I can’t believe it’s almost here – the big Sourcebooks Launch Party at Books of Wonder in New York City! Even more unbelievable is that I get to be a part of it, even though my book doesn’t officially hit the market for another month and a half!

My husband and I are psyched and ready! This Thursday afternoon, we’ll be traveling to NYC in luxury (Amtrak), where we’ll stay at a ritzy, upscale hotel (Comfort Inn). We’ll have just enough time to partake of a late lunch at a fashionably trendy restaurant (Taste Good Chinese Food, next to the Comfort Inn) before heading off to the book store for the big event.

At this point, I can stop being facetious, because the glamour will actually be real. I’ll be hanging out with other Sourcebooks guest authors such as Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown (Picture the Dead), Joy Preble, (Dreaming Anastasia), Lila Castle (The Star Shack), and Helen Ellis (The Turning). Also present will be authors of Sourcebooks titles due out in 2011, such as Lisa and Laura Roecker (The Haunting of Pemberly Brown) and Ty Drago (The Undertakers), as well as lots of YA book bloggers and YA readers of all ages.

And as if that wasn’t enough – the evening will conclude with the first ever public performance by the All Teen Author Rock Band: Tiger Beat! The members of Tiger Beat include such well known names as Natalie Standiford (How to Say Good-bye in Robot), Barnabas Miller (7 Souls), Libba Bray (The Gemma Doyle Trilogy), and Daniel Ehrenhaft – who is not only the author of several YA books, but also the head acquisitions editor at Sourcebooks and … gulp, kind of my boss. I hope I can pry my tattered classroom copy of The Last Dog on Earth out of my students’ hands so I can get him to sign it.

Better yet, maybe I’ll just buy a spankin’ new copy!