Here we go!

So here I am, officially blogging now. For those of you who are new to… umm… me, I’ve been blogging for a while over at the YA Muses, and more recently with Brave New Words. (So my last post technically wasn’t in 2010. That would be an utter disgrace. Cough cough.) But it seems things are heating up, with UNDER THE NEVER SKY only months out. So welcome to my new home for bloggy things.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be posting a FAQs page and a page dedicated to NEVER SKY’s international publishers. (What else, guys? What would you like to know?) For the time being, here’s a little update on what’s going on.

1. I’m knee-deep in the second-ish draft of the second book in the NEVER SKY trilogy, THROUGH THE EVER NIGHT. I’m feeling the title right now. It feels like an eternal night, with long, long hours spent on this book. Some of my friends talk about their struggles with “book twos.” I don’t know what they’re talking about. This book has just poured out of me. Just like NEVER SKY. And the two drawer novels before that. I’m guessing my sarcasm isn’t coming across… This book has been tough. Really tough. But they’ve all been tough at the outset. I’m a reviser. I love everything from the third draft on, so I see clearer skies ahead. Oh yes I do.

2. I’ve been reading so much incredible YA fiction lately. It makes me so proud to be writing in this genre. A few titles I have on my nightstand right now: SHATTER ME by Tahereh Mafi, EVERNEATH by Brodi Ashton, DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE by Laini Taylor, LEGEND by Marie Lu, and INCARNATE by Jodi Meadows. Guys… I love my nightstand right now. I’ve finished a few of these, and I’m getting into the others, and they are all so incredible. I reviewed LEGEND over at the YA Muses (link below). I’ll get the other soon. Other books I need to read: THE NIGHT CIRCUS and THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS. In the midst of all of that, I’m trying to keep up on my New Year’s resolution to read more diversely, i.e. outside the YA genre. I’m halfway through an amazing Viet Nam book called MATTERHORN. It’s just gripping, and a breath of fresh, if humid and swampy, air amid all the YA-ness that is packed into my brain.

3. Summer is almost done. My boys are heading back to school this week. Sad and happy. Mama needs to work, but it’s been fun having the chaos of bare feet stomping through the house all day long. But fall also means football, which means guaranteed happiness on the weekends. Go Steelers!

4. Book news… There’s going to be a fair amount of this coming up. I need to clear it through the powers that be, but I’ll have big news to share soon.

So there you have it. Head back soon. I’ll be here!