Sarah Dessen's Blog, page 41

books, speeches and such

Hello from a hot and gorgeous Sunday, where I am feeling somewhat proud of myself for parenting solo for much of the weekend. I won't lie: I had some help from sitters and family, but during that time I was working on my revision. From 6am until one most days, though, and then dinner, bath and bedtime, it was just me and my highly energetic girl. WHEW! I've forgotten what it is like to take a shower alone. Or go to the bathroom alone. Or do, um, anything alone. And that was just part of the d...

The Five!

1. Because I feel like I've over-updated this week, I'm going to keep this Five super short. Like almost haiku-short! Okay, maybe not that short. But short.

2. My husband promised me that his gift to me for my fortieth was going to be great. So great that it would be worth the wait of an extra week and a half or so, which is how long it took to arrive here. You know what? He was right. It's an iPad! Oh, my goodness. I am in geek heaven. All I want to do is load it up with apps and play Scrabb...

writergrl @ 2010-06-15T16:45:00

I know, I know. I go away for a whole week, then update three days in a row. How sick of me are you right now? Don't worry, I'll keep this short.

Being away from the news and internet for a full week is a great thing, but once you plunge back in...whoa. First, there's the ongoing disaster in the Gulf, which is just to terrible to even fully comprehend. Unrest overseas, earthquakes in California, one of my state representatives caught on tape acting like a total moron...it just makes me want to...

Just in time...

...for summer reading, here's the video I shot last month about the beach, Along for the Ride, and my favorite place on the NC Coast, Emerald Isle. You will also see a shrimpburger from Big Oak, food which is basically like manna from heaven. In my opinion, anyway. Please try to ignore my slacker attire (I was on vacation!) and my strap marks (no excuse, it's just how I roll). The beach, however, as always, is gorgeous.



Have a great afternoon, everyone!

return!

Hello.

I think that a week is the longest I've taken off from this blog in...well, a long time, if not ever. It wasn't exactly my intention to abandon this space entirely. But when I first got to the beach, there was so much going on, and I was so tired, that I decided to just really try to disconnect. I put away my phone, stopped checking email. It was odd....and really, really nice. I'd check in every once in awhile to make sure I wasn't missing anything pressing in terms of messages, but I ...

The Five!

1. Okay, so total honesty: I'm basically a nervous wreck about giving this commencement speech at the NC School of Science and Mathmatics this weekend. I know the crowd will be great, as the students are great, but it's just...whoa, you know? My own high school experience was far from exemplary, and I feel like the last person who should be giving anyone advice about their future. Or present. Or anything. I mean, as I write this, I have a ketchup stain on my shirt. But my speech is written, I...

June!

Today is June first, which means the countdown of the remaining days of my thirties is down to single digits, and small ones at that. Yikes. Softening the blow, though, was a lovely Memorial Day weekend, full of all my favorite things: friends, family, cookouts, deviled eggs, bruschetta with fresh tomatoes and chocolate silk pie. Oh, my goodness. Plus, with the rain that fell, we had both puddles (great for jumping in with galoshes on: if you haven't done that in awhile, you really should) an...

The Five!

1. One nice thing about finishing a first draft of a new book is that I can FINALLY come up for air and look around. Of course, when I look, what I see is...well, the result of pretty much letting everything else all by the wayside for the last month or two. Such as, bills to pay and file, pantries full of food that needs to be tossed, friends I haven't seen in forever and need to catch up with, and laundry that needs to be done. And that's just the beginning. Today, though, I tackled somethi...

writergrl @ 2010-05-25T16:38:00

My husband likes cars. Okay, scratch that. My husband is OBSESSED with cars. He has been since I met him way back in 1980-something, and the passion has only grown as he has gotten older. A couple of years back, he was invited to a track day at VIR, a raceway about an hour or so from here. With one drive, he was even more hooked. Now, he watches Top Gear with religious fervor, subscribes to Motor Trend, and has entirely too many cars, at least in my opinion, parked in our yard, all in various...

Sunday.

After a crazy week of work---actually, several weeks of work, or months, if I'm honest---I finally had a chance to come up for air this weekend. There was still a few things to worry about, some pins and needles to wait on, that kind of stuff, but at least I wasn't pulling eight-hour writing days fueled by coffee and desperation. It was a nice change. And now, it's Sunday, and we're getting ready for a hot dog party. Not exactly an Impromptu Hot Dog Party, a la Adam and Wallace from Along for...