Randy Ribay's Blog, page 5

Whew.

Last night I finished a draft of my latest work-in-progress, THE GOBLIN & THE WHALE. It’s technically a second draft, but I’ve spent the last six months rewriting it word-for-word from the first draft, so it feels like a brand new story. So in other words, I feel like this:

At the same time, it’s exhausting to think about how much work still lies ahead. Having gone through several drafts with my first book, and being in the middle of revisions with my second one, I already know that’s where the story really becomes a story. But it’s a hell of a lot of work.

So I’m going to set it aside for a few months while I let my beta readers do their thing. Not only will it feel fresh when I return for my first round of revisions, but the distance also lends me a measure of objectivity required for my own critical examination of the story.

Here.

I came across this video essay about how Miyazaki creates great characters and wanted to share it with all of you. It’s an excellent study that any storyteller can learn from.

Just wanted to drop a note that I’ll be climbing out of my hobbit hole to do a panel with some other awesome YA authors in Philly(ish) on Nov. 15 at 11am at Main Point Books. Come meet us IRL! I smell real nice*!

*Most of the time

Whew.

It’s been a busy couple of months for me. School starting back up (with new responsibilities) + promoting a new book + trying to keep working on a new one is pretty tiring stuff. I can usually quantify exactly how busy I am by my how many books I read per week. During the summer, that number is usually 2-3. The last couple of months it’s dropped to around .5-.75.

BUT!

School is fully underway! The book has come out! The release party happened last Friday!

*wipes sweat off brow*

*washes hands*

That’s right, the release party! The final thing that makes me feel like this “debut” thing has come to end. And it was a LOT of fun! The experience felt very similar to a wedding–a whirlwind of awesome people from different realms of my life with no time to talk to anyone in depth.

I held it in my school instead of a bookstore because I thought that would make it more likely students would go (and several did!). We started out the evening with the CEO of our school introducing me. I thanked a bunch of people, and then one of my former students spoke about The Attic, Philly’s only LBQTIA+ safe space for teens.

After that, I read a chapter (“Her Hidden Multiverse” from Mari’s section), and then did a Q&A, during which I gave out twenty-sided die to those who asked questions. Most of the Qs actually came from my students, and they were thoughtful and interesting.

I then gave away some awesome tabletop games to promote…games (Forbidden Island, Munchkins: Zombies, and Coup). My wonderful wife sold books as I signed, and then people hung out and played games together for a couple of hours. All in all, I’d say it was a success because I had fun! Enjoy the pictures below (all of which I stole from Facebook).

AN INFINITE NUMBER OF PARALLEL UNIVERSES has been available through some distributors for a few weeks now, but today is the official publication date! Woot! I need to run off to work now, so I don’t have time to express how this feels, so here’s a GIF to do that for me. Special thanks to all who have supported the story over the last year!!!

Yesterday, I sold books at the Collingswood Book Festival, which was my first public selling/signing appearance ever. Huzzah! However, something happened that I can’t stop thinking about, so I’ve come here to work it out.

At one point, a girl wandered over to my table with her mother. By my estimate, the girl was probably early middle school. She picked up my book and read the inside jacket. Her mom asked if she wanted it, the girl nodded, and they bought the book.

It probably all looked fine from the outside, but inside I was experiencing a little moment of panic in my head that went something like this…

YAY SOMEONE WANTS TO BUY MY BOOK OH NO SHE LOOKS YOUNG MY BOOK IS MEANT FOR HIGH SCHOOLERS IT HAS “STRONG” LANGUAGE AND SEXUAL “THEMES” SHOULD I WARN HER BUT SHE DID READ THE SYNOPSIS MAYBE SHE’S NOT THAT YOUNG EVERYONE ALWAYS ASSUMES I’M YOUNGER THAN I AM BUT STILL SHOULD I WARN THE MOM BUT IF SHE WERE WORRIED ABOUT THAT WOULDN’T SHE ASK OH NO SHE’S HOLDING OUT THE CASH AND I HAVEN’T FIGURED OUT WHAT TO DO OH NO SMILE.

Yup. Good times.

So, did I do the right thing in letting this girl purchase my book?

Yes and no.

I say yes because of my own experiences growing up. I read adult books (Stephen King, Michael Crichton, etc.) when I was in middle school that definitely contained content kids of my age “should” not read. Because I was a tiny Filipino boy, people always assumed I was several years younger than I actually was. And beyond that, I was mature for my age. I hated whenever a teacher told me I was too young to read something. I could read it, I did read it, and it didn’t transform me into some violent, perverted sociopath. And the world did not surprise me when I grew up.

I say no because I probably should have given the mom a heads up. Based on the interaction, I’d assume she lets her daughter read what she wants, which I generally agree with. But still. Maybe she would have appreciated knowing and still bought the book anyway. But I was flustered and awkward, as I didn’t expect a younger kid to pick up my book (let alone anyone).

Live and learn, folks. Live and learn.

Ahoy hoy, everyone! Sorry for the radio silence on the blog as of late. It’s mostly because I’m back to teaching so have like five minutes of free time a day now. But I wanted to share a couple of exciting book things…

AN INFINITE NUMBER OF PARALLEL UNIVERSES made Barnes & Noble Teen’s top 20 October YA releases list!

Also over at B&N Teens I shared a personal story about my dog for a brand new series they’re starting up called YA Open Mic.

I hope all is well with you, dear reader! 

At long last, check out the trailer for AN INFINITE NUMBER OF PARALLEL UNIVERSES created by my own talented brother and featuring music from Kishi Bashi!

Pre-order the book at Indiebound, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble.

Earlier this week, I received a notification from UPS that said I had a package delivered from Adams Media–which owns Merit Press, my book’s publisher. It HAD to be my author copies, right? I was vibrating with excitement throughout the day and rushed home after work to find a huge package on my doorstep…that was surprisingly light. I knew I was supposed to get twenty copies, but this box felt like it couldn’t even be one. So I opened it up and found…

…a giant foam poster board with my book cover to use at events. Though it’s cool, it wasn’t the books.

But!

Today I received ANOTHER notification from UPS for a package from Adams Media…and this time it WAS my hardcover copies!!! So! Here are some shots!

Out of the box! And in better light! The stars are shiny!

A close-up of the blurb from one of my YA heroes Adam Silvera…In the nude…





And the obligatory blurry shot of me wielding it like bludgeon….

Man, it was awesome as hell to see them in real life. Up until now I’ve felt pretty anxious about this whole process. I was convinced that for some reason my publisher would decide it was a horrible story and they weren’t going to through with it. But to hold the finished copy–a life’s goal realized–in my hands felt amazing. All those worries fell away. It is real. I wrote a book. It exists. It will soon be in the world.

p.s. For those of you in the Philly/SJ area, I’ll be at the Cherry Hill Barnes & Noble this Saturday, Sep. 12 from 2-4pm for Local Authors Day. While these beautiful babies won’t be available until October, I’ll be handing out bookmarks, buttons, and sage advice.