YA Author Stacey Kade

I received the final cover for Queen of the Dead and permission to post it. I really love it and am so excited to share it with you guys!

Without further ado:

If you’ve seen the previous version, you’ll note that the main difference is in Will’s expression. He looks just a little bit more annoyed, which delights me. Though his life is certainly better than it was before, Alona still drives him crazy on a regular basis. That’s just part of who they are together. And I think this image reflects that better.

We still have the gorgeous diner set up with all the yummy desserts and the soft colors. Alona’s expression is still that wicked “I’m up to no good, and you totally know it” look. And Will is showing just a tad more of the “FML” attitude that I imagine he feels on a fairly regular basis when he’s caught up in one of Alona’s schemes.

Also, aren’t the models both so gorgeous? They do such a great job representing Alona and Will. I love it!

I’ve been looking for a topic to blog about and, coincidentally, I’ve gotten a few emails lately asking me about how I found my publisher, how the process works, how long did it take me to get published, etc. (Also, a couple of you suggested this as a topic when I asked–thank you for that. I’m terrible at figuring out post topics!)

So, here we go…

Wait. Before I start this, I have to say that this is just MY experience. Yours may be totally different. Just as there is no one way to write a book (tip of the hat to Ally Carter for that Twitter phrase), there is also no one way to publication. (The negatives in that sentence make my brain hurt, but I think you know what I mean.)

Okay…

What’s interesting to me is that if you look just at my YA experience, it all seems to have happened rather quickly. I wrote The Ghost and the Goth (which is the original title, by the way. I got to keep it!) from February to May in 2007. It was the first young adult novel I’d ever written, but I’d gotten back into reading YA several years before and LOVED how it had changed from when I was that age. (Such variety and freshness and truth-telling in these stories, so exciting!)

As some of you probably know, I have a sister who is thirteen years younger than me. She was graduating from high school in the spring of 2007. I really wanted to write about this YA idea I had about a bitchy dead girl ghost and the outcast guy who can see her, but I was scared to because it was so far outside of what I’d been writing. My motivation, then, became I knew how much my sister enjoyed reading YA and wouldn’t it be fun to give this story to her? Also, maybe if, as I went along writing it, I felt it was holding up well enough, I would try to get it published.

I had a blast writing G&G. Just had so much fun with it. And that was a wonderful lesson to gain from writing this book. I’d never realized it could be that much fun. I actually experienced moments of glee while writing. (This should have been a big clue to me that maybe I’d found what I should have been writing all along.)

Though it wasn’t without its hardships as well. I got about 3/4 of the way through the story and stopped because I didn’t know how to finish it. I’d opened up doors and story threads that I didn’t know how to close off. That is something I continue to struggle with as a writer. I love creating the problems, letting my characters make a mess of things, digging themselves in deeper, sometimes too much so. I get too many things going on at once and then they can’t get out…or the path to getting out is so convoluted, it can’t be followed. I’m still working on getting better at that!

At any rate, I had other writing projects going on at the moment, so G&G got shuffled to the side, temporarily.

I HAD to finish revisions to G&G in about a month or month and a half in early 2008, when a request for a full manuscript came in from the wonderful literary agent who would become MY wonderful literary agent, Laura Bradford. Uh, yeah. Don’t do what I did and query on a project that isn’t quite finished because then you have that awful “quick, hurry up and get it done, but wait, don’t screw it up because this is a big opportunity” pressure that I experienced. I lived on Dr. Pepper and Reeses’ Peanut Butter eggs for quick sugar and caffeine highs to keep pushing those revisions forward. I was, at the time, working full-time in an office and writing at night…and in the morning…and over lunch.

Laura signed me in April 2008, and we had an offer from Hyperion at the end of June 2008. Amazingly fast! Also, I got the most awesome, spectacularly fun, and brilliant editor–Christian Trimmer–in the deal. Yea!

So…just a little over a year from the first word written to having a contract. Fast and simple, right?

That would be a very big fat NO, actually.

See, I’d been writing pretty steadily since graduating from college. I’d started my first book back in 1998 and finished in 2000. That book will be one that never ever sees the light of day, but it taught me a lot. I wrote my second book in 2001 and then struggled with revisions for TWO years because I knew something was wrong with it, but I didn’t know what. The trouble was that everything I’d learned about writing, I’d learned from a couple of creative writing classes and reading lots and lots of books. Both of those are an excellent start for a writing education but definitely not enough. Not even close.

I started researching writing: other people’s techniques, what worked for them, what didn’t. I stumbled across Christopher Vogler’s screenwriting book, “The Writer’s Journey,” which provided the equivalent of a light bulb over my head.

I revised my book and started querying agents in 2003. Lots and lots of rejection followed. I eventually found a small, independent press that was willing to publish my book, the first in a series. Hurrah! They were lovely people, just starting up their own press, and I would be their first release.

It was all smashing and wonderful…for about a year. Then, my publisher contacted me and let me know that the financials just weren’t there for them to continue in this business. I was disappointed (crushed, actually), but understood. They had been very good to me and I had no complaints about the way I’d been treated, which is not always the case in situations like these.

So, then I had to start the querying process all over again. This time, though, I had the advantage of having learned a lot from my first go-around. I’d attended the Romantic Times Booklovers convention, met agents and other authors, and best of all, my mentor and friend, Linnea Sinclair. (She deserves a blog post entirely devoted to who she is, the amazing inspiration and help she has been, and how grateful I am, but the short version is I could not have done this without her. Truly.)

Despite my experience and best efforts, I still, however, could not find representation with an agent. I eventually landed at a supportive independent press willing to take on my previously published book, its sequel, and a new mystery I’d written that I LOVED.

I’m debating with myself now, writing and erasing lines, about how to continue this post. I could finish it as simply as, “And then I started writing G&G, and the rest is history,” but that’s not quite true. If I’m being honest, I’m worried I’m going to get flak for the following paragraphs, but oh, hell, it’s my story and I think you should have the truth as I see it.

The truth is, I wanted to have an agent. I wanted to see my book on the shelves in Borders and Barnes and Noble. I wanted, more than anything, to be a full-time writer. But it is very difficult (though not impossible, as there are examples of those who have done so) to accomplish those last two goals without a larger, NY-based publisher. Larger companies have a wider reach, the means and systems in place for better distribution. And I wanted that for G&G…if it was at all possible.

When I finished G&G, I could have stayed within the small press/independent publishing realm. I had the contacts, the comfort level and the confidence to do so. But I had to choose between the safety of what I knew and the risk of going after what I really wanted. There was absolutely nothing wrong with staying put, except that it wasn’t what I really wanted.

So, I took a chance. I started querying again, getting rejected AGAIN…and what do you know? This time, it worked. I found an agent who loved the book I’d written, and my book found a home with the amazing people at Hyperion.

And all of this happened approximately TEN YEARS after I’d started writing with the intent to be published. (Note: Remember what I said. This is just how it worked for me. Nothing says it will take anyone else this long!)

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that writing, like many, many other things, is often more about persistence than anything else. There are always going to be ups and downs, highs and lows, amazing accomplishments and obstacles that you think you’re never going to get past. But refusing to give up, pushing yourself to keep going and keep learning, and holding tight to your dream–that’s the really important stuff.

So, that’s my publishing story. I know I’m throwing around lots of terms (literary agents, querying, etc.) Let me know if you have questions.

Do I have other stuff I should be doing? Most definitely. Could I resist this form of procrastination once I started thinking about it? Not with all my strength.

And so I present to you…
10 Rules for Surviving Supernatural (the show) as a Female:

1. Never, EVER, wear a white nightgown. Seriously.

2. Do not be attractive and (seemingly) alone in your place of residence. Toss on some baggy sweats and wash off your make up. It might just save your life.

3. If two unreasonably handsome men show up at your door claiming to be FBI (or any other governmental agency), answer their questions as best you can (and admire their unreasonable handsomeness) but then get the hell out of town. Trouble is somewhere nearby, if not already lurking in your home.

4. If you have kids and they’re behaving normally, stick close to them. You *might* just survive whatever is coming your way.

5. If you have kids and they’re behaving strangely, get out, get out NOW. They’ll be fine…or some kind of hellspawn or whatever.

6. Don’t be a virgin in danger. Despite best efforts, it doesn’t end well.

7. Spend your baby’s six month b-day in a circle of salt with a fire hose of holy water at the ready (or in Bobby Singer’s panic room, if you know him.)

8. If you’re an adorable little girl, well…most likely it’s already too late for you. You’re probably a demon or a ghost or weird little vampire twins…

9. Don’t be plucky, feisty, and/or seemingly capable of fighting your own battles. You’ll be called upon to sacrifice yourself.

10. If you have the opportunity to sleep with one of the Winchesters, weigh your options carefully: A long, normal life…or a short one with a brutal end (but directly preceded by said Winchester opportunity.)

Yeah, that’s what I thought. It was nice knowing you.

Okay, fellow Supernatural fans, what else am I missing? What other rules should these women know to protect themselves?

Cross-posted at The Bradford Bunch

Good morning!

I’m so excited–yesterday, I received the advance reading copies of The Ghost and the Goth, Book Two: Queen of the Dead!

For whatever reason, a book just never feels quite real to me until I see it in this form. Writing this book, in particular, was a bit tricky, as it involved revising and rewriting while I was on tour this summer for the first book. In fact, I have very fond memories of squeezing in a paragraph or two, here and there, in various airports, hotels, planes and trains across the country. This was a very well-traveled work in progress.

So, I’m thrilled to see it in book-shape, in the form of the ARC. And I love the diner background for the cover–it’s just beautiful. Alona’s expression is just perfect too–she’s up to mischief and she knows it.

Some interesting (I hope!) facts about the cover:
–It’s not quite final, so there may be some additional tweaks.

–The models for Will and Alona (both of whom I LOVE) are the same as on the first cover. The photos for both covers were shot at the same time. And I believe there are photos for the third cover from that shoot as well. Yea! I think these models are perfect as Will and Alona and I’m thrilled to have the consistency of them on all three books!

–Will is a busboy in the second book; hence, his apron. In the earliest draft of the book, we spent much more time in the diner. But as I was revising, I cut out most of the diner-based material, and then–yikes–learned the cover was going to be set as a diner. But, with that in mind, a perfect opportunity for a new diner scene in the book came up, and it all worked out beautifully.

–I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but the gym uniform Alona is wearing is based on my high school’s required gym uniform. So I just love that they put her on the cover in that outfit–it looks so familiar (and right) to me because of my own high school experience!

Here are a few pictures:

The front cover:

The back cover (I love how the diner scene wraps around to the back with the stools and counter):

A close-up (relatively speaking) of Will and Alona:

Queen of the Dead comes out on June 7, 2011! That sounds so very far away, but it’ll be here before you know it…and hopefully not too quickly as I’m still writing the third (and final) book in the trilogy!

(Cross-posted at The Bradford Bunch.)

I went to visit my sister this weekend. She goes to Valparaiso University in Indiana, just as I did. It’s amazing to me that, even after more than a decade, just being on campus brightens my mood. Old buildings have been torn down and new ones put up in their places; the main road through campus no longer goes all the way through, much to my befuddlement; most of the familiar faces are gone, with the exception of my sister, her friends, and few professors. But it still feels like home to me, in a way few other places do.

I hated high school. Well, maybe “hate” is too strong a word. I endured high school. I don’t think it was anybody’s fault but my own. I was just never comfortable in my own skin (something I still struggle with) and spent an enormous amount of time analyzing everything being said and done around me, in the hopes of determining a pattern and/or the “right” thing to say and do. Now, granted, that has paid off with my ability to recall that time in my life with ridiculous accuracy, but it was not a fun few years.

And my worst fear when it came time to choose a college was that I would be in for four more years of the same. I visited all sorts of schools in that year or year and a half and tried to picture myself at each of them. Valpo felt right to me in a way that none of the others did. I remember that I couldn’t exactly express to my skeptical parents why this, the most expensive school on my list with the least amount of financial aid available, was the right fit.

I wanted to be an English major so it wasn’t that the school offered something I couldn’t get elsewhere. It’s a private university with a Lutheran-affiliation…just like two others on my short list. It wasn’t the biggest school on my list (10,000 plus) or the smallest (1,000–yikes).

But from the time I took that on-campus tour (I still remember what I was wearing), I knew this was the place for me. Actually, that makes me sound like I was a lot more certain than I was at the time. It was really more like the first time I felt this vague, I don’t know, *push* toward something. A gut instinct, maybe. It was weird, exciting and terrifying. If I wanted this, I’d really have to work at it. There would be convincing my parents and then getting loans (which I would be paying off until my early thirties). And what if I was wrong? What if I was mistaken about what I thought was guidance? All of this was based on something I couldn’t quite identify–a feeling, an instinct, a whisper you can’t quite hear. Rational thinking would have led me to an entirely different choice.

I wrestled with the decision for months, both before and after I made it. And I have the journals to prove it.

But I did it. I pushed to go to Valpo, even though I had no overriding reason to do so other than instinct, even though my parents were worried about the money, the effect the loans would have on my future, and more.

It was the first time I’d ever heard that little voice inside myself speaking up loudly and insistently enough that I had to listen. I made a big choice that my parents were probably less than thrilled with at the time, my first act of independent thinking and, honestly, rebellion. I was, and still am, a people-pleaser, so making a decision I knew they didn’t like was incredibly hard for me.

But it was the right decision for me, in so very many ways. First in that I found what I was looking for. A community, a place where I could thrive and belong just by being myself. I also got an amazing education, my best friends in the whole world, and my husband, too–all from that one decision.

But there’s more. Listening to that vague voice for the first time and realizing I was correct to do so was invaluable. Not just because it landed me where I needed to be, though that is certainly true. But because that’s the same voice that pushed and nagged at me to write my first book, and then to write another when the first was more of a learning experience rather than anything publishable.

It’s still the voice I listen for today when I’m writing, though some days it’s hard to hear it over the shouting of my own worries and fears. That’s when I know it’s time to calm things down and just listen.

I am proud of myself for listening and pursuing what I felt was right, both back when I was picking a college and when I started to write. It’s never an easy thing to buck the crowd and ignore those who tell you you’re making a mistake, you’re taking an unnecessary risk, or you’re going to get hurt. Those are, as always, distinct possibilities with every decision. But what I’ve come to realize is that you have to go with your instincts, trust yourself, and listen to that voice. Because then, at least the dents and dings you get along the way are ones you’ve earned by going after what you want instead of trying to play it safe, by someone else’s standards, and getting hurt and making mistakes anyway.

How about you? Any voices in your life?

Hey guys…

No vlog today (though I’m still taking suggestions if there are things you want to see/hear about).

But I do have something fun to share. Got permission to share the back cover copy that will be on the ARCs of Queen of the Dead. This is not final, even for the ARCs, and the jacket copy for QOTD will be different as well, but it should give you a pretty good idea of what the book is about!

After being sent back from the light, Alona Dare–former homecoming queen, current Queen of the Dead–finds herself doing something she never expected: working. Instead of spending days perfecting her tan by the pool (her typical summer routine when she was, you know, alive), Alona must now cater to the needs of other lost spirits. By her side for all of this, ugh, “helping of others” is Will Killian: social outcast, seer of the dead, and someone Alona cares about more than she’d like.

Unfortunately for Alona, Will has other stuff on his mind, and Mina, a young (and beautiful) seer, is at the top of the list. She’s the first ghost-talker Will’s ever met—aside from his father—and she may hold answers to Will’s troubled past. But can she be trusted? Alona immediately signs her name in the “clearly not” column. But Will is, ahem, willing to find out, even if it means leaving a hurt and angry Alona to her own devices, which is never a good idea.

Packed with romance, lovable characters, and a killer cliffhanger, Queen of the Dead is the out-of-this-world sequel to The Ghost and the Goth.

So, after being horribly embarrassed about the boring state of my junk drawer and the messy state of my kitchen, I’m showing my office. Why? Because it’s slightly more interesting (in my opinion) and because you can meet Pansy (greyhound 2 of 3)

This vlog is in response to the challenge my friend and fellow author, Kristen Tracy, issued via Twitter. (If you are not following her on Twitter, you are missing out!)

Before you watch it, however, I must apologize in advance for three things:

1) How very untidy my kitchen is in the following vlog (YIKES. Should I be ashamed? Yes, probably. But when it comes to dealing with the mass amounts of mail we receive and cannot seem to throw away or writing…well, yeah, I’m writing.)

2) That I must have the MOST boring junk drawer in the history of mankind

3) The vast amount of “ums” and “uhs” in my narration. I was nervous about showing you my untidy kitchen, okay?

Also, please note, Kristen Tracy, there is a challenge contained within this video for you! I expect a response!

Okay, so I confess I’m still not very good at running the Flip cam, but here’s a short video of me and one of the dogs. I promise, I will get better at this with more practice. The downside? You have to live through me practicing! I think this time I figured out how to embed it in the web page, yea!!!

I’ve been getting some emails lately asking for writing advice, so I thought I’d post my reponse(s) here in case others are interested.

These are just some general thoughts about writing, of course. If you want to talk more specifically about developing characters, creating conflict, or even publishing type stuff (finding an agent, etc.), let me know. We can do that, too.

1) If writing is really important to you, don’t quit. You’ll have a million and one people telling you how hard it is to write a book, and they’re right…but don’t let that stop you. All of us–every single published author out there–had people telling us it couldn’t be done. It can be. You have to be persistent and BELIEVE.

2) Don’t worry about it if you don’t know what happens next in the story, just keep going. I spent years starting stories and never finishing them because I thought if I didn’t know what happened next then it was doomed and I’d better start another one. Finishing the story, even if you think it’s not very good, is super important. Writing, especially in the beginning, teaches you through the experience of writing. In other words, you may hate the middle or the end of this book you just finished, but you’ll learn from it so the next one will be better.

3) Read. A lot. Look at your favorite book and figure out what makes it your favorite. Is it the realistic characters? The funny dialogue? The mystery? Whatever you enjoy about that book is most likely an element you’ll want to incorporate in your own writing. And you should always write what you want to read. Write something that would entice you to pick it up off the shelf, even if it’s not something that’s popular right now (e.g. vampires).

4) Have fun! Don’t worry about pleasing anyone else, especially not at first. Tell yourself the story.

5) Always keep learning. There are lots of good books and articles out there about writing. The Writer and Writer’s Digest are two magazines that most libraries carry, and they have great articles, especially if you’re just starting out. Other books I’ve found helpful are: On Writing by Stephen King, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler, and Goal, Motivation, and Conflict by Debra Dixon.

My mentor, Linnea Sinclair, also found these very cool story cards. We’ve used them in workshops, but I also think they’re incredibly handy for sorting out a story idea and seeing how the pieces fit together.

Okay…back to revising! Oh! That would be another good topic for discussion someday.