EXCITING NEWS—I Have a Three-Book Deal!

As some of you know I went to Swinger on Birches Writing Retreat in July. What most of you don’t realize is that there’s a tradition at that retreat. If a writer goes to the beach below the inn where the retreat is held, picks out a pebble and holds it while they read a passage from their manuscript to the group, if they want it bad enough, they will get a book deal.

So, I went down to the beach. But I couldn’t pick out just one stone. Three of them called to me. I held the stones while I read from the young adult thriller that I had out on submission.  And, a few weeks later, the universe smiled on me. But she decided to add a huge plot twist.

The YA thriller I read from at retreat wasn’t the first manuscript I had go on submission. My first manuscript went out a little over a year ago and failed to sell. Well, to be more correct, my agent and I quickly decided to stop pitching the manuscript because it was YA gothic with paranormal elements and the market for paranormal had waned. We figure it was better to tuck that manuscript away and bring it back out when editors started looking for paranormal again.

I’m guessing you know where this is headed, so I’ll cut to the important part.  Turns out an editor that we hadn’t heard back from loved the first manuscript and was willing to buck trends for it—with a slight change.   My young adult gothic manuscript is transforming into a new adult paranormal.

I’m thrilled to announce the MOONHILL trilogy has sold to Selena James at Kensington Books (as in a three-book debut deal—or three pebbles).

I am so freaking happy! Thank you to Selena and to my agent, Pooja Menon, for loving MOONHILL and having faith in me.  

Here’s a blurb and official announcement Publisher's Weekly 

Moe and Tom's Tour--Looking for Vermont Hosts and Venues

My great niece Audrey and her partner Shayne have successfully funded their first CD and are launching a tour. Right now, they're looking for venue suggestions in the Burlington Vermont area and hosts (suggestions and offers for other locations are welcome as well).

They are more than willing to do work in exchange for one or two nights lodging.

Here's the YouTube that successfully Kickstarted this venture.  It tells about their tour, their music and about how they plan to donate a portion of the profits from their CD back to the public school program that gave them their start.

Here's another YouTube if you'd like to hear more.

If you're interested in hosting or have a venue suggestion, leave a comment or contact me. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Also be sure to follow them on FaceBook or @Moe_and_Tom on Twitter. 

Review: THE FIRE WISH (The Jinni Wars, #1) by Amber Lough

 I’ve been dying to read THE FIRE WISH and I was lucky enough to receive an advanced reader copy thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s.  If you preorder now, you won’t have long to wait. It officially comes out on July 22.

THE FIRE WISH is told from the point of view of two teenage girls. One girl is a jinni, who's training to be a spy in the war against humans. The other is a human girl on her way to marry a prince of Baghdad. When one girl makes a wish, they end up switching bodies—that puts them in the middle of each other’s romances and danger-filled worlds.  But the story is a lot more complicated than that and, as the plot deepens, the reader learns just how entwined their lives and worlds are.

I enjoyed the plot and the characters (particularly the way each of the girl’s attitude toward the new world they’re dropped into is shown and changes). Above all else, I loved the lush world building. It was amazing how Lough managed to make both the human and jinn worlds and the history they share feel real and still keep the writing accessible to a young audience. This is not a story to dash through. It has tons of details to be absorbed and enjoyed.  It would be a great entry-level epic fantasy for upper middle grade or young adult readers.

If you want to learn more about THE FIRE WISH and why Amber Lough was uniquely qualified to write this story, check out Lough website. HERE

The Writing Process Blog Tour

I was tagged in the Writing Process Blog Tour by one of my writing buddies, Mary Ann Scott.  Mary Ann mostly writes romantic ghost stories and horror. Her current project, a contemporary coming-of-age/ghost story, won a 2013 SCBWI Work-in-Progress grant. Learn more about it Here 

On to me . . .

What are you currently working on?

I’m going to do this the easy way.  Here’s the pitch I have taped over my desk:

My WIP is a contemporary YA mystery set in Lakeside, Vermont. When her older sister offers seventeen-year-old Tori a summer job restoring a bizarre historic inn, she accepts. But her motive isn’t to make money or to bond like her estranged sister hopes. Tori’s discovered her entire family’s kept a secret from her. Eighteen years ago, her mother had an affair while summer in Lakeside and became pregnant. Tori’s determined to uncover who her biological father is, but, in a small town where love is cursed and silence is a commodity, even searching for the truth can be deadly.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

The heart of this story is a modern gothic novel. But the characters are definitely not the expected cast. I mean, there are some very left of center teens and adults in it, like a girl who uses lawn ornaments to tell fortunes and a father who’s an insect hoarder.  But these characters and others aren’t there for comedic reasons. It’s more about the pain and struggle that connects them to each other and to the underlying mystery that the main character is trying to solve.

Why do I write what I write?

I write about adventures, places and people I’d to be involved with. And, about psychological issues that fascinate me. Sometimes I really wonder about this one, since my stories tend to go to some pretty dark places.

How does my Individual writing process work?

My stories start with some kind of idea or seed (this story was inspired by a Jamie Wyeth painting I saw at the Shelburne Museum Want to see it? )

From there I let the story brew in my head for a long time, usually months. When I feel driven to start writing, I create character sketches, start jotting down scenes and make a barebones turning point outline. Then I start fleshing out the story by writing scenes on index cards. I’m a slow first drafter—my current project has been painfully slow and interrupted by ongoing revisions of a previous project.  As the draft progresses, my outlining becomes more detailed and is followed by many rounds of revision.

Now it's time to tag a few friends.

Debbie Causevic  and I are both clients of the amazing Pooja Menon of the Kimberley Cameron and Associates Literary Agency.   Debbie writes historical and contemporary YA, as well as woman’s fiction. Learn more about it hereFollow her on Twitter -- @DCausevic

 Cassandra Griffin is also a client of Pooja Menon.  She's a geek at heart, enjoying anything from Star Trek expos to comic conventions. This particular love plays an active part in her latest project, a YA contemporary. Learn more about it here . Follow her on Twitter -- @chgriffinauthor

Also I’m going to tag any of my readers who’d like to play. Seriously, I'd love to read your posts. Just mention in the comment section that you’d like to join and I’ll link to your post.
  
Yay! Kathy Quimby is joining the tour. Kathy is a fellow Vermont writer, a recent graduate of VCFA and the co-regional advisor for the New England Chapter of SCBWI. I'm dying to read about her current project and her writing process. Check it out Here and follow her on Twitter--@ktquimby

Reading Like a Writer: Studying First-person Point of View with WE WERE LIARS by E. Lockhart & IMAGINARY GIRLS by Nova Ren Suma

I just finished reading WE WERE LIARS by E. Lockhart and IMAGINARY GIRLS by Nova Ren Suma. Both books were fantastic and I highly recommend them to any reader, especially to those who enjoy suspenseful twisty novels with a surreal edge and beautiful writing. As a writer, I totally lucked out because they also ended up being perfect companion novels for studying first-person point of view.

Both stories are about damaged girls who can’t totally recall a traumatic past experience. This event is slowly revealed by skillful and meticulous use of first-person point of view. The reveals at the end come across as twists, but an extremely careful reader can see them coming or at least make a gut level guess at what will eventually be discovered. However, despite these similarities, main characters’ points of view in these two books are uniquely their own and don’t resemble each other—which is why I recommend studying them as companion novels.  It’s cool to see how two highly skilled authors create totally different novels from the same core and several similar elements. For example: water and swimming are important elements in both stories but they are interpreted and experienced differently by each of the main characters—aka different POVs.

 Actually, I had purchased IMAGINARY GIRLS after taking Nova Ren Suma’s workshop on crafting first-person voice at this year’s NESCBWI conference, so I did have an idea it was good for this specific study topic.  I read the book slowly, noting what the main character experienced as shown through her senses, how she recalled and interpreted the past, and how she reacted to those things, basically how the world of the story was revealed through a prospective that was uniquely hers.  I did the same thing as I read WE WERE LIARS.  Both books have a surreal bend and that made slow reading particularly vital. The nuances could have been easily overlooked. Well, that is pretty much what makes the books work: pace drives the reader forward and makes it easy to not see specific details as significant until they come up again at the story’s end.  I also resisted reading the end ahead of time, not an easy feat for me.

I’m not going to say anything more because I don’t want to ruin the stories for people who haven’t read them. But, if you’re interested in studying point of view (more specifically first-person), then read these books slowly, soak in the word choices, the tiny details of the world and other aspects that make the point of view unique to their main characters.  Or read them fast, enjoy the ride and the jolts when the twists hit—then go back and reread. Just don’t miss WE WERE LIARS or IMAGINARY GIRLS. They’re wonderful.