News and Tour Wrap Up

So MY PLAIN JANE has been out for two weeks, and I (and the other two Janies) have been getting all the love!

In the first week we went on an amazing tour in which we:

Met a real live HEDGEHOG named Pixi Sticks in Salt Lake City!

Answered a lot of fun questions and performed a bit of MY PLAIN JANE (with costumes!)

(Thanks to the Fabulous Book Fiend for the fun video from our Denver event)

Almost melted in Phoenix, but we kept right on laughing

and then we returned to Salt Lake City, where the three of us sat down to start writing our next book, MY CALAMITY JANE. It was business as usual for the Janies:

And then something AMAZING happened:

MY PLAIN JANE hit the New York Times bestseller list!!!!!!!!

Needless to say, it was an amazing two weeks, and thanks so much to everyone who came out and supported us. We have the best, most enthusiastic, hilarious readers, and I love you all so much!

If you're feeling a bit cheated because we stuck to the western United States this time, and you live on the eastern side, we have good news. The Janies will be meeting up in August in Virginia to finish writing MY CALAMITY JANE, and while we're there, we'll be doing two book events. The first is at Barnes & Noble Charlottesville on Saturday, August 4th, at 12pm.

And the second will be at One More Page in Arlington on August 7 at 7pm:

So come and see us there! We promise that we will perform for you, too!

In less exciting news, I just sent copyright infringement takedowns to a huge amount of piracy sites. This depresses me so much. Please don't steal my books. At this stage, every single sale of MY PLAIN JANE counts so much, I can't emphasize enough how much it matters. The Janies and I would really like to keep writing books together, but we can't do this if our sales aren't good enough. So please don't pirate!

On that note, I have some awesome news. MY PLAIN JANE is, as of this week, available at Target! But this is no ordinary version of the book. This version has a whole EXTRA CHAPTER at the end, like an epilogue to our epilogue. The Target version of the book is the only place you can get this extra content (which we had so much fun writing!), and they have only printed a limited amount of these, so once they are all sold, they're gone.

So run to Target, people! (Or you can get it online here.) And have a good laugh with us about the invention of the double date.

Thanks again for all the love for MY PLAIN JANE. 

XOXO
Cynthia (and the Janies)

On Tour

As I write this, we're 1 day and 22 hours 26 minutes from the launch of BOUNDLESS. WHEEEEEEEEEE!

I am so excited to share this book with you!

Anyway, tomorrow I am heading off to Utah, where on Tuesday I will be having an awesome LAUNCH PARTY / SIGNING / EVENT with the amazing and talented Brodi Ashton, whose book EVERBOUND (book 2 of the Everneath series) is coming out the same day as BOUNDLESS. Brodi is a kindred spirit and a good friend of mine, so I can think of nothing better than us having our book launches together. Here's the skinny: The King's English, SLC, Tuesday 1-22, 7pm. Be there.

And then we'll be headed off to Idaho together to do it all over again in Idaho Falls. We'll be doing a barage of school visits in Idaho Falls and then a launch / signing / event at the Idaho Falls Barnes & Noble on Friday night, the 25th, at 6:30 p.m.

And THEN we're driving across the state to Boise to do an event at Hyde Park Bookstore at 4pm on Saturday!

See my facebook page for invites and details to all of these events, and my Events tab above for all the other great places I will be stopping by this winter and spring. Hopefully I can catch up with you somewhere!

1 day 22 hours 21 minutes! Squee!

In Which I Inundate You With News and Cool Stuff

Hello, y'all! I've haven't been around the blog much in the past couple of months. I was tired. Then I was sick. Then tired again. Then sick again. It was a lot of sick and tired.

This is what happens when you finish a series.

But there's a lot happening in the next few weeks, and I have to get off my butt now and tell you all about the great stuff that's coming:

1) RADIANT! Is coming out! In 2 days! To celebrate (and because it feels kind of weird that this is ebook only, therefore my fans won't have anything tangible in their hands when they buy this book, I am going to do a little promotion. THIS WEEK ONLY, buy or pre-order a copy of RADIANT, take a screenshot of your screen confirming the purchase (here's an awesome page with instructions on how to take a screenshot, if you don't know), email me (writercynthiahand@gmail.com) the pic along with your mailing address, and I will send you a little autographed special something. So you will have something to hold in your hands.

note: If you buy on Amazon, there is a little tab where you can email me saying you purchased the book directly, if you don't want to go through the trouble of messing with the screenshot, but please remember to add your address to the email.

Here's my screenshot. Yes, I just bought my own ebook. I may have to give myself an autographed special something now.

2) BOUNDLESS is coming out, in like 50 days! I will be having a special promotion for that too, but I'll tell you about that later.

3) TOURING! I will be doing a whirlwind of touring this winter for Boundless. Check my events tab for the full details, but in a nutshell I will be going to:
Salt Lake City (UT)
Idaho Falls (ID)
Boise (ID)
New York City (NY)
Huntington Beach (CA)
Decatur (GA)
Cary (NC)
Cambridge (MA)
Washington D.C.
Redondo Beach(CA),
Thousand Oaks (CA)
Jackson Hole (WY)
Kansas City (MO).
And that's just what I know about so far!

4) UNEARTHLY is dirt cheap right now! (Well actually, it might be cheaper than dirt. I mean, have you seen the prices of high-quality dirt these days? I'm just saying) Ahem. The ebook version is only 2.99 for the next few weeks, so if you haven't started the series yet (or you know someone who you think would like it), now is a very good time!

5) HALLOWED is coming out as a paperback. . . the day after Christmas! However, it's not a hard release (meaning that the bookstore can put it out whenever they get the shipment) so you could check before Christmas if you want to give it as a gift (or buy it with Christmas money, which is what I always do. . .). You can pre-order the paperback here. Here's the link for the Hallowed audiobook, if you know someone who likes to listen to the story.

Wow, I'm kind of light-headed after all that shameless self-promotion. I should go do the dishes now. There's nothing that will put you in your place in the universe faster than scrubbing dirty dishes.

*Rolls up sleeves.*

Signing off.

Title for Book 3

I've been a bad blogger. People are always asking me how I juggle all the balls in my life: writer, author, mother, wife, professor, blogger, housekeeper, laundress, cook, dishwasher, etc, and my answer is always the same:

I am always dropping one or two of the balls.

Blogging is a ball that's been left on the floor for a while now. I hope to pick it up again soon. Right up there with housekeeping. :)

Right now I'm on the road, a combination research/publicity/family vacation kind of trip. This past week I've been at Stanford, interviewing students and hanging out the way I did with Jackson Hole High School when I was writing Unearthly and Hallowed. I lived near Stanford a few years ago, and worked at the Stanford Cancer Center as a "social science research assistant" for a while there, so it's a pretty familiar place, but let me tell you, going there with the writer's cap on, trying to understand the university the way Clara would see it as an incoming freshman, has been so fun and and the same time overwhelming! Special thanks to Estella Go, especially, for showing me around and answering all my endless questions! You rock!

On Thursday I did a signing at Not Your Mother's Book Club with Brodi Ashton and Bree Despain, which was awesome. I love those ladies. We laughed. A lot. And Brodi occasionally went completely blurry, she's so quick-witted. See, here's the proof. And here's me in my new purple glasses trying to sound like I know what I'm talking about. It was awesome.

Later this week I'm off to The Dalles, Oregon for an awesome event with 11 other writers on June 2. See the sidebar for details.

And then I'm headed to Boise for a couple of days and then to my dad's mountain house to revise Book 3 while my dad takes my son on long tractor rides.

Oh, wait.

I don't have to call it Book 3 anymore.

It has a TITLE.

And I've been given the green light to tell you that title!

So I suppose I should get on with it!

Okay, here's the definition:

adjective

having no bounds;  infinite or vast; unlimited: His ******** energy amazed his friends.

Synonyms 
limitless, endless, unbounded, inexhaustible, illimitable. 

Can you guess?

What's that you say? Stop stalling and just tell us? You've been scrolling down frantically ever since you saw the subject line of this post.

Okay, okay. 

The title is (deep breath)

Boundless

I am so happy with this title. Like all of my titles, I like that it works on multiple levels, each that can be applied to what happens in the book. Because what happens in this book is VAST, people.

Yay titles!


BOUNDLESS is still (fingers crossed) on schedule to be released in January 2013. I know that's a long ways off, but I still need some time to tinker with it.

In honor of this big reveal I also want to share a song that inspired me as I wrote this book.

Sigh. I love this song. When I listen to it I always imagine it being sung to Clara by Christian AND Tucker, alternating with the lyrics.

Here are the words:

I'll sing it one last time for you
Then we really have to go
You've been the only thing that's right
In all I've done

And I can barely look at you
But every single time I do
I know we'll make it anywhere
Away from here

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

To think I might not see those eyes
Makes it so hard not to cry
And as we say our long goodbye
I nearly do

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

Slower slower
We don't have time for that
All I want's to find an easy way
To get out of our little heads

Have heart, my dear
We're bound to be afraid
Even if it's just for a few days
Making up for all this mess

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Sigh.

Uh oh. The kids are awake now. Time to go.

Oh, but there's one more bit of news:

THE AUDIO FOR HALLOWED IS NOW AVAILABLE. Click here for the Audible.

And now I go back to juggling.

Spring Into the Future

So I haven't blogged in a while. Sorry.

I pretty much exhausted myself finishing this draft of Book 3. Writers often talk about "the fainting couch," where you go after you finish a particularly demanding draft for a certain recovery time. Boy, did I ever need the fainting couch after finishing this draft.

Only, I didn't really do the fainting couch this time. I took one day to clean my house. And then I set out to really live it up with my kids. Poor little people spent so much time watching videos and being shuttled off to daycare while I wrote and wrote and wrote, so I figured they could really use some fun, special time. So that's what we did. We went to children's museums. I took my son to Disneyland, where we had an entirely pirate-themed day. We went to the farm, the beach, an assortment of parks. I made it my goal to do something super fun with them every day.

A few days ago, my son asked me, "Mommy, how much longer can we have fun?"

Me: "I don't know, honey."

Will: (big sigh) "I hope we can have fun forever."

Me: (big sigh) (because I know the revision letter from my editor is coming. Soon. And then it will be back to the grindstone.)

So yeah, I didn't feel much like blogging.

Then I went to RT (the Romantic Times Book Convention in Chicago!) That was AWESOME. I will totally recap all about it in a couple days.

Then (and I mean like the minute I got off the plane from RT, seriously) I got sick with a nasty cold.

Which brings us to now. This morning I can breathe a little. The kids are eating their lunches. And I am BLOGGING.

I have a lot to catch up on, obviously.

First things first, though, I need to announce that I am part of the Spring Into the Future tour with Tahereh Mafi (author of SHATTER ME), Anna Carey (author of EVE), and Veronica Rossi (author of UNDER THE NEVER SKY). Tahereh was sweet enough to ask me to do their event in Pasadena (since I live thereabouts), and then we noticed that we were all going to be in Chicago the following day, so she asked me to join them there, too. It was a blast. I am a HUGE fan of all three of these ladies.

Anna Carey, myself, Marie Lu, Tahereh Mafi, and Veronica Rossi signing books at Vromans in Pasadena

So I was so honored and thrilled to be asked back to be part of the Pacific Northwest leg of the tour.

Here are the dates and information:

May 3, San Francisco, signing at 7pm at Copperfields in Petaluma.

May 4, Portland, signing at 7pm at Barnes & Noble in Clackamas.

May 5, Seattle, Teen Brunch at 11am at the University Book Store, Mill Creek.

So come see me! I will be doing some other events a bit later in the summer. Keep checking my sidebar on the blog here for future events.

In other news:

We have an official title for Book 3. I am just waiting for the greenlight to tell you. I have also seen a mock-up of the cover, and I can honestly say, it is my FAVORITE of all my covers so far. It is GORGEOUS. Swoon. I loves.

I am working on a new project. Which has been lots of fun. It is a completely different world and voice from the Unearthly series, and that is pretty much all I can tell you about it. See my progress in the sidebar, also.

Hallowed Giveaway and News

Hi y'all. The YA tournament was so much fun! Whew!

I am up to my eyeballs in writing Book 3 right now, deep deep deep in my writerly cave, so I am taking a wee hiatus from blogging, but I want to announce a couple things.

First, I am hosting a Hallowed Christmas giveaway on Goodreads.
See here to enter (I don't think it officially opens for a few days, so check back):

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Hallowed

by Cynthia Hand

Giveaway ends December 25, 2011.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Enter to win

I also wanted to announce a few tour stops. First, I will be in Idaho in January. I'm still nailing down the details, but I will be doing school visits in the Jackson Hole and Idaho Falls areas mid-January (definitely a reading at the Idaho Falls Barnes and Noble on Saturday, January 21. I will announce the time as soon as I know). I am also considering traveling over to Boise and down to Salt Lake City around this time, so stay tuned.

In February, HarperTeen is sending me to Texas on the Winter Dark Days of Supernatural Tour, with the lovely Courtney Allison Moulton, author of Angelfire and my hilarious horse-loving friend and fellow angel writer, and debuts Brodi Ashton (Everneath) and Jodie Meadows (Incarnate). I am so thrilled to be spending time with these ladies. Dark Days is awesome!

Here are the dates and times:

Thursday, February 16th – DALLAS – B&N Southlake – 5pm

Friday, February 17th – AUSTIN – B&N Austin – 7pm

Saturday, February 18th – HOUSTON – Blue Willow Book Shop – 4pm

In March I plan to do a few stops in my local area of Southern California, hopefully a reading at Pepperdine in Malibu and a few school visits and signings in Ventura County and Los Angeles County.

In April (11-15) you can catch me in Chicago if you attend the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention, for Teen Day, where I am on a panel, doing some speed reading, and signing and hanging out with a huge bunch of wonderful fellow YA authors. Seriously. So many amazing writers are going to be there. Like I will totally have to resist fangrrling all over the place.

That's all the stops I have planned at the moment. But there will be more. Oh, there will be more.

In the meantime, I'm going to go back to my cave and continue to scribble furiously.