Writer of Teen Fiction
I’m excited to share the official cover for my teen novel, Shaken! Elaina Lee designed another amazing cover and I’m absolutely thrilled with it. Shaken will be my first YA released VERY SOON. For those of you who haven’t heard the 411 yet, here’s what it’s about:
High school junior, Kylie Bates, can suddenly read minds. When she touches people’s hands, she’s able to see their deepest thoughts. As if that’s not freaky enough, her dad sends her to help hottie detective, Sam Williams, track down a missing girl. Way too much pressure, especially for a girl who can’t watch Scream without getting nightmares.
Then, finding the missing girl leads to much more than Kylie’s prepared for. Like discovering that her dad has been lying to her. That she has a family she never knew about. That the girls have powers similar to hers. Oh yeah, and that someone is out to get her.
When the detective’s teenage wanna-be-cop cousin, Trip Williams, approaches Kylie at school insisting she help him solve the case, she discovers Trip might be the only one she can trust, and the only one to help her unravel the secrets behind her mysterious gift.
Shaken will be available by ebook first and then paperback shortly after. I’ll announce when each is published…it will literally be any day now!
Don’t forget to sign up to receive Susan Hatler’s blog updates directly to your email address, just enter your email address into the feed on the right column of my website. Thanks and happy reading!
Just received the official cover for See Me and wanting to share it with everyone. Big thanks to Elaina Lee for a fantastic cover - I’m so incredibly happy with it!
In case you haven’t heard, See Me is the first book in the Zombie Love trilogy, which will be published in February 2012. Here’s a summary of See Me:
Amy Love, a high school junior, plays a Ouija board with friends one night and unintentionally connects with someone whose, well, not visible to the naked eye. When her body’s taken over and her soul is stuck watching helplessly—she’s terrified. When the zombie guzzles bologna that she will have to work off at the gym—she’s angry. And, when her zombied bod pulls up a news article on her laptop about a boy named JJ Miller who was recently in a car crash—she’s . . . intrigued.
When the zombie chooses another host, Amy learns that the zombie is actually teen JJ Miller, the famous son of Maisy Meow comic creator Jonathan Jacob Miller Sr. JJ tells Amy he doesn’t know whether he’s dead or alive, only that when he’s not in a body, she is the only one who seems to know he exists.
Amy decides to help JJ discover what happened to him and, when they can’t find his body, they try to find a substitute—preferably one that isn’t occupied. On the journey, JJ leads Amy into all kinds of danger. To her surprise, he also leads her heart to somewhere unexpected. She’s always heard of love at first sight, not love at first fright, but how can Amy be falling for a boy she’s never even seen?
Don’t forget to sign up to receive Susan Hatler’s blog updates directly to your email address, just enter your email address into the feed on the right column of my website. Thanks and happy reading!
I love my job. Absolutely love it. I had the best day and here’s what I did:
1) Chatted on the phone today with Virna DePaul about my upcoming teen releases: Shaken and Zombie Love.
2) Discussed the official cover ideas with Elaina Lee who recently designed the fantastic cover for Chosen By Sin by Virna DePaul. I can’t wait to see what Elaina comes up with for Shaken and Zombie Love. 
3) Went through crit partner Veronica Blade‘s notes on Shaken and edited where needed. Also exchanged countless emails with Veronica all day because, well, we just don’t go a day without doing that.
4) Read and responded to new posts in my online writing groups, browsed various writing blogs, checked facebook (always fun to see what everyone’s up to).
5) Went over notes for my Zombie Love trilogy (See Me, Know Me, Find Me) that I brainstormed with fabulous authors Rochelle French, Cyndi Faria, and Virna DePaul on our recent Sacramento Writing Retreat (see photo of Tower Bridge above from our hotel window – thanks Cyndi!).
6) Now, it’s back to editing Shaken and I can’t wait, absolutely CAN’T WAIT, for its release which is COMING SOON!!
My day was awesome and it all counts as WORK. Too cool. Hope you’re enjoying the New Year and are reading some great books!
It’s that time of year again. The festive frenzy of holiday parties, endless gift shopping, and let’s not forget all the yummy caramels, chocolates, and other fab desserts. Yes, this is definitely the season to be jolly.
Amid the crazed chaos that December brings me, I recently had a conversation with my friend’s daughter who’s a college senior and amazingly smart. Since she’s a brain, I’m constantly prodding her to apply to a PhD program and this time she says to me, “You do realize I won’t make any more money with a PhD, right?” Okay, forgetting the personal enjoyment of excelling in her field and the satisfaction of achieving a PhD, I responded, “Yeah, but you could meet a fantastic guy who shares the same interests as you.” Long pause. “Always, the romantic, Susan. You just can’t turn it off.” Really? Moi? I mean, isn’t it obvious to EVERYONE how happy Santa and Mrs. Claus look here in the pic?
In addition to fun festivities and educational/romantic conversations, this December I’ve received the gift of warm weather. FYI, that’s Montana-flavored “warm weather” so we’re talking 30 degrees. But, still. The roads have been clear and the slush on the shoes has been minimal, which has been a major treat for me. It couldn’t last forever though and a couple days ago the snow dropped completely and everything is now white. The bright side of cold weather is that as the snow has been falling, I’ve cuddled up to read some awesome books:
I finished Something Witchy This Way Comes by Veronica Blade (a great read) and am currently enjoying Forever by Maggie Stiefvater. I totally recommend picking up both!
That’s all for now. I’m off to get a bit of writing in, then it’s back to wrapping presents. Happy holidays and, of course, happy reading, everyone!
Even though I’m a writer, there are those times when I haven’t read the book, but I’ve seen the movie. That’s what happened last week when I watched Something Borrowed.
Something Borrowed was originally a Chick Lit novel by Emily Giffin. It had a darling cover and I’d browsed it in Target more than once, but the font was so small that I never purchased. Yes, the FONT is what stopped me from buying it. What can I say? Squint lines aren’t my thing.
Luckily, this book was made into a movie and had a fun cast to go with it. How could I say no? After watching this movie, I watched it again. Yes, two times in a row. It’s not like it was a blockbuster hit, but I just loved the dynamics between the various characters. Their relationshiops made me THINK. And, the chemistry between the hero and heroine felt so real. I don’t recall seeing the hero in other movies, but thought it did a fab job in this one.
Did I mention this was a movie/book that involved CHEATING? Touchy topic, but the author pulled it off. If you’re looking for a cute movie to watch, I’d totally recommend it. If you’ve seen it (or read it), I’d love to hear what you think…
If you’ve read, The Boyfriend Bylaws, you’ll probably remember Melanie’s step-sister, Kaitlin. Kaitlin is Melanie’s sweet, but naive, step-sister who thinks she’s found the man of her dreams only to find out he’s not the man he appeared to be.
Kaitlin’s story will be the second book in the Totally Fit Series and is currently titled Working It Out.
While I’ve been writing it, I’ve been listening to the song Chances by Five for Fighting. This is a powerful song about life’s possibilities and what you make of them. This song reminds me of Kaitlin’s life and I find myself listening to it over and over as I type. Watch the video…I’d love to hear what you think of it!
Fabulous author, Lori Foster, sent me this fun Tee Shirt I’m wearing – thx, Lori!
When I received it (er, awhile back) I was supposed to take a pic of myself wearing it and send it to her. Well, it may have taken me awhile (let’s not ask me how long), but this task in now off my To Do List. Yay!
I’m not sure what Lori’s doing with these pics…let me know if you find out!
Happy reading!
Haven’t posted since New York because I’ve been writing, writing, and writing. Been attached to the pink keyboard, so to speak.
Last weekend, I was in California though and I managed to squeeze in a Sacramento Valley Rose workshop. When I lived in California, I used to attend SVR meetings regularly and it was so great to see all my writing friends “in person” again.
Cate Rowan was the workshop presenter and gave an awesome talk on goal setting. She had a very cool method for setting goals and then breaking them down into small specific tasks. Of course, we all used the method for Writing Goals (I was her guinea pig), but really any goal can be broken down into specific daily tasks that make the overall goal seem less intimidating and out of reach.
For example, writing a book in a year may sound very intimidating. But if the book is 365 pages long then that is only one page per day. Isn’t one page less overwhelming than an entire book? You bet it is. Cate also spoke on self-publishing and gave away copies of her two books at the end of the meeting. Sadly, I wasn’t one of the winners. 
All in all, it was a fab workshop. I absolutely love being around other writers. It’s very inspiring and motivating. All that creativity, energy, and drive in one room–wow! So glad I was able to make it.
And now, back to the keyboard…
I’m in New York! On the left, is the fabulous Eileen Rendahl with me at RWA’s “Readers for Life” charity book signing.
On the right is my lovely critique partner, Lea Nolan, and me setting up for the YARWA Reception in the Marriott Marquis’ Skyview Lobby.
On the left, here, I’m hanging in the lounge with my wonderful writing friend, Cyndi Faria.
On the right, I’m out with the extraordinary duo from Edits That Rock, Rochelle French and Kecia Dilday.
In addition to the writing events, I’ve loved hanging with awesome writing friends like Virna DePaul (below!)–especially when brainstorming and bouncing ideas off of each other. What a fantasic week. I love New York!
Loading ...
