Archives
Posted by Justine at 0:05, January 7th, 2009 under Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Publishing business |
Yup, it's my annual what-I-did-this-year skiting post. I write these mostly for myself so I can easily keep track. Hence the
last day of the year category. Thus you are absolutely free to skip it. ((I would if I were you.))
This year was exceptional. I'm still pinching myself. My first Bloomsbury USA book, How To Ditch Your Fairy, was published and seems to be doing well. I was sent on my first book tour, which was fabulous. It's insane how much fun I had and how many fabulous schools, book shops and libraries I visited in California, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. Thank you to everyone who came to see me while I was on the ...
Posted by Justine at 0:20, December 31st, 2008 under Book tour, First Kiss, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Last Day of the Year, Love is Hell, New York City/USA, Next novel, Sport, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Vainglory, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 0:02, December 24th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Next novel, Praising, Research |
Posted by Justine at 20:46, December 19th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 14:35, December 6th, 2008 under Admin, Bloggery, Excuses, Food, Frippery, New York City/USA, Sydney/Australia |
Well,
yesterday was
crazy. People I know lost their jobs or are now in danger of doing so. Some author friends lost their imprints. It's all scary stuff. But publishing is not the only industry in convulsions. We're in a recession. It's bad all over.
To answer those asking if I still stand by
Tuesday's comments. I do. Things are bad, but they're less bad for children's than for adults'. Publishing is going to change a lot over the next decade.
But here's my main source of comfort: People are always going to want stories.
My sympathies to everyone who had a really bad day yesterday.
Posted by Justine at 11:26, December 4th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Publishing business, State of the World |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, November 27th, 2008 under Bloggery, Fans & readers, New York City/USA, Praising |
I have decided that I will do all future signings my way and ignore Scott's advice entirely. The only people who can tell me to hurry up when signing is whoever is running it. So there, Scott!
I hasten to add that crazy long signings are not a regular occurrence for me. They pretty much only happen at places like
NCTE or
TLA or on school visits. If I had lines like Scott gets routinely I would probably study how he gets through a line speedily while also managing to chat to those he's signing for. He is a master. He does in fifteen seconds what takes me a minute. ((This could be because he's a USian and I'm ...
Posted by Justine at 17:28, November 26th, 2008 under Cons & Other Gatherings, New York City/USA, Praising, Sydney/Australia, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 13:20, November 21st, 2008 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar Book, New York City/USA, Next novel, Scott's books, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 16:05, November 20th, 2008 under Book tour, Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA, Publishing business, Scott's books |
So we made it in one piece to sunny, warm Texas. Wow. The weather is so much better here than it was in NYC. Yay that we're here and not there.
You can catch me and Scott at BookPeople tonight and then you can see me do my thing in San Antonio tomorrow night:
Wednesday, 19 November 2008, 7:30PM
With Scott Westerfeld
BookPeople
603 N. Lamar
Austin, Texas
Thursday, 20 November 2008, 7:00PM
Barnes & Noble
Northwoods Shopping Center
18030 Highway 281 North
San Antonio, Texas
Hope to see some of you there!
Posted by Justine at 12:42, November 19th, 2008 under Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA |
Posted by Justine at 16:33, November 15th, 2008 under Frippery, New York City/USA, Praising |
Posted by Justine at 9:40, November 14th, 2008 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Love is Hell, New York City/USA, Reading, Sport, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, What's your fairy? |
Does it really need to come on at 4AM and not let up until 9AM?
Why does it have to sound like banshees being tortured by trolls? What's with the even LOUDER clanging? That's almost, but not quite, like the bell that tolls for thee? Or me in this case.
Am I ever going to get a good night's sleep again?
Stupid NYC with it's stupid steam heating. I don't ever remember it being this loud before. Is it because I have a book due on Friday?!
I'm so TIRED! Waaaaaahhhhh!!
I wish I had a horrible-noise dampening fairy.
/whinge
Yes, I am aware that steam heating is super energy efficient and good for the planet. So, no, I don't really hate it. But if ...
Posted by Justine at 8:21, November 12th, 2008 under New York City/USA, What's your fairy?, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, November 11th, 2008 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA, Unicorns, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 14:53, November 8th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Praising, State of the World |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, November 7th, 2008 under New York City/USA, State of the World |
Posted by Justine at 2:29, November 5th, 2008 under New York City/USA, State of the World |
Posted by Justine at 1:00, November 4th, 2008 under Excuses, Liar Book, New York City/USA, State of the World, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 1:00, November 3rd, 2008 under New York City/USA, Praising, State of the World |
Over at Daily Kos, Meteor Blades (via Scott) has an
article on accents in which he points out that, yes, everyone has one and quotes Geoffrey Nunberg
being smart on the same topic:
If authenticity is a matter of heeding your true inner voice, then it probably isn't surprising that people listen for signs of it in the way you speak. And our idea of an authentic accent reflects our idea of the authentic self. It's the natural speech you sucked up from the surroundings you grew up in, unfiltered and uncorrected. It's how you're supposed to sound when you're talking to yourself.
It's also a delusion. Or at least if your speech is like yourself, it's because both are ...
Posted by Justine at 11:46, November 1st, 2008 under Bloggery, Listening, New York City/USA, Praising, Sydney/Australia, Travelling |
This made my day:
Get it? E. Kristin Anderson, who works at the fabulous
Book People in Austin, is a
parking fairy. Just like the one Charlie has in How To Ditch Your Fairy. Only, you know, not invisible. Isn't that superb?
Coincidently, me and Scott will be hanging out at
Book People on
19 November at 7:30PM. Can't wait!
Happy Halloween!
Posted by Justine at 20:41, October 31st, 2008 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA, Travelling |
Posted by Justine at 7:50, October 31st, 2008 under Liar Book, New York City/USA, State of the World, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, October 25th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Next novel, Research, Science, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, October 24th, 2008 under Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA, Travelling, Vainglory, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 6:07, October 23rd, 2008 under Fashion, New York City/USA, State of the World |
One of the biggest culture shocks for me as an Australian living (some of the time) in the USA is
voting. Every election year I've been here there have been
voter intimidation and
fraud scandals. Maybe I missed it, but that does not happen at home. Not every single election.
Seems to me that the aim in the US is to make voting as difficult as possible. Why? I don't get it. I've had friends disallowed to vote because the official said they had the wrong ID. It didn't exactly match the name on the voter rolls. As in, their driver's license had their middle name spelled out in full, "Rachel", but the voter roll had just ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, October 22nd, 2008 under New York City/USA, Praising, Ranting, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 1:00, October 19th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Praising, State of the World |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, October 16th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Publishing business, Ranting, Reading, Sydney/Australia, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, October 15th, 2008 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA |
Posted by Justine at 0:02, October 12th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Next novel, Reading, Research, State of the World, Toilets |
Posted by Justine at 14:50, October 11th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Next novel, Research |
Posted by Justine at 18:46, October 9th, 2008 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA |
Posted by Justine at 9:25, October 8th, 2008 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, October 5th, 2008 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA |
Posted by Justine at 14:08, October 3rd, 2008 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA, Praising, Viewing, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, October 1st, 2008 under Food, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA, Next novel |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, September 30th, 2008 under Bloggery, Book challenges, Cons & Other Gatherings, New York City/USA, Praising, Reading, Science, State of the World, Travelling, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, September 29th, 2008 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA, Travelling, What's your fairy?, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, September 26th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Next novel, Ranting, State of the World, Zombies |
Beef jerky is good.
A lint brush is essential.
A publicist with a sense of humour and a better memory than anyone alive is vastly excellent indeed.
Publicists are all convinced that authors have the worst memories ever. I suspect they are right.
I know that some writers get heaps of work done while on tour but I am most definitely not one of them.
Q & A is always the best part of an appearance. Though I already knew that.
No one wants to hear an author read. Boring!
If you must be stuck in a dread car for ages it's best to have witty, entertaining company and be in a convertible.
School visits are best when the ...
Posted by Justine at 0:02, September 25th, 2008 under Book tour, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA |
Posted by Justine at 12:40, September 23rd, 2008 under Basketball, Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar Book, New York City/USA, Praising, Sport, Writing goals & milestones, Young Adult literature |
I have never published a photo of a cat on my blog before. This is because I believe it is a cheap way to gain visitors to your blog. I have vowed never to stoop so low.
However, I recently stopped in at
Borderlands Books to say hi to Jude and sign stock. A visit to Borderlands also means hanging out with Ripley the store cat.
Ripley is the weirdest looking cat I have ever seen. She's a
Sphynx, who are hairless space aliens. Ripley was recovering from surgery and attired in an old t-shirt to protect her stitches. This made her somewhat grumpy. As it would.
Fortunately there is now a second Borderlands cat, Ash, who deigned ...
Posted by Justine at 16:59, September 20th, 2008 under Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA |
Scott here, guest-blogging from the West Coast Tour Command Center (aka Room 401). Justine is out talking to kids at schools, so I'm holding down the fort (aka ordering room service). This is just a reminder that Justine has a gig at Not Your Mother's Book Club tonight (aka Thursday, Sep 18).
The store is Books Inc.
The address is 601 Van Ness.
The city is San Francisco.
The time: 7PM.
We hope to see you there!
And just because I'm briefly in control of Justine's blog: it's 'color,' not 'colour.' That's because we save our u's for this:
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
(I'm in so much trouble. Heh.)
Posted by Justine at 14:30, September 18th, 2008 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA |
Because they have signs like this at the entrance to their school libraries:
Isn't that absolutely wonderful? Made me so happy!
Yesterday I got many texts telling me that How To Ditch Your Fairy had been
boingled. Thank you, Cory! And
Whatever'd. Thank you, Scalzi! And
Slayground'd! Thank you, Little Willow! I also learned that HTDYF is on the
Lone Star list. Since Texas is my favourite state in the union ((Other than all the other ones I love.)) that pretty much made my day too.
To quickly answers some questions: The tour is going fabulously. I'm having the time of my life. I heart all the bookshops I've been ...
Posted by Justine at 10:33, September 17th, 2008 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA |
Just to let you all know that the mighty
How To Ditch Your Fairy Tour begins on Monday in Northern California. For all those complaining that I'm not going to Southern California:
it's not up to me, it's down to demand and my publicist.
The tour page is constantly being updated with correct addresses and times and extra events. Today I added a couple of in-store stock signings as well as the address and time for the Schuler's event in Walker, Michigan.
What is an in-store stock signing you ask? It means I'll be stopping in at a book shop and signing but I won't be reading, or doing Q&A, or juggling, or anything fancy. But if you're ...
Posted by Justine at 0:01, September 13th, 2008 under Bloggery, Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA |
I stopped studying maths in Year 7. Before that I'd made a bit of an effort but in my first year of high school (in New South Wales high school starts in Year 7) I downed tools. I was bored, annoyed, and couldn't see the point so I quit. Technically I kept going to maths class---it was compulsory until the end of Year 10---but I failed each year and was never made to repeat. I didn't learn anything new after Year 6.
At the time I thought it was excellent that I could get away with it. In class I read novels under the desk. I never studied and finished my maths exams quicker than anyone else cause I guessed all ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, September 9th, 2008 under Basketball, Bloggery, Excuses, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Praising, Science, Sport, State of the World, Sydney/Australia |
Starting on Monday 15 September I will be
roaming around the US of A teaching people how to get rid of fairies that annoy them. It's a tough job but someone has to do it.
Next week will be all northern California, then there'll be a bit of a break with stops in Philadelphia and New York, before I set out for Michigan, Ohio, and Missouri. Then in November there will be some Texas appearances. That's right, my tour covers seven different states. Not bad, eh? Full details can be found
here. Complaints about my not going to your town or your state should be sent to my publicist. You can find her
address here.
This is my very ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, September 8th, 2008 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA |
Maureen Johnson has surpassed herself with
this post on the importance of honest sex education.
Go read it.
Posted by Justine at 0:00, September 5th, 2008 under Bloggery, New York City/USA, State of the World |
Posted by Justine at 3:43, August 31st, 2008 under Feminism, New York City/USA, State of the World |
