While certain other people are stressing out just the teensiest bit about the upcoming royal wedding (see Princess Mia Thermopolis’s blog) on April 29, 2011, I’m stressing out just the teensiest bit about the book tour I’m about to leave on for my new YA paranormal Abandon.
(You can see the clock counting down the days until this event occurs—as well as a sizzling new excerpt and cool other extras—on the brand new web page for Abandonhere.)
But if you ask me, Kate’s gig is nothing! It’s just twelve hours, including the ceremony, photos, afternoon cake-cutting reception, and evening reception.
Then afterwards Kate gets to go on a honeymoon on a yacht to relax and be a princess for the rest of her life! … Continue reading
There appears to be some kind of “controversy” over how Christina Aguilera sang the National Anthem at the Superbowl.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that one thing our great country has always stood for is being there for the underdog in times of trouble (usually. Sometimes we are a little late).
That is why I am here now to defend Christina.
The Star Spangled Banner is one the hardest songs in the world to sing (besides Happy Birthday). I can back up this statement with the following fact:
Not only are the words in The Star Spangled Banner confusing (what is a rampart, anyway?) and old-timey, but it is a song that requires a vocal range most people, except dogs, Christina Aguilera, and possibly Mariah Carey, do not possess.
This is why when you were a little kid and you were auditioning for a part in the touring production of the Broadway musical of Annie, they made you stand up on stage and sing The Star Spangled Banner.
Wait. Are you telling me you didn’t audition for the touring production of the Broadway musical of Annie when you were a kid? … Continue reading
I had this whole big post written out for today to let you know that we’re discussing The Mediator Books One and Two (Shadowland and The Ninth Key) on the Meg Cabot Book Club this month, and that you BETTER stop by here to join the discussion with me because I’m going to be all over it like a spider monkey, etc.
But then I deleted it because it was funny and I thought maybe it wasn’t appropriate in light of what happened this weekend in Arizona (and if you’re like my cousin Bobby, who’s all, “Why? What happened this weekend in Arizona? Wait. Did that flight attendant I met in Phoenix call you?”, I’m posting this link to the news story about it, just in case you don’t know what I’m talking about).
Then I flew into an existential crisis, asking myself why we’re all here and what life means and when will it be OK to laugh again? Maybe never.
Oh, yes. It was bad.
It got especially bad since my husband chose this past weekend to go out of town to do guy things with his guy friends, and my houseguests went home, leaving me alone with nothing but a lot of peppermint bark ice cream and some gluten-free fried chicken. … Continue reading
If you’re like me, you’re panicking right now, realizing how behind you are in everything, including your Christmas shopping (if you’re shopping for Hanukkah, you’re basically screwed).
So here are some ideas for you (for gifts. If you, like me, had a book due last week, all I can say is, welcome to the club and may God have mercy on your soul): … Continue reading
The first thing that happened to me here was that I tried to make my hair really big because everything is big in Texas. Except, it turns out, hair. No one but me wears big hair in Texas anymore, especially in Austin. This ended up not going so well in any case. … Continue reading
I checked and it’s been a few years since I posted this. I don’t know how many of you know it, but my husband worked in an office across the street from the Twin Towers, and was sitting at his desk when the first plane hit on this morning nine years ago. He literally saw the people in the windows across from his desk die.
I think sometimes with all the kooks trying to get attention by doing crazy things, like burning books, it’s easy to lose focus on what really happened today. That’s why it’s important to keep THAT in the news, not the opinions of people who just get shown on TV because they’re so laughably ignorant.
So I am posting this again because there might be new readers who missed it the first time, and also because, well, people died, and that’s worth remembering: … Continue reading
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 and years, and I’ve never turned a corner and found a body like all those people do at the beginning of every Law and Order episode.
(Okay, maybe I just want to go back through time and play one of those people on TV so I get to meet Detective Mike Logan, aka Chris Noth.)
Anyway, once when I confessed this embarrassing secret to a friend of mine, she said she understood: Her secret heart’s desire was to find a big bag of money.
So you can bet that when I saw this through the window of a plane I just boarded the other day, I took a picture. … Continue reading
I was having the best time in NYC, helping friends to celebrate their birthdays (click here if you missed it), and shopping until I literally dropped, when I was felled by an insidious bronchial infection that was obviously released here in the city by that same terrorist cell that’s been doing such a good job of making CTU look totally stupid (except for Chloe, of course) on this season of 24.
Since I’m obviously going to die (ha, kidding: I’ve secured the antidote in the form of antibiotics and life-saving codeine cough syrup. Take that, terrorists!), I will finally answer the question all of you have been asking me forever: … Continue reading