New Stuff...and A FOURTH BOOK!?!?

So. I'll have you know that I'm bouncing around like a hyperactive ping pong ball right now. (Not just a regular ping pong ball. An EXTRA HYPERACTIVE one.) Please be prepared for lots of random capitalization and excessive exclamation point usage. You have been warned.

But first, la business! If you're not yet aware, this weekend, I'm going to be appearing at Michigan's sci-fi convention of awesomeness: Epic ConFusion! I shall talk about things like orphans and stealing ideas and why having naughty bits in YA is okay sometimes! And apparently, I've committed to walking around and randomly sticking googly eyes on people. I don't know how that happened either. But regardless, if you're a Michigander, you should come to this con. They have sandpeople who flirt and give people finger guns, or at least they did last year. More info (but not about the finger guns) is here.

Also, if you haven't heard, WriteOnCon is doing a midwinter pitch fest! And because I am completely bizonkers, I'm coordinating the event with my hilarious, lovely, and generally awesome bacon sister, Elana Johnson. This is a great opportunity to get feedback on your YA or MG pitch not only from awesome agents, but also published authors and dedicated book bloggers who are ready and eager to advocate for the books they want to read. And if you're not a writer, it's an opportunity for you to advocate for said books and then see them on the shelves later, and go, "HEY! I REMEMBER THAT BOOK WHEN IT WAS A WEE BABY PITCH!" Anyway, you should check it out. We have badges. They're shiny.

And lastly, here's where I get really capsy. See, I got my start as a writer working on tabletop roleplaying games. My first paid gig was 2000 words for a gaming book, and I really couldn't believe that I was going to get paid for each and every word. Like, I'd type the word "the," and that would be WORTH SOMETHING. It was the first time that I started thinking about writing as something more than just a hobby. Without those freelance gaming assignments, I don't think I ever would have gotten up the nerve to write a whole book.

So recently, I was contacted by the super-mega-holy-crap-awesome people at Evil Hat Productions. They do a variety of games, and they were looking to possibly add a tie-in YA novel. And they were looking for a writer. Which is me.

My reaction was something like this. First, I made the googly eyes, then I squealed aloud, then I reassured my kids that I hadn't sat on something yucky, then I sent off an email to my writers group that was completely incoherent and said something along the lines of "HOLYCRAPOHMYGODWTFBBQ?!?!?!?" And then we got down to the business of figuring out what this book could be and how it would work.

That's where you come in. Evil Hat is financing their latest in a series of awesome games with a hugely (HUGELY) successful kickstarter campaign. If you think you might want a copy, you will be able to pre-order one through said kickstarter and help make sure this project gets off the ground. (I'll let you know when that option becomes available.) And there are lots of other options too--if you're just interested in the book, you can do that. But if all this talk of RPGs interests you, there are also options to get copies of the gaming books, PLUS a whole freaking slew of ebooks...which I believe will include MINE.

HOLYCRAPOHMYGODWTFBBQ?!?!?!?!

Yeah, it bears repeating under the circumstances. :)

But what is the book? It's called SALLY SLICK AND THE STEEL SYNDICATE, and it's going to be a pulpy, campy adventure about a 14-year-old girl who builds racing tractors, saves siblings from robotic mafiosos, and somewhere along the way manages to invent the jet engine. I expect that writing this book will be a crazy, hilarious ride, and I can't wait to see what you think of it. Luckily, you won't have to wait too long, because it looks like it'll be out THIS YEAR.

I owe seven thumbs up (I'll borrow five) to the fabulous people at Evil Hat for working so diligently to put this project together. I'm so thrilled that I've been squealing pretty much nonstop. People think I have a gasket broken. Maybe I'll be all meta and ask Sally to fix it. I hear she's good at that.