Happily Ever After

I've been thinking a lot about the idea of happily ever after -- and the ending of For Ever. I really love the idea of happily ever after: Good triumphs over bad. True love conquers. But I've also realized that a lot of the books and films that I've read or watched multiple times don't always have a happy ending. They feel like they ended too soon, because I didn't want them to end -- or the end left me in tears and I desperately wanted a happy ending.

I remember being riveted by Tuck Everlasting (1975 by Natalie Babbitt) when one of my teachers in elementary school read it to us. It had such an impact on me that I still think of it as an adult. The themes -- of mortality, making choices, growing up, love -- all touched me. As an adult, I had a similar experience when I read The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I've read it three times, which is something I don't often do. And I think it's mostly because I keep expecting the ending to change. I love the book, but my emotional side hates the ending with a passion.


I have a theory about my inclination to revisit these titles in particular. They -- not just their endings but their themes throughout -- have really made me think about my own existence and our transience on this planet, which are things I've thought a lot about ever since I was a little kid.


I think this is partially how For Ever came about and why I wrote the ending the way I did. Some people may not like it, but there's that old saying: You can't please everyone. Which is so true! Everybody is different. But I hope For Ever and other books out there make people feel and think.

Never, the sequel to For Ever, is coming next year -- and all cliffhangers will be answered then. Of course, how Never ends remains to be seen. ...

Now for the good news

For Ever's blog tour is coming up next month! You can find the schedule here.

I'll be doing interviews, guest posts -- and there will be free giveaways. The Plastic Revolution -- the band on my Web site -- has been kind enough to donate half a dozen CDs of their latest release, Postmodern Medicine, which is awesome. A few paperback copies of For Ever will also be up for grabs.

Thanks again to SupaGurl for organizing this little virtual tour!

I'm also going to start trying to put together some teasers of For Ever's sequel -- Never -- soon, so stay tuned!

Bummer!

Thanks so much to everyone who has bought a copy of For Ever. I really hope some people are enjoying it and looking forward to the sequel, Never.

Now the bad news ...

Yesterday I came across a couple of sites that were hosting illegal copies of the book, which is upsetting for a few reasons. First, it's not fair to people who bought it or borrowed it on Amazon! Second, it puts me at risk of Amazon taking the book down ... and they'll freeze my account, meaning no more sequel. Third, it makes it harder for me to concentrate on finishing the sequel, which is 75 percent done, btw! Fourth, when your stuff is getting stolen and you're not making any money off of something you spent a lot of time working on, how do you support the next book, right? I can't, that's for sure. (Just think about someone stealing a chunk of your paycheck and then shrugging and saying, Well, I gave it out to like 500 people, so what are you so upset about?)

Up until yesterday, I never even considered that my work might be pirated by third parties. Then I saw a post by someone who knows people whose Amazon accounts have been frozen due to plagiarism/piracy claims. This surprised me: Someone who wrote a book was getting punished for someone else posting it without his/her knowledge. It also really scared me, because it puts the sequel in jeopardy.

For people looking forward to the sequel, I ask two things:

1. If you really liked For Ever and you're looking forward to the sequel (even if you got it on a file-sharing site!), let people know and write a quick review on Amazon if you have time. This helps out a lot if people who enjoyed it tell other people. I need fans -- like you -- to get the word out there.

2. If you were searching for this blog or more information about the sequel and you found a site that's posting illegally, let me know. If I'm aware of it, it's less likely that I'll get my Amazon account suspended -- and lose access to my means of getting the sequel out there.

Search terms that might land you on a site that is going to get me in trouble include: 4Shared, book piracy, buzzbox, copyright infringement, Digital Millenium Copyright Act, DMCA, file sharing, freebookspot, illegal download, MediaFire, Mobile9, Mobilism, piracy, pirated books, playergames, plrebooksdownload, rapidfile, rapidshare, CJ Valles For Ever epub, superiorz, take down

Help me make sure I can get Never out there and keep things fair for the people who shelled out the $0.99 to read For Ever.

Purchase a legit copy of the book on Amazon at: http://goo.gl/VBF9C

Love and thanks to all!

(Big thanks to Stephanie Lawton, author of Want, for an exceptional post for indie authors about piracy.)

Touring with SupaGurl in August!

Yay! So excited to be touring with SupaGurl in August! She is supa awesome!

Will be doing interviews, giveaways, deleted scenes, etc.!

To see tour dates, visit http://supagurlbooks.blogspot.com/ and follow her on Twitter @SPNHeather

Or click her supa awesome button:

Lend For Ever

For Ever is officially down from Barnes and Noble. :-( The good news is that Amazon Prime members can now lend it out for free, so when you're done reading, loan it to a friend!

Spread the love

I've read a lot of Amazon and Goodreads reviews (not of my book -- I'm not that brave) and posts on other boards like IMDB, and I've noticed a lot of young female main characters (MCs) getting a lot of hate. A lot of love, too. But let's face it. On the Internet, hating stuff has become somewhat of a sport.

Personally, I avoid posting nasty comments about stuff I don't necessarily care for. A) I think it's bad karma. B) I think about how I've felt when someone has said something less than kind about me or my work. It just plain sucks, which is in part my MC in For Ever can read minds.

These days we can read complete strangers' minds, thanks to the Internet. Just go and read someone's blog, a review of something, or the comment on any Web site. People are very honest these days, but many times it's in an "I'm on my computer, so I'm going to say whatever I want" sort of way.

Point is: I took a creative writing class, and the professor said something really interesting when people started bashing one of the stories' main characters. She said that oftentimes it's not something about the character that we're responding to, but something in ourselves, our lives, or our view of the world. Sometimes, we either love or hate characters because they touch on something we may not even be aware of.

I always think of that when I'm reading something. What can I learn from my response to it?

Long post, and I don't know if anyone's listening, but I feel better. Tell someone -- online or in person -- that you appreciate them or their work. It goes a long way!

Spread the love.

First day of summer is tomorrow

Summer solstice ... The longest day of the year. This actually has some significance in For Ever's sequel, which is coming out Valentine's Day 2013. Yep. This seems really far away, that is until I think about all the stuff I need to get done before then.

So, what are you reading this summer?

And have you told your friends about For Ever? (Word of mouth is golden.)

Stay tuned. Updates and more teasers coming soon!