Less than 2 months to go!

Howdy blogger type people! I've been really busy this week, working hard on a couple of projects. Thought I'd give you an update.

Without falling behind on my pace for the sequel to my upcoming book, I've also been working hard on completely revamping the first 50 pages of a book called THE MAZE RUNNER. If you go back and look at the recap of my author journey, you'll see that's a book I wrote 2 years ago, and the one that got me an agent. Well, it ain't dead yet!

I got an editorial letter from Mirrorstone Books - a wonderful letter that flat out nailed what needed to be fixed. My highest praise to the editor, Stacy Whitman. Anyway, based on how much my writing has improved (evidenced by an ARC of THE 13TH REALITY they'd received) and on how much she loves the story of MAZE, I was asked just to rewrite the first 50 pages and they'd make a decision.

Now, this doesn't mean squat yet. But I did rewrite it, and it's about 563 times better than the old one. It was painful to go back and read the old one, actually. In fact, I really need to do a post soon about the differences. A lot of valuable lessons.

My agent is reading it now, and we'll probably submit it with a revised synopsis next week. Cross your fingers!

Also, I received a copy of THE 13TH REALITY on CD for my review. The guy doing the reading is named Mark Wright. Now, I've never met this dude, but let me say this: He is now officially in the coveted Top 20 People Most Favored by James Dashner List. I won't say who was bumped.

It is AWESOME! Truly, truly awesome. It's been very surreal to listen to, and I've loved every minute. Especially his voices, especially Mothball. She has an Irish accent, and he's so good at it I just kept laughing out loud with glee. I can't wait for this thing to hit the market.

One more thing. And this is really good news. Borders (the bookstore company) has ordered 15,000 of the teaser chapter booklets from my publisher to include in their Teacher Education Packets nationwide. I think they are going to do a special printing of them with the Borders logo on it.

Though I'm not sure how this will translate into sales, I can't think of anything that could work better to get the word out to the people who matter. And, of course, I'm just ecstatic that someone at Borders thought highly enough of my book to make this happen. There's word that Barnes and Noble is considering something similar. Once again, Chris Schoebinger (the product director for my book) has been proven a genius.

My author tour begins on March 3rd. Less than 2 months away!!!!!! I should have the schedule sometime next week.