries, definitely check this one out:

Also Known As by Robin Benway

This one is so smart and funny - I LOVE Maggie and Roux. I need to get the sequel:

Tsarina by J. Nelle Patrick

Beautiful writing and a riveting story make this historical fantasy a gem:

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

Tough subject matter, but wow, so gripping and well written.

I hope to read a lot in April, so will have more recs in a month or two, I'm sure. Would love to hear what you've been reading and loving!

Keeping the joy alive

For the first time in a long time (like years and years) I don't have anything to work on, writing wise.

It feels strange. But also, nice. I can finally watch "Frozen!" And catch up on all of these books I've been wanting to read. And in April some of my favorite TV shows return for another season. "Game of Thrones." "Mad Men." "Call the Midwife."

Yes, basically, my life is all about stories.

So, how long am I not going to write? I don't know. I recently found the first pages of a story I started a couple of years ago that I really like, and that may be the next thing I work on, but not now. Not for a little while. Not until I get through this busy spring with some travel and appearances and getting stuff done around the house.

I've been thinking about how my writing life has changed from when I first started doing this as basically a hobby (since I had a day job) to now, when writing IS my day job.

Again and again I would write because it was fun. Because I loved making up stories and seeing where the characters took me.

Last year, when I had to write four books back to back, that didn't seem fun. It seemed like work. And, you know, it was work. I had a contract that specified when my drafts were due and I was getting paid to meet those deadlines.

Except for me, I knew the key would be to go back to the basics. Make the books fun. And that's what I did. With each book, I found something that made the book fun and exciting for me. That doesn't mean that it wasn't hard sometimes. Writing is often hard. The key is to write anyway, get through the hard parts, with the characters you love pulling you through.

I get lots of e-mails asking about getting published. Kids or teens wanting to know what it takes to become a published author. There are entire books on the subject, so it's not something I can easily explain in an e-mail. So while I refer them to books on the subject, and point them to helpful forums on the web like SCBWI's or the Absolute Write Water Cooler, I also try to say, in the nicest way possible, to not worry too much about that now. Write because it's fun. Write because you enjoy it and you want to get better at it. Write for yourself, because you love creating stories.

The publishing business can be brutal. There is no guarantee, ever, for any of us. My career could be over tomorrow. Even now, with over a dozen books published, I still have books rejected. I still get discouraged. But what pulls me back again and again is creating a story that makes my heart flutter. That is where the joy is - in the creating. Again and again, I have to remind myself of that. Love of story is what has pulled me back from the edge of "I can't do this anymore" many times.

I also think the pressure of creating and creating more can cause you to start to hate it. That's why I'm taking a break now. I want to be excited about writing when I return, instead of going to the keyboard filled with dread.

I've been writing a very, very long time. Because I love it. Because it's fun and challenging and satisfying and lots of other things. The most important thing I can do for myself as a writer is to not lose the joy that comes from writing.  Like the joy I found when I made this book at the age of seven or eight, that my grandma kept and gave to me when she found out I was having my first book published.

Okay, so it's not a very good story. There's no conflict and nothing much happens, but still. I finished it. I'm pretty sure I enjoyed creating it, even if there were parts that were hard (like drawing a lion when I was probably afraid it would look like a sheep).

And now, more than ever, I understand that joy is one of the most important things we can bring to our writing. And we have to do everything within our power to maintain that sense of wonder and joy.

So in the coming months, I will watch shows I love, read great books, frolic in the tulips, and much, much more.

I will be "not writing" and yet, all of it will eventually help my writing. I am sure of it!

Giveaway Winners!!

Thanks to everyone who entered the Spring Has Sprung giveaway. More pretty flowers for you!

I will be mailing out bookmarks to anyone who said they'd like some over the next couple of weeks. There were a good number of entries, so it may take me a while, but I will get them to you.

As for the prize pack winners, here they are (all winner have been contacted by e-mail).

Prize Pack #1 - Allison H.

Prize Pack #2 - Deana S.

Prize Pack #3 - Hannah B.

Thanks again and hope you all have a wonderful spring!!

Lisa

Spring Has Sprung Giveaway

Sunshine! Blue Skies!! Daffodils!

If you still have snow where you are, I am so, so sorry. Really and truly.

Anyway, I was thinking about Caitlin, the girl on the cover of the first CHARMED LIFE book, because she loves flowers and dreams of working in a flower shop someday. And then I remembered I have a few Advanced Review Copies that are just sitting here, waiting for a new home.

And I thought, I haven't done a giveaway in a long, long time. So how about I do one now!? Okay? Okay! We'll have THREE lucky winners!!

Winner #1 will get:

IT'S RAINING CUPCAKES, personalized/signed
SPRINKLES AND SECRETS, personalized/signed
FROSTING AND FRIENDSHIP, personalized/signed
Advanced Review Copy of CHARMED LIFE #1, Caitlin's Lucky Charm, personalized/signed

Winner #2 will get:

Advanced Review Copy of CHARMED LIFE #1, Caitlin's Lucky Charm, personalized/signed
Advanced Review Copy of the middle grade novel UNDER THE EGG by Laura Marx Fitzgerald (I've read this book and it's so good!)

Winner #3 will get:

Your choice of CUPCAKES, SPRINKLES or FROSTING, personalized/signed
Advanced Review Copy of CHARMED LIFE #1, Caitlin's Lucky Charm, personalized/signed.

But wait, there's more!! Anyone and everyone can win some signed bookmarks, featuring the new CHARMED LIFE series. Aren't they pretty?

So what is the CHARMED LIFE series about, you ask? It's about four sixth grade girls who meet at summer camp and think they've found a lucky bracelet.

In book #1, you'll get to know Caitlin, who lives in Connecticut
In book #2, you'll get to know Mia who lives in Southern California
In book #3, you'll get to know Libby who lives in a town outside of London, England
And in book #4, you'll get to know Hannah, who lives in Tennessee

Like my "sweet treat" books, these books are mostly about friendship, with some other fun things thrown in too. Books 1 and 2 will be released May 27, 2014 and can be pre-ordered at your favorite bookstore or on-line.

To get some bookmarks and to enter the giveaway, simply fill out the form below. Deadline to enter: Monday, March 17, 2014 at midnight. Please note: Kids under 13 are not allowed to enter the contest. Due to privacy laws, if you are under 13, you must have your parent enter for you.

Thanks for being awesome and GOOD LUCK!

Sorry, giveaway is over.

Happy to announce a new book!

Here's the announcement from Publisher's Marketplace.

I've been working on this book for a long time, revising and revising some more, trying to get it right. I'm doing another revision now, for my editor, due mid-March. I'm really excited about this one though and can't wait for readers to meet Nora and travel along with her to Paris!

I need to give my friend and author extraordinaire, Daisy Whitney, a shout-out here. She read an early version and her encouragement and helpful insight really kept me going!

photo credit: morguefile.com

Merci for reading!

Have a great weekend!!

Thinking about what sells a book

Six+ years ago, in January, 2008, my first novel came out.

There was no twitter.

Facebook may have been around, I'm not sure, but most people I knew weren't on it yet.

MySpace was going strong, and I did have a page there and tried to connect with people. I know Lisa McMann was incredibly successful in connecting with teens there and getting them excited about her WAKE trilogy when it came out.

Book blogging was really starting to be a thing. I did connect with some book bloggers, but I'm 99% sure my first YA novel didn't have an official "tour" or anything.

Blogging was popular at the time. I had a blog over at livejournal (which still exists because so many comments from my friend Lisa, who passed away three years ago, are there, and I love them. I can't delete them. I just can't. It's like a part of her still exists there. Though I should probably delete it because holy crap, talk about over-sharing.) ANYWAY, a bunch of us who were writers followed each other and had a lot of fun within our tight-knit community. Most of us started our blogs before we were published. So our posts were about personal things or about our writing struggles or about the bumpy road to publication. I loved it. There was no promotion. Just bad news or good news and all the stuff in between. Until things changed. Until everyone started getting book deals.

Here are some things I remember regarding the YA market leading up to my first YA novel coming out.

* I clearly remember the buzz around TWILIGHT before and after it hit the shelves in 2005.

* I remember the buzz around Melissa Marr's WICKED LOVELY series, which sold in 2006, I believe (it came out in 2008).

* I remember reading LOOKING FOR ALASKA while on vacation at Sunriver in 2005. I loved it and I was so excited when it won the Printz in January, 2006. It didn't have a lot of buzz. I only knew about it because his editor was Julie Strauss-Gabel, and she was an editor I admired and kind of kept my eye on.

* I remember it was around the release of the second book of TWILIGHT that bookstores started making a space just for YA novels and moved them out of the children's section. Wow.

* I remember not having a clue as to what to do to promote my book (this is still mostly true, by the way). I joined the class of 2K8. I got a web site going. I kept blogging. And that was about it.

When I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME came out, I remember checking Amazon at one point and I was *shocked* the Amazon ranking was below 10,000. I could not believe it. Even though we don't really know what the numbers actually mean in terms of how many copies sold, I think most people know what's good, great, fantastic, bestseller territory, etc. Anything below 10,000 is good, especially for a debut author.

I'm not sure any of my other books, except for maybe one of my middle-grade novels, dropped down that low.

My editor came back from vacation toward the end of January, and when we talked on the phone, he said, "All I've heard since I've been back is how well I HEART YOU is selling."

I did very little promotion of the book. I didn't have any big name blurb. It got a couple of okay reviews, but nothing spectacular. But here are a couple of things that I believe helped it to sell:

1) The title and the concept combined with the amazing cover. You never know for sure what's going

image credit: morguefile.com

to work and it all just worked.

2) It was the kind of book people read and talked about. What is that kind of book, exactly? No one really knows. If we did, we'd all be writing it. I've said it before and I'll say it again - word of mouth is the BEST kind of marketing there is. If you love an author, talking about his/her books is the number one thing you can do to support that author. And for all of the people who have talked about my books over the years - thank you!!

Okay, one more thing helped it to sell.
3) Luck. Right place, right time, simple as that. I think sometimes we underestimate this element.

So, what other things help to sell books? Support from the publisher and bookstores, of course. Lead titles are at a huge advantage because of the push they get from the publisher. Nothing can beat that, really.

I've been thinking about all of this in regards to twitter and how it really varies as to how much authors tweet about their books. Some tweet very little. Others tweet all the time.

A year or two ago I asked on twitter if people got excited about a book release when an author was excited about a book release. A lot of people said yes. It made them excited when the author was excited. There were a few of us who kind of went - uh oh. Because for many of us, a book release is mostly anxiety producing, and it's hard to be excited when we sort of just want to crawl inside a hole. I've decided when there is something to be excited about, I need to not hold back. Be excited and let others see that, because people DO like to see genuine happiness/excitement.

But can there be too much, is the question I've been pondering? I tend to think yes.

Personally, I think the 80/20 rule is a good one to follow. That is - only about 20% of tweets or posts on facebook or instagram or wherever should be book/promotion-related. More than that, and you run the risk of being annoying. You also may look desperate. Those two things do not sell books.

The biggest change from the year 2008 to the year 2014 is not where people talk about books or how we connect with each other or any of that. No, the biggest change is how many more YA novels simply exist now. A LOT!!! It is much harder to get noticed in today's market. Of course, we also have a gazillion more books to choose from to read, which is pretty sweet, right?

Here's what's new

Thursday through Monday, I was housebound due to a big snow storm that is rare for our neck of the woods. It was very pretty. And quiet. I'm always amazed how much quieter everything is during and after a lot of snow falling.

It's like a the world is snuggled under a giant quilt, sleeping.

The kids loved having a couple of snow days. But I am glad the temperature is back to normal (way above normal, actually, as we're sitting at 50!! degrees today) and I can take the dog for a walk and not worry about falling and breaking my neck.

I know the south and the east are about to get slammed with another big storm, and I am so, so sorry! Winter sucks. That's all there is to it. Hang in there.

The good news is that since I was stuck at home, and my husband had to work, I wrote a LOT. In fact, I finished a draft of a new book. It's always such an exciting thing - to get to the end of something I started a few months ago, not knowing for sure if I'd get to the end or not. Never gets old, let me tell you. I'm working on revisions now so I can send it to my agent soon and see what she thinks. I don't want to say a lot, but I will say this. It's kind of a strange book, but I am *really* excited about it, because strange isn't always a bad thing. There's a fine line, I know, but when done right, the unique and the odd can create a great read. Here's hoping...

Along with getting this new thing ready for my agent to read, I have first pass pages to go through on one of the CHARMED LIFE books. And I have edits coming soon on another book I sold recently but haven't announced yet. When all of that's done, I plan on taking a couple of months off from writing.

Honest. Really! I am!!

I'll still be working, since I have Skype visits and other appearances coming up, but it's time to fill the well on the writing end of things. I'm sure it won't be long before I'll be itching to get back to it. But for now, I'm looking forward to some time off to do other things.

Read!
Go to my son's track meets!
Spring clean! (Okay, looking forward to that is reaching, but still. Needs to be done.)

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Only 35 days until spring! See?

Spring Countdown