Thursday, May 19, 2016

MY LADY JANE tour stops!

Friends! Readers! E∂ians!

We have some exciting news, and that news is book tour! That's right, the three of us will be on the road (actually, we'll be in the air, since we're turning into majestic eagles and flying) in just a few weeks, and we're excited to see you! 

Here's a complete list of our stops:

June 7, 2016 - 7pm
The King's English in Salt Lake City, Utah

June 8, 2016 - 7pm
Redwood City Downtown Public Library (books sold by Kepler's) in Redwood City, California

June 9, 2016 - 6pm
Barnes and Noble in Idaho Falls, Idaho

June 10, 2016 - 7pm
Anderson's Books in Chicago, Illinois

June 11, 2016 - 4pm
Teen Book Fest at Barnes and Noble in Skokie, Illinois

June 13, 2016 - 7pm
Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, Texas

June 14, 2016 - 6pm
Books of Wonder in New York City, New York



IMPORTANT: Please make sure you click through to the store's website for more information. All events are free, but some want you to RSVP, and many require a book purchase at the store to enter the signing line.


If we're not coming near you (boo, sorry!), you can still order signed books. Many of these stores will ship both domestically and internationally, so click to their websites and see if they can help! There's a good chance the stores will also have our backlists, so if your collections are missing any of our books, check to see whether the stores will have those in stock as well.

A couple other small notes:

Photos: We are happy to take photos with our readers, but sometimes, due to time and space, it isn't possible. We leave it up to individual bookstores as to whether or not we will be able to do this.

Gifts: Sometimes our sweet (adorable, thoughtful, smart, strong, other positive adjectives) readers want to bring gifts for us. Thank you! We love presents. We only ask that you keep in mind our limited luggage space. Small, squishable items are great. (We all knit. Just sayin'.)



And that's it! Let us know if you have any questions!

CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU!!!

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Big News

We're one month away from MY LADY JANE hitting the shelves! This is always the part of the publishing process that's the toughest (UGH the waiting), but it's also the part where a bunch of super exciting stuff happens. We have some big news! Warning: this post is going to have a lot of exclamation points!!!!

News Item #1

MY LADY JANE is going to be printed in England! We consider this to be something of a miracle, since we're talking about messing with English history here, but it's happening! It will be released on September 1, 2016, with this cover:


We are totally and completely charmed by this cover! We giggled for hours after we saw it-- Gifford with a horse head! The eye-rolling Jane! The way "not entirely" is scribbled into the title! We are so happy that our readers in the U. K. will get to read this book!

News Item #2

MY LADY JANE is going to be an audio book! It will be released on June 7--the same day as the hardcover. It's narrated by Katherine Kellgren, who we picked specifically because we loved the way she narrated Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It will be the coolest thing ever to hear this proper British voice telling our little Jane story. We can't wait to hear it!

News Item #3 (You might want to sit down for this one. . .)

MY LADY JANE is on its way to being made into a movie!

Now everybody take a deep breath, because we have to clarify that the book is in the very beginning stages of this process, and having your book being made into a film is a long and difficult road. It could be a really long time. Or it could be never.

But still. . .

Ridley Scott's company, Scott Free, is currently working on the development of MY LADY JANE for the big screen.



This is crazy exciting news to us. We love Ridley Scott's films so much, and we're completely thrilled and honored to have his name attached to our book!

News Item #4

We're going on tour! We can't announce the wheres and whens just yet, but the Lady Janies will be traveling all over the country in June, signing and meeting our readers and having a veritable blast. Check back soon on our Events page for the details.


And. . . that's all our news!

Monday, May 2, 2016

On This Day: Jodi's Birthday!

All hail Queen Jodi!
It's Lady Janie Jodi's birthday today! So Brodi and I wanted to take a moment to talk about how very much we love and appreciate our bestie and fellow co-author, Jodi Meadows.

Cynthia: We have a running joke with the Janies that Jodi Meadows is the one who grates the cheese --not CUTS the cheese, just to be clear, this is not a fart joke. Ahem. Every morning when we are working at one of our little writing retreats, we make breakfast together. I scramble the eggs, Brodi cuts the tomatoes, and Jodi grates the cheese. And in our talks about who-does-what in the writing of our books, Jodi loves to say that all she really does is grate the cheese.

But she does SO MUCH MORE than that.

Brodi: Yeah! She also maintains the peace and the calm and the positivity. And she also finds the coffee.

Exhibit A of how Jodi loves coffee
Cynthia: She does! I have a growing collection of pictures that I am someday going to collect into an album called JODI-LOVES-COFFEE.

But seriously, though, Jodi is a huge part of why the Lady Janies work. Brodi and I have had so many conversations about how Jodi is actually the most essential part of our group--she wrote the point of view of JANE, after all--she's like the sparkly purple glue that holds the Lady Janies together. If it were up to just Brodi and I, we'd be a total mess. But Jodi is like the gravity that keeps us on the ground (and corrects our grammar, without being judgy about it).

Jodi's also known as "the quiet one," the one standing silently in the background while Brodi cracks jokes and I blabber on about history.

Brodi: But if you get her talking about the right subjects, such as knitting or grammar or the proper placement of a period, or world building, or unicorns, she will talk your ear off. I have always admired her for being able to fly under the radar and then bob her head up for just a second to say something absolutely brilliant, leaving me wondering why I'm talking at all in the first place.

Cynthia: I liked Jodi the minute I met her. It was clear from the very start that she was an ultra smart, super sweet, completely awesome human being. And my opinion of her has only gotten stronger every day I've been around her since we met. I feel so unbelievably blessed to have Jodi as one of my friends--she is the very best kind of friend, the kind who is always there cheering for you no matter what, the kind of friend who will tell you what she really thinks but will always be kind about it, the kind of friend who inspires you to be a better person yourself.

Jodi writing in one of her many notebooks
Brodi: Not to mention that she is just an amazing writer! The first time I met her was on my first book tour. Harper put me with Jodi and Cynthia, and it was magic. I introduced myself to Jodi, and she shoved a pair of hand-spun/hand-knitted mitts into my hands. A gift. Little did I know that four years later, we'd all be knitting together with a passion! And writing. With a passion.

Cynthia: Jodi is also one of the hardest working writers I've ever met, which has been so inspiring for me to witness. She is just a great example of a writer who does the work, day in and day out, no excuses. And that's how we get her beautiful, intricately-woven novels. Jodi is such a thoughtful person--and I think that thoughtfulness is part of why her books are so rich in wonderful, imaginative details. She's kind of my writing hero.

Brodi: She is my human hero. I want to be the kind of human she is. This past weekend, at Y'allwest, a participant who had met all the authors said Jodi was "hands down" the nicest. And she was right.

So happy birthday, dearest Jodi! We both love you so much, and we're so glad to be writing books with you!

Jane and Jodi, just hanging out