Okay, Listen Here

Okay, Listen Here

Monday, November 22, 2010

Welcome to Staci and Sara

We are very excited to welcome another writing team to visit with us here under the Tulip tree. Please, join us in welcoming Staci and Sara as we celebrate the release of their newest book, Sinful.



Friendship is important to us here under the Tulip tree and it was clear when we met y'all that you weren't just writing partners but were also great friends so we would love to hear how you first met each other.


Staci & Sara write:
First, we want to thank you for giving us this opportunity to share a bit about our debut novel, Sinful, with you and your readers. As to how we met, we started teaching together in 2004. We taught 7th grade English together in Pasadena, TX and worked across the hall from each other. We decided to change school districts, and lucky for us, ended up getting a job offer from the same school. Again, we found ourselves teaching right next door to each other. Over the years we grew to be close friends and we shared a common interest in YA literature. In 2007, we set out to write our first YA novel together, which became SINFUL.


Stephanie:
Wow, that sounds like fate. I'm sure y'all get this question a lot but how does the writing process work for you both since you are writing as a team?


Staci & Sara: We had no idea what we were doing at first or how it would work writing together. We just started meeting once a week, and it all just kind of worked out. We would sit and drink coffee at Starbucks while passing the computer back and forth as we wrote. The majority of the revising and editing we did on our own time, but most of the writing of the book took place when we were together.


Stephanie: We would love to hear the whole process of you getting published.


Staci & Sara: This was a long journey for us. Again, we had no idea how the whole process worked. We didn't know any other writers, and we weren't part of any writing organizations at the time. So, we got on the internet and started researching what exactly we were supposed to do now that we had a finished manuscript. We researched how to write a query letter, agents and publishing companies. We queried lots of agents but unfortunately, didn't have any luck. So, we found a few publishers that were small houses, but seemed to be the real deal. We submitted SINFUL to Mundania Press, and after about six months, we heard back from them. They wanted to publish our novel, and we couldn't have been more excited. By this point, it had been almost a full year since the manuscript had been completed. We still do not have an agent, but since we just completed our second manuscript, we will be back on the agent hunt again.


Stephanie: What a great success story! Thanks so much for sharing that with us.
Would you, please, tell us about your book as well as how we can get a copy of it?


Staci & Sara: SINFUL is a YA paranormal romance, set in League City, Texas about seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Carrington, who is coping with the death of her mother and falling in love at the same time. It's not long before she realizes that her new love-interest, Michael, is the angel who took her mother to heaven. Seeing Michael so happy doesn't sit well with his arch-enemy Daniel. And when the fallen angel comes to town, Elizabeth suddenly finds herself in the middle of a battle between good and evil. When Elizabeth and Michael's one chance for happy ever after is threathened, Elizabeth has to face her fears and defeat and evil angel with a grudge.


At this time, it can only be purchased at mundania.com, our publisher's website but within a week or so, you should be able to find it on Amazon, and other online book retailers, like Barnes & Noble and Borders. And if we are really lucky, maybe it will be on the book stores' shelves one day.


Check out our website saraandstaci.com to find out more about SINFUL and there you can also find a link to order it.


Stephanie: Thank you both so much for taking time to visit with us here under the tulip tree. I am sure our readers will have other questions for you. We look forward to reading SINFUL and many other books in the future.



12 comments:

  1. I remember meeting these cute, smart, talented young women at the RWA conference and thinking, "What a bright future they have aheadd of them." And see? They do!

    Congratulations on your release! And good luck with the great agent hunt.

    Marilyn

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  2. Congratulations, ladies! That is inspiring!

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  3. Cute, smart, talented, and young? I like those adjectives:) Thanks Marilyn and Michelle.

    We are very excited.

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  4. What a great story! And I enjoyed getting to know your writing friends. How cool that they work together so seamlessly. I've often wondered how you gals do that as well.

    Fun!!

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  5. Hi Staci and Sara! Sinful sounds great! When I saw the picture I remembered meeting the both of you when we all sat together at one of the dinners.
    Congratulations on your first (of many!) release!

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  6. Thanks Staci and Sara for dropping by! Congratulations on the book!! I admire people who can write together. It must be hard to find the time. Many best wishes on the success of your book.

    An aside --- Jean and Stephanie - know what my

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  7. word was, dang computer, AUBAt. Get it? AU Bat. Guess I am a little batty.
    Sorry about the glich.

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  8. Thanks everyone for the congrats! We were so lucky to have met Jean and Stephanie at the conference. Hopefully we can convince our husband to fork over the cash for us to go to NYC!

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  9. Staci and Sara!! So glad to see you here. We had the best time chatting at the Rita Ceremony and both of you looked fabo!!

    Sorry I'm late to the party but today's been one of those days... ;)

    So, I'm curious to find out why both of you chose YA, besides teaching in Middle School. What attracts you to the YA genre?

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  10. Thanks Katherine! It was great meeting you too. I love YA lit. It's what I read most of the time, so it only seemed natrual to write it. It's all about firsts, learning from mistakes, and life lessons. Something about that time period of life draws me in. And I'd like to think of myself as a teen at heart. I watch Gossip Girl, 90210, and Vampire Diaries religiously :) - Sara

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  11. Wow, it looks like y'all had a great day today.
    Thanks to Sara and Staci for visiting with us and thanks to everyone who took the time to chat with them.

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