What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme, started by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk, that helps readers and writers touch base with blog friends and let them know what's up. If you'd like to join in, you can find the link widget on Jaime's and Erin's blog posts. 

What I'm Reading

I've had to fit my reading in between the cracks lately, so I'm not reading anything very quickly, but at the moment I'm really enjoying the copy of The Fifth Wave I picked up at BEA. I'm also gradually slogging my way through A Clash Of Kings. I'd like to finish all the Ice & Fire books before the next season of the show starts, but holy LONG. It's kind of painful when you read and read and don't even advance 1% on the progress bar. I do have some binge reading time coming up because I'm leaving tomorrow for a 17-day vacation. I've got some fun ARCs, but I don't like to bring physical books on vacation with me, so I'll be hitting the backlog of awesomeness on my e-reader.

What I'm Writing

I'm racing for the finish line right now in the first draft of the sequel to THE LOST PLANET--hoping to get it done before take-off at 7pm tomorrow! I may treat myself to a little champagne on the flight if that happens, because writing a sequel on deadline is to writing the first book like motocross racing on a mudslide is to taking a two-week bike tour of Provence. This is a draft that's for my eyes only--I was figuring it out as I went, so right now the front end doesn't match the back end...at all. But at least the hard part's done!

What Else I'm Doing

As I mentioned, I'm leaving tomorrow for a vacation, aka the European wedding tour. We're going to an old friend's wedding in Bonn, Germany this weekend, and then joining a group from the wedding party to vacation in Israel for a week. I've never been to Israel before, and I'm so excited to see it! Afterwards we're flying up to Istanbul for the wedding of one of my husband's best childhood friends and to spend time with family--including my husband's brand new nephew! I love Istanbul so much and I can't wait for sunny, tea-filled mornings and warm Bosphorus evenings. (And don't worry, we'll be perfectly safe there.)

What Inspires Me Right Now

I can't listen to music while I'm writing, but I do keep a playlist of music for getting into the mood of each book. If you're curious about these kinds of things, here are two of the main songs from the playlist for the book I'm drafting:

(Note: Apparently you need to have Spotify installed for these buttons to work...blerg. Embedded YouTube videos of these songs don't play on Blogger, but if you really want to listen to these tunes, you can check them out on YouTube: Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, and Allegretto from Palladio.)

Imogen Howson interview over at OneFourKidlit

Hey all! I just wanted to let you know that today over on OneFourKidlit I'm interviewing Imogen Howson, author of the breathtaking YA space thriller LINKED, which comes out tomorrow from Simon & Schuster!! Imogen was super fun to interview and kind enough to send me her very last ARC all the way from sunny England.

LINKED has it all--page-turning action, beautiful writing, crazy twists, and a romantic lead so swoony that even I (who am NOT a romance reader) had a huge crush on him. I highly recommend you check this book out.

To learn more about how Imogen wrote LINKED and what she used as inspiration for describing foreign planets and spaceships, go read the interview here!

BEA recap!

I'm a little late with my BEA recap, but sweet Moses was I exhausted when I got home. I slept on the entire six-hour flight back to L.A., came home, went to bed and slept for five hours, woke up totally disoriented, ate a sandwich and watched Mad Men with my husband, and went back to bed. SO TIRED. (Maybe going to Vegas the weekend before BEA wasn't the best plan...)

Anyhow, I'm caught up on sleep and feeling human again and here to tell you that BEA was excellent! I didn't spend a ton of time on the trade show floor, but how inspiring is it to be surrounded by thousands of book lovers? I got to meet fellow OneFourKidlit authors Susan Adrian and Erica Cameron (who came to my signing and got my very first ever signed ARC!), and lots of other awesome online writer friends. Hooray for meeting IRL!

One of the big highlights of the trip for me was that I finally got to meet and spend some time with my editor, Liz Szabla, who is utterly gracious and cool and reinforced my belief that I am working with the very best people. She also introduced me to fellow Feiwel author James Preller who is the nicest guy ever and has a new MG horror series coming out. Perfect Halloween gifts for my nephews, yes?

My ARC signing was on Friday, and it went splendidly. So bizarre and wonderful to meet people who are excited for my book! Here is photographic evidence of how I grinned like a maniac the entire time, with the delightful Anna Roberto of Macmillan looking on.

(Side note: Yes, I am aware that I hold my pen funny. I've always held it this way, except for a few years in elementary school where I was made to hold it the "right" way with a pencil grip. As soon as I was able to take the pencil grip off, I tried out this old way again, thought Yes this feels better, and never looked back. Sorry, most excellent Bruce Township Elementary teachers--you did your best.)

The whole experience went by so quickly, and I'm very grateful I had the opportunity to be there, meet so many incredible people, and learn so much. Now I'm settling in for the long haul (235 days to go!), and putting nose to the grindstone on book 2. It's definitely a different experience than writing the first book, but I'm learning a lot about myself as a writer (sloppy first draft! revisions are my friend!) and it's going pretty well.

A final word of BEA advice: If you're going to go, go with a friend. The fantabulous Liz Briggs flew out with me, and it was so nice so have someone to touch base with during the day and decompress with in the evening. Also, did you know that she has mad ninja skillz when it comes to getting highly coveted ARCs? I gave her my little wishlist, which included The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater and Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein, and wouldn't you know:

Ninja! <3

YAY KAT!!!

I'm so excited to finally be able to help share my good friend Kathryn Rose's exciting book deal news--she sold her steampunk Camelot YA in a two-book deal to Flux!

HOORAY KAT!!! I first met Kat almost exactly a year ago at a writing retreat, and now I cannot imagine the writing world without her witty humor and delicious brownies. Head over to her blog to read more and give her your congrats!

AND NOW WE DANCE THE HAPPY DANCE:

New digs!

My new website is live! Come on in and take a gander: www.rachelsearles.com. I'm so happy with the way it turned out, which is thanks to the very talented Mark Figlozzi at Bizango. I'm also happy to move away from my Awkward Girl blog title. Don't worry, I'm still just as awkward as ever, but I've moved on from those early what-the-heck-am-I-doing days (to a slightly more self-aware what-the-heck-am-I-doing phase).

My reading nook

In other news, BEA is next week! Ack! I can't wait, even if the idea of having ARCs out in the wild makes me want to simultaneously dance a jig and pull the covers over my head. I'm still drafting the sequel, and a couple of weeks ago I finally got that nice big CLICK of important pieces dropping into place. That feeling is the best, no? I spent last weekend up in the mountains at Lake Arrowhead with my local writer pals on our annual retreat, which was so much fun and so inspiring. I wish we could do these once a month instead of once a year!

As for books, my reading time has been pretty tight lately, so to remedy that I did something dumb with a heavy propane tank that resulted in several days of bedrest. When I wasn't zonked out I read GONE GIRL and ELEANOR & PARK, both of which caught my eye due to massive word of mouth. I think I was too overhyped on GG by the time I read it, but E&P was unexpected and lovely and the kind of story where you rush through the obligations of your day so you can get back to reading it. I also read an ARC of LINKED by Imogen Howson, and WOW! Such an intense ride! I'll be interviewing Imogen on the OneFourKidlit blog next month on her publication date, June 11th, so keep an eye out for that!

In which I get to show you...MY COVER!!!

Today I am absolutely hyperactively excited to share with the world the cover for my debut THE LOST PLANET!

Here it is!!!!

Isn't it FABULOUS?!! The gorgeous artwork was done by the very talented Jason Chan, and I have to say, the first time I saw it, it completely blew my mind. Actually, the first time I saw it, I was at an eye appointment without my glasses, peering at my phone with my -9.5 vision, and it still BLEW MY MIND.  I had no idea what to expect with my cover, and I'm so very, very happy that the artist and the brilliant people at Feiwel and Friends came up with something that captures the spirit of the book so perfectly!! Tell me what you think in the comments, I'd love to hear!

In other news, I also received these lovelies in the mail yesterday:

Real live ARCs!! (ARC = advance reader copy, for those who may not know...an uncorrected early version, not the final hardcover!) I may have spent a little time yesterday staring at them...and may even have taken a whiff or two of the pages. Book smell! My signing time at BEA is Friday the 31st from 11-12, so if you're going to be there, do come by and be sure to introduce yourself!!

Friday Tidbits

Happy Friday! I've got a few things to share with you all today:

My well-traveled elephant bush at its new home

First off--check it out! My book is available for pre-order on Amazon! This is very surreal to me.

Second, the BEA autographing authors list is out, and if you scroll down far enough you'll see my little name! Yes, I will be signing ARCs of THE LOST PLANET at BEA this spring! Right now this is kind of terrifying to me, but I'm sure it will be fun. I just feel bad for whoever the poor soul is that ends up first in line, because I can't promise I'll sign much more than a line of shaky chicken scratch on that first copy.

Third, it's not ready quite yet, but soon I will be launching my new website! I've been working with a very talented web designer who specializes in author's sites, and I'm very excited about what he's come up with. I can't wait to share it, so keep an eye out for changes ahead.

The move went smoothly and we're finally settled in our new home, although the garage is still full of unopened boxes. I've been made to promise that I will sort through my books and give all the inessential ones away before our next move. As I slowly put them all back on their shelves, I have to admit that this seems like a reasonable demand. But today is not for unpacking--today is for celebrating because some of my very favorite writers are on their way over as I type for a Friday mini-retreat. Huzzah! *scampers away to fire up the coffee pot*