It's Over!

Oh, my goodness, I can't believe it's all over. Sorry I've been out of touch since Friday: it's just been madness here. The book sold like hotcakes: people are congratulating me on the streets since the newspaper article came out (once again, cheers, Taylor Reed), and the TV interview will be airing soon on Channel 7. (I'll put a link to that interview on here as soon as it becomes available.) I want to say thanks to all those people who tell me randomly how much they enjoy the book: you may not think it's a big deal to say that, but it's a ginormous huge deal to hear it, and I can't tell you how much it means to me that people are liking it. I always say that when you write a work of fiction, it's like putting a piece of yourself on paper (one of the reasons revisions mandated by an editor can hurt), and when I hear that you guys appreciate that little piece of me, it makes me want to write more. Thanks :)
My mentor Beth Kanell and the wonderful jacket art designer Jacob Grant (as well as my parents and Michael) both turned up to the presentation wearing T-shirts with the front jacket on as a surprise for me, which touched me beyond words. Thanks, guys, that was really sweet of you.
Those T-shirts are actually available for sale, if anyone's interested: feel free to leave a comment so I can test the waters vis-a-vis T-shirt sales.
Wow. I can't believe the presentation is over. I've spent the last three months working on this, and now the book's written, the PowerPoint is done, and everything has finally calmed down. I almost don't know what to do with myself, except that I've already started to write the sequel. (No, I haven't thought of a title yet, but I think you're going to like it.)
So: anybody who's finished the book or is in the process of reading it or was at the presentation on April 29th, what'd you think? Who's your favourite character? If you could have any of their powers, which ones would it be? What's your opinion on genetic engineering, human or otherwise?
Forgive my lateness: it won't happen again. Any comments, reviews, or criticisms are welcome.

--Caleigh x

P.S. That joke? The one about the drummer's car? Yeah, it's the one with the pizza delivery sign on top.

P.P.S. Did anyone else watch the royal wedding? What'd you think?! I loved Kate's dress. Princess Catherine just sounds so elegant. Her sister Pippa Middleton looked great too.

Capstone Eve - new holiday?

Hi!
I've decided this should be a new holiday: Capstone Eve. To honour the occasion, I've included a poem I wrote in the car while I was stopped at a red light on the way home today:

'Twas the eve before Capstone, and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even the mouse
The students were kept up, scared as can be,
by the thought of a failure from an angry Big V

The crowds will go wild when they read out our names
We'll stand up and hope they can't see our hands shake
We'll take a deep breath and give them our best
When tomorrow is over, we'll be able to rest

Pretty bad, I know, but my palms are too sweaty with nerves to do a really good Capstone Eve poem. I'm celebrating with a cup of my best Scottish Breakfast tea and finishing the accounting and reservations for tomorrow. The TV interview today went pretty well (or at least that is what I like to think). It rained, so of course my hair chose today to explode with humid curls, but there was nothing for it. The crew is filming the actual presentation tomorrow, as well as the book talk I'm apparently giving at the bookstore when Until the End of the World hits shelves. At some point this next week, we'll have a guest blog post from the greatest writing mentor in the world, Beth Kanell, so there's something to look forward to.
I feel like I've been eating Styrofoam, I'm so nervous. I guess I'd better go and finish the reservations so I have something to sell tomorrow. Wish me luck...!

--Caleigh x

P.S. I'm a musician, so I can make this joke: How can you tell which car belongs to the drummer?

Suspense builds...

Hey! It's getting kind of late: sorry to anybody who was anticipating my daily post. I've been putting the finishing touches on my presentation: the speech is now written (if I don't have my talk down to a T, I freak out and get sweaty palms and start talking about anything that leaps into my head, which is never good, trust me there.) The PowerPoint is done, and I really hope it won't bore anyone to death: I absolutely cannot stand it when people read their slides aloud and expect me to be enthralled. Pet peeve for sure. So that's all done: my practice run is tomorrow, and after that, it's the Big Day.
Although actually, tomorrow is going to be pretty exciting too: I've got a television appearance scheduled on Channel 7. I'm being interviewed tomorrow morning, but I have no idea when it will air. I'll let you know.
I desperately need a distraction. Answer me this: has anyone out there ever dreamed of flying, or is it just me? How did it feel?
Unrelated: would you rather be able to fly or turn completely invisible at will?

--Caleigh x

P.S. The Royal Wedding is April 29 as well...I'll get up as early as I have to to watch William and Kate tie the knot. Anybody else getting up with me?

Meet the press

Today's hero is Taylor Reed, the staff writer for the Caledonian Record who did the lovely article on Until the End of the World that appeared in this morning's edition. Even I have to admit the picture looked great, and the article was really well written. I'm afraid we may have bored Taylor during the proceedings with Gatsby yesterday - it took about two hours to fully remove all that glue from the works, and our gathered audience left after about half an hour (I can't really blame them). *Sigh* Touche, Gatsby.

Anybody who's reading the blog after reading the newspaper article: hi! Welcome aboard. Great to have you here.

Yes, the rumours are true: Until the End of the World has a planned sequel coming out at some point late this year or perhaps early 2012, we'll see.

Anyways, must dash today, I have a PowerPoint presentation to do for the Big Finale on Friday. Hope to see you all there! Taylor, thanks so much for a terrific article.

--Caleigh x

P.S. Only three more days until the book hits shelves! Anybody who wants to reserve a copy before the rush should post a comment here. It retails for $17 USD. Cheers!

Jacket art

Me again. Just thought I'd show everyone the fantastic job Jacob Grant did with my book cover. I think it's the most beautiful thing I could have asked for. I only gave him a week to do the job, believe it or not, and this is what he gave me - several days early, no less.

Anyways, that's all I have for you guys right now, but I'll keep you posted. They're printing my base order of 50 copies down at the shop right now.

--Caleigh x

P.S. Terrible joke time, just because I'm in a good mood...can a cross-eyed teacher control her pupils?

I'm published!

Hey!

So guess what? I finished the book. No joke, it's all published and everything. Instead of going to school, I went down to Boxcar and Caboose to watch the very first copy come off the press. That was a process in itself, let me tell you. It was way cool.

The Espresso Book Machine has a personality of its own. It's even got a name: they call him Gatsby. If you look over to the right, you'll see a perfect shot of Gatsby...on a good day. However, today he chose to be temperamental...what does this mean for Until the End of the World? It means the first time we tried to print it, we ended up having to physically remove the book from the machine and spend two hours gutting Gatsby and taking care of all the excess glue...I was left with something that vaguely resembled the screenplay for a movie. (Maybe that's a good sign, I dunno...)

Anyways, so that little side trip took two hours (I could not be any more grateful to Joelle Beck and Paul Scavitto if I tried. They literally worked their fingers to the bone to get me my author's copy. There were more injuries than I bet they'd admit to...at one point we had an audience of about seven people quite literally watching glue dry. Hey, it beat going to class.) After that was done, at long last, I got my book. I have it right now, hidden in my purse, awaiting Friday to be revealed. I'll post again in a few minutes with the front jacket art: I can finally let you guys see that, at least.

Well, I'm back in class again (I couldn't stay away forever), so I guess I should get off the computer and get back to work, maybe finish that guidebook or something. I really am almost done now.

Thanks today go especially to Joelle Beck, Paul Scavitto, and, yes, the wonderful, if mercurial, Gatsby. I couldn't be happier with the result.

--Caleigh x

P.S. Until the End of the World will be available for purchase on Amazon.com, at Boxcar and Caboose, and perhaps other places too (I still need to think about distribution.) The countdown begins again...T minus 4 days. Only 4!

Hard copy!

Hi! Caleigh again (obviously). I know, two posts in one day, but I do have a life, I swear I do. Just posting to tell everyone the good news: Boxcar's printing a hard copy! Right now! The ISBN and Library of Congress registrations came through and it looks like today's the day. Hopefully later on I'll be able to drive over there myself and take a look at what they're doing (I'll be driving with the sunroof closed, in case anybody was wondering.)
I'm just waiting for the call now. I'm going to bring a camera and take some pictures, so everyone can see what it's like.

Ridiculously excited,

--Caleigh x

P.S. My grandma is following this blog, and I think I should tell everybody how cool she is. She's quite proficient at surfing the Internet, as it turns out, and resents the shock on the faces of everyone she tells about the latest YouTube craze: "You did that all by yourself?!" they say. They really don't know who - or perhaps what - they're dealing with. (She recommends Sassy Gay Friend and the "I Like Turtles" kid...if you've not seen them, you know where to go.) Grandma, you rock.

Cat on keyboard...

Hi!
Sorry about that: I shouldn't have left the door to this room open. I came back in to find my cat sprawled all over the keyboard like a huge grey pancake, staring up at me with those big eyes, his tail twitching: who, me? Apparently he's figured out how to blog. Not only that, but my plants were in shreds. *sigh* Oh well. At least he left the Easter lilies.
If no news is good news, Until the End of the World is moving along exactly as planned. I played around with the proof until I liked it (I'm notoriously picky about pretty much everything) and sent it back in to Boxcar: so far, so good, I assume. The writing guidebook is...in progress still; definitely a rough draft but as long as it's done, I'm satisfied. On the docket today is the completion of the PowerPoint presentation on which I still have some work to do: the last thing I want to do is wing it. With my luck, I'll get up and blurt something like "So...the ebola virus. That's gotta suck."
Books will be available starting April 29...only 6 days away! Yikes. It's hard to believe I'm going to make it, but it looks like everything's set to go. I like to think even now, it's being formatted, but that part is already finished: now we're waiting on its Library of Congress registration and my ISBN.
Orders can be placed here or at Amazon.com for anyone who misses the grand unveiling.

--Caleigh x

P.S. Will it ever stop snowing...? I miss summer.

Almost there!

Hi!
I received the publishing proof last night from the Espresso Book Machine - all systems are still go. I can hardly believe it, but as of about 8:30 this morning, we're rolling.
Thanks to the wonderful Jacob Grant of Paradox Fox Photography, the jacket art for Until the End of the World is done! He did a fantastic job (much better than what I was playing around with on Microsoft Word) and I absolutely love it. Because of copyright issues, I can't post the front jacket thumbnail on the blog until publishing is finished, but it's absolutely beautiful, and not only that, but it was also finished way earlier than I would have thought possible. Jake, you rock.
To celebrate all this wonderfulness, I made a big batch of chocolate chip cookies and had a lovely dinner out last night. My cookies didn't even fall flat when I took them out of the oven.
Well, I'm off now - I'll update with more news when I have it :)

--Caleigh x

P.S. Today's life lesson: If your car has a sunroof, don't forget to close it when you get out. Particularly if there is any chance of rain. Turns out while the outside of cars is waterproof, the inside...well, not so much.
Note: This rule especially applies if your car is a convertible.

Burning questions?

Hey! So I'm just adding the finishing touches (read: starting to write) my guide to writing and publishing fiction, and I'm wondering if anybody out there has any specific questions they want to see answered. (Questions about my personal life will not be up for discussion, but feel free to ask :D). Anyways, if you've got any burning questions for me, comment on this post and ask, and I'll make sure to include them in the guide.
So far, so good in terms of getting this thing to press on time *knocks wood*. It looks like I might just make it. One thing I like about this whole writing thing is that it's not really work for me, it's fun. I like being in control of this project. I don't mind having to coordinate things with all these people: it's actually kind of cool. If you must know, I actually feel quite proud of how things are turning out.
All right, enough from me, or Murphy's Law will come and haunt me. If you have any of those questions, put them in the comments section. I'd love to hear from you!

--Caleigh x

T minus 1 week on the dot!

Hi! Caleigh here, taking a break from the frenzy to announce that starting April 29, a free writing guide will be available to anyone who is interested. It answers questions a lot of people ask me as an author: you know, stuff like "How do you finish a book?" and "Where do you get your ideas?" In addition, it provides helpful tips and some quotes from other writers you might find inspirational. I'm not sure yet whether it will be available on my blog for free download or whether you will have to sign up via email, but I'll keep you posted.
Today's a big day: I've submitted the manuscript for publication. All I have to do book-wise is get a couple of JPEG images in order and, of course, that cover art. *crosses fingers* So far everything seems to be on track.
Anyways, I know to some of you this may not seem like a big deal but I noticed that my blog now has 4 followers, which is one more than the number of days it has existed...thanks guys! Your support (so far silent) means the world to me.
More later.

--Caleigh x

Hi!

Hi everyone! I'm Caleigh, the author of Until the End of the World. It's my first novel (actually, that's not strictly true; it's the first one I wrote that I actually like. Human eyes will never see the real first one.) I'm currently writing the sequel, as well as scrambling around in a mad dash to get everything ready for this one to hit press.
When I'm not writing, I like to practice the violin, bake, run, read other peoples' novels, watch Friends, and spend time with my own friends. This is my first blog post ever (I don't even use Facebook), so I'm brand new at this and hopefully I will get better with practice. Right now I'm sort of working out the landscape of blogging.
So I'm going to start posting today (obviously) and then will add things as they come up: publication details, my book cover art, which is one of the last pieces of the puzzle...this should be a really interesting trip. Thanks for coming with me.

--Caleigh x

P.S. Until the End of the World comes out in 8 days! You'll be able to find it on Amazon.com right away; not sure about distribution to bookstores but I'll keep you posted, pun intended. Tell all your friends!

If a T-shirt is available, would anyone be interested?

The way it all started ...

 Book One - Dying

1. Dream

“Jan! Over here!” the brown-haired boy called frantically. I turned to look at him and closed my eyes briefly in sympathy. His situation was far worse than mine. He was carrying the older girl on his shoulders and the younger one in his arms, clinging to his chest, eyes closed in terror. Neither screamed nor made any other sound; we all knew better than that. He was stable in the air, but still I shuddered at the thought of them falling.

I shifted my own burden on my back. He was my own age and weighed every ounce as much as I would have anticipated. Once I had him settled, I turned back to the guy.

He beat his wings as quickly as he could in an attempt to fly straight up and escape that way, but it did no good; the airplanes were quicker and more annoying than mosquitoes. However, instead of an itchy sting, they packed seven feather-light and deadly missiles per plane – short of those carrying malaria or West Nile, these were the world’s most lethal mosquitoes.

“Jan!” he cried again. I looked his way, feeling my panic taking over my face. Not good. If the enemy saw that we were scared, they’d shoot, and that would be it for us.  We were completely surrounded and not at all sure why weren’t dead. I was exhausted; my wings ached with the effort of keeping myself and this big guy safely in the air. I would be stiff tomorrow. If I made it to tomorrow.

“It’s the only way,” the guy clinging to my shoulders told me quietly. I looked desperately around me and realised he was right: there was no escape. “I’ll be right here with you,” he whispered into my ear. “Just like always.” I looked back to other guy, who nodded gravely to me once. All of our eyes met; theirs held regret, and I was sure mine were terrified. For one split second, the world held still, tranquil, as the five of us locked eyes in acceptance of our fate. As we watched, our wings folded in a synchronised motion, and I could feel myself and the guy dropping exactly as the three others fell. Our eyes never broke their stare.

For an instant, there was nothing but peace.

Then the air exploded.