Last Day of 2009

This is my annual post where I sum up what happened in my professional life in that year and look ahead to what’s going to happen in 2010. Basically I do this so I can have a handy record that I can get to in seconds. (Hence the “last day of the year” tag.) Do feel free to skip it.¹

This year, though, was less happy than any of the previous years I’ve summed up here. Thus my summary is brief. I want to get past 2009 and on to the fun of 2010 as fast as I can.

Books out: Liar (hc in US & tpb in Oz), HTDYF (in Oz & pb in US)

MorM&MLDeustchEd Liar sold in nine different countries this year (in order of sale): Taiwan, Germany, France, Brazil, Turkey, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands & Spain. That last sale was to Ediciones Versatil. I only just found out about it. Since I’ve been wanting to sell Spanish-language rights since I even knew such a thing existed I’m dead happy. (Champagne tonight!) Spanish is the only language I can even vaguely speak. (Other than English, obviously.) I’m going to be very curious to read the translation. (Or try to anyways.) Liar has now sold in as many countries as the Magic or Madness trilogy. HTDYF remains my least popular book o.s. having only sold in Australia, the US, Germany & this year to Japan. Germany is the only country other than Australia and the USA to have bought all my novels. Apparently, the trilogy is doing well there—yay for German readers! I figure that’s because of the awesome covers. The cover above is of a new German edition of the first two books in the trilogy which will be out in October next year. Isn’t it gorgeous?

There were also audio editions of Liar and How To Ditch Your Fairy released in Australia by Bolinda and the USA by Brilliance. I was able to sit in on a bit of the recording of Liar and was invited to help choose the narrator of HTDYF both wonderful, wonderful experiences. I think the end results are amazing.

Okay, that was my 2009. Now on to next year!

First up, I have two books coming out in the USA in fall:

The paperback edition of Liar

Zombies versus Unicorns anthology edited with Holly Black

I am so excited about the antho. You would not believe how fantastic the stories are. Not a dud one in the book. Well, except for the unicorn stories which are all dreadful (Holly edited those) but you are going to adore the zombie stories, which are, no lie, the best stories written in the history of the universe by some of the best writers ever. Um, yes, I edited those ones. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to announce who the writers are yet. I’ll just give you their initials: LB, CC, AJ, MJ, SW, & CR. Tell no one! I’m not giving you the unicorn story writer initials because 1) I know you don’t care, 2) they’re all hack writers you never heard of anyways.

It’s quite astonishing that someone as spectacularly talented as Holly could be such a unicorn fan. I don’t understand. I think the best plan is for everyone to skip the unicorn stories and instead read Holly’s new novel, The White Cat, which is out in May next year and is the best thing she’s ever written. I say that as someone who adores everything Holly writes. The White Cat, though, beats them, hands down. It’s one of my favourite books of all time. You are in for such a treat! In even better news: it’s the first of a trilogy.

The ZvU antho began life as a sekrit project in 2007. It is my first sekrit project to see the light of day. Very happy making. It’s also the first project of mine to be inspired by this blog. By this comment exchange between me and Holly and many others, to be exact.

So that’s what I’m publishing, what about what I’m working on? People have been asking me about that a lot lately. I suspect because I’ve not blogged about it much lately. Especially compared the flurry of 1930s book posts earlier in the year. Speaking of which there have been queries about how the 1930s novel is going, seeing as how I haven’t mentioned it in awhile. “Have you given up on it?” I’ve been asked anxiously. (Mostly by my friend and critique partner Diana Peterfreund, who’s read some chunks of it.) I have not! But I have kind of been cheating on it.

Right now I’m working on four novels at once:

One is the 1930s novel, which has turned out to be much bigger than I thought. More than one novel, in fact. When it became clear to me that there was no way I was finishing it any time soon my brain spat out another idea for a much shorter novel and I started working on that.

That novel is set in the here² and now and is closer in tone to How To Ditch Your Fairy. When I started working on it I stopped reading only 1930s books. I now only restrict myself when I’m working on the 1930s novel.

The third book I started awhile ago, it’s the lodger book for those of you who’ve been with this blog for awhile, and then rediscovered it while procrastinating. It was the one I put aside to concentrate on Liar.

The fourth one is a sekrit. Though not the sekrit project I thought would come to fruition this year that I mentioned at the end of last year. I still have hopes for that sekrit project but I do not see it happening for at least two or three years. Thank Elvis for the new sekrit project, eh?

At the moment none of these novels is winning the fight for my attention. And, honestly, while touring I was unable to get any writing done at all. I truly admire those who can. School events all day and then a library or book store event at night means no writing on tour for this particular writer. And travelling and returning home ate my December. (In a good way!) My next clear, no travelling, stretch starts tomorrow. Bless you, January 2010. So tomorrow I start writing again in earnest and that’s when I expect one of the four novels to take over my brain completely. But maybe it won’t. Maybe my new style of writing is to flit back and forth between books. I guess I’ll find out in 2010.

My only goal for this year is to be happy writing. If I finish one or more of these novels then wonderful. If not, no big deal.

I hope 2010 shapes up beautifully for all of us.

Happy new year!

Cause it will be boring. Don’t say you weren’t warned. [↩]
Well, not Sydney (or NYC), but this planet and not an alternative version of it. [↩]

Posted by Justine at 0:59, 31 December 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Bloggery, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Last Day of the Year, Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy, Travelling, Unicorns, Zombies, Zombies v Unicorns | 12 Comments »

Comments

Allison Says:

She looks very Special! :3

December 31st, 2009 at 1:35 am
Sean the Blogonaut Says:

Good luck this year. My hope is to find some work.

December 31st, 2009 at 2:56 am
cristina Says:

YES! Liar! in Spanish!!!
¡Felicidades on the sale!
After I read Liar and told a Spanish-speaking friend about it, she forbade me, under penalty of never cooking to me again, to tell her how awesome and amazing a book was if she couldn’t read it. I’m happy that she’ll be able to read it!

Happy 2010!

December 31st, 2009 at 3:03 am
Mary Elizabeth S. Says:

Happy New Year!

December 31st, 2009 at 3:08 am
Holly Black Says:

I thank you for your kind comments on White Cat, despite your sadly deluded zombie love.

The unicorn stories will impale the zombie stories with their healing horns and beautiful flowers will grow over their still-twitching corpses.

December 31st, 2009 at 5:14 am
Diana Peterfreund Says:

Holly: You got it.

December 31st, 2009 at 9:49 am
Sam Says:

That cover is beautiful! I can see why it’s selling so well.

Happy new year to you, too. Thanks for a year of great, informative, interesting blog posts.

December 31st, 2009 at 9:58 am
Julia Rios Says:

For those of us who like both zombies and unicorns, this anthology is especially exciting.

December 31st, 2009 at 2:34 pm
9. Justine Says:

Happy new year, everyone!

Cristina: ¡Gracias! Estoy muy feliz.

I hope they call the book Mentirosa and that it’s a good translation and that your friend likes it.

Holly & Diana: You two are so deeply deluded I worry for you.

Sam: I can’t quite believe how gorgeous it is.

Julia: I’m not sure your liking zombies excuses your feelings for the dread horror that is un****ns.

December 31st, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Kaedtiann Says:

Happy new year! And good luck with all your novels and projects, I’m excited to hear more about them.

December 31st, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Rebekah Says:

I can make reasonable guesses for four of the zombie lovers (prefer-ers?), but two of them are giving me trouble (assuming they are the kind of well-established YA authors I expect them to be). Hmm.

December 31st, 2009 at 9:56 pm
wandering-dreamer Says:

Hmm, are we allowed to make guesses on the authors? Since, like Rebekah, I think I’ve nailed four of them but I don’t want to spoil anyone. And I look forward to both that anthology and the upcoming 1930s book, the world needs more stories set in the 20s and 30s.

January 2nd, 2010 at 8:13 pm