This morning, my mom asked me why I hadn't updated my blog in a while, to which I responded, "YOU READ MY BLOG?!" But okay, she was right. I haven't updated in a while because ALL THE THINGS have been happening. Like:
My ARCs arrived! And I hugged them! And I took a billion and a half pictures of them! And I took selfies with them! And I cuddled them while I slept acted like a totally normal human being with them!
This is my name on a thing I wrote (I WROTE THAT THING IN THE PICTURE. LIKE I MADE THAT IN MY HEAD).
This is the spine on a thing I wrote (and also a viking rune, because vikings are cool)
This is the FREAKING GORGEOUS cover of a thing I wrote
This is a thing I wrote on my ACTUAL, PHYSICAL BOOKSHELF
This is my face and a thing I wrote. See those fingers?
I TYPED THAT BOOK WITH THOSE FINGERS.
(Yeah, I know I have toe thumbs. Don't stare. They're self-conscious).
Okay, time to get serious. I am so, SO happy and proud to announce (belatedly) that FALLING INTO PLACE was chosen as one of the ten titles featured in the
Indies Introduce New Voices program! Here's what they had to say about FALLING:
“In Falling Into Place, Zhang has composed such a fascinating and captivating investigation of character and humanity that readers will find themselves actively rooting for Liz, desperate for her to realize in time that taking herself out of life is never the answer.” —Sara Hines, Eight Cousins Books
UM. WOW. *DIES*
I'm also beyond excited to share that I'll be doing a panel at BEA this year with Becca Fitzpatrick, Amanda Maciel, and Kresley Cole. It's called "
It's Not Easy Being Teen," which is basically the most accurate statement ever. It'll be on Friday, May 30th from 11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., so if any of you are coming to BEA, be sure to stop by! I'll also be signing afterwards.
Here's the description of the event from the BEA website:
How do you believably and authentically get into the mindset of a teen? It's simple to skew a voice too young or too old, or to underestimate the breadth of a high schooler's experience. These authors will talk what it takes to portray teens truthfully and the challenges they have faced both on and off the page. Listen in and meet: Amy Zhang (Falling Into Place), Kresley Cole, (Dead of Winter), Becca Fitzpatrick, (Black Ice), Amanda Maciel, (Tease).
*Yeah, okay, so there weren't actually any unicorns in this post. Sorry. Bait-and-switch or whatever, amirite?
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OKAY FINE.
MY COVER! IT'S MY COVER! ALSO A GIVEAWAY! AND MY COVER! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
http://www.yahighway.com/2014/02/cover-reveal-and-giveaway-falling-into.html?m=1
HUGE thanks to the wonderful people at YA Highway, who not only hosted my cover reveal, but managed to put it together in, like, two freaking hours. If that's not a superpower, I don't know what is. And also to the amazing, AMAZING team at Greenwillow who designed this breathtaking cover. Can we just sit here for a minute and marvel at how amazeballs they are? Because HOLY CRAP THAT COVER.
AND ALSO ginormous thanks to my agent, who played fairy godmother/therapist/shoulder-to-whine-on/superhero/buttsaver this week (and every other week).
NOW GO LOOK AT THAT COVER. GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO!!!!!!!!
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AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH IT'S SO PRETTY I'M GONNA DIE!!!!!
*deep breaths*
Seriously, though. I love everything about it. I love the physics equations in the background, even though I've spent the last few weeks staring at them and realizing that I forgot everything I learned in physics. I love the car falling and the road and the words. I love my name (DO YOU SEE MY NAME IN THE CORNER THERE BECAUSE OH MY GOD MY NAME IS ON A BOOK). And I love love love love LOVE the hand, because it's THE IMAGINARY FRIEND'S HAND!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!
Okay. Okay. So it's actually kind of funny that I'm having my reveal today, because it's exactly one day after the anniversary of my book. That's right. FALLING INTO PLACE sold on February 28, 2013. And in another one hundred and ninety-three days (that's ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY-THREE, 19FREAKING3) days, you'll be able to go to your bookstore and, like, TOUCH IT. AND HOLD IT. AND READ IT.
*brain implodes*
The life-changing, panic-inducing, holy-hell-it's-happening text from my agent.
Last Sunday, my local newspaper wrote a story about me...and my writing...and stuff. Those of you who have followed my blog for a while know that I used to be very, very secretive about writing. I never talked about it. So this week was WEIRD and awkward and generally hard for me, but on the bright side, I FINALLY get to write this post! I've always wanted to. :)
So you wrote a book?
Actually, I've written five novel-length works. The first one will never, ever see the light of day. I queried the second one and found my agent with it (YAY!), but it never made it past acquisitions. I also wrote a (very bad) sequel to it that clocked in around 200K (LOLZ). I wrote a standalone Norse-inspired fantasy about wolves and hot chocolate and losing your first love, which I'm planning to revise. Then I wrote this one, which sold. And I'm currently working on a few projects--
Like, a novel? Fiction or nonfiction? Wait, what are you doing? Why are you poking me?
I'm trying to edit your redundancy, but your "delete" button seems to be broken.
How many pages is your fiction novel?
OH MY--*breathes* never mind. And I don't know. 51,000 words. Ish.
What is your book about?
BONUS: What is your book about (old church ladies edition)
It's about fornication and drinking and drugs and abortion and basically what your grandson/granddaughter does on weekends, except I'm not going to tell you that because I'm afraid you'll have a literal heart attack.
Childhood, ma'am. It's about childhood and growing up. *insert smile and innocent head-tilt*
So how much did you have to, like, pay for them to publish this book?
Actually, in traditional publishing, the publishing house gives you money for the--
What?! How much did you make?
Good question. Would you like to know how much I weigh, too?
Dude, I wish I had the time to write a book.
What? What is this time thing that you speak of?
What's your book called?
Um, I can't tell you right now. I went through a title change, and the new title is still confidential. Hopefully I can share soon, though!
Whatever. You just don't want us to buy it, do you?
I actually really, really want you to buy it, because your money will trickle down to me. And I do like money an awful lot.
Okay, so can I read it now?
But you need someone to read it! What if it sucks?
Gee, that isn't the stuff of my nightmares or anything.
Am I in your book?
Oh, honey. Would I really tell you if you were?
Can I be in your next book?
Sure. I'll kill you brutally within the opening pages. I'll even let you choose your own method of death. Sound good? (but if I DO put you in a book and you don't like what you read, remember this conversation, kay? xoxoxo).
Well, can I be in the movie?
On the teensy chance that they make a movie...no.
Do you know J.K. Rowling?
Yup. We had lunch the other day.
Why did you write a book about suicide? You're not suicidal, are you?
No, but once I wrote a fantasy about a world at war and a girl who kills people, and I'm not homicidal.
Yet.
I'd like to write a novel. How does it work? Can you tell your publisher to buy my book?
Well. I can tell you that it DOESN'T work like that. First you have to write a novel and edit the unmerciful suck out of it. And after it's nice and pretty and polished, you have to slug through the query trenches and hope you find an agent who loves it enough to sub it for you, and then you have to hope that an editor loves it enough to invest money and time and tears and sweat and passion into it.
Okay...so--
NO, I CANNOT TELL MY PUBLISHER TO BUY YOUR NONEXISTENT BOOK.
So...YA magical realism? That's like Twilight, isn't it?
Why won't you answer any of our questions? You won't even tell us what the title is. Stop being so stuck up about it.
Eek! I don't mean to come off that way--but I've never really talked about my writing with people, and this makes me feel so incredibly uncomfortable that I've pretty much depleted what little social ability I have. But I really can't tell you the title!
Geez, you talk about this so often. You sound so stuck up.
But--YOU ASKED! I don't mean to sound stuck up! But this is something I'm genuinely and overwhelmingly happy about, and I'm sorry if I'm doing something to make you misinterpret this. But I AM proud of myself, I DO love writing, and sometimes it's hard not to smile like an idiot about it.
I love exclamation marks! I LOVE them! I use them! I pepper my emails and Facebook posts with them!! I can't stand to not use them! Am I overusing them?!? Probably!
I read an
article that said you should use no more than 2 to 3 exclamation points for every 100,000 words of prose. 2 to 3?!? Per 100,000 words?!? That's like tying my writing hands behind my back! GAWK!!
Is it possible that I can write with such an appalling lack of enthusiasm for my subject? Can I really write an email response:
"
Thank you for your help." instead of my preferred "
Thank you for your help!"
Doesn't a person need some enthusiastic thanks? It seems so glib and glum to say "
thanks" instead of "
thanks!" or the even better "
THANKS!!"
Is it possible to update my status with:
"
My application to school is finished." instead of "
My application to school is finished!!"
The answer, sadly, is yes. But it begs the question:
How much enthusiasm is *too* much? (sorry, * * are my favorites too).
F. Scott Fitzgerald cautioned: "Cut out all those exclamation marks. An exclamation mark is like laughing at your own jokes."
...... oh...... well, true confessional here, I *do* laugh at my own jokes. Sometimes I can't even tell a joke without laughing at myself.
But am I doing myself a disservice by my overuse? Absolutely!
In the words of one
blogger:
Too many exclamation points dizzies the eye and weakens the words.Even in this modern age of e-communication, we can still be mindful of the appropriate, and moderate, use of punctuation. Obviously, what we use in our manuscripts can differ greatly from our casual everyday typing on blogs, emails, FB, Twitter, etc., and while we can hold ourselves to a lower standard of punctuation, we should still be mindful of minding our colons, semi-colons, apostrophes, and the ever-popular exclamation point.
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I want to hug you. I get this stuff all the time, and it's so annoying sometimes. Other times, I know the person is genuinely interested and knows nothing about writing so they're just curious. Those people, I'm less sarcastic with.
Sounds like fun. Wishing you luck. :P
Argh, yes. Annoying. But that GIF at the end is just...awesome. I'm just going to like that pin forever.
spot on!