The Opening Line Revealed

I stepped inside the railroad car, and three dozen pairs of eyes peered my way.

—In the Shadow of Blackbirds, opening line

Courtesy Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division

If you'd like to sample the opening lines of sixty-seven other debut YA, middle-grade, and children's books that will be coming your way in 2013, visit The Lucky 13s. I gathered all of our first sentences together in one major list I think you'll enjoy perusing.

December News (Including Launch Party Info)

I just realized it's been a couple weeks since I've posted anything new, but during that time I've compiled exciting In the Shadow of Blackbirds info to share. I'm dividing this post into items I can publicly announce, and teaser items I can't yet completely reveal.

What I can reveal:

I've scheduled my In the Shadow of Blackbirds launch party! I'll be discussing the novel, reading from the book, and giving away prizes and other goodies at the following location and time:

Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing
3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton, OR
Saturday, April 6, 2013
4:00 PM

More details and reminders will follow as April gets closer.

Also, I'm signing advance copies of In the Shadow of Blackbirds at the following event:

ALA Midwinter, Seattle, Washington
January 26-27, 2013
(Times TBA)

I can't wait to meet all the librarians attending the conference! I'll post my exact signing times once the ALA author schedule goes live.

In foreign-language rights news, In the Shadow of Blackbirds sold to Scolar Kiadó in Hungary! I'm thrilled the novel will be translated into another language and hope Hungarian readers enjoy the book. I'm keeping my fingers tightly crossed that more foreign rights sales will follow.

Save the date: Monday, December 17, 2012. I'm compiling a post at The Lucky 13s blog that you won't want to miss. I'm not just saying that because I'm organizing the post; you won't want to miss it because we're offering an extra-special sneak peek of close to fifty debut 2013 YA and kid-lit books.

What I can't completely reveal:  

We received more In the Shadow of Blackbirds cover blurbs, including one from a New York Times bestselling author. I'll be revealing those the week before the January ALA event.

Also in the works for January: The launch of an In the Shadow of Blackbirds website that will entail behind-the-scenes treats and plenty of extras, including an interactive In the Shadow of Blackbirds map of San Diego. I'll reveal the URL the very last week of January. 

And in February, the book trailer reveal tour will arrive...

The Massive Six-Months-Until-2013 Book Giveaway!

The year 2013 is now only six months away, so we debut 2013 authors at The Lucky 13s are celebrating with a major giveaway. Each of us will be mailing the winner a copy of a novel that influenced our writing, as well as swag for own books.

I'll be contributing The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak, two handcrafted crow bookmarks, and a signed bookplate featuring AN EXCLUSIVE LOOK at an In the Shadow of Blackbirds quote, spoken by a spirit photographer character in the novel. Here's a preview of my prize package, with the exclusive quote craftily hidden: 

To enter the giveaway, head over to thelucky13s.blogspot.com by July 7. I'm having to auto-post this message because I'm taking off on vacation July 1, so I'm unable to include the direct link. You may have to scroll down to the July 1 post at The Lucky 13s site if you're visiting on a later date.

I picked The Book Thief as my giveaway novel because of Zusak's ridiculously skilled use of language and brilliant talent for developing characters. He challenged me to make my own writing better. Furthermore, his ability to weave the horrors of history with a fictional tale told by an otherworldly narrator (Death) was a huge inspiration to me. In my own novel, I'm blending the unsettling realities of 1918 America with paranormal nightmares and a ghost. I hope, like Zusak, I've grounded my story in enough human emotions you can feel in your gut to make the fantastical side of the tale believable.

Good luck to everyone who enters the giveaway, and keep in mind I won't be responding to comments and emails until after July 9 due to my trip.

Also, be sure to check out Marta Acosta's Gothic YA debut this week: Dark Companion, available from Tor Books July 3. Marta has been a supportive cheerleader for my own writing during the past few years, and I'm thrilled the world is getting a chance to read her Jane Eyre-influenced tale.

My Number One Tip for Revising a Novel

Over at The Lucky 13s today I'm sharing a revision tip that proved to be crucial for my In the Shadow of Blackbirds edits. I'm also sharing the book's fluctuating word count, which dramatically rose and fell as I cut scenes/characters from the story and added new material.

I always think of book edits as a complicated jigsaw puzzle: you have to figure out which pieces fit where and what parts don't belong before you end up with your final, satisfying picture.

Here's my post:

http://thelucky13s.blogspot.com/2012/05/my-number-one-tip-from-revision.html

A Couple of Quick Announcements before I Burrow into My Writing Hole

First of all, the group of YA and kidlit authors I belong to, The Lucky 13s, now has a Facebook page. You can find news about all of our 2013 releases, plus view our shiny, happy faces, at www.facebook.com/TheLucky13s.

Second, I've created a new page on this site that gives info about my monthly newsletter, which I'll be sending out once I have more In the Shadow of Blackbirds info to share. Behind-the-scenes progress is definitely occurring with the book, but all the fun public stuff—cover reveals, the release of the official synopsis and publication date, giveaways, and other events—is yet to come. To ensure you don't miss out on anything, please sign up at www.catwinters.com/p/newsletter.html.

I'm planning to spend the next couple weeks blogging less and writing more. My kids' school district is getting hit hard by budget cut days this year, and it feels like five-day work weeks have become a rare commodity for me. If you need me, I'll be busily working on Dark & Eerie Historical YA Novel #2 before I need to submerge myself in my upcoming In the Shadow of Blackbirds revisions.

If I don't come up for a breather before February 14, Happy Valentine's Day! My husband and I are planning to see The Woman in Black for a dinner and movie date to celebrate. That's what happens when you marry a writer of Gothic fiction: even romantic holidays often get dominated by ghost tales.

Boo!

My Musical Ode to Rejection Letter Survival

The theme this week at The Lucky 13s is What Keeps You Going When the Going Gets Tough. I responded with a song:

"THE TWELVE DAYS OF REJECTION"

My First Post-Book-Deal Interview & Other Blogosphere Travels This Week

All this week I'm traveling around the blogosphere, making various guest appearances.

Today Mindy McGinnis, author of the upcoming dystopian thriller Not a Drop to Drink, interviewed me over at Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire. I'm part of her interview series called Submission Hell—It's True (I'll let you figure out the acronym of that series on your own). You can read about my long and winding submission journey here.

P.S. Not a Drop to Drink sounds amazing. Check it out at Goodreads.

I also just participated in Gennifer Albin's Januquery project. Gennifer is the author of another upcoming novel I can't wait to read: Crewel, set in a world where women designated as "Spinsters" can control time. She invited members of The Lucky 13s to help her critique query letters people are submitting to her site, and my critique ran yesterday. I've worked as a copy editor in the past, so I sincerely hope the author whose query I chose didn't pass out when she saw all my red marks. Queries are an extremely challenging part of the process of getting an agent, and I wish the best for all the Januquery participants.

Tomorrow (Jan. 11) I have a post running at The Lucky 13s. This week's topic: What Keeps You Going When the Going Gets Tough. I may have composed a song for that particular subject...

Finally, this Friday I'm participating in the monthly 13th-Day Post at The Lucky 13s and celebrating Friday the Thirteenth with a special post at Suburban Vampire.

When I'm not running all over the place, giving my two cents on the world of writing, I'll be right here working on my newest manuscript, which I'm trying to tackle as much as possible before I receive my In the Shadow of Blackbirds edits. All I can say about this one is that it's another Gothic historical novel. The working title, the basic plot, and everything else about the book will be staying under wraps for now.

My Interview with a Debut 2012 Author & a Query Critique Opportunity

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! It's 2012, which means we'll now get to enjoy the books of The Apocalypsies—a group of YA, MG, and children's book authors debuting this year. I had the pleasure of interviewing one of those writers: Kami Kinard, author of The Boy Project (Notes and Observations of Kara McAllister).

You can read my chat with Kami at
http://thelucky13s.blogspot.com/2012/01/apocalypse-now-interview-with-kami.html.

In other news, Gennifer Albin, author of the upcoming YA novel Crewel, is running an event called Januquery on her blog. She asked us members of the The Lucky 13s to help her critique query letters that people send in, and I'm going to help out. If you have a query letter you'd like to submit for feedback, go to http://blog.genniferalbin.com/2012/01/januquery.html.

My kids are heading back to school on Tuesday, so I'll be wrapping up some goodies over at my Suburban Vampire blog and then diving back into my writing, which has been drastically ignored during the break. I'm also contemplating starting a group blog for debut YA historical novelists, but we'll see if I have time. It's also the start of Girl Scout Cookie season, and I'm the cookie mom, so things are going to get a little insane around here soon. If you hear the muffled cries of a stressed-out writer buried beneath boxes of Thin Mints, that'll be me.

Happy New Year!

P.S. 80% of the people who responded to my December poll said they've had a ghostly image show up in their photographs.