I’m posting a day early this week because I’m leaving for BEA tomorrow (and I always feel kind of pretend when I schedule a post in advance).

I’m so excited. I almost went to BEA two years ago, when FRESHMAN was coming out, and the publisher for that book said they’d fly me out to BEA. I was so excited. Then. My doctor said nope. I was pregnant at the time and I always deliver early and he thought it wasn’t a good idea. So I stayed home. I was fine with it. Much as I love my books, they are not my babies. And then Boy 3 arrived one month later and all was well and everything turned out just peachy.

But I do remember saying to my husband, “I am a little sad because I probably won’t ever have this chance again.”

So I’m feeling very lucky that I do have the chance, thanks to the fantastic people at Penguin.

And I’m also feeling very floored by the amount of people who entered to win the ARC of MATCHED, because at this time, two years ago, I had a contest for a giveaway of FRESHMAN and 13 people commented. And now we have 175+.

That is awesome. Wow. Now if I could just find some clothes for BEA that don’t scream “I’m a mom and I’m in over my head here in NYC!”

I will be back next week with a full BEA report and the contest winner. Thank you all for entering and for being so supportive!

So, since some of you have been asking, here are the official blurbs and summary, via my publisher. Can I just say that Kami, Margaret, Melissa, and Carrie are so incredibly gracious, and generous to read and endorse this book. I am blown away, and deeply grateful.

Coming November 30.

Matched by Ally Condie.

“Matched is a page-turning, dystopian love story, written with the soul of a poet. Finally, a brave new world that readers from Twilight to The Hunger Games will claim as their own.”
—Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, authors of Beautiful Creatures

““Absolutely riveting! Matched is a must-read.”
–Melissa Marr, author of the Wicked Lovely series

“I can’t stop thinking about Matched. It’s impossible to put down this enthralling romance, set in a chilling world where every choice is predicted and even love is controlled. I need to know what happens next. More please!”
—Carrie Ryan, author of The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead-Tossed Waves

In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s barely any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one . . . until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow—between perfection and passion.

Matched is a story for right now and storytelling with the resonance of a classic.

And. Guess what. I have my very own ARC and I am feeling like I want to give it away.

Do you want it?

If you do, please feel free to comment or become a follower. (If you’ve already become a follower, you’re automatically in.) I’ll use a random number generator to pick the winner. If you want an extra entry, please feel free to post/link to my site on your blog and then comment letting me know where that is. (That can also count as your comment. We’ll try to keep it simple.)

I’ll announce the winner on the first of June. I must have the entries by midnight May 31 my time (MST in the USA).

One caveat: if you already have an ARC, be it from BEA or somewhere else, will you please please let me know that if you win? I really want the book to go to someone who wouldn’t have access to it otherwise.

Thanks!

Palace Beautiful, by Sarah DeFord Williams

So a couple of things. Until I can figure out how to put it in the sidebar, I’m going to post a picture of whichever book I’m currently reading at the top of each week’s post. I love knowing what other people read so I thought I’d do that too. Plus, then my blog will look prettier. Because it will have a picture at the top.

There were some great questions this week–thank you so much for taking the time to ask them! So, without further adieu, here are the answers:

Sandy asked, “How long did it take for you to write MATCHED, from getting the idea and starting the first draft to finishing the polished manuscript, ready to be queried?”

The short answer to this is: I started writing it in the fall of 2008 and began querying almost exactly a year later, in August of 2009. The long answer is that I also wrote BEING SIXTEEN during that time, so for a few months of that, MATCHED was the back burner project. (I would dabble in it every day or two, when SIXTEEN was being a pain.) This is actually very fast for me. I usually write one book a year. Not two. But, I didn’t have a book out in 2009 (since I had a baby in 2008 and slowed things down to just relish that little guy) so maybe I was making up for that.

Jake said, “I’ve got a question. I believe you said this is a three book deal. Do you know how the story ends now? If so at what time in the writing process do you see the end of a story?”

Um, no. No, I don’t. I don’t outline, so I have no clue how a story ends until I write it out. (Yes, this is scary.) I wish I could outline in advance, but it just doesn’t work for me. I discover the story as I write. I do always have an idea of how I want the character to grow. And I get ideas for the next book as I write the one before, but they’re just ideas. So I have ten pages of notes for Book 3 waiting for me–but no formal outline, just bits and pieces of scenes and thoughts I’d had.

I think it’s about the middle of the book when I start to see where I’m going to want it to end.

The deal with Penguin is a three-book deal, made with the understanding that the second book in the deal would be a sequel to MATCHED and the third book could be whatever I wanted. As I’ve written the second book, though, I’ve found that the story will definitely need that third book to be complete, so that’s what we’re planning on.

Gamila says, “I am thrilled about your three book deal for matched and understand that you’ll probably dedicate most of your time of the next several years writing that trilogy, but do you see yourself in the future returning to your LDS fiction roots and writing more novels for deseret book again? or are you more interested in writing for a national audience?”

Right now, my focus is completely on the MATCHED trilogy. I am thrilled to be writing for the national market and over the moon that it has finally happened! Because I still have little ones at home, I can’t work on two projects simultaneously very well, so I’m definitely putting all my energy into making this trilogy the best it can be. That said, I also loved writing for Deseret Book and working with great people there, particularly Lisa Mangum and Chris Schoebinger, who have really mentored my writing. So I would never rule that out, if time and opportunity presented itself sometime down the road.

Ali asked, “Do you know when and where you will first go on tour when your book comes out?”

I don’t. I’m doing some conventions and conferences this summer and one in October, but as far as an official tour goes, I don’t know anything about it yet. We will certainly have a book launch somewhere in Utah in November when MATCHED is released, and do other events at least locally at that point.

Amy wondered, “Is there an official blurb for MATCHED yet? Because on goodreads and amazon there doesn’t seem to be anything that reads like a summary I’d find on the book cover ”

As far as I know, we don’t have an official blurb yet. The one up on Goodreads is the only one I’ve seen, but I’m not crazy about it because I feel it’s too spoiler-y. (Admittedly, I am very picky about that.) But I will be sure to let you know when we do!

Surka asked, “This might be kind of weird but if you do know, what is the word count of Matched?”

Not weird at all! I always wonder the same thing. If I remember right, the word count ended up coming in at around 90,000 words and about 366 pages.

Thanks again for the great questions! Next week: I prepare to go to BEA and leave my children for four days, the longest stretch since 2007. Will we all survive? I know you are sitting on pins and needles.

There were some great questions in the comments last time, so I thought I’d answer them here. And then, since I haven’t done a Q & A since January (I think; I’m too lazy to actually check), feel free to ask any other questions you might have in the comments and I’ll answer those next week. If there are any. If not, I will write about my pets. You have been warned. (You have also been lied to. I don’t have any pets. Again: lazy.)

Sara asked: “Did you already have all those items, or did you have to go find them?” (referring to the picture in the entry below)

They were given to me as a gift. So lovely!

Krista V. said/asked, “Wow, I didn’t realize MATCHED was coming out so soon! Didn’t you just sell the project at the end of last year?”

Yes, the deal became public in December. Things have been happening really quickly, which is fantastic. I feel very lucky.

Krista B. asked (okay, she didn’t ask, but I’ve known her most my life and can get away with this) what ARC and BEA stood for.

An ARC is an advance reading copy, which is basically a copy of the book that hasn’t been through the last little fine-tuning rounds of editing. These are printed up and sent out early so that reviewers and people in the industry can read the book before it is officially released.

BEA is BookExpo America, the big booksellers’ convention held each year. This year, it’s being held in NYC.

Ali asked, “How different is it from your original manuscript?”

The answer to that one is more complicated. Very different, in that my editor (Julie Strauss-Gabel) is incredibly good at what she does, and her editorial comments and suggestions made the book much, much better. Not so different, in that it’s still the story I wanted to tell. I don’t know if that makes sense. I feel very grateful and honored to have the chance to work with her. It’s been one of the highlights of my writing career.

That’s all. I hope you are all having a fantastic week!

Photo credit Brook Andreoli

Just a little teaser…all of the items in this picture have something to do with the plot of Matched.

ARCs are circulating now (and there will be more after BEA later this month), so there are some reviews and spoilers going up, and people have asked me if I’m nervous about that. The answer is, “Of course.” As an author, I tend to be very protective of the plot. I want people to know the story as it unfolds, not beforehand, if that makes sense. However, as a reader, you also want to know what you’re getting into when you pick up a book! So it’s a very fine line.

But I can’t control the reviews, or the spoilers, or really any of it, so I have to (try) to let go.

It is SO hard to let go of a book. I sent off the last pass through the galleys last week and my husband almost had to pry those pages out of my deathgrip. But at some point, I have to say, “This is the very best I could do, it is not perfect, it will never be perfect, but it’s time to let go. It’s time for this book to belong not just to me, but to the readers. And time for me to move on to something else.”

Like writing the sequel. Eeep.