Born Wicked cover reveal

So my fabulous friend Jessica Spotswood has a fabulous book coming out in February called Born Wicked. You might have heard about it, there was a fabulous deal involved.

And to top off all that fabulousness, check out this newly released, utterly FABULOUS cover:

It is very sexy and wicked and flowery and entirely appropriate to the tone of the book. And if that doesn’t make you want to pick up a copy, then I don’t know what will.

But I suppose just in case you want a tad more info, I will include the description too:

Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they’re witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship–or an early grave.

Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word…especially after she finds her mother’s diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family’s destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra.

If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren’t safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood–not even from each other.

Also it is already available for pre-order on Amazon! I am so tempted to go write a review. But then I suppose the spoiler police would be annoyed. Seeing as how I am myself a tried and true member of the spoiler police, I will avoid hypocrisy and abstain. But hey, if you pre-order it you might get your copy early, at which point you can go write your own spoilery review, and I will be too polite to police you for it. Everybody wins!

Shiny New Ideas

I finished the first draft of my WIP on Sunday. This was cause for much celebration and making of chocolate-chip muffins.

It also launched me into that weird in-between stage of writing, when I’m actually not supposed to be working on, or even thinking about, the book that is currently my focus. This is because I have put that completed first draft away for a two-week period to let it fade ever so slightly from my mind so that I can dive back into it and read it through with semi-fresh eyes before launching my revision. (Not all writers do this cooling-off period, but I always try to.)

And right now, I am quite enjoying this in-between stage. Because it means I get to play with my Shiny New Idea, with which I am currently in mad passionate love.

My Shiny New Idea is a concept for what my next novel could be. Maybe. Theoretically. If I can get the character arc to work. If I can come up with a voice I like. If I can wrap my brain around the tricky parts of the plot and genre, the ones that usually throw me off.

Now, Shiny New Ideas for me are a dime a dozen. Past experience has shown that I tend to go through about six of them before I pick one to actually write an entire book on. And that’s only for the ideas I seriously explore. I have an Ideas File on Google Docs that has literally hundreds of ideas and pieces of ideas that have crossed my mind at some point and seemed worth at least jotting down.

But this particular Shiny New Idea is somehow… I don’t know… shinier than usual.

I’m trying to remember now if they all feel this way at first. Maybe they do. And then the shiny wears off when I realize I have to use words to represent the pretty pictures in my brain, and then I write a chapter’s worth of words and I think, “Oh… Wait… I have no idea what she’s supposed to do after this… And I kind of don’t care… Hmm.” And then another Shiny New Idea shows up and I run off chasing that one and all that research I just did on, like, the most popular names for Christian day camps in South Carolina (yes, I really did research that for a Shiny New Idea once upon a time) was for naught.

And if all this particularly shiny Shiny New Idea turns out to have been good for was providing a fun way to spend my two weeks between drafts of my real book, then so be it. Glee’s on hiatus. How else am I supposed to use up my creative energy?

But … I kind of think this Shiny New Idea might be The One. You know how it is. Sometimes, you lock eyes across a crowded room, and something just clicks. But nevertheless, I’m trying to be mature about this. I’m trying to take it slow. Not rush into things. I’ve been burned in the past. I’ll reassess after I see how the first date goes.

And with that, I’m off to brainstorm character backstories and research Ouija board best practices. (Which, obviously, everyone should know in any case. You never know when it will come in handy!)

BORN WICKED is BORN AWESOME

The following announcement was in Publisher’s Weekly today:

Putnam Kids Ponies Up for YA Debut
In a high six-figure world rights deal, Arianne Lewin, executive editor at G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, bought three books by Jessica Spotswood, including the debut novel Born Wicked (formerly called Thrice Blessed). Agent Jim McCarthy at Dystel & Goderich brokered the deal for Spotswood. Born Wicked, set in what the publisher calls “a world of tea parties, engagements, and elegant dresses,” follows the Cahill sisters, a trio of teen witches who must hide their powers in order to save themselves from being shipped off to prison or a mental ward. Spotswood, who is from a small Pennsylvania town, lives in Washington, D.C.

Believe me, this announcement is worthy of much, much squee.

Because I have read this book. And this book is amazing.

It’s a feminist paranormal romance with kickass witches and ponderous mysteries and swoonworthy kissing scenes and scandalous tea parties (not the scary kind, just with witches).

And equally amazing is this book’s author, Jessica Spotswood.

Jess and Caroline Richmond and I are agent-sisters who meet up in DC once a month for food and drinks and reading/writing/publishing talk. When I was struggling to wrap my brain around what is now my WIP, Jess Google-fu’d me up some research links that suddenly made the whole thing seem doable, and she and Caroline talked me through it and now I’m going strong through the first draft.

Not to mention that Jess is an awesome person and a supportive friend and an excellent fashion guru. Not to also mention that she has excellent taste in cocktails.

So congratulations Jess! Hope you enjoy this moment, and can’t wait to see Born Wicked on shelves!!!!