Sarah Dessen's Blog, page 23

just your typical Tuesday…

…you know, had sushi for lunch, watched some Franklin with my daughter (a show that gets on my nerves, which makes me feel like a rotten person) then naptime and diving back into the newest Tom Perrotta novel, THE LEFTOVERS. Same old, same old. Until I felt the bed shake. At first I assumed it was a low flying plane buzzing the house (happens) or maybe my husband messing with the garage door beneath my office. Nope. So weird, I thought. It stopped after a minute or so and I went back to...

The Five!

1. I think I've mentioned here before that I am a serious documentary fan. I LOVE them, all kinds, but especially ones about personal stories and crime. Years ago, on HBO, I watched Paradise Lost, a doc about the murder of three cub scouts in West Memphis, Arkansas. The case was really gruesome, and terribly sad. The movie covered the case and the conviction of three teenage boys for the murders, questioning a lot of the evidence and whether or not they were actually guilty of the crimes for ...

procrastination.

Yeah, I need to start writing on a regular schedule again. Discipline is, for me, the hardest and MOST crucial part of the writing process. I have said before I am not and will never be the kind of author that glides to the computer, effortlessly, and cranks out prose on a regular basis. I drag. I dawdle. I moan and groan and read too much Google News. I eat chocolate. But eventually, I usually buckle down and get to it. For me it is a lot like working out, which I ALSO never want to do. But ...

scattered….

Okay, so regular readers know that I have NOT been keeping up with my normal blog schedule. I'm actually not sure I even HAVE one anymore. Years back, when I first began this blog, I did an entry every weekday. Which I can't even IMAGINE now. What on earth did I talk about for all those days? A lot of TV, I think. Sorry about that. When I had my daughter, I cut back to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, which somehow became, in the last year, Sunday afternoon, Tuesday afternoon and...

The Five!

1. Someone help me, I cannot stop adding apps to my phone and iPad. It's a serious sickness. I keep thinking that somehow, if I just look hard enough—and waste enough precious time—I will find the one app that will organize my life like no other. Make my lists make sense AND get the items on them done. Organize my thoughts and my house. Reassure me that I am not as crazy as I think I am. Is this too much to ask? Of course. Will it stop me from continuing to hunt and, in the meantime, adding l...

summertime lulls….

Clearly, the deer are WAY too comfortable in my yard. Aren't bucks (and these are both bucks!) supposed to be elusive and hard to find? Isn't that what the sport of hunting is basically all about? I half expect these two to settle themselves in my patio chairs. Honestly.

In other news, we've seriously entered the summer doldrums here. It's hot, everyone is at the beach, and my tomatoes are sagging on the vine. Meanwhile, the end of the season looms. Just this week, I started getting emails f...

The Five!!!

1. I'm back from Asheville, where I had a GREAT reading at Malaprops on Wednesday night. A fabulous crowd, some of whom stood the entire time and it was HOT at some points. You guys are the best. It was sort of bittersweet, as it's my last bookstore event for awhile, but man, what a great run. The book came out May 10th, and as of this week, it's still on the NYT Bestseller list. Thank you, thank you, for all the support. You made this an awesome summer for me. Once I was done with my...

grown up stuff

Big happenings around here this morning. First, I'm packing up for Asheville—where I am hoping it will be SLIGHTLY cooler, but not getting my hopes up—where I'm reading tonight, at Malaprops Bookstore, at 7pm. Interested? You can find full details here. Even MORE exciting: after about two years of discussion, debate and comparison shopping (and not a little bit of procrastination) we have FINALLY gotten a new washer and dryer.

What? This isn't exciting to you? Okay, so maybe I'm old. But...

not so fast…

So I started today by saying on Twitter it was the last Sunday in August. WRONG! This just gives you an idea where my head is. I'm skipping ahead not only entire months, but months that are PRECIOUS. Like the last one of the summer. Honestly. Target and Staples may be trying to tell me it is already time for Back to School, but I am NOT buying it. Or pencils or Post-its or new packs of paper. I just won't. You can't make me!

*takes deep breath*

Okay, so I'm a little sensitive about the whole ...

long time…

…no blog. I know! What can I say, I was in family vacation mode. Which is not, I have to say, the same as vacation mode. On vacation, I sleep in, read magazines, and recline in beach chairs holding little drinks with umbrellas in them. In FAMILY vacation mode, there are more juiceboxes, bug spray and flotation devices involved. But Cape Cod was so lovely, truly. I caught up with tons of family, spent quality time with my cousins, brother and nephew AND had the perfect cup of New England Clam ...