Wednesday, May 30, 2012

BEA and ALA details + LEAKY CON!

Hi there! I've been a little slow in answering questions about BEA and ALA and if there will be ARCs and if I will be there, etc. So here is the deal. There will be no ARCs of Days of Blood & Starlight because I did not finish writing the book in time for that to happen! 

BUT. There will be chapter samplers! Yippeeee! Here are the details:



BOOK EXPO

I will not be at BEA. But ... 

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers will be distributing 500 Daughter of Smoke & Bone paperbacks (each shrink-wrapped with an exclusive Days of Blood & Starlight chapter sampler) in Booth #3632 on Wednesday, June 6th at 2 PM!

It looks like that one window of time is it. Hope you get one!


ALA

I will be at ALA. Very briefly. Excited! I love giant halls filled with librarians!

I will be signing in the Little Brown booth (#2401) on Saturday, June 23, from 3-4 pm. There will be cool bags and samplers given away at the signing, as well as paperbacks of Daughter of Smoke & Bone (for sale, in this case). Check out the rest of the LB line-up of awesomeness HERE.


Okay, there you have it. I hope to see you at ALA! I've got nothing else planned until ...




LEAKYCON 2012

Chicago, August 9-12.


YOU GUYS! This is going to be SO. MUCH. FUN. Don't know what Leaky Con is? It is a HARRY POTTER FAN CONVENTION, for the love of all things great and cool! I have never been. I cannot wait! On top of all the Harry Potter awesome, some of my favorite author-friend-people will be there, namely: Stephanie Perkins! Also: Holly Black, John Green, Lev Grossman, Maureen Johnson, and more, oh the exhausting awesomeness. Check it out. COME PLAY WITH US!


Monday, May 28, 2012

DAYS OF BLOOD & STARLIGHT cover!!



Yippeeee! Here at last: the US cover for Days of Blood & Starlight!

I really love it, I think it is so striking and awesome and COOL. YAY!
Thank you, awesome publishers!

It was announced/unveiled on Entertainment Weekly website, so that's cool too! HERE.

Publication date is November 6, which still seems like a long way away, but will be here spit-spot. You know how that goes. Sheesh, time.

More later. Now = bedtime. Hope you like! :-)



Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Sloth?

Hi! A fun thing. With 11 million views on youtube, you've likely seen it already but I hadn't, and it is the cutest thing. If you didn't already adore Kristen Bell, try not to now :-)


Wednesday, May 16, 2012

All Work and No Play


HI!

So, I was going to just put up an "All work and no play" post a la Shining, but I am not feeling dull, so that wouldn't be right. The above is more accurate. I'm not handling #5 so well right now, but soon. I am on a very tight turnaround for draft 2 of Days of Blood & Starlight, and it sucks because second drafts are my favorite part. It is so exciting for me to have a clean fat printout of a full draft on my desk with a couple of colored pens and pads of post-its beside it. THIS IS THE BEST PART. I have so many ideas for how to take this draft farther than the last, make it closer to what I dreamed this book to be, and tighten, expand, clarify, intensify, all the wonderful things that happen at this stage. Including play. Sigh.

But it sucks not being able to go to bed until you physically can no longer stay awake, no matter what helpful caffeinated beverages you have put into yourself. (I have #6 above down to a science!) I am not my healthiest self right now. No exercise, not enough sleep, no lolling. I haven't even been able to see The Avengers! Appalling :-) I miss normal life. It feels like this has been going on forever. But it will be over soon. 

Deep breath. 

Random niceness, some girls and their friends: 


















Saturday, May 12, 2012

Eye Candy Breakfast -- Color



Color feeds the soul. Some random images.

(Good morning!)


































(More pretties here.)



Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Greek Daughter of Smoke and Bone!



Look! Another edition of Daughter came today! GREEK! Cool graphic cover art.

(Can anyone tell me what the title says?
Something + Something.
Is it Angels and Devils or something?)

This is so cool. I love foreign editions, and different alphabets are best of all.
Check it out:



In hearts, of course, Akiva and Karou :-)



Tuesday, May 8, 2012

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL






(hello! I was just going through the archives of my olden times blog, and came across this, written after the experience of having finished my first novel. Thought I'd share :-)




HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL


1. Daydream. A lot. (required)

2. Get a notebook that’s just right, with good paper that won’t curl and that you can’t see the ink through, but that isn’t so precious you’ll be afraid to “mess it up.” This is for ideas.

3. Think up stories until you’ve got an idea you love, that sets your mind on fire with possibilities. 

4. Take that idea and cross-examine the bejeezus out of it. In your notebook, ask it EVERYTHING. WHY and WHO and HOW and WHEN and REALLY, ARE YOU SURE? And again HOW and WHY and HOW and WHY. Think and think and think. Think way past the borders of your idea, so that the world you dream up is like a big huge trampoline you won’t fall off the edge of if you jump too high.

5. Do some research on things that come up in your brainstorming. You’ll find out marvelous marvelous things that will make your story richer, and that can give you a missing puzzle piece that pulls everything together.

6. Write.
7. Write.
8. Write.

9. Learn what you need as a writer and develop your own rhythm and routine. Routine is good. Like a just-right notebook, find a just-right place to write. A haven. 

10. Write.
11. Write.
12. Write.

13. When you get to a place where the story halts like a stubborn mule and just won’t go anywhere, resort to daydreaming mode. But not some wishy-washy namby-pamby brainstorming: ferocious, knife-strapped-to-your-thigh brainstorming! List every possible damn thing that might happen, even if it means carrying that mule over your shoulder back several scenes and taking a different turn in the labyrinth. Open your mind. Write down everything, even if it seems stupid, and keep thinking, keep asking yourself questions. Sometimes drastic measures are called for, like erasing a character who isn’t really pulling his weight, and replacing him with somebody who will give your mule just the kick in the ass it needs. Don’t be timid.

14. Keep writing until you’ve got a first draft, then celebrate your deep genius and tell everyone you’ve written a book! Gloat!

15. Wait a while. A few weeks, perhaps. Then read your draft as if it was something you’d picked up at the bookstore. Figure out what you love and what you don’t. Be absolutely honest with yourself about the boring parts, and about the parts where the author is clearly forcing the characters to do things, where motivations don’t ring true, where it rambles. Think how to fix it.

16. Rewrite.
17. Rewrite.
18. Rewrite.

19. Gloat even more with the completion of the second draft. Get people to read it and give your compliments and pour champagne over your head.

20. Repeat steps 15 - 18, as many times as needed. 

Yes, I know it’s steps 6 - 8 and 10 - 12 that are the hard part, but the thing is, there’s really nothing else for it but to just do it, even if it’s hard and even if you’re sure it’s horrible as you’re doing it. This is a place where reading how-to books can’t really help you, so don’t take a break from steps 6 - 8 and 10 - 12 to read Bird by Bird AGAIN and drink wine. It’s like with weight loss: whatever advertising might tell you to get you to buy a product, there’s really only one thing that works -- healthy eating and exercise. With writing a book it’s -- sitting down and writing. Keep in mind that people all over the world have been managing to do it for ages. People do it every day, and there’s no reason why you can’t, too!

Monday, May 7, 2012

New frontiers?



I think the Universe is trying to tell us something. These are from three separate batches of fortune cookies over the past month or two. Actually, these were all Jim's fortunes, so I guess the Universe especially wants HIM to travel. But I think Clementine and I will tag along :-)

Not yet. Not yet. But soon.

The first draft is done, woo hoooooooo! And now? 

Dum dum duuuuuuuuuum ...

The second draft. Yep. This month will be a killer too, but getting the first draft done is the hugest of huge hugenesses and I am so happy. And tired. And happy.

Okay. Back to work!

XO

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Hotel Daze



Hi all! I'm back from my two-night in-town hotel writing spree! It's good to be home and cuddling my people, and also it was really good to be totally in the book for that time. I've never gone to a hotel to write before. It was very productive!




I stayed at the Ace Hotel in downtown Portland, and it was completely perfect: inexpensive yet cool, filled with art, and the location could not be better. Stumptown Coffee accessible through the lobby, and so many eating options within blocks, including a Whole Foods. Powell's Books is only a block away too, and I did get my late coffee there, but it was not the time to shop! If you're coming to Portland for whatever reason, I would totally recommend the Ace Hotel.



My room was very simple, but it had a nice plank desk. Pretty much all I needed. The giant Tunnel of Love poster? Just a bonus. There were three magazines in my room. One on skateboarding culture, one on beer, and one on female drummers. How great is that?

Really good continental breakfast only $8, including Stumptown French press coffee and local organic cheese and charcuterie, pain au chocolat and many lurvely jars of fresh relishes and jams.



Leonard Cohen on the wall.



Cool lobby, plus cool bikes for borrowing. So Portland.


All right. There you have it. Successful hotel writing getaway at the tail end of writing this book! I am still not quiiiiiiite finishes, so away I go, back to it, 


See you soon!
XO



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