The Unhappening of Genesis Lee Blog Tour and Giveaway-- Day 2!

Okay, folks, here are the stops for the blog tour today! No quote cards today, but you can still find the quote cards from yesterday by checking here. And there are more to come for more entries in the giveaway!

Behind the Pages - Q&A -- This one has a bookmark with a quote you can download and print off, created by the awesome host, Gina!

Ink of Blood - Review

Literary Meanderings - Promo Post

Teen Readers' Diary - Promo Post

El Extraño Gato del Cuento - Promo Post

Here's a look at the gorgeous bookmark Gina at Behind the Pages created. Thanks, Gina!

And thanks to all who participated!

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Blog Tour Scavenger Hunt (an easy one!) - Day 1

Hey all! It's the kick-off for the blog tour of The Unhappening of Genesis Lee, hosted by The Fantastic Flying Book Club! You can win some awesome prizes-- a signed hardback of the book, a $10 bookstore giftcard, Link bracelets (where Gena stores her memories), and swag packs.

And, it's a sort of scavenger hunt! You can enter the giveaway without doing the scavenger hunt, but you can win extra points through this easy scavenger hunt. Here's how it works: I'll give you each day's tour schedule, and you hit up the blogs with a Quote Card. Each card has a secret word highlighted. Enter that secret word in the Rafflecopter, and bam, extra entries!

Alright, folks, here's the schedule for today, Oct. 30th:


A Reading Nurse + The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club - Interview where I spill about fascinating memory research and my favorite scene to write where I DESTROYED THINGS,

Addicted Readers -  Quote Card

Her Book Thoughts - Playlist

Library of a Book Witch - Quote Card


The Rafflecopter will be on each post, but just in case it's not, you can find it here. Go forth and enter, folks!

And just for kicks, here's a few pics of The Unhappening of Genesis Lee in the wild-- some people have already received their copies. I might have done a little shrieking dance when I saw these...

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Pre-Order Giveaway Winners!

Thanks to ALL of you who pre-ordered THE UNHAPPENING OF GENESIS LEE and entered the giveaway! It means so much to me, and I wish I could send all of you thank you gifts.

The winners of the giveaway are (last names removed for privacy purposes):

For the $10 gift card, Link bracelet, and swag pack:

DeDe!

For the Link bracelet and swag pack:

Anna!

For the full swag pack:

David!

I will be emailing the winners. Thank you all so much!

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Pre-Order Giveaway for The Unhappening of Genesis Lee

Alright, friends, here's the deal. If you don't know, pre-ordering an author's book before it releases is just about the best thing you can do for them. Why? It gives the book a strong start out of the gate, since pre-order sales all count toward release day numbers. This pleases the publisher, and the bookstores. These are the people who support the author's career-- and may induce them to give the author MORE support.

So here's the rest of the deal. Because it means so much to me when you pre-order my book, I wanted to find a way to say THANK YOU A MILLION TIMES to everyone who does. I wish that meant I could give each person a gift, but I'm sort of not rich enough. So instead, if you pre-order, you can enter the Pre-Order Giveaway for a chance to win thank you gifts!

There are three prizes.

1. A full pack of GENESIS LEE swag, a $10 gift card to the online bookstore of your choice, and a magnetic bracelet/necklace that's exactly like Gena's Link bracelets where she stores her memories.

2. A full GENESIS LEE swag pack and Link bracelet

3. A full GENESIS LEE swag pack

Unhappening Link bracelet

Swag pack-- signed bookmark,
postcard, and 5 different buttons

It's easy to enter! Pre-order the hardcover or ebook of THE UNHAPPENING OF GENESIS LEE anywhere online, take a screenshot proving you did, email it to shalleemcarthur [at] gmail [dot] com, and enter the giveaway on the Rafflecopter below. You can even earn extra entries by spreading the word!

If you've already pre-ordered, go ahead and enter now! Email me if you have any questions or problems.

IMPORTANT IF YOU ARE COMING TO THE UNHAPPENING LAUNCH PARTY NOV. 4: Please consider ordering your copy from The King's English bookstore and let them know you'll be at the party. Not only does this support a great independent, local bookstore, it also ensures you have your copy for me to sign that night! I'd hate it if your book shipped late from elsewhere and I couldn't sign it for you.

And that's it, my friends! Digital hugs for all!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Need some incentive to buy? Here's what authors and industry reviewers have to say about THE UNHAPPENING OF GENESIS LEE. 

"...It’s the sensitive handling of emotional details and the trauma of too much connection that make this a story of interest. The reactions to memory losses are painful and poignant...For anyone fascinated with thoughts of omniscience and total social connection—and who isn’t?—McArthur’s debut suggests fascinating and chilling possibilities." -Kirkus Reviews

"Equal parts dark and delightful, McArthur's stunning debut takes an awesome SF premise and follows it deep into the maze of the human mind. I loved it so much I was jealous." –Dan Wells, author of the NYT bestselling PARTIALS Sequence

"A thrilling read from beginning to end, this stunning debut had me wishing I could record my memories to keep them safe! Just like Gena, I was desperate to discover the thief while at the same time hoping the story would never end." –Elana Johnson, author of the POSESSION trilogy

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Salt Lake Comic Con ARC Giveaway!

I'm SO excited to be paneling at Salt Lake Comic Con tomorrow and Saturday! I've been stuffing my brain full of all things My Little Pony, writing for teens, worldbuilding, and SFF girls to prep-- how fun is that? I also get to help man the booth for Dungeon Crawlers Radio for a few hours on Saturday, which is just awesome.

And even better? Tomorrow marks two months until The Unhappening of Genesis Lee hits shelves! To celebrate, I'll be giving away ONE PRECIOUS ARC of the book at Comic Con!

Gonna be there? Want the book? All you have to do is track me down and be the first person to ask nicely! Here's my schedule for tomorrow, or look for me on the floor. I'll be the blonde with blue and purple highlights wearing a Doctor Who t-shirt!

5:00 pm: Go Teen Writers! Room 255C
6:00 pm: Women of Sci Fi and Fantasy: More than Just Strong, Room 255E

And if you're not the lucky winner, I'll still give you a signed bookmark and a button, so track me down anyway! Here's my Saturday schedule, too:

12:00 PM: Are You a Brony or a Pegasister? My Little Pony Fans Unite! Room 355D
1:30-4:00 PM: At the booth for Dungeon Crawlers Radio (booth R48)
5:00 PM: Building a Move-In Ready World, Room 255B

So, my friends, hope to see you there!

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The Moments When Publishing Feels REAL

It's now just over two months until The Unhappening of Genesis Lee comes out, and exciting things are happening around these parts! If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, these might be a bit familiar.

First, the audio rights to the book sold to Audible! I'm thrilled that there will be an audio version of the book, since I have so many friends who love audio books. I can't wait (and I'll admit, I'm a little nervous!) to hear my book performed out loud. Oral storytelling has such a strong tradition for generations, and I was exposed to a lot of it while in Ghana, so this feels particularly special to me.

Next...my ARCs arrived! I checked the mailbox like a nervous squirrel for days, and when the box with my publisher's name on it finally arrived, I shrieked, "It's here!" And then I juggled that box, the rest of the mail, my purse, my son's backpack, and my son himself back to the house (we'd just come from his preschool). I ripped the box open, and there they were! Books. With my name on the front, and my story between the covers. I laughed like a maniac.

And you know what the coolest part was? Not seeing the cover with my name on it, or reading the back copy, or the copyright page with my name on it, or even signing one copy on the title page with the words, "Ha ha! I'm signing my own book!" No, the best part was flipping it open to see the words I wrote IN A BOOK.

Suddenly, it was all real. It got even more real when I realized that people are now READING the words I wrote-- because there are also eARCs up on Edelweiss for short-term download!

And then I started getting my bookmarks and postcards and buttons in the mail and I sort of just spent the rest of the week in a giggle-induced state of frantic excitement. :)

So, my friends, it's real. After years and work and luck and a million other little and big details, I finally have a grasp on the fact that this story I wrote will be out there for others to read. It's pretty much the best feeling in the world! And to share the joy, if you're interested in a signed postcard, email me your address and I'll get one in the mail to you!

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Why a First Draft SHOULD be Messy

There was once a time when ALL I wrote were first drafts. Lots and lots of delightful, horrible first drafts that I signed off as finished once I found the proper flourishing font for the words THE END. Obviously, I eventually learned that a first draft is only the first step. I also eventually learned to love revisions—that glorious time when I can take the words I said and turn them into the words I meant to say.

And most recently, I worked on a first draft that made me want to bang my head into the wall. I can quite honestly say it’s been the hardest first draft I’ve ever written, and it took me a while to figure out why. See, I’m a planner. I like structure. I like organization. It’s why I like revision so much. This first draft was even more of a disaster than my others—at least when it came to being organized in any way.

We hear all the time that first drafts are messy. They’re sandboxes, or piles of &$%* , or whatever metaphor conveys the image of…a mess. We try to believe it, but we don’t always love that that’s the way it is. But writing this first draft, I realized why first drafts are messy—and why they very, very much need to be that way.

A first draft is about getting out the heart of the story. And hearts are messy places.

I have a lot of emotion tied to this particular story. I suppose that’s true of any story, but with this one there are issues tied to my heart that I’ve been truly wrestling with. So of course I’ve been wrestling with the story. It’s tried to come out as about three or four completely different stories, and none of them were right. The act of writing out the story was me trying to communicate things I felt, but even I wasn’t sure how I felt about these things, so I wasn’t sure what story I was trying to tell.

You want to know what’s cool, though? I did find the story. It took months. It took stripping away a lot of the trappings. It took changing my perspective on the things I was feeling. It took writing a story that flailed all over the place for me to find the actual core of what I was trying to say, and to understand that core myself. And this disaster of a first draft turned into something heart-driven.

Which is exactly what a book should be. The method and the craft comes into a story during revisions, but the heart is often what comes out when we allow ourselves to put our messy selves onto the page with no restraint. So that disaster of a story you’re working on, or have worked on, or will work on?

It’s exactly what it should be. A raw, beautiful, honest mess.

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