Did It

Birthday Thanks

Thanks to everyone who emailed, Tweeted, and sent me birthday greetings today! You’re all the best! Seriously, that was so sweet of you!

I was going to celebrate by going see Avatar because I’m the only person in the ENTIRE WORLD who hasn’t seen it yet and I feel like I’ve fallen behind on my popular culture.

But after treating myself to a day of beauty (manicure, pedicure, hair), I got a flat tire on my bike on the way home…

In the rain!

Fortunately I was right outside the bike repair shop. But still. It was a bit depressing, especially since I missed the afternoon showing.

But then I got home, dried off, and checked my favorite gossip site, Dlisted….

And I was so psyched to see I was a birthday slut again this year (along with other February Firsters Pauly Shore, Princess Stephanie of Monaco, and the fabulous Michael C. Hall of Dexter! I hope his recovery from cancer is quick, because we all love him so much)!

Then things kept getting better and better: Beautiful flowers got delivered! A 1905 edition of A Little Princess arrived from my agent!

Then I took the The Myers Briggs personality test to see how much I’ve changed since my last birthday.

(I think change is good. If we don’t change, we don’t grow. And if we don’t grow, we just stay the same, which means we haven’t learned anything. Not having learned anything isn’t good. I always want to have learned something since my last birthday. And not just about Snooki from Jersey Shore.)

So I was so excited to discover that my personality profile had changed, and my ideal career, according to this test, is a teacher or social worker! This means, according to this test, I’m a “giver”!

This makes me the same Myers-Briggs personality profile as Kirstie Alley, Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, David, King of Israel, and Randy Quaid!

Awesome.

He Who Shall Not Be Named In This Blog didn’t believe me when I told him about the test results (about me being a giver).

Don’t ask me why. I think it had something to do with sharing the remote control.

So he made me take the quiz again and answer the questions “honestly” with him hovering over my shoulder going, “Tell the truth!”

So when I answered the questions that way, I got the same personality profile as Tom Selleck. Which isn’t quite the same as Barack Obama and Randy Quaid, I have to say.

If you want to find out what your personality type is, you should take the quiz. But remember it’s just for fun….it isn’t exactly scientific!

Thank goodness.

XXXOOO

More later.

Much love,

Meg

Did It

God

When I was a kid, and things like this horrible earthquake in Haiti would happen, I would get really mad at God.

Because I used to think God was a kindly old man with a long white beard who lived up in heaven (just like they told us in Sunday school), and who, like me when I played with my Barbies, looked out for us and protected us and got us new dresses or, if we prayed hard enough, a date with Ken.

Playing Barbies? Or playing God?

But as I got older, I began to wonder why God would let such terrible things happen to people, things I would NEVER let happen to my Barbies.

The more I thought about it, the further I plunged into existential despair (at age 12)….

…and the more others told me human misery was all part of God’s plan, and that I just needed to have faith in it.

This, however, was improving impossible for me.

Finally, in 8th grade, I got sent to the principal’s office for my lack of faith (it was Catholic school).

Fortunately the principal was Sister G, who turned out to be kind of a badass.

Sister G told me it was totally normal to question things…even God. She told me to keep on asking questions until I found the answers I was looking for. It was entirely possible, she said, that I was right. For all we knew, God might exist only in our hearts.

This made me feel a little better. Plus, she didn’t give me detention.

Then came last week’s episode of the show Mercy (which guest starred Michael Ian Black, playing a character who was having a spiritual crisis similar to the one I had as a teen).

This episode got a little sappy, but it had some really fun moments, like when Michele Trachtenberg busted out some figure skating moves….

(I was like, “Oh my God, she learned that during Ice Princess! A movie I wrote! Except that they didn’t use a single concept or line from my script, apart from the Zamboni!”)

But what got me was the scene where Nurse Veronica told Michael Ian Black about how while she was serving in Iraq, she saw horrible things that made her, too, lose faith in the idea of a kindly old bearded God who Had a Plan.

Now Nurse Veronica only had faith in people….

To her, God was in the selflessness shown by a young American soldier she’d operated on who’d given his own life to save the life of another. God was in his heart.

I couldn’t believe it! Sister G’s words, echoed by Nurse Veronica!

Nurse Veronica, who looks a lot like my friend Libby

Could it be that Sister G and Nurse Veronica are right? That maybe God isn’t a bearded old man sitting up in heaven, controlling our destinies the way little girls control their Barbie dolls, selecting who will live and who will die and who will go out with Ken?

Who knows.

What I do know is, there’s nothing you or I or anyone else can do stop terrible things like the earthquake in Haiti from happening.

But we can help prevent the suffering it’s causing.

Which makes all of us a little God-like, in my opinion.

And that’s something I definitely want to put my faith in.

More later.

Much love,

Meg

PS

Brian Russell is the husband of my friend Lisa, who is also one of my many former bosses from NYU. You know of him because he films and edits the Read Our Lips segments Michele Jaffe and I post here and on YouTube.

Brian has been doing volunteer relief work in Haiti for some time. And he takes his whole family down there with him at least once a year to help.

I emailed him as soon as I heard about the earthquake to find out where I could make a donation. This was his response:

I’ve received an overwhelming number of emails and calls of support today, and many have asked where they can donate money following the devastating earthquake in Port au Prince, Haiti.

Brian

Hands Together
PO Box 80985
Springfield, MA 01138
www.handstogether.org

Did It

25 Things You Don’t Know About…

…Meg and Christmas!

1. My favorite Christmas movie is A Christmas Story.

Luckily for me, they show this movie all day on December 25.

2. But I also love It’s A Wonderful Life.

3. And Die Hard!

4. Watching movies on Christmas Day is a long-standing holiday tradition in my family. Because dropping the kids off at the Cineplex at the mall after opening presents (and church) is what many parents did back in the 70s and 80s on December 25, so the adults could have some peace and quiet (also, mimosas).

5. He Who Shall Not Be Named In This Blog says that’s how his best friend saw Deliverance on Christmas Day when he was 12.

6. My favorite Christmas carol is Carol of the Bells.

7. The best (and yet worst) Christmas present I ever got was a gorgeous patent leather purse that HWSNBNITB’s brother and sister-in-law gave me. It was the best because I was completely broke and needed a new bag, and this one was AMAZING.

8. It was the worst because the day after I got it, I took it to a Christmas Day dinner party in someone’s fancy Upper East Side apartment in New York City…

9. …from which it disappeared…with one of the other dinner guests!

10. Weirdly, everyone at the party (except myself and my husband) had graduated from Harvard.

11. This is the only time I was ever robbed in the entire 15 years I lived in New York City.

12. Robbed! On Christmas Day! By someone who went to Harvard!

Edited to add later: I think it’s fitting that the one time I felt completely safe from theft– dinner party in a fancy apartment; distinguished guests from an Ivy League school; major holiday; etc–I got robbed.

I deserved it…for being so stupid!

13. HWSNBNITB says the worst gift he ever got was a Disney video of Aladdin.

(I really wanted to see it!)

14. HWSNBNITB and I do not exchange gifts at Christmas anymore.

15. It’s the thought that counts!

16. This Christmas Day, He Who Shall Not Be Named In This Blog and I plan on watching Four Christmases.

(I’ve never seen it!)

(I checked to make sure in advance…he wants to see it, too!)

17. Everyone who meets me through my husband assumes we’re Jewish, because he wears glasses, has dark hair, is super smart, and his last name is Egnatz.

18. My husband is not Jewish. Although it’s possible his Hungarian ancestors were.

19. My ancestors’ real name wasn’t Cabot (rhymes with rabbit). It was Caputo (rhymes with…nothing. Probably why they changed it).

20. I was too busy with deadlines and tending to HWSNBNITB’s broken ankle to put up a tree, so our friend Cathy, who is French, offered to decorate our tiny fake pink tree for us!

She even asked her husband, who is handy, to fix the dead pink lights for us.

Moral: Always say yes when a French woman offers to decorate your tree for you.

21. My favorite food at Christmas is peppermint bark.

22. I have already gained 3 pounds from eating so much of it this year.

23. If I’d been Mary, I’d have been all, “What? A manger? You have to be kidding me. What kind of innkeeper are you? Are you there, God? It’s me, Mary. And I’m outta here.”

Then I’d have taken out my American Express card, called 1-800 Air Ambulance, and had myself emergency air lifted to Mount Sinai….

Mount Sinai Maternity Ward in Beverly Hills, thank you very much!

24. Henrietta and Gem were quite naughty this year, and are getting lumps of coal.

Look at that face! How crabby is that?

Who me? I haven’t been going into other people’s houses and hiding under their beds.

(Yes! She has! She’s so naughty!)

25. In contrast, YOU all have been extremely good.

So I’m giving you a sneak peek of the third book in the Airhead trilogy (the release date has been moved up to April 20! Just for you!), Runaway:

Click here to read it!

Enjoy!

And have the most fantastic holiday ever!

More later.

Much love,

Meg

Did It

Change…

Some of us love experiencing new things, while some of us (okay…me) prefer the comfort of the familiar.

Example:

When my best friend told me on the bus to school that her dad had bought this machine that played something called “video tapes”—movies that you could watch at home!— insisting that this was going to be the next big thing, I was like:

“That’s STUPID. No one is going to sit around and watch movies at home when you can just go to the theater at the mall instead.”

Another example:

About a decade later another friend got a job helping to design the graphics for this thing she called a “website” that was going to be on something called “the Internet.” She insisted THIS was going to be the next big thing. I was like:

“That’s STUPID. It’s cool that you’re working for the Gap, but no one is going to buy clothes from a computer when they can just go to the mall instead.”

What I learned from these experiences is that while preferring the comfort of the familiar is fine, change is almost always good (especially when it’s technology related), and should be embraced.

Take this blog, for instance.

When my editor, Abby McAden (the one who bought The Princess Diaries way back when no other publishing house wanted it) said I should start writing a “blog,” I was like:

“What’s a blog?”

See? I didn’t say it was stupid (well…not to her face).

And I did it! This blog has lasted almost SEVEN YEARS, way longer than almost any other author’s (according to my totally unscientific survey).

And now this blog has gotten the makeover it deserves, in the form of a fabulous glossy magazine-like look!

(You know how I can’t resist a magazine. But please don’t take your computer with you into the bathtub in order to read this blog.)

But don’t worry, those of you who still crave the familiar: along with tons of new content, everything you loved about my old site is still here!

See? Change is good!

You know there will always be more later.

Much love,
Meg

P.S. If you have any questions or comments about the new site, you can contact the admin using the link at the bottom of the page.

Did It

Too Much Awesome

Remember how the Wonder Twins (helpers to the Super Friends) would get together and save people?

Well, it seems like whenever my brother and I get together, instead of saving people, we make people fall down.

And break something.

Take the last time my brother and I got together at my house: My grandma fell down the stairs and broke her pelvis.

This time, it was my husband. He fell down the stairs and broke his ankle on Saturday.

I know what you’re thinking:

Is it the sheer awesomeness of so many Cabots together at one time that’s too much for people to handle, so they just fall down?

Probably.

It’s really for the good of mankind that we remain on separate sides of the country most of the time.

Oh, wait. That wasn’t what you were thinking?

Oh, okay, it was “Didn’t He Who Shall Not Be Named In This Blog just break his elbow a few months ago?”

Yes, he did, in a bike accident (I would like to point out that neither my brother nor I were anywhere close when that happened).

HWSNBNITB is feeling very sad right now at the prospect of having pins put in his ankle, and then more months of physical therapy.

And I know I should be THANKFUL that it wasn’t worse (he was checking why the pool lights didn’t come on. In the dark. And then he slipped down the pool steps, and fell in. He could have hit his head and drowned, or something)!

So I AM grateful! Not just that he only broke his ankle, but for all the other great things in my life….

…like YOU!

But it’s hard not to feel a little bad.

It actually all reminds me a little of this:

But I swear that’s not how it went down! No bears were involved!

I hope your thanksgiving was a little less exciting than ours.

And that you’ve learned to contain your awesomeness better than my brother and I have, when we get together for the holidays.

More later.

Much love,

Meg

Did It

Meg’s Mail Bag

It’s perfect stay-indoors weather here because of pesky Tropical Storm Ida–windy and rainy, with palm fronds flying everywhere!

And while I hope it clears up in time for the book fair in Miami this weekend, it’s kind of a good opportunity for us to dip into Meg’s Mail Bag, since it’s been a while.

So let’s take the plunge!

My best friend is really SO lucky. The Galera Record (who publishes your books here in Brazil) is raffling two books (Of course, Yours).

Now, guess what? She wins!

I really love her, so I didn’t blame her, or nobody. But, the fate or something like that is so unfair! I mean, I love you so much more than her.

And you FOLLOW her on Twitter, and didn’t follow me.

One day Fate should be fair, right?

So much love,
I’m Not Going To Put Her Name

Wow. What I loved most about Brazil was the hot-blooded PASSION of its residents.

Anyway, here’s the thing:

Twitter is new. We’re all still just trying to figure it out.

People seem to be doing one of these three things:

Following everyone who follows them; just following their friends; or following no one.

To me, following no one is kind of boring.

And I think “just following your friends” is kind of stuck up (no offense, clique-y celebrities. But we’re not in high school anymore)!

And I agree with Nameless Above that it’s a little bit rude not to follow back someone who is following you (as long as it’s a real person, who isn’t a spammer or a total psycho).

I understand that people with a million followers can’t read EVERY SINGLE ONE of their posts. As much as I’d like to, I can’t read all of my followers’ posts, either, or I wouldn’t have time to write my books and stay on the cutting edge of popular culture by watching every television show known to man.

But if someone is following me, I really do want to see who she is.

So I do try to check in on each and every one of my followers from time to time, when I get the chance. I don’t tweet back personally, but I do get a great feel for who my followers are–fun, fantastic people.

So my policy is, I follow EVERYONE who follows me (except spammers and pervs, of course. If I see that you’re a spammer or a perv, of course I will drop you, after first reporting the pervs to the appropriate authorities).

This just seems like the princessy thing to do.

The rest of the populace may do as they see fit.

Hey Meg,

Was just browsing the internet and I saw this totally awesome thing. I got a lot of humour out of it and thought you would too!

Best Thing Ever

Cheers!
Jennifer J.

Shut. Up.

Jennifer, you get a tiara for a day for that:

Wear it in good health.

From Diana P:

Kathy Griffin Signs Up For Another Season Of D Listed!

Yay! Diana P gets a tiara for the day, too!

Also, Kathy’s book, Official Book Club Selection, which I’ve been reading in bits and pieces when I get a chance, is so GOOD!

I really had no idea how much Kathy struggled to get to where she is today. It’s seriously awe-inspiring, and I think a must-read for all career-minded women, especially anyone who wants a career in the arts.

(And the chapter featuring Andy Dick was so laugh-out-loud funny, He Who Shall Not Be Named In This Blog actually came running upstairs to check on me when I was reading it because he thought I was having a seizure.)

Re: Heather Wells:

Are you planning to publish another book in this series?

Ever since reading Big Boned almost 2 years ago I have been waiting for the next book in this series.

By the way, I know you write a lot of books. However, I really want another Heather Wells mystery!

I know. My bad.

Here is the status on this series:

The next Heather Wells book is all plotted out and I even have the first couple of chapters:

Heather is currently stranded in a J Crew dressing room, trying on those wedding gowns you see in all the catalogs, and not having a very good time because you know those J Crew wedding dresses almost never look as good on as they do in the catalog.

(I know because I just ordered a bunch and was trying them on recently. And they looked AWFUL on me. Possibly because I ordered them in green, but whatever. They looked really, REALLY bad.)

But I got sidetracked from that project by my adult editor, Carrie Feron (who edits the Heather Wells books, too). It’s her fault. BLAME HER!!!!

It was one of those things where Carrie said all casually at lunch one day, “Have you ever thought about doing _______?”

And I was like, “Um, no. Why would I do THAT???”

And then for the next year I couldn’t get the idea of doing THAT out of my head.

It turned into one of those “shark” ideas. You know, the kind that sneak up and bite you and won’t let go until you start writing them?

I was so, so mad. I seriously HATE those! They come from nowhere and you don’t want them and yet…they won’t LEAVE until you write them all the way down.

So, THAT book (called Insatiable) should be out this coming summer (if I get it turned in on time. I’m still tweaking it. It’s quite long).

But Heather will be coming right after that!

As long as I get her out of that dressing room. Poor thing.

More later.

Much love,

Meg

Did It

Significant Objects

A while ago I was asked to be part of the Significant Objects Project.

This is a fun project you might have read about where authors are sent a photo of an object and asked to write a story giving the object new meaning (in under 500 words).

Then the story and photo are posted on eBay.

The object is then auctioned off, and the winning bidder gets the object and the author’s original story.

I’m going to match whatever my winning bid is, and send the proceeds to The Heifer Project!

So if you like what I wrote about my object and its invented owner, bid on it here!

Click here for the story on the Significants Objects website.

I was psyched when I got my object. I actually got sent three or four objects, but the minute I saw this one, the story behind it hit me RIGHT AWAY. I was like, “I HATE THIS THING, and THIS IS WHY. This thing hurt a girl a LOT.”

And the whole story just came to me. That poor, poor girl.

The project has attracted some very cool authors like mystery author Laura Lippman, and Shelf Discovery author Lizzie Skurnick.

There are a bunch more stories coming soon from other talented authors (like Merrill Markoe! I love her)!

Did what happen to the girl in my story happen to me?

My lips are sealed. But they say you have to write what you know, to a certain degree.

Now let’s all buy a nice lady a cow.

More later.

Much love,

Meg

Did It

Strong Female Characters

Guess who’s going to be on Voice of America?

That’s right. Me.

(And Diana Gabaldon. And Shannon Hale. And Kristin Cashore. Yeah! The theme for the show is Strong Female Characters, in case you didn’t notice.)

I know you totally want to listen to it, and you can, by going here. The show will air this Thursday (Oct 22) at 9AM Pacific/12PM Eastern.

This was a fun show to be on (I’ll be honest: not all radio shows are. Especially the ones where you have to wake up at 5AM and the host is named DJ Mad Dog and the first thing he says to you is “Hey, Meg! Welcome to the Dog House! Bark for us! Come on! Bark for the Mad Dog, Meg!”) because the VOA host, Matthew Peterson, was funny and personable. It was more like just having a conversation with a friend than being interviewed.

In fact I totally hope he edited this interview a bit because I got carried away and said some things I kind of regret…like about He Who Shall Not Be Named In This Blog’s reaction when he found out I was giving away all the author proceeds from Ransom My Heart to Greenpeace (reaction: “WHAT??? Are those PRE-TAX DOLLARS???”)

In other news, attention French readers:

You know how you were complaining that you didn’t have any of the half books, like Project Princess and Sweet Sixteen Princess and Princess Present?

Well, now you do!

Encore Plus D’Histoires de Princesse! Volumes 4 ½, 6 ½, and 7 ½, all bound in a lovely snow white volume. Bravo, France!

I actually didn’t know about this until a gorgeous copy of it arrived at my house (well, I mean, I’m sure someone told me about it, but I forgot).

I love that all the books in this series have been translated by the same translator, the sweet Josette Chicheportiche, whom I got to meet when I was in France for the Salon de Livres two years ago, and who does such a terrific job. Well, not that I can read French. I can speak it, a little—with what I consider a very nice accent, which I learned when I had to spend 1st grade in a little village in France because my dad got a teaching job in Grenoble!

Which might be why one Frenchwoman pointed out to me last time I was there, very politely, “Your accent is very good, but your tenses…you sound like you might be a leettle bit retarded.”

Oh well. Voice of America still thinks I write Strong Female Characters! Bien sur!

More later.

Much love,

Meg

Did It

Pass the Luck

I just got home from Birmingham, Alabama, where I got to speak at a luncheon in front of a BIG audience of Books-A-Million sales managers and buyers (hi, guys)!

A lot of people think being a writer is just sitting around writing books, then jetting off to sign those books for fans, and then getting served freshly sliced mangoes poolside and going to parties.

(I know I’m partly to blame for this misconception.)

But lot of it is also hard work like this:

And that’s only a small fraction of the books I signed in Alabama, pre-luncheon!

(It was fun while I was signing though, because I was kept entertained the whole time by the hilarious Books-A-Million Ladies about the scandalous doings of the Real Housewives. That crazy Kelly)!

Of course, I also got to hang out with Peter Lerangis, one of The 39 Clues authors (and no, he wouldn’t give me any of the clues).

The weird thing about my trip to Alabama though (besides the fact that when I walked into the hotel they were showing MY FACE on the welcome monitor behind the reception desk) was that in the gift shop they were selling T-shirts that said this:

Prayer…it’s not just for dinner anymore.

When I saw this T-shirt I freaked out.

And not just because my parents used to make us say grace before dinner every night.

But because right before I left for the airport to go to Birmingham, I got an email that totally had me praying.

That’s because my friend Michele told me that something terrible had happened to a good friend of hers: Her little daughter had been hit by a car and suffered a traumatic head injury, and was in the hospital in a coma.

I know, right? Oh my God!

When something like this happens, even to someone you don’t know well, you just feel so upset. There’s really nothing you can do to help…except, whether you’re a believer or not, pray.

Or, as I started to think of it, pass the luck.

I don’t know about luck. Sometimes when people say to me, “Oh, you’re so lucky!” I think, Really? I thought it was my hard work and maybe some talent that got me where I am. As sharp-shooters like to say, “Luck is 95% preparation, and 5% opportunity.”

This is true. If you’ve worked hard, hopefully you’ll be prepared when the opportunity presents itself to shine (or shoot a hostage-taker in the head).

On the other hand, some people get cancer, and other people with the exact same genetic background and lifestyle don’t. What’s up with that? It has to be luck, right?

So let’s say I am lucky. If that’s true, then how come I can’t, by thinking hard enough, shoot some of that luck toward someone else, even someone far away, someone I don’t know, who needs it more than me?

This should totally be possible.

Luck is a funny thing. Sometimes you have it, and sometimes you don’t. I think we can all agree that if luck exists, lately, I’ve been a pretty lucky person.

It wasn’t always this way, though! I had a patch of bad luck that lasted a loooong time. I won’t go into the details, because it will only depress you (and me).

But it wasn’t good.

When I heard about Michele’s friend—the 24 hours after I left for Birmingham were going to be critical in the little girl’s recovery. She would either start getting better, or get very much worse—the first thing I thought was, “If only we could pass our luck to someone else when they need it.”

All I was doing during the time this little girl was going to need all the luck in the world was going to Birmingham. What did I need my good luck for (if I even had good luck)?

So I closed my eyes and started praying to pass the good luck I’d been having for so long onto her.

I know what you’re wondering:

Did it work?

Well…the good news is: she didn’t get worse.

And I don’t want to sound like a whiner, but my bad luck started RIGHT AWAY! I got pegged as the Beauty Products Bomber by Key West airport security on my way out (even though they know me there because I go through that airport like once a week)!

All of my bags were summarily searched (as was I)! And I mean, SEARCHED.

(And they didn’t screw the tops to my bottles back on, so they leaked all over inside my bags. Yes. Everything I owned was covered in Cetaphil Facial Cleanser.)

And when I got to the next airport for my connecting flight, they made me go through security AGAIN, pegged me as the Beauty Products Bomber AGAIN, and made me so late, I was the last one on board!

And I had to sit by a stinky guy (excuse me, but it is the year 2009. There is such a thing as deodorant now).

And then when I got to my hotel room, the previous occupant had apparently been a baby with the poopiest diapers on the planet. He had pooped up the place really good, leaving behind the odor of baby diarrhea and Luvs Scented Disposables, a fragrance with a piquant flavor that really lingers.

And the windows of the room were bolted shut, apparently to keep people from jumping, which of course was my first inclination when the smell hit me.

That was why I was in the gift shop, trying to buy a scented candle (the cool girl in the gift shop, understanding the problem instantly, recommended Paddywax, Blood Orange), and I saw the Prayer T-shirt, and I realized, “Oh my God. My prayers to pass on my good luck must be working….”

Of course, I also got a new room. I mean, I’m not an idiot.

But my bad luck continued. When I got home, I discovered that, among other things, my cat needed a bath, for reasons you don’t want to know.

I think it’s safe to say my good luck has been passed successfully.

And I don’t mind. I can live without my good luck for a little while.

Though I’m not sure how long Henrietta can.

And maybe these things would have happened anyway, and had nothing to do with me passing my “luck” onto someone else.

But wouldn’t it be cool if there was such a thing as luck, and those of us who are having good luck streaks could pass our luck to others who are down on theirs, the way those of us with money can help those less fortunate?

What if we all concentrated on passing our luck to kids who need it more than we do? Then we wouldn’t need this guy:

Jizo, Japanese Good Luck Guardian of Children

Although I suppose he’s nice to have around anyway.

I just hope I can get my good luck back eventually. Because Henrietta really isn’t too happy right now.

More later.

Much love,

Meg