Sarah Guillory's Blog, page 4

RECLAIMED is six months old!

I can’t believe it’s already been six months since Reclaimed released! It’s been an incredible six months, full of awesome events, lovely reviews, and even lovelier support from readers and fellow authors. Thank you for reading, reviewing, and recommending Reclaimed. Thank you for the emails, the flails, and for your all-around awesomeness. To celebrate, I’m giving away an annotated copy of Reclaimed. The giveaway opens at midnight tonight and ends at midnight on April 14th. I will choose the winner on April 15th, the six-month annivesary of my release. Use the rafflecopter below, and thanks for spreading the word!  a Rafflecopter giveaway

On Fear

I’ve always been fearful. Even as a child, I was nervous and high-strung. It frustrated my mother. She wanted me to enjoy things, experience life. More than once, when I refused to do something out of fear, she would pull me close and promise that she would never let me do anything that would hurt me. But in addition to my fear, I am stubborn, so I always stood firm and refused to do whatever it was that scared me.
I am phobic about heights. Seriously. I can’t even ride glass elevators. I’m not ashamed of this, nor do I care to overcome this fear. I like my feet firmly on the ground.
But I spent a very long time being afraid of failure. When I was younger, I refused to do anything that I didn’t already feel I was good at. I would not step outside my comfort zone, because more than anything, I feared looking stupid, or inept, or, God forbid, average.
I missed out on a lot of opportunities because of this fear. I quit the track team because I never won a race. I didn’t allow myself to write often because I knew I wasn’t any good. Now the two things that bring me such joy are running and writing. I missed years of doing these activities because I wasn’t perfect at them, and I demanded perfection from myself.
And then I grew up. It was really running that taught me I didn’t have to be perfect to enjoy something. I fell in love with running, with the discipline and the achievement that came from competing in marathons. I’ve never won a race, but I’ve beaten myself time and time again. I learned that it isn’t about competing against others, but against yourself, and becoming the best self you can be.
Running gave me the courage to write. At first I was terrified of rejection, but that got easier. Then I was terrified of being published, because there is nothing more soul-baring than sharing your words with strangers.
But I did it anyway.
I’m still afraid. The project I’m working on right now terrifies me because the characters are very different than I am and I want to do them justice. I want to get the history and culture correct, I want to represent truthfully and fairly. I want so many things with this project; wanting is a scary thing.
This week is full of things that terrify me. Today I have something exciting and terrifying happening. I hardly slept last night. Tomorrow I fly out to attend the NOVA Teen Book Festival, and while I’m thrilled and excited to be a part, I’m also nervous. I hate flying. It makes me sick and, more than anything, I can’t stand being dependent on others. Flying requires me to do nothing and hope my flights are on time and that they don’t lose my luggage. The lack of control causes me so much anxiety. But it will also be my first time on panels, and though I make my living off of standing in front of teens and talking books, adults intimidate me a little.
There’s a great quote in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: “Cowards die many times before their deaths;/The valiant never taste of death but once.”
Being afraid is normal. But if we let fear dictate our lives, we’ll never truly live.
I still fear failure. But I'm not going to let it stop me.

Upcoming Events

There are so many exciting things going on right now! Besides being super busy with revisions, I have a few events coming up. Let me know if I'll see you there!

March 8, 2014: NOVA Teen Book Festival

I'm so excited about this event! I get to see my amazing editor Danielle Ellison, as well as meet up with other authors and fellow readers.

From 11:00-11:45 AM I'll be participating in a panal with Lamar Giles and Ellen Oh entitled "Who Are You." It deals with identify and destiny. After the event ends, we will be signing books at the Arlington Central Library. Check out the schedule to see the incredible line-up. Don't miss it!


April 5, 2014: Signing at Baton Rouge Citiplace Barnes and Noble


June 2-6, 2014: LSU Young Adult Literature Conference and Seminar

Books Are My Valentine

The husband gave me beautiful
roses today. He's my Valentine too,
but he'll have to share me with books.I love books. I love the smell of their pages and their weight in my hands. Fictional characters make me swoon. Adventure and intrigue and magic make my heart pound. Heaven is a bookstore and an eternity to read its content.

Books are my Valentine.

They comfort me when I am sad and cheer me up after a hard day. They take me on extravagant trips. They've never abandoned me.

Books have given me a lifetime of happiness and never asked for anything in return. I'm grateful.

In honor of Valentine's day, here are just a few books I've fallen in love with recently.

Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas
I read this in one sitting. Be prepared.

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
King creates such great characters. I was totally immersed in this story and read it in just a couple of days.

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
This was a re-read. I read this back when it came out, and then re-read over my snow days. This is such a beautiful story. I'll read it many more times I'm sure.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
I love any book set in a bookstore.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
I also read this one straight through. I loved it so much and can't believe it took me this long to get to it!

Today a student asked me what my favorite love story was. While I truly can't choose a favorite anything when it comes to books, I do love Elizabeth and Darcy of Pride and Prejudice.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I Love My Body

Me, seconds before crossing the finish line
of my seventh marathon. See that crazy
look in my eye?I’ve sat on this post a while, knowing that many people would judge me for it. But many people judge me anyway, so what the hell.
I love my body.
 This is not something most people say out loud. We’re supposed to hate our bodies, right? Or at least tolerate them? We’re not supposed to tell others that we like the way we look. This makes us vain, egotistical, prideful.
I didn’t always appreciate my body. I was very skinny when I was younger, all knees and elbows, and my extremely long legs looked like toothpicks. Or chicken legs. At least, that’s what everyone told me. It came as quite a shock. I’d always liked the way I looked. But when I was twelve years old, I went to high school. (Our high school was 7th-12th grades.) Once I got there, I found out I was gross to look at because I was thin and bony. The older boys teased me to tears. I’m not sure I slept through the night during junior high. I would wake up in horrible pain as both my calves seized up with muscle cramps, due to the 200-300 calf raises I did almost every day. Maybe if my calf muscles were bigger, they would leave me alone.
But these legs have endured a lot. I tore my muscle where the hamstring attaches to the glute. At the time I thought it was just a pull, so I didn’t go to the doctor. Now I know it was a significant injury, one that still causes me daily pain. Because of that tear, six months later I tore my ACL. Then I tore it again two years later and had to have reconstruction surgery.
After all that, my body still works hard. It’s propelled me through thousands of miles, seven marathons, and countless half-marathons, 5ks, and 10ks.
It kept me running through the heartache when my husband and I learned we probably wouldn’t have children.
It taught me to keep going even when things hurt, which made me not only a better writer, but a better person.
I overheard a student say the other day that she didn’t love anything about herself. This broke my heart. I couldn’t be sure whether or not she didn’t love things about herself because she truly didn’t see her own worth, or because society had taught her at least to pretend she didn't see her own worth. Either way, it’s unacceptable.
I am a flawed, fallible human being. I make mistakes daily. But despite those things, I am also loyal, and compassionate, and hopefully, kind.
My body creaks. I’m starting to get a few creases around my eyes. My calves are still skinny. I do not have a daughter, so I will never be able to teach her to love herself, to appreciate her body, no matter what shape it may take.
But I will say the words, so that when my students and other young girls in my neighborhood see my legs pounding the asphalt, they won’t note their size, but rather their strength.
I love my body. It is strong.

Don't Take My Advice

I see so much writing advice out there, laundry lists of dos and don’ts, and not all of it is good, or helpful, or true.
What one readers enjoys, another hates. What works for one book does not work for another. What might be cliché in this instance is not so cliché in the hands of a different artist.
Getting caught up in the “dos” and “don’ts” of writing can be dangerous. If you’re so worried about doing it wrong, you may never do it right, either. Because you are going to do it “wrong.” Not wrong because some governing board of creative writers says it is, but wrong because that’s not who that character is or the direction that story wants to go. For me, writing means layering, and I can’t get to that final, polished layer until I first lay down all the other ones.
Writing is a talent and craft that requires hard work. It does not come with a set of tried-and-true, guaranteed-to-never fail instructions. (We aren’t assembling bookshelves, after all.) Great writing is honed and developed over time. The best writing forges its own path instead of following the paved, oft-traveled road laid by others. (Or it takes us on the paved, oft-traveled road and makes us look at the familiar world in a way we never have before. See? No rules.)
Well-meaning advice is just that. Following it does not guarantee you a poignant story, an agent, a book deal.
Art demands it be felt, not reduced down to a dos and don’ts list.  But don't take my word for it.

Top Ten Books I Want in 2014

I'm finally posting my Top Ten Books I'm excited about for 2014. There are so many amazing books releasing this year, so it was hard to choose just ten. (Because after I typed this up, I went back to my TBR list and realized I'd missed several: Follow me Through Darkness by Danielle Ellison, Sing Sweet Nightingale  by Erica Cameron, Hook's Revenge by Heidi Schulz, Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater - seriously, I could be here all day listing them. I'm going to have to quit work if I'm going to have time to read them all!) But this is a top ten list, so I'm not going to cheat by adding a few extra. I play by the rules and all that jazz.

 Bright Before Sunrise Tiffany Schmidt (February 18)
I loved Send me a Sign, so I’ve been eagerly awaiting this ever since I heard about it. I love the last two lines of the description: “One night can change how you see the world. One night can change how you see yourself.” Doesn’t that sound awesome?  Sekret Lindsay Smith (April 1)
This one has been on my radar a while. Russian spies? An “espionage thriller with a dash of both history and dystopia?” Yes please!  We Were Liars E. Lockhart (May 13)
I loved The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks. Loved. So when I heard about this one, I didn’t care what it was about. Now that I know, I’m even more excited. May is an awfully long time to wait.  Behind the Scenes Dahlia Adler (June 24)
I met the lovely Dahlia at BEA, she of the macaroons and shiny tiara. She also saved me from having to ride the subway by myself. Dahlia has impeccable taste in books (she’s never recommended a book that I didn’t love), so I can’t wait to read hers. 
Between  Megan Whitmer (July 29)
I also met the lovely Megan at BEA this past May, so I called in a favor. I begged to sneak a peek at Between, and either my wiley Southern charm worked, or Megan thought I would leave her alone if she just sent it already. Whatever the reason, she sent me the first five chapters, which was actually torturous, now that I think about it, because as soon as I’d read those chapters, I wanted more. The writing is clean and the characters interested me from the beginning. I can’t wait to get my hands on the rest of this book.

Ruin and Rising Leigh Bardugo (June 3)
I need more Sturmhond. There. I said it. I still love Mal of course, but Sturmhond stole the show in Seige and Storm, and I can’t wait to see what he gets up to in the final book. I read the first book, Shadow and Bone, because of the gorgeous cover. But what’s inside is even better. If you haven’t read these yet, there’s still time to do so before the final one is out. Get on that.

The Book of Life Deborah Harkness (July 15)
If you haven’t read A Discovery of Witches, then you need to reexamine your life. A friend recommended this book to me, and though I was a bit skeptical, I took her advice. I finished the book in two days and immediately re-read it. It’s sexy and smart with a healthy dose of history. I liked the first one better than the second (which got a little slow for me), but I’ve been looking forward to this book for two years now.  
Damsel Distressed  Kelsey Macke (October)
So I’m cheating a little with this one, since I read a very early version of it about a year ago. Getting my hands on it also involved begging. (I’m shameless, I know.) I read this book in one afternoon. I was only going to read a few chapters, but the voice was so incredible, the characters so real, that I didn’t move until I’d finished it. And I was reading it on my computer, which, if you’ve done this before, you know is not the best reading experience. But it didn’t matter – the story was that good. So I can’t wait to see what Kelsey has done with it in the year since.

Book 3 of the Raven Boys Maggie Steifvater (Fall)
I’m super excited for the third Raven Boys books. I loved the first one, but the second, Dream Thieves, was even better. Stiefvater writes very lovely sentences, but her writing isn’t the only thing I admire about her work. She creates complex characters and then puts them into a contemporary setting with an otherworldly feel. Both prose and story are haunting and magical. I’m not sure I can wait until fall for this one. I might do unhealthy things for an advanced copy.
 
No Place to Fall Jaye Robin Brown(December 9)
I absolutely love the sound of this, particularly the last line of the description: “But between ‘right’ and ‘wrong,’ there’s a whole world of possibilities.” I was also lucky enough to interview both Jaye Robin and Dahlia Adler about waiting on their debuts.

Neverending Stories

So many people have asked about a sequel to Reclaimed. Teachers and students accost stop me in the halls to discuss what happens later and demand I write a continuation. I’ve received emails expressing the same thing.

At first I was shocked people expected a sequel. To me, the story ends exactly where it needs to. The main conflicts are resolved and, in my mind, the characters are happy. (Or as happy as they can be considering the situations I put them in.) Then, I was flattered. That readers connect with and love my characters enough to want more is the best feeling an author can have. Sharing your characters with the world can be frightening, but when readers love them as much as you do, it’s worth it.

I have no plans for a sequel to Reclaimed at this time. I don’t know what that story would look like. But it got me thinking about story endings. To me, the best stories end in such a way that the main conflicts are resolved but the readers feel like the characters have a hundred more stories to tell.
I just read Doctor Sleep by Stephen King. For those who don’t know, it’s the newly released sequel to his 1977 book The Shining. I loved The Shining, but I really loved Doctor Sleep. King does such an amazing job of bringing his characters to life (making them shine, if I may), that even when the story is over, readers know the story isn’t over. The Shining didn’t need a sequel – King wrapped up the conflicts satisfactorily. But he’d created such dynamic characters that readers knew there was more story to tell. So he did, showing what happened to Danny Torrence. It didn’t read like a sequel to me. It was its own story, with appearances from familiar characters. But at the end of Doctor Sleep, I was left knowing that the characters had more story to tell. I want to know what troubles Abra gets into and out of.
It is my favorite King book, and while there is no sequel, I know, through the characters King created, that there is more story there. And I’d read it if King ever decided to write it down.
There’s a reason there are so many Pride and Prejudicecontinuations, with authors imagining what happened to Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy after the wedding. It’s understandable why so many people write fanfiction – we know our favorite characters have much more adventure in them. When a character has been developed well enough to truly come alive in a reader’s mind, we know that the story the author chose to tell is just one of many.
The best stories linger in readers’ minds. We think about the characters and imagine a hundred different journeys. If done well, all stories can become Neverending Stories, which come to life, draw us in, and take us along with them, allowing us to create the endings, knowing that the best stories never truly end.

2013 - A Year of Firsts

2013 was an amazing year – my debut year, one full of firsts, fears, and felicity.
In January, I revealed the cover for my debut novel, Reclaimed. I was so pleased with how it turned out, and the entire experience was surreal. That is another thing 2013 was – completely surreal.
The book went up for pre-order in March. Seeing my name on Barnes and Noble and Amazon was strange, like that person was completely separate from the one I am.
In May I had another first when I flew to NYC to attend BEA. Signings posters was incredible, as was getting to meet authors I admire, but the best part about BEA was getting to hang with all of the friends I’d met online. I can’t wait until we’re all in the same city again. Shenanigans!
In June I learned that Reclaimed had received two blurbs from authors I admire (Tiffany Schmidt and Mindi Scott). There was much jumping and squealing. Again, the idea that people whose writing I love also love mine was (and still is) so hard to grasp.
Kirkus gave Reclaimed a lovely review in July. I’m still not sure I believe that one.
August and September were ridiculously busy getting ready for Reclaimed’s release. I’m so grateful for my editor, my publicity team, and the Reading with Me girls.
October. My favorite month. The month Reclaimed begins. My birthday. Falling leaves and cooler temps and magic. And the release of my debut. It was a magical month indeed, full of author events and Twitter support and live chats. I saw my book on bookstore shelves. Finally, after three years, the characters I loved now no longer belonged only to me. It was so gratifying and humbling to hear that readers loved them too.
December has been a pretty exciting month as well, for reasons. J
 The one regret I have this year is that I didn’t read as many books. I normally average around 100 books a year. Last year was my lowest at 62. This year was so busy that I read fewer than 50. But I read some great ones. Here are just a few of my favorites:
Eleanor and Park and Fangirl , both by Rainbow Rowell (This was the year I fell in love with Rainbow Rowell.)
Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare (I read this in March. I’ll re-read when/if I ever recover from it.)  Vicious by V.E. Schwab (And did you hear the movie news?)
The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater (I loved The Raven Boys, but I think I liked this one even better.)
Sweethearts by Sara Zarr (I love everything she writes.)
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart (I know, I’m kicking myself for taking so long to find this one.) 

2013 was a truly phenomenal year, and though I may be a bit sad to see it go, I am super excited about what 2014 will bring. There are so many great books just waiting to be discovered, and so many others that I’ve been waiting what seems like forever to read. My own writing is going well, and I have plenty to keep me busy in 2014. I’ll run my seventh marathon in February. I have exciting things planned for March. And I may just finally get to take that trip to England I’ve been dreaming about since I was in high school.
Thanks for coming along for the ride. Can’t wait to see where this road takes us.

SHP Holiday Giveaway!

It's that time of year again. Time to eat too many sweets, watch cheesy Christmas movies, and begin to hope for a white Christmas. (Though in Louisiana, it's always green.) And it's time for the Spencer Hill Press Holiday Giveaway! The giveaway runs from December 8th-21st, and the prizes are amazing this year, so you're going to want to enter as many times as you can. (Visit J.L. Spelbring's blog for the full list of rules.) I've listed the goodies below, and the rafflecopter is at the very bottom. Good luck, and Happy Holidays!
 

Prizes:
Grand Prize:Keshia Swaim: BLOOD BOUND
JK Rock:  CAMP BOYFRIEND and Swag
JL Spelbring: PERFECTION and Swag
Kelly Hashway: STALKED BY DEATH and Swag
DK Mok: THE OTHER TREE Swag
Trisha Woolridge: THE KELPIE
Darby Karchut: FINN FINNEGAN
Jennifer Allis Provost: COPPER GIRL
Sarah Guillory: RECLAIMED
Rhys A Jones: THE OBSIDIAN PEBBLE
Megan Whitmer: Writer Care Package
SHP Family: $25.00 Gift Card
Rich “Platinum” Storrs-SHP Editor: Query and 1st ten pages critique
Stocking full of candy

2nd Place:Aubrie Dionne:  Paper Machete Box
JK Rock:  CAMP BOYFRIEND and Swag
JL Spelbring: PERFECTION and Swag
DK Mok: THE OTHER TREE Swag
Trisha Woolridge: DOORWAYS TO EXTRA TIME
Darby Karchut: FINN FINNEGAN
Brenda St John Brown: 2 Chapter Critique
Rhys A Jones: $5.00 Amazon Gift Card
SHP Family: $10.00 Gift Card
Stocking full of candy 
3rd Place:JK Rock:  CAMP BOYFRIEND and Swag
JL Spelbring: PERFECTION and Swag
DK Mok: THE OTHER TREE Swag
Trisha Woolridge: bracelet
Darby Karchut: FINN FINNEGAN
Brenda St John Brown: $10.00 Amazon Gift Card
Kimberly Miller: Query Critique
Stocking full of candy


a Rafflecopter giveaway