What's in store on squeetus in 2014 (spoiler: a lot)
2014 is going to be a crazy year for me. Some highlights.
January - I turn 40. Bring it.
February 11 - Austenland releases on DVD/Blu-ray.
March 4 - Dangerous publishes. This is the book I first sold with a synopsis in 2005. It was a complicated book, and I spent a lot of time and a lot of drafts on it, also letting the Austenland screenplay, Midnight in Austenland, and Palace of Stone come first while I untangled and rewrote. I'm so excited and so happy with this book. I've heard people call it "Hunger Games meets The Avengers," which is very complimentary IMO but I think does give a pretty good idea of what kind of story to expect. I hope you guys love this one. I'm incredibly fond of it. Always a risk to genre-hop but I'm so happy I did.
March 25 - EVER AFTER HIGH: The Unfairest of Them All publishes. This is the second EVER AFTER HIGH novel, cover reveal to come. FYI I don't have any part in the merchandise, i.e. dolls, clothes, etc., or the games and webisodes (I'm not that cool!). But I've really enjoyed writing the novels to help tell the story of the clever and playful world Mattel created. Here's a lovely article in Kirkus Reviews about the first book.
June 24 - SPIRIT ANIMALS 4 publishes. This is the series that started with Brandon Mull's Wild Born, and a different author is writing each book in the 7-book series. TItle and cover announcements to come!
July 15 - EVER AFTER HIGH 3 publishes. TItle and cover announcements to come! This one is going to be so fun. Dean has been helping me with Ever AFter High 2&3 (it'd be too much too fast for me to do alone) and we're having a blast with this one.
October 14 (I think) - The Princess in Black! The first book in my and Dean's early chapter book series, illustrated by the phenomenal LeUyen Pham (pronounced Lay-win Fam). I've seen the final art (full color illustrations each page, 80 pages long) and I'm trying not to FREAK OUT with excitement. Oh heck, I'll just go ahead and freak out. OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHYOUGUYS!!!
So...yeah, five books in one year. I did work on Dangerous for years, completing it over a year ago, and Princess in Black is short. But still. I never, ever, ever after imagined I'd see 5 books in one year. I'll be on the road a lot in 2014, doing two book tours as well as conferences, festivals, etc., so I'll see many of you! Tours TBA.
ps. Princess Academy 3 (title and cover TBA) will probably pub March '15.
pps. I've got lots of TBAs so check back here. My new year's resolution: blog post each Monday. What's yours?