End of May #WIPMadness Check-in - What did you accomplish this month?

Surprise, surprise! I made it back for another May check-in! You know the saying, "A busy person gets more done?" Yes, well, apparently it's true.

I have finished up a big writing project this month, as well as started working on my screenplay again, and now I've just received my edits on FOREIGN EXCHANGE, so I'm busy at work on those. It's the end of the school year, so tying up projects and last-minute field trips and reporting in have also kept me very busy.

I've also been reading some FABULOUS novels this month. I'll be back when I have a little more time to share about those, because I want to do them justice, but if you've read anything amazing lately, I'd love to hear about it.

How about you? Did you get more than you thought you would done this month? Did you start something new? Or did you take some much needed time off?

I think our next official #WIPMadness host is scheduled for July, unless anyone would like to take on June??? Not much is required (as you can see by my May jump-in posts!) Just post a check-in on your blog each Monday and tweet about it so we don't forget. Anyone up for that?

Anyway, I hope your May has been wonderful, whatever you have been up to!

YAYYYYYY!!! Good News!

You know when you have to sit on good news for a really long time and it practically kills you to keep it to yourself? Yeah, that. But it's finally time. Some of you may have seen the Publisher's Marketplace announcement, but if not...here's the news...

My next book will be out THIS OCTOBER from Evernight Teen! I am over the moon about it, and so far Evernight has been a complete joy to work with. Here is the official announcement:

Author of NEVER ENOUGH, Denise Jaden’s FOREIGN EXCHANGE, in which two teens sneak away from their European class trip to rescue their missing friend and fall in love in the process, to Evernight Teen by Michelle Humphrey at the Martha Kaplan Agency.

I'm working on a longer summary, if you want to know more. In fact, I have two versions. Let me know which one hooks you more, or if you have suggestions, I'm all ears!

#1 - Without the courage of her fearless best friend, risk-averse Jamie Monroe wouldn't normally flirt with a hot older guy or traipse across Europe in search of her Italian absentee father. But when her brave best friend suddenly goes missing in Italy and all signs say she wasn’t on the safe foreign exchange program everyone thought, Jamie is forced to break all the rules—seducing information from her best friend’s hotter-than-hot older brother, and then sneaking away from her European class trip with him. Sawyer and Jamie launch onto a globetrotting mission to rescue her best friend from the web of dangerous secrets she’s woven to keep her real purpose for being in Europe hidden. 


#2 – Jamie Monroe has always played it safe. That is, until her live-for-the-moment best friend, Tristan, jets off to Italy on a student exchange program. Left alone with her part-time mother and her disabled brother, Jamie discovers that she is quite capable of taking her own risks, starting with her best friend’s hotter-than-hot older brother, Sawyer. Sawyer and Tristan have been neighbors for years, but as Jamie grows closer to the family she thought she knew, she discovers some pretty big secrets, not only from her, but from each other. As she sinks deeper into their web of pretense, she suspects that her best friend may not be on a safe exchange program at all. Jamie sets off to Europe on a class trip with plans to meet up with Tristan, but when Tristan stops all communication, suddenly no one seems trustworthy, least of all the one person she was starting to trust—Sawyer.  

Still tweaking these, but they should give you an idea of what the book is like. If you haven't read it. Which many of you probably have, because I've had SO MUCH help with this book! That's one reason I'm so thrilled to see it finally getting out into the world. Another reason is because this is the book that carried me through a very hard year after my dad died. It was kind of a bright spot that I always looked forward to working on. For that reason, and others, I think this is probably my favorite book I have written.

And now... I can't wait to share it with you!

If you are a blogger and would like an early review copy, please let me know (You can email me at d(at)denisejaden(dot)com). Or...if you're interested in helping me spread the word about this book and others (and perhaps reading an early copy), I have set up a small Street Team group on Facebook. Let me know if you'd like to join and your Facebook username, and I'll send you an invite.

I'm so very thankful for all of the amazing people who support me and my writing, and now for a new connection with an awesome publisher. It's going to be a good year...

Surprise May Check-In #WIPMadness

Hi all,

I knew I wouldn't have the organizational skills to keep up on hosting WIP Madness through May, but at the same time, it's really hard to set goals and keep up on them in 140 characters or less, isn't it?

So this post will serve as our at least a one-time check-in for May. I can't promise more, but I will try.

What are you up to this month? Have you already set goals? Have you already achieved or made headway toward them?

As for me, I was in limbo waiting for feedback on a couple of projects. In the meantime, I was working on mapping out an online course I plan to teach this summer. Of course I got all the feedback on my manuscripts at once, so not I'm working hard at figuring out how to best implement it all. I hope to get one manuscript polished off by the end of May.

How about you?

(Also, I wanted to add the little WIPMadness badge that some awesome person made up for us - Was that Mary Ann? I'm lacking in organizational skills, remember?--but I can't find it anywhere in my files. Does anyone still have this kicking around? This one works (thanks, Carol!) but I was looking for the one that said WIPMadness and included the little harried character.)

Okay, now THIS is funny. Carol just wrote and said, "You have a graphic that sounds like that... "#WIPmadness Participant" with a harried guy... in your blog's sidebar already. Is that the one?"

Yes, Carol, that is EXACTLY the one I meant! So there's a little glimpse into my disorganized state these days. LOL. So glad I have you guys around!

Just Out: WILL THE REAL ABI SAUNDERS PLEASE STAND UP by Sara Hantz!

I had a chance to read an early copy of this book and loved it! A quick easy read that takes straight into the world of kickboxing, movie-star style!

  Will The Real Abi Saunders Please Stand Up by Sara Hantz is now available!

About the book: Abi Saunders might be a kickboxing champion, but when it comes to being the center of attention, she’d rather take a roundhouse kick to the solar plexus any day. So when her trainer convinces her to audition to be the stunt double for hot teen starlet Tilly Watson, Abi is shocked—and a little freaked out—when she gets the job. Being a stunt double is overwhelming, but once the wig and makeup are on, Abi feels like a different person. Tilly Watson, to be exact. And when Tilly’s gorgeous boyfriend, Jon, mistakes Abi for the real star, Abi's completely smitten. In fact, she’s so in love with her new life, it isn’t long before she doesn’t have time for her old one. But when the cameras are turned off, will she discover running with the Hollywood A-list isn’t quite the glamorous existence she thought it was?

You can buy the book here: Amazon Barnes and Noble Book Depository

What Others Are Saying: "Abi Saunders is a kickass heroine with a story full of action and heart." Melissa Walker author of Ashes to Ashes and Small Town Sinners.
 "Will the Real Abi Saunders Please Stand Up delivers the good stuff - kickboxing stunt double, Hollywood A-listers, mistaken identity, romance. This one is a contender!" Linda Gerber, author of the Lights, Camera, Cassidy series.
 "Will the Real Abi Saunders Please Stand Up packs a delicious punch of realism and Hollywood magic in one hit." Allison Rushby, author of Being Hartley, the Living Blond Trilogy and Shooting Stars.