So what exactly is a "Palooza" anyway?

I'll tell you what it is! It's a front!

Barnes and Noble wants you to think this event coming up on February 4th is some kind of a massive book signing but it's a lie! The whole thing! It's actually a test to weed out the unlikely's for a really big and exciting dystopian, end of the world, "Uglies" meets "Matched" type of... ok.... I couldn't do it.

I was going to lie to all of you wonderful readers out there but I just can't.

Sorry!

But I can at least tell you what this whole Authorpalooza thing WILL be.

It'll be epic.

I feel that the term 'epic' is overused nowadays... Being a gamer I reserve the right to use it on a regular basis but even I can use it inappropriately sometimes.

But not today.

Today I use it perfectly when I say:

This. Signing. Is. Going. To. Be. EPIC.

Want to know why?

Let me demonstrate with the following list.

1. Barnes and Noble does this every year. They're not banging rocks together here, they know how to do this shindig right.

2. There will be over 40 authors there. Yes. That's a four with a zero after it. (And if Shannon Hale is in attendance I'm definitely going to tell her we should do an international book tour together and call it "Shanno(e)n squared"... or maybe "Camp Hale!" We'll throw some ideas around)

3. I will have fastbreaks there. Like the candy. The delicious candy that happens to be one of my favorites and also happens to be clever when placed next to my book title. That was just a happy coincidence. Or a delicious one. Whichever.

4. You love me. OK fine so maybe you don't love me but I sure do love you. And I want to see your bright shining face! I want pictures with everyone, I want to sign some books, and I want to talk about everything under the sun (though in this case it will be under the roof).

5. FREE BOOKMARKS! I have these cute little sparkly bookmarks that my lovely cousin Whitney designed. They sparkle. Seriously. So come to the signing just for that!

I'm sure there are other reasons you should come, but I'll keep the list at 5. That seems like a nice number.

Hopefully soon I'll have some news for all of you on NEW books coming out so that I'll shut up about "The Breakup Artist" and you guys will know what the heck I'm talking about when I mention "Catching June" or "Pwned" which I've just realized I have to change the title of because even though I'm an avid gamer and I think it looks cooler to write "Pwn'd" that's APPARENTLY not the right way to spell it. So much for a book title with no vowels. I was so excited!

Also, one of these days I'll get a proper camera and when I do I'm thinking video blog! Thoughts? I'd like to hear them! Whether they're "That would be so awesome as long as you don't break out your guitar and sing songs to us" or even "Please no. It's bad enough hearing your crazy thought process in text, we don't need it in video format too!"

Annnnnnd last but not least. I think I may finally do a Q&A blog. One of these days. So if you have questions on "The Breakup Artist", writing, publishing, marketing, or how to destroy the monitor in test chamber 16 (which I finally did) then e-mail me or leave your questions in the comments!

OK now I'll leave you all alone.

Don't forget to come to Authorpalooza on February 4th at Barnes and Noble!
South Towne Marketplace
10180 S. State Street, Sandy, UT 84070, 801-233-0203

Until next time,

Shannen

Christmas come early?

All right so that title may be a bit misleading... perhaps implying that Christmas has come early this year when, in fact, I'm asking (very politely I think) for it to come early because... are you ready... my release date has been moved to DECEMBER instead of October. So while this does mean more time for me to sit here and wait (Slightly impatiently) for my book to come out, it also means that my book will be out just in time for Christmas. So... looking for the perfect Christmas present this year? For your friend/spouse/child/relative/acquaintance/flat mate/stranger on the street? I have the perfect gift idea! You can buy them the new YA fiction book "The Break Up Artist"! What's that you say? I read your mind? Well I'm just trying to help you out. So you're welcome. Although really... if you wanted to get me a Christmas present you could just buy my book and call it even. I definitely won't mind.

So, we now have a new release date but I know what you're thinking yet again, "Shannen, why would you go through the effort of creating an entire blog post for just one little bit of news when you usually take 4 months to update your blog?" Well my friends, I will answer you by saying that first, this one little bit of news is pretty important. Second, I'm surprised this is the question you're asking when I can obviously read your mind which is a little scary. And third, that's not the only news. Laura at Cedar Fort just did a lovely write up of the author workshop I attended. You should all check it out. And if you look closely you'll see that she mentions me and a very savvy and intelligent comment I made... OK maybe my comment wasn't all that savvy and intelligent... more like flustered and awkward. But it still got a mention which makes me feel a bit famous. So follow the link below and check it out!

http://www.cedarfortbooks.com/author-training-recap/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook

Other than that I have no news... and no pictures... I'm starting to realize this blog has a severe lack of pictures. I promise to rectify the situation once I start going to book signings and such where I can actually take pictures.


Until then friends!

Shannen

Writer's Block...

... is a myth... Or so they say. And by they I mean N.M. Kelby who wrote "The Constant Art of Being a Writer". And she may be right. I've had such great ideas all week for all of these great scenes I wanted to write in the book I'm working on right now... but between work, wife-dom, and March Madness I just haven't had time. So now this weekend, when I have bucket loads of time to write... I just can't. Doesn't it just figure? I suppose that is a bit misleading... because I am writing and I'm not doing too badly. I think writer's block isn't' so much that you can't write anything... I think it just means everything you want to write comes out a bit jumbled and just doesn't flow like your normal writing does. Take this choppy blog post as evidence of my lack of flow.

But I should still count myself lucky. I've got a book being published. I've got another book already written just begging me to finish editing it. And I've got handfuls of half-written books vying for my time. So really... this little bout of writer's block is OK because June and Joseph are still getting their scenes... they're just scenes I'll have to heavily edit once I've got my flow back... and when I say "I'll" have to edit it... I mean my mom will probably give me some fresh perspective on it.

So while Josh is out taking his test and I'm working on my book before the dreaded exercise monster comes to get me I thought I'd put my two cents out there on writer's block... although my two cents is sounding a bit more like 1 cent now that I'm reading it back. I'll give my other cent at a later date to complete the transaction.


PS: This is what the writing process looks like... for me anyways.

My calendar of events in the book. My official book file made very professional with a crayon drawing on the front. And my pages of what my characters wear... Needless to say the file for "The Break-Up Artist" has a book sized fashion section in it.




Until Next Time!

-Shannen

And the release date is.....

In the spirit of keeping everyone up-to-date on what's happening with my book I shall disclose something very exciting to you... the release date for my book! Well... at least the release month. I'm not quite sure on the actual date yet. But the month is......


Drum roll please





October!


I know it's a good 7 months away so that's why I have an assignment for everyone. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to be just as excited to buy the book and learn all about Amelia in October as you are right now. Think you can do it? For those of you wanting extra credit never fear, I have that too: be even more excited in October than you are right now! I must admit at first I was thinking October was an odd choice but it is my birth month so it's like the perfect birthday present! Happy birthday Shannen... oh and by the way your book is out in stores! I like that. I'll definitely accept that birthday present. What are the chances I could get them to release it on October 7th do you think?


Alright so now for another big announcement. Cedar Fort has decided to change the title of my book. At first I was a little sad because I do make an effort to put great thought into my book titles to make them witty and fun (hence why the book I'm working on right now has no title... just can't think of something perfect). I must say, however, that I can understand why they changed it. If you didn't know anything about my book and saw the title "It's Not You, It's Me" in a list you might think it was a self-help book... or some sort of instruction on how to get over a break-up. Understandable right? But Cedar Fort is going to use "It's not you, it's me" on the cover as a sort of tag line so I'm happy. But now for the new title to be revealed.... I would ask for another drum roll but two in one blog post seems like overkill. So without further ado, and without further drum roll, the new title of my book is "The Break-Up Artist". Straight forward. Simple. And very informative to anyone checking out the book for the first time. Now I did google "The Break-Up Artist" to see what would come up and I found a movie from 2009 which made me a little frantic for a moment... until I realized, that movie came out in 2009. My copyright is from 2008. My idea. Boom roasted. Not that anyone would think I'd stolen it anyways but I wanted to avoid a "Secret Window" scenario. That didn't seem to end well for anyone involved.


So there you have it! New name and a shiny new release date.

Remember your homework!

I'll post more updates soon!


Shannen

Long Live

Well it's official. I am now a published author! Well... that may sound confusing... allow me to rephrase. I am now an author with a contract to be published and will have a book released soon. Better? Cedar Fort will be publishing my book "It's Not You, It's Me" in what I'll call a few short months but may be anywhere from 3-12 months. Trust me, as soon as I have an official release date I'll be splashing it all over every web site, car windshield, and person who stands still long enough. So never fear, my shameless self promotion will keep you all in the loop.

So, for those of you who haven't read the book yet.... which is probably most of you (minus a handful of friends and relatives) let me tell you what to expect from this book. Expect a quirky break-up artist who dyes her hair a different color every other day and changes styles completely to be a social chameleon of those girls who've hired her. Expect awkward break-ups that Amelia expertly diffuses and some she not-so-expertly deals with. Expect romance! Expect confusion... which usually goes hand in hand with romance. Expect A LOT of painting. Expect a gorgeous green-eyed boy. Expect tears. Expect joy. Expect Amelia to be your new best friend. Mostly, just expect to get lost in the world of the best break-up artist in the business.

And if that's not enough of an incentive to buy the book... Expect me to be completely and utterly devoted to anyone who buys it. Sound fair?

Alright perfect! Moving on.

At the moment I'm working on my first LDS fiction novel... though I may just go back to finishing edits on "Robin's Flight". Why, you may ask, is it so hard for me to pick one book to work on and just truck along until it's through. Well allow me to invite you into my thought process for just a moment. It goes a little something like this:

"I think I'll work on "Pwn'd"... I have been playing a lot of video games lately. It's the perfect opportunity to 'research' for the book! Oh wait... what's this? I've never written or read an LDS fiction book... that seems a little odd. Maybe I'll write one! Perfect... Let me just write out the whole plot, develop the characters, do some research, write about 10 pages and... Oooo.... what's that? "Pirates!" By Celia Rees? I haven't read that book in a while. I remember how awesome it was. Maybe I should read it again. Maybe I'll also start watching lots of "Indiana Jones" and "National Treasure". Wait... now I'm in the mood to work on my fantasy adventure book "Robin's Flight". Blast. I'll never get anything done at this rate."


And that's pretty much how my mind works. I suppose the book that I'll give the most attention to next will have to be the one I think has the best shot out there in the literary world right now... So that's what I'll do! I'll make a firm decision on which one I'll work on and I'll stick to it. Unless I watch another adventure movie... then I just may break that promise to myself. Readers. I need your help! Or maybe I'll just get my husband to take every National Treasure-esq movie out of our house.


Until next time!

Shannen

The Wonderful World of Writing

I've noticed, much to my horror, that I've completely abandon my blog for... well... let's not count how long it's been. The point is that I have returned and will now update often on the status of my books! So in a very brief game of catch-up, here's what's going on with my various books.

"It's Not You, It's Me": I've finished the millions of edits, rewrites, and alterations that have gone into this manuscript since I wrote it almost three years ago. I've been sending it out to literary agents and publishing houses alike. Hopefully it'll get picked up by a publishing house soon and will be available for purchase. Keep checking back for news on that!


"Robin's Flight": This book has been a bit trickier for me than INYIM. Because it's needed some major tweaking it's been taking me longer to finish the final revision. Lately I've been focusing all of my efforts on getting "It's Not You, It's Me" up to par for agents and publishing houses and so "Robin's Flight" has taken a bit of a back seat. I'm about half way through a major edit of the book and once that's done it should be pretty close to being ready for the great and terrible day of sending it out to every literary agent and publishing house in New York.


"Pwnd": I've been spending quite a bit of time doing research for this book... I know that sounds like code for "I've been playing video games to get me in the mood to write this book" but I have been doing legitimate, good research... although most of that involves interviewing people who spend most of their time playing video games so maybe there isn't really that big of a difference. I've plotted out the entire book and have written about half of it. After I get "Robin's Flight" ready to send out I'll finish writing this book and start on the ever wonderful process of editing.


"Delayed": Of all of my manuscripts, I'd have to say "Delayed" is my least finished. Though I've written more of this book than I have "Pwnd", one of my characters in "Delayed" just seems to be giving me trouble and I can't seem to keep him under control. As a result I've been working on my other projects and leaving this one for last, hoping that a step back and some fresh perspective will help me to get this character to act the way I want him to. I'll be working on finishing this manuscript as soon as "Pwnd" goes through its major editing process.


I've got two other untitled manuscripts that I'm working on, but as those have only been plotted out and not actually written I'll leave them a mystery for now.


Are you intrigued?


Keep checking back for updates and I'll try not to let years pass without post from now on!


Shannen