THESE GENTLE WOUNDS launches in 25 days. WOW. And it seems like every day there is some other bit of housekeeping I have to do: blogging, promo stuff, just getting my ducks in a row. Strange how you never seem to be completely “done” writing a book. :-) Even stranger is that things are gearing up for my 2015 book. I hope to be able to announce the title soon, but for now I’m going to just tell you a little about it.
Oddly, I wrote it before These Gentle Wounds. It was the first book I subbed, the book that got me my first agent. It shares some of the same themes as TGW (loss, guilt, inner strength) and has a male main character. It’s even set in the same town and high school. But ultimately this book is a love story between three friends. Two of those friends are boys. All of those friends are romantically pining for someone. One of the friends is gay. One of the friends is a smart-mouthed artist. One of the friends dies.
I wrote this book for many reasons, but one of those is that so many of my closest friends are those I’ve had for many, many years. In most of those cases, it has never entered my mind that we would ever cease to be friends. That’s what Cal, Spenser, and Lizzie are like. Friends forever regardless of what happens.
When I was in high school and college, my friends really were my family and my life. So many people echo this, but I don’t see it written about a lot in YA. There are friendships sure, but not necessarily the types of friendships that I had, the type that are almost more important than relationships, the type that you know can overcome any obstacle, even death.
I can’t wait to share this book with you.