A Moment, and a story
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📸: @janaemarksbooks
🎥: @claribel_ortega
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First off, what an unforgettable #ALAMW20—thank you @americanlibraryassociation for inviting me, to my fabulous @macmillan_lib team for taking care of me (and having the best booth!), and to all of the incredible librarians and readers who came to my signing. I’m so honored I got to talk to a room filled with so many brilliant teens and share WHERE DREAMS DESCEND with them, along with this amazing reading community. The past week has been an absolute whirlwind of a time, one filled with the most rewarding moments and so many dreams fulfilled.
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Story time: The first time I attended #ALAMW was in January 2016. I had no agent, no book deal, no job, and really no friends to hang out with at this event so I just wandered the exhibit hall alone, picking up ARCs and standing in signing lines, hoping one day the author behind the table could be me. Years later, at #ALAMW20, I’m a soon-to-be debut, taking time off from a day job I love to start promoting my novel, surrounded by the best publishing team and supportive friends, with my book’s gorgeous cover enlarged on a banner behind me. Overwhelmed is an understatement for what I felt the moment I stepped out from behind the booth, and saw so many readers waiting in line to get their copies of WHERE DREAMS DESCEND signed. And to anyone reading this who stood in my line, thank you for your excitement, for showing up, and for this moment. This was the exact moment I remembered a flash of myself in 2016....how much has changed and how much hasn’t. My badge may have a different title now, and my lipstick may have gotten redder, but the stars in my eyes back then never quite left. And I don’t suspect they will any time soon.
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#wheredreamsdescend #roaring20sdebut #authorsofinstagram #wednesdaybooks #writersofinstagram #authorsofig #writersofig #bookish #writingcommunity
*closed!* ✨SIGNED ARC GIVEAWAY✨ To kick off the Roaring 20s, who wants a chance to win an autographed copy of TWO 2020 ARCs? @dianaurban and I have teamed up for a “Where Twisted Secrets Descend” giveaway—a YA fantasy and thrilled mashup! ❤️🖤 One lucky winner will receive one signed ARC of each:
WHERE DREAMS DESCEND: Phantom of the Opera meets Moulin Rouge and The Night Circus! An ambitious showgirl, a mysterious club owner, and a secretive showman take center stage in a magicians competition that quickly turns into a dangerous game behind the scenes.
ALL YOUR TWISTED SECRETS: A locked-room thriller R.L. Stone called “a frightening page-turner”— six teens are locked in a room and find a syringe of poison, a bomb, and a note saying they have to pick one of them to kill within an hour, or else they’ll all die. 🚨 HOW TO ENTER 🚨
1. Comment on this post tagging TWO (2) readers who would enjoy these books
2. Follow both @dianaurban and me
3. Like this post ✨BONUS ENTRY: share this post in your stories or feed. Tag both @dianaurban and me so we see it!
RULES:
✅ International ok!
✅ Ends 1/11/20 at 11:59 pm est
✅ Giveaway not sponsored or endorsed by Instagram or FB
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#bookstagram #yabookstagram #yafantasy #bookgram #booksbooksandmorebooks #booknerdigans #bookstagramfeature #bookstagrammer #bookphotography #bookcommunity #booknerd #instaread #bookaesthetic #bookgiveaway #roaring20sdebut #wheredreamsdescend #authorsofig #bookaholic #writersofig #writersofinstagram #wednesdaybooks
Roaring 20s starter pack: good friends, good vibes, and a good jumpsuit 🔥
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The past decade has been such a ride—one filled with lots of highs and lows, losses and joys, hopes crushed and dreams followed and actually realized. My biggest dream has been more than a decade in the making—years of long hours at my desk, endless nights and weekends in to get the work done, reading and rereading words a hundred times over to get them just right—and now, that dream is finally approaching. Since I started writing #WhereDreamsDescend in 2015, I honestly didn’t think it would sell. Since it sold in 2018, I thought surely there’s enough time for everything to go wrong and the book deal to disappear before it even took off. And now in 2020, I want to break that cycle of constant underestimation and self-doubt. “Expect the worst but for hope the best” has always been a mantra for me, but out of habit, I’ve always given more weight to the worst than the best. I hope I can change that by enjoying the best of this year and beyond, and cherishing each moment, good and bad, of the dream I’ve been working toward for over half my life. I hope to also change that by breaking the habit of always saying sorry for things I don’t have to apologize for, by screaming about my book whenever I can, by being loudly proud of it and myself for getting this far. More self-love and unapologetic confidence—that’s the energy I want to bring into the new year. What’s yours?
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#roaring20sdebut #authorsofinstagram #authorsofig #writersofinstagram #writersofig #writerscommunity #newyear #newyearsresolution #authorlife #baymtgo
