Book Signing with James Dashner!

I was lucky enough to go to James Dashner's book signing and launch party on Tuesday for THE MAZE RUNNER! If you missed it my review of THE MAZE RUNNER can be seen HERE. THE MAZE RUNNER was released Tuesday so go support this great author by buying his book!

In attendance there were some really great authors and other friends in the book world. Sometimes I feel so inadequate by being around all of them because I am kind of on the outskirts. BUT they recognize me, and hey, every author needs readers right? And maybe someday if I ever finish my book I'll be one of them...but I digress! (More on that topic another day!)

James spoke to the crowd about his journey to become an author and the story of how THE MAZE RUNNER came to be-- a speech embedded with his great sense of humor, of course!

For example he said "I studied to be an accountant because I figured I needed a job one day." Well his dislike for accounting led him to writing, and boy are we all glad for that!

THE MAZE RUNNER itself has been about a four year project for James. With lots of revisions and a couple of different agents representing him until he found the right fit and sold it to Random House. So you can see how long it really takes to get a book out, it has been a year and three months since Random House picked up the manuscript for MAZE to its publication! Books truly are a labor of love.

James confirmed that MAZE RUNNER will be a trilogy and the titles for the subsequent two books will be THE SCORCH TRIALS and THE DEATH CURSE. Each to come out in one year increments. (James has already finished and is working on revisions for THE SCORCH TRIALS).

He called THE MAZE RUNNER "A little glimpse into my dark and twisted mind." And what a fun ride it is!

James read a section of THE MAZE RUNNER where Thomas (the main character) is is taken by Newt, a Glader, to the wall at night to look through a tiny window to see the horrors that await inside the maze....the greivers.

Then James took some audience questions. It was fun to see some of the younger crowd who is his fan base from his Middle Grade novels THE THIRTEENTH REALITY. I wish I could go on and on and report everything he said, but I will just pick a few of my favorites.

I asked him what the trilogy title was going to be and his response was that his publisher has been kind of copying what THE HUNGER GAMES publisher is doing (hey, it's the same genre and if it worked...) So it is just The Maze Runner Trilogy. As well if you remember the end of HUNGER GAMES it says "End of Book One"...so does THE MAZE RUNNER! (He says all of this with a laugh).

My other favorite question was "What does a typical day look like for you?" Besides giving us too much detail about his morning routine. He said he blogs, twitters and answers e-mails in the morning, takes "really long breaks" in the middle of the day, that may or may not include a movie and/or a nap (movies inspire him to write) and then writes in the evenings.

He was also asked "How many times have you been rejected?". In pure James Dashner fashion he said "If you are including High School girls then I'd say about 1000, but if you don't and you only count book query rejections about 30-35."

Then I got my book signed and had a chance to say hi (he knew who I was...star struck again!) mingled a bit with some of the other authors and headed home! It was a great night and very entertaining.

For James' tour schedule go to his website HERE and check to see if he will be near you! If he is, it is worth it! Be sure to see him!