Kim Sabatini's book Touching The Surface Surfaces as an Advance Readers Copy

This afternoon, I had lunch with my newly-published author friend Kim Sabatini. We planned to meet at Sugar and Spice, a cafe in the same plaza that my boyfriend Ian works in.

I was waiting on a bench outside the café, when Kim came rushing breathlessly down the mall hallway, clutching a large mailing envelope in her hand. She said she was so glad that she received it this morning, in time for lunch so she could share the news with me, as she pulled out a paperback Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of her book, Touching The Surface!

Then we were squealing and hugging, and I was congratulating her over and over again – I was so happy to see this new major milestone in her journey to her book’s publication – truly as excited as if it was happening to me.

It was awesome to actually touch a printed and bound copy of Touching The Surface!

I can’t wait to read it in its finished form – I almost wanted to skip lunch and just start reading!

After a couple of hours of good food and eager chatter, we visited Ian at the photo lab that he manages, showed him the ARC, and asked him to take a picture of us with it, to mark this special day.

Kim is one of the best people I know, and a wonderful writer too – she and her book are so deserving of publication. When her father passed away several years ago, she was inspired to create a story about a teen girl’s experiences in the afterlife, and soon after, joined our local chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, for its local ShopTalk meetings.

With her optimistic outlook and exuberant energy, Kim has added so much to our SCBWI group. From the start, she’s been eager to learn everything about writing, and the children's and teens book markets, and she has hopefully shared her promising book with everyone in the group, as she wrote it from its earliest stages to its in-shape-for-submission manuscript. And she’s appreciated every opinion, bit of feedback, and piece of advice that she received. I could tell right away that her story was special – heartfelt and well-written – and had no doubts that one day it would be a success.

She has also given positive and encouraging critiques of my writings and those of the other writers in the group. She’s been an ardent admirer of the publishing successes of Karen Kaufman Orloff (author of the picture books I Wanna Iguana; I Wanna New Room and If Mom Had Three Arms); Della Ross Ferreri (author of the picture books Star of the Show; Picnic on the Sidewalk and How Will I Ever Sleep in This Bed?) and Roxanne Werner, whose children’s story, “Snowday in Space” was Highlight Magazine’s 2008 Fiction Contest winner. And she’s been a vibrant presence at every local SCBWI writing conference, since the first one she attended in 2007.

As her book manuscript progressed, Kim has shared each step, big and small – from her spiritual writing epiphanies to her revision challenges to her 33 queries in the search for an agent. Almost exactly a year ago, she signed with agent Michelle Wolfson, who sold Touching The Surface to editor Anica Rissi at Simon Pulse, the teen imprint of Simon & Schuster, in mid-February. As Kim has shared her wonderful news with those of us in the Shop Talk group, as well as with her family and other friends, she’s always made sure to let everyone know how instrumental they were in contributing to her writing success. She’s written over four pages of Acknowledgments for her book, and she was so excited to show me my name in her thank-yous. This meant so much to me – I told her it was such an honor to see my name printed there, and to be able to share in her writing success!

And Kim has helped me so much with my writing, as a reader and editor of my works-in-progress; an understanding support system when I’ve felt directionless; a cheerful cheerleader when I’ve overcome some of my (mostly self-imposed) writing hurdles and have made some progress; and a great companion at two of the SCBWI conferences in NYC. She’s confident that I can see a book project through to the end, and sure that I’ll have my own writing success in time.

(Kim and I at the 2010 SCBWI NYC conference - all photos courtesy of Kim Sabatini.)

And that gives me even more incentive to keep writing, through all the ups and downs of my creative journey and book-project excursions. Because I want to give Kim a reason to be as proud of me as I am of her and her amazing writing.

So here it is – the beautiful cover of Touching the Surface.

And the appealing, intriguing back-jacket copy:

“Life-altering mistakes are meant to alter lives…

When Elliot dies for the third time, she knows this is her last shot. There are no fourth-timers in this afterlife, so one more chance is all she has to get things right. But before she can move on to her next life, Elliot will be forced to face her past and delve into the painful memories she’d rather keep buried. Memories of people she’s hurt, people she’s betrayed… and people she’s killed.

As she pieces together the pieces of her past, Elliot must earn the forgiveness of her best friend and reveal the truth about herself to the two boys she loves… even if it means losing them both forever.”

(Book cover and jacket copy courtesy of Kim Sabatini and Simon Pulse.)

I can’t wait until this coming September, to be able to buy a copy of Touching The Surface (and asking Kim to sign it, of course!) and to be able to read every page of what I know is an excellent and very special work of art and heart.

Kim has a far-reaching online presence, including her soon-to-be active website; her blog at http://kimberlysabatini.blogspot.com; her author page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kimberly-Sabatini/159269477461554; her Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/KimSabatini; and her Tumblr at http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/kim-sabatini. Her positive personality sparkles as much online as it does in person.

Congratulations, Kim, on your latest writing milestone, and thanks again for sharing it with me! ♥