The Whitney Awards

I bet you thought I was going to ask you to write more descriptions of these very stunning women. No, dear blog reader, actually this is a picture of Julie Wright and I at the Whitney Awards. By the way, I am actually wearing one of Julie's dresses because she has much better taste than I do. (I had planned on buying a dress while I was in Utah but somehow it never happened.)

I know I should tell you who the winners of the description contest are. I'm going to get to that soon--really. I've enlisted the help of two judges and they have yet to get back to me about their choices. (If you're reading this, judges,take this as a subtle hint.)

The reason it's been so long since I've written, is that I've spent the last week in Utah doing school visits, book signings, a writers conference, and the Whitney Awards. My Fair Godmother was up for the best YA novel.

Here is a picture of me after the awards:
You can probably tell from the number of chocolate deserts sitting in front of me that once again, I didn't win.

Here are some other losers after the awards:
At least I'm in good company. Jessica Day George, James Dashner, and Julie Wright are all awesome writers.

And here's what happens when you go for a week with very little sleep. I am leading a group of women in a rendition of Beyonce's Single Ladies.


Dan Wells, who won some award for something, said that all my blog readers would wonder what I was pointing at. He may have made that snarky comment because I commandeered a podcast interview and asked him some of my own questions. Well, what do you expect when you write a book called: I Am Not A Serial Killer? People are going to wonder about certain things. One of the questions I asked him was, "What are you not going to be next?"

According to Dan, he is not going to be a vampire next, but I guess we'll have to see. Personally, I think Dan sparkles. Just saying. Here is a picture of Dan and me. I ask you: Does this man look like a serial killer and should people really be giving him awards?

Oh, all right, I'll post a normal picture of Dan and I.


Next blog I'll post contest winners and more pictures of the conference.

Book Give-Away/ The problem with attractive people

I bet you think I'm going to say that the problem with attractive people is that they're conceited or used to privilege or they see the world differently from regular people. Probably true, but nope, that's not what this blog is about.

The problem with attractive people is that it is so hard to write interesting descriptions of them in books. When the heroine is describing the hero, (or the other way around) she needs to do it in a way that not only gives the reader a basic visual image, but also tells us he's attractive.

However, beyond writing about a few distinguishing characteristics--blond, brunette, square jaw, blue eyes or brown--you can't describe a person's face at all. People look vastly different from one another, but it's nearly impossible to detail those differences with words.

This makes describing a handsome guy or beautiful girl that much harder, and now that I'm revising book number 18, I feel like I've run out of fresh ways to do it. I want to write:

He had two eyes, a nose, and a mouth--and they were placed in just the right areas of his face.

You see my problem.

So here's the deal: Write a description of a handsome guy or a beautiful girl in the comment box. I don't care what color eyes, hair, or skin he or she has--I have a lot of beautiful people in my books. I'll get around to your favorite type eventually.

I may use all or part of your description at some point in one of my books. (Heck, I feel like there are so few ways to write up attractive people that I may have already used your description before you even write it.)

I'll choose two comments and those people can have whichever one of my books they want. (With the exception of My Double Life, which still isn't out yet--but hey, May 13 isn't that far away. Yay!)

Happy writing.

Speaking of Twilight . . .

Ben Bella Books emailed me to say that my Twilight essay from the book A NEW DAWN is up on their website this week. That means you can read what I have to think about it for FREE! (Of course you also do that here, but hey, on their website I'm not only witty, I'm grammatically correct! That, my friends, is what a copy editor will do for you.)

You can see it until midnight next Tuesday at:

http://www.smartpopbooks.com/

Just scroll down until you get to the link to my essay, To Bite, Or Not To Bite; That Is The Question (Yes, I know somewhere Shakespeare is cringing.)

Here's the first two paragraphs to tease you:

What’s your definition of a bad day? A fight with a friend? A speeding ticket? How about being attacked by a vampire and painfully turned into the undead, then realizing you must wander for eternity fighting off a craving to kill people? Yeah, that would pretty much be a bad day.

Carlisle, the leader of the Cullen clan of vampires had this bad day and (we can assume) many other bad days that followed. Stephenie Meyer doesn’t skimp when dishing out problems for her characters. Seriously, if you were Cinderella and could choose someone to be your fairy godmother, you wouldn’t want it to be Stephenie Meyer. Sure, she could come up with the ultimate Prince Charming to take you to the ball, but he might kill you afterward.

Too funny not to share

I laughed so hard when I watched this. I'm sure a lot of husbands can relate!