Super Secret-But-Not-Really-Cuz-I-Kinda-Already-Mentioned-It-Earlier Special Book Announcement!

Okay, so it wasn't released at 1. I'm just so excited I bumped up the time!

I am so excited to announce this, because it's something that's taken up my life that past two or so years.

Well, let me fix that wording. I've been working on this 8th rewrite of it for two years. I came up with the original idea back in 2011.

I cranked this thing out when I had a dream that turned into my plot (with a few additions and changes, of course), and I instantly went through and kept editing it. Now, on the eleventh draft, I've finally decided that I am going to publish it.

Self-publish, that is.

*deep breath* *pterodactyl screech*


YES FRIENDS, I AM SELF-PUBLISHING MY BOOK.

I cannot tell you how excited I am.

Now, I know I said I'm looking for an agent, but honestly, none of them wanted it. They said "while this is interesting, I don't think it's right for my agency right now." All I can say is this: I've talked to so many people at my school and online and told them what my book is about and everyone was like "OH MY GOSH I WANNA READ IT NOW". So, I've decided to bypass the green light from those picky agents and do it anyways, because I know there are people who want to read it and I want them to read it too. So I'm self-publishing.

Okay, enough on that. You're probably wondering what my book even is.

Here you go friends! Here's the title and possible back-cover-blurb I drummed up.

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Sleipnir Chronicles Book 1: Mended and Torn

Orphaned at ten and bounced from boarding school to boarding school, Harper Johanssen accepts that she’s not normal. Friends don’t come easy to her, and her blunt attitude explains why—especially when she begins to further her deduction abilities and drag skeletons out of everyone’s closets.

Her newest school, Woodcrest Military Academy, has more skeletons than Harper was ready to unleash. Especially the one that tells her it is not a military school—but in fact a facility under the control of the CIA. And all her fellow students are teen spies.

Just as she’s beginning to adjust, the demons of her old life come back to haunt her in the worst way possible. They threaten her, they threaten her new life, and they threaten the safety of the entire world.

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EEEEEE I'm so proud of that actually.

But yeah. That's my book! And I'm gonna be publishing soon! I'm excited!

I don't have a cover yet, but when I do I will release it.

So what do you guys think? Do you have any suggestions on posts I can do as this draws nearer? Would you like a post from each of my characters? I dunno. Just little suggestions.

Yay!

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Little background on why I wrote this and how I wrote it and why it says "Book 1" before the title:

I wanted to write a spy book ever since I knew what espionage was. It just intrigued me so much, and I couldn't get it out of my head. When I was 11, my parents got me a Nook. I downloaded the Fliq Notes app on it and started writing. I actually wrote the first draft of the entire series on that little thing. I had about twenty different stories on there, and they never got to be over eleven chapters.

I tried writing it again a few years later (in 2013) and had changed a lot about it. I didn't like what was going on. The story wasn't clicking, the characters weren't fitting into the story--I just didn't like it. Nothing was fitting and nothing was turning out the way I wanted. So, again, I put it aside.

Then, on Friday, September 4, 2015, I woke up from a dream (yes I put the exact date. The only reason I know that is because I wrote it down and dated it). It was so brilliant, so detailed--I knew this was my book. I scribbled it down, then typed it up. It's saved under my Sleipnir folder on my computer. I took a few days to make the changes I wanted, then I got to work writing. Originally, I hated the characters. So I took Harper (who was from a story where she was Sherlock's great great granddaughter) and I took Jess (who was from the same story) and plopped them in with Jace, Quinn, William, and the rest of the gang. Boom, perfect cast.

Now, this was back when I didn't plot everything out chapter by chapter. So originally, it came out to 27 chapters, not including the prologue and epilogue. I cranked it out in 194 days, writing whenever I could; class, car rides, late at night, dinner parties where I'm my asocial self. Once I finished it, I took a few days to let that process. I had finished a book, a real book, for the first time. Then got to work on editing it.

Ten edits later, I started querying agents.

Eleven edits later, I've decided to self-publish.

From the very beginning, I knew I wanted this to be a series. The story that had become Harper's was changing, the world was expanding--and there was so much more that I needed to write. While the epilogue in book one may add some aspect of closure, there's still a lot more that is needs to be answered.

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So yeah! I'm self-publishing. I'm going to be keeping you guys updated on all this and I'm gonna be doing a post on character designs for the book and how they changed through the drafts.

Do you have any questions on my book or how you can get it (when it is available for purchase)?  Don't hesitate to ask!

~Olivia Ann