squeetus

Deja sob

I spent the last couple of days in Houston for TLA (Texas Library Assoc annual conference). I love Texans and love librarians, so obviously this is an excellent conference. (and they gave us cowboy hats and fake mustaches!) I kept meeting people there who said, "I met you last time you were here two years ago." And I thought, I was here two years ago?

And then I did the math--I would have been preggo. With twins. Nauseated to my eyeballs. And I have no memory of attending TLA. Nothing. I couldn't drag up a single image. Someone said there was a dinner I was supposed to attend but didn't go (probably vomiting in the hotel) where I would have shared a table with those librarians and Suzanne Collins.

Yesterday I was on a panel about graphic novels with an excellent group of lads: Gareth Hinds (The Odyssey, King Lear...), Ben Hatke (Zita the Space Girl), Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game, Laddertop...). Near the end, we were asked a question about something, Gareth answered, it was my turn, and I started to pontificate on how important GNs are for kids and especially certain kinds of readers, and how difficult it would be to find or even publish GNs for young readers without the awesome support of libraries. And I started to cry. Blubber, really, getting embarrassingly emotional, because as much as I yearn to be in total control of my face at all moments, I do that. Mom thing? Me thing?

When I was done, I think there was an awkward silence, and the moderator went to the next person down the line, OSC, repeating what had apparently been the question: "What are you working on now?"

Yep. That had been the question. Not, "Can you sum up why GNs matter, who is to thank for their existence, and why you want to mouth kiss every librarian you meet, and toss in some tears while you're at it?" Nope, I was just supposed to talk about my current project.

OSC said gamely, "I'm not following that."

Afterward, it all started to feel awfully familiar. I looked back on my blog and found my post after last TLA. You guys, I did it there too! The very same speech probably, oozing very similar and equally damp emotions!

I wonder if I'm getting a reputation. If when I show up to conferences, my fellow panelists look at each other and think, oh great, we got the blubberer.

Awkward tears aside, let me just say again, THANK YOU, LIBRARIANS. Thank you.

Book of a Thousand Days around the world

Hebrew. One of the most intriguing and metaphorical covers ever. What do you think?

Korean. I love Korea!

English-UK, hardcover and paperback. Preference?

German. I am such a sucker for this cover.

Spanish. Germany went for an Asian girl with flowers and Spain went for the howling wolf and Stephenie Meyer quote. I'd be curious to know which sold better. (I don't know if other authors ever hear how their books sell in other countries but I don't.) Both, I was interested to see, kept the same title. And same story, I can only assume.

Japanese. This looks like the same cover artist that did Princess Academy too. I like their outfits. Interesting that one is blonde, no?

Italian. Used the same cover as the UK.

Favorites?

Two contests and a new cover

Lots of fun stuff gearing up for the PALACE OF STONE publication. If you're ages 14-23 and read PRINCESS ACADEMY when you were younger, enter this contest Bloomsbury is hosting: Note to My Younger Self Sweepstakes. I'm so excited to see those entries!

If you're on Twitter, another contest from Bloomsbury Kids: "Want to win the sequel to PRINCESS ACADEMY - or even ALL of @haleshannon's books? Tweet what you learned at #PrincessAcademy with the hash tag!"

PRINCESS ACADEMY is getting a new paperback cover in the US and will include a sneakpeek of PALACE OF STONE. It should look pretty familiar. Can you spot the differences from the original?

EDIT: Fun fact, the cover model is fourteen years old, the same age as Miri is at the start of the book. Many of you noted that she looks older. We had to use a different model since the original is in her 20s now and couldn't do Palace of Stone. Others noted my name is larger, which I did not notice before, and now I am feeling all proud of myself. And yes, it looks like you have to be a US resident to enter the first contest, sorry. I'm sure it's because of legal issues and not because we don't love you.

Three Easter photos

Because, why not?

We dyed brown eggs this year and I loved the lovely earth tones of the colors.

More eggs. My lunch. Notable because I had lunch. And it wasn't cereal. Or a granola bar. It looked so pretty when I put the fruit on I had to take a photo. Probably would have been prettier if I hadn't succumbed to that greedy third egg.

Two sisters. I love those chalky bare feet.

More foreign covers, updates, and thoughts on writing and reading to come this month.

An international gallery of Princess Academy

For years I've been meaning to put together a page on my website showing the different foreign covers for my books. I have some, but my scanner is currently being devilish so I haven't been able to scan their covers. (I wish I got a copy of all of them!) With the help of Enna Isilee at Squeaky Books I've been able to track down images of quite a few. I'll put them on my site soon but thought I'd feature them on my blog from time to time as well. Since I've got princess academy on the brain (going through the first page proofs of palace of stone and feeling really happy and relieved!) here's Miri from around the world. I'll put the publishing language beneath each picture. If you want to play "name that language," scroll slowly and see if you can guess first without looking!

Spainish hardcover and paperback. Spain consistently does beautiful covers, in my opinion. Wait till you see Goose Girl and Enna Burning!

Romanian, keeping the US hardcover.

Chinese hardcover and paperback. I love that it's not just the US that tends to vary styles between the two formats.

Korean also kept the original painting. Korea is another country that consistenly wows me with their high quality publishing. Can't wait to show you their Book of a Thousand Days.

English - UK. Do you prefer the first or second?

Japanese. Did you guess?

Italian. The latter is the hardcover. I kind of suspect the cover artist hadn't read the book, but still one of my favorites just because it's so fun and different.

French! Isn't this lovely? I don't think this cover would sell well in the US market, but I'm charmed by it.

Dutch. I find I'm somewhat alarmed by the large red profile. And apparently in Dutch, Shannon is only allowed one middle "n."

Danish.

Hebrew. (Notice the image is flipped.)

Norwegian. I received a copy of this one in the mail and looked at it for some time, trying to figure out which book it was. I suppose that's Miri and Peder? In a blanket? And...yes, it appears Peder is shirtless underneath.

Polish! As much as I loved the US hardcover, it's still so fun for me to see the variations. This is one I've never received, but I would know from the cover that it's Princess Academy.

Turkish.

And Russian, sent by squeetuser Polly Lu!

Did you guess many? Any favorites?

The fab four winners are...

WOW! Thank you for the enthusiasm for this book. Instead of making me more scared, your comments just made me excited to share it. That and I'm 2/3 of the way reading through the first page proofs and feeling  confident with it. Whew!

So who won? I wish all of you had! I was filled with admiration by your comments and willingness to share your fears. What lovely people. The four lucky, random winners are:

Kate Hamberlin
"I am excited to read another one of your books! Can't wait to get engrossed again!
I am scared that I haven't taught my children everything they need to know to leave my home and be out in the world. I have two children leaving home this summer to college. I am scared that someday they will regret not having what others had as children. I pray that I have done enough for them to help them gain success."

Christina (A Reader of Fictions)
"Oh my goodness! More Princess Academy!?!?! I had no idea this was coming! No idea at all, but I am the happiest right now!!!
Princess Academy and Goose Girl are among my favorite books of all time. You just made me day.
Winning an ARC would make my month at least!"

BooksforYAs
"I'm scared of not getting an ARC of this book to read?
Okay, I'm scared that my blog will never make me any money and I'll have to either start over with something completely different or go out and get a second job (again). Or try to publish something, which is a whole new level of scary in and of itself..."

Chanis
"Princess Academy is the first book of yours I fell in love with, so I'm smitten with the idea of another!
My bizarre, crippling fear is looking for jobs. Somehow, I can write the cover letter and even interview without too much angst, but searching through"

Winners, please email me at squeetus (at) g mail (dot) com, something in the subject line about being a giveaway winner. Also, tell me who you want me to sign your book to. Congratulations! I believe there will be more giveaways through spring and summer via my publisher and I will be sure to announce them all here.

I have something to show you...

(Yes, I did indeed gracefully place a scarf beneath the books for effect.)

I have four ARCs of Palace of Stone to give away! I can't believe they're already here and real and this is happening. Comment on this post to enter. Let's say one entre per person, okay? I'm not going to check, but you know, honor system. Since I am so scared* to release this book into the world, in your comment, tell me something that scares you too, especially if it's a good thing that you know is right. I'll use a random number generator to pick four winners on Tuesday morning.

If you win, you are required to read the book and email me about how much you liked it. That's right--REQUIRED! You are NOT allowed to dislike this book!

...okay, personal opinions are valid, everyone is different, blah blah blah, I will respect your response no matter what it is...whimper of fear...

 

*Lemme 'splain. I love this book, you guys. I'm really proud of it. But ever since I finished the final draft, I've been doused with the tremblings and the panic attacks. I've never felt so much expectation. The part that I can control--the writing of the book--I felt good about. But now comes the part that I can't control--the opinions-at-large--and this time, more than ever, the reaction to come scares me.

First date, John Carter style

Last year, Dean and I wrote a piece for a John Carter of Mars young adult anthology. Writers were asked to write their own stories of Barsoom. We chose to look at a scene in Princess of Mars where John Carter fights some white ape beasts. Very little is known about the white apes, so we chose to retell that scene from their point-of-view...in our own special way. That way was a little too special, I think, as our piece was not included in the anthology.

With the movie John Carter out in theaters now, I thought some of you might get a kick out of our story anyway, so I've posted our Barsoom-inspired piece First Date on my site. It was very much a collaboration between me and Dean. He wrote the first draft this time, and then I went in and helped the story make some sense, adding my own touches. Then he went back and added some more Dean touches, then I polished and voila.

In answer to your previous questions, will Palace of Stone ever have a painted cover to match the Princess Academy hardcover? Answer: I don't think so. I truly do not know, but I would not bet on it. And in answer to the Austenland movie questions, I'm not holding out on you, I swear! I don't know when we'll see a trailer or have a release date or anything. As soon as I know, you'll know too. I am VERY excited about the movie. I think it's going to be amazing.

Update-arooni

Life is crazy, isn't it? Blog taking a back seat to kids and books. Can't seem to find anything extra to devote to thoughtful blog posts. Here's just a general update.

I don't have any Austenland: The Movie news, but here's a short video that shows the set and interviews with Bret McKenzie, JJ Feild (who, I just read, is expecting a baby with girlfriend Neve Campbell!), Ricky Whittle, and Georgia King. I don't even know who did this video. Also, Stephenie Meyer put an update about the movie on her website. I think I tweeted both these things but never blogged them.

Sending a 5th-ish draft of my current book to my editor today. She and Dean read 2/3 of the first draft several years ago, and then I put aside this one (formerly called Daisy Danger Brown) to work on Midnight in Austenland and Palace of Stone. I'm really liking it right now. I love working on it. It's getting huge, though, at 145,000 words. I've been cutting like crazy, having trimmed 40,000 words in large chunks and many thousands more in smaller chunks. Add and delete, add and delete. I'll do at least seven more drafts before its done.

Princess Academy: Palace of Stone will be out in August. There's a cover out there somewhere but its not final, so I'm waiting for a final version to post it. It will have a photograph to match the style of the Princess Academy paperback.

I'm very excited about The Princess in Black! No illustrator yet, but I will post as soon as the publisher makes the choice. This book series was directly inspired by our kids. It's been fun to write for them for the first time.

Writing for Charity was amazing! Thanks to all who came. We raised a good amount of money and will be able to buy a lot of books for kids in disadvantaged areas. There will be another conference next year.

Without further ado...my newest Super Secret Project

She wears glass slippers.
She sleeps in a tower.
She sings to birds.
She is the perfect princess.
And for a monster-fighting heroine, that is the perfect disguise.
Princess Magnolia is...

The Princess in Black!

The Publisher's Lunch announcement:

"From Newbery Honor winner and Eisner nominated authors Shannon and Dean Hale, a young chapter book series following the brave and exciting adventures of Princess Magnolia, a perfectly proper princess by day, but when trouble raises its ugly, monster-shaped head, she ditches her flouncy dresses and glass slippers and becomes THE PRINCESS IN BLACK! Sold at auction to Sarah Ketchersid at Candlewick Press."

These things take time to publish. They'll be full of illustrations, so I imagine a couple of years before we'll see the first one? I'm so excited about this series. We love writing them. They make me laugh. Can't wait to share!

Soup with three things*

The past couple of weeks have been even crazier than normal. My email inbox has activated an automatic self-destruct command. Just no extra brains for blogging right now. So many interesting things to talk about. I'll have to deal with later. Just know three things:

1. Writing for Charity is going to be awesome this Saturday. You can sign up at the door, but those who preregister are guaranteed lunch and get preference in choice of authors for their critique session. The book signing at 4 pm is open to the public. The silent auction has some drool-worthy offerings, so if you can't make the conference, come at the end!

2.I'm emceeing Brandon Mull's launch party for Beyonders: Seeds of Rebellion tomorrow (Tuesday) again, Cottonwood High Auditorium in Salt Lake. Comedy, music, books, a great family event, so much fun. This year, I'll be signing books after as well. Show starts at 7 pm, but get there early if you want a seat. FREE!

3. I have another super secret project...no, not a movie. But I love it so much. I can't wait to talk about it.

*My friend and writer Tiffany Trent lived in Hong Kong for a time. She told me about how a restaurant translated each menu item into English, and one item translated as simply "Soup with three things." I love that. That would make a great book title! Or blog post title...

Babies? Being cute? Yes, please.

Check out my upcoming events, including Orem & Midvale, UT signings this Saturday and Writing for Charity on March 17. If you're in Utah and you 1. Have toyed with the idea of being a writer, 2. Like writing but need a kickstart, 3. Have written aplenty but need help with the craft, 4. Have finished product you're not sure how to publish, or 5. Are just curious about writers and like hanging out with us, don't miss this 1 day workshop. We all donate our time and all $ goes to GREAT causes.

In all this talk the last two blog posts about the absence of girls, I thought I should insert a little presence.

She just kept smiling at me from her high chair. Nearly a year and a half old!

She pulled her hair thingies out, which gave her an awesome kind of horn hair action. Poor little scuffed up nose. Toddlers are beings of much action.

This represents one of the 5 social things I've done in the past several months. I'm often asked how I do it: being a mom and a writer. The answer is: that's all I do. You have to give up everything else. For many people, that wouldn't be worth it. For me it is, even if I do miss having friends...at least ones I ever see.

This was a BYOV party: Bring Your Own Vase. Two of my friends had buckets of flowers and everyone could make their own bouquet. Isn't mine gorgeous? I made it all by myself!*

*i.e. I picked out most of the flowers and Shelby fixed it. I have ZERO talent with visual arts. Truly.

Next post, per requests, let's talk about the Missing Moms.