Launch Party for Olivia!
I don’t know how much I’ve shared about my experience with writing the novel Olivia, but I am so excited to announce its release! Olivia,-the first book in the Newport Ladies Book Club series was shipped to stores today! This means that in the next week-ish this beautiful cover will be looking at you from book store shelves:
Olivia
How it all started was Josi and I went on a booktour in 2009.
Josi and Julie Booktour
I’m really glad we put the date in the picture because I’m a little flaky when it comes to remembering stuff like that. And don’t you love our toes. Josi treated me to my first ever pedicure. I tell you people–she is the friend to have! It was a great experience (the whole thing, not just the pedicure). Josi is the sort of person I can talk to all day and all night and never get tired of it. She is an amazing woman. Even when she’s feeling evil . . .
Josi grinning in evil joy
Josi likes to keep a strict time schedule. This is a good thing, since I tend to be flaky about schedules too. I wanted to stop every few minutes while on the road because there were lots of cool things to see. We’d basically planned the tour right down to the minute which means had Josi given in to me, we would have been late to everything. So I had to settle for to settle for drive-by Photography:
Drive by Photo
While we were driving, we talked about everything. We talked about books. We talked about books we really liked. We talked about authors who wrote books we really liked. Then Josi had an idea. A brilliant, magnificent, WONDERFUL idea.
I’d like to claim it as my own, but really I was just in the passenger seat listening to her tell me her brilliant, magnificent, WONDERFUL idea. The important thing to remember here is that *I* was in the car when it happened, and therefore my contribution of being present was vital.
The idea was to get with two other authors, ones of the awesome book-writing variety, and two who we really loved and wanted with us, and write a series with them. Not just any series, but a series where the stories interconnect and weave together.
Four Women.
Four Books.
Four lives changed through friendship.
See! I told you it was brilliant!
We met with Annette Lyon and Heather Moore for breakfast when we got home and pitched the idea to them. We were all on board. And that was the birthplace of the Newport Ladies Book Club. We each wrote from the viewpoint of a different character so in each of the books, you’ll get some of that character’s story, but only by reading all four books will you get the full picture or find out the endings to the other character’s stories. It was great fun to write the books–to get together and discuss the characters. We’d be typing away and then one of us would look up and say, “Oh, by the way, your character is going to do this in the second meeting.” or “Hey, what color is your character’s hair again?” And wow. Reading the finished products? WOW. Each story is so unique and interesting and beautiful.
And Olivia has been shipped to stores today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (insert freakish girl scream here).
We are celebrating the release of the Newport Ladies Book Club:
Saturday February 18th 1-3 PM
Deseret Book 1110 FORT UNION BLVD MIDVALE, UT 84047
There will be food and prizes and fun and BOOKS!
Please come join me in the celebration!
Dave Farland’s New Series
New York Times Bestseller
else like it.”
Hugo, Nebula, and World
Fantasy Award Winner
Whitney Awards, Conference, and Good Stuff
I have never been speechless in my entire life. Never. Not once that I can recall. I think I was born talking. My dad used to take me to his business stuff and military stuff when I was incredibly small because I had a huge vocabulary and absolutely no fear of using it. He liked showing off the baby who spoke in full sentences even before she had enough hair to qualify her as a girl. Seriously. Never. Speechless.
Until Saturday night.
I had not allowed myself to prepare any kind of acceptance speech if Cross My Heart should win the Whitney Award. Any time my mind wandered in that direction, I immediately yanked it back. After my freakish month of feeling wretched, I wasn’t emotionally up to disappointment. I’d read the other finalists. They were good. I closed one in particular and thought to myself, “She is definitely going to win.” But it didn’t really bother me to think I’d lost. I attributed it to their excellence, rather than my mediocrity. Good books should win. And that was okay with me.
So I went to the conference feeling surprisingly normal. A lot of that normal feeling stemmed from the fact that I FINALLY finished Hazzardous Universe Book 2 and got it turned in to my illustrious editor, Kirk Shaw. Getting the book done and in, and feeling good about the end result of that product, went a long way toward feeling normal. The conference went well, meeting up with friends, and making a few new ones, went a long way toward normal as well.
And then Saturday night happened. I wore black . . . because that’s what I do, found my seat with wonderful online friends that I pretty much only see once a year, picked at my food, and listened to the opening statements. It started so quickly. The romance category was announced first, and it seems I had barely enough time to blink as I wrenched my cloth napkin in my hands and felt my legs turn to water.
Then they were announcing my name . . . the title of MY book. My brain froze. I couldn’t process the words, yet my emotions experienced no such freezing as I immediately melted into a snotty, sodden mess of waterfall. Had they really called *my* name? I knew I had to go up there, but my legs wouldn’t move. Mr. Wright had to tap me and remind me to walk to the stage.
People talk about slow motion where every breath inhaled and exhaled feels as though they mark the passing of minutes rather than fractions of seconds. Where the time in which every step forward seems monitored by hours. I can’t really remember the walk to the platform and the microphone, but it felt like it took forever. I remember the hugs from the people who announced the award for the 2010 Romance category. Sheila, Shanda, and Mindy were hugging on me and crying right along with me.
And then I turned and faced the podium, stepped up to the microphone, and experienced the impossible.
I was speechless. It wasn’t just about having nothing to say. I literally could not get the air to flow past my pipes to create sound. I made some odd orangutan movements, squawked like some mental bird, and looked pretty silly in general before the words finally came.
Granted, the words were rendered difficult to understand through the blubbering and squawking. And, granted, they weren’t all that brilliant, or poignant, or entertaining, or even well thought out.
But at least they did show up.
It was a humbling experience, and I still feel a little weepy (absurd . . . I know), and I still feel a little giddy. And that beautiful award shaped like a book that really opens and closes and has my name and title etched into its perfect acrylic face looks absolutely stunning on my bookshelf.
My daughter reminded me today that when I first bought that particular bookcase, I remarked how well a Whitney Award would look on it.
I love being right.
Thank you, Kirk, for being such an amazing editor. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the first three winners were your authors. Thank you, Josi, for the incredible work you put into the awards this year and the work you’ll have to put in next year. Last weekend Josi Kilpack, Heather Moore, Annette Lyon, and I spent the weekend in a hotel together so we could work on a series we’re writing together. Heather, Annette, and I were finalists. Josi knew the results. And she didn’t say a thing. She didn’t so much as breathe a clue in our direction as to how things had turned out. She should get an award for THAT. It’s pretty amazing that each of the four of us have one of these awards now. What an amazing group of friends I am so lucky to have in my life. Thank you, Covenant, for being such a great publisher, for standing behind me in all the things I write, and for being so amazing to work with.
Thank you to the academy of bookstore owners, reviewers, publishers, and storymakers who voted. My smile muscles obviously need more exercise because they still hurt, and my eyes still feel a bit blurry from all the camera flashbulbs, and I still feel genuinely loved from all those hugs. Thank you, everyone. Thank you.
Here is the list of award winners:
Rick Walton
Lifetime Achievement Award
Susan Evans McCloud
And Congratulations to all those eating “loser pie” and snapping silly pictures. A part of me hated not being able to join in on those pictures. You are all amazing writers and there is nothing loser about that group . . . not even remotely. Though I still love the joke of the pie 
Letters
Dear Mother Nature: That was one wicked lightning storm last night while I was driving the lone highways of Utah. I’m a huge fan of your work, and I think you’ve outdone yourself. It was so brilliant and otherworldly, I half-wondered if the alien invasion was coming. My normally static-ridden hair was straight on end. Bravo for a spectacular performance!
Dear Man in Bookstore: No, I wasn’t admiring you. I was admiring the newly packaged leather-bound copies of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The fact that you weren’t admiring the books I was admiring, in spite of the fact that you stood right next to them, means you really aren’t my type and I’ll never be admiring you. Sorry. I hope we can still be friends . . . in the I’ll-never-see-you-again-thank-goodness sort of way.
Dear James Dashner: Thank you for writing such a fun book. I truly enjoyed Scorch Trials and cannot wait for Death Cure. Your book kept me company while I drove the lone highways of Utah and watched Mother Nature do her thing. Your book and I had a great time together. Also thanks for the phone call. I”m glad you’re my friend.
Dear Family: Thanks for not putting me up for adoption when I get weird. You guys keep me grounded.
Dear friends: Thanks for all the comments, private emails, and words of encouragement. I promise not to stop writing even though I did consider it for a few minutes. I appreciate all your support. You guys are like a lifetime supply of flashlights with batteries.
Dear Manuscript in Progress: Sorry for the trim yesterday, but you look much tidier now. Those forty pages made you look a shaggy guy wandering around with no sense of purpose. It’s true when they say, “this hurts me more than it hurts you.” so stop whining.
Dear House: No you aren’t going to be clean this week. You’d think you’d be used to it by now. Honestly, House, you whine as much as Manuscript in Progress.
Dear Me: Why are you on the Internet when you have Manuscript in Progress to get ready?
Who Is Romania Brown?
I have been asked this question a LOT over the last several months. I’ve received more fan mail for Romania Brown’s quotes in the book CROSS MY HEART than I have for the actual book.
People have Googled her, quoted her, and laughed out loud at her. And they want to know who she is. So I’m telling all. I will meta-tag this post so it comes up in a Google search. I want the world to know.
She’s my grandma.
Her full name is Julia Romania Brown Peterson. She is the person who I was named for. She was my very best friend growing up. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears mentioning again–she was everything awesome in my life. I miss her sometimes more than I can stand. I hide bits and pieces of her in pretty much everything I write. It’s my way of keeping her with me. It takes away some of the ache, and I know she’d love the joke of it all. Grandma loved a good joke.
Now, the confession part is that Grandma didn’t write all those quotes. A couple of them are things she told me, but most of them are things I made up. I couldn’t credit myself because . . . well, it looks tacky to credit a quote to yourself. I tried using quotes from real people, but had to rely on things my friends would let me quote them in a book saying, or things that are over a hundred (or whatever) years old so I didn’t accidentally break any copyright laws. After using up my friends and classic works, I still needed a few quotes. It was then that I turned to my journal–my memories of grandma and my snarky personal commentary on love in general while I was in my dating years. I drew from that to come up with the quotes and the poem about love at the beginning of the book CROSS MY HEART.
So now you know.
Julia Romania Brown Peterson was hilarious. She loved to laugh. She was brilliant. Even without formal higher education, she never ceased to learn, to expand her mind, to grow her knowledge. She loved archaeology, which might be the reason I had such a fixation with Indiana Jones and that blasted hat of his. She planted all the seeds that created the person I am today.
And I do miss her . . . every day. But every day, I am also filled with gratitude that she existed, and she was *my* grandma. I am grateful that she was such a huge part of my life, and glad to share her with all of you even in this small part.
So now you know. Isn’t she wonderful?
Julia Romania Brown Peterson as a Baby
Wow, What a Night and Winners!
So the launch party was awesome. And by awesome I mean humbling and exhausting and thrilling, and amazing. Barnes and Noble was very gracious as hosts and the manager told me it was the biggest event they’d had in three years. They were very pleased with the sales. YAY for pleased bookstore managers!
What was really awesome was the amount of support from friends and family. It’s really humbling to have the people you love stand behind you and support you when you have a reason to celebrate. It’s fantastic to know they’re celebrating with you and they’re happy for your accomplishments. It was a great night. We talked, laughed, signed books, and had cheesecake.
THANK YOU everyone for your support in this new series. My goal is to make Hazzardous Universe shine like a star going supernova!
AND I was peer pressured into sushi with Howard Tayler because Kevin insists that sushi is best when eaten with Howard. Because of my negative notions of sushi, I strong-armed Jessica Day George into coming with. I don’t want to be the only sushi novice in the group. Dan Willis joined us as well. I can honestly report it wasn’t that bad (aside from the “dessert” that looked like a ripped out spinal cord). I think I’ll even do it again sometime.
The winner of the blog, tweet, facebook mentions is . . .
PK HREZO!
Congratulations! You are the owner of a shiny MP3 Player and an even shinier, and much cooler, copy of Hazzardous Universe!
Here are some pictures from the launch party:
Tyler Whitesides, Josi Kilpack Annette Lyon, Shanda Cottam, Jeff Savage, Luann Staheli, and Nancy Allen
Shanda, Julie, Sheila, Kevin
Hazzardous Universe
A new book *and* a contest! (read to the end to get contest details)
Yesterday, I held my newest book in my hands for the first time. I should say our newest book because it belongs to Kevin Wasden and me together. I love the art inside the book. Love it, love it, love it. And the cover is so awesome, I can’t even count all the shades of awesomeness!
There is really nothing like seeing your novel in its finished form–all that research, writing, cursing, creating, deleting, adding, deleting again, rewriting finally shows up in your hands–bound and clean and satisfying.
It’s strange that as I finish writing HU2, Hu1 is barely making an entrance. It feels good to be here with a book that holds such limitless potential, and with a partner who is as committed to the series as I am, and with a publisher who wants the success of this book as much as I do. It seems lame that even as I am giggling with glee over this shiny new book, I also feel humbled and grateful.
It fits in with a question I got at a school visit I did recently. A kid asked me, “Do you know any crazy authors?”
My answer?
“Oh, honey . . . we’re ALL crazy.”
Please come join Kevin and me for our launch party for Hazzardous Universe! It’s on March 9th at the Murray Utah Barnes and Noble (5300 south and State Street) We’ll be there from 6-8 pm and we would love to see everyone there.
And this is where the contest comes in! If you blog or tweet or facebook about the Hazzardous Universe Launch Party with its location and time, leave a message in the comments letting me know you’ve done it and you will be entered into a drawing. If you do all three, you get three entries (make sure to leave three comments so I don’t accidentally miss anything). The prize is: a copy of Hazzardous Universe signed by both the author and artist AND a 4 gig Digi-star MP3 shuffle.
Come celebrate with us!
Key Lime Pie
Because it’s pie and it’s a book, and Josi Kilpack is awesome.
Now that I’m done writing a book (and putting off editing that book) I am in read-and-review other books mode. It won’t be long before I have to get back to the grind, so go ahead and be shocked that I’m posting more than once a month and know that the once a month schedule could pop up again at any moment.
The only thing more awesome than me loving a book, is one of my kids loving a book. I’ve read Key Lime Pie twice now (once before and once after publication) My daughter decided she liked mystery books about a year and a half ago. She finished Key Lime Pie about a week ago. Now I want it stated for the record that it totally ticks me off that my daughter reads and loves the books my friends write, but would rather drink anti-freeze than read one of my books. Kids . . . pssshhhh!
Because my daughter is going to school in a different city, we spend a LOT of time on the phone (because even if she won’t read my books, she still likes to chat with me on the phone). Some of our conversations went like this:
Rae: I am so dang mad at Josi. She’s making everything go wrong in this book! Why didn’t you stop her before it got published?
Me: Just keep reading, honey. You’ll like the ending.
Rae: No, I won’t! Everyone I like is either a bad guy or written off at this point.
Me (smiling): I promise. Just keep reading.
Rae: Well of course I’m going to keep reading. I have to know what happens.
The conversation after she finished the book went like this:
Rae: Well I’m done! (you can hear in her voice, she is grinning)
Me: And?
Rae: It was awesome! Tell Josi I forgive her for driving me crazy. It ended exactly like it should have.
And so it did. Josi has done it once again, and it makes me happy to see my daughter get so emotionally invested in the story. Sadie Hoffmiller and her insatiable curiosity lands her in the middle of another mystery, one that means life or death, and hunger or starvation. Sadie finds herself in Florida–trying to help a friend, but also trying to discover what really happened to his daughter. What she finds is a web of lies, cover-ups, and of course–food.
The plot is great, the setting delicious, and the characters are as fun as ever as Josi ramps up the series with a romantic twist I never saw coming.
I loved it!
Mockingjay Review
Spoiler Alert!!!!!
Real or not real? This book was awesome.
Real.
I finally had the chance to read this. It was my reward for finishing my latest work in progress, and was a well chosen reward. Finished this at 3:30 am. It was a satisfying read all the way around. The conclusion worked for me and no everything wasn’t perfect, but it was *right*
My quibbles were with the whole capital infiltration. It was all for naught because Katniss arrived at the same time as the rebels. She could’ve just gone with them and saved that loss of life. If the failure had been for some greater learning or revelation, it wouldn’t have bothered me, but it seemed to be just a waste of time for everyone.
I’ll be honest; when Katniss voted to do another round of hunger games for the capital’s children, I hated her. I hated her with every ounce of my being. You have to forgive me for not seeing through the subterfuge. It was 3 in the morning and I was tired! When the arrow knocked a new hole in Coin, I figured it out and got over it. When Coin said she’d flip Katniss for the chance to kill Snow, it very much felt like the hunger games vote was the coin toss. If Katniss hadn’t sided with Coin (no pun intended) on that one, she might not have been given the chance to be aiming arrows and keeping the entire mess from hitting repeat.
I loved the ending. The ultimate ending. It had to be Peeta. Always. Gale was the hot headed guy who wanted revolution and war. Katniss just wanted to live her life with the people she loved.
When I heard there was a team Gale, I laughed. Seriously people? Team Gale? Peeta is the boy with bread. He is the life she wants. Enough said. I loved that Peeta had a reawakening on his feelings for Katniss. He finally saw Katniss for who she was and then wanted her still in the end. Once she’d been kicked off the pedestal–he was around to pick her back up, brush her off, and say, “I still choose you, even though you suck, and make me furious, and are sometimes incredibly selfish. I still want you, because of the million things you do that don’t suck, that aren’t selfish, that don’t make me furious.”
That’s true love, baby–realizing its imperfections and wanting it anyway.
So for me the book was great. It was good to climb into bed at that hour and put my cold toes on my husband’s warm feet and be grateful for the things in my life–to be grateful for my own version of Peeta lying next to me–the man who knows all my demons, and sees all the flaws, yet says, “I still choose you.”
All in all I was/am satisfied with the book. Though I know it is wrong to covet the talents of other authors. I am insane with jealousy over the beautiful prose of this book. Maybe when I’m all grown up, I too can write like THAT.
Five stars. Thank you Suzanne Collins.
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