Dreaming Anastasia is Here! Launch Day!

As I type this preparing for my launch day post, it’s Saturday night, August 29th. You won’t see these words until Tuesday morning, 9/1. So I guess there’s a chance that I’ll feel differently than I do right now. That some other huge piece of news will have broken and maybe I’ll have to chunk this post and start a new one. Or I’ll realize that having just watched Teddy Kennedy’s funeral on CNN that my mood is a tad darkly sentimental for what is ultimately one of the most joyous messages I’ve ever written. But for what it’s worth, here goes:

A little over five years ago I began writing the book that eventually became Dreaming Anastasia. It has been a long journey between then and now. Reams of paper, lots of copier ink, a couple of computer apocalypses, two agents – the current one being the fearless Cowgirl Jen- two editors – the current one being the fabulous Mr. Tiger Beat, Dan Ehrenhaft - a copy editing team that simply rocked, the boy genius who forced me to tweet called Publicist Paul, some sleepless nights, an amazing group of people called the Class of 2k9, a generally patient family who realized that this wasn’t just a whim and that I was going to see it through no matter what, a stiff neck from too much typing, and a few too many glasses of wine when the need arose.

Along the way, I learned a lot of things, the most important one being that I should believe in myself. I want to say that I always did, but I realize now that that’s probably not the truth. I wanted to, but the leap of faith that required was pretty darn scary. Because once you leap, there’s no going back. My life changed completely and utterly in many ways. I am better for all of them. People I had never met took a chance on me and this crazy story about a strong, kick ass girl who had the power to change history and a handsome stranger who didn’t really know as much as he thought he did and a bad guy with a crazy secret and a fairy tale witch. It was part fantasy and part fairy tale and part historical fiction and part romance. It had a strong literary element – which as we all know doesn’t sell well most days – and three narrative voices. It will come, my agent at the time said. But I sensed it wouldn’t be easy. (okay the six months of revision was probably a clue) But as we are fond of saying in the publishing business, it just takes one offer. One person to take that leap of faith with you.

That person was my original editor at Sourcebooks, Lyron Bennett.

The rest, as they say, is history.

I hope you all enjoy this story as much as I do. It’s a fine, rollicking tale of love and loss and hope and regret and the desperate need most of us have for second chances. It’s about the power of blood and the power of secrets and about what people do for both of those. It’s about stories within stories and layers within layers and the things we do for the people we love. And okay, Ethan is really, really hot!

Welcome to the world, Dreaming Anastasia! Happy birthday. May you have a long and prosperous life.

With all my love,
Joy

PS- And to my favorite NYC girl, Michelle Andelman – I owe you! Seriously!