Coffin Night/Back to School

It’s back to school time! I know because they just celebrated Coffin Night here in Key West. What’s Coffin Night, you ask? Well, it’s a Back To School ritual uniquely Key West . . . and also a subplot of the Abandon series, in which a teenage girl discovers that beneath the cemetery of the […]

Spring Breakaggedon 2012

Spring is here (officially, if not temperature wise in most places), and you know what that means: 1) School’s out for Spring Break in a lot of places, so Key West (where I live) is packed with vacationers. 2) Some of those vacationers are staying in my house! 3) But that doesn’t mean new books […]

Sensational

Fall in New York City is always magical (even if none of the tourists seem to be heeding the advice of the fabulous Stefon on SNL), but I’m glad to be home, first of all because Henrietta missed me so much (she hasn’t stopped talking since I walked through the door) and second of all […]

Weather Girl

Like every woman in America this week I had to go see the movie of Eat Pray Love. I will admit I had a little bit of a hard time getting into the book (it’s not my fault. I only have one ovary) but I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, especially the food parts and the […]

Secret Heart’s Desire

What’s your secret heart’s desire? I know you have one. We all do (beyond our basic human need for food, shelter, and companionship). Mine’s to find a dead body (NOT someone I know). I know that’s totally gross. But I love the show Law and Order, and I’ve lived in New York City for years […]

Premature Evacuation

I know I promised to live blog Hurricane Ike, but it’s pummeling poor Cuba and leaving the Keys alone. They even cancelled the evacuation! The whole thing must be very heartbreaking to all these news crews gathered on the main street downtown, as you can see…. They are disconsolate there isn’t more drama! In fact, […]

Hurricanes, Ideas, and Sharks

I hope those of you whose Labor Day wasn’t ruined by Hurricane Gustav had a nice one. And I hope those of who you found yourselves in its path managed to ride it out safely. I was totally minding my own business watching eighty thousand movies in a row that I missed earlier in the […]

Media Alert

So many things have happened while I’ve been on vacation and “offline” (which I still am, but I’ve snuck online for a quick update) I don’t even know where to start! How about with the obvious…. –The Olympics! I’m so mad I missed it (especially the swimming and gymnastics). But there’s no TV where I’m […]

Weekend Wake Up Call

For those of you who’ve been asking, here are back cover blurbs to accompany the covers you’ve seen posted here on the homepage of my Fall 2007 releases, Big Boned and Princess Diaries 9, Princess Mia. Actual webpages for these books are coming soon! Meanwhile…Kathy Griffin has been banned! As a fellow (fake) red-head and […]

The Reason We Are Relocating To Indiana on Tuesday

Here is what my kitchen in Florida looks like at the moment (they already started ripping out some of the cabinets yesterday. They are coming back for the rest on Monday. We are making the kitchen more accessible for left-handed chefs, such as He Who Shall Not Be Named In This Blog. Did you not […]

Slut of the Sea

Guess how I celebrated the anniversary of our nation’s independence? I made up a new quiz for you to take (because I love you. Yes, it’s true), and I conquered one of my deepest fears! I have lived in one of the greatest snorkeling destination points in the world for three years, and yet I […]

Pants On Fire Tour Day One

Greetings from Dallas-Fort Worth, the first stop on my Pants on Fire tour! People always ask me, “Don’t you get tired of traveling all the time?” but in this case I’m actually relieved to be back on the road because things were getting a little hinky back in Key West. That’s because one of the […]

Cat Door

Congratulations to those of you who won copies of MY DEAD GIRLFRIEND in the megcabot.com Haunted Valentine give-away. If you are one of the over 300 entrants who did not receive an email informing you that you won, do not despair–there will be lots of opportunities to win free books in the future. Just keep […]

PET PARADE

Nobody does Halloween quite like Key West, Florida…. (…or Key Weird as it turns into this time of year). And I'm not talking about its annual Fantasyfest celebration, which will be going on this weekend. No, I'm talking about my favorite local tradition, the… Pet Parade! This year, I went armed with a digital camera, […]

SICK DAY

Driving lessons are cancelled for the time being: I have strep throat. I've been prescribed bedrest, Zithromax, codeine cough syrup, and as many JUDGING AMY reruns as I can find. I think my feelings about this would best be summed up by the epitaph on this tomb in the Key West Cemetery: More later, when […]

GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS

There's good news and bad news: The bad news is they picked Rosie O'Donnell, and not me, as Meredith Viera's replacement on THE VIEW. I know. You would think after a moving letter like mine, they'd have been banging down my door to get me to come co-host their show. But I guess it was […]

SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE!

REAL WORLD KEY WEST, and oh yeah, SAVING WOMEN'S LIVES (not necessarily in that order): So if you haven't done so already, go out and get the April issue of MARIE CLAIRE magazine, the one with Drew Barrymore on the cover. It looks like this: Go buy it now! Don't worry, I'll wait for you […]

DANGER DEADLY POISON

This is my house…. This is my house with a big rubber tent being put over it: This is why they had to put the rubber tent over my house…because they were pumping it full of: They do this periodically in hot, moist climates because it is the only way to stop termites from eating […]

BABY CHICK RESCUE

BABY CHICK RESCUE!!! So the other day I was walking home from Waterfront Market, where I went to buy sugar free hot cocoa mix (because it got COLD here for a few days last week), and suddenly, in front of the Key West Library, I heard: “CHEEP CHEEP CHEEP CHEEP!!!!” I am used to hearing […]

TAKIN’ RISKS IN 06

Hello, and Happy New Year! Did any of you watch the drag queen drop in Key West on New Year's Eve? I did. Last year I actually went down the street to see it live, but this year I wasn't in the mood to battle the crowd, so I watched it on CNN. Sushi, Key […]

HOLIDAY REBOUND

Go here if you are feeling low on holiday cheer. Then click on TV ads, turn up your sound, and enjoy. Yes! Now you can download my favorite Christmas ad, called The Countdown! And yeah, okay, it's an ad. But it's so fun and pretty! And the song is so great (you can download it, […]

HOLIDAZE

I don't know what's happening to me. Last year at this time I was SO not in the holiday spirit. And this year, I've basically gone mental. I keep buying things like this…. Look what happened to my front porch. The hideous (and dusty) cherub wall sconce cannot escape my holiday decorating mania…. Even Mrs. […]

Henrietta and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Remember this book?If you don't, you need to run and get a copy, pronto. This is the best book to read when you're having “one of those days.” Which I happen to be. I am having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day—but it hasn't been as bad as Henrietta's. I mean, it's true […]

MYSTERY SOLVED/MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY CAN BEAT MY BONGOES ANY TIME

UPDATED: SEE POSTSCRIPT (AND BELOW) The mystery of the locust killer is solved. It is solved because the culprit was spied with ANOTHER locust in her mouth. That culprit is: Yes. It was Gem, aka Tom, aka Slutty. She is quite the hunter. This is especially surprising considering the fact that she is currently being […]

WHODUNNIT?

MURDER OF LOCAL LOCUST STUNS KEY WEST NEIGHBORHOOD The victim: Species: Giant Gross Locust (genus: Locust Disgustingus), the size of my thumb (no photo of locust by my thumb to show scale was taken due to my not wanting to touch the victim). Age: Unknown Body found: On the welcome matt in front of our […]

MegTV Cribs

Well, Key Westers are doing their part to help in the wake of the Katrina tragedy—many of our captains have taken their boats and headed to New Orleans and Mississippi to help with search and rescue. But even if you aren't a ship captain, you can help! Go here to learn how. During times of […]

Ol’ One Eye

By now I will assume you have all heard about my impromptu performance at the yacht club this weekend with Big Dick and the Extenders. All I have to say about that is, yes, it was a one time appearance, and no, Sabrina and Catrina (with back up from Hays) will not be performing again […]

AFTERMATH

So the hurricane is over and I finally got my power back after FORTY EIGHT HOURS, thank you, and it still flickers in and out at inconvenient times, like while I am trying to write this, so forgive me if this seems a bit disjointed. Anyway, I kept a diary during the storm so that […]

Hurricane Dennis

First, I would just like to say: Hey, terrorists? Yeah, you suck. Probably terrorists don't read my blog. But you never know. I feel that I am doing my part in not letting the terrorists win by mentioning that they continue to suck. When are people going to learn that the way to get back […]

GEM

So our new house came with an amenity we weren't aware it had: A tiny cat that won't quit hanging around our front porch. Now, I love cats. In particular, I love my cat, Henrietta, who is as fetching an animal as there ever was. Henrietta does, however, have a few flaws. One of them […]

BLAST FROM THE PAST

It's been quite a stressful past couple of weeks, first with the computer-breaking thing, and then with the moving thing. But life seems to be calming down a bit, and now I just have the book thing stressing me out, in the form of this book I have due July 1. Er, two books actually. […]

A Play, in One Act

Scene: 7AM in a house somewhere in Southern Florida Players:HusbandWife12 pound cat Husband: Honey. Get up. The packers are here to pack up all our stuff and then the movers are coming to move us. Wife: *#$%& the packers. Husband: Honey, I know you're not a morning person and that if you don't have at […]

SPRING BREAK SHARK ATTACK

It is Spring Break here in the Keys. What does that mean to me? Long lines at Diner Shores, my favorite breakfast spot, for one thing. Also girls who walk in groups of six side-by-side across the bike path—MY bike path—to the beach, and no matter how many times I ring my bell or yell […]

CEER

So I was watching some news show the other day (while I put stamps on the 100 copies of the Princess Diaries engagement calendars the Meg Cabot Book Club gave away last month, and no, in fact, I don't have an assistant here in Key West to do these kinds of things, and yes, in […]

Henrietta and the President’s Day Weekend of Doom

So guess what people who come to Key West for President's Day weekend like to do (you know, besides drink, shop, lounge by the pool, go boating, eat, and visit Pat Croce's new pirate museum)? That's right. Check out the local real estate market, and tour homes that are for sale! Which means I got […]

OPEN HOUSE

Did I mention that I bought a new house here in Key West? Oh, well, maybe I forgot to mention it. A lot has been going on, after all, what with My Super Sweet Sixteen and the OC and all. Anyway, now that we bought a new house here in Key West, we have no […]

DOLPHINQUEST 2005

Wow. Thanks so much for the hundreds of birthday messages and greetings. I don't know how I will ever get through them all, there are so many, but I will certainly try. It's very reassuring to know that there are so many people out there whose moms are older than I am. Thank you. I […]

Meg Reviews Smallpox, the Made-for-TV Disaster Movie

Psych! I didn't really watch Smallpox, so I won't be reviewing it here. I STARTED to watch it, but it was all scary and good, and I got freaked out and had to turn on Extreme Home Makeover instead. Made-for-TV disaster movies are only good when they're bad. Do you know what I mean? If […]

Fantasyfest!

So it turns out down here in Key West they go NUTS for Halloween. Not just ON Halloween, either, but starting last weekend they've been blocking off the main drag at night (Duvall Street) and all these people have just been standing in the middle of the street, partying all day and all night. It's […]

IVAN THE TERRIBLE

Hello. Many of you have seen on the news that the Keys, where I live, is being evacuated due to the approaching Category 5 hurricane. Don't worry, we are leaving tonight, and will be well out of harm's way before Ivan even hits Jamaica. In the meantime, please enjoy this article that was emailed to […]

MEG CABOT, HURRICANE MAGNET

We survived Hurricane Frances, except for a temporary loss of my Airport Express connection! We were lucky, though, to lose only that, instead of electrical power, like a lot of the rest of the state. And today, for our reward, we got PERFECT beach weather, with lovely breezes and even some white caps in the […]

Meg’s Review of Hurricane Frances

If you live in South Florida, as I do now, you might have noticed that for the past three days, there has been nothing on TV but weather news. That is because a huge hurricane is bearing down on the area (and in some places, already hitting it). The hurricane is not coming to where […]

After the Storm

. As you can see, the seas are once again calm around Key West after Hurricane Charley sideswept us. We are all fine, with just a little damage…nothing like what the poor people in Port Charlotte and other areas of Florida are suffering. Our power only went out for a few hours, and mostly there's […]

HURRICANE WATCH

. Hi. This isn't a picture of a hurricane. It's a picture of me in the kitchen we are renovating in our house here in Key West. I'm posting it to show that a) I'm all right (if not exactly happy), and b) It doesn't matter if a hurricane hits my house, since it's already […]

Bugs, Banging, and Book Divas

Remember how I told you a previous owner of the house we just moved into died in the kitchen? Well, we're having the kitchen ripped out right now (not because of Mary's ghost, which I still haven't seen, by the way. Also the guy who told me about her? Yeah, he went to the Key […]

KEY WEST

Oh my gosh! You all are so worried about my cat! I didn't mean to alarm you with that photo I posted. I know she looked stressed, but wouldn't you be if you were on a pink leash in an airport? Anyway, to soothe the worries of those of you who wrote to me expressing […]

Mary

So I've been back in Florida the past few days, after an extended stay in New York and a weekend in Chicago, and I'm sorry to have to tell you that Mary, our resident ghost, is back. I say back because she last put in an appearance several months ago, then disappeared, and I actually […]

Book Club/Goose/Manatee

Hey! So I'm hoping by now all of you have had a chance to look at my new online reading room club at www.megcabotbookclub.com!. At last count, we had something like 750 registered users, which is, um, pretty good, considering the site only went live on Friday morning. I'm glad there's been such a positive […]

TRIP TO KEY WEST

Okay, I know I promised the Crush Quiz and advice blog next, but I've been moving, so it's been tough to work on that. I AM finishing it up though. I had a HUGE response to the Mediator 6 back cover copy. Everyone wants to kill me now. That's okay, I can take it. Bring […]

SWEEPS/CAT ADVICE

Oh my God, things here are so crazy. I'm trying to do the advice blog AND get the Secret Plan ready for launch this month AND we're trying to get ready to move to our new house in Florida (well, we're not really moving, since we're keeping our apartment in New York, but we have […]

GHOST STORY

So my new house is haunted. For those of you who don't know this already, I recently purchased a house in Key West. It's pretty old. It was built in the 1930s—which doesn't actually make it any older than the house I grew up in, and which wasn't haunted, that I know of. But that […]

AND THE COPIES OF PRINCESS IN PINK GO TO:

The response to the Island Contest was overwhelming! And the vast majority of you were right…In the future, I will be dividing my time between Manhattan and Key West! In case you're interested, some of the other islands people suggested I might be moving to include: Long Island (17)Rhode Island (22)Captiva Island (4)Big Pine Key […]

Island Contest

Want a free autographed advanced copy of PD5 and a sneak peek at PD6? Read on: So I've always had this thing for islands. Maybe it was because I grew up in Indiana, which is kind of land-locked (well, except for the Great Lakes, but whatever, they were like a 5 hour drive from my […]