July Wrap-Up

Book News/Progress:

I know my last Sunday Post I was a little down about the fact that my second book didn’t get picked up, but I had a fantastic call with my editor this past week that made me feel so much more positive. She has an incredible amount of faith in THE SONG OF ORPHAN’S GARDEN and she just gushed about how she thinks it’s going to win awards and then we’ll be able to say “I told you so” to the sales manager. LOL!! I’m not getting my hopes up for that, but it sure is nice to hear her enthusiasm and support for the book and know she’s in my corner!

I’ve been working on going further with the revise and resubmit that I did for my editor. Since I submitted that one as a proposal and not a full manuscript, I only had it completed up to page 50. My goal (as recommended by my agent) is to finish it all in the next month or two, and then we can go out on sub with it. Wish me luck! (more…)

June Wrap-Up

Book News/Progress:

My MG marketing group also officially launched our website on social media (though I showed it to you guys a few weeks ago), and we’ve had a couple of new cover reveals, so I added those to the site along with a couple of other small updates.

I’ve still been working on marketing materials for The Song of Orphan’s Garden, including preorder goodies.

Unfortunately, I got some bad news regarding my revise and resubmit for the option book I had out with my editor. While the editor loves it, she took it to acquisitions and the new head of sales said it’s not enough of a high concept blockbuster type book, which is the direction the publisher’s going. So, it looks like I’m back to going on sub. 😔 It’s sad, but I have the positive of knowing that my editor really loves it and really wants it. This is a reality of publishing – there are so many steps along the way where things can fall through.

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May Wrap-Up

What I Read:

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April Wrap-Up

Book News/Progress:

My cover reveal!! I think most of you already saw, but if you didn’t yet, go check out the cover for THE SONG OF ORPHAN’S GARDEN. It’s absolutely everything I hoped it would be, and as a reader who definitely judges a book by its cover, I couldn’t be more thrilled!

Website for the Middle Grade Escapades: Some of us who are debuting in 2025 created a group to help hype our books a bit. I’ve been working hard on creating a website for us, and it’s done now! Of course, it will be updated a lot in the future as more of us have covers, release dates, etc, but you should definitely check it out and see the middle grade debuts coming in 2025! (The fun orange logo was created by Alby C. Williams.) You’ll find the website here – Middle Grade Escapades.

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March Wrap-Up

Book News/Progress:

My book has an official blurb! If you head to my entry on Goodreads, you’ll see that the book has a real, official entry now, with a blurb written by the publisher. And, wow – they made it sound really good and compared me to people I never would have had the guts to compare myself to. LOL! (The book is also technically now on Amazon and B&N, but since it doesn’t have a cover yet, I’m not really encouraging anyone to head over there right now – but it still makes it all feel more real!!)

School visit: I did a two-day poetry workshop at a local school, and it was fantastic! A lot of fun, and I was really impressed by some of the poetry the kids created.

I got pass-pages! My editor sent me the book all formatted and beautiful, and let me tell you, I am thrilled with how it looks! They added little details and illustrative elements to certain pages – it’s exactly the sort of thing that would have attracted me to a book when I was that age. I saw it and honestly wanted to cry, I was so happy.

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February Wrap-Up

Book News/Progress:

Preparing for a school visit: I actually have my first school visit scheduled next month where I’m teaching poetry workshops to 6th-8th graders! It seems strange to have booked a school visit before I even have a cover for my book, but I have an author friend (who’s also a teacher), and she referred me since she knows I taught at a homeschool co-op for many years. Still, since I haven’t done this exact type of thing in the past, I’ve been working diligently to prepare.

Other News:

My 50th birthday! Scott and I went to a Bulls game to celebrate. I used to love basketball back in the day when the Bulls were a huge deal, but for some reason I stopped watching. But then we got invited to see a Bucks game with my sister-in-law because she had free tickets, and we suddenly remembered how much we enjoy it. So, we’ve been watching the Bulls for most of the season. It was really fun to see them play in person at the United Center! That place is incredible!

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January Wrap-Up

Book News/Progress:

Date Set for my Book Release: It’s official! THE SONG OF ORPHAN’S GARDEN will be released on January 21st, 2025!

Maps: So, my daughter Danielle is illustrating two maps for the book. This is a bit unusual, but it’s actually working out really well because there are some complicated aspects to the world that I’ve had to think through in order to make sure the maps make sense. For instance, this world isn’t made up of natural landmasses, but of magic-made, walled-in gardens that are surrounded by what’s called the Winter Blight. It took us a bit to figure out how to show this, and I was honestly happy to be able to talk it through with my daughter instead of having to present all the information to an illustrator and go back and forth with them. I’ve always known I don’t think visually, and this was just one more example of that – it took me a long time to get it all worked out in my head. I’ll have to ask if I can share a sneak-peek of the maps with you guys!

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December Wrap-Up

Book News/Progress:

Copyedits & cover sketches!: I got cover sketches, and we chose the direction to go in. I have to say, I love it! I’m not sure if I’m allowed to share who my cover artist is (publishing rules are so weird – guess I’ll have to check on that), but I am in love with the artist, and I’m so excited for my cover! And then I also got my first round of copyedits and sent them back to my editor. So, lots going on!!

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