Emmy Laybourne's Blog, page 7

Are you Fierce enough (to come hang out with us?)

Hello dear friends and readers!

The Fierce Reads tour kicks off tomorrow and it’s going to be incredibly fun. At each stop, Anna Banks, Leigh Bardugo, Jessica Brody and myself will discuss our books, answer questions, give each other a wonderfully hard time, sign books and have some very serious fun.

If you live in or near any of these cities – please come out – you will not be disappointed!

FIERCE READS SUMMER TOUR 2013

Tuesday, June 4 – Portland, OR

7 PM • Powell’s Books

Cedar Hills Crossing • 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd. • Beaverton, OR

Wednesday, June 5 – Las Vegas, NV

7 PM • Barnes & Noble

2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. • Las Vegas, NV

Thursday, June 6 – Denver, CO

7 PM • Tattered Cover

Highlands Ranch • 9315 Dorchester Street • Highlands Ranch, CO

Friday, June 7 – Boulder, CO

6:30 PM • Boulder Bookstore

1107 Pearl Street • Boulder, CO

Saturday, June 8 – Omaha, NE

2 PM • The Bookworm

8702 Pacific Street • Omaha, NE

Sunday, June 9 – Dallas

2:30 PM • Irving Public Library

401 Cimarron Trail • Irving, TX

Monday, June 10 – Edmond, OK

2 PM • Best of Books

1313 E Danforth Road • Edmond, OK 73034

Tuesday, June 11 – Memphis, TN

6 pm • Booksellers at Laurelwood

Laurelwood Shopping Center • 387 Perkins Extd • Memphis, TN 38117

Wednesday, June 12 – Miami, FL

7 pm • Books & Books

265 Aragon Avenue • Coral Gables, Florida 33134

Thursday, June 13 – Tampa, FL

7 pm • Barnes & Noble

11802 N. Dale Mabry Highway • Tampa, FL 33618

Saturday, June 15 – Boston, MA

2 pm • Cambridge Public Library

449 Broadway, Teen Room • Cambridge, MA 02138

Sunday, June 16 – Madison, CT

4 pm • RJ Julia

768 Boston Post Road • Madison, Connecticut

Tuesday, June 18 – New York, NY

7 pm • McNally Jackson

52 Prince Street • New York, NY

*Drinks afterward at local bar*

Wednesday, June 19 – Toronto, ONT CANADA

7 Pm • Indigo Yorkdale

3401 Dufferin Street • Toronto, Ontario

SKY ON FIRE Blog Tour!

On Monday, I’ll start a ten-day blog tour to spread the word about SKY ON FIRE. I will be visiting with some of the best YA bloggers out there – just read the list below to see. And I’ll be discussing everything from Max’s crazy stories, to the film deal for MONUMENT 14, to why Wolverine, yes, WOLVERINE, is my favorite Avenger. Scandalous, I know.

On EVERY tour stop there’s a giveaway! What? Yes! EVERY stop. That means you have a whole lot of chances to win your very own copy of SKY ON FIRE and other Fierce goodies.

Monday, May 20

Squeaky Books

The 8 Weirdest Things I Googled While Writing SKY ON FIRE

Tuesday, May 21

Reading Teen

An exclusive interview where Max breaks through for a moment to give his version of how MONUMENT 14 would have started if he’d been telling the story…

Wednesday, May 22

Melissa’s Eclectic Bookshelf

Melissa and I go deep and discuss the challenges of creating a large cast like the one in SKY ON FIRE.

Thursday, May 23

Book Haven Extraordinaire

Here’s where Wolverine comes in… Also, we discuss the trends in Apocalyptic genres and my secret dream to live in The Dells with Fire…

Friday, May 24

Chick Loves Lit

Find out what was playing in my earbuds as I wrote SKY ON FIRE.

Monday, May 27

Jean Book Nerd

My good friend Jean asks me some really good, tough questions about my life as a writer.

Tuesday, May28

MacTeenBooks

Exclusive information about the MONUMENT 14 MOVIE DEAL! Oh yeah!

Wednesday, May 29

Princess Bookie

Princess Bookie’s got some things to say about SKY ON FIRE…

Thursday, May 30

YA Romantics

Exlusive interview in which I give details about the short stories Dress Your Marines In White and Jake and The Other Girl, discuss the wide age range in the M14 series and also divulge the contents of my purse!

Friday, May 31

Adventures of a Book Junkie

I wrap up the tour with a great interview with Stacee – she pitches a wicked speed round!

NOTE: I’m still finalizing a couple of the posts, so it’s possible some details might change…

Giveaway to celebrate M14 release in the UK!

Friends!

Monument 14 will be released in the UK tomorrow – April 2! I’m so absolutely delighted. To celebrate, I’m giving away a UK edition of M14. While I love my Feiwel & Friends cover – the UK edition, published by Hodder Children’s, a division of Hachette, is sizzlin’.

For the next day or so, you can see this cool countdown on the UK teen site Sugarscape.

I’ll send along a tote bag, some rubber wrist bands and some stickers with your book, too! Check it:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

v

Author Video for UK release of M14!

My excellent UK editor, Naomi Pottesman, asked me to tape an author video for Amazon.UK. When I asked if it should be serious or funny – she instructed me to do it straight. She said they’re marketing this as a serious thriller.

So… I sent them three takes. Two serious – one goofy.

Guess which one she chose?

Emmy Laybourne Author Video

Twitter Chats with Fierce Reads Authors announced

MacTeenBooks has announced a series of Twitter chats with the main 4 authors for the summer Fierce Reads tour and guess who’s one of them? Yep – good old me. The first one will be on March 4 at 9 pm with author Jessica Brody. If you haven’t read her excellent book, “Unremembered” – you have just enough time. Haul a$$ to the library and check it out today. This would be a good time to follow me on Twitter, too. I give away loot each time I reach 500 followers and I’m almost there…

I’ll be in the NY Teen Author Festival!

Attention my NY and East Coast peeps — I’ll be participating in the NY Teen Author Festival in March!

It’s a thrilling line-up and I feel absolutely honored to be among such great authors like Gayle Forman, David Levithan, Diana Peterfreund, my fierce comrade Jessica Brody, among many, many seriously, MANY others!

I will be on a panel and doing a signing. Check it!

Friday March 22, Symposium (42nd Street NYPL, Berger Forum, 2nd floor, 2-6)

4:40-5:30: Alternate World vs. Imaginary World

Description: Of these authors, some have written stories involving alternate or parallel versions of our world, some have made up imaginary worlds for their characters, and still others have written books that do each. We’ll discuss the decision to either connect the world of a book to our world, or to take it out of the historical context of our world. How do each strategies help in telling story and developing character? Is one easier than the other? Is the stepping off point always reality, or can it sometimes be another fictional world?

Sarah Beth Durst

Jeff Hirsch

Emmy Laybourne

Lauren Miller

E. C. Myers

Diana Peterfreund

Mary Thompson

Moderator: Chris Shoemaker

Sunday March 24: Our No-Foolin’ Mega-Signing at Books of Wonder (Books of Wonder, 1-4):

(There are tons more authors – but here’s my time slot:)

2:30-3:15

A.S. King (Ask the Passengers, LB)

Emmy Laybourne (Monument 14, Macmillan)

David Levithan (Every Day, RH)

Barry Lyga (Yesterday Again, Scholastic)

Brian Meehl (Suck it Up and Die, RH)

Alexandra Monir (Timekeeper, RH)

Michael Northrop (Rotten, Scholastic)

Diana Peterfreund (For Darkness Shows the Stars, HC)

Lindsay Ribar (The Art of Wishing, Penguin)

Rainbow Rowell (Eleanor & Park, St. Martin’s)

Kimberly Sabatini (Touching the Surface, S&S)

Tiffany Schmidt (Send Me a Sign, Bloomsbury)

If you have some MONUMENT 14s you’d like signed – or if you have wrangled yourself an ARC of SKY ON FIRE and would like me to sign it, please drop by!

This is such an exciting festival, I’m going to go ahead and give you the complete listings. Come out, join in and have some fun!

2013 NYC Teen Author Festival

http://www.facebook.com/NYCTeenAuthorFestival

Monday, March 18 (Mulberry Street Branch of the NYPL, 10 Jersey Street b/w Mulberry and Lafayette, 6-8):

I’ll Take You There: A Change of Scenery, A Change of Self

Description: In their recent books, each of these authors have plunged their teen characters into new places as a way of revealing their true selves. We’ll talk about this YA journey narrative – where it comes from, and what it can lead to.

Gayle Forman

Kristen-Paige Madonia

Bennett Madison

Jennifer E. Smith

Melissa Walker

moderator: David Levithan

Tuesday, March 19 (WORD Bookstore, 7-8:30, 126 Franklin St, Greenpoint):

The Only Way Out is Through: Engaging Truth through YA

Description: Pain. Confusion. Loss. Mistakes. Revelation. More mistakes. Recovery. One of the things that makes YA work is its desire to engage the messy truths of both adolescence and life in general. Here we talk about what it’s like to engage this messy truth, and how to craft it into a story with some kind of form.

Crissa Chappell

Tim Decker

Ellen Hopkins

Amy McNamara

Jessica Verdi

moderator: David Levithan

Wednesday. March 20 (42nd St NYPL, South Court room, 6-8):

Imagination: A Conversation

Description: It’s a given that authors’ minds are very strange, wonderful, twisted, illogical, inventive places. Here we talk to five rather imaginative authors about how they conjure the worlds in their books and the stories that they tell, along with glimpses of the strange and wonderful worlds they are creating at the present.

Holly Black

Lev Grossman

Michelle Hodkin

Alaya Johnson

Robin Wasserman

moderators: David Levithan and Chris Shoemaker

Thursday, March 21:

SOHO Teen night, 6-9pm (Books of Wonder, 18 W18th St)

Celebrate the launch of SOHO Teen, featuring readings by Jacquelyn Mitchard, Joy Preble, Margaux Froley, Elizabeth Kiem, Heather Terrell & Ricardo Cortés, and Lisa & Laura Roecker.

Friday March 22, Symposium (42nd Street NYPL, Berger Forum, 2nd floor, 2-6)

2:00 – Introduction

2:10-3:00: He Said, She Said

Description: Not to be too mysterious, but I will email these authors separately about what I’m thinking for this.

He:

Ted Goeglein

Gordon Korman

Lucas Klauss

Michael Northrop

She:

Susane Colasanti

E. Lockhart

Carolyn Mackler

Sarah Mlynowski

Leila Sales

moderator: David Levithan

3:00-4:00: Taking a Turn: YA Characters Dealing with Bad and Unexpected Choices

Description: In each of these authors’ novels, the main character’s life takes an unexpected twist. Sometimes this is because of a bad choice. Sometimes this is because of a secret revealed. And sometimes it doesn’t feel like a choice at all, but rather a reaction. We’ll talk about following these characters as they make these choices – both good and bad. Will include brief readings illuminating these choices.

Caela Carter

Eireann Corrigan

Alissa Grosso

Terra Elan McVoy

Jacquelyn Mitchard

Elizabeth Scott

K. M. Walton

moderator: Aaron Hartzler

4:00-4:10: Break

4:10-4:40: That’s So Nineteenth Century

Description: A Conversation About Playing with 19th Century Archetypes in the 21st Century

Sharon Cameron

Leanna Renee Hieber

Stephanie Strohm

Suzanne Weyn

Moderator: Sarah Beth Durst

4:40-5:30: Alternate World vs. Imaginary World

Description: Of these authors, some have written stories involving alternate or parallel versions of our world, some have made up imaginary worlds for their characters, and still others have written books that do each. We’ll discuss the decision to either connect the world of a book to our world, or to take it out of the historical context of our world. How do each strategies help in telling story and developing character? Is one easier than the other? Is the stepping off point always reality, or can it sometimes be another fictional world?

Sarah Beth Durst

Jeff Hirsch

Emmy Laybourne

Lauren Miller

E. C. Myers

Diana Peterfreund

Mary Thompson

Moderator: Chris Shoemaker

Friday March 22, Barnes & Noble Reader’s Theater/Signing (Union Square B&N, 33 E 17th St, 7-8:30)

Eireann Corrigan

Elizabeth Eulberg

Jeff Hirsch

David Levithan

Rainbow Rowell

Nova Ren Suma

Saturday March 23, Symposium (42nd Street NYPL, Bergen Forum, 2nd Floor, 1-5)

1:00 – Introduction

1:10-2:10 – Defying Description: Tackling the Many Facets of Identity in YA

Description: As YA literature evolves, there is more of an acknowledgment of the many facets that go into a teenager’s identity, and even categories that once seemed absolute now have more nuance. Focusing particularly, but not exclusively, on LGBTQ characters and their depiction, we’ll discuss the complexities about writing about such a complex experience.

Marissa Calin

Emily Danforth

Aaron Hartzler

A.S. King

Jacqueline Woodson

moderator: David Levithan

2:10-2:40 — New Voices Spotlight

Description: Each debut author will share a five-minute reading from her or his work

J. J. Howard

Kimberly Sabatini

Tiffany Schmidt

Greg Takoudes

2:40-3:30 – Under Many Influences: Shaping Identity When You’re a Teen Girl

Description: Being a teen girl is to be under many influences – friends, parents, siblings, teachers, favorite bands, favorite boys, favorite web sites. These authors will talk about the influences that each of their main characters tap into – and then talk about what influences them as writers when they shape these characters.

Jen Calonita

Deborah Heiligman

Hilary Weisman Graham

Kody Keplinger

Amy Spalding

Katie Sise

Kathryn Williams

moderator: Terra Elan McVoy

3:30-3:40 – Break

3:40-4:20 – Born This Way: Nature, Nurture, and Paranormalcy

Description: Paranormal and supernatural fiction for teens constantly wrestles with issues of identity and the origin of identity. Whether their characters are born “different” or come into their powers over time, each of these authors uses the supernatural as a way to explore the nature of self.

Jessica Brody

Gina Damico

Maya Gold

Alexandra Monir

Lindsay Ribar

Jeri Smith-Ready

Jessica Spotswood

moderator: Adrienne Maria Vrettos

4:20-5:00 – The Next Big Thing

Description: Again, not to be too mysterious, but I will email these authors separately about what I’m thinking for this.

Jocelyn Davies

Leanna Renee Hieber

Barry Lyga

Maryrose Wood

Saturday March 23: Mutual Admiration Society reading at McNally Jackson (McNally Jackson, Prince Street, 7-8:30):

Sharon Cameron

A.S. King

Michael Northrop

Diana Peterfreund

Victoria Schwab

Nova Ren Suma

hosted by David Levithan

Sunday March 24: Our No-Foolin’ Mega-Signing at Books of Wonder (Books of Wonder, 1-4):

1-1:45:

Jessica Brody (Unremembered, Macmillan)

Marisa Calin (Between You and Me, Bloomsbury)

Jen Calonita (The Grass is Always Greener, LB)

Sharon Cameron (The Dark Unwinding, Scholastic)

Caela Carter (Me, Him, Them, and It, Bloomsbury)

Crissa Chappell (Narc, Flux)

Susane Colasanti (Keep Holding On, Penguin)

Zoraida Cordova (The Vicious Deep, Sourcebooks)

Gina Damico (Scorch, HMH)

Jocelyn Davies (A Fractured Light, HC)

Sarah Beth Durst (Vessel, S&S)

Gayle Forman (Just One Day, Penguin)

Elizabeth Scott (Miracle, S&S)

1:45-2:30

T. M. Goeglein (Cold Fury, Penguin)

Hilary Weisman Graham (Reunited, S&S)

Alissa Grosso (Ferocity Summer, Flux)

Aaron Hartzler (Rapture Practice, LB)

Deborah Heiligman (Intentions, RH)

Leanna Renee Hieber (The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart, Sourcebooks)

Jeff Hirsch (Magisterium, Scholastic)

J. J. Howard (That Time I Joined the Circus, Scholastic)

Alaya Johnson (The Summer Prince, Scholastic)

Beth Kephart (Small Damages, Penguin)

Kody Keplinger (A Midsummer’s Nightmare, LB)

2:30-3:15

A.S. King (Ask the Passengers, LB)

Emmy Laybourne (Monument 14, Macmillan)

David Levithan (Every Day, RH)

Barry Lyga (Yesterday Again, Scholastic)

Brian Meehl (Suck it Up and Die, RH)

Alexandra Monir (Timekeeper, RH)

Michael Northrop (Rotten, Scholastic)

Diana Peterfreund (For Darkness Shows the Stars, HC)

Lindsay Ribar (The Art of Wishing, Penguin)

Rainbow Rowell (Eleanor & Park, St. Martin’s)

Kimberly Sabatini (Touching the Surface, S&S)

Tiffany Schmidt (Send Me a Sign, Bloomsbury)

3:15-4:00

Victoria Schwab (The Archived, Hyperion)

Jeri Smith-Ready (Shine, S&S)

Amy Spalding (The Reece Malcolm List, Entangled)

Stephanie Strohm (Pilgrims Don’t Wear Pink, HMH)

Nova Ren Suma (17 & Gone, Penguin)

Greg Takoudes (When We Wuz Famous, Macmillan)

Mary Thompson (Wuftoom, HMH)

Jess Verdi (My Life After Now, Sourcebooks)

K.M. Walton (Empty, S&S)

Suzanne Weyn (Dr. Frankenstein’s Daughters, Scholastic)

Kathryn Williams (Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff That Made Me Famous, Macmillan)

Shaking Off Writer’s Block

Oh my goodness, I have been having a tough time at the keyboard. I’m working on Monument 14: Savage Drift, the third book in the series and it has come very slowly.

Once I have an outline, my process is to work steadily and methodically, writing my way though the outline. I have a good outline for Savage Drift, and that’s usually the most difficult part for me, so it’s been troubling that I’ve been feeling stalled out.

Now, I have taught workshops on Overcoming Writer’s Block! I’ve stood there and given lots of advice about how to make peace with the inner critic, and to jump-start creativity, and break up a block with writing excercises.

Nevertheless, none of my tricks and tips have been working for me.

Then I ran into a friend at our local cafe this morning and she marlveled that I’m writing my third book in three years.

“Don’t you ever run out of juice?” she asked.

“Yes!” I said. “That’s exactly my problem. I’m out of juice!”

Sitting at my computer, I feel sucked dry. I’m tense and anxious. I know I have a deadline to meet, and I have maybe 1/10 of the book written.

That is not an optimal condition for creative flow, and yet I’ve been sitting here for weeks, now, expecting me to be able to turn on a magical tap.

So after I got back to my office, I closed the shades.

I took off my boots.

And I put on this song, by Ratatat. And then this song by Daft Punk.

I danced. I danced the hell out of Ratatat and Daft Punk.

I shook my can and threw my weight around. I jiggled off stress and acted like a goofball. I did not do the pony. I am not like that. But I did get down with my bad self and it’s possible I threw a little bit of robot in the mix.

This is exactly what I looked like.

I thought of strange it was to be dancing in my little office building (I rent an office from a local College). That made me laugh. I danced and I imagined how pleasing it is to the higher powers when humans stop and enjoy their bodies for a while.

I got the juice flowing. Then I sat down and wrote the first easy pages of Savage Drift. 6 of them.

I’ve decided to start every writing day on this project with a one-woman dance party.

The next time you’re blocked, give Ratatat a try and let me know how it works for you!

Let’s give away an ARC of Sky On Fire, shall we?

This loot could be yours...

Hello friends,

Of all the questions I get asked about M14, the most frequent one is: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?!

It appears that some of you feel I left things hanging, a bit.

It’s funny, because for me, the book gives a lot more information than I had originally intended. In fact, when I wrote the original proposal, the book ended soon after Niko became the leader. (I know – it would have been a short book!)

The good news is that you don’t have to wait much longer to find out what happens to the kids from Monument.

You just have to wait until June (okay, that is a ways away, actually. I am sorry about that.)

Well, ONE of you doesn’t have to wait that long, at all!

Just win this contest! I’ll send the winner a signed copy of the ARC for Sky On Fire, as well as a Greenway tote bag and some Blood Type ID bracelets you can share with your friend, or hoard for yourself, if you roll that way.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I love to skype with students, I really do.

Last week, I had the chance to connect with two classes from Morenci, MI. I was contacted over the summer by English teacher Sally Krueger, who had loved the book and started developing a curriculum around it. We emailed back and forth and decided to arrange a Skype visit. Man, was it ever fun! The kids did nail me with some hard questions, but I think I held up pretty well.



Below the article, there is a smaller article giving the sense of how Sally has used the book in her classroom. I love the idea of teachers using the book in their classrooms and I love connecting with students, so I urge educators to get in touch with me about arranging Skype visits.

Film Deal announced!

Hello friends,

Yesterday Deadline Hollywood announced that Reel FX and Andrew Adamson and Aron Werner’s company Strange Weather have optioned the rights to MONUMENT 14 and Brad Peyton will adapt and direct!

Brad Peyton and Luiz Guzman, at the premiere of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

I met with Jeff Fierson, a Producer at Strange Weather, and Brad Peyton a while back. It was a very exciting meeting, on the gorgeous campus of the Dreamworks Animation studios. Let me tell you, that campus is so beautiful, you never want to leave!

I was so moved by their perceptions of the book. Jeff expressed his take on the themes in the novel in words that could have been my very own. And Brad had already gone through the manuscript, marking it up and beginning to talk about the scenes. I got from both Jeff and Brad a sense that they felt a proprietary protectiveness about the story already — that they felt that this was their project — it had to be their project, because they didn’t trust anyone else to get it right!

It takes a lot of hard work to get a movie made. I took a class with producer Peter Guber, at UCLA and he told us, “Getting a move made is so hard that EVERYONE who makes one should get an Academy Award – just for getting it done!” It’s true. It takes real dedication and vision.

I remember at my bridal shower, my mother sat next to me as I opened gifts. Looking out at all our friends and family members who had gathered, she suddenly burst into tears. “All you want in life is for your kid to be loved!” she said.

Now, I know that a book is not a child, but sitting there with Jeff and Brad, I felt a little giddyap in my heart. These guys really do love MONUMENT 14, and will work hard to bring it to life on the screen.

God speed, film version of MONUMENT 14! Go get ‘em, baby!

Read more about it here, at Deadline Hollywood.

And if you have the time to make a comment on the Deadline page, that would be great.