It's Out!!!!

As I Wake has just been released today. PLEASE read it and post your review on Amazon and anywhere you can. It helps us authors move up the rankings and get noticed by other readers.

I really appreciate all of you out there who liked my first novel. I already got a five-star review from a reviewer today. Thanks Tiffany Harkleroad for your honest opinion. 

Here's the link to the book: http://www.amazon.com/As-I-Wake-Sarah-DiCello/dp/1481167138/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1355621304&sr=8-4&keywords=sarah+dicello

A Little Taste . . .

Get ready to fill your stocking with the sequel to "As I Close My Eyes." The next book in the breaking fate series, "As I Wake," is coming out December 15. Here's a little sneak peak . . .

Something is digging into my spine. A pebble? No. A piece of glass? Maybe, but it’s round and dull. And I’m wet. Just underneath my head, although I can feel water slowly making its way down my neck and onto my back, saturating my clothing. Shadows move in between rays of fading evening sun from a window just above my head. Someone is talking. It’s a man. Again, a voice I recognize. I must have passed out and I can feel Ben’s hands on my shoulders, gently shaking me. As soon as I hear his name in my head I’m relaxed and the cold wetness beneath me no longer matters. Nor does the object piercing my lower back. I’m lying on a wood floor, moving the tips of my fingers in and out of the deep grooves in the planks. My ring finger stops on a nail sticking out of one of the floorboards. The head of the nail is round, like the object making an indent in my skin.

“Elizabeth, can you hear me?” shouts a dark figure hovering over me.

I find myself in the same precarious situation in this black hole of time travel. I can’t speak, though I know in a few moments I will be able to sit up and assess the situation. I assume I went deeply into Cape May again, but oddly don’t remember a bit of it. Is it me they are calling? It can't be. I'm Caroline, not Elizabeth.

Everything looks different as I blink my eyes open and catch glimpses of the scenery around me. Sweat and a smell like the dark corners of a musty basement invade my nostrils, leaving the ocean air I expected to breath in absent from my senses. It’s dark and cigarette smoke has filled the room, creating a fog as the crowd around me assembles. Their clothing brushes against my face and tickles my bare arms.

These faces aren’t familiar. Where is Rebecca? Does she have Grace? I can feel my heart beat faster and faster, sending me into a shudder of anxiety. I keep my eyes open for a few more seconds, longer than I’ve been able to so far. Everything looks strange.

When am I?

Sequel is Off to Editing

I really didn't think I could do it. When my publisher told me they wanted the sequel out by Christmas I freaked out. I was excited and very nervous about the deadline but now I've come to the day when I've sent it off to my fabulous editor, Jess. I mean that literally . . . I just hit SEND and am waiting with bated breath to see what she thinks.

I've poured my heart into this one just as much as "As I Close My Eyes" and I can't wait for you to read it. I hope, with everything in me, that you like it. Writing a sequel is tough and I put a lot of pressure on myself to get this one just right.

The sequel will be here just in time to stuff your stocking. Well, maybe right before Santa comes down that chimney.

To all the fans of "As I Close My Eyes" - this one's for you!

 

Check out my new book trailer. My husband is a genius. He spent hours upon hours making this for me and it looks like a paid professional did it. I just paid him with beer :-) Hope you like it!

Exciting Announcement

I am already on chapter 7 of the sequel to "As I Close My Eyes." My publisher wants the next book out by this Christmas. I better work a bit faster :-)

I'm finding that I'm so much more critical of myself this time around. I've learned so much since writing my first novel that I'm going over and over every single word and sentence in this second one. I guess that's what we, as writers do. I don't think I'll ever think anything I do is absolutely perfect. I'll always find something to change and there comes a point when you just have to stop and move on.

So, I'm hard at work on the sequel and if you were shocked at the ending, know that there was a reason - there's a #2!!!!

Got My First "Real" Review

I'm so excited because today I received my first review from a well-respected reviewer...well, that I know of. I have 21 reviews on Amazon and don't know who most of them are posted by.

She gave me a whopping 4 stars and I'm thrilled!!!!!!

Check out what she said about "As I Close My Eyes"" http://tiffanysbookshelf.blogspot.com/2012/08/as-i-close-my-eyes-by-sarah-dicello.html#

And after you finish my book, PLEASE place a comment on here and/or on my Facebook Author page (www.facebook.com/sarahdicelloauthor) and tell me what you want to read in the second book. Were there characters you'd like to see developed more in the second book? Were there questions you had that you absolutely need answers to in the next one?

What an awesome night. About 50 of my closest friends and family came out to support the launch of my book. Here's a photo with my book club (the awesome gals who threw the party for me)!

I have to confess, I did want to hide in the corner at first, but it was actually a blast and every one I met was genuinely excited for me.

Thanks to everyone who came!

Tonight is my launch party for my book. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. I compare it to "coming out of the closet." I feel so naked and vulnerable. I've written this book and now people are actually going to read it - HOLY SHIT!!!!

I know some will love it and others will give me one star on Amazon and Goodreads and that's okay. Well, it's really not. I want everyone to love it.

I'll post photos this weekend of the party tonight sometime over the weekend.

#16 on the Charts

Yup...that's right. I'm #16 amongst the free Kindle downloads as of today. And #2 in historical romance as well as #4 in contemporary romance.

Thank you so very much to everyone who downloaded my book. It's truly more than I could have imagined and I'm so humbled by all of you who are reading it.

It's no longer my friends and family who have it in their hands. Please, if you like my book, write a review for me on Amazon.

Yippee!!! I got a contract!

I just signed with Taylor Street Books yesterday and am so excited to join their talented group of writers. Falling Again should debut on Amazon within the next few months and it all seems surreal to me. I've worked on this novel for the past two years and it will be very rewarding to see it come to life.

Here's my description on my pseudo back cover:

When Danielle Grayson closes her eyes at night, she awakes as Caroline Marcum. One minute, Danielle is an average 18-year-old living in present-day Georgia, and the next, she’s thrust into a world she has never seen before . . . or so she thinks. Night after night, Danielle travels in her sleep to a Victorian beach town where everything seems eerily familiar and acutely real.

She soon realizes that she’s dealing with something far greater than a simple dream when occurrences in her present-day life begin to duplicate themselves in her dreams.

Her connection to Caroline grows nightly. As the months progress, there are more questions than answers and Danielle’s constant obsession to figure out who Caroline is overtakes her every day life. She wonders how she could be living in two distinct time periods during the course of the same day.

Then Ben arrives. The moment Danielle sees him she realizes that she’s looked into those very same eyes as Caroline. The pieces of the puzzle are beginning to reveal their place in her shattered existence. Family and friends in her Georgian life exhibit the same characteristics as those she converses with as Caroline. 

Danielle begins to wonder how those closest to her got there in the first place. Have they been there forever? 

I rescued a dog today.

Here's how it began. I went to get lunch with a friend at her pizza restaurant. We quickly noticed a lonely dog wandering around across a busy street. Then saw a vet from across the street follow it with a leash and treats. She was moving verrrrrry slowly. I got pissed. We jumped in the Caddy my friend owns and went out in search of the dog.

It was running away from us . . . obviously. The vet, again, was moving verrry slowly. I had had enough. I grabbed the leash and the treats from her and said, "I'll do it myself!" All logic left my head and I went into "Sarah DiCello - animal lover and saver of all things small and furry!"

My friend did too. She followed after me in her new Cadillac search and rescue vehicle as I ran - literally ran in stilettos - after this dog. The animal was headed to an extremely busy street and I panicked. My shoes came off and I ran as fast as I could down the middle, yes, the middle, of the street. Cars were passing on all sides as we came to a 4-way stop. There we found our Savior - the Statue of Liberty.

I know. Not the twist you expected. But there he stood, this wonderful African American man dressed as New York's finest, stopping traffic on his side of the street. So, I stopped traffic on the other side of the street as well.

From the perspective of those people in cars to the back of the situation, they probably were cursing us out for halting their very busy work day, but again, I became "Sarah DiCello - animal lover and saver of all things small and furry!"

I lost my own dog once and I was going to pay it forward, dammit!!!

A nice man in a very Hannibalesque van pulled over and tried to coerce the dog in, and it worked. He jumped right on top of him. We then instructed him to meet us at the vet. The very vet I was sure didn't care much about the well-being and safety of this dog. However, it was our only option.

We met and made the exchange to soon find a smelly, dirty, licking dog jumping from lap to lap, excited to be rescued.

So, when my husband asked me how my day was, I said, "I have performed a great deed. I shall now award myself with some Pinot Grigio."

To say that I'm overwhelmed is a gross understatement. Being an author is HARD as Hell. I think it might be right up there with raising two kids and two dogs.

I digress...here's a bit about me:

I wrote a book almost two years ago called Falling Again. It's gonna sound cliche, but I had a 5 second dream about my main character, Danielle Grayson, and just had to get her out of my head and into my computer. I told my husband about it on our way to visit his family and he said, "You should write a book."

I thought he was nuts. But, the words just flowed out of me. I never aspired to be an author before because I didn't think I had it in me. Well, I guess I do because 300 pages and 72,000 words later, I have a novel.

If you want to read an exerpt of it, go to this site: http://www.authonomy.com/books/43231/falling-again/

My first 10 chapters are on Authonomy for your enjoyment. Well, I hope you enjoy it. If you don't like Young Adult novels and aren't into ghosts or the idea that we might just have a past life, you may not like it.

If you do like it . . . let me know. I'm hoping to get it published soon.