Thursday, April 21, 2011

Haven Giveaway!


We welcome today Kristi Cook to talk to us about her debut YA novel,
Haven! Be sure to leave a comment to be entered to win a copy!

Hi, Kristi, could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made your first sale?

Kristi: I've been writing adult historical romance for a while now, with my first sale in 1994, but over the past five or six years, I've mostly been reading YA, so I started a YA manuscript "for fun" between my contracted books. I finally got up the nerve to show the first few chapters to my agent a few years ago, and she was really excited about the project. It took me a long time to finish it--again, working between contracted books--but when I did, my agent finally started subbing it, and I was beyond thrilled when it sold to Simon Pulse!

Wonderful! Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author's writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.

Kristi: Oh, man...I *wish* I had a typical writing day. I've got two elementary-school aged kids, and in theory I want to write while they're off at school, but more often than not, I'm just not in a writing mood until nighttime. So for me, it's a little writing here, a little writing there, a lot of running kids back and forth to activities, and some really late nights!

Please tell us about your novel, HAVEN, and what we can expect from your characters.

Kristi: HAVEN is set at the Winterhaven School, a fictional boarding school in New York's Hudson Valley where all the students and faculty possess psychic gifts. Violet McKenna transfers to the Winterhaven School hoping to hide her gift of precognition from the world, like she's always done, but is pleasantly surprised to find that she fits right in at her new school, psychic powers and all. She's quickly welcomed into a tight-knit group of friends, and is immediately intrigued by Aidan Gray, a mind reader whose secrets go far deeper than she realizes. But soon she starts having visions of Aidan's death--and realizes that she's the one who kills him. As their attraction grows, things grow more complicated...and lots of secrets come out!

Great! What's up next? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us about it.

Kristi: Right now I'm working on the sequel to HAVEN, which is still untitled--it will probably be out late spring 2012!

Would you like to close with a writing tip?

Kristi: The best writing tip I can pass on to anyone is to keep writing--that no effort is wasted. Writing is like any skill; it takes lots and lots of practice, and the more you write, the better you get at the craft. Also, don't expect your path to publication to be like anyone else's--everyone's journey is different, and there's no "right" way. I know writers whose very first manuscript sold, and I know writers who wrote a dozen manuscripts before they sold. There are pros and cons to both, believe it or not.

Thanks so much!

Now for our readers. To win a signed copy of HAVEN, simply leave us a comment telling us this: if you were a student at the Winterhaven School, what psychic gift would you like to have?

Best of luck and check back to learn the winner on Monday, April 25th.

20 fresh comments:

jpetroroy said...

I'd love to be able to read thoughts

Kelly (Lynn) Parra said...

Thanks for sharing with us, Kristi! And many of us know the feeling of writing while taking care of our kiddos! Great writing tip!

Janie Emaus said...

I'd like to be able to see auras around people and to know what they are really thinking.

Unknown said...

I just did a review on this awesome book, so I wanted to say to your followers that "Haven" is . . . well, awesome! :) I purchased it last week, and finished it the same day. I could not put it down.

Best of luck to all of you who enter!

Unknown said...

I would like to be able to know what other people are feeling. Thank you for the giveaway, this book looks interesting.
liedermadchen(at)hotmail(dot)com

Mommin' it my way said...

if you were a student at the Winterhaven School, what psychic gift would you like to have?

I would love to be able to read thoughts and auras.

Diana said...

I think I would like to be able to know what people thought.

Sharli said...

I'd be a mind reader like Aiden. But I wouldn't be able to read people's thoughts all the time, I would be able to tune them out whenever I want :)
(Can you tell I've given this some thought? :)

I like the sound of this book! I'd love to read it.

Llehn said...

I'd love to be able to be invisible.

Angie said...

Great interview!!

I'd like to be able to read people's thoughts, but only when they're angry or upset. I hate having to guess when someone is upset with me and they don't say anything!

akdtd2bks@yahoo.com

Jessy said...

I would want the ability to teleport. I think it would be so cool to visit anywhere in the world with a blink of an eye.

Wendy Toliver said...

Great interview and Haven looks fantastic! I'd like to have psychic abilities to help find murderers and child molesters and other bad people. It would be depressing but think of all the innocent people I could save by helping to get those creeps off the streets.

Yan said...

telekinesis :) love mind reading comes in close second!

yan.pocky(at)gmail.com

ashley said...

Definitely mind reading I'm kind of a nosey person lol!!!

ashtreygonesmokeya@yahoo.com

Cherie J said...

The gift that would interest me would be that ability to teleport but being a mind reader like Aidan would ne a close second choice. Sounds like my kind of read.

Anki said...

I'd like to have the power of telekinesis. For someone like me, who's lazy when it comes to everything but reading, it'll be a great help! :) :) ........

Thanks for the great giveaway!

coolccs.anki@gmail.com

Margay Leah Justice said...

I think I'd like to communicate with the dead - there are so many people I'd want to talk to!

Anonymous said...

I'd like to teleport. That would be awesome. Ashley

Fi-chan said...

telekinesis :D

Jennifer Fischetto said...

Oooh, I'd want to be telekinetic.