Shannon Hale's Blog

Back! Good trip! Exhausted. But good. Once again I was a lame-o and
forgot most of the time to take photos. Recapping book tour is so hard.
A million things happen and picking out significant moments seems
impossible and arbitrary too, and I always worry that anyone I don't
mention will feel like I consider them less significant, which isn't
true! So here are my few photos (mostly phone photos and so not top
quality) and a few details.

In Baltimore I spoke at some schools and signed at...

View full post on Shannon Hale's website »

East coasters, I'm headed out your way next week. (tangent: does anyone remember the show The Great Space Coaster? I can't remember anything about it but the song). I'll be in Baltimore, DC, and Philly. See my events page for details. It's going to be a busy 5 days, with 4-5 events each day. Yikes! If you come see me, I'll tell you what my super secret project is in person, as long as you promise not to blog about it.

rapunzel's revenge won the 2009 Leah Adezio Award for most kid-friendly...

View full post on Shannon Hale's website »

My two-year-old prefers me stinky and greasy. I know this because she finds ways to punish me anytime I take a shower. She pulls all the books off the shelves, empties clothes hampers, cleans out cupboards. Her favorite area of terror is in my bathroom. As she wreaks havoc, I'm helpless, watching through the glass, desperately trying to rinse the shampoo from my hair. It's a horror movie, without the knife. I shout over the sound of water for her to stop, please stop. But she knows there's...

View full post on Shannon Hale's website »

A movie I'd been looking forward to opens this weekend in NY, UT, CA, TX, FL, and MD. Gentlemen Broncos is the latest from the Hesses, who did Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, and this film focuses on a young writer and his scifi novelist mentor. I've watched all the behind-the-scenes vids on the Gentlemen Broncos site. My favorite is Sam's Smoothie. (love Sam Rockwell!) There's a scene in the movie at a writers conference about how to name characters that nearly brought me to tears...from...

View full post on Shannon Hale's website »

I'll be at All Tucked In bookstore in Bountiful, Utah this Thursday at 6 pm.

While in DC, I filmed an interview with the wonderful Reading Rockets. These ladies are fabulous, and it's always so invigorating to meet people so committed to books and kids. I had a great time. This was filmed after a full day at the National Book Festival and walking a few blocks in the rain without an umbrella. So I peeked at the interview and was vainly elated to see that I didn't look too bad! Yes, that was...

View full post on Shannon Hale's website »

Nathan Hale's Yellowbelly is interviewing Dean (love of my life, apple of my eye) this week. Check it out--special Halloween episode!

We're working hard to finish up Stage 1 of Der Secret Project before November. It takes up a lot of my life these past months. Soon I will have much to report! 

The conversation with Sara Zarr at the library was fun. When we asked how many people there wanted to be a writer, almost all the hands went up. So we talked a lot about process. Then Sara said something...

View full post on Shannon Hale's website »

Today I'm proud to host fellow Utah writer Sara Zarr! Sara's writing career got off with a bang when her first novel, Story of a Girl, was a finalist for the National Book Award. She followed that with the award-winning Sweethearts. Her latest is Once Was Lost. Sara and I will be "interviewing each other" (yeah, we're a little unsure how that works too) this Saturday, Oct. 24, from 4:30-5:30 at the main branch of the Salt Lake City library. It's part of the Utah Humanities Book Festival. As...

View full post on Shannon Hale's website »

I'll be on VoiceAmerica radio program Thursday. You can see the website for details. The program's theme is Strong Women Characters and the other guests are Meg Cabot, Kristin Cashore, and Diane Gabaldon. Meg has a great post about it--love her. And I agree that the host, Matthew Peterson, was super great.

Also, I've neglected to say that book of a thousand days is now out in paperback! (and has been for a  month...sorry) 

Three more weeks (I think) till I can reveal my super secret project...

View full post on Shannon Hale's website »

So, we've kind of got this recession going on, and I don't know anyone who hasn't felt it, but add the book business to the list of those treading water. As this industry is obviously close to my heart, I'd like to make a plea--buy books. Please buy books. I don't mean mine, just any. If you aren't already, consider becoming that person who only gives books as gifts. Birthdays, holidays, whatever.

As December approaches, fill up your shopping list with books. And consider buying those at...

View full post on Shannon Hale's website »

Friends of Lulu nominated rapunzel's revenge for two awards! There's online voting, if you go for that sort of thing.

I'll be attending the Costume Ball charity event for the South Jordan Community Theatre on Friday. This is a ticketed event to raise money for our local community theater. Tickets are still available, and there will be an auction, including (embarrassingly enough) lunch with...me. Yup. This was not my idea, obviously. There is no good outcome for me. Either it will be...

View full post on Shannon Hale's website »