Richelle Mead Signing + Giveaway!

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Donna and I just returned from Richelle Mead's Last Sacrifice Tour book signing in Doylestown, PA, and WOW!

The museum where they held the event was packed--I'm guessing all in all, almost 200 people showed up! But luckily--we were VERY lucky actually--we got seats with Jamie from The Broke and Bookish Blog. And then a few minutes later, Richelle came in!


She started off by reading an excerpt from Last Sacrifice which wasn't too spoilery--a pretty funny one actually--where Rose gets a surprise marriage proposal (not from any of our guys) and then gets into a fight with the guy's sister, unintentionally proving she is worthy of marrying the girl's brother.

Then she did some Q&A. And we took notes!

Donna with Last Sacrifice

Donna and Frankie

On how many hours she spends a day writing: Richelle basically said that writing is her full time job, and she treats it like a job, getting up every morning and going to her office--in her house to work. She usually sets a goal for the day, like she will write an entire chapter or must write 2,000 words. Once she finishes her goal, she is finished work for the day--sans other pressing deadlines. Sometimes, on a good day she can write a chapter in 4 hours, other days she's working well into the evening to get it done.

On writing voices in multiple series: She's been writing three series for awhile now, Vampire Academy, The Dark Swan Series and The Georgina Kincaid series, and for her it's very easy to switch from Rose (VA) to Eugenie (DS) and to Georgina (GK). She never gets confused because all three characters are so different and so are their worlds.                                                                                                                                                              

On choosing which voice to use: Richelle must have the craziest writing schedule in the industry--three simultaneous series with books coming out every few months! So she keeps a strict schedule and pretty much picks to write about/or revise whoever has the next deadline.

On what to expect for Georgina and Eugenie: The last book in the Georgina Kincaid books, Succubus Revealed will be released September 2011 (WAAAAAAH! So far away). 

Eugenie's 3rd book (aka Richelle's book of doom) is coming out February 2011. Because it's the third book in the series, you know it's going to end on a whammy that will probably leave you curled up in a ball, because that is what Richelle does to people in her third books. It's always the turning point in the story and will end in a huge cliffhanger.

Seriously, people who have read Shadow Kiss know what she's talking about. And Succubus Dreams...omg agony! Richelle admitted that the end of Succubus Dreams still makes her cry (thank goodness, Im not the only one!)

On her feelings finishing Vampire Academy: She is definitely sad to leave Rose's story and the series itself behind. Also from a writing perspective, she found it difficult to write a complete ending where everything was wrapped up--since she usually ends on cliffhangers. Before she could be like, "Ok, this person dies and...THE END!" Not this time:-)

On the Vampire Academy Spin Off Series:YES! There is one! It's called Bloodlines and will be out August 2011 (WHICH OMG IS SOONER THAN GEORGINA). Bloodlines will take place in the Vampire Academy world, with characters we know already. She couldn't say more, BUT...

Friday, Entertainment Weekly will be announcing all the exciting info for Bloodlines, so two more days guys and we'll know things!

On getting chapters to flow: Richelle is a hardcore outliner. She outlines everything, and uses a white board to map out her ideas, and then charts everything to see how the chapters influence each other. I think she writes mostly in order, but she said she'll stop working on a chapter if its really giving her trouble and move onto the next one if she feels it will more easily. Then she goes back and edits to smooth everything out.

A Richelle Mead rough draft takes 3 months. And revisions take 6.

On whether Richelle is really on the cover of Succubus Blues: So someone asked if Richelle modeled Georgina after herself, and she said no--beside the fact that she is kind of every character in a way. Mostly she and Georgina both love MAC make up and Starbucks.

However a lot of fans have thought she looked so similar to the cover model (they both have red hair, even though Georgina actually has light brown hair with honey blonde highlights) that they thought it WAS her.

And funnily enough, her mom got into an argument with her over whether or not she was really on the cover. 

"Richelle? Is that you?"
"MOM!"
On the VA Movie: Yes, it has been optioned, but there is no guarantee and nothing to report yet. But The Official Vampire Academy Movie Page on Facebook is super active, so you should check it out for news.

On Returning to Rose's Story: Richelle said she could see herself returning to Rose later (SQUEE), but right now they both need a break (Rose was tortured enough). She said maybe in a few years, but if she did, something REALLY BAD would have to happen to Rose--yikes. 

When I went up to see her, I asked if the new Rose stories would be more adult, and she said it's come up before, but she thinks it'd still be marketed the same way--as YA--but Rose would be older. So....who knows...Richelle never writes down to her younger audience, but she does keep out more explicit writing for them.

On where she gets ideas and inspiration: Every time someone asks her where she gets her ideas from, I just kind of crack up inside and think Georgina' first convo with Seth in Succubus Blues. But basically, she gets inspiration from life, from going out and doing and observing things. Things she's done, mythology she learned, a wacky convo at Starbucks she overheard are all things that can end up in her book. And the best way to cure writer's block--step away from the computer, go out and do something.

The Signing:

 So after a VERY long time, which actually didn't feel so long because I had great company, we all got in line to see Richelle and SQUEE of all SQUEEEEEEEEEES! SHE REMEMBERED ME! We went to see Richelle last May in Delaware for her Spirit Bound tour and you guys, this MADE my night--maybe my week!  Nay! My month!

And look! (reader porn)!

Squeee-sauce!

PLUS....Here's the Giveaway! I got a second copy signed for one of you!

I'm signed! You should win me!

To enter is simple:

1. Click over on the cool people and follow my blog

2. Leave a comment below about Richelle Mead or any of her books, what are you faves, who do you love, fave moment, most traumatic moment, thoughts on Last Sacrifice--whatever:-)

And you are instantly entered.

+2 if you're an old follower (like you followed BEFORE today)

+2 for commenting on my review

+2 for tweeting

+2 for sidebar link

+5 for a blog post

Winner will be announced Friday, December 17th:-)