Report from Downton Cabot: Life Goes On

This isn’t the blog entry I was hoping to write to start off the new year, but life doesn’t always go the way we plan. As many of you have already learned via Twitter and Facebook, Lady Fussypants, also known as Henrietta, passed away peacefully in her cat bed two weeks ago. Cause of death: […]

Letters from Friends and Fans

I get a lot of mail. Here are some letters* I’ve received, as well as my responses. *All of these letters are guaranteed real. Only some of the names have been changed to protect the identity of the senders. Dear Meg: Hi. I hop you have a nais Halloween. What are you goin to be? […]

Cover Story

Questions! Have I read Shades of Grey? How do my book covers get chosen? Will there be a spanking robot in the next Underworld book? When’s my next book tour? How’s Henrietta? Etc. I wasn’t able to get to all of your questions during my live video chat on Goodreads (but thanks to all of […]

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 […]

Recap of Downton Cabot

This has been a very tumultuous week at Downton Cabot. Here are the things you need to know if you want to keep up: Lady Henrietta “Fussypants” Cabot has begun rising before 7AM every morning, insisting on being fed Whiska Temptations by hand. Portrait of Lady Fussypants in the Powder Room, waiting for hand feeding […]

Advice from Mia Thermopolis

Hi, it’s me, Princess Mia Thermopolis! I stopped by Meg’s blog to post for her because she’s so busy promoting Abandon, which just came out today for the first time in paperback! You would think that as a royal, I’d be the busy one, what with going to college and helping my dad to rule […]

Book Tour in France!

So this morning I’m getting on a plane for my book tour in France. This is exactly the kind of glamorous thing that I always imagined I’d be doing if I were ever a published author! But here’s a little known secret: in real life, hopping on a plane to Paris for your book tour […]

Twitter and Facebook Qs Answered

I love reading all your comments and questions on Facebook and Twitter. But some of them require answers that are too long to write in 140 characters. And let’s face fact: I write 55,000-100,000 word books for a living. It’s hard for me to write anything in 140 characters. So I thought I would try […]

It’s Meg Cabot Day: Stop Working

I hope you aren’t working right now. Work is forbidden (for real, by proclamation of the mayor of Bloomington, Indiana) on July 31st, which is Meg Cabot Day.

Sunshine in Tall Shoes*

Hey, here’s something we don’t have around here very often: A guest post! And it’s by a guy! It’s from author Christopher Moore, whose awesome new graphic novel, The Griff, is in stores now! In case you didn’t know, I did a guest post for Chris a few weeks ago (click here to read it. […]

Follow Your Heart

Those of you who follow this blog know that I’ve spent this summer on the road. And I still have three signings left! Bookworks in Albuquerque on Sunday, July 17th; University Village Barnes and Noble in Seattle on Monday, July 18th; the Author Series at the Woodmark Hotel (also in Seattle) on Tuesday, July 19th; […]

Hi from San Francisco!

Hello! I’m off to San Francisco, CA, Naperville, IL, and Wellesley, MA for another week of fun, adventure, and book signings! I’d love to see you if you can come to any of the following events (they’re with This is Teen, which is an initiative through Scholastic Books to connect teens with their favorite authors […]

Thank You!

I’m more thankful than I can say to everyone who came to my first few appearances during the start of my Abandon book tour (you can see tons of cute photos of yourselves on my Facebook page here) . . . . . . . as well as to those of you who couldn’t make […]

Tortietude

As you know if you’ve been following my Twitter feed, my cat Henrietta has been having some health concerns. Nothing life threatening . . . unless you call inexplicably pulling out her own fur and then spitting it across the room life threatening. Which of course I do, because now there’s a bald spot across […]

Giving Thanks

It’s that time of year again. The one where we cease all normal activity and are forced to sit at a dinner table with a bunch of people we probably don’t see that often (or sometimes even necessarily like all that much). In some households, we hold hands with these people, say a prayer, then […]

Fight The Suckage

I’m going to make a general statement that some of you might not agree with, but I don’t care. Lately, things seem to suck. Maybe they’re going great for you and if that’s true, fantastic. But if you’re like a lot of people I know, it’s the opposite.

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 […]

Lock and Load

If I’ve seemed distant lately, I honestly do have a good reason. And it’s not because I’ve been on some glamorous book tour for Allie Finkle’s latest adventure, which is, believe it or not, in stores now. No, the truth is, my husband has left me.

Reporting live from the front lines of RWA

Hi, it’s me, reporting live from the front lines here at the 30th annual Romance Writers of America conference, where can I just tell you the air is tingling with the excitement of the pre-published waiting to snag a meeting with an editor or agent . . . not to mention the already published hoping […]

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!

Ghost Story

This is truly a creepy Halloween. Just in time for the spookiest night of the year, a rodent (I pray that it is a rodent and not a larger mammal, such as a human being) crawled into a wall of our house and…. Died. And we cannot find its body. Do you want to know […]

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 […]

Party Bus Goes Home

What can I say? Big love to all the Julianas, Giulianas, Juliannas, and Giuliannas, Marinas and Ana Carolinas, the Luisas, Luizas, Ana Luisas and Maria Luisas, the Andressas and Alessandras, the Isabels and the Marianas, the Helenas and Rafaelas and Raquels, and everyone in between!

Start Spreading the News….

I’m busy getting ready for my big trip to New York City for Book Expo America, where I’ll be speaking and signing this Friday (click here to see my complete schedule)! I’ll be speaking at the Children’s Book & Author Breakfast with authors Tomie de Paola and Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Julie Andrews will be the […]

Writing: Exercise for Your Mind

It’s the last week of February! You know what that means: Yes…the final romance give-away from megcabot.com! But before I get into that I want to talk about the #1 question I got while I was on my mini-tour this past week. And that was, surprisingly, not “Where do you get your inspiration?” but “Where […]

Royal Send Off

Happy Groundhog’s Day! I hope none of you are reliving the same day over and over like Bill Murray…. …or that if you are, it’s a really good day! My birthday yesterday was a day I wouldn’t mind reliving over and over (well, except for the part where I ate something that had peanut sauce […]

New Look

Hi! You might notice (if you’ve emptied your cache lately) that there’s a new look around here. That was my rockin’ web crew over at Hanee Design. I had nothing to do with it. I’m in SWEDEN. People here speak a different language, but if you go, “Do you speak English?” they’ll switch right over […]

Read At Your Own Risk

Congratulations to Ellen B, Amanda L, Haleigh L, Brittani Y, and Amy L, all winners in last month’s megcabot.com contest! They were just supposed to win copies of Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls: Moving Day, but because I’m in such a good mood, they each got a copy of Airhead and an American Apparel Airhead […]

Cats ‘n Contests!

I told you we’d have some opportunities for you to win copies of Princess Mia…and here’s one now…. We’re having a T-shirt design contest! Click here for details. You must be under twenty-one to enter. We’re looking for original designs/drawings that tie into the themes of Princess Mia. Some past T-shirt designs (if you’re looking […]

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

I had one of those nightmare days yesterday where I got to the airport in New York City at eight thirty in the morning and I didn’t reach my destination airport (in Key West) until eight thirty yesterday evening. Seriously. And I had a CAT with me. In a bag. It is one thing to […]

Do Some Good/Happy Bday, HWSNBNITB

Did you know over 3,000 people sign up to win the six free copies of my books that I give away here every month? Which isn’t to say you shouldn’t keep trying, but you might want to even out the odds a little. Anyone wanting to get their hands on an autographed advanced reader copy […]

NYT/Allie Finkle Search/Kathy Finds A Guy Who Won’t Steal From Her

Guess what? JINX rose to number 3 on the NY Times Children’s Chapter bestseller list this week! Thanks a lot, you guys! And congrats to Megan Mccafferty, whose new Jessica Darling book Fourth Comings debuted at number 16 on the adult list! Woohoo, Megan! It’s always cool to have so many Megans on any list […]

Cattin’ Around

My score on this quiz was super low, and my score on this quiz was super high! If only they’d been reversed. I am totally stocking up on canned goods. In cat-related news (am I turning into a cat person? Was I already one? If so, I’m sorry) your suggestions as to how to curtail […]

Cats Gone Wild

I bought a barnhouse in Indiana (literally a barn that has been renovated into a house. We sleep in the hayloft) because I thought it would be a) cool, and b) a good place to go during the hurricane season in Florida. (Special note: since I bought my barnhouse last July, there has not been […]

NY Times…and 17, Too!

Check out my piece in the NY Times! It was in the Week in Review section, right next to Maureen Dowd’s column (which is kinda funny, since she hates chick-lit. Remember the backseat game you used to play with your brothers? “Hey, Maureen? Am I bothering you? I’m not touching you.”). I don’t REALLY think […]

Officer Friendly Speaks Out on Paris Hilton Case

Confused by the recent events in the Paris Hilton case, I turned to my brother–soon to be a sergeant on a Colorado city police force–for clarification. Me: Matt, do you think they are treating Paris Hilton unfairly—penalizing her, even—and making an example out of her, just because she is a celebrity, by making her serve […]

Like Being Poked In The Eye With A Sharp Stick

I’m finally home after my book tour and as usual I arrived to find the house in an uproar…and I don’t mean because Henrietta would not shut up for the forty-eight hours straight it took her to tell me every little detail of what happened while I was gone. I mean because He Who Shall […]

READERS UNITE TO GET MEG BANNED—YOU CAN DO IT IF YOU TRY!!!

Pants On Fire is in US stores now! And it’s already a Summer 2007 Book Sense Children’s Picks List! This is a rockin’ way to start the week. Thanks, Book Sense! In other news, fellow YA author Maureen Johnson’s book The Bermudez Triangle has been banned! Maureen is so lucky. I’m jealous. Why does everyone […]

Home

I’m finally home from our European book tour! Even though I was only gone a little more than three weeks, it seems as if I was away much longer than that. Have you ever been away on a long trip and come home to realize everything in your house is much smaller than your remembered? […]

Warning: Read at your own risk.

This blog entry is not for the faint of heart (or stomach) and I probably shouldn’t even admit this right before I’m about to embark on a month long European book tour, leaving my girls with live-in catsitters, but here goes: I don’t know how it started, I swear. At first I thought it was […]

Good Dog!

This is my favorite news story of the week so far. It’s a good thing for those folks they had Velvet along! Still, I can see why mountaineering experts advise leaving pets at home while climbing. My own pets did not exhibit anything like Velvet’s heroism when temperatures here in Key West plunged dangerously low […]

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 […]

Last Entry of ‘06

As ’06 draws to a close, you may notice that there’s nothing on TV, but that there’s TONS going on with this site! The Meg Cabot Book Club’s got a new look…and I’ve updated my blog. That would be because—I’m bored! What is WRONG with our society? Why is there nothing good on TV? Don’t […]

Meg-A-Readers, I Wanna Rock, Other

Here's an update on a few things readers seem to want to know about (besides why my site looks so different, which I've explained already, and my nine houseguests): The Meg-A-Reader program: The Meg-A-Reader program is a promotional club thingie that my US publisher is doing, similar to my UK publisher's Meg Ambassador program. The […]

Family Bonding

Congratulations! If you're reading this, it means you've managed to find the new megcabot-staging.htnwbil5-liquidwebsites.com. Pat yourself on the back — you don't know how many people have written to me asking, — Where did your site go?? Actually my site is right where it's always been — right here at megcabot-staging.htnwbil5-liquidwebsites.com. The only thing that's […]

VROOOM

CHAT!!!! On Sunday, October 8, at 2PM, Eastern Standard Time, I will be chatting with author Rachel Vail about her new book, YOU, MAYBE right here at the Meg Cabot Book Club! Be sure to join us! You don't even have to have read the book to come—anyone with questions about writing, other books of […]

HENRIETTA: SUPERSTAR

People, I swear I am so happy I could cry: HENRIETTA MADE IT ONTO CUTE OVERLOAD!!!! (scroll down to entry titled IT'S REALLY TIME FOR BED) YES!!!! MY CAT IS OFFICIALLY CUTE!!!! I always knew she was cute. Now it is just confirmed by the CUTEST WEBSITE OF ALL!!! Thank you, Abby, for believing in […]

ANSWERS!

People have been emailing me with tons of questions about the new books (and demanding that I write Harry Potter's Honeymoon at Hotel Erotica Cabo). Here are some answers: Why are there two different covers for How To Be Popular? There aren't. There is one cover…and a silver foil slip cover. You'll see when the […]

JUST SAY YES

To celebrate my homecoming, as well as Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month, I gave Henrietta a little catnip. She seemed to like it. A lot, actually. Maybe a little more than she should have. In fact, she seemed kind of upset when there wasn't any more. And she let me know just HOW upset, by attacking my camera! […]

Author Guide To Surviving a Booktour, Tip #5

You know what's nice? That I got home from book tour just in time for the first tropical storm of the season. But whatever. Home is good no matter what the weather is doing outside! Everyone so far has been very glad to see me. By everyone of course I mean He Who Shall Not […]

VID-LIT

It is I, Henrietta Cabot! Once again I have taken over this blog! Meg is much too busy working on Princess Diaries 8 to notice what I am doing, which is why I wanted to take this opportunity to take over her blog and urge you to watch Meg's new Vid-Lit. You can see it […]

HOLIDAY MYSTERY

It's happened again. MURDER AT CASA CABOT!!!! The victim this time:This innocent bird was found ripped from its perch! Oh the humanity! Here is the crime scene exactly the way we discovered it this morning. Nothing has been touched so that you can use your deductive reasoning to try to solve this senseless crime. It's […]

HOLIDAY BREAKDOWN

I just had a holiday breakdown at the vet's office. I went in to get thyroid pills for Henrietta and the lady at the counter couldn't give me any because I was supposed to have brought Henrietta in for blood work after 30 days, and it's been 33 days. So, naturally, I BURST INTO TEARS […]

DON’T EAT ME

My friend Beth just called to say she's going to see KING KONG tonight, and I was like, “What is wrong with you? Why would you go see that? Don't you know what happens at the end?” Because Beth is my animal-lover friend, the one who was with me when I adopted Henrietta—the one who […]

WHY WON’T THESE CATS STOP STARING AT YOU?

Because they want you to come to tomorrow's chat with author Wendy Mass, who will be joining us LIVE to talk about her excellent book, A Mango-Shaped Space. Come here tomorrow, Sunday, November 27 at 2PM EST. Be there, or my cats will just keep STARING RIGHT AT YOU. More later. Much love, Meg

THANKSGIVING

So if you live in the US you are probably preparing for Thanksgiving right now, which is a national holiday here on Thursday, where everybody gets together for the sole purpose of consuming a GIGANTIC MEAL (oh…and giving thanks). Then we all sit around in a daze watching football and/or Christmas movies, until the stores […]

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 […]

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 […]

L.A.M.B., or Not Without My Sausage

Happy (belated) Mother's Day. I spent my Mother's Day doing what I do on just about every Sunday—watching made-for-TV movies. There were some particularly dishy ones on yesterday, due to it being Mother's Day, and all. There was a fabulous one my friend Jen called to alert me to, starring my favorite made-for-TV movie actress […]

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 […]

Media Round Up

OK, so my TiVo erased everything I taped while I was on tour because I set it at FINE quality recording instead of HIGH and there were only 21 hours of memory left and it all got eaten up by the BBC America show, HOUSE DOCTOR, which is on like 5 times a day. So […]

Meg’s Media Round Up/Mail Room

So if you read this blog, you know I am in deep in the middle of Princess Diaries 7 right now. I just want to tell you, in case you haven't figured it out: it's not pretty. Not the book. ME. I haven't washed my hair since Friday. LAST Friday. I have Band Aids on […]

Henrietta, Miracle Pet

I am shaking as I write this. Because it happened. It finally happened. Henrietta—yes, one-eyed Henrietta—saved our lives last night. Yes. Henrietta has proved at last that she is just as good as those animals on the TV show “Miracle Pet,” who wake up their owners when their baby is choking, or when they sense […]

THIS BLOG HAS BEEN SEIZED BY ME, HENRIETTA

Yes, it is I, Henrietta Cabot, Meg's one-eyed cat. I have once again infiltrated Meg's blog so that I can give you a VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE. Yes. An important message from THE CATS. A lot of you own us, but not all of you have been LISTENING to us lately. We've been trying to TELL […]

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 […]

More Mail Bag

Hello! I am back from Indiana. It was very fun to visit everyone and celebrate Meg Cabot Day. I am a bit exhausted from it all, and need a few days off to recuperate (I also have to spend quality time with Henrietta, who missed us so much that she has not stopped talking since […]

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 […]

ENGAGEMENT CALENDAR OUT TODAY!!!!

Hello. I was deep in the throes of writing my next novel–which I'm not telling ANYONE about, not even my nearest and dearest, except that it's not a sequel to anything–when suddenly it occurred to me: I have a book out today. Well, not really a book. It's an engagement calendar. A totally cute one. […]

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 […]

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 […]

Henrietta My One-Eyed Cat

So the other night, I watched the movie Seabiscuit, which, in case you don't know, is the true story of this champion race horse. And I couldn't help thinking, as I watched, how much Seabiscuit, a problem horse whose owners at times despaired of him, reminded me of my cat, Henrietta, a problem cat whose […]