Wow, it kind of feels like the good old days on LJ today - all the wonderful celebratory posts about Jo's latest book, which I can't WAIT to read!

So let me join in on the party and say - YAY JO!!! Sounds like you've written a real gem. Congratulations!

Sunday and Monday I attended the International Reading Association conference in Chicago, IL. The weather was yukky, but when you're so busy with workshops and signings and meeting cool people and eating fabulous food, who needs nice weather anyway?

Sunday was the all-day institute put on by eight incredible authors and me - Carolee Dean, Carolyn Meyer, Caroline Rose Starr, Kersten Hamilton, Kimberly Little Griffiths, Uma Krishnaswani, Esther Hershenhorn and April Wayland. We talked about using the story strategies of professional authors to inspire a love of reading and writing.

Here we are, looking all professional and authorly.

We went out to dinner the night before, where much fun was had, as you can see:


Simon and Schuster took its authors out to dinner Sunday night. I sat near the incredibly talented and kind author/illustrator Peter Reynolds and his brother, Paul. Here is a picture I took, so I'm not in the picture, but you can see Peter and Paul to the right, and that's Carolee on the left. And Carolyn Meyer who turned around just as I was snapping the picture.


Peter drew me this little gem that I plan to frame and place on my desk:


I didn't take many pictures at the convention center on Monday. I signed books for an hour in the S&S booth and met lots of fabulous teachers. I did find Kate Messner, who was there signing a bunch of her books, including her latest release, EYE OF THE STORM:

Of course you can't visit Chicago and not have deep dish pizza, so Carolee, Caroline and I went to Giordano's downtown Monday night and had ourselves a fabulous dinner.


Tuesday I went to Blackhawk Middle School where I did three presentations for each of the grades and signed lots of books. It was a great day and the teachers and librarians there are obviously very passionate about reading.

Check out the wall of poems that kids wrote, inspired by one of my books that they read:

There were a whole bunch of sweet thank you notes, too!


And here's the stage lined with welcome posters:


Now, I'm back home, with some work on a manuscript I need to get to. When I'm finished with that, I plan on taking a much-needed break for a few weeks. I'm a very tired author about now...

Happy May!!!

I want to tell you a little bit about this novel I wrote back in the summer and fall of 2010.

Originally it was titled CHERISH.

As is usual when I begin writing a book, I had a few seeds of ideas that I started with.

First,  I wanted to do something in and around a flower shop. I'd written two previous novels where a flower shop played a role and neither of them were ever published. I hoped that maybe the third time would be a charm. I loved the idea of the flower shop being my main character's safe place. And so, where Rae's job is sunny and bright, her home life is dark and sad.

In fact, there are strong themes of dark and light throughout the novel.

Check out this flower shop in Vienna. So adorable, yes?


I love it when there are mysterious notes or clues or something like that in a story, so I decided to add mysterious, anonymous flower deliveries to the story. Who is sending flowers to people throughout town and why do the instructions always have Rae's name on them?

Finally, I wanted to try and challenge myself, and wanted to write this book in a bit of a different format. Rae's story is primarily told through flashbacks. This is a tricky thing to do, in case you're wondering. The reader learns on the first page, something bad has happened to Rae, but it's not revealed until the end of the book what has happened.

My first draft had Rae doing a project in Language Arts called The Cherish Project (thus the previous title CHERISH). My editor had the brilliant idea that instead of the book reports she was doing, which were kind of boring to read, I could somehow have poetry play a part in the story.

And so, Rae is a poet. Through her poetry, she can express her feelings about her abusive step-father and her distant mother. And then something happens at school, and poetry begins to play an even bigger role in Rae's life. So although it is my first YA novel not written in verse, poetry still plays a part in the story.

There are also two boys in the story. A good looking boy who is new to school and takes an interest in Rae right away. They start going out. There are things she really likes about him and other things... not so much. There is also a boy who works next door to the flower shop, someone who is Rae's friend. And as time goes on, she begins to lean on her friend more and more, as Rae's affection for her boyfriend begins to turn to fear.

If you were to think of my book like a cake, the recipe for making that cake was not a simple one. There were a lot ingredients and the preparation required a great deal of complicated steps. It's a unique kind of cake. Different. I can't even describe the cake very well, and so, I have to just tell you that I hope you'll try it, and see what you think.

It's the publisher's job to decorate the cake and make it something that will hopefully appeal to a wide audience. There were so many choices here, as you can imagine, with a book that has a lot going on. In the end, they decided to focus on the romantic aspect of the story for the cover, and I can now share that cover with you:




In December, 2010, right before my sweet friend, Lisa Madigan, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, she read an early draft of CHERISH. Her e-mail back to me, with a critiqued manuscript, had one word in the subject line.

Cherishable

Coincidentally, today is Lisa's birthday. She would have been 49 years old. (I love and miss you, Lisa).

Soon reviewers will be sent galleys. Some bloggers, teachers and librarians may read the book through Simon and Schuster's galleygrab program. And next January, thanks to my publisher Simon Pulse, the book will be available to the public to purchase.

I think one of the hardest parts of being an author is letting a book go. But it's time. The book doesn't belong to me anymore, and so, I have to let it go. To let it be what it will become out there in the big, scary, exciting world. My work, with the help of my friends, my agent, and my editor is (mostly) done.

And so, I will end this post by simply saying ~

Best wishes, dear book. My greatest hope is that you touch the lives and hearts of those who read your story.

Last week, I traveled four hours to beautiful Grants Pass, Oregon, where I did a two-day school visit at South Middle School.

I had a great time talking to the kids, signing books, chatting with the Library Tech, Mrs. Anderson, as well as the Language Arts teachers and the Science teacher who is the Author Visit Coordinator. The visit went so smoothly and I'm grateful to everyone for their hard work.

When I pulled into the parking lot, this is the sign that greeted me:

Inside, this sign was hanging above the library, where I did all six of my presentations:


The kids were invited to enter a writing contest to have lunch with me, and a whole bunch of kids wrote some amazing stories. They were asked to write about meeting one of their favorite characters from one of my books.


Here is a picture of some of the eighth grade students, streaming into the library.


The Language Arts teachers were so great about getting behind me and my books. The sixth grade teacher read SPRINKLES AND SECRETS to his classes. The seventh grade teachers read CHASING BROOKLYN. And the eighth grade teachers read I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME. One of the eighth grade teachers said she was also having the kids write some verse of their own. And the seventh graders acted out some scenes from I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME. So wonderful!

Thanks to everyone at South Middle School for an amazing time!

Next up - Blackhawk Middle School in Bensenville, IL!

I'm flying home today, after a fun weekend in Narragansett, Rhode Island. I had a great school visit on Friday with all the kids at Narragansett Elementary School. Yesterday, I signed books at the Cupcake Madness event, put on by Friends of Hazard Castle. Toward the end of the day, I got to taste nine cupcakes and assist in naming the best cupcake in Rhode Island, which went to Patticakes, for their green velvet mint cupcake.

Friday was beautiful and I spent the entire afternoon outside. People were actually sun bathing on the beach. It was a perfect day - warm, sunny and no wind. Today is a different story, which is good, because it makes me even happier to be going home.

I ate at Crazy Burger not once, but twice, so got in some good food while I was here as well.

For your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures I took at the Cupcake Madness event:








Yep, as some of you said, it was a tough job, but somebody had to do it! :)

Have a great week!

YAY! We have a title! And a very, very short description.

This is supposed to run in Publisher's Marketplace one of these days:

Lisa Schroeder's FALLING FOR YOU, about a teen girl who relives the love of a dangerous boy, and unravels the secrets that haunt her family, as she hovers between life and death, searching for light amid the darkness--and a reason to hold on, to Annette Pollert at Simon Pulse by Sara Crowe at Harvey Klinger, to be published in Spring, 2013.

I worked really, really hard on this book and I hope my readers like it. It's different for me - it's not in verse, although there is some poetry sprinkled throughout. It's also sort of a mystery -- from the first page, the reader knows something bad has happened to the main character, but it's not revealed what's happened and how it happened until the end of the book.

I finished line edits last month and I'm frantically working on copy edits right now, so we're still working hard to make it the best book it can be. Stay tuned in the coming months, when I'll tell you how you can read a sneak peek of FALLING FOR YOU long before the release date!

Happy Monday!!

Yes, it's true! My wonderful job gets even better!

On Sunday, March 25th, I will be at an event called Cupcake Madness in Narragansett, Rhode Island. It's a fun family event where you can walk around and taste cupcakes made by some of the best bakers in the state of Rhode Island.

Here's a picture of the strawberry lemonade cupcake that took home the title of "Best Cupcake" last year! Doesn't it look delicious??

I will be on a panel of judges who determines which is THE best cupcake after a timed bake-off of the finalists!

Along with eating delicious cupcakes, I'll be signing books (IT'S RAINING CUPCAKES and SPRINKLES AND SECRETS), which you can buy at the event from the local, independent bookstore, Wakefield Books.

I've never been to Rhode Island, so I'm really excited about this trip. Along with Cupcake Madness on Sunday, I'll be doing a school visit on Friday, and Saturday night I go out to dinner with a family who won the opportunity to dine with me in a raffle prize drawing.

To read more about the event, click HERE. I hope if you're in the area, you will come, eat cupcakes and say hi!

I have been a horrible blogger.

Life has just been crazy busy lately. Appointments right and left for all kinds of different, not very fun, things, along with sickness and work and kids and the dog... I keep dreaming of summer, my favorite time of year, when things slow down a bit.

This morning, I'm sitting here with a nasty cold, and taking a moment to relax for a few minutes. I'm looking out at the blooming camellia bush in the backyard, thankful we get warm sunshine and beautiful blue skies today. If I can muster up the energy later, I'm sure a walk in the sunshine would feel really, really nice.

I am thankful for some good news this week.

I am thankful for my agent, and my editors.

I am thankful for all of my readers, and the teachers and librarians who are so supportive of me and my books. It was a lot of fun to do six Skype visits yesterday with kids all across the country to celebrate World Read Aloud day.

I am thankful for a job that is somewhat flexible, so I can take the time when I need to in order to take care of myself and my family.

I am thankful for the banana bread I made yesterday that goes really well with the gallons of tea I'm drinking.

I am thankful the dog's leg is getting better, slowly but surely. I hope she can recover fully. Think I'll end with a picture of Stormy, because there's nothing like a cute dog picture, right?

Have a great weekend!

Good news: I am about ready to send my revised YA manuscript off to my editor. It feels like all I've done for the past month is work on this book. I hope I can share more about this project soon - I don't even have a title yet.

Bad news: I still worry it's not good enough. I've never been this worried about a book before, and I'm not sure what that means exactly.

Good news: I had a fabulous time on a writing retreat this past weekend in Midway, Utah. It is so beautiful there, and these ladies are so fun to hang out with. From left to right, top to bottom, Irene Latham, Rachel Hawkins, Emily Wing Smith, Mr. Moose, Lindsey Leavitt and me.