Lost Boys is Born

It’s not often that you get to say this is the day I’ve been waiting for my whole life – a birth of a child or a wedding maybe or – drumroll please – the birth of your first book. For me today is that day. LOST BOYS can be found in bookstores and should be received by all who preordered! To say this day was a long time coming is sort of like saying Harry is a wizard – merely stating the obvious. My first draft of this book was “finished” over ten years ago.

The idea for this story – historic fiction about the Iran/Iraq war – came to me like lightning — complete with one of those spine-tingling, goose bump-filled moments that writers learn not to ignore. Then for months I did my best to run away. I ran because this was not my story to tell. I‘ve never been a thirteen- year- old boy. I’m not Muslim. But the story would not leave me alone and as my main character grew in my head, I became more convinced he and his story needed to be out in the world. My heartfelt wish upon a star is this book will find its way into enough small hands that it might make a difference – that someday we will see generations of children unaffected by war.

I couldn’t have completed this part of the journey without a host of people who had first hand experience with this story and I am ever indebted to them as I am to the incredible rich writing community that has made my life so much more interesting.

Within that community there are so many people to thank. Lin Oliver and the fabulous folk at SCBWI who taught me so much of what I know now. My long standing writing group – you ladies kept me going when draft after draft got the “not quite for me” letter. Thanks to all the Better Books Conference faculty and alumni (particularly Emma Dryden who took red pen to an early draft). Of course, all the folks at Henry Holt who believed in this story so many had not known what to do with. And I wish I could say “thank you” in 23 languages – that might begin to express my gratitude to my agent, the kidlit wizard Erin Murphy and the magical community she nourishes.

Thanks pour out to my amazing family and friends – my lovely book nerdy Mom and Dad, plus a jumble of smart, funny, warm and loving siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins and close friends – they’ve made me feel like today is as special for them as it is for me. Finally (after all I have to leave you time to go buy the book today) I don’t have proper words to thank David and Martha – my bandleaders and my safe haven. Enough said.

Darcey Rosenblatt

 

 

 

 

LOST BOYS can be found at your local bookstore, or online at:

Indie-Bound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781627797580
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lost-boys-darcey-rosenblatt/1125067336
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Boys-Darcey-Rosenblatt/dp/1627797580
Books-a-Million: http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Lost-Boys/Darcey-Rosenblatt/9781627797580