Just like the astronauts used to eat

In the mood for a retro commercial. Yes, I remember these. I think there was a butterscotch flavor.

Did I Tell You I have a new editor?

Well, I do. Her name is Leah Hultenschmidt and she's now Sourcebooks' new senior acquistions editor for both the Casablance (romance) and Fire (YA) imprints. Want to read more about her? Check out her blog here: http://romanticreading.net/ I love that Leah brings her romance editing experience to the table. Because you know the Anne and Ethan romance is heating up in book two and hopefully beyond.

Speaking of which, ARC's of Haunted should be ready any day now, which feels sort of surreal but is nonetheless true! And I've been tweaking the HAUNTED synopsis I posted a few weeks ago. I'm so looking forward to February when you can all read:

In Dreaming Anastasia, a handsome, blue-eyed and temporarily immortal Russian named Ethan turned Anne Michaelson’s normal world upside down when he informed her that she had a destiny to save Anastasia Romanov, held captive for decades by the witch Baba Yaga. But Anastasia had her own thoughts about destiny - and Anne and Ethan discovered that some things aren’t so easily undone. Now, six months later, as HAUNTED opens, Anne still has powers she doesn’t fully understand. She’s still dreaming about Baba Yaga’s forest. And although her feelings for Ethan haven’t gone away, Anne’s got a new boyfriend – very normal and very sweet lifeguard, Ben Logan. As for Ethan, well, he hasn’t quite gotten over the events of last fall, either. And he definitely hasn’t gotten over Anne. In short, everyone’s haunted by something – or someone.

Enter the rusalka – a Russian folklore mermaid with a malevolent streak - and a particular interest in Anne. When Ethan suddenly returns from Europe, Anne’s world collides with the paranormal once again. Her heart torn between Ben and Ethan, Anne’s search for the rusalka’s identity reveals deep and startling secrets - including the true source of Anne’s powers.

Like Dreaming Anastasia, HAUNTED is a wild adventure of a tale, a genre blend of fantasy, folklore and romance alternately narrated by both Anne and Ethan. As lives and fates intertwine and the romance heats up, so does the danger. “Stories within stories,” the rusalka tells Anne. “Secrets within secrets.” And as Baba Yaga frequently observes, nothing is as simple as it seems.

Let me know what you think!

Til next time...

Pumpkin-Palooza

It's still hotter than hell outside. Yes, I know - I live in Texas. What did I expect? Actual fall? I miss it sometimes, I guess. I don't miss Chicago snow up to my waist in the winter (and in fact am having periodic angst attacks about the fact that HAUNTED is set in Chicago and due out in February and Publicist Paul has been making sounds that sound suspiciously like "Joy. You'll come back here to your beloved Windy City when the next book is out. Bring a jacket." Not that I'm not beyond thrilled about that. Just that I remember what it's like to have ice build up on my scarf. While I'm wearing it.)

But I miss fall. The leaves turn colors here some years. And I can drive to other parts of the state and see some decent fall color. But mostly kids are sweating in their Halloween costumes and we often have the AC cranking on Thanksgiving. Last Halloween I was in Phoenix. Jake and Kellie and I carved the pumpkins in the photo above. The little pumpkin belongs to Bernie the wonder dog. But it was hot there, too.

The stores in the mall think it's fall. Sweaters and leggings and jeggings (does that word creep anyone else out?) and boots and booties and coats and hats, even.

Me - I'm sticking pumpkin in every recipe. Digging out my fall wreath with the scarecrows. And leaving my environmental footprint by turning down the AC enough to pretend I'm cold.

I've tried the pumpkin brownies. I'm about to put a can in a devil's food cake mix. The recipe swears this will work. I'm a pumpkin believer. Muffins next, I think. Maybe with that cream cheesy center thing? Is there such a thing as pumpkin soup? Has anyone made it? Is it edible?

Til next time...

All Sorts of Really Cool Stuff that You Must See

My friend Lauren Strasnick and her friend Jade created the absolutely postively best book trailer ever with stick figures for Lauren's book Nothing Like You - out now in paperback as well as hardcover. I would have imbedded the video itself but I am having lame-o computer issues so here is the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw1RqofWZK0

In other news, if you're a regular blog reader, you've read my musings on the "shit, what do you mean I have cancer; I'm trying to write another book" journey. In honor of Dreaming Anastasia's one year anniversary, I've gone a little broader with the audience and so you can read my crazy debut author journey (bits and pieces of which have appeared on this blog in other forms and posts) in today's Huffington Post essay. Thanks you HuffPo!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joy-preble/after-the-debut-or-one-ye_b_698542.html

Nice feature in PW on the delightful Suzanne Morgan Williams' Bull Rider and a summer reading book club in Pflugerville Texas (which if you don't live here is not quite as far-flung as it sounds and is acutally not far from Austin.) http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/44346-in-brief-september-2.html

A really nice review on the fabulous Roecker Sisters blog (Lisa and Laura Write) of The Duff by Kody Keplinger. It's now on my must read list. http://lisa-laura.blogspot.com/2010/09/duff-by-kody-keplinger.html

Dreaming Anastasia is being printed again - with a NEW FONT for Anastasia's journals!! Yes, if that pesky but authentic looking font was not your favorite, you will LOVE the new font in the edition now filtering into stores. I actually had input this time (how freakin' cool is that?) and although there was some mourning and teeth gnashing by Editor Kelly and Copy Editor Kristin about the old font that they tell me the miss, I think you guys are going to like the new one. More on this soon....

Beyond that - I've made it through week 2 of school. The three day weekend beckons. Husband and I just downed our celebratory Starbucks coffees and sat outside and split a somewhat stale piece of coffeecake. Its condition did not deter us from the picking up stray struesel crumbs with our fingers.

I'm waiting anxiously for ARC's of HAUNTED. Will post pictures as soon as one exists. Hopefully this will be soon.

If you're reading this and that hurricane is coming your way, stock up on water and batteries. And don't assume your cell phone will work. (Just saying; if you don't believe me, scroll back to 9/08 and the entries about Ike) And if they tell you to evacuate, please please listen!

Til next time...

It's begun!

Was amazed and delighted to see that HAUNTED is available for pre-sale on B&N.com. Crazy!!

Random Thoughts on lots of stuff, including Haunted

Classes start tomorrow. Back to my education roots this year and teaching senior English - which I'd started to miss. So it's back to Beowulf and Canterbury Tales and Macbeth and a little Dante thrown in for good measure. We'll start w/Orwell's 1984 and eventually wander our way to the Romantics, the Victorians... a little Frankenstein, a little Dracula... And cause I've got "connections" now (in quotes lest anyone mistake me for a person with power - which when you tell civilians you've got an agent and a publicist they sometimes do, which often makes me giggle) - maybe we'll get some author Skype time in with the Sourcebooks author Bekka Black, whose cell novel iDracula is coming out at Halloween. We will see...

Copy edits are just about done. Okay - that's a longer story. But that's what the cabernet is for, right?

Brainstorming for my upcoming Dreaming Anastasia 1 year anniversary post. Yes! 9/1 will be one year since my debut novel debuted! The phrase, "May you live in interesting times" has been rattling through my head. But more on that soon. One hint: something new and thrilling is brewing with that first novel. Let's just say that when readers comment, Sourcebooks listens... (I promised I wouldn't tell. So I'm not.)

Getting a lot of questions about HAUNTED, which is awesome. I'll be part of the Crossroads Blog Tour that Judith Graves has organized for October, writing part of a ghost story with other authors for Angela and Tynga at Darkfaerietales.com and telling a real life scary story for Jessica's Haunted Halloween event at Confessions of a Bookaholic - both events also in October.

Fall is filling up in many ways: if you're an Oklahoma librarian, you'll see me at Encyclomedia on the New Voices panel; if you're an English teacher, I'm part of a Retelling the Female Hero Journey panel at NCTE in Disney World in November. And of course on February 1st, HAUNTED will arrive in stores!

We're still working on the back copy, so this is not exact, but here's a preview:
Anne Michaelson’s world turned upside down last year when handsome, blue-eyed and temporarily immortal Russian Ethan Kozninsky showed up. Now six months later, Anne still has powers she doesn’t fully understand. She’s still dreaming about Baba Yaga’s forest. And she’s definitely still got feelings for Ethan, even though she’s got a new boyfriend—the very normal and very sweet lifeguard Ben Logan.

But things are about to get even more complicated. There’s a wicked Russian folklore mermaid stalking Anne. With her heart torn between Ben and Ethan, Anne’s search for the rusalka’s identity reveals deep and startling secrets -- including the true source of Anne’s powers.
As the romance heats up, so does the danger. Will Anne’s powers be enough to help the rusalka get what she wants? Or will the longings of her own heart get in the way?

And so it goes.

I think I've got a birthday in there somewhere. Glad for that. :)

Finally got rid of my beloved pink Razr phone today; I am now a Blackberry girl; hope it's not beyond my learning curve. Oh little Razr phone - how forgiving you were each time I dropped you. How slow and primitive you were each time I texted.

Til next time...

And it's the last Sunday of my summer

So what do I post?
Panic? Me?
hahahahahah.
Cause why would I feel panicked?
Because I have to sit through a solid week of school inservice?
Because I need lesson plans for 1984 - that pesky summer reading those 12H students were supposed to do. Oranges and lemons said the bells of St. Clemens. Room 101. Big Brother. 2+2 =5. Do it to Julia.

Okay - maybe that covered that topic.

Copy edits. Due on 8/23. Gotta finish that. Let me interject here that I am totally lucky to have the same exact copy edit team that I had last time. So copy editor Matt can tell me that I've somehow switched Ethan from Marlboro's to Winstons. That it was Professor Olensky who'd smoked the Winstons. It looks like this : AU: Did you mean to do this?

Answer - um, sure Matt. But for you, buddy, I'll change it back.

WIP - gotta finish by Labor Day.

9 weeks of lesson plans? Well, there's always that inservice week.

And the HAUNTED publicity mill has just kicked into medium high gear. Publicist Paul and I plotted world domination on the phone for a solid hour Friday afternoon. You guys are going to be thrilled.

Son's getting married in May - we're supposed to talk about rehearsal dinner this week. Shouldn't I be looking for a dress or two? 10 pounds!! Possibly I shouldn't go downstairs in a second and eat left over Chinese take out for breakfast. Possibly...

And lots of other stuff.

It was a crazy, hazy summer. In the last week or so I've been to both a wedding and a funeral. In between I watched Bethenney Getting Married, the Lost Footage. All of it honestly taught me what my Uncle Harry used to say: Man plans and God laughs. Or - life's what happens while you're making plans.


Temps outside will hit 98 today.
But the mall is filled with boots and sweaters and leggings.
Nurse Vickie called and my blood work shows that thyroid levels and vitamin D levels are back where they need to be. Was on the phone w/Publicist Paul at that moment. He offered a hearty wahoo.

In short - to steal from another crazy working mom - Kate Gosselin - it may be a crazy life, but it's mine. And I am profoundly grateful for every crazy second.

More cogent thoughts, soon. I promise.