Big News!!!

If you've been following my author page on Facebook (see link in the side bar if you haven't!) then you know I have some big news for you today! But, before I get to that, I'm going to let you sit in suspense for a couple more minutes. *evil cackle*

Here's your weekly update about Through the Paper Wall. I have received complete edits from two of my beta readers and I have been working through them. Overall I am thrilled with what I am hearing and I have been given some really great direction and advice. As of right now I'm about two hours away from being done with this edits, if I estimated right and I stay at my normal pace. So, in other words, I'll be finished with them today if I can keep myself on track! That's the goal. After that, I'll be going back through and doing another edit on my own, looking for some specific things I want to fix, which include the following:

• Contractions
• "Dad" vs. "dad"
• Deciding what I want to do with the first line in a chapter
• Adding to the epilogue so readers know what happens to one of the characters

After that point I'll start working on formatting the book itself and getting it ready to send for a proof copy! I will also be finalizing the synopsis and cover, probably while I'm waiting for my proof copy to get to me. 

Okay, okay, enough updates, here's what you've been waiting for - THE BIG NEWS! Drum roll please...

My book Ontario has been picked up by a publisher! I am absolutely thrilled, and I can't wait to tell you more about it as things are finalized. Once all the contracts have been signed and everything is cleared away, I'll clue you in on who the publisher is and all that jazz. I am so excited for you to get this story and to actually have a publisher! Ontario is by far my favorite story that I have ever written. I spontaneously started writing it last January. I wrote 75% of the story in about two weeks, stopped for a while, then finished it in August. For those of you who don't know about Ontario, here's the synopsis I included in my query letter:

“Don’t worry, Ontario, I’ll never leave you. You will always have me here to protect you and your brother.” Those words from a childhood memory would haunt Ontario for the rest of her life. Losing her father had been difficult enough, but her life would change even more drastically at the beginning of her senior year of high school. That was when her mother abandoned her, leaving her brother Eddy as her legal guardian. Suddenly thrown into a very different life, Ontario clings to her brother, and to no one else. Could she trust anyone anymore? Even her best friend was not there for her. 

In order to feel like less of a burden on her brother Ontario gets a job at the local fifties-style diner. It is there that she meets her new “family,” including Austin, who eventually becomes her love interest and the only one who can help her truly heal. In time Ontario discovers that Austin has his own demons, and their relationship as friends and boyfriend and girlfriend allows them to find a way to escape their sadness. Through learning to face the past as well as the future, Ontario comes to realize that even though she has been let down in the past, it is still alright for her to trust and to love. The romance that blossoms between Ontario and Austin is one that is proper and clean, and also healing for both of them. 

I am really excited for what is coming, especially now that I have two books coming your way! Keep reading for more interviews, book reviews, guest posts, and updates. I may even have some contests coming your way! If you haven't lately, I'd love for you to spread the word about Through the Paper Wall, this blog, and my Facebook and Twitter pages. Thanks for all you do!

- Heidi Nicole Bird