Shana Norrisshanawrites  is having a blog party and the interview I did is up here. Let's Dance!

And Mary Pearson's THE MILES BETWEEN just got an fabulous review. This reviewer totally gets it!

I'm starting to get revived up for ComicCon. The whole family is coming with me. I'm going to be on a Monster Mash panel on Saturday. More details to follow. And they're previewing the new Twilight movie, Heroes, and many many other fab things. So much to do and so little time!

Mar

Sometimes I need little carrots to keep me motivated when I'm on deadline. I heard about a great etsy company at  I Heart Daily. 

 I love how life sends you random messages.

From Real Simple June 09

"When life hands you lemons, add alcohol."

"Be pretty if you can, be witty if you must, but be gracious if it kills you."--attributed to Elsie de Wolfe

From Season 4, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

"When it's dark and I'm all alone, and I'm scared or freaked out or whatever, I always think what would Buffy do?" Zander

So I read somewhere that you shouldn't blog about cancelled tv shows all the time, but I so adore Buffy. Fav quote from Season 3.


Spike: "I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it."

In other news, I'm honing in on the end of DEAD IS JUST A RUMOR. Yay!

My h. says that my process is a)say "I need to write" and then proceed to do everything I can to avoid said writing.
b) right before deadline, write all hours. No reading, no tv, no goofing around.

I've been seeing summer reading lists everywhere, from the great Nancy Pearl on NPR to Scholastic's Summer Challenge
Here's mine, complete with explanations, rationalizations and excuses. This list is in no apparent order.

Teen
FUNNY HOW THINGS CHANGE by Melissa Wyatt (Melissa's a brilliant writer and a friend.Although I'm not usually dazzled by stars, she's got 'em)
THE MILES BETWEEN by Mary Pearson (Ditto Mary. And Miss M. LOVES her books.For those who don't know, I'm not ickily talking about myself in the 3rd person when I say Miss M,
PROJECT SWEET LIFE by Brent Hartinger (Brent is a super nice guy. And I love the concept)
MY SOUL TO TAKE by Rachel Vincent (Fangs, Fur, Fey)
STRANGE ANGELS by Lili St. Crow (Fangs, Fur, Fey)
STUCK IN THE 70S by D.L. Garfinkle (Debby and I have way weird stuff in common and she's a great friend, who won't even be too mad that I haven't read this yet. I use my ace in the hole of "twins" as my ultimate excuse.)
LOVESTRUCK SUMMER by Melissa Walker (Melissa is a rockin' good writer and all round do-gooder.)
CATCHING FIRE by Suzanne Collins (I loved HUNGER GAMES. And have to keep up on my post-apocalyptic reading for Miss M)
GOING BOVINE by Libba Bray (Libba is one of the funniest people I know, although I use the term "know" rather loosely. I met her once and she made me laugh. That's enough for me.)
NEVER CRY WEREWOLF by Heather Davis (we share an agent and an imprint. And this looks so good!)
BLUE MOON by Alyson Noel (perhaps the nicest person on the planet. And talented too.)
KILLER PIZZA by Greg Taylor (I don't know him at all, but I love the title. A good title will get me every time.)


Adult

THE GIRL FROM AMES:A STORY OF WOMEN AND FRIENDSHIP by Jeffrey Zazlow (I gr
WICKED PLANTS: THE WEED THAT KILLED LINCOLN'S MOTHER AND OTHER BOTANICAL ATROCITIES by Amy Stewart & Briony Morrow-Cribbs
THE GUERSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrow
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES




And DEAD IS A STATE OF MIND is featured this week at Dear Reader.

We are having our first contest at the YA Authors Cafe and one of the prizes is a copy of Maureen Johnson's SUITE SCARLETT. Contest details are at www.yaauthorscafe.blogspot.com

Mar

I always envied Liz Burns over at A Chair, A Fireplace, & A Tea Cozy for snatching up what has to be the best Buffy reference blog name ever.

So I was watching Season 1 Buffy dvds and the "not of the normal" quote came up and I thought, "that's it!"

It pretty much describes me, the things I'm interested in, and well, life in general--at least MY life. And from now on, it's also my blog's official title.

Okay, I just read this and all writers must immediately go to this blog and read "Why You Really Don't Want to Get Published." And although I found myself nodding repeatedly while reading this post, writing for a living still beats a day job.

Mar

We had a great turnout at Laguna Beach Books! Thanks to everyone who came.

Here are a couple of pics (more to follow!) This is Mary Pearson (ADORATION OF JENNA FOX) aka marypearson D.L. Garfinkle (SUPERNATURAL RUBBER CHICKEN) aka dlgarfinkle  and me, aka Marlene Perez (DEAD IS THE NEW BLACK) at the signing.


Alyson Noel signing for a few of her EVERMORE fans.

A couple of weeks ago, I was reminded by the fab Tina Wexler that there is supposed to be a VERONICA MARS movie. I've been googling like crazy to see if there has been any progress. It's looking iffy.

I also broke out my VM dvds. I have seasons 1 & 2 on dvd and the 3rd season downloaded on my ipod. I'm not sure WHY I'm mentioning this now, but man, I can really see a difference in quality between seasons 1& 2 vs. 3. I know this isn't news to the fandom. DAMN, I loathe Piz. All over again. If there IS a Veronica Mars movie, sweet Jesus, do not include one glimpse of him.

And what's with the Buffy movie without Joss Whedon? This article pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter. 

So groovin' on Glee though!

Deadlines loom, so I may not post much for a few weeks. Or I may end up posting daily in my never-ending quest for greater and greater heights of procrastination.

Mar

I'm doing what I'm sure will be a fun and fabulous signing on Sunday, May 31st at Laguna Beach Books from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. There will be treats! Check out these great authors who will also be appearing.





Kathryn Fitzmaurice
D.L. Garfinkle
Deborah Lytton
Alyson Noel
Mary Pearson
Marlene Perez

Well, THE MILES BETWEEN. Info here http://marypearson.livejournal.com/95873.html

And SUCH a great idea!

Mar

I came home today to find the new Delia's catalog opened to a particular page, which isn't exactly unusual, because Miss M loves their clothes. But what WAS unusual is that it was opened to an ad. The DEAD IS books were in a full page ad, along with Jessica's Guide To Dating on the Dark Side!

I'd post it, but I'm not sure if it's okay. Must ask editor.

And in other news, we have a new interview up at the cafe with Carol Lynch Williams, author of THE CHOSEN ONE.  www.yaauthorscafe.blogspot.com

Debby Gdlgarfinkle and I hit B&N the other day and guess what I saw? The 3 DEAD IS books on an endcap, which always makes me happy! It's kind of a cruddy pic, but I'm kind of a cruddy photographer.

Mar

Tomorrow is Buy Indie Day so go out there, spend some money, and support your local indie bookstore.

And melissawyatt is having a name that dog contest! You can win a copy of her new novel FUNNY HOW THINGS CHANGE. This is a must have novel for this year!

I put in my suggestions, but I think I cheated because Melissa and I both love the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay. So my suggestion was Edna.

Mar

Don't panic, fellow caffeine fans! Diet Dr. Pepper isn't leaving us, I'm leaving it. I used to drink water regularly, more than the recommended 8 glasses per day. Then I started drinking coffee a few years ago (yes, I made it to my 30s without touching the stuff.) And suddenly, coffee wasn't enough, I was also drinking a diet Dr. Pepper per day.

But I'm trying to lose weight and the news about losing weight and soda drinking, even diet soda, is not good. So I said a reluctant good-bye to my favorite soda. It's been four days and I have to say I feel better already.  And I've been drinking enough water to make a camel jealous.

And besides, Meg Cabot recently blogged up about giving up the evil addiction, er, soda  here, I'm following in her footsteps (oh, boy, don't I wish!)

Mar

Hey, check out the interview with Jeannine Garsee, author of SAY THE WORD at the YA Authors Cafe. http://www.yaauthorscafe.blogspot.com/
And there's still time to comment on Sarah Darer Littman's interview about her new novel PURGE.

I had an scbwi schmooze last night and was pleased to see that DEAD IS SO LAST YEAR is already out, a month early! Whoohoo! My friend told me that she actually got her copy a couple of weeks ago. How did I not notice that it was out? I blame deadlines.

Mar

It'll be up on the website soon, but I just wanted to announce that my fabulous agent, Stephen Barbara of Foundry Literary + Media, has just been added as a speaker to the SCBWI OC Agent's Day on May 16.

Mar

From Publisher's Marketplace

Children's: Young Adult

Two-time YALSA Quick Pick nominee Marlene Perez's DEAD IS JUST A RUMOR and DEAD IS NOT AN OPTION, fourth and fifth books in the popular DEAD IS … series, featuring two final mysteries in the town of Nightshade and concluding with Daisy Giordano's graduation, again to Julie Tibbott at Graphia, by Stephen Barbara at Foundry Literary + Media (NA). UK and Foreign: sabou@foundrymedia.com Film/TV: stephen@paulkohner.com

Hey, friends,

I co-chair this event and this is our 3rd Annual Agent's Day.  It's held in gorgeous Newport Beach, CA and this year's agents are

Michael Bourret		Dystel & Goderich Literary Management
Chris Richman		Firebrand Literary
Tina Wexler		International Creative Management (ICM)

http://www.scbwisocal.org/events/oc_agents_day.html

It fills up fast, so if you're interested, get your registration in!

Mar

The cover for my August release, The Comeback, with Scholastic/Point is up on Amazon. It's SO gorgeous. This is my absolute favorite cover so far and I've had plenty of great covers!



or tiny url

Hey, stop on bymelissawyatt 's lj to say congratulations. Her new ya, FUNNY HOW THINGS CHANGE, just got a starred review from Kirkus.

And then cruise over to marypearson 's to say a double congratulations. THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX is an Andre Norton finalist and just won a SCBWI Golden Kite Honor.

Yahoo!!!

Mar