So you know there's this new Ruby Oliver story called Bake Sale in the story collection, Not Like I'm Jealous Or Anything. Right?

It's all about what happened when Roo joined the Bake Sale committee with Heidi, Jackson's ex. And it involves cupcakes in unmentionable shapes.

So, the reviews have been really nice! VOYA writes:

"Walsh gathers a delicious collection of short stories, essays, and general information involving the topic of jealousy. The fiction entries range from Siobhan Adcock's poignant tale about Gwen, whose parents cannot afford a party for her tenth birthday...to the hilarious Bake Sale by E. Lockhart, a story of teen fundraising angst. And for those who enjoy a little suspense, there is Why I Hit My Boyfriend, Dyan Sheldon's darlkly humorous tale about a high school girl in a smothering relationship. Two authors, Ned Vizzini and Marty Beckerman, have even contributed essays on why they are jealous of each other."

And from Kirkus:

"This literary collection touts jealousy as its theme, a subject with thich many self-exploring teens can identify as they size up their worlds in comparison to that of their peers -- and invariably find something to covet. Many of the characters in the pieces contained here -- such as Jaclyn Moriarty's and E. Lockhart's -- do just that, although many conclude th at they have something of their own to be thankful for in the end....the pieces are well-written and entertaining, and the collection is cohesively crafted."

Tanya Lee Stone is on the GCC with me, and she wrote A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl, which I've read, and it is awesome and sexy and thought-provoking. Here's what Libba Bray, author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels, says about it:

“Meet Josie, Nicolette, and Aviva—three girls who’ve got something to tell you that you definitely want to hear. Tanya Lee Stone has written a book that’s crawl-under-the-skin true filled with humor, hope, a little heartbreak, and the kind of tell-it-like-it-is wisdom that comes from your best girlfriends. It’s irresistible.”

Stone also wrote a very smart essay in VOYA about sexuality in young adult literature that I think parents, librarians and educators should all read -- and teenagers, too.
AND
She wrote a very amusing boyfriend list, a little while ago -- I invited her before she joined the GCC, because her novel is such a perfect boyfriend-listy kind of book.

Now, without further ado, here it is, the first-ever FLY ON THE WALL SURVEY! Questions by me, answers by Tanya Lee Stone.

1) If you could be a fly on the wall somewhere, anywhere – where?
A sales and marketing meeting about my book at my publishing house!

2) If you could have one superpower, what?
Definitely invisibility.

3) What is your superhero name? Why?
The Purple Phantom--when I'm visible I've sporting a sleek and stylish purple leopard suit--and the Phantom part refers to my invincible invisibility.

4) Who is your favorite superhero?
Underdog! And in a close second is Mighty Mouse.

5) Favorite non-super hero?
Judy Blume.

6) Recommend us a superhero movie.
The Incredibles.

7) If you could turn in to any animal, what? Why?
A tiger--stealth, beauty, and have you seen the way they drape themselves over a mongo tree branch and do some serious lounging?

8) Do you (or have you ever) read comic books? What? When?
I loved Archie when I was a kid. Betty was my favorite; I just wished she would kick Veronica's ass.

Thanks, Tanya!

P.S. Tanya and I are going on tour together! Along with Simon Cheshire (Plastic Fantastic) and Jennifer Bryant (Pieces of Georgia). In April we will be in Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington DC, New York and Dayton. More info soon! -- E

Some nice words and interesting thoughts on Fly on the Wall, from the librarian author of A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy.

Gacked from Literaticat. Another narcissistic meme, oh how I love them.

1. What's your middle name?:
I keep it secret, but I bet you can guess.

2. Is your cell phone a flip phone?
No cell phone. No flippage. Bah!

3. Have you ever been to New Jersey?:
Of course. Many exits.

4. What's your favorite soda?:
Stewarts Diet Root Beer.

5. Do you have satellite?
Not even cable.

6. Where did you go to college?
Vassar and Columbia.

7. What's the longest road trip you've been on?
I drove New York to Chicago, to Detroit (for romance, I know it's the other direction) to Kansas City to Chicago again, all by myself with NO CAR RADIO.

8. Did you go to a private school?
More than one. But I also went to public.

9. What's your favorite smiley?
I am irritated by the smileys.

10. Do you buy lottery tickets in hopes of winning?
Never.

11. What year were you born in?
I am older than you, let's put it that way.

12. Do you like the smell of Sharpies?
I do not smell my ink.

13. What does your screensaver look like?:
Darkness.

14. Do you have an iPod?:
Yes, I am very devoted to it.

15. What's your biggest pet peeve?
Homophobia.

16. What shoe size do you wear?:
8, but a 7 in an open-toed sandal.

17. What's your favorite kind of cereal?:
Quaker 100% Natural. But it is basically candy in a box, so I stick with something a little less exciting.

18. Do you ever listen to Classical music?
Rarely. Some Nutcracker was forced upon me the other day.

19. What kind of instruments do you play?
Kazoo. Fourth-grade level piano on the neighbor's out-of-tune upright. Triangle. Egg shakers. Xylophone.

20. Do you like Girl Scout cookies?
This is New York City, baby. I have not laid eyes on a Scout of either sex since I got here in 1990.

21. Have you ever ridden in a limo?
Yes, but not a really posh one.

22. Do you like Hummers?
I admit, I like big cars when I am driving. But in principle, I am opposed.

24. Are you scared of horses?
No. They have soft noses.

25. Do you like milk chocolate or dark chocolate?:
I was raised to think dark was the only way to go, but as an adult I confess that it is the milk chocolate Toblerone that I love.

26. Do you wear glasses?:
20/20

27. Does it annoy you when people misspell things?:
Very much. Except in emails.

28. Do you like the beach or the mountains:
Beach.

29. Have you ever taken cough medicine when you didn't have a cough?:
On airplanes.

30. Have you ever been to band camp?
Does musical theater camp count? Lots of musical theater camp.

31. Do you know any guys with a receding hair line?
If you knew my year of birth, it would be easy to guess that I know many.

32. Do you know what Chacos are?
No, but I have Google. They are an outdoor sport sandal. Also a football player and his family. http://www.chacousa.com/

33. Do you own a Nalgene?
No. I had to google that one, too.

34. Have you ever watched Room Raiders on MTV?:
I rarely watch TV.

35. What's the best Christmas present you've ever got?:
Kitten!

36. What's your favorite Popsicle flavor?:
I don't care much about a popsicle. I go for the Toasted Almond. If popsicles are really the only choice, probably a coconut Froz Fruit. Basically, if it's frozen and has no fat, I'd just as soon skip it.

37. Did your parents give you an allowance?:
I had a clothing allowance in high school – a certain amount per month to budget for clothes, movies, bus fare, all that.

38. Did you ever watch Rugrats when you were little?:
I watched the Electric Company and Mr. Rogers.

39. How many myspace groups have you joined?:
Two: Teen Lit and the Charles Dickens Appreciation Society.

40. What do you think of standardized tests?:
I weirdly enjoy taking them. Obsession with them is ruining a lot of otherwise decent public schools.

41. What's the craziest thing you have ever done?
I don't want to admit it.

42. Have you ever cheated on a test?:
Not since 8th grade, but yes.

43. Is tomorrow your birthday?:
No.

44. Have you ever choked on your own spit?
What?

45. Do you like roller coasters?:
Yes, very much. But not to ride, anymore. I used to love to ride them. Now I just love how they look.

46. When was the last time you went roller blading?
I have never gone and do not want to. Roller skating, that's another story.

47. Have you ever wished you had a twin?:
I have never wished this, ever.

48. Do you have a caffeine addiction?:
Yes.

49. Do you get claustrophobic easily?:
Yes.

50. Would you ever kiss on the first date?:
I would, but I am a big grown-up and very experienced.

My friend Maryrose Wood wrote Sex Kittens & Horn Dawgs Fall in Love. It really is the most excellent and funny YA book. And it's totally not dirty, it's just about these fun New York girls who call themselves the Sex Kittens.
And yada yada yada,
I know you might not want to believe me, because like, I'm her friend and all that.
So here is what Common Sense Media says about it:

"...an effervescent delight, whose laugh-out-loud humor derives less from the story than from the way it’s told. Felicia’s voice is one of the most original and hilarious in years. Readers will love listening to her, and cheering her on as she uses science to try and uncover what makes someone fall for another. She seems incapable of describing even the most mundane event in less than pitch-perfect, sardonic teenspeak.

About marriage: ‘Not that I’d really take his name once we’re married, my mom would go all Gloria Steinem on me.’

On Medea: ‘... she grabs a knife and utterly Tarantinos these two little kids they had together. It’s a gorefest, man.’

It’s like this on every page. This isn’t the way kids really talk — it’s the way they wish they did, if they were quick and clever enough.”

Johanna Edwards is on the GCC with me. For the release of her first book, The Next Big Thing, she did a reality-TV boyfriend list that's highly amusing.

This time, she gets a little more personal -- since her new book, YOUR BIG BREAK, is about a woman who's an expert at romantic breakups. In fact, she "facilitates" them for clients of Your Big Break, Inc. In other words, she dumps people for money. But company rule #5 (do not get personally involved) is getting harder to obey....

"People often ask how I came up with the idea of writing about a breakup service," says Johanna. "'It's so far-fetched,' they say. Or, 'Gosh, I wish these things really existed!'...Here's the surprising part. They do. You actually can hire someone to dump your lover. Crazy, huh? A brief background: Breakup services started in Japan. The Japanese call them Wakaresaseya, or "Love Separation Services." In Asia, Wakaresaseya businesses are so popular they've even spawned a hit TV show. These zany companies have only recently started to spring up in Europe and North America (Cosmo recently ran an article about them). In the US, there are currently breakup services in San Francisco and New York. But if business keeps booming, more of them could crop up soon."

Anyway. Johanna's love life is full of heartbreak (see below) but becoming a bestselling author is the best revenge. Here's her list:

Horrible Boys Who Broke My Heart
by Johanna Edwards

Mark #1 - First serious boyfriend. Broke up with me on Valentine's Day.

Robert - Really obnoxious, evil mean guy who said "I want to date you, but I'm embarrassed of what my friends will think. So can we have a secret relationship?"

Zach - My first big crush. He was the "it guy" of the fifth grade. Zach used to buy me magazines and lend me nintendo games. We hung out after school a few times and talked on the phone...I luved him so. Then one day, for no reason at all, he started ignoring me. And we never spoke again.

Mark #2 - Didn't "officially" dump me -- just told me he loved me and then chose to never, ever speak to me again. (This was when I realized it was time to stop dating guys named Mark.)

Jacob - Realized he liked my best friend better than he liked me. So he dumped me in the hopes that she would go out with him (she didn't).

John - When I caught him cheating on me, he defended it by saying, "I cheated on you FOR you. I didn't want to breakup with you because I knew it would hurt your feelings."

JJ - Decided we should have an open relationship. But didn't bother to inform me of this until AFTER he'd slept with someone else.

P.S. Johanna has a blog!

So I had a teen-author filled weekend!  It was excellent.

First, I had teen author drinks night, which is drinking with people who write books for teenagers, not with actual teenagers.
Much fun was had by all. I got to talk to  Justine Larbalestier, Scott Westerfeld, Libba Bray, Rachel Cohn, Bennett Madison, John Green, David Levithan, Holly Black, and lots of others whose websites I don't know; plus  Daniel Ehrenhaft -- whose brand new website is just up and it is really really amusing so you should go check it out right now.

I'm waiting.

Okay.
You went, right?

So if that wasn't enough, on Saturday I went to Books of Wonder to hear Westerfeld and Larablestier chat on a panel about their books along with Sarah Durkee, Linzi Glass and best-seller Markus Zusak.

THEN I went to a celebration at New York Public Library for their annual Best Books for the Teenage List. Many of the people listed above were there, celebrating their books, drinking soda and hobnobbing around this really beautiful room in the library. Then Chris Crutcher gave this awesome and funny and tearjerking keynote speech, and design awards were presented to three teenagers who created graphics for the cover of the catalog-length list.

I got to eyeball various people I admire much, including Maureen Johnson, Walter Dean Myers, Rachel Vail, E.R. Frank, Chris Tebbetts, and many many teen librarians who get books into the hands of people they matter to. Yay librarians!

Now I am nearly comatose. But it was worth it.

xo
E

I am procrastinating right now. But it's okay, because I can type 86 words a minute, 89 if you don't count mistakes. So I'll make up for lost time, later.
Take the typing test.

By the way. People sometimes ask me what my advice for aspiring writers is. Here is one BIG part of it. Learn to type.

xo
E

I visited the online version of Not Your Mother's Book Club and did an interview. Cute boys, anti-censorship ranting, one of my favorite books of all time, and other fun stuff.

Thanks, Jenn, for having me -- and I'll be there in the flesh in June!

Got a blog and like books?
Play Blogging for Books over at Joshilyn Jackson's website. You can win free books (I think) and have your entry read by interesting authors. You have to enter by Monday at midnight -- but it'll happen again next month.

--E