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!
This is a color version of one of the two maps that appear in the book (drawn by my daughter Danielle and then digitally colored by the two of us). This is the more “official” map that Lyriana uses for her journey (you can see her route up to the beginning of the book), and the second map is one that Brob (AKA Danielle, once again) drew. Of course, they look WAY better at full size, but this gives you a little sneak-peek!
Other News:
I went to see my cousin, Brian “BMAN” Babendererde, at a mini-con at our local library, which was fun. He did video game storylines and art for years, and now he has a couple of comic book series. He gave a presentation on making comics, and I learned a lot about how it works! You should check him out on his website: Twilight Tangents.
What I Read:
- I read Cruzita and the Mariacheros by Ashley Granillo, a wonderful MG contemporary debut! This book was both a fun story about following your dreams and an exploration of Latino culture in its many forms. Loved it! Watch for my bite-sized review tomorrow.
- Next I read Nura and the Immortal Palace by M.T. Khan, a MG fantasy that addresses the very real issue of child labor while being set in a Muslim fantastical world. This one is B&N’s current MG monthly-pick, so you should definitely go buy it!
- I received an email with a digital review copy of Nancy Spector, Monster Detective 1: The Case of the Missing Spot by Stephen W Martin, illustrated by Linh Pham, and I was so taken with the cover illustration that I dove right in and read it! This graphic novel mixes adorable with gross-out (in the form of a very snotty, allergic dog-detective), which will probably hit all the right notes for the MG crowd. (Gross-out isn’t my favorite, but I am well-aware that the average MG reader loves it. And the story and cuteness of the non-gross illustrations still won me over!)
- Finally I read Willodeen by Katherine Applegate. I actually got this one from my editor a long time ago, when I signed with Feiwel & Friends, but for some reason I hadn’t gotten to it yet. It’s going to be next month’s B&N MG monthly-pick, so I decided to finally pick it up. Wow, did I love it!! I read it in one sitting – watch for a bite-sized review coming tomorrow!
- I listened to Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross. Danielle had listened to this one on her commute and she said I had to listen too so we could talk about it! (I’m on the second book in the duology now–have to catch up with her so we can talk about book 2!)
- I read Anzu and the Realm of Darkness by Mai K. Nguyen. One of my coworkers has taken to getting graphic novels from the library and bringing them in to work so we can all read them on our breaks. I’m definitely liking this new habit!
- My coworker also brought in Snapdragon by Kat Leyh, so I read that one too!
- I listened to Iceberg by Jennifer A. Nielsen. I haven’t read a Nielsen book in a long time, so it was great to get back to her!
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