Quick catch-up and Happy Holidays!

So while LIPS TOUCH didn't win the NBA for Y.A. fiction (see previous post), Laini, Clementine, and I (and Laini's mother who accompanied to sight-see and help with baby-sitting) had a FABulous time visiting NY once again and the awards banquet and show were amazing. We were truly honored just to have our book as a finalist among other such wonderful works of literature and art. A HUGE thanks to our Publisher, Arthur A. Levine (and everyone at his imprint!) for bringing us out and showing us a such a great time. Here we are upon entering the event (we haven't been this dressed up since our wedding!):


Congrats to all of the other finalists and even bigger congrats to the 4 winners! It was a pleasure to meet them all and also to get to meet all of the judges. If you're interested, here's Laini reading an excerpt from LIPS TOUCH the night before the banquet at another event for the finalists (click over to YouTube to avoid the screwy cropping of my art slideshow that Blogger does...)


Recently I've been working on art for several projects. One of them is a small but VERY fun project was with the incredibly talented Barry Lyga (of "The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl" fame, as well as "Boy Toy," the newly released title "Goth Girl Rising," and other books out and in the works). More on that to come in early 2010.

Laini and I also collaborated on a short sequential story for an upcoming Image Comics fairy tale anthology (out sometime in mid to late 2010). Our talented writer/artist/publisher friend Jim Valentino (he was Image's publisher at the time when THE DROWNED was acquired. Thanks Jim!!) asked us to contribute and it was a BLAST working on it. It'll be published by Image under one of Jim's imprints -- Silverline Books -- to be exact. Anyhow, some of the other contributors to the anthology include Mike Allred, Doug TenNapel, and Ted McKeever (and a BUNCH of others). Here's a panel from our story (written by Laini & art by me):


I was honored to be interviewed by Jules over at the how-do-they-have-time-to-put-this-all-together too cool for school blog Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast Thanks Jules and to everyone for their kind comments!

Lastly, one of the other projects I've been working on is hinted at in the (7-Imp) interview and I hope to have some news to share sometime in the coming weeks or months. I'll only say that I'm SO excited about it and I can't wait to get to work on the project as a whole!

Happy New Year!