BLOG TOUR: Essential Maps for the Lost by Deb Caletti

Welcome, this is my stop on the ESSENTIAL MAPS FOR THE LOST tour!

When Madison makes a startling discovery, the body of a dead woman floating in the middle of a lake, the summer after her senior year becomes more complicated than she ever expected.

Madison (Mads to everyone who knows her) is staying with her aunt and uncle in Seattle after graduating from high school. Being away from her needy, unstable mother who's been pressuring her to take over the family business is such a relief. Now all Mads has to worry about is taking classes, swimming laps, and fighting off the sadness that threatens to overtake her.

That is, until the traumatic moment Mads collides with a body in the middle of the lake. After swimming the body back to shore, Mads becomes obsessed with uncovering the identity of the woman and what drove her to leap off of the Aurora Bridge. Determined to discover more, Mads parks outside the woman's home and sees the woman's son: the sweet and tormented Billy Youngwolf Floyd.

Through a series of not-so-happenstance meetings, Mads and Billy realize that desperate mothers and rescue missions are not the only thing that bonds them. Billy carries a map in his pocket; the one of the museum from The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler; and it's his dream to visit the museum one day. And though book-loving Mads is expected to return home to her already-decided future, her dream is to run away to a life of her choosing.

As the unlikely pair fall hard for each other and as the summer draws to a close, Billy and Mads must decide whose story to follow: their family's or their own.
 
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~ About The Author ~

 
Deb Caletti is an award winning author and National Book Award finalist. Her many books for young adults include “The Nature of Jade,” “Stay,” “The Last Forever,” and "Honey, Baby Sweetheart," winner of the Washington State Book award, the PNBA Best Book Award, and a finalist for the PEN USA Award. Her first book for adults, “He’s Gone,” was released from Random House in 2012, and was followed with "The Secrets She Keeps" in 2015. Coming this April: "Essential Maps for the Lost," her eleventh book for young adults. She lives with her family in Seattle.

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~ Top 10: Writing Advice for Aspiring Authors ~
 

1) Write honestly: The most powerful stuff comes from sharing your own experiences, feelings, truths, whether through fiction or non-fiction. 

2) Read: And then read some more. 

3) Be bold: Go after what you want. Write the book; find the agent. This is not a business for wilting flowers. 

4) Be determined: Be like a dog with a knotted sock. Want it bad, work hard. If your first book doesn’t sell, write your second, third, fourth, fifth. You will get better. This is what it often takes.

5) Write from a place of integrity: When your motivation to publish come from a deep need to understand, a need to convey your world through words, a passion for beautiful sentences and the power of books and reading, this will show in the strength of your work. When your motivation to publish is to become a “famous author,” you’re better off buying a lottery ticket. 

6) Tell the hard and complicated truths: Go to the ugly places. Go to your own ugly places. You are a hero, but you are a villain, too.

7) Don’t compare: Do you, not anyone else. We can be fragile, us writers, and so can our dreams. Shield your eyes from what everyone else is doing, and look at your own road.

8) Visit the library: Visit for perspective, for information, for soothing of your poor, introverted soul. Visit to remember who you are – book lover, reader. 

9) Toughen up: Unless you keep your writing in a drawer, you will be criticized. What did you think? Remember, some criticism will help you develop your craft. Some will be meaningless. Some will be hilarious. Most will hurt. It’s part of the job. You can take it. 

10) Be wary of writing advice, including any Top Ten Pieces of Advice for Aspiring Writers. 

Tour Schedule:
Week 1:
4/4: Such A Novel Idea - Q&A
4/5: Ex Libris - Review
4/6: Life According to a Bibliophile - Top 10
4/7: Kelly Vision - Review
4/8: The Bookkeeper's Secrets - Guest Post

Week 2:
4/11: Stuck In Books - Review
4/12: Who R U Blog - Novel Secrets
4/13: Between the Pages - Review
4/14: Jenuine Cupcakes - Top 10
4/15: In Wonderland - Review

~ Giveaway ~

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