Official Maria V. Snyder Blog

Game on this week!  I'm chatting over at Eve's Fan Garden (yes, we are confirmed!) tonight!  We're going to be talking about OUTSIDE IN and my books and writing - this is your chance to ask questions and get a response pretty quick :)  I do answer all my emails, but right now I'm....let me check......a little over 2 weeks behind on my reply time. Wednesday March 30, 8:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.  Here's the link: http://evesfangarden.com/blog/chats/ In other news - today is It Stinks to be Luke Day - my son's cousins declared this day a few years ago when they were all together and now they celebrate it annually - which involves giving him a hard time and playing pranks on him.  My son has a pretty good sense of humor and I think he likes the attention since he's the one who reminds us of it every year :)  There's nothing like hanging out with your cousins when you're growing up - they're not underfoot all the time and annoying like sib

Now don't get use to all these blog posts in one week ;)  However, I have another special guest today.  Julie Kagawa author of the popular and excellent Iron Fey series!!  This is also part of my countdown to Ohio, where I will be having two signings near Dayton, Ohio with my fellow Harlequin Teen authors, Mara Purnhagen and Julie.  We will be there next Friday, April 1, and Saturday, April 2nd - please go to my appearances page for more details: http://www.mariavsnyder.com/appearances.php Back to my guest.  Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series consists of,  The Iron King, The Iron Daughter , and the recently released, The Iron Queen .  I read the first two and LOVED them - the main character, Meghan Chase is a great spunky girl and you know me....I'm all about the characters! These books are filled with wonderful characters like His Royal Iciness.  I also thought the iron fey were an unique addition to the world of fairy.  I'm reading The Iron Queen now. And leave a co

Looks like they forgot about the chat over at Eve's Fan Garden.  I can't blame them as the last time, I was the one to forget.  I didn't get a link that should have tipped me off - but I did get an email, confirming the time and date. Oh well.  If you showed up, I'm really sorry!   NEW UPDATE!  We did reschedule for Wednesday, March 30th at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time!  I hope everyone will be able to make the new time.  I already received my link for next week - that's a good sign :)

Tonight I'm doing a live chat over on the Eve's Fan Garden website.  I will be there starting at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time so if you want to chat about OUTSIDE IN and my other books, come join us. Here's a link: http://www.evesfangarden.com   As most of my family knows, I'm a crow - I love sparkly things and can't resist jewelry.  When I found out a lady who is living in Japan is making jewelry with sea glass and that all the profits are being donated to the earthquake relief efforts....it just make my little crow's heart flutter!  For my fellow crow's ;>  here's the website if you'd like to check out the beautiful and reasonably priced creations: http://www.etsy.com/shop/theroseofstonestreet Also - for my French readers - INSIDE OUT has been released this month with the title, Enfermée (which translates via Google Translate to  Enclosed ).  The publisher is featuring the title on their Darkiss fanpage/website on Friday, March 25th w

Two more weeks until I travel to Dayton, Ohio and get to meet Mara Purnhagen in person! She's a fellow Harlequin Teen author whose third book, One Hundred Candles was released last month. It's the second in her Past Midnight Series.  The first is Past Midnight and I loved this book.  So fun and creepy.  The main character, Charlotte Silver just wants to be a regular teen, but her parents are famous paranormal investigators.  I enjoyed a break from the dysfunctional family dynamic to a more quirky family :)  I have both One Hundred Candles and her first book, Tagged on my TBR pile - my goal is to have them both read before April 1st. To celebrate the countdown to the Harlequin Teen Trio Tour in Ohio, I invited Mara here for a Take Ten interview.  As an added bonus - if you post a comment by Friday, March 25th, you'll be entered to win a signed and personalized copy of Past Midnight ! And now onto Take Ten with Mara Purnhagen! 1.) What made you want to write the

So Friday I whined about being in a funk (thanks to all who posted comments - they helped so much!).  I whined about rejection and low sale numbers.  Then I learned about the tragedy in Japan and like a punch to the gut - it put my life in perspective in an instant.  My problems a mere grain of sand on a beach in comparison. My heart goes out to all those people in Japan who are struggling in the wake of such a tragedy.  If you are able to donate or help the rescue efforts,  please do so.  Here's a link to the American Red Cross, but I'm sure there are dozens of agencies who are collecting donations:  http://www.redcross.org/   The American Red Cross made an initial 10 million dollar donation to help Japan yesterday. And to follow up on Friday's post with some good news - I finished the first draft of TOUCH of POWER last night - yippee!!  It needs a major overall to clean it up, but, for me the hardest part is the first draft - the rest is fun :)  The other bit of goo

So I'm trying to finish TOUCH OF POWER and revise it, but it's going slow. Usually when I get to the big climax/ending, the words just pour out.  Perhaps it's the distraction of promoting OUTSIDE IN or the effort to write/finish a short story for an anthology that was rejected!  Can you say bruised ego? ;> And to top it off - I finally received sales numbers for INSIDE OUT - they're dismal, horrible, terrible...take your pick.  For those hoping for a third book - I doubt my publisher will continue with this series unless my #s go up.  And it explains why many bookstores aren't carrying copies of OUTSIDE IN :(  Spring is almost here and with it spring school sports.  Which means I turn into my children's private chauffeur.  Yes, son is 16 - but just, it'll take 6 months for him to get his license.  On a happy note - he had a blast at his surprise party :)  Boys are so easy - they played outside for 4 hours, inhaled pizza and drinks, played inside air h

You know the saying that bad things happen in threes?  Seems 3 is my number this last week and not all bad...depending on how you look at it :) This past week - I discovered the...er...hard way that we have a skunk living in our window well and that even if a window's closed tight, it doesn't stop the stench when a skunk sprays.  We're in the process of evicting Mr. Skunk. That's 1. We had a freak wind storm with gusts that lifted our very heavy trampoline and sent it into our neighbor's tree, bending it like a paper plate.  That's 2.  And I had three deadlines all due on March 1st (which is one of those bittersweet things - glad I have work, but swamped) I met one deadline, so far :(  That's 3. On the flip side, I've had three good things happen this week :)  Business Woman Magazine (a local print mag) published it's March issue with me on the cover!  The article about me is just lovely, the author, Lynda Hudzick did an excellent job.  Here'

This is excerpted from my recent email newsletter blast :)  Sorry, but I have to finish a book! Only one month until INSIDE OUT is released in Australia! That's big news...right? Uh...I have a new website page dedicated to my Australian releases and any news regarding them. Already know that....hmmm....How about the Study books will be released as a box set in March? Not that exciting? Or perhaps the fact that OUTSIDE IN is due out in July 2011, and I inserted the fabulous cover art below? Still not what you would consider big? Well what do I have to do? Come down there? All right...fine.... I'm coming to Australia and New Zealand for a three week book tour!!! YAY! I'm super excited! I'll will be there in August 2011!! I don't have all the details yet, but when I do, I'll blog about it, post the info on my Australian Page ( http://www.mariavsnyder.com/AUS.php ), and include it in my newsletter of course! I want to thank all my Australian readers who wr