Hi, ya’ll! Today I’m a guest on Krystal Wade’s blog . . . she’s not only a fellow Curiosity Quills author, she’s also the YA Acquisitions Editor who offered me my contract, so please don’t make me look bad in front of her! Hop on over and leave a comment. In this post, I’ve hijacked Doc Brown’s Delorean to deliver a letter to myself the first week of high school:-) For those of you too young to know what I’m talking about *shakes head* . . . . watch this video first.

Godspeed . . . .

The brilliant and awesome Jenny Ford passed on the Mrs. Sparkly award. Look–

*Pausing for OOhs & AAhs*

To accept the award, I have to answer seven questions about me and nominate 15 other bloggers. I hate to leave people out and many times I pass on these awards to people who’ve already received them so here’s the deal . . . .if you are one of the first 15 to comment and have a blog  but don’t have this award, take it! All you guys sparkle and deserve it:):) Also, the knowledgable and gracious Robin Weeks has offered to give away a query critique to a commenter on my blog after I correctly answered a question on her blog last week!  Winner can pick whether Robin tears the query apart in private or on her blog, to be seen by tens of people–who just might comment and help you even more. So if you’d like to be considered for that, please make note of it in the comments below. Thanks, Robin!!!

Ok, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty.

Describe yourself in 7 words: weird, ambitious, fun, anal, fast (not in running *I wish* but I tend to jump into things), talkative, daydreamer

*What keeps you up at night? Writing my novels and reading!!

*Whom would you like to be? Wellllll, God made me “me” for a reason, so nobody (Ok, but it wouldn’t totally suck to be J.K. Rowling)

*What am I wearing right now? HP shirt (yep, nERd alert), Navy cotton shorts from Ann Taylor Loft . . . and I’m not describing my undergarments to you (pervs! HA! J/K)

*What scares you? Needles & anything to do w/ the Dr. in general. Still don’t know how I made it through two pregnancies, but I’m soooo glad I did b/c my daughters rock!

*What are the best and worst things about blogging? Connecting with people from all around the wORld is for sURe the best THiNG evER!!! The worst . . . it’s a major time suck and even though I love, LOVE, lOvE it, I always feel guilty b/c there are other things I should be doing (but I choose to ignore THAT voice in my head & let the others take over. Heehee)

*If I could change one thing about myself, what would it be? I drink too much coffee, CoFfEe, C*O*F*F*E*E!!! I’m addicted. Hmm, maybe you can tell that about me w/out stating it? 4 cups of Santa’s White Christmas with 2 spoonfuls of sugar, Caramel Macchiato creamer, whipped cream every day is a necessity (like food, shelter, & love in a mug!)

*Slankets, yes or no? OK, I guess I’m not cool b/c I actually had to google what Slankets are, lol. But I AM a Slankets girl, we just refer to them as snuggies in my house. I have a HP one that looks like a Hogwarts robe.

*Tell us something about the person who nominated you. Jenny Ford (known as J. Keller Ford to many of you) is a YA author inspired by fantasy and magic. I love her blog . . . she always has lotsa good stuff on there & is like, a real person. I feel like I know her even though we’ve never met. I got to know her story when she participated in the first page critique hop on my blog this past February.

Thank you, Jenny, and thanks to everyone who follows my blog and offered their congrats last week–YOU SPARKLE!!!

As you can tell from my photo- I’m sooooo excited!!! I like that I’m wearing my Cheshire Cat shirt since my grin is identical to his:) I feel like I’m in Wonderland holding an actual publishing contract! But at the same time, I know there are plenty of people out there wanting to give up b/c they’ve been trying to achieve their dreams for what seems like forever & it’s not happening (yet). Believe me, I know. I’ve been trying to get published for 3 years. Please allow me to share my story with you . . . (click on the link for inspirational music while you read. Come on, you know you want to!)

In the summer of 2009 hubby started snoring & keeping me awake.  I dug up this children’s chapter book I’d started in 2005 in the wee hours of the night with the idea of finishing it, but it just didn’t call to me anymore. So I started writing the novel of my heart, yanno, that first manuscript that never sees the light of day? In 2 months time I managed to write 95,000 words, and I still wasn’t finished ya’ll! When I paused to do some research, I discovered I’d written a contemporary young adult love story (who knew?!?) and I’d gone waaaaaaaaaaayyyy over the acceptable word count. So I started querying for that novel and writing the sequel. I chose 15 publishers that were open to submissions and was rejected by all of them. I was crushed.The start of 2010 meant researching the publishing biz and studying the craft of writing. I attended RWA Nationals in the summer and learned more stuff.

NY Times Bestselling Author Kelley Armstrong with yours truly at RWA Nationals

That’s when I figured out I needed to stop writing my sequel I was already 53,000 words into. The first novel I’d written was all about a 16-yr-old girl in turmoil, cutting herself, ect . . . and in the sequel she was emotionally healed but her best friend was diagnosed with leukemia  and she came up with the idea of a bucket list to help him through it. There was  no reason for these two stories to be related. I shelved the first novel after I’d edited it as much as I thought I could and still received 3 rejections from agents after they requested the full at RWA Nationals. So I finished the second one and went through revisions. I didn’t have money to attend RWA nationals again. I connected with bloggers online instead. That’s when I participated in Deana Barnhart’s Gearin’ Up to Get An Agent blogfest last summer.

From the comments I gained (thanks everyone, especially Deana), I gathered I needed to get away from the cancer thing. Cancer and bucket lists had been done. So I changed it up a bit and queried 15 agents again. Got 3 requests for the full, but ultimately rejected. Then my local chapter for RWA, SWFRW, hosted an awesome conference this past February. I had appointments with editors from TOR, Harlequin Teen and Sourcebooks. I was pumped. Then a month before the conference, I got this comment from Leah Hultenschmidt during the discussion for Pitch-Slam Weekend on YALITCHAT.ORG:

 “The idea of completing a set amount of tasks is all over the genre right now (Little Blue Envelopes, Instructions for a Broken Heart, 13 Reasons Why to some degree), so you’ll need something extra special to make this really stand out. Maybe give more detail at what’s unexpected so that can be as much of the hook as the instructions.”

Craaaaaaaaaaaaapppp! That’s who I was pitching to for Sourcebooks! I decided then to put a paranormal twist on it since all my other story ideas were paranormal and I knew I’d need to write in the same genre for a while to build up my audience. The only problem? Many agents/editors were saying they’re done with YA paranormal love stories. *whines, why didn’t I think of this story back in 2009 when it was hot?* Still, everyone always says to not write for trends so I stuck with it. Guess what? They all requested my manuscript:) I was still revising so it took me 2 months to send it to them *oops!*

Then blogger buddy Sharon Bayliss hosted a contest during my first week of summer break. The contest was a call to submit our query + first 500 words to YA acquisitions editor Krystal Wade of Curiosity Quills, whom Sharon had just signed a contract with. I thought, what the heck? I’ll start my summer off right with a contest and hopefully gather some valuable feedback. Everyone rocked with their comments and I got a request for the first 3 chapters from Krystal. I was excited but also kinda disappointed I didn’t get a full request. *She later told me she wasn’t going to request it at all but liked the changes I’d made based on the comments. So yep, these contests really do help!* I sent Krystal the manuscript on a Saturday morning and when I checked my email on Monday, I had a message from her requesting my full manuscript!! I got one of those really good feelings but remained only cautiously optimistic until another 2 days later, I received an offer for a publishing contract for 18 Things!

Curiosity Quills super kewl logo

Of course I had to let the other editors know, so I emailed them and waited. But the whole time I knew in my gut this story was meant for Curiosity Quills. Krystal was so easy to talk to during this whole process and I was really encouraged I finally found an editor that was as excited as I was about my manuscript.

The greatest thing for me is my daughters coming away from this experience knowing that hard work and perseverance really can make dreams come true. I’d like to thank them for giving up some mommy time to help me achieve my goals. I’d also like to show hubby some love for snoring (heehee) and for sticking by my side even when I was super grumpy from staying up all night writing my little heart out. The offer you made me fourteen years ago to marry you is still & always will be the best offer I ever accepted. Crazy thank yous to Sharon and Krystal for the contest . . . can’t wait to work with both A*M*A*Z*I*N*G gals as part of the Curiosity Quills team!! Gratitude for my pals at SWFRW, especially Marisa, Tina, Nicole, Linnea, Heather, Joyce, Michael, Jean, and anyone else who looked at my work (Mom, Amy, Dawn, Misty, Jennifer, Lorie, ect) and instead of telling me I sucked (and at the beginning, believe me when I assure you that I did!), encouraged me and helped show me the light. Muchos Gracias for my literal Sisterhood of the Traveling Necklace (we couldn’t all magically fit into a pair of pants, but we tried!) for covering me in prayer. Words can’t express what your Godly example, influence and friendship has meant to me through the years.  

So the moral of the story? Never give up! Trust your gut! And believe every rejection in life just means God has something better planned for you down the road:) 

How about you? What are some dreams you’ve never given up on? Are you letting past rejections stop you from moving forward? Well then, I Dare You To Move.

Today I’m kicking off summer right by interviewing another gal who goes by my name, USA Today Bestseller Jaime Rush. She’s got a new release today, so let’s get this party started  and give her a warm welcome . . . (while I pause for the virtual claps I want to say please stay tuned afterwards to hear how you can win a synopsis or query critique from Jaime, and her new book!)

JA:  This is your 24th book. Have you always known this was the route you wanted to take?

JR: Ever since I was a kid, I loved creating stories. I did go to community college for a while to be “practical,” but I sat in class daydreaming about my current book! So I gave myself a year off to see if I had what it took to write (I also worked full-time), and I did. I threw myself into learning everything I could about writing and the business, and hard to believe, but here I am, 18 years after selling my first novel!

JA:  Ah, I daydream alllllllll the time about quitting my job and pursuing my writing full-time–keeping my fingers crossed it’ll happen sooner than later. Now, Darkness Becomes Her, the 6th installment in your Offspring series, was released TODAY!! Can you tell us a bit about the book and how you came up with the idea for the series?

JR:  Here’s the blurb for the book: 

A man beyond redemption. A woman beyond hope. And a battle that will either kill them…or bring them back from the edge.

Lachlan McLeod has a mission: find the beast who put his brother into a coma. He’ll start with Jessie Bellandre, his brother’s girlfriend, who’s harboring a dark, dangerous secret that could get them all killed. But as they plumb the depths of Darkness, and the light he didn’t know existed in the shadows of his heart, not falling in love with her will be as hard as staying alive.

The series came from my love of television shows like Roswell and X-Files, long gone. I really liked the dynamics of people thrown together in a dangerous situation, which always tests your true character. And especially when those people already have “issues,” namely that they each deal with having some extraordinary psychic ability. Throw in that some shadowy government faction is hunting them down, that their abilities stem from a mysterious experiment each had a parent in, and that those parents are all now dead, and you’ve got the overall arc of the first four books. I didn’t even know all the facts, or how all the characters played in, which made it fun for me.

Now that I’ve completed the arc, it’s fun to spin independent stories while still weaving in the original cast. So new readers can pretty much jump into DARKNESS BECOMES HER without worrying about catching up on a lot of backstory.

JA: Very cool! I’m a huge fan of the series:) I have to ask . . . do you believe in psychic abilities?

JR: Absolutely, and I think we all have the ability to tap into our sixth sense. We’ve all had “gut feelings,” right? Everyone has a story about hearing a voice telling them to maybe get off the road or change lanes right before something happens that would have injured or killed them. I also know there are a lot of fakes out to take advantage of human nature’s need to know the future or understand the past.

JA:  Amen, sista! I personally don’t want to know what the future holds, what fun would that be?  What’s next for you now?

JR:  Unfortunately the publisher is holding off on going forward with more Offspring books. I have another Offspring novella coming out in September (TURN TO DARKNESS), with an unrelated group. And I do intend to write Magnus’s story, because I need to know what’s going on with him now that he’s … well, don’t want to give too much away!

 But, being a writer, I can’t not write, so I’ve got a new series in development that I’m super excited about: The Hidden.

Miami. A melting pot of cultures: American, Cuban, Haitian … Dragons, Angels, and sorcerers. Magick hides behind the glitter and sunshine, where humans imbued with the essence of deities keep the balance between angry and forgotten gods, demons, and those of their kind who cannot fight the seductive lure of their magick.

I’ve thrown myself fully into the paranormal and am just loving it! I’ve already written two novellas and the first book. The series will debut from Grand Central Publishing sometime next year.

JA:  Wow, you are one busy lady! With all the writing that you do, does it come easy for you? What’s your typical day like?

JR:  Sometimes it comes very easy. It’s magic when it flows. Other times, like now, it’s more like pulling teeth. Life can distract, plus the many other aspects of this business. I just work through it, because it’s a job as much as my passion.

That being said, I treat it like a job, getting to work in the morning, not letting myself get drawn into Facebook chats or games or trolling the internet. I work a lot, usually seven days a week, though family time is important. And husband time <grin>.

JA:  Thank you soooooooo very much for your interview, Jaime. Do you have any parting words of wisdom for us inspiring writers?

JR:  If you want it bad enough, whatever your dream, it matters not the odds of making it, how hard it is, or fitting it into your busy life, especially when you’ve got a full-time job and family. As you squeak in twenty minutes here and there, you are making progress. As you get those rejection letters/emails, you’re making progress. Every step takes you closer to your dream, and if you really, really want it bad enough, I believe you’re meant to make it happen. So never give up!

Want more Jaime Rush? She wrote 14 books under the name Tina Wainscott, most paranormal romantic suspense (but not Offspring). You can check them out at Tina Wainscott titles. She also participated her first anthology novella in 2010, Bitten By Cupid, and it hit #13 on the NY Times List. Be sure to check that one out, too!

Friend Jaime on Facebook or Myspace or Twitter  or visit her website. 

Jaime has graciously agreed to help me celebrate 400 followers by offering a synopsis or query critique–your choice:) But please limit it to 2 pages. Also, her publisher is offering her book for a giveaway! To enter for either, just leave a comment below and then stop by here next Wednesday to see if you’re the winner & claim your prize:) Until then, Jaime will be stopping by so feel free to leave a question for her!