Which cover and a book giveaway

I just remembered that I signed up to do part of a blog hop today. Oops. Forgot to do that, so I'm just going to add it to this blog. I'll give away one of the original hardback copies of My Double Life to one of the commenters.

I've got the rights back to My Double Life, and so I'm going to put it up as an ebook. (Hopefully I'll have this book and a brand new romance novella up this week. Be excited. Be very excited.) However, as I don't have the rights to the original cover of My Double Life, I've got to come up with something new. Fortunately, there are some pictures on Shutterstock that fit with the theme. The very accommodating Su from Earthly Charms did three mock-ups for me so that you--my reading experts--could let me know which you liked best.

Please leave a comment and tell me your favorite!

Yallapalooza and writers conference on Sat, the 26th

This Saturday I'll be involved in two fun writing gigs. The first will be a YA writers conference at Dobson High School. Don't click on the banner. It won't take you anywhere. I just stole it from Changing Hand's website because I love how serious and slightly dangerous some of the YA writers look. That's how you can tell who the cool writers are.

Ten authors of young adult fiction, including several New York Times bestsellers, share strategies, tips, and tricks for writing engaging work for tween and teen readers. You can choose three of four informative sessions to fill your three-session schedule, including "Unforgettable Characters," "Heroes vs. Villains," "Writing Realistic Dialogue," and "Essentials of SciFi/Fantasy."

If you want more info on the conference (I believe it's 85.00 for the day) here's a link: http://www.changinghands.com/yawriting2013

Then there will be Yallapalooza at Changing Hands. If you've never been before, it's free and it's fun--sorta like a game show in which you get to work with groups of authors. Plus there is pizza. Here's the details:

At 4pm Saturday, January 26 Changing Hands Bookstore presents YAllapalooza 2013, a literary extravaganza for tween and teen readers. Here's your chance to mix and mingle with your favorite YA authors, get signed books, enjoy pizza, and more!

Attending Authors: Tom Leveen, Cecil Castelluci, Amy Fellner Dominy, Shannon Messenger, Suzanne Lazear, Janni Lee Simner, Kevin Emerson, Erin Jade Lange, Lisa McMann, Suzanne Young, James A. Owen, C.J. Hill (aka Janette Rallison), Laura Ellen, and Lisa Schroeder.

Come be on my team! I always bomb when it comes to the first line in a book game so I need your help. For more info on that, you can go to: http://www.changinghands.com/yallapalooza2013

Partying with authors

I'm always up for a party--as long as it is at somebody else's house. Having a party at my house inevitably means that I have to nag my children for 24 hours straight to pick up their junk, do their jobs, etc. My children combat my efforts by working at the same rate that fossils solidify and by vanishing every time I'm not physically making eye contact with them. I tell a child to take out the garbage and poof, he or she is gone for an hour.

So yeah, I don't do a lot of entertaining.

Thankfully the same isn't true for my author friends because we just held our second Teacher/Librarian appreciation party at Amy Dominy's home. Our awesome publishers donated not only copies of our books to give to educators, but also provided other books and swag as well.

Here's a picture of us hiding behind our books. Authors do that a lot.

Here's a picture of us being more social. You can see Lisa McMann, Bill Konigsberg, Me, Jon Lewis, Aprilynne Pike, (second row) Shelly Coriell, Janni Lee Simner, Angela Morrison, Amy Dominy, Nancy Bo Flood, (First row) Suzanne Young, Erin Lange, James Owen

Here's a picture of all the awesome books publisher's donated. (Photos by Zac Dunn)

 Oh, and by the way, this is Amy's laundry room. Seriously. I soo have laundry room jealousy now. For some reason that I have never fully understood, builders all put dining rooms into houses--which people never use--but think homeowners all want to do their laundry in cubical-like closets.

If any architects are currently reading my blog, do us all a favor and switch that around.

The captain is our unofficial blow-up mascot. A man in a cape and underwear is always fun at a party.

Thanks publishers for being so generous, and thanks teachers and librarians for all that you do!

Middle daughter's commentary on reading

My teenage daughter--who has been known to go days without emerging from her room--sent me this video to let me know that "this is how she feels sometimes".

I thought I'd share.

I lovingly told my middle daughter, that yes, I understand her love of reading, but she still has to come out of her room and do her jobs. I'm heartless like that.

New Year's resolutions, revised

Every year I make New Year's resolutions, and every year I break them. In fact, my usual tradition with my New Year's resolutions seems to be that around June I get them out and laugh at my naive optimism. So this year, I'm taking my resolutions and doing what writers do best--revising them

Picture by 22dragon22burn

 1) Exercise more. Hide the treats better. Maybe I'll forget where I put them.

 2) Stick to a budget. Resist buying more Christmas cards and wrapping paper, even if they are 75% off right now.

 3) Have a family dinner every night. Cook something once in awhile that requires more work than slitting open the top of the package and programming the microwave.

 4) Declutter the house. Put a moratorium on the stray cats my children keep collecting. Ditto for those pesky stuffed animals that appear like furry big-eyed mushrooms in every room of the house.

 5) Make myself presentable every day, even when I have a deadline. Try to convince people my pajamas are actually medical scrubs and I'm just back from a 36 hour shift.

 6) Read the classics. Watch Doctor Who while I fold laundry.

 7) Learn a new skill. Learn how to work the TV remote. (See resolution 6)

 8) Become best-selling author. Stop writing 400 page novels.

 Okay, that last one isn't particularly funny, it just seems to be something I need to keep reminding myself. Because even though on the outset of the last four books I've written, I specifically told myself my book wasn't going to go over 300 pages, I keep writing these mammoth stories that take way too long to write and revise.