Susane Colasanti's Blog, page 57

the hunker down

Thanks to everyone who commented with suggestions for the When It Happens movie casting! I'll be forwarding all of your ideas to my agent. It will most likely be a really long time before I have any definite movie news to tell you, as these things tend to take way longer than we'd like. But as soon as I have some news to share, you will read it here first!

Speaking of When It Happens, do you remember how Tobey and Sara played Dots? Well, Dots is a real game that the boy who inspired Tobey's character showed me how to play when we were seniors. In case you were wondering if I ever use real-life experiences in my books, I absolutely do and Dots is one of them. Back then, we had to make our own Dots boards by taking regular notebook paper and filling the page with a dot grid. Those took forever. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to discover that Rhodia has a new Dot Pad!

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It's totally ready to play Dots! Man, I could have really used one of these 20 years ago.

Little things like this make me happy. Because I am all about the little things. Especially when it gets dark ridiculously early. Seriously, it's like totally dark out and it's not even 4:30 yet.

So not cool.

It's official. The Hunker Down has begun. This is the time of year when daylight hours are the shortest. Lots of people think that daylight hours keep getting shorter throughout the winter. False. We get the least amount of daylight on the winter solstice, which is December 21 this year. After December 21, daylight hours start increasing by about two minutes a day (until June 21). This is good news! It may be butt fricking cold in February, but hey, at least we have more daylight. The Hunker Down is the best time to stay inside. It's dark and cold out. There's no quality fruit available. No one can come out to play. That's why the Hunker Down is the perfect time to write a new book! I'll be working on book six for the next three months. If you also have writing goals, the Hunker Down welcomes you.

Did 2010 zoom by or what? With only 1.5 months to go, I'm flabbergasted. It seems like just yesterday I was hanging on the edge of 2009 and having good feelings about 2010. I made a secret pact last December. I know this might seem crazy, but I don't care. My pact was...okay, announcing my pact may jinx it, but I am taking the risk. My pact was that I would not get sick in 2010. I was getting all these annoying colds last year and was just really sick of getting sick. I'm like the worst sick person ever. I am whiny. I am demanding. And I can never get comfortable. I also refuse to do any work when I'm sick. You know those people who manage to keep doing everything when they're sick? Yeah, I'm the total opposite. I pretty much just read and sleep the whole time. And complain about how sick I am.

So I thought, Hey, you know what would be fun? To not get sick in 2010! Irrational as it was, I was determined to reach this goal. It's actually working - 2010 has been free of sick. How am I doing it? A few new routines have helped. I always wash my hands right when I come home. I use my own pen to sign receipts in stores. I guess I'm just being more careful about what I touch. I'm sure I'll go back to being less obsessive in 2011 and will immediately get smacked down by a horrible cold. But at least I'll have my new Dot Pad, ready and waiting to play Dots. Then I'll just need to find someone who feels like playing Dots with a complaining sick person...

For now, though, I have begun the Hunker Down. Let prime writing time begin!

from dream to reality in < 3 years

I'm about to say something that may be highly controversial. It might even lower my street cred a notch. But something unexpected has happened and I feel the need to share it with you.

I've been slightly obsessing over Justin Bieber's YouTube channel.

It's not like I have Bieber Fever or anything. Well. Maybe it's just a little fever. Like 98.9 degrees.

Here's the thing. Justin Bieber has gone from singing on the street to megafame in under three years. That's incredible. Before I stalked visited his YouTube channel, I had no idea that he played the guitar, piano, and drums. I'd heard that he was discovered on YouTube, but I didn't know that Usher found him so quickly from word of mouth. Justin's early fans had astounding power. Never underestimate word of mouth.

I've probably heard Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" 5,000 times. Love that song. So when I found this clip of Justin Bieber's cover, I was ready to be unimpressed. But dude. He impressed. I think he was about 13 when he recorded this. The guitar is bigger than he his. But he was determined to succeed. No matter what you think about him, you cannot deny that the boy is seriously talented. Here he was in 2008, just sitting on his couch and dreaming big:



And now look.

Amazing things can happen when you put yourself out there. Whatever your goals are, whatever your biggest heart's desire is, it all starts with developing your skills. Then putting yourself out there when you're ready. So reach out and make connections. Share your talent with the world. I know it's scary. People might not react the way you expect them to. And there will always be haters. But eventually, you will find your people. Those are the people that will help you turn your dream into reality. They are out there. It's up to you to find them.

Always dream big. Then go out there and make it happen.

your skills are requested

When It Happens is going to be a movie.

Let me clarify.

I don't have a movie deal yet. I've just always had a Knowing that this book was meant to be a movie. My agent is working on things now and she wants to know who should play Sara and Tobey. While I was writing When It Happens, I pictured each scene like a scene from a movie, complete with soundtrack. Which I think filtered into the writing because I've gotten lots of emails from readers saying that the book totally felt like a movie when they read it. Sweet! The thing is, the actors I originally wanted for the movie are now too old. And I'm not really sure who to suggest.

That's where you come in.



Some of you have emailed me casting suggestions over the past couple of years, but now I need to get everyone's ideas together. So! Please share your sharp movie casting skills and tell me...

Who should play Sara?

Who should play Tobey?

tgim

My editor just informed me that Paul Rudd lives in my neighborhood. How could I have missed this? I love Paul Rudd! I loved him before anyone else even knew who he was! But my editor loves him, too. So of course we had to have a mini throwdown over who loves Paul Rudd more. We determined that we love him equally (note: I totally love him more - I was just being nice). I seriously cannot get enough of him and Jason Segel in I Love You, Man.

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Shockingly, my editor didn't call me to talk about Paul Rudd. We just finished going over the first pass of So Much Closer. Could I be any more excited for this book? No. I could not possibly be. Waiting six months until you guys can read it won't be easy. For those of you who are book bloggers, I'm sorry that I won't be able to compile mailing lists for ARCs anymore. I spoke with my publicist about this and she said that reviewers may contact her for an ARC. You can find her contact info on my website. I can't guarantee that you'll receive an ARC, but it's worth a try.

A couple book giveaways are in the house. I managed to score an extra ARC and posted it on Goodreads. Anyone can enter to win it. Also, I'm the author of the month over at Book Reader Addicts. They're running a contest on my fan page where you can win one of my other books. They'll be asking trivia questions all month where you can earn extra entries. Sweet deal!

If you happen to run into me searching the nabe for Paul Rudd, feel free to join in. Maybe we'll even jam. Slappin' da bass!

fun interview

Girls in the Stacks caught up with me at the Austin Teen Book Festival last month to ask some questions about Take Me There. I was honored to be Riyanna's first interviewee! The girls were so sweet about staying late to talk with me. They even gave me some Mr. Mc's peanut brittle as a thank-you gift. Which they totally didn't have to do, but I'm so happy they did because it is the best peanut brittle in the world.

It's not easy for me to watch videos of myself. Or even listen to a recording of myself. I think my voice is weird. I mean, it sounds fine in my head, but when I hear how my voice actually sounds in the world it's just...really different. When I first watched my Something Like Fate author video, I had to turn the volume down really low so as not to be scandalized. But now I seem to be getting used to hearing it.

So my new thing is, Why am I such a spaz? It's like impossible for me to sit still during an interview. Ironically, I was feeling pretty drained during this one. The festival was eight hours and my signing line ran late (which is awesome!), so by the time we did this interview I was worried that I'd look tired. Now I understand why my students always asked if I drank coffee. Caffeine is apparently the last thing I need. In case you were wondering how I am in a low-energy state, here it is!

the whole galleys/arcs/marketing thing

I've been getting some questions about what exactly ARCs are and how they're different from galleys and how they're connected to marketing. So I've made an executive decision to answer everyone here! Well, I'll try to answer your questions the best I can. There are still lots of questions I have about this whole process, too.

After a manuscript has been copyedited (where every single detail is completely scrutinized), it's ready to move on to the first step of the pre-finished-book printing process. Oh wait, I want to say something about copyediting. You don't just submit a manuscript and revise it once and then it goes right to copyediting. Manuscripts shouldn't be submitted to any publisher or agent for consideration unless you are submitting your best possible work. And by "best possible work," I mean that you've revised the manuscript on your own several times - ideally, taking a few months off between revisions to let it sit. I'm always surprised by how much I want to change when I step away from a draft for a while. Time really does help to shape your story. Once an editor is working with your manuscript, it will likely go through several more revisions before it even gets to the copyediting stage.

After copyediting is done, first pass pages are printed. This is a layout of how the book will look on big paper. As with copyedits, I'm sure the first pass will evolve from its big paper format to paperless in the near future. Most publishers are doing copyedits in Word with track changes now. But I like being able to see the book pages on paper. For some reason, reading everything on paper makes me feel more secure about catching problems.

Here's the first pass of So Much Closer:



The first pass gives everyone (the editor, the author, and a few other editors with seriously sharp eyes) an opportunity to check the book for errors or other things that should be changed. We check for typos that inadvertently resulted from typesetting. We check for other typos that everyone missed in the previous drafts. You would not believe how many typos slip through the cracks! It shocks me every time, being an obsessive perfectionist and all. The first pass isn't just about making sure the text is correct. I like using different handwriting fonts in my books for notes and stuff. These different fonts aren't formatted until the first pass. So now I can check to make sure they're believable handwriting fonts for the characters. Like if the book describes someone's handwriting as round and loopy but the font is narrow and pointy, that's not going to work. We also have to make sure that any symbols printed correctly. I like to use chapter break symbols and, unfortunately, they were forgotten in this first pass. Good thing there's a second pass!

I'm the last person to see the first pass. By the time I get my copy, there are all these notes and marks and questions written on it by the friendly neighbors who analyzed it before me. Some authors just respond to their concerns, but I read the book over again. This is a lot harder to do than it sounds. By the time the book gets to this stage, I've already read it so many times that the last thing I want to do is read it again. But I do it because this is pretty much my last chance to make any last changes I want. There's always stuff I want to change every time I read a book over. When I read the first pass, I try to focus on what my readers will see, what they'll be asking themselves, and anything that wouldn't seem clear to them.

Then the galleys are printed!* Galleys are very exciting because they're in book form, bound with the cover art. There are several types of galleys. So far, my books have only been printed as two kinds of galleys: a kind I don't know the name of and ARCs (advance readers' copies). What's the difference between these galleys? As far as I can tell, they both look pretty much the same except for the back covers. Here's the back of a Something Like Fate galley (the kind I don't know the name of) and the back of a So Much Closer ARC:



As you can see, the ARC has lots more marketing info on the back. I've been told that ARCs are the type of galleys printed for books with larger print runs that are getting a bigger push from marketing. So yay for the So Much Closer ARCs! The main purpose of the galleys is to give reviewers and media enough time to read the book before its release date. Galleys are usually distributed to them about six months before a book's release date. So Much Closer comes out on May 3 and the ARCs were just printed a couple weeks ago. The ARCs will also be distributed at book conferences so that teachers and librarians can get in the loop.

Here's a fun bit of info. See how the Something Like Fate galley mentions my Best Friends and Boyfriends tour? That's how I found out I was going on my first tour! Which of course made that galley even more exciting.

Another marketing device that helps get the word out about upcoming book releases is the publisher's catalogue. It has ordering information for booksellers and lets them know if things like floor displays will be available. I don't think Penguin has printed the Summer 2011 catalogue yet, but here's what the catalogue pages looked like for Something Like Fate:



So what happens after galleys? There's a second pass. The second pass is like when Jack Bauer calls for backup. If anything was left out of the first pass or there are still a few stubborn typos determined to hang on, we will hopefully catch all that in the second pass. It's also a chance to make sure that the changes we made to the first pass printed correctly. What I like to do is haul out my copy of the first pass, put it next to the second pass, and go through each page to make sure the changes I marked and others marked on the first pass were all made in the second pass. Sometimes there's a third pass, but I don't see that stage.

After everyone agrees that the book is ready, hardcover copies are finally printed (unless a book doesn't have a hardcover edition). I'm not really sure when the actual printing takes place. I received author copies of my first two books about a month before their release dates. But my books have had strict on-sale dates since Waiting for You, which means that now I don't receive my author copies until right around the release date. It's a happy, happy day when FedEx delivers those boxes of books.

*Note: The ARCs of So Much Closer were actually printed before the first pass. I was really worried about that. Fortunately, I'm not seeing too many errors in the first pass.

I hope this helps to break down some of the confusion. Trust me, I'm still confused about a lot of things! Do you have more questions? Just let me know...

when it clicks

This girl in my total body conditioning class has been bothering me. Not bothering me like invading my personal sphere of space by setting up her equipment right next to mine when there's all this other room available. That is so annoying. No, it was just that she looked so familiar and I couldn't figure out why. We work out next to each other. This made it easy to sneak looks at her and try to figure out where I knew her from.

And then it clicked.

You know that Sex and the City ep with the face girl? Where Carrie runs into this girl in the bathroom and the girl's like, "You're Carrie Bradshaw," and Carrie's like, "Do I know you?" And the girl goes, "I went out with Aidan right after you." Then she made a face like, Dude, you really messed him up good. Well, I suddenly realized that this girl in my gym class looked just like the face girl. So I went up to her after and told her that she reminded me of her and she said, "That was me."

It was her! I'd been working out right next to the face girl and I didn't even know it!

Since I'm obsessed with details, I then proceeded to tell her that her character's name was Nina Katz. She was impressed. I could have acted out the whole ep (Samantha: "How do you know Nina Katz?" Carrie: How do you know Nina Katz?"), but I spared her. She's on The Big C now. From what I hear about that show, I need to add it to my queue.

Working out with the face girl hasn't been my only gym adventure this week. I took my first step class since the 90s. Hello, wake-up call! The basic steps all came back to me. As soon as my instructor called them, they just clicked. I was doing Around the World before I could even stop to think how it goes. But my instructor is one of those guys who loves to razzle-dazzle everything up by adding flourishes and things and creating all of these new moves that could not possibly be more complex. When he got to a move called Bounce, all I could do was stare. But I refuse to be intimidated. I will return to step. I will learn Bounce. And, as with my other classes, I will gain the confidence required to get back up front. I've never outgrown my geektastic front-of-the-class tendency.

The point of all this working out is to be healthy. Oh, and to eat whatever I want. Like big cookies. So when my friend Joe and I were walking down West 18th Street and we passed this random subterranean shop called City Cakes, we had to go in. And there, waiting for us like treasure at the end of a lifelong hunt, were the best peanut butter cookies ever. Ever. Some of you have told me that you're planning a New York cupcake tasting adventure. I strongly advise you to add City Cakes to your itinerary. Yes, they have other kinds of cookies. Hmm. I wonder if they have the best chocolate chip cookie?

It's official. The search for the Best Chocolate Chip Cookie begins!

dares & cupcakes

Yesterday was the release of Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, brought to you by the spectacular team of David Levithan and Rachel Cohn!

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Can you believe this cover? It totally wins the Cutest Cover Ever award. I really need to get that cover art for my wall.

Their release day reading was at the Strand, which also plays a big role in the book. That was very meta of them. In case you've never been to the Strand, it's essential that you visit next time you're in New York. It's the world's largest used bookstore. They also sell new releases at a discount. When I first moved here, I'd swelter in the Strand searching for books all summer. They had no air conditioning, haphazard self arrangements, and stacks of books for days. It was like a treasure hunt! They've recently renovated the whole store and added air conditioning, which just makes it even more of a fun adventure.

Dash and Lily are all about adventure.

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One day in the Strand, Dash finds a red Moleskine notebook. It has clues. Dash decides to follow the clues, rather like the treasure hunt that is inherently the Strand! Mega meta again. It turns out that the notebook was left there by Lily...sort of. You'll have to read the book to find out. I haven't started it yet, but if it's anything like their reading then watch out! We're in for a wildly entertaining ride.

That's the thing about hearing David and Rachel read. They are so freaking hilarious/brilliant/sparkly that all you can do is sit there and marvel at them, agog. I'm sure the Strand was beyond impressed. That was their first teen book event and it was amazing!

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The Strand is a big deal here in New York. So are cupcakes. And since Rachel wrote a book called Cupcake, this seems like the perfect time to address a cupcake dispute that has flared up on Sarah Dessen's blog.

Okay, not really. It's just that Sarah said how I love Crumbs and she tried to go while she was here but they were closed. And then some people commented and they were like (paraphrasing here), "Forget Crumbs! Magnolia rules!" Or wherever else. There are approximately one grillion cupcake places in New York - the possibilities are essentially endless. The thing is, Crumbs is so delicious that I felt the need to defend their honor and throw down a retaliation entry in which I break down the main differences among the top three cupcake contenders: Crumbs, Magnolia, and Sprinkles.

I know Sprinkles is in L.A. But they're opening a store here in February!

That could be dangerous.

Here's the thing. Crumbs is my fave, but Sprinkles takes the cupcake to a whole other level. Their cake is moist, dense, and delicious. Their frosting is ethereal. Their flavors and tastes are so nuanced that eating a Sprinkles cupcake is pretty much a religious experience.

Of course, we all have opinions. My friend Courtney Sheinmel does not share mine (although we do agree about Crumbs). She believes Sprinkles to be lacking. I dug deeper and found out that she only had them one time. She must have gotten a bad one. Because dude! When I was in L.A. for my book tour in May, I scored two Sprinkles cupcakes and couldn't even eat them that day. They sat in my hotel room overnight in their box (not even wrapped in anything) and they were still unbelievably moist the next day.

And then there's Magnolia. They were my fave when I first moved to the West Village. That was before I started watching Sex and the City, but my friend Mike said how Carrie and Miranda were sitting outside Magnolia (on a bench that isn't really there, btw) eating vanilla cupcakes with pink icing. I love pink icing! So of course all I could think about was having a vanilla cupcake with pink icing at Magnolia. I had a Magnolia obsession there for a while. Their pastel icings. Their vintage sprinkles. I even wrote two whole scenes in Take Me There with Magnolia.

Then I discovered Crumbs. I didn't even discover Crumbs at Crumbs. I was at this awesome dessert place called Cafe Lalo on the Upper West and they had Crumbs cupcakes. That was my first time trying one and I've been hooked ever since. See, Magnolia uses a confectioner's-sugar based frosting (in two flavors). Crumbs has buttercream frostings (in many delicious flavors). Buttercream frosting is my friend. Also, Crumbs has way more cake flavors. Just look at their Halloween assortment!

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Oh, and who walked by Crumbs when Courtney and I were sitting in the window after the reading? Rachel Cohn! A sweet non-coincidence indeed.

so much closer arc giveaway

The ARCs of So Much Closer are in! And they're gorgeous!

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I only have one copy and I'm giving it away. Since I feel like trying something new, I've made an executive decision to do this giveaway on Twitter.

Entering is simple:

1. Follow me on Twitter.

2. Then tweet the following:

Win a signed ARC of SO MUCH CLOSER!  Follow @susanecolasanti and RT to enter. Giveaway info here: http://tinyurl.com/closerarc

If you're already following me on Twitter, then just tweet the above to enter.

Giveaway rules:

1. All entries must be completed by Saturday, October 30 at 11:11 pm.

2. I will announce the winner on Twitter on Monday, November 1.

3. The winner will have two days to email me (at susanecolasanti[at]gmail[dot]com) their full name and mailing address. If a response is not received in time, an alternate winner will be selected.

4. The winning mailing address must be located in the United States.

Let the fun begin!

my hot date with james franco

You've probably heard about my hot date with James Franco last night. Everyone's talking about it.

Okay, by "date" I might mean that I went to his reading at the Tribeca B&N.



I was kind of confused about why such a big event wasn't at the Union Square B&N. That's where all the rock stars read. The Tribeca store doesn't have much of an event space. So I foolishly assumed that they were expecting a smaller crowd and didn't rush to get there crazy early.

That was a mistake.

By the time I got there a little over two hours early, the place was already packed. I have no idea what all those people were doing there. Why were they crashing our date? Did they think they were going out with him, too? Whatever. We crammed into the tightest seating arrangement I've ever seen. My knees were practically up to my chin the whole time. It was 6:00 and we had two hours to wait and we could not possibly have been wedged in any tighter.

But no one cared. Because we were here to see James Franco! He was going to read from Palo Alto, his collection of short stories about teens on the brink. I was about to be six rows away from Daniel Desario. Some friendly neighbors on Twitter agreed that I should shout, "Freaks and Geeks rules!" when James started reading. I didn't end up doing that, though. But I finally thought of a good question for James. I never think of anything good to ask and then I end up babbling like an idiot. This time would be different. Here was my question: If Freaks and Geeks continued past one season, what do you envision happening to Daniel Desario? Because in the last ep he was playing D&D with the geeks, which was extremely cool of him.

By 8:00, it was so crowded that only those of us seated and the people standing around us were able to see the stage. Everyone standing in other sections had to watch James on monitors.

When James came out, he was flooded with flashes from press cameras. He put his hands up in front of his eyes after a few seconds, laughing at how bright the flashes were. He was totally smiling and loving the crowd. Then he came up on the stage and he was right there. Since I'm not leaving out any details, I should go ahead and tell you that the boy is crazysexy in person. Like, insanelycrazysexy. It didn't even matter that he looked really tired. I read an article about him recently that said he hardly sleeps. His assistant has to make sure that he eats or else he won't take the time to find food. Which I guess is how your life goes when you're an actor/writer/producer/director/grad studet/author/seriouslyinsanelycrazysexy dude.

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James read one of his stories. It was funny and had some great lines. I had read some excerpts in harsh reviews, so I wasn't sure how it would go. But we were laughing and totally into his story.

That's where he should have stopped.

Before James came out, an event coordinator told us that they would only be able to guarantee that those of us seated would get our books signed. The standing people got worried. Instructions were handed out that said James would personalize books, but posed photos would not be allowed. Which is why my Facebook profile pic sadly remains the same. Anyway, after James finished reading that first story it was time for Q&A. But then James was like, "I thought I was reading two stories. What do you guys want me to do?" And some girl yelled out, "Take a picture with me!" James went, "We can do that later." The event team was not liking that one bit (we still weren't allowed to take pictures with him). James asked if we wanted him to read another story. People said yes. So he said that it was shorter and not to worry - he promised to sign everyone's book. The event team panicked.

If he was anyone else but James Franco, he would have been in so much trouble for saying that.

He read the second story. About 15 minutes into it he was like, "I totally lied - this is a long one."

James Franco read for an entire hour.

Without taking one sip of water.

First off, I've never been to a reading anywhere near that long. Ever. And no water? I have a hard time if I read for like 10 minutes without water. Plus, he had four layers on. Naturally, you want to know what they were. He had the Coolest Jacket Ever, a sweater vest, a button-down, and a tee. See, this is why I'm convinced that James exists in a separate sphere of excellence. Anyone else would have been sweltering in all those layers. But he looked calm, cool, and collected the whole time.

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He was really sweet. He gave us lots of his signature crinkly-eyed smiles. He just seemed really happy to be there.

Since James read for so long, there was no time for Q&A. I was really bummed about that. Of course Q&A was taken away the one time I actually had a decent question! I was looking forward to seeing him interact with us and just speak more casually and stuff. There wasn't time for James to personalize our books, either. It was 9:00 and the store closed at 10:00.

I went up to meet James. I was in such a nervous huffufle trying to get my book ready for him to sign and document him up close for you guys and not freak out and decide what I was going to say. Then James signed my book.



It was my turn! So I told him he was made of all things awesome. I told him that Freaks and Geeks rules. He was very appreciative of that.

In the end, James clearly was too busy for our date. But I'm sure we'll reschedule soon.