Juvenilia Panel and ARCs

I’m helping to kick off the first ever NYC Teen Author Festival (March 16-22, 2009) this Monday with the following, absolutely unmissable event:

Juvenilia Smackdown
Monday, 16 March, 4-6pm, Tompkins Square Park branch of the NYPL, 331 E. 10th Street

Join Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Justine Larbalestier, David Levithan, Diana Peterfreund, Scott Westerfeld as they read some of their (ahem) less accomplished work from their teenage and pre-teenage years. Hosted by Libba Bray.

I don’t know if I’m going to be able to go through with it, frankly. Not because I don’t have the guts to read my old dreck, but because, as I was picking the finalists this morning, I was barely able to get through some sentences for the laughter. And I know I’ll probably already be half in hysterics from the other laughing. (Holly, I know from experience, is especially adept at reading aloud for humorous effect.)

Sadly, my high school magnum opus, a futuristic post-apocalyptic fantasy written in longhand in a marbled blue spiral bound notebook, has mysteriously gone missing from its place of honor on our living room bookshelf. And by “magnum opus,” I mean I managed to actuallyw rite some of it. What I’ve discovered in going through my paperwork is that I never actually wrote as much of these stories as what lived in my head. I had this idea I had half a hisotrical romance lying around, but when I put hands on it, I realized I only had about three pages. Again, longhand.

I am now even more impressed with myself that I have managed to complete nine whole novels. I often tell the story that I joined RWA after winning a bet with myself that I could write a whole book. Now I see that I was right to have made that bet.

Speaking of, my ninth novel (9th to be written, 4th to be published, and #8 will be 5th — if you follow all that) just arrived on my doorstep in beautiful ARC form. I would do the usual picture of me surrounded by my ARCs, but alas, my camera, she died in Ireland. Poor girl. So just trust me that Tap & Gown looks splendiferous. I really love the interior design on this one. We were able to go hog wild with the decorations and every confession is wearing a jaunty little mortarboard and tassel.

So… I’m thinking I should do a giveaway. What say you? Want to be the first person on the block to read it? (Okay, the eighth person, since Carrie, Erica, Julie, my editor, my agent, and my copyeditor have all read it, and my best friend just snatched up her copy of the ARC and was like “Awesome, now I get to find out what happens to Amy and Poe!”) But it’s unlikely that any of these people actually live on your block, so I guess that’s cool.

I think the first giveaway will be right here on the blog. Lasts until Friday. Leave a comment here, and because I’m especially evil, and spent the last week in Limerick, I’ve decided that to be eligible for entry, you must include a limerick on the subject of the SSG books (unicorns optional).

Yeah, it’s annoying. But not as annoying as that dude who made us sing for our whiskey at the local pub. Fill the comments section below with limericks, and win yourself an ARC OF TAP & GOWN!!!!

Enter as many times as you dare (Multiple limericks will count as multiple entries, so do me a favor and post them as separate comments.) You have until Friday.

See you New Yorkers at the Tompkins Square Park Library tomorrow at 4!