Friday Fricassee

Hello, friends!

Some of you have been reading this blog since its inception (11 years ago).

Some of you have come aboard recently, knowing only bits and pieces of my story.

All of you are part of the wonderful community of writers that is such a lifeblood to those of us who are blessed to be part of it.

It's less than 2 months from the release of my debut novel, and even now it's still hard, sometimes, to comprehend that this is my life. When I opened Blogger and created Miss Snark's First Victim in April, 2008, I was nursing a 7-month-old and homeschooling 4 older children. I was also almost 3 years into trying to find an agent (and it would take me another 2.5 years to actually land one).

Now my youngest is turning 12 next month (seriously, what??) and I'm spending a portion of my work day on marketing and publicity for Stormrise. How can that be?

Dorky as this may sound, I've got one of my galleys on display in a metal book holder in a bookcase. I stare at it, marveling all over again at the beautiful artwork and overwhelmed to know that this is my book. Not someone else's.

Every day, I'm thankful. For every Goodreads add. Every excited BookTuber. Every 4- or 5-star review. Every squeal about dragons. Every gorgeous book photo on Instagram. Every mention. Every "like". Every everything.

As if all this weren't enough, my editor recently brought up the cover for my next book (Fall 2020) and her concept for it. AND I LOVE HER IDEA SO MUCH. So here I am, already so excited for September 10 while heaping more excitement on top of that.

I may just explode one day in a shower of lilacs and melted chocolate and dragonbreath, and everyone will have to step over me and move along.

Thank you for being part of this incredible journey.

AND!

It so happens that Tor Teen and I both chose the same week to run an ARC giveaway--and they both end on Saturday.

CLICK HERE to enter Tor Teen's giveaway!

CLICK HERE to enter my giveaway!

Keep writing! Keep dreaming! Keep reading stories that make you laugh and think and cry and shudder and groan and grin and ponder and cackle and yell and squeal and sigh. And take all that and let it infuse your breathing and thinking and creating and living, and oh, what JOY there will be in your own creations.

Have a magical weekend!