mary e. pearson

Lots of catch up today.

First and most important,  I want to bring to your attention that author and editor Deborah Halverson, is walking in the Susan G. Komen  Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk for the cure.  I've talked before about what a difference cancer research makes.  It will save the life of someone you love.  Please hop over to her site and support her.  Every little bit helps. 

And my gosh, you gotta love the name of her team, The More the Merrier Walkers for Knockers.

more news . . .

The Mission Viejo Reader Festival this past weekend was so much fun.  Alyson Noel has a picture on her blog and talks about how great the librarian, staff, and volunteers were.  I have to say, DITTO.  You would have thought they had done this a hundred times instead of it being their first festival ever.  Kudos to them all. One funny thing, knowing that Henry Winkler would be there, I took a copy of the picture of the Bronze Fonz that lisaalbert took for The Miles Between tour, thinking I might show it to him.  Because of my panel time, I didn't get the chance, but one of the awesome volunteers showed up and brought it back to me signed!  So funny.  Love it!




Film update for The Adoration of Jenna Fox:  I heard from my agent and they expect the screenplay to be finished by the end of the month.  Hooray!

I've been amazed at the response to my post What YA Lit is and isn't.  I guess a lot of us have run into these misconceptions.

For my cat loving friends, a pretty funny video.  Who says cats don't like water?  Thanks to my sis for this video.

Remember, Walkers for Knockers.  Every.  Little.  Bit.  Helps. 

Book Signing - Tomorrow!  I have my first book event of the year--a discussion and signing of The Adoration of Jenna Fox at the Carlsbad City Library, 1775 Dove Lane in southern Carlsbad, at 2 pm in the Gowland Meeting Room.  The book club that read my book invited me to come but the public is welcome and Borders will be selling books.   If you happen to be in that neck of the woods, stop by and say hi!

Movie Update - I've had a lot of people asking me about movie updates so here's the latest. I heard from my film agent that the script for AJF is nearly done.  The screenwriter, producer, and director are just putting on some final touches.  I can't wait to see it.  When I hear more I will let you know!

Locus List - And I saw this on melissa_writing 's blog yesterday: Locus Recommend Reading 2008   so like Melissa, I will chirp a little squeeeeee!

I've been wrestling with intermittent internet service all day--our power went out last night so I think that might have something to do with it--anyway, on the phone with the cable company all morning so getting a late start here on everything.  Technology is great and all but sometimes don't you wonder just how much time it really saves?

Hope your day is going a smoother than mine!

I met with screenwriter, Dana Stevens, who is writing the screenplay for the movie version of The Adoration of Jenna Fox. We had been trying to get together for a while but our schedules just hadn't coincided. It was wonderful to finally meet her and chat. We had lunch and talked about writing and, well, the book. She asked me questions about my own inspirations, visions, and what I thought was the heartbeat of the story.

It was really interesting for me to hear about her screenwriting process. Like writing a novel, it is a very delicate journey trying to maintain vision and the essence of the story, and yet at the same time, it must also be adapted so it works on a big screen. That's quite a challenge. But I immediately clicked with her and felt confident that she would somehow blend the two mediums in the best possible way.

She said it would probably take three to four months to write the screenplay, and from there casting would probably begin which would take at least as long or longer. A long process, but it's very exciting to see each step happen.

On another note, I have changed the look of my blog, taking advantage of another Livejournal layout that shows page summaries, syndication links, and a tags listing. Yes, I now finally have tags. So if you want to know just about the ducks, dogs, or craziness in my life, you now have it with a simple click. Yes, I know you already have craziness in your life, but now, lucky you, you get mine too.

The Movie Deal was announced a few days ago apparently–the author is always the last to know–and I haven’t had a chance to make an announcement of my own, which is ironic because FOR MONTHS I have been holding this in and wanting to SPILL!

IT WAS AGONY! Yes, this was one of those "distractions" I mentioned!

But it was all hush hush and so I learned to keep my mouth shut, but as my absolutely brilliant agent said, the barn door is open now, so I can finally shout . . .

YES! The Adoration of Jenna Fox is going to be a movie!

Here is the news that has already been announced on CynopsisKids:

"20th Century Fox films options the feature film rights for The Adoration of Jenna Fox, author Mary Pearson's new young adult novel, in a mid to high six figures deal. Published by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, The Adoration of Jenna Fox is schedule for release on April 29, 2008. Brad Silberling is set to direct the live-action movie, with Julia Pistor producing, and a writer deal set to be announced soon. The book is set in the near future and revolves around Jenna, a teenage girl who, like most teens, is trying to figure out who she is and how she fits in, but it this is a huge task for Jenna because she has just woken from a year-long coma and she remembers nothing about who she is, or was."

This all came about because my previously mentioned brilliant agent, Rosemary Stimola, introduced me--and Jenna--to film agent extraordinaire, Jason Dravis, of the Montiero-Rose-Dravis Agency. Boy does Rosemary know her stuff. Jason was completely amazing. He cared about Jenna from Day One and started the long process of finding others who cared about the story too. Nervous? Oh my gosh. But his calmness rubbed off on me. I talked to several wonderful producers but everything “clicked” as soon as I talked to Julia Pistor. She loved details in the story that I loved too, and I knew we were on the same page. From there I met Brad Silberling and it was another “clicking” moment. He “got”the story and the minute we met he started talking about the relationships between the characters. Relationships! Yes!

The whole process from start to finish was truly amazing. Yes, much nail biting too, but Jason and I had an agreement--he would do the negotiations and I would do the nail-biting and we both did our jobs brilliantly : ) We had several studios interested along the way but I thought it was quite serendipitous that Fox should end up buying it. What are the chances? But wait, that’s a line from my next book. I am getting ahead of myself. Back to . . .

I can finally SHOUT OUT!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!