In Which I Express my love for THE RAVEN KING and Maggie Stiefvater

So excited for THE RAVEN KING by Maggie Stiefvater! Managed to get to her event at Blue Willow this week despite getting caught in crazy Houston traffic caused by a shoot out on the beltway. Yeah, that was no fun.
But from my last minute seat on the floor, I snapped this pic:

I have loved, loved the world Maggie has created for the Raven Boys series. Truly magnificent writing. Brilliant. Only a few chapters in and already hooked again.

Maggie Stiefvater is the real deal, y'all. You probably know this already. But her artist's eye helps create stories like no other and her characters twine themselves around your heart. *I'm looking at you Ronan. And you Gansey. And you Blue and Adam.... Okay I'm looking at all of them.*

Two years ago I got to hear her teach about writing at SCBWI LA, which was also a true pleasure to learn about process through her eyes.

Anyway. If you haven't started the RAVEN BOYS series yet, do so right now. Four books, Raven King being the finale. You will thank me.

Til next week, when the IWALT countdown begins because tomorrow is MAY!!

Some Thoughts On Plotting and Publishing and Aha Moments

Went to see Victoria Schwab and Rachel Hawkins at Blue Willow Books this weeks and as happens when a bunch of readers meet up with awesome authors, talk turned to writing and plotting and origin stories and the like. Victoria described how she saves up plot points like a chipmunk saving nuts and when she has enough, has those 10 or 15 key moments that will make up a novel, she basically connects the dots. "I'm not a plotter or a pants-er," she told the crowd. "I'm a connect-the-dots-er"

For the most part, this describes my process as well. Oh, I do full-blown outlines of the skeleton draft variety when I'm forced to. And certainly I almost always have to know the end and keep it in mind as I write. In fact I write at least a sketch of that final scene early on, trying to encapsulate the emotional beats, giving me something to aim at. It helps the story arc develop. It helps keep me true to the emotional arc I've envisioned for the main character. It gives me focus. But as for keeping tight to outlines, that's a bit troublesome for me. So much of novel writing for me comes with the freedom to explore and shift and tweak the story during that exploratory first full draft.

The business end of publishing sometimes stymies this process, although I'm sure that's not its intention. Agents need a full outline to sell a proposal and sample pages. An editor may come back to an author and say, I need to know exactly what happens all the way through. Which is easy to tell her or him when the book is finished. Less simple when you've only written act 1. I always know the plot in general. But I have to leave myself room for the characters to discover things that I do not yet know. Yes, I know that sounds a bit twee and precious and but it's true. Shit happens when you write. That's the miracle of creating something out of nothing. That glorious moment when the 'oh that's what this is all about' reveals itself to you like some sort of writer's Mt. Sinai and you're gobsmacked and cheering and you think yes, yes, THIS is why I am a writer. Because of this! Because something layered and complex has revealed itself through the act of telling the story, one of those glorious grey areas about life that hang out in the fringes of your brain waiting for you to realize oh! That's why I was writing this. That's what this character is all about.

It's a crazy wonderful way to try to earn a living, isn't it?

Watched part of a documentary on the great stage and screen director and improv comedian, Mike Nichols. (whose improv partner Elaine May created and starred in one of my favorite obscure 70s movies, a New Leaf, about a wealthy guy who goes broke and decides to marry this dingy wealthy lady botanist and then kill her on the honeymoon, only she finds this undiscovered species of fern and things go wacky and ultimately in a different direction from there)  Anyway, Mike Nichols ( who directed The Graduate and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Barefoot in the Park and many other films and plays) believes that there are only three types of scenes: Negotiation, seduction, or fights. I'm not sure if he meant this specifically for stage plays and film or for all story telling but now it's stuck in my head and I'm going to see what I can do with it. Basically, his theory is that if a scene isn't moving forward, or if it's boring, probably it isn't doing one of those three things and if you can tweak it so it can, things will work just fine.

So how do you plot a novel? What are your tricks and secrets?

Book Review: SAY WHAT YOU WILL by Cammie McGovern

As soon as I heard Cammie McGovern talking about her books at Houston's Blue Willow last week (she was touring with Julie Murphy), I knew this was an author who should have already been on my radar and somehow wasn't. It happens, I know. So many books; so little time. But I grabbed a copy of SAY WHAT YOU WILL, her debut YA title from 2014 and took it to the beach with me this past weekend and promptly devoured it.

SAY WHAT YOU WILL is about many things: Friendship. An over-protected but brilliant girl whose cerebral palsy traps her in a body that she accepts and tries not to let define her but which doesn't let her have the physical freedoms that would make life easier. A boy with OCD, whose fears and anxieties trap him as well. A star-crossed romance. The good, the bad, the ugly of living in this world -- of loving and losing and making mistakes and pulling yourself up. The difficulties of overcoming perceptions and fears. The terrible things we sometimes do to the people who love us, often because we don't love ourselves enough first. How hard and miraculous it is to find someone who truly 'gets you.' About how easy it is to mess up and miss opportunities to find your tribe, your people. And as main character Amy calls one of her favorite themes (and it's one of mine, too!): Oddballs finding each other. It is not by accident that Amy's favorite book, referenced more than once in the novel, is Tell Me You Love Me, Junie Moon, the story of three misfits who meet in a hospital.

This is a beautiful, beautiful book. It is gorgeously written, gentle and thoughtful. Amy and Matthew are as imperfect and damaged yet perfect and wonderful as any two characters I have ever read. Their story broke my heart, pieced it back together, then broke it again and eventually let me know that while a happily ever after might not in their future, their story is not over. First love is like that. It is often painful and intense and confusing and wonderful and awful all at the same time.

McGovern creates fully rounded characters in SWYW. The reader learns exactly what it is like to live with CP or OCD; their disabilities are deftly drawn in ways that don't always happen in novels. But be sure: this is not an 'issue' book, although in less capable hands it could be. It is real and heartbreaking and encouraging and one of the best books I've read this year, YA or other. I cannot wait to dig into McGovern's newest book,  A Step Toward Falling, just out from Harper Teen.

I'm sitting here looking for a quote to end this review and I'm feeling teary-eyed again in the best of ways just flipping through the pages of this wonderful, wonderful book! And here's your quote, from near the end, but it doesn't ruin anything, just gives you a sense of the words:
"They sat like that for a while, hands intertwined on top of the book. If he spoke, he knew his voice would betray him. It would crack and break and he'd start to cry. So they stayed just like that, as the light through the window drained from the sky."

For more about the brilliant Cammie McGovern, go to  www.cammiemcgovern.com

One More Day!

 It's one day until FINDING PARIS pub day!!
Even though the book is not 'officially' out yet, I have:

• Signed at Houston Teen Book Con
• Signed at Texas Library Association
• Book-talked PARIS with awesome Texas librarians
• Book-talked PARIS with awesome Texas teen readers
• Signed a few at Houston SCBWI conference

And been crazy excited for 4/21/15!!

FINDING PARIS Blog Tour coming soon through Jean Book Nerd!

http://www.jeanbooknerd.com/2015/04/finding-paris-by-joy-preble.html

FINDING PARIS Houston Launch Party at Blue Willow Bookshop 4/25/15 at 2 PM!

http://www.bluewillowbookshop.com/node/77664

Here are a few pics from TLA!

FINDING PARIS on the Harper Collins shelf!

signing! Aisle 7!

The YAHOUS go to TLA! (with Dotti Enderle, Jennifer Mathieu, Kim O'Brien )

with the every awesome Christina Diaz Gonzalez

And the ever clever Kari Holt

with the brilliant Julie Murphy, who shares our brilliant B&B editor with me

And authors Christina Mandelski and Amy Fellner Dominy (aka my partners in crime)

And lots more coming after that!

I'll have other things to say tomorrow, so stay tuned.

FINDING PARIS, coming 4/21/15 from Balzer and Bray/Harper Collins!!

Houston Teen Book Con Recap

Houston Teen Book Con was amazing! Bravo to the ladies of Blue Willow Bookshop who, as always, do such a fine and heroic job of organizing, arranging, cheerleading. If you have never been to Blue Willow in Houston, you need to go when you are in Houston. They are a world-class indie bookstore and owner Valerie Koehler is a force of nature, as is her intrepid assistant Cathy Berner and the rest of the staff.

(I have a huge love for so many indie bookstores, including Murder by the Book and Brazos here in Houston and so many others around the state and country. But more on that at another time)

For now, let me say that it was a great day! Not only did I get to hang out with authors I adore and authors I wanted to meet but I got to meet thousands (really!) of teen and adult readers and talk about books and writing and FINDING PARIS, which will be here on 4/21. Because of the generosity of Harper Collins, PARIS was available exclusively at Teen Book Con this past Saturday, which was enormously exciting! So if you were there, you got to buy it before anyone else!

A few pictures:

Getting ready for Houston Teen Book Con 2015!

The amazing Valerie Koehler welcoming us to the store.

Me and Alexis Bass. (It's all about that Bass AND Preble)

Our Truth About Love Panel: from left: me, David Levithan, Susanne Colasanti, Alexis Bass, Jennifer Mathieu

All the books!

Awesome moderator Kate Sowa

Awesome moderator Jenn Haight

FINDING PARIS PRE-ORDER SWAG GIVEAWAY !!

FINDING PARIS is almost here! The novel will release on 4/21/15 from Balzer and Bray/Harper Collins, which is just two short months away, people!

And I am VERY EXCITED to announce that I've partnered with both Blue Willow Bookshop as well as JewelsbyTay (aka my very talented Austin cousin who sells her jewelry creations by that name on both Instagram and Etsy) for an awesome pre-order swag giveaway.

Here are the details:

In FINDING PARIS, Leo's flighty artist sister, Paris, goes missing one night in Vegas. Here's what Leo tells us about Paris and her art: "My sister's an artist…Her room is filled with odds and ends that she turns in something." Paris takes bits of discarded this and that and turns them into "Tiny red beads strung on black thread. Bright red stones glue to an oblong piece of metal hanging from a thin chain."

And I thought, wouldn't it be awesome if my readers could win exclusive Paris Hollings/Finding Paris jewelry? Well, now you can!

The first 10 pre-orders through Blue Willow Bookshop will win a swag pack including an exclusive, limited edition FINDING PARIS necklace, bracelet, or jeweled bookmark, a signed FINDING PARIS postcard, and a Hello Kitty bandaid because that's what Paris uses to tape her scavenger hunt notes around Vegas. (domestic US only)

The second 10 pre-orders through Blue Willow Bookshop will win a signed FINDING PARIS postcard or bookmark and a Hello Kitty Bandaid. (domestic US only)

Order through Blue Willow Bookshop here: http://www.bluewillowbookshop.com/node/75114

Offer good through 4/10/15 or until supplies run out.

Want a swag pack? Pre-order PARIS today!
And thank you! A million, trillion thank yous! Plus huge thank yous to Blue Willow Bookshop for partnering with me!

THE A-WORD LAUNCH and other Friday stuff

Can you believe that THE A-WORD has been out for over a week now? Well it has! Blog tour is in full swing. In fact, one of my favorite guest posts is up today at The Book Rat, a pictorial overview of Jenna Samuels' Texas world: Homecoming mums! Kolaches! A&M 12th Man! Copperhead Road line dance! And other cool Texas-y stuff. Check it out here: http://www.thebookrat.com/2014/05/guest-post-from-joy-preble-author-of.html

And THE A-WORD Launch party happened last Saturday at Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston! Here are a few pics:

Me and the lovely Houston book blogger/all around brilliant human Kate Sowa

Thanks a million zillion to Valerie and Cathy and the rest of the Blue Willow staff and to the many, many of you who came out to support me and THE A-WORD! Clearly you seemed to be having a good time from that last picture above!

This coming Tuesday, 5/27 at 6 PM,  I'll be at Barnes and Noble in The Woodlands TX with authors Varsha Bajaj and Christina Mandelski! Book shenanigans will ensue. Would love to see you! Here's the link: http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/4696729

So yeah, it's been a fun few days.
I'll count all of the above as #1 of the Friday Five.

Here's the rest of what I'm obsessed with this week:

2. Just read a galley of the very talented Kari Anne Holt's forthcoming RHYME SCHEMER, which will be out this fall from Chronicle. It's a middle grade novel in rhyme with stolen poetry (you'll see!) about a bully become bullied. Kevin's story just hits you in the gut hard. I LOVE this book. I expect HUGE THINGS from this book. Put it on your list. NOW.

3. MOVIES! X-Men! Chef! Want to see them both this weekend. I'll let you know if it happens. IT BETTER HAPPEN.

4. Attempt #2 coming tonight on homemade popovers. Received my coveted popover pan for Mother's Day and the first exploratory batch was tasty but did not rise much. I think I peeked too much. Or I have an old, crappy oven. Both of which are true. I will conquer you, popovers!

5. I got to see the cover comps for next year's FINDING PARIS. I cannot show them to you. You probably won't see the cover til the fall. But holy mother they make my heart sing!!  FINDING PARIS is my book that will be out 4/21/15 from Balzer and Bray. A girl. A boy. A missing sister. Dark secrets. And a road trip from Vegas to LA and on from there.

Til next week!
Have a lovely Memorial Day if you are in the US.
xo

Five for Friday

Can you believe that pub week is almost over? Crazy!

Here's the five:

1. THE A-WORD blog tour continues. See previous post for al the links! THANKS so much to all who are hosting/reviewing/generally spreading the word about these crazy TEXAS angels!! I'm so glad I'm starting to see some Bo Shivers love out there, too! Let me know what y'all think of BO!

2. Launch party for A-WORD this coming Saturday 5/17 at 2 PM at Blue Willow Bookshop! Cookies, fictional sibling trivia, q/a about A-WORD and COWBOY BOOT KEYCHAINS! You want to be there. Yes you do! Here's the link: http://www.bluewillowbookshop.com/event/joy-preble-2

3. Flying through Voyager, which is Outlander #3. I cannot believe that I am reading these 1000 page books back to back to back to… Well, let me say that there have been some jump the shark moments here and some places that I would honestly edit the heck out of. But still. Jamie and Claire. And Young Ian, who is stealing the show… until he gets stolen by pirates. And Jamie forgetting to tell Claire that he'd kinda, sorta married the woman who'd tried to get Claire killed as a witch. And the penicillin she's snuck back to the 1700's, along with a plastic wrapped stack of pb and j sandwiches…. I still love it.

4. Godzilla? Are we going to see it? I think I am. But it's FIOS that I'm waiting for. Because Gus and Hazel. And John Green's dialogue. And all of it. Soon.

5. Vampire Diaires season finale. DAMON!!!! OOOOOOOHHHHHH NOOOOOOO!

Happy Friday all of you! Come to Blue Willow if you're in Houston!

HOUSTON WE HAVE LIFT OFF

Yes, I just went there. But I live here. I get to.

THANK YOU to Blue Willow Bookshop for such a lovely Houston launch of THE SWEET DEAD LIFE this past Saturday! And THANK YOU to my friends and fellow authors (including many of our fabulous Houston SCBWI chapter) and to the librarians and bloggers and fans and book lovers who came out to fill the house and make sure that ALL THE BOOKS SOLD OUT! You humble and honor me.

Now Soho Press and I hope you read THE SWEET DEAD LIFE and that Jenna's story resonates with you. Like all stories that mean something to me, this one is, at its core, about love. Not romantic love this time, but the love we have for the people we care about and the things we do for them. It is about unlikely heroes and siblings and the family we make for ourselves when the one we're given screws up. And yeah, it's also about angels and the battle between good and evil. There is a larger mystery at foot and somehow the Samuels family has stumbled into it. More will be revealed next year in THE A WORD. Jenna's journey has only just begun. And on another level, it's about a fourteen year old girl-- an age where we are powerless and know it-- whose brother sacrifices everything for her. And still annoys the hell out her, which is as it should be.

Plus, okay, it kind of sometimes skewers the wasteland that is the suburbs. But only sometimes.

If you'd like someone else's take on it, my friend and fellow SCBWIer, Vonna Carter, just posted THIS.

Okay. Let's have some pictures, shall we?

Reading from SWEET DEAD LIFE

With my youngest readers... good little sleepers

My very first beta reader for the ANASTASIA series, former student and Houston actress Kara Ray

Making some point...

Awesome cookies from Posh Cookies

Jennifer Matthieu and Chris Mandelski duked it out over angel trivia
Blogger and Media guru Maria Cari Soto makes me smile

So many great Houston authors/SCBWIers, including Dede Ducharme, Sophie Jordan, Vicki Sansum,  Chris Mandelski, Crystal Allen, Vonna Carter, Kathy Duval, Jennifer Matthieu, Suzanne Bazemore, Dotti Enderle, Kristin Rae, Jessica Capelle, Amy Rose Thomas, Laura Ruthven, Tina Wissner

And of course none of this would be possible without my partners in literary crime, the team at SOHO PRESS: Publisher Bronwen Hruska, Senior Editor Daniel Ehrenhaft, Publicist Meredith Barnes (a former Houston girl), and the rest of the gang including editor Juliet Grames, who create beautiful books with their authors and curate their lists with care and thoughtfulness and a nimble brilliance that takes my breath away. I only hope to live up to your high level of expectation.

Me and Blue Willow Bookshop

As I've written many times in many venues, I ADORE Houston's Blue Willow Bookshop. Valerie Koehler and Cathy Berner and the staff have truly helped make my career. I literally wandered in with a galley of DREAMING ANASTASIA back in the summer of 2009 and thrust it at them, having little hope that they would read it much less CHAMPION MY CAREER. Along with Houston's other amazing indies, including Murder by the Book (a topic for another post later this month), Blue Willow is an oasis of literacy. They are tiny but mighty. You come in. They talk to you. They hand sell you books. They support authors in every possible way. They provide newsletters and take trips to NYC so that they can bring their readers the best of what's out there. And tomorrow will be my third time to sign at the store. I am not kidding when I say that when something exciting happens in my career, Valerie and Cathy are just about the first people I think of telling.

Last night, in an offsite venue, Blue Willow hosted one of my favorite authors, Sarah Dessen, who writes about life and love and summer and the courage it takes to change the path you are on. I was thrilled to finally meet her! (and so star struck that I did not say anything other than "It's a pleasure to meet you." Not, hey, I'm a Houston author. Or hey, "Just Listen" is my favorite of your books. Or even, "Hey, it's your birthday today and it's also my son's birthday and while I know you don't care, I think that's kind of cool." Nope. Didn't say any of that. Sarah, if for some off chance you read this, I LOVE Just Listen. I read it first because a student was reading it. And then I couldn't put it down. And then I read everything else you have written.)

Tomorrow, Saturday 6/8, Blue Willow Bookshop is hosting the Houston Launch of THE SWEET DEAD LIFE (Soho Press) - a book that is a new step in my career and one that I'm very, very proud of. I just picked up some delicious cookies for the occasion:

And there will be cowboy boot coozies and angel trivia and I will probably get misty-eyed because I never in a million years believed that someday this would be happening the way it has. Here is the link to the event:

http://www.bluewillowbookshop.com/event/joy-preble-1

If you are in the Houston area, I'd love to see you!

Til next time!

Thursday Stuff

In not exactly random order:

Me and the 'best son ever' - at ALA MW in Dallas

1. Today is Jacob Preble's birthday-- best son ever (yes he's our only one, don't worry)--who is endlessly funny and brave and sarcastic and loyal and pretty darn smart too. Yeah, I'm his mother. I can say stuff like that. Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!

2. Award for the best politician name ever -- a name so wonderful I wish I wrote it-- goes to Shadrach McGill, whose wife was all over the 'nets yesterday telling strippers to stop sending pictures to her husband on Facebook. 

3. I've been noticing news headlines the past few days that just blow me away-- and not in a good way: This morning's Yahoo headline: Why Do Finnish Babies Sleep in Boxes? ( I know there's actually an interesting story under there, but STILL)

And a couple days ago our local Houston CBS affiliate announced a girl's fight to wear pants under her graduation gown rather than the school required dress as "Lesbian Wants to Wear Pants." Seriously, CBS? This is what that story boils down to for you?

If you have any you like, please shout them out, people.

4. So excited to see Sarah Dessen tonight through Blue Willow Bookshop! She is my LITERARY IDOL!! I have read all her books. And somehow never been to one of her events. Tonight!!

5. And totally THRILLED for this coming Saturday's Houston launch of THE SWEET DEAD LIFE (Soho Press) at Blue Willow Bookshop on Memorial at 2 PM. There will be cookies! And cowboy boot coozies! And angel trivia. And me! And the lovely ladies at Blue Willow who as I have written about many times have helped build my career!! http://www.bluewillowbookshop.com/event/joy-preble-1

And when you click on the link, you will see that my name is RIGHT UNDER SARAH DESSEN'S!!  This makes me ridiculously happy. *flails muppet arms*

Must write now. I am starting a NEW BOOK! Right this very second.

Up soon-- Dianne Salerni and her new book CAGED GRAVES!!

THE SWEET DEAD LIFE Goes to Austin

 And the first SWEET DEAD LIFE (Soho Press) event was this past weekend at the venerable Book People in Austin Texas. My heart swelled to huge heart size at the SRO crowd of Austin SCBWI authors and bloggers and librarians and family and friends and a variety of combos of the above came out to fill room! Let's tell this in pictures!

The weekend began with Star Trek Into Darkness with my Austin bff, author PJ Hoover, whose SOLSTICE is coming in June from TOR. We are NERDS. This means we were FIRST IN LINE for the 8 PM show. Here we are, waiting:

Then on Saturday it was on to Book People. This was my first time signing at the store and so I was THRILLED! and EXCITED! and like I had had too much coffee. Which actually I had.

I set up the special SWEET DEAD LIFE cookies! (thank you Posh Cookies in Houston!)

 And I put out the adorable boot coozies and mini sodas:

 And then the event began!

Me, PJ (Tricia) Hoover, Cory Putnam Oaks, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Jessica Lee Anderson

Cynthia Leitich Smith and a boot coozie!

Don Tate, Varian Johnson, Greg Leitich Smith

Lindsey Scheibe (who launched her RIPTIDE Sunday), Nikki Loftin, Salima Alikhan

Kari Anne Holt, Lindsey Scheibe, Shelli Cornielsen

Mari Mancusi wins at angel trivia

Houston blogger Kate Sowa

Greg Leitich Smith, Emily Kristen Anderson, Nikki Loftin

signing!

And then there was graffiti land! 

After which I drove the backroads home!
Narrator Jenna and her unlikely hero guardian angel brother with a few bad habits Casey were thrilled to go to Austin, but now they're back here in Houston. Comicapalooza this weekend! And then on 6/8 at  2PM, the Houston launch of THE SWEET DEAD LIFE at Blue Willow Bookshop!