Day 3 of 25 Days of Debs and I’m going to highlight the rest of the stories and authors as they appear in the table of contents. So, with that, next up is Kristina Springer.
Kristina’s Firsts:
Anthology story:Cart Princess
First line:
Things I learned on day one of my very first job:
1) Store rules state you should not simultaneously push more than eight carts into the grocery story on your own.
I suspect more than eight carts are going to get pushed–just saying.
2009 Debut: The Espressologist ~ coffee, matchmaking, and every time I see this cover, I want to go to Starbucks (click through for a peek).
It’s day 2 here at 25 Days of Debs. Today, I’m featuring the fantabulous Rhonda Stapleton who generously agreed to help edit The First Time anthology.
Speaking of which, along with being a young adult author, Rhonda also works as an editor, both for a publishing company and as a freelance editor. Need a good set of eyes on your manuscript? I recommend Rhonda wholeheartedly. It was a pleasure being edited by her–even the em-dash culling wasn’t painful. Learn more about her editing here.
Most recent: Struck ~ forthcoming, December 6th, 2011. This is Rhonda’s Stupid Cupid trilogy in one book! The volume includes Stupid Cupid, Flirting With Disaster, and Pucker Up. Plus, look at the cover:
Have a teen girl in your life? I’m thinking Struck would make a great holiday present.
Remember, The First Time is available for Kindle and Nook.
I’m celebrating the release of The First Time by highlighting all the Debs and “the first time” that brought us together: our debut novels.
Following the theme of firsts, I’m starting with Jessica Verday, who acted as publisher for this anthology. I can’t imagine the anthology coming together as it did without her efforts–she coordinated the cover art, the editing, did all the behind the scenes work at Amazon and Barnes and Noble (no easy task, that). If anyone deserves to go first, she does.
Not only that, but she’s a New York Times bestselling author.
Jessica’s Firsts:
Anthology story:Once Burned, Twice Shy.
First line:
The worst thing about boys that you rescue are the excuses.
The First Time, the e-anthology from 25 of the 2009 Debs is out and available for download for Nook and Kindle.
You never forget your first…
In THE FIRST TIME, 25 young adult authors contribute 25 stories all about firsts: first loves, first kisses, first zombie slayings, and more.
Featuring New York Times bestselling authors Carrie Ryan and Jessica Verday, plus a host of others. From humor to horror, and everything in between, these stories will make you laugh, cry, cheer, (and maybe even scream) as you experience something brand new from the authors that you love.
Contributing authors: Cyn Balog, Lauren Bjorkman, Leigh Brescia, Jennifer Brown, Kirstin Cronn-Mills, Janet Gurtler, Teri Hall, Cheryl Renee Herbsman, Stacey Jay, Heidi R. Kling, C. Lee McKenzie, Saundra Mitchell, Jenny Moss, Jackson Pearce, Shani Petroff, Carrie Ryan, Sydney Salter, Kurtis Scaletta, Jon Skovron, Kristina Springer, Rhonda Stapleton, Charity Tahmaseb, Jessica Verday, J. A. Yang, and Lara Zielin
The First Time is available for Kindle and Nook. Don’t have a Kindle or a Nook? Don’t let that stop you. You can download Kindle apps (for your PC, your phone, etc.) and Nook apps as well.
I haven’t been writing in my blog–uh, yeah, clearly–and I miss it. I really do. I have been writing. A lot, I think. When school started for the kids (right after Labor Day this week), I took stock of my summer. Just what did I do on my summer “vacation”?
Starting with Memorial Day and ending with Labor Day, I did the following:
Second draft of a middle grade novel I’m calling Speechless. ~ 42,000 words. This is the “that which does not kill you makes you stronger” draft.
Second/revised draft of my short story (The Trouble with Firsts) for the Debs anthology The First Time. Started at 7,800 and ended up just under 6,000 words. Cutting 1,700 seems like an arduous task, but once I focused on the story, it was relatively easy. I had a lot of things in there that would’ve been fine for a novel. Short story? Not so much.
Revised/edited Dating on the Dork side with Darcy for our agent. 83,000 words. Y’all can just keep your fingers crossed for us, okay?
Third draft of Speechless, which is the “draft other people can read and it won’t injure them” draft. 43,000 words (oh, I added to it!).
Bonus items:
Took a class on metaphors and did all the assignments. I’m so freaking proud of myself.
Read a terrific manuscript by my friend Joy Hensley and got to celebrate (virtually) her agent call/representation. Can you squee via email? Yes, yes you can.
Mentoring another writer via one of the RWA chapters I belong to.
Oh, and I bought these awesome boots:
Okay, so the boots don’t = writing progress. Still. I think the potential is there for writing awesome things while wearing these boots.
The release date is scheduled for October of this year. My story is (tentatively) titled The Trouble With Firsts. It’s about first dates, prom, and humiliation. Not necessarily in that order.
I’m so very excited about this anthology and so in love with this cover, I think I want to go steady with it.
Be sure to click through and check out all the books on the list. It could keep you reading all summer long. Plus, other 2009 Debs are keeping us company, such as Jennifer Hubbard (The Secret Year) and Jennifer Brown (Hate List).
Two our our 2009 Debs, Cindy Pon and Malinda Lo have put together a Diversity in YA book tour, possibly coming to a city near you starting May 7th!
Where, you ask? Well, in these cities here:
San Francisco | May 7, 2011 at 3 p.m.
— Focus on Asian American YA with Cindy Pon, Gene Luen Yang, and J.A. Yang
San Francisco Public Library (Main Library)
Latino-Hispanic Room
100 Larkin St.
San Francisco, CA 94102
Austin | May 9, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
— With Bethany Hegedus, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Cindy Pon, Dia Reeves, and Jo Whittemore, and moderated by Varian Johnson
BookPeople
603 N. Lamar
Austin TX 78703
Chicago | May 10, 2011 from 5:30-6:45 p.m.
— With Claudia Guadalupe Martinez, Nnedi Okorafor, and Cindy Pon
Barbara’s Books
1218 South Halsted Street
Chicago, IL 60607
Boston | May 12, 2011 at 7 p.m.
— With Holly Black, Sarah Rees Brennan, Deva Fagan, Cindy Pon, and Francisco X. Stork, and moderated by Roger Sutton
Cambridge Public Library (Main Library)
Lecture Hall
449 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02138
New York | May 13, 2011 at 6:30 p.m.
— Focus on LGBT YA with Cris Beam, David Levithan, and Jacqueline Woodson
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center
208 West 13th Street
New York, NY 10011
New York | May 14, 2011 at 1 p.m.
— With Matt de la Peña, Kekla Magoon, Neesha Meminger, Cindy Pon, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Jacqueline Woodson, and moderated by Cheryl Klein
Books of Wonder
18 West 18th Street
New York, NY 10011
Want to hear more? Check out Malinda’s vlog:
Even if you can’t make the tour, check out the vlog. How else are you going to learn about the Chinese Twilight?
Pretty excited about this! Here’s the press release for the 2009 Debutantes e-anthology:
New York Times bestselling author Jessica Verday announces an e-anthology featuring 25 authors from the writers group 2009 Debutantes
The bestselling author of THE HOLLOW Trilogy, Jessica Verday, has gathered 24 other authors for a kind of Young Adult sampler featuring a theme of “Firsts.” The eBook will be published by Verday herself and she will be co-editing with Rhonda Stapleton author of the STUPID CUPID series.
This eBook will give readers a chance to sample the stories of 25 different authors exploring what it’s like to experience something for the first time. From first kiss to first love, there’s no time like the first time.
“This is an innovative way for authors to reach out to readers in a single book that anyone can afford. Readers get the chance to find a new story from some of their favorite authors, and while they’re at it, be introduced to other authors they may not have been able to get to know yet,” says Verday.
The e-anthology will be available on Amazon Kindle and Smashwords. The tentative release date is October 4, 2011.
Contributing authors are: Jessica Verday, Carrie Ryan, Rhonda Stapleton, Cyn Balog, Lauren Bjorkman, Leigh Brescia, Teri Hall, Stacey Jay, C. Lee McKenzie, Janet Gurtler, Jenny Moss, Jackson Pearce, Kristina Springer, Charity Tahmaseb, Jon Skovron, Heidi Kling, Saundra Mitchell, Cheryl Renee Herbsman, Kirstin Cronn-Mills, Lara Zielin, Shani Petroff, Kurtis Scaletta, J.A. Yang, Jennifer Brown, and Sydney Salter.
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
On Monday evening, I entered the last score for the Rita books I’ve been reading and heaved a sigh of relief. Not that reading for the contest is a bad thing. It’s the pressure, the list of books waiting for their score. They look so sad, sitting there, scoreless. But no more!
So, now, back to talking about books!
Currently reading:
On the nightstand: The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell ~ the new release from the wonderfully talented Saundra, one of the 2009 Debs.
In the car: Matched by Ally Condie ~ this is a great book–and audio book–so far. Really enjoying my commute this week.
Just finished reading:
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by John Truby ~ Wow, this one was … intense, but I got a lot out of it.
Reading next:
For the nightstand: Rival by Sara Bennett Wealer ~ Sara’s debut and I can’t wait to read it.
For the car: The Girl Who Played with Fire by StiegLarsson ~ the first one was a great commute read, minus scratches on the CDs. I have high hopes for this one.
Writing Wrongs 