Start Spreading the News

One of the questions I get asked pretty often by people who follow me on Twitter and on this here blog is whether the characters I've written are based on anyone I know in real life.

I usually invoke the fifth.

But today, I'm going to own up to something. Like Mara, I have two brothers. They're both younger than me. One of them is a PhD candidate at Northwestern, and the other is still in college. They're both seriously awesome and seriously hilarious, but aside from quoting them on Twitter (and possibly in my books idk idk) I haven't talked about either of them much.

That changes now.

You guys have seen the trailer, right? This one? It was orchestrated by my youngest brother, Jeremy. He's just 20-years-old and a junior in college, but he was the one who developed the concept, created the shot list and organized all of the details. When he was 16 and in high school, he launched a video production company and earned more money in his first year than I did working two jobs over the course of four years of college. And now, while working as a full-time student, he's about to launch his second (SECOND) company next Monday. 

What it is: KIS allows you to reach beyond the confines of Google searches to learn about ordinary topics from extraordinary people. Applying to college? Learn admissions secrets from the authors of In! Cooking steak for dinner? Learn how to make it perfect from the executive chef at Delmonico's Steak House in NYC. There are videos with Carlos Falchi, Van Cleef & Arpels, Le Cirque, the Paramount Bar, and rumor has it, there are many, many more to come.

Why you should click: I don't really need to plug KIS because the little bastard's site already has so many subscribers pre-launch that on Monday, December 5th (launch day), they're locking it. But I'm writing about KIS anyway because a) it's awesome, b) it's free, c) despite being a full-time student with more than two full-time jobs, Jeremy has orchestrated my incredible trailer, shown up to all of my MARA events to heckle me, and supported me at every turn in every possible way. Mara is lucky to have a kickass family, and so am I.

So click. Subscribe. After Monday, the site will still be free but you'll only be able to subscribe to the waiting list, otherwise you'll have to be invited by a current member.

I'm SO PROUD of you, Jeremy. If I didn't love you so much, I'd hate you.

Which one of Mara's brothers do you think he most resembles?

Thanksgiving

I have so much to be thankful for this year. My family. My friends. My pets. My publisher. My writer friends, old and new. My heroic agent, Barry, and my incomparable editor, Courtney. I have been to new states. I have met so many readers. And every day, I get to talk to you.

Thank you for being part of my journey. I am thankful for you.

Weekend Update!

Only less amusing...

This weekend I'm heading to Chicago for NCTE/ALAN. I am crazy excited for this, you guys. You've seen the lineup, right? I would use the word "epic." I'm just saying.

In addition to my panel on Tuesday, I'll also be signing MARA DYER! Whee! Come and say hi? Pretty please?

Sunday, November 20th:
9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m: Signing with Simon & Schuster, Booth #516-520
10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m: Signing with Andersons, Booth #1301

Tuesday, November 22nd
1:40 p.m. – 2:25 p.m: “The Future of YA Lit” Featuring Katie Alender, Beth Fantaskey, Thanhha Lai, and moi. Chicago Hilton Hotel | Grand Ballroom | Second Floor

2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m: ALAN signing immediately thereafter :D

ALSO Chicagoans: I will be on NBC Channel 5 on Sunday morning. Talking about MARA. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH CRAZYCAKES I am likely to swear and say very inappropriate things so you should WATCH for the lulz!

And finally...you've heard of YA Sisterhood, right? They run the YA Crush Tournament? Well, they're holding the first Tournament of Heroines and Mara Dyer has been nominated. No, Mara isn't a traditional heroine, but that's all the more reason to support her! Naughty girls need love too.

(Also, there's a too-steamy Mara/Noah outtake OR the uncut too-steamy-for-prime-time version of the trailer in it for you if she places in the top 3. Fall 2012 is pretty far away, and the trailer? Yeah. Just saying.)

NEWS!

       Yes, that is a leaping lamb.

So, this weekend was YALLFest, and it was awesome, and I'm going to show you some pictures related to that and talk about it more but something happened this evening and I must share it NOW because I can BARELY CONTAIN my excitement!

I was on the phone with the lovely marketing director at Simon & Schuster when I heard a knock at the door and the thunk of a package being dropped on the porch. "Whatever could it be?" I thought to myself. I took a moment to go look and when I saw that the package was FROM Simon & Schuster, I exclaimed so excitedly! I opened it. Inside were copies of MARA DYER. This was how the conversation went:

Me: "Oh! More copies of my book! How nice! I wonder what I did to deserve this boon!"
Marketing Director: "Was there anything WITH the copies of the book?"
Me: "I didn't plan that far ahead. I just saw SHINY BOOKS and got excited and put them in a little heart-shaped pile."
Marketing Director: "Well....you should look!"
Me: "Okay <3 <3 <3 <3"
Me: *looks* *finds little note* *reads note* *falls over*

Would you like to know what that note said, dear readers?

In short: CONGRATULATIONS! YOUR BOOK HAS BEEN REPRINTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (emphasis mine)

What that means, guys, is that just six weeks after the strange little book I wrote went out into the world, MARA DYER has sold out of it's first print run and is now in its second printing. That is AMAZINGNESS. AMAZINGNESS I TELL YOU!

And it's because of you. 

Which is why I decided to have a contest to thank you.

A month ago, while I was on tour, I was given an ARC of the highly coveted CLOCKWORK PRINCE by Cassandra Clare. It is so coveted that it was handed to me at an event in a manila envelope so as to prevent my demise  by fire and dismemberment at the hands of eager fans. I devoured the book, naturally. It was even better than I imagined it would be.

And in light of my good news and the coming events I am doing WITH Cassie (just three weeks away!) I thought I should share the CLOCKWORK PRINCE love. So today only, if you tweet using the hashtags #maradyer AND #clockworkprince, you'll be entered to win my (lovingly treated) ARC of CLOCKWORK PRINCE and a first edition of MARA DYER. This is cool because:

a) CLOCKWORK PRINCE is AMAZING.
b) Only a limited number of ARCs were printed & there will be no ARCs for CLOCKWORK PRINCESS, CITY OF LOST SOULS, and CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE--so it's Very Special.
c) The only first editions of MARA DYER left are in stores now, so unless you snapped one of them up already (or snap one up soon!) this is the only way to get one. And it's free!

So, those rules? Here they are:

a) Entries from US and Canada only
b) Tweet why you want to win CLOCKWORK PRINCE AND Mara Dyer and use the #ClockworkPrince AND #maradyer hashtags.

That's it! A randomizer thingy will choose a winner. Right now, I plan on running the contest until 11:59PM EST on 11/15/11...but I may extend it depending on the response :D

In other news, I am now doing the tumblr thing! It's more efficient to answer questions that way, I think, and then I can save answers to refer people back to later--so if you HAVE any questions for me? Ask away!

YALLFest post forthcoming, with pictures of amazing food and a rundown of this awesome event and details of my encounters with Carrie Ryan, Diana Peterfreund, Ellen Hopkins, Melissa de la Cruz, Heather Brewer, Kimberly Derting, Eliot Schrefer, Victoria Schwab, Beth Revis, Saundra Mitchell, Sarah Rees Brennan, Kaleb Nation, Natalie Standiford, David Levithan, the wonderful event-hosts Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl and MANY more! But, in short, I force-fed most of them to near-tears, and then used the food pictures to torture my agent. Hee hee.

Thank you, thank you, thank you again, everyone.

You're never too old for your mommy.

So, on Tuesday, there was this chat that happened. So many questions were asked between 8 and 9PM that it took three additional hours to get to most of them--I didn't want to stop! Because I love love love that you enjoyed the book enough to WANT to know things. It wins.

Hundreds of people tuned in and I am grateful for every single one. But a surprise guest also showed up.

Yeah, that happened.*

I know it was actually her because no one, NO ONE else could write those comments. OMG. That was 100% pure, unadulterated Mom--and I love her SO MUCH.

Today just happens to be her birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!

Show her some love in the comments? She reads them all--along with every blog post. And every review. And every tweet. Seriously.



*The screenshots were taken during the chat because I *knew* I would want them for posterity. And possible blackmail. There's no transcript, just like we said :)