SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS has been out in the world for a couple of weeks and I have been amazed and humbled by the wonderful feedback it’s gotten. So many reviewers have loved the book and while that’s so gratifying, I have to say that reviews from young people provides the kind of validation that authors really appreciate. To that end, I’m so excited to share this awesome video review by Ric of Ric’s Book Reviews.
Thank you so much to Ric for reading and talking about SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS (and totally getting the book!). “A beautiful book that’s masterfully written.” No higher praise!
But Ric isn’t just a great reviewer but an excellent interviewer! His questions are so thoughtful and smart – it’s a true pleasure to be interviewed by him. Watch the interview he did with Lisa McMann and I about our connections, working together, our books, and more:
AND check out Ric’s great review for Lisa’s latest, CLARICE THE BRAVE:
Well, friends, it’s been a week already. Whew! I’ve been so incredibly overwhelmed with the book love (and author love!) that I’ve received already and as I’m writing this, it’s only Wednesday. I’ve been so consumed with this book and getting the word out, that I actually forgot to do a release day post.
Here it is, just a day late. Still counts and now I can include some of the assorted media and posts.
In case you’re new to these parts, my book, SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS came out yesterday (October 12). *throws confetti*
Here are a few of the celebrations – first with the upcoming things so you can hurry to register/get your ticket.
October 14 at 7pm PST/10pm EST is the triple-author launch extravaganza in partnership with Changing Hands Bookstore.
Event details are here. If you purchase one of my books as part of your ticket, you’ll get a signed bookplate and one of these cool wood and paper bookmarks.
NOTE: Changing Hands Bookstore is in the US but they will ship anywhere. Ticket price includes US shipping.
If you are in Canada and would like to purchase a book and bookmark directly from me, please head on over to my Etsyshop.
October 20, 11:30am – I’ll be doing a virtual public reading from SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS and will then be discussing the book and doing Q&A with award-winning author and psychiatrist, Tziporah Cohen. Free but registration is required. Sign up here.
And here’s some media/posts about me and the book:
The Nerdy Book Club – The story behind SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS – includes a giveaway open until October 19.
A post I wrote about how Jewish funerals are inherently green funerals over at L. E. Carmichael’s Cantastic Authorpalooza.
More to come but until then, I hope you’ll join me at one of my events. If you enjoyed reading SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS, please support the book by giving it a review at Goodreads and/or the place you bought it. More importantly, please pass it along to someone else who may enjoy it.
If you’ve read this far, you are the best. Thank you.
Hi again! If you’re familiar around these parts, you probably know that I went to Arizona last week for the Tucson Festival of Books and in doing so, participated in the ARIZONA ROAD TRIP OF AWESOME (ARTOA), but you may not have known about all the hijinks I got up to. So in the interest of entertaining you, here’s a little recap post with some fun pictures. It was an AMAZING trip and if you’re at all able to go to the festival next year, I highly recommend it, although hopefully, the weather will be a bit nicer. Arizona owes me some sunshine-we Canadians don’t get near enough, especially in March, so I’m a bit sad that I didn’t get my fair share on this trip. That said, it was still a great time, as you can see below.
First, as on every good road trip, we had a great driver, the lovely and safety-conscious Lisa McMann. She’s a very good driver and not just on the driveway. After she picked me up, we also collected fellow road-trippers, A.S. King (referred to hereafter as ‘Amy’) and Z Brewer.
All road trips require food and this one was no exception-we had a great dinner with some Phoenix area friends.
L to R – Z, Faith, Amy, Robyn, Me, Amy Dominy, Jim, Lisa
After the dinner, we headed over to Changing Hands where we sat with a full crowd for Amy’s event. She engaged the audience with her readings and great stories.
Then we tried on hats.
She’s a good egg. Get it? She’s got a chicken…never mind.
Never before has a flamingo been so regal!
Is there something on my head?
And as it turns out, someone was celebrating a birthday during the ARTOA
It’s the birthday girl!
On Friday, it was off to Tucson, but first, we made a stop at Casa Grande for some school visits. Lisa, Amy and Z headed to the high school and I had the extreme pleasure of meeting up with the wonderful Jennifer Nielsen and we did two school visits together. For this newb, it was a high honor indeed to get to present with such a funny, engaging professional.
Jennifer presenting to a riveted crowd, while I sweat it out, waiting for my turn.
Reading from THE FALSE PRINCE
Hiding behind my book. Kids are scary! I’m just kidding. Kind of.
Don’t those books look good together?
And then we were off to Tucson. While Amy, Lisa and Z jetted off to a swanky dinner, where I heard they had steamed burgers (that can’t be right?) Jennifer and I were joined by the lovely and hilarious Elizabeth Eulberg. We ate at this place that served the biggest bowls of food I have ever seen. Seriously, that was A LOT OF FOOD. Then we got freaky weird fortunes. I would share them with you, but I have since lost them, and anyway, what happens at Pei Wei, stays at Pei Wei.
Saturday was all about the Tucson Festival of Books. It was a cold, drizzly day, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the many book lovers who came out.
“This here itinerary I’m reading from is so awesomely detailed and helpful. Whoever put this together is clearly a genius.”
“Tomorrow’s my birthday and I hope to have a cake THIS BIG.”
I started my scheduled part of the day off with a signing at the Mostly Books booth with Lisa. Jody, Tricia and the other staff were great – thanks for hosting us! While there, I sat next to Hilary Davidson and through chatting, we realized we’re both from Canada – only an hour apart. Hilary now lives in New York, but still, how cool is that?
Yes, it’s dorky, but seeing my name up there on a cool sign got me all emotional. You know you’re special when someone puts your name on a sign that isn’t just a scrawled whiteboard. Anyway, the 1pm panel was great and very well attended. Somehow, Lisa got me to tell one of my most embarrassing high school stories. I’m not going to tell you what it was, because what happens in the Kiva Auditorium, stays in the Kiva Auditorium (thankfully). Our moderator, Gail, kept the questions coming and engaged the audience in Q&A-thanks, Gail!
Thank you to my author host, Maylan!
My second panel was all about writing humor. My co-panelists were Linda Urban and Elise Broach, two fine ladies I’d never met before. I do know Linda from Twitter, but it was especially nice to meet her and Elise in person. It was kind of weird meeting my co-panelists just minutes before our session, but very quickly, I realized they were professionals and we’d be great. We got many thoughtful questions from the audience and it went very well. Thank you to moderator Jennifer for the excellent questions and keeping everything running smoothly.
Linda Urban, Elise Broach and Me.
I also got to meet Tom Leveen again (we met very briefly at NCTE in November) and the lovely Erin Lange, a fellow Apocalypsie. We share the same publisher and even editor, so it was great to meet up. We didn’t have a lot of time to chat, which was a bit sad, but means I just need to return to Arizona again.
Thanks to everyone who made the ARTOA truly awesome.
Hi. I hope you’re doing great! I’m heading out for a ROAD TRIP OF AWESOME this week. What makes a road trip awesome, you ask? Well, let me share some cool stuff I’ll be doing:
Going to A.S. King‘s event at Changing Hands in Tempe Arizona on Thursday (if you’re in the area, you should absolutely come!)
This is just the busy, writer related stuff – I’ll also be doing some serious R&R and of course, book buying.
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED – Congrats to Melissa Roske!
But before I go, I have to pack for the trip. Of course I only have so much room, but I have like a zillion Sharpies! How to choose? YOU are going to help me. Pick from the colors below and tell me why I should take that color of Sharpie to sign books with. Just leave a comment below and you’re entered to win a copy of YOUR CHOICE of SIGNED/PERSONALIZED book by one of any of the authors listed above (or you could get some extra brownie points and pick a signed personalized copy of my book, but if you don’t I understand. I mean, look at those other authors!).
Sound like the easiest thing ever? Yeah, pretty much. And if you tweet, Facebook or otherwise tell your friends about it, I’ll give you an extra entry, just make sure you let me know in your comment what you’ve done. Because I’m not rich, this will have to be a North America only contest (sorry friends from Norway and other lovely places abroad!). AND you only have until this Wednesday, March 6 at 23:59 EST to enter so I can pick a winner and organize the prize.
Here’s what you’re choosing from?
Left to right: bronze, Kermit green, black, teal, sky blue, purple, red, orange, indigo, pink, forest green. Don’t forget to tell me WHY you picked that color.
Okay, ready? GO!
*Jennifer also has an event at Changing Hands on Wednesday, which I will unfortunately not be able to attend, but if you’re in the area, go and say hi for me. Tell her I’ll see her Thursday.
Welcome to KidLit Cares, an online talent auction to benefit the Red Cross relief effort to help communities recover from Superstorm Sandy. KidLit Cares was started by the very awesome Kate Messner, but I’m taking over Round 2. Agents, editors, authors, illustrators and other generous people have donated various services to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, with donations being made directly to the Red Cross disaster relief fund. You can read more about KidLit Cares here.
Now, on to the auction!
Lisa McMann is the New York Times bestselling author of the middle-grade dystopian fantasy series The Unwanteds and the upcoming Infinity Ring book 3 (The Trap Door), as well as bestselling teen novels including the Wake trilogy, Cryer’s Cross, and Dead To You. She lives with her family in the Phoenix area. Read more about Lisa on her website at http://lisamcmann.com. Or better yet, be her friend on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.
From Lisa: This auction is for an in-person visit to your school, library, or bookstore anywhere in the continental US (48 states & DC), or Hawaii, or one of four cities in Canada (Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Toronto) in the 2013 calendar year. I’ll take care of my flight, hotel, meals, and I’ll waive my speaking fee. I’ll need an experienced adult driver to cart me around to/from airport, hotel, and event. Pack in the whole school for an assembly, book fair, and/or signing, or bring me in for your 10-person book club to hang out and talk about books-audience size doesn’t matter to me. I can work with grades 3 and up for The Unwanteds series and/or Infinity Ring, and grades 7 through adults for my teen books (Wake trilogy, the new Visions series, Cryer’s Cross, and Dead To You).
Opening Bid: $100
This auction closes at 10pm Eastern Standard Time on November 23. Any bids placed after that time will be void.
If you’d like to bid on this auction, check the current high bid and place a higher bid by leaving your name and bid amount in the comments, along with some way to contact you (email, FB or Twitter…I’m not fussy.) Winners will be notified when the auction ends and should be prepared to make an online donation to the Red Cross Disaster Relief fund in the amount of the high bid at that time. After you’ve made your donation, you’ll forward your receipt to me, and I’ll put you in touch with the person who donated the service you won so that the two of you can work out the details about how and when. All services will be provided at the convenience of both the person making the donation and the auction winner, but this should happen within three months of the auction’s end unless something else is agreed upon by both parties.
Good luck and thanks for your help!
Tip: if you’re bidding, you may want to subscribe to the follow-up comments, so you can get notice of future bids. Subscribe via RSS on the right. —>
