Book birthday week in images

For Whisper Falls, the first official week of life has been a lot of fun. I've been obsessive about watching the numbers, which are fine. Reviews have been good. And some readers have tweeted or emailed me with the nicest messages.

Here are a few images from some of the events of the past week.

The lovely young lady beside me is the freelance editor Laura who helped me polish Whisper Falls before it sold.

I'm signing a book at a private launch party. (Thank you, Lisa!) The pen was made for me by a high school classmate. (Thank you, Lou!)

My husband snapped the above photo at my first public book signing at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, NC.  The lovely lady before me is a fellow Mississippian who heard about the book on TV and came to meet me. Waiting politely and patiently at the side is Emilia, the daughter of one of my critique partners.

This last image was taken at the Cary Community Library. The county library system is carrying my books; thanks to them for supporting local authors!

I love booksignings

I had my first public book-signing on Sunday (at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, NC.)

At 3pm, the seats were half-filled, which made me blink.  At 3:05, it was standing room only.  That was cool.

I was incredibly nervous for about the first 25 seconds. Then it was just great. I loved talking with this group of readers, answering their questions, listening to their thoughts.  We had a reading from the book; my husband narrated for Mark (the hero) and my daughter narrated for Susanna (the heroine.) That was amazing.

It takes a lot of people to produce a book. Without my family, I couldn't have done it.

Then came the problem. The book store ran out of books.  Now, this is a good kind of problem to have. But it also means that I'll have to drive back to the store later this week to sign several books that are on order. I do not mind. Really.

Hmm, now I need to find other places to sign books! That was fun.

Happy birthday, Whisper Falls!

Today is the release day for Whisper Falls!

It has been a long time. Here are a few numbers to consider.

• How long from contract to release? 559 days, 80 weeks, or 18 months
• How long I wrote before publication? 14 years
• How many books have I sold? 4 novels
• How many words in Whisper Falls? 95,000 words
• How many revision cycles? 5
• How many sequels? 2
• How many people offered editorial advice? 6
• How many years did I research before beginning? 6
• How many people do I owe a debt of gratitude to? countless

So, with that, let me say a big thank you to everyone who has participated in the process:

• friends
• historians and docents
• school teachers
• fellow authors
• contest judges
• extended family
• cover artist
• cover models
• publisher
• editors
• agent
• husband and daughters
• readers

Tomorrow is official publication day!

It's almost here. Less than 24 hours away. At midnight, Whisper Falls will be officially released, and I will be a published author!

It's the final day of the blog tour that launches the book. I'm guest interviewing with the Cover Contessa today.

Counting down to 1 last day...

Only 2 days until Whisper Falls releases

For my friends in Australia and New Zealand, here are a couple of items that might interest you:

• The Big W in Australia has Whisper Falls available as an e-book. They have a sample! You can read 5 chapters now.
• MyGuiltyObsession has a guest blog post from me today. In it, I discuss how a YA librarian in New Zealand helped me with the setting of Whisper Falls.

All right, must get back to writing the new book!

Only 3 days until Whisper Falls

We are three days away from the official publication date of Whisper Falls.

I'm excited, nervous, and really happy. It's taken a lot of years and the help of a lot of people to get here. Now it's left to readers to enjoy!

I'm featured on a blog today. Join me at NeverEndingStories, to learn a little about the book and my writing journey.

And Powell's Books has WF listed on its New Arrivals in Historical Fiction page. That is cool!

Launching Whisper Falls - counting down 1 week

We are a week out. The official release date is November 19th. 7 days. After 18 months of waiting, we're almost there.

I checked the Amazon Hot New Release list today (in YA Historical) and both versions are there: paperback at #14 and digital at #8!

I'm guest blogging today at Because Reading about my journey to publication. Check it out!

Launching Whisper Falls - Day 7

Let me start by recognizing what a special day this is for America as well as the community of nations. Today is Veterans Day. Thank you to veterans everywhere.

I have three links to share.

• The Whisper Falls blog tour takes us to FantasyBookAddict where I'm interviewed about writing this book: http://www.fantasybookaddict.com/2013/11/11/elizabeth-langston/
• WRAL-TV news anchor Bill Leslie interviewed me live today on the Noon newscast. [I cannot find a link for the interview--but will post one as soon as I can find it.]
• Several weeks ago, I posted a story on this blog about an experience I'd had while serving in the military. Read it again on the Veterans Day post of a writer's group blog

We're still counting down. 8 more days until the official release date of Whisper Falls!

Whisper Falls Blog Tour - Day 5

It's the fifth day of the Whisper Falls Blog Tour.

Today's stop includes a review of my book at Letters in the Sand.

Launching Whisper Falls - Day One

We are two weeks away from the official release date of Whisper Falls, November 19th.

For the next 14 days, the enthusiastic publicity staff at my publishing house (Spencer Hill Press) have organized a different "event" each day.

Join us as often as you like. There will be book reviews, interviews of the author (that's me!), guest posts by the author (me again!), and a giveaway or two.

First up: http://readingwithme.tumblr.com/

Interview on AL Davroe blog

I'm being interviewed today (Friday, Nov 1) by AL Davroe. Check out the blog post and enter a rafflecopter giveaway (2 prizes, one for North American readers and one for International readers)!

Whisper Falls (paperback version) is reaching the hands of folks who pre-ordered. It's earlier than I expected, but it's also been a lot of fun.

The e-book version won't release until November 19th. 18 days away!