*waves*

[Wendy]

Hi everyone! Feel free to chat me up anytime! I love discussing book stuff, whether it's my book or other books. I'm always open for good book recs and willing to answer any questions you might have. :)

[Jordan]

When is the second book coming out?:)

[Wendy]

That's the question of my life, Jordan! :) It's under consideration with the publisher right now, and I'm supposed to hear something this month. *crosses fingers*

[Deanna]

Hope it's not too long before I can get my Kai fix :)

[Wendy]

For real, I need to give people their fixes! lol
I'm thinking that after I hear news about the sequel I'll have to write a Kai pov scene to post on my blog...just to hold everyone over.

[Deanna]

OMG that would be amazing :D

[Debbie]

Omg. Omg. More Kai! Ill pre-order it in hardcover! Haha. Will there be much kai in book two? Or will we be focusing on the other man in our starlet's orbit?

[Wendy]

There will be more of both K's in book two!

[Debbie]

I looove you. :p

[Jordan]

Kai is yummy

[Wendy]

;-P

[Judith (Judith'sChoiceReads)]

This book just makes me happy, I like happy books :) Now, Ms. Higgins, I impatiently await your sequel!

[Jordan]

Haha me to:) <3

[Joanna]

Omg!! Yay! Hello everyone! :)

[Sylvia]

Hi Wendy thanks for the invite :)

[Wendy]

You're welcome, Heinzypop! Hi Joanna! And I'm glad SE makes you happy, Judith. :) Happy is good.

[Carolee]

Hi, everyone!
Seriously, sequel must be published or there will be an uprising of we feisty fans!!

Wendy- what's been the most surprising part of your writing journey so far?

[Wendy]

So much has surprised me. I'm shocked by how long EVERYTHING takes, but I'll stick to positive things...I've been happily surprised by the number of people outside of the US who have read the book - I get contacted by readers in countries I've never heard of, and that is beyond amazing to me. So fun. :)

[Sylvia]

Yeah it's amazing having GR as a way to converse with others and authors who are willing to chat with readers..totally love that :) We love you hear in Australia Wendy :) more authors should try and get down here on tour but I totally understand the cost involved LOL

[Debbie]

Wendy needs to come to Ottawa! She seems so nice - there's so many jerk authors out there(I used to work at a bookstore where they did a lot of signings).

I've heard it can take a year for a book to be published after writing is completed..

[Wendy]

With HarperCollins it's taking 18-24 months for publication these days! :( Oy, that seems like a lifetime when you're waiting.
Unfortunately all of my travels are out of my own pocket since the publishers are only budgeted to send the bestsellers on tours and such. Maybe someday. I'd love to go to Australia and Ottawa! *dreams big*

[Debbie]

18-24? Ouch. Well, I guess they're very busy - but once you're a bestseller you will be at the head of that line ;p just keep dreaming big and one day perhaps you'll get there!

[Annie]

YAY!!!! I'm here...thanks for the invite Wendy! *waves to everyone*

[Jess (the cozy reader)]

I would love a Kai POV Wendy!

[Sylvia]

Wendy wrote: "With HarperCollins it's taking 18-24 months for publication these days! :( Oy, that seems like a lifetime when you're waiting.
Unfortunately all of my travels are out of my own pocket since the p..."

Yes one day and I know it will happen for you :)

[Jordan]

Ok wen You say kai POV do you mean from kais perspective?

[Jordan]

O sorry I get it! . Nvm I'm slow these days

[Wendy]

Haha, yep. His perspective (point of view). I'm trying to figure out if I'll write his perspective on a scene from Sweet Evil, or something new...like right after the ending of that book, leading us into the sequel (which begins 6 months after the last book ended). Must think...

[Jordan]

U should do kais perspective after sweet evil ended:)

[Wendy]

Thanks! That's what I'm leaning toward. It could sort of lead us into the next book. I just have to be careful not to give away too much. That's always hard! :)

[Annie]

Oh I LOVE a book from the guy's POV!!! How exciting!!! Good luck to you Wendy! Those bookmarks you sent me are being used for every book I read. Well alternated, cause I have so many different ones. LOL

[Jordan]

Ya I totally understand!
:)

[Jordan]

Ya I totally understand!
:)

[Wendy]

Annie wrote: "Oh I LOVE a book from the guy's POV!!! How exciting!!! Good luck to you Wendy! Those bookmarks you sent me are being used for every book I read. Well alternated, cause I have so many different ones..."

Yay! Glad you're putting them to use!
I don't think I'd do a whole book, but I'm thinking of just one scene from Kai's pov for my blog in the future. :) As a treat to everyone while they're waiting.

[Annie]

Wendy wrote: "Annie wrote: "Oh I LOVE a book from the guy's POV!!! How exciting!!! Good luck to you Wendy! Those bookmarks you sent me are being used for every book I read. Well alternated, cause I have so many ..."


Well, we'll take what we can get Wendy. You're fantastic!!! :)

[Krista]

Hi Wendy! Thanks for the invite! I'm pro Kai POV in the future. Who wouldn't want to be in his head :D

[Sylvia]

Oh I would love reading from Kaidan's POV that would be so amazing !! great way to start off book 2 :)

[Wendy]

This is off topic, but did you guys see the YA Crush Tourney last summer? It's SO fun! You can nominate your favorite YA book boys & they'll take the top 24 and have them "battle it out" in the blogosphere. Here's the link in case you'd like to nominate your top ten. Have a great weekend!
http://ya-sisterhood.blogspot.com/201...

[Krista]

Wendy wrote: "This is off topic, but did you guys see the YA Crush Tourney last summer? It's SO fun! You can nominate your favorite YA book boys & they'll take the top 24 and have them "battle it out" in the b..."

Thanks for sharing, what a fun contest! I just went to the site and saw Kaidan only had 29 votes. What?! He's definitely a million votes crush worthy. I voted for him once on paper, but a million times in my head :) All the top choices are great this year though!

[Wendy]

Thanks, Krista! I think my book is still "little" in the scheme of things, so I was flattered to see Kaidan in the running at all!

[L]

Tell us, Wendy, does your awesomeness know no bounds? I feel this question is relevant. (:

[Wendy]

Lia, you've read my first drafts so surely you know that my so-called "awesomeness" knows many bounds! Lots of time and revision, lol! :)

[L]

Nuh-uh, even those were amazing! I think it's crazy how much work even just *one* book needs. Are you worried about all the time the sequel(s) might take to publish? I've read authors saying while one book is in some stage of publication, they work on another. I swear you guys are ninjas. Word ninjas!

[Wendy]

Pah! Word Ninjas - I love it. :) I wish I felt like a ninja!
Yeah, I'm almost done with a big revision on the sequel, and then I'm either going to revise a separate stand-alone that I've written, or I'll jump straight in to writing the 3rd Sweet book. Depends how I feel. Yes, we have to work on multiple books at once, because if we wait nothing will ever get done! It's a crazy business.

[Debbie]

3rd Sweet book?! YES. Although, considering some of the ARC copies of books I have from my library days..Im pretty sure your first drafts cant be THAT bad Wendy. Book of Lies had grammatical AND spelling errors in it originally in the first draft. Its like high school english - you need proof readers after you regurgitate your genius onto paper.

Writing is team work! Figures publication takes awhile..and makes me wait so long for book two and three.

Question: When you write your books do you write them in portions, straight through or do you write the ending first? Always wondered how REAL auhtors got through their books without getting bored of their characters.

[Wendy]

Everyone is so different. I don't know anyone who does it the same, and all three of the books I've written have been done differently. With my first book, it changed so much so many times. But this is how it began.
I got this really intense scene idea, so I wrote it down having no idea when or where it was taking place. And when I finished I thought to myself, I need to back up. How did they get to this point? That ended up being the pivotal scene in chapter 17 of Sweet Evil. The next scene to hit me was from chapter 4, and then chapter 10, then their first meeting in chapter 1...yeah. You can see that it was crazy. It came to me like a puzzle that I had to piece together.
It's not an easy way to write, but it was a passionate process! Now I try to force myself to get a basic outline so that I don't have to cut & paste and rewrite hundreds of times.

[Wendy]

Oh, and FYI:
Chapter 17 - BIG hotel scene
Chapter 4 - Lake Party
Chapter 10 - First kiss
Funny how the steamy scenes all invaded my brain first, haha!

[Debbie]

That's awesome. It makes me feel much less pathetic that this is generally how I write as well (although obviously I have zero talent). I feel like doing it this way develops more emotion in the dialogue.But I bet it was a real pain to edit into such a strong piece that fit together so well ;)

Thanks for answering me!

Edit: hahaha I can tell you developed on those love scenes. Although, I bet they were the easiest and mosy fun to write!

[Wendy]

Debbie, every writer feels like they have zero talent at one point or another. Keep at it and let your passion flow. Now that I'm published, it feels different when I write. Like my confidence is lower or something because I'm scared to know for certain that people will be reading it. It's very strange, but my published friends say they feel that way too! I actually look back to those prepublished writing days with a lot of nostalgia, even though I thought I'd never achieve this dream at the time. You just never know.

[Annie]

I had alot of fun while writing my steamy scenes. I pictured the really hot and sexy Ian Somerholder while writing some of mine. Man the things I wanted to add in there, yea it wouldn't have worked.
Wendy, my first scene in my first book I wrote came to me while driving. I had to go and buy a notebook and write it out. I had no idea where the story was going. But after awhile every scene came to me while I was busy or taking a shower. LOL But it was fun!