and on we go

*blows dust off blog*
*clears throat*
*taps mic*

oh my. where in the world have i been?

well, for starters, i was here:

 

that's me in the dress!

and then i was here:

 

when you're having a BIG FAT ITALIAN WEDDING, planning can kind of take over your life. but now things are settling back down, and it's time for BOOKS to rule my life once again!

 

on that note, i have some exciting events coming up in the next few months!

 

first, and most important! i will be celebrating the launch of DEAD ENDS with a signing at Changing Hands on Saturday, September 7th at 5:00. if you're in Arizona, i hope to see you there!

 

coming up in October, i'll be presenting at the SCBWI AZ annual conference, along with an incredible lineup of authors, editors, agents and more (including my own fabulous agent, Literaticat herself, Jennifer Laughran!) click here for more info and registration!

 

then, in December, i'm thrilled to be a guest author for the St. Louis Public Library's incredible Read It Forward program. i went to college (and attempted to write my first novel!) in Missouri, so this event will feel like going home.

 

more news to come, but that might be just about enough for my first blog back! stay tuned...

 

 



3-2-1 Launch!

i love a good party. i love planning a good party. heck, i even love cleaning up after a good party.

but i always dread the days leading up to the party - when you start to count on your fingers who RSVP'd and who didn't - when you start to wonder whether anyone will show up. because it's not a good party without guests. that's why i have to say THANK YOU to everyone who came out Saturday night to help me launch BUTTER into the world.

Thank you for your enthusiasm, for your laughter...

Thank you for buying BUTTER and waiting so patiently in line to get it signed...

and Thank you especially for eating the food!! :D

as much as i loved having my friends and family there to support me, the biggest - and BEST - surprise of the night was seeing so many new faces. what a rush to meet the fellow writer who came out because she was touched by something i had written here on the blog... the reader who had reached out to me via email to share a very personal story after reading BUTTER... the young man who just happened to be browsing for books and stopped to listen to the talk and then stayed to buy a book. you all made my night!

i have to admit, all the preparations for the launch and my nerves had me wishing slightly that i could just get it over with. but from the moment i said hi to the first guest until i'd signed the very last book, i was having the time of my life.
it was a thrill like riding a roller coaster - you love every screaming soaring minute of it, but when it's over, you realize it's gone by too fast, and you just want to turn around and get right back on.

writing is such a solitary thing. it's hard to know if what you're doing will reach anyone in a meaningful way. maybe that's why moments like holding my book for the first time and seeing it in stores didn't hit me the way i had hoped they would. for me, the most powerful moment of this journey so far happened Saturday. meeting readers face to face and talking with them about the book reminded me that writing may start out as a solo effort, but when that book gets out into the world, it's like sending an invitation to one great big party. and i, for one, hope the party never ends.

let's party!

Good News!
it looks like BUTTER is landing early.

start looking for it in bookstores (or in your mailbox, if you preordered) on SEPTEMBER 4th.

then, if you happen to be in Arizona. prepare to party! i'll be celebrating BUTTER's release with a launch party at Changing Hands at the end of September. details here:

BUTTER LAUNCH PARTY @ CHANGING HANDS

there will be snacks and prizes and hopefully a lot of fun. hope to see your smiling faces there!

save the date!

September may trump October this year as my favorite month.

BUTTER will be on bookshelves Tuesday, Sep. 18th. is that really only 6 weeks away? holy cow!

and the following Saturday, Sep. 22nd, i will get to share BUTTER in person with friends, family and hopefully a few new faces at a lunch party at Changing Hands Bookstore in Phoenix.
save the date! details to come!

finally, in September, i get to make a rare autumn trip home to the midwest. i can't wait for the smell of fall. i miss it all the time. here's hoping the leaves turn super early this year.

i am still buried in revisions for next year's book, but when i come up for air, i plan to be blogging more often. in the meantime, have you checked out my agent's blog recently? (link! click it!) the past month has been full of amazing advice/information for writers. highly recommend.

best lines, A.S. King edition

last night i attended the west coast launch party for A.S. King's "Everybody Sees the Ants."
and since i am currently reading her Printz Honor Book "Please Ignore Vera Dietz," i thought it would be a good time for another episode of... BEST LINES.

first, though i haven't read it yet, i have to share a line from Ants. this showed up in King's reading last night and really struck me:

Mom told me once she thinks she's a reincarnated squid. Maybe she thinks being a squid means she won't be swallowed by the hole in our family.

and here are some of my favorite lines so far from Vera Dietz:

"Ew," I said. "I think we should tell my parents." I knew his wouldn't believe us or care. There was a reason Charlie was such a bright blazing sun. He came from endless cold, black space.

There are still children starving in Africa, right? There are still children starving right here in this shitty little town.

this line comes after an encounter with the mean kids:

Seeing it makes me feel delayed embarrassment. I wonder did I handle it okay? Did I look like an asshole?

normally, i don't like to comment too much on "best lines," because i don't want to detour into review territory. but i have to say something about this last quote.
if nothing else of interest were to happen in the rest of the book, i would still like it for that one quote and the entire passage in which it sits. that moment would have spoken to me as a teen more than anything i've ever read.

here are these kids who are mean to you, whose opinions you shouldn't give a damn about, but you can't help hoping you still looked - i don't know, cool maybe? - while they were torturing you. because maybe if you handled it well, they won't torture you again. or at least they won't know they got to you. and the feeling that accompanies all that is an inexplicable shame. it's a very hard - very uniquely teenage - emotion that is hard to capture. and King did it in a few spare lines.