I have a new vlog! 1. There is a Dark Secret about my revising for my editor revealed.
2. We were going to include bootleg footage from the Silversun Pickups concert I attended, but it didn't work out. However! You can view the awesome footage here if you'd like.
3. Not all of this was shot on the same day. You might or might not be able to guess which parts were from a few weeks ago and which were from today!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytijb_MZiTs&w=322&h=261]
In a round-about way, I got two mentions in Publishers Weekly (an online magazine) last week. Fun! One of those is an announcement of The Contemps, the new joint author blog I mentioned in a previous update.
The second is that Freefall is listed in the Fall 2010 Children's announcements. (To read the listing, scroll down over halfway down the page to the S&S/Simon Pulse category. They seem to be in random order, but Freefall is definitely there if you look hard enough.)
Just like I do every Monday, I added two journal entries from my teen years to this site. You can check them out under the "About Me" tab on the front page by clicking on "Read My Old Diaries." This week, 13-year-old Mindi is preparing for Christmas by shopping a lot. And 14-year-old Mindi is back from her ski trip.
There is a lot of complaining about being sick of my friends in the latter, which goes along with what I'm always saying about me not being able to live with people. (Did you know that I always say that? Well, I do. My husband is the only person I've really ever been able to live with happily because he totally gets my need for lots of space and time alone.)
Really, though, this entry from February 1, 1992, is -- to me -- one of the most interesting that I've posted here. There is a lot going on behind the scenes, a lot of emotions and thoughts that I talk about, but due to the style of the writing in these journals, I don't make you feel. But I can remember that I was completely floundering here. Looking back, the "suddenly turned religious" thing might not have been as sudden as I thought. After all, my mom had been sending me to private Christian schools from third grade on. This change was not a welcome one for me and it still effects my life over 18 years later.
Look! It's been an entire week since I posted! It doesn't feel like a week has passed. Which explains why I think the date every day is August 19th.
I booked the hotel in NYC for my upcoming trip. It was a Priceline name-your-own-price thing. I check in there and throw in a few bids -- which are never accepted -- and then I do it again a couple of weeks later. But today it accepted my fourth (I think it was) offer), so we're set.
And . . . I'm wondering if that fourth bid was a mistake. Maybe I could have gotten a better deal if I'd stopped and tried again in a couple of more weeks. :-( I'm just not going to think about it. What's done is done.
ANYWAY! I'm going to New York in October! I think you all knew that, though? I'm going to be having a joint signing at a super-cool store with about a dozen other super-cool authors. It's all confirmed, but the details are still being worked out, so I'll wait to tell you the stuff until I know everything that there is to know.
But I do know the date: October 10, 2010! Mark you calendars and BE THERE. Yeah!
Other than that, I ordered postcards today with the info for my October 17 launch party in Seattle. I'll be passing those out to everyone I've ever met when they arrive in two weeks.
And. Hmmm. Other than that, I have nothing. Except a headache. I tried to wear my glasses today and my eyes were killing me. Last time this happened, it went on for about two months and I had to have my prescription changed because my eyesight had improved. The too-strong prescription was causing headaches galore. This is not a thing I'd like to go through again, so I hope it stops soon. Immediately would be better.
Er... bye for now!
Dear Carnation, Somewhere back there I lost track of the date, but I think I'm caught up again. Today I could tell it was going to be terrible when it was time to get up because I was just so tired that all I wanted to do was sleep and sleep. I eventually got up at 6:55 and breakfast was served at 7:20.
I just really wasn't in a skiing mood today. The lesson was a drag. We got a jerk instructor. His name was Rob and I hated him. He kept picking on only me and he's like, "You're leaning back to far. I want you to lean more forward in your boot." I got him though. I didn't do a single thing that he told me.
After lessons, I felt so miserable that I just waited in the lodge for the half hour to wait for everyone else. It was boring. For lunch I ate: a poppy seed muffin, some field berry yogurt, and later in the day, Connor bought me a piece of pizza. It was really sweet of him, but it made me feel guilty. Connor has been such a sweetheart today. He really has.
On the other hand, Evan has been a total jerk. He makes me so mad that I just want to bop him in the nuts with my ski pole. I am beginning to hate him so much.
Tara got mad at me today and I'm pretty sure she still is. You see, I felt sick after lunch so I was just going to ski down to the bottom and sit there for the rest of the day. But I decided to take one run with Liz on the way. But that time, I felt alot better so me and Liz skied together for most of the rest of the day. The thing is: I didn't ski with Tara the whole day. I guess that I kindof hurt her feelings, but I didn't want to go on any hard runs today. Me and Liz just took it easy.
Bye! Love ya!
