It sounds like a lovely night! Wish I could have been there to experience the birth!!! Lot’s of love and hard work went into that book and you should be VERY proud of yourself for the wonderful story you wrote! Enjoy every minute!

After 55 months of labor, I’m so happy to welcome my newest bundle of joy:

A Matter of Heart officially released last Tuesday, May 12th. It was pretty much like giving birth to a baby but without the epidural.

I was having pains all morning. My stomach hurt and I hadn’t been able to sleep much in days. I was in a bit of a stupor just wanting it to be over, hoping it would go well, hoping it wouldn’t hurt too much, hoping for no complications.

OK, so maybe I’m exaggerating the drama a little. After all, a book launch party isn’t life and death. But on the other hand, I was introducing my book baby to a whole audience of people who would soon hold my baby. They would be able to look it over, head to toe, and would they find flaws? Well, just in case they did, I was prepared with a distraction.

Heart-y-Treats

As it turned out, it was an amazing night. The party was at Changing Hands Bookstore, one of the coolest independent bookstores anywhere. Brandi Stewart, the amazing bookseller, had lots of books on hand, all spread out in a—yes, you guessed it— heart shape.

A wonderful group of people turned out. Friends, family, book lovers…an old teacher of mine from high school who saw the announcement in the paper. Wow.

A wonderful audience

Best of all, I got to share the spotlight with Sharon Bates, founder of the Anthony Bates Foundation. (For those of you who don’t know this already, A Matter of Heart features a character with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, a heart condition that strikes teen athletes.) Sharon lost her son to HCM and her mission is to bring heart tests to high schools so no other teen athlete will ever die from a hidden heart condition. A portion of sales from this book will go the foundation and I was very happy to give Sharon a first check at the party.

Sharon Bates, the heart and soul of the Anthony Bates Foundation

So, that’s the story of my book baby’s birthday. I’m thrilled that Heart is out in the world. I hope my baby will bring happiness to many readers. Including you!

The post Ready Set LAUNCH! appeared first on Amy Fellner Dominy, Award-Winning Author of Teen Novels.

Congratulations! I’m so thrilled for you. Fully deserved!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! **Woot!** *throws sparkles and confetti* DIE FOR YOU sounds deliciously dark and tragic and can’t-put-it-down like. Can’t wait to read and so happy for your latest sale!

xo
Kiki

I’m just going to blurt out my news because I’m so excited:  Delacorte is going to publish my next young adult novel!  (Imagine a dancing smiling face here. I REALLY need to learn how to insert emoticons.)  The title:

DIE FOR YOU

It’s a little different from my other books. Edgier maybe. More tragic.  More….  Well, you can let me know what you think once it comes out in Fall of 2016.  Here’s the official announcement from Publisher’s Weekly:

Krista Vitola at Delacorte has acquired Amy Fellner Dominy’s latest YA novel, Die for You, about 17-year-old Emma Lorde, whose beloved may do more than just steal her heart when Emma is offered an internship in Rome. 

I’m thrilled because I’ll get to keep working with the same amazing, talented, dedicated people at Delacorte and Random House who are bringing A MATTER OF HEART to the world in just two more months. (May 12th, to be exact!)

So, that’s my news. And why I’m feeling very goosebumpy these days.  Reality will strike when it’s time to start writing the next book and my usual fears and worries will retake control of my stomach. But for now it’s time to celebrate.

Thanks for being a friend…a fan…a reader…(or even just a human being who stumbled onto this).

The post News to Die For appeared first on Amy Fellner Dominy, Award-Winning Author of Teen Novels.

Love this cover. Interesting how the doodles around the title tell us pleasantly that this is a book that will appeal to the “younger than adults” crowd. I love the way the photo plays with light and thus suggests all sorts of ideas.

This is one of the most exciting parts of the whole process for me:  Seeing the cover design of my new book!

It’s kind of a crazy thing when you think about it.  I wrote the book, imagined the characters and the setting and each moment as it plays out.  But the image that defines the book, that graces the cover and will likely be the first thing people see—that comes from the mind and the heart of someone else.

What will it be?  Will I like it?

It’s exciting and nerve-wracking and stressful and magical.  In this case, mostly magical.  Because somehow the designer has created a cover that is nothing like I imagined but exactly right.  And that tagline…it’s perfect.  I didn’t write it but I wish I had.

The cover is being revealed today on Gae Polisner’s blog where I’m guest hosting a post for Teachers Write!  (If you don’t know what that is, it’s an amazing summer program that educates educators on writing.  Teachers Write! is spearheaded by Kate Messner, Gae Polisner and a wonderful lineup of authors—you can find them on Facebook here.)    I wanted to share the cover on my page, as well, for all of you.  So, without further ado:  the front cover for A Matter of Heart coming from Random House/Delacorte on May 12, 2015.   So, what do you think?  Can you feel yourself reaching for it on the shelf….

A Matter of Heart

As 2013 winds down, it’s natural to look ahead to the year to come.  The unknown is always exciting and full of promise.  2014 might be the best year EVER.  Right now, we have no way of knowing and that’s what makes a new year so magical.

New Years is our chance to give birth to our new selves—our better selves—the people we want to be.  The ones who eat healthy and exercise and have infinite patience and volunteer and never raise our voices and are always kind to animals and children and make the world a better place.

New Years is when we reinvent ourselves with a handy little list we call RESOLUTIONS which is actually the word SOLUTIONS preceded by the prefix RE.  You know the significance of this?

Me neither.

But I think it could be important.  Rather than concentrating so much on the SOLUTIONS, I wonder if maybe we shouldn’t focus on the RE?   So, in honor of the coming year,  I invite you to join me and RE our way to a great 2014.

Re Solutions for 2014

RE Cast:  In the world of theater, you’re cast in a role.  But that happens in real life, too.  Sometimes, we’re given roles we don’t really want.  If you don’t like the role you’ve been playing, now is the time to Re Cast yourself.  Stop doing all the things you feel you have to, or only do because it’s expected.  Do the things that you want to do and that matter to you.  Play the role of a lifetime:  Yourself!

RE Vision:  Look ahead to 2014.  See it?  Well, I don’t.  I don’t know what a year looks like but instead try and see yourself.  Doesn’t matter what you’re doing—writing maybe?  I’m sitting on my couch with my laptop where it belongs (on my lap) and (Here’s the important part:) I’m smiling.  Go ahead—try that.  Picture yourself smiling.  Did you know that when you smile the physical action sends a message to your brain and tells it that you’re happy?  Yes, really.  At least, that’s what my gym instructor told me.  So smile. See yourself smile.  Already it’s a better year, isn’t it?

RE Read: This is a writer’s blog, so don’t be too surprised but this is exactly what it sounds like.  Go back to your favorite books and RE Read.  Stories are food for the soul—they’re just so satisfying, aren’t they?  Reading old books I love always makes me happy.  It reminds me of who I am, of what matters, of what has meaning to me. Sometimes, it just allows me to fall in love again and isn’t that a nice way to start a new year?

RE Define:  New Year’s Resolutions are often about success.  They’re about meeting goals and accomplishing things we set out as important.  But what are those things and why are they important?  Often times, the two things are very different.  Here’s an example.

GOAL:  Increase my running mileage in the coming year.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT:  Because my friends go on runs 3 mornings a week and I really love when I can go along. We talk and laugh and I come home with a clear head and more energy than if I’d slept in.  But I have hamstring issues (and knee issues…don’t get me started) and I never stretch or do the things I should do so I can’t run as far as they do and I miss out on a lot of runs.

What does this have to do with RE Define?  Well, instead of thinking I need to increase my mileage—which sounds like NO fun—I’m going to concentrate on spending more time with my friends.  And that does sound like fun. In the end, I suppose I’ll have to stretch more and use that darn foam roller.  But I digress.  Figure out what matters and define your goals in that way.

RE Joyce:  This only works if you know someone named Joyce who is an inspiration to you.  

So those are just a few that will get me started–and hopefully you, too.  As the new year arrives, think RE.  

RE, I might add, is a PREFIX.  Think about it.  Pre Fix.

Wishing you and your family and the world in general, a year of good, and a year of doing good. 

xo,

Amy

I turned in copyedits yesterday for my next book, and I don’t want there to be any mistakes.

But there are.

When you write 70,000 words, things slip by you.  Words end up misspelled to read like another word.  Red nail polish somehow becomes pink in the next scene. A class schedule shifts from chapter 1 to chapter 60.  These are the trees you miss for the forest.

What else am I missing?

I want this book to be perfect.

In my quest for perfection, I’ve gone through this book over and over.  I read it once online and made all the editorial changes.  I printed it out and read through it again and made hard copy notes.  Then, I read it all OUT LOUD, and caught a whole bunch of other little oddities.

And each time I made a fix, instead of feeling happy, I only worried more.  If I found that, there must be more.

Then there are the content mistakes.  The facts.  Sure, there are some situations that stretch the bounds of reality.   This is fiction and for the sake of the plot, things happen on the page that might not happen quite the same way in life. But I want the facts to be true.  I want the experience to be real.  So, to be sure, I had appointments with two experts about issues in my book.  I went over everything and made more changes. And still…

What am I missing?

The book won’t be out until Spring, 2015.  (It’s called A MATTER OF HEART, and I’m thrilled that it’s being published by Random House/Delacorte.)  That means it still has more edits to come.  It’ll be read by my editor, and then proofread and I’ll have another pass (or two) at it.  So, there’s lots more chances to catch anything and everything.  But I’m still worried.

When have I ever attained perfection?  And aren’t I wise enough to realize I never can?

Which is why I’m writing you now.  Please forgive me, in advance.

I know how you feel – but it wasn’t wasted time!! You were writing! All writing is good practice, no matter what happens.

Woohoo NaNo!

When October rolls around, most people are thinking about fall break and cooler weather and Halloween and am I really going to dress up this year?

Me, I’m thinking about NaNo.

For those of you unfamiliar, NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month and it takes place every November when people come together online and pledge to write 50,000 words in 30 days.  http://nanowrimo.org/  It’s an amazing way to motivate yourself, to forget about perfection and concentrate on telling a story.

It’s also completely insane.  I know, I’ve done it the last few years.

But here’s the REALLY INSANE PART:

If I do it again this year, I’ll be writing the same story I wrote during NaNo last year.

How can that be?

How can I have written 7 drafts (yes, SEVEN) of a novel over the course of 10 months and only just discovered that I goofed and must rewrite—completely—from the beginning?

The literal answer (for those who want to avoid the same mistake) is that I was trying to structure a story with two POVs.  I somehow ended up making the story about one person, but I gave all the stakes to the other person.

OOPS.

There’s also a figurative, more philosophical answer:  Writing is a journey and no matter how far down the path you go, there are new lessons to be learned (and new mistakes to be made.)

So, back to the original dilemma:  Do I NaNo or not?  I know what I should say.

Heck yeah, I want to do NaNo!

I should face this challenge head on and take 30 days to write a killer new draft and overcome this setback and then I should climb a set of stairs somewhere and pump my fists in time to the Rocky music.

(I’m feeling very dramatic about all this, if you haven’t figured that out.)

Unfortunately, I just don’t want to.  I’m tired.  I’m mad at myself. I’m frustrated.  I’m broken-hearted over the lost time. I just want to watch old episodes of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS and not think about anything.  I want to sit on the couch and feel sorry for myself and enjoy it. 

Ever feel like this before? (Because it sucks.)

And, in fact, this is what I’ve been doing for the past couple weeks until the other day when I was watching one of these episodes of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS and Coach Taylor, the coolest high school football coach ever, tells these two guys,

“You get one chance in life.  You can either take it,

or you spend the rest of your life regretting it.”

Really?  Did he have to go there? 

Now I feel like Coach Taylor is talking to me.  I feel like this is a chance and I should take it.  (Next time I’m going to watch reruns of something WITHOUT a message.)

So, I’m looking at the calendar. It’s October.  And I can’t wait for my kids to be home for fall break and I think this year I will dress up for Halloween and yes, I think I will NaNo. I’m still not sure I want to, but I think I need to.  Because the hardest part of any difficult job is to START.  I have a story to tell and I think it might be a really great story and the only way I’ll know is if I get it down on paper.

So that’s where I am and what I’m thinking.  What about you?  Is there a story living inside of you?  Is NaNo the trigger you need to get started?  Or is there something else that will motivate you?

If so, I highly recommend Friday Night Lights.

Well you’d never have known that’s what you wanted to do until you’d written it out the first time in that POV. So like you said, you get there in the end, and often making mistakes along the way helps!

SO exciting!! Sounds like a great read (As if you could deliver anything else). Can’t wait to get my hands on it!! And then get it into the hands of my niece and nephew too!

SO exciting!! Sounds like a great read (As if you could deliver anything else). Can’t wait to get my hands on it!! And then get it into the hands of my niece and nephew too!

42 weeks.  

That’s how long it’s been since I began writing a new YA, and blogging about the process.

If you’re just joining me now, I started this blog as a way of sharing the journey with other writers. And it is a journey—a process.  For me, books don’t just spill out like a dream come to life.  (I wish!) Struggling and pitfalls are part of the deal.  Which is why I share a writerly lesson/wisdom each week in the hope that I can spare you from falling into the same traps I seem to keep stumbling into.

So, after a long summer off, what happened to that book I started during NaNoWriMo?  That book I rewrote SEVEN times? That book whose main character hid from me for at least four of those revisions?  That book I began FORTY-TWO weeks ago?

I’m back to revising.  (Just shoot me now!)

Okay, it’s really not that bad.  In fact, the book is pretty great.  With one tiny problem.  I wrote the book in third-person past POV.  And now that it’s done and I have some perspective and I have the feedback of my critique partners and my agent, well….  I think it needs to be told in first-person present.

And it gets worse.

I wanted to experiment with multiple POVs and now that I’m done, I realize that might not have been the best idea.  So, that’s what I’ll be working on for the next month or two: rewriting to get the POV correct.  Is it frustrating? Yeah.  But I also have a much better understanding of my characters because of the work I did.  Which brings me to my Writerly Wisdom for the week:

No writing is ever a waste of time.

Don’t worry about being wrong a few times before you’re right.  As long as you get there—that’s what counts.

In the meantime, my next book,  A MATTER OF HEART, is with my editor at Delacorte/Random House.  I’ll be getting revision notes from her next month.  I’m excited, and also nervous.  I’ll keep you posted.

What about you?  Whatever your goals, and however many weeks it might take you to get there, I hope you’re still moving forward.

Happy weekend everyone!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! That is wonderful, fantastic news and well-deserved!!! Can’t wait to hold your next book in my hands.

xo
Kiki

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! That is wonderful, fantastic news and well-deserved!!! Can’t wait to hold your next book in my hands.

xo
Kiki

Wow! That’s fantastic. Congratulations! Sounds like your scary transition was worth it. I love the premise of your book, too. I’ve always had a weakness for Olympic-caliber athletes.

Wow! That’s fantastic. Congratulations! Sounds like your scary transition was worth it. I love the premise of your book, too. I’ve always had a weakness for Olympic-caliber athletes.

I’m so excited to announce my new book deal:

 A MATTER OF HEART

will be published Spring, 2015

by Random House/Delacorte.

Here’s the write up in Publishers Weekly:

There was even a picture of me.

Me, having a good hair day.

I’m not going to lie. Seeing myself in Publishers Weekly is a very cool thing!

A MATTER OF HEART is a story I started a couple of years ago.  Inspiration first came when I learned about a young athlete who had attended my kids’ high school—and who had died from a heart condition when he was twenty years old.  In his honor, his mother created The Anthony Bates Foundation, and the foundation was providing heart tests at the school.  I brought my kids to be tested and met Sharon Bates.  I’m a mom, I have children who are athletes —how could I not be moved by this family’s tragedy?  How could I not be affected by the reality of this heart condition that kills adolescents?  I knew I had a story to write.

The first draft actually came easier to me than any story before (or since.) From the very beginning, I knew Abby so well, I understood what she was facing, and I needed to see what she would do.  It was a book I couldn’t put down once I started writing.  When I finished, I set it aside so I could come back to revisions with a clear mind. But other projects got in the way and it wasn’t until this year that I finished the book and it went out on submission.

If you want to know the scary truth, I felt like a brand new writer going out on submission for the first time.  Yes, I have two published books that I’m very proud of.  But they were geared for a tween market and my publisher, Walker, wanted me to write only for middle grade.   The problem? A MATTER OF HEART had to be older.  Abby had to be about sixteen.

That meant I was suddenly a YA author and on my own.

I needed a new publisher.

A new editor.

A new start.

It began coming together this summer. Wonderful feedback, contact from interested editors… I got that goose-bumpy feeling that something amazing would happen. And it did:  In the form of Krista Vitola at Delacorte.

Over the past few weeks while this was coming together, I’ve done more than a few Happy Dances (and toasted with more than a few glasses of red wine.)  But it’s never the same when you can’t share the news.  So I’m thrilled that I can tell the world now.  And I’m thrilled that A MATTER OF HEART is going to find it’s way into the world.  It’s so cool to be with a publisher like Random House and with an imprint like Delacorte that has such a wonderful reputation.  And it’s a writer’s dream to find an editor like Krista who believes in my story.

Spring 2015 feels like a long way off, but it’ll be fun to share the process along the way.

Thanks for all your friendship and support along the way.

And now, a new chapter begins.

Join me each Friday as I continue to journal about the process of writing a new book. During November and NaNoWriMo I wrote the first draft. I spent Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. and April revising. In May it went to critique partners and then my agent. Each week I share writing tips and the process I go through on the way (hopefully!) to making a sale. 

Week 34 Recap

Join me each Friday as I continue to journal about the process of writing a new book. During November and NaNoWriMo I wrote the first draft. I spent Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. and April revising. In May it went to critique partners and then my agent. Each week I share writing tips and the process I go through on the way (hopefully!) to making a sale.  

Week 33 Recap

Waiting for Agent Notes & Pondering the Ups and (mostly) Downs of Publishing

This past week was sort of a strange one. I’m not really working on anything new and I’m waiting for revision notes on DETOURS. That gave me time to check in on blogs and news and of course most of it was about BEA, Book Expo America.  What a lot of memories BEA brings back and, if I’m honest, plenty of angst.

Two years ago, I went to BEA with the Class of 2k11 in advance of the release of OyMG. I knew I had my second book in the works, and it seemed like I was on a path. Things were great.

Fellow debut authors in NYC

Then my books came out.  I had some awards and some lovely critical reviews, but sales were not blockbuster.  Then my editor left for another publishing house. The road got bumpier.

I wasn’t alone, either. It seemed like a lot of the other debut authors from 2011 were struggling to find a foothold in the market.  And of course we were able to share lots of examples of where the industry had let us down:

*Books released with little to no marketing support
*Authors expected to create their own buzz
*Dwindling bookstores so many books don’t even get shelved
*Books given only a few months to succeed before being pulled
*Publishers consolidating so there are less markets to sell to
*Mentality of “Go Big or Go Home” —less room in the market for “quiet” books.

I could go on and on. (And there were many times that I did.)  It’s easy to do at all stages of this impossible business.  As a writer trying to break in, I lamented the number of publishers accepting agented manuscripts ONLY; the difficulty in finding an agent; the never-ending conferences and critiques by people who didn’t understand how great my book was if they’d only read more than 10 pages.  And on and on.

Honestly, I didn’t even realize I was doing it until I started reading a book this week: WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL by Donald Maass. In the first few chapters, he talks about publishing and authors and the universal complaints he often hears and how blame is shifted everywhere except to the work. I thought, Oh hell, this sounds like me. 

Ouch. It felt like a little bit of tough love.  But Maass is right. This is a hard business and it isn’t getting any easier.  I came away with the idea that if you’re not happy with where you are right now, then don’t look around, look down: at the pages you’ve written.  Find the solution there, in writing something too good to ignore.

I hate tough love.

But, on the other hand, I’m also feeling excited about starting something new. Because Maass also says that anyone is capable of writing a breakout novel.  That means me…and you!  :-)  What an encouraging thought.  (If you’re interested here’s the link to the book: http://www.changinghands.com/book/9781582971827

So, there’s my ramblings for this week. Now, let’s get busy on that whole breakout thing.

 

Although I don’t always comment, I do love your weekly check-ins. They inspire me.

By the way, how was MANIC PIXIE DREAM GIRL? I have an ARC of it to review, and was wondering where to put it in my huge stack.

Join me each Friday as I continue to journal about the process of writing a new book. During November and NaNoWriMo I wrote the first draft. I spent Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. and April revising. In May it went to critique partners and then my agent. Each week I share writing tips and the process I go through on the way (hopefully!) to making a sale.  

Join me each Friday as I continue to journal about the process of writing a new book. During November and NaNoWriMo I wrote the first draft. I spent Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. and April revising. In May it went to critique partners and then my agent. Each week I share writing tips and the process I go through on the way (hopefully!) to making a sale.  

Week 30 Recap

Goal: Send manuscript to my agent

Progress:  Done!

I wasn’t sure I’d make it. When I got comments back from my last critique partner (I have two who read this book), there were more marks on the pages than actual typing. At least, that’s how it felt.  Like all revisions, once I started on the specific issues, it wasn’t as bad as I first thought.  I was able to finish everything and send the manuscript off on Tuesday.  Now, more waiting.  (Those of you who follow me know how much I LOVE that!)

But I do have another writing lesson to share this week, and like most of them, it comes under the heading of:
LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES.

Here it is people—writerly words to remember:

It’s not about what YOU know. It’s about what the CHARACTER knows.

In the world of the story, you are the smartest person alive, right?  You, the author, knows what’s coming (at least to some extent) and so it’s easy to transfer that knowledge to your character without even realizing you’re doing it.

And it can kill your story.

For example: Let’s say there’s a storm brewing in your story.  You know it’s only there for mood, but your character, Fred, doesn’t.  Make sure he takes an umbrella.  That’s a very basic example, but we can fall into this trap in larger ways.  In the story I just finished, a girl’s life is at stake.  I know the girl isn’t going to die in the beginning—that would be no fun, right?  So, as I was writing, I added some scenes of light-hearted banter between the characters searching for her.  My reader was shocked.  How could they be joking around with a life at stake?

Oops.

It was an easy fix once I realized what I’d done, but I had to go back through numerous places and adjust the characters actions to the situation as THEY understood it.  Take a look at your own WIP.  Put yourself in the mind of your characters and let them experience the emotions and surprises and plot twists just as your reader will:  Without knowing a thing.

Have a great week, and as always if you have any questions about writing, feel free to ask!!