RITA ® Award-Winning Author of Fantasy Romance
//Sharing the OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL super exciting news today on NEVER THE ROSES, the book I sold to Tor. I’m explaining the Publisher’s Marketplace lingo, how foreign sales work, and why creatives can’t be thick-skinned.
//Some big news on the official title of the book that was Oneira and a release date! Also, a thing I bought because of Taylor Swift that has Changed My Life, and more on coping as a creative when people hate you/your work.
//Some advice today for newbie writers on writing your first book, including the importance of finishing and keeping it simple. Also, different muscles we use for writing and how approaching a work with various strategies exercises them.
//Great week for me! Talking about being up front with my new editor on how I *can’t* write an outline, a bit about knife-throwing and learning to relish failure as much as success, and the monsoon rains of autumn.
//Update on my super-exciting news! I’m still having to be circumspect, but I’m sharing broad strokes, what this means to me, how utterly thrilled I am, and what it means to persist and not set a deadline on goals.
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I know, right? My cup totally runneth over!! The other shoe has finally dropped and it’s a Manolo Blahnik stiletto – maybe those ones with the red soles.
Because, as excited as I am about doing the Phantom e-serial – and wow, I can’t believe I announced that exactly two weeks ago, it feels much longer – this is even bigger and better.
Like three-book contract bigger.
Like I get money up front better.
Like PRINT, beyotches!!!
Ha! I may be running around giggling like a madwoman. When my mom asked me if this is what I’d been working toward all these years, I had to say, why, yes. Yes it is. All those Christmases when my family asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I told them “a lucrative multi-book contract” – well Santa finally delivered. (And yes, my family does love me – most of the time – even though I’m a smart ass.)
So, here’s the blurb from Publisher’s Marketplace:
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December 17, 2012
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Jeffe Kennedy’s The TWELVE KINGDOMS Series, three books in which the three daughters of a failing kingdom find their own magic and use that to help heal their lands and people while finding love along the way, to Peter Sentfleben at Kensington, in a nice deal, for publication in 2014, by Pam van Hylckama Vlieg at Larsen/Pomada Literary Agents (World).
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This is the same editor who acquired the Phantom story. He read and loved The Middle Princess, which faithful readers of this blog will likely remember me writing. I’ll be doing some revising on that (though not much, Peter thinks – yay!) and turn that in by May 1. Then book 2 is due 11/1 and book 3 is due 5/1/2014.
Let me tell you, it feels really weird to have a 2014 deadline. “Hey, Jeffe, do you have plans for April, 2104?” “As a matter of fact…”
Please also note that these books will be classified as Fantasy. I am officially a Fantasy Author as well as a romance author. I’m all pleased with myself. Also, the books will be trade paperback (and will be available in digital, too), which is extra fancy. They don’t love my title (alas!), so that will change. We’re just kind of calling the series “The Twelve Kingdoms” for now. Which is probably for the best, because when I get emails from Peter with the subject line “Princesses,” it kind of cracks me up.
Of course, that just fits in with the whole giggling-like-a-madwoman thing.
I am beyond lucky.
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This is that same sunrise, which has turned out to be a fabulous omen.
I’m excited, thrilled and delighted to announce that the fabulous Agent Pam has sold a project to Kensington Books for me!!
Here’s the blurb from Publisher’s Marketplace:
Digital: Fiction: Women’s/Romance
Jeffe Kennedy’s MASTER OF THE MASKS, an update on the Phantom of the Opera set in Santa Fe with BDSM, to Peter Senftleben at eKensington, in a three-book deal, for publication in 2013, by Pam van Hylckama Vlieg at Larsen/Pomada Literary Agents (World).
The title will likely change, but it will be a very fun and sexy update of the Phantom legend. The story will be told in six installments and will launch Kensington’s e-serial line. (The very witty Carolyn Crane thinks I should ask for a t-shirt in my contract that says “Flagship Author.”)
I talked to Peter on the phone yesterday while we thrashed out details and ideas. I think he’s going to be great to work with – he also loves spreadsheets and New Orleans. (He went to Tulane, Mom!)
So, I’m just all giddy and excited and I’m probably forgetting to tell you half of it! Ask me questions!
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At the sight of blackbirds
Flying in a green light,
Even the bawds of euphony
Would cry out sharply.
~ Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird by Wallace Stevens
I know, I know – I’m forever quoting that poem, but when I see a sky and a bird like this, that line always comes to me. Those bawds of euphony always kind of annoyed me, too.
There’s an element of serendipity to so much in life. Like getting a cool photograph – it’s not really something you can plan for. This morning’s sunrise bloomed with exceptionally intense reds, oranges and pinks. But I don’t always go out to snap pics. This morning, though, David needed to charge his MP3 player before we went to the gym, so I had some time to kill. Then I saw a crow sitting in the big cottonwood by our neighbor’s house, thought of Laura Bickle and her crows, and decided to go back in for my telephoto lens. The bird then obliged by winging through the molten sky for me. I got six or seven great pics – most of which you’ll undoubtedly get to see here over the next couple of weeks.
I know, also, that getting these photos is a result of other long-term efforts – from all the saving and sacrificing we did over the years to enable us to have a home in this place, with these views, to the time I’ve invested in learning to take pictures, and acquiring that telephoto lens.
The last couple of days have brought some great news into my life. I know it’s a total tease, but I can’t say much yet. Still, I’ve been on the phone with Agent Pam the last couple of days and she’s lining up a new publication deal for me. I get to talk with my new prospective editor on Monday and it feels like everything is really coming together. Sometimes I wonder if Pam is disappointed when she calls me with news and I don’t scream or make other high-pitched noises.
Thing is, it feels much like getting a great photograph now. I’ve put in years of effort to get to this place, where all I need is serendipity – and Agent Pam’s enthusiastic hard work on my behalf – to bring it all together. When she tells me the good news, I don’t feel wild excitement. I feel a deep satisfaction. That resonant sense that what I want most is coming true.
It feels good.
So, sorry for the tease, but stay tuned – official announcement should be coming soon!
Serendipity willing.