As some of you may have heard, my partial draft of Midnight Sun was illegally posted on the Internet and has since been virally distributed without my knowledge or permission or the knowledge or permission of my publisher.

I have a good idea of how the leak happened as there were very few copies of Midnight Sun that left my possession and each was unique. Due to little changes I made to the manuscript at different times, I can tell when each left my possession and to whom it was given. The manuscript that was illegally distributed on the Internet was given to trusted individuals for a good purpose. I have no comment beyond that as I believe that there was no malicious intent with the initial distribution.

I did not want my readers to experience Midnight Sun before it was completed, edited and published. I think it is important for everybody to understand that what happened was a huge violation of my rights as an author, not to mention me as a human being. As the author of the Twilight Saga, I control the copyright and it is up to the owner of the copyright to decide when the books should be made public; this is the same for musicians and filmmakers. Just because someone buys a book or movie or song, or gets a download off the Internet, doesn't mean that they own the right to reproduce and distribute it. Unfortunately, with the Internet, it is easy for people to obtain and share items that do not legally belong to them. No matter how this is done, it is still dishonest. This has been a very upsetting experience for me, but I hope it will at least leave my fans with a better understanding of copyright and the importance of artistic control.

So where does this leave Midnight Sun? My first feeling was that there was no way to continue. Writing isn't like math; in math, two plus two always equals four no matter what your mood is like. With writing, the way you feel changes everything. If I tried to write Midnight Sun now, in my current frame of mind, James would probably win and all the Cullens would die, which wouldn't dovetail too well with the original story. In any case, I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on Midnight Sun, and so it is on hold indefinitely.

I'd rather my fans not read this version of Midnight Sun. It was only an incomplete draft; the writing is messy and flawed and full of mistakes. But how do I comment on this violation without driving more people to look for the illegal posting? It has taken me a while to decide how and if I could respond. But to end the confusion, I've decided to make the draft available here (at the end of this message on the Midnight Sun page). This way, my readers don't have to feel they have to make a sacrifice to stay honest. I hope this fragment gives you further insight into Edward's head and adds a new dimension to the Twilight story. That's what inspired me to write it in the first place.

I do want to take a moment and thank the wonderful fans who have been so supportive of me over the past three years. I cannot begin to tell you how much each of you means to me. I only hope this note will stop all the confusion and online speculation so that the Twilight universe can once again become the happy escape it used to be. After this incredibly busy year, I am now focusing on spending more time with my family and working on some other writing projects.

--Stephenie

I don't think I need to add much more than that.  Lol.  This is so bloody beautiful...Oh Smeyer...please to be going over there to cry upon your pile of ill-begotten millions.  We all know that that book is going to be finished and published eventually so that you can add to your dragon hoard of booty. 

winterlive

Doing the bus thing to work every day and walking through downtown every day would be a lot less pleasant if I didn't have the option to put on some music and drown out the world. Not because it's so terrible, but because there are days that I don't want to listen to other people's domestic disagreements or screaming about getting ripped off for their most recent hit. I don't want to listen to teenage girls talking about "she's a fucking ho, you know she slept with him and him and him." Sometimes, I just need to shut it out.

And then it hit me. If I feel like this, imagine how my kids at the homeless shelter feel. A lot of them don't just pass through downtown - they're there all day every day, this shit is their LIVES. They leave, sometimes, to go to school or a friends' house, but these are street kids living in the middle of all of the stuff that I try to screen out. And, for the most part, they have nothing.

All of my kids love music - it's one of our most frequent conversation points since they've found out that my tastes are pretty musically eclectic. A few months ago, Saturday nights were the nights that I would bring in my laptop and grab some donated blank CDs and the kids would burn music off my laptop so that they had new stuff to listen to. But they don't have portable mp3 players and both the boombox and the DVD-player-as-CD-player are sources of CONSTANT arguments because of musical differences.

Plus, school is starting soon and some of the ones still going to school could use an escape on the way to school, too.

So I'm thinking ... I know a lot of people. 200 and change, right up here. And a lot of ya'll upgrade your mp3 players or have basic players that you don't use anymore.

So, I was wondering - does anyone have any older mp3 players that they might think about donating? For this to work, I have to have enough that I can give one to each of the kids that is regularly spending the night, plus a few more for new kids coming in. So that would around 20 mp3 players of comparable size and whatever ... does that sound crazy?

I dunno, I figure it couldn't hurt to ask.

So. If you want to send mp3 players, email me at belladonnalin (at) gmail (dot) com for the address. Or, for those of you who have mentioned that you are interested in donating, paypal it to me at info@kibblecab.com or use the donate button below (my PayPal is down, so I'm using Bean's business account that she's NOT using right now).