Emmy Laybourne's Blog

So, it’s my birthday today.

Yep, 49 years ago today I came into the world.

I’m spending some time today reflecting on my life, how I’m doing, what it’s all about! And I have to say, I’m pretty excited.

As rough and crazy as the world is right now, I’m striking out in a creative direction that feels challenging, promising, and inspiring. I’m taking a big risk – and I’m announcing this to you, on my birthday, because I’m hoping you’ll come along for the ride:

...

Hello, my friends!

How are you doing in these crazy times? I hope you’re staying strong, taking good care of yourself, and consuming only the bare minimum of news and social media that you need to function.

I’ve been keeping myself wonderfully busy with my new podcast. Workplace Comedy Podcast launched on November 11. You can read more about it at the bottom of this post. But today’s post is about loot…

Every year around this time I write to you with a list of books and games I recommend ...

One of the things I love about writing YA is that writing in genre is encouraged and supported. In the six books I’ve written, three have been post-apocalyptic, one horror (okay, comedy/horror) and two fell into the historical fantasy genre.

Playing with genre is fun and a great way to wake up the brain, so I thought I’d share with you a fun 5 minute-warm up you can use the next time you sit down to write – or any time you need to fire up your brain creatively.

Here’s the exercise:
1. Make a...

BREAKING NEWS: WE ARE GOING WEST!

Headed towards a dream

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Friends,

It’s time to let you in on some pretty big changes that have been happening over at my house: my husband, kids, and I are moving to Los Angeles this summer.

Greg and I met in LA back in 1999. I was an actor and he was a film editor. Years later in 2008, after we married and had kids, we moved east so Greg could go to Parsons School of Design. We moved to Chestnut Ridge, NY so our kids could go to the Green Meadow Waldorf Schoo...

Hello my friends,

Many thanks to everyone who helped me to launch and celebrate my new book, Ransacker. We got some great press and there were lovely crowds at all the events. I’m truly grateful to all of you who bought the book and/or came out to party!

I’ve been working on a couple projects that I’m burning to tell you about. While I still need to be a bit cautious about sharing the details, here’s a little confession:

I’ve been screenwriting again.

Yep! I just can’t resist.

Those of you fa...

Have you met my new baby, RANSACKER!?

Weighing in at a delightful 438 pages, Ransacker is my most ambitious novel yet. It’s a companion novel to Berserker (which means it stands apart as its own story) and follows the coming-of-age of Sissel Hemstad, a young Norwegian immigrant living in 1886 Montana with ancient Viking magic running in her blood.

At the beginning of the book, Sissel is the only one of her siblings who has not manifested an ancient Viking power and she thinks she’s been lef...

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Welcome Readers! To celebrate the release of my YA Historical Fantasy novel, RANSACKER I’m excited to announce I’m ho...

I’m delighted to announce that my new website is live! Honey, you’re looking at it right now.

I have enjoyed working on it so much. It’s been a joy to collaborate with Caitlin O’Brient Bauer at Royal Digital Studio. Man, is she ever thorough! (Not to mention creative, smart, and fun to work with.)

What are you going to find here? Everything good! All the best stuff about me and my books gathered, organized, and prettified for your reading and viewing pleasure.

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UPDATE: GIVEAWAY CLOSED!

Here’s a list of the winners (please contact me if you haven’t already to claim your prize):

FIRST PRIZE: @shelfrated

SECOND PRIZE: @stmetcalfe

THIRD PRIZES: @angela.kramer, @bookishdelightz, @jaimedeslivres

Thank you to everyone who participated. Don’t be sad if you didn’t win this one, because I have a special treat for you! The amazing artists behind the bookmark (LumEngrave) and candle (Dio Candle Company) are both offering 10% OFF with discount code EMMY10. Visit my shop to find out more about these awesome pieces of bookish merch!

Also, make sure to subscribe to my newsletter (fill out the form below) or follow me on Instagram for more chances to win! As a bonus, you’ll receive the first 4 chapters of my new book for FREE:

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Welcome Readers! To celebrate the paperback release of my YA Historical Fantasy novel, BERSERKER, I’m excited to announce I’m hosting a HUGE INTERNATIONAL GIVEAWAY!

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THE GIVEAWAY DETAILS

DATES: Mon, Oct. 12th – Tues. Oct. 30th @ 8 am PT

PRIZES: There are 5 FANTASTIC prizes up for grabs! Open INTERNATIONALLY!

1st Prize (1 Winner):  1 Signed Set of ALL my books, 1 Signed ARC of Ransacker, & an exclusive BERSERKER gift basket! Includes candle by @diocandleco, wood-engraved bookmark by @lumengrave, signed poster, buttons, & more!

2nd Prize (1 Winner): 1 Signed Book from my Backlist (Readers’ Choice), 1 Signed Copy of BERSERKER, 1 ARC of RANSACKER, & an exclusive BERSERKER gift basket.

3rd Prize (3 Winners): 1 Signed Copy of BERSERKER, 1 Signed ARC of RANSACKER, & and an exclusive BERSERKER Swag Pack!

  

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*To prevent spam accounts, please do not subscribe & immediately unsubscribe. If you are not subscribed to my newsletter when we verify your entries at the end of the contest, you will unfortunately be disqualified. Plus, when you subscribe you’ll get the first 4 chapters of my new book for FREE!

Incredible Fun

I got the news that I’d sold my first novel in May of 2011. Since then, I’ve been writing on deadline for most of the time. I have no complaints — it’s been wonderful to be a young-adult novelist. In the past 8 years, I’ve written 6 books. That feels great.

But if you know me, you know that I tend to get a lot of story ideas. The topic of how and where I get my ideas is best left for another newsletter article, but let me say that my cup runneth over with ’em. Not only do I have three solid ideas for Young Adult novels in the back of my head, I also have a middle-grade series, several musicals and, no kidding, five short story concepts. Friends, that’s a lot of story to carry in the back of your head.

After turning in Ransacker, the delightful and hefty 425-page manuscript for my latest novel with Feiwel & Friends, to take a bit of time to explore the concepts rolling about in my brain pan. All this leads me to my big news:

This summer I’m taking time off writing novels to focus on short stories.

Photos: Alexander Andrews and Thomas Charters

This is the one I’m working on now.

“Cellsong” is the first short story up in the queue. It’s about a violent criminal who voluntarily enrolls in an experimental prison initiative where inmates receive therapeutic music treatments — and what happens a complication arises. It’s a dark, adult literary sci-fi piece and I’m having a ball.

(By the way, this is a cover mock-up I made on Canva. One nerdy thing you probably didn’t know about me is that I like to design covers as a part of my creative process. This is the first time I’ve ever let anyone see one. What do you think?)

Besides Cellsong, I hope to finish at least three more.

What are your other story ideas, you ask?

Oh, all sorts of crazy things.

A dangerous cult of macrame weavers in a small town in New Mexico.
The first Berserker (creating a short story prequel for my recent book).
A kid with PTSD trying to go to a party.
A wealthy woman going to visit a Mexican lady-milk farm. (Yes, you read that right. Dystopian + breastmilk = the kinds of ideas I get.)

What are am I going to do with the stories, you wonder?

After I get some help from beta-readers and a proofreader or two, I’ll submit the stories to literary magazines and anthologies. I may decide to self-publish them if that seems promising, or I might give them away for free, to bring new readers to my work. I’ve been hearing good things about the fiction scene over on Medium, so that might be a good place to start.

Whatever I do, I’ll keep you posted. I know you want to read about that lady-milk farm.

But Emmy, what’s your next book going to be?

Look for an announcement in the fall, my friend. Though I’m sorry to make you wait.

Exciting news!

On the topic of short stories — I have a piece in a new anthology, Scream And Scream Again, edited by my dear friend R.L. Stine. It’s a collection of spooky stories for middle-grade kids (age 8 – 12).

My story is called “Bricks and Bones” and it’s about a kid who goes skating in an old, abandoned bottle factory late at night and discovers an old mystery from the days of bootlegging, guarded by a GHOST…

Meanwhile, Berserker keeps on keepin’ on.

We got a lovely review from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: “[Laybourne’s] willingness to experiment outside her established (and popular) genre goes a long way, and the end result is one of the most interesting and compelling new fantasy worlds for any age group.”

Have you bought your copy yet? (Somehow, the hardcover’s only $10 on Amazon right now. Get two!)

That’s is for this month. Next month I’ll hope to have a story or two that are ready to be shared.

Are you taking any creative risks with your work this summer? I’d love to hear from you. Let me know!

Love,

The post My Ambitious Goal for a Summer of Stories appeared first on Emmy Laybourne.