You Never Know. No, Really. You Don't: My Pub Story

Today is the day, peeps! The day I get to tell you all that my baby, my beloved novel, LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE, is going to be published by Simon Pulse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To say I'm ecstatic is an understatement. Being a published author has been my lifelong goal - I'm pretty sure I came out of the womb looking for a good book and a quiet corner to curl up in with it. It might explain why I screamed so much as an infant. My point: I have waited a LONG time for this, and I am so thrilled that my book found a home with a publisher and an editor who love it as much as I do.

My story is not exactly typical. I found my agent, or maybe it's more accurate to say we found each other, in 2012 when I entered LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE in Brenda Drake's Pitch Madness contest. Naturally, there was much happy dancing.

You can read the interview about it here.

LYM went on sub not long after. And if you think waiting to hear back on a query is torture, let me just tell you that time literally STOPS MOVING when you're waiting to hear whether or not your book is going to become a real book. And a couple of times, it seemed like it just might happen. There were a handful of editors who had nothing but complimentary things to say about the manuscript, but in the end, it didn't pan out.

Talk about heartbreak. I don't even think I need to elaborate.

Fast forward to almost two years later. I had put LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE on the shelf, put it out of my mind, and powered ahead on some new projects. I was literally in the process of putting the finishing touches on my newest when I got an email from John titled An Interesting Email On A Snowy Valentine's Day.

It was interesting, all right.

Sara Sargent, one of the editors who'd read and loved LYM when it was on sub, had emailed him to say she'd been re-reading it on her morning commute and remembering how much she'd enjoyed it, and would he like to re-sub it to her in new position at Simon Pulse?

My reaction was basically this:

She'd remembered my manuscript. Remembered it, and was still thinking about it. And wanted to publish it.

I can't even.

So, LYM came off the shelf for sub resurrection. My intestines went into immediate knots. This was the story of my heart, and I'd long since put it out of my mind. Sure, the occasional wistful memory still crept in every now and again, but for the most part, I'd accepted that LYM would not be my publishing debut, and had even allowed myself to get excited about my other manuscripts instead. Now it was back on the table, and every person I wrung my hands and fretted in front of kept telling me the same thing: don't think about it.

And of course, when you're not supposed to think about something, we all know what happens:

IT IS THE ONLY THING YOU THINK ABOUT.

And for 34 long, agonizing, ENDLESS days, it was all I thought about. No amount of house cleaning or child rearing or new projects helped. I drove myself crazy until I reached a point where I thought, okay, it's been way too long. I guess the answer is no. Again. 

Then I got an email from John asking if I had time for a quick phone call, because he had some news to share. And....

I missed it.

I missed the email because my son had kept me up all night, and when he went down for his afternoon nap, I crashed like a ton of bricks. That's right, I SLEPT THROUGH THE MOST IMPORTANT EMAIL EVER.

Luckily John is persistent, and followed up with a phone call a little while later. AND I SLEPT THROUGH THAT, TOO.

I almost died of a heart attack when I wandered into my kitchen, bleary-eyed and messy-haired and looked at my phone. I wanted to smack myself.

But then I called him back, and finally, FINALLY, I had the news I'd been dying for since, oh, second grade: The folks at Simon Pulse loved LYM as much as Sara did, and they wanted to publish it.

Despite the fact that I was incapable of forming coherent sentences, I wanted to hug John. He's lucky that he didn't deliver the news in person, or it probably would've looked something like this:

In summer 2015, my book will be a real book. My dream will come true. Then, in 2016, it will come true again when my second book is published. That's right. A 2-book deal.

Living proof that you just never know.

No, really. You don't.

Join me in some more happy dancing, won't you?

THROW YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!
MY MOM HAS A BOOK DEAL!!!

Shooting the Breeze With My CP's: An Interview With Dahlia Adler!

Hi Everyone!

So tomorrow just HAPPENS to be the birthday of one of my very favorite people and critique partners: fellow lover of YA contemporary and YA Misfit, Dahlia Adler! To celebrate, we're doing an interview!

You might know Dahl from the Twitterverse (and if you don't, go follow her right now: @MissDahlELama), or from her own blog, The Daily Dahlia, where she dispenses invaluable advice on writing and seeking publication, does fabulous interviews, and is generally a brilliant human being. She is repped by Andrea Somberg at the Harvey Klinger Agency, and is also a copyediting wizard, a sweet but thorough beta reader, and has the ability to organize a person's whole brain in three bullet points. Yes, she has done that for me. I'd be lost without her, and I'm going to pout when I have to share her sexy male mc's with the rest of the world, but only for a second. Because then I'll be too busy screaming my head off with glee.

Here's a chance for you to get to know Dahlia too!

G: First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Are you doing anything special to celebrate?

D: Thank you!! Just keeping it small this year, having some friends over. Mostly I’m excited for whatever birthday cake my husband’s planning.

G: How long have you been writing, and what made you decide to pursue publication?

D: I’ve been writing since I was about eight or so, but I was always really shy about it and would never let anyone read my writing, and I honestly had no intention of pursuing publication. Then, about five years ago, my husband went to law school, and money got tight, and I thought, “Okay, maybe it’s time I actually see if I can turn this into more than a hobby, because we kinda need that right now!” I dipped my toe into the querying pool and never looked back, even though obviously now I realize that was ridiculous reasoning.

G: How many novels have you written? Do you have a favorite ms in your arsenal? 

D: I’ve actually written quite a few—four books for what would now be called a “New Adult” series, four YA standalones, I’m most of the way through a chick lit, and I’m writing another YA standalone right now. My favorite as far as what’s near and dear to my heart is probably the one I shelved prior to getting my agent—it’s called MY NAME IS EVERETT, and I just love the characters and setting so much. I wouldn’t say it’s my strongest, but it’s my “baby,” even though it’ll probably never see the light of day!

G: I know what *my* favorite Dahlia story is - BEHIND THE SCENES! Tell us a little bit about it and what inspired you to write it.

D: Aw, you’re just a sucker for a certain love interest ;) 

BEHIND THE SCENES is about a high school senior named Ally whose best friend, Vanessa, lands a starring role in a huge new TV show and gets Ally a job as her on-set assistant. Once on-set, Ally and Vanessa’s co-star Liam fall hard and fast for each other, but they’re forced to keep their romance behind the scenes so Vanessa and Liam can publicly date as part of a publicity stunt.    

I don’t remember what inspired the actual story, but I can definitely tell you a few random pieces of inspiration. One huge thing that brings Ally and Liam together is the fact that her father is terminally ill, and he’s experienced that with his own mother. In this case, I pulled a “write what you know,” and gave her dad the same illness (stage IV melanoma) that my father had. The aspect of Ally’s hating Hollywood because she’s watched her best friend struggle, being an Asian-American actress, isn’t from any personal experience—just a personal desire to call more attention to the insane lack of diversity in casting. The fake show was based on the new 90210 in my head, which is also where the character name “Liam” came from.

G: How difficult was it to write Liam and Ally's love story knowing he was really in love with me the whole time? (Kidding. Totally. Not really.)

D: Nearly impossible! Do you know how hard it is to tell a character, “Dude, focus on Ally,” when he just keeps screaming, “Giiiiiiina!!” from your computer speakers? Near impossible! Fortunately, I like a challenge, and I love writing romance.

G: That's right. I knew it. Ahem... BTS also got you your agent. What do you think is the most important advice for authors seeking representation?

D: 1) Get yourself some betas, and really, really think about their critique. I got incredibly tough crit on BTS, and sometimes it’s really tempting to brush it off and say, “Oh, whatever, those are just her opinions,” but I made the decision to work with it, and I think it’s a much better book for it. It’s also 10K longer, and I don’t think the pacing hurts for it at all.

2) Be aware of what writing opportunities are out there, and avail yourself of them! I got an agent through my first contest, and I didn’t even really know contests were a “thing” before that. But they are, and they’re fantastic. Just don’t overdo them—sometimes I see the same manuscripts entered over and over and can’t help thinking, “Have you really done anything to this since the last time? Are you working on anything new or are you holding on for too long?” Plus, it’s never really in your best interest to have agents know how long you’ve been trying to “sell” something.

3) Do your research on agents before signing. Not that this had anything to do with my experience, but I see now all these agents popping up with basically no experience, no sales, and people rushing to sign with them to add a line to their Twitter bios. It’s not worth it.

G: What do you strive for when you write? In other words, what are the things you hope to hear from your readers?

D: The best compliments are the ones that tell you that you’ve really gotten into someone’s head. If I can make someone laugh, or cry, or “swoon,” that’s the greatest. I get a lot of compliments on dialogue, and I love that, but lately I’ve been getting a bunch on setting, and those are really, really flattering to me, because I tend to set things in made-up locales. if I can make you picture a place neither of us has ever been… yeah, I’ll be pretty proud of that!

G: Tell us something that would surprise people to know about you. And not that you're awesome, because we already know that.

D: Ha, I’m such an open book that I’m not even sure what would surprise people anymore. I guess maybe that although I love books and TV, I’m so not a movie person. The list of movies I’ve never seen includes: Star Wars, Titanic, Dumb and Dumber, When Harry Met Sally, You’ve Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, Jurassic Park, any of the Harry Potters, any of the Twilights, any of the Lord of the Rings, any of the Supermans… need I go on?

G: Because I'm food-obsessed, I have to ask: Favorite flavor of ice cream? Favorite kind of cookie? Any food you absolutely positively can't live without?

D: Ohh, you are my kind of girl, as if I didn’t know that already! My favorite ice cream is Coffee Heath Bar Crunch—so, so good. Favorite kind of cookie is tough, but I think I have to go with white chocolate macadamia nut. There are so many foods I can’t live without I don’t even know where to start. I think chicken would probably be my number one.

G: Ben & Jerry are my heroes. Last question: How would you fill in this blank? If I see _____ in one more YA novel, I will scream.

D: If I see one more couple pair up after getting to know each other through a class project, I will scream. Loudly.

 Thanks for stopping by, Dahlia! Best of luck with all your writing endeavors and of course, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

YA Misfits Launch Giveaway!

I am so excited to announce that today is the official launch of the YA Misfits Blog!

My CP's and I have been working on bringing this fun and informative writing blog to y'all for a while, and we are so thrilled to unveil our collaborative baby. And the best part?

THERE ARE MAD PRIZES TO BE WON!

That's right - all us misfits are offering prizes ranging from critiques to gift cards to books on our individual blogs, as well as ONE MEGA AWESOME PRIZE on the YAMF blog - A KINDLE!!

And to go along with it, I'm offering .... drumroll please....

A $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Because hey, you'll need to  buy BOOKS for your Kindle, right? 

So How Do You Win?

It's very simple. You must:

- Be a follower of this blog

- Be a follower of the YA Misfits Blog

AND:

*Leave a Comment Telling Me Something That Makes You a Misfit*

For example, if you follow me on Twitter, you probably know that I have a habit of singing and dancing - loudly and badly - when I'm alone in my house making dinner. If you don't, here's an example of some of the tweets you'd see if you did:

or

or

and of course:

So, peeps. Want an Amazon Gift card? Then tell me what makes YOU a misfit! (Then hop over to the YAMF blog and follow along, if you haven't already. We have some great posts and more contests planned!)

**Be sure to leave me your e-mail address in the comment so I can contact you if you win! Winner will be announced  Monday, September 10th.

What Are You Reading This Summer?

Today I'm going to talk about what I've been reading this summer! And then, I'd love it if you guys would share *your* summer reading recommendations.

While most offices have "summer hours" (and schools are off altogether - nope, no jealousy here) to accommodate the general laziness of the season,  it's still strange, and kind of a bummer to me, that my company's busiest season is the summer.

Newport is calling me. Sadly, I can not answer :(

Not to mention I'm working diligently on my 3rd novel, and failing miserably at trying not to think about the one that's on submission right now. So unfortunately, my reading list is not nearly as long as I'd like, but I still managed to squeeze in some gems:

BREAK by Hannah Moskowitz

I'd never read one of Hannah's novels before, and did so on Leigh Ann's recommendation. I did not regret it.     

This one was unique, compelling, and the voice was funny, sad, sweet, and realistic all at once. Holy talent.

GIRL PARTS by John M. Cusick

Dudes. I'm still having a hard time comprehending that the person who wrote this book (it's like Weird Science meets edgy contemporary all being towed along by a dark undercurrent) saw something special in my fluffy little YA romance. It's mind boggling. 

THE LAST ECHO by Kimberly Derting

Y'all know I love this series from reviews I've done. There's lots of suspense, Jay, witty dialogue, Jay, vivid characters... and did I mention Jay? Because the one thing this novel needed was MORE JAY!

I've also done some reading for my CP's. 

Jenny shared her urban fantasy, THE RIVER REMEMBERS with me, and guys, she can paint pictures with words as well as any painter can do with a brush. Also, her male mc has a body carved from martial arts and  a ginormous wingspan. Take that as you will :)

I also read my Sub Buddy Dahlia's ms, BEHIND THE SCENES, (you can read the interview about how she got her agent here) and basically fell in love from page one. It's hilarious and touching and by chapter 2 I'd publicly declared myself Dahlia's first stalker fangirl. And you know what? She still gave me her address and let me send her presents, because for reasons unbeknownst to me, she thinks I'm awesome too.

Right now I'm reading Marieke's YA fantasy, PALADIN and if you've ever watched her vlogs you know first hand that her voice is like mental massage - so soothing and pretty. And her book? Is the written equivalent. (BTW Marieke also wrote the pitch that first got my agent to notice me in a contest, and I will NEVER EVER EVER stop thanking her for that. Thank you Marieke. I love you!)

What have you read this summer, peeps? Any recommendations for something you particularly enjoyed?

Eleven Minutes in Heaven

Okay, no, not really on the eleven minutes in heaven thing.

So last week the lovely Megan Whitmer (seriously, if you're not following Megan, hop over right now and remedy that. She is an absolute joy. Go on. I'll wait.) tagged me to answer Eleven Questions in a vlog.

I did so in this little video here:

I was also supposed to list eleven random facts about myself, come up with eleven more questions, and tag eleven more people.

Well, with my lack of vlog-editing skills, it quickly would've become The Vlog That Never Ends, so I took a page from Megan's book and reserved the second part for this lovely little blog o' mine. So here goes:

Eleven Things You Never Needed to Know About Gina:


1) I actually love the number 11. My birthday is May 11th. I have 11 first cousins. The first house I lived in was at 11 Daniel Drive. Eleven rocks.

2) I have 20% hearing loss in my right ear. If the birds are obnoxiously chirping outside my window at 4 a.m., I need only to roll over onto my left ear. Sweet silence ensues.

3) My parents and my husband's parents were friends in high school, but my husband and I didn't meet until we were in high school ourselves.

4) I went to Catholic school for eight years, and came out less religious instead of more. Oops.

5) I firmly believe in meaning what you say and saying what you mean. I'd rather get no compliments at all than to receive an insincere compliment, and the same goes for giving them.

6) I am so not a morning person

7) The year after I graduated college, I went on a 10-day tour of Spain with my cousins and sister. It was one of the best trips I've ever been on, despite falling and cracking my right knee cap halfway through, and walking around the rest of the trip with a knee the size of a grapefruit.

8) I used to be a HUGE soda junkie. But ever since I saw that video where a bottle of coke basically obliterated a nail the size of my finger, I try to stay far, far away.

9) In conjunction with #8, I have a really sensitive stomach. I love food, but most of the time it does not love me back.

10) The only reason I tried on the dress that wound up being my wedding gown was to prove to my mother that I'd hate it. I had something totally different in mind, and I finally had the salesgirl give me something my mother chose just to shut her up. And lo and and behold, the minute I put it on, it was love at first sight.

11) I had a roommate in college who drunkenly puked in her top bunk while I was sleeping on the bottom bunk. And if you stuck around to hear me answer Megan's 11th question, you know exactly how and why I'm traumatized by this.

*pant pant* Holy smokes, that was exhausting.

Okay, since I'm running out of steam, I'm just going to give you guys the option of answering Megan's questions, or responding to something in my facts, or a combination of the two.

If you'd like to participate... consider yourself tagged!

Here are Megan's questions again:

·  What's your favorite song?

·  How many times did you fail your driver's license test?

·  Who's your celebrity crush?

·  What is the most disgusting word you can think of?

·  Don't you think Tombstone is the best movie of all time?

·  If you had to eat one food every day for a year, what would it be?

·  What are your top 3 favorite books?

·  Have you ever met anyone in real life that you originally met on Twitter?

·  What was your first job?

·  Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich- do you put pb on one slice of bread, jelly on the other, and then marry the two? Or do you put pb on one slice of bread, spread jelly on top of the pb, and put another slice of bread on top? (My grandfather has a VERY SOLID opinion on this subject.)

·  Name one thing that majorly creeps you out.

Looking forward to learning about you, peeps! Be sure to comment/tweet me a link to your vlog or blog post if you decide to partake!

Amazing News - Again!

You guys! My CP's are on fire!

I am super psyched to announce that my ridiculously talented critique parter, Chessie Zappia, has signed with Louise Fury of the L. Perkins Agency!

Now, I wasn't around for the gif war that took place the last time a member of our group came off the market, but I'm here now. And even though I've never used a gif in my life, I'm sure as hell gonna give this a shot. GAME ON, CP's!

This is basically the reaction of everyone who reads Chessie's book:

Omigod y'all. I can't handle how amazing that was.
It's just not FAIR!

And here's a summary of how our crit group reacted when we found out Chessie finally got THE CALL:

MUPPET FLAIL!!!!!

Like I'd ever, EVER not throw a Smallville gif in here.
Sheesh.

The running man, you guys. It's my signature move

Yup. Even Ron Swanson is getting in on the action

So then, Alexander Skarsgard caught word of Chessie's news, and he was all...

So... I'm first choice for the role of Miles, right baby?

But Kellan Lutz was like,

What? That role is totally mine. Watch your back, Skarsgard.

Alright, so I made that last part up. They're both way too old to be Miles. What I'm really trying to say is: CONGRATULATIONS CHESSIE!!!!

AMAZING NEWS!

PEEPS!

I was in Mexico last week, and I'd planned to post a vlog I recorded while I was there, and maybe some pictures. Instead, I have something way better.

One of my dear critique partners, Leigh Ann Kopans, HAS SCORED HERSELF A KICKASS AGENT!

Leigh Ann and I have been CP's for a year this month (I was her first, guys. Be jealous.), and our journeys to agentedhood have been very similar.

We read each other's first novels. Ripped them apart, shined them up and polished them, queried our hearts out with them, got *so close* to yes with the last agents who read them, and then gave each other virtual hugs when we knew it was ultimately time to put those ms's in the drawer.

Then we wrote our second  novels.

Fell madly in love with them. Ripped them apart, shined them up and polished them, queried our hearts out, and got seriously down when the responses were less than stellar. Then we entered contests (separate ones) that changed everything. Sent each other frantic text messages and tweets and e-mails and threw in a couple phone calls in for good measure.

Proved nothing is impossible

So now the next step of the journey begins for both of us, and I am so thrilled and lucky to have my writing bestie and favorite cheerleader at my (virtual) side for it. Leigh Ann has worked her ass off to get to this moment, and no one deserves it more.

You can read Leigh Ann's story in her own words here. Please go congratulate her and wish her the best of luck with ONE, the novel that wowed her agent :)

Discussing Inspiration Vloggy Style

Hey all, how was your weekend?

Mine was hectic. I did find a few minutes to put together a vlog for the series my CP's have put together, and I'm posting it here. The question I'm answering is: What inspires your work?

I really wanted it to be a cool vlog, with pictures and videos or SOME sort of visual aid incorporated within, but alas, in the battle of Gina vs. Technology, Technology beat me to a bloody pulp.

So,  I give you three minutes of an extreme close-up on my face, which ranges from pissy (because technology defeated me) to swoony (because hello, I'm talking about GILBERT BLYTHE!)

Also, I THOUGHT I'd at least figured out how to tag pictures on to the end of the video, but I was wrong. So here are the Anne/Gilbert pics I wanted to include, but was too stupid to figure out how:

Gilbert is whispering "Hey, Carrots" in this photo. Anne
is ignoring him...

...So he pulls her hair. And she proceeds
to smash her writing tablet over his head. Priceless.

And in the end, it all comes down to this swoon-worthy moment.
*Sigh*

GILBERT I LOVE YOU!