Launch Week, in pictures!

My family started spotting Fracture out in the wild. Which is wild.

I got to celebrate with the wonderful people at Walker/Bloomsbury...

with awesome publicist, Katy!...and then meet up with Beth Revis, Julie Cross, Maureen Lipinski, and Carrie Ryan for an event at Books of Wonder.

My family showed up!

My very large family...

AND I finally got to meet....

Jessica, from Fictional Distraction!The Apocalypsies! (Shari Arnold, Zoraida Cordova, Sarvenaz Tash, Lizzie Foley)

Then back home to celebrate with friends at my local B&N today. Thank you to everyone for coming!

(And since I always forget my camera, thank you to Suzanne and Michelle for letting me steal their pics)

Tomorrow I'm heading out on tour. I'll be stopping in Chicago, Huntington Beach, Pasadena, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon. If you're nearby, hope you can make it!

Huge thanks to everyone for all the support this week... and the last few years leading up to this!

In My Mailbox...

Okay, technically none of this came in my actual mailbox. Mostly it showed up on my front porch.

But first, in news that has absolutely nothing to do with my mailbox or front porch, the short story I talked about last week is now up over here!

Anyway, back on topic…a little background: I get this wave of panic every time I hear a delivery truck. This is because Christmas presents are starting to arrive for my kids from out-of-state family. This sends me into a panic because, until yesterday, I had not started shopping. So every time I'd hear a truck, I'd be reminded of how much not-shopping I had done, and how not-on-top-of-things I was, and how totally-on-top-of-things everyone else in the universe was.

But. I also got some packages that did not make me panic. On the contrary, they made me very excited. So, without further ado, I give you the items that did not make me panicky and instead made me borderline giddy:

1. I got this. This is a finished copy of the US version of FRACTURE. It comes out January 17^th

I think it’s pretty.

2. I also got this. This is a finished copy of the UK version of FRACTURE. It comes out January 5^th

The main difference being that it is paperback, whereas the US version is hardcover. I count 3 subtle differences... (title, name, ice -- am I missing any?)

3. And then, just when I thought my front porch had maxed out on awesomeness, the bookplates that my talented friend Shelli designed arrived yesterday:

Thank you, Shelli!

Okay, and this next one is totally cheating (since it came electronically into my inbox, but I love it so I'm sharing it anyway)...

4. This is the poster for the event I’ll be at in San Francisco on January 26^th. Love the tagline.

Meanwhile, there’s this house around the corner with this adorable (and by adorable I mean panic-inducing) countdown-to-Christmas sign in the front yard. I think this actually makes me panic more than the sound of the delivery truck. Mostly because my kids shout as we pass it: Twelve days! Eleven days! To an outsider, it probably sounds like they’re cheering. But I know these kids.

They're taunting me.

Two More Months

A lot can happen in two months.

Fracture is coming out in two months. (Okay, fine. It’s coming out two months from yesterday. But I figure there’s some wiggle room when you count in months, what with some months having 30 days and some having 31, oh, and there’s that one that has 28, except every four years when it decides to have 29 (I mean what’s up with that?)) So anyway. Fracture is coming out in about two months.

As such, things are happening.

Things. Are. Happening.

The lovely people at Walker/Bloomsbury set up this Fracture Facebook Page, and I hear they have Big Plans for it. Lots of giveaways. Lots. Including an entire 11-hour span of events and giveaways and other awesomeness. So if you liked Fracture, or you think you might like Fracture, or you like to win things, or you like to click Like on things on Facebook, or you are compelled to follow hyperlinks, don’t let me stop you.

Other things are happening. Like launch things. And tour things. Book trailer things. Short story things. I will post these things as soon as everything is final. Soon!

You know what else is happening in less than two months? Holidays. A bunch of them, none of which I have prepared for. Also: a very long car ride, which technically nothing can really prepare me for.

And now apparently I’ve got some online shopping to do.

Time, Relativity, and Other Things That Hurt My Head

I have issues with Time. Like, the science of Time. Or the math. I don’t even know which it is, exactly, but I know I have issues with it. Like it’s this concept that’s just out of my reach, or a lot out of my reach, and it bothers me. It bothers me disproportionately. To the point where I can’t watch anything that has any sort of time travel without getting all bent out of shape. And then I go off on these “That doesn’t make any sense!” tangents, kind of like when someone brings up jeggings.

Same reaction.

So. I was cleaning.

(I shall pause here for dramatic effect.)

Not that I was cleaning cleaning. More like I was de-cluttering. Specifically, I was de-cluttering two things: the dresser drawer where I keep edited drafts and the closet where I keep baby stuff.

Because Kid #2 turned 3 today. Meaning he’s not a baby, and I don’t need a front carrier or a back carrier or a sling carrier or any other type of carrier I’d been suckered into purchasing.

And because FRACTURE is pretty much done – it’s been edited and revised and copyedited – and I’m just about finished with the first draft of my next book, so I need the space.

So here’s where time and relativity come in to play: I feel like Kid #2 turned 1, like, half a breath ago. Which, coincidentally, is right around the time I started FRACTURE. But it feels like I’ve been working on this story for half my life.

Same time.

So, because I have this compulsion to find order, I tried to line it all up. I matched the drafts I had written to different stages in Kid #2’s life.

Like that first draft was when he was terrified of stepping in grass and I had to carry him in one of those ridiculous carriers even though he exceeded the weight limit by, like, an entire baby.

And that first major rewrite was when he gave up naps. Horrifying.

And that second major rewrite was when we took him on his first long car ride and vowed never to do it again. (We lied.)

It didn’t feel linear at all. It felt like there were gaps and jumps and stretches. My brain hurt.

It still hurts. Because I don’t understand time. I don’t understand how my son can have another birthday when I’m pretty sure I’ve been staring at the same page for the entire year.

Is that the Theory of Relativity? Probably not. I think the Theory of Relativity is more complex than that. I should probably look it up. But in the meantime I’ve come up with my own theory:

I can actually measure the time it takes to create a book like this:

Lessons from New York

a.k.a. How Not To Look Like a Tourist

Last week I took a quick trip to NYC to visit this building (unreal, no?) and got to meet the team from Walker/Bloomsbury (also unreal).  I had an amazing time talking with Emily Easton, my editor at Walker, and Sarah Odedina, publisher of Bloomsbury UK.  And then it occurred to me that FRACTURE isn’t just going to be a document on my computer anymore, but will, at some point, be a real book, which is also unreal.

But instead of talking about all these unreal things, I am going to tell you some Very Real Things.  Specifically, some real things about visiting New York.  I’m originally from New Jersey, which, by definition, is kind of a suburb of Manhattan, so I didn’t give much thought to visiting New York.  But now it is apparent that living in the south has purged my brain of some very essential information.

So, without further ado, I give you the things I knew at one point, but had temporarily forgotten, but now know again:

-It does not matter what you think you remember from Driver’s Ed.  You do not have the right-of-way in the crosswalk.  Let me repeat that.  You do not have the right of way in the crosswalk.

-When someone honks at you, it does not mean, “Hey, long time, no see!  How’re the kids?”  No, it means you are probably in the crosswalk when you should not be in the crosswalk.  Do not smile and wave.

-When you get in a taxi and give your destination, quickly pretend to be on an important call so that when the driver asks which route you want to take, you can wave him off instead of saying, “Um, the short way?”  Thus ensuring you are going any way BUT the short way.

-Keep up with the flow of pedestrian traffic.  If you knock someone over with your luggage, do not stop and say, “Oops!”  And whatever you do, do not giggle.  KEEP MOVING.

-Slippers are frowned upon.  It does not matter if you just came from the airport and they’re really, really, comfy.  You should probably change into real shoes before wandering the city.

-If you smile at strangers, they will assume you are hitting on them.  Or that something is wrong with you.  Probably both.  Eyes on the empty space in front of you, people.

-That guy on the computer in the hotel lobby tagging pictures of himself on Facebook will not get off said computer just because you tap your foot loudly behind him.  I used to know a more effective way.  Words may have been involved.  Possibly some sort of confrontation.  It’s all a bit fuzzy now.

Anyway, once I reacquainted myself with New York, I had a great time.  Mostly because I also got to see these fantastic people:

       My Family             

Super-Agent Sarah Davies       
              

 Fellow Greenhouse Author, Talia Vance

And now, for the directionally-challenged (like me), I leave you some parting advice: Manhattan is a grid.  You cannot get lost.  As long as you stay above ground.  It does not matter if it is raining or snowing or the apocalypse is upon us.  Whatever you do, STAY ABOVE GROUND.