Pre-order AUTOFOCUS, send me proof, get cool things! YAY!

Pre-order AUTOFOCUS, send me proof, get cool things! YAY!

My second novel, AUTOFOCUS, comes out this summer. In it, Maude is a budding photographer. Whether it’s her trusty DSLR or phone camera, she’s always trying to capture moments. She wants to find ways of making moments immortal, in a way, since finding anything on her birth mother is nearly impossible.
Since photography is a huge part of AUTOFOCUS, from now through its release I’m going to have a different photography challenge each month. And each month I’ll choose a winner who will receive a signed ARC of the book. Sound fun? I hope so!
Photography Challenge 1:

Maude loves taking pictures with her best friend Treena. She calls them buddy shots (a selfie is when you take a picture of just yourself, a buddy shot is when you take a picture with your buddy.) Take a buddy shot with your BFF. It could be an old picture or new. It could be a friend, a relative, a pet even.
To enter: Tweet photo to me (@laurengibaldi) with the hashtag: #autofocusbuddyshot
Open to US/Canada through February 26th. GOOD LUCK!
It’s here! It’s here! Check out my book trailer for THE NIGHT WE SAID YES!
More information, and the exclusive reveal, can be found on the B&N Teen blog.
As mentioned in the post, it was so much fun filming. My actors were great, the location was fantastic, and I’m so happy with the final product. (Big shout out, again, to my friend Joe who filmed/edited/scored the entire thing. And, yes, I realize it was filmed during the day, but have you tried filming at night? It’s not easy. Still, I think it gets the feel of the book across pretty wonderfully. I’m so happy!
Here are some photos from the shoot of my adorable and wonderful cast.
And here’s me looking extremely short next to them. Hi!
I know it’s been a while since I’ve last written, and I apologize for that. But…I come with exciting news! When THE NIGHT WE SAID YES sold, it was a two-book deal. Well, I can now discuss my second book!!
My follow-up to THE NIGHT WE SAID YES is called AUTOFOCUS. It follows a girl as she searches for information about her long-deceased birth mother, and, along the way, wonders if who we are is determined at birth, or if we can change as we grow.
You guys, I’m so excited about this book. It came as a random idea I had one day–I saw a girl going to an unknown city looking for answers. I kind of went from there, and the book came to be. I’m so thrilled my editor picked up this story, and I can’t wait to share more about it!
AUTOFOCUS is another YA contemporary, and, no, not a sequel to THE NIGHT WE SAID YES. It’s tentatively scheduled for a summer 2016 release with HarperTeen.
Here they are, the books I read in 2014! My typical goal is 50, but with a new baby this year and writing/editing books of my own, that proved to be…difficult. Still, I think I conquered a lot.
(* = book not yet released)
In all, YA beat out any other category (obviously), followed by graphic novels (some really great ones this year). Non-fiction primarily revolved around being a mom, which is not surprising. I also read a ton of picture books, which I didn’t list. (SO many beautiful ones! I must point out, specifically, THE ADVENTURES OF BEEKLE: THE UNIMAGINARY FRIEND, which both L and I adored.) So what are my reading goals for this year? More plays I think and more adult fiction. I don’t see either happening, though, because have you seen the amazing YA books coming out in 2015? Specifically by debut authors?
Exactly.
Happy reading!