Debut Novel – Page 2 – The Debutante Ball

Why I’m Choosing to Celebrate They Could Have Named Her Anything

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Publishing They Could Have Named Her Anything has already been more satisfying than I could have ever expected. I worked with a phenomenal illustrator to design the cover, deepened my work and artistic vision with my fantastic editor at Little A, got invited to panels with my literary heroes, and have read GoodReads reviews of my book that are lovelier than I could have ever imagined. And this month, I’ve already…

Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: book baby birthday bash

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

0 comment

aloha! We are supposed to talk about our launch parties and swag this week. It is a miracle that I had a book come out in February 2019. The story that led to The Atlas Of Reds and Blues was first begun in 2004. And I lost most of my work in 2010 during the police raid on my former home in Georgia. So, I had to start over. It…

Interview with Lana Wood Johnson and Giveaway for TECHNICALLY, YOU STARTED IT

Saturday, August 10, 2019

4 comments

I am beyond thrilled to be hosting my agent sister, YA author Lana Wood Johnson, on the ball today! Lana was born and raised in Iowa in the time before the internet but has spent the rest of her life making up for that. After years working in wireless communication for companies of all sizes, she now works doing the same for a local youth shelter. Lana lives in Minnesota…

Work in Progress

Friday, August 9, 2019

2 comments

I used to have this weird typo tic where I never got the acronym for work-in-progress right. It always came out WOP. I’ve even tweeted about my wop and never noticed until it was too late. Maybe there was something Freudian about this little tic. Because “wop” always makes me think about a cartoon where some character is being repeatedly bludgeoned over the head. Not that my works…

Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: What Happens Next

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

0 comment

Aloha! Six months since the publication of The Atlas of Reds and Blues. It’s so hard to believe. I’ve loved every moment since the whirlwind began on publication day — a cool Tuesday in February. I’m so grateful for the warm welcome my debut has received, and for all of the support it continues to get. I’ve been so lucky in the past six months, with the publication, too, of…

They Could Have Named Her Anything

Friday, August 2, 2019

0 comment

Stephanie Jimenez’s astonishing debut novel follows the evolution of a friendship between Maria and Rocky, two seventeen-year-old students at a private girls’ school. In order for this youthful friendship to take center stage, both characters need to be incredibly rich and real, and I was so impressed with how well Stephanie pulls this off. The two teenagers felt so real, to me, in fact, I found they reminded me…

Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: They Could Have Named Her Anything!

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

1 comment

I’m thrilled that Stephanie Jimenez’s debut, They Could Have Named Her Anything, is out in the world this week! I had a chance to snag an advance copy and I was not disappointed — this novel has it all: a young but strong protagonist who tackles racism, loyalty, classism; she slingshots between poverty and privilege and learns the hard way of the bittersweet nature of love. Beautifully written and well-realized….

Bluebeard’s Drawer

Friday, July 26, 2019

2 comments

I have two manuscripts in the drawer. Although they’re not actually in a drawer, and I have no idea where they went. They are so old now that I know not if any current software could even read them, so I’ve pretty much abandoned the idea of ever looking at them again. This may be for the best. The first time I wrote a book, I sat down…

Why Can’t I Name Characters Not After Famous People

Friday, July 19, 2019

0 comment

Let’s see, hilarious mistakes. There is no doubt in my mind that I made far more of these than I can remember right now. Actually, I can remember a lot of mistakes I made, and I even caught a lot of them myself before we went to copy edits (that woman missed NOTHING I tell you), but they’re not particularly funny. One of the things I had to be…

Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: bloopers

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

0 comment

I don’t have a blooper reel, per se, with regard to The Atlas of Reds and Blues. What I do have is a strong-willed spell check on my computer which made for some humorous moments as I employed Bengali, Hawaiian, Spanish and French vocabulary in to the body of the novel. All of the sudden words like: sandesh, a Bengali dessert, became sadness. español, the language, became sepia. kejuur guur,…

1 2 3 4 … 18