Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Best Day of the Year

The latest:

1. I would argue that today, September 1st, is the single best day of the year. (You could argue that it is not, but then you'd be making a complete and utter ninny of yourself in front of all these people. Don't do it!)

It's the best for a lot of reasons: It begins my favorite time of year, the four months of Sept-Dec. It's the official unoffical beginning of Autumn, Football, Crisp Air, Leaves Changing, Halloween, Thanksgiving, My Birthday, Christmas (or your respective Holiday), New Years, Snow, Skiing, etc.

And now, of course, I have another awesome thing to add to Fall (at least for the next 3 years): the release of a book!

2. Today is also awesome because CATCHING FIRE was released. I was very fortunate to read an ARC of this book, and I can vouch that it's very good. If you haven't read the first one in the trilogy, HUNGER GAMES, get on that bandwagon immediately! (or you'll look as stupid as the neo-Nazi child-hating ninnies who argue against Sept. 1)

3. Today also marks exactly FIVE weeks until the release date of my very own book, THE MAZE RUNNER. For those of you scratching your heads trying to do the math, that also equals 35 days. It's also equal to 3.5 Decadays, a term I'm pretty certain I just made up. Epiphany: it's also exactly one half of a Decaweek! How cool is that?

4. I had a really awesome experience this past Saturday - participating in the 2nd annual Writing for Charity event in Ogden, UT. We had a lot of people show up and raised $8,000, which will go to the Treehouse Museum (am I the only idiot on Earth who forgets what order the "e" and "u" go in that stupid word?) and to put books in the hands of needy children.

5. Evidently I AM the only person on Planet Earth and The Solar System and The Galaxy that didn't know what the word "docent" meant. I was ridiculed and spat upon by the other authors for said ignorance.

6. At dinner afterward, I had the singular pleasure of being forced to pay for Brandon Mull's dinner because he "forgot his wallet." I only tell you this to embarrass him.

7. Shannon Hale was the MC, and she is one funny gal. Anne Freakin' Bowen organized the whole affair, and did just an amazing job. Kudos to her and all the staff at the Treehouse Musuem (ha! I did that on purpose!)

8. Here's a picture of the participating authors, all of whom volunteered their time. The person who can name the most authors in the picture gets a signed copy of THE MAZE RUNNER. If someone gets them all, the contest ends at that very exact second.



9. I'm smack dab in the middle of writing the climax for Book 3 of THE 13TH REALITY. Right now the book stands at about 90,000 words and I'll probably finish the first draft this week. It has a very strange ending, but I've come to expect that from myself.

10. I think I tweeted this, and maybe I even blogged it, but just in case: I've decided to postpone my ACL surgery until after my release tour (8 cities, schedule coming soon!) so as not to take any chances that complications could ruin the whole thing and make me wallow in misery for the rest of my life.

11. If you haven't followed me on Twitter yet, please do! CLICK HERE. I promise I never mention anything about going to the bathroom. Well, I did once, but it was special circumstances. I'll also never mention the words "Demi" or "Moore".

Lyrics of the Day:

No, his mind is not for rent
To any god or government.
Always hopeful, yet discontent,
He knows changes aren't permanent.
What you say about his company,
Is what you say about society.
Catch the witness, catch the wit,
Catch the spirit, catch the spit.

Tom Sawyer, Rush

37 comments:

Carla said...

Kudos for this exceptional post.

The only three I know are:
You, Mr James Dashner (this still counts, right?)
Shannon Hale
Sara Zarr

Unknown said...

Excellent lyrics pick! (Spirit of Radio is also great.)

Authors I can pick out: Brandon Mull, James Dashner, Shannon Hale, Jessica Day George, Carol Lynch Williams, and Sara Zarr. There's a couple others I think I should recognize, but I'm not coming up with names.

Enna Isilee said...

James, You wanna know something really sad? I didn't know what docent meant, and I AM one. Seriously. That's what I do for a job. Isn't that sad? We always just call ourselves educators, but then someone called me a docent, and I thought it was something like docile. :)

James Dashner said...

Enna, THANK YOU! How refreshing to see someone bold and brave enough to admit they are as ignorant as I! (I mean that very lovingly)

Alysa Stewart said...

I've got six. I hesitate to post them, because what if someone cheats off of me? Okay, everyone be honest now...

Brandon Mull
James Dashner
Shannon Hale
Sydney Salter
Bree Despain
Sara Zarr

and I bet that Ann freaking Bowen is in there too, but I couldn't point her out, so I don't know if she counts.

Magenta said...

1: Sept. 1 is a super day, because it openly invites the awesomeness to follow in the remainder of the year. Fall is my favorite season of the whole year. For one obvious reason, my birthday is in a week. ^__^ *squeal!* Also, it's cool that a Maze book will be released at the same time every year!!!
2: Catching Fire? Released today?! Awesome! I can vouch for Hunger Games' high merit in readership. ^,^ I reviewed it once on my blog...
3: I'm pretty sure I've never heard of the term Decadays. =P
4: Ha ha. Musuem. Hilarious. Easy mistake to make, though.
5: Sorry. There's one more person who doesn't know what docent means. Me. So don't think you're so special. ^,~ It sounds kinda like a Dashnog word, actually...
8: You're the only guy I recognise, James.
9: Nice numbers. But why do you torture us with these hints?!
10: Yeah, you blogged about it already.
11: 11, huh? That's unusual. ^_~

J.R. Johansson said...

I think it's hilarious that you were used as the example of how writer's don't need massive vocabularies. :P Poor James.

I totally want that copy! So let's see:

Matthew Kirby, Brandon Mull, Kristyn Crow, Wendy Toliver, Sharlee Glenn, James Dashner, Mike Knudson, J. Scott Savage, Shannon Hale, Allison Randall, Becky Hall, Sherry Meidell, Kristen Landon
Christine Graham, Jessica Day George, Jean Reagan, Sydney Salter, Anne Bowen, Bree Despain, Emily Wing Smith, Sara Zarr

I think that's everyone. Do I win? :D

Anonymous said...

So what makes The Hunger Games so wundeful? Yes, I read it. The whole time I kept thinking of Arnie in Running Man, Michael York in Logan's Run, and various other books I read longer ago than James is old that fall in the same vein.

I found THG very dark and somewhat disappointing, since its characters were so two-dimensional and the end of the story was so very much NOT the end of the story.

stacy said...

The picture is so small that I'm having a hard time picking people out even though I know who went. But oh well. I think you can guess that I'm going to be going out and getting a copy of The Maze Runner anyway!

J.N. Future Author said...

good luck with everything man! oh by the way, the best day of the year is......well actually, there are alot of best days in the world....

I recognize you and Scott Savage.....and everyone else......yeah....I think they were at the Writers Conference....maybe?

Anonymous said...

Sorry the other authors picked on you. You know that you're the coolest and we love you. ;)

Congrats on your 3.5 decadays. I know I'm counting down!

Anonymous said...

I'm doing my homework on the authors. Since you are NOT coming to Georiga, I guess that is the ONLY way I can get a signed copy of The Maze Runner. (sniff, sniff)

I can neither confirm nor deny that I knew what docent meant before I read this blog.

Brodi Ashton said...

Great post James. That was such a fun event!

My lyrics for today (from the master, Paul Simon):

What is the point of this story
What information pertains
The thought that life could be better
Is woven indelibly
Into our hearts
And our brains

J Scott Savage said...

They didn't pick on you exactly. They just offered to buy you a dictionary for your upcoming birthday. One with pictures and buttons you can push to make funny noises.

Besides docent is easy it's what one deer hunter says to another. "Hey Jethrow, think the hounds just picked up a doe scent."

hidden reader said...

hey, if u think that ur the only one who doesn't know what docent means there is something u don't know (besides not knowing what docent means) because I don't know what docent means and.... well i don't really feal like looking it up.

Vanessa M. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Vanessa M. said...

don't feal bad if you can't spell musuem because i can't spell any of those thingy-majigy-word-things.

James Dashner said...

hahaha. You guys are cracking me up today.

Nemo, fair points. Now I'm terrified for you to read The Maze Runner! :)

Looks like Jenn might be a winner here. Wait, is it fair for someone who went to the event? You just had to pull out your program!

I'm just kidding.....

J.G. Lawrence said...

Jessica Day George
Jean Reagan
Sydney Salter
Wendy Toliver
Sharlee Glenn
Anne Bowen
Bree Despain
Emily Wing Smith
Sara Zarr
James Dashner
Mike Knudson
J. Scott Savage
Shannon Hale
Allison Randall
Becky Hall
Matthew Kirby
Brandon Mull
Kristyn Crow
Sherry Meidell
Kristen Landon
Christine Graham



Thats all I can see.....

numberonedashnerfan said...

haha Mrs. Moore is my Ap Euro teacher....um so idk if these are right but
Brandon Mull
James Dashner
Shannon Hale
Jessica Day George
Carol Lynch Williams
Sara Zarr
Sydney Salter
Bree Despain
Matthew Kirby
Kristyn Crow
Wendy Toliver
Sharlee Glenn
Mike Knudson
J. Scott Savage
Allison Randall
Becky Hall
Sherry Meidell
Kristen Landon
Christine Graham
Jean Reagan
Sydney Salter
Anne Bowen
Bree Despain
Emily Wing Smith
Jean Reagan
Sydney Salter
Wendy Toliver
Brandon Mull
Kristyn Crow
....um idk....Homework is icky.... so tommorow I shall meet big buddah....TIKI TIKI

numberonedashnerfan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
J.R. Johansson said...

James - Hey now! There were no restrictions. If anything I should be rewarded for participating in an event for charity.

muahaha :P

numberonedashnerfan said...

....apearntly I kinda have some people on that list more than once.... idk.....the last seven on the list are repeated.... im a little slow today.........

Dave said...

James dashner, brandon mull, shannon Hale, and anne freakin bowen. That's 4. Hmmm...have to think about the rest. I wish I had access to one of those cool devices like the fbi have..the face recognition thingys..+h well, 4 for me maybe.
Dave

Dave said...

Oh, and "docent"...no idea..what does it mean anyway?
Dave

James Dashner said...

Looks like Jenn has convincingly convinced us. Shoot me an email!

Dave said...

Congrats Jenn! You are going to be one happy camper. James, since its been a while and there is only 5 days left, I'm going to mention that my site is giving away a new ARC of "maze runner" it was amonth long contest. Ends in 5 days! Sunday midnight I'm gonna make someone really happy! Goto: www.thelateinergangbookreviewspot.blogspot.com for your chance to win! Thanks to James and everyone who has helped and supported us with this!
Dave

J.R. Johansson said...

Wahoo! I'm convincing! Oh, and thanks Dave. :D

Sarah Anne said...

Personally I think that October 26 is the best day of the year, 'cause it's the day my new and amazing friend was born. Sorry, James. September 1 loses. Looks like I'm a Neo-Nazi Ninny.

Aprilynne Pike said...

I should probably not enter this contest.:D

Oh, and I had to Google docent. Yay! We are morons together!!!

Kenny said...

Psh. Aprilynne, why even comment if you're not going to help the people out?

James, since I'm assuming at least one of these good people has already won the signed copy you offered here, you might point them over to Aprilynne's blog. She's giving away the extra Maze Runner ARC she found at BEA and had you sign. It's the black-covered version and its kind of beat up from being passed around like... well, I'll let everyone come up with their own age-appropriate metaphors. But it's signed and its up for grabs!

Nice work on the word-count, by the way.

Stacey said...

Hunger Games was amazing! I have to admit I put my copy of MAZE aside to read it. Don't hate me I am eagerly going back to MAZE!

I am so so sad I didn't go to this fundraiser, it looks fabulous with all sorts of authors I love!

You of course, Shannon Hale, Sara Zarr, the fabulously funny Carol Lynch Williams, Jessica Day George, I have met the two sitting next to Sara Zarr but now I'm blanking.

Do I sound like a stalker? ;)

Heather Moore said...

Is Amy Finnegan in there? I haven't seen her in forEVER.

Anonymous said...

James, I promise to be honest no matter what.

MK 4:40, 5:36

Taffy said...

I can totally name ALL the authors AND illustrators but alas! I was at the conference and I would be cheating...
Don't you love the word 'docent'? I'm sure my husband has used it while hunting! Jeff, you are funny. I can see why all you 'guys' are friends.

Christy said...

Thanks again for your help at the charity event. I am in the middle of 13th Reality and I can't wait to get back to it. I always love it when I get so sucked into a book that I don't have time to critique it or pick it apart! Thanks!

Danyelle Ferguson said...

I'm sure someone has won by now . . . but just in case: :)

James Dashner
Shannon Hale
Sara Zarr
Brandon Mull
Jessica Day George
Carol Williams
Jeff Savage
Bree Despain
Sydney Salter
Matthew Kirby
Kristyn Crow
Wendy Toliver
Sharlee Glenn
Allison Randall
Mike Knudson
Becky Hall
Sherry Meidell
Kristen Landon
Christine Graham
Jean Reagan
Anne Bowen
Emily Smith