Yowza! What an exciting few days it has been!

I’m dancing around the house carrying both the F&G for Santa Knows by Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith, illustrated by Steve Bjorkman (Dutton Children’s Books, September 2006)(a holiday picture book, 4-up) and the ARC for Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Candlewick Press, March 2007)(a YA gothic fantasy, 14-up).

I know, I know, that’s me (or at least partly me), and I should probably be circumspect and authorly and dignified, but I just can’t help myself.

Steve’s art on Santa Knows is just fantastic–playful, fun, and imaginative. It’s a particularly kid-friendly Christmas book. I’m thrilled that it’s the first one my husband Greg (author interview) and I have written together.

The cover on the ARC for Tantalize is a “teaser” one (just black with the title in a red gothic font). The final art is still in production, but this way the ARCs will be available at BEA (see Convention and Education Schedule from Publisher’s Weekly) and other summer-fall conferences. I’ll let you know when the final cover art is posted and when each book is officially on sale.

My wonderful web designer Lisa Firke of Hit Those Keys has created pages celebrating both books on my site. See Santa Knows and Tantalize to read the flap copy, check out covers, and more!

For those of you attending the conference, I hope you’ll look for both titles. That said, please take the “uncorrected proof” label on Tantalize to heart. You’re welcome to check out my related post “Cut Ellipses” on Spookycyn for the low-down. In any case, Tantalize review copies will be more broadly distributed in the fall.

Cynsational News & Links

Event planners, please note that my schedule is filling fast for the 2006-2007 school year as well as for fall 2007. I enjoy speaking to a variety of groups–librarians, teachers, writers, kid-and-teen writers–and look forward to hearing from you. See my events information. For writing conferences and workshops, fees vary depending on the size of audience/number of participants and whether I’m asked to offer a keynote, critique manuscripts, etc. Inquire for more information.

My husband and co-author Greg Leitich Smith will join me in leading a breakout session on children’s and YA publishing at the Writers’ League of Texas 2006 Agents and Editors Conference from June 23 to 25 at the Austin Marriott at the Capitol, 701 East 11th Street, Austin. We hope to see some of you there!

Thank you to Antastasia Suen (author interview) for highlighting Cynsations in “I blog, He Blogs, She Blogs–Do You Blog?” (Book Links, May 2006).