writing
Podcast Interview about SKYLARK!
Oct 04, 2012
It’s been quite a week on my end of things. Amie and I got copyedits on THESE BROKEN STARS last week and just handed those in this morning, which means now I’m wandering around trying to remember what I’m supposed to be doing with myself. The answer is “back to work on SHADOWLARK,” but making that transition is always a little rough. My two series are so different in terms of style, story, focus–I love them both, but switching between the two makes my brain go ping! So the next few days will involve a lot of listening to my SHADOWLARK playlist (it’s all instrumental and therefore likely very boring for most of you unless you’re a soundtrack junkie like me) and going for long walks while staring off into space. Hey, some stereotypes about writers are stereotypes for a reason! (Read more…)
Updates, travels, and various odds and ends
Sep 17, 2012
Well, sorry for the radio silence from this corner of the internet! As some of you may know from my twitter feed, I’ve been traveling around with co-author extraordinaire Amie. (She just got her plane back to her side of the globe yesterday. I’m pretty inconsolable.)
We caught up with our agents at Adams Literary in Charlotte, then headed to Asheville where we met up with the local author ladies there for dinner and chocolate and discussions of serial killers (thanks for the nightmares, Steph). I managed to get my hands on ARCs of THROUGH THE EVER NIGHT and THE MADMAN’S DAUGHTER, and devoured them both. Seriously, they are amazing, folks. Normally I don’t feel the urge to brag about things when I read them before they hit the shelves, but I will be shouting about these two books for a good long time. (Read more…)
Oh, what a week(s) it’s been…
Aug 10, 2012
You guys may have noticed I’ve been a bit quiet lately. Well, there’s a lot of reasons for that. The biggest one is that this happened last week:
SKYLARK is in stores now! (Read more…)
The Kindness Project: Shout-out
Jul 11, 2012
I’m taking a break from this month’s Kindness Project in order to focus on the SKYLARK Blog Tour. (Today I’m over at Nova Ren Suma’s blog, Distraction99, talking about embracing fear on her Turning Points series.) But anyone who knows me knows I’m not very good at multitasking, and since I’ve been writing guest posts left and right for the tour, I couldn’t scramble my brains enough to come up with anything coherent. I have so much I wish I could say–I’ve encountered so much kindness over the past month that I barely know where to start. The kindness and enthusiasm of book bloggers, fellow authors, readers, new fans… it’s overwhelming seeing people supporting me and my book, and supporting books in general.
Still, even though I’m not posting today, I still wanted to make sure you all got the links for everyone who is posting. So please, be sure to check out the amazing people making it their mission to bring more kindness into the world.
On Tenses: When to Use Present, When to Use Past
Apr 20, 2012
Lately it seems like every other YA novel I pick up is first person present tense. Which, when done right, is awesome. Some of my favorite books are in present tense. But I keep seeing books written in present tense with no actual reason for it. I think THE HUNGER GAMES, among other books, made this particular style of narration jump in popularity lately. I’m seeing a ton of aspiring writers using it in books that I’m not quite sure warrant it. (Read more…)
In My Mailbox… ARCs! (Or, Meg Scares a UPS Guy)
Apr 06, 2012
ARCssssssssss! Yeah, so I actually got them about two weeks ago. But because my cover hadn’t gone live yet, I couldn’t very well show off my BEAUTIFUL galleys without giving away what the cover of SKYLARK looked like. A few friends suggested masking the cover with a fake book jacket, but in the end I just decided to wait. There was plenty of other exciting news to share with you guys, like the new title for my collaborative novel with Amie, THESE BROKEN STARS.
So, without further ado, the story of How I Got My ARCs! (Read more…)
COVER REVEAL over at The Story Siren!
Apr 04, 2012
Hey guys, you know how I keep teasing you with the fact that I’ve been sitting on the cover of SKYLARK for, oh, months now?
Well, the teasing is over! Skylark’s beautiful (I’m unbiased, I swear) cover is now UP on The Story Siren. Hop on over to see it, and while you’re at it, enter to win one of THREE advanced reader copies of the book! Plus, I answer a few questions about the cover process, and my own reactions to the cover.
Head over to The Story Siren. . . . (Read more…)
Updates and Foreign Deals!
Feb 02, 2012
For those of you who follow my writing partner, Amie Kaufman, this will come as no surprise, as she’s already announced it on her blog. (For those of you who don’t, march right over there and follow her!) Anyway, we have some rockin’ news to share: WRECKED has sold as three-book deals in Poland (Otwarte) and Brazil (Novo Conceito)! And, because they are just that awesome, Novo Conceito has ALSO bought the SKYLARK trilogy.
Books as Fingerprints
Jan 18, 2012
It used to be that hardcopy book people would get this insane fire in their eyes when someone would ask them about e-readers or e-books or the future of publishing. It’s that “I like the weight of them” look, the “it’s the way they smell” look, the “you can pry my hard copy books out of my cold dead hands” look. In just a few short years it seems that’s kind of calmed down a little bit. I know I have. I used to be adamant that I’d never own an e-reader, but now—especially that I do so much reading of books in digital manuscript form—I can see the appeal. And I’ll probably even get one, too.
But I’ll also never stop buying physical books. (Read more…)
The Doldrums
Jan 12, 2012
Writers like writing about how hard it is to write. As a newly full-time writer myself, I’m constantly astonished by how tough it is. On the one hand, not having to get up and get dressed and drive in the traffic and sit at a desk and listen to the office chatter and so forth is pretty awesome. Getting to play video games whenever is pretty awesome. Dictating my own schedule and getting to do my grocery shopping midday is pretty awesome.
But on the other hand: writing is pretty hard.