Rachel Carter's Blog, page 3

Life Changes/Giveaway

I've been really distracted lately - from life, from writing, from blogging - and here's why:

I spent the last seven years of my life living in New York City, starting in Manhattan, and eventually moving out to Brooklyn. New York was where I made all of my adult friends. It was where I wrote my first, and second, and third, books. I love a lot of stuff about New York: the food (oh god, the food), the energy, the feeling that you're in the middle of something huge and important all the time, a...

Post-deadline Jitters

Hello world. I just finished editing a book. It was the second draft of book 3 and it was a pretty big rewrite - mostly because I had such a tough time writing the first draft. I really struggled with the exposition and how much to tell or not tell. I think that struggle showed, and my goal for draft 2 was to pull it way back and remember my own writing style.

Does that make sense? Let me rephrase: I felt lost writing the first draft, and on a reread it felt like someone else's book entirely....

The Spring YA Scavenger Hunt!

Last season I participated in the YA Scavenger Hunt for the first time and had such a ball that I'm doing it again for the Spring round! This is an event created by Colleen Houckas a way to give readers access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors...and a chance to win some truly awesome prizes.

Not only will you get exclusive content from authors (in my case, a scene fromThis Strange and Familiar Place), but you will also get a clue on each page. Add up the clues and you c...

ARC Giveaway of THIS STRANGE AND FAMILIAR PLACE!!

As promised, here's my first ARC giveaway for THIS STRANGE AND FAMILIAR PLACE!

I'm so so excited to share Lydia and Wes's next chapter with all of you - and super curious to hear your thoughts about what happens in this book. Thanks to everyone who followed me on Twitter/helped me reach 1,000 followers! Just because I love you all so much, I'm throwing in a Wes-inspired watch necklace as well as a signed ARC:

US only, and good luck to everyone who enters!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Video! Me & Jeramey in NYC

It's like Christmas up in here! Jeramey and I NEVER get to hang out face-to-face, but almost immediately after I went to visit him in Texas, he decided to visit NYC.Here's a video we made for you guys, all about our experiences living in the big city. There's a little James Franco name-dropping, and we announce the winner of our giveaway (thanks to all who entered!):

Everything's Bigger in Texas

As promised, here's a glimpse of my recent trip to Texas.

I showed up on Valentine's Day:

Then, as a reaction to the post-deadline stress, promptly ate everything I could find:

Why yes, those are smores brought right to your table with homemade marshmallows and dark chocolate and cripsy graham crackers. ZOMG so good. Not pictured: buckets of queso, table-side guacamole, and all the bbq I could eat in 6 days without actually exploding.

Then I met up with Jeramey and we went to the ZOO!!...

Texas + Post-deadline + OMG I'm blogging again + GIVEAWAY

AHH I'm alive!! Book 3 is finally done...at least the first draft of it. I realize I've been the world's worst blogger these past two months as I went through the final stretch of the deadline. But now I have time to devote to other types of writing again, and I have so much fun stuff coming up - writing posts and a ton of giveaways and a lot of spoilery hints about the next two books in the SO CLOSE TO YOU series.

Today I'm super happy to be doing a giveaway with one of my very best friends...

The New Year

Hiya! Looking at the below date, I realize that it's been a little while since I blogged. But I have a good excuse - a GREAT excuse actually - I'm on book deadline, busy writing book 3, the final chapter in this time travel/government conspiracy saga. It's...going.... I don't want to talk about it.

Instead, I want to talk about this past year and what it's meant for me. 2012 was pretty monumental in a lot of ways, mostly because I fulfilled one of my biggest dreams - my book was published!! J...

Cover Reveal for Interred!

In my Twitter travels, I've been fortunate enough to meet some crazy awesome new writer friends. One of those people is Marilyn Almodóvar, who you may remember as the brilliant mind behind Writing on the Sunny Side of the Street (I did an interview with her a few months ago). And today I have the pleasure of being part of her cover reveal for her new book Interred.

Interred (Chronicles of the Interred #1)

by

Marilyn Almodóvar

The cover was created by the amazing Devan Edwards of Nimbi Designs...

It's Time for me to Learn Portuguese...

Because So Close to You sold in Brazil!!!!! The whole series (that means 3 books!) will be published by Novo Conceito in Rio deJaneiro.This is how I felt when I found out:

Except, you know, there was only one of me. BUT STILL. I kind of can't believe I'm going to be able to open up a copy of the book and have NO idea what it's saying, even though I wrote it.

This also means that So Close to You and its sequels will get to visit this place before I do:

There's something a little unjust about...