Chantel Simmons » Love Struck

Love Struck sneak peek!

Chantel — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:00:24 +0000

The past week has been super exciting — I got the final cover for Love Struck. I am obsessed with it (I think I can say that without sounding completely narcissistic because I didn’t design it). I also got the first pages. What this means is that the book gets laid out to look exactly like a book, but is then printed on 8 1/2 x 11 pages, to be sent to the proofreader and me for one final look. The next step are the ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies), which will be made and then sent to media for review!

In the meantime, my editor wrote the cover copy for the book, so I thought I would share it with you!

A funny, heartfelt story about losing the perfect life—and finding a real one.

When twenty-seven-year-old image consultant Poppy Ross discovers her beloved husband Parker is having an affair, she is dumbfounded. Before she has a chance to confront him, however, he is struck by lightning. When he regains consciousness, he has lost his short-term memory—including
that of the affair. Given this unlikely chance to erase history, Poppy decides to remake herself in the mistress’s image, so that Parker might never be tempted to stray again. Her quest to become the perfect woman has disastrous and hilarious results, however, and just might turn out to be the worst thing possible for her marriage.

Want to read more? Sign up for my Secret Updates newsletter (scroll to the bottom of my home page to sign up), and I”ll send you the first few pages of Love Struck to read before anyone else! You’ll also get entered for a chance to win an ARC of the book, so you can read the whole book months before it’s in bookstores!

Accept/Reject

Chantel — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:04:21 +0000

I’ve just finished accepting and rejecting the track changes that the copyeditor made on Love Struck — officially the second-last step in the book editing process! I have to say, it was a very enjoyable process. There was only one instance where my editor asked me about a hick-ish sort of town I’d mentioned, in the same sentence as Tiffany pearls. To be honest, I’d chosen the town because a) I’d been there because our friends used to have a ginormous house on a lake with a hot tub in the living room and b) it had a cool name. I hadn’t really considered that yes, it’s very rural and likely, there are no Tiffany pearls being worn in town. Other than that, I just had to hit the Accept button a bunch of times. Sort of like a video game, but without the Space Invaders-like music.

When I went through the same process with Stuck in Downward Dog, it was a totally different experience. My editor at the time had left on all the comments from the copyeditor so I could see what she had to say. And she was just doing her job and asking the kind of questions she should ask. But I got so confused that I started cutting characters and changing names. Only to find out that I wasn’t really supposed to do that, and could’ve just rejected all her comments and moved on with my life without having a nervous breakdown.

But I didn’t know better because it was my first time and I just wanted to be a good author. This time, however, my editor screened all the comments and changes, and then sent through a near-clean version, in which all I had to do was accept the better wording in most cases, and be happy that she was so good at her job.

Now, the book is back with my editor, and going to the typesetting phase. The next time I see it, it will be look like the pages of the book, only on regular printer-size paper. I’ll have one more read of it for any last typos, and then the advanced copies will be made!

But for now, I’m on to the next deadline: Finishing The Time Traveller’s Wife.

Welcome to my new site!

Chantel — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:37:27 +0000

I’m super excited about my new site redesign, thanks to Delicious Design Studio.

It’s still a work in progress (because I’m supposed to be editing LOVE STRUCK not prettifying my site) but stay tuned for giveaways, quizzes and special offers for book clubs!

In the meantime, sign up to receive Secret Updates, and you’ll be entered to win an advanced reader copy of LOVE STRUCK before it goes on sale to the public!