DEAD TO YOU is in stores this week!

This is the first time I'm not doing a major tour for one of my books--it feels strange! And I'll actually be home with my family on both Valentine's Day and my birthday this year, hooray! But oh, how I will miss you.

The timing is great, though. I've got a few tight deadlines in the first half of 2012, so being able to work at home means I'll be a lot more productive (which means more books for you in 2013)! But I'll miss meeting booksellers, librarians, teachers, and especially teens this time around. I think I will be touring again in the fall when The Unwanteds: Island of Silence comes out.

The good news is that I'll be doing a few short visits here and there. This Thursday I'll be at CHANGING HANDS BOOKSTORE in Tempe, AZ for the launch party of DEAD TO YOU (call ahead to order personalized/signed copies--they ship almost anywhere). I'll be at the Chino Book Festival in Chino, CA on Sunday, Feb 26, signing in the Mrs. Nelson's Toys & Books booth. I'll also be visiting one of my favorite cities, Houston, for their Teen Book Festival in mid-April. As always, you can follow my travels on the TOUR page on my website. I will add more as they come along.

I hope you enjoy DEAD TO YOU! It's a stand-alone. And hopefully soon I'll be able to let you know what's coming next -- I can't wait to share the news! Stay tuned.

Thank you for buying my books! I really appreciate you.

xoxo

October Appearances: Mesa, Tempe, Phoenix, and Louisiana!

Check my website tour page regularly for details. (Specifics on Livingston Parish Libraries in Louisiana to come.)

Also on that page -- please take advantage of the Demand It! widget. Maybe I'll come to your nearest major city some day!

Scottsdale: Civic Center Library tonight!

It's a paranormal PJ party. I'll be there from 7-8pm signing books and talking about the WAKE trilogy.

On a side note for those of you doing The National Day of Silence today...rock on. Thanks for standing up to bullying.

What is a book tour like? Days 1-2

A lot of people have asked me about my tour and what that was like. So I've written up a sort of journal. I'll post segments of it over the next week or so. Here are days 1 and 2, both local to me.

Wed. 3/5/08, Mesa/Tempe, AZ
This morning I arrived at McClintock High School in Mesa Arizona to speak to three classes about writing. Before I got started, my teacher contact, Ms. N, introduced me to a student who interviewed me for the school newspaper, and then I got to meet her other English students, one class at a time. By 1:30 I was done for the school day. At 6:00PM I had my first book signing at Borders on Alma School Road. I was not as nervous as I thought I'd be (doing the school visits really helped with that). It was amazing! Tons of friends came by and from what the store contact person told me, we sold 42 books. Not bad since many friends had already purchased theirs by then.

Thursday, 3/6/08 Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ
Today’s school was Chaperral High School in Scottsdale. Upon arrival, I discovered there had been a bit of a mix-up in scheduling and I was asked if I could come back in two hours. Since I was over an hour away from home, I decided to grab an early lunch and catch up on some email at the Borders store where I was going to be signing that night. What a pleasant surprise to find a large display of WAKE near the front of the store.

Back at school (which is undergoing a huge construction project that necessitated parking quite far away – a quick and sincere thank you to the kind security gentleman who gave me a lift in his golf cart, by the way), I spoke to three fabulous classes that were made up of some pretty cool people, many of them writers. And their teacher, Ms. M, totally rocks.

After school I headed out to Borders again to hang out in the café and get some more work done. Had a quick dinner at Souper Salad and then it was back to the store for the signing. I had met some really cool students in the Borders café earlier. I noticed the book CRANK by Ellen Hopkins (a book I loved) on their table and we struck up a conversation about it. They were a lot of fun and later they came by and bought a book to share among the three of them. Thanks guys! Several other friends came out to this signing, and I made some new friends and readers as well just by walking around in the store during the quiet moments. Turned out to be another great signing.


Tune in for more over the coming days.