NIL Sneak Peek!

Happy Monday, y'all!

For the first time, there's a tiny chill in the Jacksonville air. It feels like fall, and we passed the pumpkin patch on the way to school--and it had pumpkins! Yay!

Our pumpkin sighting means two very important things:

(1) October is one day away, and

(2) NIL comes out in 157 days.

157 days.

*blinks*

March 4 will be here before we know it . . . and, right now, bloggers and reviewers have NIL galleys IN THEIR HANDS!!!! Eeep! Exciting, and a little scary.

Anyway! A ways back, I promised you a sneak peek of Thad's POV, didn't I? You're so right. I totally did. :)

So here you go!

The start of Chapter 2, and the first chapter from Thad's point of view.:)

More NIL sneak peeks and sekrit scoop coming soon . . . including deets on how to join the #NILtribe.:)

In the meantime, Happy Monday!

xo

On Finishing

Today feels strange.

I'm totally in-between projects, without a deadline in front of me for the first time in months. I finished my second pass pages for NIL, and my agent has my latest project in her expert hands (a project I ADORE and can't wait to share!). But the strangest part is that NIL is done.

I've been working on NIL since February 2010, when the story burst into my head. I wrote, revised (and revised :D), queried, revised for my amazing agent, and then went on submission. Then I revised for my awesome editor, went through copyedits, first pass pages, proofreading queries, and then finally, second pass pages. And now I'm done.

As of this week, NIL is in production. I won't see NIL again until it comes out in hardback.

Like I said, NIL is done.

And it feels both right and strange. To know I will never touch those words again is a little scary, because NIL is no longer just mine. It belongs to you, the reader. Which is how it should be, but as a debut author, it's still a weird--and rather scary--feeling. :) Especially because, as written, NIL is a stand-alone, so my time with those characters is over.*

The perfect word for how this feels? Bittersweet.:)

So now, as far as NIL goes, I'll be doing lots of fun stuff building up to NIL's March 4, 2014 release. Giveaways are coming, packed with cool swag and NIL trivia, and I'm so excited for the months to come. :) It's going to be AWESOME, and I can't wait to share NIL sekrits and scoop with you.

But this week, I'm just going to chill. I'm going to finish some long-overdue beta reading for sweet CP's that I'm woefully behind on... read some killer books on my TBR list that I've been longing to read... and go for some long runs and listen to new tunes and let my brain wander to new stories. And then I'm gonna write something fun and new and just let the words flow, which feels both liberating and exciting.:)

What do you have planned this week? And have you ever finished a project, or job, or something big that took months--or years--of work? Awesome, but weird, right?

xoxoxo

*Lately I've been pondering a companion novel, from a different character's POV. Not sure if I'l write it, but some ideas are floating around in my brain. But Charley & Thad's story is done.:)

A quick NIL Linkapalooza :)

Sorry I've been absent lately. It's been the end-of-summer-back-to-school crazies.:) But today, a post!

I thought I'd give you a quick round-up of NIL links floating around the web.:)

1. Crazies. :)

Wasn't I just talking about crazies...? Thought so. :) Well, speaking of crazies (and chasing them!) Amy Trueblood had me over at her blog, Chasing the Crazies, to chat yesterday about NIL. If you have a minute, pop over to Amy's Writer Odyssey Wednesday post to read about where NIL was born, my love of alt music, and other writerly stuff.:)

2. A Top Ten List!

My sweet friend Natalie Whipple guest posted on the Hot Key Books blog and shared her Top Ten Sci-fi reads...and NIL was on her list!!!!! Natalie's shout-out blew me away, because the company she included me in is hands-down amazing. Books like DUNE, THE GIVER, PIVOT POINT and more are also on the list--which are some of my faves too. Natalie's a talented author in her own right--check out her debut YA novel, TRANSPARENT if you haven't done so already.:)

3. Tunes

If you missed it, you can check out NIL's playlist on the All The Write Notes blog.

4. Cover love

Mac Teen Books did a Winter '14 Cover Reveal Roundup. So fun to see NIL with its publisher siblings! :)

5. Cover Reveal

Icey Books hosted NIL's cover reveal.  I'm so grateful to Hafsah for doing such a terrific job, and I LOVED reading all the comments! I'm a *little* bit in love with my cover myself.:)

Last but not least, several bloggers have picked NIL as their Waiting on Wednesday pick, and I'm SO grateful. I'm so excited for y'all to read NIL, and the fact that people are waiting for it's release makes me crazy happy. Book bloggers amaze me in all the best ways.:)

And the craziest thought today?

NIL comes out in 187 days.

AHHHHHHH! I can't wait for y'all to read it!!!

I leave you with this...which is how I feel when every time I see my cover and think about March 4, 2014.:)

xoxo

Eeeep! NIL galleys are here!

Look what came in the mail yesterday!

Aren't they GORGEOUS?! *stares*

To hold my book IN MY HAND was so crazy cool, I think I smiled non-stop for HOURS. And of course I showed my husband . . . my boys . . . the Twitterverse . . . the mailman . . . and basically anyone who came near the house.:) 

Things I love about my cover?

 The font.

 The colors.

 The tally marks (oh my land--I LOVE the tally marks!) and how they swirl around like a clock--

or a wormhole.

 The island graphics.

 The silhouettes.

EVERYTHING.:)

Now check this out: THE SPINE.

How cool is that?! I love how the title runs vertical, so when you stand it up like this:

the title is oh-so-easy to read! LOVE. THAT. :)

And I love the block font.

And remember how much I love the tally marks on the front cover? 

Check this out: it's the title page inside....

Sweet, right? The tally mark graphics! I can't get enough of them.:)

Want one more peek at the inside?

Okay, you twisted my arm! (Not really--I'm dying to show you! :D) Here's a sneak peek at page one:

I LOVE the font. I mean, really love it. The chapter title fonts are PERFECT, and I love the crisp sense of the regular typeface. 

I'm so happy I want to hug EVERY SINGLE PERSON at Macmillan/Henry Holt. 

So, while this edition is an uncorrected proof -- it says so right on the back, and on the front it says "Advance Reader's Edition-Not For Sale"--

NIL is finally a book.

And I can't wait for you to read it!

Warning: shameless plus ahead :)

You can pre-order NIL below and I'll love you forever! :)

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Indigo

Seriously, I'm plotting a NIL-ish giveaway open to readers who pre-order. Deets soon...after I figure them out.:)


Happy day and happy reading!

Music Monday & NIL scoop

Good morning blogging and book sweethearts!

Ok, it's Monday, August 5th. Whoa . . . HOW IS IT ALREADY AUGUST?! But it totally is. And it even feels like August. A back-to-school vibe is in the air, but I'm clinging to the last few weeks of summer with my boys.:)

But back to the fact that it's August 5th.

August 5, 2013. Which means . . .

NIL comes out in less than seven months! March 4, 2014 to be exact.:)

So, a few NIL links this happy August morning:

*You have one day left to win an advance copy of NIL over at Icey Books. Plus, you can check out NIL's gorgeous cover too.:)

*You can discover the tunes behind the words over at All The Write Notes. I've posted both Thad and Charleys playlists over there. Check them out, and let me know what tunes fuel your writing and your imagination! 

Oh--one last thing. You know what else August means for my family? This:

Last night Shark Week started on the Discovery Channel and we're all in.:)

So what's new with you?

NIL has a cover!!!!!!!!!!

Eeep! It's official NIL has a cover!!!!!!

And I LOVE it. I mean, really love it. The picture is on my desktop and each time I look at it, I find something new.:) Because it's so full of awesome--it's all I could want in a cover and then some. The entire Macmillan/Holt design team (thank you, Anita!:D) did a brilliant job. :)

Ready to see it? Yay! Hop over to the Icey Books blog to see NIL's cover...and you can enter to win a galley of NIL! Yup, that's right--there are TWO advance reader copies (ARC's, or galleys) up for grabs and you could win one!

So hop over and take a peek. And let me know what you think!:)

Cover shout out for DAUGHTER OF CHAOS

Ok, so over at the YA Valentines blog today, my fellow Valentine, Jen McConnel had a BIG reveal: the cover of her YA debut, DAUGHTER OF CHAOS!

AND IT'S GORGEOUS. :)

So gorgeous, in fact, that I'm going to give it a shout-out here! I can't help it; it's just so pretty.

But first, the book blurb from Goodreads:

Witches must choose the path they will follow, and Darlena Agara is no exception. She’s been putting it off long enough, and in her case, ignoring it has not made it go away. In a moment of frustration, Darlena chooses to follow Red Magic, figuring she had outsmarted the powers that be, since there’s no such thing as Red Magic. But alas, Darlena’s wrong (again) and she becomes a newly declared Red Witch.

Her friends are shocked and her parents horrified by the choice Darlena has made. As a Red Witch, she now governs one third of the world’s chaos. She is the walking personification of pandemonium, turmoil, and bedlam, just as the patrons of Red Magic would have it to be.

But Darlena believes there must be more to Red Magic than chaos and destruction, and she sets out on a journey to achieve balance. Only doing so puts her at odds with the dark goddess Hecate, who simply will not allow Darlena to quit. She encourages Darlena to embrace who and what she is and to leave good magic to the good witches. If only Darlena could, life would be simple, and she would not be the Daughter of Chaos.


Cool huh? :) And FYI: DAUGHTER OF CHAOS is the first in a YA paranormal trilogy.

And even though you have to wait until 2014 to read it, you can swoon over the cover now:

So. PRETTY.:)

Woohoo!

Congratulations Jen! Go head over to the cover reveal party happening RIGHT NOW at the YA Valentine blog and you can enter to win two sweet YA books! 

And don't forget to enter to win 2 awesome YA summer reads on me--just check out my previous post.:)

*throws YA book love all over the blogosphere*

In the meantime, want to know more about Jen? Here's the links:

Website: http://www.jenmcconnel.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jen_McConnel
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18106165-daughter-of-chaos
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jenmcconnelauthor

Happy reading!!!!