Tea & Introductions II, the Proofread Version

Never again will I hit "publish post" without proofreading. Below follows a proofread version--apologies!


Well, at long last, I have launched a blog. Launched sounds splashy, doesn’t it? As if I were celebrating with champagne on the deck of a yacht sailing on turquoise seas towards the Cayman Islands or some other exotic place I have not yet seen? Launched suggests parties and swishy dresses and toasts. Don’t I wish!

In reality, I was shaken out of sleep shortly after six when my two year old daughter, Sophie, threw her friend’s toy phone out of her crib and began to cry. Fearing she had at long last managed to scale the wooden bars of her crib and fall headfirst on the wood floors, I burst into her room to hear her say, very calmly, “Mommy, phone.”

But honestly, I don't think I would have it any other way--except I would have liked another hour of sleep.

I chose a rather odd first image, and please excuse the fuzziness. Balancing a camera on my left wrist as I took this picture was tricky. These are a few of my favorite things, as the old song (Julie Andrews, Sound of Music) goes. A dimunitive Limoges tea set from a dear friend (that is actually Sophie's, though breakable china is not yet the thing for a 2 year old. The mice are relics of my own childhood, companions I picked up at a chocolate shop in Vail, Colorado when I was 9. For the last two + decades, they graced my grandmother's mantel. Only with her passing have I reclaimed them. And the photo is of me--and Sophie--shortly after her birth. I've been practicing yoga for 15 years. I don't know what I'd do without it.

A big reason for launching this blog is that it creates an opportunity for me to keep in touch with the readers of my YA novel, The Red Queen's Daughter, who have contacted me--with questions about the story, individual goals (many involving writing), and general "HELLOS". Too, it enables me to reach out to new readers--and writers!

On June 9, Hyperion will publish my second YA novel, A Sweet Disorder, also set in Elizabethan England and featuring another spirited heroine--Miranda. Hyperion also published Red Queen in paper last month. To celebrate, I'm going to hold two tantalizing contests--one focused on envisioning what happens after THE END of The Red Queen's Daughter. The second will involve fashion in A Sweet Disorder. I will post the exact guidelines for the contest by the first of June. There will be a "Simply and Spectacularly Red" prize for the winner of Red Queen and "Something Fashionable" for the designing woman (or man) who wins Disorder. So, stay tuned!

Best, Jacqueline