Best of 2011

Favourite picture of the year. Sled Dog Central

Top Five reads

1. The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
2. The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan
3. Prized by Caragh M. O'Brien
4. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
5. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Dogsled Dreams book tour 2011. Dog race mascot came over to admire my books!

Top Five Things from this blog

1. This dogsledding video
2. My sled dogs
3. Best part of being an author - fan mail
4. Georgian Bay adventure
5 Announcing my book deal for Ice Dogs





Top Two Things from other people's blogs

1. Sandra Mitchell's post Eventually You'll Care Less
2. Tahereh Mafi on Being a Writer


What were some of your favourites this year?

Story Siren 2011

What a year of reading! I completed my Goodreads reading challenge with 81 books! And 36 were debut's which also completes my Story Siren debut challenge.

I'm so thankful for being part of the amazing group The Elevensies. When I needed to share good news, or bad, they were there to talk me down. We supported and learned from each other, and I've made friends that will hopefully remain for my writing career.

A bonus of doing the debut challenge was it introduced me to books in genre's that I wouldn't normally read.

I've learned:

• Dead people? - very very cool to read about! Especially if they are dressed in, you know... blood.
• Ramadan? Yiddish? - I'm embarrassed to confess, I didn't really know much. But so glad to learn.
• God Stones? - yeah, I'm a new and frothing fan of fantasy! Woo!
• 1941 in the Soviet Union? - reading Ruta's masterpiece rocked me to the core. It changed me.

Here's my 2011 debut list

1. The Trouble With Half a Moon by Danette Vigilante (MG)
2. Warped by Maurissa Guibord (YA)
3. Vesper by Jeff Sampson (YA)
4. XVI by Julia Karr (YA)
5. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand (YA)
6. Head Games by Keri Mikulski (YA)
7. Perilous by Tamara Hart Heiner (YA)
8. Across the Universe by Beth Revis (YA)
9. Rival by Sara Bennett Wealer (YA)
10. So Shelly by Ty Roth (YA)
11. Haven by Kristi Cook (YA)
12. The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney (YA)
13. Clarity by Kim Harrington (YA)
14. How Lamar's Bad Prank Won Him a Bubba-Sized Trophy by Chrystal Allen (MG)
15. Illegal by Bettina Restrepo (YA)
16. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (YA)
17. The Lipstick Laws by Amy Holder (YA)
18. The Rotten Adventures of Zachary Ruthless by Allan Woodrow (MG)
19. OyMG by Amy Fellner Dominy (YA)
20. Moonglass by Jessi Kirby (YA)
21. Memento Nora by Angie Smibert (YA)
22. Divergent by Veronica Roth (YA)
23. Possession by Elana Johnson (YA)
24. Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton (YA)
25. Bestest. Ramadan. Ever. by Medeia Sherif (YA)
26. Dead Rules by Randy Russell (YA)
27. Wither by Lauren DeStafano (YA)
28. Vanished by Sheela Chari (MG)
29. End of the Line by Angela Cerrito (YA)
30. Popular by Alissa Grosso (YA)
31. The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab (YA)
32. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake (YA)
33. With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo (MG)
34. My Very Unfairy Tale Life by Anna Staniszewski (MG)
35. Don't Expect Magic by Kathy McCullough (YA)
36. The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson (YA)

Can't wait to get started on 2012!

Did you do this challenge? Which books rocked your world?

ICE DOGS announcement

photo credit www.sleddogcentral.com

Today I finally get to spill the beans and tell you my exciting news.

I've been waiting impatiently to be able to share, but now that the day is here, I'm actually a bit lost for words.

Here's someone else's words.
Deals from Publisher's Marketplace:

Children's: Young Adult
Terry Lynn Johnson's ICE DOGS, in which a 15-year old dogsled racer and sled dog owner loses her way on a routine daytime outing with her dogs; with food gone and temperatures dropping, her survival and that of her dogs and the mysterious boy she meets in the woods, is up to her, to Ann Rider at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's, for publication in Winter 2013, by Caryn Wiseman at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (world). caryn@andreabrownlit.com


My novel will be a real hardcover book in two years!!!

I cannot even begin to tell you how good this feels. My dream of being published with a big publisher has come true!! And I owe much to my amazing agent Caryn Wiseman of Andrea Brown Lit Agency.

also,

A GIGANTIC and GRATEFUL shout out to my long-suffering crit partner PAUL GRECI

who read the manuscript about 608 times without complaint.
He is beyond awesome. He is also a spectacular, uber talented writer.


Really, a writer's most important tool is her critique partners. I also have to thank

Sue Kay Quinn
Kendare Blake
Medeia Sharif
Cynthia Chapman Willis

also my good friend, and not even a writer Jackie White  who keeps me grounded with her honesty.

I also owe a debt to the good friends I have made this year at the ELEVENSIES

See the village of support I have? I am one lucky writer! And now, thanks to my support team, I am soon to be a Houghton Mifflin Harcourt author.