Posts for category ‘appearances’

HI!

Probably, this will be my last blog post before I leave for the Smart Chicks Kick It 2.0 Tour. Why? Over the next five days I’m in draft-finishing mode, awwwyeah! But I wanted to make sure you had all the details in time to make your plans, which hopefully include coming out to see us, but maybe will only involve staying in bed and watching Netflix, which is also okay. (But really, come see us!)

The dates and addresses are all here, on my appearances page.

But I’ll remind you:

9/29 – Portland

10/1 – Vancouver

10/2 – Seattle (Kirkland) (Big book fest and live bands – this is going to be fun! Smart Chicks authors will be on several panels from 1-4 p.m.; I’m on at 1.)

(The full Smart Chicks Schedule is linked above. Lansing, MI, and Memphis, TN also happening, but not with me.)

Also:

- This is a special opportunity to get How to Save a Life a couple of weeks before the rest of the world, and rub it in their sorry faces!

- But if you are broke, please don’t let that stop you from coming out. There are some great posters that you can download, print, and bring to have signed instead of or in addition to books. Also, you can bring copies of any of my books you already own to have signed. I think we’re limiting it to 3, though, if the crowd is big. This generally doesn’t apply to my line, though. “OVER HERE, NO WAITING!”

In all seriousness, I really do hope to see as many of you as possible.

For people not in those areas, I’m hoping to be able to announce some other HTSAL tour stops soon, as well as some other special fun stuff going on.

The official release date for the book is October 18th.

If you are in Salt Lake, here are some dates for you to save, but I’ll post reminders, closer:

10/19, 7 p.m.: YA author panel at West Valley City library, in celebration of Teen Reads Week. Me, Emily Wing Smith, and Bree Despain

10/20, 7 p.m.: How to Save a Life official book launch and celebration at The King’s English

10/22, 1 p.m.: Signing at Costco on 300 West (around 1800 South). Yes, people, my career has escalated to this moment at long last! You can come get a book, get it signed, and buy a giant bottle of ibuprofen. I know I’ll be taking care of a few errands while I’m there.

And, for everyone: 10/17 – 10/23, blog tourin’.

Thank you, and see you soon, here or there!

I am back from my week teaching at The Glen Workshop. It was a wonderful and memorable experience, thanks to my “students” (I hesitate to use that word, because we all learn from each other) and the other faculty and attendees. Author Amy Timberlake’s reflection on it here really captures why I go back year after year, whether I’m teaching or not. And there are still spaces left in some of the Glen West classes.

The theme at both Glens is “Acts of Attention: Art as Discovery.” Somewhere during one of the faculty talks, someone said, “Artists must see what’s virtually unseeable.” It made me think about the stories I want to tell in my writing–the invisible lives of the characters discovered, attention paid to the story beneath the story beneath the story, especially discovering that in the adolescent experience which is largely unseen by so much of the world. (Which is why many people critiquing what YA is don’t know what they’re talking about–they do not see.)

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In other news: I will be at ALA this weekend. If you’re going to be there, please come say hi at the Little, Brown Books for Young Readers booth (#1129) on Sunday, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. You may be able to score yourself an ARC of How to Save a Life, and my other books will be available there, too.

Speaking of HTSAL, I want to thank those of you who have read it, loved it, and been talking about. Your word of mouth means so much to me!

1. I am soooooooper duper excited to be able to announce that I’ll be joining the Smart Chicks Kick It Tour 2.0 this fall, masterminded by the fabulous trio of Melissa Marr, Kelley Armstrong, and Jennifer Lynn Barnes. I’m confirmed for Portland and Vancouver, with a very likely Seattle immediately following. You can follow the Smart Chicks tour on twitter (@smartchickstour), by liking the Facebook page, and watching the web site. (Warning: I did not have to take an IQ test to be part of the tour, so my actual smartness is not guaranteed.)

2. My latest Good Letters post, about words v. presence, is up.

3. Is the royal wedding over yet?

4. A couple of recent good interviews for those of you interested in the connections between arts/faith/culture in the movies: Jeffrey Overstreet interviews one of my creative heroes, Tom McCarthy (Win Win, which is great, btw). And Relevant Magazine interviews one of my favorite actors, Mark Ruffalo, about his directorial debut, Sympathy for Delicious.

5. Last night while driving over to the King’s English for Emily Wing Smith’s event, I passed what looked like a house party given by high schoolers, or maybe young college kids. I caught them somehow at a moment of mass happiness. It was warmish last evening, springlike, and they were in front on skateboards, or hugging one another, laughing, a pure-joy-smile on each of their faces. And I thought, yeah, in spite of it all, life–or living, anyway–truly is good. Better than the alternative.

Have a great weekend.

Coming soon – more details about How to Save a Life, and the cover! Meeaaaaanwhile:

- A couple of local appearances coming up:

• April 27, 7 p.m. – Favorite Poem Community Reading @ SLC Main Library – This is going to be fun. In celebration of National Poetry Month, Utah politicians, religious leaders, sports figures, authors, booksellers, and local celebrities will read or recite favorite poems. Utah Poet Laureate Katharine Coles will close out the evening. I have a few ideas for what I’ll read but nothing definite yet. This event is open to the public! It will end at 8:30 – don’t worry, no epics allowed.
• April 28, 7 p.m. – Book release event for Emily Wing Smith’s Back When You Were Easier to Love @ The King’s English. Ookay, this is not my appearance, but I’ll be there because you know who’s easy to love? Emily. And her books. And this cover!


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• May 4, 5-7 p.m. – Children’s Book Week event at The King’s English.

- There are still classes open at the Glen Workshops East and West, including spots in my YA fiction class, also in screenwriting, dance, songwriting, and more. (New addition to my workshop as of today: We’ll use a section of Carson McCullers’ actual marked-up manuscript of Member of the Wedding for a lesson in self-editing. I mean, okay, a copy of her actual marked-up manuscript BUT STILL.)

- My latest post–about depression and creativity, yay!–is up at Good Letters

- I had the great pleasure of contributing my own little tale of library love the latest Library Love podcast, produced and masterminded by Katie Davis. Thanks for having me, Katie!

- Here is some exciting news: How to Save a Life is going to be published in October of this very year after all, so you don’t have to wait through (another) whole, long winter for it. Soon, I should be able to reveal the cover, and I imagine that before you know it ARCs will be surfacing. You guys? I’m really excited about this book. It was such a joy to write. And if you’ve read Sweethearts or Once Was Lost, you know I was due for a little joy! Don’t worry – still plenty of my trademark existential ennui, but it is a more energetic ennui. (Maybe we can put that on the flap – “Filled with energetic ennui.”)

- My latest Good Letters post is up. It is about diabetes, the movie 127 Hours, and feeling pinned by circumstances and choices. (Side note: My dearest hope as I watched the Oscars was for a big James Franco upset. Alas, it was not to be. Was it me, or was that history’s most boring Oscars ever?)

- It is not too late to sign up for the YA workshop I’m leading this summer at Glen East in South Hadley, Mass (at Mt. Holyoke College). The theme for the whole week is “Acts of Attention: Art as Discovery.” I am sooo excited about this, in terms of teaching and also attending. If I weren’t teaching, what workshop would I take? I will tell you: Calligraphy with Tim Botts. If June doesn’t work for you, or MA is a little far to go, there is also the Glen Workshop West, the one I’ve been attending since 2002. Same theme as East, different cast of characters and class offerings. Last year I took Brad Winters’ screenwriting class, and it was so helpful to me as a novelist. Brad is a great teacher. As far as personality and style of teaching, think about Robert McKee – the bluster, the volume, the attitude. Now conjure up the opposite. That’s Brad.

- If you’re looking for something that is more a combination of craft + business (The Glen is totally craft-focused, which is why I love it), check out Writing & Illustrating for Young Readers, right here in Utah.