Fan Sites and Forums!!!

I am SO excited to share this!

Ready?

No really, ready?

I HAVE A FANSITE!!! *glee*

A lovely guy (a GUY!) in England named Ben has made a really lovely fansite, complete with a forum, for Wings! I am so exceptionally thrilled! It is at www.wingsfansite.com and has a link to the forums. (Gee, can you tell I am excited by the forums?) I am a member of the forums there with a pic and everything, so if you see someone named Aprilynne Pike posting there, it actually is me.:D

I have been meaning to do a bunch of these links and now seems as good a time as any.:D

I have a Facebook fan page that you can find here: my husband maintains it, and I do a lot of commenting, and again, if I comment there, it actually is me.:)

There is a mini-site here by my lovely friend Mai.

And just because I think fan art is awesome, here are some links from Deviant Art!

http://pologurl.deviantart.com/art/Wings-128063936

http://unsinkable-spirit.deviantart.com/art/Laurel-126153468

http://swiftstardawn.deviantart.com/art/Faerie-Girl-127247411

So yeah, enjoy!!!

And, um, join the forum.

I mean, have a nice day. :D

Ciao!

How I'm Spending My Summer

Forgive me readers, for I have sinned. It has been nine days since my last blog entry and I don't actually have a good reason for it. Well, kind of. I mean, I did spend five days in Utah.

So, um, yeah, with that extremely eloquent segue, let's go with Utah.:D Utah was fun! I signed at the BYU Bookstore on Wednesday and the coolest part was that they made me a really big sign. (Why yes, I am easily amused.:))

And they spelled my name right!!! (Seriously, I was worried. Very few people spell my name right on the first try.)

My brother is a chick magnet (no, not you Richard, the other one.;)) This will relate in a second, trust me. He meets cute girls everywhere he goes and then, he keeps contact with them and they hook up all over the Western United States! This is like ten times cooler than actually calling the next day. So this week he was in Utah too and not only did he hang out with several girls he met in Utah earlier this summer (see, calling the next day, and week, and month!) but he sent them to my signing!!! Such a good brother. As proof, here are the uber cute girls who came to my signing all because of my brother, Corbett.

Thanks Corbett!! And thanks K&K for stopping by!! (I forgot to ask them if I could use their full names, so initials is all you get.:))

Then, on Friday, I did a signing at a Barnes and Noble in Sugarhouse, which quite frankly, sounds like an awesome place to live.

Where are you from?

Me? Oh I live in Sugarhouse. *flips hair*

It works, don't you think??:D

Okay, so at the Sugarhouse signing, the coolest thing that has ever happened to me at a signing happened. If you follow me on Twitter, you already know this.:D I had a girl fly up from San Francisco with her parents for the sole reason of coming to my signing.

How. Freaking. Cool. Is. That!??!?!?

Not only that but she is only nine years old and (obviously) very advanced for her age and reads voraciously! So thank you so much Breanna for coming to my signing! I hope it was worth it!!!


A bit off topic, a friend of mine, Janette Rallison (As You Wish, My Fair Godmother, etc.) is doing an article on author's workspaces and I've submitted a picture of mine. But I thought the picture looked cool (because, well, I'm in love with my office!) and as a sneak peak to her article, here is the picture I submitted to her. It represents all of the moving and unpacking I have done this summer.:D

*le sigh* Seriously, I love my office.

Because when I am in my office (did you catching THAT staggeringly amazing segue? Sometimes I even impress myself! *koffkoff*) . . . I write my books!!!! And that is the main thing I have been doing this summer. Or at least the last half of this summer.:D This week I hit 50k words on the third Wings book, tentatively titled Book Three.:D I'm almost done!!! Well, with the first draft. Several months of work to be done after that, but I LOVE finishing first drafts!! It is so fun to fit all my plot pieces together and see how they fit. The further along I get in the series the more I find myself working from an outline. There are just so many things I need to get in there to set up the final book that I need a general list. But there are a lot of sideplots that I just throw in, and those are so fun too. And making them all fit, well, it's just a blast!

And sometimes it really is a lot of work, but I am feeling quite optimistic tonight because I wrote two scenes (that just happen to come back-to-back) that I have been looking forward to writing since before the first draft of Wings was done. Two years, people.

It was so satisfying.

And in another two to three weeks, I should be done! Whoa!!! That is still freaking me out. I try not to think about being done until I am well past the half-way point. And for me, 50k is way past the halfway point. That finish line is in sight, and the last third of this book is SUCH a wild ride.

I can't wait for tomorrow. Eeee!!!!

And that's how I'm spending my summer! (Requisite wrap-up sentence.;))

Ciao!

All Good Stuff!!!

Winning is always good, right???

Okay, the winner of Secrets of Truth and Beauty is . . . .


Devon Hernandez!!!

Devon, please email me at aprilynne pike at gmail dot com (no spaces and the dot becomes a period, etc.) with your address and I will get SECRETS in the mail to you!! . . . I think I have some Late Bloomer decals left-over too.

Thank you everyone for entering!! I love seeing that people like things about themselves!! One of the criticisms I frequently get for WINGS is that readers don't like that Laurel thinks she is pretty and I always want to be like, hey! Don't we spend millions on school programs to help young girls gain confidence in themselves? Why is it suddenly bad for a teenage girl to think she is pretty? So yes, I will totally defend Laurel's confidence and hope that my readers feel the same about themselves!

Okay, I have been bursting to tell you guys this, but was waiting a little while to make sure that Harper did not change their mind. But the paperback is up on Amazon now with the new scheduling, so I think it is official!! You remember how I announced about a month ago that the sequel to Wings would be coming out June 8th?? Well, they changed their minds. In a good way!!

Now it is coming out MAY 4th!!!!!

I have to tell you I don't know why a month seems to make such a big difference, but it does! I am so stoked to have it come out a month and four days earlier than I thought!

Also, they've decided to release the paperback of Wings a month early too, so it will be out April 6th! A whole month before the sequel hits! So yeah, that makes me really happy.:)

Also, a reminder to Utah people that I am doing two Utah events next week. Details here!!

Ciao!

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Ciao!

Goats and Sisters and Pageants, Oh My!

I have been looking forward to this blog entry for almost a year. In the Debs we do something called DebSwap. What happens is that when a Deb gets ARCs, she offers one up for DebSwap (or he, we do have a couple of guys . . . I'm looking at you Kurtis!!:D). The ARC gets sent from Deb to Deb and before we send the ARC on, we sign it, write a message, leave notes in the text, we even have a super-talented Deb who draws illustrations. It's a really fun thing. Well, last summer, I managed to be the first one on the list for Secrets of Truth and Beauty. And it was the first DebARC I ever got in the mail.

To be totally honest I wasn't that interested in it. I like my fiction with a big scoop of supernatural and I don't read a lot of real-life contemporary. But there was something about a goat farm and goats are cool and it was my first DebARC! So I sat and started to read.

And I fell in love with this book. In. Love. This is an amazing book. So exquisitely, perfectly done. It is a deceptively light book that sucks you in before you realize that you are in a very deep place (and it makes you want goat cheese!!)

But before I gush too much, here is a bit about the book: When Dara Cohen was little, she was crowned Little Miss Maine. That was then. Now Dara's seventeen and she's not so little anymore. That's just one of her many problems. Another is that her control-freak mom won't get off her case about anything. Yet the one that hurts the most is the family secret: Dara has an older sister her parents tried to erase from their lives.

And a bit about Megan: Megan Frazer studied English literature and creative writing at Columbia University. She lives with her husband and baby in Maine, where she is a high school librarian. She loves cheese and cooking, and both of these make their way into Secrets of Truth & Beauty. She was not, however, ever in a beauty pageant.

Seriously people, this is an amazing book about discovering yourself and what family really means. If you love Sarah Dessen, you will love this book. If you love goat cheese, you will love this book. If you love strong, smart heroines, you will love this book. If you love to read you. will. love. this. book. I have been telling everyone I know about this book for months and it was so nice to be able to start telling people last month that they could go out and buy it (because after six months of hearing about a book that is still not available, people start to thing you are *koffkoff* CRAZY!:)) So yes, SECRETS is in stores now, and I recommend that you stop whatever you are doing right now and go out and buy it. Really.

However, if you do feel the need to finish the blog entry before you rush out, there might be a chance to just win it at the end. That's all I'm sayin'.;)

Okay, Feasty Five!!

AP: What kind of soda does your MC drink?

MF: Moxie. She is a Maine girl, after all.

AP: *looks out at the readers in confusion* Moxie? *retreats to Google* Wow! Check this stuff out! Cool!! Anyway, yeah, back to the matter at hand.

MF: *waits patiently*

AP: What is your MC's favorite kind of flower? How about yours?

MF: Dara's favorite flower would be something graceful and dramatic, like a calla lily. I love lady slippers, and I love the smell of lilacs and honeysuckle.

AP: Does your MC believe in magic? Do you?

MF: Dara is too practical to believe in magic. As for me, I want to believe.

AP: Superman or Batman?

MF: I think Batman. I like the idea of someone creating the hero, not being born that way. Although the fact that Bruce Wayne is super rich and that's how he's able to have all the gadgets and stuff, well, that's less impressive to me. I've always kind of liked Spiderman, actually, and the way his mind is so important.

AP: Give us one line from your book. You don't even have to give it context.:)

MF: "So not only was it an ugly unicorn, it was an expensive, ugly unicorn."

AP: Hehe, I love that quote!

One of the things I love about SECRETS, is that it is not your stereotypical "fat girl" book where you have an overweight heroine with lots of problems, who loses a ton of weight and becomes rich, popular, wanted by boys, and admired by all. I hate those kinds of books. Self-confidence comes from the inside, not the outside!! This is a book about loving who you are, insides, outsides, everything.

And in the spirit of that, I'd like to offer a chance to win this incredible book with the simple entry fee of commenting and telling me something you like about yourself. This contest ends when my daughter goes to school on Monday and I will send a copy out early next week.

In fact, if you tell me TWO things you like about yourself, I will give you an extra entry.

I'll even start. I like my hair and my eyes.

And while you are thinking--sorting through the zillions of good qualities I know you all have in order to settle on just two--got check out Megan at her website.

Ciao!

Today, Next Week, and Communication in General

Hey all!! Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I got copy-edits!! But more of that in a minute.

Okay, I have been meaning to post this for about a week--I have two signings next week! Unfortunately, they are in the same place so unless you live in Utah, this isn't very news-ey. However, if you DO live in Utah, you now have TWO choices.:)

Okay, I will be signing at the BYU Bookstore in Provo, Utah on Wednesday, August 19th at 1:00 PM. Technically I am there because it is Education Week at BYU, but you don't have to be attending E.W. in order to come. So if you are in the area, stop by! I would LOVE to see you! (And there will be chocolate.:D)

On Friday, August 21st I will be signing at the Sugarhouse Barnes and Noble at 5:00 PM. So there will be plenty of time to come and say hi, and then grab your main squeeze and got for a date! (After all, convenience is Laurel's middle name.:D) There will be chocolate here too.:)

So if you live in Utah, please stop by! I would love to say hi!!!

Okay, regular readers have probably noticed that I generally do not respond to comments. Sadly, I just don't have time. I do read them all (and often follow links if they are there. I got to see more casting videos on YouTube because of the comments!! Thanks!!) I love comments and try to keep them in mind when I am deciding what to post about next. So you guys may feel like you are commenting into the dark, but I promise you aren't! I read every single comment!

I also get messages on MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, etc. as well as email. At the moment, I am answering all of my email. Every single one. It just takes about a week. (Two right now because I am under deadline.) So it may take a while, but I do answer! If you haven't gotten a reply and it's been like three weeks, please write me again. It means my spam filter caught you.:D

Twitter I'm not quite as good at because I haven't figured out how to tell if I have responded or not and I will generally choose to skip it rather that look like a total dork by responding twice. So I would say I respond to about half of my Twitters.

Okay, so you know what I have on my docket today??

Reading through my sequel from beginning to end!

I finished the bulk of the copy edits yesterday and am just reading through the whole thing today. I love this part! Things are starting to really get clean, and I am reading through it as much to make sure that I know which parts I left in and which parts I took out as anything. (So I don't answer questions wrong at signings.:))

Funny story, about a month back, a reviewer commented that she thought my book was inappropriate because it contained . . . let's call it Element A. And I was like, "Huh?? There's no Element A in there! Well, there is this one scene where this one thing happens. But I think it is pretty clear that it's an accident. Not on purpose. I would hardly classify that as Element A." But, yanno, whatever.

Then, yesterday, I was reading through copy edits in book two and came across that scene!! I was like, "oh no! There is a scene from book one in book two!!! How did that happen?!?!?"

Nope, I'm just a moron. That scene was always in book two. But working on books two and three while trying to launch book one has officially screwed with my head.:D

Also, now I have NO clue how the reviewer was seeing Element A in my book. And it's a pretty darn specific element so . . . I don't know. Maybe they read the wrong book???

Who knows.

Anyway, so today I am reading book two so I can remember what exactly is in it.:) (And so I don't give away too many spoilers at my signing next week, thinking I am talking about book one.)

So, in sum-up, come see me next week, if you can't then send me an email or MySpace message, and seriously, look forward to book two, I think it's awesome.:D

Ciao!

Video of Awesomeness!!!

Oh, I am so excited!! People are starting to make stuff on YouTube for Wings!!!

This one, by Minea Funk is my favorite so far. It's her dream cast. She is also the first person I found to suggest an actor for Tamani and well, let's just say I like her taste!



It's fun to see "fan art" go to a whole new level! Fan videos! Yay!

*And, standard disclaimer, I STILL have no control over casting, Just having fun here.;)*

Ciao!

I Am SO Far Behind . . .

So, I always write during the summers. Have for the last three years (because my husband is amazing and wonderful!) This summer I knew I was going to be getting a late start because, um, well, my book came out in May.:D

And my husband graduated law school.

And we moved out of state.

And I spent about six weeks touring.

But hey! I write fast and we figured that we would be able to make up the time in the second half of the summer and just push into September. It would be just fine.

However, after three weeks without their mom (because my family moved before I was done touring) the children--my then one-year-old-son especially--were a little traumatized. And since family comes before work, and we were taking a family vacation in two weeks anyway, we decided to wait for me to start writing till we got back from the vacation and just spend those two weeks having family time. So we got back from our family vacation at the end of June and I got to work!

Except that I got invited to come do four days of WesterCon over July 4th weekend . . . Aw, it's only four days. Got that done and back to work!

Except for, yanno, my, my husband's and my son's birthdays.

Oh, and Kenny went to go present a keynote response speech for a Law and Educators conference in Portland, Maine for four days.

Well, and ten days ago my husband's parents found out on Tuesday night that they had to be out of their house that they have lived in for eleven years with nine children the following Wednesday and be ready to move to Utah. That didn't disrupt our schedule at all. (It's a good thing! Not a disaster; it just happened very fast!)

So here I am on August second, when I expected to be no less that 50-60 thousand words into my draft--or possibly even done--and I am sitting at 27,000 words, and my children start school in one week. Go me . . . .

*laugh* Now, I am one of those people who like to work really far ahead of my deadlines, so don't think I am *technically* behind, because I'm not. Just behind compared to where I had hoped to be, and mostly it's because my life exploded this summer. In all good ways!

However, with this last week before school starts, and nothing (and I mean nothing) on the schedule, I am basically going into my office every morning at ten, and no one is seeing me again until four.:D (Honey, you've been warned.:)) And during that time, I hope to write about 15,000 words, catch up on two DebTours, catch up on Myspace, and return the ten or so emails that are still waiting for me in my inbox.

It's going to be a big week! Wish me luck!

Ciao!