Reader reaction

The thing I'm going to love most about being published is the response from readers.

I've been warned that I can't please everyone.  So, yeah, I understand that.  Not every book I read appeals to me either.

But there will be some people who do like them. They're going to love my characters. Readers will gasp over, worry over, cry over the things that my characters go through. And then readers will talk to me about it, and we'll compare notes, and imagine what happens after The End.

I can't wait.

I got a taste of it this weekend. I submitted Whispers From the Past to my editors. Editor-J finished the book this weekend, and we've been sending a flurry of email talking about what happened to whom and how it made us feel and...

I loved it.

All of you readers out there, send me email or come to my book-signings or stop me at conferences where I'm speaking. And talk to me about books, characters, consequences, emotion, love.

That's why I write stories. That's why you read them!



P.S. I took the above photo on vacation in Belgium this summer. The B&B where we stayed had a beautiful backyard garden.

Hard to say goodbye

I submitted Whispers From the Past last night to the publishing house.  It's a milestone to celebrate and to mourn.

I love the characters in the Whisper Falls series, especially my hero and heroine. Mark and Susanna are household names around here. We talk about M&S as if they were real. If I swear, DD2 will say "That's Mark's favorite curse word."  Or if I mention our second president, someone will remind me that "Susanna calls John Adams a vain toad", as if she's an authority on the subject.


I cried when I came to The End. Really. It was like going through empty nest syndrome.  And on the day a few months hence, when I approve the final edited version and see the third book head off to the printer, I'll probably cry again.  I'll want to write novellas and short stories about Mark and Susanna and their fictional friends, just so I can slip into their world(s) again.

There will be other series to write. Other stories to plot. But this book is my first-born. I'm going to miss it a lot.

Yes, M&S are members of the family now.  It's time to let them go.

Write WHERE you know

Several years ago, I read a book that was set in Mississippi. I was raised there, and it's where most of my family still lives. The book felt like it had been written by someone who had, at best, visited. I put the book down after the first chapter. The author had not only captured the setting wrong; it felt as if this peculiar-and-diverse state had been described disrespectfully.  I'll never read that author again.

It's one of the reasons I chose to set Whisper Falls in North Carolina. I'd lived there twenty-five years. I know this place.  The little nuances and Raleigh-isms just flow. Writing my first published novel was hard enough without being tripped up over getting the location correct.

My summer vacation has really brought this home. I'm spending a week in Rotterdam, Netherlands while my daughter attends a conference. I'm not planning to do anything except revise two sequels and enjoy "living" here.

I don't have any plans to set a book in Rotterdam, but I am noticing little details that are completely different from the life I have in the US. Things like:

• supermarkets are not open on Sundays (which I wish I had known on Saturday)
• most stores of any kind do not open until around noon on Monday
• nothing is air-conditioned--including some big, expensive hotels
• bicycles are almost as numerous as cars; cyclists are more aggressive toward pedestrians
• there are more ethnically-diverse couples
• parents hold hands with their children into their tweens
• people like to eat outside at sidewalk cafes
• everybody speaks decent (or better) English

 So maybe I'll never use any of this specific data in a book. But no longer will I take A/C, the opening hours of stores, modes of transportation, etc for granted when I write.

In fact, it's just easier to stick with North Carolina. For now.

Sister authors

I have a literary agent. She is wonderful, and I'm so grateful that she represents my work. Kevan sells a lot of books. Happily, she's sold four of mine.

Kevan represents a lot of Young Adult (YA) authors. She has a great ability to pick talented authors who write amazing stories. Kevan also does a great job of picking authors who are really nice people.

Many of my agency-sisters attended the Romance Writers of America (RWA) conference held in Atlanta 17-20 July.  I was there too—and loved meeting authors like Katie McGarry, Colette Ballard, Chanel Cleeton, and Jennifer Armentrout.

I know that there are authors around who act like divas. They are reluctant to share their wisdom.  They want to be treated like they're special--without remembering that it is our readers that make them special. But that is not the norm, thankfully.

I met my sister-authors this week, and they were instantly my friends--each one a fun, real, generous part of my writing team.

It didn't matter how long we'd been in the business; we each had something to share. The multi-published authors gave advice to those of us who aren't.  I (who'll spend 18 months between selling and releasing my debut book) was able to share my experiences with contracts, promos, editing, and all of the other details that new authors encounter. And the newly-contracted authors were able to remind us how exciting, thrilling, amazing it is to be launching into our dream career.

And, of course, we all love our readers—the ones we have now and the ones we look forward to having in the future.

I almost didn't go. It's a busy time of year for me. But I learned a lot in the conference workshops. And I made friendships that'll last forever.

Support your local bookstore!

Quail Ridge Books & Music, one of my all-time favorite independent bookstores, will be hosting a book-signing event for me.

Here are the details:

Where: Quail Ridge Books
Date: 24 November 2013
Day: Sunday
Time: 3:00pm

If you love to support indie bookstores as much as I do, please consider ordering Whisper Falls from Quail Ridge!

Gotta love the details

Two weeks ago, I announced that I would be signing my third contract with Spencer Hill Press. (First one was for Whisper Falls, second contract was for two sequels to WF, and the third, drum roll, is for I Wish.)

I promised details, and frankly, they're not all that interesting. But I promised and there is simply no point in breaking a promise so easy to fulfill.

I Wish will be released in November 2014, one month after the final Whisper Falls book.  IW might have sequels. Not sure about that yet. It's still open-ended. Perhaps we'll let the readers decide.

IW will be edited by the Lovely And Talented Jessica. LATJ works with me often, in conjunction with the Manly And Talented Richard. MATR is LATJ's husband. It is quite cool working with a matched set.

LATJ and I have already discussed IW at a high level. We use impressive literary terms like series arc, character development, world-building, and pertinent backstory.The book will be better for it. I'm excited. I want to start now.

Sadly, there is that pesky problem of the two WF sequels that were contracted first.

We often call I Wish 'the genie book.' I assure you that the genie, aka Grant, would object. He is not a genie. It is true that he joined the Guild of Benevolent Supernatural Beings to grant wishes. If it helps you understand his role in the universe to call him a genie, well then, he tolerates that. But he will pity your poor simple mind. Grant has skills. He has protections (via the Guild.) He has a boss. He also has a problem, and her name is Lacey.

When you meet her in November 2014, you'll find out why.

My third contract as an author!

First contract: Whisper Falls

Second contract: Two sequels to Whisper Falls

Third contract: I Wish

Yay! Here are the details.

Elizabeth Langston's I WISH, a teenage girl devotes herself to raising her brother, hiding her depressed mom from social services, and juggling the household bills when an amazingly hot guy appears in a puff of smoke from a music box promising her thirty wishes, to Kate Kaynak at Spencerhill Press, in a nice deal, for publication in Fall 2014, by Kevan Lyon at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency(World English).

Foreign rights: Taryn Fagerness Agency 

More later. I promise!