Summer is about to begin!

But just because it’s summer doesn’t mean we should stop reading and writing. I’ve teamed up with the YA Chicks and many participating authors on a global campaign to encourage readers, writers, students, and teachers to share pictures all of the places—both ordinary and extraordinary—where they are reading and writing. This is open to all readers/writers of both middle grade and young adult books!

You can also take part in…

A MONSTER GIVEAWAY!

I’ll be giving away a copy of AFTER THE END, and all of the other authors participating in this campaign will be giving away books, critiques, swag and/or Skype visits.

So are you ready?

Drum roll….

Can you guess where I am?

YOUR FIVE CLUES:

The very first clue I hold in my hand;

Its title should help you understand.

A certain ghost tale by Gaston Leroux

will unmask for you the second clue.

The third clue‘s solved by those who delve

into UNTIL I DIE, Chapter 12.

Number four can be construed

from the revelers in the nude.

And number five I’ll freely give:

This is in the city where I live.

Once you’ve figured out where I’m reading, head over to the YA Chicks site and:

• Officially enter the giveaway by inputting each author’s name and your guesses about our locations. Every author location you guess correctly increases your chances to win. The contest runs until 11:00pm, Sunday, May 31st
• For even more chances, post a picture of yourself reading or writing on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #ReadOrWriteAnywhere (must have the hashtag).

For writer prize packs:

• Post pictures of yourself writing in a fun location on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #ReadOrWriteAnywhere. Then follow the directions on the Rafflecopter giveaway to let us know you did it.
• For even more chances, gather your writer friends together and post a group shot with the hashtag #ReadOrWriteAnywhere (must have the hashtag). And hey, since you’re already together, why not host a write-a-thon?

For teacher prize packs:

• Post pictures of your class reading or writing on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #ReadOrWriteAnywhere (must have the hashtag).
• Then let us know you did it when you enter the Rafflecopter. If you don’t have a Twitter or Instagram, you can email your picture directly with the picture pasted directly into the email (no attachments–we won’t open them) AND the subject, “Read or Write Anywhere.”
• You can also check out the YA Chicks Read or Write Anywhere lesson plan, available on their site.

Now, what are you waiting for? Get out there and READ OR WRITE ANYWHERE!

#ReadOrWriteAnywhere

MY OWN CONTEST

And as an extra treat, I will give a copy of UNTIL THE BEGINNING to one person chosen randomly from the comments below. Good luck to all!!!

Il y a plus d’un an, HarperImpulse publiait Die for Her, une nouvelle inspirée par la saga des Revenants.
Mes lecteurs francophones la réclamaient depuis sa sortie américaine. Malheureusement, les ebooks sont moins répandus en France qu’aux États-Unis (du moins… pour l’instant !) et mon éditeur français n’avait pas souhaité donner suite. J’ai donc tenté la grande aventure de l’autopublication, pour la faire paraître sous le titre Plus encore que la mort.

Marie Cambolieu, la traductrice de la série – qui est non seulement une voisine de quartier, mais aussi une bonne copine, – s’est chargée de la version française. De mon côté, je me suis familiarisée avec l’aspect technique de la mise en ligne et… tadaaa ! Le texte est désormais sur la toile, au format digital ET (pour les puristes) papier.

Restait cependant un problème de taille… comment annoncer qu’il était enfin disponible dans la langue de Molière ? Pour cela, j’ai fait appel aux pros. Oui, mesdames et messieurs, j’ai contacté les rockstars de la blogosphère romanesque que j’avais déjà rencontrées, ou que mes fidèles lecteurs m’avaient chaudement recommandées. Lorsque Marie et moi avons décidé de préparer un mini-événement à Paris, j’ai convié un petit comité de « book blogueuses » et organisé un tirage au sort pour permettre à une lectrice de se joindre à nous. (Retrouvez les liens vers leurs pages au bas de ce billet.)

Et c’est ainsi que par un bel après-midi de mai, nous sommes parties… sur les traces des Revenants.

Pour ceux qui n’auraient pas lu les livres : ATTENTION, SPOILERS !

J’ai donc retrouvé mes intrépides invitées devant l’église Saint-Paul, dans le Marais.

Les blogueuses m’attendaient devant Saint-Paul.

C’est à cet endroit précis, tandis qu’ils parlent de joutes moyenâgeuses, que le « preux chevalier » Vincent demande READ MORE…

I recently embarked on an exciting project: self-publishing the French translation of my novella DIE FOR HER. My French readers have been asking me for it ever since it was published by HarperImpulse over a year ago, and because eBooks aren’t as big in France as they are in the U.S. (yet!!!), my French publishers decided not to do it themselves.

So Marie Cambolieu, who translated the DIE FOR ME series into French (and who is now also a friend and neighbor) agreed to do the translation. We chose to call it PLUS ENCORE QUE LA MORT, I somehow figured out the technical part of uploading a book to all the various online distributors and…VOILA!!! It was suddenly live—both in eBook format and in print version! (Which solves the whole eBook problem.)

My new challenge was how to let people know that the book was available. So I decided to go to THE EXPERTS. Yes, ladies and gentlemen…the rock stars of the book world…BOOK BLOGGERS. French ones. Ones I’ve met and know or who were referred by my readers. When Marie and I decided to hold an event in Paris to celebrate the release of the novella, I chose a small group of bloggers and held a contest to allow one reader to join us. (Blogger names + links at the bottom of this post.)

So one sunny May afternoon, the seven of us set out on a REVENANT ADVENTURE.

[NOTE: if you have not read all 3 DIE FOR ME books, SPOILER ALERT!!!]

We started on the steps of the Église St. Paul, which is where Kate and Vincent had the joust conversation during which Vincent asks for Kate’s “favor” and she gives him a Kleenex. (Chapter 6, DIE FOR ME.)

The group waiting for me on the steps of the Eglise St. Paul

I greeted the intrepid bloggers (plus the one contest winner) and told them about how these steps READ MORE…

Since the AFTER THE END duology starts with one massive whopper of a twist, Epic Reads asked me to give them a few of my favorite pop culture twists: books, movies, t.v. shows. I came up with 6 that I thought were the most shocking. Here’s the first. Click through to see if you agree with the rest!

Amy Plum’s 6 Most Shocking Pop Culture Twists

#1 THE MATRIX

This is the ultimate “living a lie” story, with the most violent reveal. Keanu naked in that vat of goo was one of the most shocking images in film, delivering the message that things aren’t as they seem with a full-body blow.

Click here to see #2 – #6!

In the first few chapters of AFTER THE END, we see our protagonist Juneau leave the territory in the Alaskan wilderness where she was raised believing the world had been destroyed in World War III. The further she gets from her land the more signs of civilization she sees, until she arrives at a modern city (Anchorage) and discovers that there never was a World War III and that her life up to this point has been a lie.

This part of the book was really difficult to write because I had to imagine what it would be like to be seventeen years old and suddenly be faced with things as banal to us as cars, electricity…something as simple as keys. (Juneau and her clan lived in yurts.)

Here is Miles describing her in Chapter 18 as he trails her around Seattle:
“As I watch her, I realize there’s something wrong with her. She flinches at the smallest provocation. A street cleaner goes by and she looks ready to climb the nearest tree to escape. She stands outside the Apple store and stares at the window for so long, it looks like she’s planning a major electronics heist. You’d think she was seeing everything for the first time. Like she’s Tarzan or something—raised by wolves in the deepest, darkest forest.”

Epic Reads has come up with an AWESOME collection of GIFs called “How to Survive in a Modern World (a guide for YA characters)” to teach Juneau and anyone else suddenly finding themselves in the 21st century how to navigate today’s world. See what you think, and feel free to add your own survival tips in the comments below!

Their first tip:

1. Always have a cell phone charger handy.

Click here to see the full list!