The Epic Round-Up…Texas & Atlanta!

Posted: Friday, April 27, 2012

Oh, y’all. I had an AMAZING trip to Houston, Austin and Atlanta! This was my first ever “book tour-ish type thingy” where I flew on lots of planes and hung out in many time zones. The trip started in Maui (I know, rough. Right?) But it was our spring break and we were on vacation so we took the red-eye to LAX where I waved bye to my family then headed off to Houston for TeenBookCon.

The event there was awesome…over 1,100 people attended and there were so many AWESOME teens who were thrilled to spend the day talking about books. I met one librarian who had driven there that morning with a group of teens from five hours away. Love that!

Here are a few Houston pics, including me with my “What is Love?” panel members Tara Hudson, Trinity Faegen, Michelle Zink and Catherine Gilbert Murdock.

Welcome bag

My book cover is made of white chocolate!

I then went on to Austin with fellow Disney-Hyperion authors Megan Crewe and Inara Scott where we spoke to hundreds of 6th,7th and 8th graders. When we arrived at our hotel there was a welcome note along with the sweetest welcome candy EVER. (see above–I can’t seem to move the picture below because my blog is being wonky and apparently has a mind of its own and its own agenda. Wonky blog. Argh.)

The students were totally great and asked wonderful questions. One of them, though, asked, “So do you all go to, like, lots of parties?” Haha. Loved that. (“Yes, yes we do. That’s ALL we do.”)

LOTS of signing

My week in Atlanta was VERY busy. It’s my hometown so there were lots of people to visit! I spoke at my first book club meeting which was a group of all current and retired teachers and librarians. They had all read my book so we had an amazing discussion about DITCHED. For dessert they had peanut butter cookies, which was such a sweet touch because it plays a big part in the book.

I then spent an entire day speaking to the kids from my old high school. I also presented a copy of my book to the principal and dedicated it to the students of RHS. He gave a little speech to the students about perseverance and not giving up. It was quite a cool moment.

This was at the entrance (eeek!)

That night I had a signing at Barnes & Noble in my hometown. (See pic above! Yep, blog being wonky again.) It was an amazing night…SO many people came out and I was blown away by all the support. In fact, many of my teachers were there…my 6th grade, 5th, 2nd, AND 1st grade teachers all came. Amazing!!  Thanks to everyone who came out. Let’s do this again!!

My second grade teacher!

With teen authors Jennifer Jabaley and Shelli Johannes-Wells

My college roomie!

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ARC Giveaway of THE CLASSROOM!

Posted: Wednesday, March 21, 2012

It’s less than three months until the release of THE CLASSROOM! I’ve shared the Advance Reader Copy mostly with young readers and I’ve received so much wonderful feedback from them! An author friend of mine let her 12-year old son read it and he said, “Did she write this about ME?!”

So awesome! I love hearing that a reader can connect with the character that much.

And I can’t wait for more people to read this book. SO! If you enjoy contemporary middle grade and would like to win an ARC, enter by leaving a comment. I’ll give you an additional entry if you tweet about the contest or link on FB!

You can click on the cover below for a summary and see the blurb from Gordon Korman. (Eeek! *backflip) Contest ends April 1. Good luck!

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So, In April…

Posted: Sunday, February 19, 2012

I’m so excited that I will be speaking on a panel at TeenBookCon in Houston on April 14th. Check out their website for the event, the line-up of teen authors is amazing!

And I just found out my publisher is also sending me to Atlanta the following week– we’re currently working out the details for a few events there so details will be coming soon. I’m SO excited about this trip because Atlanta is my hometown and I’ll get a chance to talk to the students at my old high school (and visit with some of my teachers who are still there!). Many of my high school buddies live nearby so I can can’t WAIT to see their happy faces when I get there.

So watch out Atlanta, here I come! And from what I can tell, the Barnes & Noble there is doing a great job getting ready to welcome me. A good friend of mine from high school sent me this photo. This is a display behind the counter! Woohoo, y’all!! (And I have to just say it, my book is like THREE books away from The Help!! Eeek!)

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Ditched Launch Party & Cover for The Classroom

Posted: Sunday, January 29, 2012

The launch party for DITCHED in Santa Monica was fabulous!! Thank you to everyone who came out and ate cake and got a book signed–it was an amazing feeling to  look out and see SO MANY happy, shiny people. It meant the world to me.

My whole family came into town from Georgia so I spent most of the weekend overwhelmed with emotion and happiness that we were all hanging out. The day after the launch party, nine of us went to DisneyLand (in the pouring rain) and it was an absolute blast.

And now…a launch party…

{Here I am the next day at DisneyLand. It’s true I’m tall, but apparently Mickey is downright petite!!}

And in middle grade book news…my editor sent me the final cover of THE CLASSROOM. There are a few changes. You may notice the woman “interviewing” Trevor. Does she look like a particular author??

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Winner of Signed Copy of Ditched!

Posted: Thursday, January 26, 2012

Thank you to everyone who entered to win a signed copy of DITCHED. Your entries kept me HIGHLY entertained this week. But their awesomeness also made it very difficult to choose one winner. Shame on you all for being full of awesome. Couldn’t you settle down or something? Make this easy on me? Sheesh.

In the end, I simply couldn’t choose one.

So I chose TWO.

The winners are… Dana(The Amazing!) and Kathryn Flucht!

With a combination of puppy dog eyes, batting eyelashes, cheering, skipping of homework (oops!), and creating a rift in the space-time continuum, I just HAD to give one to BOTH of you!!!

I’ll email you to get mailing addresses. Congratulations!

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The YAmazing Race

Posted: Monday, January 16, 2012

Welcome to my stop on the YAmazing Race with MGnificent prizes, a crazy whirlwind blog hop featuring over 50 debut authors and prize packs featuring ARCs, gift certificates, swag, and more! If you haven’t yet been to the Apocalypsies website, please click here to start from the beginning and read the complete rules. Now on to the race!

Justina Griffith was never the girl who dreamed of going to prom. Designer dresses and strappy heels? Not her thing. So she never expected her best friend, Ian Clark, to ask her.

Ian, who always passed her the baseball bat handle first.

Ian, who knew exactly when she needed red licorice.

Ian, who promised her the most amazing night at prom.

And then ditched her.

Now, she must piece together stain-by-stain on her thrift store dress—exactly how she ended up dateless…with only the help of some opinionated ladies at the 7-Eleven. But to get to the whole story, Justina will have to face the boy who ditched her. Can losing out at her prom ultimately lead to finding true love?

That’s right. She has to tell her story to some ladies at the 7-Eleven. *Ahem. Got all that? Store it away in your brain for the quiz ahead! And remember, you must complete ALL FIVE quizzes to be eligible for a prize pack.

But before you go – bonus contest! GUESS WHAT?! If you’re a fan of contemporary YA and haven’t read DITCHED yet, simply leave a comment telling me if you’d like to read it and you’ll  be entered to win a signed hardcover copy! It won’t be a random winner thing…enthusiasm is what will determine the winner!

Now. Ready to move on? Click here to go to the next stop on the race! Good luck!

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Today My First Book Gets Published!

Posted: Tuesday, January 10, 2012

I’m feeling a little overwhelmed today with feelings of gratefulness (and shock) as I look back on how I got to this day. I’ll recap for you, in a somewhat (not really) shortened version, my path to publication…

In 2002, my son was born and a few months later (once I got him into some sort of a napping schedule) I started writing fiction for children in my “spare” time. Within a few months, I had the beginnings of a story about two kids named Trevor and Libby who try to make it through their first day of middle school. It was a wonky little story with quizzes and interviews and diagrams. (I mention this first story of Trevor and Libby because it will come back around much later, I promise.)

I took it to my first writers’ meeting at the beginning of 2003 and there I met other children’s book writers. They invited my to join their critique group and I met with them every other week. I also met with another children’s writing group on opposite weeks, which met on the top floor of Barnes & Noble on Friday nights. Since my husband worked nights, I took the baby with me and rocked him in his stroller while I read my Trevor & Libby story out loud hoping he’d sleep long enough for me to get some feedback from these oh-so-helpful people.

I’ll stop for a moment here and say, I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for those critique groups. They studied their craft and loved sharing their knowledge—I am so incredibly thankful for them.

Once I had a story, I submitted my Trevor/Libby book to editors and received great response, even worked on a major re-write of the manuscript with an editor, but in the end…no contract.

Eventually, I went on to get an agent and while we were subbing, I wrote another middle grade book. We submitted both books over the course of two years, getting “close” a few times. Again, I worked with an editor on re-writes for Trevor/Libby (two rounds) for about ten months. When it was in great shape and the editor was happy with it, she took it to the meeting. Woohoo! But found out the publisher wanted to focus on YA now, not middle grade.

Schreech. 

I’ll be honest. Even though I’d gotten many rejections over the years, I’d finally come to the moment where I was devastated—totally, utterly devastated. I cried. For days. I ate so much fried chicken I didn’t think I’d ever eat it again. (I have, but it still just isn’t the same.) I thought for sure my opportunity to get published had passed. I was ready to give up.

But my writing friends encouraged me. They told me to keep knocking at the door. And to be patient.

So I got back to work and started writing again. I can’t really explain why, but I started writing…and kept writing…like Forrest Gump running across the country.

I wrote a serious teen book.

I wrote a middle grade science fiction book.

I wrote a funny girl chapter book.

Run, Forrest, run!!

Again, we got close several times, but still…no contract.

But even after all those years, everyone along the way was so encouraging. One editor even contacted my agent to say she loved my writing and she felt it was going to happen for me someday…but I just hadn’t found my project yet.

Well…one day my agent said she’d heard from an editor that they were looking for funny teen fiction.

“That’s you. I think you can write funny teen. Try it.” I vividly remember my agent saying that to me. She had so much belief in me, I wanted to do it just so I wouldn’t let her down!

So I started writing my sixth book, DITCHED. I wrote like crazy, and that book came out of my brain in about five months. It was an absolute blast to write. After submitting it, we had interest within a few weeks (to my shock) from three different publishers.

And within the month, I had a two-book deal from Disney-Hyperion.

[insert heaving and sobbing]

But it all came full circle. (Like, massively full circle.) After I got my book deal, I drove down to Comic-Con in San Diego to have lunch with my agent and meet my editor in person. He’s a super polite (and Oh My God incredibly wonderful) person and during the conversation he happened to say, “So tell me about the first thing you ever wrote.” I mentioned the wonky Trevor & Libby story—about the weirdness of the quizzes and interviews and diagrams. He about fell out of his seat. He said they’d always wanted to do a “mockumentary” for middle grade. I was like… “I can totally do that.”

And in June, Trevor & Libby will get their own book: THE CLASSROOM, the first book in a 4-book series.

So today is about ten years in the making and many people helped me along the way. If it weren’t for the encouragement of this kidlit community (writers, editors, agents) I’m convinced I wouldn’t have kept going and this wouldn’t be happening to me right now. So, if it’s possible, I’d like to hug the entire children’s book world and give y’all a big smoochie kiss. Lean in a little closer to your computer screen…Muah! Xoxo THANK YOU!

I hope you love DITCHED. It took a while for this story to come out of me and I wanted you to know why.

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DITCHED Releases in Two Weeks!

Posted: Wednesday, December 28, 2011

MY BIG FAT GRATEFUL GIVEAWAY!

DITCHED will be in stores in 14 days, and I’m doing one final giveaway to thank you all for your support of this book. It’s my little contemporary that could! *Woo-woo!

You’ll get a HARDCOVER copy of DITCHED, a daisy ring (which plays a big part in the book) and was made by some very sweet little girls in my uncle’s neighborhood in LA (love them!), along with bookmarks, punk fairy rub-on tattoos (there’s an important tattoo scene in the book) AND you’ll get a $10 gift certificate to 7-Eleven. That’s a lot of Slurpees!!! (I’m not responsible for your brain freeze. Sip…slowly.)

And here’s a sneak peek inside the final book. The inside pages are red so the whole color scheme came out totally primary, which I ADORE!

And every other chapter, there’s a full page photo of Justina in her dress with an arrow pointing to the next stain of the night. As the night goes on, the stains get…weirder.

To enter, just leave me a comment. Easy! But if you mention the contest elsewhere (twitter, Facebook) you’ll get two entries. Contest ends Wednesday January 4th at midnight. Good luck and thanks everyone!

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3 Weeks Till DITCHED–What’s Coming Up

Posted: Wednesday, December 21, 2011

I can’t believe it’s only a few weeks until my book comes out. You guys. YOU GUYS! (hyperventilates into a paper lunch bag) So many of you have been part of my support team through these many, many years while I tried to get published, and I am so incredibly THANKFUL for the support. *sniff

So! Here is what you can expect in the coming weeks…

1. Next week, two weeks before release, I’m doing something called MY BIG FAT GRATEFUL GIVEAWAY. I’m going to give away bookmarks, fairy tattoos, slurpee gift certificates, a daisy ring and…a signed HARDBACK copy of DITCHED–wrapped in ribbon because ribbon makes everything better (I promise).

2. A (sort of) Blog Tour! I say sort of because it’s not like I’ve planned it so that the dates all run back to back, but there will be a number of blogs hosting interviews and prom-themed craziness. Hint: Novel Novice is putting together something that will involve MY OWN prom picture. (Oh, the hair.)

3. Launch Party! If you’re in Los Angeles on January 22nd, stop by Diesel Bookstore in Santa Monica at 3 p.m. for the launch party. Giveaways, food, and…books! Go HERE for details.

4. Secret Stuff! A couple of cool little things are brewing so I’ll let you know about those when I get more details.

Check back soon. This is gonna be fun…

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An *Actual* Update

Posted: Friday, December 9, 2011

I feel like I’ve been running around like crazy and haven’t stopped to take a moment and savor all that’s happened lately. But today–finally–I’ve stopped long enough at Starbucks to write this down.

Deep, cleansing breath…do it with me. Aaah. Better already. Let’s do this, yes?

First, I’m feeling inspired this morning because my favorite barista is working and I love observing her. She knows everyone’s name and their entire life story. It feels like an episode of Cheers when she’s working. “Stan! How’d that foot surgery go? Extra shot of espresso today? How’s Linda?” She’s the town therapist.

Love her.

Okay. So I’ve been frantically working to meet my deadlines, which is why I’ve been pretty absent from the blogging world. But I managed to turn in my second teen novel, BUSTED, on time. Woo-to the-hoo! (I can’t believe I just wrote that either.) The novel tried to kill me a couple of times, but eventually, I think somewhere around page 200, I ran out of my office and screamed at my husband, “The book’s not going to kill me! I actually love it!!”

I’m guessing this is normal for writers (or some of them)–you wrestle with something until eventually you fall in love. Sort of like real life, you know?

I took two entire days off to relax before diving back in to draft THE CLASSROOM Book 2. But of course, my immune system was like, “Nuh-uh, honey. You’re going to take off a whole ‘nother week in misery with a cold. So there, lady.” My immune system has an attitude.

Anyway.

I’ll admit, my life has changed drastically since getting the book deal. True, my dreams came true and I’m brought to tears on a regular basis. Amazing. But it also meant that in order to keep up with writing two books a year I had to write all the time.  To get my teen novel done, I worked seven days a week for four months, sometimes 12-14 hours a day. It was crazy. This past year I’ve definitely worked more than I did as a social worker or a teacher. My son has seen the workers at Subway more than me.

Honestly, I didn’t know it was going to be this way. Couldn’t I just write an hour or so and then drink Mai-Tais until the pool boy was done cleaning so I could do some serious floating?? Nope. I spend hours upon hours in my writing chair until my shoulder and neck pain forces me to actually put on clothes and go see my chiropractor. Sometimes I get excited for the pain because I know it means I get to put on mascara and leave the house to see the doctor. Glamour!!

But here’s the thing about the work…it’s different. Even though my hours have increased, it doesn’t feel like work. I go to bed giddy with excitement about my next day of writing. I’ve never felt that way about any job I’ve ever had–there was always some sense of dread about some part of the job. But with writing, it’s all in my control and it taps into a creative part of me that gives me endless energy.

I have to say, with everything that’s happened this past year, that is my favorite part of it all…that I have a job that makes me giddy. It’s something I wish for everyone.

Find what makes you giddy. And then do it all the time.

Meanwhile, I’m back to watching my favorite barista/therapist talk to some guy named Jerry about whether he should buy an RV when he travels this summer. I want to know the answer!

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