HAPPY BIRTHDAY PERSONAL DEMONS!!! And the Amazing Race Finish Line!

Wow. I may or may not be shaking a little. I can't believe it's release day for my baby. But there are soooo many people who deserve at least as much (if not way more) credit than I do for getting PD out into the world. Many of them are in my acknowledgements, and others, I've already thanked publicly here on the blog, but I feel the need to do it again, because I am SO grateful for all the support and encouragement I've gotten from this fabulous group of people.

First, of course, is my family. My husband has been truly amazing. I work my day job, then come home and am on the computer all night. He's picked up the slack (shopping, cooking, cleaning, kids) without ever once commenting about it. Even though he doesn't "get" the whole YA teenage girl thing, he's read my work and been a source of encouragement and support. Without him, there's no way any of this would be possible.

My girls are my greatest source of inspiration, and it was my oldest daughter's love of reading that inspired me to write in the first place. I have no doubt that Personal Demons would not exist if it weren't for her.

My truly fabulous agent, Suzie Townsend, is a rockstar. There's no way I can ever thank her enough for all her tireless work on my behalf and for believing in me and my writing enough to take that initial leap of faith.

Course, Suzie'd still be dropping off that cliff if my seriously cool editor, Melissa Frain, hadn't also had enough faith in my work to sign that book deal. She's taken something I loved and helped me make it into something I hope all of you might love too.

I've been blessed with amazing critique partners. Andrea Cremer (Nightshade, Oct. 2010), who is an amazing writer and just an overall great person, has helped me more than she'll ever know. She brings a whole new perspective to my work and picks up on things that I never would have thought of.

Stephanie Howard was the queen of real, and kept me on track.

My Big Sur group was the first to read PD when it was just an infant (only 10K words in) and their feedback gave me the confidence to finish writing it.

Jennifer Laughran, also at Big Sur, was generous with her feedback and time. If you've never met Jen, she doesn't bullshit, so when she told me she thought I had something, I believed her.

Then there's Nathan Bransford, who has no idea who I am. He scared the crap out of me by requesting a partial manuscript on the first query I ever sent (for a different novel). That didn't work out (cuz that other novel sucked at that time), but what I know is that I never would have found an agent, forget an editor, if it wasn't for the plethora of information for aspiring writers on his blog. I never even would have known where to begin. All that info didn't come free (well, it did to me, but not to him). He gives so much to the writing community, and all I have to give back is my thanks.

I get that this isn't like the academy awards or anything. It's just a book. But it's my book and, before I get the hook, I want to send my heartfelt thanks to every one of you who has supported me on this blog and followed me on Twitter and Facebook. I really love chatting with all of you. I'm looking forward to meeting some of you out on the road. You guys totally rock! I've got the bestest followers evah! :p

If you're around, come see me at Barnes & Noble in Modesto, CA tonight for launch, or Wednesday (9/22) at Third Place Books in Seattle. Check my website for other stops =)

Thankyouthankyouthankyou!!

Now, for those of you who are only here to enter the PERSONAL DEMONS AMAZING RACE and had to suffer through all my drivel, I apologize. The last word you need to form the Personal Demons related sentence is choose.

You should now have 13 words which make up a quite obvious Personal Demons question. Make sure you've commented on each of the tour blogs (see list at the top of my sidebar) and enter that question, along with your answer, on the form below by midnight PST on Thursday for your chance at one of two Grand Prize Packs, including an iPod Shuffle loaded with the Personal Demons playlist, a signed copy of Personal Demons and a ton of swag!



Good luck and thanks again for all your support! You guys totally rock!