Laurie Halse Anderson, First Pass Pages

A few things:

1. I had an awesome time last night at The King's English bookstore. Laurie Halse Anderson (SPEAK, TWISTED, WINTERGIRLS, etc.) was there and it was like a huge party! Lots of authors and writers, lots of Laurie's fans. Here's a picture of me with the Guest of Honor, taken by my new friend Valynne Nagamatsu.



Anyway, I'm here to tell you that this woman is incredible. Friendly, down to earth, genuine and sincere. Not to mention a brilliant writer and mega bestseller. I'm so glad I went. And get this: Laurie said last night that it was her best event. Ever. And she was very serious. Way to go King's English!

2. I received the first pass pages from Krista. Otherwise known as FPP. Don't know what that is? Well, neither did I! It's the book in typeset form, looking very bookish indeed. In fact, it's what they used for the ARCs, which should be done any day now. (The book clocks in at 387 pages, which is less than 13th Reality even though it has more words.)

It didn't take me long to go through them, make my comments (I think all of 2 in the whole thing). I've already sent them back to Krista.

3. I'd recently started having my usual author self doubt moments about MAZE. Ya know, thinking it was horrible and that Delacorte must be whacked in the brain for publishing it. But after reading the thing after at least a month of not having seen it, I realized it's not so bad after all! I really can't wait for people to start reading it. I think. I'm very nervous about the big reviewers.......

4. I learned some interesting things about changes that happen at this late stage. Krista had made quite a few notes for the typesetter. Here are some examples:

a. Punctuation ladders. This is when three or more sentences just happen to end on the right side, so you have three periods in a row, like a traffic light. Doesn't look good, so they mix it up somehow.

b. Orphans. They don't like paragraphs ending with just one word. And they also don't like words being split between one page and the next.

c. Italics. A lot of times, a phrase would be in italics, but not the punctuation at the end of it. Very hard to notice, but important I guess! Especially when it's a question mark.

d. Maintaining consistency. I noticed at least 2 examples. One, having no comma after the next-to-last word in a series of words. (ya know, like Mr. Jones loved to eat turtles, porcupines, toenails and liver.) Also, sound effects were sometimes in italics, sometimes not. This was supposed to be corrected last round, but a few of them got missed.

5. I passed an important threshold in THE SCORCH TRIALS. It's now over 50,000 words, which I estimate to be about halfway. Boo yah!

6. Start prepping if you live in this area: I'll be at the Barnes and Noble in West Jordan on Tuesday April 7th at 7:00. J. Scott Savage (FARWORLD) will also be there and it's gonna be a party. Cool people only, please. (Cool defined: you like to read.)

7. Have a great weekend!