Tag: TOUCHED

Sample Chapter and Other Stuff

I know, I know. I’ve been absent again. The sequel to TOUCHED is due to my editor at the end of this month, and my first pass pages on IF I LIE are due on 2/1. Add my MFA creative thesis due at the end of the month, too, and you’ll understand why I’m hiding in a hole. These are great problems to have, though, so I’m not complaining. Instead, I’m putting my head down and trying to get through this month.

In the meantime, TOUCHED: Der Preis der Unsterblichkeit is out in Germany on February 17 from Thienemann Verlag. If you can read German, a sample of the first chapter is up on my publisher’s website. The cover is simply gorgeous. Sorry, US, peeps! You’ll have to wait until December.

Okay, now I’m diving back into my hole to get book 2 finished.

PS. I’m newly obsessed with this song. The video is so weird and hypnotic, and I’ve watched it 8 times.

PPS. I’m also obsessed with this video because I love random moments of strangers connecting.

SO MUCH NEWS.

GUYS. I’ve had so much news this week. I’m wavering between happy tears and giddy grins that are freaking me out anytime I catch my reflection in a mirror. I can’t imagine what strangers are thinking.

First, yesterday I got this in the mail.

It’s a jacket cover for the German version of TOUCHED that is due out February 17, 2012 from Thienemann.** It’s iridescent and so very beautiful.

(**Note: this is the German version only. The US version won’t debut until December 2012, and it will have a different cover.)

And then tonight I got home and found THIS.

My first pass pages for IF I LIE arrived. I can actually see what this baby is going to look like as a book. And the ARCs are coming so much sooner than I realized!!! (But please don’t ask me for one because I don’t have any to give away.)

Third, I got this ringtone for my phone and I giggle every freaking time my phone rings.

And last, but not least, I’m announcing a celebration.

Next week I get to….drumroll…share the cover for IF I LIE. Finally, finally you’ll see the insanely beautiful cover and read the jacket copy (at least the ARC version) that I’ve so desperately been wanting to share. Here’s what’s happening.

1. If you have a blog and would like to be in on helping me reveal the cover, you’ll post the cover and the summary on 12/21.

2. Five bloggers (picked at random by random.org) that sign up get something. You can choose to (a) keep it for yourself or (b) give it to one of your followers.

3. The something? A mixed CD with the playlist for IF I LIE (legally purchased by me, mind you. No piracy here.) with liner notes on why the songs were on my playlist (will include some hints about the characters in IF I LIE so it’s like a sneak peek, people. MONTHS before others see anything).

4. If you want to help me with my reveal on 12/21, please sign up here.

TOUCHED German Cover Reveal

I realize you’re all going to skip over this message and jump right to the art. I would too. This cover is insanely beautiful and makes me wish that I could read German. For those of you who do, this edition of TOUCHED will be on sale – in Germany – in March 2012. Thienemann, my German publisher, has been hugely supportive.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for an amazing cover!! Without further ado…

THE COVER

YA Rebels: Tuesday Loves a Monster and Visits NYC

HAPPY 2nd BLOGIVERSARY TO ME!

July marked the second anniversary of this blog. Last year, I ran a week-long series of guest posts where awesome authors Veronica Roth, Jodi Meadows, Marjetta Geerling, and Jennifer Echols shared the biggest lesson they’d learned in the previous year. You liked the series so much that I brought it back with a new set of guest posts. Nine young adult writers, including me, will share the biggest lesson they’ve learned in the last year. Beth Revis, Kathleen Peacock, Jodi Meadows, Elana Johnson, Myra McEntire, Kate Hart, Matt Blackstone, and Stephanie Kuehn have all kindly agreed to participate with amazing guest blogs you will love. Be sure to check back every day this week and next week to see what these great people have to say about the challenges they’ve faced. Read below to see what I had to say, plus there’s a contest for a chance to win a $20 Barnes & Noble gift card.

My Lesson Learned

Okay. I’m taking a deep breath here. Last year at this time, I had been on submission for about five months. I’d started the sequel to TOUCHED – and stopped. I’d started a new contemporary – and stopped. The big, bad truth is that I let the submission process get to me in a terrible way.  I hoped I would be one of those authors who sold overnight. I wasn’t. I hoped I’d enter the YA scene with a big splash. I didn’t. I hoped editors would be fighting over me. They didn’t. They asked to see my manuscript, but mostly, not a lot happened for months and months. I grew increasingly dejected over my non-start. My confidence in my ability was shaken, and I agonized over every freaking word that I wrote, though admittedly there weren’t many.

What kept me going? First, I went to SCBWI LA in August, meeting Steph Kuehn for the first time when I picked her up to drive the seven hours from the Bay Area to Los Angeles. I met some amazing writers and listened to many keynotes that inspired the hell out of me. Then I went home and started a crit group with a few friends. Steph, Dawn Miller, and I met twice a month (plus Debra Driza joined us for one faulty Skype meeting) to critique each other’s writing. Twice a month, I HAD to turn in a chapter for the group. Not to mention, school packets of 40-50 pages of writing were due every six weeks, whether I felt like writing or not. And when I stalled on Chapter Ten of IF I LIE and kept agonizing over how different it was from TOUCHED, Steph gave me a short speech that’s imprinted on my brain (even though she doesn’t remember giving it to me). She told me to stop talking about writing and just do it. For about ten seconds, I hated her. Until I realized she was right and doing what the best of friends do – calling you on your crap. The book would never get finished if I didn’t just sit my butt in a chair and get it done.

She told me to stop talking about writing and just do it.

That’s what I did from October to December. I got serious about finishing IF I LIE. That book sold in February. And TOUCHED – the first book to go on submission – sold in a 3-book deal in March. Everything turned around because I KEPT WRITING. Even when I didn’t feel like it. Even when I struggled. And even when I doubted I had anything to say. So my lesson learned should be to keep writing, right?

No.

My lesson learned is that every writer needs a friend like Steph Kuehn who will tell you exactly what you need to hear when you need to hear it, even if it will make you hate her for a whole ten seconds. I <3 you, Steph. Even though you like cats and keep pet rats and you’re Pin-obsessed. My agent loves you. My editor loves you. And my family loves you because I’m no longer doing my impression of the lost dwarves, Mopey and Whiney.

AND NOW FOR THE CONTEST…

The Prize: One (1) $20 Barnes & Noble gift card.

TO ENTER:

Leave a comment on any of the guest blog posts this week or next week. Each comment counts as one entry. I will randomly choose one winner on 9/3 using random.org. It’s that easy!

GOOD LUCK, and remember…check back tomorrow for a great post from Beth Revis!

Debut Vlog

Alright, people. This is a momentous day. I decided to go for it and do my first vlog. And believe it or not, I had a lot of fun doing it. So I may do another one. At some point. Questions and prompts are welcome below, and please let me know if you liked it!

I’m a PAID AUTHOR

After a weekend with my family in Southern California, I arrived home last night, opened my mailbox, and found *GASP* my very first author paycheck. After jumping around in the lobby of my building for a bit, I took a bunch of goofy pictures of it so I can relive that moment later. From the day I typed THE END on TOUCHED, I’ve been dreaming about what it would feel like to get that baby in the mail. I can honestly tell you, it felt every bit as good as I imagined. Better, actually, because nothing came as easy as I daydreamed it would. And I hope I feel just as grateful, just as humble with every paycheck I earn from my writing. Not everyone gets paid to do what they love, and I don’t ever want to take that for granted.

So what am I going to do with this new windfall? Splurge and buy something completely impractical that I long for when I have a million other things I should be using the money for. THIS.

Also, I am going to buy myself a lovely gift on my Italian vacation. Because I can. And, boy am I grateful for that.

Editing and Pre-Birthday News!

Oh, hi, world. That’s what you look like again. *blinks*

I know, I know. I’m slacking on the blog, but I have a good excuse. I’ve been editing, and last night I turned in my edits for IF I LIE, and my stomach kind of clenched after I hit send. I kept wondering if I did enough, too much, or was completely off base with what I did. Time will tell.

So what’s next, you ask, now that I have all this free time on my hands? This is where I laugh hysterically. Next month, I’m going to Italy for two weeks for my MFA residency. Between now and then, I have lots of homework to do, including books to read and workshop pieces to crit. All things I love to do, which makes it less homework and more fun. On top of that, I am hard at work on the sequel to TOUCHED. I’m so glad I get to write this book and revisit these characters that I love, but man, oh man, am I going to torture them. *rubs hands*

With everything on my plate, I am in a conundrum with this blog. I’m not really sure how to fit writing posts in with everything else. For the near future, it looks like my posts are going to be infrequent at best.

In other news, today I get to send a huge shout out to Taryn Fagerness, my translation rights agent, and Laura Bradford, my agent, because my TOUCHED trilogy will be published in German, with TOUCHED set to debut in 2012. What can I say, ladies, except to express: Ein herzliches Dankeschön!

BTW, for those following along, I think it’s important to note that the offer came in on my pre-birthday (which is a holiday in my family). That means that my holiday luck is holding, and every holiday is like my birthday.

And now I get a St. Paddy’s Day Present…

On Valentine’s Day I announced that my second YA novel IF I LIE sold to Simon Pulse. Well I have more news.

Yesterday my YA paranormal romance trilogy sold in a 3-book deal to Megan Records at Kensington/Kteen. The first novel, TOUCHED, is about a girl who has the power to heal people with her touch, but at a steep cost because every illness or injury she heals becomes her own.

I can’t tell you how excited I am or even begin to describe what the last month has been like! Now you know why there has been so much talk of cupcakes on Twitter. =D

Also, can I just say how amazing my agent Laura Bradford is? I couldn’t ask for a better person to have on my side.

Book Shoot Contest

Credit: VLC Photo

Back in June I submitted a teaser from my book TOUCHED to a contest run by Vania over at VLC Photo. Guess what? I won. Vania took pictures inspired by the scene I submitted. Yesterday she posted the pictures on her website. See them here. Below is the scene I submitted. Aren’t the pictures beautiful?

Two days later I waited until morning light eased the darkness in my father’s guestroom before I rose and stripped off my old nightgown, faded and threadbare from too many washings. Glancing down, I saw I’d lost weight I couldn’t spare, and my hip bones jutted out from a too-skinny, sickly frame. Bruises painted my stomach and strips of white tape bound two broken ribs. Everything ached and I hoped Dean felt half of the pain I did. After dressing, I crept down the stairs and slipped unnoticed out the front door.

The March wind cut through my thin coat and whipped my hair out of its band as I headed for the deserted beach near the marina at the end of my father’s street. Ice and melting snow mingled with the sand and dirt to create puddles of watery mud. Rocks and thousands of broken clam shells littered the sand at the beach, and I picked my way over to a weathered stone to sink down and watch a lone sailboat fly across the water. Unlike the beaches at home, here the water didn’t work itself up to waves, but lapped the shore like a lazy tongue.

The snow-covered mountains, the forest with its skeleton ladies naked without their autumn dresses, the blue water of the harbor, and the immense sky soothed the anger swirling inside me. My father had unexpectedly grown a conscience. Anna had cried when Ben told her he was taking me and to hell with the custody agreement. He did not ask if I wanted to go, but threw his weight around until I found myself on a plane to Nowhere-Frickin’-Maine.

Nobody seemed to care what I wanted. It had been so long since I’d thought beyond surviving Dean that I wasn’t sure I could have answered them if they had asked. Two options lay before me. I could give up and let Dean win. Let him convince me I was worth nothing. Or I could swallow my pride and accept my father’s help. At least temporarily. Maybe I could convince Ben to sign emancipation papers.

I’d have to keep my freak ability a secret if I stayed. That meant leaving my injuries alone because people would notice if the bruises disappeared from one moment to the next. Yet, I needed to know if my power to heal myself had returned. Crowds could be dangerous when the stranger next to me might be carrying a disease or illness. Sometimes, their pain could reach right out and grab me, regardless of how hard I concentrated on blocking them.

I closed my eyes to concentrate. Since I needed to safeguard my secret, I would have to pick an injury others couldn’t see, one of my broken ribs. Like I’d done a dozen times before, I pictured the broken bone and then imagined it mending. A sharp stab speared my side as the bone fused, and I gasped even as the pain faded and my breathing flowed easier than before. Relieved, my face turned to the sun.

In the distance, a camera shutter clicked.

Startled, I looked toward the sound. A boy about my age stood thirty yards away with a camera in his hands. It wasn’t a digital camera, but one of the large professional-looking cameras with all the mysterious attachments. My heart skittered as my attention shifted from object to boy.

Striking. If I’d had to pick one word to describe him, that would have been it. Not Hollywood handsome, but more interesting for the difference. Tall and lean, he moved with ease, completely at home in his skin and sure of his footing. He’d tower over me, I noted with odd pleasure. Deep, chocolate brown hair fell in long waves to his neck. Sharp planes and angles defined his tanned face, making him appear rugged. Full, sensual lips and a square, shadowed jaw completed the picture of perfection marred by a two-inch white scar that slashed through one eyebrow to the top of one high cheekbone.

And his eyes. I sucked in a breath. Even from twenty feet away, their dark green color reminded me of the woods that hugged the marina. The intent expression in those deep-set eyes held a trace of surprise as if he hadn’t expected company on the beach. Something more than his expression prompted a pang of kinship – an all too recognizable air of resigned sadness hung about him.

One of his thick brows rose, and I realized I’d been returning his stare for some time.