Watch out for the crocodiles!

Hooray! The third Ra the Mighty mystery is published today! Ra’s still taking in the big news, but on top of his head Khepri is dancing for joy.

A shout-out to my niece Ruth Greenfield,
who made this wonderful Ra model for me.
It’s based on Sarah Horne’s amazing illustrations.

To celebrate THE CROCODILE CAPER’s debut, Ra and I are taking over my publisher’s Instagram at @holidayhousebks for the day. We’ll be sharing writing tips, behind-the-scenes insights, and Ra-inspired fun. Please check us out — and keep an eye out for crocodiles!

I am a complete Instagram novice, so this week has been quite a learning curve. I’d be delighted to connect with any of you who are over there. I’m @amybutlergreenfield.

In THE CROCODILE CAPER, Ra and the other Great Detectives take a voyage down the Nile, where danger lurks. Here’s the official description:

Ra the Mighty is Pharaoh’s Cat, Lord of the Powerful Paw. He is NOT Ra the Royal Babysitter. How’s a cat supposed to fit in all his snacks and naps when his charges keep getting into mischief?

Ra’s new job only gets harder on a voyage up the Nile, leading to a fearsome palace where crocodiles swarm the waters. Then Pharaoh’s son disappears. Has he run away? Has he been eaten by crocodiles? Has he been kidnapped, or worse? Ra and his fellow Great Detectives, Khepri and Miu, set out to discover the truth, but the palace is home to many secrets. Can the Great Detectives unravel the mystery, find the missing boy–and make it out alive?

Ra and I are excited that his latest adventure is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Huge thanks to Sarah Horne for her glorious illustrations, and to all the lovely people who cheered me on as I wrote the book, including fellow blogger Tracy Abell, who gave it a great early read and critique.

Ra and I are now going to go have a celebratory snack.

A welcome surprise

It’s been deadline city here this month, and mostly I’ve been happy with that. I  love being completely immersed in writing. This month, however, I hit a big bump. Just as I reached the final lap for SECRETS & SPIES (due this month to my editor!), the page proofs for RA #3 came in.

Proofs are never one of my favorite stages, and I had absolutely no energy left for dealing with these. I was in danger — as an old French acquaintance of mine used to say — of “losing my quiet.”

In short, my friends, I hit a wall.

Luckily, my wonderful niece Ruth came to my rescue. She had a surprise for me, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Underneath the bulky packing, here is what I found:

It’s a life-sized Ra! And Ruth made him all by herself. Just look at those wire whiskers. And Khepri is there, too — made so that he can twirl around on the top of Ra’s head.

Aren’t they amazing?!

Of course, what’s truly amazing is my niece. Ruth has always been a gifted artist, and now she works in a sculpture studio that makes props for some very famous places. I’d love to see her go into business for herself someday!

 

I took dozens of photos, then buckled down to those page proofs, with Ra standing guard over the work.  I smiled every time I looked up and saw him.

Now that the proofs are in, he has pride of place on a favorite bookshelf — the perfect place for a book cat.

 

Making the leap

True story: After I wrote and revised RA THE MIGHTY, I sat on it for six months before I sent it to my agent. Why?

Because I worried that if a publisher bought it, they’d want a sequel. And I was afraid I couldn’t be funny twice.

As I explained a while ago, I never saw humor as my strong point, at least not in writing. I was as surprised as could be when Ra and Khepri showed up on the page and started making me laugh. And that’s really how I thought of it – they they were the ones who made things funny. Not me.

Luckily, a good friend pushed me to send the book out.  She’d read the manuscript, and she knew it was ready. Her prompting made me realize two things:

• I wasn’t going to get over my fear anytime soon.
• I was just going to have to take the leap anyway.

At least, I had to leap if I wanted RA THE MIGHTY to find a home, and if I wanted to grow as a writer. And I did.It turned out Ra found a home fast. (Yay!) And yes, they wanted a sequel. (Cue a big attack of nerves!)

To ward off anxiety, I’d already scribbled down some ideas for more Ra mysteries, and it helped to know those were in my back pocket. But ideas are a long way from a book. And they don’t have much to do with voice, which was the wellspring for the humor in RA THE MIGHTY. In the end, I just had to make another leap—and hope that Ra and Khepri showed up again.

Thankfully, they did. And they made me laugh even harder this time, as they tackled THE GREAT TOMB ROBBERY.

I’m the kind of person who likes to have a plan for everything (and a back-up plan, and a back-up back-up plan). But I’ve finally realized that what I love about humor is that it doesn’t lend itself to planning. It requires me to leap. And even for an over-planner like me, it’s the very act of leaping that makes it so much fun.

 

Spooky fun

Hip, hip, MEOW! Today I’m celebrating the book birthday of THE GREAT TOMB ROBBERY, the second Ra the Mighty mystery, with cake and cheers and maybe even some dancing in the kitchen. And after I eat my cake, I’ll be watching this book trailer, which is 59 seconds of madcap, spooky fun:

 

Huge thanks to Sarah Horne for the fabulous art, and to my husband for bringing it so ingeniously to life!

I also send my thanks to you, dear readers and dear friends. I’m more grateful than I can say for all your warm and funny comments, letters, photos, videos, and drawings. I hope you enjoy reading Ra and Khepri’s second adventure as much as I enjoyed writing it!

 

A great distraction

Here in England, we are riding a rollercoaster with Brexit. No one knows how it’s going to turn out. Two weeks from now, will we still be in limbo? Will there be food in the supermarkets? Will medicines be in short supply? Will planes to Europe be flying? Will we have blackouts?

As a dyed-in-the-wool worrier, I’m grateful for distractions right now. And one of the best has arrived this week:

It’s the Advanced Reader Copy of Ra #2!*

I loved writing The Great Tomb Robbery. It was a lot of fun to have Ra and Khepri tackle another fur-raising mystery, complete with ferocious jackals, dastardly thieves, and some super-spooky goings-on. (Not to mention snacks and naps!)

I won’t say the book wrote itself, but Ra and Khepri did sometimes take over, and it was great to spend more time with them.

The book also features dozens of Sarah Horne’s fabulous illustrations. And of course there’s her great new cover! One of my favorite bits is the lower left corner, where you can spot Khepri waving a precious clue.

Getting this has really brightened up my week — and I’m looking forward to sharing the book with the world when it officially comes out on October 8th!

 

(* ARCs are expensive to make, so the supply is quite limited. I only have one myself! But if you’re a librarian, reviewer, or book blogger who would like to review the book, get in touch soon, and I’ll gladly pass your details on to my publisher. Pharaoh’s Cat thanks you for your interest – and so do I!)

 

 

 

Excited and scared

The first-pass proofs for the next Ra mystery have arrived, and as always the first glimpse gave me a jolt of excitement. It’s going to be a BOOK. You’d think I’d have realized that some time ago, and of course there’s a sense in which I have. But there are many months, when I’m deep in drafting, when a book is all mine, and sharing it with the world seems a distant prospect (and sometimes an unlikely one). But that time is over now for The Great Tomb Robbery. Now that it’s typeset and the illustrations are in and you can see the cover page, it’s incontrovertible: this book is on its way into the world.

Like Little Red Riding Hood in Into the Woods, I’m “excited — / Well, excited and scared.”  Or maybe I’m more like Little Red’s mother, who probably had some of the same complicated emotions. Who wouldn’t, sending a child into the woods? Will she be all right? Will people be kind? Will she find her way?

Yet both books and children need to find their way into the world, and with luck they’ll find friends and have adventures that you never foresaw. At any rate, that’s what I hope for with The Great Tomb Robbery.

Still, it’s hard not to worry about all the pitfalls and misfortunes that can befall a good book. So it was especially wonderful to hear some great news about the first Ra book last week. The Mystery Writers of America have named Ra the Mighty an Edgar Award Nominee for Best Juvenile Mystery.  There are seven wonderful finalists in all, and I’m thrilled that Ra is among them — doubly so, since I know that humor is often overlooked when it comes to awards.

But there’s work to do yet on those proofs. So now I’m headed back to them.

 

 

 

Thankful Thursday: On blurbs, courage, and gratitude

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chantress

Asking for blurbs is part of the modern writer’s life, but let me tell you, it is hard to do. You would think I’d have perspective on it by now, especially as I’ve sometimes been approached for blurbs myself (for narrative nonfiction, which I also write). But no… when it comes to my own books, I still feel like I’d rather write the whole thing over again than ask for blurbs.

If you’re utterly convinced of your own brilliance, maybe it’s easier, but I don’t know very many writers who are. Despite putting everything we’ve got into our work, most of us still worry that our books aren’t good enough. And not only not good enough, but maybe so bad that the universe will laugh and we will sink under the shame of it. (Well, that last part might just be me, but you get the picture.)

And asking for blurbs means saying to the writers we most admire – people who shine like goddesses in our personal writing pantheons: “I think your work is wonderful… so would you consider interrupting it to read mine? Will you take a gamble on my work and on me, solely because I think the world of you? And if you like what I’ve done, would you consider taking even more time away from your brilliant book to write something nice about mine?”

Yikes. Can you spell N-E-R-V-E?

But it’s worth getting up the courage to ask. (Even if you’re like me, and it takes you weeks.) Because sometimes when you do, amazing things happen.

As proof, I’m presenting the blurbs for Chantress, every single one of which made me cry with wonder and gratitude. Blessings on the generous writers who offered them!

Wonderfully felt, seen, and dreamed, Greenfield’s debut fantasy is an enchanted read.

Franny Billingsley, National Book Award finalist and author of CHIME

Chantress is one of those rare books that’s so beautifully written you want to read it slowly and savor every word, but the story is so compelling you want to race through the pages! I loved it.

Mary Pearson, author of THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX and THE FOX INHERITANCE

With a spirited heroine, fearsome monsters, and luminous worldbuilding, this story had me hooked from the first page. CHANTRESS is truly enchanting.

Jessica Spotswood, author of BORN WICKED

Chantress is like the best kind of magic – absorbing, mysterious, and delightful.

Rebecca Stead, Newbery Award winning author of WHEN YOU REACH ME, FIRST LIGHT and LIAR & SPY

A pure and elevated pleasure, like strawberries of the perfect ripeness or a gorgeous aria. In Greenfield’s gripping fantasy novel the menace is palpable, and the practice of magic is described in such an evocative and haunting manner that I yearned to hear it. This exploration of the costs of a fear-based society and the real but worthwhile risks of freedom is deeply relevant to our times.

Katherine Sturtevant, author of AT THE SIGN OF THE STAR and A TRUE AND FAITHFUL NARRATIVE

Chantress is a beguiling and mesmerizing story, full of mystery and song. From the first word, I was enchanted by Amy Butler Greenfield’s unique twist on English history and by her compelling, magical, and loveable heroine, Lucy.

Nancy Werlin, NYT-bestselling author of IMPOSSIBLE and EXTRAORDINARY