How My Writing Schedule Works

I'm confusing people.

On Twitter, I mean. Which is understandable as it can sometimes be confusing place in general. However, what I mean is that people are getting confused about my books. In particular, this blog entry is prompted by a response to a tweet in which I said:

Synopsis for new Mystery Book of Mysterious Awesomness is done! Whew! Now I just need to finish chapter three so I can send it to my agent.

To which a follower immediately asked, "Besides Life After Theft and Earthbound?"

Thus, I see that I am confusing people.

To people who aren't in publishing it must seem pretty straight forward. You write a book, a couple of weeks . . . or maybe months later, it's out on shelves. I cannot tell you have many people I have had say to me at signings some variation on, "I can't wait for the next book! Please write quickly!" And then are shocked when I tell them, "Actually, the next book is done."

That's because the actual process of publication takes about a year. AFTER the book is written. When I was writing the Wings series, it was fairly straightforward. I could say, "Well, the next book is written and I'm currently working on edits."

But then I did two crazy things at the same time. One, I started a new series. (CRAZY!!!!!) Two, I decided to publish two books in one year, (EXTRA CRAZY!!!) and close together at that (MAXIMUM CRAZY!!). That means that this summer has been full of me tweeting quotes from Life After Theft (April 30, 2013) and Earthbound (June or July, 2013). But it's not because I've been writing them, it's because I've been editing them.

That means that I've just started drafting a new book that is expected to come out in . . . wait for it, wait for it . . . Summer 2014.

Well, no wonder you all are confused!!!

And to make matters worse, as soon as this one is done I will be drafting the sequel to Earthbound, also Summer 2014. Yes, in just under TWO years. Because that's how far ahead I have to work to not have deadlines destroy my life.

So here's how things are going to happen for the next little while:

Life After Theft April 2013
Earthbound June/July 2013
Mystery Book Summer 2014
Earthbound Sequel Summer 2014

Take all of those dates and subtract 18 months. That's when I'm writing them. Subtract a year, that's when I'm editing them.

That means that, because of the nature of our profession's calendar, we authors are terrible, shameless teases.:D But hopefully now when I am shamelessly teasing you, at least you'll know what the heck I'm talking about!

Ciao!

P.S. If you want to see the quotes you can look up the hashtags #lifeaftertheft and #earthbound ;)

Where's Aprilynne

Tentative schedule: I will be adding details as I get them! But PLEASE pencil me in on your calendars!!!:D


Dark Days Tour, Leg Two!

July 9: Left Bank Books appearance at 7:00 pm, St. Louis, MO, with Veronica Roth (INSURGENT), Dan Wells (PARTIALS) and S.J. Kincaid (INSIGNIA) This event is OFFSITE!!! It will be at the Ethical Society of St. Louis

July 10: Barnes & Noble appearance at 7:00 pm, Huntington Beach, CA, with Veronica Roth (INSURGENT), Dan Wells (PARTIALS) and S.J. Kincaid (INSIGNIA)

July 11: King’s English appearance at 6:30 pm, Salt Lake City, UT, with Veronica Roth (INSURGENT), Dan Wells (PARTIALS) and S.J. Kincaid (INSIGNIA) This event is OFFSITE!!! It will be at

Salt Lake City Downtown Library

210 East 400 South

Salt Lake City

July 12-15 (exact date and time t/k): Comic-con Appearance, San Diego, with Dan Wells (PARTIALS) and S.J. Kincaid (INSIGNIA)

Raven Boys Winner!

Wow, guys!! Thanks so much for entering my contest!! I don't think I've ever seen the comment numbers go up so fast! Clearly I picked the right ARC!:D

And without further delay, the winner of The Raven Boys ARC is Jessica Ring of Dark Stormy Nights!!!!!!

Jessica, please email me the following at aprilynne pike at gee mail dot com:

Complete Name
Address

Again, super easy.:D

If I don't hear from you in three days I will pick another winner because I really want this ARC to go to a good home!!!

Thank you everyone for your entries and comments!!!!!!

Ciao!

Long Time No Blog!

Okay, so, I admit, it's been a while. Every year when release time comes around I promise myself I'll do better at blogging. I'll post pictures of my tour stops! I'll talk about feedback from fans! I'll give quotes from the book!

What really happens is that I have spotty internet, I forget to take pictures at all, and quotes, what quotes? And, on top of that, I usually get a round of revisions and find myself under deadline.:D

But you all still love me, right? Right?

Well, I have lots of fun stuff today and I'll be finishing up with a giveaway! So read until the bottom.:D

So I've been a little closed-mouthed about the books (yes, bookS) I have coming out next summer, but everything has been announced and now I can tell you about them!!!!

First off, LIFE AFTER THEFT. This is a stand-alone that many of you have been literally hearing about since 2006. No seriously. I started this book in 2006 and it was a finalist on Miss Snark's Crap-O-Meter just before I signed with Jodi. People, this is the book of my heart. It is the story of a klepto-ghost and the boy who can see her and is a retelling of The Scarlet Pimpernel. It is sassy and sarcastic and I seriously Love. This. Book. It will be coming out in May of 2013 and I hope you all love it half as much as I do!! I got to see a cover comp a couple weeks ago and it is so entirely perfect!!!! (Which is fabulous because authors rarely have much, if any, say on their covers even though it is the one thing that reader will sometimes judge the book on.) SO excited for this book!!!!

The other book is the first book of my new series and it just got announced last week, which was so very exciting!!! Because I'm still trying to come up with how to describe it, I'll just quote right from the announcement: "#1 NYT bestselling author Aprilynne Pike's EARTHBOUND, the first novel in a new series about a girl who discovers she's a fallen goddess and must choose between the boy that she loves in this life and the eternal lover with whom she'll be able to access the powers that are her birthright." So yay!!!! This one has much kissing and magic and danger, and running away, also kissing.:D (Seriously, one of my edits literally said, "How about we add a full-on make out session here." Oh, yes.:D) I got to see an early comp from this book just yesterday and ZOMG I am SO excited!!!! It is fabulously gorgeous and I hope it keeps it's awesomeosity (yes, that's totally a word) as it goes through the process from comp to final!!!!


So yeah, two books next summer and, tentatively, two books the summer after that too!!!


Okay, giveaway time. I went to BEA very briefly last week and because I was traveling, I didn't have room to pick up very many ARCs. But I did manage to get one of the last copies of Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys!! I know this ARC has been fairly high in demand this year, so as an apology for my INEXCUSABLE blog silence, I'm going to pass this one onto you guys!

Super easy rules, this contest is going to last a week since I suspect *koffkoff* some of you are not checking my blog very often since there has been no new content in ages. (I sowwy!!!!!) So comment and just say something like, "Uh, I'm, entering the contest." Super easy.:D This is an international contest, all are free to enter. Comment by midnight my time Monday, June 11th (JUNE 18th!  I meant June 18th!) and I'll announce the winner sometime next Tuesday. Sound good?


Excellent.


Go forth and enter.


Ciao!

Last one!!!!

Wow, this is the last spoiler before DESTINED releases in (EST) 8 minutes. But this is also the very last teaser I will ever post from the WINGS series. Wow. My little series all grown up and leaving the nest!!! *sniff* It really is pretty nostalgic. Here you go!!!!

They slammed doors and started walking toward the forest when Tamani stopped them, his face deadly serious. “David, Chelsea, as I said before, there have only been the barest handful of humans admitted into Avalon. But those who have . . . sometimes, they don’t come back. If you come with us into the forest, I don’t know what will happen. And I don’t know what would be worse—if they turn you away at the gate, with no time to get back to your car, or if they were to actually let you in.”

He held David’s gaze for a long time before David nodded once. Then he turned his eyes to Chelsea.

“I can’t stay here,” she said softly. “I would hate myself for the rest of my life.”

“Fair enough,” Tamani said, almost under his breath. “Then let’s go.”

Tamani led the way down the serpentine path, moving through the forest with such confidence and determination that Laurel and her friends almost had to run to keep up. Laurel knew there had to be sentries marking their progress, and around every corner she expected them to appear, as they had often done when she’d entered the forest with Tamani. But the woods remained eerily still. 

Ciao!