Today's the day!

I started working on PEARL years and years ago in my third-floor office in the English & Philosophy Department at Simmons College. It started with a girl named Bean, who was lonely and misunderstood. And that's where she stayed, stagnant, for years and years until one day, I started thinking about her again. This time, Bean was still there, but there was also a boy named Henry. And they were best and only friends. And then I started writing.

I guess this is how it is with me. Books take a long time to be born from idea to finished product. But if I don't give up on them, it does, eventually, happen. :-)


Today, PEARL leaves my hands. Now she belongs to the reader who happens to pick her up next. It feels a little bittersweet to let go, it's true. But mostly it feels sweet.

The past few weeks I've been doing some interviews via The Teen Book Scene. Here are the links, including one for my dream movie cast! :-)

"Pearl Cast" with ReadingTeen
"Top Ten Writers Who Inspired Jo Knowles" with Reclusive Bibliophile
"Talking characters with Jo Knowles, author of Pearl" with Hopeless Bibliophile
"Chopping it Up with Jo Knowles" with Only Sexy Books Allowed
"Pearl Excerpt" from Supernatural Snark

Still to come:
July 20: "This or That" at Supernatural Snark
July 21: "Tens list: Bean an Henry" at A Good Addiction

Thanks so much to The Teen Book Scene for inviting me on this tour and being such wonderful hosts!

And thanks to all of you who've given me so much love on Twitter and Facebook this morning. I'm feeling very Pearly. But you all are the true gems. I love you.

xoxoxo