MAZE Giveaway and Loose Cords

Hey, I noticed a fellow blogger is giving away an ARC of THE MAZE RUNNER. Head over to the Must Read Faster blog for a chance to win it. CLICK HERE. Looks like it's open until August 11th.

I'm also planning on giving away a few more here in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned.

Update on my knee: it hurts. I was playing basketball yesterday and it seriously felt like a cord ripped off and swung around like Tarzan on crack inside my whole leg. Pretty sure that's not normal. It's now swollen up worse than the original time I hurt it.

Anyway, you won't believe what I did. I made a doctor's appointment! They can't see me until next Thursday. Which stinks, but at least I'm on the way. Every part of me says I'm going to need surgery, which really worries me considering I have almost a month-long release tour coming up in October. Maybe I can postpone it. (the surgery, not the tour you silly!)

Hope everyone's having a great week.

Lyrics of the Day:

Crazy, but that's how it goes
Millions of people, living as foes.
Maybe it's not too late,
To learn how to love,
And forget how to hate.

Crazy Train, Ozzy Osbourne (See! He's not so evil and satanic, now is he?)

Q&A: Random Stuff

Okay, these are all questions from recent comments:

Q: From Melony: How did you overcome discouragement in yourself? I mean, did you ever just think, there's no way this will ever get published, what's the point?

A: I wouldn't be a real writer if I didn't have major self-doubt. In fact, I always thought that it would go away with a book contract. Wrong, tootsie! It gets worse. How do I overcome it? By remembering the core reason I'm doing this: because I love to write stories. If people don't like them, well, that'll really suck. But I won't stop.

Q: From #1dashnerfan: Did you really base Atticus (from the THE 13TH REALITY) on the character from TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD?

A: I didn't really base him on Atticus Finch per se, but that's definitely where I got the name. As a tribute to one of my favorite books and characters.

Q: From Debbie: Do you have a word count goal per week or are you the sort that likes to fly by the seat of your pants?

A: I definitely work by goals when I do my first drafts. I figure out how much time I have to write it, then I divide up the roughly estimated word count into daily goals. And then, yes, I track my progress on a spreadsheet. This is extremely embarrassing and threatens my reputation as a rough and tough sexy grungy Waldenesque cabin writer macho man, but it helps me feel like I'm accomplishing something every day.

Q: From Debbie: What's your favorite word?

A: Deoxyribonucleic Acid. That's actually two words. Well, who cares cuz "football" is the real answer anyway.

Q: From Debbie: How are you liking your new neighborhood?

A: We really, really love it. I already met a dude who invited me to play basketball with him and his buddies twice a week. Went last Thursday and loved it.

Q: From Debbie: Who's your favorite football team? (I apologize if others already know this as I'm new to your blog.)

A: I'm happy to answer! The Atlanta Falcons and Georgia Bulldogs. Die hard fan.

Q: From Graham Chops: What are your favorites from the other sports?

A: Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Thrashers, Georgia Force. (Can you tell where I was born and raised?)

Q: From Kirsten: How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?

A: The square root of infinity divided by pi multiplied by the pythagorean theorem. (This was my attempt to say what I think Shaq would say.)

Q: From Erin: How did YOU handle all the query/synopsis stuff that comes with trying to get published? Do you think you might ever post your query letter just so I might be able to see what a true author that got his book published/got an agent did?

A: Erin, you should totally read my series of blog posts on how I got published, available on the side bar of this blog. It's a very long story. And somewhere on this blog at some point I posted an actual query letter. Oh, here it is: CLICK HERE. That whole post is about what you do after writing a book.

Q: From Dave: How many copies of THE 13TH REALITY paperbacks are they going to print?

A: Don't know yet.

Q: From LT Elliot: Has the fame of Maze gotten to you at all? Even a bit?

A: Haha, not sure I'd call this fame. Honestly, it's extremely rare that an author has to deal with fame. People like JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer are MAJOR anomalies. I really don't think I'll have to worry about it.

Q: From Dave: Please clarify the release dates of your series.

A: THE MAZE RUNNER: October 6, 2009. THE SCORCH TRIALS: October 2010. THE DEATH CURE: October 2011. THE 13TH REALITY books will come out in April the next 3 years; the series will be complete in April of 2012.

Thanks everybody. If you ever have a question, just leave it in the comments.

Lyrics of the Day:

She said we couldn't do no wrong
No other love could be so strong
She locked up my heart in her bottom drawer
Now she took my heart she took my keys
From in my old blue dungarees
And I'll never go to Texas anymore

Hot Dog, Led Zeppelin (This song also mentions a Greyhound bus and U-Haul. I think it was Zeppelin's parody of country music, and I love it.)

THE SCORCH TRIALS is in!

I tweeted this yesterday, but I have officially turned in THE MAZE RUNNER's sequel to my agent and editor. Like any good author, by the time I clicked send I wanted to murder the book, beat it to a pulp, smash it and smash it so no one could ever read it. That's the point when you know it's time to pass the dumb thing on.

I will now spend the next few days lying awake at night, staring at the ceiling, imagining in my dark mind the many reasons why they will hate the book and ask me to rewrite the whole thing. All authors are this neurotic - at least the ones I know.

No, it's not as bad as I'm making it seem. Almost though!

Anyway, no time to relax. I have roughly a month to finish the third book of THE 13TH REALITY. I'm getting close to the stretch drive of the book, where everything stampedes toward the big climax. So it's gonna be fun.

Thanks for the questions in the comments of the last post. I'll save that for Monday, since that always seems to be the day we get the most hits. If anyone has a question for me they'd like to add, feel free.

My very long-timers will remember a time when I used to quote music lyrics a lot. Maybe I'll start that up again, at least every once in a while. Here ya go, and have a great weekend.

I am nothing more than
A little boy inside
That cries out for attention
Then I always run and hide

Epiphany by Staind

13th Reality Paperbacks and Random Stuff

1. It looks like the release dates for the paperbacks of Book 1 (December 22, 2009) and Book 2 (February 23, 2010) of THE 13TH REALITY are now official. You can see the dates and preorder them on the Simon & Schuster website. CLICK HERE. Hopefully we'll see the new covers soon, too!

2. I still haven't heard from two of our ARC winners: Brooke Reviews and The Brain Lair. So if you tried to email me, I didn't get it! If anyone knows them, please pass the word that I need their address.

3. I'm reading through THE SCORCH TRIALS (Sequel to MAZE) one last time this week before I send it on to my editor and agent. It's always interesting to read something you've written after not looking at it for a month or two. You find mistakes and bad dialogue and all kinds of nasties that you just can't BELIEVE you missed. But overall, I'm pretty pleased with it. I'm kind of surprised at how dark it is. I think something might be wrong with my brain......

4. Speaking of dark, just finishing up GERALD'S GAME by Stephen King. Yowza. Not recommended for anyone under the age of 36.

5. So, I hurt my knee playing basketball a few months ago, and I've been putting off going to the doctor even though it still feels really weird. I keep hoping it's okay. Well, last night I ran 3 miles for the first time since the injury and everything seemed okay. Felt great, actually. But there's still something... off about it. Keep your fingers crossed. Guess I should just go to the stupid doctor, huh?

6. Can you feel it? Can you smell it in the air? Are you enjoying those tingles that shoot across your skin every time you think about it? Oh, you know what I'm talking about. I don't even need to say it, but I will: football is just around the corner. Every year when we approach August - that's when I start to feel it. Ah, yes, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It is coming.

7. I'm already signed up for 3 fantasy football leagues with various groups of friends/family. Yes, there is definitely something wrong with my brain.

8. My agency sent me all these tax forms I have to fill out since we're selling rights internationally now. Is it normal that when I look at them I want to vomit? Just curious.

9. If anyone has a question for me, leave it in the comments. Maybe my next post can be a Q&A. I need something to blog about, so help an author out.

10. Have I ever mentioned that I like the number ten? Well, I do.

And the Winner is...

First of all, I really appreciate the big participation in the ARC giveaway last week.

I've been thinking ever since I posted the contest that it was kind of pretentious to make you follow me on twitter etc. Its purpose may seem obvious: I want to promote my books as best I can. But, I can honestly say that my favorite part of being an author is keeping in touch with my readers and hearing from you. So that was an equally big reason.

Anyway, my publicist Noreen Marchisi was very impressed by the response, so Random House is providing more ARCs to giveaway. I don't know how many just yet, but I feel pretty comfortable announcing FIVE winners today. Then if they have more, we'll do other things over the next couple of months until the book comes out. (October 6th!)

So, without further ado (who came up with that stupid phrase anyway?), here are the winners:

Magenta
Brooke Reviews
A Flight of Minds
The Brain Lair
Stephanie Humphreys

If the five of you would please email me at gmail dot com with your address, we'll be set. The gmail name is dashnerjames.

Thanks again - and I'm really sorry everyone couldn't win. But hopefully we'll have more chances soon.

Taiwan and ARC giveaway

UPDATE: I may have good news about upping the number of ARCs to be given away (see #8 below). Stay tuned.

1. We sold rights to Taiwan for MAZE! How cool is that going to be, to see my book written in the Chinese characters? Too bad I won't be able to read it. The publisher is Sun Color Culture Publishing, and they purchased the "complex character rights" (as opposed to simplified character rights). Someone familiar with the language wanna educate us? (The list now includes Russia, France, Greece, and Taiwan. More soon we hope!)

2. Another cool and completely unexpected thing: The Romantic Times likes MAZE and is going to do a feature/interview on me and the book this October. Yeah, that's right. I'm the next Nora Roberts. (Actually, they highlight quite a range of fiction, but still. The Romantic Times. I'm gonna milk that one for a very long time.)

3. Book 3 of THE 13TH REALITY is now over 60,000 words. Tick just did something you won't believe in Chapter 33.

4. I signed up for Twitter a long time ago but haven't ever really used it. I'm gonna give it a shot, throwing out a tweet when I have ridiculous and embarrassing thoughts. Or when something cool happens. And for announcements and updates. My Twitter name is jamesdashner, and to follow me, CLICK HERE.

5. I'm also on Facebook, where you can friend me or "become a fan." How pretentious.

6. Also, make sure you become a follower of this blog! Just scroll down the right side of the blog here until you see the "follow" button then click it.

7. This all makes it sound like the Internet is consuming my life. I promise it's not - writing books is my main goal in life. This blog is the central point of keeping in touch with you guys, doing it two to three times a week. Everything else is just peripheral (wow, such big words) and takes very little time.

8. Okay, I have in my hands a nice shiny ARC (advance copy) of THE MAZE RUNNER, from the reprint Random House did with the actual cover (the cover wasn't complete in time for the first printing, which just had a black background with white letters). I'm going to sign and personalize this puppy and mail it to someone.

Here's how to enter: sign up to follow me on at least one of the three things mentioned above (twitter, facebook, blog) and then leave a comment on this post telling me you did it. And to keep the comments from boring us to tears, you also have to briefly tell us about the last book you read and whether or not we should also read it. (If you don't want to enter the contest, you can still do this last part!) UPDATE: A commenter had a good idea: you get one entry for each of the three things you do.

We're going away for a couple of days, so I won't be able to post again until Monday. The contest is open until then and I'll announce the winner. I will, of course, make sure the eventual winner did indeed sign up for something, so as to keep it fair to all those who really make the effort.

9. If this is a stupid idea, please ignore and go about your business. (And blame it on my friend, Bree Despain, author of the upcoming THE DARK DIVINE - Dec 22, 2009. She did something similar.)

10. If this is NOT a stupid idea, I just might give away two copies...... (And you can still blame Bree.)

Led Van Dashnerallica

Man, seems just like yesterday I made a big deal about going below 100 days till THE MAZE RUNNER's release date. And now it's only 77 days. It's coming!

I had a great time in Georgia. One of the highlights was our jam session on Friday. Some background: my brother David was the lead singer for a metal band called Lazarus that became very popular in the DC area. They even got flown to London by a studio (and it all fell apart, which is a very long story, but it includes death by car and food poisoning.)

My brother Paul is excellent on the guitar. My nephew Matt is attending the Atlanta Institute of Music to become a sound engineer. He's also incredible on the drums and guitar. And me? My friend in high school had a full set of drums and I dinked around on them. Yeah, I was by far the least talented of the group.

Anyway, Matt was able to get the recording studio at his school for the day, and we jammed. David wrote the song, and it was awesome. I mostly sat back and watched, but I did play the drums for about an hour while my brothers messed around on their guitars. I loved every single second of it and I've already asked Santa for a drum set this Christmas.

Anyway, here are some pictures:

Print Run for THE MAZE RUNNER

Since it's now in Publisher's Weekly, I think I have permission to tell you guys what Random House has announced as our first print run. You can see it for yourself: CLICK HERE, or I can just tell you: 100,000 copies (hardback).

I love seeing people's reaction when they hear this number. Most people aren't very familiar with the book industry, so I can just tell what they're thinking in their minds: Well, that's not very impressive now is it. I mean, Harry Potter and Twilight had first print runs in the millions. What a stinky, stinky boy.

It all depends on what you compare it to, I guess. But just trust me that my agent and I are extremely excited about this announcement, and it's a very good sign that initial book orders are strong. Now we just have to hope people buy all those books!

(By the way, did you notice the first print run of DIARY OF A WIMPY KID BOOK 4? 2 million!!! Amazing.)

Moving along, if you missed it on Monday, we announced the sale of MAZE to the Greek publisher, Platypous. That means we now have three foreign rights sales (Russia, France, Greece), all of whom bought the entire trilogy. I don't know why, but the thought of my book in other languages is definitely one of the coolest aspects of my career so far. Hopefully we'll see even more.

Thanks again for all the awesome comments about how strange the Dashner Duders are. I really, really enjoyed reading them, and so did my family. Feel free to continue if you think of something else!

Here's another one for me: I always sleep with a fan, year round, no matter how cold it is. I became addicted to it growing up in Georgia. It's mainly the noise that puts me to sleep - drowns out everything else. Ah, pure bliss. Oh, and you can bet my wife just LOVES this about me.

Thomas, Aphrodite. Aphrodite, Thomas.

We sold Greek rights to THE MAZE RUNNER trilogy!

I was very excited to hear this from Lauren Abramo at my agency last week. (Thanks Lauren!) It just seems cool. Storytelling has such deep roots in the country of Greece, not to mention all of the history. I can't wait. Somebody out there tell us what the title will be in Greek.

The publisher is Platypous, and they've recently published TWILIGHT and THE HUNGER GAMES, so it's great company to be in. Looks like they're very excited and will try to get the first book out by spring of next year.

For those of you who missed it, we had a fun weekend of people telling us odd things about themselves. We had an OCD tighty-whitey guy, a real vampire and, my personal favorite, someone who loves "blood and body organs and guts and stuff like that." I couldn't make this stuff up.

Since a lot of you were out doing less important things than hanging out at the Dashner Dude this past weekend, let's continue the confessions. Tell us something odd or unusual about yourself!

Midnight Train to Georgia

Well, now that we're all settled into our nice new house, I'm leaving for a week. Goin' home to Georgia for the Dashner Family Reunion (which is basically my immediate family and nephews and nieces - there aren't many Dashners in the world).

Since we won't be doing much but sitting around eating Doritos and making crass jokes, I hope to get some writing done and keep up with the bloggermeister. So stay tuned. Maybe I'll do some pictures.

By the way, The 13th Reality Book 3 is now about 55,000 words, for those of you scoring at home.

Also, I'll be posting some good news on Monday.

I'll need entertainment during my travels, so I'd like my faithful Dashner Duders to help me out. In the comments, tell us something odd or or unique about yourself. No limit on how many things. The more oddity, the merrier! (This is probably a bad time to do this, since everyone seems to vacation from blog commenting over the weekend. Oh well. If we don't get many, we'll continue it next week.)

I'll start: The old-timers already know this, but I refuse to watch movie previews. They ruin the movie every time. This takes a lot of effort and meticulous planning, but somehow I manage.

Have a great weekend!