Newsletter Sign Up! For News and ... such

Howdy!

I've just added a sign up widget thingie over on the right --> under my picture and bio. If you so wish, you can get emails from me to keep you up to date on things like cover reveals, book release dates, and I dunno, THE LAUNCH PARTY next spring!

I promise not to spam you every day with junk. I plan to only send out news when there is actual news.

That is all. :)

A Class of 2k14 Giveaway for Teachers and Librarians!

The Class of 2k14 is having a BACK TO SCHOOL GIVEAWAY specifically for teachers and librarians!

If you are a teacher or librarian, CLICK HERE to go to the giveaway! If you aren't, fear not! We'll have more awesome giveaways for you soon!

YA Outside the Lines

I'm the newest member of YA Outside the Lines, a blog of YA novelists that write from the heart! I'd like to send y'all over to my first post HERE. We're talking about teen memories of summer this month, which means ice skating!

There's even a picture of 13 year old me! GO SEE GO SEE!

Audiobooks, Copyedits, and the Cutest Hippo EVER!

1. I've been listening to audiobooks lately. I'm currently listening to The Giver by Lois Lowry read by Ron Rifkin (from Alias!). It's taken some work to train myself to pay attention because I'm more of a visual, but if the narrator is good, they really bring a story to life. I find myself enjoying stories I may not have taken the time to read, and if I listen while on a walk, sometimes it makes me want to walk farther!

2. Copyediting is DONE! What a weird feeling to see your book marked up in such a critical way. Missed punctuation, alternate spellings, words missing entirely. It was quite the experience, but I'm glad the book is once again out of my hands!

3. My WIP is now over 69,000 words! I'm so at that point where things need to be wrapped up and I'm increasingly intimidated by everything left to do. *collapses*

4. The Civil Wars has a new album coming out soon (which I've already pre-ordered) and it saddens me that I'll probably never get the chance to see them perform live as they are currently not on speaking terms. But man can they make some amazing music in the midst of all the not getting along.

5. A year or so ago, Catherine introduced me to artist Cori Dantini's work, and I've been obsessed ever since. I mean, LOOK HOW CUTE!

A lot of her pieces include birds, which I have a hard time resisting! I've purchased two prints so far, and I've marked so many more as favorites. So. Hard. To. Pick. Check out her Etsy store HERE.

Class of 2k14 Website Launch, and New Author Page

HELLOOOOOO friends! I have two exciting things to share today, so let's get to it!

FIRSTLY, my debut author group CLASS OF 2k14 has a SPIFFY WEBSITE! And to celebrate, we're giving away a $100 gift card so you can buy BOOKS!

Check it out and enter to win HERE!


Also, I finally created an author page on FB to avoid spamming my friends when I get to announce ALL THE THINGS. The link to my spiffy new page is HERE!

HAPPY JULY!! Sunscreen is your FRIEND! ;)

Summertime and the Reading is Easy

It's hard to believe that this time next year, people will be able to buy a physical copy (or ebook) of my book, stick it in their beach bags, lay it on their towels, and, yannow, read it. I've had some time to get used to the idea. Over the past few months, I've done the revisions and I'm working on the copyedits right now. But most days I'm just like, IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING?

That's one of the reasons I haven't posted anything lately. I've been so confused about what to do with this space. I'm really paranoid about coming across as a braggy-bragster-bragpants about the whole publishing thing, and lately it's pretty much all my brain has room for.

But today, my brain is also pondering summer books!

Last year, I read Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard, which I really enjoyed and felt it an appropriate beach read for the travel-y aspect, as I was, in fact, also traveling. And soon I plan to read How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True by Sarah Strohmeyer. It sounds absolutely adorable, and it has one of the funniest openers I've seen. A summer internship at a Disney-like theme park? YES PLEASE.   

What's on your reading list this summer? What are some past favorites?

Agent-Author Chat! Me and My Agent!

The lovely Krista Van Dolzer at Mother. Write. (Repeat.) asked if Marietta and I would be interested in participating in her blog series, "Agent-Author Chat." I'm a long-time follower of Krista's blog, so I jumped right on that opportunity!

I'm excited to announce that today is the day and the interview is UP! Head on over HERE to read my answers to my agency's form submission, what about my story captured my agent's attention, as well as my agent's very wise querying advice.

And Krista recently announced her own book deal, so make sure to give her a big congrats!!