ANASTASIA FOREVER TEXAS TOUR

So yeah -- I'm pretty darn excited that there is going to be an ANASTASIA FOREVER TEXAS TOUR starting on 10/16! Sourcebooks, my publisher for the DREAMING ANASTASIA series, has planned an entire week of Texas stops, starting in Dallas and ending in San Antonio -- schools and store events and basically hitting the road throughout the Lone Star state where I live.

So I am going to pull on my boots and hop in my truck-- because what else would you drive to tour Texas but your trusty pick up truck?-- and head out to meet readers and fans and talk books and writing at a variety of schools both public and private.

Plus giveaways and treats because that's what it's all about, you know? Some cool HAUNTED and ANASTASIA FOREVER t shirts and some arcs -- both of my books as well as other books by amazing authors! And treat, because WHO DOESN'T LOVE MINI PACKS OF SWEDISH FISH?

Here's the schedule of stores events:

Tuesday, October 16th
Barnes and Noble
861 North E Mall Boulevard
Hurst, TX 76053
7 PM

Thursday, October 18th
Barnes and Noble
2701 Parker Road Bldg A Suite 700
Round Rock TX 78681
7 PM

Saturday, October 20th

Twig Bookshop (nearby at Farmer's Market)

200 E. Grayson Street #124

San Antonio, TX 78215

10 AM-12 PM

I WANT TO SEE YOU!! Come on by and get some candy. Win something! Get a postcard or bookmark. Ask me about Baba Yaga and the Romanovs and the Anne and Ethan romance!  Let me tell you about what's coming next. And other good stuff like that. 

Then tell me about you. Because let's not forget -- this whole tour thing--- it's really about you, the readers. The ones who wanted to read more when there was only 1 book in the series. The ones who read and tell your friends. Or maybe you're new and you don't know me from Stephenie Meyer. (okay, you probably do know that, but you get the point) Maybe you're coming for the Swedish Fish. It happens. But you're going to read about Anne and Ethan and this series that's part paranormal romance, part historical fiction, part Russian folklore and all about power: those who have it; those who want it; those who lose it and what happens to an ordinary girl who becomes very, very powerful and finds out she has a destiny that maybe she doesn't want. Girl meets boy meets witch meets trapped, doomed princess. Stir. Simmer. Boil and burn. I think there's something for everybody in the DA series.

THANK YOU to Sourcebooks for believing in me these past few years. 

Rev the engines.

The TEXAS TOUR is coming.

Five for Friday

1. And another observation about Lyla the basset/boxer: people talk to me now when I walk her. More specifically men talk to me. Men tell me about their dogs. Men tell me about the dogs that live with their ex-wives. Men walking their dogs stop and ask if our dogs can 'visit.' Stoner teenage sons taking out the garbage say (and this is an exact quote) "Dude, what the hell is that dog? I LOVE that dog."

2. Finishing a trilogy is a strange and wonderful and bittersweet experience. I have been writing some piece or another of Dreaming Anastasia since 2005. That is a long time. A lot of characters. Anne and Ethan and the gang have been cozied up in my brain for all those years. I think we will have to be pried apart with a crow bar. But we'll hang out for awhile longer, since Anastasia Forever is coming in August. And soon a gorgeous cover (i've seen hints... i'm excited) coming soon. More on this later.

3. Excited to be going to ALA today and at the Soho Press booth Saturday as they launch Soho Teen and I get to begin chatting about The Sweet Dead Life, which will be out in 2013 as part of Soho Teen's inaugural list. Let me just say that I love, love this book. And the others in the new imprint, too! Stay tuned.

4. Reading Catching Jordan by Miranda Keneally, a Sourcebooks 'sista author.' Jordan Woods is the star quarterback. Jordan Woods is also female. And then the love troubles begin, initially in the form of a new quarterback named Ty. A fun, fun read. After this, it's The Fault in our Stars, by John Green, which I've been sneaking pages of since I bought it earlier this week. I am in awe of John Green's writing in this book. Love, death, life... it's all in there. Beautiful and heart wrenching and funny all at once.

5. And speaking of John Green, it's possible there's still a restraining order from the fan girl hysteria that I squeaked his way when we met at TLA a couple years ago. I mumbled on so long and gushingly about how wonderful he was and such an inspiration and... eventually his eyes glazed over and we snapped a picture.

Thoughts about a Trilogy

Writing Again and Again (which might not ultimately be the title but is the name on the contract so it's all I've got right now) has taught me a lot.
In no particular order:

• Third books are harder than they look. So many arcs to wrap up; so many choices as to where these characters will finally end up. I've known the general beats to this series for years, but then I get writing and well, things change. Characters evolve. Their motivations shift. It's tricky business. And absolutely crucial that I get it right. We'll see what Editor Leah thinks next week when she receives the manuscript! (I love you, Editor Leah)




• Tess is still my favorite character to write. She's funny and brave and smarter than she looks. Other characters sometimes underestimate Tess. Ethan has been one of those. He assumes because she's a smart ass with a habit of rambling that he can dismiss her. But in book 3, he's realizing that Tess has Substance. Most of my readers love Tess as much as I do. Occasionally I hear from someone who doesn't. Usually they object to her quippiness. As someone who frequently uses to humor to offset tense or sad situations, I love that I've given Tess this habit. Really true example: Last year my mother in law passed away very suddenly after a short illness. It was a brutal couple of months; she went from being completely lucid and independent to, well, not. And then she died. We were all sort of reeling. This was unexpected. We were not prepared. Okay, you are never prepared. Husband is an only child. There was no one else but me to lean on. So there we are in the funeral home, and it's time to pick the coffin. If you have never had to do this, let me explain. This is one of those moments where the death experience becomes the sales experience. They take you into a coffin showroom. And they show you the cheapest one first. Then they try to step you up to the fancy one that has a pillow and colored silk lining. And then they leave you alone to decide. Let me interject here that my husband 'gets me.' This is why he married me. I'm decent in a crisis. But there he stands muttering "what color? what color?" Because the one we chose - middle of the road model - comes in like six different colors. No lie. And I'm thinking, does it matter? Really? Is someone going to stand up at the cemetery and say, "You know, if only the coffin was purple..."? So I quip. And tell him, "Get white. White doesn't show dirt." This is what people like Tess and me do in times of crisis. My husband now tells this story all the time. People are either highly amused or horrified. If you are horrified, then Tess probably won't be your cup of tea.



• Allowing Anne and Ethan to grow into their love story - however it may turn out and I am not going to tell you; you will just have to wait until next year to find out - has been a good choice for me. I have worked hard to understand what is in their hearts and right for them. This is good for some readers; not so good for others. Actually, I just read a really wonderful review on B&N that addresses this. AVC75 says:

The boy/girl relationship is portrayed realistically - teenagers driven by their emotions and insecurities, not prone to calmly/rationally discuss how they honestly feel about each other or tell each other the full truth of what is really going on in their lives. Hence, a majority of the book may be painful for those who wanted to see an immediate "happily ever after" to Anne and Ethan's budding relationship in Dreaming Anastasia, but it is an important part of the character development - no cliched weakling women and superman men here.

Thank you for that! Especially because this review really gets it - Anne is the hero. And the hero has other things to do besides find her true love. Oh she wants to. I want her to. You want her to. Ethan would like it a lot, too! But she has other stuff to do. Heroic stuff. And so it's a balance.

• Trying to write a third book while actively promoting the second and working a full time job and having a family life and oh yeah, a son who just got married.... a little much on the old plate, I'd say. I have always been the world's best multi-tasker. Piece of cake, I thought. I have graded papers and written scenes while sitting in a paper robe waiting for my yearly pap smear. I can do this. Turns out I couldn't. At least not like I thought. I found my limits. I was thrown over right after Spring Break, otherwise known as the week I graded research papers, went on the Bachelorette Cruise to Mexico, and then got in my rental KIA and book-toured LA once we hit shore. And two weeks later went to Salt Lake City to tour there. And in between kept teaching those six classes. (for the uninitiated - high school English classes in suburban Texas public schools contain somewhere between 25 and 35 students) You can do the math on your own. Some weeks I wrote for about 40 minutes. Not enough. This coming year, I will be writing full time/working part time. I'll let you know how it goes. Possibly we'll be so tired of the all ramen diet by the end of the year that I'll go back to crazy world. Possibly like my character Anne, I'll find my needed balance.

So what do you think? Any thoughts this morning on female protagonists in general? Tess and Anne? Romance in fanatasy books or books in general? The weird stuff people do in crisis situations? Third books of trilogies? Finding balance? Writing while still maintaining a job and a life? Whether or not I should go see Cowboys and Aliens at the end of the month? (just threw that last one in there to see if you were paying attention)

til next time...

And Now I Can Finally Announce the Dreaming Anastasia Trilogy

Yup! It's official! Beyond my wildest hopes, dreams, and expectations, there is going to be a third Dreaming Anastasia book. I am elated. Thrilled. Overjoyed. Humbled. And absolutely delighted.

Here's the PM announcement, up today:

Joy Preble's AGAIN AND AGAIN, the final book in the DREAMING ANASTASIA series, in which Anne, having survived Baba Yaga's forest twice, finds herself bound by the witch to undertake a journey into past, present, and future that will determine her destiny - and that of everyone she loves, to Leah Hultenschmidt at Sourcebooks, for publication in Spring 2012, by Jennifer Rofe at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency (World). jennifer@andreabrownlit.com

I'm going to pinch myself now to make sure I'm not dreaming. But the intrepid Agent Jen says it's really really true.

Til next time...