Evernight Teen Rocks!

Hi all! So after anxiously biting my nails for a week waiting to hear about my revised manuscript, I got an email yesterday from the publisher saying that the editor "was impressed with the revision and thoroughly enjoyed the book."

WOOHOO!!

So I just have to smooth out a few more things, which shouldn't take too long, and get it back to them. I hope to hear soon about release dates and I'll keep you posted!

In the meantime, I've also finished reading all of the other offerings from Evernight Teen and I am amazed by the talent they've managed to recruit so far. I'm going to do a feature on Mondays telling you about these fabulous authors.

Here is a list of the Evernight Teen line-up so far:

Phoenix: The Rising by Bette Maybee
Shrapnel by Stephanie Lawton
Elysium by Sylah Sloan
Unraveled by S.X. Bradley
Slayer for Hire by P.E. Cunningham
Blood Hex by Erin Butler
Disintegrate by Christine Klocek-Lim
Black Aramanth by Sasha Hibbs (coming August 16)

You can find all of these titles by visiting www.evernightteen.com.

I've also noticed a couple of new author names on the list, and I can't wait to hear details about their books.

X5: New and Improved

The book is done, sent to the publisher, and now I'm just waiting for the next round of edits, hoping that I have pleased my ninja editor. But I'm thinking positively!

And in the spirit of positive thinking, I have some treats for your reading enjoyment! Here is the new blurb for the book:

Being a socially awkward geek with anger management issues has made Travis Armstrong an outcast, but on top of that, he has visions of the future. Not that he can tell anyone, except in an anonymous online forum. When he takes a chance and meets with another group member, he winds up at The Bunker, where everyone is like him, and where, finally, he feels like he belongs.

Tara Gage has been at The Bunker since she was thirteen years old. Even among the residents there, she’s unique, and her special talents lead her to discover that The Bunker is not the safe haven it seems to be. She’s determined to escape and get back to her family.

When they each have visions of the other’s death, Travis and Tara know they have to run. With their captors desperate to get them back, they must rely on each other to get away before their visions become reality.

You may also remember a few weeks back I participated in a blog hop. Well two of the book bloggers who took part featured excerpts from the new & improved version, for which I'm very grateful. The first was Amy of Amy's Book Den, and you can read that excerpt by clicking here. The second was The Hope Chest Reviews, and that excerpt is available here.

Both of those excerpts are from my heroine's point of view. Today I have one for you that's written form the point of view of my hero, Travis. Enjoy (but please remember that it's unedited)!

"Get a grip!" Travis muttered to himself as he entered the bathroom. At the sink, he splashed some water on his face, and then gazed at his reflection in the mirror. I can do this. It was his first real chance with a girl and he didn't want to ruin it before they had the opportunity to get to know each other. He gave himself a quick pep talk, tried to think of a couple topics of conversation, and then headed back into the dining area feeling more confident.

When he slid back into the chair, Kate was on her cell phone. "Not too much longer...I know...Okay, I have to go." She turned it off and shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry. My mom just wanted to know how much more time she had to shop."

"No problem," Travis said. "You'll have time to finish lunch, right?"

"Yes," she replied. "I told her I'd call her. So, have you thought about university yet?"

He took a long sip of his soda before he answered her. "My dad's a prof at Columbia, so I'd get a discount on tuition there. But I need to get in first and that might not be so easy."

A crinkle appeared on her forehead. "But you said you get mostly decent grades."

"I do. Except for history. But the problem is staying out of trouble. I'm off this week because I got suspended."

"Suspended?" Her eyes went big and round. "What would you get suspended for?"

He took another drink while he thought about the best way to phrase the answer. "A guy tripped me in the cafeteria and we got into a fight. And it wasn't the first one last week." He shrugged. "The principal felt I needed the time to work on my anger management."

"Wow!" Kate said softly. "What will you do if you don't get in at Columbia?"

"Well," he said as he set his drink back down. "Maybe NYU would be a good choice. If you were here, I would already know one person." To his surprise, he actually winked at her. He was starting to relax at last, and his confidence was growing. Boldly reaching out for her hand, he said, "I would like to get to know you, better."

Her eyes widened again, but she didn't withdraw her hand. She leaned over to take a drink and he did the same, draining the last of the cup. When he set it down and looked at her again, she seemed to be studying him. Her face began to swim in and out of focus, and his head felt like it was spinning. He turned to look out the window and felt the world tilt. The last thing he remembered seeing before he blanked out was a self-satisfied smirk on Kate's face.

The Light At The End of the Tunnel

So when I first entered the tunnel labelled Write A Book, I had no idea what I was getting into. Lots of people dream about someday being able to see their writing in print, and I'm one of them. For many years though, stuff kept getting in my way. I've always been a writer, but I was horrible for starting things and then having them fizzle out on me. It usually went something like this:

1. You know, that idea would make a neat book.
2. Oh, and it would be great if events X, Y, and Z happened!
3. I love this idea & I'm going to write it down!
4. (after approximately 5000 words) I'm just not feeling it anymore.
5. Why can't I just finish it already?

There were variations on this of course, but  finishing was my problem. Don't ask me why. I'm an avid reader, and a decent writer, and I have a good grasp of story construction, but for some reason I just couldn't ever get it done.

It was a little over a year ago that I started getting really serious about writing again. An idea hit, I sat down, and voila, 20,000 words later I had a completed story. Now that's barely novella territory, but that story had one thing going for it: it was finished!

That was when the challenge landed in my lap. Harper Voyager was having an open submission extravaganza for the first two weeks in October 2012. They were looking for books that were a minimum of 70k. I had a nugget of an idea. Could I turn the nugget into a full 70k? And more importantly, could I do it in a month, because I only found out about it at the beginning of September. You never know if you don't try right?

Well imagine my astonishment when I did it! Now, I only finished it on October 14 (the last day of submissions) so I didn't have a chance to do much in terms of revising. I wasn't at all surprised when I got my nice rejection email in January. But now I was free to take the book somewhere else, so after going through it again, I sent it to Evernight Teen. 

And they wanted it! Yay for me! So I signed my shiny contract and waited for the edits. At the end of March I received them and it inspired my Salad in a Bag post.  It was then I began the process of revising. Well, I use the term "revising" lightly. More like completely rewriting. 

So what originally took me a month to write, took me three and a half months to re-write. But guess what?

I'M DONE!!!!!

The re-writes are finished and in the hands of my trusty beta-reader, and I will be sending it in to the publisher soon. This is not the end of the tunnel, but I can see the light! I will still have to do more edits, but the most difficult part is done. 

Thank you to all of you who have been on this journey with me!

Image from www.freedigitalphotos.net