Five years before I started work on my current WIP, THE BONE HARVEST, I wrote a short story called A COLLECTION OF STARS. My original reason for writing it was in response to a call for submissions for an anthology titled, Defy the Dark. My story didn’t make the cut, but I did receive a completely unexpected and heartfelt response from anthology editor and author-extraordinaire, Saundra Mitchell, that remains some of the most-meaningful praise I’ve ever received. She said:

“I loved this story. Really rich science fiction can be a rare thing in YA, and I think you did a beautiful job here. The world building is fantastic, the characters are strong. Your language is evocative—I really did think this story was great. I had to put it aside because not because of its flaws, but because I already had a ship-bound science fiction story in the anthology.
As an editor, that breaks my heart. As a sister author, it drives me absolutely crazy. So I wanted to drop you a note and let you know, this story is *great*, and you really, really must submit it elsewhere. There's a home for it out there, and it so deserves to be seen by the world. I wish you the best of luck, and I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.”

Responses like this can be heartbreaking for an author. But it made me realize I wasn’t alone in feeling this story was special. It’s one of my favourite pieces of my own writing. Maybe I wrote it for that anthology, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t belong somewhere else. So, I did as Saundra suggested and submitted it to a few places, but the response was always the same: Thanks, but not what we’re looking for right now. So, eventually, I filed it away. And that was that.

That is, until I stumbled across it again one day and my writer brain started firing on all cylinders. I’d been carrying an idea for a YA sci-fi in the back of my mind for a while, but I could never seem to fully flesh out the plot. Re-reading this short story suddenly made everything click. And so, THE BONE HARVEST was born into a universe directly linked to A COLLECTION OF STARS.

As I said, I never did find a home for this short story, so I figure it’s time to give it a home right here. Because I really do love this little story about a teenager’s first night on-planet after living his entire life on a passenger spacecraft, and I hope you love it too.

Here’s a snippet from the text, which you can read in full at the link below.

A few feet ahead, Natalie is nothing but a silhouette in a pale sheath of fabric. She’s walking faster than me, her pace confident and sure. I jog to keep up, terrified of losing her in this creeping dark, but the unthinkable happens. I stumble, tripping over a section of rutted ground, and though I don’t fall, I lose enough balance to send the torch flying from my grasp. My reaction is like the victim of a landslide—panicked, desperate and ultimately incapable. The torch lands in a puddle of muck that extinguishes the flame on contact.
“Dammit,” I hiss, the word a crumbling pillar. I crouch to the ground as though I can somehow retrieve the lost light, but every last ember has gone out.
My world is black and cloying. I’m choking on claustrophobic thoughts, my lungs filling with muggy air and this terrible thing called night. My breath hastens as I open my eyes wide, but I can’t see a damn thing and it makes me miss the stars. It terrifies me.

Please click here to check out A COLLECTION OF STARS in its entirety.

I think I know what happened.

The Friday5 has gone through a few different incarnations over the years, and most recently, in an effort to focus my thought processes surrounding it, I introduced categories. But instead of making the Friday5 more streamlined, I think I actually just made it into another daunting weekly task, which is why I haven't done one in so long (well, that and, let's be realistic, my ongoing excuse that life is busy and stuff, guys. Like, hella busy.) Anyway, long story short, I'm gonna go back to basics, as in the freestyle Friday5 of yore, and hope it's something I can really get into again. Because while the Friday5 has never generated much discussion here on the site, I know you guys read it. I mean, you're reading this right now, aren't you? ;)

So, here we go! The freestyle Friday5, which definitely won't be weekly, but hopefully will be more frequent than it has been, and may contain anything from personal thoughts, to pop culture news, to memes, to book trailers, to funny videos, and of course, because it HAS been a longstanding staple of the Friday5--noteworthy new YA :)

1. How's the WIP coming along?

First off, thank you for asking. It's going well, but not as well as I'd hoped. And I don't mean that from a "this plot isn't working" standpoint, I mean it from an "I really hoped to be finished the first draft by now" standpoint. But I've recently launched a full-scale freelance editing business over at www.paperpoppyeditorial.com (check us out for all your editing and copywriting needs!) and that's taken time away from writing--paid time, I should add. You can't argue with that.

But back to the WIP. I'm at the climax of the story. It's exciting and passionate and it features a major conflict that even has me wondering how my characters will overcome it. But I'm not wondering much because I already know how they will. I have it all mapped out in my outline. But it still breaks my heart to see them fighting. They're good people, my protagonists. They've been lovers for a short time, but friends for much longer. I think you'd like them. I'm going to help them sort out their differences, and then I hope you get to read their story one day ;)

2. Speaking of the WIP...

Having only written YA before now, diving into an adult contemporary romance has been quite the adventure, and sometimes challenge. But thankfully, my years spent working on the other side of the desk as an editor of romance fiction, have left me intimately familiar with the genre. At first, I was a bit intimidated to write the kind of romance I love to read--sweet, emotional, complex, and definitely sexy--far sexier than the comparably tame, mostly off-the-page (though, not always fully off-the-page...) sex scenes I've written in my YAs. But it's actually been a blast. Romance is fun. Hooking people up is fun, and while I don't want to share anything too explicit here on the blog, here's a little taste of Home for a Rest, in what I'm going to dub #foreplayfriday (Is that a thing? Cause it should be...):

3. Presented without comment

Okay, a little comment...BUFFY!!!! If you follow me on Facebook, you know I've been all about EW's Buffy reunion this week (limited edition covers, you guys!). But this. THIS. Making all my dreams come true. Only complaint? Needs more Giles and Faith. But I'll still take it.

THe SCOOBY GANG'S ALL HERE...for the most part

4. Have you been listening to S-Town?

S-Town, the new podcast from the people who brought us the highly addictive Serial is definitely worth a listen. It's not true crime like Serial, but it is a fascinating story, well told by Brian Reed, and it might just break your heart. It definitely broke mine. And even if you aren't affected by the story's events the way I was, it's still a compelling look at how bizarre life can be, even when you live in a crappy, little town (and maybe even especially because of that). I think most of us can relate to that in one way or another.

5. Noteworthy New YA: HEARTS & OTHER BODY PARTS by Ira Bloom

Sisters Esme, Katy, and Ronnie are smart, talented, and gorgeous, and better yet . . . all three are witches. They have high school wired until the arrival of two new students. The first is Norman, who is almost eight feet tall and appears to be constructed of bolts and mismatched body parts. Despite his intimidating looks, Esme finds herself strangely -- almost romantically -- drawn to both his oversized brain and oversized heart.
The second new arrival is Zack, an impossibly handsome late transfer from the UK who has the girls at school instantly mesmerized. Soon even sensible Esme has forgotten Norman, and all three sisters are in a flat-out hex war to win Zack. But while the magic is flying, only Norman seems to notice that students who wander off alone with Zack end up with crushed bones and memory loss. Or worse, missing entirely.

-Courtesy of Indiebound