Official Maria V. Snyder Blog

Ha! You didn't think I'd keep this up, did you??  Well, I will admit to writing all three of these posts in one afternoon and scheduling them to post two days apart.  Why?  I didn't want to bore you with all those stories in one long post, and this week I'll be crunching out the writing big time! Another reason I haven't blogged since December is I've been working very hard on book 3 of my Healer series - TASTE OF DEATH.  It's due out at the end of 2013, but my editor wants it by April 1st!  No fooling!  I have a week...er...a couple days to finish the first draft and make some sense of it!  It's a mess right now - it's going to need some major revisions.  Which is why it's due April 1st - I need time to revise based on my daughter, son, husband, editor and agent's comments.  The art department needs time to design the cover art, the sales staff needs time to get orders from book stores, the marketing department needs time to...

Okay, where was I....  Oh, yes, volleyball.  While that did dominate our family schedule, we also squeezed in a little skiing.  While the snow in PA wasn't the best (better than last year by a smidge), we managed to get out a few times.  And I went on another high school trip - this time with the high school ski club up to Vermont for a long weekend of skiing with my daughter. Top of Killington Peak I'm in blue! I love skiing in Vermont - the slopes are bigger, longer and challenging.  They had more snow than PA and the conditions were wonderful.  We spent two days at Stowe Resort and one day at Killington.  The second day at Stowe was freezing cold - 1 degree F at the top with winds 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph.  Coldest I've ever been.  Sitting on an open lift was torture - I'd just huddle in my jacket, thinking I was an idiot to be out here and promising I would head straight for the lodge once I skied down.  But I'd war...

Wow - it's dusty in here *cough, cough* and loaded with cobwebs! I had to clean out a family of mice and two raccoons since my neighbor bloggers were starting to complain.  Yes, I've been a bad blogger :(  The last three months have flown by and while I've kept up with my Facebook and Goodreads pages, I'm WAY behind on my email replies and have neglected my poor blog.  And I owe my newsletter subscribers a newsletter, too. So what have I've been doing?  Get comfortable, grab a drink, this is going to take a while and I'll probably dole it out in parts ;) Me and Jenna The Castle in Magic Kingdom Right after the x-mas holidays, I went to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida for 6 days.  It was a ton of fun, despite the 20 hour bus ride both ways! and going with 186 teenagers, including my daughter (sleep wasn't on the schedule :).  I made new chaperone friends and learned a lot about high school dating and drama, stood prou...

With SCENT OF MAGIC being released today, I'd thought I'd squeeze in a bunch of local book signings this weekend to help promote the book and to take advantage of the holiday rush.  While I would love to travel all over the world to meet my readers, I'm staying close to home during this busy time of year.  Sorry about that! I'm posting my schedule below just in case you happen to be in central PA this weekend or in early January  :)  Or think you'd like to take a road trip and come hang out and chat with me.  I'm also posting it because not everyone gets my newsletter or opens it right away (I know - hard to believe isn't it?). Schedule: December 21, 2012 Book Signing at  http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/store/2916 Barnes & Noble Booksellers (Red Rose Commons, 1700 H Fruitville Pike, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 17601, 717-290-8171). 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. December 22, 2012   Book Signing at  http://www.cupboardmarker....

It's been a busy week of promotion!  In case you missed the news, here's a re-cap: Week 1 of the SCENT OF MAGIC blog tour started on Monday.  My publisher is giving away an amazing prize package and you can enter to win this at any of these stops (US/Canada only), and you can win a copy of SCENT OF MAGIC at these stops as well - a few are open to international readers (see below). Here are the stops: Dec. 10th - Parajunkee - Review and Q&A (learn if I like pie better than cake) - International Dec. 11th - Paranormal Urban Fantasy Reviews - Review Dec. 12th - Read Now Sleep Later - Q&A podcast (find out what's in store for the new Study book) - International Dec. 13th - The Book Heroine - Review Dec. 14th - We Fancy Books - Playlist (find out the music I listen to while writing) - International Also the UK office produced a fantastic video book trailer to promote the book.  You can watch it here: http://youtu.be/m8th2dPWMa0 And the Australian o...

Yes, lots of shouty capitals - but the UK office of MIRA Books just posted a brilliant video trailer for SCENT OF MAGIC.  They produced the one for TOUCH OF POWER last year and this one is just as fabulous!  It's just a one minute video to help promote the book. Have a look and tell me what you think! http://youtu.be/m8th2dPWMa0  

Well the title pretty much sums it up - I'm promoting the soon-to-be released SCENT OF MAGIC, book 2 in my Healer Series.  It's due out December 18th in the USA, Canada, UK and Australia/New Zealand.  The Blog tour has a number of fun posts - A guest post by Belen being one, and my Christmas traditions being another.  There will be reviews, an interview, a podcast and a chance to win a free copy of SCENT OF MAGIC at every stop.  A couple blogs will be open to international readers for a chance to win. Here's the line up: Dec. 10th - Parajunkee - Review and Q&A Dec. 11th - Paranormal Urban Fantasy Reviews - Review Dec. 12th - Read Now Sleep Later - Q&A podcast Dec. 13th - The Book Heroine - Review Dec. 14th - We Fancy Books - Playlist Dec. 17th - Two Chicks on Books - Belen POV Dec. 18th - The Starry-Eyed Review - Guest Post Dec. 19th - A Great Read - Review Dec. 20th - YA Reads - Guest Post Dec. 21st - The Book Hookup - Revi...