Tuesday, December 1, 2020

10th anniversary editions are here!

This week! The 10th anniversary editions of the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy are in the world!!! (The US editions. UK editions still upcoming :) I'm always greedy for covers--new covers, new looks, new alphabets, new art--so it thrills me to get two whole new sets of covers at once, and so, so beautiful! Writing this series occupied such a big part of my life, and it's just plain weird that it's been ten years now since the first book came out. WHAT? Though honestly, my actual daughter was a baby at the time and is now 11, so that's a good measure of the time!

I'm hopeful that with the new editions, a new slew of readers will discover them. 


These are the US editions, available in paperback, individually or in a box set! You can find them here via bookshop.org, which is a great alternative to Amazon and benefits indie bookstores :)

Or here through Barnes & Noble:

The artist is Jelena Kevic Djurdjevic, and the work is simply stunning--and so different from anything else I've seen on the shelves! Not that I imagined, at the time, that we wouldn't get to actually see it on shelves, or browse in bookstores and libraries, but only online. Sigggghhhhhh. I really really miss bookstores and libraries. But I'm grateful for all the resources we have to discover, acquire, and consume content in these shut-in times! 

I hope you're all holding up well, and will be able to enjoy the holidays, even if differently than usual. 

XO,

Laini



Friday, October 30, 2020

Happy November!

 

Happy almost-November! I'm about to launch into a not-quite NaNoWriMo but hopefully still big word month. Fingers crossed! 

New posts over on my Patreon about: 

And more! XO

 







Sunday, October 4, 2020

MY PATREON IS LIVE!!

 




I've started a Patreon account! For now all my old writing posts will remain here, but I'll be posting a lot of new content over there, so I hope you'll join me! Next Sunday, October 11, at 5 pm PST, I'll be doing my first livestream event, including a Q&A and I'll read you the prologue of my novel-in-progress!!! 


HERE'S THE LINK! 

Thursday, October 1, 2020

What do you think about a Patreon?


Hi! Welllllll, hahahaha I haven't been on here in so long I wasn't sure I'd remember my password. Yikes! What happened??? Well, here's the thing. I miss this space, or what it was once when I maintained it and was part of a community, and connected here with readers, and posted about writing and life. It was wonderful, but something slowly happened over the years, new stresses kicked it off my to-do list, social media took over, and here we are with this stagnant place. Well, I'd like to create something like it again, but I'm thinking that place might be a Patreon account.**

There are a number of things I'd like to do more of: 

  • posts about writing, particularly writing difficulty (including rebuttals to jerks who claim "writer's block doesn't exist," how dare they???
  • interact with a community of readers, lavish gratitude on you for being so awesome, give you secret information, and maybe come up with group projects like prompt writing exercises etc.
  • WRITE STORIES--including side stories set in the worlds of my books!
Rewind...15 years? (YIKES!!!) I'd written my first book, I'd sold it, I was waiting for my first editorial letter, I was supposed to be writing the sequel, but I was afraid to do that before revising the first book, and I was just...generally stifled, cramped, sort of huddled, slow, recovering from two + years spent in the laboring of finishing a manuscript, dammit. What my brain and soul really needed was creative play--and connection. Blogging was in its heyday then, and I found both of those things in this space. I wrote a lot of posts, made a lot of friends, and even started a prompt writing site with one of those friends: Sunday Scribblings, which I hosted with the wonderful Meg Genge, who lives in Costa Rica now and continues to inspire. Does anyone remember that site? 

We'd post a prompt every week, everyone could play, and we had a sign up widget where you could post your link so we could all read each other's. It was great. It uncramped and unstifled me so much. I wrote short weird fun stories. I had a blast. There was no goal, which is what made it freeing, but nevertheless some of those stories became books. Three of them are collected in Lips Touch: Three Times, my third book (which was nominated for the National Book Award!!!) Some others, sparkling in the wings of my mind, took the stage on a day of freewriting and turned themselves into what became Daughter of Smoke & Bone, which absolutely changed my life.

So it's not an exaggeration to say that those short writing exercises, that community space, and that freedom changed my life. But over the years I've drifted back into that cramped, stifled headspace. I'm writing a book that I love (and can't WAIT to tell you about!!), but my perfectionist issues are a constant challenge, and I'm haunted by all these stories I'd love to tell and somehow never find the time for. 

WELL. I thought: maybe I could recreate the inspiration of those old blog days, but in a more private space like Patreon**, with the extra impetus of goals and honoring promises to patrons. (And maybe pay a few bills in the process!)

Would you be interested in that?

If you *would* support such a Patreon** could you add your name to my email list to let me know? It's not a Patreon sign-up and there's no commitment. It's just an expression of interest, so I can decide whether to take the leap! If it seems viable, I'll do it, and email you to let you know. Thanks in advance! XOXO 




**In case you're unfamiliar with Patreon, it's a platform that allows content creators like writers, artists, podcasters, etc, to be supported directly by subscription from fans. There are different support levels, from $1 or $2 a month at the basic level up to a more, for rewards etc. Anyway, if you'd pay a bit to subscribe to MORE CONTENT FROM ME, and maybe SECRETS FROM BEHIND THE SCENES, sign up to 




Monday, August 27, 2018

MUSE OF NIGHTMARES tour!!


Thrilled to be coming to see so many places I haven't been on past tours! 





Monday, April 30, 2018

French Strange!



The French edition of Strange the Dreamer is in the world! 
I love this promo that the publisher, Lumen Editions, made :)

Sunday, April 29, 2018

MUSE OF NIGHTMARES covers!!!



Here are the US (above) and UK (below) covers for MUSE OF NIGHTMARES, which comes out on October 2! I love them both. I hope you do too!! :)

Saturday, February 24, 2018

STRANGE THE DREAMER paperback covers!



Here are the paperback covers for the US and UK editions of STRANGE THE DREAMER! Above is the US edition. You make recognize it, since it is the UK hardcover. We all loved that cover so much and I'm happy it will have new life! It comes out on May 22nd, and you can preorder it here!


And below is the new UK look, very simple and elegant. I hope you like it! It will be out very soon, on March 8! 






Thank you for reading! :)


Friday, February 23, 2018

PRINTZ HONOR!!!




I'm thrilled beyond words that Strange the Dreamer was selected as a Michael L. Printz honor book. I really can't tell you what this silver sticker means to me. Awards are such a rare gift that I try really hard to not even hope, because...what are the chances? There are so many amazing books published each year. I live in constant awe of the quality and artistry and importance of the books being published for teens, and so to think that Strange the Dreamer was considered to be exceptional...it fills my heart. A huge, HUGE thank you to the amazing librarians who are on the committee this year. I can't wait to meet you in New Orleans!  <3






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