Wednesday, June 25, 2014

And the Title of the New Book Is...

We have a title!

Ready?

I'm really happy to announce that my upcoming YA novel will be called..Three Day Summer!

And because I didn't share all of this info before, here is the full pitch:

Three Day Summer is about two teens whose lives are forever changed when they meet for a weekend of music and romance during the biggest music festival the world has ever seen, pitched as Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist meets Bridget Jones, with hippies.

What do you think of the title?

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

New Book News!

I don't think I can fully express how excited I am to finally share this news so, without further ado...

Okay, one ado...this photo:



Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers will be publishing my new YA novel! We're still searching for a perfect title, but I can tell you that it's my Woodstock love story pitched as Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist meets Bridget Jones. It's got hippies! And music! And humor! And romance! It was honestly the most fun I ever had writing a book and I am beyond thrilled to finally get to share it with you.

So many, many thanks to my agent Victoria Marini and my new editor Dani Young. I cannot wait to work with the team at S&S. And I absolutely cannot wait for you to finally get to read this one...currently slated for Summer 2015!

XOXO


Friday, June 13, 2014

The Best Question I Ever Got Asked

I did a school visit today and I got asked a lot of amazing questions (because 4th and 5th graders always ask the best questions, no lie)...but there was one that really made me pause. In fact, I think it might be one of the best philosophical questions I've ever gotten asked.

We were talking about reviews, and one student asked me: "If you know you're going to get bad reviews, why would you even show anyone your work?"

Wow. What a perfect question. The funny thing is, when I was her age, I would never have even thought about showing my work to anybody. Even though it was my dream to "publish a book," I kept all my writing to myself. In fact, I didn't show anything to anyone until I had to submit a short story to get into my undergrad film program. And then, as it turned out, I got thrown into the deep end at film school where, of course, you're constantly making work to get critiqued. (And thank goodness for that. I may not have a very thick skin still, but it's much thicker than it would have been without it.)

So...why do I? My response wasn't that bad reviews don't bother me. Or that it doesn't matter what someone who doesn't like my book says. Because none of those would be entirely true--though I have learned to not be personally affronted by them (for the most part...). In essence, I had to think about why I tell stories, really. I tell them for myself, yes, but I also tell them in the hopes that they can be shared. That in the midst of writing them, I will happen upon some truth that means something to me but that, hopefully, means something to someone else too. That's what books have always done for me. That's what I always aspire for mine to do. And that's what makes it worth it.

How would you answer that question?