kami garcia

4 Days and Counting

It's hard to believe our official release date is only 4 days away.

Four is an interesting number:

• The tetragrammaton is the four-letter name of God.
• There are four phases of the moon.
• A bee has four wings.
• Some Chinese, Korean, and Japanese people are superstitious about the number four because it's a homonym for "death" in their languages.
• 4 is the smallest squared prime (p²) and the only even number in this form.
• There are 4 base pairs of DNA.
• The Gulf Stream can carry a message in a bottle at an average of 4 miles per hour.
• There are 4 Horsemen in Book of Revelation.
• Every shape in Tetris has 4 blocks and the game is named after the Greek word for 4, "tetra."
• Four is the first positive non-Fibonacci number.
• The number 4 symbolizes the principle of putting ideas into form. It represents work and productivity.

Our Interview on The Bookologist

Read our latest interview on The Bookologist here!

Love for the Frenetic Readers & the Story Siren

I'm supposed to be line editing, but I just wanted to take a second to link to an amazing review of Beautiful Creatures and an adorable blog featuring BC.

We all know & love Kristi, the Story Siren. Here's an excerpt from her review of BC, which I've read out loud to anyone who answered their phone after I read it:

"Writing was outstanding, pacing was right on, I could not get through the pages fast enough! The whole story was just fascinating, I just loved it, every small aspect. It just worked.

I can not wait to read more. I demand a sequel! Which I'm happy to report.... is coming!"

Read the rest of her review here.

Then there's Khy, the Frenetic Reader. An honorary Caster Girl, who slaved at our signing at Comic-Con, and even talked her super-cool mom into reading BC!

BC is about halfway through, but there are other great books on the vlog, too!

My First Sighting of Beautiful Creatures in the Wild

Today I bought BEAUTIFUL CREATURES at my local indie, Diesel Books, at the Brentwood Country Mart. They had an amazing display & they're the first bookstore in LA with the book! We are having our launch party there on December 1st!

It was totally surreal.

Beautiful Creatures LBC Site & Ning Are LIVE!

Little, Brown's AMAZING BC site is now LIVE! There is even a 3-D map of Gatlin! LBC has really outdone themselves!

The BEAUTIFUL CREATURES ning is also LIVE.

Join now!

Giving Back: Build a Library

What do you do when the children in your community don't have a library? When they love reading, but there are no books? If your name is Michelle Wright, you build one. She created a library in her local community book center, not brick by brick, but book by book. She uses her own money, and collects new and gently used books from friends, family, and authors. Margie and I just sent Michelle three boxes of books, and Little, Brown did as well. Authors Becca Fitzpatrick and Saundra Mitchell are also supporters.

Do you want to contribute? You can send one book, or a box. A USPS flat rate box is only $12.95 and it holds A LOT of books. Michelle is collecting books for children in grades K-12.

If you love books, and want to help build a library, contact me via e-mail at kamigarcia@aol.com or on twitter @kamigarcia, and I'll tell you where to send your books.

Show Me What I'm Looking For

I'm in the cave of revisions & it's a dark place. I woke up with song in my head. Does that ever happen to you? It happens to me all the time. Songs are like poetry - the kind of thinking I do best. This song is from Ethan's Playlist, but today it's on mine. Here's the verse I can't shake. Everything means something.

Save me, I'm lost
Oh Lord I've been waiting for you
I'll pay any cost
To save me from being confused
Wait, I'm wrong
I can't do better than this
I'll pay any cost
Save me from being confused

Show me what I'm looking for

- Carolina Liar, "Show Me What I'm Looking For"

First Book Vlog

Opening the first hardcover of BEAUTIFUL CREATURES.

My First Hardcover

My hardcover is finally here! How gorgeous is it?? I can't believe it!

 

   

  

The Reading Group Guide...

  

The Cave of Revisions

This is the Cave of Revisions. Every writer's cave looks a little different, but this is mine. And it's where I've been all summer. But this week was different - this week, I barely came out.

What is it like in the cave? That's what my friends want do know. What do you do in there?

Short Answer: I write.

Yesterday, I worked from 9:00-4:00. I only got off my couch to use the bathroom and get Diet Coke. I did not: eat, answer the phone (unless it was Margie), watch TV, or hang out on Twitter. All I did was revise. I was in the Zone.

People keep asking if we're almost done, and the truth is... I don't know. It's tricky to figure out when you're done, and sometimes when it seems like we are, Margie and I tear the draft apart at the seams. We haven't done that this round, but you never know.

The only thing I can compare it to is trying to find the right song. You know, the one that expresses exactly how you feel? The one that was MADE for you.

When I read the draft & it's done, it feels like I've found that perfect song. But you're also choosing it for your readers, which complicates things.

So we stick to one basic rule: Don't give readers what they want. Give them what they need.