Check out the new couch and picture (which I will hang eventually and not just prop!). Plus, one adorable twin.
And then the kitchen wall which I painted:
Let it not be said that I'm afraid of color!
Awesome Middle Grade Reads
My oldest daughter is a big time reader. This is her blog post.
These are some of my favorite books, and they are fun to read because they are exciting.
I love this book and Darth Paper. You should read them both.
More books should be as good at this. The pictures are so cool and they help tell the story.
I love the Hank Zipzer books. They are quick and funny.
I also love Harry Potter, and I am on the fifth one, and I will take some pictures of my Lego Diagon Alley and put them on here. I have made THe Hogwarts Express, Hagrid's Hut, The Night Bus, and Quidditch. I still have to do Hogwarts.
Exciting Pix of FLUTTER stuff
Hey there!
This is what I was busy doing this week:
Finalizing first-pass pages. It is really, really cool to see all of the tiny inconsistencies caught by the amazing copyeditor. Plus, the whole process, every step, is so exciting. The process to REAL book. I can't imagine it ever getting old.
Also, check these out! If you preorder FLUTTER, send me an email and I will send you an autographed one of these! I promise!
YA Scavenger Hunt Info!
Hello Everybody,
It's time to announce the final lineup of the Spring Scavenger Hunt! This year it will be bigger and badder than ever before with 60 -- count 'em 60 -- YA authors! With fabulous prizes around every corner you DO NOT want to miss this! Having just loaded all the books into my blog I have to say these books look so enticing! Who wouldn't want to win these?
Below is your sneak preview of the authors and the books they will be featuring on the hunt.
JUS ACCARDO
AMBER ARGYLE
LISA T. BERGREN
LISA BURSTEIN
SOFIE COUCH
KIMBERLY DERTING
LAURA A.H. ELLIOTT
CHRISTINE FONSECA
ABBI GLINES
CYNTHIA HAND
KAREN AMANDA HOOPER
S.R. JOHANNES
GINA LINKO
GRETCHEN MCNEIL
MIKE MULLIN
ERICA O’ROURKE
JOY PREBLE
JESSICA SHIRVINGTON
TIFFANY TRUITT
DEBBIE VIGUIE
ANN AGUIRRE
JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT
LEAH BOBET
TERA LYNN CHILDS
WILLOW CROSS
LEIGH FALLON
TARA FULLER
JANET GURTLER
CINDY HOGAN
COLLEEN HOUCK
ELANA JOHNSON
JAMIE MANNING
CLAIRE MERLE
S.L. NAEOLE
GREGG OLSEN
LISA & LAURA ROECKER
JERI SMITH-READY
CAT KALEN
LANI WOODLAND
JOSEPHINE ANGELINI
BRODI ASHTON
CK BRYANT
ANGELA CORBETT
GINA DAMICO
BREE DESPAIN
BETH FANTASKEY
MARLEY GIBSON
RAE HACHTON
NANCY HOLDER
TARA HUDSON
SUZANNE LAZEAR
MYRA MCENTIRE
ALEXANDRA MONIR
LISA NOWAK
AMY PLUM
INARA SCOTT
TISH THAWER
MAGAN VERNON
RASHELLE WORKMAN
The amazing Beth Revis has created a website just for our Scavenger Hunts! Click on the YA Scavenger Hunt image below to be redirected there.
THE YA SCAVENGER HUNT BEGINS THURSDAY MARCH 29TH AT NOON PACIFIC TIME AND ENDS SUNDAY APRIL 1ST AT NOON PACIFIC TIME! THAT GIVES YOU ONLY 72 HOURS
TO COMPLETE THE HUNT!
GOOD LUCK TO ALL!
YA Scavenger Hunt Coming Soon!
I will be giving away the first ARC of FLUTTER in the YA Scavenger Hunt that is coming soon. More details to come soon. Check it out here! http://yascavengerhunt.blogspot.com/
ARCs of FLUTTER!
Hello people (and by that I mean Mom) --
Look at what just came in the mail! Actual bound books -- advanced reader copies (ARCs) -- of the fabulous FLUTTER.
I am busy swooning over the gorgeousness! The cover! The page layout and design! The actual feeling of holding this book in my hands! *doing happy dance*
For the record, my kids were way more excited about the bubble wrap that the books came in. Thanks for the ego check, J and M!
Thank you, Random House design team. Maybe I will be able to give one of these babies away on here sometime soon. Contest to come! But for now, please swoon with me:
Even Sparkle loves FLUTTER.
FLUTTER cover reveal!
It has been a truly exciting process seeing how the very talented people at Random House have put together the gorgeous cover to my baby, FLUTTER.
I mean, you lock yourself in your room, night after night, ignoring the dishes, the laundry. Ignoring your husband. Ignoring the call to be slovenly on your couch and watch just one more rerun of How I Met Your Mother. You write and you write and revise and start over and write some more and you fall in love with your characters. Their flaws, their challenges, their life that seems to come from out of nowhere, begging to be told. *Rolls eyes at own grandiose-ness here, but can't help it!*
And that is reward enough, isn't it? Writing that story, seeing the characters change and evolve and triumph. Getting it all on the page as perfectly as you can -- maybe not as perfectly as in your head -- but close! So very close! *Swoons at process!* It is beautiful and what I truly work toward.
And then you get an agent, such as the very talented Caryn Wiseman, who believes in your story, the universal appeal of it, and she falls in love with Emery Land too. *Swoons at absolute good fortune* And lo and behold, Caryn sells it to Suzy Capozzi, the editor extraordinaire at Random House. *Swoons again* And then you get this, this gorgeous, perfect depiction of Emery.
I mean, this is her. The red hair, the pale skin, the curve of frustration in her brow. She is looping. (What does that mean anyway? Just wait.) Emery. She is alive. Not just in my head anymore.
So enough babbling! Here is the cover! In all its glory! Thank you Random House!
Goodreads!
Hello People!
I recently found out FLUTTER is on Goodreads. Is that not supercool?
Check it out here.
Snowpocalypse 2012
so pretty!
The Way We Were
In looking for some funny pix of myself to add to my bio section, I found some funny pix of my brother and sister too. So, in order to ensure maximum hilarity at my end, let me share those with you. (Especially because at this point, I believe my blog readers are limited to my mother and occasionally Heather. Hi Heather! Watch out, I have some pix of you too.)
Thank you dear brother and sister for taking one for the team and making me look like the good-looking one for once.
Happy New Year! Hey, 2012, hope you don't end the world!
When asked what his New Year's resolutions are, my husband answered, "I'm going to Taco Bell."
To that I say, May we all go to Taco Bell this new year! I wish everyone many happy cheese quesadillas and especially killer nachos bell grande.
The Seekers
In my other life, before my kids, I wrote a middle-grade series, The Seekers, published by Augsburg Fortress. I was, and still am, extremely proud of these books. They are still available, I think, but will be out of print shortly. And for those of you from the old stomping grounds of the Joliet area, you might notice some fun use of names and places -- like Reedswood School. And, yes, my skirt did fall down at recess when I was jumping rope, just like the main character in Allie's Answers. : )
There are six titles total, but I couldn't find the cover art for all of them. Go Seekers!
Flutter cover
The final cover for Flutter probably won't be ready for a while yet -- although I've seen the first comp and it is awesome! -- but I do have something I can show you.
This is my daughter's imagining of the cover. My little artist.