Random Q&A

Happy Ground Hog Day! Do you realize this is the very month that a really awesome book comes out? Want to know what it is? Well, find out in our number 1 item today.....

1. Sunbum asked when my 13th Reality Book 2 comes out. Well, actually, very timely question because the release date has been moved up a week! Kinda sorta. It's more of a matter that I don't really have a hard street date, and the books are all in, and we scheduled some school visits the last week of February, and yada yada yada, the book will be in most stores starting the week of February 23rd.

Wow, that's 3 weeks from today. 3 weeks! How did that happen?

2. Mr. Vincent asked whether or not my books will be released in the UK. Great question.

First, THE MAZE RUNNER. Very good chance. My agency started offering it to foreign rights agents once it was sent to copyediting, and the word I've received is that interest is very high. Hopefully we'll see some things happen on that front in the next few months.

Second, 13TH REALITY. No idea. I think the Simon & Schuster paperback deal will help, because I believe that also includes foreign rights, and they probably have a lot more clout shopping it around. But it might be awhile. Sorry!

3. Trainee asked if I'd be doing workshops or conferences in Utah other than the big BYU one in June because he/she won't be here. The answer is yes. More details to come, but I'm presenting at the following events:

LTUE at BYU on February 19th-21st. This one is FREE and I'll be on many panels and readings and signings and stuff.

SCBWI conference in St. George Utah on March 21st.

Storymakers Conference in Provo UT on April 24th and 25th.

Conduit in Salt Lake City UT on May 22nd-23rd.

4. Ron Simpson asked if I'm going on tour for Book 2's release. Yes. It's kind of scaled back because of the economy, but I'll be doing lots of stuff in Arizona, Utah, and one other state we haven't decided on yet.

5. LexiconLuvr (excited to meet you at the BYU thing!) asked what my duties would be as literary chair for the arts foundation. Basically, they have 2 retreats a year where artists from different disciplines (literature, visual arts, film, music, theater) go to Aspen Grove in the mountains and share their work, have awesome discussions on our places in the world, and eat lots of food. As chair, I help out and lead discussions and decide who comes from my discipline.

6. LexiconLuvr also asked how many presentations/workshops I do a year and what's the experience like. Well, I do as many as I can, probably an average of one thing a month. Krista (at Random House) has told me they push their authors really hard on things like that, so I hope my national opportunities really pick up once MAZE comes out.

As for what it's like, I LOVE it. It's probably the Number One Thing of my author career. I love going to writer's conferences and chillin' with people of my own species. The only humans who understand writers, truly, are other writers, which is why it's so fun.

7. Macotar asked if I'll ever miss my old job of accounting. Which made me laugh for about three hours and seven minutes.

8. LouMac pointed out that I was able to refrain from doing ten items last week. You see, I'm not as OCD as we thought. And looky there, I'm stopping early today, too. Sometimes I amaze even myself.

9. Loumac also asked who Sally is. And used the word "her." Which is strange. I'll say no more.

10. Darn you LouMac! Look what you've done! You made me get so close to ten I couldn't resist. Oh the horror.