Shelly Ellis's Blog, page 4

OMG! I got nominated for an award!

So I found out I got nominated for 2012 African American Literary Award in the romance category for my book, A Love Built to Last. When I was scrolling the lists (after seeing another author’s request on Twitter to vote for them) I was shocked and honored to see (OMG! OMG! OMG!) that I — lil’ ol’ LaShell — was on the list. And not only was I on the list, but so were romance heavyweights like Brenda Jackson, Francis Ray, Gwynne Forester, and Adrianne Byrd. So not only do I have a new contract with an awesome publisher but I got nominated for a highly respected award for African American authors! I don’t care that I probably won’t win. 2012 is turning out to be a great year!

Another thing that crossed my mind seeing my book title and name on the list: I’m so proud of the lead characters of the novel — Melody Cannon and Clayton Reed. I think any author will tell you that when you write a story, you become so engrossed with the story that the characters start to take on a life of their own. I know the overall plot, but the characters tell me what they would say in what instance and how they would interact. I’m glad that these characters were able to come to life enough that it helped the novel and made it worthy of an award nomination. I enjoyed writing them. Glad they’re getting their brief moment in the sun.

Don’t call me L.S. Childers… call me Shelly Ellis!

So I posted last year that I was trying to find an agent. Well, the update is after more than a year of trying, I still haven’t found an agent. (Boooooo!) But I found a publisher. (Yeeaaaaaaah!) I’m happy to announce that I was offered a three-book deal with the wonderful publishing house, Kensington Publishing Inc. I lucked out. This is one of the few big publishing houses that still accepts unagented submissions and I am forever grateful to my new, wonderful editor Mercedes for digging me out of the slush pile. I feel like I just won American Idol (*sniff, sniff). Two of the books are slated (for now) to come out in 2013 – the first will appear in summer 2013 under the penname Shelly Ellis. Yes, its happened very quickly but I’m hella excited! The waiting around period can be brutal so I’m glad it worked out. (*sniff, sniff)

The new project focuses of the lives and loves of a group of scandulous sisters. I’ve had a blast writing the series and I’m still cracking myself up as a plow through the rewrites even now. I hope you guys enjoy it too.