YA Buccaneers: Spring Writing Bootcamp Check-In

Since the beginning of April, we've been busy over at the YA Buccaneers, hosting our 2nd annual Spring Writing Bootcamp!

Which has been perfect timing, because I've been crazy busy with revisions for my editor, since February -- and with my looming deadline of 4/17, I knew I'd need a little motivation to make that final push to finish.

And finish I did!

I'm beyond ecstatic to get through this first round of heavy edits. A lot was discussed up front on how to make WTWF the best it could be and I love the direction we settled on. In the end, I cut a lot of the muck and am really happy with where my MS is at now. Granted, there's still a lot of work ahead, but that first initial sweep is done, done, and DONE!

Next steps: I expect to have round 2 of editorial notes somewhere around next Friday, 5/1 and then it'll be back to the revision cave.

I also found out my expected publishing date (if everything stays on track) will be:

May 3, 2016!!!

May is such a good month for me, from my birthday, to when I sold my book last year -- so I couldn't be happier with a 5/3/16 pub date!

I've also heard that cover options should be ready to see sometime soon...and I can't wait!!! Whenever that happens, I'll announce the cover reveal information as soon as I can.

Until then, I'm busy reading an ARC of fellow Mouse-House author, Marci Lyn Curtis, THE ONE THING!

Guys, this book is so much fun and Marci's snark is AWESOME! I can't wait for this to come out on September 8th!

What else am I busy with? Well, some of you may know I'm expecting...and Baby Boy is due the first week of August! My husband and I are BEYOND excited and I can't wait to meet the Lil' Putter!

I've been working on the nursery and now that I'm sans edits for a couple of weeks, I'll be able to get a lot of it done! Our theme is Monkeys / Jungle and I'll be busy this week getting the walls done.

So with that, week 3 of our Spring Writing Bootcamp is complete and I successfully scratched off a big goal! 

Spring Writing Bootcamp Goals:

1. Finish first round of edits for Disney-Hyperion -- Due date: Friday, April 17th.
2. Finish second round of edits for DH -- Due date: TBD.
3. Read ARC of THE ONE THING by Marci Lyn Curtis
4. Read / critique new MS for fellow CP (still waiting for the updated version to start)
5. Work on new WIP (Read / revise current chapters): NOTG
6. Plot new WIP: WITNESS
7. Non-writerly stuff: Work on nursery!

If you're joining us this year for Bootcamp, I hope you've been making great progress in your writing goals -- and I'd love to hear all about them!

Cover Reveal: The One Thing by Marci Lyn Curtis

It's here, it's here!!!

I'm SO happy to share the amazing cover reveal for my dear friend and fellow Mouse House author, Marci Lyn Curtis, and her upcoming YA Contemporary novel, THE ONE THING!!!

I was thrilled to see early cover designs Marci received late last year -- just to have a little glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes...share in the excitment of actually knowing your book is coming to life. It was all, well, a little surreal and I was so happy for Marci that the cover is perfect!

But enough about what I think...what do YOU think?

Perfect right???

GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:

THE ONE THING

Disney-Hyperion

Coming September 8th, 2015

A soaring tale of life and love, of sacrifice and renewal, and learning to see people as they really are.

Maggie Sanders might be blind, but she won't invite anyone to her pity party. Ever since losing her sight six months ago, Maggie's rebellious streak has taken on a life of its own, culminating with an elaborate school prank. Maggie called it genius. The judge called it illegal.

Now Maggie has a probation officer. But she isn't interested in rehabilitation, not when she's still mourning the loss of her professional soccer dreams, and furious at her so-called friends, who lost interest in her as soon as she could no longer lead the team to victory.

When Maggie first meets Ben, she thinks she can add crazy to her list of problems. But the precocious ten-year-old isn't a hallucination. Maggie can actually see him. She immediately befriends the kid, desperate for any chance to see again.

It turns out Ben's older brother is Mason Milton, the ridiculously hot lead singer of Maggie's new favorite band. Music is the first thing that has made Maggie feel alive since losing her sight. But when she learns the real reason she can see Ben, Maggie must find the courage to face a once-unimaginable future...before she loses everything she has grown to love.

Pretty fantastic, huh? So what are you waiting for -- add THE ONE THING to your Goodreads TBR shelves now!

A LITTLE ABOUT MARCI:

Marci Curtis grew up in Northern California, where she went to college and met an amazing guy in a military uniform. Two college-aged kids and one dachshund later, she lives in Maryland, where she laughs too loudly and eats peanut butter off spoons. Her YA contemporary debut, The One Thing, comes out September 8th, 2015 via Disney-Hyperion. Learn more about her at Marcilyncurtis.com. 

Goodreads: 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18369372-the-one-thing

Twitter: 

https://twitter.com/Marci_Curtis

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/marcilyncurtis

GIVEAWAY:

Marci is giving away an awesome pair of custom earrings themed perfectly around THE ONE THING -- enter the Rafflecopter form below (or directly on

Marci's website

).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I'm so thrilled for Marci and her gorgeous cover -- and I definitely can't wait to get my hands on THE ONE THING!!!

The Best 4-Letter Word Ev-ver: SOLD!!!!

Super Agent Lisa Grubka and I went out on submission for my YA Contemporary, WHERE THE WATER FALLS, on May 1st / my birthday -- believing this would bring all the good publishing ju-ju in the world. And you know what? It didn't fail because...

MY BOOK SOLD!!! MY BOOK SOLD!!!!!!!!!!

And if that didn't make it official, here's the announcement in Publishers Marketplace:

May 27, 2014
Children's: Young Adult
Erin Schneider's debut WHERE THE WATER FALLS, about a girl who discovers her boyfriend and best friend's ultimate betrayal just before leaving to spend the summer in Hawaii; while nursing a broken heart, she meets a boy who is equally troubled, but just might be the key to learning how to forgive - and live, to Lisa Yoskowitz at Disney-Hyperion, for publication in Spring 2016, by Lisa Grubka at Fletcher & Company (World English).

I can't tell you how excited I am right now!!! Like three exclamation points to end every single sentence excited!!!

Because Super Agent Lisa sold my book to Disney-Hyperion!!!

Disney-Hyperion, PEOPLE!!!

Everything happened so fast - 17 days from start to finish - I think my head is still spinning!!! And can I tell you how hard it was to sit on this news for the past week? Because really, they shouldn't do that to debut authors!!! They really shouldn't!!!

And now I get to work with Awesome Editor Lisa Yoskowitz, Senior Editor with Disney-Hyperion!!! I've seen Lisa's name in the acknowledgments of some of my absolute favorite novels: IF I STAY by Gayle Forman, Ally Carter's PERFECT SCOUNDRELS, and John Green's PAPER TOWNS -- not to mention, she also happens to be the amazing editor of Tess Sharpe's debut, FAR FROM YOU!!!

How cool is it that I don't have just one a-mazing Lisa in my publishing corner, but now I have TWO!!!!! Ever since I signed with my agent, I dubbed her Super Agent Lisa -- and now I have Awesome Editor Lisa on the team as well!!! You'd think I'd be running out of adjectives here, but really, there's no possible way. 

I am so happy to get to share this news. I'm so thankful to Super Agent Lisa for being the BEST AGENT EV-VER. I'm thrilled that Awesome Editor Lisa - along with her amazing assistant, Julie Moody (who just so happens to be from Hawaii and went to the H.S. that's in my novel!!!) along with everyone else at Disney-Hyperion - took the time to read my story and fall in love with it...and then buy it!!! 

Wow. Just, wow. After six long years of dreaming, I finally get to say my book will be out in book stores in Spring 2016. And there's just no amount of exclamation points that could be added to that to really do it justice.