Thoughts on Copies

It probably won’t surprise you to know that I own a lot of books.  It probably also won’t surprise you that my child is now at the age where she wants to pull all the books off the shelves.

What has surprised me, though, is that I don’t care.  I’ve never really cared when my child makes messes, because they can be cleaned.  But I also don’t really care to protect my books from her.  I don’t really care if she destroys them when I’m not looking.  (I’m also not going out of my way to get them destroyed, so I do take them away from her when I see, but I’m not particularly concerned about their fate if she does rip them to pieces before I can get to her.)

Other people seem very concerned about my books.  I say my house is pretty baby proofed.  They look at my books and give me knowing glares.  But when I say baby proofed, I mean I’ve eliminated most things that could hurt her.  The safety of the books wasn’t really a consideration.

Here’s the thing.  If my books get destroyed, I will throw them out.  Then I will have fewer books, and more space.  And if I really care that much about a particular book, I can replace it for a few dollars.  (The exception is the gaming books–I care about those, because we use them regularly and they are much more expensive to replace.)

And that’s got me thinking about the nature of copies.  In book publishing, there is no original work, only copies of a thing.  I value books; I value stories; I value information.  But the individual copies that I own I don’t value beyond their cover price.  So while it’s not like I’m handing my books over to be chewed on, I also am not going to be upset if the corners get soggy and the pages get ripped.

I’ve already read the stories.  Now they’re just copies of words, taking up space.  And copies of things are replaceable.

Catching Up

Um, remember that giveaway from a week ago?  Yeah.  I’m finally announcing winners now.  Sorry about that.

Kristy and Gaby, there are ARCs coming your way.  I will email you shortly for addresses and stuff.  Thanks to both of you, and to everyone who spread the word about the book.

I also neglected to link on Friday to Katherine Longshore’s Friday  Five, where I talked about snack foods, adjectives, and other things.

If you’d rather listen thank read, I guested in an episode of Writing Excuses, where we talked about pitching books.  (I have since figured out that no, my book is not available in audio yet.  Sorry about that.)

And lastly, here is a picture of a  flower.  Because every day needs more of those.

teamTEENauthor Dare Day Challenge

Today is the quarterly teamTEENauthor Dare Day, or the day in which we must complete dare challenges and then post them for all to see.  Here, therefore, is a video of me putting extra chunky peanut butter all over my face.  (The dare was only to take a picture, but I figure if a picture is good, a video is better.  And we only had chunky peanut butter in the house.  Yeah.  I should have bought creamy.)

For the record, editing together this video (because my camera kept shutting off randomly) was more embarrassing than the peanut butter escapade.  And despite my predictions, I didn’t in fact break out.  Maybe peanut butter is good for the skin, as well as for getting gum out of hair.

Over at Julie Cross’s blog you can find not only an ode to her celebrity crushes (and you can consider me a ditto on everything she says about them, although I was a Brandon Walsh girl, myself) but also a giveaway for lots and lots of books, including mine.  

If you haven’t had enough, good news!  You can find more Dare Day posts today by the other members of teamTEENauthor.  Here are some links.  Hope they work.  If they don’t, well, that’s embarrassing.

Laura Ellen

Elizabeth Amisu

Eugene Myers

Erica O’Rourke

Mindee Arnett

Kimberly Sabatini

Hilary Weisman Graham

 

 

Dear Teen Me

Whew.  I got to this week and now my schedule looks normal again.  I couldn’t be happier about that.  There are a couple of things still coming up on the blog this week–my favorite of which is a guest post I wrote for Dear Teen Me.  Their blog specializes in letters by authors to their teen selves, and I’ve loved it for a long time.  I’m so excited to be able to contribute.

Also don’t forget to enter last week’s giveaway, which goes through tomorrow.   It’s easy–all you have to do is tell someone in a non-spammy way about CHASING THE SKIP.

And, because it’s still been warm here despite already being October, I took some pictures of flowers last week.  Here’s one:

Thanks, Everyone!

Thank you to everyone who came to the launch event last night, and especially to the awesome folks at The King’s English for a great event.  If you’re in the area, you really need to stop by their store.

Also, thanks to everyone who tweeted and talked about the book.  It felt so good to see the word spreading.  And of course, thanks everyone who bought the book.  I hope you enjoy it!

I neglected to link yesterday that I have a post up over at Mary Robinette Kowal’s blog about my favorite thing about CHASING THE SKIP.  Have I answered that question in six different ways by now.  Feels like it, but at least it means I’m not repeating myself.  Also, don’t forget I’m giving away my last two ARCs.  You can enter until next Tuesday.

Here’s some pictures from last night.  I couldn’t have asked for a better launch event.  Thanks again, everyone!

 

I have a book! Spread the word giveaway!

Um, hi.

My book is out.

It’s no longer sitting on my computer waiting for me to revise it, or sitting on some editor’s desk, or sitting on MY editor’s desk, or waiting waiting waiting forever to be published.

It is out.  People, if they are so inclined, can buy it.

That feels pretty surreal to me.  To celebrate, my husband pulled out a bottle of Martinelli’s that had been sitting in our cabinet for nine months.  Because that’s how we roll.

But I feel like celebrating some more.  So, let’s have a giveaway, shall we?  I have two ARCs left, and I’d love to give them to you.  (Well, one of them to one of you, and one to another of you.)

To enter, tell someone about CHASING THE SKIP.  You could tell them in person.  You could post about it to Facebook, or Twitter.  You could pin it to a board on Pinterest.  (Do I sound like I don’t know what I’m talking about?  I don’t use Pinterest yet.)  You could blog about it.  I know how that works.  We’ll go through next Tuesday, the 9th .

You could, if you want, do all of these things, because you’ll get one entry for every way that you help spread the word about the book.  Just tell me in a comment how many ways you chose to tell people about it.  (And I probably don’t have to say this but please be polite and considerate and don’t spam, okay?  Everyone hates spam, especially me.)

Also, if you’re not tired of links, I have some interviews up today, talking about technology and workspace on Cynsations, my favorite things over at Leanna Renee Hieber’s blog, and ridiculous binaries with Saundra Mitchell.

I’m going to do my best to make the rest of today a normal day.  Don’t forget, though, about launch event tonight at The King’s English in Salt Lake.  I’ll be there at 7.  If you’re local, I hope you can make it.

A Giveaway, and Some Reviews

Hey, all.  The book comes out tomorrow.  I fully expect tomorrow’s post to look like link salad, and here’s a preview.

Adventures in YA Publishing has included CHASING THE SKIP in their giveaway for this week.  You can enter over at their site, and also read about my favorite thing about the book.

I have a post up today on the Apocalypsies blog about CHASING THE SKIP’s path to publication.  That slice of my publication story is by far the nicest, smoothest part.

Also, the Deseret News did a nice article on Sunday about the book.  Here’s the review from their website.    And another review from Elitist Book Reviews, on why the reviewer liked it even though he would never have picked up a book like this.

And, because I, too, am tiring of all the links, here’s a photo of a flower.  Enjoy.