*May 2, 2013–I’ll be a guest at Wallkill High School‘s Author Day. Very excited to do my very first High School visit.

*May 3-5, 2013–I’m going to be at the NESCBWI Conference (New England SCBWI) This is my first time at this conference and I’m very excited for all of the great classes and to reconnect with my writer buds. Of course I’ll be fan-girling quite a few of my favorite authors.

*I’ll also be wandering around at BEA (Book Expo America) on Friday May 31st!

On October 30th, TOUCHING THE SURFACE’s official book birthday, I’m going to have a launch day challenge. Tweet, Facebook or email me a picture of TOUCHING THE SURFACE out in the wild and you’ll get a chance to win this…

Which is really this…

A silver origami crane necklace. I have one of my own and I’ve given one to my agent Michelle Wolfson and my editor Anica Rissi. I’ve been holding on to this one for the big day.

Of course I’ll be reminding you about the contest again right before the launch.

I have several wonderful book launch events planned and I’m hoping that if you’re nearby, you’ll be able to attend one.

****DUE TO HURRICANE SANDY, ASELLINA WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ACCOMODATE THE NYC BOOK LAUNCH CELEBRATION ON 11/1/12.

*The first event is a NYC Cocktail party on Thursday, November 1st November 8th at 7:00pm, thrown by my very wonderful husband–yes, I am the luckiest girl in the world. The information is HERE. Feel free to add yourself to the evite or if you’re having trouble, just contact me with your name and email and I’ll add you to the group.

*The second event is going to be held on Saturday, November 3rd at 2:00pm at the Poughkeepsie, NY Barnes & Noble. You can find out more about this event HERE. The Poughkeepsie Barnes & Noble is a fabulous bookstore and I am so excited to be launching my book there. This B&N is the site of my local SCBWI Shop Talk, the place where I began learning how to be a writer. It has so many wonderful writerly memories for me. It is also the closest bookstore to my home, so you know I’ve spent a lot of quality time there. This is my community bookstore and I can’t believe I’m going to get to share this day, surrounded by people who have known and loved me since I was just a little kid. Signing my books here will be a mind blowing experience.

*The third event is going to be held on Sunday, November 4th at 4:00pm at Oblong Books & Music in Rhinebeck, NY.

This is one of two very special indie bookstores in my area and I can’t freaking believe that I’m going to be the author at a Hudson Valley YA Society event!!! I love going to these events to eat cookies and drool on my favorite authors. I can’t tell you how many times my husband and my boys and I have attended these events and then talked the whole ride home in the car about how someday they might ask me to do a book signing. Surreal.

Oblong books is asking for an RSVP to the event and if you can make it, you can respond on Facebook or RSVP at Oblong.

If you can’t make any of the formal book launch events–I’m completely bummed–but Oblong is taking orders for SIGNED COPIES OF TOUCHING THE SURFACE. I’ll be signing them that very afternoon, so there is a really good chance that the book will have residual festiveness tucked between the pages. How awesome is that?

Oh, and before I forget–I’ll be activating my newsletter function really soon, so don’t forget to sign up at the bottom of any page of this website.

I have three wonderful and very diverse events planned for the book launch of TOUCHING THE SURFACE. I’d love to give you a quick overview of what to expect so that maybe you can make one of the celebrations. I’d love to see you.

The first event is a cocktail party in NYC thrown by my absolutely adorable husband. *heart squish* If you’re near the city and would like to come and help us celebrate you can find the evite here…NYC Launch Party!!!!

The second event (still to be officially announced) will take place on Saturday Nov. 3rd in the Hudson Valley and I can’t wait to share the info with you very soon–so save the date.

The third event for launch week takes place on Sunday November 4th at 4pm at Oblong Books and Music in Rhinebeck, NY. An RSVP is required for the event.

**If you are unable to make any of the book launch parties but would still like a signed copy of TOUCHING THE SURFACE, you can order one HERE!!!!!

TOUCHING THE SURFACE is three months away. *does a little happy dance* I can’t believe it’s so close/still so far away!!! Yeah–that’s how I feel. One minute it seems as if it’s right around the corner and the next it feels like it’s still so far away I need binoculars to see it. I’ve got some very exciting book launch information coming your way soon, but until then, you can just dance with me…

It’s almost time for the 2nd YAmazing Race with MGnificent Prizes!!! The race starts on May 2nd at noon EST and runs until May 8th. I’ll be a pitstop on the race, but to start at the beginning and find out the rules, be sure to head on over to the APOCALYPSIES web site for all the details!!!

I have an official release date!!!! TOUCHING THE SURFACE will hit the shelves on…

October 30, 2012. That means I have 243 days to get everything ready–8 months. Insane! I’m secretly (okay–not so secretly–because I’m telling you) very excited with this new date. October is one of my favorite months of the whole year. I absolutely love it!!! And if you want to get a jump start on your holiday shopping…

Guess what? TOUCHING THE SURFACE is now up for pre-order at Amazon!!!! Off to pinch myself. I promise to be back with more news soon.

Since I last updated you, I got a surprise in the mail!  I received my very own ARCs of TOUCHING THE SURFACE .  It is the strangest, most surreal thing to hold your book in your hand. My favorite part of having the ARC, is getting show people their names in the acknowledgement pages. A book is written alone, but it doesn’t come to life by itself. I love sharing this moment with the people who have supported me along the way.

I’ve been getting quite a few requests for ARCs and can I just say–thank you so much for taking an interest in my book.  Every time someone asks I get heart palpitations.  It is a very nice feeling. Here is the information that I have so far.  TOUCHING THE SURFACE will be on Net Galley. I promise that as soon as I have that link–you will hear about it.  As for those lovely paper ARCs that are so pretty, I have no say in who gets to pet them. As soon as I have a point of contact for those, I’ll also let you know.  But all requests must go through Simon Pulse.

I’ve also been asked to join the group YA Outside the Lines.  I’ll be blogging over there on the 8th of every month.  Feel free to stop on over, there are so many fantastic authors sharing their stuff–it’s a group of YA Novelists Pushing the Boundaries of the Genre and Writing from the Heart ♥.

I’m back from the New York SCBWI Conference and ready to dig into my WIP full force. I’ve blogged all about the conference and you can check it out on my blog.  Thanks for stopping by–more updates soon.

It’s 2012!!! I can’t tell you how far away that seemed last February, when my amazing agent, Michelle Wolfson, sold my book to the spectacular Anica Rissi at Simon Pulse. Unbelievably, my debut YA novel Touching the Surface comes out THIS YEAR! I know that September 4th is still far off on the horizon, but every day something new and exciting seems to be happening. For starters, I have this beautiful new web site built by Emily Carlin of Swank Web Style. It’s like she jumped inside my head and pulled out pieces of my imagination to weave the site together. I love it as much as my cover—which is saying a lot.

More good news—I also got my first-pass pages in December. Silly me, didn’t realize what they were until I ripped open the big envelope. Yes, that squeal of delight you heard—it was me. What an amazing holiday surprise. *hums a song and does a little dance* It’s such an incredible feeling to see my words in print. It’s also a little scary. This is my last opportunity to make changes to the book, but it also means that Touching the Surface is at the printer. Some day soon there are going to be ARCs. More information coming soon…