We got a dog on Monday! His name is Milo and he’s a brindle boxer about six months old. I’ve wanted to get a dog for a long time but have had to wait until we had enough time and space to make it possible. I’ve been scouring rescue dog websites for a few months, looking for medium-sized, floppy eared young dogs, but we hadn’t gone to actually look at any yet. Then, last Sunday, a friend saw Milo at an adoption street fair, gave us a call, and as soon as we got down there and saw him, we had a feeling he was the one.
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Welcome Milo!
The Only Immortal Boy in New York and My First TV Appearance
I hear it was cold this weekend in New York. Luckily, this guy was there to heat things up.
On Friday, right before Valentines Day, “Daniel” hit Times Square to promote Fallen. People often ask me my favorite part of writing teen novels. I’m not embarrassed at all to say that promo events like this are dangerously close to the top of the list? Look at this! It’s fantastic!
While Daniel was busy wooing the ladies of New York, I ventured back up to northern California for my first ever TV appearance. I used to watch Good Day Sacramento when I lived in Winters while I was in grad school, so it was a lot of fun (and very nervewracking) to be asked on as a guest. Here’s a shot of me prepping in the Green Room and a link to the clip on Good Day’s website. (It will load, eventually, on the right side of the page.)
Snow Days
I’ve been friends with my oldest, closest friend Megan since we were three. We met in pre-school, spent every waking second we were allowed to together as kids, tormented her little brother together, were tormented by my older brother together, and ran up enormous phone bills when we moved away from each other to go to college. We have the kind of friendship where I’m not really sure something big has happened to me until I’m able to pick up the phone and tell Megan. (more…)
Driving Lessons
There's the car down at the bottom.
My husband launched his car off this cliff a half an hour before hour wedding. Some of you already know this little story, but for those of you who don’t: Relax! No one was in the car, no one was hurt (save an olive tree that was split in two), and our wedding was pret-ty perfect after that. As the Jewish side of the family was quick to point out: “What’s a wedding without a little broken glass?”
I bring this up now because the car we bought to replace the wrecked one is a stick shift. And I have never driven a stick shift. So the time has come for me to learn. (more…)
Pictures of ze Day
The Fallen display at the ALA Midwinter conference in Boston. Sounds like it was a great weekend!
From my reading last night at the Borders in Mission Viejo. Thanks to Carlos and Rose at the store and to the great group who braved the apocalyptic storm to come out!
Selective Reading (re-post)
Happy torrentially downpouring Monday from Los Angeles. Thought I’d throw this short essay up today in case anyone missed it from my guest blogging at Beatrice last week:
When I was ten months old, my mother made an appointment with our ear doctor because she thought I was deaf. Hearing the story told for the first time to my husband recently, I was impressed by my mom’s verve as she relayed the family lore. Her eyes lit up telling of the placid way I’d stare into space when she tried to reason with me, how often I ignored my name being called.
A half-hour doctor’s visit revealed perfectly sound hearing in both my ears, and left only one explanation: at less than a year old, I was already selectively hearing my mother. (This is when my dad chimes in: “smart kid.”)
When people invoke the term “selective memory” or when my mother refers to my lifelong “selective hearing,” they’re referring to a way of tuning out what, for whatever reason, we don’t want to retain. Those terms get a bad rap, but I’d like to make a case for selective reading—tuning out or tuning up certain moments in a narrative—as a key to reading fiction. (more…)
Weekend Update
Here’s a pic from a book signing I did in LA with my friend Anna Carey, author of Sloane Sisters. It was a lot of fun, filled with cookies and enthusiasm–if you don’t count the one angry dude who walked into the store and barked at us because we didn’t know where the bird guides were. “You don’t work here? You’re just sitting in the middle of the store then?” Yes, sir.
Bird guides aside, my weekend was a relaxing mix of football watching, picture hanging (officially the last step in Moving Into a New Place), Mexican food eating at my new watering hole, El Compadre, and lots of Torment revising. I’m about halfway through the second draft and it’s hard to contain my excitement about this book. I hope it’s worth the wait until September!
My blog tour continues this week with a few added stops, on at Bitten by Books on Tuesday, and two more at SUVUDU and The Undeath Match (both on Thursday). And I have a reading and a signing in Mission Viejo on Tuesday night. Hope to see some SoCal-ers representing!
Next Up: A blog tour and SoCal signings
On Monday, January 11th, I’m excited to embark on my first blog tour. I’ll be guest blogging about all sorts of things from forbidden love, to why I sometimes ignore my mother, to what it felt like to get the news that Fallen hit the New York Times Bestseller List. Here’s a list of the blogs where I can be found–and I’ll post what I write here as well:
January 11th Beatrice
January 12th Through a Glass Darkly
January 13th A Patchwork of Books
January 14th The Reading Zone
January 15th The Children’s Book Review
January 20th TeenReads.com
January 21st The Book Butterfly
January 26th CynthiaLeitichSmith.com
I also have a few upcoming events in Southern California, so those of you who live nearby, please come out!
On Saturday, January 16th, I’ll be signing books at Chevaliers in Los Angeles from 1-3pm.
On Tuesday, January 19th, I’ll be reading from Fallen and signing books at the Borders in Mission Viejo at 7pm.
On Saturday, January 30th, I’ll be reading from Fallen and signing books at the Borders in Long Beach at 2pm.
When I was in Arkansas recently for the holidays, my publisher sent 300 copies of Fallen to my mother in law’s house for me to sign for the ALA mid-winter conference. It was a tough job, but at least I had a helper:
I wish my nephew David Franklin could come to all of my signings with me, but I understand he’s got other things on his plate.
That’s all for now. If you’re local, I hope you can make it to one of these upcoming bookstore events! If you’re reading this from afar, I hope you’ll join me on my blog tour.
Have a great weekend, everyone. Tonight I’m going to see a double feature of Crazy Heart (an overdue birthday present to Jason) and Youth in Revolt (because Michael Cera is the bomb). Living on the edge here!
Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays from Hot Springs, Arkansas where I am spending the week with family and friends. We spent a week in Dallas with my fam hoarding QT with this little longhorn:
My niece Jordan
then drove up to Arkansas to see this little cookie monster:
My nephew David Franklin
before we head to New Orleans for New Years Eve and then jet back home to L.A. Altogether, a pretty perfect holiday break! It’s been so cool to see copies of Fallen and The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove under some nearby Christmas trees. I hope everyone is enjoying the break, relaxing with family, and having some holiday cheer.
Now it’s time for me to give a shout-out to the three winners of my Natalie Hargrove giveaway contest!
*drumroll pls*
Hello from the Big D
I can’t get enough of this Bridezilla song in the beautiful Fallen trailer from Australia.
I am home at my parents’ house for the holidays and last night, I did a reading and signing at Legacy Books in Plano, TX. It was great to promote Fallen and The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove in my home town, in front of so many friends and family members, and at such an amazing bookstore! (more…)
