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I went to visit my family this past weekend and celebrate my book deal. It was great, but there was someone I really missed: my grandmother, who passed away in 2008. She would have been SO excited and SO proud. My mom said, When your book comes out you should donate a copy to the library in honor of Memaw. Yes. I will do that. My grandmother was a voracious reader. She loved libraries and used bookstores. She had piles of beat-up paperback romances scattered all over her house. She had bad knees and diabetes complications, and she had a hard time getting around those last few years, but she’d have my uncle drive her past the construction on the new library in town. And then she’d call me and report on its progress. She was dealing with a lot of physical pain, plus the frustration of my grandfather’s Alzheimers,... Read More

I love reading about other authors’ paths to publication, so I thought I’d post the timeline for me so far. Sept 2009: spark. I wrote two short scenes—one is in the current draft, one isn’t. I put it aside all fall while I queried my first book, Inheriting Garolass, was offered representation, & revised that with Agent Jim January-March 2010: Started writing Born Wicked in earnest while Garolass was on sub. Wrote roughly 2/3 of the ms. April-May 2010: worked on Garolass with editors’ feedback June-July 2010: Turned back to Born Wicked & finished the first draft, which was about 79K August: light revision, mostly focused on worldbuilding, with feedback from crit partners & The Playwright Sept: sent it to Jim. At this point, Garolass had been shelved. Late Oct/Nov: revised for Jim. Rewrote lots of conversations to deepen character relationships, tighten up the beginning, add lots of Cate’s thoughts to help... Read More

I had The Playwright choose winners for my contest. Thanks to everyone who entered! Congratulations to: 1st prize: a dozen cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake goes to Joelle! 2nd prize: a bouquet of flowers from FTD goes to Caroline Richmond! 3rd prize: a book of her choice goes to Ellieswords! I’ve already emailed the winners for their mailing info & preferences. I am leaving shortly for a weekend at an adorable B&B spa with my best friend, Code Name: Rosaline. Massages! Wine! Brainstorming about my edit letter! I’m very excited. But I might not be able to reply to comments until I return on Sunday. I don’t know if I’ll  *gasp* have the internets there. I will leave you with a few dresses that I’m coveting.   The Flower Stripe Sateen Knee Length Queen Dress from Betsey Johnson (also: what is UP with the model’s expression here?) (also-also: it is sadly... Read More