Writing Update, Deep Thoughts

Just thought I'd catch you up on my writing endeavors. (Free tip of the day: don't ever have a child character in a book say the word "endeavor" - I only use it because I'm extraordinarily smart.)

As mentioned previously, I got a little behind my goal pace because of the rewrite for THE MAZE RUNNER a couple of weeks ago. This worried me, and I almost adjusted my schedule. But alas, I'm much too anal for such a thing, so I worked extra hard the past week to catch up. The book now stands at 77,125 words, and the First Draft will definitely be done by February 13th as originally hoped.

In fact, probably sooner. This happens to me on every book. When I get to my favorite part, which is always, always, always the last 20% of the story, I go nutso. It's all I can think about and I work on it whenever I get the chance. I bet I'm done by the end of next week at the latest.

Once the First Draft is done, I'll probably spend a good month doing revisions and rewrites. Then comes the ultimate test. The Wife will read it. I'll make her changes and then send it off to some trusted writerly type friends. I hope to turn it in to my editor in early April, which will be a little early on my deadline, which is why my editor loves me much more than her other authors. (Right, Lisa?) The book is scheduled to come out in March of 2009.

I have to admit, I'm getting very nervous as the release date for Book 1 approaches. I hate when I think about it before bed (which is every night darnit) because then I can't go to sleep. Nothing is predictable in this industry. If there was a magic formula for a bestseller, we would only have bestsellers.

Sure, all signs are good so far. Positive reviews, positive emails from librarians and booksellers who received ARCs, strong pre-sales from the likes of Borders and Barnes and Noble. There's the way awesome thing with Borders sending out the teaser chapters in their Education Week packets. Other good stuff.

But still, it doesn't mean anything if the book doesn't catch on and create word of mouth. Word of Mouth is king in the book industry, and if you don't have it, you won't make it big. So, I hope and wait, trying very hard not to worry about it. And to sleep.

Now, having said all that, I assure you I'm not Mister Mopey Mope. I'm about as ecstatic and grateful and enthusiastic as you can imagine. I'm also very encouraged and optimistic. The greatest compliment, in my opinion, from the Kirkus review was the suggestion that I am "plainly in tune with today's fan base." I truly hope they are right because that's the only thing I care about.

And let me tell you why. This is going to sound like a 9 on the old cheesy scale, but the thing I love most about being an author is visiting schools and encouraging students to do great things with their life. And to help them have fun, and associate fun with reading. And if this book does well, I'll be able to do that for the rest of my life.

So, here we are, here I am. The Change the World Tour starts in just over a month. A month after that, we'll know a lot more about how things are going in terms of sales. Until then, nanu nanu. (not sure why Mork from Ork just popped in my head, but there you go)

Look for a new Q&A soon.

Also, something's wrong with the 13th Reality website - you can't see all the tour information. Pretty sure they're working on it. Have a great day!