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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…)

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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!

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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…)

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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!

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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:

Laurenbook signing 039

Laurenbook signing 025

Laurenbook signing 007

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.

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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!

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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

My niece Jordan

then drove up to Arkansas to see this little cookie monster:

My nephew David Franklin

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*

(more…)

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Hello from the Big D

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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…)

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Born in Time

The other day, a reader asked me the best question I’ve been asked yet about my books. She’d read a particuarly lovey-dovey scene between Luce and Daniel and she wanted to know whether I really believed that love like that existed in the real world. Of course! I told her. I just found it myself.

j+l

Today is my husband Jason’s birthday. Because we’re going home to our families in Texas and Arkansas this weekend, he will get not one, but four birthday parties. Today we’re celebrating with a few of his favorite things: The Beatles (we watched disc 5 and 6 of the box set last night), Starman (we’ll squeeze in a viewing of that classic sometime today), and cheese dip–he is from Arkansas (we’re going to a Mexican joint tonight with a 30 person mariachi band!). HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON!

This was our first song at our wedding. Also works for birthdays: Bob Dylan: Born in Time (more…)

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A Contest!

Sabal palmetto

This is a Palmetto. It’s being showcased today for two reasons:

1. Because it’s so cold up here in Laurel Canyon right now that I needed to reminded myself that I live in tropical southern California now and not the blustery East Coast.

2. Because this innocent little Palmetto tree plays a very important role in my book, The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove. And with all of the excitement yesterday over Fallen’s release (which has been wonderful*), Natalie was getting a little bit…jealous. You know how she is. Always has to be in the limelight. This fabulous review from The Book Scout yesterday assuaged her a little, but poor old Natalie is still feeling like the other white meat compared to another book of mine. Which is why I’ve decided to throw her a little book-giveaway party. Yes, three lucky people will get a signed copy of The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove just for attending her little bash. All you have to do is register to follow my blog, send me a message here with your email address, and include your nomination for the best dog name (I want one for Christmas!). The contest will run through 5pm EST Christmas Eve, and the three winners will be chosen at random. Just don’t tell Nat that you’re getting it for free. She doesn’t like to think of herself as that kind of girl… (more…)

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This Time Tomorrow…

Here in rainy Laurel Canyon, we are no long counting down the days until Fallen comes out, we are counting down the hours! It’s been a hugely busy past few weeks: finishing up the first draft of Torment, participating in blog interviews, web chats, and book discussions everyday, picking out what to read at my release day reading at Barnes and Noble in Glendale, CA tomorrow night–all while moving into a new house, unpacking, and starting to settle in.

I am so very excited about tomorrow, I think going to sleep tonight is going to feel like going to sleep on Christmas Eve or the night before a birthday. Thanks to everyone who has been contacting me through this site. It’s been great to read all your supportive and excited comments.

Speaking of websites, there’s some very cool new stuff on the Fallen Books website. Check out the Sword and Cross Archives!

If you live in or around LA–please come out tomorrow night to my reading at Barnes and Noble in Glendale. It’s a 6pm at 210 Americana Way, Glendale, CA  91210!

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