BLOODROSE Tour

Want to keep the holiday spirit going and avoid the winter blahs? Come run with the wolves and celebrate BLOODROSE with me!
Check out the tour stops - I hope you can make it!!!

Friday, January 6: St. Paul, MN
BLOODROSE release party
7 p.m. Red Balloon Bookshop

Tuesday, January 10: Seattle, WA
7 p.m. Third Place Books (Lake Forest Park)

Wednesday, January 11: Huntington Beach, CA
7 p.m. Barnes and Noble Booksellers

Thursday, January 12: San Diego, CA
7 p.m. Mysterious Galaxy Books

Friday, January 13: Manhattan Beach, CA
4 p.m. Pages: A Bookstore

Tuesday, January 17: St. Louis, MO
7 p.m. Puddn' Head Books

Friday, January 20: New Orleans, LA
5 p.m. Octavia Books

Italia!

I have exciting news to share! At the end of October I'm embarking on my first international tour. Thank you so much to my Italian publishers, De Agostini, and the Lucca Comics and Games Festival for inviting me to visit their beautiful country. You can find details on the festival here, where I'll be the patroness of Lucca's Halloween party! This looks to be the Halloween party of all Halloween parties, and given that Halloween is my favorite holiday I cannot wait!

If you happen to be in Italy, here is my tour schedule. I'll post more details as I have them!

October 28th, Friday: Milano
October 29th, Saturday: Bologna; Lucca, in the
evening
October 30th, Sunday: Lucca
October 31st, Monday: Lucca
November 1st, Tuesday: Lucca

Halloween in Italy! Davvero!

Not Enough Time!!!

There is so much going right now and it's the end of the semester so I can't keep up! But here's a rapid rundown of current events:

1) I had the delight of attending Houston Teen Book Con wherein I met amazing librarians, teachers, booksellers, authors and of course readers!! Thank you so much to the organizers and to everyone who came to the panels! I also had the bonus of bringing a friend home; here is Ben the armadillo from Blue Willow Bookshop.He's a fan of WOLFSBANE as you can see...or maybe he's trying to eat it.
2) It's National Library Week!! Libraries are one of society's most vital resources. Support your libraries! Also READ BANNED BOOKS!

3) Tomorrow is Rock the Drop: Operation Teen Book Drop! This amazing event encourages you to drop a teen book in a random public place for a lucky reader to pick up and then pass along. I'll be dropping several books around Minneapolis/St. Paul tomorrow.

4) I'm almost done with my work in progress (the companion novel to the Nightshade series), and I'm in that totally obsessive zone; hence, my lack of blogs. When I come up for air I promise to write more posts and hold more contests!

See you on the other side!

Teen Book Con!

Thanks to everyone for the enthusiasm for my 3000 follower Twitter contest. I announced the winner: @simplebookworm earlier this afternoon.

More contests will appear in the lead up to WOLFSBANE.

I'm posting this blog from Houston where tomorrow I'll appear at Teen Book Con. Check out the schedule!

And they made this great video:



Meeting readers is one of the best part of being an author and I can't wait for our panel.

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend!!

Road Tunes

In a couple of hours I'm heading north to Ashland, WI, my hometown. I'm doing a school visit at my old high school tomorrow morning - which is both trippy and delightful.

With a four-hour drive ahead of me I decided to splurge on some new music. Listening to music while drive is a sure-fire way to get my brain synapses firing in a writerly way. Listening to new music in particular seems to really enliven my creative side.

While I purchase a lot of music on iTunes I still buy cds. I love the jacket art and liner notes that lets me know more about the musicians' process behind this finished product. Here's what I'll be listening to on the rides to and from the Northwoods.

The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck

Though I already know the Mountain Goats to be incredibly talented, I was won over to purchase this album because I fell in love with the title tracks. The first track on this album: Damn These Vampires. Other fabulous titles for tracks: Prowl Great Cain, Outer Scorpion Squadron

Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes

I haven't listened to much Lykke Li but keep reading such great things about her that I decided to give this cd a whirl. Plus Scandinavian musicians tend toward awesome - Abba, anyone?

Jonsi - Go

Thank you to David Levithan for bringing Jonsi into my life. I loved Sigur Ros, I might love Jonsi a little bit more.

Yeasayer - Odd Blood

I already listen to Madder Red and O.N.E. incessantly, today I broke down and bought the whole album. Plus the typeface on the jacket is designed to look like Norse Runes. Love.

Radiohead - The King of Limbs

It's Radiohead. Need I say more?

I'll be curious to see which tracks are particularly inspiring. Songs often spin out scenes for me and that's how they end up on my book playlists and soundtracks. I'll keep you posted with the tunes that make the cut.

That Other Thing I Do

I always laugh when I'm asked "what did you do before you were a writer?" because I'm still doing it and have no intention of giving it up. I jokingly call my life as a history professor my 'day job' but it's a full-time endeavor and I love it.

When I've written about traveling of late it's usually been related to Nightshade, but I'm lucky that my history work takes me on the road too. This week I'm delighted to be at Saint Mary's College of Maryland for the Twelfth Annual Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Colloquium. The theme of this year's colloquium is Women in War: Object/Subject and feature historical, political, activist, and artistic interpretations of the topic.

Meeting the other visiting scholars and the faculty, students, and staff of the college has been wonderful, reminding me that gathering a group of engaged, caring people together and sharing ideas is the way the world can become a better place.

As a colonial historian I'm also enjoying the location. The college is located on the site of the first Maryland colony and has a public history exhibit that I visited.This building, the first state house, stands from 1676. It was amazing to be in a building that existed at the same moment Bacon's Rebellion and Metacom's War were underway.

And you can't have a colony without stocks. Let's all take a moment and be thankful that ear cropping and tongue dowels are no longer viewed as reasonable forms of punishment.

Maryland's colonial history has strong maritime connections and those connections continue today. The students of SMCM can take a course on colonial maritime history in which they learn how to sail The Dove - a replica of one of the colonial ships. I now really want to teach a course with a 'learn a colonial skill' component. Though I'm currently only qualified to teach students how they can identify a witch and I don't think that would be a great idea.
The campus of SMCM is lovely as well. And spring is already appearing here.

The nice barn-shaped brick building in the background is where I'm staying.

I'll return home tomorrow after a wonderful week of conversation, learning, and new friends. Thanks, Saint Mary's!

I'm in Florida!

At the National Council for Teachers of English annual meeting. Teachers and librarians are amazing! I'm having a wonderful time and every time I turn around I run into another of my favorite YA authors :)

And bonus: it's at Walt Disney World. Today I'm headed into the Magic Kingdom and I feel like I'm ten years old again!

You Guys are the Best!

I've had an amazing time in Chicago. Yesterday was a full day of school visits (thank you so much Lake Park and Pleasantdale!!) and a wonderful signing at Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville.

Thank you so much to everyone who came.

I had a wonderful time meeting you!
Thanks especially to Katie who came in her Team Shay shirt (it even has the Elemental Cross on it - woot!)

Today: more school visits and the Tree YA Lit Cafe at Buzz in Oak Park. Can't wait!

Where I'll Be

If you happen to live in Chicago-land I'd love to see you at one of my book signings this week!

Tuesday, November 9 I'll be at Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville at 7 p.m.

Wednesday, November 10 I'm in Oak Park at the Tree YA Lit Cafe (Magic Tree Bookshop) hosted at the Buzz Cafe. This event starts at 4:30 p.m.

Online Appearances

Tomorrow's a big digital day. From noon until midnight I'll be answering questions over at Bitten by Books. Stop by to say hello! You can also enter to win a finished, signed copy of Nightshade.

And, in case you missed it, Shay has just posted his final video of Shadow Days. If you want to learn about the marketing campaign and how to get the prequel I wrote from Shay's point of view, stop by between 7 and 8 p.m. (EST) at www.facebook.com/shadowshay where I"ll be answering questions!

Big day of Q&A and then I'm on a plane to Texas! Any Austin area folks head out to the Texas Book Festival to see me - I'm signing in the Penguin booth on Saturday.

The wait is almost over!

Trading Posts

I thought some of you might be wondering about these acronyms (MBA, GLIBA) that have been keeping me busy of late.

The American Booksellers Association (ABA) has many regional branches and around this time of year these branches hold their annual trade shows.

Tradeshows are neat because they are full of people who love books so much they've made a career out of it. Booksellers get together to talk about how to best sell books, how to use new media, publicity tactics, and they get to meet authors. That's where I come in - I've been making the rounds at trade shows to talk about NIGHTSHADE. It's so much fun because I get to talk about my book to people who are really excited about getting it into the hands of readers.

And wow do booksellers know their readers. One of my favorite parts of the show was at my signing table and having booksellers ask me to personalize NIGHTSHADE for a loyal customer or beloved niece/nephew who they are certain will love the book. That's so exciting and wonderful!

I signed a lot of books (there were probably five more boxes on the floor behind me). Thanks so much to the amazing Allison, of Penguin publicity, who was my buddy for the show. She rocks.

This weekend I'm headed to Austin for the Texas Book Festival. This event is of a different sort than the trade shows as its much more oriented towards the readers than the book sellers.

I'm also going to be in a Zombies vs. Unicorns face off. I cannot wait.

Here I Am!

I'm getting ready to head to Michigan for GLIBA - hooray! I love meeting booksellers :)

This week I was delighted to spend time on the blog of Brenna Yovanoff (yay, her awesome debut The Replacement is a New York Times bestseller!).

As I'll be traveling and not posting you can stop by and see my guest blog and interview if you should miss me. I miss you too!

Booksellers Rule!

You'll be seeing me here and there on the blogosphere as we're within two weeks of Nightshade's publication. (TWO WEEKS!!!!! The waiting is killing me!)
So I don't go mad, I'm going to focus on things that make me happy. Talking to people about Nightshade makes me very happy and I'm getting to do a lot of that lately.

Last weekend I was thrilled to participate in Anderson's YA conference in Naperville, Illinois. But my events kicked off before the conference began.

First I got to meet amazing readers at a pre-publication dinner.

They let me talk a lot

And we had so much fun (and delicious chocolate cake!)

The next day I visited schools. Despite my trip to the principal's office, I had an incredible time talking with students.

And they gave me flowers! Wow!
Then it was on to the conference. I love writing/book conferences because it means I get to hang out with other authors. YA authors are ridiculously fun to hang out with. I finally got to meet Kiersten White, who has been my 'virtual' friend for a while now. I love Kiersten! Her book, Paranormalcy, hit the NY Times bestseller list. Congrats, Kiersten!!

I also got to hang out with the super awesome David Levithan and John Green. I was on a panel with Antony John - his book Five Flavors of Dumb is fabulous - and Kirsten Miller (you've already heard me rave about Eternal Ones).
The next two weeks I'm heading to Michigan and Texas to talk more about Nightshade. Thank goodness. I need the distraction. Waiting is so hard!

BEA: Day 3

Day 3 was really full and will take up a few posts.

But let's start with the morning. I snapped a few pictures of my favorite BEA objects

the Penguin mini

the giant Abrams typewriter

and the Vlad Tod steps!

Then it was on to the signing. Thanks to Editor Jill and Publicist Sarah for shuttling me around and getting everything set

Thanks to Agent Richard for cheering me on and letting me get him to pose with giant Nightshade. I am officially obsessed with giant Nightshade.
And a HUGE thanks to all the lovely BEA goers who came to say hello!

Signing was fun

I signed 150 books in 50 minutes - there was a line! Amazing!

But my hand didn't cramp up
And it was pretty much a hoot and a half :) Thanks, Jill Bailey, for the fabulous purple Sharpie - the perfect Nightshade signing implement!

I'll be posting more about BEA after I've had a chance to catch my breath. Also coming soon: I visit an aircraft carrier (yes for real) and do trapeze without dying (also for real).

Not About Lost

The blog/tweetosphere is run amok with reactions to the Lost series finale.
Me? Ummmm....I stopped watching Lost after the second season.
Gasp!

It's not that I didn't enjoy it, but I just didn't quite fall in love the way I need to if I'm going to remain loyal to a show.
For example, if you want to hear my theory about what happened at the season finale of Supernatural I'd be happy to share :)

Now that TV business is taken care of, this post has a two-fold purpose.

One to share a GIGANTIC thank you to my wonderful hosts and dinner companions of last week. I had a wonderful time and though it hardly seemed possible am even more excited about October now than I was before.

My last stop was Chicago - one of my favorite cities.
I love the river
and the architecture.
I even had the joy of being caught out in a thunderstorm. That's not sarcasm - I love being caught out in the rain; it imparts a pure ecstasy of life in the moment ;)

I'd like to thank in particular my teen blogger/readers who came to dinner. My soul sistah Zoe!I know - we really could be sisters?! Right? :)

Hallie - who told me she hid Nightshade under her pillow so she could sneak reads when she was supposed to be doing her homework! And Kristen whose blog I'm so excited to read :) Thanks so much for your enthusiasm and kind words about the series!!

The second purpose of this post is to ask a favor. I'm heading to New York tomorrow for BEA. It's my first book convention and I'm sure there will be tons to report, but I'd like to know what you would like to hear about? What BEA buzz should my blog posts send back yonder?

One last item of note: The Frenetic Reader is giving away an ARC of Nightshade! Hurry over for your chance to win :)

Onward

Last day of the pre-pub tour and I'm headed for Chicago.

Milwaukee was a blast. I had such a great time meeting wonderful book sellers and librarians while enjoying a lovely view of the art museum. I only wish I was here long enough to visit the collection!

While I've been traveling, some fantastic reviews of Nightshade have popped up. Check out what Addicted 2 Books and Super Reader Girl have to say about the story!!

Happy weekend :) Here's my fave song of the moment - Broken Bells, The Ghost Inside:

Climbing into Bed

It doesn't take much to entertain me, so I was giddy and giggly at this
it's my bed at the hotel I'm staying at in Milwaukee. It has stairs.

The hotel is lovely. The bed is gigantic - the mattress hits at my waist and I'm 5'5", meaning either the stairs or a running start are indeed necessary to make it up there. I find this endlessly hilarious for some reason.

So I've made it back to the central time zone after a brilliant evening in San Francisco, where I visited Union Square.
And had gorgeous weather.

Then it was on to Denver. Where I had a blast, but not enough time to take pictures. Except of this watchful fellow in the Denver airport, which struck me as quite Nightshade appropriate.

Now I've returned to my home territory. Even though I'm from Wisconsin this is my first visit to Milwaukee. I have already learned that the world's largest bell resides here. Apparently it is larger than Big Ben. Go Sconnies! We have a big bell.

Yes I've been traveling for four days...I may or may not be a bit looped at this point.

St. Augustine

I thought I'd share some of my traveling photos over the next few posts.

The past four days I was in St. Augustine for an Early American Borderlands conference - the conference was great, admittedly the location didn't hurt one bit.
One of the highlights was visiting El Casillo de San Marcos, which has stood in St. Augustine since 1565, making it the oldest masonry defense in the U.S. I am a big fan of old things. Particularly forts with bastions and lookout towers from which to spy English and Dutch corsairs!

I also like cannons.
And interpreters in costume.
I also had a lovely time with my dear friend, Christian - who can vouch for my haunted phone story and Heather and her oh-so-cute son Mateo.
It was a great trip - today I'm across the continent in Seattle. I'm heading out to walk around now and will post pics tomorrow!

May Q&A

I'll be off the grid for the next three days - so it's the perfect time for this month's Q&A.

Leave any questions in the comments and I'll answer them when I return on Friday! Thanks for all your excitement about the Penguin Five :)

Looking forward to your questions!!!

Over the Pond

In a few short hours I'll be winging my way across the Atlantic (on a jet plane, alas I have yet to sprout wings). The next two weeks will see me pouring over very, very, very old books and manuscripts in the British Library.
I love London, and I've been fortunate to have spent a lot of time in this city. But the doldrums of grad school kept me away for half a decade and I'm eagerly awaiting my reunion with the sights and sounds of London town.

I'm staying in Bloomsbury and hope to pull on the lingering spirits of the Bloomsbury group for inspiration as I write and wander the streets.