Kingsley and Savage

I thought I'd give a big shout out to a couple of authors today, just in time to mischievously influence your holiday shopping. I do happen to know both of these people, but only through the authoring route. And I would never associate with bad writers. :-) Ugly ones, maybe (cue Scott), but not bad ones.

Ladies first:

Kaza Kingsley (definitely not ugly) is the author of the Erec Rex series, and she had some big-time news this year. The first 2 books (THE DRAGON'S EYE and THE MONSTERS OF OTHERNESS) were published by a relatively small press (Firelight). They did so well that the series was purchased by Simon & Schuster in an EIGHT BOOK DEAL!!!!!! That's almost unheard of. This delayed the release of Book 3 (THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH) until June 2009, but it'll be well worth it.

Anyway, Kaza and I have become friends over the Internet and have exchanged signed books, manuscripts, and cover blurbs. Our careers seem parallel in a lot of ways (the biggest way is the good news that I STILL can't tell you yet). Having said all that, I wouldn't be giving this shout out unless I thought her books were incredible, and they are. Seriously, very good stuff. And I'm one of the few to have read Book 3. It takes the series to a whole new level. Congrats, Kaza!!! CLICK HERE for her website.

Next:

The other author I wanted to mention is J. Scott Savage. His book is called FARWORLD: WATER KEEP, and it is good, good, good. He happens to be with the same publisher as me and he's also a very close friend. He's taught me more about writing, this business, marketing, you name it, than any other person. And let's face it, this is the only reason I continue to associate with him. :-)

Now, I'm not being biased here. The initial reason Scott (aka Jeff) and I became friends is because of my respect for his writing and knowledge. He's a wizard. And FARWORLD is an awesome book. You (and/or your kids) will love it! CLICK HERE for the website. (By the way, both of these websites are amazing - far better than most book sites.)

Both of these books/series deal with magic and other worldly stuff. But each puts its own unique twist on these concepts that makes them really fun reads.

You can buy them at any bookstore or internet site. Here are the links to Amazon:

EREC REX

FARWORLD

I don't do much promoting on this blog - in fact, almost never. (Well, except for myself, which I do shamelessly nonstop.) But I really wanted to tell you about these two fine authors. Give them a chance - you won't regret it.

Revision, Round #2

I heard back from Krista yesterday. For some inexplicable reason I was depressed for about 2 hours, imagining all kinds of ridiculous things like I was causing her too much work and that she'd never buy another book from me as long as she lived. And people, the second round of revisions isn't even that bad! Why are authors so psycho?

Krista told me that she once did 7 rounds of revisions with an author and then bought 3 more books from her. She also said her revisions with me are "normal to minimal." So yeah, that's about a nine and half on the old idiot scale, there, Dashner. I hereby declare that my rookie angst is officially done and over. This is just how it's done. It doesn't mean that I'm a horrible writer.

Why am I even telling you all this? Hey! Look at me! I'm an idiot!

Anyway, all is well, and I'm excited to work on THE MAZE RUNNER once again. This round will be far more pleasant than the last round. And since Krista's going on vacation, I have until January 5th! Plus, this time she made her line edits in the electronic document using track changes, so all I have to do is click "accept" or "reject" for each one. (Who am I kidding, I'll be hitting "accept" 99% of the time.)

Of course, I tossed and turned in bed for about 3 hours last night pondering my fixes. Seriously, these last few tweaks are once again going to take this book to another level. I am one lucky dude to have Krista as my editor!!!!! (And lest ye think I'm brown-nosing, I'm pretty sure she doesn't read my blog - the woman's too busy.)

In other news.....

Tomorrow is Authorpalooza XXLCXXVIIXX, to be held at the West Jordan Barnes and Noble. To be honest, I have no idea who will be there, but probably 10 to 15 authors, including me. It goes from 2:00 to 4:00.

I wanted to share another couple of very nice shout outs for my book that came from highly respectable humans. The first is from my very good friend, um, I mean, this complete stranger that just happens to be a National Book Award finalist. Her name is Sara Zarr. I think. I'm not sure because I, um, don't know her. CLICK HERE.

The other is from Bobbi's Book Nook, run by a very respected reviewer in Kentucky. CLICK HERE.

My last thought: Buy books for presents this year. And this isn't a plea for mine, because if you're here, you've probably already bought mine. But of all the types of presents out there, what could be more valuable and cherished than a good ole book? Save the book industry! Buy books. Buy bookstore gift cards. Not video games. Not toys. Not stupid things. Books.

Have a great weekend.

Teens Read, Too

Couple of quick things:

First off, if you haven't checked out the website, teensreadtoo, you should. It's a really great resource. And especially, ahem, since they recently gave me such a glowing review! I thought I'd put a link on here and give them a shout out. Thanks, guys! CLICK HERE to read the review.

Also, sorry I forgot to announce this, but I will be at the LAYTON BARNES AND NOBLE tonight at 7:00. Come and see me! And, very important: the Thursday signing in Bountiful was cancelled a long time ago, but was left on the tour date list over at the13threality.com. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Ya know, I'm pretty proud of the reviews we've received for The 13th Reality. In fact, the only slightly negative review came from School Library Journal, and even that one was wasn't so bad. But to have such good ones from the Chicago Sun-Times, Kirkus, the Atlanta Journal and Consitution, the Salt Lake Tribune, the Columbia Tribune, etc., is very rewarding. And even more validating are reviews from sites like teensreadtoo and authors like Brandon Sanderson and Brandon Mull.

You can see some of those reviews if you go scrolling through my old blog posts.

I really don't mean to brag - my book is really a collective effort from a LOT of people. I'm just saying that I'm very proud and very pleased. But ultimately all that matters is what you, the reader, thinks. And if you're here, I'm guessing you liked it. So thanks!

I just heard about the governor of Illinois trying to sell the open senate seat. Yowza.

Book 2 Going to Press

Sometimes I forget that the original purpose of this blog was to give you guys an inside look at the life of an author and the publishing industry. A lot's been going on to get Book 2 ready for press - it's being sent tomorrow. Not a whole lot on my end other than little questions here and there, but it's always fun to be involved.

For example, one item we had to resolve was the title for Book 3 because we really wanted to include that for readers to look forward to. Ever since the first book came out, people have been googling "The Hunt for Dark Infinity" and wondering what in the world it might mean. Although we weren't quite ready to include an excerpt like we did for that one, we wanted to have the title at least.

It hasn't been completely settled yet, but once it is, I'll see if I can reveal the title before Book 2 comes out.

The inside illustrations by Bryan Beus were also shown to me, but I'm not sure if I had any power to change anything if I'd wanted to. Not that it matters - I love them! Book 2 will have 10 full page illustrations, and I really like each one. Bryan, you da man! Maybe one of these days we'll actually meet.

Let's see, what else. It ended up with a few blank pages at the end because of the signature count. I can't remember what the number is, but I guess book lengths are always a multiple of something. I think it's 16. They asked if I had any ideas for what to slip in back there (Michael Scott, don't say it!) but I didn't. I wasn't confident enough in Book 3 yet to include an excerpt. I think they ended up putting a couple of ad pages for other books and one announcing Book 3's title.

Nothing else is popping in my head, but I know I've spoken to Lisa about a million times the last couple of weeks. Anyway, it's all very exciting when your book finally goes to press. There's no pulling back at that point! I should have some copies in my hands by mid-February. Can't wait.

Other tidbits:

The event on Friday for Salt Lake Youth City was really awesome. They made toys for needy kids, played games, I did a little presentation, then Santa came and gave them all a copy of my book and a candy cane.

The puke bug is storming through our house. First the baby, then Kayla, now Bryson. I'm pretty sure we've broken the record for most barf-soaked sheets running through a washing machine in one weekend. Yeah, it's disgusting.

Still haven't heard back from Krista on my rewrites. I'm sure all the publishing industry layoffs last week made for tough times. But there is good news for people who write for children and young adults: most of the layoffs seem to be in the adult divisions. Kids need to read no matter what!

Don't forget you can become a "Follower" of this blog by scrolling down on the right side of this page and clicking on the thingy. I have no idea what that means, but you won't be cool unless you do it.

Speaking of cool, I finally tried to become somewhat active on Facebook (search James Dashner). It's been really trippy to suddenly be in contact with all these people I went to high school with. (Oh, sorry, "with whom I went to high school.") I just assumed they were all dead. (not really) It's been really fun to hear from them - most had no idea I'd become an author. If any of you have made it to the blog, let us know. Duluth High School, Class of '91!!!!!!! (Holy crap, I'm old.)

I guess I'll try to tackle Myspace next. Ugh.

Falcons lost yesterday in a barn burner. It was a very bad loss. Hold me.

Remember I told you I had good news to announce about 2 months ago, and never did? Well, it's getting very close now. Sorry, took longer to solidify than I'd imagined. Stay tuned.

Have a great week!!!!!!

Back to Normal

Today was literally the first day since I quit my job several months ago that I didn't have a very pressing deadline or was on the road travelling. So it's been nice to get into a routine and figure out what I need to accomplish the next 3 months before Book 2 of THE 13TH REALITY comes out.

Most important, of course, is Book 3 of that same series. I'm very excited to work on that. Extremely excited. Like, really, really excited. Bumblebees on crack excited. Yeah.

So I headed to Kmart early this morning, like any upstanding young author would do on his first day of stress-free work. I bought the following: 2 mini-packs of Kleenex, a bag of cough drops, a sweet planner/notes portfolio, and the game Othello. I bet no person in the history of Kmart has ever bought that combination before. I'm special.

Yeah, I'm still lingering sickly. Coughing, runny nose. Nothing too bad, but just enough to annoy me. I curse the very first germ that gave birth to the trillions since.

One of our most faithful followers here at the Dashner Dude is worried I didn't get her email telling me how much she liked the Advance Reader Copy of THE HUNT FOR DARK INFINITY. Q, my good friend, I did receive it, and you made my day. I'm so glad you didn't hate it.

I still haven't heard from Krista on my rewrites. Maybe once I do, I won't be so stress free anymore.

Don't forget the big Christmas party at The King's English tonight! It starts at 5:30. And I'll be at Liberty Park tomorrow afternoon doing a thing for Salt Lake City Youth. Apparently Santy Clause is going to give away 200 of my books to children in need. Is that awesome or what?! (For the life of me I can't figure out how his creepy little elves got the rights from my publisher to make those in the NP toy shop. Fascinating stuff.)

Talk to ya soon.

Boohoo, Vacation Over

Dang. How does 2 weeks go by so fast? Tomorrow we head back to the mountains, leaving the trees and hills of Georgia behind. Wow, that was poetic. For me anyway.

We had good times. Well, except for the fact that every single person in my mom's house got sick. Yeah, that was fun. It was one of those nasty cold thingies that just won't go away. I'm finally feeling pretty good today.

Highlights: Seeing family, going to the Coca Cola museum, going to the Etowah Indian Mounds, seeing James Bond, seeing the Lake Lanier Lights, eating food, watching the Falcons win 2 more games, beating my sister-in-law Paige in 3 separate games. But mostly spending time with my mom and the rest of the family. Did I mention food?

Lowlights: Using 246 boxes of Kleenex, 38 bags of cough drops, and watching the stupid yellow jackets beat the mighty Bulldawgs. Oh, the horror.

I should be hearing back from my editor any day on what she thought of the rewrites for MAZE. I'm nervous about it. Very. I'll let you know what she says.

This Thursday night is the big annual Christmas party at The King's English bookstore in Salt Lake City. A lot of wicked cool (my son's been saying that lately--it's very annoying) authors will be there, including, ahem, me. Okay, Shannon Hale will be there, too. Come see us!

I'm excited for the next 3 months. Not a lot of school visits, not a lot of travel. Just plain old, good-fashioned book writing. I also plan to answer a lot of these emails that are stacked up! So stay tuned and don't give up on me......

Hope everyone had a fun Thanksgiving. May the upcoming holidays be filled with lots of joy, food, and Falcons wins. Check back here often in December--I'm gonna be in the blogging mood.

Finished the Maze. Again.

This has been about the 132nd time in my life that I thought I was done with a little book called THE MAZE RUNNER. It's amazing how many loops this story has gone through on its journey to publication. It'll be a fun topic for future writer's conferences.

Anyway, with great relief, I emailed the manuscript to Krista today. I have no doubt that the last 2 weeks have been the most grueling I've ever had in terms of pure nitty gritty working on a book. I'm not asking for pity - I enjoyed it for the most part. But it was intense.

You'd probably be somewhat impressed if someone wrote 15,000 words in 2 weeks. If not, you have an avocado for a brain. But not only did my manuscript increase by 15,000 words, it was done in bits and pieces, here and there as I went through Krista's notes, page by page. No wonder I had a head ache every night!

But I'm really surprised how much I enjoyed doing it. Some days were tougher than others, but the lessons I learned from Krista are just amazing. And the book is much, much better now.

The very first version of MAZE was 68,000 words long. When I turned it into Krista in September, it was 87,000 words. The one I submitted today is 102,000. That means the book is 50% bigger than its original version. That blows me away.

The biggest difference is DEPTH. The basic storyline hasn't changed that much. But the depth of the characters, the depth of the worldbuilding, the depth of the dialogue and scene development, the depth of everything is just more... in depth. How's that for articulatregery? I just made that word up, and yes, you have permission to use it.

Ah, I feel so good. Tomorrow my family and I head off to Georgia for a 2 week vacation with Georgia Grandma and the rest of the Dashner Crime Family. I've sworn off any booky type work unless Krista gets back to me with more revisions, in which case I will abandon my mother and work like a... worker bee. (Mmmm, more good articulatregery. Oh, and just kidding, Mom.) But I think it will be mostly R&R.

Well, I hope all is well, and for your personal safety, I truly hope you are not a turkey this time of year. See ya again soon!

P.S. A big congratulations to my awesome agent, Michael Bourret. He was recently promoted to be the Vice President of his agency, Dystel & Goderich. I'm honored to be his client!

Mmmmm, Rewrites. And Random Thoughts.

Just letting you all know that I'm still alive. THE MAZE RUNNER rewrites are going well, although I know for a fact I've never put so much time into a book before. I think you'll find that it was time well spent.

Krista's notes are exhaustive, thorough, and many. She is one smart lady! To give you some perspective, I'm averaging about 7 pages an hour to go through her notes. I just want to make sure I respond to all her concerns and suggestions to the best of my ability.

Honestly, I don't know how I would've done this if I still had that pesky job!

Random thoughts:

Atlanta Hawks, 5-0. Atlanta Falcons, 6-3. Georgia Bulldogs, 8-2. Life is good in the sports world.

I can't wait to see the new James Bond movie.

Why do you see "No Dumping" signs in public places like graveyards? I don't think the kind of people who would dump their old couch inside a cemetery are going to see the sign and say, "Well, garsh, Mabel, looks like we's best find us another place, dontcha reckon? I hear the swamp's got some space."

If you live in Utah, I'll be at the West Jordan Barnes and Noble on Tuesday night at 6:00 and the Murray Barnes and Noble on Thursday night at 6:00. Come see me!

I love THE OFFICE. Have I ever told you guys that? It's the best thing that's happened to TV since SEINFELD and LOST. Oh, and 24.

These 2 kids come by our house on Saturday and ring the doorbell. They're holding rakes. My front yard had roughly 56,738,492 leaves in it, just a few days after being swept clean. They asked me with a straight face if we'd give them 5 bucks for raking it. They weren't joking. We gave them 10.

I'm rereading THE WHEEL OF TIME in honor of my good friend, Brandon Sanderson. I quit around Book 7 a long time ago because I didn't know if it would ever end and I was sick of waiting. But since he's finishing the series, I'm giving it Shot #2. And I must say, I'm really enjoying them. Very much.

Talk to ya soon.

Another Post!

Hi.

I thought of another few things to yap about.

First, I'm very excited to announce that my wife and I will finally be witnessing the musical event known as WICKED. It's coming to Salt Lake City, and after almost 3 hours of repeatedly dialing a phone number, my wife got through and scored us some early-release tickets. Can't wait. Ironically, the word WICKED is very important in my upcoming book, THE MAZE RUNNER. No connection.

Second, I put a new Followers thing on the right side of the blog. Check it out and join!

Third, I found the first place you can preorder Book 2. Click on the cover picture to the right and it'll take you there.

Fourth, I've been working so hard this week on my rewrites! And I've still got a long way to go. But I'm amazed at how much better Krista is making this book. I almost feel guilty, like her name should be on the cover with me.

Fifth, I was very excited to wake up this morning to this:

That can only mean that skiiing is not far behind. Have a great day!

Ketchup, or is that Catch Up?

Well, hi there! Thanks for all the emails, phone calls, texts, and comments telling me to shape up and blog. Sorry about the delay - I just felt like I was saying the exact same thing over and over again: I visited some schools, I did a signing, I toured the town. Blah blah blah.

Aren't you guys sick of that yet? No? Aw shucks.

Okay, then. The last couple of weeks, I visited some schools, did some signings, and toured some towns. It was fun. Good enough? Alright, let's play Catch Up.

1. South Carolina was great. I really enjoyed the schools, and I had a good time walking along the beach, finding seashells for my kids, and touring the old town of Charleston. Oddly, I think my favorite moment was watching this huge freighter ship mosey on by through the harbor. For some reason I love huge ships.

2. Idaho was also great! I stayed with my wife's aunt and uncle for a couple of days, and got to feed their cows and chickens. I also loved hearing and watching the trains go by in the distance - there were a lot of them. And, of course, the schools were awesome as usual. And did you know that Idaho Falls is called Idaho Falls because of really cool waterfalls? Brillliant! (And beautiful)

3. I'm mostly done with the Fall edition of the Change the World Tour, and man oh man, I'm relieved. As much as I love those kids, seeing new places, yada yada yada, the Dashner Dude's brain is spent! It's very emotionally and mentally draining to be so chipper for so long. I'm anxious and excited to get back to what I do best: write books. Good thing, because.....

4. Last Thursday I received my editorial comments from Krista Marino, my editor for THE MAZE RUNNER. Woo boy! Do I have a lot of work to do. Nothing too major, but a lot of little things that are going to make this book much, much better. I already suspected this, but Krista is a genius, and EXTREMELY thorough. I'm not in the least but surprised she's a senior editor at Random House. Wow.

5. I don't really think you're supposed to see this, but . . . hey, it's on the world wide web, what can ya do? The guy who did the artwork for the cover for THE MAZE RUNNER has put it on his website. His name is Philip Straub, and he does amazing digital stuff (more apt for the teen crowd). Wanna see what's gonna be on the cover? Well, then quit sittin' there like a wart on a toadie and CLICK HERE. Isn't it awesome! He nailed the feel of the book itself. I love it.

6. Halloween was once again a success - my kids got ridiculous amounts of free candy from complete strangers. My wife claims it's been proven that sugar doesn't make kids hyperactive. Yah. I believe that one.

7. Today is Election Day. Go and vote!!!!! And don't ever, ever be ashamed of who you choose or what you vote for, as long as you believe it's the right choice. Ain't America great?

8. My Dawgs got blistered and whooped on by the hated, despised, horrible, terrible, monstrous, grotesque, ugly, stupid, stupid, stupid Florida Gators. I'm in deep mourning. But at least my Falcons are doing awesome, with the best rookie QB since Peyton Manning. It's a done deal, folks: NFL Rookie of the Year 2008 is Matt Ryan.

9. My agent is awesome. Have I said that recently? Well, he is. So there.

10. So let's hear it from those people who got ARCs of 13TH REALITY BOOK 2! Did you like it? Is it better than Book 1? Let us know. And I do have a few more to give away.....

Well, it's good to be back. I hope all is well in your neck of the woods, and we'll talk again soon.