I am SO excited to give away this ARC.

I’ve already said that CROSSED is my favorite thing I’ve written. Part of that is because of the setting, which is based very heavily on my beloved Southern Utah, part of it is because I worked so hard on this book and feel that it truly became what I hoped it would be, and part of it is because of the characters. I don’t think it’s any surprise to anyone who has read my books when I say that I’m the most interested in the people in stories–what they’re doing, how they feel, why they feel it. That’s always my focus–I can’t help it–and I’ve enjoyed this part of Ky and Cassia and Xander’s journey very much.

Oh, I hope you like it. I wish I could give ARCs to every single person who enjoyed MATCHED. But this one will have to do for now.

And here are the rules…

1. To enter, leave a comment on this post by midnight MST Saturday, June 18th, 2011. The comment must include 1) your e-mail address 2) a little bit, just a sentence or two, about a place that is dear to you.

2. You can only comment once–if you comment more than that, you’ll be disqualified. One entry per person, please.

3. Followers get an extra entry.

That’s all! I’m hoping to keep it simple. And yes, the contest is open internationally, so feel free to enter. I will announce the winner in my blog post on Tuesday, June 21.

Good luck!

And, P.S. The winner of POSSESSION is ATHENA, who said she can’t help but break the “rule” of no snacking before dinner. Congratulations, Athena!! Thanks to all of you for entering!

My kids are out of school, the weather here is finally warm, and the garden (such as it is) is planted. Summertime. I love it.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this blog and what it is, and what it isn’t. Lately it’s been a bit of a travelogue about things I’ve done. I still have two events coming up this month and a few more scattered throughout the summer, so the travelogue won’t completely end anytime soon. But I think I’m going to attempt to have the blog this summer be about this quote of Stephen King’s that we all adore:

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”

So, on Tuesdays this summer, I’ll try to post about writing, and on Thursdays, I’ll try to post about reading. It won’t be anything super cerebral. Just some writing ideas and thoughts and questions and then some books I’ve been reading, etc.

Starting next week. (Does it bode well for this experiment that I’m already making exceptions?) But. Anyway. This week, I’m going to be giving away two books. On Thursday, I’ll give away the ARC of CROSSED. And today, I’m giving away a signed hardcover copy of POSSESSION by Elana Johnson.

Here’s the summary:

Vi knows the Rule: Girls don’t walk with boys, and they never even think about kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn…and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi’s future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself.

This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.

Awesome, right? I am SO excited about this book. I read the first couple of chapters a few months ago and ADORED them and then had to write my own book instead. That stinks! I can’t wait to finish reading POSSESSION. Elana is a fantastic author and person, beloved by the online world and the “real” world too. Huge congrats to her on the publication of her book!

So here are the rules:

1. Comment here to enter. To enter, you must leave your e-mail address, only comment once, and also tell me a rule that you can’t help but break (in the spirit of Elana’s book).

2. Contest is open internationally.

3. Contest closes at midnight MST Wednesday, June 8th. (Yes, this is a very short contest!)

That’s it! Good luck! And come back on Thursday to find out the winner and to enter to win an ARC of CROSSED.

The paperback cover for MATCHED is now online and it is lovely:

I wondered what the awesome Penguin designers would do with the paperback cover because the original is so beautiful. But, as always, they are amazing–they managed to do something that keeps the wonderful feel of the hardcover but also feels fresh with the additional green. It’s just lovely. The paperback will be released on September 20, 2011–just a little over a month before CROSSED comes out!

The Utah Festival of Books this weekend was fantastic. A HUGE thank-you to all of you who came out and waited in line. Trust me, I have had years of signings with no line and one or two people total coming through, so this made my day! And I even had my first (to my knowledge) fan-made MATCHED t-shirts! If you cute gals are reading this post, will you e-mail me a picture? I forgot my camera (as always!) and would love to post a pic with you in it.

Wednesday is the last day to sign up for the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference. I’ve been to this conference the last two years and this year I get to give the keynote address. It’s such a wonderful conference. Please come!

Tomorrow I’ll be back with a summer update and a giveaway. See you soon!

First, a reminder about the signing this Saturday! Hope to see you there!

I’ve also responded to all the comments in the last post. I know I don’t do this every time, and I wish I could, but I do try to pop in and respond on posts every now and then.

And now, on to the questions–I am so thrilled that people are excited about the book. Hopefully this will help with some of the e-mails I haven’t yet had a chance to answer individually. There have been some common themes running through them lately so I thought this might be easier/faster…

What is the release date for CROSSED?
November 1, 2011. I can’t wait!

Why so long? Can’t you write any faster?
No, I really can’t. A book a year is the right pace for me. It takes me time to get the story right. I am just wired that way. And it’s also pretty common for books in a series to come out a year apart.

Will you be touring to promote CROSSED?
I believe so. I don’t yet know where I’ll be going. But I will update the Events page as soon as I know more. And, speaking of the Events page, I just added the info about the Smart Chicks 2011 Tour. I get to be part of it this year–I’ll be at the stop in Portland, Oregon on September 29th! I can’t wait.

What are the songs on the CROSSED playlist?
I’ll reveal more as the time gets closer, but so far I’ve mentioned that Empty by Ray La Montagne, Dustland Fairytale by The Killers, and In for the Kill by La Roux are songs that I listened to a lot while writing CROSSED. And another one I listened to over and over and OVER again while writing this book was a beautiful song called Edwin’s Tale-1862, which is sung by Peter Breinholt.

Is the girl in the bubble on this book the same model as the first book?
Yes, she is. And can I just say again how much I love the cover?

So far, the books have been the colors of the tablets (green, blue). Is this intentional?
Yes, it is.

The banner/site has been updated to blue! Is it to match the cover of CROSSED?
Yes! The designer who put together the green banner did the update. Her name is Rachel Coleman and everything she does is beautiful.

How can I get an ARC?
An ARC (Advance Reading Copy) is an early reading copy of the book, one that the publisher sends out to generate buzz. They usually send these books to reviewers and others who have forums to talk about books. If you write reviews for a newspaper or magazine, you are a librarian or teacher, etc., you are more likely to receive an ARC because you’ll be at some of the conferences where publishers promote books (BEA, ALA, etc.).The publisher makes the call as to who receives early copies of books. Remember, demanding ARCs is never the way to go. Politeness and professionalism are key when trying to establish yourself as someone the publisher wants to work with!

Can’t you send me an ARC?
I wish I could! The truth is that I will receive a very small number of ARCs. By the time I keep one and give a few to those who helped me write the book, I don’t have any more to send. But. Guess what. I do have two ARCs right now. One I am selfishly keeping for myself. And the other I will be giving away on the blog next week. So stay tuned…

This is a list of great things that happened at BEA 2011, in no particular order, because they were all awesome:

1. I met Sarah Dessen (I stole this photo from her). You guys, she was SO nice, and so pretty, and also so homesick for her little girl but so happy to be at BEA (a feeling to which I could completely relate). I was very thrilled to have the chance to talk with her and completely forgot to tell her that my favorite book of hers (so far!) was JUST LISTEN. I hope I get to see her again, but I feel pretty darn lucky to have seen her once!

2. I had my first glimpse of the ARCs of CROSSED. I got teary. It’s a real book. A real book that is dear to me for so many reasons. Oh, how I hope you all love it.

3. There was a crazy long line for the ARCs at BEA. We even got a mention in this article in Publishers Weekly. And Penguin managed the line so well and kept people moving through so that we didn’t have people stuck waiting for hours and missing other things. It is thrilling to me that people are invested in Cassia’s journey and wanting to know what’s next.

4. My lovely, lovely editor took me to lunch at Serendipity, the most adorable place, and then we had frozen hot chocolate. And it was so, so nice to talk with someone so kind and intelligent over lunch like adults. I am really lucky to work with my editor. More proof? We also went to Dylan’s Candy Bar where I was able to get lots of extremely exciting gummy items for my kids–like gummy army men and gummy penguins–so that they weren’t mad at me anymore for leaving them. Do I look like a girl who has died and gone to heaven or what?

5. I got to be on an awesome panel with Scott Westerfeld, James Dashner, Maureen Johnson, Lauren Kate, and Ellen Hopkins. They were each just as cool as you’d hope they would be. And also just as funny and fun as you would expect.

6. I slept through the night for three straight nights. I don’t know how to overestimate the wonderfulness of this.

It’s good to be back, though. And there are many excellent bookish events going on in Utah this summer. This Saturday (June 4th) I’ll be signing from 2-4 p.m. at BYU in Provo for the Utah Book Festival (click on the Events page for more information). And, if you haven’t signed up yet for Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers, you can still register for the afternoon sessions! I’ll be giving the keynote address on Thursday, June 16th, and I’m very excited.

Okay. Back to work. I’ll see you here on Thursday–and I’ll answer some of the FAQ I’m getting about CROSSED.

Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

photo (c) Julie Strauss-Gabel Photography

Don’t these books look happy together? I think they do. Many thanks to my editor for sending me this picture.

I’m at BEA in New York City this week, promoting CROSSED. While I’m here, I’m doing two awesome events on Wednesday, the 25th. The first is a signing in the Penguin booth, where we’ll have copies of CROSSED from 10-11 a.m. only. The second event is a YA Panel at the Mulberry Library in Soho. My fellow panelists will be Maureen Johnson, Scott Westerfeld, James Dashner, Lauren Kate, and Ellen Hopkins. This seems too good to be true but I’ve been assured by reliable sources that, in fact, it is actually true. Click on the Events page for more details.

CROSSED is an ARC* now. Which feels so wonderful. I am so happy about this book. I’ve talked about my dad’s favorite thing I’ve ever written (Being Sixteen) and my husband’s (the short story in ENTHRALLED). And CROSSED–this book is my favorite thing I’ve ever written. This story was very, very important to me to get right, and thanks to my editor and agent and awesome longtime readers, I feel that I did. That’s a good feeling. I feel like writing this book has been like running a marathon (you knew a running comparison was inevitable) and that we’ve crossed (pun intended!) the finish line completely spent and happy because we’ve given it all. No regrets.

Now I’m working on Book 3, and I’m so excited about it too. This writing gig really is a wonderful thing.

And, last but not least, the winner of the ARC of ENTHRALLED is commenter melissa @ 1lbr! Congrats, Melissa! And many thanks to all of you who entered. You all had very awesome reasons and I wish I had enough copies to send to everyone.

* ARC stands for Advance Reading Copy, which are the copies of books that publishers print up before the “real” hardcover book. The ARC gets sent out to book reviewers, etc. a few months early to generate buzz. Before anyone asks, I actually don’t have any ARCs of CROSSED yet to distribute myself. But if I do get any extras, I will be sure to have a giveaway here on the blog. So stay tuned.

The giveaway closed Saturday, May 21 at midnight MST. Thank you for entering! Winner will be posted soon.

I know I’m not posting on my usual T/Th schedule but…I had to post today because I received a few lovely ARCs of ENTHRALLED (the short story anthology of which I am honored to be a part). I was supposed to be saving my copy to read on my trip to BEA/NYC next week. But I couldn’t help myself. I read the stories by Carrie Ryan, Melissa Marr, Kelley Armstrong, Kami Garcia, and Margaret Stohl. And I can’t wait to read the ones by Mary Pearson, Jeri Smith-Ready, Rachel Caine, and everyone else. And I can’t wait to give my husband my copy when I’m finished because it has my short story printed up and shiny, and it’s his favorite thing that I’ve ever written.

I’m still giddy that I have the chance to be part of this anthology, and also that I have the opportunity to be a part of the Smart Chicks Kick It Tour 2.0 with many of these amazing authors. I’ll be on the Portland, Oregon stop of the tour on September 29th, and I can’t wait. Can’t. Wait.

So, to share the excitement, I’m giving a copy away! The rules are simple. You can enter by being a follower (I’ll enter you automatically) and by leaving a comment here. Only one comment per person, please, and I need you to leave me a way to contact you. And, in the comment, I need you to tell my why YOU need this copy of ENTHRALLED. You can enter until midnight MST Saturday, May 22, and I’ll announce the winner next Tuesday, the 25th. Sound good?

Go!

I know I said I was taking a blog break, but I couldn’t resist the chance to be part of Dystopian Week over at the Hollywood Crush blog at MTV.com. My post is on “Why Dystopian Novels Rock” and you can find it here.

Many thanks to Hollywood Crush for having me!

Hi all! Just wanted to let you know I’m taking a bit of a blog break for the next week or two. All is well but all is busy.

Hope you are all having a wonderful spring so far! And reading/writing lots of good books!

Stephanie, who suggested Ice Ice Baby and Can’t Touch This for road trip songs!

Congrats, Stephanie! E-mail me your mailing address and I will send you this copy of Back When You Were Easier to Love ASAP!

And happy release day one more time to Emily Wing Smith. I so wish I could have been at the launch party but I was in LA at the YA Smackdown. I hear the Barely Manilows performance at the party was amazing…