The past two weeks on FYFA (and in my life):
Today is my son’s 15th birthday! It’s hard to believe that my little tiny boy has grown up so much—I think I’m still in denial.
In case you didn’t notice, I didn’t post a Sunday Post last week because I was at ALA. I considered trying to schedule something, but I just decided to take a week off instead.
A kind of crazy thing happened this week: I bid on an auction for Authors for Grenfell Tower (they raised almost $200,000 to go toward the Red Cross for the tragedy) and I WON! But the really crazy thing is what I won. I won an edit done by Naomi Colthurst, who is an editor at Penguin Random House Childrens. Some of you might remember that I wrote a Middle Grade novel for NaNoWriMo last November—well, I did some editing on it in April, and I was surprised to find that it felt like a real book to me. I know that sounds like a ridiculous thing to say, but I honestly wasn’t sure if I was going to read through it and decide it was just a plain mess. On a whim, I bid on this auction because it felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. When I won, I scrambled to do some more editing—honestly, there are still some changes I wish I could have made if I’d had the time, but since this was a one-time thing, I just went for it. I’m both terrified and excited to get her feedback!! Who knows? Maybe someday my dream of being a published author could be a real thing.
Here’s what you may have missed on the blog over the last two weeks:
- Top Ten Series I Haven’t Started (But Totally Plan To)
- The Disorganized Blogger’s Guide to Book Conferences (AKA an Example You Should NOT Follow)
- June 2017 Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up – Link up your June wrap-up posts here!
- ALA Annual Event Recap (& Giveaway!) – Still time to enter to win a signed copy of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart!
- Series Review: The Winner’s Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski
- July Discussion Challenge Link-Up & Giveaway
- June Wrap-Up & Best of the Bunch
Next week on FYFA:
- Coming Up for Air by Miranda Kenneally: Review
- Bite-Sized Reviews of some other books (probably The Upside of Unrequited, The Unlikelies and Dead Ed in My Head)
- Let’s Discuss: Something bookish! 🙂
Latest FYFA Giveaway Winners!!:
- Alyssa from Book Huntress’ World won the May Discussion Challenge giveaway, and she chose Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard.
- Danielle H won the latest Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up giveaway, and she chose The Secret of a Heart Note by Stacey Lee.
Book Blogger Birthdays and Blogoversaries:
Here are the birthdays and blogoversaries this week! I hope you’ll go wish these bloggers well on their special days! Make sure you check out the calendar to see what you might have just missed or what’s coming up. (If you want to be added to the calendar, you can always fill out the birthday/blogoversary form.)
SO SORRY TO BE LATE WITH THIS FIRST ONE SINCE I DIDN’T POST LAST WEEK! MAKE SURE TO HEAD OVER THERE (Wendy even has a giveaway going!)
- June 28th – Falconer’s Library‘s Blogoversary
- July 2nd – Alice @ Arctic Books‘ Birthday
- July 3rd – Princessica of Books‘ Blogoversary
- July 8th – Michelle @ Pink Polka Dot Books‘ Birthday
If you’d like to see all the books I got at ALA, check out my recap!
NetGalley/Edelweiss:
I know I just got a million books at ALA, but they were out of Adam Silvera’s newest (They Both Die at the End) by the time I asked, so I just had to download it from Edelweiss. And then I saw that Fireblood by Elly Blake was on NetGalley and I really want to read this series (for some reason I still haven’t read the first book, though I have it), so I decided to get that one too. I know, I’m crazy.
For Review:
I joined the tour for No Good Deed, a fun sounding Robin Hood retelling. I also received Guardians of the Gryphon’s Claw and Rosemarked for review!
Great Discussions/Goings On Around the Blogosphere:
- The Huffington Post has this entry called I’m A Teenager And I Don’t Like Young Adult Novels. Here’s Why. (I thought it was interesting and not overly negative.)
- John Green has a new book coming out!
- I’m late to the game with this news, but Alison over at Alison’s Wonderland Recipes is making a cookbook! (I can’t wait—her recipes are bookishly adorable!)
- Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight talks about Consistency in Titles
Pre-Order Deals:
I’m now putting these in order of release date to make it easier on myself (and you, I think). Any new deals that I just added to the list this week will be denoted with a *** so you can easily find them!
- ***Pre-order PAPER HEARTS by Ali Novak and receive a signed bookmark and get the chance to win autographed books and a Kindle! (ends 7/3)
- ***Pre-order WHO’S THAT GIRL by Blair Thornburgh and receive a signed bookplate, a bookmark and a postcard. (ends 7/10)
- Pre-order BECAUSE YOU LOVE TO HATE ME edited by Ameriie (with stories by authors like Marissa Meyer, Victoria Schwaab and more!) and receive an exclusive notebook and pencil set and a bookplate signed by Ameriie. (ends 7/10)
- Pre-order SECRETS OF THE TULIP SISTERS by Susan Mallery and receive a free PDF of chapter 1 with notes from the author! (ends 7/10)
- Pre-order THE DRAGONS OF NOVA by Elise Kova and receive swag. The more pre-orders, the more swag will be unlocked! (ends 7/10)
- Pre-order WASTE OF SPACE by Gina Damico and receive a bookmark, a magnet, and a 4″x6″ print of Damico’s original hand-drawn sketch of the spaceship’s schematics. (ends 7/11)
- ***Pre-order PRAYING FOR GIRLS by Teri Lynne Underwood and receive a free printable. (ends 7/12)
- Pre-order THE LAST MAGICIAN by Lisa Maxwell and receive a signed bookplate, bookmark, and a temporary tattoo. (ends 7/17)
- ***Pre-order IN 27 DAYS by Alison Gervais and receive a bonus chapter! (ends 7/24)
- Pre-order CRYSTAL BLADE by Kathryn Purdie and receive a high-quality map print, a bookmark, an autographed and personalized bookplate, and a download link for the song Purdie wrote and recorded for Burning Glass. (ends 8/15)
- Pre-order WARCROSS by Marie Lu and receive “Life After Legend” an exclusive short story set after the events of the Legend Series (ends 9/11)
- ***Pre-order TOWER OF DAWN by Sarah J. Maas to receive an exclusive pouch! (ends 9/4)
Other Current Giveaways on FYFA:
(Besides the ones listed with this week’s posts)
- June Discussion Challenge Link-Up & Giveaway – Last chance to link up your June discussion posts and enter to win!
Even More Awesome Giveaways on Other Sites:
- Wendy over at Falconer’s Library is celebrating her second blogoversary with a giveaway!
- I don’t usually mention free books here, but I LOVED this (adult) zombie series and the first book is free!! Get Broken World free today!
- Shelf Awareness is giving away 10 copies of If There’s No Tomorrow by Jennifer Armentrout!
- Head over to Tales of the Ravenous Reader for a chance to win one of 5 Copies of Midnight Jewel by Richelle Mead!
- Read It Forward is giving you the chance to win a $500 gift card for your local library
- Head over to With Love for Books for a Ravenclaw Hardcover, Notebook & Necklace giveaway
- Megan over @ Book Birds is celebrating her 1st blogoversary and she’s giving you a chance to win a book from TBD to celebrate! (INT)
- The Bookkeeper’s Secrets is doing a year-long giveaway!
Lots of good stuff! Have any giveaways or great discussions happening on your site right now? Feel free to share them in the comments!
Happy birthday to your son! Congrats on the auction win. That sounds like an amazing opportunity to learn some cool stuff. Have a great week!
Thanks, AJ! Yes, this is a great opportunity that I wouldn’t be able to get any other way.
Oh my gosh, Nicole! Professional editing sounds so exciting! I hope she’ll like your book, and that something more comes from this!
Have a wonderful week ahead and happy reading 🙂
I’m really excited at the prospect of the edit. It’s such a rare opportunity!
It’s pretty exciting to win that edit isn’t it! I guess you must be excited and scared but hey, all feedback is good and will help you improve as a writer so yay! It’s wonderful to see so many people raising money for Grenfell Tower here in the UK…people are so generous when a tragedy occurs. Have a good reading week!
I’m amazed at how much has been raised for Grenfell Tower—it is nice to see people rally together!
Fireblood was awesome. I loved that book and hope you will as well.
Great haul of books.
I don’t know why I never read the first book since everyone raved about it. This should motivate me.
Oh wow, that’s so exciting that you’re getting an edit done by a professional editor! That’s such a great opportunity, and it’s awesome that the money is going to a good cause. Have a good week! 🙂
I know. I’m kind of pinching myself about this opportunity. I can’t wait for her feedback!
Oh WOW! That is amazing Nicole! It seems like an awful coincidence that you just happen to have a book ready for editing. I hope you get back some constructive advice and a book deal! Then I can say I knew you when….
Have a great week!
Oh, and happy birthday to you son!
Thanks, Karen!
It’s such a fantastic opportunity—not something that comes by every day, for sure. Her feedback could be key to really improving the book and getting it into shape. I still feel like publishing is a bit of a pipe dream, but you never know!
Oohh nice! It seems my request for Fireblood is going ignored! Seeing so many people getting it or hearing about their rejection. It drives me more crazy when they “ignore” me! Lol! Can’t wait to read that one! Hope you enjoy all your fab new reads!
Here’s my STS
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
I somehow got auto-approved for Little Brown Books for Young Readers awhile back, so that one is easy for me. Those auto-approvals are a blessing (and sometimes a very tempting curse!).
Congratulations on the edit! I bid on an auction held by Jim C. Hines for an edit for my husband. He won and got some excellent feedback. Even if it doesn’t lead to a book deal, at least you have something you cherish (I hope!).
Yeah, I’m not really expecting this to lead to an actual book deal, but it could certainly be really valuable feedback. And it just makes the whole book writing experience feel more “real” somehow. Like I’m actually a prospective author and not just a person who wrote a book for fun.
Wow! What an amazing prize. I hope this leads to great things for you. Awwww, our babies grow up too fast.
Thanks, Sam! I’m very excited at the prospect of getting professional feedback!
I joined a tour for No Good Deed as well! Excited for that one. I am figuring that I need to go back and really go through and edit/rework my NaNo from a couple years ago. I just had a freelance editor read a sample chapter and give me some tips. She said something I’d had someone else say, and I also have some ideas on how to get back to work on it and improve it. Good luck with your feedback! Can’t wait to hear how it goes!
Oh yeah, is it okay if I link up my half way though the year wrap up post with the normal monthly wrap-up posts you do?
Yes, definitely feel free to link up!
Congratulations on the win- that’s AWESOME. At the very least you’re going to get some invaluable feedback from someone in publishing- and who knows where that will lead? Good for you!!! You must be over the moon. 🙂
No Good Deed looks really cool, and so does Guardian of the Gryphon’s Claw. I love those awesome MG covers!
Have a great week and a happy 4th of July!
Yes, I’m hoping that the feedback will be really valuable and help me get my book into actual publishable shape. A girl can dream, right? 🙂
Happy birthday to your son! Fifteen… that can be such a tumultuous time. Hang in there!
And big congrats on the win! Sounds like kismet! 🙂
Thanks! I’m hoping the whole family survives his teenage years—right now it’s pretty touch-and-go. 🙂
I hope you love Fireblood as much as I did! Also, I can’t wait to read Adam’s new book 🙂 Wonderful post! Thanks for sharing!
Brittany @ Brittany’s Book Rambles
I’ve heard amazing things about the series, so I have high hopes!
That is an amazing opportunity for you! I am really excited to hear how it all pans out.
Thank you for pushing my giveaway.
Happy birthday to your son. Our oldest became a teenager in June, so we are buckled up for the ride.
I feel like you might have had a “How To Edelweiss” post at some time–did you? I went in and joined and requested some books, but haven’t heard back one way or another, so I feel like I’m doing something wrong. Even a “no” would let me know I went through the correct process.
I’m super excited about the opportunity to have her look at my book. It’s a chance to get some professional feedback—one I wouldn’t easily get otherwise.
I never did write an Edelweiss post—just a NetGalley one. I did say I should do an Edelweiss one, though. You should be able to see your approvals/declines from the Notifications section of My Edelweiss. If you can’t find it, DM me on Twitter and I’ll try to help!
Happy late birthday to your son. It is weird how time flies in that regard! And super great that you won that edit. That is a great oppurtunity!
I’m really excited about it. Can’t wait to see what she has to say!
I hope your son had fun in his birthday. Wow 15, where does time goes huh?
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Nicole!! That is awesome! I did not know about your Nano Novel last year because that was around the time I went MIA from the blogosphere to resurface this year 🙂 . Bidding for and winning an edit from Penguin Random House is a heavenly sign that I WILL be seeing your book soon in the bookstores and reading it soon! I JUST KNOW IT!
Its indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so kudos for having the vision to grab it Nicole! So proud of you! SO HAPPY FOR YOU I CAN’T EVEN!
I am so incredibly excited at the prospect. On the one hand, it’s kind of terrifying to think of an editor from one of the big publishers reading my book, but on the other hand it’s amazing! No matter what, I will be getting some really valuable feedback and I’ll be able to learn from it.
ok I went to read your Nano post last year and I’m back.
I’m SO in with your novel Nicole! I hope I get an ARC!!!
I love the premise [How often we all deal with balancing real life and the other lives we created for ourselves with dreams, hobbies, wishes.. like book blogging!] and I already love Keeley! My kinda girl! 🙂 The pinterest board is dreamy! I WANT THE BOOK! 🙂
Ha! Well, I truly hope that someday you’ll be able to read it. I do know that there are things I need to work on with it, but I feel like I have a really good first draft to start with!
I’ve been MIA a lot lately…thanks to some milk. I am now back – for real this time. I saw your photo from ALA on Shanon’s blog! How incredibly fun!! And congrats on your win! I hope she comes back with some good stuff for you so you can publish that book!
Milk? I think I missed something. Are you allergic?
No, thank God. Just about everything else, though. My extra large glass of milk became overly infatuated with my laptop. The two met and it was a volatile relationship. It couldn’t be fixed. I was waiting for almost two weeks for everything to be taken care of and get a new one.
Ugh! What a miserable pain!
Oh my gosh, I’m SO excited for you! I’m so happy you won and that you have this opportunity, that is amazing!
I’m looking forward to No Good Deeds also! It sounds awesome, fingers crossed you love!
Happy Belated Birthday to your son! It feels like we blink and they grow up *cries*. Hope he had a wonderful day!?
I’m reading No Good Deeds right now and really enjoying it!