A Whitney Award Nominee!

I'm thrilled to announce that THE MULTIPLYING MYSTERIES OF MOUNT TEN is a 2019 Whitney Award nominee. Thank you to everyone who read it, everyone who voted for it, and everyone who loves math and books as much as I do. Readers make this world go 'round:)

Want to Win a Copy of THE MULTIPLYING MYSTERIES OF MOUNT TEN?

If you're reading this, then I assume you do:) Head over to friend and critique partner Michelle Mason's blog for your chance to win (and there's an interview to boot)!

Five Fun Facts About THE MULTIPLYING MYSTERIES OF MOUNT TEN

Want some behind-the-scenes tidbits about THE MULTIPLYING MYSTERIES OF MOUNT TEN? Then check out the five fun facts I shared with YAYOMG! But some of them will make you work. For instance, can you figure out which two classic MG mysteries most inspired mine?

Happy Book Birthday to THE MULTIPLYING MYSTERIES OF MOUNT TEN!

They say you should write the book that only you can write, and if that's true, then this is more my book than any of the others. I solved my first logic puzzle when I was, like, ten years old, so I guess you could say that I've been writing this book for a long, long, long, long, long time:)

About THE MULTIPLYING MYSTERIES OF MOUNT TEN:

"Twelve-year-old painter Esther can't wait to attend Camp Vermeer, the most prestigious art camp around. But when her stepdad accidentally drives up the wrong mountain, she lands at Camp Archimedes--a math camp!

"Determined to prove herself to the other campers, she tackles a brain-teaser that’s supposed to be impossible--and solves it in a single day. But not everyone is happy about it...someone wants her out of camp at any cost, and starts leaving cryptic, threatening notes all over the camp’s grounds. Esther doesn’t know who to trust--will she solve this riddle before it’s too late?

"Featuring tricky logic puzzles readers can solve along with the characters and starring a unique, smart, and crafty young heroine, this story has just the right mix of mystery, humor, and wit."

If you'd told ten-year-old me that I was going to major in either math or English, I would have guessed English all the way. And yet I think my math degree made me an even better writer, and if it gave me the confidence to write this story down, then I couldn't be gladder.

“The isolated setting provides the perfect backdrop for this fast-paced mystery

by Van Dolzer starring a quirky crew of well-drawn characters.”

--Publishers Weekly

“It's a lot of fun as readers participate in Esther's journey and solve puzzles alongside her... 

The ending successfully twists readers' expectations,

and those who like thought puzzles will enjoy this book.”

--Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

“Esther herself is solid and earnest, the math aspect is engaging,

and the exuberant energy of the story is contagious.”

--Kirkus

"A good middle school mystery that includes, art, literature, logic, and multiple subplots.
...Compares well to CHASING VERMEER and THE WESTING GAME.”

--School Library Connection

I'll host a giveaway or two either here or on Twitter over the next couple of months, but in the meantime, you can order THE MULTIPLYING MYSTERIES OF MOUNT TEN from all the usual suspects:

AMAZON | B&N | BAM | INDIEBOUND | !NDIGO | POWELL’S | GOODREADS

So get out there and math it up!

A New Title, a Cover Reveal, and a Signed ARC Giveaway

I'm excited to announce Clyde the Second's new title--THE MULTIPLYING MYSTERIES OF MOUNT TEN--and to share the cover reveal, which debuted yesterday on the Pop! Goes the Reader blog. The inimitable Iacopo Bruno perfectly captured the book's tone in this awesome work of art, so definitely go and check it out. And while you're there, don't miss the signed ARC giveaway at the bottom of the post!

What I've Been Up To Lately

Alternate title: "Has It Really Been Three Months Since I Blogged?"

The first thing you need to know is that I've scheduled another round of "An Agent's Inbox" for the last week in March (the week of March 26). I don't know which genres The Agent will be looking for yet, but I strongly suspect he or she will want to see various shades of YA and MG fiction, so if you've got a finished manuscript within one of those categories, get those queries and first pages polished up!

March's round of "An Agent's Inbox" will be the last round before the fall, as I'm going to be having a baby in April. Did you see that coming? I sure didn't. It's been a years-long process to get this baby here, and maybe I'll feel inclined to share the story of those years someday. For now, suffice it to say that we're extremely excited and a little overwhelmed. In some ways, it feels like we're first-time parents again, so we hope those instincts don't take that long to come back...

In book-related news, I've been revising, revising, revising for what feels like the last eight years (but was probably just the last eight months). EARTH TO DAD has a great cover that I can't wait to share, and DON'T SOLVE THE PUZZLE will be getting a new title soon, so definitely stay tuned!

SOLD

When you sell your first manuscript, you're ecstatic. Your lifelong dream is (finally, always finally) coming true. You did it. You really did it.

But you can't make a career out of selling your first manuscript (unless your name is J.K. Rowling or Stephenie Meyer). You've got to keep selling them, and as I mentioned in this post, that was the one thing I hadn't been able to do.

Until now.

From Publishers Weekly: Brett Wright at Bloomsbury has won at auction Krista Van Dolzer's Don't Solve the Puzzle, a middle-grade murder mystery set at a math camp, with built-in logic puzzles that readers can solve alongside the main character. Publication is scheduled for winter 2019; Brent Taylor at the TriadaUS Literary Agency brokered the deal for world rights.

If you've been a longtime reader, I can guess what you're thinking: What the heck is DON'T SOLVE THE PUZZLE? Only slightly better known as Clyde the Second, DON'T SOLVE THE PUZZLE is a companion novel to DON'T VOTE FOR ME, also known as Clyde, and features Esther Lambert, an art kid from DON'T VOTE FOR ME who ends up at a math camp by mistake.

When Bloomsbury showed up on Brent's submission list, I couldn't have been more excited. Some of my very favorite authors are published by Bloomsbury (hello, Shannon Hale and Lindsey Leavitt!), and when I was browsing my own bookshelves, I was surprised to see how many of my books had that funny-looking archer on their spines. But the first interest in the manuscript came from another press, and when it became clear that neither of these publishers was going anywhere, Brent set up an auction. I'm sure you can guess who won:)

For more information on DON'T SOLVE THE PUZZLE, feel free to check out the "Books" tab at the top of the screen. I hope you'll have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.

Change

It's okay, you don't have to pay

I've got all the change

--Ben Folds, "Still Fighting It"

I don't do change well. I don't think many people do, but since it's becoming clear that change is going to be the theme of our 2016, I've decided to embrace it.

But it's still sort of terrifying.

It started at the end of last year, actually. I'd been feeling like I needed to blaze a new trail, but change is hard, so I resisted. Then, just before Christmas, I realized that the time was right. All of the little loose ends were (finally) getting tied up, so I did the thing I'd been dreading for a while: I parted ways with Kate and wrote a new query for the first time in four years.

I sent my first real batch of queries on the first Saturday in January. Seven minutes later, I had my first request. The next day, the agent e-mailed me with several questions about the manuscript, and the next day, I e-mailed him with my answers. I also told him about a proposal I'd been working on, and he asked to read that, too. Later that same day, he asked to set up a phone call, and during that phone call the next day, he offered to represent me.

I did my due diligence and had some great conversations with two other agents. They ended up offering, too, but I just couldn't get the first agent's enthusiasm out of my head. I was also impressed with his initiative and drive. He didn't have to tell me he'd get the job done because he'd already shown me (and we're all about showing, not telling, in this business).

So now I'm represented by Brent Taylor of Triada US Literary Agency. (If you want to see my query, check out this interview.) He is as fierce as Beyonce and as capable as any agent I've ever met or heard of, and I'm extremely grateful to have him in my corner. As the cogs of another big part of my life start to whir and buzz around me, I can honestly say that I hope these other changes go as smoothly as this one did. To new years and fresh starts!

Mini (Work-in-) Progress Reports

I haven't had a ton of time to blog lately, so here's a quick roundup of the projects I've been working on:

Steve

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 60,000
Status: Chilling like a villain (okay, not really like a villain, but it (sort of) rhymed)
Attitude: Not hostile

Also known as THE SOUND OF LIFE AND EVERYTHING, Steve is the little book that could. It recently occurred to me that I started querying this manuscript three years ago this month, and I'm STILL working on it. Okay, maybe I'm not actively working on it at the moment (and I'm pretty sure most of the heavy lifting is behind me), but I still have at least another round of pass pages to review and who knows what else. That said, holding an ARC in my hands for the first time was a really awesome moment, and I can honestly say that I don't hate this story anymore. I plan to give away an ARC or two on the blog and on Goodreads, but I probably won't get to those giveaways until after the holidays. In the meantime, you can pre-order him and/or add him to your Goodreads list, so if you're interested, you can check out the "Books" page above.

Clyde

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 44,000
Status: Waiting for first pass pages
Attitude: Excited to see what happens next

We still haven't settled on a new title for Clyde, but since my last update, I have turned in a revision and finished copy edits, so things are moving along. Though the manuscript hasn't been designed yet, Sourcebooks has added this copyright page to the beginning of the document. Like a caterpillar morphing into a butterfly, Clyde is slowly but surely turning into a book.

Clyde the Second

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 48,000
Status: Working on the second draft
Attitude: Amused

I cranked out a few and have spent the last few months cleaning it up and getting reader feedback. Clyde the Second isn't a straight sequel, but it is a companion novel that takes a secondary character from Clyde and turns her into the main character. It's also a math mystery (thanks for the idea, Liz!) set at a summer camp. I'm still not sure if Sourcebooks will even want it, but I've enjoyed writing it, so that's something, at least.

Well, that's all I've got. What have you been working on in the last few months?