Catching up…

I’ve received my first award for The Hideaway. My seven-year-old Kate brought this to me a couple days after the book came out.


 

Naturally, it’s the best kind of prize. Done novel. Check. 

In case you missed it, I posted photos of the book release party on Facebook–you can find them here. It was a great night, full of new and old friends and great conversation. 


 

On book reviews: 
My general rule for myself regarding reviews is DON’T READ THEM! I do read them if I’m tagged in them however, and I’ve been tagged in many lately because The Hideaway is the focus of a blog tour right now through TLC Blog Tours. You can see the whole schedule here. It’s been really fun to hear people’s thoughts of the book, and a few of the reviews have been especially nice to hear because the reviewer picked up on a theme or idea that I hoped would come through to readers. Here are a couple…

“This particular plot has become a classic for a reason – in the hands of a good writer, it makes a powerful (and lovely) story, as it does here in The Hideaway.” From Marlene Harris’s review at Reading Reality

“The Hideaway and Sweet Bay, Alabama were like additional characters. They held such prominence and beauty in the book, and I loved seeing the history The Hideaway B&B had through the years–first for Mags, then for Sara with Mags, and finally for Sara without Mags.” From Heather’s review at Bewitched Bookworms.  

I’ve also had a few late-night texts and early-morning emails from people I know and don’t know telling me how much they enjoyed the story and various reasons why. These are so wonderful because usually the person has just finished reading the story and I get their immediate thoughts. One sweet friend who had just closed the book said The Hideaway made her grateful for the beauty and brokenness in her own life. That my story could lead someone to reflect on her life in that way is the highest praise I could get. 

Upcoming events for The Hideaway:
I’ll be on Talk of Alabama (Birmingham’s ABC 33/40) the morning of May 25 to talk about the book. My first TV appearance! Not nervous at all. (Bites fingernails.)  I have a signing and talk at the Homewood Public Library on July 13, and hopefully another signing or two around Birmingham. I’ll let you know details when and if I figure them out. I’ll also be talking to a few book clubs either in person or through the magic of FaceTime or Skype. (I’m really excited about doing these!) I’m also working on setting up a signing or two in the Mobile area, so I’ll keep you posted on that and any other signings as they come up. 

Hurricane Season:
I turned in my manuscript for my second book a few weeks ago and just received the letter and notes back from my editor! I wasn’t expecting it so soon, so it was a total surprise, but a really good one. As soon as I got the email yesterday, I quickly scanned the first part of the letter and was so relieved to see that she liked it! She had only read about 100 pages from a very early draft of the story, and it was a really long time ago, so I had no idea if the story would sit well with her. I’ve felt a whole new kind of pressure with this one, being the sophomore book. You always hear about authors writing a great first book, then people not being happy with the follow-up. Not that I have any control over how people react to my books, but the goal, obviously, is to continue putting books out there that readers can connect with and that fit together well as a whole. (We want the body of work to be *cohesive* as Tim Gunn would say.) 

Book 3:
I’ve been thinking ahead to what book I’ll do next after Hurricane. (I know, it’s crazy to think that far ahead, but since we’re already into edits with Hurricane, it really is time to be thinking about what comes next. Plus, I’m getting the itch to write again.) Back in 2015, I was working on another book that I thought might be the follow-up to Hideaway. I decided to go with Hurricane as the follow-up, so this other book is still here with me, and I think I’m going to submit it as my book 3. These characters have stayed in the back of my mind these last couple of years, and I keep thinking about the setting and the premise. I just sent a summary of the story to my agent, and I thought I’d be digging back into the draft of the story, but now it looks like it’ll have to wait a few weeks while I work on edits for Hurricane.

Suffice it to say, I’m seriously going to need to work hard these next few weeks of school to get as much done as I can before summer hits and the kiddos are out of school. I long for summer for so many reasons (hello not having to make school lunches at 7am every day) but it’s also hard because of the small amount of time I have during the day to write. I think I saw something a few days ago that said my youngest Sela has 17 days of school left. So I have 17 school days to crank out as much as I can! If I can just get myself off Homewood Trading, that’ll be a good first step toward not wasting so much time…

Lastly, what I’m reading.


I’m loving Karen White’s newest book. And isn’t that cover gorgeous? It came out the same day The Hideaway did. She’s such a master of telling a great southern story. 

 


I think this will come next. I’ve read her first two books, The Historian and Swan Thieves, and I’ve been waiting for another one from her. (The Historian is SO good.) I’ve read great things about this next novel. 

Hope you all have a great rest of the week as the countdown to summer gets underway…

 

 

 

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