Scott Tracey's Blog, page 10
June 6, 2011
New York, New York (it's a hell of a town)
This week in my YA Rebels vlog, I talked a bit about New York, and meeting some of the other Rebels (which is always a good time). Check it out!
I also tell you a little bit about the Goodreads giveaway for Witch Eyes.
June 2, 2011
Pulled in So Many Directions
Last night, I got to attend the After Dark signing with Leah, Courtney Allison Moulton, and Lisa Desrochers. The panel and signing went well, and then we got to go out to dinner. And at one point during the evening, a conversation I had with someone really stuck with me.
We were talking about how different authors operate, and how you manage everything that's on your plate. Like for me, right now, I'm working from home and doing the writer thing full time (more on that in a minute). But other people work the full time day job, have a family, go to school, and write in their free time. And then here I am, talking about how I don't have any extra time on my plate.
So how do you do it? I think the easy answer is "you make time." But that's easier said than done, especially when you have a family. Or so I've been lead to believe. I know people who write during the day when their kids are in school, or during naptime. I know someone who used to wake up an hour before her alarm so she could get some writing in. And a few people who burn the midnight oil if they have to.
And it's not just writing. Right now, I have about a million different things to do, and instead of doing any of them, I'm writing this blog post. Procrastination through blogging! A new favorite past time! I have copyedits to finish (almost done), a bunch of emails to respond to, two novels I should be working on, two guest blogs I promised to do, one interview for right now, and several for a blog tour down the road. I also need to find a job (oh the joy), take the luggage I borrwed back to my parents, and run to the post office.
Now, I can let this massive list of far too much stuff overwhelm me, in which case, I won't get any of it done. Or I can break it up into pieces (which is what I normally do). I'm a big list person, and I love crossing things off on my list. So that's another option. Sometimes, I even bargain with myself – I'll get this done, and then I can have a reward.
All in all, it's not easy. But there are Cheddar Bay biscuits from Red Lobster in the fridge, and I'm going to snack on one while I try to figure out where to start.
What about you? How do you manage your writing career?
June 1, 2011
Signings and Contests and Trailers, Oh My
If you're in the Cleveland area today, make sure you come out to see Leah Clifford (A Touch Mortal), Courtney Allison Moulton (Angelfire), and Lisa Desrochers (Personal Demons) tonight at the Barnes and Noble in Crocker Park, in Westlake, OH. The signing starts at 6:30. Hope to see you there!
The first of a couple Witch Eyes contests has gone up. This one's on Goodreads.
Goodreads Book Giveaway
by Scott Tracey
Giveaway ends June 30, 2011.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
And finally, head on over to Gretchen McNeil's blog and check out her book trailer for POSSESS. Isn't it gorgeous and creepy and everything that's right with the world? Yeah, I think so, too.
May 28, 2011
BEA Thoughts (the first few days)
It's been 24 hours since we got back to Ohio, and I spent about 16 of those hours completely zonked out. The other 8 were spent staring at this blog post, trying to figure out how to write it all.
We left Ohio on Sunday, in the early hours of the morning. As in, we didn't sleep the night before. And we took the train, which was an…experience. Not necessarily one I would repeat – especially not when I could cut 10 hours out of my commute. 
That night, we got in late (thanks to train malfunctions) and luckily caught a cab and got to our hotel in short order. And then, since we were so close to Times Square, we left to go explore. Also, one of the hilights of our trip? The water pressure and the shower in our hotel room. AMAZING. I thought about giving it a kiss goodbye when we left, but I thought that might be weird.
That night, amidst other dramas, we got to meet up with a whole bunch of book bloggers and generally fantastic people, including Mitali (co-founder of the Teen Author Carnival, and an overall rockstar), Jeffrey and Jeremy West, Kelsey Dickson, Chelsea Swiggett (who I mean, I already know, but she'd be angry with me if I forgot about her), and a whole bunch of others.
Monday was the Teen Author Carnival, and I have to tell you guys. I was BLOWN AWAY. There were so many authors, so many readers, and both Mitali and Devyn had done a fantastic job.
I ended up doing two panels, the first being moderated by Chelsea and Karsten Knight, who not only strolled in two minutes late, but set up our first question ("If you could be any breakfast food, what would you be, and why?") just so he could wrap it up by telling us all that he would be brunch, because "it's just like breakfast, but it's a little late." Chelsea asked us these really deep, tough questions, and Karsten threw us softballs. It was a nice mix. Btw, if you were wondering, in the event of a zombie apocalypse, I would title my last novel "RUN!!!"
And then the second was the Debut Author Panel. I had run up to Mitali and one point, and begged to sit next to Michelle Hodkin, but we were a chair short so I ended up grabbing the chair on the end instead. But I got to sign next to her, so that was fantastic! I also got to meet Nick James, who is another Flux author and his book comes out the same day as mine. So I was really excited to meet him, and also to snag a copy of his book (which I did at BEA). I felt like the second panel went better than the first (at least for me). We all got to talk publishing stories, and then it got turned over to the audience to ask questions, many of which were so thought-provoking. Someone came up to me later and asked, "When the hell did you get funny?" So apparently, I made people laugh. Win.
Oh! And Flux sent Nick and I these awesome posterboards with our covers on them for TAC – only someone STOLE mine before the event even started! We didn't find out until later (and I think Devyn stole Nick's, but I can't remember for sure).
There were so many authors I got to meet for the first time, and I can say without reservation that I didn't get to talk to ANY of them long enough. I've been looking forward to meeting Kirsten Hubbard and Nova Ren Suma in particular, and neither disappointed. I swear I ran into Kirsten a dozen times over the course of the week, and we were both always either heading into a line, or heading off somewhere else. Like ships passing in the night. Carrie Jones was absolutely hysterical, and Michelle Zink totally swooped in to introduce herself. (I love her!) Hannah Moskowitz is taller in person (I don't know why that's important, but it's stuck in my brain), and ALL of the Rebels are exactly like you would expect them to be from watching their videos. Karsten is a dork, Gretchen is hilarious (probably MORE funny in person), and Hannah is just as adorably scattered.
Oh, and I should probably talk about who we stayed with. In our hotel room, it was me, Karsten, Courtney Allison Moulton, and Leah all rooming together. Which is great…in theory. Less great at 3 am when you're trying to sleep and you're rooming with a bunch of dorks.
And now I definitely have to talk about Michelle Hodkin, another one of my most favorite people ever. In case you don't know, Michelle has the most amazing handwriting I've seen, and another reason I was sad I didn't get an ARC of MARA DYER was because she wouldn't get to sign it. Also, she was all dressed up and super cute. I felt like a shlub sitting next to her at TAC. She brought not one, but two assistants (her brothers) who handed out tee shirts during the signing portion of TAC. We got to hang out later that night, and have a Serious Talk about writing and publishing, while Leah, Karsten, and Courtney watched Youtube videos and laughed themselves to death.
Okay, I think that's enough for now. I'll talk about BEA later in the week.
May 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Witch Eyes
And they liked it!
"A bewitching blend of paranormal romance and intrigue." — Kirkus Reviews
You can go HERE to look through Kirkus's reviews of 125 books being featured at BEA. I think the full review of WITCH EYES is on page 57.
May 17, 2011
Book Expo Events!
So I know I've posted about this before, but I wanted to post again to give kind of a definite "this is where you can find me" post for New York next week. Odds are, if you're BEA-bound, we'll run into each other at least a few times (since I think a lot of us are excited for the same book signings).
First up is the TEEN AUTHOR CARNIVAL! It's on Monday afternoon/evening, May 23rd, at New York's Mulberry Street Library, from 4 to 7. There's going to be panels (mine is called Otherworldly Adventures: With a Bit of the Real World Thrown In), and swag, and candy, and book signings. It's definitely going to be a good time.
Here's the full author list:
Carol Estby Dagg – The Year We Were Famous
Nova Ren Suma – Imaginary Girls
Carrie Jones – Need, After Obsession, Dear Bully
Scott Tracey – Witch Eyes
David Levithan – Every You, Every Me
Melissa Walker – Small Town Sinners
Michelle Hodkin – The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Elizabeth Scott – Between Here and Forever & As I Wake
Michelle Zink – Circle of Fire
Michael Northrop – Trapped
Leah Clifford – A Touch Mortal
Nick James – Skyship Academy
Amy Fellner Dominy -OyMG
Kirsten Hubbard – Like Mandarin
Malinda Lo – Huntress, Ash
Bettina Restrepo – Illegal
Caridad Ferrer – When the Stars Go Blue
Kody Keplinger – Shut Out
Torrey Maldonado – Secret Saturdays
Hannah Moskowitz – Invincible Summer, Zombie Tag
E Archer – Geek Fantasy Novel
Gayle Forman – Where She Went
Courtney Allison Moulton – Angelfire
Susane Colasanti – So Much Closer, Something Like Fate
Andrea Cremer – Wolfsbane, Nightshade
I cannot tell you how excited I am to meet many of those authors. I've known several of them from Twitter and email and things like that, but this will be the first time meeting them in person.
Then, next up is my signing at BEA, which will be on Tuesday, May 24th, from 9:30-10:30 am. Yup, that's a whole hour I have to sit by myself and sign books if no one comes to see me. So you should come! And tell your friends! I will have snazzy, snazzy bookmarks! Who doesn't love bookmarks?
Autographing Session: Witch Eyes
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
9:30AM – 10:30AM
Location: Table 5
Event Participants
Tracey, Scott
Other than these two events, I know I'm going to try and catch the YA Editor's Book Buzz panel on Tuesday afternoon (or at least as much of it as I can), and then try to catch all the signings of people I adore and admire. 
What about you guys? What are you most looking forward to at BEA?
May 16, 2011
Rebels Vlog – Chicago!
This week Leah and I went to Chicago – she was part of the Lucky/Unlucky author panel, and I…was there to stalk the other authors. We had a great time, though, at least until we got home late on Saturday and I had to wait for everyone to stop being so loud that I could film.
May 15, 2011
Bookmarks!
If you were at the Lucky/Unlucky panel this weekend, you got a rare treat. I was walking around like a crazy person going, "Omg, I have bookmarksdoyouwantbookmarksmybookmarksbringallthebookstotheshelfbookmarksbookmarksbookmarks."
At least that's how I think I sounded in my head. But anyways, since my vlog this week cut most of the bookmarks off (and most of my head, too, but what can ya do?), I thought I would post what they actually LOOK like. You can click on each of the images to see a larger view of each side.
The design and everything was done by the fab Courtney Allison Moulton, who now has a design service for bookmarks. And they're FAB. So if you're in the market, you should definitely check her out. And if you're going to BEA, I will probably accost you about taking some.
April 26, 2011
Updates and things
It's like four and a half months until Witch Eyes will be out on shelves. That's pretty weird, as it's a book I started writing almost four years ago. Actually, it'll be exactly four years in late August/September (I can't remember exactly when I started writing, but I know it was around there).
My super awesome friend Courtney Allison Moulton (author of Angelfire) is currently offering a fantastic deal on bookmarks design. So if you're in the market and need someone to design some bookmarks for you, check her out! She did mine, as well as Leah's, and I absolutely adore them. I don't actually have mine yet, but I will in a couple of weeks!
I did a guest blog post on The Gay YA blog, talking about gay characters in YA and what I was going for when I wrote a gay character, and where I think things are heading.
Also, Witch Eyes was listed in the Big Children's Books of BEA list that Publisher's Weekly put together. I thought that was totally cool.
April 25, 2011
New Project Photobomb-tastical
So Kiersten White had the amazing idea of talking about her new WIP in the form of pictures. So I'm totally stealing that idea, because it was amazing. I'm currently working on this book, which I've taken to call HACKYSACK, because it has nine letters and because Karsten filmed a vlog with a hackysack last week (and the word has been stuck in my head).
Except for mine, I did things a little different. I figured out things that played a role in the novel, for example words like "decisions" or "chess" (those are not real examples, btw). And then I Google searched the term, and picked a picture from the first page of results. Here's the end result.
It totally makes sense, doesn't it? I'm afraid I gave away too much!
