Wow, this summer has FLOWN by! F-L-O-W-N. I swear it was just barely the last day of school, and next week I'll be starting a new school year. Cray-zy.
Anyway, there have been things happening, as I'm sure there have been for you as well. I had some lofty summer goals for my writing, and I'm happy to report on them.
1. Write the sequel to my adult romance. Check. I drafted the book in June--the same month I got two offers from publishers on the first book. The same month I signed with a new literary agent for that adult romance. So yeah, maybe writing that sequel was done on a high.
2. Edit the inspirational romance I'd written earlier this year. Check. I actually bought several of Margie Lawson's writing packets, and used her Deep EDITS system. I can't recommend it enough. I worked with highlighters and pen on a hard copy of the book, putting in about 10 hours each day for a solid week. Double check. Then I entered all the handwritten changes into the computer for another week. Triple check. More news about this book below.
3. Write the sequel to the inspirational romance. Check. My goal was to write 5000 words each day for 12 days in July, before my big dance trip to Vegas and my family reunion. I ended up drafting the 50,000-word book in only 7 days. Yes, it has holes. Things that need to be fixed, And 10,000 more words. But it's drafted!
So naturally, after my vacations and whatnot, I made myself a list of writing goals for the fall--my busiest time of the year what with school starting and everything. My son's a senior this year too, which means scholarship apps and all that. (I love paperwork, so I'm super excited about this!)
And I decided to publish my inspirational romance under a pen name. I've never been a fan of pen names, but I have all my YA and New Adult stuff under Elana Johnson, and my adult contemporary romance as well. This is inspirational--religious. I decided it needed to be delineated.
So I'll be releasing the first book in the series, SECOND CHANCE RANCH, on September 8. (You can pre-order here.) The second book is in edits right now, and it'll be out on December 1. I'm writing this series under the name of Liz Isaacson, and you can follow happenings for it on twitter, Facebook, and my blog.
About SECOND CHANCE RANCH:After his deployment, injured and discharged Major Squire Ackerman returns to Three Rivers Ranch, anxious to prove himself capable of running the cattle operation so his parents can retire. Things would be easier if the ranch wasn’t missing 1.6 million dollars, which forces Squire to hire Kelly, the girl who rejected his high school prom invitation, as his accountant. She’s back in town with her four-year-old son, living in her parent’s basement until she can get her life back together. With fresh ink on her divorce papers and open gashes on her heart, she’s not ready for much beyond her new job on the ranch. Squire wants to forgive Kelly for ignoring him a decade ago. He’d like to provide the stable life she needs, but with old wounds opening and a ranch on the brink of financial collapse, it will take patience and faith to make their second chance possible.
I'm toying with publishing my YA fantasy, but I also got an offer on one of my YA sci-fi novels from a publisher, and I'm thinking they might be interested in it. So I might wait on that. Either way, it's been an eventful summer!!
Okay, so prepare yourself for me to talk about my books again. I swear I'm not trying to spam you here on the blog. But if you don't want to read about my promotional stuff for POSSESSION, you can stop reading now.
No one will blame you.
So last year, about this time, I had bookmarks made for POSSESSION. And stickers. And jewelry. I was planning countdown giveaways each month from March - May. I had forms made for ARC requests and for people who wanted to host me on their blog for the release.
This year, I have nothing. None of that. Not one thing. (Okay, I do have an ARC request form. But that's it!)
Is this what happens to the second book? Is it "second child syndrome"?
I don't know, but I do know one thing. With POSSESSION, I didn't want to look back and go "I could've done more."
I can do that. I can look back and go, "I did everything I could've possibly done to ensure the success of my book."
With SURRENDER, I almost want to do the exact opposite. That's right. DO NOTHING. I want to see if it makes a difference. Does the blog tour really matter? Do people really care about stickers and bookmarks and jewelry? Will my sales be affected because I didn't answer five thousand interview questions?
I have a theory about what makes books sell, and I want to do this experiment to see if I'm right. But I am a huge chicken (which is ironic, because I'm terrified of all feathered animals. Especially ducks and chickens).
I'm not sure I can do it. I'm not sure I can just sit back and DO NOTHING. I keep putting it off, but I know that unless I make a commitment, eventually I'll DO SOMETHING.
So...should I commit to doing nothing? What do you think about promotion these days? Blog tours? Swag? All that jazz?
You can click on that and listen while you read. You'll like it. (I KILL on this song on Guitar Hero. K-I-L-L.)
Second this:
It's hard to believe that my second book is coming out soon. Don't they look pretty next to each other?
Third, if you are a book blogger/reviewer, teacher, librarian, Simon & Schuster has SURRENDER on their Galley Grab now. This will be an e-galley.
If you're not any of those things (or if you are and don't want an e-galley), you can sign up to be considered for an ARC of SURRENDER by filling out this form.
Fourth, the POSSESSION paperback comes out on May 8. You can preorder here!
Fifth, this has all be promotional, so I'll just throw in that I dyed my hair a week or so ago and almost died when I saw that the dye was this funky blue/purple color. Upon closer inspection, I realized I'd bought the "blue black reflective" dye. My hair has a slight blue shimmer when viewed in the sun. I wish it was like this:
But I teach kindergarten, so...
Maybe in June. Maybe around JUNE 5. Maybe for the LAUNCH PARTY of SURRENDER on/near JUNE 5.
I'm looking forward to having SURRENDER out in the wild! I really loved writing this book, and I can't wait to share it with everyone.
