The Happiest Happenstance

Do you ever feel that some things are just mean to be?

I was delighted to come across this quote today. I'd actually never read it before:

"I almost wish we were butterflies and lived but three summer days--three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain." ~ John Keats

I honestly wish I could tell you I was clever enough to have picked the title of Three Day Summer from that quote because it is just so perfect for the book. But the title really came as a collaboration between my editor and me and was picked from pages and pages of options. And this...well, this is just one of those wonderful serendipitous things. Because it encapsulates so much of what I think the book is about...

And speaking of the book, I am in the middle of copyedits as we speak. This is one of my favorite, albeit most nerve-wracking parts of the publishing process. Nerve-wracking because this is pretty much my last chance to change things before the book goes out into the world and in the hands of readers (there are also first pass pages but, at that point, I'm pretty limited to what I can change). And exciting because...well, really for the same reason! This story will be in the hands of readers soon...

For what it's worth, I'm personally really proud of this book. I feel so much of my heart is on the page. And I'm grateful that I will get to share that soon.

Colored pencils + decoder = copyedits!

The One About the 'Three Day Summer' Cover

The cover for Three Day Summer has just been exclusively revealed on Hypable! I'm going to link out to it here and then ask you to come back because I want to share some feelings about it.

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Did you feast your eyes on it? What do you think?

I will tell you my thoughts: it is the cover of my psychedelic dreams! Quite honestly, when my editor told me the concept behind it (it's based on '60s concert art), I may have given out an inadvertent, not entirely ladylike, squeal. Why? I've been enamored of the art on those posters for almost as long as I can remember. I had quite a few of them plastered on one wall of my teenaged bedroom.

And when my husband and I got married last year, we based our Save the Dates on two specific '60s posters (the proof is here).

And when I was writing the book and daydreaming about possible cover art, that is exactly the concept I most wished it would be. But I didn't share this with the Simon & Schuster team. They just read my mind.

So, quite simply, I love it. I love that it so thoughtfully pays homage to the era without being clichéd. I love the joy that seems to emanate from it. I love that it looks so modern and fresh and still tips its hat to the '60s. And I love how very colorful it is. I can't wait to see it on a bookshelf.

So HUGE props (and my gratitude) to designer Krista Vossen for rocking out this whole cover thing so very much.

'Three Day Summer' Is Now on Goodreads!

I've been a Goodreads user for a long time. You might even say that I'm a hipster Goodreads user, because I was totally on there before it was cool.

Those glasses are not even prescription.

In all seriousness though, I love being able to keep track of books I want to read, what I've read, and even how I felt about them. So it was extra special to me when my first book popped up on there and it's just as special to have my new book up there too! (It says "2 distinct works" underneath my author profile now. That sounds all kinds of official. Possibly a little pompous, but, hey, that all works with my new hipster persona.)

So Three Day Summer is now available on Goodreads! Shelve it on your to-be-read list and Goodreads will actually even alert you on its release date (May 19, 2015). Which is a feature I've found to be extra helpful when I'm waiting on a book to be released.

Just click the button below and it'll take you directly to Three Day Summer's shiny new Goodreads page.