Hopping Along, With Vicariously Thrilling News

I know, I am redoing my site and have fallen off the face of this blog. But I was tagged in a blog hop by Shannon Hitchcock and I couldn't say no. Wanna know why? Because her book is coming out on February 1st! You can't say no to a writer just before she releases her book into the world, especially when the request happens to be so selfless. She's directed people over to my blog to read this and hear about my own debut novel. So kind. *waves to Shannon's friends* *hopes we can become friends*

If you're one of my amazing current blog friends *waves to friends* do me a favor and go check out Shannon's site and her debut novel, "The Ballad of Jesse Pearl", okay? 

*sneaks in a pic*

Okay. :)

Now to answer a few questions.

What's the title of your debut novel?

Rape Girl

Give a brief Synopsis

Valerie always wanted to be the smart girl. The pretty girl. The popular girl.

But not the rape girl.

That’s who she is now. Rape Girl. Because everyone seems to think they know the truth about what happened with Adam that day, and they don’t think Valerie’s telling it.

Before, she had a best friend, a crush, and a close-knit family. After, she has a court case, a support group, and a house full of strangers.

The real truth is, nothing will ever be the same.

What have been the most amazing things that have happened to you since holding your debut novel in your hands?

Having other rape survivors read it and tell me it made them feel validated and less alone.  Being invited to speak to teens about a topic so important to me. Feeling like I'm  making a little bit of a difference in the world for having written it.

What do you dream of for your book?

I've always had this daydream of seeing a stranger reading a book of mine on an airplane, from takeoff to landing. If that ever happened, I would consider myself a  full-on rockstar. And if the book they were reading happened to be Rape Girl, I'd feel compelled to buy that stranger a pony for being so cool.

Tina Philips, freedigitalphotos.net

Now it is my pleasure to tag someone you will all want to get to know, pronto, if you don't already: my lovely critique partner and very funny lady, Dana Alison Levy! Did you see her announcement in PW this week?

I could not be happier for Dana, who kept writing a variety of amazing stories, until one of them finally ended up on the right desk--and went to auction!

Please be sure to check out Dana's blog for her post next Wednesday! Or better still, head over to Dana's and Shannon's blogs, now, hit zee follow buttons, and make some new, incredible friends!

As I Tiptoe Onto the Minefield

I am back!

My kids are now in school.  I've created and emailed contracts to the faculty of our 4-state Wild Wild Midwest SCBWI Conference in 2013. And my book was "officially" released September 1!

So now is the time to promote it, right? Hooray!

And by "hooray" I mean: holy yikes.

I feel like I'm stepping onto a minefield. And I don't even mean because of the contents or title of my book, which is another thing all together. I mean this world of reviewers and authors and animosity and misinterpretation spooks me.

But I'm going to try my best for the sake of my publisher, my career and mostly for anybody out there that Rape Girl may possibly help. I just hope I can do it with only very minor explosions.

Anyone stepping out there with me? How do you feel about it?