Forbidden Sea on Twitter!

I now have a Twitter account! Check out the link below:


http://twitter.com/#!/sheilaanielson

Become a follower and be the first to learn any new updates about Forbidden Sea and other future books I'm working on.

Amazingly Talented Young Fans

I received the most wonderful Christmas gift from a young fan named Anastasia who read and loved Forbidden Sea this year. Pictured above is the front and back view of a necklace she made for me. Isn't it stunning? Now I can carry Adrianne with me everywhere I go. Thank you so much, Anastasia, for such a beautiful and rare gift!

S0 many of Forbidden Sea's young readers are overflowing with talent. Another gift I received this year was a book of poems written by the Pickwick Society, a group of talented young writers ages 7 to 12. They read Forbidden Sea together and then decided to each write a poem about it. Afterward they presented me with a beautifully finished scrapbook of their work. I've scanned each poem and included them here so the rest of you can read and enjoy them as well.

*SPOILER WARNING* The poems are about the Forbidden Sea and sometimes give away small parts of the plot. Read at you own risk. : )

Thanks for all your hard work, Pickwick Society. I will never forget you!

And if there are any other young fans out there who have been inspired by Forbidden Sea--send me a scan of your fan art or pictures of your unique creations and I'll post some of them on this blog for everyone to enjoy.

Good Things are Coming!

I have been honored, and completely floored, by the amount of positive interest that has been generated regarding the release of my book, Forbidden Sea. I am thrilled and excited for everyone to get a chance to read the book, and wish it were possible for me to give everyone who wanted one, an ARC of the book. If I were J. K. Rowing, I would demand enough ARCs to hand one out to every fantastic book reviewer who is excited to get their hands on one! Unfortunately, I am not J. K. Rowling and my publisher has given me very (and I do mean very) few ARCs. In fact, they gave me less than originally promised. (I think they like to be the ones to decide how to distribute ARCs and to whom they will go.) So for all you wonderful reviewers, bloggers, and delightful book loving people who are dying to read my book, I would suggest contacting Scholastic Press directly and see if they will let you have one. The last few remaining ARCs I do have left in my possession will be given away in drawings on this blog in the last couple months leading up to the release date of Forbidden Sea, so stay tuned. The drawings will be only for those who are official followers of this site, so make sure you are signed up. You just might be one of the lucky ones!

Completed Cover

And here it is in all it's glory. If you look to the left you will see what the final artwork for my book's cover looks like. It came out so stunningly beautiful. I should be seeing a copy of the first pass of printed pages within the next few weeks. I can't wait to see how it will look all completed. I am almost done with the rough draft of the sequel. (Only two more chapters to go) Then comes the hard work of editing and polishing. Of course, it is possible that if this first book doesn't sell they won't want the sequel, in which case, I and my writer's group will be the only ones who know what happens next. (Raspberry, I promise to send you a copy, if that happens) The other story is coming along nicely as well. I can never seem to limit myself to one story at a time. They all team up on me, demanding a life of their own.

You Will NOT Believe This

They've changed the title of my book again. I'm hoping this is the last time--but know it may not be. As of this moment my book is called Forbidden Sea. I actually like it a little better than Dark Sea so no complaints here. I also got some more exciting news! They want to move my release date up to January 1, 2010. Less than a year away! The book will be offered by Scholastic Book Fairs exclusively until May when they will have the main stream release. (Sorry guys. Unless you have kids with order forms you'll have to wait until May to get a copy.) The only way this can happen is if I can get the manuscript revised like--yesterday. Guess I won't be getting much sleep in the future. Wish me luck!

First Draft of Revisions Done

When I started revisions my manuscript was 218 pages long. It is now 260 pages long. This number is sure to change again as I polish up the new chapters I've written. Hopefully it won't get too much longer. Even though the first draft is complete there is still so much editing to do in the coming weeks. I feel the changes have greatly improved the story and am excited to show them to my editor. Wish I'd thought of the improvements the first time around, but I guess that is what professional editors are for. No word on a title yet. *sigh*

Forbidden Sea Soundtrack

The creative juices flow better if I have music playing as I write so I will often create soundtracks for my different books. I collect different songs reflecting the mood and theme of certain chapters or characters. For example:

The theme song for the mermaid in Mermaid of Windwaithe Island was Return to Innocence by Enigma. I’d listen to it over and over again to get a feel for what she was like. Listen carefully and you can hear the whales singing.

I also loved to listen to certain songs from The Time Machine soundtrack. (Hated the movie, but loved the music!) The song Eloi was my favorite from the CD. The music is majestic like my mermaid.

Various songs by Hilary Stagg, Gary Stadler, Secret Garden and Celtic Moods often helped me get into the right frame of mind for writing.

Though it is a modern song, Taylor Swift’s Teardrops on My Guitar perfectly describes the complicated relationship between the Adrianne and Denn. I consider it to be their theme song.