Happy Halloween

People have sent me numerous emails this year telling me that they are going out with Generation Dead themed costumes (yay!). Supposedly, there will be hordes of Karens,Phoebes,Taks, and even one Mal out there on the streets getting treats.

Sometimes people will provide the evidence, like S. did here with her awesome Margi costume:



Other times people will send me evidence of their zombification, as BlueMonkie here did:



Have a safe and happy Halloween! White vans don't have candy!

True Tales of Terror

Tomorrow I'll have a guest post at totalbookaholic dot blogspot dot com. Jessica, who runs that fantastic site, asked for a true paranormal story so I gave her one.

Be advised that it is kind of scary. And true.

Seriously.

I like Pretty Pictures

This was done by Leti, a reader from Spain who tells me that Beso de Vida will be available there on October seventh! Thanks, Leti!

Know Your Goals: Or, the Thrilling Story of My Facebook Profile Picture

I changed my Facebook profile picture the other day. I think I've been on Facebook a couple years now and I've been blogging about a year after that. It is the only time I have ever changed my picture, and quite likely I will never change it again. I'm impressed and amazed by the frequency that most people change their profiles, but I just don't have the energy. For that, anyway.

Here's my new photo, which my wife took of me two years ago:



While this might look like a casual snap of me staring off into space or taking a snooze, it was actually a very staged photo, one that was a celebration of sorts for my wife and I. It was meant to look like this:





That's Don Was,a musician and music producer.It is an advertisement for a brand of speakers. One of the tag lines, which you probably can't see, is "Was at Work". I ran across this advertisement in a magazine when I was out of college working various dead-end jobs, and sort of became a little obsessed with it. I'd long known by this time that I wanted to be a novelist, you see, and that advertisement (shallow of me, maybe) helped me conceptualize what my vision for my life would be. I told my future wife Kim that the advertisement spoke to me in such a way, and I was fortunate that she bought into that vision, going as far to write the company to see if she could get me a poster of the advertisement. The company did not have any posters, but they were kind enough to send a color photocopy of the advertisement on heavy card stock.

Now, don't get the wrong idea when you look at these photos. My personal vision for my life was not to just sit around in a tropical paradise, napping whenever I chose. What kind of fool would want that for a life? I was going to work countless hours every week pursuing that as a goal?

Well, not exactly. I still work seventy hours a week. When I'm writing, I like working seventy hours a week. I'd work more if I could. But sometimes that work requires that I stare off into space; as the writer Jack Ketchum said, and I often quote, "Sometimes staring at the wall is writing!"

My vision was to make writing my work, and from that work, achieve certain forms of autonomy. The autonomy to work where I wanted. When I wanted. With a dress code that included bare feet if I so chose. But most importantly; the vision was to create and to bring something forward that others could experience and possibly enjoy and find interesting. The kicker of the advertisement was that Don Was had just won a Grammy. Despite appearances, this was not a lazy man. At least, that was how I chose to read it.

I should mention that I carried the advertisement with me for over a decade before my wife took the similar photo of me. That's a lot of seventy hour work weeks in between, but that was how many it took for me to feel like I'd achieved at least enough of my vision to not feel like I was lying to myself by replicating the photo.

Inspiration and motivation are where you find them. I've had the photo nearby my desk ever since I first saw it, and I'll take it out every so often, when things are going good, when they are going bad, when I need to be reminded just why it is I do the things that I do. And now every time I log into Facebook, I'll be reminded of what it feels like to fulfil, even momentarily, one's vision.

And then, once it is fulfilled, create a new vision...






My next vision for myself will include having hair like Mr. Was's in this photo...

Wherin I Enter the Digital Age and Give Away a Signed Passing Strange

I finally, finally got a Kindle. Love it. Whoever guesses the very first book I downloaded will recieve a signed copy of Passing Strange.

Hint: befriend me on Facebook so you can see all the wrong guesses there--improve your odds of winning!

Hint #2: My books are only available in the U.K. on Kindle

Book Tour Thanks

Thank you to everyone who came out to meet us on the unRequired Reading tour, and thanks to Hyperion/Disney and all of the great bookstores and event coordinators for putting it together--it was more fun than anyone has a right to have.

And thanks especially to my fellow authors/touring partners, who in addition to writing wonderful books were just all around spectacular, funny and wonderful people. If you didn't catch us on the road, the books and their respective authors are:

Tweet Heart - Elizabeth Rudnick
The Half-Life of Planets - Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin
The Ghost and the Goth - Stacey Kade
Carter's Big Break - Brent Crawford
A Field Guide for Heartbreakers - Kristen Tracy

If you haven't checked out their work yet, what are you waiting for?

Passing Strange Trailer Contest!!!!!

Check out http://www.girlslife.com/post/2010/06/10/passing-strange-contest.aspx by clicking the blog title above!


Here's your chance to direct your own mini-movie!


GL and Hyperion Teen are looking for you to showcase all of the exciting drama of the new book Passing Strange by creating your own video trailer.



Give readers a taste of the conflicts and drama awaiting Karen in the book, and all of the inevitable complications for this not-so-typical high schooler. The top video selected by Girls’ Life and Hyperion Teen will premiere exclusively on Girlslife.com! Plus, the lucky leading lady will score a makeover from a MAC artist!


ENTER TO WIN:


Do you ever wake up and just feel like a zombie? Uh, yea—everyone's had one of those days (or try several)! The winner of the Passing Strange Video Trailer contest will score a makeover fit for a starlet. She'll get her makeup done by a professional MAC artist and will pick up up to $200 worth of MAC product. The best part? Your video will be featured on Girlslife.com in a video poll. Now a prize like that is sure to zap a zombie back to life.



ABOUT THE BOOK:



In Passing Strange (out now wherever books are sold), all-American teenager Karen DeSonne faces more than the usual high school drama—she happens to be dead. Her troubles only multiply as she finds herself caught up in a high-profile scandal— new anti-zombie regulations that have forced nearly all of Oakvale’s undead into hiding.


Obtaining enough evidence to expose this sinister plot means doing the unthinkable for Karen: Betraying her true love and becoming the girlfriend of the one guy she truly cannot stand—Pete Martinsburg. Karen’s only hope is that the enemy never realizes who she really is—because the consequences would be even worse than death.


HOW TO ENTER:


What is a book trailer?

Videos are the newest way to promote the hottest reads. Called book trailers, they are similar to movie trailers, in that they are designed to build interest in an upcoming or current novel and are used to encourage people to buy the book the trailer is about.



What’s the difference? A movie trailer already has visual images to work with—clips from the film. With a book trailer, the maker (that’s you!) has to convert the written words into a fun visual.


How to create a great book trailer:


The trick is to convey a sense of what the book is about without giving away any juicy deets away.


Most book trailers run from one to two minutes and can be anything from someone reading a passage from the book to an elaborate mini-movie.


Here are some links to book trailer examples we like:
Generation Dead trailer by the author
Generation Dead trailer by a fan
Another Generation Dead trailer by a fan


Here’s how to make yours, step by step
1. Get your BFFs together or go solo.
2. Learn it! CLICK HERE to download the script for the Passing Strange trailer.
3. Decide how you want to put your trailer together.
4. Video your best one to two minute book trailer by following the script You can use the video cam on your cell phone, digital camera, camcorder or computer.
5. E-mail the file (10M or smaller, please) to passingstrange@girlslife.com or upload to facebook.com/girlslife.
6. HURRY! ALL VIDEOS MUST BE IN BY 7/15/10.


THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT:


We’ll announce the winner on 8/1/10 by featuring the trailer on every page of our site! So put on your director’s hat, get in the zombie mindset and good luck.