I’m running a short contest on Twitter for a free copy of the book — to enter, tweet me a picture of a decorated envelope or postcard by 5pm Mountain!

In other news, I’m still getting loads of queries, and they’re all still being deleted unread. With trying to keep up with current client work in between naps and feedings, I just can’t reopen yet. That being said, however, I’m setting a date for new submissions! My little man is going into daycare in June, and though I’ll miss him terribly, I think I can put to use the time he’s not here in reading your fabulous queries. I’ll make the official announcement on the blog and twitter when the time comes, but for now, start polishing those queries and opening pages.

On that note, I want to start posting again more regularly, if not quite the daily schedule I used to be on. I’m going to start with client news, like this review for Ransom Riggs‘ upcoming debut novel, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, from Publishers Weekly, which calls Miss P “an enjoyable, eccentric read, distinguished by well-developed characters, a believable Welsh setting, and some very creepy monsters.”

But I also want to get back into the swing of things with answers to YOUR publishing questions. So, head to the comments and start laying them on me. I’ll dust off my high heels and get to answering!

But what about since then? A search of my query mailbox shows 2,130 queries received and responded to since July, with another hundred or so that went right to my spam folder. I requested 41 partials, which is a better average than the first half of the year, but does include material from a conference, as well as just emails. And I asked for three full manuscripts.

So who did I say yes to? Well, I signed Erin Danehy in July, with a YA urban fantasy. And I may have more news to share next week, on something I’ve been asking for all year. We’ll see.

But roughly, you’re looking at .04% odds. And… wow. That’s tough. It’s stark, seeing those numbers. But you know what? I’m still looking. Ok, not right now — any queries received after midnight tonight will be deleted unread. But I have no doubt that next spring, when I reopen to queries, I will be starving for something great to read, and I have no doubt you guys can bring it.

What other stats can I share that may be of interest? I closed new domestic deals for Josie Bloss, Matthew Cody, Trish Doller, Stephanie Perkins, and Ransom Riggs, plus several more that I’m excited to officially announce soon. I finalized foreign deals for rights in Chinese (both simplified and complex characters), Croatian, Germany, Hungarian, Indonesian, Portuguese (in Brazil), and Australia and the UK, and closed on a film option for Matthew Cody’s Powerless.

We got some great reviews, including several stars, and a lot of love from the internets for for our books and our authors — I couldn’t be prouder. Tom Sniegoski’s Fallen series hit the New York Times bestseller list, and over a million nerdfighters heard John Green praise Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.

What else? Sara Beitia’s debut The Last Good Place of Lily Odilon came out to much praise, Kater Cheek’s weekly webcomic brought chicken-related laughs, S. Terrell French’s Operation Redwood continued to win awards, Sara Raasch got a tattoo and finished college, Susan Steward went to the Kennedy Space Center as part of NASA’s TweetUp program, Daniel Blau Rogge moved back to NYC, and Amy Spalding rocked the improv stage at LA’s Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.

And what can we look forward to? LOTS!!

January brings the release of XVI by Julia Karr, Small Persons with Wings by Ellen Booraem, and the US release of Pink by Lili Wilkinson. Looking beyond that, Spring sees the long-awaited release of The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson, the sequel to 13 Little Blue Envelopes, and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, while Summer brings us Carrie Harris‘ debut Bad Taste in Boys. Fall takes us to London for The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton and The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, the first in her new series, and gives us Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins, Faking Faith by Josie Bloss, and The Dead Gentleman by Matthew Cody.

Plus, my own long-expected debut of BabyUn.

I can’t wait to have even more things to celebrate! In the meantime, I hope you all have a very happy, healthy, and book-filled holiday season. I’ll check in here occasionally with more news as I have it to share. Merry merry!!!

I’m not just talking about literal fireworks, which would be very specific. Summer novels for USians, maybe, or books set in and around November 5th for the Brits, or over New Year’s Eve in some big cities… No, what I’m talking about is that BIG moment of ooohing and aaahing that fireworks can engender in us. That out-of-time moment when nothing else matters but sitting on the lawn, watching something happening that you have no control over.

I’m one of the few who can say it so far, but I think you’ll find a moment like that in The Last Little Blue Envelope, Maureen Johnson’s eagerly awaited sequel to 13 Little Blue Envelopes, which comes out next summer.

Maybe it’s about holidays, and the things that are a tradition, or traditional to some, that we find a way to make our own.

Anyway, I’m curious to know what you think. Are there big fireworks moments in your novels? What do you think I mean by “fireworks moments” anyway? And how many bug bites did YOU get sitting out to watch the light show this weekend?

This is one of those politically correct questions. Recently I’ve read a few books where a character is introduced a few chapters into the story and the narrator/main character describes her as “black” or “Asian” or “Hispanic.” It always jolts me because the rest of the characters in the book are not described as “white,” but it is assumed as a reader I know they are. Now if by saying a character has blue eyes and red hair the author figures I’ll know the character is white, why can’t he/she just say something like “her eyes were as brown as her skin” to describe someone who is black? It just comes across that the author assumes his/her readers are white. Does this bother anyone else? Am I being overly sensitive? For the record, I’m white.

Anne, I wish there were a simple, easy answer to this! Rexroth had a great post on descriptions the other day, which said, in part:

I firmly believe that in any situation where the description of a thing only does one thing (tells you what something looks like), it can probably be left to the reader for the most part. Certain things can be implied in order to inform the reader’s impression, but you don’t need to spell stuff out. In fact, you’re better off not to, because what the reader comes up with out of their head will be (subjectively) better (read: more effective) than anything you write down.

But sometimes, yes, you’re butting up against assumptions that are going to be wrong, and you want to be clear and avoid confusion. So what do you do?

Well, I asked Maureen Johnson her thoughts. She’s always got thoughts, after all, and as a writer, I think she’s much better equipped to answer your question than I. Her fantastic, detailed response to Anne’s question follows (with The Last Little Blue Envelope scoop!):

This is something we (and by we, I mean me and some other writers I know) have been talking about recently, because there have been a lot blog posts recently about this very issue.

Doing good descriptions is hard, because you have to choose which facts are relevant to mention. How people *interpret* these facts–well, that’s another matter entirely. But when you write something, you have to have SOME sense of what impact your words are going to mean. That is pretty much the job description. Those descriptions are code–they should tell you something about the character, something aside from what’s there, flat, on the page. If you say the character went to the ball in a wonderful ballgown made by mice–that’s one story. If you say that the character went in a karate outfit–that’s a very different story. (Clothes, of course, are wonderful and sometimes much too easy flags, but they are also necessary! Because going to the ball naked is ANOTHER STORY ENTIRELY.)

So, okay. You have to pick your facts. What have you got? You have physical appearance, behavior, and dialogue. That’s basically it. And you want to carve out as specific a portrait as you can using those things, and you want to take the reader with you into your head to show them this person. The thing is, readers have stuff in their heads too. We all carry certain assumptions into things we read, whether we mean to or not.

I happen to be white. Not all of my characters are. I was working on a scene today for the sequel to a book called 13 Little Blue Envelopes. There are three people in the scene. One of the characters (her name is Ellis) is black. This fact in and of itself doesn’t impact the scene–she’s there having a conversation with Ginny and Keith from the first book, and they are both white. I do describe her, because this scene is her entrance, and she’s important. But I never said Ginny is white or that Keith is white. I don’t want to have to make a point of mentioning that Ellis is black. Also, “black” isn’t just one skin tone. If I’m going to talk about the color of her skin, it’s not really enough to say she is black. There is a whole language of pigmentation. I know variations of white, because that is the skin that came with my body. I’m a pale, easy burner. I don’t tan correctly in the sun. I only stay this color or explode into a second-degree nightmare and walk around for a week looking like a human strawberry, one who gets lectures from total strangers about skin cancer. “Black” is a massive range with a lot of descriptive terms that carry cultural weight. I’ve had friends tell me about the issues they’ve had being “too black” or “not black enough.” So it’s complex, and I don’t want to overcomplicate the scene by loading it down with endless descriptions that capture her skin tone PRECISELY.

At the same time, there is a nagging voice in my head that tells me that people might then assume she is white, when she is not.

Why might people assume this? Well, part of it might be the covers. My covers all seem to feature white girls with no heads. (And YET, people always seem to know my characters have heads! MYSTERIOUS!) Maybe it’s my moony face on the back flap. All I know is I want Ellis to be known on her own terms. I don’t know how I’m going to do it yet. Right now I’m thinking that I simply won’t bring it up at all, because I can’t figure out why she would. I’d rather say nothing than to do one of those “her beautiful cafe au lait face” descriptions. (The one thing that I have been told by several black writers is that the comparisons to coffee and chocolate confectionary are very, very old and wearing and quit it with the food. The same can be said of “milky whiteness.” These things must die.)

Speaking of common assumptions, my characters are also not all straight. Sexuality isn’t something you can see, so that requires more context. And sometimes, I don’t go into that much detail about certain characters because it is irrelevant to the scene. It might be weird to have some guy say, “So now I must go and see my boyfriend, who is also GAY LIKE ME” if the scene doesn’t call for it. I’ve tried to sneak it in here and there, like Olivia mentioning her girlfriend at home in 13 Little Blue Envelopes, or Billy Whitehouse [in the Scarlett books -kt] saying that he has a husband to think of and can’t stay late at rehearsal, but I can only do this if it makes SOME KIND of sense for this to happen. If the characters are major, then you can work it in a lot more naturally.

So I guess my long non-answer is context. You can’t have a description in a vacuum. You have to pick your data points because they are relevant to understanding something about the character in the world in which they live. The more context, the richer the reading experience. You don’t want to throw in the entire kitchen sink in the hopes that you will be able to make people know EXACTLY WHAT IS IN YOUR HEAD because that is a). impossible, and b). unwanted. The descriptions must have purpose and meaning.

Also, I have long advocated the abolishment of covers, unless they have pictures of cats on them, because people love looking at adorable cats. Preferably ones in clothes [Or shoes -kt]. Otherwise, I would much rather have a book covered in plain paper that you can draw on yourself.

I am not sure I answered your question, but I certainly talked a lot, and that must count for something.

Anne, I hope that helps! Readers, do you have any thoughts or suggestions for descriptions of characters?

DISNEY BOOK GROUP ACQUIRES MULTI BOOK SERIES AT AUCTION FROM BEST SELLING AUTHOR MAUREEN JOHNSON

New York, September 10, 2009—Disney-Hyperion, an imprint of Disney Book Group, has acquired a three book series from best selling young adult author Maureen Johnson at a hotly contested auction. The agreement was negotiated by Jennifer Besser, Executive Editor, Disney Book Group, and Kate Schafer Testerman of kt literary.

The series begins with a modern-day thriller about an American high-school student who enrolls at a London boarding school for her junior year. Soon after her arrival, a series of murders begins to take place across the city—on the exact dates and in the exact style of Jack the Ripper. Her ties to the killer bring her in contact with a secret paranormal branch of the British police. The first book in the series will be published in Summer 2011 with a new book following each subsequent summer.

“Maureen has incredible range as a writer,” said Jon Yaged, vice president, US publisher, Disney Book Group. “We’re thrilled to have her join the Disney-Hyperion list—she’s a wonderful addition and a perfect fit.”

Maureen Johnson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and studied writing and theatrical dramaturgy at Columbia University, where she earned her MFA. In addition to writing books, she is also a scriptwriter for the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince videogame. She lives in New York City, and travels to the UK on a regular basis. Her books include The Key to the Golden Firebird, The Bermudez Triangle, 13 Little Blue Envelopes, the Andre Norton-nominated Devilish, Girl at Sea, Suite Scarlett, Let It Snow, and the forthcoming Scarlett Fever. Her works have honored by the New York Public Library, the American Library Association, IndieBound (formerly known as Booksense), and Publishers Weekly’s “Cuffies.”

Since its inception in 1991, Disney Book Group has amassed an array of best selling authors and illustrators, including Rick Riordan and his Percy Jackson series; Kadir Nelson’s We Are the Ship; Gail Carson Levine’s Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand; Sara Pennypacker and Marla Frazee’s Clementine series; Eoin Colfer’s blockbuster Artemis Fowl series; Mo Willems’s Knuffle Bunny Too! and The Pigeon Wants a Puppy; Melissa de la Cruz’s Blue Bloods series; Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson’s Science Fair; Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s American Heroes series; The Runaway Dolls by Ann M. Martin, Laura Godwin, and Brian Selznick; Miles to Go by Miley Cyrus; and Burning Up: On Tour with the Jonas Brothers. Disney Book Group also publishes best selling titles from key Disney franchises, including High School Musical, Disney-Pixar Cars, Disney Fairies, Hannah Montana, and Playhouse Disney properties.

Disney Book Group (DBG) is a unit of Disney Publishing Worldwide, the world’s largest publisher of children’s books and magazines, with over 400 children’s magazines published and 120 million children’s books sold each year. DBG’s vertically integrated imprints include Disney Editions, Disney-Hyperion, Disney-Jump at the Sun, and Disney Press. Headquartered in White Plains, New York, and Milan, Italy, Disney Publishing Worldwide publishes books and magazines in 85 languages in 75 countries, reaching more than 100 million readers each month.

Needless to say, Maureen and I are THRILLED. British rights to this new series, as yet untitled, have also been pre-empted by Harper UK.

Between this, and the sequel to 13 Little Blue Envelopes, also due in Summer 2011, we’re looking forward to a great couple of years!

I am pleased to tell you that the SEQUEL to 13 Little Blue Envelopes is NOW OFFICIALLY ON.