And the Mara Dyer 2 title is...

So, way back when Mara Dyer was more of an idea than a complete book, I had a phone call with one of my brothers and tried to figure out what to call that idea, because I felt like my idea needed a name. Mara was going to go through a transformation, but I always, always knew that transformation would not be completed in just one book. In fact, the first book would only portray the beginning of that transformation; the unbecoming, so to speak, of who she was.

When that book sold, the awesome people at Simon & Schuster ended up keeping the title I came up with, which made me delighted because a) titles change all the time in publishing but b) I really couldn't imagine a more perfect fit for that book. But I also came up with a title for the sequel, and told my editor at the same time.

Much has changed between then and now (like the drafts of the sequel itself) and I wasn't sure that title was going to stick. But now I can officially say that it officially has, and that title is:

To borrow from the lovely Veronica Roth, I thought I'd share the dictionary definition with you:

ev·o·lu·tion n. 1. A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form.

*Insert Mona Lisa smile here*

I hope you love the title of the sequel as much as I do. There's no official synopsis and no official release date but when there is, I also promise I will share them here!*

Back to the cave I go--I miss you!




*I know the internet says stuff about the release date, but you know what they say about the Internet. Until S&S tells me directly, anything can happen!

Maybe it's time to change, redux

Last April, I did this, and promised to do it again if it was popular.

It was.

But lo! It is now January of the following YEAR and I haven't, in fact, done it again.

Don't feel like clicking the link but want to know what IT is?

Here's the scoop: You tell me the past 3 books you've read in the comments, and I recommend you something completely different that I think you'll like anyway.

Why? Because there are phenomenal books just waiting to be discovered by you in ALL genres and age categories.

As you all know, Blogger now has threaded comments, making a game like this INFINITELY easier. And so, from now until 11:59PM this evening (Tuesday, January 24th), I shall pop in here sporadically and recommend YOU a book that is completely different than the ones you've just read. A personal reading recommendation from me, directly to you.

And...GO!

***ETA: If you're under 14, let me know--some of my recommendations are bound to be very adult.***

Three months! (Maggie update)

It's been three months since Maggie's first near death experience (when she was first diagnosed with lymphoma and our canine cancer adventure began) and one month since she almost died the second time. This post has nothing to do with publishing or writing or Mara Dyer or anything but Maggie, really, but I get so many tweets and emails asking for updates (thank you!!!!) that I thought today would be a good day to do it, so skip away if animal medical shenanigans is not your thing.

But if it IS your thing, here's the timeline:

Oct. 17th, 11PM: Returned from Book Tour Part I. to find Maggie in awful shape; anemia, blood infection, grossly enlarged liver, overburdened kidneys. Immediately took her into the e-vet- she was diagnosed with lymphoma hours later and the Wisconsin Protocol was put into effect immediately. She made an amazing turn-around over 3 days and then went on outpatient weekly chemotherapy drugs and had an every 7.5 hour medication schedule. A test revealed her lymphoma to be the uglier of the two types (T-cell), but the oncologist thought there was hope, so I wanted to give Maggie a chance.

December 5th: Right before I planned to leave for Book Tour Part II, she started coughing.

December 6th: Sitter brought her to the vet and she was diagnosed with megaesophagus. Still in remission from the lymphoma according to all of her bloodwork.

December 9th: Returned from Tour Part II. Maggie was hospitalized while I was away and was diagnosed with laryngeal paralysis. Couldn't keep food or water down and became dehydrated; required administration of 1300 mls of sub-cutaneous fluids daily.

December 12th: Became bladder incontinent at home, noticed third eyelid protrusion on her left eye.

December 13th: Tested for everything but couldn't find the source of her new problems (mega-e, lar par, incontinence or her eye).

December 14th: Hospitalization

December 15th: Still no answers

December 16th: Anesthetized for spinal tap

December 17th: Horrible reaction to spinal tap, debated euthenasia, emergency administration of Elspar (chemotherapy drug)

December 18th: MIRACULOUS turnaround: energetic and pain free, hungry, loving, and happy.

December 19th: Switched to CCNU (Lomoustine) for blood brain barrier treatment of her lymphoma, which moved into her spine but was in remission elsewhere. She was feeling awesome but still had the megaesophagus and laryngeal paralysis as well as the incontinence (requiring elevated hand feedings and many loads of laundry daily). CCNU killed her white blood cells, dropping them from 2000 (normal) to 107. Administered Neupogen ($700 per MILLILITER) which worked like liquid gold, as advertised, and brought her white blood cell count to 34,000.

December 20th - Partial CNS lymphoma remission achieved, no improvement with the megaesophagus, no improvement with the incontinence.

December 21st - through today: holding steady without any signs of aspiration pneumonia (the #1 leading cause of death in dogs with megaesophagus) and is clearly in remission from the lymphoma. Still requires the meds and the hand-feedings, but she is happy, hungry, and comfortable--her normal lazy self.

January 17th: After her second round of CCNU last week, we expected her white blood cell count to drop dramatically again but miraculously, it hasn't (she doesn't have the nickname "The Fighting Potato" for nothing). So we keep on keepin' on, like the baby monkey.

Basically, the deal with her is that she has lymphoma, which, thanks to the CCNU is not killing her, and a second condition, megaesophagus, which also isn't killing her, but makes taking care of her really labor intensive. Below is our regimen:

7AM: 650 mls of sub-cutaneous lactated ringer solution (using an 18 guage needle) (megaesophagus)
9AM: Denamarin (hepatoxicity from the lymphoma or the drugs)
9:30AM: Cisapride (megaesophagus)
10AM: Keppra (epilepsy), Phenobarbital (epilepsy), Metoclopramide (megaesophagus), Prednisone (lymphoma), Prilosec (megaesophagus), Tylenol with Codeine (arthritis)
Hand-feeding #1 with 20 minutes of post-meal elevation
Laundry Load #1

3PM: Laundry Load #2
Handfeeding #2 with 20 minutes of post-meal elevation

5PM: Denamarin
5:30PM: Cisapride
6PM: Keppra (epilepsy), Phenobarbital (epilepsy), Metoclopramide (megaesophagus), Prednisone (lymphoma), Prilosec (megaesophagus), Tylenol with Codeine (arthritis)
Hand-feeding #3 with 20 minutes of post-meal elevation
6:10PM: 650 mls of sub-cutaneous lactated ringer solution (18 guage needle) (megaesophagus)
Laundry Load #3

1AM: Denamarin
1:30AM: Cisapride

2AM: Keppra (epilepsy), Phenobarbital (epilepsy), Metoclopramide (megaesophagus), Prednisone (lymphoma), Prilosec (megaesophagus), Tylenol with Codeine (arthritis)
Hand-feeding #4 with 20 minutes of post-meal elevation
Laundry Load #4

I sleep between 2:30AM and 7:00AM if Maggie will allow it and for a couple of hours during the day. Oddly, she tends to have a TON of energy these days (more than she's had in her entire life) and is always up for food so it's difficult to get more than a couple of hours of sleep at a time. But Maggie is family, and I could never give up on my family. And for all of you who are still talking about, writing about, recommending and buying MARA DYER when I go offline to take care of her? Thank you for not giving up on me.

Gifts

I have had a fear of reading the hardcover version of MARA DYER long before it came out.

Once I turned in copy edits, I couldn't bear to look at it again, because it was too late. There was nothing I could do to change it. No more sentences to tweak, no more words to change. To this day, if I give a reading, I read from my old annotated, much abused ARC. It makes me feel a little less...panicked.

But last night found that I had to check something against the hardcover. And so with much trepidation, I reached for one on my shelf. I opened it.

And saw this:

It has been such a blur, such a whirlwind since September 27, 2011, that I forgot I even asked the wonderful people who came to the launch party to sign MY book for me, old school yearbook styles. Their words next to my words made me smile, in a way I never thought opening my own book could.

I received a gift a few months ago, back during those wildly hectic launch days, orchestrated by Lori at Pure Imagination:

She gathered a number of bloggers together and typed up their thoughts about quotes from the book and attached them with ribbon:

 Then she placed the cards on their corresponding pages:

There must be at least a hundred of these tiny typed cards and the time and effort and organization that went into such an incredible gift astounds me. I didn't have a chance to leaf through it when it arrived because I got the package literally on my way out the door for my month-long trip, and when I came home, I came home to this, which has taken over my life. And then I left on the second part of my tour and came home to a very sick Maggie once again. But last night, after the happy accident of finding my launch copy, I opened up the ARC that some of you amazing, wonderful bloggers contributed to and read your words.

Publishing is a weird business and authors have weird jobs. We bleed on the page to make a living and have to make you care about our stories without letting on that we care what you think of them. And so I do my best not to read what you write about MARA DYER; for better or for worse, my book is me, and I don't want to get hurt.

But I read your words last night. And I haven't smiled like that in a long time.

Untitled (Mara Dyer #2) Sneak Peek!

So, on January 3rd, 2011, I posted this.

Since today is January 3rd, 2012 (How? HOW???) I thought I'd post this:

There will be more news, soon, about little things like the RELEASE DATE and TITLE and COVER, so stay tuned <3

2011

Hi, friends.

I've missed you. It's been a long, long month for me as I've been working around the clock to make sure that I would remember 2011 as the year I published my first novel, not as the year I lost my best friend. And I am able to (cautiously) say that things look like they're looking up for her--she is still extremely high risk, but she feels GOOD and happy, and that makes ME feel good and happy as she runs around the house looking for (even more) food.

Which means that I'm able to finally have some time to think about other stuff. Like the last twelve months.

This year, I:

Turned 29
Published a book
Finished another one
Saw the first one go into a reprint
Watched it sell in 12 countries
Was floored to have five brilliant authors say wonderful things about it very publicly.
Was reviewed in the LA Times
Watched Lainey Gossip tweet about it
Saw my name (and my book) in Star magazine
Was interviewed on a stage at BEA by a kind and generous blogger
Listened to my editor speak more eloquently about my book than I ever could to a packed room
Signed with the literary agent of my literary idols
Speed dated with librarians at ALA
Discovered the Fudrucker's veggie burger with two geniuses at 2AM in New Orleans
Went on a book tour
Flew to a state I've never been to with two awesome authors I'd never met before
Fought with the bestselling living poet in America over Twilight 
Watched dolphins swim at night with a wildly talented author (and fellow Gollum fan + demon baby aficionado)
Saw my 11th grade AP English teacher at NCTE, where I was invited to talk about my book.
Was told by an author I've admired for a decade that she's been looking forward to my book for months
Was interviewed on NBC in Chicago 
Found out my love of Marilyn Manson is shared by a YA author I have a girlcrush on.
Saw the most amazing T-shirts in the history of T-shirts
Toured (and had a midnight room service + pajama party) with an author I greatly respect whose books I adore

In 2011, I made so many new friends. I've had wonderful times with many old ones. I watched my brother and one of my best friends marry his perfect match. I watched my other brother and best friend launch his second kickass business. I've seen my mother find the happiness she truly deserves. I've watched my family grow. I've been blessed to share more holidays and birthdays with my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins. I've spent 80 days traveling and have been blessed to be able to buy Maggie some extra, good time (literally).

In 2011, I watched dreams come true that I never knew I had.

In 2012, I hope all of yours come true, too.

Cassie & Michelle Do Long Island

Heyyyyyyyy you guys! How have you been?

I have been WONDERFUL. I have been doing Lots O' Stuff. And I've been tweeting about the stuff, but realized I haven't been blogging about it! That ends now.

Earlier tonight, I had a signing with Cassandra Clare. Her newest book came out yesterday. It's effing phenomenal. It's called CLOCKWORK PRINCE. You might have heard of it?

That's what I thought :)

We were at the Carle Place in Long Island, which shall henceforth be recalled as the place where THE COOLEST THING EVER happened to me: 

 

 

The SPECTACULARLY AWESOME bloggers from @readwriteramble made T-shirts. WITH QUOTES FROM MY BOOK. 

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH *breathes* AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA 

AND THEY ASKED ME TO SIGN BOXES OF ANIMAL CRACKERS. 

But seriously. Did you see those shirts? Click to embiggen. Because I am telling you, they were made with puff paint. By hand. And the amount of text was heavy and detailed and...I just can't even. I CAN'T because...really.

Ladies? Thank you forever. Forever forever forever. FOREVER. 

There were other amazing, phenomenal people there tonight, too:

That would be Casey, who was ALSO wearing a MARA DYER T-shirt, of the "Who is Mara Dyer?" variety, and her friend Ari. They are both smart and lovely and wonderful. Also, Casey is Mara's advocate in the YA Sisterhood tournament. Mara's first match is on December 15th, and Lori from Pure Imagination & Casey have resurrected Mara Mondays to lead up to it. Speaking of which, in case you'd like to ALSO show your love for Team Mara? Grab a button here!

Despite the gross drizzly rain, so, SO many people showed up to say hi and have us sign their books. I do not have pictures of all of them, because this is about 1/4 of the crowd.

But because the event was in NY? Some of my most beloved NY people came out:

Those are my family people in the green room place. They have a sixth sense and they can find me WHEREVER I am and they found me in there signing books, and gosh, I love them so much.

They love each other, too. Above picture is my cousin with Jeremy, the littlest bro. This one.

And, like I said, I was there with Cassie. I have only this picture to show for it, though. You're just going to have to trust me:

Other cool stuff that happened recently?

 

That's MARA DYER. In the December 5th issue of Star Magazine. 

And this happened, too. 

 

I'm positive I tweeted about it, but realized I never mentioned it here on the blog: Lainey (as in Lainey Gossip) read MARA DYER. 

Her blog generated one of my favorite lines in the book. Go visit, and see if you can figure it out. In other words, I am a big fan. A HUGE FAN. I will forever be proud of having given her a sunburn in the Maldives. 

Tomorrow, Cassie and I head to DC, where we'll be signing at the Bethesda Library.

I CANNOT WAIT to see more of you. And to everyone who came tonight?

Thank you.