Tomorrow is June 21st. As many of you will know, this was going to be when the New Millennium edition of So You Want to Be a Wizard was supposed to launch. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen: the artist and I have found ourselves mired in production issues that mean the release of the book is going to have to be kicked into mid-July.
"So here I am with nothing exciting to announce," I thought. "Very disappointing."
And then I thought again, as it occurred to me that there is a vital piece of info which the fandom does not yet possess. And what better time to turn it loose?
But a few words of explanation first...
It's not often that I find myself writing a book without the title having been one of the very first things that occurred to me. But in the case of YW #10, this hasn't been the way things worked out.
It wasn't that there was any question of the general plot. That had been clear in my mind since around mid-2008. But I wasn't sure about the title, because I wasn't sure it might not change while I was working.
However, I'm now sufficiently far along in the book production process that I know the title's now unlikely to change. (Meaning that the book is now in its final grooming stages before sending the first draft off to the publisher. I am not willing at this point to discuss possible release dates, so don't ask me.)
Anyway, this being the case, I think I can safely announce the title now. ...But let's have a little fun first.
At the moment it's coming up on 6 PM UK / Irish time. So I'm going to announce the title here in the Forums, in a new thread, at 00:01 AM BST (that's 11:01 UT: or JD 2455733.50095 if you're handling your time Young Wizards style). Lee will have the YW Forums Twitter "bot" send out a Tweet about the announcement when it happens.
Then, tomorrow evening sometime, I'll post the book's blurb, revealing something about the plot. That should give everyone something to talk about for a little while. (I'm discussing with Lee the logistics of -- after the upcoming Forum upgrade -- the installation of some custom conferencing software so we can have an online Q&A about the new book in a couple/few weeks.)
More to the point, though: Book 10 has a lot of wizards in it. Maybe not the huge crowds of them that we saw or were dealing with in Wizards at War: but a lot. So I have room for some guest roles. I'd say five.
If you'd like to be one of those guest wizards -- by which I mean a character based on you -- then all you have to do is retweet the YW Forums bot's tweet between (my) midnight tonight and (my) midnight tomorrow. When the twenty-four hours are over, I'll ask Lee to use the random-number picker at Random.org to pick five of the retweets. Two of the winning places will be reserved for Forum members: three of them will be available either to Forum members or the general public.
So go have fun with this, and we'll talk tomorrow!
"So here I am with nothing exciting to announce," I thought. "Very disappointing."
And then I thought again, as it occurred to me that there is a vital piece of info which the fandom does not yet possess. And what better time to turn it loose?
But a few words of explanation first...
It's not often that I find myself writing a book without the title having been one of the very first things that occurred to me. But in the case of YW #10, this hasn't been the way things worked out.
It wasn't that there was any question of the general plot. That had been clear in my mind since around mid-2008. But I wasn't sure about the title, because I wasn't sure it might not change while I was working.
However, I'm now sufficiently far along in the book production process that I know the title's now unlikely to change. (Meaning that the book is now in its final grooming stages before sending the first draft off to the publisher. I am not willing at this point to discuss possible release dates, so don't ask me.)
Anyway, this being the case, I think I can safely announce the title now. ...But let's have a little fun first.
At the moment it's coming up on 6 PM UK / Irish time. So I'm going to announce the title here in the Forums, in a new thread, at 00:01 AM BST (that's 11:01 UT: or JD 2455733.50095 if you're handling your time Young Wizards style). Lee will have the YW Forums Twitter "bot" send out a Tweet about the announcement when it happens.
Then, tomorrow evening sometime, I'll post the book's blurb, revealing something about the plot. That should give everyone something to talk about for a little while. (I'm discussing with Lee the logistics of -- after the upcoming Forum upgrade -- the installation of some custom conferencing software so we can have an online Q&A about the new book in a couple/few weeks.)
More to the point, though: Book 10 has a lot of wizards in it. Maybe not the huge crowds of them that we saw or were dealing with in Wizards at War: but a lot. So I have room for some guest roles. I'd say five.
If you'd like to be one of those guest wizards -- by which I mean a character based on you -- then all you have to do is retweet the YW Forums bot's tweet between (my) midnight tonight and (my) midnight tomorrow. When the twenty-four hours are over, I'll ask Lee to use the random-number picker at Random.org to pick five of the retweets. Two of the winning places will be reserved for Forum members: three of them will be available either to Forum members or the general public.
So go have fun with this, and we'll talk tomorrow!
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