NEWS! GLORIOUS NEWS!

I’m so excited to announce my new book deal:

 A MATTER OF HEART

will be published Spring, 2015

by Random House/Delacorte.

Here’s the write up in Publishers Weekly:

There was even a picture of me.

Me, having a good hair day.

I’m not going to lie. Seeing myself in Publishers Weekly is a very cool thing!

A MATTER OF HEART is a story I started a couple of years ago.  Inspiration first came when I learned about a young athlete who had attended my kids’ high school—and who had died from a heart condition when he was twenty years old.  In his honor, his mother created The Anthony Bates Foundation, and the foundation was providing heart tests at the school.  I brought my kids to be tested and met Sharon Bates.  I’m a mom, I have children who are athletes —how could I not be moved by this family’s tragedy?  How could I not be affected by the reality of this heart condition that kills adolescents?  I knew I had a story to write.

The first draft actually came easier to me than any story before (or since.) From the very beginning, I knew Abby so well, I understood what she was facing, and I needed to see what she would do.  It was a book I couldn’t put down once I started writing.  When I finished, I set it aside so I could come back to revisions with a clear mind. But other projects got in the way and it wasn’t until this year that I finished the book and it went out on submission.

If you want to know the scary truth, I felt like a brand new writer going out on submission for the first time.  Yes, I have two published books that I’m very proud of.  But they were geared for a tween market and my publisher, Walker, wanted me to write only for middle grade.   The problem? A MATTER OF HEART had to be older.  Abby had to be about sixteen.

That meant I was suddenly a YA author and on my own.

I needed a new publisher.

A new editor.

A new start.

It began coming together this summer. Wonderful feedback, contact from interested editors… I got that goose-bumpy feeling that something amazing would happen. And it did:  In the form of Krista Vitola at Delacorte.

Over the past few weeks while this was coming together, I’ve done more than a few Happy Dances (and toasted with more than a few glasses of red wine.)  But it’s never the same when you can’t share the news.  So I’m thrilled that I can tell the world now.  And I’m thrilled that A MATTER OF HEART is going to find it’s way into the world.  It’s so cool to be with a publisher like Random House and with an imprint like Delacorte that has such a wonderful reputation.  And it’s a writer’s dream to find an editor like Krista who believes in my story.

Spring 2015 feels like a long way off, but it’ll be fun to share the process along the way.

Thanks for all your friendship and support along the way.

And now, a new chapter begins. 🙂