QUAD

Why I Haven't Blogged in a While

I know, I know - I've been incommunicado for a while.  If I slack in my blogging, does that make me a "slogger?"  Just wondering.

But in my own defense, here's what's been happening this month:
• my son's birthday (what an awesome day!)
• the release of my debut YA novel, QUAD (in stores now)
• book events
•Little League games
• book release party
• end of school insanity

Does a new author ever touch down or will I stay two inches above ground forever?  I love the emails and kind words - keep 'em coming!  And if you liked the book, be sure to review it on Amazon.com and or BN.com or blog about it on your MySpace (friend me too, okay?) and really really get the word out.

I'm gearing up for the BIG Writers' convention in LA in August.  The hotel is s-w-a-n-k-y and has spoiled me for anything less.  Never again will I be able to rest my head on a flea-ridden pillow at the Motel 6. 

Back From Cloud 9

Well, I'm back, folks - from my two week vacation on Cloud 9.  That's where they send newly published authors, you know.  Here's my itinerary:
May 10 - Release Day; there are no books in the stores (this would never happen with, say, Harry Potter. Apparently my name doesn't have the same cachet as J K Rowling).  So it's kind of a regular day for me: pick the kids up at school, get my allergy shots.  But then, a box arrives at the house and it's MY AUTHOR COPIES.  Omigod!!!
May 11 - B&N pulls some strings and gets 25 copies into the store to tide them over till the real shipment comes in.  We take a field trip with some friends around 8:00 that night and make complete fools of ourselves, taking pictures  and talking REALLY loud - Omigod, this is that book everyone's been talking about!!!
May 15 - I see a couple of kids at school reading my book!  Okay, one of them was my niece, but still ... that was pretty strange.  Later that afternoon, I did my presentation at the Library (but I already told you about that).
May 18 - I'm walking down the hall at the school where I teach and as I'm going into my classroom, I hear something vaguely familiar.  I turn around: the teacher across the hall is reading QUAD to her class and they're all following along in their own copy of the book!!  Oh.  My.  God!  As if that wasn't enough, when they were done reading, the teacher brought them into my room and asked me to sign them all.  Wow.
    So yeah, it's been kind of like that.
And BTW - check out my YouTube video.   I'm so new millenium!!

My First Book Event!

It happened today - I did my first book event.  It wasn't really a book signing, per se, it was a presentation about writing (and of course, about QUAD - in stores now!) at the public library.  I spent a lot of time creating this kick-ass PowerPoint (that's not too nerdy, is it??) which appeared, at first, to be doomed.  We didn't have a cable that fit between my computer and their projector.  So we copied the presentation to a thumb drive.  But it seems that my two-year-old iBook isn't compatible with the library's Jurassic laptop.  As an aside, please open your wallet and give freely to your local library!!   Anyway, right about then, my husband calls me.
     Him - "How's it going?"
    Me - "I can't talk.  My freaking presentation is about to tank.  The library's laptop can't read my document."
    Him - "Just go to Yahoo and download a PowerPoint viewer."  (PS - who knows they're supposed to do that???) Him - "It's free."  Like that solves everything.
    Me - "You don't understand - my presentation starts in 20 minutes!"
    Him - "Plenty of time."
Yeah, except that it took the library tech another 10 or 15 minutes to get the computer to go online.  But then, we found a PowerPoint viewer, downloaded it, and thanks to my husband's last minute Hail Mary pass, we only started about 5 minutes late. 
    And I killed!  The coordinator goes, "You're a really good public speaker!" 
    Hell, I ought to be.  I'm a teacher - I put on 900 shows a year!

ONE MORE WEEK!!!!

One More Week!  One More Week!  Sorry I haven't been around much lately - I've been a pretty busy girl.  That's my excuse because....
ONE WEEK FROM TODAY MY BOOK WILL BE IN THE STORES!