Erica O'Rourke

Dissonance Blog Tour: Day 10 + a quiz

Fun things for you today!

The FINAL excerpt in the Dissonance Blog Tour is up at The Cover Contessa. I like to call this one, "Of Strings and Sisters and Really Poor Choices."

Also, Kelley of Oh, The Books! created a "Could you be a Walker?" Quiz. As always with multiple choice tests, I overthought this one and missed a question, but all the answers are found on the blog tour -- plus, she has a giveaway for a FINISHED hardcover copy of Dissonance, so head on over!

Have a great weekend, all! Less than a week to go!

Dissonance Blog Tour: Day 8, plus more events!

The next excerpt is live! Check it out at Paranormal Book Club! And if you want to start at the beginning of the excerpt tour, head over to Oh, The Books!

I'm also gearing up for a bunch of events! First, of course, is the launch party at The Book Stall in Winnetka, this coming Tuesday, July 22. I can't wait to see you guys there!

 

 

New and upcoming events:

Friday, July 25, 6:30pm

I'll be participating in a group signing at the Crystal Lake Barnes and Noble with some amazing authors: Joelle Charbonneau, Liz Czukas, and Stacey Kade.We'll be talking about all things pop-culture related, which can only end hilariously.

Sunday, September 7

I'm thrilled to be signing with my dear friends Sarah J. Maas and Susan Dennard at Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville, IL. More details, including a time and a link to the event are coming soon.

October 25-26

I'll be on a panel at the Chicago Writer's Conference with the hilarious middle-grade author Allan Woodrow, giving practical advice for breaking into the childrens'/ young adult market. I'll also be around for the rest of the conference, just chatting, so come say hello!

 

Another Signing, WIP Friday, and Liars.

Happy-Almost-Easter, if Easter is your thing! I mentioned this over on Tumblr, but I will be signing on Thursday, April 24th, 7pm, at Read Between The Lynes (Woodstock, IL) with some amazing authors: Mindee Arnett and Stacey Kade!

 

As I mentioned in this post, we'll also be signing in Hoffman Estates on Saturday, April 26 , but the event in Woodstock will be a ton of fun! We'll be chatting about books and writing and pretty much anything else that comes to mind, as well as answering questions and passing out swag, and wielding my usual silver sharpie.

On the WIP Friday front, this image says it all:

 

I'm revising Dissonance 2, and while I try not to be too precious about my writing and revision process, these pens are non-negotiable. Alas, they are also Big Marshmallow's favorite pens in the world, and they are not cheap, so I bought a box and now have to hide them in my TARDIS cookie jar. Which means there is no space for cookies. But one must suffer for one's art, I suppose.

When I'm not revising, I'll be reading THIS amazing book. I'm even going to force myself NOT to peek at the ending, which is a herculean effort. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend filled with good books, no matter what or how you celebrate!

 

RITA Finalist Shindig Chat: THURSDAY

So...what are you guys doing Thursday night?

Wanna chat? Wanna VIDEO chat? Wanna meet not just me, but the other Romance Writers of America's RITA finalists? (You might have heard of them -- Robin LaFevers, Katie McGarry, and Emily McKay!)

Now's your chance! The four of us will be participating in a Shindig Chat THIS Thursday, June 20th, from 8-9pm Eastern time. I've had the chance to use Shindig before. It's an incredibly cool video chatroom, where you can see me, and I can see you (or not -- you can choose to make it audio-only), and we can both video chat and text, along with a room full of people.

It's basically a party in my laundry room. You've all been dying to see my office/laundry room, haven't you? I'm not promising I'll tell you DISSONANCE secrets, or what happened to everybody after the end of BOUND, but I'm not NOT promising that, either.

You DO need to RSVP to the event so that the good people at Shindig can send you the appropriate link. Click here for more information: http://shindig.com/event/rwayoungadult

See you there!

 

The Summer of All The Words

I don’t know about you, but around here, summer is hell on my writing schedule. The calendar books up quickly, the kids are home from school, and the usual routines fly out the window. I like my children quite a bit, but nothing puts the kibosh on spontaneous family fun faster than the realization that I haven’t made my daily wordcount. Balancing work and family is always trickiest for me once summer hits, and this year is no exception.

Over celebratory sushi this weekend (yay for meeting deadlines!) I was discussing summer plans with my friend and fellow YA author Clara Kensie. We’ve found that writing together keeps us more focused and productive, and we were searching for a way to continue our meetups in the face of warm weather chaos.We reviewed our goals, realized how much work we were facing, panicked for a few minutes, and then decreed this would be the SUMMER OF ALL THE WORDS.

(It might have been the lychee martini talking.)

We needed a plan. And by the time we’d finished the last pieces of salmon avocado roll, we had one – and we’d love for you to join us. Our goal is to create a flexible, low-stress way to check in with other writers during the lazy days of summer, so we’re keeping it as simple as possible:

For the next thirteen weeks – until Labor Day weekend – we’ll be meeting up on Twitter at 10pm CST, Sunday through Thursday, for an hour of work. You will know us by our hashtag: #SoATW. (My twitter handle is @erica_orourke; Clara’s is @clarakensie.)

For that hour, you can work on whatever you want: drafting, revising, proofreading, synopsis-writing, query letters, blog content…it’s totally up to you. You don’t have to work on the same project every time (I definitely won’t be). You can write in any genre. The point is to give you a small, dedicated block of time each day to focus on whatever aspect of your writing is most pressing.

On Fridays, both Erica and Clara will post a tip on their websites about surviving summer chaos, and we’ll open up the comments – to share tips, to celebrate meeting your week’s goal and set ones for the following weeks, and to ask for suggestions.

Participation is completely voluntary – you can show up only on Tuesdays, every day, or every third Wednesday. You can check in on Fridays or lurk in the comments or ignore the weekly posts. Use what’s helpful and leave the rest.

The one thing we DO ask is that at the nightly Twitter meetup, you use this hashtag: #SoATW. This way, other participants will recognize you.

FAQ:

So, how exactly does this work?

A few minutes before 10pm CENTRAL TIME, if you’re following Clara or me, you’ll see something like this on Twitter: Starting #SoATW in five minutes! Who’s in? I’m revising Chapter 8.

At 10pm CST: Time for #SoATW – see you in an hour!

At 11pm CST:Halfway through Chapter 8.  How’d everyone do? #SoATW

Remember: use the hashtag, or we won’t know you’re participating!

Why 10pm?

Our days and evenings are filled with work and kids and various obligations. By 10, life has settled enough that we can head into our writing cave and close the door for an hour. Staying up until 11 won’t turn us into total zombies the next day, though it might require an extra cup of coffee.

Why Sunday through Thursday?

If your summers are anything like ours, Friday and Saturday nights book up pretty fast. We’re not looking to put a crimp in your social life.

Why only an hour?

An hour is enough time to make progress, if you do it consistently, but it doesn’t feel like an overwhelming commitment.

Look at it this way: if you can write 1000 words in an hour, five times a week, you’d end up with 5000 words each week. 5000 words a week, over twelve weeks, means you’d have 60,000 words by Labor Day. Even if that’s not an entire book, it’s a pretty good start.

If you’re revising, you can still use this formula: ____ pages per hour x 5 hours x 12 weeks = ______. (Feel free to write your own formula. I was an English major and cannot be trusted with numbers.

Why thirteen weeks?

Because that’s how many weeks we have until Labor Day. In the formula above, we’re assuming people will have vacation or family obligations for at least one of those weeks. And it’s always nice to leave some wiggle room.

I can’t possibly get all my work done in an hour! Can I do more?

Of course! The Twitter meetups function like a virtual writing date, but if you need more time to make your goals, take it! We’re here when you need us, and we’ll cheer you on. 

I can’t make it Mondays!

Totally fine, my friend. Pop around when you can, and we’ll be thrilled to see you.

More questions? Hit us in the comments!

We’ll see you at 10pm CST tonight.

Places I Will Be This Week:

1. My desk, revising DISSONANCE, drinking lots of coffee.
2. Parent-Child Night at Big Marshmallow's school. I have been informed that I will "cry tears of joy" during the big finale. This is probably true.
3. This Wednesday, I'll be at Anderson's Bookshop for the THREERIFFIC AUTHOR NIGHT!  Jenn Rush is coming into town to celebrate the release of the amazing ALTERED, Julie Cross will be celebrating the release of VORTEX, the second book in her time-travel TEMPEST series, and I will be signing the TORN trilogy and (maybe) answering some questions about DISSONANCE. Jenn and Julie are both fabulous, funny women and I think it's really going to be a great time, so feel free to come by. If you can't make it, you can still get a signed copy by ordering from Andersons using the link above. I am fairly certain there will be lots of swag, too.
   
   
4. Saturday, I'll be at Anderson's Children's Literature Breakfast. This is kind of mind-blowing, guys. The lineup of speakers includes Amy Krause Rosenthal, who wrote our beloved LITTLE PEA, and BLUE FREAKING BALLIETT, who wrote CHASING VERMEER and its companions, THE WRIGHT THREE and THE CALDER GAME, and who has a new release (HOLD FAST) coming out. Every time I feel a little grumpy about writing in my laundry room, I remind myself that if it is good enough for BLUE BALLIETT, it is good enough for me. Anyway, I will be there, signing books and chatting and drinking coffee, but mostly I will be stalking BLUE BALLIETT. You do need a ticket to get in, and please note that the breakfast is being held off-site, not at Anderson's Naperville location.
   
   (Let us take a moment to talk about the delight that is Anderson's Bookshop. It's a beautiful store, the people who work there genuniely love books and readers and authors, and every signing, whether as an author or a squeeing fangirl has been thougtfully and efficiently handled. The quality and variety of authors who hold events there is staggering. There are no indie bookstores near my house, which breaks my heart, but Anderson's is well worth the drive. It's one of those places where you walk in and immediately think, "These are my people." If you can get there, you should, even if it's just on a random Sunday to browse. You won't regret it.)
5. In the kitchen, brewing another pot of coffee to drink while I do more revisions on DISSONANCE. (This is my way of saying that things here on Ye Olde Blogge will be pretty quiet for the rest of the month, though I will probably pop in and ask you to help me choose a new author photo soon. I promise to be much more entertaining in March.) If you're curious about where I've been, the best thing to do is head over to my friend Doug Mack's blog, Five Bad Ideas, where he will tell you all about the cruise we taught on last December. He's funnier and posting more regularly than I am, too.   While you're at it, read his book -- EUROPE ON FIVE WRONG TURNS A DAY, which made me laugh so hard I kept waking up my husband. 

I'll be back eventually with author pics and other shenanigans.

 

 

 

Off The Grid

Popping in for only a moment to say farewell! I'm heading out this afternoon to teach. On a cruise. Through the Panama Canal. With Sandra Day O'Connor and Julian Bond.

If I tell you I am already missing my family like crazy, you're not going to feel even the teensiest bit sorry for me, are you?

It turns out that boats don't have free wifi, so I'll be going radio silent soon. I'll be back the week before Christmas, full of pictures and stories and holiday cheer. And maybe even a little bit of a tan, for the first time in...ever.

In the meatime, have fun. I'll miss YOU like crazy, too. And if you see my husband, please remind him to water the Christmas tree.

Exciting News: Moffat Edition

Sometimes in publishing, you have to keep your mouth shut.

 

Sometimes, people will ask what's new and exciting. They want to know about your new projects. If you've got any news. Then you have to dissemble. Play it cool. Nothing to see here, move along.

(source)

Even though on the inside, you're like this:

 

(source)

And then the news comes out, and you have to act surprised:

 

(source)

All of which is to say, I have some news.

Alexandra Cooper of Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers has bought two books by Erica O'Rourke in a preempt: Dissonance, and a sequel, about a girl who walks between worlds, falling for different versions of the same boy in each place. Dissonance has a projected pub date of fall 2013; O'Rourke is the author of the Torn series, which recently concluded with Bound. Joanna Volpe of New Leaf Literary & Media was the agent.

 

 

I'll come back and explain more later, but for now, know this: I'm terrified and thrilled all at the same time, because this book -- which I love like you cannot believe -- is scary and complicated and full of jiggery-pokery, and I am hoping like hell I've got the chops to pull it off. I'm incredibly fortunate, though, because my editor -- and the entire team at S&S -- are brilliant and amazing. They're helping me shape this book into what it wants to be. So, if you had to sum up my state of mind these days, especially now that I'm able to tell you, it would look a lot like this.

I'm a big proponent of the notion that you should do the very thing that scares you most, which is exactly what I'm doing, and honestly...

 

I can't wait.

 

 

Weekend Adventure: Madison, WI

First off, if you haven't entered the Map-Making Contest, what are you waiting for? You can win an ARC of BOUND!!! Go!

All entered?

We're trying to have more family adventures this summer, aso over the weekend, we visited my younger sister up in Madison. It might possibly be the best way to spend a summer weekend in the entire world: relatively short, scenic drive (if you like looking at old barns and gently rolling farmland, which I do), warm-but-not sweltering weather, activities that appeal to a variety of ages. (Our group ranged from "post-my-age-on-the-internet-and-you're-out-of-the-will" to three.)

For reference, here's a picture of my gorgeous, stylish, adventure-loving, hard-working, gourmet-cooking sister. (Though not from this weekend.)

If you can make it to Madison, you should. Here's a list of ten things to get you started once you're there.

1. Dane County Farmer's Market, Capitol Square (Saturdays)
Admittedly, the crowds here are daunting, but load yourself up with some reusable grocery bags and try it anyway: squeaky cheese curds, ginger-rhubarb jam, tiny ruby-colored strawberries, hot & spicy cheese bread, the sweetest sugar snap peas you've ever had, and whatever else is growing. You can also get free-range meat and a zillion types of cheese, but make sure you have access to a fridge. Small fries who don't appreciate the hunt for the perfect tomato can play on the capitol lawn.

We recently joined a CSA, and were able to meet two of the farmers on this visit. Kurt "probably guaranteed" strawberries in this week's box (which is as good of a guarantee as one gets in farming). My kids loved meeting the people who work so hard to bring us amazing produce each week.

2. Madison Children's Museum:

Small, but packed with activities, including the coolest art studio imaginable: we painted on a glass wall, made a pirate ship out of nature materials, played with something that looked like a TARDIS, ran in a giant gerbil wheel, and petted chickens and mice. There's even a five-and-under area for Big Marshmallow and her compatriots.

I kind of want a chicken now.

3. Sardine

We didn't visit Sardine this time around, but it's a family favorite: delicious food that's interesting without being confusing and a gorgeous lake food. Yes, that's my sister in their website's banner. I told you it was one of our favorites.

4. El Dorado Grill

This is my absolute favorite restaurant, perhaps in the entire world. Delicious, interesting southwestern food and the most incredible margaritas I've ever had. Get there early or prepare to wait. And make sure to order the Texas Tornadoes.

5. Graze

Fancy locavore food at reasonable prices in a beautiful location. Also, they have crawfish beignets. Again, arrive early. It's one of the trendiest places in town, but don't let that deter you.

 

6. Victory Coffee

My sister's favorite coffeeshop, and I am inclined to agree. It's a tiny, friendly neighborhood place, and the coffee is strong and delicious.

7. Williamson Street

Madison has something of a reputation for...granola-ness, and a walk down Willy Street will show you why. It's a funky, eclectic mix of houses, shops, and restaurants. Give yourself time to wander and browse.

8. Hardware Store Coffee

Every time we go to Madison, I force my husband to stop at this old-fashioned Ace Hardware. It has the dusty, oily, wood-shaving smell of a real hardware store, aisles crammed together with the usual supplies (and some surprises). Most of all, it has its own blend of coffee: Just Coffee's Tradesmen Blend.

9. Henry Vilas Zoo

Oh, my children love the Madison Zoo. We love it as well, because 1.) cute animals and 2.) like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, it's not too big and not too small. You can manage it in an afternoon and still have time for other adventures.

10. Boring, but necessary: Courtyard by Mariott

Yes, it's a chain hotel in a town whose spirit is decidely indie. Yes, it's on the far east side of the city. Yes, my child did say to me upon waking, "If you're looking for a breathtaking view, look somewhere else." But here's the deal: the cool hotels in downtown, near the Capitol? Expensive. The B&Bs are quaint but tiny. The Courtyard has spacious suites, a pool for the kids, a great lobby/work area with a bar, decent food, and a Starbucks. It's clean and affordable and the staff is insanely nice. It's a bit of a drive into downtown, so I recommend leaving the car in a parking garage and walking as much as possible. We've tried other hotels in the area, but this is the best we've found for families.

Three Guesses Where We're Going Today? (UPDATED)

...and the first two don't count.

 

(Your first hint.)

 

(This ain't my first time at the rodeo.)

 

(Rare footage of the elusive Kitty Maya.)

(We are not amused, says Per.)

 

Looks like fun, right? I envision the afternoon going much like this book, which is a favorite of ours.  The current plan is to bait the carriers with oodles of treats, since they're lazy, greedy little beasts. Other tips/tricks/advice are welcome.

 

Update: Mrs. Silverstein's advice (see comments) was spot-on! We lured Per in with treats, and she totally fell for it. Maya does not like treats, so we suited up, lowered her in, and trundled off to the vet. The verdict: generally healthy kitties, though we're going in again next month. I haven't broken the news to them just yet. I'm sure they're already plotting their revenge.