Sarah Dessen's Blog, page 30
March 22, 2011
Tour Dates!!!
Okay, so I've gotten the go-ahead to put up the dates for my book tour. There may be a few tweaks here and there in terms of times/places but these are pretty much confirmed, and any big changes I will report here as soon as I hear of them.
I look at this and think: So exciting! Also: better rest up now so I am READY. Whew!
Sarah Dessen's WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE Tour
Durham, NC
The Regulator Bookshop – 720 Ninth St – Tuesday, May 10, 7pm (pub day!!!)
Boulder, CO
Boulder Bookstore – 1107 Pearl Street – Wednesday, May 11, 7pm
Highlands Ranch, CO
Tattered Cover– 9315 Dorchester Street – Thursday, May 12, 7pm
Salt Lake City, UT
The King's English at 15th Street Framery, 1519 So 1500 East – Friday, May 13, 7pm
*this is a ticketed event, please check the bookseller's website for details
Raleigh, NC
Quail Ridge Books & Music – 3522 Wade Avenue – Monday, May 16, 7pm
Naperville, IL
Anderson's Bookshop – 123 West Jefferson – Tuesday, May 17, 7pm
Omaha, NE
The Bookworm at Millard Branch Library, 13214 Westwood Lane – Wednesday, May 18, 7pm
Dallas, TX
Dallas Museum of Art – Horchow Auditorium, 1717 N. Harwood – Sunday, May 22, 3pm
New York, NY
Barnes & Noble – TBD – Monday, May 23
Bethesda, MD
Politics & Prose at The Bethesda Library, 7400 Arlington Road – Thursday, June 16, 5pm
Houston, TX
Blue Willow Bookshop – off-site tbd – Friday, June 17, 7pm
If I'll be near you, hope you'll come out and say hello.....
Have a good day, everyone!
I look at this and think: So exciting! Also: better rest up now so I am READY. Whew!
Sarah Dessen's WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE Tour
Durham, NC
The Regulator Bookshop – 720 Ninth St – Tuesday, May 10, 7pm (pub day!!!)
Boulder, CO
Boulder Bookstore – 1107 Pearl Street – Wednesday, May 11, 7pm
Highlands Ranch, CO
Tattered Cover– 9315 Dorchester Street – Thursday, May 12, 7pm
Salt Lake City, UT
The King's English at 15th Street Framery, 1519 So 1500 East – Friday, May 13, 7pm
*this is a ticketed event, please check the bookseller's website for details
Raleigh, NC
Quail Ridge Books & Music – 3522 Wade Avenue – Monday, May 16, 7pm
Naperville, IL
Anderson's Bookshop – 123 West Jefferson – Tuesday, May 17, 7pm
Omaha, NE
The Bookworm at Millard Branch Library, 13214 Westwood Lane – Wednesday, May 18, 7pm
Dallas, TX
Dallas Museum of Art – Horchow Auditorium, 1717 N. Harwood – Sunday, May 22, 3pm
New York, NY
Barnes & Noble – TBD – Monday, May 23
Bethesda, MD
Politics & Prose at The Bethesda Library, 7400 Arlington Road – Thursday, June 16, 5pm
Houston, TX
Blue Willow Bookshop – off-site tbd – Friday, June 17, 7pm
If I'll be near you, hope you'll come out and say hello.....
Have a good day, everyone!
March 20, 2011
writergrl @ 2011-03-20T16:45:00
I'm back from New York, it's Sunday, the trees are blooming in my yard, and there is basketball on ALL DAY LONG. What is not to like?
I had so much fun in New York, even though it was a TOTAL whirlwind from start to finish. I've said here before how I am such a small-town kind of person, so to be in a city like that is like injecting me with about a million cups of coffee and then setting me loose. WHEEEEE! I get so overstimulated I'm like my daughter after eating a cupcake, heavy on the icing. On Thursday, I got to see the huge crowds for the St. Patrick's Day parade on my way to a great lunch with my editor and publicist. It was also close to Time Warner Center, where there was an Esprit store. Esprit! Holy 1984, Batman! But I went in and the clothes were SO CUTE. Why isn't there one of these, like, anywhere near me? Then it was off to my agent's new digs at Writer's House, out to dinner, and back to the hotel to collapse.
The next morning, I wanted to sleep in, but of course my eyes shot open RIGHT at 5:55am, the exact moment I am sure my daughter began calling for me back here at home. I'd waited SIX MONTHS to have a morning all to myself to sleep as long as I wanted and....I was up. UP! Honestly. So of course I HAD to grab some coffee and walk over to the GMA Studios, where they were just about to shoot an outside cooking segment with Mario Batali. I was too short to see everything---and too Southern to elbow my way up front, as many people on my Twitter feed suggested---but I did get to see Robin, G-Step AND Sam, as well as the back of Mario Batali's head. He was wearing a purple scrunchie, which kept making me think of that Sex and The City episode where Carrie said no women in NY wear scrunchies. Which may be true. But the chefs do, apparently.
Then, it was onto the subway---where I had to transfer, and ALMOST got totally lost and had to go up on the street to panic-call Susane Colasanti before figuring out I was on the wrong platform---and to the Penguin offices. Went to a GREAT lunch (can you tell I mostly just eat when I'm in New York?) then a meeting where I got to see ALL the cool stuff that is planned for when What Happened to Goodbye is released. And there's so much of it, I can't even tell you. I mean, I literally can't, because they'd probably kill me. But hopefully soon I can fill you in AND I think I'll be able to put up my tour schedule this week. Oh, and look at the new jacket, which now features some PINK background:
Then I got to eat ANOTHER huge amazing dinner, went to watch the second half of the UNC game at a sports bar before calling it a night. (Thanks to the everyone at Penguin, by the way, but especially Lisa DeGroff, who stayed out and watched the game with me so I didn't have to cheer alone.)
The next day I was up, out, and home by noon. It's like cultural whiplash going from a huge city to pasture land in less than three hours, and I mean that in the best way. AHHHHHHH the country. New York, you are wonderful. But I need my bright stars and cows.
Now, I am home for awhile, gearing up for the paperback release of Along for the Ride in early April---with a new cover:
.
And, while I am doing links, here's the video I was TRYING to embed via my iPad and failing royally on Friday. I love it especially because it is like a commercial for my hometown, featuring one of my favorite restaurants AND lots of UNC basketball:
Okay, I think that's all I had to tell you. New York, Mario Batali purple scrunchie...OH! I also had TWO celebrity sightings, which I know I can share with all of you if no one else. First was Terrence Howard, who walked BEHIND me on his way to the bathroom when I was out for a sushi dinner with my agent. And second was Nick Swardson, the actor and comedian, who was at the table RIGHT next to us at lunch. I was trying very hard not to gawk. Am not sure I succeed. So, if you are keeping track---and you know I am---that is THREE famous people I have seen in one week, counting John Edwards at my local CVS here in NC. And, you know, three more than the rest of the year. Pretty much.
Sorry for the insanely long entry. Have a good night, everyone!
I had so much fun in New York, even though it was a TOTAL whirlwind from start to finish. I've said here before how I am such a small-town kind of person, so to be in a city like that is like injecting me with about a million cups of coffee and then setting me loose. WHEEEEE! I get so overstimulated I'm like my daughter after eating a cupcake, heavy on the icing. On Thursday, I got to see the huge crowds for the St. Patrick's Day parade on my way to a great lunch with my editor and publicist. It was also close to Time Warner Center, where there was an Esprit store. Esprit! Holy 1984, Batman! But I went in and the clothes were SO CUTE. Why isn't there one of these, like, anywhere near me? Then it was off to my agent's new digs at Writer's House, out to dinner, and back to the hotel to collapse.
The next morning, I wanted to sleep in, but of course my eyes shot open RIGHT at 5:55am, the exact moment I am sure my daughter began calling for me back here at home. I'd waited SIX MONTHS to have a morning all to myself to sleep as long as I wanted and....I was up. UP! Honestly. So of course I HAD to grab some coffee and walk over to the GMA Studios, where they were just about to shoot an outside cooking segment with Mario Batali. I was too short to see everything---and too Southern to elbow my way up front, as many people on my Twitter feed suggested---but I did get to see Robin, G-Step AND Sam, as well as the back of Mario Batali's head. He was wearing a purple scrunchie, which kept making me think of that Sex and The City episode where Carrie said no women in NY wear scrunchies. Which may be true. But the chefs do, apparently.
Then, it was onto the subway---where I had to transfer, and ALMOST got totally lost and had to go up on the street to panic-call Susane Colasanti before figuring out I was on the wrong platform---and to the Penguin offices. Went to a GREAT lunch (can you tell I mostly just eat when I'm in New York?) then a meeting where I got to see ALL the cool stuff that is planned for when What Happened to Goodbye is released. And there's so much of it, I can't even tell you. I mean, I literally can't, because they'd probably kill me. But hopefully soon I can fill you in AND I think I'll be able to put up my tour schedule this week. Oh, and look at the new jacket, which now features some PINK background:
Then I got to eat ANOTHER huge amazing dinner, went to watch the second half of the UNC game at a sports bar before calling it a night. (Thanks to the everyone at Penguin, by the way, but especially Lisa DeGroff, who stayed out and watched the game with me so I didn't have to cheer alone.)
The next day I was up, out, and home by noon. It's like cultural whiplash going from a huge city to pasture land in less than three hours, and I mean that in the best way. AHHHHHHH the country. New York, you are wonderful. But I need my bright stars and cows.
Now, I am home for awhile, gearing up for the paperback release of Along for the Ride in early April---with a new cover:
. And, while I am doing links, here's the video I was TRYING to embed via my iPad and failing royally on Friday. I love it especially because it is like a commercial for my hometown, featuring one of my favorite restaurants AND lots of UNC basketball:
Okay, I think that's all I had to tell you. New York, Mario Batali purple scrunchie...OH! I also had TWO celebrity sightings, which I know I can share with all of you if no one else. First was Terrence Howard, who walked BEHIND me on his way to the bathroom when I was out for a sushi dinner with my agent. And second was Nick Swardson, the actor and comedian, who was at the table RIGHT next to us at lunch. I was trying very hard not to gawk. Am not sure I succeed. So, if you are keeping track---and you know I am---that is THREE famous people I have seen in one week, counting John Edwards at my local CVS here in NC. And, you know, three more than the rest of the year. Pretty much.
Sorry for the insanely long entry. Have a good night, everyone!
March 18, 2011
One more try...
...posting my new video for WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE. Featuring 411 West AND UNC basketball:
Please work this time....
Posted via LiveJournal.app.
March 16, 2011
writergrl @ 2011-03-16T16:10:00
I need to be packing for my trip tomorrow. But....
1) I spent the morning at the Museum of Life and Science with my daughter and my mom, racing down the dinosaur trail, looking at snakes, goats and bears, and while it was fun, I am exhausted.
2) My husband keeps sending me videos from StumbleUpon that feature a dog jumping on a trampoline, or riding in a kiddie swing, and while I KNOW they are silly and time wasters, I CANNOT LOOK AWAY. So cute! The dog is bouncing!
3) I got the BEST assignment from the publicity folks at Penguin for an upcoming thing they are planning, and it basically REQUIRES me to look at shopping sites online. I mean, if it's work, I can't say NO, can I? Of course not.
4) I'm entirely distracted by the fact that even after the Bachelor finale, I can't really tell if Brad and Emily are still together, or even happy. It's my first time watching so maybe there is something I'm missing, a way to tell based on whether other pairings lasted or not? If so, clue me in, because I'm lost.
5) The world is so scary now, with all the news from Japan and elsewhere, that really all I WANT to do is watch a dog jump on a trampoline. Which makes me a totally rotten person, I know. But there it is.
6) I'm too busy checking the page for the design contest we're having for our next round of Dessen Racing Spec E30 T-shirts over on 99designs.com. Are you a designer? Feel like taking a shot? Check it out here .
7. IF I start packing, then I have to start thinking about how I am the last person in the world (or so it feels) who still checks a bag when they fly. Does everyone else really carry on? Don't you get tired of dragging your suitcase to the bathroom with you if you have to go? And what about liquids? Oh, I'm going to look at more shoes on Bluefly.
8. Packing involves somehow deciding what I am actually going to wear, and I hate everything in my closet right now. Okay, maybe not my rain boots and my Theory pants. But I think, even in New York, I need to wear more than that.
9. Ummmmmm......
Okay, I am out of excuses. Which means I guess I have to get down to it. Blogging will probably be sporadic for the rest of the week, but I'll be back when I can. In the meantime, here's that dog on the trampoline. You're welcome.
Have a good day, everyone!
1) I spent the morning at the Museum of Life and Science with my daughter and my mom, racing down the dinosaur trail, looking at snakes, goats and bears, and while it was fun, I am exhausted.
2) My husband keeps sending me videos from StumbleUpon that feature a dog jumping on a trampoline, or riding in a kiddie swing, and while I KNOW they are silly and time wasters, I CANNOT LOOK AWAY. So cute! The dog is bouncing!
3) I got the BEST assignment from the publicity folks at Penguin for an upcoming thing they are planning, and it basically REQUIRES me to look at shopping sites online. I mean, if it's work, I can't say NO, can I? Of course not.
4) I'm entirely distracted by the fact that even after the Bachelor finale, I can't really tell if Brad and Emily are still together, or even happy. It's my first time watching so maybe there is something I'm missing, a way to tell based on whether other pairings lasted or not? If so, clue me in, because I'm lost.
5) The world is so scary now, with all the news from Japan and elsewhere, that really all I WANT to do is watch a dog jump on a trampoline. Which makes me a totally rotten person, I know. But there it is.
6) I'm too busy checking the page for the design contest we're having for our next round of Dessen Racing Spec E30 T-shirts over on 99designs.com. Are you a designer? Feel like taking a shot? Check it out here .
7. IF I start packing, then I have to start thinking about how I am the last person in the world (or so it feels) who still checks a bag when they fly. Does everyone else really carry on? Don't you get tired of dragging your suitcase to the bathroom with you if you have to go? And what about liquids? Oh, I'm going to look at more shoes on Bluefly.
8. Packing involves somehow deciding what I am actually going to wear, and I hate everything in my closet right now. Okay, maybe not my rain boots and my Theory pants. But I think, even in New York, I need to wear more than that.
9. Ummmmmm......
Okay, I am out of excuses. Which means I guess I have to get down to it. Blogging will probably be sporadic for the rest of the week, but I'll be back when I can. In the meantime, here's that dog on the trampoline. You're welcome.
Have a good day, everyone!
March 13, 2011
writergrl @ 2011-03-13T17:51:00
I'm writing this at the end of a perfect March weekend. It's warm and sunny and still really light outside (thank you, Daylight Savings!). I watched a lot of great basketball (even though my team lost the final game) hung with good girlfriends and got alternately suspenseful and hilarious updates from Road Atlanta, where my husband and my friend Evan were racing the Along for the Ride and Lock and Key cars, respectively. Now, my daughter is pouring water to make puddles on the deck, then jumping in them as the dogs bark at the deer passing through the back yard.
And yet, of course, across the world, terrible tragedy is unfolding, minute by minute. Ever since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, I've felt this horrible sense of guilt for enjoying ANYTHING while so many are suffering. How DO you find that balance between living in the moment and being happy for all you have and yet still being aware and empathetic to those in pain or need? I know, I know, I am by FAR not the first person to ask this question, and maybe there is no good answer. I just know that writing about the Real Housewives or Charlie Sheen or The Bachelor (or even watching basketball) doesn't feel the same.
I'm not sure where I am going with this. Just saying it, I guess.
Anyway. This week, I shift BACK into professional mode, taking my first work trip since the fall. Which means I have to Up My Game and Not Dress Like I Normally Do. As in, looking a bit better than when I go to Whole Foods. I don't know about you, but whenever I'm in New York I'm blown away by how good people look. The fashion! The hair! I remember, years ago, I was walking to a dinner in New York when this couple stepped in front of me. I couldn't see their faces, only their backs, but the woman looked SO PERFECT---her hair, her little black dress, strappy heels---that I have never forgotten it. It's like this glamorous image I can't shake. Who knows what this woman was really like, her life, any of that. It's just like one of those snapshots you remember. Especially when you are surveying your own winter-damaged hair and the circles under your eyes from having a toddler who is a super early riser. Thank goodness for concealer, is all I have to say.
I mentioned earlier that my race cars were at Road Atlanta this weekend. I know some of you are like, "I don't get the race car thing," and I have to say, I hear you. I don't know NASCAR from the Indy 500 (okay, I do NOW, but before my husband got into this I was clueless) and I really just signed onto sponsor these cars because I thought it would be fun to see my covers on the hoods. But now, I feel myself getting totally sucked in. This weekend, it was a blown head gasket on the Along for the Ride car, but every time it is something crazy, and the people I've met so far from the various races and tracks have been GREAT. Who knew there could be crossover between YA and BMW racing? Not me. Anyway, if you want to know more, we've set up a Facebook Fan page for the cars
here and I'm hoping to set up a Twitter account as well. I'd also LOVE to do a local event here in Chapel Hill with the cars parked out front so we can give away T-shirts. It might be crazy, but it is just MY kind of crazy. Gotta love that.
Okay, my daughter just spilled spaghetti sauce all over herself. So much for the idyllic Sunday. Duty calls....
Have a good night, everyone!
And yet, of course, across the world, terrible tragedy is unfolding, minute by minute. Ever since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, I've felt this horrible sense of guilt for enjoying ANYTHING while so many are suffering. How DO you find that balance between living in the moment and being happy for all you have and yet still being aware and empathetic to those in pain or need? I know, I know, I am by FAR not the first person to ask this question, and maybe there is no good answer. I just know that writing about the Real Housewives or Charlie Sheen or The Bachelor (or even watching basketball) doesn't feel the same.
I'm not sure where I am going with this. Just saying it, I guess.
Anyway. This week, I shift BACK into professional mode, taking my first work trip since the fall. Which means I have to Up My Game and Not Dress Like I Normally Do. As in, looking a bit better than when I go to Whole Foods. I don't know about you, but whenever I'm in New York I'm blown away by how good people look. The fashion! The hair! I remember, years ago, I was walking to a dinner in New York when this couple stepped in front of me. I couldn't see their faces, only their backs, but the woman looked SO PERFECT---her hair, her little black dress, strappy heels---that I have never forgotten it. It's like this glamorous image I can't shake. Who knows what this woman was really like, her life, any of that. It's just like one of those snapshots you remember. Especially when you are surveying your own winter-damaged hair and the circles under your eyes from having a toddler who is a super early riser. Thank goodness for concealer, is all I have to say.
I mentioned earlier that my race cars were at Road Atlanta this weekend. I know some of you are like, "I don't get the race car thing," and I have to say, I hear you. I don't know NASCAR from the Indy 500 (okay, I do NOW, but before my husband got into this I was clueless) and I really just signed onto sponsor these cars because I thought it would be fun to see my covers on the hoods. But now, I feel myself getting totally sucked in. This weekend, it was a blown head gasket on the Along for the Ride car, but every time it is something crazy, and the people I've met so far from the various races and tracks have been GREAT. Who knew there could be crossover between YA and BMW racing? Not me. Anyway, if you want to know more, we've set up a Facebook Fan page for the cars
here and I'm hoping to set up a Twitter account as well. I'd also LOVE to do a local event here in Chapel Hill with the cars parked out front so we can give away T-shirts. It might be crazy, but it is just MY kind of crazy. Gotta love that.
Okay, my daughter just spilled spaghetti sauce all over herself. So much for the idyllic Sunday. Duty calls....
Have a good night, everyone!
March 10, 2011
The Five!
1. This week, I went on my first vacation in AGES---since October, actually. Me and the fam hit the road to Asheville, NC, which is one of my favorite places. First, we have friends we LOVE there. Also, there are great bookstores. And the FOOD! Oh, my goodness. I had grits at the Early Girl Eatery that were the best I have had, seriously, ever in my life. And that is saying something, as I have lived here in the South, Grits Central, since I was 3. Of course, my family never ate grits, as my parents are from New York and Baltimore, respectively. We did not do biscuits for breakfast, either. But all it took was spending the night at other people's houses a few times for this to become my breakfast of choice:
MMMMM. And now I'm hungry again. Maybe I should do Brinner tonight?
2. It used to be when we went to Asheville, we went out to late dinners, then for a drinks and maybe to see music before crashing and sleeping in. Then, breakfast and coffee and shopping and milling around, just taking in the sights and breathing in all that mountain air before doing it all again the next night. Now, though, it is a family vacation, which means: early to bed (at least for me and the toddler), early to rise (6am! just like at home!) and then breakfast, bookstore and several other outings all before lunch at 11:30. On the downside, I didn't get to buy any cute stuff at the clothing and jewelry stores I love there. On the upside, my credit card is now sufficiently cooled off for when I head to NYC next week. And anyway, before my daughter I NEVER would have been at the Nature Center when the DOORS OPENED, first there to see otters and black bears and wolves. Who needs sleep when you can experience that kind of wildlife? Not me. Apparently.
3. Yes, so, next week I am heading up to New York for a bunch of meetings about my new book. I'll get to hear tour details and marketing plans, all the fun stuff, so I'm really excited. (I'm not doing any public events, but will hopefully be back to do a reading in May sometime.) As usual, it will be a total whirlwind: I can't seem to go anywhere (especially for work) without packing in as much as possible. In fact, I think as of now I have ONE meal free for the entire trip, a random breakfast I may very likely eat standing up outside the window of Good Morning America. Although what I SHOULD do is order room service and sleep in. But can I resist GMA? It's so hard when I know they are just a few blocks instead of many states away. But sleeeeeep. Hmmm. Stay tuned....
4. I am usually late to any party, which is why I know you all probably have LONG ago discovered the ultimate timesuck that is StumbleUpon. Oh, my goodness. This is just what I DON'T need when I have a million emails to answer, newsletters to write, and errands to run. And yet, I can't look away. Where else can I take a virtual visit to the Sistine Chapel AND find a great recipe for onion rings, all from the comfort of my office? If you haven't checked it out, you should. Although I am warning you: if you're on deadline, or behind on your taxes or anything else, STAY AWAY. It will not help. Trust me.
5. Finally, an update about the blog. Can I tell you that to post that breakfast picture, I had to 1) copy it from YFrog 2) reduce the size in Preview 3) open Filezilla and upload it to my website 4) link to it? This is why blogging exhausts me sometimes, because I am using sort of antiquated ways to do it. But last week, I met with my super web design guy Mark, who showed me how it will all work if we move everything over to Wordpress. My favorite part was how quickly he could upload pictures, something he punctuated by hitting keys EXTRA hard and then loudly proclaiming, "DONE!" I think we were getting weird looks at Panera, where we met, but what can I say, we were excited. I think this cleaner, more efficient way might be just the change I need. For those of you who were worried I wouldn't still have comments, never fear: I will. And hopefully, no spam. We will take them out with a single key swipe, yelling, "DONE!" I think this will have to be my new mantra. I will practice it over breakfast.
Have a good weekend, everyone!
MMMMM. And now I'm hungry again. Maybe I should do Brinner tonight?
2. It used to be when we went to Asheville, we went out to late dinners, then for a drinks and maybe to see music before crashing and sleeping in. Then, breakfast and coffee and shopping and milling around, just taking in the sights and breathing in all that mountain air before doing it all again the next night. Now, though, it is a family vacation, which means: early to bed (at least for me and the toddler), early to rise (6am! just like at home!) and then breakfast, bookstore and several other outings all before lunch at 11:30. On the downside, I didn't get to buy any cute stuff at the clothing and jewelry stores I love there. On the upside, my credit card is now sufficiently cooled off for when I head to NYC next week. And anyway, before my daughter I NEVER would have been at the Nature Center when the DOORS OPENED, first there to see otters and black bears and wolves. Who needs sleep when you can experience that kind of wildlife? Not me. Apparently.
3. Yes, so, next week I am heading up to New York for a bunch of meetings about my new book. I'll get to hear tour details and marketing plans, all the fun stuff, so I'm really excited. (I'm not doing any public events, but will hopefully be back to do a reading in May sometime.) As usual, it will be a total whirlwind: I can't seem to go anywhere (especially for work) without packing in as much as possible. In fact, I think as of now I have ONE meal free for the entire trip, a random breakfast I may very likely eat standing up outside the window of Good Morning America. Although what I SHOULD do is order room service and sleep in. But can I resist GMA? It's so hard when I know they are just a few blocks instead of many states away. But sleeeeeep. Hmmm. Stay tuned....
4. I am usually late to any party, which is why I know you all probably have LONG ago discovered the ultimate timesuck that is StumbleUpon. Oh, my goodness. This is just what I DON'T need when I have a million emails to answer, newsletters to write, and errands to run. And yet, I can't look away. Where else can I take a virtual visit to the Sistine Chapel AND find a great recipe for onion rings, all from the comfort of my office? If you haven't checked it out, you should. Although I am warning you: if you're on deadline, or behind on your taxes or anything else, STAY AWAY. It will not help. Trust me.
5. Finally, an update about the blog. Can I tell you that to post that breakfast picture, I had to 1) copy it from YFrog 2) reduce the size in Preview 3) open Filezilla and upload it to my website 4) link to it? This is why blogging exhausts me sometimes, because I am using sort of antiquated ways to do it. But last week, I met with my super web design guy Mark, who showed me how it will all work if we move everything over to Wordpress. My favorite part was how quickly he could upload pictures, something he punctuated by hitting keys EXTRA hard and then loudly proclaiming, "DONE!" I think we were getting weird looks at Panera, where we met, but what can I say, we were excited. I think this cleaner, more efficient way might be just the change I need. For those of you who were worried I wouldn't still have comments, never fear: I will. And hopefully, no spam. We will take them out with a single key swipe, yelling, "DONE!" I think this will have to be my new mantra. I will practice it over breakfast.
Have a good weekend, everyone!
March 8, 2011
this just in!
Remember a few weeks back, when I was stressing out about the videos we were shooting for the new book? (I know, I am always stressing out here about something. But this was particularly notable. At least for me. For you, it probably all runs together, I know.)
ANYWAY, it all went fine, and now two videos are up, one on the WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE Amazon page (scroll down to see it) and on YouTube:
Please don't dwell TOO much on how crazy I look above, as I hold up my phone like I am about to throw it at you. I think I just got a bit too excited about the whole "taking questions from Twitter" thing. Penguin of course HAD to choose that pose as the one everyone will see before clicking. Oh, well....
Okay, back to our mountain family vacation. LOVE Asheville!
Have a good day, everyone!
ANYWAY, it all went fine, and now two videos are up, one on the WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE Amazon page (scroll down to see it) and on YouTube:
Please don't dwell TOO much on how crazy I look above, as I hold up my phone like I am about to throw it at you. I think I just got a bit too excited about the whole "taking questions from Twitter" thing. Penguin of course HAD to choose that pose as the one everyone will see before clicking. Oh, well....
Okay, back to our mountain family vacation. LOVE Asheville!
Have a good day, everyone!
March 6, 2011
writergrl @ 2011-03-06T15:56:00
A few days ago, one of my babysitters arrived clutching a piece of paper. "Look!" she said to my daughter, holding it up. "Want to see an old picture of Mama?"
This, I thought, will not end well.
But of course I HAD to see what it was, so she handed it over. (Daughter was entirely uninterested in anything having to do with me: she's already a teenager in so many ways!)And there, right in my face, was a picture of myself from 15 years ago, accompanying an essay I wrote for the local paper about being a waitress/writer. THAT SUMMER, my first novel, was not even out yet. Whoa.
Of course the first thing I noticed was my hair, which was doing some sort of weird half-bang, half not thing. Was I actually going for that look? (I fear I was.) There's the fact that my arm in view looks like a big, shapeless loaf of french bread, attached to my shoulder. (Wasn't I working out then? Good Lord.) Then, peering more closely, I recognized the office from our old place, the little yellow farmhouse in Durham (which has reappeared, in various incarnations, in several books since). There's the halogen lamp I used because the room was so dark, as it (and every other one) had dark fake-wood paneling. There's my UNC diploma, hung up proudly behind me, and the little angel made out of paper towels (yes!) that one of my mom's dearest friends made for me. It was like falling headfirst into a pit of nostalgia. I'll say it again: whoa.
And that was before I even read the article, which I BELIEVE appeared in the Raleigh News and Observer sometime in 1995 or 1996, although I can't be sure exactly. It's all about how I was having trouble calling myself a writer, even though I'd already sold a book, and how waitressing was such a good job for me at the time. By this point, a lot of these same ideas and quotes have been recycled for other interviews, becoming what my father affectionately refers to as "my schtick," but at this point, nobody knew any of it.
I can tell you EXACTLY where I bought the outfit I am wearing (which I spent a LOT of time picking out): the skirt was from TJ Maxx, I believe, the top maybe from Marshall's or Upton's. I was not smiling with teeth because then, as now, I was worried about the fact they are slightly crooked. I hadn't even started teaching at UNC yet. In fact, I remember calling the person who was editing this piece for the paper from the office at the Flying Burrito, where I worked, before my shift began to go over his suggestions for changes. Now the Burrito's had a total renovation and I don't even know where that paper towel angel is. These things I have left behind, although it does NOT feel like 15 years since they happened. It's just so weird.
Odder still is that while so much has changed---different house, I'm a mom now, ten books done---a lot has not. I STILL have a hard time calling myself a writer, something I think the 25ish me that wrote this piece would be surprised to hear. And one of the quotes, about how I spend a considerable amount of my time---"writing, thinking about writing, and thinking I've lost any ability I ever had to write in the first place (Not necessarily in that order.)"---is still pretty much dead on, except that now I have to think about things like Team Umizoomi and goldfish crackers as well. Also, my hair is still doing strange things I feel I will regret later on.
But maybe---at least I hope---that this is a good thing. I can recognize these my insecurities as quickly and easily as my clothes and halogen lamp. They are mine, for better or worse, and God knows we're been together long enough to get used to each other. I AM a writer now, and IT is what I do. But in the end, I am grateful to my babysitter, even with the cringe factor of the photo, for putting this in front of me. If you can't look back, you can't move forward. That's still true for me, too.
If you want to check it out---and this I will probably regret, but oh, well---you can squint at it here. The quality isn't great, and one side is a bit cropped, but you'll get the general idea. And see that bread loaf of an arm. Yikes!
Have a good night, everyone!
This, I thought, will not end well.
But of course I HAD to see what it was, so she handed it over. (Daughter was entirely uninterested in anything having to do with me: she's already a teenager in so many ways!)And there, right in my face, was a picture of myself from 15 years ago, accompanying an essay I wrote for the local paper about being a waitress/writer. THAT SUMMER, my first novel, was not even out yet. Whoa.
Of course the first thing I noticed was my hair, which was doing some sort of weird half-bang, half not thing. Was I actually going for that look? (I fear I was.) There's the fact that my arm in view looks like a big, shapeless loaf of french bread, attached to my shoulder. (Wasn't I working out then? Good Lord.) Then, peering more closely, I recognized the office from our old place, the little yellow farmhouse in Durham (which has reappeared, in various incarnations, in several books since). There's the halogen lamp I used because the room was so dark, as it (and every other one) had dark fake-wood paneling. There's my UNC diploma, hung up proudly behind me, and the little angel made out of paper towels (yes!) that one of my mom's dearest friends made for me. It was like falling headfirst into a pit of nostalgia. I'll say it again: whoa.
And that was before I even read the article, which I BELIEVE appeared in the Raleigh News and Observer sometime in 1995 or 1996, although I can't be sure exactly. It's all about how I was having trouble calling myself a writer, even though I'd already sold a book, and how waitressing was such a good job for me at the time. By this point, a lot of these same ideas and quotes have been recycled for other interviews, becoming what my father affectionately refers to as "my schtick," but at this point, nobody knew any of it.
I can tell you EXACTLY where I bought the outfit I am wearing (which I spent a LOT of time picking out): the skirt was from TJ Maxx, I believe, the top maybe from Marshall's or Upton's. I was not smiling with teeth because then, as now, I was worried about the fact they are slightly crooked. I hadn't even started teaching at UNC yet. In fact, I remember calling the person who was editing this piece for the paper from the office at the Flying Burrito, where I worked, before my shift began to go over his suggestions for changes. Now the Burrito's had a total renovation and I don't even know where that paper towel angel is. These things I have left behind, although it does NOT feel like 15 years since they happened. It's just so weird.
Odder still is that while so much has changed---different house, I'm a mom now, ten books done---a lot has not. I STILL have a hard time calling myself a writer, something I think the 25ish me that wrote this piece would be surprised to hear. And one of the quotes, about how I spend a considerable amount of my time---"writing, thinking about writing, and thinking I've lost any ability I ever had to write in the first place (Not necessarily in that order.)"---is still pretty much dead on, except that now I have to think about things like Team Umizoomi and goldfish crackers as well. Also, my hair is still doing strange things I feel I will regret later on.
But maybe---at least I hope---that this is a good thing. I can recognize these my insecurities as quickly and easily as my clothes and halogen lamp. They are mine, for better or worse, and God knows we're been together long enough to get used to each other. I AM a writer now, and IT is what I do. But in the end, I am grateful to my babysitter, even with the cringe factor of the photo, for putting this in front of me. If you can't look back, you can't move forward. That's still true for me, too.
If you want to check it out---and this I will probably regret, but oh, well---you can squint at it here. The quality isn't great, and one side is a bit cropped, but you'll get the general idea. And see that bread loaf of an arm. Yikes!
Have a good night, everyone!
March 3, 2011
The Five!
1. I just deleted MORE spam entries from the comments here. Which means that adding a CAPTCHA (i.e. that annoying thing where you have to write in the letters you see, even if you can't always tell WHAT they say--or maybe that's just me?) did not solve the problem of people peddling pharmaceuticals and other things on the blog. Sigh. SIGH. Oh, LiveJournal, I have been with you almost ten years! But tomorrow I am meeting with my fab web design guys to talk about moving the blog over to my site and using Wordpress. Don't worry, LJ folks: I will make SURE we can do a feed here or provide some other easy link. But it's going to be the end of an era! And you know what that means: lots of LJ nostalgia in the lead-up to the switch. Maybe I should do a greatest hits, or a montage kind of thing, set to something like, "I Will Remember You," or "Time of Your Life." Hmmm. Anyway, it won't be happening immediately and ideally, you won't notice THAT much of a difference. Until then, prepare for me to be more sentimental than usual. You have been warned.
2. I am currently multitasking as I write this, trying to also get my daughter to eat a decent dinner. She is lobbying for a lollipop, her newest addiction, and I am telling her that she needs to eat some actual FOOD before I will even consider that. I swear, her palate is so limited it's ridiculous: peanut butter and jelly, bananas, canned green beans and carrots, ham, chicken nuggets, cereal, macaroni and cheese, and alphabet soup. Oh, and any cracker or cookie. I know, I know: Michelle Obama would NOT approve. I see kids out at restaurants eating all kinds of stuff and think: why, why, WHY can't I get her to venture out a bit? I was at a sushi place and saw a kid her age eating seaweed salad. SEAWEED! And this one won't even eat string cheese. Or mashed potatoes. Isn't that, like, a rule, that as a kid you have to like those things? I can hear my wiser Mom friends right now, though, saying it again: "Don't live laterally. Your kid is your kid." (Thank you, writer Leah Stewart, who gave me this mantra to repeat, endlessly.) My mother maintains that my brother, who is now the healthiest eater I know (vegetarian, whole grains, formerly macrobiotic) once subsisted on Ho-hos for breakfast and canned Vienna sausages the rest of the day. So maybe there is hope?
3. I think I've written here already about how my local Borders is one of the ones that is closing. I wasn't a regular there, but I did go in with my daughter from time to time, as she loved the children's section. We went back the other day and it just made me so sad. Everything's on sale and picked over, and I just wanted to buy ALL the books that were left, they looked so bereft. I mean, there was Goodnight, Moon! And some Pigeon books! And Knuffle Bunny Free! I told the woman who was working the children's section that the whole thing made me so sad, and she nodded. She said she felt like she'd spent all this time sculpting this perfect thing, this great place for kids, and now she was having to watch it just get dismantled right before her eyes. I'm not here to preach but I will say, love your local bookstores. They need it. I'm still haunted by this one Leslie Patricelli book (Higher! Higher!) sitting alone on the shelf, hoping for a home. See, there I go, being WAY too sentimental again. *sniffle*
4. In encouraging news (and don't we all need that) today at the grocery store, I saw lawn chairs and potting soil piled up outside for sale. YES! We are getting closer, closer to spring. I can feel it---even though it's going to be in the twenties tonight. NO MATTER! Another sign of warmer times coming: today, my husband and I went out and cleaned out our pond pump and filter, pulled out all the leaves, and got it running. Which is great, because I was really thinking our feng shui was suffering since it had been turned off. (Yes, I realize I sound like a crazy person. But I do believe in that stuff. I just...do.) I'm happy, the fish are happy, and I can hear the waterfall at night again. Now it hopefully just won't freeze over again...
5. It's March, the final Duke-Carolina game is this weekend, and you know what that means: it's almost Tourney Time! (When I mentioned this on Twitter, I was actually asked WHO I pull for, Duke or Carolina. Let me say now, and always: CAROLINA! I am a Chapel Hill girl since I was three. There is NO OTHER OPTION. At least for me.) This also means that Laurie Halse Anderson (author of SPEAK, WINTERGIRLS, FORGE and many other amazing books) and I will be reprising our basketball challenge. She pulls for Georgetown: I love my Tar Heels. We have agreed, again, that if your team goes out first, you must donate a signed book to the other person's local library. So in a couple of weeks, get your brackets ready. YA and basketball: it is ON!
Have a good weekend, everyone!
2. I am currently multitasking as I write this, trying to also get my daughter to eat a decent dinner. She is lobbying for a lollipop, her newest addiction, and I am telling her that she needs to eat some actual FOOD before I will even consider that. I swear, her palate is so limited it's ridiculous: peanut butter and jelly, bananas, canned green beans and carrots, ham, chicken nuggets, cereal, macaroni and cheese, and alphabet soup. Oh, and any cracker or cookie. I know, I know: Michelle Obama would NOT approve. I see kids out at restaurants eating all kinds of stuff and think: why, why, WHY can't I get her to venture out a bit? I was at a sushi place and saw a kid her age eating seaweed salad. SEAWEED! And this one won't even eat string cheese. Or mashed potatoes. Isn't that, like, a rule, that as a kid you have to like those things? I can hear my wiser Mom friends right now, though, saying it again: "Don't live laterally. Your kid is your kid." (Thank you, writer Leah Stewart, who gave me this mantra to repeat, endlessly.) My mother maintains that my brother, who is now the healthiest eater I know (vegetarian, whole grains, formerly macrobiotic) once subsisted on Ho-hos for breakfast and canned Vienna sausages the rest of the day. So maybe there is hope?
3. I think I've written here already about how my local Borders is one of the ones that is closing. I wasn't a regular there, but I did go in with my daughter from time to time, as she loved the children's section. We went back the other day and it just made me so sad. Everything's on sale and picked over, and I just wanted to buy ALL the books that were left, they looked so bereft. I mean, there was Goodnight, Moon! And some Pigeon books! And Knuffle Bunny Free! I told the woman who was working the children's section that the whole thing made me so sad, and she nodded. She said she felt like she'd spent all this time sculpting this perfect thing, this great place for kids, and now she was having to watch it just get dismantled right before her eyes. I'm not here to preach but I will say, love your local bookstores. They need it. I'm still haunted by this one Leslie Patricelli book (Higher! Higher!) sitting alone on the shelf, hoping for a home. See, there I go, being WAY too sentimental again. *sniffle*
4. In encouraging news (and don't we all need that) today at the grocery store, I saw lawn chairs and potting soil piled up outside for sale. YES! We are getting closer, closer to spring. I can feel it---even though it's going to be in the twenties tonight. NO MATTER! Another sign of warmer times coming: today, my husband and I went out and cleaned out our pond pump and filter, pulled out all the leaves, and got it running. Which is great, because I was really thinking our feng shui was suffering since it had been turned off. (Yes, I realize I sound like a crazy person. But I do believe in that stuff. I just...do.) I'm happy, the fish are happy, and I can hear the waterfall at night again. Now it hopefully just won't freeze over again...
5. It's March, the final Duke-Carolina game is this weekend, and you know what that means: it's almost Tourney Time! (When I mentioned this on Twitter, I was actually asked WHO I pull for, Duke or Carolina. Let me say now, and always: CAROLINA! I am a Chapel Hill girl since I was three. There is NO OTHER OPTION. At least for me.) This also means that Laurie Halse Anderson (author of SPEAK, WINTERGIRLS, FORGE and many other amazing books) and I will be reprising our basketball challenge. She pulls for Georgetown: I love my Tar Heels. We have agreed, again, that if your team goes out first, you must donate a signed book to the other person's local library. So in a couple of weeks, get your brackets ready. YA and basketball: it is ON!
Have a good weekend, everyone!
March 2, 2011
writergrl @ 2011-03-02T16:40:00
Today, my plan was to write. Actually, you know, on a novel. I waited until the sitter came, took a breather to read and reset for a little bit (still on Franzen's FREEDOM, which is amazing) then settled in at my desk. I always allow myself about five minutes of web surfing before I buckle down, so I popped over to my Facebook page, which I've been sort of avoiding for a few weeks. The inbox: PACKED. Replies: woefully late. Miss Manners: would not be happy. So I dove in. And now...well, now it's an hour later and I haven't written anything but emails and lists and responses. How did this HAPPEN?
I used to be very productive. I swear! I wrote every single day when I had a book in progress and still managed to stay on top of everything. But now with Twitter to update, and Facebook messages to reply to, and the blog, and the website, and lions and tigers and bears....oh, my.
*takes deep breath*
There is a way to balance all this. I know it! Toddler, husband, dogs, building company (that's my other job, doing books for my husband's business) extended family, the upcoming tour, feeding the continually ravenous birds in my yard, cooking dinner, doing laundry, finding assorted lost plastic action figures, and all the rest. Oh, and writing. WRITING! Of course. I'm just not exactly sure what that solution is, right now. I think I will sleep on it and wait for a solution to present itself. Although..that's what I have been doing. Huh. Oh well, at least I am optimistic.
And why is that? Well, partially because it's warming up here. In fact, my daughter and I planted pansies this week, which is a certain way to make it FEEL like Spring even if it isn't quite yet. I used to be really into gardening, actually: I was the one who handled all the beds, and poured over seed packets, and drew diagrams of what I would plant and when. But then we moved here, and I planted all this stuff, and the deer annihilated EVERYTHING. I was totally bereft and discouraged. My husband got interested in conifers and trees (which the deer won't eat---usually) and I left the garden to him. Now, though, we have this deer fence, and a big plot that is just for me and Sasha to work together. Hooray! I am thinking daisies, coneflowers and black-eyed Susans for sure. Veronica Speedwell also, one of my favorites (I wanted to name my daughter that, actually, but was soundly voted down). Zinnias from seed, maybe mixed with some cosmos. When we went to buy plants, though, I found the toddler had other ideas.
First, she wants everything pink. (Disclaimer: she has never even SEEN any princess TV or movies, I swear to you. This just happened.) What was not pink had no flowers at all. In fact, she wanted cacti. Oh, and ferns. And a fountain made up of two small, big-eyed children, peering over to look at some assembled birds. Lord help me.
I know, I know. This is our project, together! I have to not micromanage. If she wants Venus Flytraps (sigh) then she can have them. ON HER SIDE. See, though, this is just like the whole Facebook/Twitter/Blog/Life balance thing. It can't be done quickly, or cleanly. The days of everything lined up and labeled neatly in my life are OVER---if they ever even existed---so I need to stop yearning for them.
The best I can hope for, and what I SHOULD want, is a mix of both worlds. A day of writing, followed by a day of catch-up. A plot of zinnias, bordered by strange succulents. A successful book tour this spring and summer, followed by a fall where (hopefully) my next novel will be waiting patiently for me. You can learn a lot from the garden: that's something the deer couldn't take away from me. Instead of spinning in my brain, trying to work things out, I probably should just step outside. Get some dirt under my nails, dig up some worms. Can't hurt, regardless.
That said, I will not have a creepy children fountain in my yard. There, I draw the line.
Have a good night, everyone!
I used to be very productive. I swear! I wrote every single day when I had a book in progress and still managed to stay on top of everything. But now with Twitter to update, and Facebook messages to reply to, and the blog, and the website, and lions and tigers and bears....oh, my.
*takes deep breath*
There is a way to balance all this. I know it! Toddler, husband, dogs, building company (that's my other job, doing books for my husband's business) extended family, the upcoming tour, feeding the continually ravenous birds in my yard, cooking dinner, doing laundry, finding assorted lost plastic action figures, and all the rest. Oh, and writing. WRITING! Of course. I'm just not exactly sure what that solution is, right now. I think I will sleep on it and wait for a solution to present itself. Although..that's what I have been doing. Huh. Oh well, at least I am optimistic.
And why is that? Well, partially because it's warming up here. In fact, my daughter and I planted pansies this week, which is a certain way to make it FEEL like Spring even if it isn't quite yet. I used to be really into gardening, actually: I was the one who handled all the beds, and poured over seed packets, and drew diagrams of what I would plant and when. But then we moved here, and I planted all this stuff, and the deer annihilated EVERYTHING. I was totally bereft and discouraged. My husband got interested in conifers and trees (which the deer won't eat---usually) and I left the garden to him. Now, though, we have this deer fence, and a big plot that is just for me and Sasha to work together. Hooray! I am thinking daisies, coneflowers and black-eyed Susans for sure. Veronica Speedwell also, one of my favorites (I wanted to name my daughter that, actually, but was soundly voted down). Zinnias from seed, maybe mixed with some cosmos. When we went to buy plants, though, I found the toddler had other ideas.
First, she wants everything pink. (Disclaimer: she has never even SEEN any princess TV or movies, I swear to you. This just happened.) What was not pink had no flowers at all. In fact, she wanted cacti. Oh, and ferns. And a fountain made up of two small, big-eyed children, peering over to look at some assembled birds. Lord help me.
I know, I know. This is our project, together! I have to not micromanage. If she wants Venus Flytraps (sigh) then she can have them. ON HER SIDE. See, though, this is just like the whole Facebook/Twitter/Blog/Life balance thing. It can't be done quickly, or cleanly. The days of everything lined up and labeled neatly in my life are OVER---if they ever even existed---so I need to stop yearning for them.
The best I can hope for, and what I SHOULD want, is a mix of both worlds. A day of writing, followed by a day of catch-up. A plot of zinnias, bordered by strange succulents. A successful book tour this spring and summer, followed by a fall where (hopefully) my next novel will be waiting patiently for me. You can learn a lot from the garden: that's something the deer couldn't take away from me. Instead of spinning in my brain, trying to work things out, I probably should just step outside. Get some dirt under my nails, dig up some worms. Can't hurt, regardless.
That said, I will not have a creepy children fountain in my yard. There, I draw the line.
Have a good night, everyone!
