YA Scavenger Hunt!

Did you all know that the YA Scavenger Hunt starts this Thursday?  Eek!

I am so excited to be able to take part in the Fall 2013 hunt which includes a total of sixty (count them--sixty) YA authors of some of the most amazing books out there.  There will be exclusive content (*cough* Book 3. *cough*) from every author and prizes and just plain tons of fun.

Click here to get a preview of the rules (remember, the hunt is not up yet, so these rules are from the Spring) and here to get started at 12 pm PST October 3!

I will be on the RED TEAM.  Looking forward to seeing you there!

GENNIFER ALBIN


GWENDA BOND


RACHEL CARTER


JULIE CROSS


DEBRA DRIZA


MICHELLE GAGNON


SHAUNTA GRIMES


RACHEL HARRIS


P.J. HOOVER


TARA HUDSON


JESSICA KHOURY


KATHERINE LONGSHORE


PAGE MORGAN


AMY CHRISTINE PARKER


AMY PLUM


C. J. REDWINE


OLIVIA SAMMS


J. A. SOUDERS


CORINA VACCO


SUSANNE WINNACKER

- See more at: http://www.tigerscursebook.com/blog/post-204/#sthash.npyaXGGl.dpuf

What Now?

I just sent in copyedits for Book 3.  This means I'm finished.  I will get one more look at the manuscript--after it is formatted and proofread.  At that point, I can make minor changes (a word here, a punctuation mark there).  But the heavy lifting is done.  The story is complete.

This is also the end of the series.  I've fulfilled my contract.  Three books set in the court of Henry VIII. This altogether thrilling, fulfilling and terrifying.

It's a little like starting a new book.  First drafts are difficult and scary and exciting.  And the big question that comes up every days is, "What Happens Next?"

Lucky for me, I received ARCs for MANOR OF SECRETS this week.  The arrival of actual, bound copies that really look like a book is always mind-blowing. Every. Single. Time. Plus it means I've got promotional stuff to do, bookmarks to be made, interviews, meeting new people, talking about books... There is plenty to keep me busy.

However, as much as I enjoy talking about my books, I love writing them more.  I need a new project.  One that grabs me by the throat and won't let me go.  One where I can lose myself in the characters and their lives. And I think I may have found it.

Now that I've fulfilled my contract, I can write about anything.  This is such a gift.  But it also a bit like leaping into the great unknown.  Starting something new--something entirely new and utterly different--feels a little bit like this:

But don't you think that just for a moment, that cat feels like it can fly?  That is also how starting a new book feels.

If you live in the Bay Area and want to know more about What Happens Next, author CJ Omololu and I will be discussing that very topic at the Walnut Creek SCBWI meeting on August 31. Come and ask questions!

Launch Party!

The publication of TARNISH is only a week away (eep!) and I went to my local independent bookstore today to finalize plans for the launch party.

This year, I'm doing something a little different.  My dear friend, and sister YA Muse Talia Vance and I are joining forces for a double launch party at the Avid Reader in Davis, CA on Saturday, June 22 at 4 p.m.

Talia's book, SPIES AND PREJUDICE, came out today and I am delighted to be able to share a podium with her.  We'll be talking about books, answering questions and playing Reading Roulette, as well as giving away galleys of upcoming novels from both of our publishers, Penguin and Egmont.

So if you're in the area, come by and say hello!

And have a slice of cake. :)

TARNISH Blog Tour!

Today I'm celebrating the kickoff of the TARNISH blog tour run by the fabulous Jaime Arnold at Rockstar Book Tours.  There will be reviews, interviews, a playlist and even a few secrets divulged, plus a giveaway of signed books and pretty Anne Boleyn-inspired earrings.  Today, we start at Tales of a Ravenous Reader with a clip from the audio book.

6/10/2013- Nancy @ Tales of a Ravenous Reader 
           
6/11/2013- Tara @ Hobbisites 

6/12/2013- Katie @ Mundie Moms          

6/13/2013- Anna @ Literary Exploration

6/14/2013- Christina @ Confessions of a Book Addict

6/17/2013- April @ Good Books and Good Wine 

6/18/2013- Jaime @ Two Chicks on Boooks       

6/19/2013- Mindy @ Magical Urban Fantasy Reads             

6/20/2013- Tara @ Taters's Tall Tails   

6/21/2013- Sophie @ Pageturners           

MANOR OF SECRETS

As most of you probably know, the announcement went out this week about my newest project.

Author of GILT and upcoming TARNISH, Katherine Longshore's MANOR OF SECRETS, pitched as a Downtonesque story of two girls living in very different worlds within the same Edwardian country house -- and what happens when those worlds collide, to Aimee Friedman at Scholastic, by Catherine Drayton at Inkwell Management (World). (From Publisher's Marketplace).

This is the story, written from alternating points of view, of Charlotte Edmonds--the daughter of the Earl of Edenbridge--and Janie Seward--the daughter of his cook and The Manor's kitchen maid.  It has been an absolute delight to work on and a real stretch for me as a writer.  The two points of view, the completely different historical period, writing in third person.  But it has also been just plain fun--so very different to write about people who don't eventually get executed for treason. :)

I hope you enjoy it, too.  It's currently scheduled to be released in February 2014, and I'll be sure to be telling you all about it between now and then!

Two Weeks 'Til TARNISH (plus trailer!)

And things are starting to get exciting around here.  My author copies arrived last week:

Yes, I cried.

The Tudor Tuesdays blog tour is half over and has been so much fun! So far, I've shared excerpts and inspirations about Jane Boleyn, Henry Percy, George Boleyn, Henry VIII and today at Belle of the Literati, I talk about historical hindsight.  And we're giving away signed copies of TARNISH!

My blog tour will kick off next week, run by the fabulous Jaime Arnold at Rockstar Book Tours.  She's put together an amazing array of bloggers, who have asked tough questions and convinced me to write about some fascinating subjects.  Please drop by some of the posts!

Finally, today the trailer for TARNISH goes live on YouTube (eeep!).  Tell me what you think!

Mentorship

Today registration opens for the North/Central California SCBWI Novel-Writing Mentorship Program (gosh, say that five times fast!).  This is a program designed to pair writers of middle grade and young adult novels with authors working and publishing in those genres.  And I am thrilled (and terrified) to have been chosen as a mentor.

You see, back in 2009, I was selected to be a mentee in the Nevada SCBWI Mentorship Program.  It changed my writing and how I approach it.  It made my books better.  When I wrote about it in August of 2010 on the YA Muses blog, I wrote this:

I was placed in a critique group with the calmest, most incisive and straight-talking critiquer I have ever met:  Susan Hart Lindquist.  Susan took my book apart and told me to put it back together.  In a nice, calm, incisive, straight-talking way.  I quietly freaked out, went home and did exactly as she said.

In the course of six months, I learned about arcs and archetypes.  I learned about the transformational quality of story.  I demanded too much from my 10-year-old character and he became twelve.  He gained another friend, a girl.  I learned about alchemy and time-travel.  I read masterful stories by brilliant authors of whom I'd never heard.  I struggled.  And Susan was always there.  She never sugar-coated, she never let me slide, but she always, always told me I could do it.

Unfortunately, the book I was working on had a frighteningly similar premise to one that his the New York Times bestseller list in October 2009.  Susan told me not to give up hope.  She berated me on Facebook when I posted that I felt dejected.  She told me my book was different.  She told me everything I needed to know to keep going.

But I didn't.  I set it aside.  I returned to the book I'd begun when she was reading my ill-fated middle-grade novel.  And I applied all that she'd taught me.  I thought through, in advance, character arc and story arc and archetypes.  I heard her whispers as I struggled to get my character to internalize emotionally as well as react.  This book has Susan's whispers all the way through it.

That book was GILT.  I have now written five novels, and to all of them I apply what I learned in that program.  I only hope that I can pass that knowledge on to my own mentees with the same calm, incisive, straight-talking way.  I know I will do my best, and I am beyond excited to meet and work with new writers.

I finished my blog in 2010 with this:  That is the mark of a good mentor.  Like Obi-Wan Kenobi, muttering about the Force in the dark, a good mentor remains in a person's psyche, bound to that person's work and future.

I can't guarantee I'll be a Yoda.  But I work bloody hard on my own books, and will apply the same drive and determination to whoever my mentee may be.  And I'm not the only one!  The North/Central SCBWI has an amazing list of mentors including Talia Vance, Kate Messner, Amy Goldman Koss...These people really know what they're talking about.  Sometimes, I wish I could apply.