The Post In Which I Do The I've Finished My Line Edits Happy Dance

Last night was huge. After weeks of revising MY KIND OF CRAZY, I reached the final few chapters and that's when I blasted the AC/DC and ABBA and Alanis Morrissette and took this bad boy to the finish line. As I reached the final sentence, it was one of the most cathartic experiences of my entire life.

I cannot stress the importance of a great editor. I happen to have an amazing one. She pushed me further at every opportunity and knew these characters as well as I did, if not sometimes better. Through our experience of working on this book, she gave me a master class in editing. Until you are deep in the thick of the text, you don't realize how many things you miss on the surface that can make all the difference in a tight story with scenes that pack an emotional punch. Overuse of filler words, flowery language, repetition of mannerisms and information: these are the things that can take a story from good to great. And as much as we can think we know our stories, that second set of eyes is invaluable. And now, as I go back to working on my next book, I benefit from all that I have learned and will hopefully have a stronger richer manuscript from the get-go. Or at least, here's hoping.

My editor and I traded notes and chapters back and forth for weeks. Each time the next bunch of chapters arrived, it was admittedly overwhelming to see the hundreds of comments in the sidebar. It seemed impossible that I could ever address all her points and make all these fixes. But she also wrote little love notes in the margins, whether it be in reference to characters, scenes, or lines of dialogue, and they were everything to me. They kept me going, snapping things back into perspective that she wasn't just telling me all the things that were wrong, but also what was really hitting the mark, and that we were working together as a team to make this story even better. Hopefully, the end result we have created together is something readers will love and it will touch their hearts. It's hard to imagine that people will walk into a bookstore in just a few months and see my book on a shelf and choose to buy it. People I don't know will be reading it. Some will love it, some will hate it, and frankly, that's a little terrifying. But at the end of the day, this book is the story of my heart, and I'm beyond grateful that it will have a chance to live in the world.

Next step is copy edits, where all the fact-checking, spelling and grammar are cleaned up. Thank goodness for copy editors, because they make writers look like they can English with ease. And then . . . ARCs. An ARC is an advanced reading copy, which looks like an actual book, though it is not proofread. It will go to bloggers, reviewers, be used in giveaways, and sent to other incredible writers who are kind enough to take the time to read and blurb my book. It's where the word of mouth begins. The fantastic team of designers at Sourcebooks is hard at work designing the perfect cover, and I look forwrad to being able to share that in a few weeks as well.

I cannot wait to hold this book in my hands and share it with all of you. It's been quite a journey, and I am so grateful for all my incredible friends, family, and of course, my amazing agent Leigh Feldman and superheroine editor Annette Pollert-Morgan, who have been there cheerleading every single step. I raise my Starbucks to each of you and say thank you from the bottom of my heart.

The Post Where I Get To Share News Bigger Than A Gilmore Girls Reunion

I haven't updated this blog in a while, but not because there was nothing to say. In fact, there was SO MUCH to say, but I couldn't say any of it!! So I'll bring you up to speed.

Back in late November, my amazing rock star of an agent, Leigh Feldman, sent my book out on submission to editors. Back then it was called REBEL WITHOUT A CLUE, and it was met with a lot of interest. Publishing moves at somewhat of a glacial pace, so I basically bit my fingernails to nubs and drank a lot of coffee (and sometimes things slightly stronger) as we waited to hear back. We'd gotten an offer of interest from one publisher, and although they would have been an absolute dream to work with, the offer wasn't quite what we were hoping for as a debut. Several other publishers had it too, but we still hadn't heard further.

And then, in mid-February, right when I'd decided to throw myself a pity party of one and climb back into bed and stream Gilmore Girls all day on Netflix because I was sure nothing was going to happen, my cell phone rang. It was Leigh, and said that Annette Pollert-Morgan, an Editor at Sourcebooks Fire, loved my book and wanted to set up a conversation with me that morning.

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

An hour or so later, I was on the phone with Annette, who just completely "got" this book, and told me she wanted to make an "I Heart Hank" t-shirt. She told me all her favorite lines and scenes, and the ways she wanted to help me make this an even stronger book where the scenes and characters would just pop off the page. It was surreal to hear someone talk about my book this way who seemed to understand every nuance and detail of it as well as I did.

After we hung up, I took a picture of my caller ID, mostly because I'm a noob but also becase I wanted to remember that moment in time forever. The moment my lifetime dream to be a published author came true as an amazing editor offered to buy my book. I made it the background screen on my phone!

Over the next couple of days, the details of the offer were ironed out, and Annette sent me a beautiful note along with a box of books she had previously edited with personalized post-it notes on each one, saying why she thought I'd like each in particular. (Oh, did I mention we share a mutual love of office supplies??!!)

But then....silence. This is, of course, the norm, as I've come to find out. In this time period the publisher goes back and forth with the agent to sort out the contract, the Editor is typing up her edit notes, and the author is making her way through a Costco jar of milk chocolate covered almonds. I wasn't allowed to say anything until the publisher gave me the thumbs up, because they wanted to announce in Publishers Weekly, and it couldn't have been announced elsewhere in order to do so. However, in the interim, some concerns grew over my title. While REBEL WITHOUT A CLUE was fun and certainly captured the humor of the book, the publisher worried that teens might not get the reference to REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE. Annette and I put our heads together over the next month until we came up with the truly perfect title: MY KIND OF CRAZY. And then, with all green lights in place, this happened!!!

So now I'm back in the revision cave, armed with Annette's amazing edit notes, and having a blast. Once I send this draft back to her, she will send me her line edits, and once she signs off of my draft of those, MY KIND OF CRAZY is well on its way to becoming a real book. Sometime in the Fall, there will be Advance Reading Copies (or ARC's as they are called) that will be sent to reviewers, bloggers, etc. and most of all, I will get to hold my actual book in my hand, albeit not the final version. That comes in April, 2016, just in time for my birthday, which is pretty much the best present ever, am I right??

This morning I discovered the book is already up on Goodreads, so I hope you'll check it out and consider adding it to your reading list!

Six years, three books, two agents, and hundreds of rejections later, it finally happened. There are SO many times I wanted to give up, but at the end of the day, that's not who I am. This is what I love to do, and this book is truly the book of my heart. The delay is never the denial. And it takes a village to make it happen, for sure. So many incredible people I've met along the way that are part of helping make this happen. I'm pretty excited to share it with the world! (And also, not gonna lie, also slightly terrified!!)

Being On Submission (a.k.a. Thank you Costco for 2-Pack Bulk Nutella)

So REBEL WITHOUT A CLUE is out there in the inboxes of some of the most amazing editors in New York City, and I'm hoping the perfect editor falls in love with Hank and Peyton and all the other crazy characters. However, I'm here to tell you that when Tom Petty said "The waiting is the hardest part" he wasn't kidding. I'm not gonna lie: having a book on submission to editors and waiting to hear back is not for the faint of heart. It's a l-o-n-g process, filled with lots of nail biting, inbox refreshing, Nutella-straight-out-of-the-jar eating complemented by the occasional Happy Hour of Gilmore Girls on Netflix marathon for distraction. Because this part of the process can take aywhere from days to months, my friends, and there really isn't a whole lot you can do about it.

Oddly, I am much calmer about this part of the process than the agent search, despite the Nutella eating, because lets be real, I do that anyway. Somehow an agent search feels so much more personal. An agent is not only evaluating your work, but your future potential, your whole package, your body of work, both written and unwritten, and it's a very personal relationship, much like a marriage. At this stage of the game, things seem more black and white. An editor loves your story, or they don't. They feel it has issues that need fixing and they have a vision to get it there or they feel they are not the best fit for it. His/her publishing imprint is looking for books just like yours or they already have something similar. In short, things that you cannot control. At all. And there's something very freeing in finding that right representative to take the reins, trust in their expertise and knowledge of knowing where it might generate the most interest, and letting go. I believe I've found that kind of championing partner in my new agent, Leigh Feldman, and I have the absolute faith that if she can't find REBEL a home, no one can. Honestly, when she offered representation, I thought it had to be a mistake. :) I was so nervous, and in fact, I think my exact words to her were "I'm shaking," to which she replied, "Why, are you cold?" She's witty, and smart and all-around amazing, and I feel so lucky every day to be working with her.

In the end, it all comes down to faith and trust. Faith that you've written something good/funny/important/poignant, trust that you are partnered with someone who shares your excitement about your work and is as passionate about it finding its way into the world as you are, and the underlying belief that the delay is never the denial. That while there are plenty of "I sold my book in six days" stories, history has shown you that your story is different, and not to get rattled when results don't come immediately. Everything comes in its own time.

In the meantime, I'm busy at work researching everything from funeral homes and embalming procedures to Indian cooking and the Food Network and plotting my next novel. I'm sure if anyone saw my cache right now they would be hella confused, but I absolutely can't wait to write this next story :) It promises to be pretty hilarious. It's also a great distraction from agonizing over who may or may not have responded today and potentially put me one step closer to my life's dream coming true. And the reality is, once the book sells, while that's awesome and confetti-toss-worthy, I've got to be writing the next one and the next one after that, digging deep and finding all the crazy, funny stories rattling around inside my brain and helping them find their way onto paper. Or into a Word doc. Whatever.

In the meantime, writer friends, just FYI: Costco sells two-packs of giant sized Nutella bottles for about 8-1/2 dollars just rows from where they sell those super-comfy yoga pants. Coincidence? I think not.