Thursday, January 10, 2008

Less than 2 months to go!

Howdy blogger type people! I've been really busy this week, working hard on a couple of projects. Thought I'd give you an update.

Without falling behind on my pace for the sequel to my upcoming book, I've also been working hard on completely revamping the first 50 pages of a book called THE MAZE RUNNER. If you go back and look at the recap of my author journey, you'll see that's a book I wrote 2 years ago, and the one that got me an agent. Well, it ain't dead yet!

I got an editorial letter from Mirrorstone Books - a wonderful letter that flat out nailed what needed to be fixed. My highest praise to the editor, Stacy Whitman. Anyway, based on how much my writing has improved (evidenced by an ARC of THE 13TH REALITY they'd received) and on how much she loves the story of MAZE, I was asked just to rewrite the first 50 pages and they'd make a decision.

Now, this doesn't mean squat yet. But I did rewrite it, and it's about 563 times better than the old one. It was painful to go back and read the old one, actually. In fact, I really need to do a post soon about the differences. A lot of valuable lessons.

My agent is reading it now, and we'll probably submit it with a revised synopsis next week. Cross your fingers!

Also, I received a copy of THE 13TH REALITY on CD for my review. The guy doing the reading is named Mark Wright. Now, I've never met this dude, but let me say this: He is now officially in the coveted Top 20 People Most Favored by James Dashner List. I won't say who was bumped.

It is AWESOME! Truly, truly awesome. It's been very surreal to listen to, and I've loved every minute. Especially his voices, especially Mothball. She has an Irish accent, and he's so good at it I just kept laughing out loud with glee. I can't wait for this thing to hit the market.

One more thing. And this is really good news. Borders (the bookstore company) has ordered 15,000 of the teaser chapter booklets from my publisher to include in their Teacher Education Packets nationwide. I think they are going to do a special printing of them with the Borders logo on it.

Though I'm not sure how this will translate into sales, I can't think of anything that could work better to get the word out to the people who matter. And, of course, I'm just ecstatic that someone at Borders thought highly enough of my book to make this happen. There's word that Barnes and Noble is considering something similar. Once again, Chris Schoebinger (the product director for my book) has been proven a genius.

My author tour begins on March 3rd. Less than 2 months away!!!!!! I should have the schedule sometime next week.

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow! How incredibly awesome, James! And do post some of the stuff you learned. Just think, someday I can say I knew you back when...

Stephanie Humphreys said...

I'm excited for you. I can't wait to read it when it comes out.

James Dashner said...

I will definitely do a major post about the differences between my 2-year-old version and the new version. I've sure learned a lot and have hopefully come a long way.

Jaime, I'll officially consider it as a question by you and do it as part of my Q&A posts. Look for it soon!

James Dashner said...

Oh, and Jaime and Stephanie, thanks for the nice words!

Unknown said...

I'll hold you to that :)

LaFemmeSimple said...

oooh and i've actually read the first 50 pages of the original maze runner..WOOT!!

Luisa Perkins said...

Dude, this is all fantastic news! Hearty congratulations!

Rachelle Christensen said...

Okay James, it's time to share some of the "All of my dreams come true magic" with me! :)
You are awesome and I'm so glad to see that all your hard work is paying off. I'm looking forward to that post on the differences in Maze.

Tamra Norton said...

WOW--2 months to go! Actually it's a good thing you're staying crazy-busy. Congrats on MAZE!!! My fingers are crossed.

My 11-year-old is half-way through 13th REALITY and loving it. He was just asking me if there was a sequel. How many will actually be in the series?

Tristi Pinkston said...

You rock with a seriously great amount of rockin'ness.

Can I be you when I grow up?

Shanna Blythe said...

How exciting! I got a great rejection from Stacy--not as great as YOURS! But still it made me happy! lol

Macotar said...

James!
Thanks so much for your kind words, I'm pretty new in the book on CD field. In fact yours was my first fiction. I'm so glad you liked it. I was absolutely thrilled to read it. I'm pleased as punch to be on your top 20 favorite people list, and quite frankly I don't care who I knocked off ;). Congratulations on what looks like a real hot title.

- Mark Wright

Scoops Mangum said...

Hi James!

Mark is a really good friend of mine, and I am so excited he got to work on your book! He's incredibly talented and funny, but also one of the best people I have ever met. We need to do a post book release dinner with you, your editor (my wife hehehe), Mark and everyone else. Lisa is home and feeling much better, so it looks like your editor will be working on book two as soon as you get it to her. :)

Tracy aka Scoops!

http://scoopsmangum.blogspot.com

Dedee said...

Nice to meet youtoday dude!