Please take a look around, get acquainted with everything! I hope you love it as much as I do, because I absolutely love it. Once again the talent behind this hot new look was Dale Mugford and Duane Storey AKA the masterminds that run BraveNewCode. If you’ll remember, I’ve chronicled my experiences working with them in the past and basically everything I said there is still true but also they are even more awesome.

I KNOW.

I’ve been thinking a lot about job satisfaction lately because… uhm, I was goofing around on youtube and somehow stumbled upon Craig Ferguson’s really touching eulogy for his father, where he talks about how his dad emphasized the importance of job satisfaction all through his life (I know right now everyone is like wait what where did this blog entry just go BUT STAY WITH ME) and anyway, one of my favourite things about working with BraveNewCode is constantly getting the sense of two people who have real job satisfaction. They take their work seriously, they enjoy it, they are passionate about it, they believe in and take pride in what they do and what they put out there and all of this informs their approach to their clients, the way they communicate, the way they listen, they way they code and the way they design. And that truly makes all the difference. I cannot recommend them highly enough. THANK YOU, Dale and Duane!

In other news, last week totally got away from me, which is boo because last week was pretty awesome. Last week was pretty awesome, because, among other things, Some Girls Are got a starred review from Kirkus!!! Which–you know. I will probably die before that sinks in. They said it “will make readers cringe,” (best pull-quote ever!) and called it “powerful and compelling.” Kirkus, I am thrilled you think this of my book. Kirkus, I might have cried when I saw that you did. (I totally cried.)

Also, the Facebook Only Some Girls Are ARC giveaway is going on RIGHT NOW. Here is what you have to do if you’re not in on this yet and you want to be: 1) add my Facebook page (if you haven’t) 2) write ‘I want SGA!’ on its wall. Simple! Winners will be announced on Wednesday. As I’ve said before, this will be my only ARC giveaway that is open to international entries (sorry). And if Facebook Only contests are not your thing, stay tuned because I still have three more ARCs to give away.

MEANWHILE, here are some things that are making me QUITE HAPPY right now:

1) CK Kelly Martin released the first chapter of her forthcoming release, The Lighter Side of Life and Death. Oooh my God, I can’t wait. I am an unabashed CK Kelly Martin fangirl and One Lonely Degree was one of my favourite releases of 2009. You can read the first chapter here (the last paragraph and the last two sentences are just BAM–how am I expected to wait for this book? Random House, that is cruel!!!). And check out the trailer, it’s awesome:

3) Look at what Annika made! It is lovely.

4) I feel like a heel, but when I posted the second teaser videos for Some Girls Are, along with the second chapter, apparently the videos weren’t working for everyone, though they were working for me. Tye, from The Book Gryffin was one of those people and she PAINSTAKINGLY went to GREAT LENGTHS to explain to me ONE TWEET AT A TIME what problems she was having and then patiently waited while I fiddled with everything until it worked. I believe Jonathan Zittrain when he talks about how the web encourages random acts of kindness. Tye, I cringe to think of how much time of yours I took up, but I appreciate that you gave it to me and helped me solve that problem.

5) My friend Whitney started a photoblog with her brother, Josh, called Melvin. It is fantastic and makes me itch to pick my camera up again. You should follow it for a dose of visual inspiration.

6) AW YEAH

Light, fluffy, delicious cake.

On a happy-making note, the super cool and super nice Tye, of The Book Gryffin, interviewed me! Her questions, ranging from my feelings on book-banning and adults who might have trouble with Some Girls Are, were very thoughtful and fun to answer. You can check it out here! Thank you so much for having me on your blog, Tye!

And on a very surreal note, a bookshelf was named after me. No, really. The hilariously awesome Korianne of Korianne Speaks got a bookshelf that was made in Canada and she NAMED IT AFTER ME. Because, you see, I was also made in Canada. And coincidentally, some people have told me I resemble a bookshelf.

Anyway, even if the bookshelf is, as Korianne tells me, very unstable (me and Courtney Summers the Bookshelf MAY have this in common), I am greatly honoured. Check out this blog entry over at Korianne’s to see the proof of this glorious event because I know this sounds like something I’d totally lie about. The Great Naming Announcement is in the second vlog, but it goes without saying you should watch all of her vlogs. ALSO! She is wearing Lady Gaga glasses in her vlog, WHICH IS THE PERFECT SEGUE INTO MY NEXT PARAGRAPH…

I shamelessly admit to being glued to BBC Radio 1 the other night so I could hear the premiere of Lady Gaga’s new song, Bad Romance. The wait was agonizing, I tell you. AGONIZING! And the radio personalities kept talking about Robbie Williams and it DISTURBED ME. But it was so worth it in the end because the song is AMAZING (of course).

And I know, I know. It is always Some Girls Are and Lady Gaga with me lately. I can never think of things to blog about and so I wait for Some Girls Are and Lady Gaga stuff to happen to me so I can write about them. Someone recently insinutated–TO MY FACE! AND NOT EVEN ON THE INTERNET!–that I should not have trouble thinking up blog entries to write about because I am a writer.

?!?!?!

I KNOW!

I was like UGH MAYBE I WILL WRITE A BLOG ENTRY ABOUT HOW RUDE I THINK YOU ARE but then I had some cookies instead and my anger melted away. Yum.

GLAMOROUS.

But it’s not ALL glamorous soft weeping. Last Tuesday, I got the final cover for Some Girls Are! Unfortunately, I can’t reveal it yet but I’m seriously looking forward to that point in the future where I can. I absolutely love it. My editor and cover designer worked super hard to get it perfect and I can say, without reservation, that they did. I was also chuffed to see SGA spotlighted at Sharon’s blog for Waiting on Wednesday yesterday.

Other happy-making things: C.K. Kelly Martin, who is one of my all-time favourite YA authors, released a short story called Orange Crush for Stop, Drop & Read’s blog anniversary! If you loved her debut, I Know It’s Over, you should check it out. You should check it out anyway, though. It’s centered around Holland, Nick’s sister and it’s fantastic. Another thing I really enjoyed on the internets as of late was readergirlz’s Art Saves project. Check out the posts there or on the amazing Little Willow’s blog.

I am binge listening to Muse a lot lately. These guys are so fantastic! They know how to PERFORM. And you can tell when you watch them it’s what they were meant to do. And if it’s not what they are meant to do, they are excellent fakers. I will see these guys in concert some day if it is the last thing I do. Check out this live performance of Apocalypse Please from the HAARP DVD:

More soon.

But on the whole it is a pretty excellent article and you should give it a read.

It will also give you insight into my psyche. Jk, jk.

And then, continuing the trend of having the best blog readers ever, start_a_riot_xx directed my attention to this amazingness:

And yes, I ORDERED A PAIR.

I feel these are a great alternative to Ray-Ban Wayfarers, especially in terms of price. I get all the benefits of a fierce pair of sunglasses (LOOK at those sexy things!), but these ones totally won’t bust my pocketbook and if I ever lose them or break them it will be an infinitely less tragic situation because they weren’t a million dollars and I can proceed to replace them without busting my pocketbook TWICE.

FANTASTIC.

Now. Some of you may question the awesomeness that is wearing a pair of sunglasses with Lady Gaga’s name on them (I don’t know why), but as a person who has always struggled with the concept of brand names, I can tell you it is nice to be able–and makes much more SENSE–to wear the name of someone whose work I ADMIRE and RESPECT over my eyes.

Back in my day, like in seventh grade, my friends loved wearing clothes that said TOMMY HILFIGER all over them and I could never quite understand why. Like, at first I wondered if they had all changed their names to Tommy until someone explained to me the concept of brand names and then I was even more puzzled. Because what had Tommy Hilfiger done for them? He wasn’t inspiring them with amazing music and music videos and quotes like this. If he had, I would’ve understood wearing his name all over their pants and shirts. But he didn’t.

So wtf, seventh grade friends. wtf.

(shakes head sadly)

Okay, that’s enough about sunglasses or whatever I was just talking about. Last week, I got copyedits for Some Girls Are! Exciting! They have been my main priority, so I am a bit behind in emails and such. If you are waiting to hear from me, I apologize for the delay and will be working to catch up very soon.

I also recently saw a cover for Some Girls Are! It will not be the final cover, but seeing it was a very calming experience because my anticipation levels regarding my impending cover were through the roof. St. Martin’s is working hard to best represent character and story and I’m super excited to see what they come up with. When the Griffin catalogue comes out, it will feature another non-final cover as well, so by the time I see my final cover, I will have seen THREE covers for this book!

That makes me happy.

Finally, DO YOU LIKE BOOKS? There are a bunch of book-related contests going on RIGHT NOW that I think you would be interested in if you do:

Anna Jarzab is holding an ARC giveaway of her upcoming debut, All Unquiet Things (I’m very excited about this one–and speaking of covers, check out hers because it’s one of my favourites). Go here and see how you can enter to win. Anna has also posted an excerpt of the book here–check it out! Or, if you’re like me, check it out multiple times and then shake your fist at the calendar for not being January 2010 yet. Contest ends July 2nd. So hurry up and get in on it now!

C.K. Kelly Martin, whose sophomore novel, One Lonely Degree is one of the best books I have read all year, is holding a contest. Winner gets a signed copy of the book, plus a ton of related schwag. Let me tell you, it is taking everything for me not to enter just on the slim possibility that I win and deprive someone else the awesomeness of that book (because the schwag is AWESOME). Details on how to enter are here and the draw date is July 14th.

Literary assistant Suzie, who is basically made of awesome, is giving away a signed ARC of Becca Fitzpatrick’s Hush, Hush. This book is getting major buzz and it’s not coming out until October. Waiting is hard! Avoid it if you can and find out what you need to do for a chance to win the book here. You have until July 10th.

And speaking of contests, I got an early read on a novel that is coming out in September and I am SO excited about it, I want to ensure one of you people have this book delivered on your doorstep on its release date. Like, it’s AMAZING. Pure enjoyment start-to-finish amazing. I’ll be holding a contest to win a pre-ordered copy, so keep your eyes peeled!


* Head Bitch In Charge

What great blog entry fodder, I thought, for someone who has spent the last week writing in their sparkly pink housecoat and not brushing their hair!

So those who have been reading this blog for a while know of my fan history with the Backstreet Boys on account of my blogging about it once before. Not only did I firmly believe the BSB would outlast the hell out of N*SYNC (I still don’t understand how it all went wrong), I also went to great lengths to teach myself the As Long As You Love Me Chair Dance and I was freaking AWESOME at it if I do say so myself, even though I can’t do it anymore because my joints aren’t what they used to be get off my lawn. Brian was my favourite. That’s What She Said.

Making fun of BSB fans is like shooting fish in a barrel.

But not their #1 fan.

But if I am being completely honest, when I said they were hunks I just meant Brian. I don’t know WTF I was supposed to make of the other members of the group. Nick had a BOWL CUT, you guys. Bowl cuts are never cool. Not even when you are an 11-year-old fangirl.

I then went on to tell them that I ordered their CD from BMG and was eagerly awaiting it in the mail. I did this so they would know I was funding their celebrity lifestyles. I used this to segue into an autographed photo request because how could they turn me down when I made them what they are today?

EXACTLY.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find a stamp.

IT’S BECOME A THING!

And that makes me so happy!

In fact, the latest incident of the Toto’s Africa-Courtney Connection came in the form of this BRILLIANT video, sent to me by my good friend Kelvin via Twitter:

And I understood.

I am really starting to think Africa is that song that comes along once every nine hundred years. You know, one of those songs that is made of MAGIC. How can you listen to it and NOT love that you are alive to listen to it? Honestly!

Toto’s Africa was also featured on an episode of Chuck:

I am even currently trying to figure out how to incorporate Toto’s Africa into my latest YA novel but I’m afraid someone will tell me the teenagers of today don’t know Toto’s Africa (that pained me, to type that), so consider this my blog campaign to familiarize the younger generation with this INCREDIBLE SONG.

And please admire my tenacity and dedication to my cause. Or be appalled. Whichever. Or.

Or.

Take up the cause yourself.

That is all I will say.

That, and a review of the book and an interview (!) with C.K. Kelly Martin are forthcoming.

A reader emailed me a lovely question about Cracked Up to Be and my reply bounced! I’m sorry, person whose name begins with S. If you’re wondering why I didn’t get back to you, I promise that it wasn’t for lack of trying. Also, messages sent via my contact form have been getting eaten by my spam lately as well. I’ve set up filters so this won’t be a problem anymore, but if you’ve tried to get ahold of me this way recently and I haven’t replied, I might’ve accidentally deleted your email forever (I promise I’m looking more closely at my spam now).

Related: I can be a little tardy in my replies, but I do generally get back to everyone who takes the time to contact me. If I get an email of a time sensitive nature, I try to honor that or fire off a quick reply saying I will soon. If you’ve emailed me a question or request and haven’t heard from me, it’s likely it got eaten by spam, never arrived or the reply bounced. So if you’ve emailed me and you haven’t heard back from me within like, ten days, feel free to email again. I’ve amended the contact page to say this, but I thought it was worth putting here too.

Phew.

Now that all that stuff is outta the way, I really don’t want to turn this blog entry into another love letter to Lady Gaga, but oh em gee, you guys, I’M GONNA. Have you seen the leaked music video for Paparazzi? It is epic. It’s better than the however many seconds of New Moon that are floating around the internet.

Just LOOK at this thing I don’t know if I should disclaimer (it’s Lady Gaga, okay, just learn to expect everything in no pants)!:

Sparkly vampires.

Huh.

Anyway, unless you have all been living under a rock, I suppose you have heard the devastating news: Archie Andrews is marrying Veronica Lodge.

So basically it is a six issue COP-OUT.

I was really disappointed when I heard this because I invented this entire fabulous storyline in my head where Archie proposed to Veronica and Betty dies (of a suspected suicide but maybe no one knows for sure!) and then the night before their wedding Archie looks at himself in the mirror and is like, “My God, Veronica. What have we become? WHAT HAVE WE BECOME?” And Veronica is like, “Meh. I was always this way.”

AND THEN, in the last panel, Archie slides the ring onto Veronica’s finger and a little thought bubble above his head says, I made the wrong choice. But he can’t take it back!

And fin.

The entire series comes to a devastating, deliciously tragic close.

WOULDN’T THAT BE AMAZING?*

I don’t know why Archie comics doesn’t hire me to write for them.

In other news, progress continues to go well on possible Book 3. I’m up to 50 pages! Sweet. TKT reminded me that I need to get a working title going for this thing. He is so right. If you all remember, Some Girls Are was called Your Mom for a long time before its title reveal. Maybe I should call Book 3′s working title NO PANTS. You know. In honour of my new hero that saved me from the vampires.

But if you have better suggestions I would love to hear them.




* Yes, I know. I am ~horrible.~

Lady Gaga is my hero. I think she sets a fine example for the writing community. Speaking as an author, she has a played a large part in my career and my attitude toward my career. In fact, if you write and hope to make a career out of it, you need to take a page out of Lady Gaga’s book.

02. When I first heard of Lady Gaga, I thought I would hate her. I was like, “Who is this woman trying to be?” She had the poptastic sensibilities of her foremothers (Lady BritBrit, Xtina) and yet she was a walking art display, the kind of art that hipsters love. What the hell is that? I love pop music but I tend to hate walking art displays that features the kind of art hipsters love. Yet Lady Gaga is so much of NEITHER and the best of EITHER, that the only thing I could DO was love her. So, as a writer, you should… take elements of things and combine them into stories that people love. EASY.

03. You know the LoveGame video? Where she is naked between two guys? And one has FAME shaved into his head and the other has LOVE shaved into his head? She said they represent love and fame respectively, and SHE represents POP MUSIC stuck between them! What a statement! Eff, that’s fabulous. I’m sure it’s representative of a writer’s ethical struggles.. somehow.

04. Did you notice in every single one of her videos, she is dominating something? DO THAT WITH YOUR WORDS. DOMINATE THE PAGE. idk.

05. How many times has this woman reinvented herself? Like five thousand. And this is just for one album! First she did the body suits and no pants, then the nude body suits and no pants, and then this weird bubble suit with a nude bodysuit underneath and no pants, and then like, this weird teacup thing with these weird skirts and bedazzled underwear, not necessarily in that order. Also, the piano version of Poker Face? PURE GENIUS. Basically, you should constantly evolve as a writer, like Lady Gaga does with her clothes and her songs.

06. Her stage name has a FREDDIE MERCURY CONNECTION. GOD, THAT’S AWESOME. Oh wait, this is supposed to be tied to writing somehow. I revised a lot of Some Girls Are to Lady Gaga and Queen, so. I hear revising makes you a better writer. THAT LADY GAGA. ALWAYS IMPROVING MY GAME.

07. She says things like POP MUSIC IS NEVER LOW BROW. I don’t know about you, but knowing that, I feel better about myself and my life already. I hear feeling good means writing good? God, this woman is awesome.

The results speak for themselves, people.

(Lady Gaga has a time machine. SHE DOES EVERYTHING!)

It has been A Time. In two words. Handed in round two of revisions for Some Girls Are last Monday, and now I’m very slowly working on catching up on like, everything, while I anticipate round three. Please be patient with me while I do this (but since when have you lovelies not been patient with me?)! March is mostly a blur of re-writing and coffee, but I will try to think of some things that happened and then proceed to share them with you in a hopefully entertaining way before I kill my web presence completely. Because THAT IS WHAT BLOGGING IS ABOUT.

First: I got the Twilight DVD on Saturday. The 3-DISC HMV EXCLUSIVE, which I guess has some extra-special features on it that I will probably never watch, though I did watch the movie itself.

Lest I OD on Emo Edward Cullen, I’m putting the Twilight Saga aside for a little bit and got some new books to read: The Season by Sarah MacLean (finally!), The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp (for some reason I keep calling it The Impossible Now even when I am looking at the cover and it’s going THAT IS NOT MY TITLE, COURTNEY), and Wake by Lisa McMann. Has anyone read any of these? Let us talk about them! Here are my initial thoughts on all three:

1) I am strangely attracted to Sutter in The Spectacular Now and kind of want to date him even though I wouldn’t want to touch his emotional baggage with a ten foot pole. If he gets rid of the later, we can TOTALLY do the former, but I have this sneaking suspicion that ain’t gonna happen.

2) The Season is super-charming and Lord Blackmoor is hot. I have a feeling he’s-a-gonna end up with another character, so I’m trying to mentally prepare myself not to be super jealous when that happens. If I am wrong though, I will be thrilled because that means if I ever acquire the ability to become a fictional character that can visit the pages of any books I would so TOTALLY have a chance with him. Incidentally, Sarah agreed to an interview on my blog (eee!!) and that’s my first question: “If I acquired the ability to become fictional etc…” Let’s anticipate her answer now.

3) The possibility of a Janie actually ever existing is precisely the reason why I will never fall asleep in public anywhere. I look at Wake as less of a story, and more of a warning. NOBODY FALL ASLEEP IN PUBLIC. ODDS ARE GOOD SOMEONE WILL HAVE THE FREAKY ABILITY TO SEE YOUR DREAMS, OKAY. God, imagine if someone found out about my dream where I wash RPATTZ’s hair while he’s sleeping. That would be absolutely mortifying.

In other news, the lovely Adele over at Persnickety Snark (a book blog you guys need to watch), sent me some photos of Cracked Up to Be in Australia! So cool, you guys. I have some very close and dear friends in Australia and I get such a thrill thinking of my book being where they are. And then I get super jealous of my book for getting to Australia before me. Unfair!

I have no regrets.

Adele also interviewed me, which was super fun. Check out the first part here!

ALSO (you guys still with me?): a shameful amount of time ago, I asked Steph aka The Awesome Reviewer X about her thoughts on online marketing based on a post by Author Extraordinaire, Sarah Prineas. So Steph totally made a great blog entry about it and I was like !!! THANKS STEPH and then I was like I WILL COMMENT SOON and then my revisions became Tremors and ATE ME… so I never commented. :( And it was a GREAT discussion. And I still feel bad–like I am so ashamed I can barely @reply Steph on Twitter, actually–so I’m hoping talking about it in my blog will redeem me a little (will it Steph, will it?!).

Anyway, Steph’s post is fabulous and I thank her for addressing a hot-button topic among authors in the fantastically candid way she addresses, well, everything, and for hosting such a great discussion in the comments. I have lots of strong feelings about online marketing and summed up, they are basically: I LOVE IT.

Although online marketing efforts can not necessarily be quantified in sales, the opportunity to connect and reach people and let them know HEY I’M OVER HERE is one I really can’t pass up (as M.J. Rose often says, “No one will buy a book they don’t know exists.”). If only one person looked at Cracked Up to Be’s book trailer and made a mental note that the book is exists, I’m very satisfied with that. I’ve really enjoyed the online promotion thing, and I think I’ve made some really strong and lasting connections and friendships and that’s worth its weight in gold to me.

Incidentally, along with my amazing publisher’s efforts to get word out about Cracked Up to Be, and my signing at OLA earlier this year, all of my promotional efforts have been focused online. ALL of them (seriously, I’m a hermit). I’d say most of the buzz Cracked Up to Be has received has been created online by you wonderful book bloggers and online friends, who took the time to get excited about it and say you were looking forward to it, to reading it, to reviewing it, to inviting me into your space to be interviewed. I got word not too long ago that the book went into it’s third printing, and while I can’t say this definitively, I have gut feeling that you wonderful people on your computers that were hooked up to the internets played a large part in making that happen. Thank you for that.

So yes. Online marketing! Whooo!!!

Finally, this is the best song in the world:

WHOOO TOTO’S AFRICA BEST SONG EVAAAAAH.

I will MAKE the time.

Except now I don’t know what to write.

I have burned up like a comet upon entering the atmosphere.

So maybe I will just talk about Lady GaGa.

I feel pretty confident that I’m the last person in the world to discover Lady GaGa. Haters to the left, I love this chick and foresee us being BFFs the moment she knows I exist. She’s ridiculous! And she doesn’t care! Me too, Lady GaGa! Me too! I haven’t reached the point where I will be traipsing around Paris in a nude bodysuit, but you know. One day.

Maybe.

Anyway, here is the reason I love Lady GaGa: her songs, Beautiful, Dirty, Rich and Just Dance totally remind me of The Great Gatsby, which is the only book about Beautiful, Dirty, Rich people who Just Dance that I can stand. I bought her album thinking the whole thing would be like this sonic cynical take on lifestyles of the rich and shameless from someone who is shamelessly rich, but mostly it’s about Buying In, which is mildly disappointing but IT’S STILL REALLY CATCHY SO THAT’S OKAY.

Also did you know GaGa penned Quicksand, which is the best B-side on Lady BritBrit’s latest, Circus? If you don’t love her for that I don’t know what to tell you. You’re a weirdo. Here is the music video for Beautiful, Dirty, Rich. I was going to put a disclaimer about how she’s writhing around on money in little clothing, but there’s lots of swearing in Cracked Up to Be and nobody disclaimered that, so I think I will just let you discover it all for yourselves and then watch you be appropriately shocked about what they’re putting on the MTV these days.

Now I shall post an amusing image.

(Best blog post ever, Y/Y?)