New Vlog: How Buffy the Vampire Slayer Changed My Life.

I've uploaded a new video!  Of me!  Talking!  About how Buffy the Vampire Slayer changed my life!

A few facts about this video:

1.  I chose to film at Richmond Beach on the Puget Sound because it's far from streets and I thought there would be no traffic noises.  It's true that there were no cars, trucks, or emergency sirens to contend with.  Instead, though, there were two seaplanes, countless boats and ferries, an entire tree FULL of crows, and six trains (six!) that interrupted shooting.  Everything took more than twice as long as it should have because I kept having to stop and start over.

2.  Amazing Intern Amanda edited out all the footage of me cursing at the various noisy things.

3.  Most of these scenes were shot in one take because a) I was trying to finish quickly before more noise started up and b) I practiced what I was going to say whenever a train passed.  Which meant that I had a lot of time to get it right.

4.  Buffy actually changed my life in far more ways than what I mentioned here.  But I had to, you know, keep it concise for all of our attention spans.

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The YA Contemps.

Earlier this summer, I received an email from Lisa Schroeder, author of books for kids and teens, discussing a new group she and Lindsey Leavitt were forming to celebrate contemporary YA fiction for the coming school year. 

Even though the subject line said something like, "You're invited to join . . . !" my first thought was that I was being informed of this group because I write contemporary YA and could help spread the word.  Which would have been great, too, of course.  But a second read through the email helped me realize that the invitation was for me to become a part of this group of amazing authors, many of whom have written books that I've read and admired in the past few years.

I sent my husband a quick text about it before leaving the office and he wrote back something like, "That's cool!"

I drove home from work, thinking about The Contemps the whole way.  By the time I pulled into my driveway, I was in tears.  Dwayne turned off the lawn mower and ran over to me.  "What happened?"

I buried my face in his chest and choked out, "Nothing."

"What's wrong?  Why are you crying?"

"Just because .  .  .  they wanted me.  In their group!"

Sob, sob, sob, Sally Field at the Oscars, etc.

And now, today is finally the day!  The Contemps have officially launched our website and we have Facebook and Twitter and Goodreads up and running, too.  If you like contemporary YA, I hope you'll check it out and follow us.  It's going to be a fun year with lots of great books to enjoy and discussions in which to partake!

P.S.  One of our promises in our mission statement is to (over)share.  Kind of like what I just did here.  Ha!

Real-life Friday night lights.

There are only a few weeks left before fall-mode begins.  I'm not particularly pleased about this.  Summer in Western Washington has been mild to say the least.  Mild is good when you compare it with deadly heat waves and floods and such.  But mild is not good when you endured another nine months of Pacific Northwest doom and gloom and just wanted to be rewarded with some nice weather and sunshine, dammit.

In a way, though, I am very much looking forward to this coming fall.  Sure, there's That One Book that's coming out on October 5th.  There will be multiple book signings and a trip to New York.  Even before that, I'll be receiving my author copies and, I predict, being a double threat singing and dancing around with them.  There might be trade reviews.   Good ones, bad ones.  Who knows!

Right now, though, the thing that I'm most excited about (because it has nothing to do with me and therefore no pressure whatsoever) is Texas Shorecrest High School Football.

Here's the truth: I became interested in high school football because I like the TV show Friday Night Lights.  It's as simple as that.  In aught-eight, Dwayne and I decided to go to some local games so I could check out what it's like in real life because when I was in school, I went to private school where there was no such thing as football unless it was flag football for P.E. class

I have to say, I'm in love.  Although . . . not with the game itself.  I mean, I watch the kids on the field doing their thang and that's fun.  But there is so much more!  The marching band.  The cheerleaders.  The dance team.  All the students milling around.  Hot chocolate. Peanut M&Ms.  Popcorn.  Bundling up in fleece blankets.  Wearing gold and green and plaid.  Homecoming.  Our team vs. the team from the other high school in our city.  It goes on and on and on.

I've already printed out the schedule and determined that we'll be able to attend five games!  (All the home games, plus an "away" game that takes place at our stadium.)  Hooray! 

Or as Tim Riggins would say,  "Texas forever."

River Hair. Show and tell!

Back in aught-four, I went into a salon with chin-length hair and came out looking something like this:

Despite my super-tiny camisole and Paris Hilton-type skirt, I felt very ugly. 

So, on that exact day, I made the decision to grow my hair out. 

Dwayne and I had been watching FIREFLY and he had quite an interest in River, played by Summer Glau:

I decided to aim for "River-length Hair."  However long it took to get there!  (Yes, I wanted to resemble my husband's fantasy TV woman.  Is that weird?  I don't know . . .)

Today, over six years later, my hair looks like this:

 
(I tried to replicate the original pic, but you'll notice that I couldn't find my red lipstick and I've since gotten rid of the belly-showing camisole.)

So I have definitely and for sure reached and exceeded River-length Hair.  (And, of course, in the years since, the actress has gone on to cut her hair to a much more manageable just-below-the-shoulder length and such.) 

I'm not really sure what to do with myself (or my hair) now.  It seems silly to just cut it off after spending six years meeting this arbitrary goal.  And yet, I find that I don't like to wear it down much.  What's the point of having all this hair if I'm just going to keep it in a bun most of the time anyway?  I'm not going to make any rash decisions, but I'm thinking Thoughts.  Yes, I am.

AUTHOR EVENTS: Karen Kincy's book launch for OTHER.

So this is a few weeks overdue, but I attended Karen Kincy's book launch for her debut novel OTHER in July.  The event was fun and very informative!  Karen used the time to give us some of the inside scoop about her publishing journey, her debut novel, and other writing projects from her past and future. 

Now, I had a plan to take GREAT pictures that night because for the previous two book events I'd attended I 1) had a dead battery in my camera and 2) left my camera on my desk at home!  

Well, as it turned out, the camera gods were still frowning upon me because I dropped and totally broke my camera on the morning of Karen's signing.  I managed to get a replacement at Best Buy an hour before the event (hooray for the two-year warranty my mother-in-law had purchased!), but the battery didn't have enough charge to turn on.  Oh, well, right?  I could just use my crappy camera phone for some shots.  Except . . . a search through my purse and car revealed that I'd left my phone at home.

Luckily for me, Amazing Intern Amanda came through.  After various mishaps with her own camera phone, she managed to get some usable shots! 

Here's Karen at the table in front of some of the event attendees:

Here's me, having Karen sign my copy of OTHER:

And here's Sarah of Sarah's Random Musings and me, displaying our copies of OTHER!