A little update-ish thingamajig

Hey yo! Soooo wow. It's been two months since I updated this beyotch. And, let's be honest. It's been SIX MONTHS since I posted about something other than a contest or a celebration for a writing friend's good news.

Whoops.

I kept telling myself I would write something when I had something to say. Something other than a regular little generic post that I used to write just to keep this little blog looking current. Because, really? Who likes reading those things? NOT ME.

I got into blogging to connect with other people. And to journal my writing journey. And I DID connect with people! I found CPs and friends and my life got so much fuller! But I learned something, too. It's HARD to blog about the truth of the writing journey if your blog is public. Because there are SO many disappointments and frustrations and things that are worth venting over--but the further into this awesome community I found myself, the more I realized I didn't want to post about those things. Staying positive became important to me, putting a positive face forward.  Which is great and all, but it doesn't mean I always had things to blog about. Because another thing about this journey? It can be so repetitive, even as each step along the way brings growth. Still though, it goes: write, revise, repeat. Critique, query, take that next step in your career. Learn lots of stuff along the way--but discover that everyone else seems to be learning the same things along their own journeys, based on their much more eloquently written posts about the very things you were about to post about, ha.

Anyway, I think that's enough rambling about all that. SO. Here's a Sara update:

I'm working on my fifth book. Well, working in the loosest sense of the word, because I've got some Big Life things going on :) But this book. This fifth book. When I'm finally finished writing it and revising it and revising it some more, I swear I'm going to try to further my career with this one. It's time. I mean, I had a couple close calls with representation for the first book I ever wrote. (Which, thank goodness, were only close calls because that book? Oh mans, I will always have love for it, but I'd be verrrry embarrassed if it had ever been published.) Except, since then, I've gotten into this bad habit of writing books and then just shelving them. Or maybe it's not a bad habit. Maybe I've grown enough as a writer to understand that as much as I love the books I've written, I've also known deep down that they weren't strong enough to start my career with.

This book though? Book number five? I'm even going through one of those standard writer "ugh my book sucks and it needs so much work already and . . . just . . . ughhhhh I suck at life and writing" moments, and still deep down I know it has the potential my other ones have been missing.

So, yay! Now I just have to find the energy to get back into a writing groove even with the Big Life stuff. Keep your fingers crossed for me, okay?

As for this blog? I've been thinking about shutting it down, because it's just been collecting so much dust, but I think I won't. I also, though, won't start posting more regularly JUST to have content here. Because you'd know and your eyes would glaze over while you read, yanno? Plus if I take the time to put effort into writing something? It's gonna be to finish book 5 :) I will, however, post when I have things to say. Hopefully more regularly than every six months.

In the meantime, you can find me on tumblr (omg please find me on tumblr; I'm falling in love with it--it's so much fun!), pinterest, and twitter.

♥S

Holy Gorgeous Cover, Batman!!

Karen Amanda Hooper, author of Tangled Tides and Grasping at Eternity, is sharing her newest cover today. The sequel to Grasping at Eternity, book 2 of The Kindrily series, is titled Taking Back Forever.

Karen and her cover designer, Alexandra Shostak, have worked side by side to create the Taking Back Forever cover. After lots of hard work (and a lot of love) here it is…

I mean, who WOULDN'T pick this phenomenal piece of work up? Even if we weren't all already dying to read book 2???

Want to know more? Here’s a summary of Taking Back Forever.

Forever is worth the fight.

Maryah erased all memory of her past lives, but she couldn’t erase her soul mate Nathan, or his undying love. Now, Maryah and Nathan have a second chance at a future together, but first Maryah must remember the person she used to be and embrace her supernatural gifts—more than one kindrily member’s life depends on it.

Maryah’s power is Harmony’s best hope of finding her kidnapped soul mate, Gregory. But Harmony isn’t big on asking anyone for help, and she’s tired of waiting, so she’s taking matters into her own hands. Heaven help anyone who stands in her way.

To celebrate, Karen and Alexandra are giving away signed paperbacks of Grasping at Eternity. (Signed by Karen AND Alexandra!)

Contest is open internationally!

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/YmFlODE0ZTNiYjMwNDdkM2MxZjE1N2VmZjNhYjFjOjA=/

Alexandra Shostak is a writer of dark and fantastical things, mostly meant for teenagers. She is a freelance cover designer, and is available to do covers and interior artwork directly for authors. She is also a former Irish dancer, a guitar player, and the person who can get you through the zombie apocalypse without getting bitten.

If you’re especially worried about the zombie apocalypse, you can find her in one of these places:

www.alexandrashostak.com

www.coversbyalexandra.com

www.yaconfidential.com

or on Twitter as @a_shostak

Karen was born and bred in Baltimore, frolicked and froze in Colorado for a couple of years, and is currently sunning and splashing around Florida with her two beloved dogs. She's addicted to coffee, chocolate, and complicated happily-ever-afters. Due to her strong Disney upbringing, she still believes in fairytales and will forever sprinkle magic throughout all of her novels.

www.KarenAmandaHooper.com

Twitter: @karen_hooper

KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES Winners!!!

Congratulations to Jeff Fiet, Sheri Larsen, and A Canadian Girl! You are the three lucky winners selected by Rafflecopter! Shoot me an email (sara.a.mcclung at gmail) with your mailing address and Sarah and I will get your prizes out to you this week!! 

Seriously, you're going to LOVE Keeper of the Lost Cities!!!!

And for anyone who didn't win? YOU CAN STILL WIN!!!

Get your own copy of Keeper here, here, or here!!!

I promise you won't regret it--and you can thank me after you've read it! (But still, don't forget . . . Keefe is MINE, so back off . . . ) :)

♥S

EEEEEEEE!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!

HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY, SHANNON MESSENGER!!

YOU GUYS.

KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES COMES OUT TODAY!!

CAN YOU FEEL THE ENERGY OF MY HAPPY DANCING ALL THE WAY OVER THERE???

I AM SO FREAKING EXCITED THE REST OF THE WORLD GETS TO DISCOVER THIS AMAZING STORY. 

BUT.

BUT.

DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT STEALING KEEFE FROM ME. 

YEAH. THAT'S RIGHT. 

THE ONLY PERSON WHO GETS TO SHARE KEEFE WITH ME IS SARAH WYLIE. SHANNON'S OTHER CP. THE COOLER SARAH. BECAUSE I HAVE TO HAND IT TO HER, SHE CAME UP WITH THE TEAM KEEFE CONCEPT. 

BUT OTHERWISE?

HANDS OFF, MOFOS. 

AND SPEAKING OF SARAH, WE'RE TEAMING UP IN ANOTHER WAY, TOO! WE'RE GIVING AWAY THREE COPIES OF KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES.

DUDES. YOU WANT THIS BOOK. 

YOU WANT TO DISCOVER SOPHIE FOSTER AND HER NEW (FREAKING AWESOME) WORLD. 

YOU WANT TO DISCOVER FITZ AND KEEFE AND DEX AND BIANA, HER NEW (FREAKING AWESOME) FRIENDS.

YOU WANT TO DISCOVER THE BLACK SWAN. 

OR . . . DO YOU?

DUN DUN DUNNNNNN.

THIS MIDDLE GRADE NOVEL IS ABSOLUTELY PERFECT FOR MIDDLE GRADERS! EVEN RELUCTANT READERS WILL FALL FOR THIS STORY, JUST YOU WATCH.

BUT YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE? 

THIS BOOK WILL REACH ANYONE OF ANY AGE. I'M 31 AND THIS BOOK IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES OF ALL TIMES. YES, I'M SHANNON'S CP, BUT I SWEAR, I'M SAYING THAT COMPLETELY UNBIASED. 

I WILL READ THIS BOOK AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR FOREVER. 

FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A FREE COPY OF KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES, ENTER HERE!!
  Rafflecopter giveaway !!

IF YOU WANT AN EXTRA POINT, SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THE GIVEAWAY!

THAT'S IT. 

GIVEAWAY IS OPEN FOR A WEEK! SO MAKE SURE TO ENTER BY NEXT MONDAY, OCTOBER, 8TH. (AND IT'S OPEN INTERNATIONALLY!)

PS. I'M SURE THERE ARE TONS OF CELEBRATIONS FOR KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES ALL OVER THE BLOGOSPHERE FOR SHANNON TODAY! DEFINITELY CHECK OUT SARAH AND ELANA'S POSTS, TOO!!

Dear Shannon, 

I am so thrilled that today is finally here. The moment you've waited for, and worked so hard for. The release of your first novel! I'm so bummed I can't be there to celebrate with you today, stupid opposite coasts, and all. But I'll see you in a few short weeks, and we'll celebrate then. And for today, just know I'm grinning ear-to-ear, all the way to the store to buy my own, finalized copy of Keeper!  

Enjoy today. I wish you all the success in the world--you certainly deserve it. 

Love,

Sara

♥S 

THE ARCHIVED winner!

Looooooong overdue. Sorry guys! I've been on  a bit of a  quite a long blogging hiatus. (More about that another time.)

But hopefully now is better than never!

The winner of my THE ARCHIVED arc is . . .

Emily of Ed & Em's Reviews! 

Congratulations!!! I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!

And to anyone who didn't win, come back tomorrow--I'm giving away one of my fave books of all time!!


♥S

Book Rec! THE ARCHIVED by Victoria Schwab (ARC Giveaway)

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive. 
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Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.
j
Being a Keeper isn't just dangerous—it's a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da's death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall. 
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In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hard-won redemption. 

Let me just start by saying, I loved Victoria's first YA, The Near Witch. A lot. So I had high expectations going into this one . . .

She did not disappoint.

The Archived has flavors of The Adjustment Bureau (but way darker) and a few from Inception--but at the same time, it's very unique. The world in the book is built seamlessly--and creepily, I might add. There's the Outer, which is the world as we know it, and then the Archive, a place where Histories (aka bodies) are kept, storing the memories of the lives they once lived. But between them, are the Narrows, a buffer between the worlds.

"Close your eyes and picture this: a dark alley, just wide enough for you to spread your arms and skim the rough stone walls on either side with your fingers. You look up and see . . . nothing, just the walls running up and up and up into black. The only light comes from the doors that line the walls, their outlines giving off a faint glow, their keyholes letting in beams of light that show like threads in the dusty air. It is enough light to see by, but not enough to see well." (ARC of The Archived, page 14)

Those, my friends, are the Narrows. And they freaked me the freak out.

The main character, MacKenzie--Mac--is hardcore enough to complete her tasks (which, in case you didn't read the description, are to stop the Histories--so, you know, the bodies of the dead--from waking up and getting out of the Narrows) (creepy, right?) but also vulnerable enough (over the loss of her brother, and the way she feels about her family, and how she reacts to/forms relationships with other characters in the story) so that I could really connect with her while I read.

The Archived isn't scheduled to come out until January 2013, but I couldn't wait that long to share it with you! So I'm giving away my ARC.

To enter:

• Follow my blog
• Spread the word about the giveaway (Tweet/facebook/blog/sidebar/whatever you want to do. 1 point for each! 2 for a blog post about it.) 
• Leave a comment telling me the following three things: 
• How many points you have, with links to the ways you spread the word 
• A promise to promote what you loved about the ARC if you win it 
• Your email address for if you win
• That's IT!

This giveaway ends Friday, August 17th, and is open internationally!

♥S

In any language . . .

Carry it with you.

                          In your heart.

                                                And when your heart hurts?

Make it a decision anyway.

I've been working on this.

I lost power for five days at the start of July and forgot all about being kind. 

I've really struggled with this recently.

But . . . I wasn't as unkind as I felt like being. So that's something, isn't it?

I stayed patient with the power company--I didn't even yell once. I kept a smile on my face toward my family (mostly) and stayed nice toward my husband (mostly . . . okay, sort of). 

I mean, baby steps, right? 

It felt like a failure at the time, but in hindsight, I actually think I've made some progress. Like this kindness as a way of life thing is kinda starting to sink in. A little. Because while I wasn't the epitome of kindness in a rough situation--I also wasn't the epitome of nastiness. Which, at times, I totally felt like being.

Anyway, I just wanted to say--to anyone who's struggled with being kind, I think sometimes even bothering to struggle puts you a mile ahead of the rest of the game. It's not a failure. It's a step forward. Yanno? Some people choose to be nasty and mean when they're frustrated--they let their inner monsters loose when it's the most difficult to be kind--and don't even think about it after. But if we keep ours in check, or at least try our hardest to? I think we're on the right path.     

Baby steps are better than no steps at all.

♥S

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Too often kindness is relegated to a random act performed only when we’re feeling good. But an even greater kindness (to ourselves and others) occurs when we reach out even when we aren't feeling entirely whole. It’s not easy, and no one is perfect. But we’ve decided it’s not impossible to brighten the world one smile, one kind word, one blog post at a time. To that end, a few of us writers have established The Kindness Project, starting with a series of inspirational posts. We post the second Wednesday of every month. 

Check out today's posts by other writerly friends participating in The Kindness Project!

Alina Klein                             Katharine Owens 
Andrea Hannah                      Len Lambert
Barbara Watson                     Liza Kane
Carolina Valdez Miller            Lola Sharp
Christa Desir                          Lindsay Scott
Claire Hennessy                     Matthew MacNish (available Jul16)
Elana Johnson                        Michele Shaw
Elizabeth Davis                      Sarah Fine
Elizabeth Poole                      Sara Larson 
Erica Chapman                      Sophia Chang       
Jessica Corra                          Tracey Neithercott                   
Leigh Moore                          

Want to join us? Grab our button and spread a little kindness.

Winners!

Eep! I'm so sorry you guys, but I forgot I was having a giveaway! Between conferences and moving into a new house and then losing freaking power for a week during a heatwave (the definition of misery, believe me), I got all spun around and just FORGOT.

Forgive me!

The winners of my ARC giveaway are:

Monstrous Beauty: Emily (Emily's Crammed Bookshelf)

The Raft: Jessy B.

Wake: Stephanie V.

Please email me (sara.a.mcclung at gmail) your mailing addresses and I'll have the ARCs out to you asap!

Hope everyone's having an awesome July! I totally meant to do a daily blogging thingy again, like I did in May, but time . . . man, time just slipped away. Maybe I'll do it in September or something, when the crazycakes hecticness of summer is winding down.

♥S 

The Kindness in Forgiveness

source

It's not always easy.

In fact, sometimes it's beyond difficult.

But forgiveness? It's kind to two people.

The person you're forgiving.

And you.

source

Let's be real.

People can be assholes.

People can do shitty things.

Intentionally--or not.

But so can I.

And so can you.

Keep that in mind. Gather empathy from those past experiences in which you've been the wrongdoer. Use it to forgive.

People make mistakes; people grow; people change.

Or they don't.

But you will.

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." ~Mahatma Gandhi

Sometimes it's easier when someone asks for forgiveness. When they apologize for the wrong they've done.

Sometimes it's harder. Sometimes you want people to just disappear and never come back--and when they do, it's a constant reminder of that hurt.

But they've made the effort. They've apologized. Maybe more than once. Maybe over and over. They've taken that first step toward communication.

Forgive them.

You don't have to forget what they've done--that might not be possible. But (and warning: this is a total cliché, but it's also the truth) life's too short to hold onto hurt.

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Take a second and really think about this quote. Let it sink in. 
It's kind of amazing in how simple--and how true--it is.

Sometimes those who've hurt you don't think they need to apologize. They don't see that they've done anything wrong.

Still,

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Because here's the thing: People need love the most when they act like they least deserve it.

Hurt people hurt people.

Forgive them.

If you can't do it for them (and believe me, I know how much easier it is to blog about this than to practice it in real life), do it for yourself.

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Letting go of the pain someone's caused you can beyond difficult. But when you hang onto it? All you're doing is giving that person--or those people--headspace that could be used for so many better things. Story ideas. Childhood memories.

Freaking grocery lists.

Anything is better use for that area of your brain. Your heart.

Ask yourself: Do you want to feel this pain/anxiety/regret/negativity in a year? In two? Five? Ten?

God, I hope not. I sure don't.

So let go. Today. Tomorrow. A week from now. Maybe it will take a year--but get give that ball a gentle shove toward the top of the hill. Big or small, it won't be easy. But eventually, it will pick up speed and you'll find yourself feeling lighter, faster, freer.

source

This is your kindness challenge for the month: Forgive someone.

Give them kindness in the relief of being forgiven.

Give yourself the kindness of letting go.

♥S

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Too often kindness is relegated to a random act performed only when we’re feeling good. But an even greater kindness (to ourselves and others) occurs when we reach out even when we aren't feeling entirely whole. It’s not easy, and no one is perfect. But we’ve decided it’s not impossible to brighten the world one smile, one kind word, one blog post at a time. To that end, a few of us writers have established The Kindness Project, starting with a series of inspirational posts. We post the second Wednesday of every month. 

Check out today's posts by other writerly friends participating in The Kindness Project!

Sophia Chang                         Sara Larson
Erica Chapman                       Matthew MacNish
Jessica Corra                          Sara McClung
Elizabeth Davis                       Gretchen McNeil
Christa Desir                           Leigh Moore
Sarah Fine                              Tracey Neithercott
Claire Hennessy                     Katharine Owen
Elana Johnson                        Elizabeth Poole
Liza Kane                                Lola Sharp
Amie Kaufman                        Michele Shaw
Alina Klein                               Meagan Spooner
                                               Carolina Valdez Miller

Want to join us? Grab our button and spread a little kindness.