Dreams Do Come True!

Barnes & Noble signing with my critique group girls!
(Hurstbourne Pkwy. Louisville, KY)

PUBLISHERS MARKETPLACE Announcement for book Two!

So excited to share my PUBLISHER'S MARKETPLACE Announcement for book two!!!
FYI: It's Kat's story & there's a sneak peek chapter in the back of ROE! :)

August 26, 2014
		Children's: Young Adult		Colette Ballard's TEMPORARY HIGH, in which a seventeen-year-old girl feels in control of everything in her life until the man who almost destroyed it years earlier reappears to collect a debt, and paying up means she must not only break the law, but also the heart of the only guy she's ever fallen for, to Marie Romero at Spencer Hill Press, by Kevan Lyon at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.

Excerpt from RUNNING ON EMPTY...
There are many intense moments in ROE because of the whole 17 y.o. girls kills her boyfriend in self-defense & runs away thing. But there are some lighter moments too. :)

A beautiful dress for a beautiful girl.
Love, Logan

My heart soared and fell at the same time. The words were nice, but the gift wasn't something he'd put any thought into. His mother had put thought into it, but for all the wrong reasons.

Hoping for the best, I pulled the ribbon and edged open the lid. Cringing, I held up the foofy champagne-colored dress that looked like something Fashion Fairy Barbie would wear. I let it fall back in its box, then collapsed on the bed and closed my eyes.

My visions of temporarily forgetting this terrible morning were cut short by an extra-loud muffler outside my window. A few seconds later my bedroom door squeaked open and my younger sister stuck her head around the door. "River, you alive?"

Before I could decide, Jamie flopped down on the other side of my bed and arranged herself to face me. "You know it's like 9:30-something, right?" She ran her nail-bitten fingers along the ponytail of her long, carmel-colored hair.

"So?" I grumbled into my pillow.

She squinted, her dark brown eyes studying me. "So, I thought you had to go to some important football thing with that crazy-hot, amazingly awesome boyfriend of yours."

I wasn't about to tell her that my crazy-hot, amazingly awesome boyfriend didn't wait for me, and since my only means of transportation was assembled decades ago, I was disinvited from attending his Seniors' Breakfast.

Something over my shoulder distracted her and she hopped up to inspect it. "What's this?"

I winced. "A dress for Awards Night. Logan's mom bought it for me." Some people have irrational fears like arachnophobia, agoraphobia, even homophobia. Not Sylvia Westfield--she had trailertrashaphobia. Her worst fear was for her son to be seen in public with me dressed in vintage Dollar General.

For an excerpt from the beginning of the book: =http://www.amazon.com/Running-Empty-Colette-Ballard-ebook/dp/B00G2G22J8/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

So excited to announce that RUNNING ON EMPTY won the BOOKSELLERS' BEST AWARD in the Young Adult category!!!

It was such an amazing honor to be nominated alongside such amazing authors, so the win has been over the top! I am so grateful for the many people who helped make ROE a success, especially my rockstar editor, Marie Romero. This award, as well as the nomination for Best First Book has far exceeded my hopes and dreams of someday being published...
I am beyond grateful. <3

DOUBLE NOMINEE!

So...RWA Nationals in San Antonio, TX is in a few days and I'm so excited that RUNNING ON EMPTY was chosen as a finalist for the GDRWA BOOKSELLERS' BEST AWARD & is also nominated for BEST FIRST BOOK! 

Such an honor to be chosen among these amazing authors! Also, pretty excited for my publisher, Spencer Hill Press, who has two books in the running. :)

YOUNG ADULT

"Camp Boyfriend," J.K. Rock
(Spencer Hill Press Contemporary, Patricia Riley)

"Running On Empty," Colette Ballard*
(Spencer Hill Press Tulip Romance (Tulip Teen), Marie Romero)

"Briar Rose," Jana Oliver
(Macmillan Children's Books, Rachel Petty)

"Dirty Little Secret," Jennifer Echols
(Simon and Schuster MTV Books, Emilia Pisani)

"Playing Tyler," TL Costa*
(Angry Robot Strange Chemistry Amanda Rutter

SUPER SUMMER GIVEAWAY!!!

WIN 12 books by 6 authors!

The amazing Katie McGarry is hosting this Rafflecopter giveaway & here's what she said:  

"I asked a few of my favorite contemporary authors to participate and here is the prize package:"

Miranda Kenneally: signed copies of Catching Jordan, Stealing Parker, Things I Can't Forget, Racing Savannah, and Breathe, Annie, Breathe

Trish Doller: a copy of Where the Stars Still Shine

Huntley Fitzpatrick: signed copies of My Life Next Door and What I Thought was True

Joy Hensley: a signed ARC of Rites of Passage

Colette Ballard: a signed copy of Running on Empty

Katie McGarry: a signed paperback of Dare You To, a signed hardback of Take Me On, and a Take Me On poster

"So let's recap--that's 12 books from six amazing authors and this will all go to one lucky winner. This giveaway is international."

a Rafflecopter giveaway

    TEASER from RUNNING ON EMPTY!

    I started to file in the entry gate to join the other juniors who'd be receiving awards, but was stopped when a long, lean leg wearing skinny jeans and black boots stretched across the entryway. Looking like she'd just stepped out of some exotic cigarette ad, Kat let out a long stream of smoke as she leaned against a thick metal beam, her shiny, coffee-colored hair blowing in the breeze.
     "Where's Prince Charming?" She lifted her chin to the nearly full bleachers where Logan would've been taking a seat if he'd walked in with me. "I noticed you came in alone."
     "For your information," I lifted her leg and pushed it away from me like I was opening a latch on a stall door, then let it drop, "he's finishing up a phone call. He'll be here in a minute." I hooked my arm in hers and pulled her to the fence to avoid eavesdroppers.
     Kat opened her mouth to speak, but it turned into a smirk as something else caught her attention. "River, if you're going to waste all your time on a guy, why can't you waste it on a decent guy...somebody like Justice Braden?" She was talking to me, but her eyes followed Justice as he took his seat in the graduates' section.
     I elbowed her. "I grew up with Justice. We think of each other like brother and sister." Not to mention I was still annoyed with him for interrogating me about Logan.
     She raised her eyebrows. "Speak for yourself."
     "Uh-uh." I gripped the cross-hatched wire fencing next to me. "He made it clear how he felt about me a long time ago."
     She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, in eighth-f___ing-grade."
     I held up a finger. "Ninth." I shifted my attention to smoothing the skirt of my dress. "And if you like him so much, why don't you date him?"
     "You know my rules about guys. Besides, he doesn't look at me the same way he does you." The corners around her eyes crinkled as she took a drag off her cigarette.
     "In case you missed it, Logan is my boyfriend." I unhitched my fingers from the fencing and jerked when my thumb caught a jagged edge.
     "Mistake," she sang under her breath as I started for the football field.

Now on Kindle $2.99!
http://www.amazon.com/Running-Empty-Colette-Ballard-ebook/dp/B00G2G22J8/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=