An Interview with Jennifer Comeaux

Today, I'm thrilled to post an interview with fellow Astraea Press author Jennifer Comeaux. Jennifer's Edge series is actually what inspired me to pitch PODIUM FINISH to AP. Plus, in celebration of the Olympics, her series is now on sale on Amazon, so check them out!

  

Please briefly tell us about your series.

The EDGE series follows Emily, a figure skater, and her friends as they pursue their Olympic dreams. There’s lots of heart-pounding romance and heart-stopping action on the ice over the course of the three books!

What drew you to write about skating?

I’m a huge fan of the sport and have always been intrigued by all the backstage drama. There aren’t a lot of movies and fiction books about skating that present the sport realistically, and I wanted to write a story that had fictional elements but also stayed true to the sport.

Did you do any research before writing your first draft? I used a lot of what I’ve learned about the sport from attending competitions over the years, and if I needed to research something specific I addressed it as I was writing. I usually dive right in and then research as I go.

Which character is your favorite to write about and why?

Chris, Emily’s skating partner, has been my favorite because of his sense of humor and his easy-going personality. He’s such a good friend and partner to Emily, and he has a sweet, romantic side that we get to see in the final book of the series. I developed a major crush on him while writing that book!

What is your writing process like?

It needs to be much more structured! I have a day job as a tax accountant, so I can only write at night or on weekends. I can visualize scenes in my head, but I’m a very slow writer and words don’t come to me quickly. I usually sit and stare at the page a lot.

What is your favorite part of the writing/revising process?

My favorite part is editing the completed manuscript. I like working with material that’s already there, adding little details and emotions that really make the story come alive.

 

Least favorite part?

Plotting. I’m horrible at thinking up climactic incidents and turning points. I usually somewhat plot the first half of the novel and then just start writing to see where the story takes me.

Can you tell us anything about the companion novel you are working on?

The main character will be Courtney, a young pair skater we met in the EDGE series. She’s twenty-one now and will have her share of romantic drama as she works toward her dream of making the Olympic team. Lots of familiar faces from the EDGE series will be around as supporting characters.

What’s one publishing lesson you’ve learned along that way that you wish you’d learned sooner?

I can’t really think of anything. I’ve had a good experience with my publisher Astraea Press and am so glad I discovered them for my series.

What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Set little goals for yourself and just keep writing. Once you complete that first book, it will give you such a mental boost. Try to write just a little every day if you can. It all adds up!

Now let’s talk figure skating!

Do you have a favorite skater?

Michelle Kwan is my favorite singles skater of all time, and Meryl Davis/Charlie White are my favorite ice dancers. 

An all-time favorite routine?

 That’s a tough one! There have been so many programs that have touched my heart. Michelle Kwan’s “Fields of Gold” program ranks up there, especially when she performed it at the 2002 Olympic gala with tears streaming down her face. It was one of the most emotional programs I’ve ever seen.

Any podium predictions for Sochi? Which skaters do you have your eye on?

My dream is to see Meryl and Charlie at the top of the ice dance podium. I’d also love to see Mao Asada win gold and Ashley Wagner get a medal. In the men’s, Daisuke Takahashi is my dream gold medalist, but I think Patrick Chan is going to take it. In pairs, I’m rooting for Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy to win gold, but I think Tatiana Volosozhar and Max Trankov will prevail.

For more about Jennifer, follow her on Twitter (@LadyWave4) or check out her books on Amazon.

Life on the Edge

Edge of the Past

Fighting for the Edge

Being Productive Despite Writer's Block

I've been on vacation for a couple weeks now. I was counting down the days until my break because I had intended to write. I haven't written as much as I intended, but break's not over yet.

I've been mulling over my YA soccer WIP for a while now, trying to make various plot pieces fit, but I haven't written anything in what feels like ages. Honestly, I've had a bit of writer's block. Every idea I came up with seemed wrong and so I was hesitant to put my fingers to the keys because I've already done two major overhauls on this manuscript. So how have I been combating writer's block and turning into something productive? Here are a few tips.

1. Writing Podcasts

I've never listed to podcasts before. I know. I know. I'm behind the times. But I found some wonderful podcasts. Sara Zarr has a wonderful podcast that comes out roughly twice a month. It's called "This Creative Life with Sara Zarr." Ms. Zarr interviews other influential writers like A.S. King, Sara Dessen, Siobhan Vivian and Stephanie Perkins. These interviews often discuss the writing process, the struggles of being a writer (i.e. self-doubt), and the benefits of the writing community. It was nice to know that successful writers have experience/are experiencing some of the struggles I have faced/am facing. Plus, I love hearing about other writer's processes and where their inspirations comes from. Other noteworthy podcasts include Authors are Rockstars! and Girls in the Stacks.

Do you listen to podcasts? Which ones do you like?

2. Write when you aren't "writing."

As I said before, I haven't put my fingers to the keys in a while, but I've been mulling over plot points. I find myself thinking about my book before bed, at the gym while I'm on the treadmill, even in the shower and in the car. Writers are busy people, but we do have some time to ourselves, and sometimes, we just need to think. This is still "writing." At least in my opinion it is. I'm a planner, and while I have read some scenes by the seat of my pants and ADORED them and the feeling of doing so, I work best when I have a clear idea of what I want to write before I sit down to try. Otherwise, I end up staring at a blank screen. Even if all that thinking leads to "Person A and Person B need to have a talk about X," that's at least progress.

3. Work on something else.

For me, this has meant editing another WIP and putting together the materials for an upcoming blog tour for Podium Finish. I'm still doing writerly things, but have put some distance between me and this WIP that is driving me crazy.

**Side note: The reason it's "driving me crazy" is because I know the idea is worth pursuing and has potential. I just need to find the path of least resistance to fix these plot issues. So a tip for those experiencing writer's block: try to pin point why. Are you intimidated by the idea? Do you know it's good and question your ability to write it? Is doubt starting to creep in? Combating writer's block is easier when you know the cause.

4. Read and read like a writer.

Since I'm on break, I've had a lot more time to read. But what does reading like a writer mean? It means finding literary models and determining what you like or don't like about them. Do you like how the romance develops? Do you like the complexity of the narrator? Does it have a knock-out voice? Is it an old tale with a new twist? I've been reading YA contemporary books since that is what my WIP is, but reading outside of the genre you are working in can be helpful too.

**Another tip: It's almost 2014, so there have been lots of lists posted recently about the books that are coming out next year. Read these lists. At the very least, it will grow your TBR list, but it could get the juices flowing. You never know.

**Random thought I had recently: wouldn't it be cool if there was a way to sync your goodreads TBR list with your amazon wishlist? Is there a way to do this and I just don't know it?

5. Practice your pitch and/or query.

Ideally, there will come a point when said troublesome WIP will be ready to be pitched to agents. Work on the pitch now. There are lots of twitter pitch contests out there and getting the main idea of your novel down in 140 characters can be hard. (Sometimes harder than writing the novel.) Working on a pitch is still productive, and it could help you combat writer's block, as makes you focus on your book in a different way. If you're having trouble with plot points or a story arc, trying to come up with a 140 character pitch or a 35 word pitch really makes you get to the heart of your story and what makes it interesting. Writing a draft of a query or working on a synopsis can help too. Both options are another way of doing something productive (though they might not be used immediately and will likely need to be tweaked later on when they are needed) but also looking at your manuscript through a different lens.

6. Ask yourself "what is the worst thing that could happen to my character?"

In trying to streamline my plot, I asked myself this question and doing so helped me better realize my main character's arc and what major plot points need to happen.

7. Work out of order.

If you are stuck at a certain point in your book, why not fast forward and write a later scene. Even if it's just a single scene, it's something, and often times, writing one scene can lead to momentum. I did this with the MG WIP I have. I had a solid beginning third and a middle I was not-so-into at that point, so I skipped ahead to the last third. I don't think this will work for everyone and it definitely won't work for every project, but in this instance, after writing part A and part C, it was very easy to write Part B.

What other tips do you have?

Back in October 2012, I did a similar post about writer's block that can be viewed here.

-Beth

Tackling Book Research

Earlier this week I was asked to write a guest post (my first ever) for Aimee L. Salter's blog about the research I did for Podium Finish. I've posted it below, but if you're curious to see the original (or to find a site with interesting blog posts about writing), check out Aimee's blog here. Seriously, writer friends, check out Aimee's website. She's got wonderful insight into what it takes to self-pub. She's also writing some interesting posts on craft.

* * *

Confession: As a 7-year-old, I dreamed of being an Olympic pairs figure skater. I loved the grace of the female skaters, how they were lifted and thrown, how they spun. I loved it all. When I told my mom and my figure skating coach my wish to try pairs figure skating, they couldn’t contain their amusement. I was already as tall as my coach and was still growing. Sure I was coordinated and had strong legs, but I definitely did not have the build of a figure skater.

I took figure skating lessons for another year, but ultimately went on to compete in a variety of other sports. Still, I loved skating, and I loved the Winter Olympics. In fact, it was the 2006 Torino Olympics that first inspired my novel Podium Finish. As interesting as the sports were, I found the athletes’ life stories even more fascinating.

While I knew what it felt like to win and lose, how much it hurt to break a bone, and though I had some idea of what it meant to train twice a day multiple days a week, I realized very quickly that I didn’t really know what it was like to be an Olympic hopeful, nor did I know that much about the winter sports I wanted to write about. This meant one thing: I had to do research.

GET ORGANIZED

The first thing I did was buy a 3 ring binder and dividers. I wanted to research 5 sports, so each sport had its own section. I made lists of the things I didn’t know, starting with a bulleted list of broad topics such as rules, gear, or training, and then started writing specific questions.

I also made “character sketches.” So much of what drew me to wanting to write about the Olympics in the first place were the different life stories of the athletes. This notebook was a good place to develop their character and plotlines before I even started writing.

GET ANSWERS

The internet was a great resource for answers, especially my questions about ice dance. Image searches helped with ice dance costume ideas for Alex’s character. The images were also helpful for when I needed to explain certain body positions.

I watched footage from different skating competitions, always making sure I had a pen and paper at hand. Watching skating competitions gave me a feel for how the skaters moved and acted. Plus, televised skating competitions have sportscasters, some of whom were skaters themselves. They explain what is going on for an audience of non-experts. They make skating accessible to those who have never skated before. This is similar to what an author does, so it was incredibly useful to hear how the sportscasters described the rules and routines and borrowing their jargon added a sense of authenticity to the book.

Nonfiction books are another great source of information. I read several autobiographies of athletes from various winter sports. These books captured the hard work, sacrifice, and daily struggles of an Olympian. Plus, they answered questions I didn’t even know I had. Turning to autobiographies has also proven helpful in the research I’m doing for another manuscript I am currently working on. This story involves various medical components—comas, organ transplant, hospital regulations, etc.—and while some of this information is on the internet, autobiographies give a closer and more insightful look, because they tell of a more in-depth personal experience.

GET TO KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

It’s important to know your market. Where does your book fit?

The best way to figure this out is to read other books in the genre. When I was writing Podium Finish, there weren’t many other young adult books out there that dealt with winter sports, let alone the Olympics, so my work offered something new. However, there were some wonderful young adult books that had sporty female protagonists, such as Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s Dairy Queen series and Miranda Kenneally’s Catching Jordan. Know what’s out there. Know what these authors do well and see if your book has these elements. Sometimes doing book research involves improving your craft.

GET MORE FROM PEOPLE WHO KNOW

Initially, I had intended for the book to take place in Torino, as this was what sparked the premise of Podium Finish in the first place, but an agent told me that using a real Olympic location would date the book. She recommended I change the location to some place real, but a place that had not recently hosted/was not scheduled to host the Olympics. I had traveled to Iceland in 2010 and was able to use bits and pieces of that experience in the book.

After reading and scouring the internet, I still had some unanswered questions, so I contacted some Olympians and Olympic hopefuls. I emailed them explaining that I was doing research and asked if they would have time to answer a few questions for me. I had some wonderful responses. I wanted my book to portray their sports as accurately as possible. The accuracy was something important to the athletes too. I was writing about sports that most people only pay attention to every four years, so this was a way to get the athletes’ voices out there as well. Plus, I was 16 at the time. I used my age to my advantage. While some adult athletes might have been skeptical of helping a young, budding writer, I found that teen athletes and athletes in their early twenties were very interested in helping out. They were trying to build their career just like I was trying to build mine, so we could relate to one another. And, the characters in my book were 17-year-old Olympic hopefuls. Interviewing teen Olympic hopefuls about their experience made the most sense.

GET REAL

As a final note, it’s important to remember that not all research will end up in the book. For example, I interviewed a snowboarder, Brooke Shaw, who, fingers crossed, will make the 2014 Olympic team—she’s awesome and I loved interviewing her—but I ultimately decided to cut the snowboarder character from the book, so I could focus more on Alex and Harper. This research wasn’t in vain. I learned a lot, and who knows, I might use it an upcoming project.

Happy Book Birthday to Me!

It's here! Isn't the cover awesome? Podium Finish is finally here, available for purchase at Barnes and Noble and Amazon Kindle. It will be listed on goodreads soon, so please don't forget to mark it as "to read" once it's up and also to post a review on goodreads and amazon.com if you can.

There will be a print run, but not for a little while, so if you don't have a kindle e-reader, you can download the Kindle for PC or Kindle for iPhone apps and start reading from there!

I feel like I should blast "La Bamba" now. (If you read the book, you'll understand the reference.)

Happy reading!

Reflections on South Africa and the road ahead...

During one of my Skype chats with my mom while I was in South Africa, I told her that the next time I do something for nine months she better be getting a grandchild out of it.

Nine months abroad. It's what I wanted. I knew I was going to apply for a Fulbright from the moment I learned what it was during my freshman year. The opportunity to get paid to teach abroad? Heck yes!

After I found out I'd received the grant, 9 months seemed short, like it would fly by, but as I was boarding the plane to Jo-burg, 9 months felt just right. Now, I should say that my Fulbright experience was not typical. If you've read some of my previous posts, you know why. I should also say that Fulbright was very supportive and doing a Fulbright, whether as an ETA, like I was, or a researcher, is a wonderful, life-changing opportunity.

Going in, I knew I'd need to be flexible. I knew the internet wouldn't be great. I knew people would have lots of questions about America. I knew these things, and I expected them. What I didn't expect was to work at such a variety of schools. I expected to be in one school for the whole 9 months. I expected consistency. I loved my kids at the first school, but due to escalating violence, the embassy pulled my teaching partner and I out. They had to. It was the right call, but this happened 6 weeks in, and it meant that for the rest of my 9 months, I was moved around. I worked at another school in Pretoria for 6 weeks. Then I moved to Cape Town and worked at a university writing center from April to July. For the last two months, I taught second grade. Admittedly, there were times when I felt frustrated. Wasn't I supposed to be loving this? Wasn't I supposed to be having the time of my life? I wasn't, and I felt guilty that I wasn't. I did everything I could to make it better, and I kept being flexible, but I wasn't happy, and for a good chunk of my time abroad, I wasn't teaching. When I was at the university, there was little work for me to do, and the only thing that felt truly fulfilling was my work with my martial arts students. I taught martial arts at two high schools for a total of 3 hours a week. The rest of the time I hung out at the gym or wrote. I got a great deal of writing done (but then went on to do a complete overhaul of the manuscript and cut most of what I'd written. However, that's besides the point).

I've come to realize that what my experience lacked in consistency, it made up for in breadth. Had I stayed at one school for 9 months, I would have made a huge difference, because I know the difference I made in just 6 weeks. That was what I wanted. After I was moved around, I felt like I was making less and less of a difference, and this really took it's toll on me. I wanted to be teaching a real class, not sitting at a desk seeing one student every 8 hour shift at the writing center. Things picked up once I started teaching second grade though. I had a rowdy class of 42 kids, but I could see a difference in their behavior and academics by the time I left. I was teaching again, and I was happy.

So in 9 months, I taught primary, high school, and university students. I had 3 successful martial arts programs (1 in Pretoria and 2 in Cape Town.) I had nearly 30 students in Cape Town receive "yellow belt certificates" and had a reasonably successful adult self-defense class at the university too. I did make a difference and on a wider scale than I would have had I stayed in one place. I can see that now, and I miss my students, but I'm also really glad to be back in North America.

They told us at orientation last year to expect re-entry shock. I've had bits and pieces of it. Silly and minor things. I can use my kindle on the buses here in Vancouver without the worry of getting mugged. And my iPhone! I'm sorry, but Blackberry doesn't compare. (Now I just need to sell my unlocked SA blackberry.) Blackberry is popular in SA, and it worked fine while I was there, but I'd forgotten how fun the iPhone is. I upgraded my iPhone 3 to an iPhone 5 C when I got back and I'm still in awe of it. And then there's the fact that I downloaded a show on iTunes in under 10 minutes the other day. It took hours in SA. HOURS! I couldn't even download a song in under 10 minutes.

As for the other parts of re-entry shock, there's the understanding that the world has gone on without you, just like you've gone on for 9 months away from them. And yet when you see certain friends, it's like you never left. Cherish these moments and these people. For me, there was also a rather painful moment in which I expected a certain group of people to make a bigger deal of my homecoming than they did, but other events overshadowed my return.

Now, I'm back in Vancouver, in classes with a bunch of new faces. Most of my friends are in other classes, but life is good. I'm writing again. I didn't get much of a chance to do that during my last two months in South Africa because I had 42 second graders that needed to pass national tests, and I had to help prepare them for it--with no standardized lesson plans for help by the way. Thanks to some of the songs I got on YouTube, my kids were experts on place value and nouns, and thanks to one of my projects, "verb people" (pictures are on my facebook page) they had a better understanding of verbs after one lesson than some of my grade 8's in Pretoria did. They also loved the book Green Eggs and Ham. I once asked them what it was about and they all screamed, "NOUNS!" Then one of my students gave me a wonderful plot summary. They were sweet kids, rowdy but sweet, and my word, were they sad when I left. There are still mornings when I wake up and expect to go in and see them, to get hugs as they enter the classroom in the morning, to have to remind them to about their punctuation, and to play soccer with them at recess.

But I digress, the writing, I'd forgotten how good it feels to just write. My novel PODIUM FINISH will be published on November 14 from Astraea Press. I've seen the cover. It's awesome. I'm hoping to put together a book blog tour in December, once the book has been out for a little while and once it's a little closer to the Olympics, so stay tuned for that.

I'll also be posting a book review of Aimee L. Salter's BREAKABLE on November 11. It's fab so read it as soon as you can and then come back here on the 11th to read my interview with her as well as my review.

I've got two other manuscripts in the works. One is SIDE OUT, my master's thesis. It's an Upper MG novel about a girl who switches schools and finds solace in volleyball after an embarrassing video of her and her autistic brother goes viral. This project hits close to home, as the brother in the story, T.J., is basically my brother Danny, his love of Spongebob and Richard Simmons included. I went to private school too, like Cass ultimately does, but that's where the similarities end. I've got two more chapters to write this weekend and then the first draft will be complete!  I'm also working on ABBY'S KEEPER, a YA book about Gracie, a soccer goalkeeper, who in her grief after losing her sister, sets her sights on winning the State Championship title, the one win that eluded her sister. Are you noticing a pattern here? Girls and sports. :)

Well, that's all the updates I have for now. I've been a little slow on posting things with all the travel I've been doing, but there will definitely be lots more posts in the coming weeks.

-Beth

Laurie Crompton Interview

 

* Blogger has been giving me lots of problems, so I apologize if the font is weird or if there are random spots of white. I'm working on fixing the problem.

I'm so excited to interview with the fabulous Laurie Boyle Crompton, author of Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillians), as part of the 2013 Debut Authors Bash.


 
 Blaze is tired of spending her life on the sidelines, drawing comics and feeling invisible. She's desperate for soccer star Mark to notice her. And when her BFF texts Mark a photo of Blaze in sexy lingerie, it definitely gets his attention. After a hot date in the back of her minivan, Blaze is flying high, but suddenly Mark's feelings seem to have been blasted by a freeze-ray gun, and he dumps her. Blaze gets her revenge by posting a comic strip featuring uber-villain Mark the Shark. Mark then retaliates by posting her "sext" photo, and, overnight, Blaze goes from Super Virgin Girl to Super Slut. That life on the sidelines is looking pretty good right about now...

 Q & A with Laurie Crompton Boyle

BP:  Could you give us an "elevator pitch" of Blaze?

LBC: When 17-year-old Blaze creates a comic about her evil ex, he retaliates by posting a ‘sext’ of her online and an epic battle begins.

BP: What inspired you to write Blaze?

LBC: Blaze came into my mind fully formed as this comic-obsessed girl who was completely stuck in her life but making the best of things. I immediately knew I wanted to set her free. Unfortunately, once I started writing her story, I discovered things get much, much worse for her before they get better! The comic book element was definitely drawn from my life since I was a bit of a comic book nerd back in high school. Also, Blaze gives her minivan a fun makeover in the novel, which was actually inspired by my spray-painting my first car hot pink when I was seventeen. My friends from high school still talk about that car, and I'm so glad I was able to pay homage to it in a book.

BP: What is your writing process like? Do you have a favorite place or time of day to write? Do you outline? Do you listen to music or anything when you write or do you need silence?

LBC: I'm not exaggerating when I say I can write anytime, anyplace. I've written chunks of text on my cellphone while waiting for my kids to et out of school and snippets of ideas are on index cards all over my house. I love to have silence when I write, but I live on a noisy corner next to a train station in Queens, NY, so I'm accustomed to writing with a lot of noise. 

BP: Which do you like better, writing or revising, and why?

LBC: I enjoy all stages of writing. There's nothing quite lie exploring a shiny, new idea, but so much great stuff comes out during revisions too. My favorite art is usually whatever I happen to be working on at the moment.

BP: Could you please explain your journey to publication? Was Blaze the first novel you wrote? Was it difficult to find an agent?

LBC: Blaze was actually the third novel I wrote, and I can attest that having the right agent is absolutely crucial to an author's success. I go more in-depth about my (winding!) journey to publication here in an interview I did with Writer's Digest. Digest.

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/debut-author-interview-laurie-boyle-crompton-author-of-blaze 

BP: Is there a specific scene or chapter that was your favorite to write? 

LBC: There's a scene on page 52 of the finished book that was a lot of fun to write It was a chance for me to really channel my inner fan-girl in a way that felt more romantic than pathetic. It has all the perfect elements for a comic book geek's first kiss, but of course, doesn't go the way you'd expect. 

BP: What has the response been like from readers? 

LBC: I've really enjoyed hearing from those readers who could relate to Blaze. My favorite response was from a girl who found Blaze's situation at home familiar and thanked me for writing the book. The fact that Blaze deals with slut shaming has brought its share of controversy, but I'm glad that is has served as a springboard for important conversations about that issue. 

BP: What are you working on now? Can you tell us anything about your sophomore novel? 

LBC: I'm just finishing copy edits on my next book with Sourcebooks Fire title THE REAL PROM QUEENS OF WESTFIELD HIGH to be released in February 2014. IT's a dark comedy about reality shows with a Mean Girls twist, and it's lots of fun. Then in Fall 2014, I have ADRENALINE CRUSH being released with FSG/Macmillian. It's about a thrill-seeking girl who has an accident one fateful day and must learn to live with the consequences. 

BP: Do you have any tips for aspiring writers? 

LBC: Spend as much time writing as possible. Do a lot of reading, and limit time spent on the internet. Seriously, I saw a pie-chart claiming that writing was 90% ignoring the internet. I'd  say it's more like 98%. 

BP: What's one thing you've learned since publishing Blaze? 

LBC: Writing books is only one aspect of being a published author. Doing interviews, blog post, vlogs, and book signings are all part of building towards a successful carer. The thing that make all of this totally cool, of course, is getting to write more books. 

BP: One final question: What's one thing you wish you knew before you started writing your novel? 

LBC: Since I wrote Blaze without a contract, it would've been nice to know beforehand that it was going to be published! It takes a lot of faith to write a whole book that you only hope will find a publishing home. I had faith in Blaze and am definitely grateful that her story has been able to reach readers.

BP: Thank you so much for your time!

LBC: Thank you so much for having me!

For more info about Laurie's books, check out her website: http://www.lboylecrompton.com, and be sure to pick up a copy of Blaze.

Publishing News!

Confession: I'm terrible at keeping secrets. Terrible. So I'm surprised that I've been able to sit on this news since May. Technically, if you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed that I added this to my profile awhile ago, and I did have some cryptic facebook status updates about editing, but I haven't come right out and said anything until now so here goes...

I'm going to be published!

My novel, Podium Finish, was picked up by a Astraea Press, a small e-book publisher. I had a few agents who were interested, but not ready to offer representation due to the climate of the current literary market, and as I know from previous experience, just because you have an agent, it doesn't mean said agent will be able to sell your book to a publisher. (And should they sell it, it takes 1-2 years before the book hits shelves.) Given how long I've been working on this book and the publication timeline AP offered, I thought this was the best thing. PF is scheduled to be released in mid-November in both print and e-book form (just in time for the Sochi Olympics and Christmas, so make sure you ask Santa for it!) I'll post more info about purchasing it closer to the release date.

I starting writing this book back in February 2006 after being inspired by the Torino Olympic Games. It's been through countless drafts over the years, so much so that the finished product is pretty much unrecognizable in comparison to the early versions, and which, trust me, is a good thing because it shows how much I've grown as a writer. Some of those early drafts make me cringe, but without them, I wouldn't be the writer I am today. Besides, if there's one positive thing I can gleam from reading my early writing, it's that young Beth had good, yet under-developed ideas, but she was ambitious. I wrote, and I wrote often because I loved to write. I wrote the stories I wanted to read, and now it is slowly starting to pay off. Fingers crossed other people like my stories too. The other good thing about this is that when I first started writing PF, I did it because there were very few books about girls who played sports out there. That has definitely changed since I was 16, and now I'm pleased to be able to add my own work to the mix.

So what's it about?

I was given the green light to post a quick blurb and excerpt. Enjoy!

With six months until the Olympic Games, seventeen-year-old Harper's life is pretty much perfect. She's fighting for the starting spot on Team USA Women's Hockey, and for the first time ever, she has a crush on a guy who likes her back. She feels like the luckiest girl in the world, until she runs a risky play at practice and breaks her knee, thereby sentencing herself to six weeks in a cast and possibly ending her Olympic dream before it even starts.

For seventeen-year-old Alex, being anything less than the best is unacceptable. That's why, after a miserable debut season at the senior level, the former junior national singles champion switches to ice dance. Her skating partner, Ace, is an "all skating all the time" type of guy, which would be fine, if he'd stop keeping secrets about the real reason he and his former partner broke up. Now is not the time for second thoughts, but how can Alex skate her best if she can’t trust her partner…or herself?
 

As the pressure to make the Olympic team builds, the girls must rely on each other, because if there’s one thing they both know, it's that the only thing harder than skating to the top is staying there.

  

Here's a teeny tiny sampling from one of Harper's chapters just so you can get a hint of H and A together, followed by a selection of a scene from one of Harper's practices.

Alex is waiting for me at our usual table in the cafeteria. She rakes her fingers through her not-quite-shoulder-length blonde hair and pulls it back into a ponytail. The front strands fall loose as soon as she leans forward to eat a bite of salad. I would never be brave enough to pull off short hair like that, but Alex does it well. She pulls a bobby pin from her bag and twists her bangs back. Bobby pins. That and lip gloss are two things Alex never leaves the dorm without.

"Hey, do anything exciting today?" I ask.

"I defied gravity."

"Wearing a push-up bra is not defying gravity."

"I was talking about the new dance hold we're learning, but my new bra is amazing, isn't it?" She's sitting with perfect posture and waves her hand in front of her chest like one of the models revealing a prize on a TV game show.

                                                                    *** 

"Kavanaugh there and Jess here." He motions to opposite sides of the rink then dumps out the bag of pucks. "On the line."

I skate to the far side of the rink where Coach pointed, and as I do, he readies the pucks.

 "When I say go, get to the goal as fast as you can," he says. "Go!" He shoots the puck, and it hits the net before either one of us gets close. "Again." Jess and I skate back to our lines. "Go!" Coach calls. He shoots, and again, he scores before either one of us can get to the goal. When we skate back to our respective lines, my tired legs protest. It's been a long practice, and I know I've only got three or four more sprints in me. He wants to show us neither one of us can get to the net before the puck, but I want to prove him wrong. I want to beat Jess and the puck.

"Go!" Coach calls a third time. I thunder forward, spraying chips of ice with each stroke of my skate. The puck skids across the ice, and I lunge for it, sprawling on my stomach and extending my stick. I knock the puck, but I'm not fast enough. The puck slows down, but it knocks the post and goes into the goal. Damn.

I stand up and join Jess, who is already standing by Coach. A thin smile etches across his face. "What did you learn?" he asks.

"You have a good shot, and Kav should take up Slip 'N Slide competitively."

She's totally missing the point. "Individually, we're not faster than the puck," I say.

"I knew it was a good idea to recruit a straight-A student," Coach says, and Jess' face twitches in anger. "I have one starting center position and two very talented players. Learn to pass to each other. You can't win a game unless you can score, and you can't score if you don't have each other's backs. Pass."

 

And here's a quick snippet from one of Alex's chapters.

Ace and I join hands and push away from each other while doing an arabesque. He pulls me in close to him, and I can feel the warmth of his hand on my back as we skate along the curve of the rink.

"Good," Philip says. "But I want the arabesques higher, and I need you to make me believe the magic. Try it again."

Philip wouldn't believe the magic if one of J.K. Rowling's creations were standing right in front of him. I like that he's hard to please though. He pushes us to do better, to be the best, and that's what we need right now.

 

In other news, come back tomorrow for my interview with YA author Laurie Boyle Crompton! 

I have one more month left in South Africa, so in addition to more book updates, I'll be posting more teaching reflections in the next few weeks.

- Beth