Tag Archive for: Graduation Day

What’s next?

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by: Joelle Charbonneau

Being a writer is a funny thing.  You write a book.  The process of writing that book takes months or years.  Then there is the editing, which can take more months, copyedits, page proofs, etc…etc…etc…  Shepherding a book from the opening line to the moment where it hits shelves and magically ends up in readers’ hands can take years.  Release day is a joyous and nerve-wracking event.  I know I tend to gnaw off my fingernails hoping that the people who pick up the book will like it….or more to the point, hoping that people actually pick up the book!  A week goes by in that happy state.  Maybe two, if you’re lucky.  Then comes the question….

What’s next?

When’s the next book?

What are you writing now?

And while it can be a little startling at times for writers who just had a book hit shelves to hear people ask when the next one is going to make its way into bookstores (because, hey–no pressure or anything) – it is also wonderful.  Knowing that readers are engaged enough to want to mark their calendars so they don’t miss the next release is something to truly celebrate.

What’s next is on my mind a lot right now.  Technically, I know what’s next for readers.  Skating Under The Wire (Rebecca Robbins #4) will be published on Oct. 1st.  I even known what’s next for readers several books past that.  Independent Study (The Testing Trilogy #2) AND A Chorus Lineup (Glee Club #3) both will arrive in bookstores on January 7th, 2014 with Graduation Day (The Testing Trilogy #3) coming out on June 3, 2014.

Phew.  It makes me tired thinking about it.

And yet, not that tired, because even though I just turned in copyedits for Graduation Day yesterday, I can’t help thinking about “What’s next?” for me.  What new story will I tell?  You’d think I’d want a break after writing 5 books in just over a year and a half.  Heck, I thought I did.  But now that I’ve climbed the mountain that brought me here, I can’t help searching for a new one to climb.  And hopefully, readers will want to take that journey with me.

So, how about you?  Readers – when you finish a book you love, do you automatically wonder when the next book by that author will be published?  And for my fellow writers – do you reach the other side of the mountain, pitch a tent and relax or are you crazy like me and start gearing up immediately for the next climb?

THE TESTING – Giveaway!

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by: Joelle Charbonneau

As I am frantically typing the final chapters to GRADUATION DAY (book 3 of The Testing Trilogy), I have found that my ability to multitask has become severely impacted.  Getting to THE END tends to give me tunnel vision. Nothing exists but completing the story.  Then the fun of editing will begin. I look forward to that part a great deal and can’t wait to dig in. 

Hopefully, by the time you are reading this, I will have reached the final moments of this trilogy.  This has been an unusual project for me since I will finish writing and revising the third book long before the first book comes out on June 4th.  Hopefully, readers will embrace Cia and that I have done justice to her story.  She is a heroine I have loved watching grow and change.

To celebrate my (almost) completion of the final book, I am going to give away an ARC of THE TESTING.

It’s graduation day for sixteen-year-old Malencia Vale, and the entire Five
Lakes Colony (the former Great Lakes) is celebrating. All Cia can think
about—hope for—is whether she’ll be chosen for The Testing, a United
Commonwealth program that selects the best and brightest new graduates to become
possible leaders of the slowly revitalizing post-war civilization. When Cia is
chosen, her father finally tells her about his own nightmarish half-memories of
The Testing. Armed with his dire warnings (”Cia, trust no one”), she bravely
heads off to Tosu City, far away from friends and family, perhaps forever.
Danger, romance—and sheer terror—await. 

THE TESTING is a bit different from my adult mysteries.  No camels or angry standard poodles.  No singing and dancing or roller skating.  But I’m hoping you’ll still like it.  Please leave a comment below to enter (US and CANADA only – sorry!).  I’ll choose the winning commenter on Friday.  Also please leave your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win.   

Okay – back to racing to THE END!