stephsureads asked: How long did it take you to A) write your story, B) get an agent, and C) sell your book?

2K9 authors answered:

Megan Crewe: For GIVE UP THE GHOST, it took ten months to write (from starting the first complete draft to finishing the final revision before I queried agents--I had a false start several months earlier), six months ( Read more... )

It feels like just a couple months ago I started getting to know the many wonderful writers of the Class of 2K9. Hard to believe it's actually been nearly two years. Two years of revisions and copy edits and page passes. Two years of reviews and interviews and signings and visits. And two years of online support and in-person celebrations, ( Read more... )

Parker P asked: How does your book make or break the mold of its genre?

2K9 authors answered:

Suzanne Morgan Williams: Bull Rider is contemporary fiction but, because it’s about rodeo and the west, a lot of people think it’s historical fiction. They assume there aren’t cowboys anymore. Some people also guess it’s nonfiction since it has a lot to ( Read more... )

irenelatham asked: Does that niggling self-doubt EVER all the way go away???

2K9 authors answered:

Megan Crewe: I don't think you ever completely leave doubt behind. In fact, I think if you did, your writing would suffer. A healthy amount of doubt is what keeps us striving to tell better stories, portray stronger characters, polish that prose until it ( Read more... )

olugbemisola asked: What's been the biggest surprise of this process/business, etc.?

2K9 authors answered:

Cheryl Renee Herbsman: I think the two biggest surprises for me have been how incredibly wonderful and supportive the kidlit community is and how much the whole business continues to feel like a roller coaster ride.

Rosanne Parry: For me the biggest ( Read more... )

starryphate asked: What is the first step you take for writing a story, is it just a good idea and do you talk to people to see if it would be a good story before you write it?

2K9 authors answered:

J.T. Dutton: Jeff and I will sometimes be driving along, when we'll catch sight of someone out the car window, and one of us will turn to the other and ask " ( Read more... )

jeniwrites said: I'd be curious to know how each of you came up with the ideas for your books -- and how close the final version is to the idea you first dreamed of.

2K9 authors answered:

Megan Crewe: Ideas and scenes pop into my head all the time, from some unknown place--just most of them don't end up becoming stories. But about five years ago the image ( Read more... )

Today, in our ongoing agent and editor interview series, we welcome the fabulous Kristin Nelson, otherwise known as Megan Crewe’s agent! (Let me interject here that I am a regular reader of Kristin’s Pubrants blog - the link is in the interview below- and that if you are not reading it, you really should! So thank you, Kristin from me as well ( Read more... )

I celebrated the launch of my first novel by visiting five local bookstores that had Give Up the Ghost on the shelves and offering to sign stock.


( Read more... )

heatherkb asked: Where do you work, at home, in a designated office, do you get up and shower like you are going to work or do you work in your jammies? Or a little of it all!

2K9 authors answered:

Rosanne Parry: My work day is organized around my children's school day. I get up with them and get them off to school. I spend a little time each morning ( Read more... )