Apparently !

2011-12-22T12:10:00.001-07:00

Happy holidays from a crazy bunch of YA authors!!!!!!!!!!!

:D

Ciao!

Helping Husband

2011-12-14T09:19:00.004-07:00

Hey everyone. This is Kenny--for those who don't know, I'm Aprilynne's husband. She's hip-deep in the final round of copyedits for Destined and putting together another series for your reading enjoyment (plus all the usual mundane stuff she accomplishes as a mom every day), but she apologizes for the long blog silence. If you just can't live without a daily dose of Aprilynne--and who can blame you, I know I can't!--you might check out her twitter, which she updates a little more often because she can do it from her phone.

For those of you who have been patiently checking back, though, here's some more cover art (especially of interest to those of you across the pond):

That's right, the UK and US editions will be back to having the same title! So that will hopefully cut back on some of the confusion we've had about Illusions / Wild.

Also, Aprilynne and a bunch of her author friends recently threw a big party for some of the librarians of the Phoenix-metro area. You can read all about it on Lisa McMann's blog. It was a fabulous event and if you happen to have media connections, why, you might want to write about it. Great piece for the Arts page, don't you think?

I think that's all the news for now. Sorry I'm not my lovely and fabulously-talented wife, who probably would have made this whole post much more entertaining. We now return you to your irregularly-scheduled-actual-author-blog... d^_^b

Cheers--

DESTINED!

2011-10-31T18:57:00.005-06:00

So, our first Trick or Treaters were actually . . . our kids! Apparently the gate on our gated community really works! Wow!

And, um, we may have a LOT of candy left over. I wonder what I'll do with all that candy . . . :D

But you all didn't come here to listen to me ramble about how my middle name is Hershey. Without further ado, here is my treat to you!!!

(Clickie for biggie. Oh, and this isn't the final final cover--the blurb from Lisa for Illusions is just there as a placeholder!)

Yay! Swoon! Better than chocolate!!!

Well, it's a close second at least.;)

Happy Halloween!!!

Ciao!

Trick or Treat!

2011-10-27T12:21:00.002-06:00

Are you all ready for Halloween? I am!!!! Mostly because for trick-or-treating this year I get to post . . .

The cover of Destined!!!!!!

So watch the blog on Halloween night. As soon as I get my first trick-or-treater, I'll post the cover. (AND OMG IT IS GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!)

So keep an eye out and eat a lot of candy corn! (My favorite!:D)

Ciao!

Eureka!!!!!

2011-10-17T21:25:00.003-06:00

No, literally. As in, that's where I'm going to be this week.

Eureka, CA!

I am attending the Humboldt County Author Festival in Eureka this Saturday. All of the details can be found on their website, HERE!!! There will also be 24 other amazing authors and you can find those names on the website as well.

I don't make it to Northern California very often (almost never) so if you are in the area, please,please,please come see me!!

Particularly special is that Humboldt County is where the Wings series is set! In fact, after my school visits one of the days I'm there I am going out to see Orick, where the gate to Avalon is!!!! Think I'll find it??:D

But seriously, if you are in Humboldt County, consider stopping by. It will be a very open format so this is a great time for you to come chat with me, ask me questions, torture me for spoilers, etc.

Please come!!!!

Ciao!

Book Four!

2011-09-20T21:38:00.002-06:00

I am SO excited to finally be able to let you guys know that the fourth and final book in the Wings series will be called:

DESTINED

I am sososo excited for this fourth book and the title is just so fitting! Luckily, Amazon.uk listed Destined a little early so I got to officially tell you the title just a bit sooner than I expected.

Before you ask, I don't have cover art yet, but I expect that next month--early November at the latest.

(Also, in case anyone is worried, yes, I do realized that Destined is also the name of the new House of Night book that is coming out this fall and that is the reason it has taken so long to announce. But the sales and marketing people finally decided that our books are so different--not to mention coming out six months apart--that there would be minimal confusion. I'm really, really excited they let me keep the title because, seriously, it just works so well with the whole book!)

In other exciting news, I finished the first draft of the first book in my new series today!!!! I still have several weeks of editing to do before it's even ready to go to my editor for approval, but it still feels like a big step and make me super happy today!

Ciao!

How To Get Stuff

2011-08-15T12:08:00.006-06:00

**Quick note, please read this whole post, especially the link for what a SASE is. My number one question is What is a SASE, there's a very nice link.:D**

Okay! As promised, I am through with my travel-filled summer and am ready to post an address so you can get your very own swag!

I made temporary tattoo jewelry for my swag this year and since they are AWESOME (and small) I am letting you guys send in for your own! You can get either one of each of the David necklace and Tamani bracelet, or you can get two for your guy of choice.

I will also send signed bookplates that can be personalized, etc.

You have to follow directions though.

Step One: Make a SASE (Great instructions in the link with one caveat, you don't have to have different-sized envelopes. Just fold the SASE and put it in the first envelope. Super-simple!) **From comments: If you don't know what a SASE is, follow the link! That's what it's for!!:D**

Step Two: Include a small note that tells me what you want: if you are requesting a bookplate PLEASE tell me who to sign it to, and what book it is for. Here's an example:

Hi Aprilynne! I would like a set of the temporary tattoos (I like them both!) and one book plate for each of the three (ETA: four) books. Please sign them to SARA. Thanks! Sara

See? Very, very easy!

I check my mail once a week and will stuff envelopes there at the post office, so there should be a fairly fast turn-around, but give me two weeks in case your letter arrives the day after I check my mail.:D

To avoid the spambots, I have a picture of my address rather than just typing it.:D (Also, it's sideways. Security FTW.)

I don't normally reply to comments here on the blog, but if you have any PLEASE post them and I will update this post if I've missed any vital information.

**From the comments: International is fine. As long as I can walk the envelope to the postal counter and give it to them and it gets back to you, it's good.:) (Please don't send money; really, I just don't want to go there.;))**

**I used an International Return Coupon (IRC) today! It worked great!!! So yes, those are fine for my brilliant and lovely international fans!!**

**Yes, you can ask for an extra bookplate for the upcoming book four!**

Ciao!

No News, But Thanks Anyway!

2011-08-05T12:19:00.005-06:00

Hello everyone!

With the whirlwind of edits, the release of Illusions, touring, and having kids out of school for the summer, it's been a while! It's also been a while since I talked about the business of writing, so I'd like to do a bit of that today.

Because I finally got my contract!

Or rather, I finally got a contract I've been looking forward to for a while. :) I actually have to sign contracts about once a month. The Wings series has now sold in about 30 languages--I say "about" because I know it's at least that many, but some languages sold in more than one territory (e.g. Portugese in Brazil and Portugal, French in Canada and France) and some territories sold in more than one language (e.g. Catalan and Basque in Spain). Some territories bought the whole series, some bought a book or two and then sent new contracts for later books. And many territories just get the books from other territories (I do not have a publisher in South Africa, but I know you can get Wings there). I just get paperwork in the mail from the awesome foreign rights department at Writers House, I sign it, and I send it back! As a result, I'm embarrassed to report that I've lost track of exactly how many countries and languages the series is actually available in.

But the contract I'm talking about today came from the Walt Disney Company.

Some of you probably remember this announcement from two years ago. I even blogged about it! If you don't remember: Disney optioned the rights to make a movie of Wings.

The detailed negotiations on the contract took two years.

If you are an aspiring author, or an author who has yet to ink a screen deal, or even if you're just curious, I want to emphasize that this is not typical. Most of my author friends who have deals with Hollywood took 3 to 6 months to get their contracts signed. Why did mine take so long? I would like to believe it's because everyone involved was just so excited about the project that they wanted to get every detail of the agreement perfect! :) But realistically, it probably took two years for a million tiny reasons, none of them particularly important. It took two years because that's how long it took, and that's how these things go: it takes however long it takes.

There's still no guarantee that the movie will ever be made. The deal I just signed was the same deal I agreed to accept in 2009. So, sorry, I still don't have any movie news to share. I'm excited about the project and I hope Disney decides to move forward with it.

But signing that contract got me thinking about all that has happened in the last two years, and that got me thinking about all that has happened in the years since I started seriously working toward publication. When I started this blog, I knew almost nothing about publishing. Fortunately for me, there were (and are!) a ton of great resources out there for aspiring authors. And once I graduated from "aspiring" to "contracted," I was able to find other authors in the same boat who were willing to share their experiences and increase my knowledge of the publishing industry.

Now, as I begin work on my second series (!!!) for HarperTeen, it's amazing how different everything looks. Some of that has nothing to do with me; when Wings came out in 2009, for example, e-books accounted for a tiny fraction of my sales and I had very little interest in owning an e-reader. This year HarperTeen did an awesome e-book promotion, including free electronic copies of Wings and exclusive content for different retailers, and I spent a lot of the summer reading e-books by my pool. When I went on a pre-publication tour to meet booksellers across the country, one of my stops was Ann Arbor, Michigan--home of Borders, a company that could make or break an author by promoting (or not promoting) a book. This year, Borders is closing its doors. The industry is changing.

But I've also changed. You may have noticed that I don't blog as often as I used to. There are several reasons for this; one is simply that I'm busier. I am trying to find a good way to put out more than one book per year, and that means developing more than one project at a time. I wrote a piece for Harper's Dear Bully project and I've got a short story to write for an anthology. My husband is going back to school (again). I have four children instead of three. :)

I'm still learning! I hope to write many more books. I feel like each one has improved my abilities and I'd like that to continue. I've made tons of awesome friends and met tons of awesome fans and I'd like that to continue, too. Because ultimately it's you, my readers, who I have to thank for the amazing, transforming experiences I've been privileged to have in the last 27 months or so. Your support and feedback never cease to amaze me, and looking back, I probably don't thank you for it enough.

So, thanks for reading! It's been an amazing couple of years and I look happily forward to more of the same. I'd say I will try to be a better blogger, but I'm not gonna lie--I will probably continue to blog irregularly at best. :P But I hope you will keep in mind that if I am not blogging, it's probably because I am writing something fun for you to read later, and I hope that when you remember that, you will forgive me. :)

Ciao!

Wings 4 Playlist

2011-07-06T11:41:00.002-06:00

Hi!!!

Businessy-stuff real quick, I am coming to NYC!!!! I am doing an event at Books of Wonder on the evening of the 28th of July. I don't have the details yet, but I wanted to mention the date so that people around New York can start thinking about it.:) There will probably be some other authors there as well (BoW likes to do group events) but I don't know for sure who yet. As soon as I have the details, I will let you know.:) But save the date!!!! I will have the tattoos for sure, but I may have a couple other fun goodies too.:D

Onward and upward. Book 4.

OMGIAMSOEXCITEDABOUTTHISBOOK!!!!!

*Ahem*

Seriously though. I am about to turn in my final revisions on Wings 4 and I am SO excited about it!! This book started out in a really strong place when I initially turned it in and over the two rounds of edits I've done with my editors it has just gotten better and better! (My editors rock!!!) And I am telling you, it is intense!!

*I've been telling this to people at all my signings, so I don't consider it a spoiler, but it you prefer to have a total blank slate, I'll go ahead a give you a SPOILERWARNING*:D

This fourth book picks up about an hour after Illusions ends and lasts just over 24 hours. Yes, I did say hours. This is a book where you get in, you buckle up, and you hold on for dear life. It's almost exhausting to read through it. There is lots of running and fighting and death, and several major characters don't make it out.

It's very fun!!!

*End spoilers*

Most of my readers know that I don't listen to music when I write. I find it distracting rather than motivating. And same goes for the first round of revisions, when I do broad, sweeping changes that general involve large sections of re-writing. But when I get down to line edits and smaller tweaks, I tend to crank up the tunes.

Tunes is generally too broad a term, actually. Often it is one song that I play over and over again. The revisions of Spells were brought to you by Juice Newton's Angel of the Morning, played on repeat for eight hours a day for three days. I kid you not.

Illusions revisions were brought to you by about four songs in the musical Wicked, again, over and over again for about a week.

I am apparently getting a little broader as I have fourteen songs that I have been playing on repeat for the last month.:D

So here is the Wings 4 revisions playlist:

And No Matches- Scooter
Come One Get Higher- Matt Nathanson
Defying Gravity- Wicked, OBC
Fearless- Taylor Swift
For Good- Wicked OBC
You and I Both- Jason Mraz
As She's Walking Away- Zac Brown Band
Colder Weather- Zac Brown Band
Felt Good On my Lips- Tim McGraw
Don't you Wanna Stay- Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkston
Knee-Deep- Zac Brown Band
Somewhere Else- Toby Keith
Can't Behave- Courtney Jaye
Haven't Met You Yet- Michael Buble

And don't try to read any tea leaves from this selection. None of the songs have anything to do with what's actually happening in the book--it's just music I know I won't get sick of after the five or six hundredth time.:D (Interestingly, it's also the music I'm running to these days.)

Ciao!

I'm Alive!!!!:D

2011-06-23T22:01:00.002-06:00

*taps microphone*

Hello? Hello? Is anyone still here? Is anyone still bothering to follow me?

Yes? A few of you? Yay!

Sorry for the extremely long bout of radio silence. Book release season just seems to get crazier and crazier! And for my solo tour I traveled with my infant daughter so any free time I might have had, well, she eated it.:D

I have been so SO extremely excited with everyone's reaction to ILLUSIONS. It is a really special book to me and it's been fun to see fans embrace it too. It came out and managed to get a spot on the very competitive series New York Times Bestsellers list soa belated thank you for that! And for every single fan, new and old, who came out to any of my events, thank you, thank you, thank you. You guys are the ones who make these tours possible! I am so very grateful to every one of you who have helped to make this series such a success. One more book and I promise I'll stop torturing you.

Of course, I have a new series I'm working on that will be just as torturous, bwahahahaha!!!

*Ahem*

Ready for randomness???

*So I left for six days for the Dark Days of Supernatural tour on June 9 and when I came back it was seriously summer in Phoenix! I now have a warm pool, a rather nice tan, and have to go on much shorter runs in the morning lest I die of heatstroke. And you know what? I still love living here. Desert Rat to the end, I guess.

*My baby got her first tooth yesterday! The event was memorialized by her waking up about four times during the night before.

*We have long-term houseguests! A friend of the family is doing an internship down here and he and his wife and son are staying with us. He plays games with my husband, she cleans my mirrors and does dishes, and their son entertains my hurricane child. WIN!

*I am finishing up line edits on Wings4 and OMG ya'all, not to toot my own horn or anything, but man this is a good ending!! (Okay, I guess that totally comes under tooting my own horn.) Nevertheless, I am so stoked for this book!!!

*I am also starting work on my next series. I spoke with my agent about the first several chapters today and she told me the angst and longing are working. Whoo-hoo!!!

*I need more sleep.

Ciao!

Where's Aprilynne

2011-06-15T09:09:00.004-06:00

Every year, usually right after my tour, I have people email me and say, "Are you EVER coming to [Place I just Went]." And, sadly, after I go somewhere, I'm probably not going back there for a year at the least, and often several. So this blog entry is going to stay at the top of the blog and you'll need to scroll down to check for new content.

Please come and see me!!!!!!:D (Times may change! Check back to be sure!)

May 2- Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, AZ: 7:00 PM (*They will have early copies)
May 3- Changing Hands, Tempe, AZ: 7:00 PM (With LISA MCMANN!!!!!!!)
May 5- Vroman's, Pasadena, CA: 7:00 PM
May 6- Barnes and Noble, Idaho Falls, ID: 7:00 PM
May 7- The King's English, Salt Lake City, UT: 2:00 PM
May 9- Dark Horse Books, Driggs, ID: 6:00 PM
May10- Twin Falls Public Library, 4:00 PM
Barnes and Noble, Twin Falls, ID: 7:00 PM
May 27-28- Phoenix Comic-Con, Phoenix, AZ: All Day
June 4- Utah Festival of Books, Provo, UT: All Day
June7- Anderson's, Naperville (Chicago area), IL: 7:00 PM
June 8- Barnes and Noble, Portland, OR: 7:00PM
June 9- Book People, Austin, TX: 7:00 PM
June 10- Changing Hands, Tempe, AZ: 7:00 PM
June 11- Schuler, Lansing, MI: 7:00 PM

You can find full details HERE . . . eventually.:D

I'll update as I go along! *shameless plug* Tell you friends, family, dogs, enemies, etc. to come!!!!:D

Winners and Swag of AWESOME!!!!

2011-05-02T13:58:00.004-06:00

So sorry it has taken me so long to post winners, but I have been waiting for my cool swag to get here so I could show the runner-ups what they are getting. And it arrived this morning!!!

I am SO stoked; these turned out so nicely!!!

So here are the temp tattoos for Team David and Team Tamani!!!

BTW, if you didn't win, I will have these at all of my signings. And if I'm not coming near you, after I get done traveling, I will post my PO Box address and you guys can send in a SASE to get them. So everyone will have a chance soon--no worries!

Okay, grand prize winners who get a set of signed books:

Valerie of Library Dweller

Emily_Jane of This is Life, Live It

and Britni/Alura Webb

All of you please email me at aprilynne pike at gee mail dot com and PLEASE include your name and address, and who you would like your books signed to.

The ten swag winners are:

Nadia Coradin (Nadinax)
Momo (Book Over Boys)
Jessica of Blogsbyjessb
Kolby Cheese 88
Ashley H19
Madiha Fahmi
Karolina S.
Alba
JK17
and Starry eyed Jen

Would you guys please email me (again at aprilynne pike at gee mail dot com) and I just need your name and address please.

Thank you everyone for entering and spreading the Trailer Love!! Starting tonight my crazy tour schedule begins and I will try to post pics and reports, but your best way to get the scoop as I travel is by following me on Twitter because I can do that on my phone.:D

ILLUSIONS TOMORROW!!!!!!:D

Ciao!

Trailer!!!

2011-04-23T18:30:00.002-06:00

I am so excited to share the trailer for Illusions with you!!! It's really fun and kind of Glee-esque and I love how it does the recap! It's basically Wings and Spells in about twenty seconds each.

*SPOILER ALERT* If you haven't read Wings or Spells, this does cover the basic plot points of both books.

I really would love to spread this trailer around, and what better way than having a contest!!!!

And since the trailer talks about all three books, what better prize than a set of all three books!!!

AND since there are three books, it's only fitting to give away three SETS of the books! So three grand prize winners who will each get a set of all three books.

On top of that, I have some awesome Team David and Team Tamani swag being made (they're not done yet, I will post a pic later this week when they are) and I will send a set of those to an additional ten winners.

So yeah, contest of awesome prizes!!!!

Here's all you have to do:

Post the video on your blog, website, Twitter, Facebook, etc. One entry for every place you post it. Comment here (Live Journal or Blogger) and let me know where you posted it. Easy as pie!

This contest is open internationally, but I am limiting it to planet Earth.:D

Rules: Simple--PLEASE, when you post it, do put *Spoiler Warning* in your post/tweet/entry/whatever, because it is a tad spoilery.

Next . . .

Okay fine, that's the only rule.:D

I have a revisions deadline this Friday, so now that's your deadline too! Entries valid till midnight PST Friday April 29th and I will announce Saturday so I can get books sent off!

Thank you ALL for helping me spread the word about Illusions!!!!

Ciao!

Winner!

2011-04-22T09:56:00.002-06:00

Wow, people!!

It has been SO fun to spend the last few days reading about your different countries!!! I am going to do a write up on our world tour later, but for now I want to announce the winner so I can get this off!!

Our winner is CATH who wrote:

"I live in a VERY small rural town in the Waikato region of New Zealand. Its green and hilly and covered in enchanted blocks of bush, where faeries can often be seen playing games amongst the native trees and fauna, or swimming in the beautifully clear streams, ponds and waterfalls.
A beautiful country where 'Middle Earth' is a real place you can visit just by opening your back door. Where Wings, Spells and Wild Illusions don't only happen in dreams."

Cath, I already dropped you an email, so hurry and reply so I can send this to you!;)

Thank you EVERYONE for entering!!!!!

Ciao!

International ONLY Contest for WILD!!

2011-04-18T22:02:00.002-06:00

I JUST got my first copy of WILD (the UK edition of Illusions) in the mail and, as promised, here is the International ONLY contest for it!!

Rules: Simple, you must live in a country other than the US.

To enter all you have to do is leave a comment here telling me what country you live in, and why you like it. (Or, yanno, a good reason for me to come visit!!!:D) An email address may speed things along if you are the winner, but it's not required.

This is a short contest because I want the book to reach the winner before release date, so you have three days.

I will pick a winner Thursday night at Midnight and will announce it on Friday morning. With luck, I'll get a fast response and the book will be in the mail Friday afternoon!

So go for it! Tell me why your country rocks!

Ciao!

Illusions Cookie

2011-04-16T12:26:00.001-06:00

I forgot to post this yesterday . . . but better late than never!:D

“I’ll leave you here then,” Tamani said, not wanting to overstay his welcome on their first encounter. He gestured back the way they had come with his thumb. “I kinda left my car a little way up the road.”

She smiled again, showing one shallow dimple in her left cheek that caught Tamani off guard. Not that they were exceptionally rare among the fae, but with their inherent symmetry, having one on only one side was quite uncommon. Still Tamani couldn’t help smiling back. She did seem like a sweet kid. He hoped it wasn’t an act.

“So,” he said, already walking slowly backward, “if I say ‘hi’ to you tomorrow, you going to say ‘hi’ back?”

His step faltered just a little when she didn’t answer.

“Why are you doing this, Tam?” she asked after a long pause.

“Doing what?” Tamani asked, stopping now.

“This,” she asked, gesturing between the two of them.

He did his best to look both playful and sheepish. “I lied,” he said carefully. “I did notice you that first day.” He shrugged and looked down at his feet. “I noticed you first thing. It just took me a while to get up the guts to approach you, I guess.”

He peered up at her, watched the nervous tightening of her neck, and knew, before she responded, that he’d won. “Okay,” she said quietly. “I’ll say ‘hi.’”

Ciao!

SO Many Exciting Things!!!!

2011-04-05T21:46:00.002-06:00

Oh man, this entry may explode from over max-capacity awesomeness. You've been warned.

No matter who you are, or where you are, or what kind of e-book reader you have (including none!) you can read WINGS for free. Right now. You can get it from Amazon , you can go into a B&N and read not only Wings but exclusive B&N material, as well as Kobo or Sony !

But even more fun, you can participate in the WINGS Blogfest!!!!!! Check it!

So, in case you missed it, here are the bloggers participating in the Read-Along!

Alison Can Read

Eve's Fan Garden

Mundie Moms

Page Turners

L8 Bloomers Online

The Read-Along is going to last most of the month, but you can only download your copy of Wings for a limited time, so go grab it now!!!

Also, the awesome Inkpop, where aspiring authors can post and review each others work and have top entries read by a Harper editor (the first Inkpop author, Leigh Fallon, is coming out with her debut The Carrier of the Mark this Fall!) is having an Illusions-themed writing contest!

You can find all the details HERE!

I am participating as a guest judge and can't wait to see the entries!!! The deadline is April 7th, so hurry on this one!!!

Whew! So many exciting things as I am wrapping up edits on Wings Book 4 and getting ready for the release of Illusions!!! Later this week I am going to post (with gratuitous pics!) about something very ordinary. Like juicing lemons. No really. It was awesome! Till then!:D

Ciao!

Illusions Chapter Two!

2011-04-01T13:35:00.002-06:00

As promised, chapter two of Illusions (slash Wild, for you UK readers out there!) on the very first day of the month.:D

If you missed chapter one, you can find it here!

Chapter Two

Sighing heavily, Laurel dropped her backpack on the kitchen counter. She paused in front of the refrigerator to stare at its contents, then scolded herself for her obvious delay tactics. Still, she grabbed a nectarine before closing the fridge door. If for no other reason than to justify her browsing.

She walked over to the back door and stared, as she often did, at the trees behind her house, searching for signs of the faeries who now resided there full-time. Sometimes she spoke with them. In the last year she had even occasionally supplied them with defensive potions and powders. She didn’t know if the sentries got any use out of them, but at least they didn’t turn them down. It was gratifying to feel like she was helping especially since having to guard her house had disrupted all of their lives.

But with the total absence of trolls activity since last year it hardly seemed necessary anymore. Part of her wanted to suggest they go home, even though she knew better. Jamison had warned her that trolls preferred to strike when their prey was at its most vulnerable, and her experience had proven the truth of his words. Like it or not, it was probably safest if the sentries stayed, at least for now.

Laurel pulled open the back door and set off toward the trees. She wasn’t sure where exactly she was supposed to meet him, but she had no doubt Tamani would find her, as usual. She stopped short when she rounded a scrub oak to discover him removing one shoe with a swift, violent kick. His back was to her and he had already pulled his shirt off; Laurel couldn’t help but stare. She’d never seen him without his shirt on. The sun filtered through the canopy of leaves to illuminate the warm brown skin of his back—darker than David’s—as he bent and pulled at a stubborn shoelace. With a quiet mutter he finally got it undone and kicked it into the trunk of a nearby cypress tree.

As if freed from shackles instead of clothing, Tamani’s shoulders relaxed and he sighed noisily. Even though he was a bit short by human standards, his arms were lean and long. He stretched, flinging them out wide, his broad shoulders forming the top of a slender triangle that narrowed to his waist, where his jeans hung loosely at his hips. The angles of his back caught the sunlight and for a moment Laurel fancied that she could see him soaking in those nourishing rays. She knew she should say something—announce her presence—but she hesitated.

When he placed his hands on the hips she was eyeing and lifted his face to the sky, Laurel realized she’d better make some noise before he took something else off. She cleared her throat quietly.

The sun tossed golden light through Tamani’s hair as he spun, visibly tense. “It’s you,” he said, sounding relieved. He had a strange look on his face and concentrated on the ground. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Not long,” Laurel said quickly.

“A minute?” Tamani pressed. “Two?”

“Um, about one, I guess.”

Tamani shook his head. “And I didn’t hear a thing. Damn human clothes.” He dropped down onto a fallen log and pulled off a sock. “They’re not just uncomfortable, they’re noisy! And what is with that school? It’s so dark.”

Laurel stifled a grin. She’d told her mother the same thing after her first day at Del Norte. “You’ll get used to it,” she said, handing him the nectarine. “You should eat this. It’ll make you feel better.”

He took the fruit from her, his fingers brushing hers. “Thanks,” he said softly. He hesitated, then faced forward and took a bite. “I trained for this. I did! But they never made me stay indoors for this long at once. I was focused on learning the culture and I didn’t even think about the consequences of being inside so much.”

“It helps if you get a seat under the windows,” Laurel suggested. “I learned that the hard way.”

“And who the hell came up with jeans?” Tamani continued darkly. “Heavy, sweltering fabric? You’re seriously telling me the race that invented the internet couldn’t create a fabric better than denim? Please!”

“You said internet,” Laurel said with a snort. “That is so weird.”

Tamani just laughed and took another bite of the nectarine. “You were right,” he said appreciateively, holding up the fruit. “This helps a lot.”

Laurel stepped over and sat down next to him on the fallen log. They were almost close enough to touch, but the air between them might as well have been a granite wall. “Tamani?”

He turned to face her, but said nothing.

Not sure whether it was a mistake, Laurel smiled and leaned forward, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Hello,” she said, her lips near his ear.

He wrapped his arms around her, returning her greeting. She let go and started to pull back, but he held on tighter, his hands begging her to stay. She didn’t fight it—realized she didn’t want to. After a few more seconds, he released her, but it was with obvious reluctance. “Hi,” he said quietly.

She looked up into his light green eyes and was disappointed to realize that the color still bothered her. They weren’t different, really, they were still his eyes. But she found the new color irrationally disturbing.

“Listen,” Tamani said slowly. “I’m sorry this was all such a surprise for you.”

“You could have told me.”

“And what would you have said?” he asked.

Laurel started to say something, then closed her mouth and instead smiled guiltily.

“You’d have told me not to come, right?” Tamani pressed.

Laurel just raised one eyebrow.

“So I couldn’t tell you,” he said with a shrug.

Laurel reached down, plucked a small fern, and began tearing it to pieces. “Where have you been?” she asked. “Shar wouldn’t tell me.”

“Mostly in Scotland, like I said in class.”

“Why?”

It was his turn to look guilty. “Training.”

“Training for what?”

“To come here.”

“The whole time?” Laurel said, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Tamani nodded.

Laurel tried to push away the hurt that instantly filled her chest. “You knew this whole time that you were coming back and you still left without saying goodbye?” She expected him to look ashamed, or at least apologetic, but he didn’t. He met her eyes without blinking.

“As opposed to waiting for you to come and tell me in person that you were choosing David instead of me and wouldn’t be coming ’round anymore? Instead of having Shar deliver the message?”

She looked away, guilt crowding out her hurt feelings.

“How would that have done me any good? You’d have felt better—heroic even—and I’d have looked like a fool going off to the other side of the world to play scorned lover.” He paused, taking a bite of the nectarine and chewing thoughtfully for a moment. “Instead, you had to feel the weight of your choices and I got to keep some of my pride. Just a touch,” he added, “since, regardless, I still had to go off to the other side of the world and play scorned lover. I think my mother would say, ‘Same fruit, different bough.’”

Laurel wasn’t sure she grasped the idiom. Even after two summers in Avalon, faerie culture mostly eluded her.

“But, what’s done is done,” Tamani said, polishing off the nectarine, “and I suggest we don’t dwell on it.” He concentrated for a second before throwing the pit hard at the trees.

A quiet grunt sounded. “Hecate’s eye, Tamani! Was that really necessary?”

Tamani grinned as a tall sentry with closely-cropped hair materialized from between the trees, rubbing his arm. “You were spying,” Tamani said, his tone light.

“I tried to give you some space, but you did ask me to meet you here.”

Tamani spread his hands wide in defeat. “Touché. Who else is coming?”

“The others are watching the house; there’s no reason for them to join us.”

“Great,” Tamani said, sitting up straighter. “Laurel, have you met Aaron?”

“Several times,” Laurel said, smiling her greeting. “Several” was probably stretching it a little, but she was fairly certain they had met once or twice. Last winter she had tried many times to go out and talk with the sentries—make friends. But they had all simply bowed at the waist, which she despised, and said nothing. Still, Aaron looked familiar.

More importantly, he didn’t correct her. He just nodded—so deeply it was almost a bow—then turned back to Tamani.

“Aaron’s already been debriefed by Shar, but he’ll want to hear it explained to you, in case I miss anything,” Tamani began, looking at Laurel. “I’m not here as a regular sentry. I’m here to be what I was always supposed to be; Fear-gleidhidh.”

It took Laurel a moment to remember the word. Last fall, Tamani had told her it meant “escort,” and it resembled a word the Winter faeries used for their bodyguards. But it was somehow more . . . personal.

“We had too many close calls last year,” Tamani continued. “It’s hard for us to watch you while you’re at school, or protect you well in crowded places. So I went to the Manor for some advanced training. I can’t blend in with humans as well as you do, but I can blend in well enough to stay close no matter what.”

“Is that really necessary?” Laurel interjected.

Both fae turned to look at her blankly.

“There hasn’t been any sign of trolls—or anything else—for months.”

A look passed between the two sentries and Laurel felt a stab of fear as she realized there was something they hadn’t told her. “That’s not . . . exactly true,” Aaron said.

“They’ve seen signs of trolls,” Tamani said, sitting back down on the fallen log. “Just no actual trolls.”

“Is that bad?” Laurel asked, still thinking that not seeing trolls—for any reason—was a good thing.

“Very,” Tamani said. “We’ve seen footprints, bloody animal corpses, even an occasional fire pit. But the sentries here are using everything they use at the gates—tracking serums, presence traps—and none of them are registering a troll presence at all. Our tried and true methods simply aren’t finding the trolls we know are here somewhere.”

“Couldn’t they be . . . old signs? Like, from last year?” Laurel asked.

Aaron started to say something but Tamani spoke over him. “Trust me, they’re new.”

Laurel felt a little sick to her stomach. She probably didn’t want to know what Aaron had been about to say.

“But I would have come regardless,” Tamani continued. “Even before you told Shar about . . . the lighthouse, Jamison wanted to send me to find out more about Barnes’ horde,” Tamani said.. “His death gave us some peace, but a troll like him would have lieutenants, or commanders. I think it’s safe to assume this is merely the calm before the storm.”

Fear was gnawing at her insides, now. It was a feeling Laurel had grown used to living without and she wasn’t happy with its sudden return.

“You also gave Klea four sleeping trolls, and it’s probably too much to hope that they simply woke up, killed her, and got on with their lives. It’s possible she interrogated them, found out about you, maybe about the gate.”

Laurel snapped to attention, feeling panicked. “Interrogated? The way she talked, I figured she would just . . . kill them. Dissect them. I didn’t even—”

“It’s okay,” Tamani said. “You did the best you knew how, under the circumstances. You’re not a soldier. Maybe Klea did kill them outright; trying to interrogate them would be suicidal for most humans. And we don’t know how much Barnes told his lackeys, either. But we have to prepare for the worst. If these troll hunters decide to become faerie hunters, then you could be in more danger than ever. Jamison wanted to address these new developments, so he changed the plan slightly.”

“Slightly,” Laurel echoed, feeling suddenly weary. She closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands. She felt Tamani’s arm slip around her.

“Listen,” Tamani said to Aaron, “I’m going to take her inside. I think we’re good here.”

A soft nudge brought Laurel to her feet and she headed toward her house without saying goodbye. She walked quickly, pulling away from Tamani’s hand, wanting both to put distance between them and exert her independence.

What was left of it, anyway.

She pushed through the back door, leaving it open for Tamani, and walked over to the fridge, grabbing the first piece of fruit she saw.

“Can I . . . have another one?” Tamani asked. “The one you gave me really helped.”

Wordlessly Laurel handed him the fruit from her hand, realizing she had no appetite for it.

“What’s wrong?” Tamani asked at last.

“I’m not really sure,” Laurel said, avoiding his eyes. “Everything is just so . . . crazy. I mean,”—she looked up at him now—“I’m so glad you’re back. I really am.”

“Good,” Tamani said, his smile a little shaky. “I was starting to wonder there.”

“But then you tell me I’m in all this danger and suddenly I’m afraid for my life again. No offense, but it kind of overshadows the happiness.”

“Shar wanted to send someone else and just not tell you, but I thought you’d rather know. Even if it meant . . . well, all of this,” he said, gesturing vaguely.

Laurel considered. Something inside her insisted it was better this way, but she wasn’t so sure. “How much danger am I really in?”

“We’re not sure.” Tamani hesitated. “There’s definitely something going on. I’ve only been here a few days, but the things I’ve seen . . . are you familiar with tracking serums?”

“Sure. They change color, right? To show how old a trail is? I can’t make them yet—”

“No need. We have batches specially made for tracking trolls and humans. I poured some in a fresh track and it didn’t react at all. I might as well have poured it on a rock.”

“So, none of your magic works?” Laurel asked, her throat tightening.

“It appears that way,” Tamani admitted.

“Your not making me feel any safer,” Laurel said, trying to inject some humor with a smile. But the quiver in her voice betrayed her.

“Please don’t be afraid,” Tamani insisted. “We don’t need magic—it just makes things easier. We’re doing everything we can to patrol the area. We’re not taking any chances.” He paused. “The problem is that we don’t actually know what we’re up against. We don’t know how many there are, what they’re up to, nothing.”

“So you’re here to tell me I have to be super careful again,” Laurel said, knowing she should feel gratitude, instead feeling resenment. “Stay at home, sundown is Cinderella time, all that?”

“No,” Tamani said quietly, surprising her. “I’m not here to tell you anything. I don’t do patrols, I don’t go hunting, I just stick close to you. You just live your life and continue with all of your normal activities. I’ll keep you safe,” he said, stepping forward to sweep a lock of hair back from her face. “Or die trying.”

Laurel stood frozen, knowing he meant every word. He misread her stillness as an invitation and leaned forward, his hand cupping her cheek.

“I missed you,” he whispered, his breath light on her face. A gentle sigh escaped Laurel’s lips before she could stop it and as Tamani drew nearer her eyes began to close on their own.

“Nothing’s changed,” she whispered, his face only a hair’s breadth from hers. “I made my choice.”

His hand stilled, but she sensed the slightest tremor at his fingertips. She watched him swallow once before smiling wanly and pulling back.

“Forgive me. I . . . overstepped.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Same thing you do every day,” Tamani said, shrugging. “The less change to your routine, the better.”

“That’s not what I meant,” said Laurel, forcing herself to look him in the eye.

He shook his head. “Nothing. It’s me who has to deal with it, not you.”

Laurel looked at the floor.

“I mean it,” Tamani said, shifting subtly, putting more distance between them. “You don’t have to watch out for me or try to be my friend in school. I’ll just be around, and it will be fine.”

“Fine,” Laurel repeated, nodding.

“You know those apartments down on Harding?” Tamani asked, sounding casual again.

“The green ones?”

“Aye. I’m number seven,” he said, his smile playful. “Just in case you ever need me.”

He headed toward the front door and Laurel watched him for a few seconds before reality crept back in. “Tamani, stop!” she said, leaping off her stool and sprinting to the entryway. “Do not go out my front door with no shirt on. I have very nosey neighbors.” She reached out to grab his arm. He turned and, almost instinctively, his hand rose to cover hers. He stared down at her fingers, so light against his olive skin, and his eyes traced the length of her hand, her arm, her shoulder, her neck. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. When he opened them again his expression was neutral. He smiled easily, gave her hand a squeeze, then released it and let it fall from his arm.

“Of course,” he said lightly, “I’ll go out the back.”

He turned toward the back of the house, then paused and looked at her. He lifted his hand and touched the necklace he had given her—her baby faerie ring, hung on its silver chain. He smiled softly. “I’m glad you still wear this.”

:D

Ciao!

Stuff, Stuff, Stuff!!

2011-03-25T11:51:00.002-06:00

Alrighty then! A ton of long-promised information in this post! I'm thinking bullet points!

Isn't it cute! So nice and round! *ahem*

So I imagine some of you have, at some point, mentioned my series to someone and they go, "Who?" and have no idea what you are talking about. Well, now is a great time to tell them that they can check out my first book for FREE! Completely, totally FREE! From April 5th to April 18th your, your mom, your neighbor, that creepy guy down the street, anyone can download Wings for free. And just in case you forget, you can pre-order now from Amazon and the book will be sent to your Kindle when April 5th rolls around! However . . .

If you want to wait till May 8th, and get a comfy chair to boot, you can take your Nook into any Barnes and Noble in the country and download the free ebook onto your Nook and it will come with an exclusive short story that you won't find anywhere else. (I will post it on my blog and website at some point, but at least for now, it will be exclusively available at B&N.) Don't have a Nook or a B&N nearby? Never fear!

All of the ebooks will come with an excerpt from both Spells and Illusions, so you will still get a taste of what's to come! Want more?

Five bloggers will be participating in a read-along contest that starts on April 5th. (I'll have more details as we get closer.) It is a contest to see how many readers they can get to download the ebook from their blog and read along with them! The winning website gets exclusive access to a short story that comes between Spells and Illusions that features our favorite hot faerie guy himself, Tamani! So that should be tons of fun!

FREE BOOK FREE BOOK FREE BOOK.:D

Okay, so we are still working on all the dates, but I want to let you know where I will be this summer! In May I will be going to:

Scottsdale, AZ
Tempe, AZ
Pasadena, CA
Idaho Falls, ID
Salt Lake City, UT
Driggs, ID
and Boise, ID

In June, between my own travels and the Dark Days of Supernatural, I will be going to:

Provo, UT
Chicago, IL
Portland, OR
Austin, TX
Phoenix, AZ
Lansing, MI

At some point in the next six months I will also be coming to:

New York, NY
Eureka, CA

Whew! It is going to be fun and awesome!! I will have the full schedule up soon with dates and times, etc. but hopefully I am coming to your neck of the woods at some point. If not, I will almost certainly be traveling next summer as well! However, if you live somewhere obscure where authors never seem to travel . . .

You can still get a signed book!! I've teamed up with the awesome Changing Hands Bookstore here in Arizona to allow you guys to order signed (personalized too!) books online. The link to my books is here and all you need to do is put in the comments that you would like it signed and PLEASE specify the exact name you would like on the book.

Already have the books? I am working on getting books plates and an address where you can send a SASE to get them, but I am between PO Boxes right now, so it's not ready. But it will be! Soon!

Okay . . . so I think that's it. Lots of fun stuff and you are basically going to see my Twitter catch fire over the next few weeks as we gear up for the release of not only ILLUSIONS, but the newly redesigned paperbacks for the rest of the series as well! There will be lots of bonus content and free stuff and web pages, etc! I love it when April comes along because that is when all the release date fun really starts!

And, of course, I know why you read down this far, so here comes the next excerpt from Illusions! (And for those of you who have been asking, I will be posting the second chapter of Illusions next week . . . probably April 1st!:))

Tamani came running in and slid into his seat just as the final bell rang. He was wearing a pair of black leather gloves with the fingers all cut off at the first knuckle.

“What are those?” Laurel said, wrinkling her nose. “Fingerless gloves went out of style before . . . mullets. You look like a dork.”

“Better a dork than a freak with glitter coming out of his hands,” Tamani hissed darkly. “As far as these kids know, they’re all the rage in Scotland.”

Laurel felt bad for not realizing; after all, it was being around her blossom that brought pollen to his hands. “Oh. What are you doing with Yuki? I thought you were supposed to be getting us together, not hooking up with her,” she whispered as Mrs. Harms called attendance.

“I am not ‘hooking up’ with her,” Tamani hissed.

“Could have fooled me,” Laurel muttered.

Tamani shrugged. “I have a job to do here,” he whispered. “I do what it takes.”

Oh, I love being cryptic.

Ciao!

Winner!

2011-03-21T21:55:00.001-06:00

A VERY fast update to let you know that the winner of The Vespertine and Faerie Winter is GUPPY of Small Fish in a Big Ocean! Guppy, please send me your real name (er . . . unless it IS Guppy :D) and your address to aprilynne pike at gee mail dot com and I will get those right out to you!

Much, much more to come this week including how you can get Wings for FREE, where I will be this summer, a new excerpt from Illusions, and how you can order signed books no matter where you live! All this week! (Just not tonight *yawn*:D)

Ciao!

The Vespertine and Faerie Winter!

2011-03-16T21:46:00.004-06:00

I am always being asked for recommendations for books that I really like and I always kind of stammer and go, "Uuummm," not because I don't have recommendations, but because I have a hard time narrowing them down. In the past I have touted books like Mistwood by Leah Cypess, The Maze Runner by James Dashner, The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan, to name only a very, very few. But this season the two books I am recommending to everyone are The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell and Faerie Winter by Janni Lee Simner. And what better way to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak, than to have a giveaway! (And really, who doesn't like free stuff?)

Okay, so The Vespertine. Seriously, how can you not adore this cover!?!?!? I got to read The Vespertine quite early and have been waiting and waiting for it to finally come out! It is a really wonderful historical with beautiful ballgowns, hot guys, stiff corsets, and awesome magic to boot! And one of my very favorite opening lines.

"I returned to Oakhaven entirely ruined."

I mean really, how can you not want to read the next line? Anyway, I love this book and can recommend it to readers of all ages about ten and up.:D

I have a hardcover of this book up for grabs, and it came out last week, so if you don't win it, you can find it at a bookstore near you!

The next book that I am raving about is Faerie Winter by Janni Lee Simner. Some of you may remember how much I raved about Janni's first book, Bones of Faerie, which came out in early 2009. I was in a funk for days after I read it because--although I probably should not admit this publicly--it's so much better than my book.:D Faerie Winter is the sequel and picks up right where Bones of Faerie left off with all of the characters that I didn't want to let go of. I don't want to synopsize too much because it is a sequel, but killer plants, devious fae, eternal winter . . . people, it is just amazing!!!

And still cooler, even though it doesn't actually come out until April 7th, I have a signed copy that I got directly from Janni (why yes, I really am just that cool.:D) that I will send out early!

So two of my very, very favorite books of this year up for grabs! And all you have to do is return the favor. Tell me YOUR favorite read so far this year and I'll pick one at random and send you both of my favorites!:D

This contest is open until Sunday night at midnight and I will send them out as soon as I get the winner's info.

Good luck and happy reading!

Ciao!

ILLUSIONS, Chapter One

2011-03-08T08:58:00.003-07:00

I meant to get this up last weekend, but the time totally got away from me!

Harper is going to start teasing the first parts of ILLUSIONS soon and so they gave me permission to share it here on my blog first!

But before I share, a quick question: I am planning my appearances for this summer and am trying to decide between Twin Falls, Idaho and Boise, Idaho. What do you vote? Because, literally, I am going to pick the location that gets the most votes.:D

And how about Las Vegas? Would anyone come see me if I did a stop in Vegas? Please comment and let me know! I would REALLY appreciate it!

And just one more thing: I will be at the Tucson Book Festival this weekend and have two panels and a reading/signing on Sunday, March 13th. Click on my name here and you will find my schedule, locations, etc. At the "Solo Presentation" I will be reading chapters one and probably two and there is signing time after both panels and the reading if you want to get a book(s) signed. I will also have signed Dark Days bookmarks and swag! *shameless bribery*

And without further ado, Chapter One! (I will post Chapter Two next month!:D) (Also, a quick note, this is my non-copy-edited version. There may be slight changes in the final copy. But we're talking slight, slight, slight.:D)

Chapter One

The halls of Del Norte High buzzed with first-day-of-school chaos as Laurel wedged herself through a crowd of sophomores and spotted David’s broad shoulders. She twined her arms around his waist and pressed her face against his soft T-shirt.

“Hey,” David said, returning her embrace. Laurel had just closed her eyes, prepared to savor the moment, when Chelsea caught them both in an exuberant squeeze.

“Can you believe it? We’re finally seniors!”

Laurel laughed as Chelsea let them go. Coming from her, the question wasn’t exactly rhetorical; there had been times Laurel doubted they’d make it through junior year alive.

As David turned to his locker, Chelsea produced Mrs. Cain’s summer reading list from her backpack. Laurel suppressed a smile; Chelsea had been fretting over the optional books all summer. Probably longer.

“I’m starting to think everyone read Pride and Prejudice,” she said, tilting the paper toward Laurel, “I knew I should have gone with Persuasion.”

“I didn’t read Pride and Prejudice,” Laurel countered.

“Yeah, well, you were a little busy reading Common Uses of Ferns or something like that.” Chelsea leaned in so she could whisper. “Or, Seven Habits of Highly Effective Mixers,” she added with a snort of laughter.

“How to Win Fronds and Influence Poplars,” David suggested, raising his eyebrows. He straightened abruptly, his smile widening and his voice getting just a touch louder. “Hey, Ryan,” he said, extending a fist.

Ryan bumped him and turned to run his hands down Chelsea’s arms. “How’s the hottest senior at Del Norte?” he asked, making Chelsea giggle as she went onto her toes for a kiss.

Sighing contentedly, Laurel reached out for David’s hand and leaned against him. She’d only been back from the Academy in Avalon for a week, and she’d missed her friends—more even than last year, though her instructor, Yeardley, had usually kept her too busy to dwell on that. She’d mastered several potions and was closing in on more. The mixings were coming more naturally, too; she was getting a feel for different herbs and essences and how they should work together. Certainly not enough to strike out on her own, like her friend Katya, who was researching new potions, but Laurel took pride in her progress.

Still, it was a relief to be back in Crescent City, where everything was normal and she didn’t feel so lonely. She smiled up at David as he swung his locker shut and pulled her close. It seemed monumentally unfair that she and David only had one class together this year, and despite having spent the past week with him, Laurel found herself clinging to these last few minutes before the bell rang and their class schedules took them away from each other.

She almost didn’t notice the strange tingle that made her want to turn and look behind her.

Was she being watched?

More curious than afraid, Laurel disguised the glance over her shoulder as a toss of her long blonde hair. But her watcher was immediately apparent and Laurel’s breath caught in her throat as her gaze locked with a pair of pale green eyes.

Those eyes weren’t supposed to be light green. They were supposed to be the rich, emerald green that once matched his hair—hair that was now a uniform black, cut short and gelled into a deceptively casual mop. Instead of a hand-woven tunic and breeches, he was dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt that, no matter how good they looked on him, had to be terribly stifling.

And he was wearing shoes. She’d hardly ever seen Tamani wearing shoes.

But light or dark, she knew his eyes—eyes that featured prominently in her dreams, as familiar to her as her own, or her parents’. Or David’s.

The moment their eyes locked, the months since she’d last seen Tamani shrank from an eternity to an instant. Last winter, in a moment of anger, she’d told him to go away, and he had. She hadn’t known where, or for how long, or if she’d ever see him again. But she’d chosen David, one hundred percent, and though she hadn’t meant to exile Tamani from her life—he was her friend, after all—she had to admit his absence simplified that choice. And after nearly a year she had almost gotten used to the ache she felt in her chest every time she thought about him. But suddenly he was here, almost close enough to touch.

Laurel looked up at David, but he wasn’t looking at her. He, too, had noticed Tamani.

“Wow,” Chelsea said from behind Laurel’s shoulder, breaking her reverie. “Who’s the hot new guy?” Her boyfriend, Ryan, scoffed. “Well, he is, I’m not blind,” Chelsea added matter-of-factly.

Laurel still couldn’t speak as Tamani’s gaze flitted from her, to David, then back again. A million thoughts spun through her head. Why is he here? Why is he dressed like that? Why didn’t he tell me he was coming? She hardly felt David pry her hands from his shirt, lacing his warm fingers through her own, which were suddenly cold as ice.

“Foreign exchange, I bet,” Ryan said. “Look at Mr. Robison parading them all around.”

“Maybe,” Chelsea said, noncommittally.

Mr. Robison said something to the three students who were following him through the hallway, and Tamani’s head swung so that even his profile was no longer visible. As if released from a spell, Laurel dropped her gaze to the floor.

David squeezed her hand and she looked up at him. “Is that who I think it is?”

Laurel nodded, unable to find her voice; though David and Tamani had only met twice before, both events had been . . . memorable. She kept a firm grip on David’s hand. When David looked back toward Tamani, so did Laurel.

The other boy in the group looked embarrassed and the girl was explaining something to him in a language that was clearly not English. Mr. Robison nodded approvingly.

Ryan crossed his arms over his chest and grinned. “See? Told you. Foreign exchange.”

Tamani was shifting the weight of a black backpack from shoulder to shoulder, looking bored. Looking human. That by itself was almost as jarring as his being here in the first place. And then he was looking at her again, less openly now, his glance veiled beneath dark eyelashes.

Laurel fought to breathe evenly. She didn’t know what to think. Avalon wouldn’t send him here without reason and Laurel couldn’t imagine Tamani abandoning his post.

“You okay?” Chelsea asked, stepping up beside Laurel. “You look kinda freaked.”

Before she could stop herself, Laurel flicked her eyes in Tamani’s direction—a move Chelsea tracked instantly. There was no point in lying—this was way bigger than anything she could ever hide, especially from Chelsea. “It’s Tamani,” she said, hoping she didn’t sound as relieved—or as terrified—as she felt.

She must have succeeded, because Chelsea only stared in disbelief. “The hot one?” she whispered.

Laurel nodded.

“Seriously?” Chelsea squealed, only to be cut off by a sharp gesture from Laurel. Laurel looked immediately over at Tamani to see if she’d been caught. The tick of a smile at one corner of his mouth told her she had.

Then the foreign exchange students were following Mr. Robison down the hallway, away from Laurel. Just before Tamani disappeared around the corner, he looked back at Laurel and winked. Not for the first time, she was supremely grateful she couldn’t blush.

She turned to David. He was staring down at her, his eyes full of questions.

Laurel sighed and held her hands up in front of her. “I had nothing to do with this.”

***

“This is a good thing, right?” David said after they’d managed to detangle themselves from Chelsea and Ryan. They stood together in front of Laurel’s first class. Laurel couldn’t remember the last time the one-minute warning bell had made her feel so anxious. “I mean, you thought you were never going to see him again, and now he’s here.”

“It is good to see him,” Laurel said softly, leaning forward to wrap both arms around David’s waist, “but I’m also scared of what it means. For us. Not us,” Laurel corrected, fighting the unfamiliar awkwardness that seemed to be worming its way between them. “I mean, it has to mean we’re in danger, right?”

David nodded. “I’m trying not to think about that. He’ll tell us eventually, right?”

Laurel looked up with one eyebrow cocked and after a moment they both burst out laughing.

“I guess we can’t count on it, can we?” David took her right hand in his, pressing it to his lips and examining the silver-and-crystal bracelet he had given her almost two years ago, when they first got together. “I’m glad you still wear this.”

“Every day,” Laurel said. Wishing they had more time to talk, she pulled David close for one last kiss before hurrying into her Government class and grabbing the last seat next to the wall full of windows. Small windows, but she would take whatever natural sunlight she could get.

Her mind wandered as Mrs. Harms handed out the syllabus and talked about class requirements; it was easy to tune her out, especially in light of Tamani’s sudden reappearance. Why was he here? If she was in some kind of danger, what could it be? She hadn’t seen a single troll since leaving Barnes at the lighthouse. Could this have something to do with Klea, the mysterious troll-hunter who killed him? No one had seen her lately, either; as far as Laurel could tell, Klea had moved on to other hunting grounds. Maybe this was some other crisis entirely?

Regardless, David was right—Laurel was happy to see Tamani. More than happy, even. She felt somehow comforted by his presence. And he had winked at her! As though the last eight months had never happened. As if he had never walked away. As if she had never come to tell him goodbye. Her thoughts drifted to the brief moments spent in his arms, the soft feel of his lips on hers in those few times when self-control had slipped through her fingers. The memories were so vivid that Laurel found herself lightly touching her lips,

The classroom door swung open suddenly, startling Laurel from her thoughts. Mr. Robison entered, Tamani following close behind.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Mr. Robison said. “Boys and girls?” Laurel hated how adults could combine two perfectly serviceable words into such a condescending phrase. “You might have heard that we have some foreign exchange students from Japan this year. Tam,” Laurel blanched at the counselor’s use of her pet name for Tamani, “isn’t technically in the foreign exchange program, but he just moved here from Scotland. I hope you will treat him with the same courtesy you have always shown our other exchange guests. Tam? Why don’t you tell us a little about yourself.”

Mr. Robison clapped one hand against Tamani’s shoulder. Tamani’s eyes darted briefly to the school counselor and Laurel could only imagine how Tamani would have preferred to respond. But irritation showed on his face for less than a second, and Laurel doubted anyone else noticed. He grinned lopsidedly and shrugged. “I’m Tam Collins.”

Half the girls in the class sighed softly at Tamani’s lilting brogue.

“I’m from Scotland. A little outside of Perth—not the Australia one—and . . .” he paused, as if searching for anything else about himself that the students might find interesting.

Laurel could think of a few things.

“And I live with my uncle. Have since I was a kid.” He turned and smiled at the teacher. “And I know nothing about Government,” he said, laughter in his voice. “Not this one, anyway.”

The entire classroom was won over. The guys were nodding their heads a little, the girls were twittering, and even Mrs. Harms was smiling. And he wasn’t even Enticing them. Laurel almost groaned aloud at the trouble that could lead to.

“Well, pick a seat then,” Mrs. Harms said, handing Tamani a textbook. “We’ve only just gotten started.”

There were three empty seats in the classroom and almost everyone near them launched into a silent campaign for Tamani’s favor. Nadia, one of the prettier girls in the class, was the boldest. She uncrossed and re-crossed her legs, tossed her wavy brown hair over her shoulder, and leaned forward to not-so-subtly pat the backrest of the seat in front of her. Tamani grinned, almost apologetically, and continued past her to claim a seat in front of a girl who had scarcely looked up from her book since he’d walked into the classroom.

The seat beside Laurel.

As Mrs. Harms droned on about daily reading assignments, Laurel sat back and stared at Tamani. She didn’t bother to hide it; just about every other girl in the classroom was doing the exact same thing. It was maddening to dumbly sit just two feet away while a million questions whizzed through her mind. Some were rational questions. Many were not.

Laurel’s head was spinning by the time the bell rang. This was her chance. She wanted to do so many things: yell at him, slap him, kiss him, grab his shoulders and shake him. But more than anything else, she wanted to wrap her arms around him. To hold herself to his chest and confess how much she’d missed him. She could do that with a friend, couldn’t she?

But then, wasn’t that why she’d gotten angry enough to send him away in the first place? For Tamani, it was never just a friendly hug. He always wanted more. And as flattering as his persistence—and passion—could be, the way he treated David as an enemy to be crushed was less endearing. It had broken her heart to send Tamani away and Laurel wasn’t sure she could go through that again.

She stood slowly looked at him, her mouth dry. As soon as his backpack was slung over one strong shoulder, he turned and met her eyes. Laurel opened her mouth to say something when he grinned and reached out his hand.

“Hey there,” he said, almost too brightly. “Looks like we’ll be desk-mates. Wanted to introduce myself—I’m Tam.”

Their clasped hands were moving up and down, but it was all Tamani’s doing; Laurel’s arm had gone limp. She stood silently for several seconds until Tamani’s meaningful look intensified and became almost a glare. “Oh!” she said belatedly, “I’m Laurel. Laurel Sewell. Pleasure.” Pleasure? Since when did she say pleasure? And why was he shaking her hand like a stodgy salesperson?

Tamani pulled a class schedule from his back pocket. “I have English next, with Mrs. Cain. Would you mind showing me where the classroom is?”

Was the feeling that rushed over her relief that they didn’t share their second hour class, or disappointment? “Sure,” she said cheerily. “It’s just down the hall.” Laurel gathered her things slowly, stalling while the classroom emptied. Then she leaned close to Tamani. “What are you doing here?”

“Are you glad to see me?”

She nodded, letting herself smile.

He grinned back, unconcealed relief brightening his expression. It made Laurel feel on more even ground to know he had been unsure, too.

“Why—”

Tamani shook his head slightly and gestured toward the hall. When she was almost at the door Tamani took hold of her elbow and stopped her. “Meet me in the woods behind your house after school?” he asked softly. “I’ll explain everything.” He paused and, with an unnatural quickness, lifted one hand to stroke her cheek. The feeling scarcely had time to register before his hands were back in his pockets and he was strolling out the door.

“Tama—Tam?” she called, trotting to catch up with him. “I’ll show you where to go.”

He grinned and laughed. “Come now,” he said almost too quietly for her to hear. “How unprepared do you think I am? I know this school better than you do.” And with a wink, he was gone.

***

“Homigosh!” Chelsea squealed, assaulting Laurel from behind and practically yanking her fingers from David’s grasp. She put her face right in front of Laurel’s. “Faerie boy is totally in my English class! Hurry before Ryan gets here—you have to spill!”

“Ssh!” Laurel said, glancing around her. But no one was listening.

“He’s really hot,” she said. “The girls were all watching him. Oh, and the Japanese guy is in my Calculus class even though he’s only fifteen. When do you think American schools will get the memo that there’s a global economy out there?” she demanded. Then she paused and her eyes widened. “Man, I hope he doesn’t blow the curve.”

David rolled his eyes, but it was with a grin. “That’s what everyone else is thinking about you,” he said.

“Listen,” Laurel said, pulling Chelsea closer, “I don’t know anything yet; I still need to talk with him, okay?”

“You’ll tell me though, right?” Chelsea asked.

“Don’t I always?” Laurel teased, smiling.

“Tonight?”

“We’ll see,” Laurel said, turning her around by her shoulders and pushing her in Ryan’s direction. “Go!” Chelsea turned and stuck her tongue out at Laurel before ducking under her boyfriend’s arm.

Laurel shook her head and turned to David. “One class together is not enough,” she said in a mock-stern voice. “Whose idea was this, anyway?”

“Not mine, that’s for sure,” David said. They went into the classroom and claimed a couple of desks near the back.

After everything else that had happened that day, Laurel shouldn’t have been surprised to see Tamani walk into her and David’s Speech class. When he entered David tensed, but he relaxed when Laurel’s erstwhile guardian chose a desk at the front of the room, several rows away.

It was going to be a long semester.

Hope you enjoyed!!! Can't WAIT!!!!!!

Ciao!

Winners!!!

2011-02-23T21:15:00.002-07:00

I love announcing winners. Heck, I like bringing all sorts of good news!! So without delay, the three grand prize winners are:

Kayma of http://kaymasabookworm.blogspot.com/

Britt/ Dee dee dee Twitter name @iheartclick5

and Hayley Brooks, an Ambassador of Awesome from Awesomeness Inc.

Not you? Have no fear! I have almost-grand-prize winners too! These winners will get Valentine's Day treats and swag!

Emily Jane Jimenez (I hope she can find herself from this--that's all the info I have)

Melissa, Twitter name @MelBelle1127

KM of http://one-page-reviews.blogspot.com/

Donna Simmonds, Twitter name @DonnaS1

and Leticia Rochelle of http://rockyiswriting.blogspot.com/

If you are a winner PLEASE email me at Aprilynne Pike at Gee Mail dot com with the following info:

Your first and last name
Your address

If you are a grand prize winner, please additionally tell me the name you would like me to write when I sign your book.

Thank you everyone who entered! It was SO incredible awesome to see so many pictures of the cover around the interwebs!!

And if you didn't win an ARC, remember that Late Bloomer Online is still running their contest!!!!!

Thank you again everyone!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

Ciao!

Spread the Cover Love ARC Giveaway!

2011-02-14T10:27:00.004-07:00

I look forward to this day every year! And not just because of the traditional Valentine's Day fare. It's ARC giveaway day!

This year, my favorite book of the whole series so far is coming out and I want everyone to read it so badly that I'm giving away THREE ARCs instead of just one.

So if you want to enter the giveaway, what I would like you guys to do is to help me spread the cover love!

If you have a blog, you can enter by posting the ILLUSIONS countdown widget. If you already had the Widget posted, no worries! You get an entry for that too! If you post the widget or you already have, give me a link to your blog in the comments to be counted.

But wait, there's more!

Anyone with Blogspot, Twitter, Facebook, or LiveJournal can enter by posting the ILLUSIONS cover for your avatar/profile picture.

If you change your Blogspot or LiveJournal avatar, leave a comment on this entry (which appears in both places).

If you change your Twitter avatar, tweet "I can't wait to read #Illusions by @AprilynnePike!" or something like that so I'll see it on my feed.

If you change your Facebook avatar, leave a comment on my Facebook fan page.

And feel free to do them all! You get an extra entry for every venue you use to spread the cover love! (So a widget on your blog, your Twitter avatar, and you Facebook profile picture=three entries!) Just make sure you leave the ILLUSIONS avatar up at least until I announce the winners so I don't accidentally miss your entry! (And, of course, feel free to leave it longer.;))

The rules: I'm afraid this contest is only open to the US and Canada because I always send Valentine's treats and I worry about sending perishables overseas. Apologies!! I will have an international contest when I get my UK copies, I promise! The contest begins as soon as I post this and lasts for one week, closing Tuesday, Feb. 22, at midnight, MST. Void where prohibited, winners will be chosen at random.

For your convenience, here is everything you need to spread the cover love!

A JPEG of the cover sized to (hopefully) fit all your avatar needs:

The code for posting the widget is right here.

Just copy and paste the code, should be super easy.

In addition to the ARCs there will be lots of runners up who will get Valentine's Day goodies and Wings series swag!

So thanks for helping me spread the ILLUSIONS cover around and good luck to everyone!!!

Ciao!

NOM, NOM, NOM, Cookies!!!

2011-02-10T12:47:00.004-07:00

Okay, okay, I admit. My new baby is cutting into my blog time a little more than I expected. But hey! Today she's helping me blog!!!!

Sorta. Well, she's keeping me company anyway!:D

She is so fun and she is starting to make the cutest little cooing noises! *lesigh* I love her!

Anyway, couple of things.

The Wings series has officially been voted "The Next Twilight!" in a showdown with Beautiful Creatures that spurred from a close vote between six original contenders. Thanks guys!!! In case you didn't already know, you all rock to the extreme!!!

I've had people asking me where I am touring to this year and I don't know everywhere yet (I will soon!) But what I do know is that I will be participating in Harper's summer group tour that I have been fortunate enough to be included in for the last two years. This year they have renamed it The Dark Days, a title that allows them to tack on "of Summer," or "Of Winter!!!!" Which means, yes!! They are adding a whole new leg to the tour!!! They have a fabulous website set up here with tons of cool stuff. And when the Dark Days of Winter tour is over it will switch over to the Dark Days of Summer and that's where I'll be! The Summer schedule isn't up, but I will let you know that I will be coming to Chicago, Portland, Austin, and Ann Arbor, but even more exciting for me is that the tour will be coming HERE to Phoenix!! I am so excited not only that I get to do a fun event for my Phoenix peeps, but that they will all get to see all these cool authors as well!!! (Very, VERY cool line up to Dark Days!!!) So check out the website now, and the summer stuff will be coming soon!

Okay, last thing before we get on to cookie-ing, I wanted to give you a heads up that I will be doing my annual ARC giveaway starting next week on Valentines Day. But instead of the one ARC that I usually give away, I am doing three. On top of that, my two main fan sites will also be getting an ARC to giveaway, so that is FIVE ARCs up for grabs in the next few weeks! So keep tuned!!

Okay, so this cookie is a conversation between Tamani and Chelsea. One of the very funnest thing about bringing Tamani into Laurel's world in this book is the way he interacts with her friends. Chelsea especially. So here you go! Chelsea and Tam!:D

“Do we get to play twenty questions now?” Chelsea asked.

All eyes turned to her.

“Not you,” Chelsea said, then pointed at Tamani. “Him.”

Tamani stared at her for a long, silent moment. “I’m afraid I don’t know that game.”

“Oh it’s easy,” Chelsea said, “You play it with Laurel all the time, but she never asks you fun questions. Although she did tell me about a bunch of Shakespearean plays being faerie legends. I’ve been waiting for ages to ask you the really good stuff!”

“Um, okay,” Tamani said, not sure what Chelsea considered ‘good stuff.’

“So is it only Shakespeare, or are there more stories that exist in both cultures?”

“Oh!” Tamani said with a laugh. He sank into an armchair close to Chelsea. “There are lots. In Avalon, we love stories. The Summer fae dedicate their lives to telling stories, through dance or music or painting. But humans are endlessly inventive, always coming up with new ways to make the story interesting by telling it wrong. Nonetheless, a lot of your stories have faerie roots.”

Chelsea was undeterred. “Cinderella.”

“No,” said Tamani. “I mean, faeries don’t even wear shoes most of the time. And finding someone based solely on shoe size? That doesn’t make sense for humans or faeries.”

“What about the faerie godmother?” Chelsea asked.

“Unnecessary. We can make pumpkins grow that big without magic. And even a Winter faerie couldn’t turn a mouse into a horse.”

“Beauty and the Beast.”

“Story of a faerie who fell in love with a troll. Scares the wits out of most seedlings. The troll never turns out to be a handsome prince, though.”

“Rapunzel.”

“Growth tonic gone terribly wrong.”

Chelsea squealed. “Thumbelina.”

“That’s just basic anatomy misinterpreted. We are born from flowers, but we’re never that small. Mischievous Sparklers were known to have encouraged tiny-faerie misconceptions, though.”

“Tell me one that would surprise me.”

Tamani thought for a moment. “Do you know the Pied Piper of Hameln?”

Chelsea looked blank for a minute. “You mean Hamelin?”

“That sounds right. That one’s not a story, it’s true,” Tamani said, very seriously. “And it has scarcely been distorted at all. The Piper was a very powerful Spring faerie. Most of us can only Entice one or two animals at a time, but the Piper could Entice a whole city. He was eventually executed for that stunt.”

“What did he do with the children?” Chelsea asked.

“It’s kind of a long story. Ultimately, though, he marched them off a cliff. Killed them all.”

Chelsea and Laurel were both silent, staring at Tamani in horror.

“Perhaps not our happiest story,” Tamani said awkwardly.

LOL! I have to admit, the best part of this scene is the part that comes next!!! (But it's kinda spoilery . . . I'm a terrible tease!!!:D)

Ciao!

Whoa . . .

2011-01-22T15:37:00.002-07:00

You see that little count-down widget over there on my sidebar? Over, down, down, down, yes! Right there! It's cute, isn't it? Did you know you can put it on your own blog by just clicking the little Share button and following directions?

*ahem* Um, that wasn't the point.

Point is, look at the count down numbers.

ONE HUNDRED DAYS!!!! Holy cow!!!! I swear Spells came out like two months ago. I do NOT know where 2010 went. For me, it seemed like it lasted a couple months at best. But somehow, it IS 2011, and not only that, but it is almost the end of January. And thus, Illusions comes out in 100 days!

That is awesome!

To celebrate, I'm serving cookies! Well, just one cookie.

So after promising this for ages, here is a taste of Illusions!

“It’s this way,” she said to Tamani.

He paused for a second, then walked over to Laurel’s dad and stuck out his hand, which Laurel noted was temporarily free of pollen, probably courtesy of Tamani’s pocket-lining. “Great to meet you, Mr. Sewell,” he said.

“Absolutely, Tam.” Laurel cringed. It sounded twice as bizarre coming out of her dad’s mouth. “We’ll have to talk more one of these days.”

“Sure,” Tamani said, reaching his other hand up to clasp her dad’s shoulder. “But for now, wow, it’s Saturday—your store must be really busy.”

“Oh, it usually gets busy at about twelve,” he said, pointing to the clock that read just after eleven.

“Sure, but school just started a few weeks ago and people always want books for school, right? I bet they’re really busy down there and could use your help. You should go to the store. Help out. We’ll be fine here.”

It took Laurel about three seconds to realize what was happening.

“You know, you’re right,” her dad said, his voice sounding just a little far away, “I should go help them.”

“Well, it was good to see you for a little while at least. I’m sure I’ll see you again.”

“Yep, that would be great!” Laurel’s dad said, looking a little more like himself. “Well, you two get some good work done, I think I’m going to go down and help Maddie out at the store. It’s a Saturday; I bet it’s busy.” He grabbed his car keys and was out the door.

“Okay,” Laurel said, turning to Tamani, “not cool.”

“What?” Tamani asked, looking genuinely confused. “I got him out of the way.”

“Him? That him is my dad!”

“Enticement doesn’t hurt him at all,” Tamani protested. “Besides, I’ve been living on my own for years—I don’t do well with hovering parents.”

“My house, my rules,” Laurel said sternly. “Don’t do it again.”

*squirms in seat* Oh, man I can't wait to give you the whole context of this scene! Or, yanno, the whole book!

But, hey, in 100 days!!!!!!:D

Ciao!

Winner and Boxes

2011-01-09T21:01:00.004-07:00

At long last I have five spare minutes and I am here to announce the winner of the Wondrous Strange series!!!

Congrats to A Rick who said:

"I love fairies because they can be sweet or they could be evil. You never know! That is why I love reading about them, to see what angle the author will take!"

Please email me your full name and address to aprilynne pike at "gee" mail dot com and I will get those right in the mail for you!

Okay, this doesn't have anything to do with writing. But I think it's a fun story. Earlier this summer I was reading something about collections and I was talking to my husband and I said, "I don't collect things. Well, I kind of collect dolls, but I haven't added to that collection in years and really, it just fell into my lap to begin with."

And he said, "What are you talking about? You collect boxes."

And my first thought was Boxes? That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Who collects boxes? And I said, "I do NOT collect boxes."

"Sure you do."

"I do not. Well, I have my Tiffany box, but who wouldn't keep their Tiffany box? And I have my perfume boxes, but they're pretty. And I guess I have that turquoise shoebox I've held onto, and that little blue box . . . Oh my gosh, I collect boxes."

Turns out, I collect boxes. I have tons! And, in support of my newfound hobby, my husband got me two new boxes for Christmas this year. Boxes that encompass BOTH of my collections.:D We have gotten rather obsessed . . . er . . . interested in these amazing porcelain dolls. They are ART. Like, they put them in museums. (*disclaimer* These are amazing art, but . . .um . . . they are anatomically correct and most of them have no clothes on. It showcases their full body porcelain hinges. They are very cool, but you have been warned. Don't follow the link if naked porcelain dolls weird you out.) Anyway, it's called Enchanted Doll and they are gorgeous and I want one some day!! Yanno, some day when I have $16K just laying around (the price her last doll went for on eBay). *sigh* So Kenny did the next best thing. He got me two doll-sized tin boxes with Enchanted Doll figures painted on them! So I have dolls, boxes, and two doll boxes!!! They are my new pride and joy.

With the addition of my new boxes, I figured I would actually decorate the top of my bookshelves (now that I've had them for seven months . . . FAIL.) And I thought I would share!

First, my new boxes (and the blue box in the middle was my very first box, about five years ago. You'd have thought I would get the hint that it was special to me when I lugged it through two moves . . . I'm a little slow.) Anyway, the new ones are the yellow and blue ones on the sides.

And the whole shelves, dolls and boxes.:D

I'm very excited.:D

Okay, a couple of things for the future: I traditionally give away an ARC of my new book for Valentine's Day and I will be doing that again, so stay tuned. Also, I have been working on some short pieces for Harper that take place either between Spells and Illusions or during the first part of Illusions but from another person's point of view. (In fact, one of them is first person point of view from a character you haven't met yet.) I am having a blast with that and should know more about when and where they will be posted soon. And as soon as I know, I will let you know. I will also be doing a few excerpts from Illusions starting next week so you will have something to tide you over.

Also, I counted months last week and Illusions comes out in LESS THAN FOUR MONTHS!!!! WHOO-HOOO!!!!!!

Ahem. Sorry about that.

:D

So yeah, lots to look forward to and hopefully more frequent blogging is one of those things.:D

Ciao!

Tempestuous!

2010-12-22T10:25:00.006-07:00

I haven't recommended a book for a while, but I'm really excited about yesterday's release of Lesley Livingston's final book in her Wondrous Strange series, Tempestuous. Seriously, check out this gorgeous cover!

But not only is this an awesome series (about faeries, natch ;)) but the author is also a wonderful person. And funny. SO funny. Lesley is a Canadian actress turned author and one of my favorite things she acted in is this commercial.:D

Heehee! I still laugh every time I see it. Anyway, Lesley is the lovely blonde girl. Her series begins with Wondrous Strange and Darklight (below) and concludes with Tempestuous which just came out yesterday.

Wondrous Strange is, essentially a fantasy about faeries and Shakespeare involving two lead characters, Kelley and Sonny. For a taste of Kelley's writing style, I want to give you a little excerpt from pages ten and eleven of Darklight (you can find the full first sixty some-odd pages on Harper's site, here). It's an excerpt she read when we toured together in Canada last year, and even though I heard it multiple times, it's still one of my favorite parts of the whole series!

Kelley reached the Ladies Pavillion on the shores of Central Park Lake and mounted the steps. Her four-leaf clover firmly attached around her neck, she leaned on the railing, gazing out over the still water.

"This bud of love by summer's ripening breath . . ."

She murmured her lines and pictured Sonny climbing a trellis to her balcony.

"May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.
Good night, good night! As sweet repose as rest
Come to thy heart as that within my breast!"

"Oh wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?" asked a voice in the darkness.

Kelley glanced up, startled. "Uh . . ." she stammered, flustered at being taken off guard.

The moonlight pouring down onto the pavilion steps illuminated her like a spotlight.

"Sonny?" Kelley peered hopefully into the darkness of the surrounding woods, trying to make out where the voice had come from. No . . . not Sonny. Sonny wouldn't joke with her like that. It had to have been one of her fellow actors from the theater screwing around. "Alec?" There was still no answer. To cover her momentary unease, Kelley laughed a little. "Fine, I'll play your silly game," she said, and answered with her next Juliet line. "What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?"

"Well," the voice answered, "I'll take that pretty necklace, for starters."

Kelley put a hand to her throat as a stranger stepped out of the shadows and into the light. It wasn't Alec Oakland.

"And I'll take any other jewelry you got. I'll take your wallet too, just for the hell of it. And your watch, if it ain't a knockoff." The man radiated casual menace as he ambled toward her. Her was lean and tattooed and wore a dirty denim jacket and motorcycle boots.

Great, Kelley thought, a knot of fear tightening in her stomach. A mugger with a taste for Shakespeare. This could only happen in Central Park.

*Any typos or formatting issues are mine; please do read the actual, typeset text here!*

Anyway, it's a fun series with a great world building and a healthy dose of theatre! (Which makes me really happy.:D) So Tempestuous came out yesterday so if you are looking for a new faerie series, you may want to try this one.

And for a final treat, here is Lesley's awesome book trailer!

**ETA*** D'oh! I'm a moron and forgot to mention that I am giving away a copy of the entire series. Please leave a comment letting me know why faeries (of any kind) are awesome to enter. (See? Super easy.:D)

Ciao!

The Last Three Weeks

2010-12-20T09:39:00.004-07:00

Wow! I have had such a crazy last three weeks!

What I have done:

*Had a baby (:D)
*Put in about 50 hours finishing up the first round of revisions on Life After Theft and turned it in! (Not quite by my self-imposed deadline, but before my editor-imposed deadline, phew!)
*kissed the baby about a trillion times
*Made about 15 pounds of hand-dipped chocolates (Penuche in milk, truffles in milk, Strawberry-lime in white, orange creme in white) plus Velveeta fudge.
*Just sat and looked at my baby for about an hour a day. . . maybe more.
*Finished 100% of my Christmas shopping!
*Took about a hundred pictures of the baby.
*Selected and contacted ten winners from the Illusions cover contest and sent out prize packs. That included winners from Finland, Sweden, Australia, and Canada! (I get excited about foreign readers.:D)
*Tweeted about 50 of the said one hundred pictures.
*Finished practicing and then directed the choir Christmas performance at church yesterday.
*Spent hours trying to make the baby smile (which she does!)

*Did I mention kissing the baby?

What I did NOT do in the last three weeks:

*Blog

Ahem.

Okay, couple of items of business.

UK cover for book three!!!!

Wait, what? That doesn't look quite right, you say? I have known this for a while and keep forgetting to tell you guys! In the UK book three will be called Wild, which I absolutely love! . . . for reasons I can't tell you yet . . .:D But I'm really excited about the new title and this beautiful cover!

*Bonus content: One of the things we are doing as a lead up to Illusions is that I am writing some bonus content that will be posted in various places over the next few months. They will be short pieces that take place either between Spells and Illusions, or during Illusions but from a different person's point of view. I'll be writing them over the next month and they will be posted the first couple of months of 2011. I will let everyone know where they can find them as soon as they are up.

*I will also be posting some bits from Illusions as well as some fun cover copy as we lead up to the Illusions release. . . . Starting today! Special holiday gift, the following is the short scene Harper is putting on the back of the book jacket. However, two disclaimers:

1.) David fans, this scene is taken completely out of context.
2.) Tamani fans, this scene is taken completely out of context.

You have both been warned.:D

And with the standard ***SPOILER ALERT***, here you go:

"When you kissed me, I got all these . . . ideas. For potions I've never heard of." Laurel thought of the way the word poison had invaded her mind. "I think maybe they're forbidden."

"Why?" Tamani asked.

"It told me how to make potions from you." Laurel lost herself in thoughts of potions, powders, and poisons she somehow knew she was never supposed to learn.

***END OF SPOILERS***

Happy Holidays!

Ciao!

My Excuse:)

2010-11-27T15:18:00.003-07:00

Okay, I admit, things have been a little . . . sporadic around here the last few months. But I have a good reason! (I mean besides the normal writerly excuse of I'm writing/editing my next book.";))

I've kept this very much to myself this time around, but now that she's here, I'm telling everyone!

Meet Gwendolyn, born this morning, at home.

She arrived thirteen days past her due date (silly kid--didn't she get that calendar I swallowed??) but she's here at last, to everyone's relief--especially mine!

And no, this does not mean more babies will suddenly start popping up in my books.:D

Ciao!

Starting a Business

2010-11-19T08:03:00.004-07:00

(I've been thinking about this subject for ages, so this is going to be really long--you've been warned.)

Yesterday my husband and I met with an accountant to begin the process of incorporating. (Yes, yes, I know there are a lot of people saying, "I told you so," right now. I have bucked against this for years!) So in another month or so, I am going to be a company.

Officially.

Technically I have been a sole proprietor of my own company since I got my first contract with Harper three years ago. (My how time flies!) Even though I'm taking some official licensing steps now, when you become an author, you become a business. When I think about it that way, I smile and think how apt that is. But I wonder how many aspiring authors think about it in those terms. Do you consider writing as working on starting up a new business?

I don't know a lot about business, but I do know some basic rules of thumb and they are that starting a new business generally requires a hefty investment, and you can expect to run in the red for about five years. You have to be willing to make that kind of commitment if you really want your small business to work. I have seen a few small businesses start up and fail lately, and one in particular (I'm not going to mention which one, so don't ask) started up on a shoestring with only a vague business plan, had no back-up funds to get through the first non-profitable period, and closed just as the holiday shopping season was beginning. It didn't even get a fair shot!

And whose fault was that? The person who opened the store. They did not find a way to invest heavily enough to give the store a real shot. (Really, a store needs the holiday shopping season to survive!!! Ask any boutique store owner!) In the end, this store owner was so disappointed because this was her dream! She was really emotionally attached to the idea of running this store!

But she didn't actually commit to it.

I guarantee this store owner would vehemently disagree with me. But the fact of the matter is, she would be wrong. She did NOT commit. She only thinks she did.

Committing to it would have meant putting her own money where her mouth was (in the form of getting a small business loan, committing to a full one year lease and paying upfront, maybe taking a business class or two at her local community college to prepare herself, etc.) and basically putting her financial life on the line. That is what it takes and any successful small business owner will tell you the same thing.

So why do we as aspiring authors (and I say we because I did it too!) think that starting our writing business should be so much easier than that?

Here is what I *koffkoff* did *koffkoff* and see all the time. An author writes a book. Spends a month polishing it. Spends a week writing a query. Sends it off. Lather, rinse, repeat for 100 agents. New book. Write, revise for a month, query, send off. Two, three, four years down the road, they have five or six books, and still no agent or publisher. They clearly love writing, they clearly have committed years of their lives to this endeavor, why are things not working?

Because they're not committed.

No seriously.

The author I've outlined up there is almost certainly not committed to being an author. They are committed to writing books, but in the end are waiting for the numbers game to see them through.

And maybe it will. Some people write and write and then find that sparkly idea that catches the right agent/editor's eye, and published they become! But not usually.

I have heard many a published author say that writers write, authors revise. So here is my challenge to you. Commit. Really commit. Starting with your time.

"But I write ten hours a week!" you may protest. "I write after kids are asleep/early in the morning before work/on my only free night all week!" (The length some aspiring authors go to to get those few precious hours a week is truly inspiring! Please do not think I am knocking this!) But I'm not talking about writing time.

Take your very favorite novel that you have written. The one that made rejections hurt the worst because it's the best thing you've ever written. Yes, that one. Now, commit to editing it for no less than six months. Don't write anything new during this time. Edit that book for six months.

The fast writers out there are looking at me like I'm crazy. Isn't writing fast a good thing? Well, let's see, I write my first drafts in about six to eight weeks. Yes, yes, I do think it's a good thing. That's not the point. I honestly believe that 90% of all authors cannot get published until they have had the experience of editing a book for at least six months. Why? Because you learn how to kill yourself over a book. You learn how to look for criticism because you've run out of things to change. You need someone to help you find the flaws because you can't see them anymore. You learn to stop being in love with your own words. You learn to delete. You really learn what it's like to sweat blood and tears over a book. You cannot learn this by editing for one month. A lot of you think you can.

A lot of you are wrong.

I was one them.

A couple of rules. Your six months starts AFTER you would normally consider your book ready to query. You MUST do more than tweak sentences. Gut. Your. Book. You must get feedback from at least one reader who was very critical. You will not see all the flaws in your own book--you will need help. And you must stop querying this book while you are doing it. You will unconsciously hold yourself back from really tearing your book apart if you are still trying to be ready to send it out. That doesn't mean you can't query other books. If you feel you must. But pull this one, and rip it to pieces. For six. Months.

Then, take your new, shiny manuscript (that you will now feel more unsure about than any other book you've ever queried) and send it out to your top 10-30 agents.

Then put it away. For good. And write a new book.

Wait!!! But you just had me do SIX MONTHS of work on this novel!!! You want me to shelve it now???

Well, after that much work, chances are much higher that you won't have to shelve it. That one of those agents is going to pick it up. But if not, yes. Shelve it. Because now you know how to really make a novel good, and you can do it again, but better. Not only that, you've seen your work go from what you thought was your best, to what you really can do. And you won't allow yourself to do anything less from here on out. It may not take you as long to edit a book ever again. But by spending that time setting your bar really high, you've gone somewhere there is no returning from. THAT is the important part of this challenge. Not getting published with that particular book, but resetting your bar.

Commit six months. Seriously. In the scheme of things, it's not that long.

I did it. On a book you're never going to see. It was the book that got me an agent, but it wasn't the book that got me a publisher. But I would not trade those six months of tears and frustration and impatience and desperation for anything. They made me an author, even though that wasn't the book that made me an author.

Revising is hard. And it takes time to learn. And most authors give up on their books way before they should, because they aren't willing to really dig in and rip it to pieces. Six months. Try it. I guarantee you won't regret it. You know how many authors express how sick and tired they are of their books by the time they come out? It's not because they spent a month editing it.

Ciao!

I'm Cheating

2010-11-15T11:57:00.002-07:00

Instead of doing an blog entry full of insightful tips I am going to . . . link you to an interview I did recently that is full of insightful tips . . . hopefully.:D

This is an interview I did for J.S. Lewis, who is super awesome and possibly the most pessimistic author I've ever met (and I don't mean that in the pejorative sense, really!) He is a local author here in Phoenix with me and writes great Middle Grade fantasy AND is a comic book artist! (Check out his books here and his comics here.)

I am still sorting through entries for the cover contest and I will have those VERY soon, I promise!!!

Ciao!

Cover . . . .S!!!!:D

2010-11-05T20:33:00.006-06:00

I hope that everyone who wanted to hunt for puzzle pieces has had a chance to! But, as promised, because the point was not for this to be difficult for the non-tech-savvy people (like me!!) I am posting the full image here!

So here you go!!!

Yay!!! Man this cover makes me so happy!!!!!

But wait a second, you may be saying. This cover doesn't look quite like it belongs with my other books.

Well, you're right. As the Harper design team was putting this cover together they kept saying that it just worked out so much better to have the title off-set and the image zoomed in more. But . . . well, it doesn't quite match the others that way. Then someone (someone brilliant and amazing) suggested that maybe the whole series could benefit from a bit of a make-over. A more grown-up look, perhaps. And so my special surprise is that the whole series is getting a very slightly tweaked look that I think is totally gorgeous. Not so altered that those who already have the series will feel like their first two look funny, but a little spiffing up!:D

So here is the newly redesigned Wings series!! (Click for bigger;))

(Note that these aren't quite the final designs--the Illusions cover in this group has extra text and repeats the blurb from Spells, the covers for Wings and Spells will also change a bit before printing)

But anyway, the new covers will come out on the Spells paperback on May 3, 2011 (same day Illusions comes out!) and whenever the paperback of Wings goes back to print you will see the new covers on there too.

***SPOILER ALERT***

I also wanted to share the jacket copy (the stuff that goes on the inside flap) but be aware that it is rather spoilery, especially if you haven't read the second book.

You have been warned!!!:D

"I don't do patrols, I don't go hunting, I just stick close to you. You live your life, I'll keep you safe," Tamani said, sweeping a lock of hair from her face. "Or die trying."

Laurel hasn't seen Tamani since she begged him to let her go last year. Though her heart still aches, Laurel is confident that David was the right choice.

But just as life returns to normal, Laurel realizes that a hidden enemy lies in wait. Once again, Laurel must turn to Tamani to protect and guide her, for the danger that now threatens Avalon is one that no faerie thought would ever be possible. And for the first time, Laurel cannot be sure that her side will prevail.

***END OF SPOILERS***

Thank you guys so much for doing this puzzle piece hunt with me! I hope you had as much fun as I did and once Jen and Espe have all the entries we'll be announcing winners!

Oh, and what you won!:D (It's been a busy week.;) But it'll be awesome!)

Ciao!

Puzzled

2010-11-05T07:47:00.005-06:00

I will post more later... but I wanted to give puzzle hunters time to assemble the cover if they feel so inclined!

For those of you having trouble with the resized pieces, check here. If you are feeling really adventurous, my husband says GIMP is a great free alternative to Photoshop, but the learning curve is a little steep so don't worry about it too much! :)

Those just arriving... the rest of the cover is scattered across my fan site Late Bloomer and affiliated sites Mundie Moms, Eve's Fan Garden, and Page Turners!

Illusions!!!

2010-11-01T18:28:00.003-06:00

***ETA! Don't worry too much about putting the puzzle pieces together. You'll only need to mail in all five files to be eligible for the prizes and I will put up the full image here tomorrow!***

Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up, it's COVER TIME!!!:D

I am SO SO excited to start the cover reveal for ILLUSIONS!!! It is really warring for my favorite cover. It's so gorgeous and I have been DYING to share! However, just to make things fun, we are doing a little puzzle piece hunt.

All of the rules and clues are at L8BloomerOnline. The hunt starts today and ends on Friday right here!

Oh, and I have an extra special surprise that I will be revealing at the same time!:D

Happy hunting!!

Ciao!

Learning to Fail, Preparing to Succeed

2010-10-31T08:59:00.003-06:00

First off, I have a new second place winner! However, since my other three winners replied promptly, technically they all have moved up and I have a new fifth place winner.:D

And new fifth place is Meghan Kirkland!

Same as last time, please reply to aprilynne pike at gee mail dot com. I need to hear from you by Saturday please!!

Other winners, I will get your prize packs mailed out this week!

Okay, the actual writing related post I promised you.:D I was a guest speaker at an event and my children's school earlier this week along with several other women who had successful careers in areas many people strive for. (A doctor, a lawyer, an artist.) The school has an elite gifted program that is rather renowned throughout the state and I am always hearing about the program's success, so I was a little surprised when the coordinator asked me to speak on the challenges that gifted young women face in going out and pursuing careers (all of the speakers were former gifted students, not necessarily at that school, though two were) and how to overcome them.

It was fascinating hearing from all of them and the work required to reach where they are now. I spoke first and the main theme that I spoke on was learning to fail. (And although my talk was specifically aimed at gifted students, I think it really applies to my readers here too, because both readers and writers tend to be on the gifted end, even if they are not specifically diagnosed as such.) As students, most gifted (or just plain bookish :D) kids find that school comes easy. They get high grades without trying, concepts root in their brains easily, etc. One of the main challenges that gifted students face is that when life and school do become challenging, they don't know how to handle that and have a tendency to shy away from these challenging fields. And in any of the four areas, all of the women could attest that at some point their goals became very, very difficult to attain.

For writers, it's rejection. One person asked me what the hardest part of being an author was, and though the answer to this changes frequently, that night I said, "Rejection." And that's because when you are an author, even when you're not getting agent and publisher rejections anymore (or at least not as many :D), there is always someone waiting to tell you what's wrong with your book. In the beginning it's your editor via ed letters. And even though ed letters are very constructive and meant to help you improve your book, the fact is that they are a big long letter outlining what's wrong with your book. And it's always hard to swallow. Especially that first read-through.

Then reviews roll in, and they can be harsh too. Even critically acclaimed books of awesomeness get burned by reviewers. Then the book is released and the readers are unleashed upon you. And trust me, they are more than happy to point out all the mistakes in your book.

And guess what happens with the next book? It starts all over! Every book is the same way. The rejection and criticism never stops. Learning how to deal with that is hard and has put a stop to more than one author's career.

Listening to the doctor and Lawyer speak was enough to make me feel like a major slacker.:D The doctor had attended 13 years of school (including her residency) without a single break. And because the lawyer had gotten a Masters degree before starting law school, she had gone to nine years of school with no breaks. Makes my 180 rejections over the course of two years seem really piddly.:D I was interested to hear, however, that the artist had a degree in scenic design (she paints and designs sets.) This was interesting to me because she and I both fell into the artist category and both of us had a Bachelor's degree in our field.

I gotta say, I don't think that's a coincidence.

Between my husband and I, we have several friends who are aspiring authors. For some of them, they have built their entire lives around eventually being big bestselling authors. (Please don't do this. Hope, dream big, but don't actually set your life up so it depends on being a self-sustained author.) But strangely, the people who are most determined to be big authors both refuse to go to school for it. At all.

Now, I'm not advocating that everyone who wants to be an author go out and get a writing degree. For the same reason you don't base your life on getting published. There are too many factors that are out of your control. But if you are serious about getting published, there are aspects about the process and the industry that you need to learn. Perhaps the best way to learn that is not in a class at all, but online with the myriad resources available to anyone who knows how to Google. Perhaps a night class at your local community college can help you get a better grasp on grammar/plotting/pacing/structure/ whatever it is that you need help with. There are so many ways to learn about writing--including just sitting down and doing it! But don't fall into that rut where you believe that you don't need to learn, you just need to write the right book/find the right editor/be introduced to the right person.

We can all learn. I learn something at every single writers conference that I attend. And the biggest and best authors out there will tell you that they are still learning new things. It's not a static skill where you reach a certain level and can dust of your hands and say, "Well, I'm done learning now." Every book is different, the industry changes daily, readers demand different things, etc. Learning is essential if you want to succeed. I firmly believe it is a necessary precursor to being able to succeed.

Writer's conferences won't magically make you publishable and having a degree in Creative Writing doesn't mean you know how to write a novel. Not having a college degree doesn't keep you from self-educating yourself nor does having a degree in a wholly unrelated field keep you from having the skills to be a brilliant plotter. There is no A+B=Published equation that will guarantee you success, but if you can't handle rejection and criticism, you are chasing the wrong dream, and if you refuse to let others teach you, you're probably never going to catch the dream at all. Learn to fail, but prepare yourself for success.

And yes, it is much more difficult than it sounds.

An author friend and mentor of mine asked at a writers conference last summer, "Why do so many people want to get published? To be full time writers? Because it's the best job in the world. But that's why it's so hard." It really struck me. It IS the best job in the world. But, like all truly attractive jobs, there is a lot of competition. Don't hold yourself back. Trust me, there are plenty of others who will try to do that for you.:D

Ciao!

Winners!

2010-10-25T11:15:00.002-06:00

So it took me a while to figure out how to get five people their preferred prize packs without emailing back and forth for like a month. So here is what I like to call my Winners' Pyramid Scheme!

The first winner sends me their top choice. The 2nd place winner sends me their top two choices, the third place winner the top three choices, etc. to fifth place. Then, if, by chance, everyone wants exactly the same prize packs in exactly the same order (which would be weird!) then I can still accommodate everyone. And well, if you listed everyone's choices altogether, one line apart, it would look like a pyramid!:D (Yes, I am easily amused.)

So here we go!!!

1st Place Abbi, who listed herself as Anonymous originally and came back to correct it.

2nd Place Tina (Book Couture)

3rd Place Kalina Kay

4th Place Ashley whose birthday was October 17th.

5th Place Kelsey who would like Laurel to be with Tamani.:D (Hey if you're making requests you may as well make requests, right??)

Please email me at aprilynne pike at g mail dot com with your preferences for prize packs listed in order, as well as your actual name and mailing address. Also, please let me know if you would prefer Wings or Spells to go along with your prize pack and what name you would like it personalized to. Once I have this info, I will mail stuff out as soon as possible!

**If I do not hear from you by Saturday, I will announce a new winner to take your spot!!**

Thank you so much to everyone for entering!!!

And now for some really fun news, I will be revealing the cover and jacket copy for ILLUSIONS next week!! I will be doing a fun puzzle-piece hunt with my awesome fansite, Late Bloomers, as well as some of their affiliates. More details will follow, but the fun starts Monday! I cannot WAIT to show you guys this cover, it is SO gorgeous!! (Also, the jacket copy rocks SO FREAKIN' MUCH!!!!!)

And on top of that, there will be a special surprise to go along with the cover reveal at the end of next week that I have also been bursting to show people! So mega excitement next week, and an actual writing-related post this week!

Ciao!

Massive Giveaway!

2010-10-17T22:47:00.004-06:00

It's still this week! (Technically.) So I am NOT late posting this giveaway. *whistles innocently*

First off, for people in the Phoenix area, just in case you're not sick of seeing me yet, I will be signing at Changing Hands Bookstore, with the super awesome Lisa McMann and Linda Gerber! I love doing group signing with authors who not only have fab books, but are also super nice people and Lisa and Linda are both! So come on out to see us!

Okay, Giveaway time. I am doing four sets of books and they are all signed.

And heck, since I'm giving away signed books, I may as well throw some of mine in there! I'll have entrance rules below, but basically, I'll pick winners and in order they will get to pick a prize pack. In addition to their prize pack, they can choose either Wings or Spells signed and personalized. Clear as mud?

Okay, here are the books!!

First up, the Flame Finder Pack! (Yes, all of the names will be this corny.)

Dark Flame by Allyson Noel and The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting!

Second, the Demon Cat Pack!

White Cat by Holly Black and The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan!

Oh, and total bonus (and made me not want to give it away!!!) Holy drew a cat in White Cat!!!!!

The next pack is the I Am A Loser pack because, well . . . I am a loser.

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong and an ARC of Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr. Here's the loser part. I got these signed while at the Smart Chicks tour and was trying to be all organized and everything but, well, I failed. So I had Kelley generically sign a book that very clearly has "From the library of Aprilynne Pike" stamped onto it, and forgot to have Melissa leave my name off of any of hers! So here is the exhibit of my loserness.

Oh, yes, I rock SO much. But I wanted to give something away from them! So if you decide to choose the prize pack filled with the evidence of my loser-ness in exchange for the awesomeness of signed books, you're also going to get not just Wings or Spells, but both.

And last but not least, the Waking Trance pack!

This pack will include Wake, by Lisa McMann and Trance, by Linda Gerber, but I don't have a picture of them because I won't get them until tomorrow night. But I will have them!

Okay, so this giveaway is basically to make up for my awful blogging since I started drafting Wings 4, so you've already done the hard part!!! All you have to do now is comment with something startling obvious (like, "Hi, please enter me in your giveaway!") to let me know that you want me to . . . enter you into my giveaway.:D Then Check back on Saturday, October 23rd and if you are a winner, I will need you to email me. (I'll give details then.) See? Super easy!!!

Ciao!

Yeah . . . That . . .

2010-10-11T10:50:00.002-06:00

First, go read this post. No seriously--I'll wait.

Man, was this a timely post. Some things that particularly struck me:

-"I'd just pulled a completed novel from my publisher that I wasn't happy with and decided to disappear for awhile."

Holy crap!!! So people, if you didn't follow exactly what this means, she wrote a book. A WHOLE book, did self edits, ran it past her agent, turned it in, and then decided it wasn't good enough and pulled it. People, that is some integrity! Personally, if I've put the work in to get that far and the publisher accepts it, then that's my next book! I have to say, I really look up to that level of commitment to quality. I'm honestly not sure I could do it.

-"I had another book done I sent to my agent while I was writing it, which she turned down---it happens, they can't all be winners."

All aspiring authors out there; the next time you get a form rejection on your full manuscript, come read this sentence. This is Sarah Dessen, people. Multiple #1 NYT bestselling author, beloved by millions, Sarah-frickin'-Dessen. Had a book rejected by her agent. The agent SHE pays. Wow! I was blown away. I think we all know that famous authors get to a point where they *can* write just about anything and someone will publish it. (Can is different than should, but the point is, they *can*.) I suspect that Sarah Dessen is at the point. But not only does SHE not do that (see example number one) but her agent doesn't either. Wow. High standards, people!

-"I also know that to my agent, and my editor, and everyone at my publishing company, my in-process freakouts have become as predictable as Christmas. "Oh, right," I picture them saying in their conference rooms and offices in New York, glancing at the calendar, "it IS about time for Sarah to decide to go back to waitressing again, isn't it?""

Hehe. I just like that part.

I am turning my fourth book in tomorrow. Wednesday morning at the very latest. But pushing for tomorrow. I remember tripping along through my first draft and thinking, Wow! I've been thinking about this book for so long that it is practically writing itself! I should have seen the writing on the wall then. The easier first drafts are for me, the more revisions I tend to do. *cringe*

It's been quite a process on this one because I feel a lot of pressure (not from fans, really, mostly from myself) to really get this one right. People have been asking me from day one if I know the ending of the series and I have said, quite boldly sometimes, that yes, I do, and when readers have finished Book Four they will be able to see all of the little seeds I planted throughout the first three books. Gathering up the fruit from all those seeds and getting them to fit cohesively into a plot structure that makes sense has turned out to be . . . challenging. Plot points and character motivation I have had in place for three years suddenly don't make sense on paper. And I can't just change them, because I have been leading up to them for three books! No, it's much more difficult than that. I have to make them make sense. Believe you me, that square peg trying to get into the round hole has nothing on this book.:D

Essentially, I guess it really is just finessing, because the backbone of the plot is still there, the ending I always planned is still there and it is still (IMO) the *right* ending. That hasn't changed. But how we get there, the details involved, have to be malleable.

And it is so frustrating! If you follow me on Twitter you may have seen the saga of the #plotholeofdeath that my husband found. And, sadly, once someone finds such a plothole, as much as you would like to cover your ears and sing, "lalalalalalalalala!" at the top of your lungs until they go away, you now know it's there and darn it! you have to fix it!

And I totally fell down at my hubby's feet and thanked him for finding the problem that made my novel better.

See? I'm good at making stuff up!

No, in truth I--who never yells at my husband--yelled. Twice. And I don't mean two sentences escaped my mouth at a higher than average volume. I mean he got yelled at in two rather extended yelling sessions on two different days. (I'm sorry!!!!!) It was a two-yell book. I don't think I've ever had more than a one-yell book.

I will tell people any day of the week that I have the best job in the world, and I do. I DO!!! But don't mistake that for the *easiest* job in the world. This is a hard job. It is a job with deadlines and schedules and demands and bosses, just like any other job in the world. But it's so much more personal. If you make a mistake on your spreadsheet, you probably don't fall into a cycle of "IsuckIsuckIsuck and I should never write make another spreadsheet again because I am obviously a talentless hack and who the heck hired me anyway?!?!?!?" I think that a minimum of once a book. Usually three to four times. (See Sarah's quote about going back to waitressing.)

And sometimes it is nice to know that other authors--especially authors like Ally Carter, who I consider veterans (I'm still such a baby!)--feel the same way and go through the same struggles.

Anyway, my apologies that it has been two weeks since I last blogged. I've been at that point where I am eating, breathing, and sleeping Book Four . . . and then eating some more . . . and am trying to continue caring about it enough to finish this last draft and do it well! These words came out of my mouth on Saturday, "I don't care anymore; I hate this book." That's when I know I'm almost done.:D

I will be gathering the books for a rather large giveaway later this week, to celebrate being done (for the moment) so stay tuned!

Ciao!

Potpourri

2010-09-23T12:40:00.003-06:00

I was always confused by this category in Jeopardy because it was never about nice-smelling stuff in a dish on the coffee table. Turns out it's an incredibly useful topic that says, I have no time to actually organize my thoughts/trivia questions into a real category.

Thus, the title of this blog entry. I do apologize.

1.) I am plugging away really hard finishing up the final self-edits on Book 4. I've seen copy-edits for Illusions and am really excited about them! I should have news about the cover reveal soon. That's the end of the book stuff.:D

2.) We are doing a HUGE giveaway over at the Debs in celebration of Banned Books Week and, particularly, in support of our lovely Deb, Sarah Ockler, whose book, Twenty Boy Summer, is currently being challenged alongside Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut. I'm of the opinion that the best way to fight censorship is to make censored and challenged books available to people who choose to read them. So we are giving away 38 (yes, thirty plus eight) copies of Twenty Boy Summer over at the Feast of Awesome. Check it out. You have a week to enter.

ETA: Little, Brown (Sarah's publisher) has joined us on our giveaway and upped the number of copies to 100!!! LOTS of books to win now!! Go enter!!!

3.) Eric Herman is my new hero. He has these funny songs with videos that my kids--all of them--just adore! . . . and the fact that they are on a continuous play loop has nothing to do with it. *whistles innocently*

4.) I haven't gotten them organized into a post yet, but next week I will be hosting a giveaway of a bunch of signed books. Stay tuned!

5.) Cold cereal is the greatest substance on earth and I believe God invented it to be that ambrosia stuff and then the devil put it in my cupboards to tempt me to eat it three times a day. Corn Bursts are particularly evil this week. I think they call audibly to me.

6.) Apparently microwave popcorn is toxic. *crunchmunchcrunchmunch* What?:D

7.) I'm signing at Changing Hands Bookstore (Tempe . . . near Phoenix) tomorrow with Sophie Jordan and Kiersten White. Come see us! And take swag. I have a lot of leftover swag from my Spells tour. I'm an overplanner, what can I say?:D

8.) Um . . . is eight enough? I'm going to call eight enough.

Thanks everyone for still reading this blog while I got through crazy writing time! It's will get better, I promise!! And, well, if you get tired of me not updating, wander over to my Twitter. I'm an addict over there.:D

Ciao!

Appearances!

2010-09-13T21:47:00.003-06:00

I wanted to make sure you guys know about what I suspect will be my last two signings of 2010. (On a side note, I can hardly believe 2010 is almost over. I swear it was 2009, like, yesterday!!)

Okay, on Friday, Sept. 24th at 7:00 PM I will be signing at Changing Hands Bookstore with the lovely, and recently titled NYT Bestseller, Kiersten White, author of PARANORMALCY, and Sophie Jordan, Romance and YA author of FIRELIGHT, both really awesome supernatural books! (Dragons and faeries and vampires, oh my!) Please come see us, it should really be a blast!

Then, on Monday October 18th, at 7:00 PM, also at Changing Hands Bookstore, I will be signing with Linda Gerber (if you haven't read her DEATH BY . . . series, you should! It rocks! But on this trip she will be celebrating the release of her newest book, TRANCE) and, oh, a little author some of you may have heard of, super amazing bestseller, Lisa McMann of the WAKE series including WAKE, FADE, and GONE! This should also be a really awesome night. (I know I'm looking forward to it! *wink*)

I love group events not only because it is much less pressure than going solo, but because I get to meet new authors and readers get to be introduced to books they might not have picked up off the shelf! Plus we always do some Q&A and it is fun to hear about multiple authors' experiences. So I would love to see you at one . . . or, hey, both! . . . of those events if you are in the greater Phoenix area.

And if you don't live around here, don't worry! I don't know exactly where I am going, but I have been informed that I will be doing more traveling for the release of ILLUSIONS next year! Hopefully I'll be coming to a city near you!

Ciao!

It's A Good Day!

2010-09-08T14:22:00.003-06:00

This post has nothing to do with writing whatsoever; you have been warned.:D

About six years ago my husband and I got into Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. I'm not normally a gamer, but I enjoyed this one, and my hubby was super-patient with my incompetence because he really liked getting to play a game with me! Over the course of the two months or so that it took us to beat it--playing in our free time at night after our daughter and charge had gone to bed--I got pretty good at it, if I do say so myself! Near the end of the game we encountered a boss called the Zombie Dragon. Basically, you had to wait for the dragon to stick it's neck out of its nest, and use a joint spell that you both cast concurrently to turn it to stone, and then beat on it. Oh, and you had to fight multiple (really hard!) little bad guys *while* doing this. It was SO hard! We spent about two hours one night trying to beat him and died about a gazillion times. And then, finally, with tiny specks of life left in both of us, we managed to kill the stupid boss! The animation of his death throes started and my husband and I collapsed against each other and laughed.

It was the only reaction you could have. Such a huge relief that all you can do is laugh in glee that it is finally over!

Keep that story in mind--I'll come back to it.

I have a son named Gid. He is so cute and snuggly and great! . . . And when I count the trials in my life, I count him first.:D He is by far, my most difficult child. My mother calls him hurricane Gid and often marvels at how much trouble he manages to make (and she has five kids, so she knows!) I have a stay-at-home husband and even with two of us at home every day, we can hardly keep up with him. High. Maintenence. Child.

He likes movies . . . for fifteen minutes or so. He likes his toys! For about ten minutes. He just will not stay focused on one thing long enough to actually give me a chance to sneak away and get anything done. Getting the dishwasher unloaded and reloaded in the same sitting is a miracle in our house. Which is why it usually gets done after the Gid goes to bed. It's why pretty much anything productive gets done after he goes to bed. (Also, why I work behind a locked door while I am drafting and he still will sit and yell at the door often enough.)

But there is one thing he LOVES. YouTube. He will watch YouTube (usually clips of Pixar movies or LOLcats) for an hour. Only problem, he doesn't know how to use a mouse. So you have to either come back every two minutes and start a new video for him, or sit there with him the whole time. Either way, not productive for me.

We have tried to teach him to use the mouse multiple times. (Who am I kidding, I've been trying to get him to use a mouse for a year!) I mean, Aud learned how to use a mouse at two and Bren even a bit before he turned two. Shouldn't three yo Gid know how to use a mouse by now?!!??:D But no luck.

Yesterday Gid declared himself finished with dinner and trounced upstairs to watch YouTube, because his sister had been doing the honors of switching videos for him before dinner. (Thank you Aud!!!)

I kind of shrugged and said, "Well, I'm not turning on shows for you--we're all still eating."

A minute or so passes and I hear sounds coming from the loft upstairs where the computer is. I turn to Kenny and say, "I think he just started a video."

Kenny listens for a second and was like, "Well, it was probably just paused. He knows how to use the space bar."

Back to eating.

A few minutes later I hear a distinctly different sound. "Kenny," I say, hardly daring to hope, "I think he started a new video."

We both peek out of the kitchen up at the landing and sure enough, he has started a new video for himself.

We stand there while the video finishes and I swear, we were both holding our breath. And our little troublemaker carefully edges the mouse over a new video and clicks.

Kenny and I stepped back into the kitchen, collapsed in our chairs, and started to laugh. He watched his very own videos for fifteen minutes. That has never happened before. My son is grasping the concept of how to use a mouse!

And Kenny and I just kept laughing. At one point he looks up at me and says, "You know, I feel like we just beat the Zombie Dragon again." Which just made us laugh harder.

So today I put him on YouTube again and he watched Pixar videos for about half an hour while I folded bedding, towels, and blankets, and put away all three of my kids' baskets of laundry. All at one time. I think I can safely say that since I have had three kids, that has never happened.

It is a good day!

One of the things that we are really excited about is that in another week or so when he has really gotten the feel for the mouse, we can put him on Starfall.com which taught my other two kids to read. (and is the "secret" behind my son teaching himself to read at age two. Not that hokey Teach Your Baby to Read memorization system, real phonetic reading. Yanno, the kind they do in school.) If you are a parent and haven't seen this site, please go check it out! It is deceptively simple and kids love it!

Gid already loves Starfall (and can tell you what sound all the letters say), but I have to sit and do everything for him and the fact is he will learn better if he can do it himself. Also, yanno, an hour of uninterrupted chore time. Or writing time. Or whatever.

My son knows how to use a mouse. Seriously, the possibilities that opens up for both myself and him are rather staggering. The computer is the most important learning tool in our home and my son just unlocked that door for himself.

Take that, Zombie Dragon!

Ciao!

What's In A Name?

2010-09-01T21:44:00.002-06:00

First, an announcement.

The third book in the Wings series will be titled...

Illusions!!

I know it was a long time coming, and I apologize for that. But now that it's public knowledge, you might be interested in why the book remained untitled for so long. You also might not, in which case you will want to skip the rest of this entry. :)

When I first sold Laurel's story, I had titled all four books. The original titles were:

Autumn Wings
Winter Spells
Spring Enticements
Summer Illusions

The plan was for each book to take place during the season in the title, but fairly early on I realized that this wasn't going to work. Furthermore, the sales team at HarperTeen pointed out that with the books tentatively releasing annually during the early summer months, "Autumn" and "Winter" might not draw much of an audience.

So we scrapped the titles and tried to think of new ones.

One serious contender for the first book was Forget-Me-Not. We thought perhaps each book could have a flower name, but while Forget-Me-Not seemed like a decent replacement for Autumn Wings, naming the rest of the books proved more difficult.

We tried on a lot of titles--some serious, some not. Flower Girl and Petalwings didn't make the cut. I was only kidding when I suggested Roots and I'm pretty sure my husband was only kidding when he came up with Venus Boy Trap, but some days it was just easier to think of silly titles than serious ones. :) (My mom suggested Petal Pushers and I told her she was dating herself.:D)

After much deliberation, my fabulous editorial team settled on simply dropping the season from the title and calling the book Wings. Sadly, the struggle for evocative titles had scarcely begun.

I did enjoy some respite, as there was no rush to title the rest of the books. For a while, books 2 through 4 were just called Spells, Enticements, and Illusions. It was suggested early on that Enticements didn't stand on its own, though, and for about a month we called it Enchantments. Somehow that title made it to Amazon Canada, and from there to the rest of the Internet... but it was actually vetoed pretty early on. Like, six months before Wings even came out. (Yanno, ancient history!;))

Spells, however, stuck to Book 2, and eventually HarperTeen gave me permission to announce the title. Which I promptly did! And one month later, I was told that we needed a different title. I was worried, because I'd already announced the title, and I didn't want readers to be confused!

But there wasn't much to be done but brainstorm, and the process began anew. Should we continue with one-word titles? Should we keep the word plural? Wings was both a metaphor and referred to a particular passage in the book--was there something similar we could use from Book 2? It was either my editor or her assistant who came up with Essence, and I prepared to announce the new title on my blog.

And then it was Spells again. I don't know where in the process Essence got trapped--sometimes booksellers express concerns, sometimes it's sales or marketing, you'd be amazed how many people have to "sign off," literally or figuratively, on decisions like this sometimes! But everyone went back to calling Book 2 Spells, and that's how it was released.

So hopefully that explains why I was reluctant to announce Illusions until the title was finally finally final! I would hate for someone to miss a release because they were looking for something with a different name. And sometimes I was very jealous of other authors who managed to get their titles finalized early on in the process! But then again... it's hard to complain about a publishing team who works hard to get things just right.

Now, before you go asking for the title of Book 4: it doesn't have one yet. :) My hope is to post the final cover art for Illusions before Christmas this year, and while I still don't have a firm release date, you should still be able to expect Illusions to arrive at your bookstore around May of 2011.

Ciao!

A Better Way?

2010-08-25T09:19:00.003-06:00

I hate censorship.

All censorship, but especially in children's literature because I think children and teens are SO important to the social structure of our future. The idea that one adult--quite frankly, usually a conservative parent--should have the power to say what other children can and cannot choose to read is a problem. I think parents have every right to censor their own children (whether or not they *should* is a whole different argument) but do not think you have any right to censor MY children.

So I've been following the events of the Humble ISD Libraries' Teen Lit Festival and I suspect many of you have as well.

The events in short--Ellen Hopkins, a critically acclaimed, bestselling, oh and also oft-banned and censored author who writes very gritty novels in verse was invited to attend the festival. Upon reading (or, more likely, skimming) her books, a few parents enlisted the help of one librarian in protesting Ellen's participation in the Festival because her books are "inappropriate." She was then uninvited by Superintendent Guy Sconzo.

Clear censorship. Let's have no mistake about that.

As Ellen herself said, "I'm offended by the idea that I or a handful of people can be allowed to speak for an entire community." I completely, 100% agree.

Over the next week or so, most of the other authors withdrew in protest, including Matt de la Peña, Tera Lynn Childs, and Melissa de la Cruz. A boycott, essentially. The links in the previous sentence go to their blogs where you can read about their motivation for pulling out. I appreciated reading Melissa's in particular with her discussion about how she grew up under a dictator who supported censorship. If you don't think censorship is a big deal, please, take the time to read these entries.

Earlier this week it was announced that the Festival had been canceled due to, well, a lack of speakers.

The YA authors stood up against censorship and won.

So why am I not happy?

Because I think the wrong people suffered.

Now, instead of a handful of parents and one librarian denying the teens of Texas a chance to meet the awesomeness that is Ellen Hopkins, they have now been able to deny those same teens a chance to meet any authors at all.

And we helped them.

And don't think those censoring parents feel bad. I have no doubt they are sitting back right now and congratulating themselves on their victory. Because, well, that's how personalities who promote censorship generally roll.

Don't get me wrong. When there is a problem like censorship it is ALWAYS better to do something than nothing. I salute the sacrifice and bravery of all of these authors who withdrew from the Festival. I'm not saying that what they did was wrong.

But I can't help but think that maybe there was a better way.

I generally avoid saying anything political on my blog. It's my rule. Which is why I haven't said anything about this before. And maybe I should have. I acknowledge that I probably should have. And if I thought this was an isolated incident, I would probably continue to not say anything. But I know it won't be. It WILL happen again. In fact, it will probably happen to Ellen again. And so I am breaking my own rule to say something political. Probably controversial. And well, it will probably make people mad. But someone has to say it, so here goes.

The people who suffered the most in this whole conflict are the teens of Texas.

Guy Sconzo definitely took some flack. Perhaps the librarian who stood with the censors as well (though I doubt either of them got fired.) But ultimately, the people who bore the brunt of the punishment were the teens who would have attended the festival, and the authors themselves.

And I started thinking, isn't there a way to make the *right* people suffer? And I think there is. I have to say, if I had been one of the authors invited to Humble, I would not have withdrawn.

I would have brought Ellen to the Festival anyway.

Not in person. But make no mistake, the presence of an author does not have to be physical. Word of mouth is a powerful thing. We as authors are acutely aware of that because we know that word of mouth sells books better than anything else.:D Authors could use that force to fight censorship.

What if every author agreed, not to withdraw, but to make Ellen's presence known at every single event at the festival? Every panel they were on, every speech they made, they could mention Ellen. Mention her books. They could say straight out something like, "This reminds me of an author I admire, Ellen Hopkins, who couldn't be here today because the organizers of this festival decided to censor her, and I think you all have a right to know that."

Think that's not enough? All of these authors had to give up a very nice honorarium when they pulled out of the festival. What if they took that money--the same money the administration paid them--and bought cases and cases of Ellen's books to bring with them, and at their signings, gave one away to every person who brought a book to have signed. "Thanks for reading my books! Have a free Ellen Hopkins book! She wishes she could be here, but the festival organizers decided to censor her and I as an author am standing up against that. You should check her out." I would donate my own money to support that project.

Can you imagine if every author in attendance did that? Ellen's presence would be at that festival more strongly that she ever could have been alone, as a single speaker. Every person in attendance would hear about her; children and adults. And, every teen in attendance would be informed about the problem of censorship. The best response to censorship is MORE information, not less. You want to silence us? We will show you our roar!

And there would be complaints. Those censoring parents would be outraged!! And you know who they would complain to? Guy Sconzo. He would be assailed from BOTH sides with complaints. And who deserves it more?

But more importantly, every teen at that festival would know that someone tried to censor them. Because really, do you think they have any idea what happened? A majority, probably a very heavy majority, of these kids are not reading our blogs. They are not reading School Library Journal or Publishers Weekly. There's a good chance they'll never hear about what really happened. And if they do, it will likely be from the same organizers and administration who supported the censorship to begin with.

Again, please don't think that I think any of these authors did the wrong thing. They did not. But this will happen again, and maybe instead of just doing the right thing, we could find a way to do a better thing. I don't think I have all the answers, but I'm trying to think outside of the box. Creativity is the engine of a good revolution and believe me, I want this to be a good revolution.

Ciao!

Wings Three

2010-08-19T14:29:00.002-06:00

Copy-edits are done and in NYC! Yay! First draft of Wings 4 is done and really crappy, yay!!! And I am blogging again, yay!!!!! (Why am I the only one cheering . . . . ?:D)

Okay, so I have been rather deluged in Twitter, in fanmail, and in comments, about Wings Three. I guess I assume that if you are on my blog, Twitter, or have found my fanmail address, you know about Wings Three. But, well, I have to remember that there are NEW people finding my blog all the time! (Hi new people!!!!) So for anyone who already knows this, you can go read something funny. But if you don't, and have been confused by hashtags like #crypticwings4quotes and think you somehow missed Wings Three altogether, here's the scoop!

Wings Three is done. It has been done since the end of May when I finished line edits on a plane between here and Toronto.:D It is coming out early next summer, probably May again.

No, I can't "make" my publisher put it out earlier. For a good explanation of why, check out Ally Carter's Facts and Fiction post, here. (And why urging us to write faster isn't actually helpful.:D) I know it's really frustrating to see an author completely done with a book you can't read yet, but trust me, there is still a ton of work being done in the process of making it a physical book that you just can't speed up if you want a quality book!

It does have a title! And the title is not Wings Three! It's also not Enchantments despite what Goodreads said, then took back, and now says again.:D The title of the fourth book is also inaccurate. But Wings Three DOES have a title, and it is a great title that I am immensely happy about! And I will tell you this Fall when I do my cover reveal. My apologies for that, Harper likes to keep these things under their hat.

Yes, I did just finish the first draft of Wings 4. (Whoo-hoo!!! Yee-haw!! Boo-yeah!! No, no, I am not excited about this at all . . . .:D) This doesn't actually mean much to anyone except me. All this is is me getting the book done on time for it to come out in the summer of 2012. Yes, I know that is a long time away. But seriously, here is how the next eight months are going to go for me. I will finish Wings 4 in time to get it in by November (and in the interim will do another round or two of Wings 3 copy-edits). After Wings 4 is turned into my editor, she will send me edits for my ghost book (not related to Wings at all) and I will spend 1-2 months doing those. As soon as those are sent in she will send me edits for Wings 4 which means another 1-2 months. Then second edits for ghost book (1 month) followed by second edits of Wings 4 (1 months) which has me finishing both of those books in the spring of 2011, just in time to prepare to release Wings 3 in early summer of 2011. See, I really do have a very crowded schedule.

However, what finishing my draft does mean is that I have actually put the end of the series down on paper . . . er . . . computer screen. Which means that all of the emails I get saying, "Pleeeeeeeaaaaaassssseeeee have David/Tamani win!" are not going to change my mind. Or Laurel's.:D

Also, no, I will not tell you what happens.:D Endings are as much about the journey to get there as the destination. Trust me, you want to take this whole train ride. The scenery is fantastic! *wink*

What I will tell you is that Wings Three begins in September of Laurel's senior year, and that I will tell you the answer to the cliff-hanger (I really didn't think it was that much of a cliff-hanger!!! I'm sorry!!!!!!) in the very first chapter. No keeping you in suspense! I promise!

So yeah, that's Wings 3.:D

Ciao!

I Have Fallen Behind

2010-08-09T12:34:00.002-06:00

On everything.

My blog, my fanmail, heck, my regular mail, and my housekeeping. I did, however, catch up on my laundry last night. Funny how the motivation to have your children wearing actual clean clothing on their first day of school (today) can be a massively motivating force!

I don't see any other catching up happening in the next week. That's because tomorrow the fabulous UPS guy of Awesome will be bringing me copy edits for Book Three! Which is so great! Seeing it in it's near-final form!!!

But it also comes with a deadline. Thus, the not catching up till next week part.

So just wanted to warn you, there will probably be blog silence till the 16th.

But you should follow me on Twitter if you don't already. I say weird things on there. Especially when I am very busy.:D

Ciao!

Just For Fun With Meg Cabot!

2010-07-30T14:20:00.002-06:00

Okay, Meg Cabot has blogged some reader and author do's and don't's along with some hilarious foreign covers over here.

And if you don't want to do the clicky thing, here is one of the highlights!

"Saying, “I love your work” is super nice, and will make any author SO happy to hear.

Special note about saying “I’m your biggest fan.” Most author’s BIGGEST fan is probably her stalker, the person who insists all of her books are secretly coded messages written about him, and who says he’s coming to get her at her next signing, so she better watch her back. HE’S her biggest fan.

So when YOU say that, even though you mean it as a nice thing, what the author is probably thinking when she hears it is: “Actually, technically, no, you’re not my biggest fan. I have a restraining order against my biggest fan.”

So “I love your work!” is probably best."

*snort* I love it!!
Back to word writing!

Ciao!

As Promised!

2010-07-28T11:31:00.002-06:00

68 Zillion bonus points to Adam Purple!

a) 1.72 meters
b) Yes, it would return to the 5 meter height.

And, uh, yeah, I'm just trusting this answer is right.:D

*goes back to writing fourth book of awesomeness*

Ciao!

Creative Thinking

2010-07-23T15:34:00.003-06:00

My brother sent me an email the other day entitled, "How to Fail a Test With Dignity." It included a lot of . . . erm . . . creative but clearly wrong answers to test questions. However, this one was my favorite.

I have to tell you, I laughed and laughed! And I even considered forwarding it on, which, I have to tell you, I never do. (Yes, yes, chain letters, they always end with me. And I've suffered dozens of hideously monstrous death for it! *shiftyeyes*)

I certainly did not immediately think, Hmmm, this is a great metaphor for writing! But you have to admit, that is some creative thinking!

I have had a lot of questions about creativity thrown at me the last month or so, both in blog interviews and in real life. It's apparently a trend right now.:D Where does your creativity come from? (No clue.) Do you think you are more creative than non-writers? (Uh . . . no clue.) How do you come up with all these ideas? (Still . . . no clue. Are you seeing a theme here?)

Every author I know gets (and dreads) the question, "Where do you get your ideas?" After flippantly casting off the answer that I get my ideas at the idea store and if there's a sale I get two, I have to honestly say that I don't know. It's like asking trying to ask how I lift my arm. I don't know, I just . . . lift it . . .

I've also been thinking about creativity and ideas a lot lately because I am winding up the last novel in my series and then I will need to work on something new. It's a little scary to embark on a new project, especially a new series, because it has been so long since I plotted out the Wings series, I'm not sure I remember exactly how to do it. My hope it that it's like riding a bike.:D But who knows.

And I don't really have a conclusive ending to this blog entry, just a math problem with an elephant, some quandaries, and a shrug.

Ciao!

P.S. Sixty-eight ZILLION bonus points to the first person who can actually solve that question. Yanno, the RIGHT way.:D Just reading it made my brain hurt.

Book Four . . . Whoa!

2010-07-15T11:37:00.003-06:00

I am back from vacation!! Yay! I had a really, really wonderful time and saw so many people I only get to see every couple of years, but, I have to tell you, by the time we got down to that last day of traveling, I was ready to get home!!! (To my lovely bookshelves . . . oh yessss, my preciousessssss!)

*koffkoff* Anyway . . . Not only am I back from vacation, it is working time. The time when I hunker down and write every day and pretty much say no to everyone. (Sorry in advance . . .)

And what am I working on? Wings Book Four.

OMG!!

No really! I am writing the last book of the series. I'm over fifty pages in, actually. It's a little weird. I've had this book in my head for about three and a half years now, and I wrote out my outline a couple weeks ago. The whole story. Every single important piece of it. I admit it was a little weird to see all the secrets I've been keeping, laid out in a word document. (The only non-publishing team person who knows what happens at the end of this series is my husband. Even my mother does not know . . . so don't ask.:D) It felt like I was cheating. Or revealing state secrets, or something.

So do I get to The End and then I'm done writing?

Absolutely not! I've had a lot of questions about what comes after Wings and my answer has generally been, "Something, but I just can't think that far ahead right now." Turns out it's about time to start thinking that far ahead! The Wings series has been an incredibly passionate, career-altering experience for me, but trust me, I'm not done yet. So here's a little sneak preview of what you can expect from me over the next . . . oh . . . five years (assuming, of course, that Harper still likes me when the Wings series is over.:D)

I have a non-Wings stand-alone tentatively slated to come out between Wings Books 3 and 4 about a human guy named Jeff. I'm still working through the plot of a series about a magical human girl named Candace, and I am about a third of the way through another stand-alone about a semi-human girl named Haley. More long term, I have a series and a duo that are doing some long-term simmering on the back burner. So yeah, you haven't seen the last of me, mwahahahahahaha!!!!

But for now, I am dictating the final fates of Laurel, David, and Tamani. Hehehehe.

Ciao!

Bad Blogger, No Cookie

2010-06-30T15:35:00.004-06:00

The internet is a wonderful thing.

However, it is also a time-eating monster.

I want you all to know that I love you, you're fabulous, and I actually really do enjoy having an online presence. I want to apologize for my extended absence, and I want to apologize in advance for the extended absences you will continue to suffer. :) Because it really comes down to this: I am so busy writing books for you to read that I'm afraid writing blogs for you to read is sort of falling by the wayside.

(Besides, the blogosphere is a bit of an echo chamber anyway, where the shrillest voices tend to to overpower the most thoughtful ones... but that's a blog for a different day.)

Because there are super-convenient iPhone apps available for places like Twitter and Facebook where a once-sentence update doesn't look ridiculous (as it would here), I am actually more active on those pages, at least for the moment.

I'm NOT quitting blogging. At least not yet! ;) In fact, I have high hopes for the future. But it's been almost a month since I blogged and I figured you could all use an update. :) So here's your update!

I'm done touring for Spells! It was lovely to meet so many of you. I'm sorry I didn't make it to more cities, but I love traveling and if I didn't catch you this time, I hope to meet you next time around! :)
Spells enjoyed four weeks on a very tight NYT list--thank you again to all of my readers for putting it there! John Grisham and Rick Riordan are pretty heavy competition!:D
I'm down to copy-edits on Book 3.
I've graduated from outlining to scene writing in Book 4!It's just shy of fifty pages!
It has been very busy around here.
I got an iPhone 4. Eeeeeeee!!!!! (Also, thank to my hubby who found it for me.:D)

So that's me in a nutshell. How about you guys? :)

Ciao!

Party!

2010-06-07T18:25:00.002-06:00

I met Tom at the YAllapalooza that Changing Hands held several months ago and heard about his book, PARTY. Honestly? I'm not really a contemporary realism girl and although I was pleased to meet him and happy to hear of his success with his book, I wasn't really rushing out to read it. What can I say? As I often tell people, I think books are boring unless they have kissing or magic, and preferably both. But I did get a chance to read an ARC a couple months later and took my friend up on it. (And proceeded to destroy the binding on her ARC on accident. I still feel very badly about that!!!)

When I am doing school visits, I challenge kids to read outside of both their demographic and their comfort zone. If they always read realism, I challenge them to pick up a fantasy now and again. If they always read fantasy to dip their toe in the real world now and again.

It is obvious that I need to take my own advice.

PARTY is a novel told in eleven chapters, and eleven voices, all of whom you only get to hear from once. More interestingly, the main character is chapter one. Never to be directly heard from again. It is about one night--about 18 hours--that change everyone. It's like a novel-experience of the movie Crash, which I have yet to see, but because of this book, now have on my Netflicks cue list.:D

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, PARTY came out at the end of April and Tom and I continue to be good friends and we thought that since our books are so closely related *sarcastic snort* we would do a signing together!

So come see us at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale at 7:00 tomorrow (Tuesday, June 8th) as we discuss what it's like to be a new novelist, how we got where we are, and why we write reality or fantasy (sadly, no mud wrestling will be involved.)

Hope to see you there! (And hopefully I will be able to stop talking about the new bookshelves in my office long enough to actually discuss the topics I mentioned.:))

Hope to see you there!!!

(Also, just as an added incentive, this is the last signing I am doing in the Phoenix area for a while. Please come!)

Ciao!

You Are Not Your Book!!

2010-06-02T08:38:00.002-06:00

It's something we hear constantly as aspiring authors. Mostly as a way to distance ourselves from rejections, blindingly painful revisions, rejections, apathetic agents and editors, rejections. You know.

But can I suggest that it is something you should keep in mind even after you are published? And not just to distance yourself from bad reviews. Do not judge yourself, or based your level of self- or professional-confidence on how "big" or awarded your book is. Please!

I have traveled a lot this year and one of the aspects of that that I have really enjoyed is meeting other authors. People like me who have the same oddities, obsessions, and neuroses!! Hooray!

But I am going to scream, if I hear another author say, "Oh, I'm just the author of (fill in the blank.)"

No!! You are not "just" anyone!! You are an author! A published author who has gone through the sweat, blood, and tears of rejections, revisions, the stress of launch day, the gut-rolling rollercoaster of sales. You are an amazing person who has accomplished great things! Some of the most wonderful people I have met are "small" authors who have books at specialized publishers. And those authors will often practically apologize for the niche-ness of their book. Please don't! Your book doesn't have an award next to it--it's not a bestseller. SO?!?!?!? You are still a wonderful author and you deserve my respect. More than that, you deserve YOUR respect.

Repeat after me, I am not my book.

And if you are on the other end of the spectrum and you are an awarded or bestselling author who treats other authors as lesser? I have no words for you. Not any that are appropriate for this blog anyway.:D

Ciao!

Supernatural Summer!!!

2010-06-01T08:44:00.002-06:00

It's June! How did that happen!!

Let me tell you about my last week, and perhaps you will understand why I didn't blog.:D

Last Monday I went out of the country for the first time. (Yay Canada!!!) Tuesday through Thursday I got to participate in Harper Canada's Supernatural Summer with Kim Harrison and Lesley Livingston. Oh. My. Gosh!! What a fun week!! Lots of traffic, strange jokes from Kim's hubby (Hi!), and my first high tea with fellow Harper author R.J. Anderson (look for Wayfarer later this month!) were just a couple of the notable moments. I had such a blast! We not only did our nighttime events, but we also had lunches with librarians and corporate people (as well as each other! I LOVE hanging with other authors!) and some five-minute (which means 20-30 minute) meetings with store staffs. It was an amazing week!!

On Friday morning I headed to the airport after waking up at the equivalent of 3:30AM my time *takes a deep breath* got through customs and took a four-hour flight to Phoenix (during which I literally worked on line edits every moment from when they let me take my computer out, to when they made me put it away. Whew!

So then I got off the plane, went home, hugged my kids and hubby, took a shower, and headed right of to the Phoenix ComicCon. (I cut it a little close there, I admit.:D) I spent a good part of the entire weekend at ComicCon and got to meet John Scalzi (!!!) and a new author, Leanna Renee Hieber as well as Dean Lorey, Sam Sykes, and old favorite James Owen. A lovely, if somewhat rushed weekend.:)

That left me one day to pack and spend with my family. Oh, and clean my house. Thus, no blogging.:D

I hope you will all forgive me! Luckily, the Phoenix Airport has free Wi-fi, and my breakfast is awesome, so I am happy to munch and blog this morning.:) I am actually hoping to blog twice this morning as I've had a topic I've been ruminating on for a while. We'll see. They do get a little twitchy if you wait till the last minute to get on your plane.:D

But first things first, business!

It is Supernatural Summer this week and I want to make sure you all know where I am.:D

Tonight (Tuesday, June 1st):

June 1, 2010 – 7:00 pm

Rainy Day Books (Kansas City)

Please note this is an off-site event:

Johnson County Public Library

Central Resource Branch

9875 West 87^th Street

Overland Park, KS 66212

Tomorrow (Wednesday, June 2):

7:00 PM

Barnes and Noble Mansell Crossing SC

7660 Northpoint Parkway Ste 200 Alpharetta, GA 30022 770-993-8340

Thursday, June 3rd:

7:00 PM

Borders

965 West Bethany Dr. Allen, TX 75013

The first two events will be me, Kim Harrison, and Ellen Schreiber. In Dallas we will pick up the inestimable Kimberly Derting as well! After that I am peeling off to Tulsa for a writer's conference (I'm the Keynote. Isn't that weird?!?!?) but the Supernatural Summer tour rolls on!! Check out the schedule here: Kim and Ellen and Kimberly will continue and they will pick up the awesome Kelley Armstrong for more events!

Seriously, come see us, people! Group tours are SO fun and if you are an aspiring author this is a great time to hear real experiences and get tips and suggestions. And if you are a fan, this is your opportunity to grill us for spoilers!;)

Ciao!

Party, Party, Party!!!!

2010-05-18T22:39:00.002-06:00

It's launch party time and everyone is invited!!!

Please come join me in celebrating the launch of SPELLS at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, AZ at 7:00 on Thursday, May 20th, 2010!

There will be refreshments (mini-cookies and brownies fresh-made from the bakery next door!) and a very small amount of talking from me (I promise!), and lots of mingling!

It's going to be a blast, please join me!!!

What I Did on my Summer Vacation

2010-05-14T11:27:00.003-06:00

Okay, not really, but it kind of feels that way.:D I have a ton of things to share and I think the best way to do it is bullet points, so here goes.;)

* SPELLS debuted at number four on the New York Times Bestsellers List this week! HUGE thanks to everyone who has been so supportive of this book and this series for helping to make it happen! You all rock!!!

*I started out my tour in Cincinnati, Ohio, but unbeknownst to me, the nearest airport to Cincinnati is technically in Kentucky. So I landed and my driver picked me up and said, "Welcome to Ohio! Well, it's not actually Ohio, you're in Kentucky!" And for half an irrational second I was like, "Oh no!! I got on the wrong plane again!! I'm in the wrong place!!" Luckily, I didn't, and I wasn't. We soon crossed a river into Ohio and I spent much of the next few days crossing the same state line. Good thing I hadn't done anything illegal.:D

*They have GORGEOUS schools in Ohio! Phoenix doesn't have the historical Euro-style architecture that they have back East (and yes, I have been assured by the Ohioans that Ohio is not "Back East." . . . but it's EST!!) But I love traveling Eastward and seeing the beautiful buildings!

*Books and Company in Dayton, Ohio is one of the most beautiful stores I've ever seen! It's also in a really fabulous shopping center and I may have done a fair bit of browsing while there . . . *whistles innocently*

*Chicago pizza. Mmmmmmm . . .

*Utah and Idaho--Idaho in particular--are having unseasonably cold weather. I left Phoenix on Monday morning and it was 90 degrees. I got to Idaho Falls that night and it was 40. It was enough to shake anyone's belief in global warming.:D

*My mother introduced me to The Pita Pit. Something healthy has no business tasting that good!!!

*I had really amazing signings everywhere I went. It continues to amaze me that people I don't know not only read my book, but then come to bookstores to hear me speak and get their books signed! I have the best fans in the world and I am so thankful for every single one of you!! Thank to all the attendees at my signings and the literally thousands of students I have gotten to see in my school visits!

*I am chatting with the awesome Mundie Moms on Monday, May 17th, at 9:00PM EST (6:00 PM Phoenix time.:D). They always needle me for details about future books and I am a big marshmallow and always tell them too much! So if you want to see them work me over, come join us!!!

*I am having my launch party at Changing Hands in Phoenix (well . . . Tempe . . . but Greater Phoenix ares.:)) on Thursday, May 20th. I will be putting more info up later this weekend, but suffice it to say there will be yummy food. (No, I do NOT bribe people!!*shifty eyes*) If you live in the Phoenix area, please come!!

I am currently sitting in the Salt Lake City airport getting ready to board my plane home to my hubby and kidlettes. After two weeks of traveling I will be home for ten days with them and I am SO looking forward to it! When I got home last weekend my two-year-old did the baby monkey thing and clung to me with his arms around my neck and his legs wrapped around my waist for a good 15 mins before he let me put him down. I love that. *lesigh* I miss my kids' hugs! I think I'll go get me one.:D

Ciao!

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

2010-04-30T09:08:00.003-06:00

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!

2010-04-16T22:34:00.003-06:00

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 . . .

2010-04-09T19:02:00.002-06:00

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

2010-04-06T12:09:00.003-06:00

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!

Winner!!

2010-03-29T17:44:00.002-06:00

My mom asked me how my day was going. I told her it was exploding--thus, this post will only have the Spells ARC winner. But more soon! Including my tour schedule!! Yay!!!

The Spells ARC winner is Amber Lynae at http://seriouslyamberlynae.blogspot.com/ Amber, email me at aprilynne pike at g mail dot com with your name and address and I will get that into the mail for you right away!!

Thank you EVERYONE for participating and posting the widgets. It is so fun to see them start to pop up everywhere!!!

Ciao!

Winners and Widgets!

2010-03-24T23:09:00.002-06:00

Okay, I'm a little late . . . . but I'm getting SO much good work done on Wings III! Trust me, the two-day delay will be worth it.:D

Okay, our winner for Struts and Frets is:

Maybe Genius who loves "I Love The Rain The Most" by Joe Purdy!

And our winner for Mistwood is:

Erica, who would shift into a hypogriff or a leopard!!

Both of you please email me your names, and addresses to aprilynne pike at g mail dot com and I will get those in the mail just as soon as possible!

Thank you everyone for entering, this ended up being a fun and really big contest! Yay!!!

So.

Have you noticed the little addition in my sidebar?

I HAVE A WIDGET!!!!! Whoo-hoo!!!!!! (I'm really excited.) My husband made it, including coding the whole thing from scratch because he's just super-awesome like that. *smooches hubby*

And in celebration of my new widget, I'm going to cough up one more ARC of Spells!!!!

Long-time readers will know I don't like to make contests work, so you just answer a question in the comments. But my little widget is spurring me into a bit more action. So this is a widget contest!

One ARC of Spells up for grabs and you can enter by posting the widget on your blog, and commenting with the web address where I can find it.

This contest also ends Monday morning, but unlike this Monday, I will also announce it on Monday. *shifty eyes* Ahem.

You can get the code for the widget by clicking the "Share This" button in the upper right hand corner, or you can go here and copy/paste it right from my website.

Also . . . . SPELLS COMES OUT IN FORTY DAYS!!!!! EEEEEEEEEE!!!! *runs around in circles and falls down*

Have fun!

Ciao!

Rules, Books, and ARCs

2010-03-19T09:55:00.004-06:00

Hey all! Poking my head out for a minute to let you know about some giveaways. (Because, yanno, if I can't give you good content at least I can give you free books.;))

Sarah MacLean, the author of the awesome The Season (YA) and upcoming Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake (Adult) is doing a fun series on her blog where other authors come and offer Nine Rules for their books' worlds. Today is me! However, the other guest posts are all fun, so you may want to look for some of your favorite authors, like Tera Lynn Childs, Toni Blake, and Kerrelyn Sparks! (And there are more to come!) She has oh so kindly put all of the "Nine Rules" posts here! Additionally, on my entry (hereherehere!!) Sarah is giving away a copy of Wings! All you have to do is go tell her your favorite flower!

My lovely ladies at L8BloomerOnline have been running a contest for a SPELLS ARC for the last couple of days, but this morning they announced that they are giving away TWO ARCs! Double the chances to win one! And all of the details are HERE!

And since I can't just send you to other people's blogs for giveaways, I'm doing two here as well!

For all you contemporary realism fans out there, I have one signed copy of Struts and Frets by Jon Skovron up for grabs! This is a fabulous book for guys or girls, with lots of heart and Indie rock music!! And on top of that, it's written by a guy of incredible awesomeness who is one of the best Dads I know. Jon is the man! If you want to enter for this one, leave a comment with your favorite song!

And next, unsigned, but also unreleased, I am giving up my ARC of Mistwood, by Leah Cypess. I don't give away a lot of ARCs because I have this thing for them. I LOVE ARCs! And even though I also generally buy the book after it comes out, I still keep the ARC. (I have a special shelf.:)) But you guys, I have to give this one away because it is so good! It comes out April 27th, so it's only a little bit early, but, seriously, people, you want to read this book!

Here's the description from Amazon:

The Shifter is an immortal creature bound by an ancient spell to protect the kings of Samorna. When the realm is peaceful, she retreats to the Mistwood. But when she is needed she always comes.

Isabel remembers nothing. Nothing before the prince rode into her forest to take her back to the castle. Nothing about who she is supposed to be, or the powers she is supposed to have.

Prince Rokan needs Isabel to be his Shifter. He needs her ability to shift to animal form, to wind, to mist. He needs her lethal speed and superhuman strength. And he needs her loyalty—because without it, she may be his greatest threat.

Isabel knows that her prince is lying to her, but she can't help wanting to protect him from the dangers and intrigues of the court . . . until a deadly truth shatters the bond between them.

Now Isabel faces a choice that threatens her loyalty, her heart . . . and everything she thought she knew.

To enter for this one, comment and tell me which animal you would most like to be able to turn into.

You are welcome to enter one contest or the other, or both. No hold barred.:D Contest ends Monday morning . . . . GO!:D

Ciao!

The Cave

2010-03-07T21:19:00.002-07:00

*poking my head out*

Hi guys! It's me! Your long-lost blogger! Sorry for the radio silence; I have descended into "the cave," as the lovely Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl dubbed it last year. Complete with this very appropriate picture that I have shamelessly yoinked.:))

That's right, it's revision time!

I'm really excited at the improvements that my editor of awesomeness has suggested, but there is a lot of tweaking and streamlining to do and I've got a six week deadline. So you may not hear a ton from me on the blog, but I tend to over-Tweet as a break when my head starts to esplode, so if you are not following me on Twitter, you might want to! (Author neurosis in action, oh yeah!)

I admit, I'm looking forward to it. I love seeing my novels improve with the expertise of my editor's red pencil. (Actually, it's almost always a purple pencil *lesigh* editor luv!) And really, it's a great way to spend 6 of the final eight weeks NOT stressing about the upcoming release :D

I will, however, be changing out of my pajamas and brushing my hair long enough to attend a fun event this Saturday, March 13. A website called Story Casters is co-hosting an event with Changing Hands Bookstore that is going to be as much party as anything else. Here's the announcement!

STORYCASTING MEETUP: THE MOVIE IN YOUR MIND 6-8pm
As part of a series of regional conventions, Storycasting, the premier “fantasy casting” website, sponsors a free Storycasting meetup and signing. Six Arizona authors and a crowd of storycasters will meet, discuss fantasy casting, sign books, and talk about related topics. Authors in attendance will be Aprilynne Pike, Marsha Ward, Frank Fiore, Dan Shaurette, Marcia Fine and Shonnovan Mitchell. Snacks provided. The first 25 attendees will receive a free Storycasting T-shirt. FREE. RVSP: meetup.com/Storycasting- RegionalConventions.

This will be the last public event I am doing before Spells comes out. (I will be doing one writer's conference at the end of April, but it's only open to attendees . . .) So please come on out and see me!! (Laura, I have something for you--I expect to see you there.;))

In fun news, my fabulous Late Bloomer gals have started a new feature called "Sneak Peek Saturday" on their awesome blog, where they will be posting short cookies from Spells each week until release! Check them out.:)

I also found out a few days ago that after the super amazing promotion that my Italian publisher, Sperling and Kupfer, did for Wings, it hit number three on their children's bestsellers list! It's amazing to start to see other countries roll out their versions of my book, and even more amazing to see tons of readers enjoy it!! Grazie, Italy!!!

Thanks for sticking around and reading--I promise the content will get better soon.:D

Ciao!

That Was MY Idea!!

2010-02-23T13:35:00.005-07:00

Oh man! I have to start off this post with some fan-art of awesomeness!!!

The first one is from Laurelle_DaVinchi on the Wingsfansite forums who put together all of my covers including an old fan cover that the lovely Saundra Mitchell made for me. Check this out!!

Thank you, Laurelle!! I love it!!!

The next one is one from a few weeks back that I have been trying to remember to post, but the link is on my phone and I blog on my computer so . . . . anyway, here, you go, from Katie at SophistiKatied!

Isn't that so made of awesome! Please for visit Katie at her blog, she does Fan Art Fridays and really good reviews of lots of YA books. It's a new favorite of mine! Thank you, Katie!!

Okay, so something I often hear from other authors, established or aspiring, is being concerned when they hear about someone else writing the same basic storyline as their WIP. Everyone worries about it--especially if you have a particularly brilliant idea.

But you know what? You may be worrying too much. Editors often say it's all about the execution, and in the area of storylines, that hold true. A couple of examples (please excuse the weird, trying-not-to-be-gender-specific syntax):

"Protagonist A and Protagonist B meet and experience a sudden and deep connection. But can their love survive when Protagonist A wars between loving Protag B and the desire to kill them?"

Think you know what book I'm talking about?

Suuuuure you do.

I'm talking about Evernight, by Claudia Gray, Lament by Maggie Stiefvater, The Dark Divine, by Bree Despain, and the absolutely incredible upcoming Mistwood by Leah Cypess.

Vampires, faeries, werewolves, shifters, they all fit that storyline.

But let's get more specific:

A small town is surrounded by an invisible, impenetrable sphere. The residents must find a way to survive not only their new isolation, but the terrors that they themselves are becoming.

Now do you think you know which book I'm talking about? Because that storyline is pretty dang specific. Do you?

Because it could be Under The Dome, by Stephen King, or it could be Gone, by Michael Grant. Both very good and successful books by NYT Bestselling authors. Totally different books.

I've actually received email from people who are aspiring faerie authors who were like, "I was so worried! I thought your book was just like my book!!" One went so far as to worry if she could be sued for copyright infringement! (No, btw.) But without fail, these authors all commented that within fifty pages it became clear that I was telling a different story than them.

A lot of people say ideas are a dime a dozen. I don't quite agree with that. Some ideas are just freakin' brilliant and are totally worth their proverbial weight in gold. But most? It's about the execution.

To kind of illustrate what I mean, I have this video of total win by a group called the Axis of Awesome. This video is a bunch (I believe thirty-six?? Read that somewhere) of songs that can all be sung to the same four chord set. It is fascinating. He just plays the same four chords on the keyboard and keeps singing all these songs! Totally different songs. As different as the examples I've sited above (moreso in a lot of cases!!) but they all can be sung to the same accompaniment. (Language warning: there is some language in the middle of this number--you've been warned.:D)

This really can be applied to idea. They say there is nothing new under the sun. Chances are you fall under one of those "nothing new" categories.

And that's okay! That doesn't mean you can't make it your own! That you can't add remarkable characters and surprising twists and inimatable plot elements! Every idea can be done a different way. A better way, even.

This isn't to say that you can write your novel about Larry Blotter who goes to a sorcery school and makes friends with Hepsabah and Raul. That's not going to fly.

I'm not saying copy. Please, please, please, don't copy!! But of you are in the process of writing the story you love and you discover that some big-wig author wrote a story with a similar plot? It's probably very different from yours. Don't stop working on your story just because of that. There are too many books coming out every year for yours to truly be the only book like it. If you start trying to do that, you are never going to reach more than the halfway point on your WIP. (I know I wouldn't.)

Now, do pay attention. For example, I had Laurel and David meet in Biology class because they were sophomores, and I love Biology! But if I had thought about that famous scene in Twilight, I probably would have changed that particular class to something else. in fact, I have sometimes wondered how cool it would have been if they had met in music class. Wouldn't have changed the story a lot, and I would have avoided a lot of Twi-comparisons.

Did I copy her? Contrary to what some people think, no.:D Should I have thought about that and changed it for the sake of the market? Yeah, probably. But regardless, it's okay.

Do your thing. Do it your way. And I think you'll find that you really do have something unique and original.

As long as you're not writing about Belinda and Edwin who are fighting for their doomed love. Stay away from that one.:D

Ciao!

Potpourri

2010-02-21T21:14:00.005-07:00

You know that category in Jeopardy! that means it could be anything? Yeah . . . that's this entry.:D Lots of fun stuff though.

First off, a bit of news for all you aspiring authors, my lovely friend, Mandy Hubbard (author of Prada and Prejudice) is officially an agent!! After training for about six months under Jenny Bent (you guys know her? You should! I imagine a bunch of you have queried her. Heck, I think I got rejected by her twice. She's awesome!) Mandy is teaming up with Bob Diforio (I have a rejection from him too:)) as a brand new agent! Here's her PW announcement:

"Mandy Hubbard, a YA author (Prada and Prejudice) and agent, is joining D4EO Literary Agency as an agent concentrating on YA and middle grade fiction. She can be reached at Mandy@d4eo.com."

Mandy has spent the last few weeks communication directly with editors at all the big New York houses introducing herself and getting a feel for their individual tastes, etc. and she is really ready to go! So if you are looking for a hungry new agent with a great reputation as a person (:D) you may want to try Mandy. She is, as of last week, officially accepting queries.

Secondly, the incredible and fabulous Mundie Moms just turned one! And, of course, I was there to celebrate with them.:D Check out my post and browse their site while you're there. An amazing group of women with fabulous taste who have been so supportive of Wings right from the get-go. Thanks Katie!!!!

Okay, are you ready to watch my head explode from awesomeness? A few weeks ago my book released in Italy. Well, part of their promotional push was making a Facebook fanpage for David Lawson complete with an app you can install to get messages from David!!! As if that weren't enough, a band called Yavanna teamed up with "David" and put on a show this past weekend and went back and forth between singing and reading passages from MY BOOK!!! *insert fainting here* So I was totally stoked about that.

And then I saw pictures.

Oh. My. Gosh! The leaves! The cover! The huge projection screen!!!!!!

That is a big freaking picture of me up there!!! (Admittedly this picture was a little nerve-wracking.)

And aren't they just gorgeous?!?!?!?

I was just blown away! And there are a couple more pictures in the Facebook album. It was so surreal, especially knowing that all of this was happening in Italy, and in Italian. Whoa.

So I will be blogging again tomorrow and have a fun little video helping me illustrate why you shouldn't worry about someone writing "your idea." Till then!

Ciao!

ETA: Also someone posted some video. :)

Winners!!!

2010-02-15T11:06:00.002-07:00

*shifty eyes* I'm a day late. I had a busy and fun Valentine's Day and I hope you all did too!!

But I do have winners!! And since I'm not one to prolong the agony, here we go!

The winner of the ARC is twaddleoranything, with her pairing of Gavroche and Scout.

But this contest was so fun, I really could not just stop there!!

So our runners-up who get Valentine's treat bags are:

Emily Jane Jimenez pairing Alex Kim and Owen Armstrong

and Meghan Rachelle pairing Susan Pevensie and Rupert Giles!!

Thanks you everyone for entering!! We had almost 200 pairing and I got the biggest kick out of reading them all!

The small print, please email me at aprilynne pike (at) g-mail dot com with your address. If I do not hear from you by Friday, I will pick a new winner to take your place, so please email me!:D

Thanks again for entering!!!

Ciao!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-08T15:30:00.003-07:00

. . . a little early.:D

It's that time of year!! The time when love is heavy in the air?? No. The time when romance blossoms like flowers? Nope.

The time of year when Aprilynne gives away an ARC??

Ding, ding, ding!!!!:D

It's ARC time!!!

The Wings series is, at its heart, a love story, so I like giving an ARC away around Valentine's Day because . . . well, because I'm corny.:)

So one ARC of Spells is up for grabs!! Anyone is eligible, and all you have to do to enter is comment with your fantasy fiction pairing! Who do you think would make the very best couple from fiction (YA or not)? Who are those characters who go so perfectly together despite being created by totally different authors and living in completely separate universes?

For example: I think Hermione Granger and Edward Cullen, were totally MTB. After all, only a 110 year old vampire could keep up with her extensive knowledge, Hermione could use the love and attention that Edward would lavish on her, and Edward would totally appreciate Hermione's intelligence and subtle beauty.

Wings characters are up for grabs, but using them won't give you an edge.;)

Enter up until 12:00 EST on Saturday, February 13th, and I will announce the winner Valentine's Day.:D This blog posts on Blogger, LiveJournal, and Facebook--you can leave your comment any of these three places.

And if you don't win this one, you will have two more chances! Wingsfansite.com and Late Bloomer Online are both doing giveaways too! The Wings Fans' is already up and running and Late Bloomers are gearing up for theirs. So check out both these site for their contests and, if you feel like it, join or become a follower!

Good Luck!! I wish I had ARCs for all of you!!!

Ciao!

So. Tired.

2010-02-01T15:19:00.004-07:00

So my husband is taking his bar course and is gone all the time and even when he's home he's studying (hey! It's like being in law school again!) so why am I the one sitting here at my computer totally exhausted? *slump*

Oh, and with an ear infection. Again. My right ear hates me. But I have amoxicillin, so I'm a happy girl.:D

Actually, we've been having a lot of things break on us this last six weeks. And with the exception of the ear, they have all had to be replaced. The car, my husband's glasses, the washer, the sprinkler system that the new dog dug up. Yeah. This has left me with an amazing car that I love to pieces, new glasses that Kenny is kind of meh about but getting used to, a bottle of amoxicillin that made me contemplate how great it would have been to have that stuff during the Black Plague, and a dryer that sounds like a very quiet airplane taking off (and we *think* that's the way it's supposed to sound . . . we'll see.) Oh, and an appointment with the landscape guy. Also, some massive spending shock. Makes me glad we pay our taxes as we get checks instead of the other way around. (All you writers! Pay your taxes as you get your checks!!!:D)

I got word that my editor and co-editor enjoyed the third Wings book (yay!) and will be sending me my ed letter soon (*scared*). Actually, I'm really excited because my editor is brilliant and always asks just the right questions. (You know, the ones that make you go, Duh! Why didn't I think of that?)

And then, last week, I Twittered a pic of my banana bread and a bunch of people asked for the recipe. I rather had a good time making it fit into a tweet, but for those who can't decipher my many abbreviations, here is my really easy, really good banana bread!

Pre-heat over to 350 Degrees (I always forget this part.:D)

1 Stick Butter
2 Eggs
3-4 mushy bananas
3/4 cup brown sugar (or . . .yanno, a whole cup:))
*mix*
Add:
2 Cups flour (wheat or white)
1 tsp Baking Soda
Dash salt.
*moar mix*

Pour into whatever size of loaf pans you prefer (I make one big loaf.) And bake for 60-70 minutes. (The low temp, long cook time is what keeps it really moist!) If you use smaller loaf pans, reduce your cooking time.

If you want to be fancy (and heck, I always do) then you can sprinkle brown sugar across the top of the batter and it will caramelize and be really yummy.:)

I made a double batch last time:

Ciao!

Ninety-Nine Days!!!

2010-01-25T15:50:00.002-07:00

We are down to TWO DIGITS till Spells comes out!! I haven't checked in a while and went to my site to check this morning and was like Holy Cow!! Less than a hundred days! It feels so close and so far all at the same time! Mostly It feels weird that we are almost into the second month of 2010. Heck, it feels a little weird that it is 2010 at all. Twenty Ten! Hello!

Anyway, ARCs of Spells have begun circulating and showing up in book bloggers' mailboxes, and I don't want my lovely blog readers to feel left out!! So I wanted to let you guys know that there will be three Spells ARC giveaways coming up in the next month! Starting the week before Valentine's Day, I will be giving away an ARC here (because I love giving away a romantic book for Valentine's day!) and then I will also be providing an ARC to my two main fansites, Wingsfansite.org for the younger crowd, and Late Bloomers for the late teens and up crowd! We don't have details yet, but keep an eye on the blog and I will be putting the contest up soon!

Also, I am doing my first writers conference next month! One of my awesome Utah writer friends, Jeff Savage, is coming down to hang out with me . . .er . . . I mean be the keynote speaker, and it looks like a pretty good line-up! So if you are looking for a one-day writers conference in the greater Phoenix area, I'll be at this one.:D (You can find details here.)

2010 ANWA Writers Conference
"Start Write Now!"
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Best Western Dobson Ranch Inn
1666 South Dobson Road
Mesa AZ 85202-5699

So yeah, I think that's all my news. Oh, wait! Wait! I sold Basque rights to Wings and Spells last week! Long-time readers may know that I have a romance novel (that seriously needs to be totally re-written, but that's a whole other story) set in Basque and I have done tons of research on the area and am so exceptionally stoked about this!!! Basque is a fascinating language. So yeah, very happy.:D

Ciao!

I Suck.

2010-01-19T15:09:00.002-07:00

It's been almost two weeks. I apologize. My husband is in bar prep. Six nights a week. Plus studying and homework most of the day. That leaves me with my children . . . . ALONE!!! :D

Nah, it's really not that bad, it just means I have very little spare time and what I have has been going into keeping the house on the verge of being squalor. So we do not live in squalor!!! . . . quite.:)

So I am going to steal a page out of James Dashner's blog-book, since he is the world's laziest man (hehe, wuv you!) , and just give you a random list of ten things. Ready? Go!

1.) My mother made me a nightgown. It is gorgeous! It is dark purple and goes from shoulder to just touching the ground. And it has sleeves so that I can get up and walk around in the morning without getting dressed and still be decent since . . . .

2.) My brother-in-law and his wife are moving in with us this week. Yay!! I love having people living with us! I get to cook for more people! But I don't have to change their diapers! It's almost better than having a new baby!! Almost . . .

3.) Spells arcs are starting to be circulated!! They were all over the place at ALA Midwinter this last weekend and so reviews should shortly follow. I am scared. And excited. But mostly scared.

4.) However, to buoy my confidence a little, I got a wonderful, incredible, fabulous blurb from the newly minted NYT Bestselling author Carrie Jones, of the killer pixie novels Need and Captivate!! And because I am super mean and also want to show off my new Spells page of my website, I am going to make you click and scroll in order to read it.:)

5.) My kids are undergoing some rather intense academic testing. I worry for them! But hopefully this will put them in the same school and on the same schedule next year. *crosses fingers*

6.) I found a dark chocolate bar with lavender and blueberries. So full of WIN!

7.)My gym decided to give in and start Zumba classes. I am a happy girl.

8.) I got a P.O. Box. I feel all professional and special now.:D Now I just need to get my business cards printed (with the P.O. Box on them!!) so people will stop looking at me like I am an under prepared amateur when they ask for a card and I don't have any. *puts business cards on the to-do list*

9.) I'm out of wheat. In Utah you can get bulk white wheat at Wal-mart . . . or pretty much anywhere else. (You can probably get it at the corner gas station :)) Here? Not so much. I made my last five loaves of bread today (that's a normal batch) and I expect it to last less than a week, especially with my two new move-ins. I better start doing some research.

10.) I got a new van over Christmas. Did I mention that? It was because our other van died--we didn't actually want to get a new car till the Spring--but I love it and every time I drive it I feel like a spoiled brat. Also, the doors open and close when I push a button on my keychain and my two youngest kids are convinced they open when they yell "OPEN!" at them.:D

And that's me!!

Ciao!

Chocolate, Chocolate, and More Chocolate!

2010-01-06T18:43:00.013-07:00

Just FYI, this has absolutely nothing to do with books.:D

Okay, this entry is a little late, but super picture-laden. One of my very favorite Christmas traditions in the Pike household is making hand-dipped chocolates. I learned the basics from my fabulous mother-in-law, and I've kind of gone overboard with it over the last few years. But hey! No one has complained yet that I made too many kinds of chocolates.:) But Carrie Ryan wanted me to take pictures of the process, so if you find the following totally boring, blame her.:D

I'm going to start with my favorite, which is pinoche. (Pin-oh-chay.) (Lots of people say Pin-osh, and they are welcome to, but the recipe we finally found that we liked the best insisted that the pronunciation is pin-oh-chay, and who am I to argue with the most perfect recipe on earth?) Pinoche is a brown sugar fudge that we make really soft so I actually have to freeze it to get it out of the pan and then re-freeze it after I've cut it in order to keep it from dissolving when I dip it in chocolate. Frozen pinoche looks like this:

Then I dip it in melted chocolate and the irregular pieces look quite ugly. But they are sooooo good.

And once they are dipped and thawed, they look like this, with the soft, brown sugar/mapley centers barely hard enough to not drip out. Mmmmmmmmm.

The next easiest is truffles . . . actually, they are probably the easiest. But I like the pinoche the best, so it gets to be explained first.:D Truffles are actually super simple. I think they are best that way. The key for truffles for me, is to use European chocolate. They really melt in your mouth that way! So in my truffles, I use melted chocolate, scalded cream, and a touch of vanilla. That is it. Period.

Oh, and that bowl on top of a pan? That is me being too stubborn/cheap to buy a double boiler. Works like a charm!So I get those three ingredients mixed and I put it in the fridge until it hardens enough to scoop into balls. I have a teeny little scooper just for this purpose!

Then, like the pinoche, I have to freeze them in order to dip them without them melting to pieces in the warm dipping chocolate.:) (I'll show you a pic of them dipped in a second.)

The really tricky part of making chocolates is making my flavored creams. I make them out of fondant from scratch so there is much boiling and stretching.:D Basically I boil the snot out of a mixture of sugar, cream, sugar, Karo syrup, and sugar. Then I lay out parchment paper in 9x13 pans and pour the boiling hot liquid into them.

Usually this works like a dream. This time one of my pans cracked under the pressure.

Then I have to cool it to the perfect temperature. I can't let it get too cold or it will crack, but if I don't let it get cold enough, it won't set up. I'm finally getting a feel for it.

After it is cool, I plop it into my bosch. (You can do this by hand, but it is way, way hard.)

Then I use my dough kneading attachment and stretch the fondant for about ten minutes, at which point it changes. Seriously, check out this before and after. It always excites me!

Cool huh! Then I flavour and color it and scoop it out into perfect little sherbet looking balls!

Then freezing the centers again, so they can be soft inside the chocolate, but hard when I dip them.

And when they are done they look like this! With all kinds of interesting splatters to differentiate between the flavors!

I also dipped several kinds in white chocolate this year, but totally spaced getting pictures.

So there are my chocolates!!! Wish I could give a few to each of you, but pics will have to do.

Ciao!

Covers, News, and the Year in Review

2009-12-31T08:13:00.005-07:00

Wow. What year. Most amazing year of my life! But I'll get to that later. First! Covers!!!!!

An anonymous commenter (I kid you not) left me a link to my Russian cover and it is gorgeous!! I am so stoked by it! Very sexy!

I mean, really. Isn't that awesome!!!!

And then we spotted my first foreign Spells cover this week too!

It has a silver chain for a stem, people! Height of awesomeosity. (Yes, I did just make that word up.)

Long-time readers will know this, but in case you don't, generally authors have little to no say in their covers. Closer to the "no" than the "little." And even less in the foreign covers! So all my awesome covers? I can brag about them endlessly because I had absolutely nothing to do with them. Nuh-thing. Nothing.

But aren't they great!!!:D

In news, I have my first event of 2010 next week! Whoo-hoo! Changing Hands, the illustrious Phoenix Indie, is hosting Yallapalooza! Check it out! No seriously, check it out. It is going to be AWESOME!!!! There is going to be live music! I have never been to an event with live music! And free food. Who doesn't love free food?? Anyway, there will be a ton of us there, including my new author friends Janette Rallison, James Owen, and the inestimable Janni Lee Simner. But the AZ authors are getting with a bunch of L.A. authors I've never met and we are SO going to par-tay! I am so excited! It is going to be amazing! There will be exclamation points! So if you are in the greater Phoenix area, or, indeed, anywhere in the Southwest United States, you should come! It's Saturday, January 9th from 4-7PM, at Changing Hands Bookstore. Seriously, come! All YA, all the time. :D

Anyway, it has been an amazing year. And not just for me! So here is my whole year in review:

January and February saw me on a pre-publication tour. It was my very first event for Wings and also my first time signing books. Yay! This was an amazing experience for so many reasons. I met a ton of librarians, readers, and bookstore staff who just fell in love with Wings. I also had to prick my head with a pin every night as they were determined to blow it up to astronomical sizes. :D

April was my husband's month. After three grueling years, he graduated law school! What a momentous day!! I was so proud. :D

May was Wings month. I spent the whole month traveling, often to places I'd never been before. I also went to BEA for the first time and became a NYT Bestselling author. Whoa. I have never had such a whirlwind month! And even if the release of Spells is exactly the same, this year will still be the most special release, because it was the first time, with everything new and sparkly!

June was my first event with other authors (Supernatural Summer, which I will be doing again this year, yay!). It also was the month I moved back to Arizona, which I have been looking forward too since I moved away from Arizona three years earlier.:D I moved into my gorgeous new house (courtesy of the crappy housing market) and have my own office for the first time and everything is wonderful here!

In July my movie deal was announced and I got to watch my own little media frenzy happen. I was mentioned on People.com, mtv.com, Variety.com, ONTD.com and on the TV segment The Soup on E! It was very strange, and unreal, and exciting!!

In August I finally fell off the list after spending eleven weeks there. Completely unreal. Eleven weeks!! And I promise you this; every week was a gift. Makes for some jittery Wednesdays though.:D

In October I got some really wonderful news I can't share yet, but it was important, so I'm mentioning it.:D

In November I hosted Thanksgiving with fifty people in attendance. 'Nuff said.

In December I kind of pulled away from the world and gathered my family in close and had a quiet holiday. Honestly, it was just what I needed. Because despite the wonderful, amazing things that happened this year, my life revolves around my husband and my kids. And they are what make everything worthwhile.

So, yeah, an amazing year. It wasn't all roses and clover. I cried over my books at least three times, determined I was a hack author who couldn't do anything right. I had someone I thought was a friend stab me in the back. I was separated from my family for almost three weeks when they moved while I was touring and that was really hard. And revisions . . . well, they are always soul-sucking.:D But all of that pales in the face of how many great things happened to me this year and the readers, bloggers, and fellow authors who have joined me for the ride. I got to meet so many amazing people in my travels. And readers. Oh, I love my readers! Especially the teen readers. They have such enthusiasm! I have been laughing at my Google alerts the last couple days as I have been placed on both Best of and Worst of 2009 book lists--because no list is as cool as a thirteen-years-old's sparkling eyes. That's what's important to me.

And you, dear readers, thank you for joining me again this year. It's been a long time since I started this blog in January of 2006. Quite. A. Ride. Thank you for coming with me. Whenever you started.

And buckle your seat belts, because this roller coaster ride isn't over yet!

For your viewing pleasure...

Happy New Year!!!

Ciao!

Jacket Copy

2009-12-16T14:50:00.003-07:00

One of the things that I always worry about on my books is jacket copy. This is the little bit of text and/or description that goes in the inside jacket flap. This little bit of text, that--second only to the cover--is generally the biggest reason people buy books, is infamous for being written by interns anxious to cut their teeth on new projects. I don't know who writes mine, but for the second time in a row, I have FAB jacket copy!! I've had it for a while but it is now starting to pop up on my google alerts in sale listings, so now I get to share!

"I can't just storm in and proclaim my intentions. I cant 'steal' you away. I just have to wait and hope that, someday, you'll ask," Tamani said.

"And if I don't?" Laurel said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Then I guess I'll be waiting forever."

Although Laurel has come to accept her true identity as a faerie, she refuses to turn her back on her human life--and especially her boyfriend David--to return to the fae world.

But when she is summoned to Avalon, Laurel's feeling for the charismatic faerie sentry Tamani are undeniable. She is forced to make a choice--a choice that could break her heart.

Yay! I love the quote they picked!

In other news of awesomeness, Wings has been selected as one of five nominees for Best YA Paranormal/Fantasy Novel of 2009! I am in the excellent company of The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong, Tempted by P.C. and Kristin Cast, The Maze Runner by James Dashner, and Shadowland by Alyson Noel! You can download the PDF of all the nominees in all categories here! Lots of lovely books in there!

And something I think is cool--though you may not :)--is that Wings is being released in large print in January! As someone who has awful eyes, that makes me happy.:D

Also, my German cover has come up on Amazon!!! I think it is SO beautiful and I am so pleased to share!!

*lesigh* The German edition is expected to hit shelves in March! I'm expecting my friend Jen to take a pic for me. *koffkoff* ;)

Later this week I will take a break from Wings stuff and will be doing a large, picture-filled candy making entry.

You've been warned.:D

Ciao!

Coolest. Picture. Ever.

2009-12-07T14:22:00.002-07:00

I have a billboard!!

*runs breathlessly around in circles and falls over and dies of glee*

Okay, how awesome is that!! My agent sent this to me this morning. It is advertising my French copies in Canada, and the foreign rights' agent said they are everywhere!!

Eeeeeee!!!!!!!

Ciao!

Housekeeping

2009-12-01T10:56:00.004-07:00

I survived my Thanksgiving!!! Not only survived it, but had a really great time! Three days of partying. Really, it just doesn't get any better than that!

But words are cheap, I know you all just want to see the picture of my sixteen pies.:D

Here you go!

*drools* They were beautiful!

Okay! So this is mostly a post full of catch-up and housekeeping!

It has been an incredible six months of foreign rights sales and I haven't updated you guys in ages. And . . . well . . . somebody ads it to my Wikipedia page and I'm vain. Deal with it.:D

UK/ Harper UK

German / Random House

Brazil (Portuguese) / Editora Bertrand

Estonian / Kirjastus Pegasus

Italian / Sperling & Kupfer Editori

Hebrew / Matar

Canada (French) / Ediciones Ada

Spanish / Urano

Turkish / Pegasus

Polish / Wydawnictwo Dolnoslaskie

Lithuanian / Media Incognito

Russian / Exmo

Greek / Livanis

Portugal / Bertrand

French / Pocket Jeunesse

Japanese / Take-Shobo

Croat / Mosaik Knjiga

Indonesian / PT Gramedia

Dutch / Standaard

Hungary / Konyvmoly

Bulgarian / Studio Art-Line

Catalan / La Galera

And I have three more currently being negotiated, so by the end of 2009, Wings will be set to be published in 25 foreign countries. Can we say better than I ever dreamed of? *swoon*

Tons of people have been asking about the movie. Sadly, the movie industry moves about as slowly as the publishing industry. But the good news is, we are still moving! Still progressing! Things are happening and we are still heading in the right direction! (How's that for a vague update?!?!)

Probably the biggest housekeeping announcement is that I am taking a break from email for the month of December so I can spend a bit more time with my family. Also, I am hoping most people are just too busy with the holidays to email me, so I won't miss very many.:D We are big Christmas people in my house and along with it being family time, I also make hand-dipped chocolates and truffles and that takes up a huge chunk of my time in December. So I won't be doing much writing or reading, just snuggling kinds and hubby and rolling in chocolate . . .er . . . I mean rolling fondant centers in chocolate. Yeah, that's what I mean.:D

I will still be blogging and tweeting, I just need a small break from emailing. If I have your email already, you'll get a response. But if not, wait till January to write me.:D And have a great holiday while you're waiting!

And lastly, don't forget Holidaze With the Debs!! Live in Chicago? Near Chicago? Near an airport than flies into Chicago?? Come see us!!! All info here!

It's going to be way fun! So come if you can!

Ciao!

Pictures, Pictures, and More Pictures!

2009-11-20T09:57:00.012-07:00

Okay, I have owed you guys pictures for a long time. So here's a big post full of them!

Remember a few weeks ago when I did the faerie tea party? It was so fun! I went to a Boys and Girls Club and they invited girls from five clubs who were all part of a reading program called Smart Girls! (Love that!) A group of women who throw tea parties professionally volunteered to come and to the tea party part! They laid out long tablecloths so the girls could have "tables" complete with faerie party favors! (Oh, and that gorgeous chair? That was mine.:))

And the girls came in, most of them having read the book, a bunch wearing wings, and all of them excited for the party!

And, of course, what kind of party would it be without my Late Bloomers, Espe (who organized) and Jen (who wore a tutu!)?

Thanks guys!!!

A bit of randomness; my husband and I discovered the most amazing Asian market a few weeks ago. Uh. Maze. Ing!! Most Asian markets I've been to are boutique sized. This one is the size of a large grocery store! And they have everything! One of our favorites, they have an entire aisle of Ramen. Every kind of ramen you could imagine. This is just one side of the aisle--the other is just as packed!

For our anniversary next week, instead of going out to eat, we are going to the Asian market and picking up a ton of stuff and having a cooking night! (Mmmm, steam buns . . . .)

Okay, since I was a little girl, I have always wanted a canopy bed. What little girl doesn't? Sadly, it took me till I was 28 to get one.

*sigh* I'm in love with my bed!

Then, last weekend, I went to the faerie festival in Goodyear! It was so fun! Hardcore faerie fans! And I got to meet back up with one of my favorite authors, in word and in person, Janni Lee Simner (watch for her new book, Thief Eyes, next Spring, and the sequel to Bones of Faerie in 2011!!) Here's Janni reading for her fab novel, Bones of Faerie!

But Janni was far from the only author there! I got to hang with Janette Rallison (who won the award for the best author in costume) and James A. Owen (who did that little air-kiss greeting thing with me--that always makes me feel chic and sophisticated . . . which . . . I'm not.:)) And here we are!

Gee, what IS that little book in the bottom left hand corner??? (I promise the table was not just full of my books. The others cleared them off before the pic, I' don't know why. In actuality the table was mostly full of James' books.:D)

And the tutus made another appearance! This time everyone got one!! Jen's awesome SIL Malinda was very busy making tutus for everyone. You can't see mine in the picture, but it is fluffy and wonderful!!!

So that is my last month in pictures! Next up, feeding 39 people for Thanksgiving and making sixteen pies from scratch! It's going to be epic and you'd better believe there are going to be pictures!!!:D

Ciao!

Live in Chicago??

2009-11-17T22:09:00.003-07:00

Then come see me!! And not only me, but several of the Debs!! Introducing:

You can find more information about the entire tour here. But here is the part of the Deb Tour that I will be participating in!

CHICAGO

Dec. 5, 1-3 p.m.
Borders
161 N. Weber Road
Bolingbrook, IL
Including: Cynthea Liu, Saundra Mitchell, Aprilynne Pike, Kristina Springer, Darcy Vance, Lara Zielin

Dec. 5, 7-9 p.m.
The Book Cellar, Inc.
4736-38 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL
Including: Cynthea Liu, Saundra Mitchell, Aprilynne Pike, Kristina Springer, Darcy Vance, Lara Zielin

There will also be stops in New York, Toronto (Debs go international! Yay!!), and San Francisco! So if you live around any of those areas, please go see the Debs! This is our final big event for the year and we intend to make it a good one!!!

Ciao!

Spells!

2009-11-10T20:28:00.004-07:00

Well, my title and cover kinda got out this week. Which means I get to post them both early!! (I'm pretending to be really sad about that. So some of my Tweeps have already seen this, but here is my cover for SPELLS, the sequel to WINGS!!!

Yay! I just love it! I especially love the font, which is just a bit different than on Wings.

But you know what I really love? That it will be on the shelves in less than six months! I really love Spells. *whispers* I think it's better than Wings . . . Of course, I think every author thinks each subsequent book is better than the last so, well, I'm probably biased.:D But at the very least, I hope you all love the cover as much as I do!

Ciao!

Squishy hugs

2009-11-05T08:33:00.001-07:00

I love Moonrat.

Just sayin'.

Ciao.

Firsts

2009-10-31T14:49:00.002-06:00

Happy Halloween everyone!!! As a huge sugar-bug, Halloween is one of my very favorite holidays!! I am so looking forward to trick-or-treating with my three munchkins tonight in our new neighborhood and in fabulous weather. (The 60's!)

Okay, I have been thinking a lot about firsts lately. And by first I mean, your first agent, your first book deal, your first publisher, etc. In case you are not familiar with my history, I spent almost two years looking for an agent and then spent a year with that agent (and two different books) before I got a contract. By the time I got an agent, I was basically desperate enough that I probably would have taken any legit agent I could get. By the time I got published, I would have taken just about any legit publisher I could get. I know a lot of aspiring authors have felt and do feel the same way.

But maybe it's not that simple.

I owe my agent connection to luck. I will state that right out front. But because I did end up with my incredible, fabulous agent, she matched me with a wonderful editor and a house I could not be more happy with. But, also luck, I managed to get the idea for a genre I am more than happy to spend my whole career writing in. All of my firsts, set me on the path I want to be in. On the path that my fit my goals. But, what was not luck, is that when it became obvious that my book was not going to sell, I looked for another way to meet my goals. I wrote another book. It eventually lead me to the career I have now.

The reason I have been thinking about this is that I have been communicating with a lot of aspiring authors lately. And some of them have quite literally stumbled into great positions, some have settled for less than ideal positions, some are quite happy in positions I would not be happy with, and some are reaching that awful, gut-wrenching point of desperation that I am very familiar with.

I think that sometimes we don't realize how important those firsts are. Most authors tend to spend their careers in the genre they first break out in, and at the level at which they break out at. Bestsellers tend to continue being bestsellers (whether or not it's justified), mid-listers often talk about how hard it is to break out of the mid-list range, and it is surprisingly difficult to move from a small publisher to a big one. (I do want to point out some lovely exceptions: Maggie Steifvater, James Dashner, and Ally Carter--for genre--to name a few.) So it does happen, but it's generally the exception rather than the rule.

So what that first book is, can be so crucial. I think that sometimes you have to sit back and really examine your goals. And be honest. Not dreams, not fears, goals.

Here are some examples of goals I have heard in the last little while:

I just want to see my book on the shelf of a brick and mortar store.
I want to have copies of my book available for my family.
I want to win awards.
I want to make my living writing. Not a millionaire, but writing full-time.
I want to be a bestseller. Not necessarily THE bestseller, but A bestseller.
I want to publish a book a year. I don't really care about the money.
I have this one story inside me. I don't know that I will ever write another book.

What are YOUR goals? And what are you doing to make sure that your firsts are going to satisfy those goals?

I have a friend who wrote and published several books without an agent, and eventually, when she felt it was prudent, signed with an agent. Now, after several years, her agent is not meeting her requirements, and she is leaving her. Honestly, I think it's a good move, but I can't help but wonder (No offense! I know you know who you are!!) if her whole career could have been a bit different if, way back then, she had really put a lot of research into her agent choice and not signed with the first agent she contacted, just because she was nice. I suspect that because of all the books under her belt, she will not have trouble finding a new agent, but it can be really hard to break out of the track you have already established yourself to be on.

I had dinner with another friend the other night and about halfway through the conversation, I realized that her goals are not the same as mine were when I was in her position. She falls into the, I would like to see this book in stores, category. And the next realization struck me rather hard. It was that that's okay.

To be very honest, I have always had very high goals for myself. I wanted to be a very commercial author and write for a very broad audience. That was important to me, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. But that doesn't mean that is the path for every author.

You want to release a book a year to a loyal audience and maybe be nominated (and perhaps win!) awards? Maybe a small publisher is perfect for you. Do you seriously want to be a bestseller and anything less would be disheartening? Then you probably shouldn't sign with a small publisher. It *probably* will not help you reach that particular goal. I could go on endlessly with more examples. (But I won't.;))

It's really hard for us as writers to be honest and objective about our work. I remember the first time this summer that my agent meh-ed a story idea I thought was really great. I was wounded! It took me several days to realize she was right. Is it still a decent idea? Probably. Is it too literary and obscure for my current goals? Yes. And since my agent's job is to help me reach my goals, she was right to suggest I put it to the side. And I have.

But it's even harder when you don't have an agent to tell you hard truths. It means you have to tell yourself.

So if you are reaching that point of desperation, and you are starting to think you are willing to take anything, even if it is not going to help you reach your goals, can I suggest something?

Take a step back, realize this is a long-term journey. And write another book.

I'll say it again.

Write another book.

I have never, ever heard an author express regrets that they wrote another book. (Generally that is synonymous with, "I wrote a BETTER book.") But I am starting to hear a lot of regrets that authors did NOT write another book. That they rode their MS into the ground, that they signed with an agent they didn't actually want instead of writing a book that could get a better one, that they signed with a tiny publisher just to get their book out there, even though they hoped to do better.

I empathize! I do!! I wrote three and a half books before I wrote Wings. Shelving the book that got me an agent, but not a publisher, was one of the hardest things I have ever done.

And it was worth it.

Don't settle.

Not everyone is going to be a bestseller/lead title/ next big things/etc. That's not the point. But whatever your personal goals are, don't settle for less just because the other option is shelving your book and trying again. Those firsts are so important. Make them the right firsts.

Ciao!

Potpourri

2009-10-28T11:20:00.002-06:00

Links for everyone!:D

Okay, some fun things lately; I was asked by my lovely friend Saundra Mitchell to do a write-up about a brush with the supernatural. Problem is, I've never had one!! So, being the dirty-rotten liar that I am, I decided to write the ghost story I wish had happened to me. It's a bunch of lies mixed up with a bunch of truth, and I really had fun writing it! You can check it out here!

Secondly, Leave A Mark is auctioning off a copy of my book. This is a very special copy though. Basically, I have gone through and made notes in the margins throughout the whole book. Sometimes just a comment about writing it, sometimes further insights, and--in a couple of places--little spoilers.:) I don't normally link to places to buy my book, but this is a charity auction and every single dollar that is bid goes right to First Book, a really great book charity. Plus I have had so much fun "leaving my mark" on this copy of the book. So if you are interested, you can check it out here!

Also, I am coming to Chicago in December! I will have more details soon, but the Debs are doing several nation-wide appearances and I've signed up for the Chicago stop! I will be there with about five other Debs and we are doing two appearances in the greater Chicago area. So stay tuned for more details about that!

This is not a public thing, but I am going to a Boys and Girls Club tomorrow for a faerie tea party! I suspect there will be many fun pics to share when I get back! Also, so I don't forget, sometime in the next day or two, I will be posting about firsts, and how important they are in the writing industry.

Till then, Ciao!!!

Messages and Brainwashing and Graffiti, Oh My!

2009-10-23T17:12:00.004-06:00

Welcome back to blog tour! I am so excited to be presenting you with CANDOR by Pam Bachorz today! I "met" (online) Pam probably a year ago . . . maybe a year and a half . . . and ever since I found out what CANDOR was about, I have been dying to read it! I was very glad to get an ARC of it shortly after BEA (thanks Elizabeth Law!!) and dove right in! Here is a bit about CANDOR: Oscar Banks has everything under control. In a town where his father brainwashes everyone, he’s found a way to secretly fight the subliminal Messages. He’s got them all fooled: Oscar’s the top student and the best-behaved teen in town. Nobody knows he’s made his own Messages to deprogram his brain. But then Nia Silva moves to Candor, and Oscar falls in love. He must choose whether to let Nia be lost to brainwashing—or to sacrifice himself.

And look at that cover. Isn't it awesome?!?!

Okay, and here is a bit about Pam, who I actually got to meet at BEA, and she has as lovely a personality as she does a face! Pam Bachorz grew up in a small town in the Adirondack foothills, where she participated in every possible performance group and assiduously avoided any threat of athletic activity. Pam attended college in Boston and finally decided she was finished after earning four degrees. Her mother is not happy that Pam’s degrees are stored under her bed.

Pam lives just outside Washington, DC with her husband and their son. She likes to read books not aimed at her age group, go to museums and theater performances, and watch far too much television. She even goes jogging. Reluctantly.

As far as she knows, Pam has never been brainwashed. Or maybe that’s just what she’s supposed to say.

Pam was kind enough to cyber-sit down with me to do our Feasty Five! So here we go!

AP: My dear Pam, welcome to the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Pam: *blinks*

AP: Oh sorry, wrong cue card. Welcome to Apparently! Let's talk about Oscar. What kind of soda would Oscar drink?

PB: Soda? No soda allowed in Candor, Florida! It has no nutritious value! Oscar gets six ounces of OJ every day at breakfast; his father marks the side of the OJ container with a pencil to make sure Oscar doesn't sneak extra.

AP: Okay, I admit that I have been waiting to post that answer for ages, because the reason my main character drinks soda is because, for her, it does have nutritional value.:D But Oscar has to be forgiven for being human, I guess.;) What is Oscar's favorite kind of flower? How about yours?

PB: Oscar loves lilacs because that's the scent his love, Nia, wears. I picked lilacs for Nia because they're one of my favorite flowers, and also because they don't thrive in Florida (just like Nia). When I moved from Florida to Maryland, we planted a lilac in the backyard!

AP: I adore lilacs. Does Oscar believe in magic? Do you?

PB: We've never talked about it, Oscar and me, but I don't think he's a big believer in magic. He's a believer in himself and his cleverness, more.

Me, I'm a big believer in magic. Someday I'm going to write a big exciting book filled with magic. Or maybe a small creepy paranoid one. Either way... there WILL be magic.

AP: *laugh* Nice. Okay, let's move away from Oscar and focus on the really important issue: Superman or Batman?

PB: Batman. He's cool because he does all his superhero stuff with zero super powers. Plus I like all the broodiness.

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

PB: A little something from my main character, Oscar:
"But I’d seen his bank balance—all the buyers have to give that information to my father, including their kids’ accounts—and I knew he could be worth my time. "

AP: *squeals* I love that line! Pam, thanks for being here, readers, this is an awesome book and it is one of the first wave of books out from Egmont, a publisher that recently started up in the US (it has been popular in the UK, IIRC) and is off to a flying start with novels like Candle Man and an awesome book I will be spotlighting later next month, The Dark Divine, by Bree DeSpain. I've been impressed by them, and CANDOR certainly didn't let me down. You don't often see present-day dystopias, but this is a good one. And though Nia is not the point-of-view character, you will love her!

You can visit Pam at her website, it's lovely and orange!! And something extra fun, you can visit the Candor, FL website and see what kind of advertising Oscar's dad may have used to woo parents into moving to his town! Check it out HERE!

Ciao!!

Streotypical Stereotypes??

2009-10-21T08:32:00.003-06:00

Prepare for a long, rather rambly, slightly rant-y post. You've been warned.

Several days ago, my husband stumbled across another author's great blog entry on bucking gender (both genders) stereotypes. My husband was delighted to find, in his words, a blogger so clearly "intelligent and academic!" So he dived in and joined the conversation.

Only to have it suggested that his input was unwelcome because he is male.

I kid you not.

So after a few pert words, he took his shovel and pail and left them to their tea-party.

But since I actually like boys here at my playground (Hi James! Hi David! Hi Graham!) I really did want to look at some of these issues in a nice, neutral marketplace of ideas.

We'll start with a story that you may have seen if you follow me on twitter. Last week I was at the airport waiting at the curb for my mom to pick me up. Two men (looked like a father and grown son) were also waiting. A pretty blonde woman starts to drive by, sees him, and pulls in at a sharp angle. The man (husband, I assume) gestures for her to pull up into the enormous empty space in front of her and says, "Pull forward!" The woman gets this utterly, completely vapid look on her face, I see her "get it," she giggles rather insipidly, and pulls forward. . . . about twenty feet. The husband's shoulders slump a little as he picks up his bags and mutters, "Not that far," and tromps after her. The father follows and in response to the little giggles that went through the crowd says, "She's pregnant." Everyone surrounding me goes, "Ahhhh."

What?? How is that justification?? Talk about perpetuating a stereotype that is completely false! She's not being a moron because she's pregnant, she's just a "dumb blonde," pregnant or not.

Don't get mad at me yet. I know I vilified one stereotype and used the other. I'll come back to this.

One of the issues that my hubby brought up that was instantly misunderstood and attacked, was the question, is it always wrong to write stereotypical characters? He may as well have asked, is it always wrong to ritually sacrifice children? But if I were writing the above scene into a story, would it be my responsibility to change the woman's hair color to brown so that I was not perpetuating the "dumb blonde" stereotype? But she was blonde! Is it politically incorrect for me to change that?

The word "stereotype" is pretty much always used in the pejorative sense. Why is that? Well, no one wants to be defined by a stereotype, and no one wants to read a book that is drowning in clichés. But there is very little you can do that someone else can't use to stereotype you--especially in high school, in my opinion. How often are the valedictorian and the captain of the football team the same person? How many members of the chess team are finalists in the Junior Miss pageant? How often is the fastest runner on the cross-country team one of the chain-smoking bad boys?

Never say never! But let's say... rarely. Sometimes (except maybe the chain-smoking bad boy!;)), but not often. Call it cliques, call it social borders, but if you see a high schooler walking down the hallway, and guess what their extra-curricular activities are based solely on their appearance, you will often be right.

So why do we abhor them so much, in life and in writing? Don't we write about real life? Certainly, if we don't like a stereotype that is being applied to us, it's good to remember that it is possible to cross those boundaries--even to cut them down. And teenagers especially will often do things with no more reason than to "be different," because that is part of understanding who we are! But I think a lot of people have become so fixated on bucking gender stereotypes that main characters who "buck stereotypes" have become their own cliché.

Like if I hold up a book and say, "This is a kick-a$$ chick book," you instantly know what I am talking about. And so the idea that we can "never" write stereotypes, seems like one of a million other "never" rules. It can't always be true--it must be a stereotype!

I think maybe what people really mean when they say don't write stereotypes, is to make strong, unique characters. See, that is a phrase I can live with. Because sometimes the interesting story IS a character who resides within a stereotype. I recently read the ARC of a book called A Match Made in High School by Kristin Walker, out next year. It is hilarious! I loved it! However, as time passes, the character who really sticks with me is a side character. She is every cheerleading stereotype you could imagine. She is popular, blonde, skinny, mean, slutty. She is a cookie cutter. I should not like her! The author sets you up not to like her. But as the book went on, she became redeemed in my eyes.

**MINOR SIDEPLOT SPOILER ALERT** Not because you see her soft side, or because she changes. In fact, the only real vulnerability you see is from her boyfriend's point of view, which is--at least somewhat--biased. But the character you really get to see is the boyfriend. Despite being quite cruel at the beginning, you come to realize that he really is just a show-off with a good heart, and he loves this cheerleader. I thought the author was setting things up for the well-rounded boyfriend to leave the two-dimensional cheerleader for the main character. But he doesn't, he keeps loving her, and because he does, the reader does too. If this cheerleader had not been such a stereotype, it would not have been nearly so compelling of a story line.**END SPOILER**

I sometimes get really frustrated with all the "rules" and "responsibilities" and "politics" that everyone likes to perpetuate around the web in the writing community. We are "supposed" to make our female characters strong and confident! But I mention that Laurel knows she's pretty and some readers assume that means she is "stuck up." We are supposed to present diversity, but despite Tamani being dark-haired and dark-skinned (there is no "race" as such among faeries, just appearances), some readers see blonde Laurel and say I am equating goodness with light hair and skin. (Aren't there good blondes in this world too?) And on the other side of the spectrum, some people think that it is unbelievable that Laurel comes in and attracts the "hottest guy in the school," and I am like, uh . . . really? You think the science geek is the hottest guy in the school? No one is ever going to be one hundred percent happy with your text--but what's more, people will stereotype your characters in ways you never intended.

So what do we, as writers, do? Honestly, I think the way to go about this is to go old school. Just write the story that wants to be told. If your main character is ethnic/gay/female/handicapped/whatever, great, but if that's the most interesting thing about their story, you may be writing yourself into a cliché! And definitely don't write in token ethnic/gay/female/handicapped/whatever characters--people will see through that. Rather, focus on writing unique characters in an interesting story, and remember that doing the "stereotypical" thing can be just as "unexpected" as being a rebel!

I'm going to wrap up (yes, really, I'm ending it now) with a quote from Neal Stephenson that I think applies to SO many aspects of life (and was rebuffed in the blog entry because, yes, Neal Stephenson is a boy so his input doesn't count). At the end of a book called Diamond Age a young woman is asked by a mentor-figure whether she will “conform or rebel,” and she answers, “Neither . . . . Both ways are simple-minded--they are only for people who cannot cope with contradiction and ambiguity.”

So when faced with this litany of rules that I am expected to follow, I ask myself, will I follow them, or refuse? And, like the girl in Diamond Age, I reply, neither. I will follow when I see fit, and break away when I feel necessary. In that, I feel I am more free to tell the best story.

Hehe, you made it to the end, eh? I'm impressed!

Ciao!

Tryouts and Crushes and Secrets, Oh My!

2009-10-19T22:20:00.005-06:00

Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up, it's Blog Tour time!!!! Cool Readings!!!!!

Yes, yes, I am teh lame.:D But welcome back to DebsTour 2009! Tonight we have the lovely Lauren Bjorkman with her new book MY INVENTED LIFE, shown here. *gestures all Vanna White-ly to the left. . . no, the other left* This book definitely wins one of my top favorite covers award. Something about it, I don't know. But anyway, here's a bit about MIL! Roz and Eva are sisters, close friends, and fierce rivals. Roz fantasizes about snagging the lead in the school play and sexy skate god Bryan as her boyfriend. Sadly a few obstacles stand between her and her dreams. For one, Eva is the more talented actress. And Bryan happens to be Eva’s boyfriend. But is Eva having a secret love affair with a girl? Inquiring minds need to know.

Roz prides herself on random acts of insanity. In one such act, she invents a girlfriend of her own to encourage Eva to open up. The plan backfires, and Roz finds herself neck deep in her invented life. When Roz meets a mercurial boy with a big problem, she begins to understand the complex feelings beneath the labels. And she gets a second chance to earn Eva’s trust.

I have not yet gotten a chance to read this one, but it is on the top of my TBR pile as soon as I finish up my edits. (It's my re-ward.:D)

And a bit about the fab Lauren: I grew up on a sailboat, sharing the tiny forecastle with my sister and the sail bags. We are still friends. Visiting exotic lands continues to be a big part of my life. I once learned how to make bread in Yemen Bedouin style. I’ve played Hacky Sack with children in Thailand. My passion for travel is second only to my love for books because take me to every world imaginable. I live in Taos, New Mexico with my husband, two sons, a cat that thinks he’s a dog, and another cat that thinks he’s a rabbit.

Mmmm, you lost me at "I grew up on a sailboat." Have I mentioned I am rather obsessed with boats? I love boats.

Ahem. Okay, without further ado, here is Lauren with our Feasty Five!

AP: What kind of soda does your MC drink?

LB: BlueSky. Roz's mom is into everything organic. But then again Roz might sneak out to the Zip-Stop for a Dr. Pepper later.

AP: Dr. Pepper's not organic? Huh, who knew. What is your MC's favorite kind of flower? How about yours?

LB: Yellow roses. I especially love ginger flowers woven into a lei.

AP: I *think* that is a first for both those answers. Does your MC believe in magic? Do you?

LB: Yes! and Yes! Roz is particularly addicted to online ouija.

AP: With enthusiasm! Gotta love it! Superman or Batman?

LB: Batman. Superman is too good.

AP: Too good? Explain.

LB: *helpless shrug*

AP: I guess it really doesn't have to make sense.:D Give us one line from your book. You don't even have to give it context.:)

LB: "I'm not one to give up, especially when common sense dictates I should."

AP: My kind of woman! Whoo-hoo!

Okay, Lauren's book is out in stores now and you can visit her at her awesome website! (There are pictures of boats!!! I'm just sayin'.)

Thanks for stopping by, Lauren!!! (Whose name I keep trying to mis-type as Laurel . . . I wonder why . . .:D)

Ciao!

Bleh!

2009-10-13T22:02:00.001-06:00

I am in the revision cave. My kids are sick. I think I'm coming down with it too.

But I didn't want to leave you hanging!

More next week, I promise.

Ciao!

Apparently !

Helping Husband

DESTINED!

Trick or Treat!

Eureka!!!!!

Book Four!

How To Get Stuff

No News, But Thanks Anyway!

Wings 4 Playlist

I'm Alive!!!!:D

Where's Aprilynne

Winners and Swag of AWESOME!!!!

Trailer!!!

Winner!

International ONLY Contest for WILD!!

Illusions Cookie

SO Many Exciting Things!!!!

Illusions Chapter Two!

Stuff, Stuff, Stuff!!

Winner!

The Vespertine and Faerie Winter!

ILLUSIONS, Chapter One

Winners!!!

Spread the Cover Love ARC Giveaway!

NOM, NOM, NOM, Cookies!!!

Whoa . . .

Winner and Boxes

Tempestuous!

The Last Three Weeks

My Excuse:)

Starting a Business

I'm Cheating

Cover . . . .S!!!!:D

Puzzled

Illusions!!!

Learning to Fail, Preparing to Succeed

Winners!

Massive Giveaway!

Yeah . . . That . . .

Potpourri

Appearances!

It's A Good Day!

What's In A Name?

A Better Way?

Wings Three

I Have Fallen Behind

Just For Fun With Meg Cabot!

As Promised!

Creative Thinking

Book Four . . . Whoa!

Bad Blogger, No Cookie

Party!

You Are Not Your Book!!

Supernatural Summer!!!

Party, Party, Party!!!!

What I Did on my Summer Vacation

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

Well!

So . . .

Tour Dates and Dismay

Winner!!

Winners and Widgets!

Rules, Books, and ARCs

The Cave

That Was MY Idea!!

Potpourri

Winners!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

So. Tired.

Ninety-Nine Days!!!

I Suck.

Chocolate, Chocolate, and More Chocolate!

Covers, News, and the Year in Review

Jacket Copy

Coolest. Picture. Ever.

Housekeeping

Pictures, Pictures, and More Pictures!

Live in Chicago??

Spells!

*Squishy hugs*

Squishy hugs