Excuses, Excuses

Pre-Holidaze Update

Books, Excuses, Excuses, Girl on a Wire, Lois Lane / By /

Um, oops, sorry to disappear, though I can't pretend it's going to get better soon. Deadline swarm happening. But I have hatched definite plans to really and truly finally overhaul my website for early spring (in time for Lois launch madness!) and I'm sure the result will be so awesome that I'll update constantly (or at least more consistently).

And there are things afoot. SECRET THINGS of which I can say no more at present.

But there are also non-secret things, of course, though I can barely remember what I've posted here and what I haven't, but here are a few things just in case:

  • I did an interview about Girl on a Wire and e-books and things with the Kids Ebook Bestsellers site;
  • There have been some recent Girl reviews that made me glow too: from Mieneke at A Fantastical Librarian ("I loved Girl on a Wire and with her third novel Gwenda Bond has firmly landed on my must-read author list. If you enjoy fast-paced, fun YA with a dash of mystery and romance then do pick up Girl on a Wire, as it offers this in spades."); from Lisa at Lisa Loves Literature ("I loved this story."); and from the Book Feed ("This story is truly a modern day Romeo and Juliet retelling at its finest. … The way Gwenda told the story not only kept me interested, but completely hooked me, so that I couldn't put the book down."). Thanks to EVERYONE who's read the book and reviewed it and recommended it to others. It means the world.
  • And, as always, if you so desire, you can get signed copies of my books for the holidays (or whenever!) from Joseph-Beth Booksellers and Morris Book Shop in Lexington, Ky. And if you've been delaying getting copies of my first two books, especially in print, you might want to get on that this month. (Which is all I can say about that for now.)

And I will end with these lovely tweets that made my last week from Tim Hanley, who wrote Wonder Woman Unbound: The Curious History of the World's Most Famous Heroine:

*beams* *crosses fingers* *and toes*

Seriously, I still can't believe I get to write Lois Lane and anytime a Lois fan enjoys the book, it makes me the happiest girl in the world. Pre-order links here!

More soon…ish. In the meantime, happy holidays, everyone. I hope you get to spend them festiving or lazing, whichever is your preference. (I will be spending mine writing, as usual.)

Ack! A Few Quick Things

Books, Excuses, Excuses, Girl on a Wire / By /

Hello, my lovelies! I'm officially in that pre-launch state where life stuff and book stuff and future book stuff and et ceteras are combining into what can only be a state of madness. (Hopefully the divine variety.) There is not enough time in the day, but somehow, magically, the next week will be lived through and everything will get done.

A few little things:

Are you in the Lexington area? Then come out to the Girl on a Wire launch party — this isn't just going to be any old launch — the details, which were just confirmed and I did a little dance:

Oct. 4 at 5:30 p.m.: Girl on a Wire launch party–circus-themed, of course–at Morris Book Shop in Lexington, KY. "Join us as we celebrate Gwenda's success with Hors d'oeuvres, drinks and surprise appearances." Come early! Because the surprise is that the Tinderbox Circus Sideshow will be performing (!!!) before I kick off the official portion of the evening, and sticking around to perform later while I sign books. And there will be cake and festiveness!

That's right — fancy circus cake, sideshow performers, books for sale. It should be a memorable time, and fun for all . . . just like the circus itself.

And, by the way, my heartfelt thanks to those of you who've already read the book, and who've reached out to let me know and/or reviewed the book. Word-spreading is appreciated as always if you enjoy it, especially as we enter officially-out-time. Your support, no matter what form it comes in, is always noted. I'm particularly glad so many of you are digging this one. <3

Meanwhile! A few other exciting things:

  • The YA Scavenger Hunt is coming next week, timed conveniently with Girl on a Wire's launch. I'm on Team Blue and I'll be giving away another one of those schmancy Paperwhites here on the site and a signed hardcover too. There will be SIX teams. So you don't want to miss this one, YA fans.
  • I'm super-excited to be going to Winter Institute in Asheville in February. (Also, I just got a new phone, and YES, ordered a custom case with my Lois cover, because OF COURSE I DID. 😉

Speaking of giveaways:

And I think that's it for now. *falls over* More soooooon.

Back!

Adventures, Excuses, Excuses / By /

Okay, big deadlines vanquished, I'm back–no, really, to more regular posting here, I swear. Hopefully, a couple of times a week. So, if there's something you'd like me to post about, then feel free to say so and I will do my best.

And even though it's old news now, just wanted to say what a fabulous time the Southern Kentucky Book Fest in Bowling Green was. I will definitely go again.  Sarah Combs and I had a sleepover at the cute conference hotel, then breakfast with Alma Katsu, who it's always a pleasure to see. And it was a delight meeting and gabbing with my signing-table neighbors, Julie Kagawa and Elizabeth Fama (see inept selfie evidence below), as well as to meet Courtney Stevens, M.G. Buehrlen (fellow SC author!), C.J. Redwine, and as always to see the friendly faces of Kristin Tubb, Kelly Creagh, Bethany Griffin, and Katie McGarry. I'm sure that I'm forgetting someone, so mea culpa; I plead a fuzzy memory.

Festivals like this are a blast to do, but also exhausting–due to hours upon lovely hours of sitting and chatting with people and generally being on. So, of course, it was a great idea to drive six hours from Bowling Green to the Bat Cave in N.C. for the annual retreat. But it was okay, because Courtney and I could caravan at least (she's the best, by the way), and giggle like maniacs when we stopped for car-window convos about how we were lost, even if we were about to take a turn down Murder Lane. Obviously we avoided Murder Lane, by looking for landmarks besides mirrors in the dark, and were eventually greeted by our wonderful fellow retreaters with wine and lasagna.

This is the third year of Bat Cave retreating, and it's really one of the best weeks of the year. So productive, so fun, so great. This year hugs and shout-outs: Alan Gratz, Alexandra Duncan, Megan Miranda, Rebecca Petruck, Carrie Ryan, Megan Shepherd, Courtney Stevens, and Cate Tiernan. I list these names so that I can tell you: If you haven't already done so, check out their work, stat.

And there's the food, made by Wendi Gratz:

And the terrifying sights in the Mardi Gras room that greeted Carrie and I each morning:

And lots of silly games:

(artist credit: Megan Miranda)

Anyway! Then it was home to a week of deadline fu; revision of Secret Project got turned in Sunday, along with a feature piece. Now thinking happy thoughts about working on a new YA I have barely even talked to anyone about (*secrets*precious*) and revising the middle grade (yay). And posting more here.

And I got many packs of the vintage circus stamps in prep for any necessary mailing for the GIRL ON A WIRE release, about which I'd better start planning soonish, I suppose. Other news? Hmmm… Oh, updated events page, because I'll be going to DragonCon over Labor Day weekend. And I'll be at Wiscon next weekend over Memorial Day, actually, and will post my schedule there soon. There will definitely be a little reading from the circus book. This Saturday, I'll be doing not one but two local storytimes for Indies First day–at Morris Book Shop earlier and at Joseph-Beth Booksellers later on (with Sarah Combs). 

I also PROMISE SWEAR I'm going to do an inaugural newsletter this weekend, so if you haven't signed up for it and want it: do. Probably happen quarterly, unless there's Big News.

That's all the catch up I have to catch up for now.

ETA: Due to needing to stick close to home and help out with family things, we will not be at Wiscon this year. Next year for sure.

Heres & Theres

Adventures, Excuses, Excuses / By /

Looks like the site is back up! Knock wood it stays that way–I feel terrible for the typepad staff and hope they have vanquished the evil DDoS villains once and for all.

ANYWAY, just dropping by for a quick note to say that I'll be at the Southern Kentucky Book Fest this Saturday, and if you're there you should come say hello and I'll also happily sign books for you. Here's the details:

April 26 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.: Southern Ky. Book Fest at the Knicely Conference Center in Bowling Green, Ky.     
– Panel at noon in the auditorium: YA Fantasy/Paranormal: Gwenda Bond, Kelly Creagh, Bethany Griffin, Julie Kagawa, CJ Redwine 

Should be a fun time. And then Courtney Stevens and I will caravan through the mountains to the annual wondrousness that is the Bat Cave retreat, where we will workshop and eat delicious food and gossip and hot tub and be generally merry. And where I will be holing up a few hours a day to work on my revision of Secret Project, because deadlines wait for no hot tub. Or something.

And if you're local, you should come out to Joseph-Beth tonight at 7 p.m. and see the fabulous Ann VanderMeer talk about the Time Traveler's Almanac. We'll be there with figurative bells on–and Christopher will have just passed his thesis defense (it's at high noon, but I'm calling it early!).

Lastly! Since the site's been up and down, just in case you missed it:

Gone Revising

Excuses, Excuses / By /

This is just a quick note to say that posts here will be scarce for the next month. With edit letter in hand and mind, I'll be busy revising Secret Project, employing some of my favorite techniques…

Jean_harlow_1932_red_head_typewriter

Optimized-macdonald-dog-typewriter

Typewriterwonderwoman

 …and occasionally muttering "We all go a little mad sometimes." The best.

I'll drop by here if there's news, and I'm sure I'll still be on twitter and occasionally on the tumblr machine. And back with more regular stuff after deadline.

Tap, Tap, Is This Thing On?

Excuses, Excuses, Nattering, TV Goodness / By /

Didn't mean to vanish here, but winter and deadlines and did I mention the WINTER? (Someone please appease George R.R. Martin with a suitable offering to make it stop–I expect the White Walkers to show at any time otherwise.) And surely today is our last snowstorm of the season, she said, with a tiny measure of hope. When I'm not here, you can almost always still find me tumbling random things and on twitter, of course.

Lots of quietly exciting things have been happening. I just turned in a draft of secret project, the first new book I've finished this year (obviously, since it's only three months in!). I got to see some possible cover looks for Girl on a Wire and they were AMAZING; I can't wait to see how the final version turns out. I just broke down and made an exception to my long-time Groucho Marx, non-club-joiner policy to join SFWA, because so many people have been doing such good work the past few years to change it and keep it relevant and I want to support that. I taught a group of amazing teen girls about SFF over the weekend, and since so many people pitched in great exercise ideas over on facebook I'll try to do a devoted post about that and share some of those. What else? Christopher also finished a novel draft last month (very exciting). Oh, and I had some new author photos taken, which I'm sure I'll be showing you soon.

BearthedogRight around New Year's C and I started watching Person of Interest, after seeing it recommended by many, many trusted sources as an excellent science fiction show–most notably the io9 recs, and those from Molly Gloss, Ted Chiang, Chris McLaren (source of its excellent nickname Hobo Batman), and Adam Christopher. They were right. Though it took us a while to fully commit, and I definitely think there are some skippable episodes in the first season. That said, I'm glad we didn't skip them. It truly is one of the most excellent, provocative SF shows around, with sharp, thoughtful writing. We'd have so caved and started watching earlier if you'd told us there was a dog. We're suckers for a dog (especially Bear, above). And we're now all caught up with the current season, which is a little woeful, because it was so nice to feel like there was an endless supply of episodes.

Anyway, I'll be back later this week with a round up of recent reading and many accumulated links and fewer excuses. Probably.

*tap, tap* Is This Thing On? And Asheville Event!

Excuses, Excuses, Nattering, The Woken Gods / By /

Well, I didn't mean to disappear, but there was a California vacation with lazy sea lions and gobsmacking art and excellent people (including a lovely stop by great bookstore Mysterious Galaxy Redondo Beach) and an edit letter and then a massive trip to the revision cave and car trouble that meant being stranded at home in the edit cave (serendipitous). Somewhere in there, I wrote a piece for PW about bullying, for which I interviewed many smart, excellent people, and and all the other things.

Busy, in other words, but life is good.

I have a couple of events coming up. I'll be in Asheville this Thursday night, talking about Girls & Monsters with a group of fabulous YA authors. The details:

  • Nov. 7 at 7 p.m.: Girls and Monsters Panel Event with Megan Shepherd (The Madman's Daughter), Meagan Spooner (Shadowlark), April Tucholke (Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea) at Malaprops Bookstore/Cafe in Asheville, N.C.

And November 17th I'll be at the Ky. Book Fair in Frankfort.

You should come to these places, if you're nearby.

More soon, including that The Woken Gods extra I promised but haven't put up here yet and many, many hangovers. In the meantime, I leave you with this image from the Tar Pits Museum, called My Genre As A Saber-Tooth:

Sabertoothwriter

(You can find other pictures of random horizons and pieces of art and things snapped with phone here.)

MIA, But Event!

Excuses, Excuses, The Woken Gods / By /

Swamped at the moment, but hope to be back to regular posting soon. In the meantime, if you're in the vicinity of Middletown, Ohio, this weekend, come out to see Christopher and I read. Details:

Sept. 28 at 2 p.m.: Reading and signing with Christopher Rowe at Straight Shot Coffee in Middletown, OH.

I don't think there will be books for sale, so bring anything you want signed. We will each have some shiny postcards, however (me for Woken Gods, C for "Jack of Coins"). We'll read solo, and then we might read a snippet of something together as well. Thanks to Laura Wooffitt for the invite. Fun!

Also, I decided to do a Goodreads giveaway with three of my author copies of The Woken Gods, which I'll inscribe with a little relic for the winners. Enter here:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Woken Gods by Gwenda Bond

The Woken Gods

by Gwenda Bond

Giveaway ends October 21, 2013.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

More soon!

Two Quick Things

Excuses, Excuses, The Woken Gods / By /

Because that's all I have time for today, as I dig out from the mountain that…just a weekend away at ALA has left behind. What's that about? I do not know, except that I must climb it. A post about how fun ALA was (sooo much fun) is coming as well, but for today: 

*continues to run around like hair is on fire*

Frenetic Typing

Excuses, Excuses / By /

Also known as that thing that happens around a deadline, and so I probably will be MIA this week. We had zippo wireless coverage for a chunk of Bat Cave, and were busy much of the time anyway. I'll try to catch up soon, and if you need something important or more timely, then you should feel free to ping me about it. Still, I'm behind on many things and unlikely to dig out fully before next week.

 

Iconpickford

Serious Work Underway

But lots of work (and play) accomplished at the retreat (revision vanquishment nigh!), and thinking about projects to come, and just generally yay. I miss everyone, but it's also nice to be home with C and dogs et cat in the beautiful bluegrass springtime with the backbrain throwing off story sparks. Hope it's nice where y'all are too.

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