Hi, all,
Lynn Messina, author of SAVVY GIRL, is having a trailer contest with a really cool prize for the winner. If you know anyone who is handy with a video camera, please pass this along. Details and the complete rules are available at http://www.lynnmessina.com/contest.php. I'm one of the judges, so I can't wait to see all the entries!
Mar
- Mood:
cheerful
See ya all at ALA! I'll be there Saturday.
Mar
Hey, c heck out the (June 12) great review of DEAD IS THE NEW BLACK by fellow LJer Professor Nana and Goddess of YA Lit
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professornanahttp://professornana.livejournal.com/
It seriously made my week.
Mar
- Mood: happy
- Music:Let's Dance/David Bowie
I think big trade shows such as BEA can be so overwhelming (the sheer number of books left me drooling with book lust and yet, intimidated by the sheer volume) but this pic that Debbi Michiko Florence
d_michiko_fsent me of her daughter C. says it all--it's all about the readers. And she's reading DEAD IS A STATE OF MIND, YAY!
- Mood:
accomplished
Here's another pic that shows the wonderful display they had for my signing.
Just as it was ending, I saw Mary Pearson
marypearson, who must have been a sprinter in high school, dash up to make it into the line as it closed. It was so nice to see her smiling face.That evening, I headed to Hollywood and Highland for the ABC Not a Dinner and Silent Auction. Mary and I strolled around and looked at the original art and chatted. We ate nummy appetizers, such as itty bitty burgers and Sex in the City mashed potatoes (served in a martini glass) although I'm betting the women from Sex in the City never let mashers touch their lips.
Sat with delightful folks from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt at the presentation of the E.B. White award winners (check out all the winners here http://www.abfc.com/ebwhite.html) Yelled boisterously when Elise Broach accepted her award for WHEN DINOSAURS CAME WITH EVERYTHING. Reminded Elise that she'd agreed to let me borrow her name for a shapeshifter in DEAD IS A STATE OF MIND *before* she was famous. There's a pic of Elise and me at Lisa Yee's blog (oh, and Peepy too!)
lisayee
I yelled even louder when the raffle came. They were raffling off an original David Shannon drawing on butcher paper. As they were reading off numbers, I said, "Oh, I love David Shannon's artwork. I never win anything." And this is usually true, so much so that I barely looked at my tickets. Turned out I was the winner!! Whohoo!
Those of you who have ever driven with me know that I tend to get lost, right Debby?
dlgarfinkleSo it might not be a huge surprise that I got lost on the way to the hotel. Only a tiny bit lost. But I was beat by the time I made it there. Had to get to sleep to get up bright and early in the a.m. Mar
- Mood:
busy
I will post pics of my SWAG from BEA later, but here are a few pictures. My camera ended up buried under a pile of arcs, so all photos were taken by Debbi Michiko Florence
d_michiko_f
I drove up early Friday morning to attend the Children's Book and Author Festival. I believe Jon Scieszka described it as "the ass crack of dawn." He had no idea! Laughed hysterically at Eoin Colfer's Master of Ceremonies riffs. Note to self: get Irish accent and/or English one and learn to be wittier.
Then I met Debbi to roam the exhibit hall and collect arcs for reading junkie daughter. Yes, it's ALL for my daughter;)
I had made plans to meet up with my friends Lori Polydoros and Collyn Justus. We were feet from each other near the autographing area and there were SO MANY people we had to play "you're warmer, warmer now" on our cells to find each other.
Here's a pic of the four of us with some enormous mascot. I nicknamed him grabby, well, for obvious reasons. He/she seemed particularly enamored with our friend Lori.
Then we visited the Harcourt booth and met all the lovely people there. I truly felt like a superstar when I saw the huge poster and stack of arcs for DEAD IS THE NEW BLACK. They surprised me with a copy of DEAD IS A STATE OF MIND.
Stood in line to get autographed books from some of my favorite
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fangs_fur_fey We had lunch at the convention center (a very not-good salad for me, a hot dog with a stale bun for Debbi) with Stacia Deutsch and her writing partner Rhody Cohon www.blasttothepastbooks.com.
Then we hit the exhibit halls again. Afterwards, it was time for my signing. Would anyone show up? They did!!! YAY! Here I am signing
Harcourt also had lovely bottles of nail polish to give away at the signing.
More soon, I promise!
Mar
- Mood:
crazy
Okay, I'm quickly sneaking in here, but more will follow I promise. BEA was amazing and a big THANK YOU to everyone at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for taking such good care of me and my books. And for Debbi Michiko Florence for many things, but mostly for remembering where I parked my car!!!
I have 3 advanced reading copies for the first 3 people to identify the main character in the television series DARK SHADOWS. Hint: Johnny Depp recently signed on to recreate this role.
Mar
- Mood: ecstatic
- Music:Dig,Lazarus, Dig!!/Nick Cave
The coolest little package came in the mail from the folks at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
DEAD IS THE NEW BLACK nail polish!!! Here's a photo. I think they did an amazing job on this and I absolutely LOVE it.
I'm pretty sure they'll be handing out the nail polish at BEA. I've been toying with promotional ideas, but I'm not sure I'll be able to top this one. Fun and functional because who doesn't need black nail polish occasionally?
Mar
- Mood: cheerful
- Music:You took the words right out of my mouth/Meatloaf
Hey, check out the interview I did with Author2Author. I love the concept of this blog, so give it a read when you get a chance.
http://author2author.blogspot.com/2008/0
Mar
- Mood: crazy
- Music:the sinner in me/Depeche Mode
Because I'm sneaking in, I'm posting a little early about my signing time at Book Expo America http://www.bookexpoamerica.com/.
And because I'm looking forward to snagging books from my lj and real life friends, I'm posting a list of people I know who will be signing. Feel free to add your information!
Marlene Perez (that's me) will be signing DEAD IS THE NEW BLACK on Friday, May 30 at 3:00 p.m., Table 23, Autographing Area
The rest are by date & time
Melissa Marr,
melissa_writingsigning INK EXCHANGE on Friday, May 30 at 9:30 a.m.Mary Pearson,
marypearsonsigning THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX on Saturday, May 31 at 9:30 a.m.Debby Garfinkle,
dlgarfinklesigning SUPERNATURAL RUBBER CHICKEN on Saturday, May 31 at 9:30 a.m.Debbi Michiko Florence,
d_michiko_fsigning CHINA on Sunday, June 1 at 11:00 a.m.And correct me if the times are wrong. I'm operating on very little sleep these days.
Mar
- Location:office
- Mood: cheerful
- Music:My Girlfriend's Dead/The Vandals
Isn't it pretty? It's my cover for my fall release of DEAD IS THE NEW BLACK. My fab editor has been getting really cool blurbs from people, but I don't think I can post them yet. I'm SO grateful to the amazing authors who agreed to blurb my book. I think it's okay to post the cover now, because we're already discussing the cover for DEAD IS A STATE OF MIND, which means this one is in the bag.
I also received a big box of LOVE IN THE CORNER POCKET copies from Scholastic. I'll post a pic as soon as I learn how to download (yes, I realize it SHOULD be as simple as plugging in and clicking, but I'm somewhat directionally challenged.)
Today is SCBWI OC's second annual Agent's Day and I couldn't be there. Wah! And I'm a co-chair. But due to circumstances beyond my control, I had to miss it. So I want details people!
And Mary Pearson had a launch party today for THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX today and I had to miss that too. Too many fun things to do. Congratulations to Mary on the birth of her latest book!
Mar
- Mood: busy
- Music:Little Doll/The Stooges
- Mood: busy
- Music:Mercy/Duffy
Most of my favorite television shows haven't returned yet or are on the bubble (big surprise) like FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. It amazes me that brilliantly acted, well-written television shows are fighting to survive and certain tacky reality-based shows thrive. Yes, I like a certain amount of cheese in my television viewing, but not ONLY cheesy stuff. It's all about the story-telling really. I have a new favorite song right now. It's SOMETIME AROUND MIDNIGHT by The Airborne Toxic Event and it's a perfect little jewel of a song. I love how it tells a story about love gained and then lost and the pining you can feel when you see an old lover.
I've also managed to purge a huge box of books to give to the Friends of the Library bookstore. Both my daughter and I are book pack rats, but our house was in serious danger of being overrun by books. I didn't give away any old friends, of course, but I did lighten the load considerably. But my to read stack is still ridiculously tall and BEA is in LA this year, which means I'm going. Actually, I'm signing. YAY! I'm so excited that DEAD IS THE NEW BLACK arcs will be available at BEA.
And LOVE IN THE CORNER POCKET comes out on May 1! Time flies. The release dates seemed so far away when I signed the contract and now it's almost here!
Now I'm off to read what everyone has been up to while I've been away.
Mar
- Mood:
creative - Music:SOMETIME AROUND MIDNIGHT/The Airborne Toxic Event
Well, after a nudge from an LJ friend I realized I hadn't posted in over a month. During that time, the whole family had that nasty respiratory thing that's going around, my computer died, and I watched a deadline sail on past.
The good news is that everyone is has recovered from illness, my new computer arrived yesterday, and I'm close to finishing the book (DEAD IS SO LAST YEAR.)
Now that I've popped my head out, I've noticed that Mary Pearson, author of THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX, posted some very cool news on her blog the other day, so swing by and wish our new Hollywood star well.
marypearsonMy agent is one of several fine agents at Donald Maass Literary Agency and they've posted a wish list here
And finally, we have a new interview up at the YA AUTHORS CAFE with Shana Norris, author of SOMETHING TO BLOG ABOUT, aka
shanawrites
Blood Brothers by S.A. Harazin!
medwriter Go, Shirley!Stop by her blog and congratulate her! You can also check out the other ya nominees at
- Mood: giddy
- Music:Moving to L.A./Art Brut
ripped off-er, borrowed from
slayground and
medwriter 2008 books, I can't wait for (and possibly many I'm forgetting.) You can also check out many exciting possibilities at the YA Authors Cafe at www.yaauthorscafe.blogspot.com
LEFTOVERS by Laura Weiss
SOMETHING TO BLOG ABOUT by Shana Norris
THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX by Mary Pearson
THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS by E. Lockhart
DEADLY LITTLE SECRET by Laurie Stolarz
NIGHT ROAD by A.M. Jenkins
To be honest, I've been writing more than I've been reading this year and the "to read" pile is in danger of collapsing. But I'm making progress. Honestly. And since the writers strike, I've had a little more time on my hands to read, so I am making progress. But it's hard when there are SO many good books and when I like to read a little of everything.
Mar
And sneaking back in to say that if you (like me) haven't finished all the great books from 2007, check out these lists, ALA Quick Picks
and ALA BBYA .
Congrats to
gypsyrobinmedwritersarazarrjbknowlesdljacobsjenlyn_band any other LJers I may have missed!
- Mood: busy
- Music:If It Be Your Will/Antony
This from PW Daily, ala.org and various bloggers around the world, including
gypsyrobin</div>
The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean (HarperTempest) won the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature for young adults. Four Printz Honors were given: Dreamquake by Elizabeth Knox (FSG/Foster); One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke (Front Street); Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins (HarperTeen); and Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill (Knopf).
YAY!!! Amanda for your Printz Honor for REPOSSESSED.
Mar
- Mood: happy
- Music:Make This Go On Forever/Snow Patrol
I heard a few months ago that my first novel, Unexpected Development, made the 2008 California Collection, but with the holidays and my extreme sugar coma, I hadn't had time to mention it. Whohoo!! And there's an interview up at the website http://www.californiareaders.org/intervi
Mar
Hi, all,
Happy New Year!! I wanted to let you know that we're asking for great young adult reads for 2008 at the YA Authors Cafe blog, so head on over there and post 'em if you got 'em. We'd especially love to hear from other authors who will have new ya releases out in 2008.
http://yaauthorscafe.blogspot.com/2008/0
Mar
Happy holidays, everyone!
I'm dusting off my lj, blowing out the cobwebs, and preparing for a big year next year (three books of mine come out in 2008, and frankly, I'm wavering between exhilaration and terror.)
I'm trying the Keep It Simple Stupid philosophy of holiday events. Besides the traditional holiday stuff, we have two birthdays to celebrate in December. So I started ordering online early and almost completely avoided store shopping. The cards are almost done (yes, this is late, but not as late as SOME years) and I'm baking only the top Christmas favorites, which in my house is sunken kisses, peanut butter fudge, and gingerbread and/or sugar cookies to decorate. The tree is up, but with a few less ornaments than usual, because we are midway through renovating our front room. All and all, I think we'll have a happy, low-key holiday. Oh, except for those deadlines.
I just finished reading PLENTY http://tinyurl.com/2qhhfw.
I was definitely inspired by the book to buy locally when I can, although I don't think I'll ever go to the lengths that the authors did (they vowed to only eat food grown within a 100 miles of where they lived for a year) I have been inspired to visit the local farmer's market more often and to search out California grown produce. But a lot of what they talked about reminded me of how I grew up. My mother was a single mom and we were poor, but we always had fresh fruit and vegetables in the summer, courtesy of her huge backyard garden. And in the winter, we ate the stuff she'd canned. We usually had milk from local dairies and locally raised beef. One of the benefits from growing up in Iowa. We'd go into the woods to look for wild strawberries, mushrooms, and asparagus. She made her own bread. We were rarely allowed soda and chips, but she did love to bake. We were close to what we ate. Now I have a black thumb and I wouldn't know a safe to eat wild mushroom if it walked up and bit me, but I do think I'll try to grow some tomatoes in my backyard this spring. Or some lovely herbs. Just to remember Mom.
Mar
