Emily Wing Smith's Blog, page 3

'Tis The Season For Massive Hair Loss And Re-Gifting Writing Tips

Some of you know that I grow out my hair to donate to Locks of Love.  And it was getting to be that time again, the time when the beater brush on our vacuum cleaner no longer spins because it's coated with my hair.  So last week I went from this…

Hmm.  Remember how last time the picture rotated by itself?  Oh well, moving on, this was me before, and this is me after:

My hair is actually still sorta-long (enough so that I can put it in the ever-important ponytail) (and avoid getting stuff in it) (stuff = food).

Next:  tomorrow night, which is Thursday, December 16, is an important day for all those who love The SIX (the writing group of which I'm a part).  Why?  Because at 9:00 P.M EST we'll all be participating in a conference call and it's sure to be filled with hilarity and inspirational tips.  Although I'm not really sure at what ratio.  I'm pretty sure that EVERYONE loves The SIX, but if you don't, you should still call in  if you're an aspiring writer and want to get some free advice about all things YA-writing-related.

Here's what to do:

1: At the appointed time, dial

1-218-862-7200

(long distance charges may apply, depending on your phone plan)

2: Enter the Conference Code: 245657

3: To raise your hand and ask a question, dial 5*

4: To Mute yourself, dial 4*

For more information, visit  http://www.authorsadvisory.blogspot.com/

Call in and learn our secrets (Brodi has good ones that she's dying to share).  In fact we all, each and every one of us, live to give.

Happy Holidays from The SIX!

The Post I Forgot To Title

A few weeks ago, I had the truly enchanting opportunity to talk books with writers Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, on tour for their new book BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS (a follow-up to their mega-success BEAUTIFUL CREATURES) (not that BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS isn't a mega-success in its own right).

Here's us talking about collaborative writing, favorite series (BSC shout-out, baby!), and where we purchased our shoes.  Not necessarily in that order.  And with a lot of other stuff in-between.

Here we are afterward, at the signing at the King's English.  Margy and I are on the bottom row, then it's left to right Bree, Valynne, Kami, and Brodi.    I love this picture because I look like I have a disproportionately large face, and Brodi looks exactly the same as she always does.

To those of you who inquired about whether or not I'm actually going on the Taylor Swift cruise,  I ask:  would I lie to you?  Never.  Would I embellish?  Possibly.  But in this case I am neither lying nor embellishing.  I am frantically memorizing Taylor Swift trivia, so if you have any factoids, send them my way.  Also, if you know how to turn me into a willowy 5'10 blonde with curly hair, let me know that, too, so I can win the look-alike contest.

On the writing front, I am near 46,000 words on my book and I'm done.  Not done like finished–there are still several scenes I envisioned writing.  But I'm kind of over it.  I just figure I'll let the reader fill in the blanks and my work is complete.  Anyone think this idea will fly?  Anyone?  Anyone?

And as far as unusual appointments I've had lately:  I was having back problems, so I went to the massage therapy school by the really good Chinese restaurant for my first-ever massage.  Turns out the fact that I look at the keyboard when I type  is not a good thing, especially considering the amount of time I spend typing.  It also turns out I have about 30% fewer bones in my back than I thought.  What I thought were bones were actually muscles knotted so tightly for so long I just assumed they were bones.  It's a good thing I couldn't see the massage therapist's face when I said "Wow, how'd you make one of my vertebrae disappear?"

I went to get my eyebrows waxed, because you know how that goes.  "Wow, you have such great eyebrows," said the New Lady.

"Thanks," I said.  This is kind of a strange compliment, but I've given stranger, so no big.

Then she's like, "These will be so great to shape.  You have no IDEA  how some people think their eyebrows should look."

I was like, "People think their eyebrows should look a certain way?"  I mean, they're EYEBROWS.  There should be two of them.  You shouldn't look like you're constantly unhappy.  Otherwise,  eyebrows are just there, right?  Apparently not.  And I thought I had problems.

Current Obsessions

1.  CONFESSIONS OF THE SULLIVAN SISTERS

I just finished reading this yesterday, and can I just say, WOW.  I savored this book for exactly one week and I will tell you, it made the whole WEEK awesome.  Natalie Standiford is a terrific author (who , yes, has blurbed my forthcoming BACK WHEN YOU WERE EASIER TO LOVE.  Score!) and she's totally outdone herself with this one.  Plus, its got so many stars it could be an American flag!  Okay, so I meant starred reviews, but whatev.

2.  SISTERWIVES

This picture is misleading because it shows one bride and one groom, and the TLC program is about one groom (who I not-so-affectionately refer to as "Kody-with-a-K") who miraculously managed to get four brides.  But not all at once.  I attribute his good fortune to this first bride, Meri.  Here she is,  looking positively bodacious in this wedding pic (hence why I chose it, natch):

Without her, my guess is Kody-with-a-K would be even more of a tool than he already is, but with her, he's managed to build a pretty cool polygamist family.  And having grown up in Utah, I can tell you that before this show, I would never, ever have believed there was such thing as a pretty cool polygamist family.

After seeing what happened to my other favorite pretty cool TLC family (yes John and Kate, I'm looking in your direction) I'm a little nervous for next season of SISTERWIVES.  Nervous, of course,  and way, way excited.   BOOYAH.

3. To assure this post is not about how I am currently obsessed with sisters, next up is TAYLOR SWIFT, who doesn't even have a sister.  If she did, I wish it could be me.  How great would that be?  I know, it's totally trendy and I should be ashamed to even admit it, but I love everything about this girl:  her music, her style, and her priceless monologue on SNL.

This was going to be a picture of Taylor, but it looks like the one I saved is actually of a karaoke lounge.  Which is cool, because it segues into the next crazy obsession, which is that I officially reserved a cabin on .   Yes, Taylor Swift will be performing onboard!  Yes, I have a balcony cabin overlooking the theater!  This is in case I'm not lucky enough to win tickets throughout the week by participating in Taylor Swift trivia, look-alike contests, and karaoke.  This is not going to keep me from trying, however.  I have eight weeks to make myself look like Taylor Swift.

4.  Happy days are here again because the muse has finally returned and MY NEXT PROJECT is at 44,320 words!  This may not seem like much until you realize that most of my books weight in at about 49K.  Homestretch, baby, and I'm more ready than ever!

Also, this has been a good week for EASIER TO LOVE.  In her blog, Mary Kole mentions it as a popular title in contemporary YA fiction.  AND I found out that award-winning author Sara Zarr had this to say:

"Emily Wing Smith understands obsession and the acute condition of the heart when broken, and when on the mend. Also, she makes me laugh."

See, this is true not only of EASIER TO LOVE, but of me in general.  Oh, I know obsession.  I don't just write about it, I live it.  On a daily basis.  Hopefully, I also make Sara laugh.

Any of you have obsessions I should add to the list?

Please note:  I do not know why this text is so small.  It is not on purpose.  I have tried to fix it but currently have no solution.  Sorry about your eyes.

Don't Worry Be Happy And Other 80′s Trends

Some (okay, many) have commented on the abundance of proper photos in my recent posts. Some (okay, Sara) haven't known quite what to make of this. The secret revealed? I HAVE BEEN SHAMELESSLY PILFERING PICTURES! I've found stealing other people's pictures to be infinitely easier than using my own. But no more. We'll see how that works.

For my recent birthday, I decided to throw a killer 80′s Prom to celebrate while paying homage to my birth decade. In preparation, I painstakingly scoured the Billboard Top 100 from 1980-1989. Yes, the music library in our home includes all 1000 of these titles. I have to admit, I have, on occasion, wondered as to the usefulness of this collection. No longer.

Hmm.  So this Jem cake is my first photo fail.  Not that showing the cake was a fail.  Not at all!  My super-rad, ultra-talented friend Lisa made this, and besides looking AWESOME, it was delicious.  But I meant to insert a picture of me belting out 80′s  karaoke, to illustrate the music riff I was on before.  No matter, though.  Anyone who has heard Jem's truly, truly, truly outrageous melodies know how fitting this picture really is.

Anyway, one of the Top 80′s songs was the ridiculous "Don't Worry Be Happy" and I refused to play it at my party because I blame it for all that is wrong with my generation.  When I was a kid and heard the song, I thought the lyrics were:  "The landlord say your rent is late–he may have to mitigate."  Hence–"Don't worry; be happy."  I knew from the school spelling bee that "to mitigate" meant to make something less harsh, less severe.  So I always thought, "What a great landlord!  He's taking care of that guy, even if he can't pay his rent."   When I learned the truth–he may have to litigate–I was beyond disillusioned.  Litigation is cause to worry, my friend, not to be happy.  I blame our law-suit crazy culture on Bobby McFerrin.

Here is me NOT singing "Don't Worry Be Happy."

So, of course I have had this song in my head for the  last two weeks.  It's someone's idea of a joke.

I procured a full-size cardboard stand-up of everyone' favorite 80′s icon, but in most pictures you couldn't see him:

So, in this picture you can actually see him quite well, but when it's small it looks surprisingly like one where you…couldn't.  Anyway, moving on.

I made Pac-Man cookies for the event.

The secret is using upside-down tulip cookie cutters for the ghosts, and cutting out Pac-Man's mouth with the bottom of a heart-shaped cookie cutter.  Genius!  (I didn't think of it.  See the above link).

There's nothing like an 80′s prom to bring everyone together, both male and female…

Both geek and chic

(I won't say who's who, but the guys in the latter picture are sitting around playing Tetris)

Brat Packer, Stoner, Punk–all were welcomed with open arms.

Wow.  I am in shock as I type this but by 80′s magic this picture has rotated itself so as not to appear sideways!  More likely this was my webmaster husband tweaking something on the site, but I choose to go with 80′s magic, baby!

What's Up With Me

1. I blogged over at The Contemps website this fine Hot Topic Tuesday.  Check it out and let me know what you think!

2.  Today is the official release date for BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.  It's the next book in their NY Times bestselling Caster Chronicles (along with the first book, BEAUTIFUL CREATURES).  I'm also beyond excited to announce that I'll be interviewing these lovely and talented ladies when their completely amazing, larger-than-life tour stops at the King's English in Salt Lake City on Thursday, October 21st.  That, my friends, is NEXT Thursday.  Mark your calendars, because this is not your run-o'-the-mill tour.  Which reminds me, I've been invited to join in their massive giveaway by contributing my own shwag for my upcoming title BACK WHEN YOU WERE EASIER TO LOVE.  Alas, I currently possess zero shwag.   Any suggestions?  Also, time is of the essence.  Did I mention it's only 9 days away?

3.  Speaking of awesome Thursdays, this Thursday is my birthday.  October is a great month for birthdays!

4.  Speaking of great month for birthdays, on Friday my adorable nephew will be two.

As you can see, October has been very, very good to me.

Deep Thoughts With My Pal Brodi

You may have heard me talk about my friend Brodi.

Brodi's on the left.

Brodi's second from left.

Brodi's on the left.

From these pictures,  you might think that Brodi's biggest talent is looking exactly the same in every photo taken of her.  But on her talent scale, this barely even registers.  Brodi is an ace tennis player, a musical genius, an uber-blogger to whom I will forever aspire, and… a soon-to-be-published author!  Publisher's Weekly put it best:

To the Underworld and Back Again

Agent Michael Bourret at Dystel & Goderich closed a three-book deal with Kristin Daly at Balzer + Bray, selling North American rights in a pre-empt for a YA paranormal romance by debut author Brodi Ashton. The first book in the deal, The Ever'neath, is partially based on the Greek myth of Persephone: a 17-year-old who's been banished to the underworld escapes to her former earthly existence with her family and boyfriend. The catch is that she only has six months in the real world before being sent back to Hades, this time forever. Book one is tentatively scheduled for winter 2012.

To any non-writers who still bother reading my blog (aka my parents), this is a HUGE deal!  Selling a trilogy (in a pre-empt, no less) is nothing short of amazing!  Knowing that soon Brodi's interview requests would come rolling in, I decided to get in where I fit in and start mind-probing her ASAP.

ME: Since you'll be getting this question a lot, I want to prep you by asking what inspired you to write this book?  How did the idea come to you?

BOMBTASTIC BRODI (who has mistaken this for Bombastic Brodi on more than one occasion):  The Persephone myth has been in my noggin since birth really. I had a mom who, instead of reading me Goodnight Moon, would put me to bed each night by telling me tales of the Greek Myths. It was sort of annoying when I grew up, and didn't know anything about pop culture. People would be all, "Madonna rocks!" and I'd be all, "So does Persephone! And do you know Aphrodite? What a head-case!"  It didn't necessarily win me any friends. Anyway, I love writing about teens, for teens, so it totally made sense to combine the two.

ME: What was your path to becoming a published author?

BB: Rocky, bumpy, full of potholes, a lot of rejection, a lot of tears, and a lot of self-doubt. So, it was really great! After I finished writing my first book, my sister-in-law challenged me to start querying, and we'd race to see who could hit 100 rejections first. I'm pleased to say, I won that battle. Totally hit 100 rejections. But I also got my first agent!

… who later couldn't sell my first book. But I didn't quit- I wrote another book!!!

… that my agent didn't really like. We parted ways, and I really thought that was probably going to be the end of my writing career. But I took that second book, and started toward the 100 rejection challenge again, and along the way I got an offer from an agent. A few actually. Okay, 9. So that helped with the self-esteem issues. I'm so lucky my agent Michael Bourret chose to work with me! We revised a few times, and then he sent the manuscript out in September. Two days later, we had an offer. I still can't believe it.

ME: I know you're part of a fantastic writing group, the SIX.  What's next for the SIX?

BB: The SIX is the the best writing group ever, and I'm so lucky to be a part of it! Someday we're going to plan a writing conference on a cruise ship. Everyone's invited!

ME:  Frankly, BB, I expected a more interesting answer.

BB:  I know, it's lame.  I promise to give a better one soon.

ME:  Involving our SIX-sponsored yard sale?

BB:  I told you already, that's not happening!

ME:  But people will want random tchotchkes that once belonged to burgeoning star Brodi Ashton!  Give the people what they want!…

END SCENE.

Will Work For Muse

Recently VH1 had one of their legendary "Greatest Whatever" countdowns, and this time it was "100 Greatest Artists of All Time."   Broad, yes.   Broad and long.   So while all five hours were on our DVR, I only watched the intermittent bit between loads of laundry or while eating chocolate snacks.   That's why I don't know what musician it was who said it (some seventies guy with long hair, but what white guy from the 70s doesn't fall into that category?)   Anyway, his words were this:  I...

Distractions From A Grocery List

My problem with blogging is merely  a reflection of my problem with life in general, which is this:  I don't know how to prioritize.  Seriously.  No idea.

Lately it's been especially bad.   Say there are three things I need to do today:

1. email my editor

2. go to the grocery store

3. put out the grease fire in my kitchen

I'd be like, well, I should probably email my editor first.  Because she's a Very Important Person and I don't want to make her wait.  But then again, my book doesn't come out...

My Ultra-Skinny Vietnamese Wedding

Okay, so this was not really my wedding.    I, as many of you know, am already married– to a half-Japanese man with a half-Japanese brother who married a whole-Vietnamese bride over the weekend.

As one of the only Caucasian females at the celebration, I was forced to reflect on the sad disparity between I and my Asian counterparts.

#1:  Where there are Asian weddings, there will be cranes.  I could not fold cranes for my own wedding over seven years ago.  Number of cranes I can now fold?

Still a...

How My Summer Zipped By

The promised picture of me on the zipline.  No one else was at this point long enough to get a clear shot.

One of a kind.