February Debut Winner!!!

Here it is! The moment you’ve all been waiting for!

But first, I got to hang out last night with those Beautiful Creatures, Kami Garcia and Margie Stohl. They are ROFL hysterical, so if you get a chance to see them, don't miss it. And I also met the FABULOUS Heidi R. Kling, who's Sea will most definitely be on my June debut list.

Ooo! And in other exciting news, my super-stupendous crit partner, Andrea Cremer, just got her Nightshade ARCs today, and she's sending one my way! Squee!!

Do you see what I'm doing here? Making you wait for it to build the suspense? Is it working?

Okay, so here we go...

*clicks randomizer*

We had 168 points accumulated by 42 entrants and the winner of my February Debut Contest, as chosen by the randomizer is:

Lisa and Laura!!!!

YAY!!! Congratulations!

*Throws virtual confetti* (cuz I don't want to clean the real stuff up)

Lisa and Laura have won the fabulous prize behind door number one! Which, actually, is their choice of one of the following:

A signed ARC or copy of PERSONAL DEMONS by moi (that’s me, in case you don’t speak French)
The Naughty List by Suzanne Young
The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk
Dirty Little Secrets by Cynthia Jaynes Omololu
A Match Made in High School by Kristin Walker

I’d love to see them thumb-wrestle over which one to pick. :p

Congrats you guys!!!

My March contest starts Monday. Here’s a sneak peek at my March debut picks:
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
Forget Her Nots by Amy Brecount White
The Line by Teri Hall

Check back in on Monday to enter! Good luck!

And off we go...

Things just keep on happening.

My truly fabulous agent got this in her mailbox today. She snapped a shot and sent it to me. I'm insanely jealous, because I want to FEEL it, but I'll just have to wait my turn for an ARC. Regardless, this was a little bit of a squee moment for me. It's the bound manuscript that goes out to authors for blurbs, and we've had some FABULOUS authors agree to take a look, which is also an epic SQUEE.

Have I mentioned lately that I love my life :D

Achtung Baby!

Personal Demons is officially in production. Yay! And since we have a “near final” draft (things will change a little with copy edits) FinePrint submitted Personal Demons to German agents on Tuesday.

My truly fabulous agent called this morning with GREAT news! We received a pre-empt today from German publisher Rowohlt. Apparently, they’re “very eager” about Personal Demons, which is good, cuz so am I. =) So, German people will be reading my book…in GERMAN! OMG! It’s kinda messing with my head that there’ll be something out there in the world that I wrote, but CAN’T READ! O_O

Here's the little place in Germany I'm gonna buy when Personal Demons sells a bazillion copies there. =) Nice view, eh? I could get used to that...

Suzie says we’ll be going out to the rest of the world in the next few weeks. *bites nails* It's a big place.

In the meantime, I’m revising Original Sin so I can send it off to my super-stupendous crit partner.

What are you all working on? Anything wild happening in your WIP? Love to hear it =)

January YA Debut Winner!!!!!

I’ve never run a blog contest before! This was so much fun! Thanks so much to all of you who stopped by and entered. In case you’re interested, there were 157 points accumulated by 39 entrants. And the winner (as chosen by the randomizer) is:

*Drum roll*

robin_titan!!

Yay! *throws virtual confetti and honks virtual noisemakers*

robin_titan gets her choice of one of the following:

A signed ARC/copy of Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers (yours truly)
Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore
The Dark Devine by Bree Despain
Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves
The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Congrats!!

If you haven’t yet entered to win a February debut, there’s still time!

Good luck!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled broadcast...

Revisions: check. Line edits: check. Food: Um...I knew I was forgetting something. But who needs to eat, right? Or sleep, for that matter. Course there’s the day job, which I’ve pretty much remembered to go to…most of the time.

That’s my life. Busy but good. The really great news is that line edits are done and will be emailed to my seriously cool editor tomorrow. Then Personal Demons is off to production. Yay! There may actually be a book on the shelves at the end of all of this. Whew…

In other fun news, Personal Demons had a birthday. I realized a few days ago that last Tuesday, (2/2) while I was on an airplane on my way to meet my totally fabulous agent and seriously cool editor, Personal Demons turned one. 2/2/09 was the day I met Luc and Frannie and wrote the first chapter. =) So Happy birthday!!

Other stuff:
Don’t forget that my January debut contest closes at noon on 2/15 (that’s Monday, BTW) and my February debut contest runs through noon on 2/26, so if you haven’t entered for a chance to win an awesome 2010 YA or MG debut, do it now!

You’re still reading? I said NOW! Go enter!! You did already? Okay…good.

Also, a while back (Seriously, it was a month ago. I'm pathetic.) I was tagged by my awesome crit partner Andrea Cremer. Now that I’ve come up for air, I’m ready to tackle a few question.

1) What's the last thing you wrote? What's the first thing you wrote that you still have?
Last thing I wrote was Original Sin, the sequel to Personal Demons.

The first thing I ever wrote, which I still have, is a YA thriller I wrote for my daughter’s birthday. I wrote that last fall. (2009)

2) Write poetry? Never.

3) Angsty poetry? Um…no.

4) Favorite genre of writing?
YA, definitely. Urban fantasy and contemporary.

5) Most annoying character you've ever created?
There are a few. If I had to pick one, I’d say Frannie’s best friend Taylor from my Personal Demons series.

6) Best plot you've ever created?
Honestly, the plot for the book I wrote for my daughter is pretty kick-ass. I put a lot of research into it and it took me to some pretty amazing places.

Course, the plot for Personal Demons is pretty kick-ass too…

7) Coolest plot twist you've ever created?
Spoiler, sorry. (Hint: It’s in Personal Demons)

8) How often do you get writer's block?
Never.

9) Write fan fiction?
Never.

10) Do you type or write by hand?
Write by hand? How do you do that?

11) Do you save everything you write?
Absolutely.

12) Do you ever go back to an idea after you've abandoned it?
I haven’t really abandoned anything yet. I have some WIPs hovering in the wings, and they may be feeling a bit abandoned at the moment… Maybe I should check if they’re hungry or need a diaper.

13) What's your favorite thing you've ever written?
I’ve written three books (four if you count the Personal Demons sequel) and I love them all. It's like asking me who is my favorite child. They're all so different, but if you’re going to make me play favorites, I’d have to say Personal Demons.

14) What's everyone else's favorite story you've written?
No one but my daughter and my agent has read anything but Personal Demons. My daughter still says she like the one I wrote for her best.

15) Ever written romance or angsty teen drama?
Um…yeah.

16) What's your favorite setting for your characters?
Anywhere their parents aren’t. They can let loose. All my books have parents—none of this absentee stuff. But I like for my teen characters to be able to interact without adults coming down on them.

17) How many writing projects are you working on right now?
I’m pretty immersed in Original Sin and book 3 at the moment.

18) Have you ever won an award for your writing?
Personal Demons won or placed in six writing completions this summer.

19) What are your five favorite words?
If you asked my editor, she’d say, and, so, something, ugh and m dash. (I know that last one isn't a word, but I still like them too much.)

20) What character have you created that is most like yourself?
Anna, from my first book.

21) Where do you get your ideas for your characters?
Where don’t I get my ideas for characters would be an easier question to answer.

22) Do you ever write based on your dreams?
I don’t think so. My characters have conversations in my head all night long, but I’m usually wide awake and staring at the ceiling, so that doesn’t count.

23) Do you favor happy endings?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Make of that what you will...

24) Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write?
All I have to say about that is, thank god for spellcheck and editors who know what they’re doing.

25) Does music help you write?
Couldn’t write without it.

26) Quote something you've written. Whatever pops in your head.
Taylor to Frannie in Personal Demons: “Who made you dominatrix of the lunch table?”

And, tag, Kristin Miller. You're it!

Live, from New York...

Have I mentioned lately that the uber-fabulous Suzie Townsend rocks? Well, she does. And so does the uber-cool Melissa Frain. I spent yesterday in the city that never sleeps with my agent and editor. They both supplied me with reading material (YAY! BOOKS!) and Melissa brought me up to speed on all things Tor. I got to meet all the amazing people there and at FinePrint Literary Management and, yes, they are as awesome as they seem.

I’ll never forget the rush of sending requested manuscripts out to agents when I was agent shopping. I remember thinking that, even if no one wanted to represent it and it never sold, at least someone else will have met the characters that I love so much. I have to say, it was a little wild talking to a whole bunch of people who had read my book. And in one of those really fun “small world” experiences, it turned out that the lovely Patty Garcia, Director of Publicity at Tor, has a brother-in-law who grew up in the same tiny town in California that I currently live in. Go figure.

I knew it was going to be a great visit when New York City treated me to a flurry on Tuesday night while I was wandering and people watching. It snowed all night and left a dusting of white in the morning. Just enough so that I got my snow experience without being nasty. (though there’s supposed to be a storm tomorrow night, so “nasty” may still be in my New York experience)

And I’m headed to the Mid-Manhattan Library (the largest of the NY public libraries) tonight for a presentation called: "Spotlight: A Close-Up Look at the Artistry and Meaning of Stephenie Meyer's 'Twilight' Novels," with John Granger. The description of this event is as follows:

"Why do millions of readers love these Young Adult Vampire Romances?" By looking at the "Twilight" novels' surface artistry, their implicit morality, their archetypal allegory -- a kind of Mormon Pilgrim's Progress -- as well as their hermetic meaning " the question is answered. There's a lot more here than meets the eye; this don't-miss-it event is both for Twi-Hards and for serious readers wanting to learn how to read popular literature with appreciation.

I couldn’t miss it! I wonder if Stephenie Meyers knows all that stuff is in her books. =)

I’m here until Sunday, so I’m sure I’ll find even more fun things to do. I’ll fill you in as they happen!

February 2010 debut book give-away! And New York City!!!

Yay!! It's the first of February! You've been waiting patiently and, finally, here it is, my February debut give-away!!!

A reminder of the contest and the rules:

Each month I’ll post my top four debuts of that month. (on or around the first) All you have to do to enter is comment on that post before noon pacific time on the last Friday of the month. One winner will be chosen each month using the randomizer and I’ll post the winner on the last Friday of the month. The winner will then be allowed to choose one title off my picks list OR a signed ARC or copy of PERSONAL DEMONS (when I get them)! Yay!

In addition to commenting (for which you get one point) you can earn extra points each month as follows:

Old follower: +3 points
New follower: +2 points
Link to my contest post on your blog or twitter: +1 points
Dedicated post with link to my contest on your webpage/blog: +3 points
Add me to your blogroll: +2 points

Also on your entry, please remember to tell me how to find you (email address).

And remember, there will be no rollover points. Points start new every month.

My February debut picks are as follows:

The Naughty List by Suzanne Young
The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk
Dirty Little Secrets by Cynthia Jaynes Omololu
A Match Made in High School by Kristin Walker

So to enter, all you have to do is comment below before noon on Friday 26th! Good luck!

I'm leavin' on a jet plane before the crack of dawn tomorrow. NYC here I come!!! I'm looking so forward to "meeting" my truly fabulous agent and my seriously cool editor!!! I also have to say that I'm extremely proud to be affiliated with the publishing house that stood up to Amazon. I'm gonna stop by John Sargent's office and give him a high-five. Cuz he's just sitting around waiting for his authors to, you know, come hang out with him. =)