Am I alone in endless tweaking?

The final revised manuscript of THE HEALING SPELL was sent off yesterday morning and then I got an email from Gorgeous Editor that she'd like to send the Dedication and Acknowledgments along with it to the copy editor today and could I send ASAP?

Well, sure! But I haven't even really *thought* about the D&A pages, let alone drafted a potential D&A for this book, although I have been keeping a list of the people who have helped me along the way.

I spent FOUR hours off and on writing and tweaking. Good grief. I am such a tweaker, but this seemed ridiculous. It was hard to get the words RIGHT. To say what I wanted to say about each person.

THE HEALING SPELL has had a seven year journey from concept to this point. A story I've always loved, but it took a lot of revision over the years and a long time to find the right publisher and editor.

And I NOW HAVE an OFFICIAL PUB DATE!!!

Drumroll please and confetti and balloons and fireworks . . . JULY 1, 2010! Whoo hoo!

I was hoping for June, but it's pretty close. Just in time for people to read over their 4th of July holiday - and Livie's older sister, Faye, has her wedding in the book on the 4th of July!

We also have some cover comps!!! I think it's going to be gorgeous!!! Can't wait for the final to show off.

Off to hit SEND again! Have a great day everyone!

Book are on their way!

A few days ago, I eagerly ordered some books from Amazon. I shop online because the closest bookstore is 30 miles from me. There's a *very small* Hastings close by but their selection is *very small*, too, and they specialize more in movies and games anyway.

So I got my "they shipped today" email this morning! It's true that I wait for a big enough order so I can get FREE SHIPPING.

The Bad: It takes longer to wait for them to arrive.

The Good: I save a few bucks every time and can buy more books!




GO HERE TODAY: Harper Teen. Click on the A KISS IN TIME book jacket and read the FAB first pages - it's fantastic!!! The best first line! I've read all of alixwrites books and none of them disappoint. AND her book BEASTLY is going to be a MOVIE and it looks so cool! Major stars galore! And the hero/beast is WAY hotter than Robert Pattinson/Edward in the Twilight movies. JUST SAYIN'.



I met mandywriter on Live Journal a year ago and she was so helpful during my agent search and I picked her brain a lot. Go Mandy and congrats on your first book!!!




I'm so happy for cyn2write !!! Cyn was also SO helpful in flurries of emails we exchanged about agents, the biz, websites, etc. Love her. So go read her book!



Aprilynne Pike is another debut author and a bestselling one already! She and I know a lot of the same people, but she doesn't know me. :-)

Teaser Tuesday Strikes Again!

So my Gorgeous Editor LOVES all the work I've been doing on this final revision, but we are going after ONE particular scene ONE MORE TIME!

So I went to the shed and dug out my shovel and spade again to keep going deeper with Livie and T-Jacques - Livie's "love interest", although I'm not sure you really call it a *love interest* in middle-grade, although she IS off to Middle School a month after the book closes. At any rate, T-Jacques is cute and chops wood on the banks of the bayou and is the middle child between 8 sisters.

With all this digging into hearts and emotions and feelings and thresholds and themes, I fear that I'll soon be six feet under myself. I just keep telling myself, "I can do it, I can do it!"

This is the beginning of the 5 pages I need to revise again. Just to set it up: Livie's older sister, Faye, just got married in the backyard to her childhood sweetheart, Travis . . .

“They’re beautiful,” Faye murmured. I watched Travis put his arms around her waist as he bent to kiss her neck.

I glanced away, embarrassed, but then I peeked back again, curiosity getting the better of me. I wondered what it would be like to be that in love with someone. Since I couldn’t answer my own question, I went to go have some pain perdu and sausage. I’d just filled my plate and found a spot on the lawn when a tall, dark-haired boy walked up and sat down on the grass next to me. I looked up and stared into the eyes of T-Jacques Landry. I was so startled I swallowed a piece of sausage wrong and started coughing. T-Jacques thumped me on the back and then I took a gulp of punch.

“What are you doing here?” I managed to splutter.

Teaser Tuesday

I heard from Gorgeous Editor this morning and she said that she is almost finished reading the revision of THE HEALING SPELL (Scholastic June 2010). She called my rewrite "splendid" and said that she thinks it's ready to go to copy editing. Gulp. Hard not to panic when I want to look at it again!

But Gorgeous Editor needs to finish those last few chapters and she may definitely change her mind . . .

Here's a nibble from Chapter Two:

Mamma usually wore a bit of cherry lipstick after breakfast, adding more makeup if she was going into town to shop. Since the accident, Mamma’s face was pale and splotchy, her lips colorless like a corpse. She didn’t even look real anymore.

I stopped three feet from the hospital bed and gave a shudder when Mamma’s legs started to jerk. I backed up as fast as I could, my head spinning like I’d just gotten off a roller coaster.

“Olivia Marie Mouton!” Faye exploded. “Mamma ain’t going to bite! She can’t even open her eyes.”

“Leave Livie be,” Daddy told Faye mildly through the doorway. “She gonna do things in her own time."

Faye bit at her lips, ignoring me again, even when I clutched at my queasy stomach. I swear my sister had no heart.

Night Dreaming or Day Dreaming - what's the diff?

It's been 8 months since my book sale - 5 since contracts were signed - and I STILL have these nights where I'm so excited I wake myself up dreaming about my book's cover, drooling over my catalog page, designing postcards and bookmarks and creating book trailers. There's a part of me that can't quite believe I'm going to see THE HEALING SPELL which I spent 6 years writing and revising actually ON BOOKSTORE SHELVES as well as SECRET RITES OF THE GODDESS which was about 2.5 years in the making.

Maybe all this excitement keeps stirring the pudding of my subconscious (on second thought - make that brownie batter) because it took 8 years to get here again . . . a road I've been down, a road I've visited before with three other novels, a road that crashed and sucked my beautiful books into a black hole. BLACK HOLE = getting orphaned, non-existent catalogs, publisher going under - before book trailers and blogging and internet tours and LJ and Blogspot friends.

I found myself trying to start my career all over again.

But I stayed focus. I stayed determined. I kept writing. I kept believing in my stories. I kept revising and submitting. And I kept dreaming the dream.

And I heard the other day that my agent called my writing beautiful and lyrical.

Tonight I might end up dreaming about my words dancing on a stage in a purple tutu.

Hodge Podge Tuesday - or Publicity Ideas 101

My new book, THE HEALING SPELL, isn't slated for publication until June 2010, but I'm going to be so busy finishing production work on it and then doing revisions and production work for my YA, SECRET RITES OF THE GODDESS, coming out Fall 2010, that I'm thinking way ahead on the publicity stuff. I'm also writing a brand new book tomorrow. Yep, you heard right. Although I'm not writing the ENTIRE book tomorrow, just a few pages a day until I finish - um, hopefully sometime in July!

So . . . . I started three months ago making lists about publicity ideas and contacting people because it will probably take me the next year to get everything in place with all the writing going on.

First, I hired www.swankwebstyle.com to design a new site for me. It's moving forward beautifully! Got my FAQ written last week and off as well as a bunch of other tidbits, like the Welcome Message, my short and long Bio, etc.

Currently reading a GREAT book:




This morning I checked out: Blue Slip Media These gals sound like fun, have a TON of experience and have worked with some of my favorite authors.

Still searching for the right company to design POSTCARDS. I want something better than my last cards . . . Oh, and don't forget bookmarks and business cards. THIS is one of the best postcards I've ever seen. And Brooke - EMAIL ME AND SHARE WHO DESIGNED AND PRINTED THEM!!!





Last week I sent stuff for Teacher's Guides to my sister, the schoolteacher, who is a FAB curriculum writer and way fun!

Yesterday, I worked on a panel proposal for YALSA 2010 Conference which will be RIGHT HERE IN ALBUQUERQUE - WAHOO!!!! How lucky is that?!

I've hired a FILM MAKER who is going to make my book trailers. Very excited about book trailers. I love them!

I finally SIGNED UP FOR FACEBOOK!! Please friend me!

AND THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING . . .

Parties, contests, blog tours, giveaways, it's all coming!!!!! I HAVE SO MANY IDEAS!!!!!