Happy Birthday Undertow! And Readers FT #WIN!

(I know, you're all "Wait. Didn't that just...")

So many FAB reader-friends are helping me celebrate today, and I just wish I could hug you all in person!

I can't, so here's a big, virtual ((squeeze)) to everyone who's read my books or plans to--and even more to all you sweeties who've already added Watercolor to your Goodreads TBR shelf.

Amazing.

Back in 2010, when I'd written Dragonfly (#1), there wasn't a market for this kind of book--New Adult, where characters graduate high school, start their careers (or their lives), etc.

On Amazon

Agents liked my concept, and I got loads of compliments.... but no takers.

At that time, self-publishing was not an option, so I sadly put Undertow in the virtual drawer, shed a few tears, believed it would take a miracle for it to see the light of day...

My heart broke.

Undertow is a tough, tragic read, but I love it so much. And I was sure no one would ever read it.

So I can't tell you how much this day means to me.

Every single positive review makes me smile, and I wish I could just squeeze you again!

The Dragonfly series was my first book dream, and now it's coming true.

THANK YOU! 

Today for me is all about dreams coming true, the power of READERS, and just yanno... *sigh* I'm just smiling over here.

Have a SUPER day, reader- and writer-friends~

* * *

And Hey! Don't forget your chance to #WIN!

We've got signed print copies, exclusive Watercolor eARCs, your very own personal journal to fill, and MORE!

And remember, Dragonfly is ON SALE this week for 99 cents! If you haven't read it yet, get it Today!

On Amazon 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dreams, Changes, and #FUN stuff!

Dragonfly was the first book I ever wrote and tried to sell to agents back in 2009.

Back then, it wasn't perfect, my novel-writing skills were poor. I'd only been a journalist, an editor, and a former English major and teacher. 

But I got a lot of full requests, and polite rejections. I think 15 was the final number before I put it away in 2010. Some pretty big names, too (Paige Wheeler, Kevan Lyons, Kelly Sonnack, etc.) 

I loved the story, the characters, the journey. I loved writing it, and I couldn't wait for everyone to read it. In the year I'd spent waiting to hear back from those guys, I'd written Undertow (#2), Watercolor (#3), and started Mosaic (#4)...

...and then I read Nathan Bransford's advice: If you can't sell the first book in a series, why are you still writing it? (Basically, stop and write something new.)

He was right. And it hurt so bad. 

But I put my dream books in the virtual drawer, dusted myself off, and wrote The Truth About Faking. Then, while I was shopping it, I wrote Rouge. And I got a literary agent. And in 2011, I got an offer for a book deal with a Big 6 publisher.

In the meantime, several of the lovely critique partners, advice sharers, and friends I'd made through this blog had started self-publishing. It was still early in the indie game, and it was still considered a huge risk. 

We were told that if you self-published, you could kiss any traditional dreams goodbye. We were told, the traditional guys wouldn't touch an idie book with a 10-foot pole. We were told you instantly became a pariah. 

But my friends were risk-takers. One--Susan Kaye Quinn--had gone the small press route with her first book, a YA romance, and after that experience, she took the reins and went independent with her very successful science fiction book Open Minds.

And after my agent couldn't sell The Truth About Faking, I decided to self-publish it. In Sept. 2011 it came out, and it's still selling very well today.

Why am I tell you all this?

Because it broke my heart when I put Dragonfly in the drawer. I believed that book was dead, and I'd never have the joy of sharing it with readers... and I was wrong.

Granted, in February when I decided to pull it out again, it still had all those first novel problems. I had to take a sledgehammer to it, break it apart, put it back together, remove all the boring parts, beef up the tension, polish out the dialogue...

But my dream came true last week. And every time someone emails me that they love the story or they can't wait for July 18, I get a little misty. So much is changing in publishing, and it's a wonderful time to be a writer. 

Follow the path that's right for you, traditional or indie, but no matter what, hold onto your dream. Be persistent. Don't listen to what "they" say. And for goodness sake, just keep swimming!

Full Tour List

The Dragonfly tour continues!

• Burning questions for main character Anna? WHY did she go back? WILL she choose Julian? WHAT will she do with the secret? Roxy Cade (link) has your answers.
• Still on the fence? Fern Curry with Whirlwindbooks calls Dragonfly, "The ideal book" for "the beach or pool, to enjoy with an iced drink." Yay! See her full review here (link).

Finally, looking for #FUN? Romance Reviews is doing a Sizzling Summer Reads ginormous book giveaway and Dragonfly is a part!

Check it out!

Visit The Romance Reviews site (link) for all the fun, but watch out! That game's addicting... (The Dragonfly Q&A is #19.)

Have a super week, reader- and writer-friends! I'm in final edits for Undertow, but I'll be back with more tour stops tomorrow~

In Interesting Times

The cool thing about having a new book out and obsessively checking my Amazon numbers (LOL!) is I've discovered so many interesting, new indie books!

Seriously, go to Amazon and peruse the Top 100 lists for "Coming of Age" (link) or "Love and Romance" (link), and you'll find a virtual explosion of exciting, new indie authors creating a variety of books on the list.

It's truly a revolutionary time to be a writer.

I was telling a good friend of mine it feels like for the first time writers have the same opportunity as musicians or film makers. Now we can come out with new books in a fraction of the time it used to take, and it's up to the readers to decide if our product is entertaining or thought provoking enough to share.

The example I used was The Blair Witch Project. Remember that? (Just in time for Halloween!)

A group of kids made it with a camcorder then used the Internet to spread the word pre-release in all sorts of creative ways, and Bam! Indie blockbuster.

I don't remember if it was a blessing or a curse when someone used to say, "May you live in interesting times," but for writers, I'd argue it's a blessing.

Nowadays, if you follow the formula (great story + investment in quality), you really can find success. The only thing stopping you is you.

Will you invest the time to write a compelling story--your story? To hire an editor and copyeditor? To make the revisions needed? To create an eye-catching cover? To do the legwork it takes to get the word out?

If you will, it's completely possible these days for writing to be a true, sustainable career for any writer--not just the very lucky few.

How amazing. How blessed we are!

This week, I'm absolutely bursting with news... which has to wait (LOL!). But I can say, I'm working on Rouge again--cleaning out added content I didn't like, restoring it to my original vision (mature YA), sifting through cover images--and by November, I can't wait to share it with you!

In the meantime, I hope you guys are doing fantastic. What's new with you? How do you see this revolution and our changing times?

I'm telling you, writer-friends, there is absolutely zero reason now to give up. Whatever you do, keep swimming.

Have a great week, reader- and writer-friends~ <3

Once Upon a Time... Origins

DL Hammons (link), captain Alex (link), non-creepy expat Katie (link), and Mr. Q3E (link) are hosting this "Origins" blogfest.

We're to share how we started writing, blogging, or both.

For blogging, my story's pretty short: Janet Reid (link) said writers weren't ready to query unless they had an "online presence"--and Facebook doesn't count.

So I started a blog and coerced all my friends and family to follow. About six months later, I'd met many of you guys, and here we are. And it was the best decision ever--it led to my awesome betas/critters, it led to my agent, it led me to you...

As for writing, it's a bit longer. I wrote my first "book" when I was seven or eight. It was a sci-fi graphic-novel called Fury Woman. It was about a lady scientist who'd spilled acid on her face and turned evil.

almost-Fury Woman

I don't remember what she did when she was evil, but I do remember she looked just like Natasha Fatale from the Bullwinkle & Rocky show. Only with bigger eyebrows and a mole--those features were distorted by the acid.

Later I wrote another book that was illustrated by my bestie Dara (Rush) Bartee called Dignity & Detriment.

It had nothing to do with Pride & Prejudice, but there were princesses. I think there were also unicorns...

So it was always sort of me telling stories. Mostly to myself. Sometimes to my mom or Dara.

One day when I was a freshman in high school, I read something my brother had written for English class (he was a senior), and it literally blew me away. I couldn't believe he'd written it and I was so... burned.

How could he write that well? He didn't even want to write! He wanted to be a lawyer. (He now works in human resources and to my knowledge never writes creatively.)

But I followed his example and started taking my school writing assignments more seriously. I joined the newspaper staff, did some short fiction writing for school anthologies--and was always embarrassed by my lack of edginess compared to my peers.

My mom said I'd be a novelist then, but I quickly told her no way.

Real writers weren't dorks like me. And besides, I didn't have that... thing... that It... real writers have. I'd never write a book.

Still, I majored in English at LSU (geaux, Tigers!). I wrote some poetry for a while that made that same brother of mine cry when he read it. But when I showed it to a poetry professor at LSU, he said it was pretty derivative and not so great.

JRM said that guy was a tool, but the professor spoke words I believed.

So I stopped writing poetry.

I got my master's in mass communications and edited other people's writing for a while. I learned to write news articles and did that for a while, too. I pretty much did everything in communications, from public relations writing to television production to news writing to magazine writing and editing...

Then in 2002-03, I had two lovely little girls.

Then in Fall 2009, I sat down and started writing my first book. In December of that year, I told JRM what I was doing.

That's my origin story! Hope you liked it, reader- and writer-friends. If you'd like to read some of our other bloggy friends's stories, go here (link).

Have a great week! <3

MLK, Joan Rivers, and Yoda

First, Happy Martin Luther King, Jr., day! I wrote a post about Dr. King that you can see here (link).

It's incredibly inspiring to remember people who have dreams, and who go after them in the face of such terrible realities.

I have a dream, although it's not as world-changing as MLK's.

And at the beginning of this month, I was pretty low thinking about it and where I am in the process. I was driving to the store in the snow and Fresh Air was playing.

I've shared my love of NPR podcasts before--remember Gazumping? (link)

Well, this time T.G. was interviewing Louis C.K., and they played a clip from his Fox television show. In this particular clip Joan Rivers scolds Louie for quitting his gig after discovering he can't insult Donald Trump onstage in a Trump hotel.

Her words really hit home for me and how I was feeling that day. See, I was having a little writer's pity-party and telling myself I couldn't do it anymore. (TMI: It was also that time of the month, so there might also have been some hormones involved.)

Anyway, here's the short version of what she said (and remember, this is for me, but I thought you might like it):

"You know what's wrong with you guys? You don't know when you're lucky. Appreciate where you are for god's sake."

For some reason, that lifted my little chin. (The entire episode's worth a listen--if you're interested, here's the link.)

It's like what Yoda told Luke Skywalker when Luke was doing his Jedi training. The part about how a Jedi focuses on the present and isn't distracted by all the "what ifs." (Right?)

So look around. Appreciate where you are and what you're learning and who you're meeting. And don't forget to keep swimming. 

Til next time~ <3

You are here

There's just something about wanting to be there. Be a part of it. The whole Lost Generation, the beret-wearing allness of it.

The smooth jazz, coffee sipping, red-wine drinking, not caring about any of it It.

The whole, I believed. I gave everything I had. I've been lied to. I've lost it all. I have nothing left to lose...

I don't care if I lose it all. Just to be able to say I did...

The joy of it. The dance. The sipping and dipping and squeezing. The taste of eclairs or creme-filled croissants or seafood seasoned just delicately enough. Or meat, marinated for a good eight hours in garlic, red wine, onion, black pepper, and then cooked for another six hours on low heat...

The sounds of crashing waves and the feel of briny salt air on your face.

Nope. It's true. I still haven't seen Midnight in Paris.

But I have lived in south Louisiana and on the Gulf Coast, and well, I guess for us, that's about as good as it gets.

It's that weird break between Christmas and the New Year when anything's possible. When it's all suspended and everything's wishes and twilight.

I'd love to be in the writing cave, but instead I'm on the road. Have a great week, reader- and writer-friends. See you next week~ <3