As the “grand prize” winner of Inkpop’s Supernatural Summer writing contest, the fantastic people at HarperCollins flew my father and me out to O’Hare airport near Chicago to attend the 5th stop on the tour: Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville, Illinois. Along the way, I experienced my first time in an airport, first time through security (ugh), and of course my first flight . . . which was amazing. (Who knew that being 36,000 feet up in the air could be so awe-inspiring?)
Once our flight got in, we found our driver, an awesome guy named Marvin, who drove us to the Naperville Hilton, and we found out that our room was on the “club level.” You needed a card to even access the floor! We felt really special then.
Next up was the main event: the short interviews and long book signing at Anderson’s. I thought I was just going to be an observer and take everything in, but to my surprise, the coordinator of the event (or at least the only person there calling the shots), Gale, had me be interviewed first! It was an unexpected honor, and such a nice thing for her to do. And then, of course, it was the four authors’ turn! Continue reading »
When I first launched my website back in 2002, I wanted to do something to say thanks to my readers. How can an author say thanks? By writing stories, of course. I began an annual tradition of asking readers to tell me what story they wanted to hear, then posting it online for free, a chapter at a time.
For the Darkest Powers series, I wrote my first e-serial last year. Dangerous tells the story of how Derek and Simon arrived at Lyle House. It’s not short—over 100 pages! To read it, text CHLOESAUNDERS to READIT (732348) or enter http://darkestpowers.mobi into your mobile phone (U.S. residents only. Message and Data Rates may apply).
This year, I’m doing two shorter pieces, again as chosen by readers. The first, Divided, shows us what Derek and Simon were doing when they were separated from Chloe and Rae at the end of The Summoning. Three chapters are up so far. You’ll find those on Chloe’s LiveJournal and MySpace pages.
A second story, about Simon and Tori when they were separated from Chloe and Derek in The Awakening will follow this fall.
Hope you like them!
Okay, don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean when I say O-Land. As in the home of Oprah…queen of the bookclubs???
So we ventured into O-Land this past weekend, or more accurately, Anderson’s Books in Naperville for the 5th stop on the Supernatural Summer Tour and can you guess who we met…???
That’s right: Elizabeth!
What’s that!? You don’t know who Elizabeth is? Seriously people, you need to keep up on your Supernatural Tour trivia. Elizabeth is the fantabulous winner of the Supernatural Summer writing contest. Her short story, ETERNAL, won the popular vote, and in turn, won Elizabeth (and her dad!) a trip from New York to Chicago…er, Naperville, to see us in action.
“I had never been to Texas until our stop on the Supernatural Summer tour. But it was a great event! This was an event that a ton of people traveled to! We had people from all over Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. Thank you everyone for coming from so far! We picked up Kimberly Derting for this leg of the tour and made ourselves an even four! (Picture shamelessly yoinked from Kim Harrison’s website. Thanks, Kim!) It was fun to hear about Ellen first being published in Belgium, Kim’s determination to make an unlikeable character likeable, and Kimberly’s goal to scare people so bad they wet their pants. (No really! It’s a good story!) Combine that with a great audience with lots of aspiring authors in it, and posters, tote bags, T-shirts, and chocolate for giveaways, and we had quite a fun night!
This was my last stop on the Supernatural Summer Tour this year, and it was with heavy heart that I bid my fellow authors good bye. Thank you Dallas for a fabulous last stop!”
Here’s a great photo from Kim Harrison from the Anderson’s event last night with her fellow Supernatural Summer authors: Kimberly Derting, Kelley Armstrong, Ellen Schreiber AND Inkpop’s Supernatural writing contest winner!
Routine, Tradition, Ritual
This week, as I was starting to round into the last half of the Supernatural Summer Tour and I was prepping the B&N pictures for my website, I suddenly saw the coffee cup sitting next to my trusty bag of swag in a new way. Curious, I glanced through a few other events, and yup, sure enough, it was there, tucked into a corner or halfway hidden behind a poster or stack of books, but usually within arms reach. I couldn’t help but smile as I realized it had become as much a part of my signing ritual as my leather-wrapped pen and the faded, button-laced bag.
It got me to thinking, what other idiosyncrasies have I developed in order to more easily get through the rigors of a week-long tour? The chi tea is one. (Guy scared me last week when he told me there was no Starbucks in Canada. He knew there were, but he wanted to see me sweat.) And there’s the signing bag which I got from my eldest son though he probably doesn’t remember it. It’s holding six years distilled into buttons, gifts from readers, and my favorite phrase, “Write like you’ve got the contract.”
My signing pen is probably the second oldest tradition, and is the same pen I’ve used to sign 95% of the autographed books out there, wrapped in leather by yours truly when I couldn’t find one I liked in the stores. I’ve been using it for at least five years. Continue reading »
“The event last night was fangtastic! Aprilynne, Kim, and I had an absolute blast signing together. It is so cool to see and hear what other authors are working on and their thoughts about writing. But the most amazing part was meeting all of you fabulous readers. I want to thank all of you for attending the event. I look forward to the rest of the tour and meeting more of you!”
While there are plenty of lessons I learned on tour this year—wear sunscreen if writing by the pool—there’s an important one I get every time I do events.
I have actual readers on the other end of this writing process.
Strange concept, I know <grin>. But the truth is that, for most of the year, my readers are like unseen spirits. I trust they’re there, but I don’t have any actual proof of their existence, so I spend my days writing for an imaginary audience. Continue reading »
One of the perks of being a full-time author is being able to design your own work space. Author work spaces vary from basement hidy holes where desperate writers can flee children, spouses, and the ever-present UPS man to do their work in silence—to the uppermost room in the house that gets too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter, but has a beautiful vista of the surrounding neighborhood where a writer can sit and let their imagination expand along with the view Then there are the kitchen-table writers, which is where I started, people who, by necessity or desire, set up right in the middle of the house where they can keep an eye on everything as they work in a weird stop-and-go method that doesn’t work for everyone.
Writer interruptus, I call it, where the mini breaks to dig out a popsicle from the frozen recesses of the freezer, stick on a Band-Aid, or settle an argument with the remote give the subconscious time to mull something over without resorting to staring at a blank screen. Continue reading »
I’ve had teens in my house for, well…forever! My oldest daughter is 23 and in college now, but I also have a sixteen-year-old son, and by the time he turns 20, my youngest daughter will be turning 13! Ten years ago, when my oldest daughter became a teenager, I really had no idea what to expect. I mean, I was a teen once so how hard could it really be?
Riiiight. I quickly realized that teens are definitely a different breed…not in a bad way, just different, and that my experience as a teenager was NOT going to be much help. Sure, it took some time to get on the same page as my daughter, but it ended up being great practice for my other two teens-in-waiting. And we’ve been living in perfect harmony (ha!) ever since.
Here are some of the reasons why I LOVE having teens in my house:
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