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June 2009

BEA

May 26, 2009

I'll be at BEA, but not signing. Come see me at the children's book breakfast, the auction, the Balzer + Bray launch, the Macmillan desserts thingummy, the Common Ground party... I will have a couple ARCs of Treasure Map, so if you want one, ask.

Posted at 09:09 PM in Appearances |

Help me out

May 14, 2009

Help me out again!

Two more film lists for Roo4: Movies where the safe responsible boyfriend or husband turns out to be a closet jerk, thus transforming himself into the rotten boyfriend -- thus freeing the heroine to leave him for someone more exciting, guilt-free: Desperately Seeking Susan; The Wedding Singer; Moonstruck...

WHAT ELSE? 
I know there are a million things I am forgetting. 
And: Movies where a brooding, even sulky guy seems like really quite a good idea for a boyfriend: Twilight, Ten Things I Hate About You, Dirty Dancing, Sommersby, Edward Scissorhands, The Bourne Identity, Grosse Pointe Blank... (is Sommersby right? Maybe he is not brooding. Maybe he is handsome and jolly and just an IMPOSTER.) I use Box Office Mojo's genre lists to help me remember movies.But the mojo isn't working that well today. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/

Posted at 10:21 AM in Help Me Out | | Comments (24)

Just what's going on

May 14, 2009

I have been lax about posting. Twitter is distracting me!  I feel like I've done my blog when really I've only written 140 characters. 


The other thing that is distracting me is the book known as Roo4 -- the fourth in the Ruby Oliver series. I have to turn it in June 1. It is already a bit late. And it is HARD TO WRITE because I have to complete the series. There won't be any more after this. 

Writer's life tidbits:  I am in one of the coffee shops I write in. This one has wifi and plugs. The same crossing guard is here every day doing word searches. Another guy is taking a nap. Two bohemian guys with laptops seem to be disussing a screenplay. There is a baby gurgling. Jazz is playing. I have peppermint tea and a brownie. When I'm done with my daily words I am going to read a new book in MS by Sarah Mlynowski, and give her feedback (not that she needs it).  I have a very nice job.

Also, I am racing Ally Carter to the finish. Ally has to finish her next Gallagher Girls book by June 1, too. Right now, she's ahead of me, but only by a couple thousand words. If she has a crappy day (or if my book is shorter!) I can still beat her. 

Not that a quickly written book is a goal. It's not. And we will both rewrite massively. But we are both under deadline and keeping each other company helps us stay alert. 

I am tempted to give you hints about Roo4, but I'm still working on it, so I'll give you hints about The Treasure Map of Boys instead (out July 25th). 
In it you will find: 

ninja brownies
a pygmy goat
jobs lost and gained
kissing
people getting caught kissing
violence involving carrot cake
chemistry experiments gone awry

Bye. Must go write now.

P.S.  Peace Love and Baby Ducks by Lauren Myracle comes out today!! It's a really funny and romantic and astute story about two sisters who compete with each other and love each other and make each other cry sometimes.   Lauren has all kinds of cool contests going on at her ning, so you should visit her there.

E
 TreasureMapEarly

Posted at 09:55 AM in Anecdotes |

SLJ Tourney

May 06, 2009

The SLJ Battle of the Books is over and Hunger Games takes it!

 All I could think when I read it was: did she read my book? did Lois Lowry really read my book?
But that is because I am a big egotist. 
It is also a very interesting essay. 

P.S. speaking of egoist, did you watch my movie yet?  
Is three minutes long.

P.P.S Are you going to BEA? I will be around and about at breakfasts and auctions and dessert parties -- but NOT SIGNING. That is because my new book, The Treasure Map of Boys (aka Ruby Oliver book 3) comes out July 25th and is therefore not a fall book. Same thing with Disreputable History paperback coming out in August with a hot new cover. Still -- I will be there and please come find me and say hello if you're there, too!
 

Posted at 07:51 PM in Links You Might Like |

The B&O Espresso

May 04, 2009

For those of you who like the Ruby Oliver books, here is a picture of the inside of the B&O Espresso in Seattle, where Roo and her friends hang out. 


http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/Iux1vgl2OKi3Bg2X0grjGg?select=CLyqV69KDm_exmLffDZSFw

 
B & O Espresso

Posted at 06:58 AM in Anecdotes |

Update

May 01, 2009

A few quickie updates.


John Green won the Edgar award for best YA mystery for Paper Towns. Wooot!  I love that book a lot.

I got to hang out with him and Maureen Johnson (whose awesomely hilarious  book Suite Scarlett just came out in paperback), and Christopher Krovatin, author of Venomous and Heavy Metal and Me, at the New Jersey LIbrary Association conference. 

MJ and I strolled along the shore and hang out with a bunch of awesome and dedicated librarians, including Mistress Tea Cozy and the Queen of Pop. 
We had lunch and listened to John give a speech and watched the Garden State book awards. The teen fiction award went to Susan Beth Pfeffer for Life as We Knew It.

Then a Krovatin/Johnson/Lockhart panel. I tried to explain Krovatin the retro metal theme that runs through the Ruby Oliver books in a desperate attempt to seem like I rocked. But you know. I am EIGHTEEN YEARS OLDER THAN THAT GUY and obviously he rocks very seriously so it was clear that I was way out of my league. Otherwise we had quite an interesting discussion and people asked great questions. 

In other news, I have finally figured out (after 5 years) how to adjust my blog columns but there are various other things gone a little screwy with the blog site so please bear with me. I am not dealing with it because I am under deadline with Ruby4. Right now I am in a coffee shop drinking mint tea and eating cookies (yes, it's 9:45 AM -- you want to say something about that?) and sweating over a big Halloween scene that is nowhere as funny as it should be. Sometimes I wish I was Louise Rennison. I laugh every time I even think about Georgia Nicoloson wearing that pimento olive costume. 


Suite ScarlettProduct DetailsProduct DetailsProduct Details

Posted at 09:50 AM in Anecdotes | | Comments (7)