circus life

this is not a proper ALA recap because I’ve lost all concept of time

This past weekend (how is it Thursday already?) I was in Anaheim for ALA. I have not yet reacclimated to east coast time, not that I ever acclimated to west coast time, since I kept waking up at odd hours of the night while I was there.

I would love for this to be a proper long photo-filled recap but I’m still in denial about this whole “Thursday” thing and the whole weekend is basically a book-filled blur that I shall recount in a non-linear flurry of paragraphs and possibly sentence fragments.

I was attending my very first ALA to participate in two different events, both for library-based honors The Night Circus had received. The first was for RUSA which designated it as the Fantasy pick on their Reading List. The event was a fabulously eclectic “Literary Tastes” panel bright & early (I think it was early, again with the not knowing what time it was) Sunday morning which involved me babbling followed by Russell Banks, Candice Millard and Mark Adams speaking engagingly and coherently about their books.

After signing shiny new paperbacks for librarians I went directly to my other event which was for the Alex Awards, an honor given to ten books a year that are written for adults but have special appeal to young adults. That panel featured me, Ernest Cline, Rachel DeWoskin and Brooke Hauser. I babbled again, but that appears to be what I do. And it was great to see Ernie again since we keep running into each other as we are on similar publishing roller coasters. Someone at Random House should organize some sort of Ready Player One/Night Circus mashup event, that would be magical geeky goodness.

Other than that I was mostly wandering the event floor, rarely getting recognized but often being complimented on my shoes. I met lots of wonderful writers (including all my delightful co-panelists) and also people I have known through the magic of the internet but hadn’t had the opportunity to meet in person as well as writers whose books I knew but hadn’t met the people behind them. I saw my friend Lisa Brackmann read and got a copy of her new book which I haven’t read yet, and later I went to see Deb Harkness read and got to meet her and she was absolutely lovely. Really, I met so many fabulous people I would name-check and link them all but then this would turn into a sea of links.

Instead I will just tell my favorite meeting people story of the weekend, which came about because I got to spend some time with the fabulous Lisa Brown and as we were walking around she asked if I’d met Daniel Kraus and I said no but I remembered he tweeted that he wanted to give me his book, so she introduced us and he’s fabulous and I got a shiny copy of Rotters which has a fantastic cover and also everyone who saw me holding it gushed about it. And then he mentioned that there was some pre-Newbery award Random House cocktail party thing and I should go, so I asked other Random House lovelies about it and ended up crashing and then one party-crashing led to another and I wound up invited along to the Newbery Caldecott banquet, though I am told it does not count as crashing if you have a nametag, though mine was handwritten:

Overall I had a fantastic time and could probably fill lots more paragraphs with names and links and books and babbling, but I’m running out of Thursday already. I’d been a bit worried about having so much extra time but time surrounded by book people is always time well spent.

Really the only negative was that I could hear but not see the Disneyland fireworks from my hotelroom, ah well.

By erin, ago

BEA, the 2012 version

This time Book Expo America was the first book world thing that I’d done before. Last year’s was Baby’s First Book Event, so this year was deja vu all over again. (BEA 2011 was recapped epically here & here. This post will not be as epic.)

The weather yet again toyed with me but I managed better this year. Last year as I was packing it was freezing in Massachusetts so I packed boots and things with sleeves and then in NYC it was roasting hot and humid. This year I kept looking at the ever changing weather and even though I waited until the last possible minute the weather report was still daunting, 60s & rainy predicted for pretty much the whole week. I packed sandals and things without sleeves and layers anyway, and I think in retrospect I succeeded admirably.

I did need my one dress with sleeves for the Knopf Doubleday party, which was lovely and I got to see lots of lovely booksellers (including ones I’d met before, which was something akin to having familiar books on shelves only with more hugging) and I got to meet Ian McEwan and Chris Bohjalian and Deb Perelman of smitten kitchen. (People kept explaining to me who Deb was and I kept telling them that I already knew & I’m delighted that I got an advance copy of her cookbook. The party food was all from her book and oh, so delicious.)

It was a busier night than I’d expected and when squished in the middle of the crowd I momentarily regretted the dress with sleeves decision but overall it was splendid if slightly surreal, since it was held at the same venue as last year when I was overwhelmed and scared and still trying to wrap my head around the fact that people were reading my book already. I had feathers in my hair and they managed to stay there through the entire evening.

 

The next day was my proper busy BEA day and I got to wander the Javits a bit before my signing, just to soak in the bookishness. My dress was very pale pink, to mess with the circus color scheme system.

Minutes before my signing I found out that Ray Bradbury had passed away. And while I was still mid-sad face I was asked for a response by USA Today which is how I ended up sad-face babbling about Something Wicked This Way Comes and quoted in their article. I never met him, but I’ll miss him. He lived on my bookshelf. He still does.

I truly wasn’t expecting my signing to be that busy, being last year’s news and all, but to my surprise there was a huge line. I was signing freshly baked paperbacks:

A gigantic thank you to everyone who stood and waited. Last year was a bit overwhelming and of course most people hadn’t yet read the book, so it was wonderful to re-experience that with more signing experience (if anyone has a 2011 & 2012 version to compare you will likely notice that my signature has lost several letters and become more glyph-like, though I am still crossing the t) and with more people having read the book. Someone did ask me what it was about and I think I looked at them funny. Sorry.

After my Random House booth signing I went and signed things at the Librarian’s Lounge which was apparently a corral for librarians in which librarians were given cookies and allowed to sit, which seems like a good deal in the middle of the Javits. We ran out of books which I felt badly about but it was lovely to meet so many librarians and be allowed in the librarian-only lounge, I felt special.

Then I went and had sushi with my editor and thought about going back to the Javits afterwards but then taking off my shoes was more appealing.

This is my fairly modest book haul. I had some help with it since I was busy and trying to focus in the sensory overload wonderland that is the Javits Center during BEA is not my strong suit.

I’ve read (and adored, as you’ll be able to tell from the quote on the cover) The Vanishing Act by Mette Jakobsen which is a debut novel that comes out in September. The rest will be added to the ever-growing to-read pile but hopefully I’ll have some time over the summer to curl up and do nothing but read.

Let’s see, what else did I do during the whirlwind that was BEA?

I had drinks with my US editor and my Canadian editor at the same time. I’ve never even seen them in the same country before so that was all looking-glass magical.

I wanted to get back over to the Javits again just to wander more but I never had time, unfortunately. There were many people I wanted to say hello to and never got the chance.

I went to see Sleep No More for the 10th time. The nurse whisked me away and locked me in a room and wrapped me in a blanket and I promised not to tell what happened after that. It was just as wondrous and dreamlike as always. I keep saying I don’t have to go back but then I always find myself back at the McKittrick Hotel again.

Also, I broke my eyeglasses. Not sure how I managed that but they’re missing a screw so I need to get them fixed. In the meantime I have my old ones with the only slightly out of date prescription and my contacts.

So, that was my week. It seemed longer and busier but there were also meetings and drinks and dinners (Alta has the best tapas and also really strong sangria) and the sun did stay out most of the time. It was strange and lovely and felt circular in a lot of ways, having a whole year of this being an author thing. Still don’t really have the hang of it but I think I’m getting better.

Until next time, BEA.

By erin, ago

paperback cover & other miscellany

Okay, I’ve seen this elsewhere on the internet so I think it’s probably safe to share here.

This is the US paperback cover of The Night Circus.

Trust me when I tell you it’ll be even prettier in person. (On sale July 3rd!)

 

And now some things in no particular order and in unnumbered list form:

  • Have I mentioned that I’ll be at Book Expo America again this year? Because I will be at Book Expo America again this year. It’ll be all full-circle and surreal and I’ll likely look less like a deer in headlights this time. I hope.
  • I have blog posts that are not post-shaped yet but I will be posting them in the next while. They involve things like books (not by me) and a follow up to the time and the not having of it post and likely photoblog travelogues but more on that later.
  • Speaking of time, I’m doing that thing where I have so many little things to do that they end up piling up to that big thing time consuming size and thus I am again behind on things like emails and laundry and laundry ends up taking priority because it’s still chilly out so I’d like to be able to wear clothes.
  • I don’t actually have a fourth thing to add, I just thought this list would look better with four items rather than just three.

 

By erin, ago

this is a PSA about mice

I should add this to the FAQ, so let’s put it in question mode:

Is there somewhere I can actually get chocolate mice?

Yes. Yes there is.

The chocolate mice in The Night Circus were inspired by the chocolate mice from L.A. Burdick Handmade Chocolate.

(The main difference is that the ones in the book have licorice tails and the Burdick ones have ribbon tails and are also real.)

They look like this:

They come in three flavors: dark chocolate mice with an orange interior, milk chocolate with mocha, and white chocolate with cinnamon.

They also have chocolate penguins. And right now there are bunnies. And they have amazing hot chocolate.

There are locations in Walpole, New Hampshire, Boston & Cambridge, Massachusetts and NYC.

And they ship.

You’re welcome.

By erin, ago

canada love

I have just returned from a few splendid days in Toronto.

I <3 Toronto. It was my third trip since September so it is starting to feel familiar and friendly.

The main point of the trip was the Toronto Public Library’s Book Lover’s Ball which was all fancy-dress and sparkly. I mostly flounced around sparkling with the delightful Lesley Livingston so I hope she will not mind if I snag her photo to share and if she does mind I can make it up to her when I buy her that drink I owe her.

I still don’t think something should really be called a Ball when there is no dancing but there was mingling and lovely people and then a seated dinner with a designated author per table. I really did get the best table, full of delightful, interesting people that were also somehow six degrees of my Canadian publicist. I would tell you the giraffe story but I think you had to be there. Also, during the cocktail hour I basically accosted Ami McKay to gush over her gorgeous vintage gown. There was a fashion show with splendid book-inspired collections and bonus swordfighting and the more I talk about this evening the more I think it probably sounds even more surreal if you weren’t there but I had a splendid time.

The other highlight of the trip was the Random House Blogger Love Fest, which was a fantastic afternoon with local book bloggers invited over to Random House to be appreciated and I got to serve as a surprise special guest along with the aforementioned Ami McKay and also Paula McLain, they are both absolutely delightful and I kind of want us all to go on tour together. In my imagination we would do this looking something like The Andrews Sisters. I was doubtful beforehand that we would actually be a complete surprise but apparently we were and it made the entire thing even more fun. Thank you to all the wonderful bloggers and to everyone who put the event together!

In between official obligations I actually had some time to get to see more of the city and have fantastic food (I am a teensy bit obsessed with Origin) with good company. Friday night there was that perfect snowglobe snow and it was all warm-feeling in winter cold wonderful. I took this photo of the CN Tower, though it doesn’t quite capture the snow:

Hopefully I will be back soon.

By erin, ago

post mini-tour, caffeinated yet sleepy

I am back in Boston after a whirlwind tour last week. The theme of the winter tour seemed to be “chocolate.” I got chocolate in Nashville, too, look how pretty the labels are:

Also in Nashville I got to see the marionette storage room at the Nashville Public Library, which was both delightful and sort of creepy.

They look like they want to move, don’t they? I think there is something inherently disturbing about something created to move when it’s at rest. Like it’s just waiting.

But Nashville was splendid and so was FoxTale near Atlanta where I definitely received the most hugs of any tour stop and had a huge crowd that stood the whole time and I do apologize to anyone who did not have comfortable shoes while listening to me babble.

I truly thank everyone who came to all of last week’s events, I had a wonderful time despite being so busy and I am again so incredibly grateful, both for readers and marvelous, enthusiastic booksellers.

And now here we are, back in post-tour recovery mode. Not nearly as exhausted as I was after the fall tour but still rather beat and it is nice to be able to stay in one place for a while. I probably am somewhat exhausted as I keep falling asleep unintentionally. Am trying to ward off the sleepiness with coffee, which appears to be working, though I also keep forgetting what day it is.

Still working on catching up on all sorts of things, including FAQ-esque posts for the blog. If you have sent me something that required a reply and have not heard back please do re-send. I am still learning (mostly by doing) how to keep up with everything and sometimes things get away from me. Also I have a terrible short term memory and sometimes I do this thing where I think about replying and then my brain thinks I did even though there was no actual reply involved.

For now I am trying to take it easy for a few days, slowly but surely working on the to-do list and also sleeping a lot and trying to read and possibly write if my tired brain can handle it.

By erin, ago