Upcoming Events & Videos from BEA & ALA

Today, I realized that if I want to finish the bartender book by the end of August, I will need to write approximately ten pages a day for five days a week. This is incredibly intimidating. But then I got some wise words from fan/friend, Justinne: "Just don't think about it." She pointed out that I won't have fun writing if I focus on that and she is very right.

So tomorrow I leave for my cabin in the woods for a week to begin the 6 week crazy stretch of writing that is ahead of me. My goal: to enjoy it. And hopefully make my personal deadline.

As a result, I won't be online or blogging much until September, but I'll try to check in at least once a week.

I will also emerge from the writing cave to do a couple events. So if you want to see me, you should come to these!

Next Friday, July 23rd, I will be at 57th Street Books in Chicago doing a panel with the always hilarious James Kennedy and Julie Halpern and Matthew Cordell (who are probably also hilarious, but I don't know them like I know James). Our topic is "What's the Worst Thing That Could Happen?" So we'll be discussing the worst case scenarios in publishing (like having an event and no one showing up, as James and I experienced this spring or your editor switching houses or your publisher not promoting your book at all) and how to get through them. So this is a must-see for writers and aspiring writers and people who just want to be amused by James. Also there will be books on hand and we'll be signing.

Then the HUGE YA event that I have been looking forward to all summer is happening right outside of Philly in West Chester, PA on August 21st. It's the PAYA Fest, organized by Harmony of Harmony Book Reviews and Bring YA to PA fame. I will be doing writing workshops (including offering manuscript critiques) and signing with a 15 YA authors including one of my authors BFFs Jeri Smith-Ready, my BEA/ALA buddy Amy Brecount White and fellow TFC blogger Josh Berk. You can find out all the details and the full list of authors here.

I've got some stuff coming up in September in Forest Park and Aurora, so check out my events page for more info.

For those of you who weren't able to attend BEA and ALA, there are some videos up now that will give you a taste of the experience.

My panel on "Young Adult Authors Crossing Over" with Jennifer Donnelly, Michelle Jaffe, Melissa Marr, and Jeri Smith-Ready is up on Book Expo Cast and you can watch or download the whole thing here!

And fabulous children's author/blogger/podcaster Katie Davis made a movie about the ALA conference, asking lots of authors, bloggers, and other attendees about which fiction character they would work for. It's pretty funny so check it out:

Well, I'll leave you with that! Now I am off to pack for my writing retreat! (And if you didn't hear about my retreat, I blogged about it at MTV Books here.)