NYC - Wednesday, August 6, 6:00 p.m.

I'll be at Books of Wonder. Please come! I'll be reading from FADE, woo hoo!
18 W 18th Street
New York, NY 10020

Here's the info from Books of Wonder's website:

LISA McMANN, LINDA GERBER, MELISSA WALKER, CLAIRE MYSKO, KATIE DAVIS,
and JENNY DAVIDSON


Please join us on Wednesday, August 6, as we host 6 talented authors for teen who will present some of the newest in scintillating teen fiction and non-fiction. Come meet author and scholar JENNY DAVIDSON, whose debut teen novel The Explosionist, set in Scotland in the 1930's, introduces us to sixteen-year-old Sophie, her friend Mikael, and her great-aunt Tabitha as they are caught up in a murder mystery involving terrorists and suicide bombers whose plans have world-shaping consequences; best-selling author KATIE DAVIS, whose latest novel, The Curse of Addy McMahon, is a comic look at the titular hero's attempts to get down to the bottom of a purported family curse even as she tries to repair the fallout after her entire school gets a look at one of the comics from her private journal; LINDA GERBER, whose Death by Bikini introduces us to Aphra Behn Connolly, a lonely girl living on her family's island resort and forced to turn sleuth when a shocking murder and the sudden arrival of smoldering Seth's family seem just a bit too coincidental; LISA McMANN, author of Wake, a spellbinding novel in which seventeen-year-old Janie Hannagan learns she has the supernatural ability to enter into other people's dreams and influence those dreams; CLAIRE MYSKO, author of You're Amazing!: A No-Pressure Guide to Being Your Best Self, a fun-packed advice book that tackles the pressures faced by today's teens by offering inspired wisdom and guidance from older teens, female role models, and activities from Girls Inc., a non-profit organization that inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold; Violet series writer MELISSA WALKER, author of Violet in Private, Violet by Design, and Violet on the Runway, which explore the travails of Violet Greenfield, wallflower turned catwalker turned college student, as she encounters romance, the pitfalls of celebrity, and those everyday insecurities of teenage girls; and CHLOE WALSH, author of The Interns:Fashionistas and The Interns: Truth or Fashion, which presents the glamorous yet nerve-wracking world of the four summer interns at Couture magazine--aspiring designer Callie; party-girl photographer Nadine; accommodating Ava, who's about to learn you don't get what you want by standing back and waiting for it to happen; and Aynsley, sexy socialite with an attitude to match. Don't miss your chance to meet these cutting-edge teen fiction and non-fiction authors and get your books signed by them! 6:00-7:30pm. Ages 12 and up.


This event is free and open to all. Please note that you are welcome to bring one book from home to be signed for each book you purchase on the day of the event. If you have any questions, call us at (212) 989-3270.

I know you are so jealous...

because I am this tight with MC Hammer. Don't I look like a total dork with my mouth all askew? :) Here we are at the Ypulse Conference in San Francisco, where I also got to meet the awesome Melissa Walker, author of the Violet on the Runway series which I absolutely love -- I mean, seriously. Violet is this awesome geeky, awkward, freakishly tall and totally unpopular high school girl who gets discovered by a top modeling agency and becomes this amazing model...but guess what? Her problems don't magically go away. And since author Melissa has seen the inside view of the modeling industry (she has an article in the current issue of Teen Vogue, too), she is the perfect author to tell it like it is. I love this series and can't wait to read book three, Violet in Private, which comes out August 5.

I also met Justina Chen Headley, author of Girl Overboard and one of founders of the amazing Readergirlz. With her was her very cool son, who rocked.

And then there was David Levithan who claims half responsibility for Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. He's also an editor at Scholastic and is involved in the upcoming 39 Clues, which is getting a lot of buzz. David and I shared the stage with Mortified author Dave Nadelberg and spent about 30 minutes embarrassing ourselves talking about our teen experiences.

And I can't forget to mention very cool editor Cindy Eagan from Little, Brown, who was a blast.

Awesome conference! You? Must come next year, okay? Okay.


And hey! Do you Twitter? https://twitter.com/lisa_mcmann

NYC Signing coming up August 6

Hello peeps,

My lazy month is coming to a close and things start speeding up again for me.

I'll be in San Francisco July 13-15 at the Ypulse Mashup (Youth Marketing Convention). I heard MC Hammer is going to be there and if he is, I'm totally getting his autograph for Michigan friend Brian Aulick, who still owns Hammer pants (rumor has it, anyway). I'm excited to meet cool authors like Melissa Walker, Justina Chen Headley, David Levithan and Dave Nadelberg.

Then it's off to see family and friends in Michigan for 10 days. If I have a chance, I'll stop into Holland's bookstores to sign copies of WAKE. Same goes for the "South of Detroit" area.

Then I'll fly out to NYC for the Backspace Conference (details in the post below) for an August 6 signing with fellow YA authors Melissa Walker and Linda Gerber:

BOOKS OF WONDER
18 W 18th Street
New York, NY 10011

(212) 989-3270

The reading/signing is Wednesday August 6 from 6-7:30 pm. Please spread the word!

Book news -- announcing book 3 in the WAKE series...

WAKE, FADE, ?

NYT bestselling author Lisa McMann's third and final installment in the series that began with WAKE, to Jennifer Klonsky at Simon Pulse, for publication in Spring 2010, by Michael Bourret at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (World).

No title yet.

Looking for a great writing conference?

The 2008 Backspace Writers Conference (August 7 & 8, Radisson Martinique, New York City) brings together literary agents, acquisitions editors, best-selling authors, and publishing professionals for a two-day, two-track program of workshops, panels, and networking in the heart of the publishing world.

In addition to keynote talks by Mark Tavani, a senior editor at Random House, and New York Times bestselling author Lee Child, program highlights include a conversation with Simon Lipskar and Mark Tavani on agents and editors working together, a marketing discussion by M.J. Rose, a workshop from independent editor Jerry Gross on finding and working with a reputable book doctor, a role-playing workshop from Jeff Kleinman: “Buy This Book!”, agent and editor panel discussions, and panels on the young adult market, short stories, memoir, nonfiction, crime fiction, erotica, children’s picture books, and more.

Attendance is limited to 200. $355 for Backspace members; $395 for non-members. In addition, Mystery Writers of America is offering their members a special discount. Register Now and come meet the people who can make a difference in your career!

Literary Agents: Richard Curtis, Simon Lipskar, Jeff Kleinman, Emmanuelle Alspaugh, Paige Wheeler, Laney Katz Becker, Jenny Bent, Maya Rock, Michael Bourret, Scott Hoffman, Ronnie Gramazio, Elisabeth Weed, Stephany Evans

Authors: M.J. Rose, Harry Hunsicker, Jason Pinter, Jackie Kessler, Heather Brewer, Gail Konop Baker, Laurel Corona, Lisa McMann, Jenny Gardiner, Danielle Younge-Ullman, Claudia Gray, Marlys Pearson, Jessica Keener, Elizabeth Letts, A.S. King, Robin Slick, Susan Henderson, Pam Jenoff, Trish Ryan, Leora Skolkin-Smith, Caroline Leavitt, Reed Farrel Coleman, Chris Grabenstein, William Powers

Editors and Other Publishing Professionals: Hilary Rubin Teeman (editor, St. Martin's), Charis Conn (contributing editor, Harper's Magazine), Kristen Weber (senior editor, New American Library), Bella Stander, Jerry Gross, Lauren Cerand, Eileen Winnick


"Backspace is relatively new but it's the real deal - which is amply proved both by the quality of discourse within and the truly amazing hit-rate its members have already achieved." – Lee Child, New York Times best-selling author

"I love being associated with you guys. Such a class act. Backspace is the pre-eminent writers organization because you guys have made it so. Always innovating, thinking outside the box, and just generally doing conferences bigger and better than they have been done before. I'm just honored to have been there from the start." – Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary Agency

"I mention Backspace whenever I teach my writers' workshop around the country. The yearly Backspace conference is an invaluable resource. I've taught there and can’t say enough good things about the information, encouragement, and enthusiasm they provide." – David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author

From Attendees:

"I have never had such an excellent time at a conference! The presenters were uniformly accessible and pleasant. The overall mood was also excellent."

"The workshop was so well organized and run. Bravo to all of you who worked to pull together a truly remarkable event, well worth the price of admission!"

"The superlatives just flow whenever I try to describe my experience at the conference. I can't say enough or thank you enough. Superb. As I keep telling folks, it's impossible to convey what I took away from the experience, because the most valuable things are the intangibles."

"It was the best writing conference I've ever attended on all dimensions - the amount of new information, real contact with other writers and people in the industry, and the level of truth-telling made it stand out."

"I thought the conference was absolutely fantastic. The informal atmosphere and seriousness of intent combined into an exciting, very useful, very enjoyable weekend of talks and panels. I learned so much, met so many wonderful people, and got a far stronger handle on how to market my work. Many, many thanks."

Reading/Signing Encinitas, CA

Hey Southern California, I'll be signing copies of WAKE in Encinitas.

Saturday, May 24, 2:00 PM

Barnes & Noble Encinitas
Encinitas Town Center
1040 N. El Camino Real Drive
Encinitas, CA 92024
760-943-6400

Please stop by if you're in the area.

xo
Lisa

Book Tour Journal, San Francisco

Monday, 03.17.2008 SAN FRANCISCO

All rested up! Caught an evening flight to San Francisco. Another Carey driver with my name on a sign – I was finally getting used to seeing that weirdness. Sadly, there was a huge convention in SF and all the hotels downtown were booked, so I stayed at the Weston near the airport instead. Which turned out to be great, because a friend lives only five minutes from there. I got in late and grabbed dinner at the hotel bar. At least there was no time change this trip, so that was most excellent. Plus, I didn’t have to be ready until 10 a.m. This was like a vacation compared to last week!

Tuesday, 03.18.2008

By 10 a.m. I was anxious to get going. Couldn’t wait to see who my media escort would be for the next couple days. Having enjoyed my time with Shirley and with Judy, poor Jim had a lot to live up to. But he didn’t disappoint. He had a quirky sense of humor that I really enjoyed. Too bad we never found that Starbucks.

My schedule was fairly light. I had one school visit, Monte Vista High School in Danville where I presented to a group of about 100 students. Also there was Colleen from B&N in Walnut Creek, where I’d be signing later that evening. I loved the set-up at this school. One large group of students and a book fair set up by a bookstore. It was great to meet some of the students and sign their copies of WAKE.

After that, Jim drove me to a few bookstores where I signed stock. The media escorts in all these cities calls ahead to stores and asked them to have the books up at the info desk, so it’s an easy in-and-out stop. I liked to have a chance to chat for a few minutes with the store staff though, too.

We got to Walnut Creek B&N around 5 p.m. It was an interesting set-up – a very beautiful shopping area. I was especially excited to get there because I’d be meeting up with friends (who are more like family). The Bloyers, who were our dear friends and neighbors in Mesa for three years, had recently moved to this area. Yay – we met for an early dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen and it was so great to see them all again.

And then the signing. Surprisingly, there were a number of people there (in this town where I knew almost no one) and the questions went on for a while. I think several of the audience members were students at a nearby college. They took a lot of notes, anyway. Which made me sort of nervous, since I’m not exactly an expert on anything, lol.

But it went well. Jim drove me back to my hotel where I had a great night’s sleep.


Wednesday, 03.19.2008

I was really liking this whole “stay in one area for a few days” thing. Today we had one stop at nearby San Mateo High School, where I met Shannon Mathis from Books, Inc. She was so great! She brought books along for me to sign and I had a great time just hanging out and chatting with the school’s book club group and having pizza. Very low key. The group had already read WAKE (yay!) and I signed their individual copies.

And then...and then...Jim took me to see the actual CITY of San Francisco. It was my first time there! And it was absolutely gorgeous (as were the surrounding suburbs). I loved loved loved the hills and the crazy streets and the water...ooooooh, the water. I miss the water, living here in AZ.

Along the way, we stopped at a number of bookstores to sign stock, and wherever Jim couldn’t get parking, he’d drop me off and drive around the block and I’d go in and sign books. Then he took me to lunch at this great waterfront seafood place that was absolutely perfect. I had scallops that were frankly amazing.

And then, as if Jim hadn’t showed me enough cool places, he brought me to the old Catholic Church where his wife works. We had talked about her and their church and how it was one of the oldest structures in SF and had survived the earthquake a hundred years ago, and I was really interested in it. I’ve only been in a few Catholic churches before in my life, so that added to my intrigue. So Jim surprised me with a quick tour (the stained glass windows were gorgeous), and I got to meet his wife. It was awesome!

That night, back at the hotel, I met up with an Internet friend. She picked me up and we went out to dinner at her favorite Chinese place where she revealed her deep dark secrets and I got hit in the back of the head with a piece of broccoli, thrown by someone at the table behind me. It was a pretty freaking hilarious evening, and the perfect way to end the SF leg of my tour.

The next morning I flew home. And I wasn’t even hardly tired at all. Yay!

The end.

Book Tour Journal, Days 6-8, Chicago-land.

Wednesday 03.12.2008, Naperville, IL

7:15 a.m., Judy arrived outside the condo. Judy is my media escort while I’m in the Chicago area. Her car has a cool cup holder right above the passenger side vent.

Our first stop was Naperville North High School, and it took us a good while to get there. But we were early so there was time to stop at Starbucks. At the school, I met Teri from Anderson’s Bookshop and I spoke to two creative writing classes who were really stellar people. After each session we took orders for copies of WAKE. ‘Twas a great time.

Afterward, Judy drove me to Anderson’s where I signed the books along with a bunch more for stock. Then we had lunch next door at Lou Malnati’s. Now, normally, when in Chicago and staring a fantastic pizza place in the face, I’d get pizza. But, after a total of about eleven hours of sleep since I left home four days before, I was in serious need of comfort food. Plus, I knew that my sister was planning on taking me to Giordano’s that night. And, I have been known to order me some Lou Malnati’s pizza and have it delivered all the way to Arizona (it’s a weakness – they deliver everywhere in the country!). So I ordered pasta, and it was warm and delicious and...comforting.

And then Anderson's gave me a free book -- wasn't that nice? I got to choose. I picked The Wednesday Wars, a Newbery Honor book written by my former professor, Gary Schmidt.

Then it was onward to Naperville Central, key rival of the North (I soon discovered). Here I presented WAKE to a wonderful group in an auditorium setting. In the chairs were film and creative writing students of several genres. They asked fantastic questions and it was great to see so many artists all in one school.

I can’t say enough good things about the schools in Naperville—had a great time there!
After school, I was FREE for the whole evening...WOW. And I was exhausted. Judy dropped me off at my sister’s condo where I sort of just fell into a chair and waited for my agent to call with an update of the first week’s sales figures, which he did. And they were great. But there had also been a glitch with WAKE placement in one of the chain stores, which was a bit frustrating. And even though my sales numbers were good, it felt like a good time to have a little cry, so I did. Which was probably the best thing for me after four days of non-stop whirlwind travel on not-enough-sleep.

That night sister Tricia, bro-in-law Kevin and I went out to Giordano’s and it felt great to relax a bit. We stopped at Barbara’s Books in Oak Park (I think?) and signed a couple books (and I also picked up a copy of Hugo Cabret that I’ve been meaning to get) and Barnes & Noble and a Borders on State Street, but it was too late and Borders had already closed.

Back to Tricia’s to crash and prepare for another early morning.


Thursday 03.13.2009 LaGrange, IL

YAY, my lovely sister took the day off to go with Judy and me to Lyon Township High School in LaGrange, a lovely town where 75-bazillion trains pass through each day and the Starbucks is somehow always on the other side of the tracks.

I spent the day in the school library and the classes came to me – four of them, to be exact. I feel so sorry for that 4th class because usually after three classes I have run out of words for the day. But everything was great and Nancy Richter, the school media specialist, was a great asset, too. She even brought the superintendent to the book signing that evening (and we saw her at the soup and sandwich place for dinner, too)! Now that’s what I call support.

Judy managed to get me to a few more bookstores in the area to sign stock before we had to get back to the Borders in LaGrange for the signing.

And there, I met two more myspace friends! It was so great of them to come out for the event. It really made my night. I also met a lovely woman who is mother to one of the friends I list in the book’s acknowledgements, and we had a great chat. A few students from Lyons Twp HS came by too – it was great to see them again! And of course Nancy and the superintendent and some others who I hadn’t yet met.

Thanks LaGrange Borders! It was a great night.


Friday, 03.14.2008

Crawled out of bed, threw everything in the suitcase, and said a sleepy goodbye to Tricia and Kevin. Thank you for your hospitality! And thank Manson, too, for not attacking me. (Manson is their psycho cat). Time to head HOME for the weekend! Hubby Matt was at the airport to pick me up. And I was off duty until Monday – San Francisco, up next!

Book Tour Journal, Day 5, Novi, MI

Tuesday, 03.11.2008, Novi, MI

Another night short on sleep and early to rise – my schedule was bound and determined to retrain my body to embrace the eastern time zone. At around 7:00 a.m. my media escort for the day, Shirley, picked me up and we made our way to Novi High School where I would talk with a few classes of writers. Unfortunately, there was a last-minute change and because of testing, I would only be presenting to one class. Fortunately, there was a techie there waiting to video tape me for a quick clip about WAKE and about my visit, so that was cool. After the school visit, I had a few hours of free time and I took advantage of the Internet access to catch up on a few things.

Later I checked out of the hotel and met up with Shirley again for lunch, and then we set out to visit bookstores to sign stock (we also dropped off my rental car so I wouldn’t have to worry about that later in the evening when I was on my way to catch my flight). We probably hit about 6 stores and I seriously can’t tell you where we stopped. But I do know we ended up back in Novi, which was great since that’s where my book signing would be.

I happily got to see more family (the in-laws, this time) and also a new media specialist friend, Jill Morgan, from Flat Rock High School. With her she brought three students and the five of us had a terrific chat before things got started. It was another decent showing and it was great to see my family again, even if it was just for a short time. Also great was seeing Deb, my former boss from my early bookstore days – what a treat! She hired me when I was 17.

Shirley, who was watching the clock, hustled me out the door because I had a 10PM flight to catch that would deliver me to Chicago. Borders in Novi, you rock – thanks for a great event! After a nice flight, I arrived and was whisked away by one of those guys in a suit carrying a sign with my name on it. He then drove me to my sister’s condo, where I’d make my bed that night and two nights after. It was so great to see my sis and brother-in-law – hadn’t seen them since they got married in October. But it was so late that we all just crashed, because Wednesday would be another early morning.

Book Tour Journal, Days 3-4. Grand Rapids / Holland, Michigan

Sunday - Monday, 03.09 – 03.10.2008 Grand Rapids/Holland, Michigan

My chauffeur picked me up from my house in Arizona at 11:00 AM to drive me to the airport. Actually, he was 15 minutes early, which made me happy. I would soon find that all Carey drivers arrived a good deal earlier than scheduled, which really gave me comfort during a time when I felt like I wasn’t completely in control of my everyday actions.

This was my first experience with having a driver. I had questions – where do I sit? Do I tip? My driver ushered me to the back seat, passenger side, where water bottles awaited (and a TV). And yes, you tip the drivers in the black sedans, most of whom are Carey drivers. But you don’t tip the media escorts (more on media escorts in the next entry).

Brrrr! I arrived in Grand Rapids around 9:30pm local time and made my way to the rental car desk at the airport, only a little worried about the piles of snow I saw outside – I haven’t driven on snow in four years. Luckily the roads were dry and clear. Why am I renting a car and driving myself? Because I am crossing the state in the next 24 hours and media escorts basically drive within their greater city area only. There was no one who was available to drive me the 2.5 hours from southwest Michigan to southeast Michigan. My lovely publicists at S&S made sure well in advance that I was comfortable with the plan, which I was -- I grew up here and have made the trip from Holland to Novi many times. I felt very comfortable driving myself.

I made my way to the elaborately appointed Amway Grand Hotel downtown to spend a (very) short night. They greeted me with an envelope – my publicist had thoughtfully sent a copy of my itinerary to the hotel for me. I found out they did this at every stop. It made me feel important, lol.

Starving, I grabbed a room service burger at 11 p.m. The 3-hour time difference had me still twiddling my thumbs at midnight, unable to sleep when my body thought it was only 9pm. A few hours later I finally managed to doze off and the 6 a.m. wake-up call was pretty hard to take when my body said it was 3 a.m. But I was SO excited, because Holland is my hometown. So the adrenaline kicked in. Breakfast in the room while I packed up again. I drove into Holland (about 45 minutes away), met my media escorts, Amy and Michelle from Treehouse Books, and was off to West Ottawa High School, where I presented to three classrooms. Afterward, I had 2.5 hours to make a round-trip back to Grand Rapids to stop at two excellent bookstores. I stopped at Schuler Books on 28th Street and at Pooh’s Corner in Breton Village (my old place of employment while in college and afterward). I signed books both places so if you were unable to make it to Treehouse for the signing, you can find autographed copies in Grand Rapids.

Then it was back to Holland for an after school gig, again with West Ottawa HS, this time a wonderful book club of students grades 6 and up. We had a terrific discussion and some pretty great homemade salsa, too.

I had a couple hours to spare after that, so I stopped in to spend some time with my parents, and then made my way back downtown Holland to see my sister-in-law’s awesome art collection on display at Uptown Gallery. Her name is Michele Gort and she’s a wonderful painter. To my chagrin, the store was closed for the day, and I’d missed my only chance to see her collection up close. Luckily, I could see them through the store window...not the same, but better than nothing.

Back at Treehouse Books, I arrived to find two LOVELY myspace friends already there and waiting. It was so great to meet them both for the first time! After them came a steady stream of people including all my dear family members. The signing lasted nearly until the 9 p.m. closing time and we sold some 65 books or so. As things settled down, I had a great and rare opportunity to chat with Danny Reyes, who is a terrific musician and a dear friend of my husband’s (and mine). But too soon it was time to pack up and head out to the next place – Novi, Michigan, and a 2.5 hour drive to my next hotel. The drive gave me a great chance to come down off the high of a fantastic signing and seeing all those old friends and relatives. Exhausted is an understatement, but it was a good sort of exhaustion.

Thanks, Treehouse Books! Hope to see you in July when I’m back in town.

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.

Tagged...

Okay, I guess I can't put this off any longer. :)

I've been tagged by a number of people for the Six Random Things meme, most recently authors Kay Sexton (after knowing her for four or five years, I just found out her real name isn't Kay. Wow.) and Linda Gerber (who used to work for the US Senate!)

Commence with Six Random Things About Me:

1. My favorite thing for breakfast is last night's leftovers. This morning I had half a sandwich with cold chicken breast, tomato and avocado. Yum!

2. I'm ambidextrous. I play most sports right-handed, unless I see an advantage going lefty or switching back and forth to confuse the competition, but I always sign books left handed (my left-handed signature is prettier -- or at least legible).

3. I have an extra vertebra and an extra set of ribs.

4. I do not have a favorite color. When people ask me, "what's your favorite color?" I am baffled. It's like deciding on what to have for dinner at a restaurant. It depends on the day and the mood.

5. I spent three summers as a teenager picking blueberries endlessly. My hands were blue. I dreamed about blueberries. I now hate blueberries and will never ever eat a blueberry willingly again.

6. When I was a kid, I had an awesome recurring dream -- I dreamed that our garage had turned into an amazing candy store. It was so real, in the morning I'd go check to see if it had really happened. The store looked much like the Fabiano's Holland Peanut Store on 8th Street in Holland, Michigan where I grew up -- the store is still there today and every time I'm in town, I go say hi to the Fabiano family.

The rules:
a. Link to the person who tagged you.
b. Post the rules on your blog.
c. Write six random things about yourself.
d. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
e. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment at their blog.
f. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.


I am tagging:

Blueboarder buddy, Adaora
Mom2BJM
Ilse
Jolene at Major Disaster
Buggy
Supes, who needs to start blogging again.

In Publishers Weekly's Children's Bookshelf

(or: to avoid all potentially misplaced apostrophes... In the bookshelf of the children belonging to the weekly of the publishers)

A little photo and story -- Cassandra Clare and me and our time in Phoenix.

Scroll down a little...we're right below Felicity Huffman (OMG).

TBD

The Readergirlz's Operation Teen Book Drop is tomorrow!

Authors -- on promo and marketing

Hey author friends,

Are you scared to death of speaking in public, doing a book signing or school visit, or just don't have the first clue about how to get the word out about your book? (Why do I feel like this 'graph sounds like the beginning of an infomercial? It's not, I promise.)

Recently I did an interview with Kelly Spitzer.
In it, Kelly asked me quite a few questions about promotion and marketing and what my publisher and I did together. I've had a bunch of people tell me it was very helpful, so I'm passing along the link.

The lovely Bella Stander picked up the interview as well for her blog and she tells the story of how she and I met.


I just wanted to let you know that these articles and this help is out there. Bella is amazing. And I just noticed she's doing a workshop called Book Promotion 101 on May 17 in NYC. If you live in the NYC area, go. And if you don't, maybe you could spread the word to other author friends who do live there.

She also offers reasonably priced sessions over the phone that will really help you get your brain focused on the goal -- selling your book -- rather than on the churning feeling in your gut that's telling you you can't do this.

Check Bella out! She's brilliant.

Phoenix Public Library

I'm so terribly sorry about the mix-up.
Thank you to those who made such lovely signs and artwork to welcome us. We appreciated it...




...and we apologize for disappointing you. I'm working on setting up a new event -- unfortunately Cassandra Clare continues on her tour, so you're stuck with just me!

Mesa, Phoenix, Tempe, Chandler! Tonight and tomorrow...

Last night at Borders in Superstition Springs was a BLAST! Standing room only. Thanks to everyone for coming out. I had a chance to meet two (three?) more virtual friends in person -- Georgia, who made my lovely "dream" pendant, and Mom2BJM and her son, (B). Fantastic people!



You are invited to the following book readings/signings where I'll be signing my NYT bestselling YA paranormal book WAKE. The delightful NYT bestselling author of the Mortal Instruments Trilogy, Cassandra Clare, will be there too to sign her books and read a bit -- She's giving away a sample chapter of City of Glass, which comes out next year. Get your sneak peek!:

Wednesday, April 9
4:00 PM
Joint Event with Cassandra Clare (City of Bones, City of Ashes)
Phoenix Public Library
Burton Barr Branch
1221 N. Central Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85004

7:00 PM
Joint Event with Cassandra Clare!
Changing Hands
6428 S. McClintock Dr.
Tempe, AZ 85283

Thursday, April 10
5:30 PM
Joint Event with Cassandra Clare!
Phoenix Book Company
4134 East Wood St.
Suite 290
Phoenix, AZ 85040

BBYA

WAKE has been nominated as one of the American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults! BBYA is A compilation of the current year’s books with proven or potential appeal to teens.

Pretty freaking awesome. Many thanks to those ALA members who found WAKE appealing enough to nominate it!

Phoenix Reading/Signing Events April 8-10

I am so excited to be spending some time with NYT bestselling author Cassandra Clare when she is in Phoenix promoting her Mortal Instruments series, City of Bones (now in paperback) and her latest, City of Ashes -- just released. Come out and join us!

Tuesday, April 8
7:00 PM
Joint Event with Cassandra Clare!
Borders - Superstition Springs
6555 E. Southern Ave., Ste. 1502
Mesa, AZ 85206

Wednesday, April 9
4:00 PM
Joint Event with Cassandra Clare!
Phoenix Public Library
Burton Barr Branch
1221 N. Central Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85004

7:00 PM
Joint Event with Cassandra Clare!
Changing Hands
6428 S. McClintock Dr.
Tempe, AZ 85283

Thursday, April 10
5:30 PM
Joint Event with Cassandra Clare!
Phoenix Book Company
4134 East Wood St.
Suite 290
Phoenix, AZ 85040

New York Times Bestseller (!!!)

GREAT news, friends! Just found out WAKE made the NYT Bestseller List. It comes in at #9 in the children's chapter book list.

WOOT!! Thanks to ALL of you who bought the book or spread the word about WAKE. You totally rule! I am so grateful!

If you haven't had a chance to pick it up yet, please do. Or spread the word to all your friends -- maybe we can keep it on the list for another week. That would so rock.

You can find a list of retailers here on my website.

Now, go celebrate for me.

xo

Coolest.WAKE contest.Ever.

Win a signed copy of WAKE, a Wake-skinned iPod or the grand prize...

a Wii.

Go here to read all about it.

San Francisco, here I come!

Woo hoo, this will be my first time in San Francisco and I can't wait!

Here are my events as I know them:

--Tuesday, March 18, Barnes & Noble, 7:00PM
1149 S. Main St., WALNUT CREEK, CA 94596
(Daytime school visit: Monte Vista High School)


--Wednesday, March 19, Daytime school visit: San Mateo High School with Books, Inc., SAN MATEO, CA. We'll be selling and autographing books on-site at SMHS.

Can't wait to see you there! Don't forget there's a dank* WAKE gift raffle thingy at the B&N evening signing!

*dank --- awesome or cool (courtesy of my friends at Lyon Township High School in LaGrange, IL)

PULSE BLOGFEST! Now!

Check it out. Comment! Ask questions! All your favorite authors in one place from now until March 27.

Go to PulseBlogfest.com to read answers to today's question, “What would you be doing if you hadn’t made it as a writer?” My answer is there! And so is Judy Blume's. We're, like, on the same page and everything. (OMG!)

My Book Tour Schedule

**Note: I've post-dated this blog entry so that the tour info stays on top. I'll be updating it as more info comes in. Meanwhile, new blog posts continue below this one.**

For each bookstore signing I do in March, there will be a special gift bag raffle. These gift bags contain a dream journal, a Dunkin Donuts gift card, a sleep mask and a mug with the WAKE logo on it! How cool is that?

---
Monday, March 10, Treehouse Books, 7:00 - 8:30PM
37 East Eighth Street, HOLLAND, MI 49423
(daytime school visit: West Ottawa High School)

----
Tuesday, March 11, Borders, 7:00PM
43075 Crescent Blvd, NOVI, MI 48375
(Daytime school visit: Novi High School)

-----
Wednesday, March 12, daytime school visits: Naperville North High School and Naperville Central High School (with Anderson's Book Shop), NAPERVILLE, IL

---
Thursday March 13, Borders, 7:00PM
1 N. La Grange Road, LAGRANGE, IL 60525
(Daytime school visit: Lyons Township High School)

---
Tuesday, March 18, Barnes & Noble, 7:00PM
1149 S. Main St., WALNUT CREEK, CA 94596
(Daytime school visit: Monte Vista High School)

---
Wednesday, March 19, Daytime school visit: San Mateo High School with Books, Inc., SAN MATEO, CA

---
Tuesday, April 8, Borders - Superstition Springs Mall, 7:00PM (w/Cassandra Clare)
6555 E. Southern Ave., MESA, AZ 85206

---
Wednesday, April 9, Changing Hands, 7:00PM (w/Cassandra Clare)
6428 S McClintock Dr., TEMPE, AZ 85283
(daytime school and library events)

---
Thursday, April 10, Phoenix Book Company, 5:30PM (w/Cassandra Clare)
4134 East Wood St. Ste 290, PHOENIX, AZ 85040
(daytime school events)

A few more reviews and interviews

Check 'em out and comment if you can. Show some love to the reviewers -- their only pay is through comments.

Hope's Bookshelf Interview

The Book Muncher Review

and another book read - review

Poised at the Edge Book Review

Slayground interview

Teen Troves Interview (the review is a few entries before this one.)

Teens Read Too Interview

A Page Turner Review

More to come in the next few weeks!

WAKE -- a Borders "Original Voices" Nominee

Exciting news yesterday -- we just heard that WAKE is a Borders Original Voices Nominee for the month of May.

The program description reads, "The Borders Original Voices program highlights exceptional emerging writers." Very cool! Every month they pick a book or two from the YA category (and from other categories too -- WAKE is in the Young Adult category). Through a magical process, at the end of the year they narrow down the nominees so maybe six remain, and then one is chosen as the YA Original Voice of the Year.

Fun times!

Creative teens

Check out orb28, a blog by and for people ages 12-18.

From their blog:

Orb28 is looking for exciting new content! Send in your stories, poetry, articles, travel logs, biographies, videos, songs, podcasts, drawings, paintings, photographs, games, cartoons, reviews—and whatever else you think would fit on our web space! Work on any topic pertinent to teen girls is invited…the sky’s the limit!

Follow up to the "John Green is not a Pornographer" post

Here is a nice article that sums up the school board meeting: Buffalo News

My favorite quote is apparently from one of those who wants to ban this book from the school curriculum (even though it wasn't required reading):

The Rev. Nelson C. McCall, pastor of Hillview Baptist Church in Depew, said he had not read the book “but a doctor doesn’t have to have cancer to treat someone who has.”

When will people learn that they can make a much more credible argument if they actually read the book? I don't understand how the Reverend McCall can make a call on this without reading it. Especially a man with his education. Is that how he preaches the Word of God, too? He doesn't have to read The Bible in order to teach it? Please, sir -- you're only making Christians look more ignorant, and frankly, we don't need your help on this right now.

Why are you so afraid? And what are you afraid of? Acknowledging that sex exists is NOT the same as promoting sex. And it's certainly not porn. It seriously makes me wonder what is in the "history" log on these people's computers. And the deep, dark secrets they have that makes them so fearful.


Thanks to John's blog, Sparks Fly Up, for the link.

WIN WIN WIN!! You can win a hardcover copy of WAKE

Between now and Friday, February 8th at midnight, you can win an autographed copy of WAKE from friend and fellow author Elizabeth Scott, author of BLOOM and PERFECT YOU.

Go to Elizabeth Scott's blog and follow the rules to win. Good luck!


Also, if you haven't downloaded your WAKE countdown clock, dream journal stationery, avatars, screensavers and wallpaper, here's that link again.

John Green is not a pornographer.

And LOOKING FOR ALASKA is not porn. I? Actually read the book. Unlike some.

Week in review...

Crazy, busy and fun!

Have I mentioned lately that I love my publisher, Simon Pulse?

On Monday & Tuesday, they sent me to Ann Arbor, Michigan, so I could have lunch with some people at the home office of BGI (Borders Group Inc), which is basically Borders and Walden book stores. My wonderful escort, Victor, is the national account manager of the children's division of S&S, and we had a blast together.

I spent ten years as a bookseller, but I think I had forgotten how much fun book store people are. Victor, Jennifer, Tara, Lori...if you're watching from our studio audience today, here's a *wave* and a thank you for a fantastic lunch. We talked about books and babies and all the cool authors that these BGI friends have met (I'm so jealous) and it was a really lovely time. I hope our paths cross again one day.

Victor and I also visited four bookstores in Ann Arbor before it was time for him to drop me off at the airport for my flight back home.

On Wednesday, I received the edits for FADE from my editor, and I've been working on those the last few days. This would be an appropriate time to say my editor, Jen, is brilliant.

And now we are in February, and suddenly WAKE comes out next month. Wow!

FADE

FADE is the sequel to WAKE. I submitted the manuscript to my editor a few months ago, then did a revision based on her comments. I was delighted (*hop*) to find out today that my aforementioned lovely and talented editor, Jen Klonsky, LOVED the revision. YAY!! This is terrific news!

Kirkus Reviews WAKE

Review from the 2/1/08 issue of Kirkus Reviews:

McMann, Lisa

WAKE


"Dealing with an alcoholic single mother and endless hours of working at Heather Nursing Home to raise money for college, high-school senior Janie Hannagan doesn’t need more problems. But inexplicably, since she was eight years old, she has been pulled in to people’s dreams, witnessing their recurring fears, fantasies and secrets. Through Miss Stubin at Heather Home, Janie discovers that she is a dream catcher with the ability to help others resolve their haunting dreams. After taking an interest in former bad boy Cabel, she must distinguish between the monster she sees in his nightmares and her romantic feelings for him. And when she learns more about Cabel’s covert identity, Janie just may be able to use her special dream powers to help solve crimes in a suspense-building ending with potential for a sequel. McMann lures teens in by piquing their interest in the mysteries of the unknown, and keeps them with quick-paced, gripping narration and supportive characters. (Fiction. YA)"

Counting down!

Today, with my shorts and t-shirt, I wore a pair of boots around the house.

Yep, gotta break them in. I am gearing up for the WAKE tour, and I'm going to cold places! I just had to buy a new pair of boots for the occasion.

THE TOUR:
I'll be doing school events during the days and book signings in the evenings.
Will you be in or near one of these cities in March so that you can come see me, my book, and my new boots?


March 5: Mesa, AZ
March 6: Phoenix, AZ
March 7: Dallas, TX

March 10: Holland, MI (my old home town!) Treehouse Books
March 11: Novi, MI
March 12: Naperville, IL
March 13: Chicago, IL

March 18: San Francisco, CA
March 19: San Francisco, CA

April 9: Tempe, AZ (Changing Hands Bookstore) With NYT bestselling author CASSANDRA CLARE.

More details as they come in, so stay tuned! And if you haven't been here yet to get your free WAKE downloadables, go now and check them out, and then let me know if you put anything on your myspace or website so that I might come and admire you and thank you properly.

book characters and their jobs

When you read a novel, discovering what the occupation of the main characters helps define the character in your mind.

Janie Hannagan, the main character of WAKE, works in a nursing home, and that is simply the best darn job for her.

When you WRITE a novel, having worked in a variety of places helps make giving occupations to your characters a bit easier. The more experience an author has in a variety of occupations, the more options the author has. This is not to say that an author can't research and create an unfamiliar job for a character -- it's just easier if there is some life experience one can draw upon.

I never worked in a nursing home.

However, my mother did. She was a beautician, and one day a week, she would set up shop in the nursing home on 40th Street and do hair. My sister and I went with her sometimes. We got to know the residents there. Spent some time in the game room hanging out with the old folks and playing games while The Price Is Right blared full volume in the background.

It was a learning experience -- one I never expected I'd write about thirty years later. To this day, I enjoy visiting residents in nursing homes. There can be a lot of joy there.

I *heart* Judy Blume

And it is with delight that I point you to her new website.

Judy Blume's site is a wealth of information both for readers who have loved her many books over the years, and for aspiring and current authors.

She also has a blog.

What's your favorite Judy Blume book?

Cook! Read! Win Finn for your local high school!

A friend of mine, Jon Clinch, author of FINN: A NOVEL (the story of Huck Finn's father), is holding a cool menu contest.

From his blog:

Win a visit from Jon Clinch to your book club,
and copies of Finn: A Novel for your high school.

If there's one thing that book clubs like better than reading, it's eating. Which is why we've put together the Finn Book Club Menu Contest.

Here's how it works.

Design a menu for your book club to enjoy on the night you discuss Finn. Use your imagination. Use your frying pan. Use catfish and whiskey and fatback bacon and cornbread and sunfish and baking powder biscuits and...well, you get the idea. Be inspired. Have fun. And make sure that you don't forget the huckleberries...

More information at the contest link above.

An awesome blurb:

WAKE is "A lyrical, shuddersome novel whose images linger with you long after you've turned the last page, like the most haunting of dreams."
Cassandra Clare, author of NYT Bestseller City of Bones

Speaking of dreams...

In order to write my novel, WAKE, I had to do a good deal of research on dreams. A lucid dream is a dream in which you are aware that you are dreaming and you will remember the dream. Lucid dreams come into play in this book, and they have in my own life as well. I get a lot of my ideas for plots and events in my books from my own dreams.

There are lots of "typical" dreams. Who hasn't had a "falling" dream? I'm no expert at interpreting dreams, but some seem obvious in their meanings.

Last night, I had a dream that I was in my senior high English classroom. The only weird thing about the dream was that Mr. VanDenBerge was the teacher -- he was my math teacher back in the day. What's he doing teaching English, huh?

Anyway, Mr. VanDenBerge (a teacher I liked) gave me a "D" on a writing assignment. Pfft. Can you guess that I'm anxious to see what readers and reviewers think about my book?

Misc.

Look! I won a badge and I didn't have to do anything. Isn't it cute? Thanks to Lisa McGlaun for thinking of me.




In the writing world, things are winding down. I'm on little break from writing at the moment. Working on some marketing ideas. Speaking of that, if you aren't my friend on myspace, facebook, or goodreads, why not? The links are in the side bar. Come be my BFF.

I am trying to decide what to cook for Christmas dinner. It'll be just the four of us, so I hate to put a ton of effort into it. I may have my new favorite place, Midwestern Meats, deliver me one of those "just put it in the oven" meals. If you live in the Mesa area, they are wonderful butchers and they know everything.

And as for Survivor last night... plah. I wish Courtney had won.

Best Book You've Read This Year

I've read a lot of books this year. More than most years. Mostly I read young adult novels, and some of my favorites this year were:

Every Crooked Pot by Rene Rosen
Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
by Chris Crutcher (which came out years ago but I just re-read it last month)

Also by Crutcher -- his latest, called DEADLINE. I'm in the middle of this one right now.

What have you read this year that you'd recommend?

Happy Thanksgiving to those in the U.S.

Test your vocabulary, have fun, and give free rice to stop world hunger, all at the same time.

Go here: Free Rice

NYC

What a blast.

I just returned from a short trip -- my first time in the big city. With me was author Lisa McGlaun. We had a blast together!

It was a tremendous visit. I spent Thursday with my amazing editor Jennifer Klonsky (who is so funny and very cool) and the fabulous team at Simon Pulse. It was so cool to meet them all and put faces to their email addresses. They are really supportive of my book and we had a great meeting. Then Jen took me to lunch at a cool restaurant in Rockefeller Center where our prime seat overlooked the famous ice rink. Cool! I also saw Tori Spelling in the S&S offices. Maybe I should contact Gawker. (Nah.) My roommate Lisa saw Holly Hunter.

That evening I dined with my agent, Michael Bourret, whom I love love love. We went to Sapa, an Asian-French restaurant. Michael knew the chef, who kept sending out extra dishes for us to try. It was delicious, great music too, and I highly recommend the restaurant.

Friday I hooked up with a smattering of friends including the highly entertaining Antonio Pagliarulo, who kept Lisa and me laughing all evening through the pouring rain that night.

And Saturday, before we headed back to the airport, was breakfast in Times Square. I paid $3.75 for some cream cheese to go on my bagel. That? Is ridiculously funny to me.

You? Must now tell me about your trip to NYC and your famous people sightings.

November is National Peanut Butter Lovers' Month

When Janie Hannagan, the main character in WAKE, needs some fast protein, she'll go for the peanut butter jar (if she can't get a Snickers bar, that is). Coincidentally, peanut butter is one of my most favorite foods.

For a recipe on making your own peanut butter, and for instructions on how to grow peanuts right there in your very own house, check out brownielocks.com.

If you manage to grow some, let me know!

Contest winners

Winners have all been notified via email!

If you didn't hear from me, that means you didn't win -- not this time anyway! But I will have more contests in the upcoming months, so stay tuned.

Thanks to all SEVENTY of you who entered -- your nightmares were great! I loved reading them all. Some of them were very much like nightmares I've had myself. Freaky! Janie wouldn't want to get sucked into half of them, that's for sure.

Congrats to the winners!

Contest ends Halloween at midnight!

If you haven't yet entered to win fabulous prizes, see the post below this one for details.

Yesterday I received the WAKE dog tags and they are suh-weet! They are all silvery-shiny aluminum with the word WAKE etched into them. Very cool, not obnoxious.

And today, Robin Brande shared a little bit about WAKE on her blog (she managed to get her hands on an ARC of the book). Just a little over 4 months to release day!

CONTEST!! Ends Halloween Night at Midnight

Woo, baby! It's time, peeps.

Time for the First Official WAKE Contest!! Follow the directions below and you could win one of the following very free, amazingly fabulous prizes:


-- An advance copy of WAKE (1)*

-- A giant 24" x 36" glossy WAKE poster (1)*

-- A smaller, less glossy, yet still completely delectable WAKE poster (1)*

-- A WAKE dog tag on a 24" chain (10)*



Here's how you enter:

1. Click to go to my official website, here http://lisamcmann.com. Scroll down until you see the link, "Email Me!" and click on it.
2. In the subject line, write "WAKE CONTEST"
3. In the body of the email, tell me in a few sentences about a nightmare you've had. (Keep it G or PG-rated, puh-leaze! Or I'll delete it and you'll be disqualified.) If you don't remember dreams, make something up! I'll never know the difference.


That's it. Simple. GO!


WINNERS WILL BE NOTIFIED ON NOVEMBER 1, 2007, via email. If you don't hear from me by midnight Pacific coast time, you did not win.



Contest FAQs (well, actually, just the answers. You can guess the questions if you are bored):

1. Chosen randomly.

2. Draw them from a hat.

2.5 A cowboy hat, if you must know.

3. Because I said so. It's my contest.

4. No, I'm totally serious. G or PG-rated dreams only.

5. No, I'm not a cowboy. I just like hats.

6. I will ask winners for their mailing addresses via email -- don't send them now.

7. Teens, college students, librarians, teachers, dads, moms...anybody reading this is eligible to enter the contest.

8. (x)* <--- indicates the quantity of that particular item I have to give away in this contest. One prize per person.

9. You really need to email me if you want to enter, yes. If you post a comment here, you are not officially entering the contest. I might forget about you if you are not tucked safely into my CONTEST inbox folder, and I don't want that to happen.

10. Absolutely NOT. I will not send you spam or sell your email address or do whatever those nasty people do without telling you. I hate that.

11. Truth? Because I want you to visit my website. That's why. Humor me.

12. I <3 u 2

The best advice

I've ever received about writing was this:

Think of the one thing your protagonist would never, ever do.

Then, make him do it.


On a related note:

Think of the one thing you would never ever do again.
I know what mine is.

Acrylic fingernails.

1. Ow. They hurt.
2. I couldn't type. TRAGEDY!
3. I woke up in the middle of the night in a panic, dreaming that each of my fingers were in tiny individual jail cells. And ow! (see #1)

Never. Ever. Again.


What's your one thing?

Fine dining

On Thursday night I had the pleasure of dining with the fabulous Robin Brande, author of Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature, and PJ Haarsma, author of The Softwire. PJ's lovely family was there as well. So was a terrific school librarian and several of the staff of Changing Hands Bookstore, including the amazing children's book buyer, Faith, who never seems to rest, and Faith's wonderful parents. It was a great little party.

We went to this cool gourmet pizza place called Picazzo's in Tempe.

We talked about very important things like wheat gluten and Sharpie pens, and then Robin let me try her sacred book signing pen. It was so amazing -- I *had* to have one. So Faith's mother invited me over for coffee and said she would give me one of her Sharpie Ultra Fine Point pens if I came over. Isn't she so sweet????

Anyway, after dinner I went to the rest room and there...

in the restroom was...

a carafe...

of mouthwash. With cute little disposable cups.

The mouthwash was blue.

And so I dragged Robin into the bathroom to show her this interesting development in restroom etiquette. And then we had a great little discussion with Faith's mom about religion and the church right there in the bathroom, all the while urging patrons to try out the mouthwash.

The thing about the mouthwash, though, that still niggles on the edge of my brain, is the thought of all those strangers spitting into the same sink.

Is that weird?

Yarrrrr!

I got my first bound copy, an uncorrected proof, an ARC, a galley...whatever you like to call it, of WAKE. It's so cool! Yarrrrr!


And? Also? Happy National Talk Like a Pirate Day.

(What else do pirates say besides "Yarrrr?")

The Simon & Schuster Spring Catalog sez:

Lisa McMann
Wake

a dark paranormal page-turner in the tradition of
The Sixth Sense.

For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other
people’s dreams is growing tiresome. Especially the falling
dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the
sex-crazed dreams. And then there are the nightmares. Like the
one where she’s in a strange house . . . in a dirty kitchen . . . and a
grotesque monster with knives for fingers is coming for her. This
is the nightmare she keeps falling into and, for the first time, Janie
is a participant in someone else’s twisted psyche.


(This is for the adult catalog -- only six children's books make it into the adult catalog, so woo hoo! There will be another listing in the S&S Children's catalog)

With thanks to my friend Eva...a cool new banner.

I am happy to report

that I have made significant progress in the area of "appropriate bookstore behavior." Yesterday, I successfully brought postcards of my book into Changing Hands Bookstore (the best bookstore in the world) and delivered them to a wonderful employee named Steve, and I did not trip, swear, or fling my purse at any old ladies.

However, when searching for a pen, I did have to dump all my stuff out of my purse onto the counter, and a tampon rolled out and fell on the floor on the other side. (Yes, OF COURSE it was unused and still in it's wrapper. How crass do you think I am?)

Score one for me!

Oh dear.

37%

Mingle²

More about my workspace

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Take that, you neat freaks!

xox

Looking for an agent?

Pitch your novel to dozens of agents at this cool seminar:

Let's talk about workspaces, woo hoo.

I used to have a desk. Like any good desk, it was covered with craploads of stuff, because that is what desks are for -- to put things on.

I don't write at my desk. There's too much crap on it, and it's not a comfortable place for me to write. I write in the green chair in my "office," which consists of the green chair and ottoman in the living room.

So now, my crapload of stuff is on the ottoman. Mail, magazines, notes about manuscripts (yellow sticky notes, of course -- can't find a notebook to save my life), my sexy half-glasses -- yup, nothing makes you feel old like 1.5 prescription half glasses so you can read the computer screen.

And today, I think we have reached maximum capacity. Things are falling off. I have a small space cleared for my tootsies to rest, and the piles are bleeding over into my space.

I may actually have to go through and sort things.

I hate doing that.

What does your workspace look like? Am I alone? Or is clutter important to you too?

And most importantly, what is on your desk?

Never mind the wrinkles...

You Are 23 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Website

is now live. Check it out!

Dear USA,

You're not bad either.

WAKE is now available for pre-order from Amazon.com too.

Wheee! We're rolling now!

Order your copy before they run out.

xo

Dear Canada,

You are my BFF.

Canadians, you can pre-order WAKE now, woo hoo!

It's that time again

A trip to Michigan always reminds me of the Chronicles.

Hope you are having a productive summer. I'll get some new material up here in the next couple weeks. Meanwhile, enjoy!

In 1787, I'm told, our founding fathers did agree...

And they put those principles down on paper, and they called it The Constitution.

Help Tsunami victims. Yeah...remember them?

A note from Richard Lewis, author of THE KILLING SEA, a YA novel about the tsunami. Richard lives in Bali. He has seen incredibly heart-wrenching evidence of the effects of this disaster, and he's trying to sponsor children who have been orphaned by this. He is using his advance money for THE KILLING SEA to sponsor children in Aceh.

READ HERE.

I just got a letter from the second student whose school fees I am paying this next year out of the donation from my advance.

Mursyida is now 16 years old. She lost her whole family except for two brothers, one younger (actually, the Indonesian she writes in doesn’t make it clear if this sibling is a brother or sister) and one older. Her mother was never found. To add to the tragedy, her father survived the tsunami but that night died in the mosque where they were taking refuge...

More at the link.

*hop*

WAKE has a cover!

Oh heck.

I have an ISBN. And a page on the Simon & Schuster website.

I think I'm going to cry.

Go look.

I *heart* ninth graders

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting one of the largest high schools just outside of Washington D.C., and it was a total blast. I spent the day hanging out in my dear friend Ilse's classroom and got to chat with lots of 9th graders about writing.

It was a bit nerve-wracking at first, but the students were terrific. I started off my talk in each class by asking questions.

"Because I write for teens," I said, "I need to know the language. What's the latest terminology? I need to know the latest buzzwords, the newest lingo, the urban words of the day. I already know what a roller (pronounced "rollah," natch) is. What else is new?" That got a laugh. And then they pelted me with jargon, some of which I'm proud to say I already knew, but most of it was new to me.

I also asked what they were reading, and got some great feedback there too. We talked about my book, WAKE, a little, and they had some terrific suggestions for me. They asked great questions, like, "How do write a book that is going to be part of a series?" And "How do you get through writing the boring parts of the books?"

Of course I answered, "My books don't have any boring parts." *grin*

One of the best parts of the trip was having tons of bling to give out to the school. Many, MANY thanks to my amazing publisher, Simon Pulse, for donating EIGHT CARTONS of books for the school's summer reading program!! Holy moley, I was blown away by their generosity, as was the teacher and the head of the English Department.

And big thank yous go to my YA author buddies who provided me with signed copies of their books to hand out, as well as buttons, bookmarks, and pencils. You guys made my visit really special. Here's the list of the great folks who helped out -- click on their names to learn about their books:

Antonio Pagliarulo -- CELEBUTANTES - ON THE AVENUE (just released!)
Heather Brewer -- EIGHTH GRADE BITES (comes out in August!)
Caridad Ferrer -- ADIOS TO MY OLD LIFE (her new book IT'S NOT ABOUT THE ACCENT comes out August 21)
Renee Rosen -- EVERY CROOKED POT (on bookshelves in 3 weeks!!)
Richard Lewis -- THE KILLING SEA (he even sent a postcard from Bali to go with the book!)

And Ilse, you're a bun. Thanks for inviting me!

Heading to the east coast

Going to Maryland to visit my dear friends and to speak to classrooms full of 9th graders about writing. Woo hoo!

Back next week to tell you about it.

In Memoriam

Shocked, I tell you. Shocked!

There's a common thread among YA and Middle Grade authors that has turned into a bit of a joke for those of us who have children in the age groups we write for: our own kids don't read our books.

This was true for me until yesterday.

I've been working on a middle grade fantasy novel. Just finished the rough draft the other day, woot! What happens then is that my hubby and I sit down with it. He reads it, tells me what works and what doesn't. Only this time, when the kids heard us talking, first one and then the other perked up. Since I had the first 100 pages printed out, the first kid picked it up and started. By evening, both were reading different parts of the manuscript while hubby read on the computer.

And then.
Suddenly.
Out of nowhere.

I had three beta readers bombarding me with nits from three different sections of the manuscript. Oy! I was both delighted and, to tell the truth, a little bristly. (I don't think the kids have learned the value of the "critique sandwich" theory yet. Ouch!)

But by bedtime, I had two kids urging me to hurry with my edits so I could print out the rest of the manuscript. Even the kid who doesn't like to read. I am shocked.

How cool is that?

Lizard season

We've definitely entered lizard season out here in the desert. So far we've rescued two from drowning in the pool. A third one didn't make it, even after I made my son do chest compressions on it. Those darn big ones -- they don't float nearly so well as the little guys. Sad day.

Manuscript copyedits are done on WAKE, yay! I feel like I learned a new language with all those proofreading marks. I also learned that I, use, too many, commas. And I'm terrible with bring/take. Yikes.

A new title?

It looks that way. YAY!

Introducing Janie book 1 under its new title:

WAKE.*

Book 2 is still a go with FADE.


*please note: This is the third time we've changed the title for this book, and I've found that it's not the easiest thing to go through. So if you hate it? Lie to to me, baby, because I don't think it'll change again.

What not to do when talking to bookstore clerks about your upcoming book.

Today I went out to my favorite bookstore, CHANGING HANDS, which was recently voted the #1 independent bookstore in ALL OF AMERICA by PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. No pressure. Especially since I went there purposely to chat with the YA book buyer about my book and find out if they'd maybe do my launch party, since it's the PERFECT location and has an attached restaurant.

I was nervous, but I did okay. I even remembered what my book was about.

I spent $50 on books to show her I'm a supporter of their bookstore (which I am, but I've never made pointed contact with them before).

And then.

The clerk who rang up my purchase asked me a question about my book while I was closing my purse (which has a long shoulder strap), and I got all nervous. I slung my purse over my shoulder, trying to be all nonchalant, and assuming, like every other time I've ever done this, that my ARM was inside the damn LOOP of it. But it wasn't.

And it went sailing off behind me (it was quite heavy, since my phone was attached) and hit a old woman who had one of those walker shopping carts.

So. How was your day?

(and yes, you may point and laugh)

I have a DATE.

A publishing date for book 1, that is. March 4, 2008. Isn't that the most perfect date ever?

And lookit over in the side bar!

a countdown-o-meter.

Innit cute?


----->

Janie book 2

is finished well ahead of schedule and awaiting a first read by my lovely editor Jen. It will be a few months before we start working on revisions for that one.

Meanwhile, how do I get Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennett on Heroes, aka The Cheerleader) to read and give me a blurb for my first book?

Hayden, are you out there? Do you read my blog? Will you read my first novel, please? I think you'd really like it. My Janie, she's a lot like your Claire! Except, well, not really. In fact, Janie doesn't really care for cheerleaders, much. But I'm sure she'd like Claire. Oh totally, she would. Yeppers. So, please?

On Being a Newbie Author

I'm increasingly fascinated by the book publishing process, and many fears have been laid to rest over the past few months. As I learn how this all works, I have found some really great resources written by very generous authors on the HOW of being a successful author. Author of the Jack Daniels trilogy, JA KONRATH, is among the most generous with his time and advice that I've discovered so far. If you are interested in straightforward information and advice not only on getting your books published, but sold (!!), click on his name for a link for his blog, A Newbie's Guide to Publishing. Plus!! JA Konrath has two free technothriller e-books he's giving away on this blog: THE LIST and ORIGIN.

Here are just a few of my own discoveries and tips:

1. Agents and editors are amazingly helpful people. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

This seems obvious, but when novelists first begin the querying process, it's pounded into our heads that we must follow a strict set of rules regarding proper, professional behavior -- and above all, don't be a nuisance! Learning the time frame of publishing is a hard lesson. A query to an agent might take a day to garner a response, or it might take four months. We learn that it is not proper to follow-up until the appropriate amount of time has passed. When in doubt, allow three months. For partials, four months. Full manuscript, six. (Of course, many agents respond much more quickly than this.) As agonizing as it is, we follow these guidelines.

After querying for months or years and finally getting an agent, we tend to continue in the pre-agent mode: We must not make a nuisance of ourselves. We must not bother the agent. Some new authors sit in angst, wondering how, why, when, for months.

It took me a few months to feel comfortable emailing my agent with questions. And guess what? When I emailed him, he responded with answers! And now that I have an editor, she responds to my questions as well! I just have to ask them. Isn't that simple?


2. Agents and editors are human. They have lives outside of work. They get the flu sometimes. They likely have good days and bad days, just like everybody. And you know what else? They are funny. All the ones I know are, anyway. I adore my team.

3. Being On Time is a good way to be.

The weird thing I discovered about being an author is that I've been in charge of my own writing schedule all along, and when I sold a book, that changed. Working on my own, I rarely had a day where I felt like procrastinating or blowing off work. Now that I have people expecting things from me, I have this tremendous urge to procrastinate (rebellion from my teen years has re-surfaced!). This new urge fights against my inherent anal tendencies to be early for everything. It's quite a humorous battle raging in my head. Odds are high that procrastination loses this battle every time, though.

4. Work ahead -- once you sell your novel, there are many new things to consider. Marketing. Promotion. Public speaking, visiting classrooms, booksignings (yikes! You mean, like, physically leaving the house?), marketing gizmos and gadgets and giveaways, contests. Start the brainstorming early, so that when you actually have cover art and a definite title, you are ready to promote.

Although I don't have a pub date yet, it is likely to be less than a year away for Janie book 1 (spring 2008). I've finished my first round of edits and sent them off. Simon Pulse has my bio and author picture for the spring '08 catalog -- they are working on that already.

If my revisions are acceptable to my editor, Janie will go to the copy editor. And now, I must work on the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS page -- I'm told they'll need this soon. Wheee! This is so exciting.

Check it out!!

I'm the guest blogger today at the Canadian Writers' Collective.

Take a peek!

Time to edit!

On Saturday, I received my marked up manuscript in the mail from my editor, so now it's time to do the first edits on Janie. Thankfully there are no major changes necessary and no over-arching plot lines that have to be fixed, but I still see a lot of red! Yikes! And what I thought was a pretty grammatically correct and clean manuscript turns out to have a few embarrassing third-grader mistakes, like YOUR/YOU'RE (Dang!). There is definitely something to be said for reading/editing a hard copy of a manuscript -- some mistakes are too easy to miss on a screen.

My editors, Jen and Caroline, did an amazing job and now they really have me thinking hard about a few concepts and suggestions for changes.

Despite all the red marks, most of them are simple fixes. The handful of other suggested changes will take me some time to think about and when I'm all organized, we'll have a discussion about what to do.

This is all very exciting!

Bad blogger

I have neglected this blog, partly because I don't have much news. Right now I'm sort of in waiting mode with my lovely editor. She's working on Janie, and while I wait for revisions, I'm working on a couple of other books. Both are quite different from Janie, and both are turning out to be a lot of fun. More on those another time.

We are still considering titles for Janie 1 and 2, and may go with simple one-word titles with sophisticated cover art. At the moment, DREAM for book 1 and FADE for book 2 are at the top of list. Oh, and I got my formal contract, signed and returned. Things are moving along steadily.

I got my author photos taken -- the pics are on my Myspace page if you want to see a few of them. The link to that page is over there on the right. I am looking forward to seeing what sort of cover design S&S comes up with. And now that it's April, I'm guessing we're less than a year away from launch date, though I don't have an exact date yet.

My sister is visiting from Michigan this week, so we're taking it easy and she's enjoying the sunshine and warm temps (90/60 pretty much every day). Thinking about driving down to Nogales for a day -- Nogales is on the AZ/Mexico border.

Hope you are all having a lovely week! I hope to have more interesting news to share over the coming months. :)

The week in review...

Wrote about 5000 words on the next novel.

Spent countless hours as a parent representative for my kid's school on a panel, interviewing principals. Eighteen of them, to be exact. My brain is fried.

And now I know the principal buzz words: Respect. Dignity. Wiping down tables in the lunchroom (I swear to God, at least 15 of them said they do this). Team player. Facilitator. The teachers work the hardest. Greeting the kids when they come off the bus. Shooting baskets with the kids at recess. Honor, respect, dignity (over and over). Engagement. Enthusiasm. High expectations.

Boy. That was interesting.

What did YOU do this week??

New title...

It happens a lot. Luckily, I wasn't in love with the title of my book in the first place. In fact, I'm sort of excited to have some help in renaming my book.

Janie Hannagan: Dream Catcher ... catch you later.

So, now what to name it? This is the tough part. When I first wrote it (for "it" is what we are calling it, now) I had huge troubles coming up with a title. So now what? It remains to be seen, but I imagine "Dream" will be in there somewhere. My editor and I joked about calling it "Angsty Teen Dreamer." But now I need to get serious and think of something. Agent and editor and editor's assistant are all thinking too.

Keeping track

If you haven't found it yet, I started keeping track of things folks are saying about Janie Hannagan: Dream Catcher. If you are so bored that you'll read anything, feel free to take a peek.

Woo Hoo!

"Janie Hannagan: Dream Catcher," a book for teens and up, will hit bookstores in spring of 2008, with its sequel in autumn '08. Published by Simon Pulse.

What's it about?


For 17 year-old Janie Hannagan, getting sucked into other people's dreams is growing tiresome. Especially the falling dreams. The naked but nobody notices dreams. And the sex-crazed teenager dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her half a lifetime.

But then there are the nightmares that leave her blind and paralyzed in fear, even after the dreams are over. Those are the worst. Because one day, someone's going to notice her freefalling to the floor after somebody's study hall naptime nightmare, or collapsing outside a resident's room at the nursing home where she works. Or her worst fear: careening headlong into a tree if she ever drives past *that* house again.

She can't tell anybody about it. They'd never believe her. And she can't do anything to stop it. Until she gets to know Cabel Strumheller, a secretive, pothead flunkie turned pretty-boy. And he accidentally falls into a dream with her on the senior high bus trip to Stratford.

It's his own dream.
And it's a dream he'd rather no one knows about.
Especially Janie Hannagan.


I am thrilled to be a part of Simon & Schuster (Simon Pulse).
And did I mention I love my agent? Because I do.

I met an online writer friend

in person for the first time, today. Whee!

It was a fun lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, and then we had to check out B&N to find our fellow writer friends' books.

And I made a new bookstore friend. I hope he works there forever -- he was really smart about the books, knew where everything was, had terrific suggestions. *sigh*

It's nice to find a bookstore worker who actually knows a lot about the books. I wish he worked on commission.

Since my brain is fried,

and I can't pull together a coherent blog post of my own, I bring you a spot-on post from author Holly Kennedy.

Just so that you know why I forget to call you back...for six months. It's not you, it's me.

xo

lisa

P.S. Weather in the Phoenix valley: warming up to 60, finally! Monday we had snow on the mountains again, and ice (read: ICE!!) on the car windshield. You could sell an ice scraper here for a hundred bucks. Thank goo'ness we still had one in the car from when we drove here from Michigan.

Slang and stuff

WEATHER in the Phoenix Valley: Forty degrees and raining at 2pm. This is insane.

On to the topic of the day. When writing historical fiction, it's a bonus when you can find slang terms. For the first historical I wrote, it was harder because the characters spoke German and lived in England, slowly learning English, and man, that was nuts trying to accurately nail the process, while still writing the entire book in English.

On my second historical, which I'm just starting (yeah, we had a few paranormals in between), life is easier for two reasons. One, I grew up there and know the local dialect with Dutch influence, subtle as it may be (oh, knock it off). Two, a simple Google search brings up websites with slang of the 1920s...it's the berries (aka bee's knees or cat's pajamas)! Though getting used to the word "Bimbo" being used as a compliment (A tough guy) is a little difficult. Insert the word "Bimbo" into a book without proper context could have your readers scratching their heads.

"Bum's rush" today has shades of a sexual nature. In 1925, it meant to get kicked out of an establishment.

"Butt me" sounds, um.... but it was a common phrase referring to lighting up a cigarette, and a "Dick" was, of course, a private investigator.

If you write anything other than present day fiction, a great place to check your slang words is an etymology dictionary. I used it to check the word fink. Did that word exist in 1930? If so, how was it used?

But, as one wise commenter mentioned in the previous post, technology has come a long way in the past 20 years, and the language has changed along with it.

So writers, don't be a pill. Get on the trolley, or you'll be all wet.

Researching is FUN

You may disagree, but I think researching is a fascinating adventure.

I'm working on a new novel that takes place in 1930, in the town of my birth. The setting is one I know well -- not because it exists anymore (well, the land is still there), but because I've spent so many hours researching it that I feel like I know it well -- I can picture the buildings, the landscape, the views... yes, the view hasn't changed much in 80 years. And I've been to the site many times.

I'm so excited about this story. Sometimes there's nothing more exciting than real life in a small town in 1930. I'll tell you more as I make some progress.

Meanwhile, I'm reading a history of the 1920s, so I have a very good understanding of the political, social, and economic environment leading up to my story.

Next time: Fun slang words from the 20s and 30s. Some of them might surprise you.

Lisa

Oooh, Snap

It's been cold here in the desert. Temperatures in the 20s at night have caused people's water pipes to burst and damaged citrus crops (not to mention my two 20-foot tall ficus trees).

So while you East coasters have been lounging in the January heat wave, we've witnessed a cold snap like we haven't seen in years around the Phoenix valley (so they tell me, anyway). Now's your chance to point and laugh. I mean, like, my swimming pool temp is like totally down to 46 degrees.

Once...

"Once On This Island" is a musical, set in Jamaica.

My daughter just landed a small part in the Actor's Youth Theater production of this.(squeee!) After having a blast with The Three Musketeers last fall, she thinks this one sounds equally fun, maybe even more so. Rehearsals start Saturday.

Performances in early March.
Tickets: $10 for adults and...um...less than that for kids 10 and under.

Beaker apparently wasn't an option

You Are the Swedish Chef

"Bork! Bork! Bork!" Your happy and energetic - with borderline manic tendencies. No one really gets you. And frankly, you don't even get you. But, you sure can whip up a great chocolate mousse

The Muppet Personality Test

So, hordes of minionses...

where are you? I'm waiting. *tap tap tap*

I know, you're taking down your plastic trees and Menorot*. I'll be here when you're done.


*edited for proper spelling, hat-tip to Sasha

Scarce

It's been a while since my last post. I've been working on my MySpace page. There's a link to it over in that side bar ---------->

Happy holidays to all!

Crossover Books

This post is sort of a continuation from last week's.

If there had been a section called Young Adult back when "To Kill A Mockingbird" was first published, according to today's rules it would belong there. I've read more than one literary agent's guidelines that state something like, "If the protagonist is a child or teen, the book is for children."

Well, what if the protagonist is a hobbit...or even a rabbit? When I ran a children's bookstore, we kept a copy or two of "Watership Down" on the shelf. I can't recall selling a single copy of it. The general bookstore across the street from my store carried it too -- in their fiction section. They didn't carry books for children.

But what about this year's "The Book Thief?" It was marketed originally in Australia as a book for adults, even though the protag is eleven. Here, it's called a young adult book, but I've seen it in both children's and adult's sections of bookstores. This book is a successful crossover book - it appeals to an audience of many ages.

Harry Potter -- another obvious success in the crossover department. And Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" was a surprise crossover. Adults love Edward just as much as teenage girls.

Because I write for teens, I read a LOT of middle grade and young adult books, both new releases and some of the old favorites I read as a teenager. Just finished Judy Blume's "Deenie" the other day...ah, the memories. There are many, many young adult books that I think adults would love. Pick up just about any Newbery Medal or Honor book and you'll find yourself engrossed (I said 'just about'! There are a few that make me shake my head and go 'what were they thinking').

I don't really like compartments, but I can work with them. I'm not sure why the industry has turned in this direction, but for a need for organization - everything in its own defined space. Or maybe the intent was to show kids, "Here -- this is for you. A section, a space, something to which you can claim ownership, in hopes that it will make you want to read more." Did this all begin when R.I.F. began? I have no idea. I never really spent much time thinking about it before.

I wish, though, that calling something YA or MG doesn't somehow 'alienate' adult readers, or cause adults to decide that YA books are for kids, not for grown-ups. Because the adults are really missing out on some terrific stuff!

I'm hoping to see a larger, growing trend of 'crossover' books. Books with child or teen protags that adults will read, even if they have to go to the YA section to find them. I'd guess most bookstores will double-shelf the crossover books, with a few in YA and a few in whatever special adult section it belongs.


Your comments are encouraged.