1. Okay, so the biggest news is….(via PW Children’s Bookshelf, couldn’t find a direct link):
Regina Hayes at Viking Young Readers has signed YA novelist Sarah Dessen’s 11th novel, The Best After Ever, which will be released in May 2013. Set in the fictional beach town of Colby, where several of Dessen’s novels take place, it features 18-year-old Emmeline, who is spending her last summer before college working for her family’s vacation rental business and enjoying a summer romance with a young aspiring filmmaker. Leigh Feldman at Writers House brokered the deal for world rights.
So now you know why I wasn’t blogging, was talking about how tired I was AND kept posting encouraging writing-related quotes on Twitter. Because I was finishing the book I began ALL the way back in September 2010. I kept working on it all the way up until last April, when I had to set it aside to promote WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE, then picked it back up in December. Whew! Thanks for your patience. I’m so excited to share more with you about this as I can. And there’s more fun book stuff, too! Stay tuned….
2. Today is also a Big Day in that my parents are moving from the house where they have lived since 1973. This has been a long time coming, but it’s still bittersweet to me. I’m happy that they’re moving to a smaller place with less upkeep and more of a community. But this is the house I spent my ENTIRE life in until I was 18. I watched Good Times and M*A*S*H there with my brother. Wrote my first stories on a manual typewriter at a little desk in the TV room. Covered my bedroom walls with quotes and pictures in high school when I was tormented and dramatic. SO much happened in that house, and today I’ll go over to watch everything be carried out. I’ve never seen it empty, ever. I think it might make me feel empty, too. Am bringing a camera. And tissues. Last night, I was up in my old room, where my mom now has her office. She’d taken everything off the door, exposing what was underneath: some quotes I’d written there, probably around 1986:
Yes, so that WOULD be Pink Floyd and the Talking Heads. The other quote you can’t make out is from THE BELL JAR: “To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream.” Yes, I had a quote about a dead baby on my bedroom door. As you can imagine, I was a lot of fun in high school. Sigh.
3. Over in the coop, one of my hens is sitting on eggs. Again. This is the third time she has tried to have chicks, and I am SO crossing my fingers for her. Because man, it’s NOT easy to be a hen on eggs. The other chickens, for whatever reason, totally gang up on her. They hover and cluck. Poop on her HEAD to get her to move. And I thought pregnancy was tough! But she’s such a tough girl. She stayed right there, poop and all, until my husband moved her and the eggs to their own mini coop. We are not yet telling my daughter there might be chicks: too much risk of the whole “circle of life” thing. But Spring makes me hopeful, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. You have to love a tough Mama, whatever the species. You GO, girl.
4. This week’s book recommendation: YOUR VOICE IN MY HEAD by Emma Forrest. I’d heard great things about this book but because I was finishing my own novel, I was brain dead and reduced to reading mostly US Weekly and my horoscope. (It happens. Towards the end of a draft, I can barely write my name.) But now that I’m done (yay!) I’ve had time to read and finally got my hands on a copy. It’s a memoir and it is SO GOOD that now I want to go find all her other work, which is how you can tell you really love something. PLUS when I Tweeted about how much I loved it, she tweeted me back. WHAT?? My day=made. Whoa and whoa, again.
5. Finally, a big thank you to everyone for reading this, and being so patient while my entries were so few and far between. Things have been crazy here, writing and chickens and moves and otherwise, but I’m hoping that between now and when revisions begin I’ll be able to start doing more entries. I miss this blog! But writing has to come first. I can’t BELIEVE I’m at number eleven. I feel like THAT SUMMER just came out, like, yesterday. You guys rock for reading and tweeting and helping me through those tough writing days, even when you didn’t even know you were doing so. So thanks. Here’s to what comes next!
Have a good weekend, everyone!
Yay!!! So excited already! I am devoted to seeing you on your book tour this time. But as much as we, as your fans, love seeing you, I hope your book tour is much shorter this time. If you’re not happy, you probably won’t write and that would be a disservice to the world. So, please! Low stress or no stress!
I can’t wait!! I’m just starting to read What Happened To Goodbye. I’m just really busy with school. I just love your books, You’re my favorite author. You’re the reason I want to become an YA author.
-Juli <3
You made my week Sarah! I just can’t believe we’ll have to wait that long for another masterpiece of yours! Ah well, I suppose the saying rings true: “All good things come to those who wait.”
Lots of love<3
Isn’t spring lovely? I had a hen hatch chicks last week and now she and her five babies are living in a little coop in my garage.
If you have a rooster and do decide you really want babies, I’d recommend that you remove your mama hen to her own box out of the coop where she won’t be scared of the nest by other hens. She’s most likely to stay in the new box if you move her late at night. Before you settle mama hen in her new nest box, put in eggs (I find that no more than eight eggs is best) that were collected within the last several days, were stored at or a little below room temperature, and are unwashed or only spot-washed with a paper towel. This way the eggs will have the best shot at hatching and should hatch within a day of each other. Hopefully you’ll have a bunch of fluffy little chicks running around in three weeks!
Oh, my, I got so carried away with writing about chickens that I forgot to say congratulations about the new book. This is going to be a long thirteen months before I can get my hands on another of Sarah Dessen book!
Yes!!! And NOOO!!!! So excited about the new book but it seems soooo far away! (I know, I know, you need time to actually write these books…) So glad the blog is moving again, we missed you! You always make me laugh and smile…even on Mondays! Thanks for all that you do! (Next book tour hint: Kentucky loves you!!!)
First of all, Sarah, your amazing!!!! I’ve read all of your books except how to deal and dreamland, and my favorites are the truth about forever and this lullaby. I am so excited about another one of your books coming out!!!! Eeeppp!!! So exciting!!!! I can’t wait to go on another journey…This is going to be increible, I just know it!!! May 2013 can’t come soon enough!!!!!!!
As a soon-to-be school librarian, I have been reading as many ALA recommended books as possible and have been so excited to read yours! YA is still my favorite kind of reading, even though I’m a 39 year old mom. Your books are fantastic and just so thoughtful. The Truth About Forever is now in my top 10 favorite books ever. I just wish there was more about Macy and Wes. I guess I’m forever a sucker for a good love story.
Congratulations on your great success!
asdfghjkl I AM SO PUMPED!!
In May 2013 I’ll be finishing up my freshman year of college (: I cannot WAIT for this book. <3
YAY! NEW BOOK! I love all your books so much. I finished What Happened to Goodbye last week( for the 3rd time…..).
I just remembered May 2013 is a month before I graduate!!
I just love your books! I have read every single one of them and idk if i can wait another year! So excited!!!!!! By the way please come to Bloomsburg, PA for your next book tour. Thanks ttyl!
Btw i just love all your books and whenever i am reading one and i have homework. i finish my homework quickly and then for the rest of the night i sit in my comfy chair and read till dinner and even after i read again! Love your books and can’t wait for the next one
Hi Sarah! My name is Lisa, and if you didn’t know already, I freqently write posts to your blogs. I’m not sure how often you read your posts, but I just wanted to start off my entry in typical fashion by saying you’re my hero!
I just found an article you posted on the website: Chick Lit Is Not Dead. In the article (titled Sarah Dessen’s Do’s and a Do-Over), I was really touched to see how much we have common. Being a painfully shy bookworm myself, it was so comforting to discover you have insecurities that I have! I don’t always take pride in things I do, I get scared people will think my music taste is uncool, I often feel like a doormat, and I worry more about the past and the future than I do about the present. Your article made me feel less alone and an inch more self-secured and assure in myself. Thanks for being a fantastic author and role-model. Your books are real, and so are you! Reading your books have become my greatest form of therapy.
your next book sounds ah-mazing(: cant wait to read it….good luck!
P.S- it would be REALLY cool if you had YA writing contests on your site! and the prize could be one of your books or something…just an idea(:
I agree with the writing contest idea.
Would you by any chance think about coming to or near Tallahassee, FL when you do your book tour? That would be awesome.
i cant wait!!!!! i started reading your books last year and last week i went and got all of your books and i read 6 out of the 10.. so thats 4 books read in the last week
How do I start, rather where do I start. The first book I ever read and truly enjoyed was The Truth About Forever. I was twelve years old at the time, and going through the same issues that Macy faced. To say that this book changed my life would be an understatement. Being the daughter of a single mother, devoted solely to her religion, and having an estranged father made childhood quite difficult. In order to grasp my mothers attention/approval, I had to be the perfect christian daughter (or so I believed), and sometimes that wasn’t even enough. I was shy, quiet, and suffering from severe depression. After I set the book down, I reflected on the stress I was putting myself through to live up to standards that did not match my own morals. From that moment, I decided to change my life and do what made me happy, even if others did not approve. Since then, I feel that I have developed into an amazing young woman, I have even been inspired to write a novel of my own (still not close to finished :p). I wan’t to inspire others with my writing the way your books have inspired me. It would be useless to deny that life is butterflies and rainbows all the time, but I do find that when I read a novel that you have written, I feel that much better. I guess that’s how I know that I really do love reading your work. After The Truth About Forever, I read everyone of your novels. Every time I enter a bookstore, I go to the young adult section, just to see if they have any of your novels on stock. Although The Truth About Forever remains my favorite to date (mostly because it’s what started it all for me) I look forward to reading your new novel! Thank you so much for inspiring me in more ways than I thought possible!
I feel the same way exactly.
i have been such a big fan of yours since i read that summer and someone like you, i think it was combined for HOW TO DEAL. needless to say that i’m thankful that i’m older now (23 woop!) and that when a book comes out a year after its been announced time reallly does fly! Before I would do little countdowns and such but now I’m just happy with seeing it on my bookshelf! Thanks again for writing such amazing stories, u truly are my fave author and if your characters came to actual life lol, I’d want to meet them for sure!!! Congrats and keep it up!
))
You are so definitely one if my FAVORITE authors ever! When I started to read yor books I just had to keep reading another! But now I have read them all and will be counting off the days until your next one comes out. I am such a big reader, and at age 13 a lot of kids in my grade thinks its stupid, but I don’t let that stop me especially when i read one of your books. Thank you for being an inspiration to me! Because of you I love reading and writing more then ever before!
I just want to say that my sister got me into your books in 6th grade and we very much admire your writing. In fact you have inspired me to be a writer. I would really like some advice from you on how you became a writer… Like the whole story! I’m only fresh out of middle school so no one would believe me that I’m sure I want to be a writer. But I do have a passion where writers block never happens to me and ideas are always flowing through my head to the point when it’s hard to remember anything else. Whatever advice you have for me: I hope you can send me an email at tona.girl@hotmail.com. It would mean the world to me since living in Alaska makes it harder to get noticed. My sister and I have encouraged our friends to read more of your books and they have loved it! I hope you always keep writing an I wish you the best. Because through your books I found what I love to do best. This is me putting myself out there so please email me.
-love your fan, tona
Like I said youre a great inspiration on me. I don’t know how my life will be after this age of 14 but hopefully it involves writing. Please mEssage me at tona.girl@hotmail.com
This sounds like along for the ride .
Okay, so, I know you get tons of comments and emails and letters everyday, but I think you can never get too many compliments.
Long story short, you rock.
I can’t even put into words my love for your books. I’ve read all ten multiple times-yes, I reread them often
-and I always notice new things every time.
You know what? I’m just going to send you an email
I know you’re way too busy to reply-but it would like make my world if you could.
Basically, I’m in love with your books!!!!!!!
I LOVE all your books Sarah. I started reading them about 2 years ago, and haven’t read ANY other books since:) I even got my friend hooked and now were like book buddies:) we read them together!
come to MICHIGAN!