In Which I Catch Up . . . A Lot!:D

So . . . I thought I was super busy when I was doing revisions. Turns out trying to catch up on six weeks of housework and preparing for two months of on and off touring (not to mention a couple of writers' conferences in the middle) is even busier! But I am finally sitting down to catch everyone up!

I went to the LDStorymakers' writing conference last week and, man, but it was a good one! Dave Wolverton/Farland was the keynote speaker with Nephele Tempest and Laura Rennert as visiting agents and Krista Marino as the visiting editor. Also on the roster were . . . well . . . me:) and Dan Wells, Jessica Day George, Jeff Savage, James Dashner, and Bree DeSpain, among several others. I really had a blast visiting with old friends and meeting readers. I taught a class on writing fantasy for the YA market and really had a blast with that. I also headed a bootcamp table and since I very rarely critique manuscripts these days, it was actually quite fun! Took me back to my college days! All in all, I had a really great time and got to say hi to a lot of blog readers. (Sadly, often all I got to do was say a brief hi as there were about a zillion people there! If I didn't get to sit and visit with you, I'm really sorry! Jewel and Jessie, I'm looking at you!:))

So, Spells is releasing in four days. Do I look nervous? I should! I'm feeling nervous! Spells is really special to me because I really learned a lot about the craft part of writing between finishing up edits on Wings and beginning edits on Spells and I hope that it shows. On top of that, the success of a debut has so much to do with your publisher's marketing, but sequels have more to do with word of mouth. And word of mouth scares me!:D But regardless, Tuesday is coming quickly and I am excited to be touring this year and getting the opportunity to meet readers! I've had several readers message/email/tweet me to let me know that they will be attending one of my stops. Thank you! I worry about showing up to these cities I've never even visited and having practically no one there. *koffkoff* It may have happened pretty much exactly like that at one particular city last year. *koffkoff* So thanks for letting me know there will at least be a few friendly faces at each stop I'm going to! You guys' support means the world to me!

I think I have mentioned this before, but now that the events are set, I am so happy to announce that I will be participating on Harper Canada's Supernatural Summer this year as well as the US one! (I love group tours so I was beyond thrilled to get the invitation!) I will be touring with the lovely Lesley Livingston (Wondrous Strange and Darklight) and Kim Harrison (More books than I will ever write in my life including Once Dead, Twice Shy and Early to Death, Early to Rise.) We will be appearing at three events around Toronto and I even have a nifty graphic to go with it!



This is a publicity image, so if any of you Canadians want to grab it and post it elsewhere, please feel free!

HarperTeen has launched my microsite and I actually really love even the name of it. Castyourspells.com Isn't that awesome!!! And the site itself is gorgeous too! What can I say, Harper spoils me! That's why we're getting married.:D There will be more content added to the site as it rolls in (a quiz, some Q&A, a booktrailer) but one of the things they already have up is a fan video trailer contest that I am really excited about!!! You can go check out the details, but basically, they have a kit with everything you need (music, excerpts, etc.) and you can make your own video for Spells and win books and have your video highlighted on Harperteen.com! I LOVE fan videos, so I am really excited to see what you all come up with! So if you are video-graphically inclined, check it out!

If you aren't going to be in one of the cities that I am touring to, you can still come ask me your burning questions at a chat tonight with the Open Book Society! I am chatting at 5:00 PST (8:00 EST) here. Feel free to stop by!

And, last but not least, if you live around Dayton, Cincinnati, or Chicago, come seeeee meeee!!!!!!!:D Details here.

Phew! And I think that about covers it!!!:D

Ciao!

Well!

It's been a long six weeks, but the revision is done and I can return to the land of the living! Yay!

Couple of orders of business (orders of business, I sound all official! Ha!) I am chatting with the InkPoppers over at InkPop.com tomorrow at 5:--PM EST. It will be a forum-style Q&A so drop by if you can, but even if you can't the forum will remain up! Here is where it should be. You can see there are questions there already.:)

I will also be doing a couple of other live chats over the next few weeks, so stay tuned! I'll put up details soon. I love chatting and obviously can't tour everywhere, so if you're in a city I missed, you will have lots of opportunities to ask your questions anyway!

I have a two (almost three!!) year old son named Gid who I talk about fairly frequently because he started terrible twos at one and I suspect they will go till at least four. Tonight alone, he shattered the side of my vegetable drawer in my refrigerator. We don't actually know how that happened, but he was the only one standing in the fridge when the big crack sounded, so we think we have the right suspect.

Last week was my daughter's birthday and she was SO pleased to get a How to Train Your Dragon cake!! We picked it up at noon and put it in the fridge. It became obvious very quickly that Gid was not going to leave the fridge alone (think a very loud, wailing child sitting in front of the fridge yelling "see cake!!" for a very long time. So around four we moved it to my office and locked it in. Around six my son walked in covered in red frosting.

*insert scream here*

Yes, I screamed.

This is what the cake looked like after we "fixed" it.



We actually did improve it. Kenny smoothed out the frosting on top and I transplanted the red edging from the back to the front. (And Aud, bless her optimistic little heart, said, "It looks better this way--like they are flying through a world of color!")

Gid is also in a "Mine!" phase. I don't mean he takes stuff from other kids or won't share, he declares everything to be his. For example, we drive around in the car and he sees a park. "Mom! Park!."

"Yes, Gid, a park." (Because I have to say his phrase back to him or he will just keep repeating it.)

"Mine, park!"

"Your park?"

"Mine park!"

Everything is his. His car, his school, his bank, his McDonald's, his dog (stray on the street). Everything.

So tonight we were pulling out of a friend's driveway and Gid says, "Mom! Stars!"

"Yes, Gid. Stars."

"Mine stars!"

And part of me couldn't help but grin that even at two years old, my son thinks the stars can be his.

He is a huge pilly, but I hope he never loses that ability to dream big. (See, this story did have a point!)

("Mine point!")

Ciao!

So . . .

Want to read the first 5+ chapters of SPELLS? You can!!!

http://tinyurl.com/y7jbpbd

Click the "Browse Inside" icon below the SPELLS cover.

Just sayin'.;)

ETA: Ack! Okay, now link works.:D

Ciao!

Tour Dates and Dismay

I'm alive! I promise!!

In fact, I'm just about done with revisions and then I will be more or less around . . . for three weeks till Spells comes out.:) This is my busy season! Luckily, I also tend to blog pretty well while on tour, so hopefully everything will just get better with the blog.:D

Okay, I've been promising you guys tour cities and dates for a while and, finally, here you go!


May 4th Joseph-Beth Booksellers Cincinnati, OH 7:00PM

May 5th Books & Company Dayton (Kettering), OH 7:00 PM

May 6th Anderson's Bookshop Downers Grove, IL 7:00 PM

May 11th Barnes & Noble Idaho Falls, ID 7:00 PM

May 13th King's English Salt Lake City, UT 7:00 PM

May 20th Changing Hands Tempe, AZ 7:00PM

May 27-30 Phoenix Comicon Phoenix, AZ (Various times)

June 1-3 Supernatural Summer! SS this year is being hosted by several lovely stores, but many of the events are at other places (like libraries) so double check here for exact locations and addresses, etc.)

June 1st Hosted by Rainy Day Books Kansas City, KS 7:00 PM

June 2nd Barnes and Noble Atlanta, GA 7:00 PM

June 3rd Borders Dallas, TX 7:00 PM

June 8th Poisoned Pen Scottsdale, AZ 7:00 PM


In addition, I will be in Toronto, Canada the last week of May doing a Supernatural Summer tour with Harper Canada. Those dates and locations aren't firm yet, but I will add them to the list when they are.

I am also hoping to do an LA event this summer, but I'm still working on that.:)

All of these events plus locations, addresses, etc. are all on my website in the calendar section here.




So, like I said, I've been finishing up revisions, and this last week is just for reading through and polishing little nit-picky things.:D So, I knew that the manuscript was getting longer as I worked, (I always have to add in edits!) but it wasn't until I finished that first pass that I realized just how much longer.

50 pages longer.

On top of that, I have a file that I have been putting big chunks of text into that I cut and/or moved. After all of the copy/pasting was done, that file was still 33 pages long. So technically, I have added EIGHTY completely new pages to book three in the last five weeks.

What is wrong with me?!?!?!

They're good pages, they really are. It's just a little mind-boggling. I'm not quite sure how that happened. But hopefully my editor is happy with them.

And hopefully they aren't boring . . .

Hopefully.

:D

Ciao!