Yes, Harper Collins! I WILL Marry You!!!

So I came home from the gym today (all sweaty and gross, of course, thus, you will not be seeing ME in any of the pictures that are going to follow) and there was this blue box on the counter. It was a very distinctive blue. I was like, "Hey, *I* know that blue color!" So I rush over (and, I admit, there may have been some squealing) to oggle at this:



Okay, I admit, I have never gotten anything from Tiffany's. (Fine, that's not that big of an admission, but still.) On top of that, I had never seen a box from Tiffany's that big! I was a wee bit excited.:D

I did pause for a moment and read the accompanying letter, which had the Harper Collins emblem on it. It was a nice letter from Brian Murray. So I get done reading it and I turn to my husband and say, "Um, I have no idea who Brian Murray is . . ."

He points to the top of the letterhead.

I then hyperventilate and say, ever so calmly, "Oh, the CEO of Harper Collins. I knew that."

And THEN I opened the box.

Dude, seriously, check it! (Diary of a Wimpy Kid is there for size perspective. It was the nearest book.)



It's a big crystal with my name on it!!!! So yes!! Harper Collins has proposed!!!:D

Seriously. It's just amazing to me. I have this company that basically decided to make all my dreams come true. In fact, they decided to go overboard and make dreams I didn't know I had come true!!

And then, they send me stuff from Tiffany's to thank ME for letting them make all my dreams come true?

Boggles my mind.

But, regardless, I am deliriously happy with them, they are apparently happy with me, and we are going to live happily ever after.

So yes! Harper Collins! The answer is yes!! (I'm not even sure what the question is and the answer is STILL yes!;))

Ciao!

How To Enter the House Via Dog Door

An Essay in Pictures, by G. Pike:







Hehe.

Ciao!

Fun Week!!

It has been quite a fun week.

Except for the most obvious drawback which is that my husband is in Maine.

And worse!! (Okay not really worse, but . . .) He took my iPhone with him!! Those of you who know me IRL know that my iPhone and I are attached at the . . . er . . . hand.:D I take it everywhere I go and use it constantly. (For thing like *koffkoff* obsessively stalking my Amazon page.:D) I also have tons of information in it that I generally take for granted. Like phone numbers and addresses. D'oh!

But the thing that really made me twitch is that both my agent and my editor have both finally been trained to call my cell phone before my home phone. Which means that when my editor called this week to let me know that Wings had managed it 10th (!) week on the NYT list, guess who got the good news first?

That's right--my husband.

Which is okay. He deserves to get the news first once in a while.:)

But WOW! Ten weeks!! I have to admit, getting double digits on the list was one of my goals . . . on of my "well I know this is never going to happen but heck, every writer needs a pie in the sky, completely unattainable goal" kind of goal. And you guys made it happen!!!!

Thank you!!! ALL of you! The people who have been reading this blog for *counts* wow! Almost four years!! And those of you who just got here by Googling my name. Thank you! And no matter what part you played--bought the book at a store, ordered it off Amazon, borrowed it from the library, turned it face out at the store (you know who you are!! *blows kisses*), or just told someone about it. It is very clear to me that every little bit helps, so thank you!!

Honestly, I dont expect to stay on much longer. If nothing else, there are some killer Fall books coming up!!! But I have sure been enjoying it while it lasts!

The other fun thing that happened this week is that Harper did the photo shoot for my sequel's cover yesterday!!! (No, I haven't seen the pic yet.;)) But I tell you, I have one dedicated editor. Yesterday at seven in the morning Tara was standing waist deep in the OCEAN, helping with the shoot. Wow!! I love her. *swoon* So yeah, I am all excited about my next cover now. My cover for Wings is, IMO amazing!!! So I am just thrilled to see what the incredible art department does with this one!!

So please come share my giddiness!!! I want to know what awesome thing happened to YOU this week!!! Have at it!!

Ciao!

FAQ's

Okay, so I am getting a bunch of the same questions in my e-mail, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. Some of the answers are buried in my posts, and some aren't, but for the sake of convenience, here are the top ten questions I am getting!

1.) Q: I think you should write a sequel!

A: Was that a question? (I kid, I kid!!) Okay, there WILL be a book two. And three. And four.:)

2.) Q: When is Book Two coming out?

A: June 8th, 2010. I know it's a long time. But barely over ten months now! That's practically six months. And six months is practically three months, and three months is practically next month. Right?!?!?:)

3.) Q: What is Book Two going to be called?

A: *sigh* That should be a simple question, but it's not. The book's title is not official, so I have avoided posting anything about it, but as soon as I get the green light that everything is good to go, you will see it as part of my little profile thingie up there on the right. (Or left if you are reading in LJ . . . I think . . . :))

4.) Q: I love Tamani. Will Laurel choose him in the end?

A: I just can't say. Read and find out!!

5.) Q:I love David. Will Laurel choose him in the end?

A: See question five.

6.) Q: Will there be a movie of Wings?

A: Maybe! Disney has picked up the rights and I have producers and talent attached. That's a long way from an actual movie, but it's an awfully big step in the right direction!

7.) Q: I love Miley Cyrus! Did you pick her for Laurel?

A: Nope. I have zero control over casting decisions.

8.) Q: I hate Miley Cyrus! Can you make sure she's not in the movie?

A: See question seven.

9.) Q: I want to be in the movie!! Can I be Laurel??

A: See question Seven. No seriously, if I find out about an open audition, I will let you know, but I still will have no control over a single member of the cast.:)

10.) Q: I hate Disney. Can't you turn down the offer?

A: It's a done deal, guys. Has been for about six weeks.

So in case you were wondering, there ya go!

Ciao!

What a Day!

Wow. I have had such a perfect day.

Seriously.

Of course, the main reason is that my movie deal has been just ESPLODING! But also, Wednesday is Bookscan day and I had better numbers than I was anticipating. Yay! It is also birthday week in the Pike house and my husband's birthday was Monday and my son's birthday is tomorrow. That means much cake and ice cream was sitting around my house today. (Notice the "was" part.:D) And then, I found out this afternoon that after dropping off the NYT Bestsellers list last week, Wings jumped back on this week! (And this is before the movie announcement; go Wings go!) Also, I reached an all time low Amazon ranking of 736 this afternoon. I'd never even been in three figures before! I gave a pretty good shout the hour I hit three figures.:) Then I went to my favorite class at my new gym and soaked in the hot tub when I was done.

Perfect. Day.

And a day I have been looking forward to for a long time. Since January. No really.

You ready for the story? Here it is.

At the end of January, I got an email from my agent letting me know that my film agent had given Wings to Miley Cyrus' agent and Miley's agent thought it was perfect for her, and was going to give it to Miley. There was much squeeing, and also reminding myself that this was SO far from a done deal. But it was fun to think of the possibilities.

Then, about a month later, Jodi emails me to let me know that Miley's Mom loved Wings, and was now going to give it to Miley. Well, that was definitely a step in the right direction as well.

Fast forward two months. To May first. Like, four days before my book comes out. I'm packing for tour and really haven't given the whole Miley thing another thought. Hollywood does this. They get all excited about something and then . . . . nothing. They are infamous for that. I figured it was a dead end and, well, that was okay. Jodi calls and tells me, seriously, like in one breath, Mileylovedthebookandwantstobeattachedandtheproducersoftwilightalsowanttogetattached andtheyaremeetingforlunchtoday.

WHAT?!?!? My dead end just turned into a six-lane freeway!!!! So I leave on tour with hopes of hearing something Any. Day.

Fast forward another month. I am sitting watching the amazingness that is WICKED. Intermission comes, I dry my eyes (good theatre always makes me cry) and go out to the lobby and check my mail. Jodi again (I LOVE my agent!!) letting me know that the attachments are official and that Wings has gone out to every major studio in Hollywood. Whoa!!! I love how these things come out of the blue.

So then, like when books go out on submission, you hope for a fast sale, but knowing you have to be realistic, you hunker down for a long wait.

Four days later I am leaving on tour for San Francisco and Jodi emails me. I read the email as I am walking down the concourse to my place. She says that Disney is preparing an offer and that she should have it in the next day or two.

People, I walked onto the wrong plane.

I kid you not! I almost went to Kalispell, Monatana. I was in my seat with my seat belt fastened before anyone realized I was in the wrong place. TSA=FTW.

So I jittered through the next 48 hours until two competing offers landed on Jodi's desk on Friday, June 5th. Negotiations went on all day and there were many phone calls from Jodi. Finally, at almost seven that night, Disney basically said, "That's our final offer, take it or leave it, you have ten minutes." (Apparently that's how a lot of movie deals end. *shrug*) I got the final call in the car on the way to my first event with Claudia Gray, Kim Harrison, and Kelley Armstrong for Supernatural Summer. That was a good day too!

Okay, so now the nitty gritty:

1.) Disney has OPTIONED the movie rights. This means that we are still several steps away from actually having a movie. At the moment my producers (who are AMAZING!) are looking for someone to write the script. They have spent much of the last month reading writing samples. After that there are about twenty steps to go through before the director (ha! One of those steps is finding a director!) says, "Action." At ANY point along the way, the whole project could just be dropped. So although I have done my share of screaming and yelling over this, it's not a movie yet, and may not ever be. But I have some very excited producers and, apparently, that is a big step in the right direction.

2.) My producers are contracted; they have their own in writing agreement with Disney to produce the film. My talent, Miley, is "attached." That is a very fluid agreement. What that basically means is those of you with your hearts set on Miley, don't get too attached to her just yet. It might not happen. And those of you who are violently opposed, *shrug* it might not happen. But it might!!

3.) Please don't hate Miley. No really. I am an author. The most important thing about Wings for me is, the book, Wings. The biggest advantage of any movie based on my book, in my opinion, is that it is basically a two-hour long advertisement for my book. It gets the title out there! It alerts people that my book exists! Even movies that completely flop (and let's face it guys, no movie with Miley Cyrus in it is going to flop) raise the number of reader who go out and read that book and its sequels. That is important to me. So aside from any appearance/acting/whatever that you feel that Miley may or may not bring to the cast of Wings, she brings her fans. I want all those Miley fans out there to know about Wings, to give Wings a read. And there are a lot of Miley fans out there. And yes, most of them are tween girls. But, um, last time I checked, I write for tween girls!! My adult fans are some seriously awesome icing on the cake, but in the end, I am most happy to put a smile on a teenage girl's face.:)

And really, Laurel is a 5'2 lithe, cute girl who plays the guitar and sings. Miley is a 5'2 lithe, cute girl who plays the guitar and sings. I honestly think she could bring a lot to this movie, and I am really excited to have her onboard.

4.) I have gotten a lot, a LOT of emails wondering about casting and auditions. I have absolutely zero control over those decisions. No, less than zero. I have negative 4.25 control over those decisions.:) If there is any kind of open casting call for extras, I will let you know, but I don't believe that is standard procedure for Disney. So sorry! But that just isn't something I have control over.

But all in all, I am thrilled with Disney, I am thrilled with Wyck and Marty and Amanda, and I gotta tell you, I am thrilled with Miley.

I'm just all around thrilled!!


Linky-linky: A couple of highlights of the day:

People.com (as in People Magazine, whoo-hoo!), and a really good article on MTV.com (they actually did some research and were one of the only sites all day who spelled Wyck's name correctly.)

And I just died laughing at the comments thread on Oh No They Didn't, but as the language on the whole site is not teen appropriate, you'll have to look that one up on your own if you want to read it.:)

Ciao!