a ya writers blog

This will soon go out to the media. Forgive the punctuation. And I'm still getting names . . .

Letter to the editor

On June 2nd I died. It seems strange to lay it out there that way, but in the days that followed I came to know the odd truth of it. In the way that my books are based on historical truth I write this bit knowing that my story of those days is also grounded in truth.

Though I cannot directly attest to anything that happened from the afternoon of that day until at least seventy two hours later I have many accounts on which to draw. The day began much like any other. I woke, showered, dressed, and went to work. Routine. Normal.

Later I was told that I hadn’t been myself. I was edgy and nervous facing a presentation I had long looked forward to. You see, I’m an author, something I had wanted to do for half my adult life. And I had a book signing for the Salem Charter School. They had chosen me as their featured author and I was honored. Students had written pieces for the night. I had helped judge the entries. I was proud of their accomplishments and rightfully wanted to congratulate each and every one of them. But something went wrong.

When I began to speak I collapsed. The term is ventricular fibrillation arrest, vfib for short. The lower part of my heart began to beat out of proportion to the upper portion of the heart. It pumped, in fact so quickly that it was caught in a flutter and stopped.

Let me tell you a little something here, a bit I have heard endlessly since that day. If I had been anywhere else in the world that day I would not be writing this piece today. My family would be without a mother, wife, daughter, sister, or friend. My fans would never know what happened in the second and third books of my series—my first book hit shelves in February— and my life would have ended then and there.

But I AM HERE.

And it is due to the actions of my Guardian Angels. Two women, Beth Simpson and Grace , performed CPR on me until the amazing crew of the Salem Fire department (Station 1 Division 1), ran across the street with an external defibrillator machine and shocked my heart back into motion. The constant supply of oxygen combined with the availability of the only machine that would have worked, saved my life.

I can never thank these individuals enough. It is because of their selfless, quick action in a time of chaotic crisis that I am alive today. I am grateful as no one can ever attempt to describe in a few meager words on a slip of paper or a computer terminal.

To all my angels, Beth and Gil of Cornerstone Books, Grace, the men of Station 1, especially Lieutenant Scott Austin, and Firefighter Robert (Bobby) Jellison, all the cardiac and intensive care doctors and nurses at Salem Hospital and Mass General, you are forever etched on my soul.

Thank you. Tiny words spoken from the HEART.
If there is a plea in any of this, it is to make sure there are more defribulator machines and the crews of saviors trained in their use, available in more places around our community. I am one of the lucky ones. I am here. I only hope that when it happens to another, that their Guardian Angels have the equipment and training to change their fate.

Kat Black
Author of The Book of Tormod: A Templar’s Apprentice

Writing is such utter coolness, but getting in all I want and need can be frustrating as hell. I remember a friend gently complaining that his son was making him crazy. "He talks, talks, talks. So much. So fast all the time. So one day I lost it and said WILL YOU PLEASE BE QUIET! And his son looked at him with tears in his eyes and said, But I have so many words!!!!"

That is how I feel today. I have so many freakin cool threads, and plots, and history that will make this story come alive that I'm about to burst. Book two is nearly there. I've said this before. It's funny, to anyone who is not used to the gazillion rewrites that it takes to put out a book, when I say I finished, they believe me. It's taken much training on my part to get my friends and family to just say congratulations and not balk when I yank it back and start fixing yet again. But the crafting is in fine form. I've rewritten the ending, er and the middle and beginning many times over. For the 300 plus pages of ms. I've literally deleted and rewritten 100 more. But it WILL be good. I'm hanging on to that thought. I don't know what to treat you with, my readers. Maybe I'll introduce you to Aine, though. If you'd like. Just for kicks.

Enjoy!
Kat

“Here, boy? What the devil is wrong?” The voice pierced my vison and as hands grasped my arms and turned me roughly, I could suddenly move and speak again.

“Cold,” I said, shaking.

“Yes. Ye are cold. Ye’re laying’ about in the wet sand. O’ course ye'd be cold. Can ye sit? I’ll help.”
It was a lass, near on my age. Her hair was a deep red, much darker than my carrot orange, and it was a snaking mass of curls that covered her face as she leaned over me.

“Aye,” I rasped chattering. But the doing proved more difficult than I estimated.

“Ye’re burning up,” she said, laying the cool backs of her hands on my face. “Who are ye? Ye’d best be getting along home now. Rain’s is about to fall and yer already ailing’.” She spoke quickly with an accent I didn’t recognize.

“Canno’. No home,” I managed through teeth that would not stop clacking together. I was having trouble focusing on the shape of her. Dark and light were fading one to the next.

“No home,” she exclaimed. “How did ye come to be here? Where d’ye think yer going? Why the devil are ye just sitting there no’ answering me?” The short and rapid questions were making my head spin. It was not only the questions she spoke but also the ones she thought. Her feelings and energy were tearing me apart.

“Stop,” I bellowed. “How in Hades can I answer ye, with all that blatherin’? God’s toes, lass, yer like a fishwife.” I held my head. My outburst seemed to draw me a bit further out of the strange haze that had enveloped me, but my guts were twisting.

She stopped and stared at me and for the first time I saw her face. It was as pale as the first light of morning, sprinkled with a shine of cinnamon. Her eyes were a brilliant blue and at this moment they crackled with pure venom.

“Blatherin is it?” I had no warning at all to prepare myself. She drew back and hit me square in the eye.

Hello peeps,

Hmmm. A question. Is it productive to share the realities a first time author is about to face or should I stay quiet and let them find out for themselves? The answer is, I kind of wish someone had braced me.

The truth is, it's harsh out there!!! Beware. There's a thing called returns.

Ick. Yuck. Bleck.

So you finally get a book to publication and you think it's all cool. Even if the chains took only one or two per store, that's a lot of stores and it adds up. You think well, eventually someone will come into that store and see it and maybe pick it up and get excited by it and buy it. So you persevere.

Then you pop into a store to try and grab a book for a present, cause the case you just bought is gone again, and you find that the store doesn't have any. Hm. But what's worse, much worse my friends, they've sent it back! Because in the three short months it's been on their shelves, spine out, no one bought it. *()*()&*(^*&%^&%^$%^$$%$%#$$#%^ What is up with that?! Vile nastiness. And the question I ask is, is it a corporate decision. Did allllll the stores get the msg to send it back? Who knew that was an option?

How is a book to make its way into the hands of kids if it's not even on the shelves?

Wake up. If I could tell you anything that is of help and you are about to publish, get your rear out there and book your own store events and school readings. Do it all for free. On your own time. Word of mouth is your best sales tool. History. At my launch - 140 books sold. At Cornerstone - 42 books sold. At Sacred Heart -25 books sold. At Cobbet Elem - 35 books sold. Personally I don't care about the numbers. Just that kids are out there reading and talking about it. I will today contact my Scholastic Fair NE. Rep who has a list of fairs booked in the region and offer to come do a read, sign, talk to the kids during the fair event.

Generate your own fanbase. Because just getting published is no longer enough. Be proactive. Before you are inactive. Good luck.

P.S.
This in no way stopped me from making it nearly through the third round of edits on A Templar's Gifts, but I did have a moment of . . . this author thing is pretty damn hard sometimes.

xoxo love you all

Hello all.

My school visit to Sacred Heart last night was so much fun. There was a panel of six authors and a group of kids from the school who had written stories for the event. This is always fun to me, but last night was special.

There was one boy who I just loved to death. He read a really, grab your attention sword fight. Let me tell you this kid is going to appear on that panel someday. Eleven or twelve and already his piece had the makings of something really unique. In fact, while the next student read I quickly changed which passage I was going to read aloud from an intro to the book and character, to an action, suspense fight scene.

Shock of shocks! It was not the teen girls that flocked to my table, but a whole crew of eager boys!!!! I love it! Boys that read. I've heard of them:] but with two boys who hate to read, I was skeptical.

Anyway, this one, Timothy just stole my heart. He was first to the table and we had a great time talking. Both he and his brother are readerboyz. If there's not a site out there for them, there should be! It's always hard to figure out how to actually sell books at these events without a book store, so we took orders and I promised to come spend a couple of hours with the kids talking books and writing, where I will personalize and sign each. But what to do about Timothy? I just couldn't make him wait. So, at the very end, when most of the folk had gone I signed my reading copy to him. Talk about lighting up the room. Let's just say, he was reading before he left the gym.

And THIS is WHY we do it.

Hope you have experiences like this.
See ya
Kat

Hello all,
Back from SCBWI and so very pumped. It always takes days to establish just what was effective and what was not. Workshops that seemed not to be at all related to what I was working on, in hindsight were invaluable. I'm so ready to dive back in. And though I can't say outright what it does to the second book, know that it is good.

For any curious and not in the know, SCBWI is the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. There are both national and regional conferences geared to meet many different needs. All offer the chance to meet and listen to amazing Children's writers and illustrators and on the regional level there are workshops you can attend that are really great way to improve your craft or just get to know others doing what you love to do. So check them out. You will never regret it.

Off to write. And oh, so happy to do it.

Cheers!
k

Yo all,
sometimes you have to just kick back, hide away and write. Do it. Yesterday in the midst of all the insanity that is regular life I was in a writer's funk. All of you in it recognize it. You want to write. You need to write. But life intrudes and puts a gazillion obstacles in your way. You gotta work. You forgot all the doctor dentist appointments and they had to be rescheduled, the taxes had to be straightened out, the bills had to be paid. Life is in a whole lot of ways intrusive to our writing and reading schedule. But yesterday I beat back.

I started out at lunch time with a bunch of things that just had to be done. Hmm. Had to eh? Writing had to be done. It is a commitment to my sanity and my editor that could, and did, take precedence. So feeling kind of strange I dropped into my local Pizzaria Uno, ordered a salad and a glass of wine, and ditched the world.

Let me tell you, if you have never done something like this, it is Heaven. A notebook and pen. No other commitments. No conversation. Just you. I hear some folks are uncomfortable eating alone. It's never been my bag. In fact I have to be careful not to disappear altogether. Lunch stretched out two hours and I hadn't even noticed. But, it was worth the hell on my return to work-a-day life. Book Three is slinking out of my brain. Slinking, because it's a tricky little thing, sometimes rushing out like a fury, and sometimes teasing me with winks and nods to future fabulousness. Not the fabulousness of the book, the writing, or me in general, but the wonder of the story and the characters who I know well, whose reaction to things always shock and amaze me.

So cheers. It's rough out there in the busy world. Stop for a moment. Smell the roses or just sit in a dark corner and lose yourself.

Life is too short not to enjoy!
Kat

Hello all!
So happy to say that the second draft of book two, A Templar's Gifts is nearly line-edit ready. It's weird and wild. AND difficult to span a story in three books. For instance, you know your character, his limitations, his thoughts, his biases, but his reactions and the reactions of new characters he encounters is an ongoing and fantastic surprise. But how do you decide, for instance, how much of the over-story to include in the middle book and how much of this book has to stand on its own. It surely is an interesting process.

To all the writers out there struggling, I am with you. To the readers, who are just meeting my books and characters for the first time, welcome. Sit down for a spell. Very nice to meet you.

Kat

When the day begins with a walk on the beach and the temp. is 50 in New England, it doesn't get much better than that. When you get a fabulous letter from someone you have never met about the book you wrote, all of the planets align. So if you are reading this Sami, thanks!

You know, I never thought it would be so hard to keep things under wraps between books. How do other authors do it??? Here I am working book three knowing what I know and wondering what next will happen, when the world out there is just coming to grips with book one. Series are tricky things. But, I wouldn't change a thing. Nothing makes me happier than to write and to read. So to all of you writers, keep writing and to all of you readers, thank you for giving me a job:]

Kat

Well, at long last there is a book in the stores! It's very strange to see it there and odder still to see my name on it. Seems kind of surreal. Gearing up for the fun now. There are events planned in Boston and Cambridge and a fantabulous party to celebrate. To my Highlights away folk - wishing all your dreams come true as mine have. Check it out!
Kat

http://www.amazon.com/Templars-Apprentice-Book-Tormod/dp/0545056543/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234059829&sr=8-1

Hello world!
Today I will blog as I'm avoiding figuring out where my characters are and what time of day it is in their world.

New saga, different month. What is a launch???? That is the question of the day. So I waited nearly all my life, well, much of my current adult life to finally get a book in print and on a shelf and I finally am there, but . . . what's up with this concept of launch or pub??? The book has a pub date of February. Friends are getting their Amazon announcement that it is imminently shipping. I haven't a clue what Scholastic is doing, or has done with it, but I see it on all kinds of websites, even in Polish. So. . . they are working their rears off, but no one is telling me anything. Hmmmm. I am a laid back author. I will just do the second and third book and get on with life, but would SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT TO EXPECT!!!!

Ok got the first crap review. A stunner since I had only gotten the sunshine blown at me up till then. Major meltdown, if anyone is interested. DAMN AND HELL!!! You bust your rear, do your ultimate best, crank and work a gazillion hours so you can meet a deadline and then some (person) and that is my niceness coming out, says you basically suck. You don't know how to build a world and you're inconsistent and a miserable excuse for an author (ok I put that in), but WTF??? Did they do it? Did they research for a gazillion hours and try to tie history into fantasy and keep it all smooth and running at a good pace??? Nooooo they did not. I get that it is their job to trash what I've done. That maybe they had a crap day, in a crap office or worse they really believed what they wrote to be true. Yeah, I'm stinging like crazy with that part. But in case any of you are ready to face this, IT IS MISERABLE.

Onto other things. I just googled, being an insecure bookaphobe and found to my wonder that my book has been chosen as a Jr. Library Guild Selection. This to the non-informed (like me) is a ticket to wonderful. It means, basically that someone believes in me. That they, cough, like me. And there I thought only my editors felt that way. It means that some unknown entity will now possibly add 40,000 to my print run and tell the world I'm not too bad. I LOVE YOU LIBRARY GUILD. Eat that Kirkus Reviews.

Enough. I will, as the great Jane Yolen mandates, let it go. maybe. possibly. God I'm a wimp.

Ciao my favorite folk!
Hope all your dreams come true. Write and write and write some more. No one can take that from you.!!!!!

Kat

Hello,
the world is an insane place, but all of you know that, so I'll focus on what's happened since last I hit this application. I am currently heavily into edits of the second book. As I have pegged it, I've got the skin, muscle, and tissue, now I have to go back and grow bones. This means that I have the basic book with plot and characters, now I have to weave in the historical back story and rework and refine the characters and their relationships while somehow making the end work toward the series arc. Think that's easy? Not. But, it is possible and uniquely intriguing to me, so that's that!

Working backwards, the highlight of the year is the arrival of my very first hardcover book! Came from Scholastic two weeks ago and it's sitting on my piano. On the first day I peeked in and looked at it about 25 times. Now I just greet it when I get home in the evening:] Very surreal. As is planning a party to follow my very first launch at a bookstore. Now if only the bookstore would call back it would be perfect! There are two very amazing and pinch me wonderful online peeps who have chosen to talk about the book before it's even out. Very weird, that. I'll post the links here in case you are interested.

http://www.kidliterate.com/2008/11/16/looking-ahead-the-book-of-tormod-a-templars-apprentice-by-kat-black/

http://www.alan-ya.org/2008/11/alans-picks-november-2008/

This is all too fun! Off to do real work in the scary real world. Hope you all have a fabulous day and pop off to your independent book store and buy something amazing to read. We have to keep the world moving ahead.
take care,
Kat

So as you can see, if anyone in the whole entire universe is reading this blog, I can't commit. Trying, but life intrudes.

Updates:
Book 1 has been sent out for ARC's. Advanced Reader Copies for those who haven't come across that term. This is a surreal experience, somewhat tainted by the fact that Book 2 is already past due and I have not finished it. Blah. But on the other hand, it is feeling somewhat fantastic at the moment. It has all the rough jewels needed for the story to be quite good. It just needs some strong polishing. New faces. Hot chases. Forgive me, I had to help my son with his poetry assignment last night and all my thoughts now rhyme. The jacket for book one is shaping up to be cool as hell, not that it wasn't from the start, but now it's got the splash of real to it. The interior looks really impressive and overall I am wowed.

I will be speaking for nearly the first time next Friday at a local school. Looking into candy bars I can make with the launch date and image on them. If I can't win them with the prose at least I'll have their sweet tooth(es) covered. It's their last day of school, so it should be a good time. They don't want to do work and have to be there anyway. I can't wait. Hope I'm not nervous! Luckily, I know a bunch of these kids and one of them will be my own, so he can whack any that get unruly.

Off to actually earn a living.
Ciao!
k

I am a terrible, horrible blogger. There, now I've said it and can be done with it:] I am vowing, with crossed fingers behind my back, to do this more often. It does get away from me.

What's new in the world? So many things. Fun, crazy, normal, whatever. First, there is a first round of jacket art on The Templar's Apprentice. So freakin' exciting. It's by a fabulous artist, Scott Fischer. If any would like to see his art check out the site at www.fischart.com. I'm going to attach the jkt, if I can possibly figure out how. Not very savvy yet. Another application to figure out. I think it is amazing and crazy to think that this is going to be real.

The fun and ultra weird thing on this is, the celtic knotwork Scott, whom I've never met or corresponded with, used on the jacket top and bottom is absolutely the celtic tattoo on my back. How do you key the twighlight zone music? Of all the things he might have blindly chosen! I found the design for my tattoo in a book of ancient scottish gravestone borders. Another freak. The woman who did my tattoo, two years ago, had the same design reversed out of a cuff on her wrist. At the time we thought it completely odd and a sign that I was where I was meant to be. Seems again fate is giving me a nudge.

Maybe I'll tell you about some of the other weird coincidences, if I haven't before. Right place at the right time, right? When I finished the first draft of the first book I wanted to have it vetted by a Templar scholar. I contacted the masons of Boston, who put me in touch with the Mass. Templar historian. I had already researched and established that a good part of my action would center on Balantrodoch, the scottish preceptory that was and still has presence at Rosslyn, as in Rosslyn Chapel. It turned out that this man was good friends with the Templar heirs, the Sinclair family, who own the chapel.

Back story on that: I found Rosslyn long before the DaVinci Code in an Element book. Felt the need to go to Scotland. Trecked there, boarded a city bus to a remote area 25 miles out of Edinburgh and found the place. To say that I was moved, awed, excited is the mildest of statements.

Anyway. If I get back, which I intend to as soon as the book is in print, Michael, the historian promised me an introduction and the mason tour with the brothers Sinclair.

I'm getting off kilter.

Cooincidences: 1. Met the historian I needed to meet. 2. His link to the Chapel and grounds so vital to the book. 3. My car broke down near home. Shortest way to walk was through a cemetery I'd never walked through. Key ripple of skin. Turn head. Off the main road I go. To a Templar monument that should not have been there. 4. While walking in Marblehead I passed an old estate that I was drawn to. On the gate was the words Carcassone. In Carcassone France I had written that the Templar, Alexander, was imprisoned. 6. The Templar historian invited me to his investiture. Lost, as usual in a city I'd never been to, in the rain without contacts. I pulled into a dark parking lot to call for help, as I usually did when dreadfully lost. Only to find the lot I'd pulled into was the Temple. 5. Tattoo

I GET IT MEN! I'M TELLING YOUR STORY. THANKS FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT!

Here's to coincidence and fate. May they play a very large part in your world.
Kat

Bleck I don't know how to attach my image. Casey the queen will help I know it. Back at ye later.

Well the date on this will be the same as the last post - ignore it. That post was last week and bombed on me. Today as I opened to try again, it magically reappeared. Anyway . . .

I have the ms. back for the gazillionth time. Last ending is nearly complete. I have to applaud my fabulous editorial team because they still, um like me, and are brilliant and insightful, as I no longer am. Today I intend to polish it to a fine sheen. Kudos go out to the Wolfman for his unflagging enthusiasm and fab ability to add detail and catch the animals I have used that are not indigenous to Britain! Nice job man.

Hope the world is treating you all well. I cannot wait to dive in and see what silly redundancies they have caught this time around. Hooray! I feel like we are nearing some kind of finish line.

take care,
Kat

Life is insane as usual. Exciting. Hectic. Normal. Chaotic. I'm sure you all know how it is. So . . . news. Well check out the illustrator Scholastic is considering. I think he's mad fantastic! www.fischart.com His adult/ya stuff is the style they love. They wanted to capture not only the historical fiction/fantasy but the gamer look as well. I'm so psyched! His illustrations are just gorgeous.

I've rewritten the ending three times now and in a total and utter flumox. I kinda know how it has to go, but it's not coming in any sort of eloquence. *()*()*) I'm sure you who write understand what I mean. I literally had to take the weekend off and read some of my favorite authors to remember that I can do it and should do it and have to and will do it. But at the moment it's all . . . bleck!

I'm going off now to read a fantastic book by Nancy Farmer, Sea of Trolls. I started it Friday and it has rejuvenated me. If that doesn't work I'm back on Outlander. There's something about the lyric feel of some author's writing that just blows me away.

See ye on the light side.
Today I reside on the dark.
k

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm happy to pack it in. If I missed someone, so be it. I don't want to see the mall for another year. It's been so frantic that I nearly missed all of the holiday spirit. So, here I am, burning Christmas CD's to give out at my party on the eve. I feel very guilty about this. I usually have them done late, but I can't even mail this year. All I can say is, deadlines are tremendous things.

I've been remiss about my two pages a day, but luckily when I get in a stall I type what's been written. Since I have two notebooks that still need transcribing I think I can procrastinate for at least another week:] Bad, bad author.

I hope you are all having a fantastic season and are writing frantically. Don't forget to breathe this crazy season and sit back to watch It's a Wonderful Life. It seems to put me back on keel every time — that and reading Outlander. To any who don't know that is my favorite read again, and again book. Character. Such a small word, but so very important. When you are pulled into a book in seconds by the random connection you feel with an utter stranger you know it's good. I can only hope that my guys can accomplish it for others.

Well, have the best of the season! Toast up with me on Christmas Eve. I'll be the one with the pink drink. Raspberry cosmopolitan. mm-mm.

Happy, Happy, Merry, Merry!
take care
Kat

New resolution: to post more regularly.

Things that might impede this goal: The world is a mad insane rush. I find myself caught between a rock and a hard place. So you all know I have two more books to write. First draft of book two is due in May. Yikes. And I figured I'd have plenty of time since my nearly full-time freelance boss retired. But, things don't always go as you might think. Turns out, I have more freelance offers than possibly before. It's a predicament. How do you say no thanks to money the family obviously could use? Not like I'm not broke right now. We put off the advance arrival until Jan 1 to stave off the tax man. And Christmas is all on American Express. . . yikes again. So here's the scoop, got three proposed freelance designs in works. Regular job. Write two novels. Do all the things that make life possible for two boys and husband which include all the dopey housework, shopping, cooking, laundry. Each boy has two sports teams and everyday is filled with at least three hours of carpooling nightmare. Hmmm. Someone tell me how you handle? Need to clone me and put myself to work. And I need *ss glue to actually force myself to do two hours of writing a day.

Hmm. The resolution may be the first thing to go. Of course, along with the laundry and dishes. That's all I can come up with.

Happy Holidays!!!
Kat

Sorry so long away. Been quite busy trying to keep up with my regular world and do the books as well. This weekend was very cool. I took a friend's invite to an opening at the Eric Carle Museum, featuring Spiderwick, from book to screen. It was a show of Tony DiTerlizi's illustrations combined with the movie scenes and sets and scripts. Really amazing stuff. There was a panel, kind of like Inside the Actor's Studio, but it was the author, Holly Black, Tony D., and horrible to say I can't remember his name, but the cinematographer with a moderator. Excellent. But, what was completely odd but not out of character for those who know me, was that I introduced myself to a complete stranger who happened to be a movie guy. He had so much great information and stories about Hollywood I could have talked to him all night. It was awesome. His tip was to get a killer entertainment lawyer and have Scholastic pitch Tom Hanks. Apparently he's a huge history buff and looking for a series. Whahoo! How fun is that. And silly and ridiculous. Tom Hanks producing A Templar's Apprentice! I spose weirder things have happened, and I do lead a semicharmed life. File under, hmmm. . .

So my world is running with strange synchronicity these days. Eleni, my editor and I were running wild scenarios of if you could have anyone who would you love to see illustrate the jackets?

We came up with a bunch from scratchboard artists to traditional and computer illustrators. When suddenly I had a brainstorm. Who would the perfect artist be? Of course, John Howe. My absolute favorite Tolkien artist of all time. On a whim I went to his site and was tooling around when I came on a post that was headed Carcassone. For those who don't know the connection a short story. My son swims in Marblehead, an affluent community perched on the edge of the ocean. Taking my morning walk before writing there I came across a huge french country mansion with signs on the gates - Carcassone. Immediately intrigued I went home and checked it out online. Carcassone is an ancient medieval city in the precise area of France I was centering the end of the first book. So about a year ago I made a great deal of the action happen there. Strange, right.

So then I have this post that John Howe had recently visited Carcassone. Hmmm. So I pop into a chat room and ask how to contact the man. A very nice person gives me the site contact and I pop him a line. Would you be interested in Scholastic contacting you for . . . A nice email comes back saying your people can contact John at the below address. In Switzerland. So I pop off a missive telling him the plot of the first book and about the fact that I worked the Tolkien stuff long before it was a movie, etc. Next thing I know I have an email from the man himself. Dear Kat, I sold my soul to the company store, or perhaps the devil a long time ago. Would love to chat here's my email feel free to contact me. So . . . . way cool. I put Andrea/Eleni on to him and am holding my breath in excitement. File this under, hmmmm.

Blah!

So my favorite contract man and I have hashed out a plan. He made a gazillion proposed changes in the hopes that the few I'm adamant about get their due. Horrible to have done this on Friday and think terror thoughts till Tuesday, but the call is coming on Thursday to discuss. I wish, oh wish I didn't have to do these negotiations, and yet 15% is still 15%. (Agent fee, had I gone the other way.)

Cross your fingers!!! I spoke to Barry Lyga and am very excited to say that he will read and blurb the book! If you are not familiar, Barry is my pick to be a NYT Bestseller in the next year. His book The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Gothgirl was awesome, and followed by a def. mindbender, Boy Toy. He just signed on two more with HM and I can't wait. Now if only Holly B. would read, life would be so freakin cool!

Take care and keep up the faith. Write. No matter what.
Kat

p.s.
Book two is feeling very . . . right.