Getting ready for CITY SECRETS! :)

Hi, guys!

Wow, just *37* (July 6) days until CITY SECRETS (#9) comes out! Yaaay! :) :) Since the books usually ship early, I bet a lot of you will be letting me know that you've got an early copy in your hands. I can't wait for you all to read it.


I'm busy writing in Canterwood land and wanted to let you know that your support and love for Team Canterwood has NOT gone unnoticed or unappreciated. So . . . I did something a little special for you all in CITY SECRETS. You'll find it in the first few pages of the book, so look for it there. <3

Happy long weekend! Go have fun!

:)

Just. Relieved.

A few more hurdles to go, but finally an answer today.

I feel like running around the Slope and hugging strangers.

Happy Saturday!

Happy weekend, Team Canterwood!

So sorry the blog has been quiet! My BFF has been in the hospital and feeling pretty awful, so it has been girl-time. We've been watching THE RICHES (adult content, please note), LAGUNA BEACH, GLEE, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, THE HILLS and a bunch of other fun stuff on DVD.

I just sorted through 600+ emails from you all and THANK YOU. I will respond as I'm able to and please know I read and appreciate every email. I love hearing from you! :)

The winner of the giveaway from Amanda Marrone is JOANNAH. I emailed you, girl, so look for that. :)

Off to work for a while. Hope you guys have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo

Whirlwind

So sorry to the reader girlies for being MIA lately on the blog. But a serious scare came up with The BFF and she's going to be completely fine, but it was very, very scary. I'm taking the day off and today to clean my apt and regroup.

I haven't been in a hospital since my back surgery and I was such a wuss then that I'd faint or throw up at the mere sighting of a needle or blood. K made a point to shield me from that, but I was running on adrenaline. Even with all of my baggage about hospitals, doctors and surgery--I would have swapped places with her in a second. And I can't say that about anyone else. But this girl is a trooper. She was in indescribable pain and she pushed through it like R and I knew she would--no doubt. I wanted to strange a few of the ER staff, but she got great care on her floor.

Plus, we had a very sweet and uplifting surprise from friend PG Kain who brought the flower that defines KA. It has a prickly stem and pretty pink petals on the top. :)

She's resting, ready for a fun TV marathon later and it's going to be a chill evening. Plus, we decided we deserve mani/pedis to erase the nail colors we wore to the hospital.

I'll be contacting the winner of the Amanda Marronne giveaway, though.

I've got some work to do, which probably won't be book related. More like half work and half apt cleaning.

Finally, thank you ALL for the fan mail you've been sending to Simon & Schuster. I read every letter and as soon as my schedule slows, I promise you'll get a response whether you emailed or snail mailed me.

Again, I can't thank you all enough for the texts, Facebook messages, Tweets and e-mails about Kate. It means a lot and really--thank you. <3

xoxo

New Canterwood Crest vlog!

Hope you all enjoy the out takes from the Canterwood Crest shoot! :) It's fun to see the models being candid and cool--just like they are when they're not working.

And so I finally got . . .

Yep, I finally got it!! :)

My tattoo (still a little swollen) with Kate's

Ever since Kate got her tattoo about sixish months ago, I've been like, "I want one!" And we've had six months of conversation that goes something like this.

Me: I really want a tattoo.
K: You should get one!
Me: *feeling faint* Never mind! Don't want to talk about it!

A month later:

Me: I really want a tattoo.
K: I know. Let's talk about what it could be.
Me: *freaks at the thought of a needle* Ummm, later!

Sometime later:

Me: Okay, okay. Ideas?
K: What do you think of_______? (See above)
Me: OMG, and the font should be___________. (Above again)
Me: That's enough! Done! Don't want to talk about it!

And Kate put up with six months of 30 second or less conversations about my getting or not getting a tattoo. A couple of weeks ago, I was finally (with some serious convincing) able to look at fonts online and picked what I think is a gorgeous and lovely font. Then, I was like, la, la, la--I'll get... sometime.

But this Saturday turned out to be THE perfect day. Kate and I went to New York Adorned (one of the best tattoo places in NYC) and also the place where Kate got her tattoo. After paperwork and a half hour wait, I met my artist, Chad, who was funny and amazing. Shockingly, I was only a little nervous when over the past six months I would almost have a panic attack when I thought about getting a tattoo.

Kate held my hand the entire time and it took about 5 minutes. Tattoo? Done! Chris bandaged it up and three hours later, Kate took off the bandage and I had exactly what I wanted on my left wrist.

I'm proud that I was finally able to get it done and it's something I'll never regret having permanently on my body.

Prize giveaway! THE MULTIPLYING MENACE

I'm lucky to read a lot of ARCS (advanced reader copies) from Simon & Schuster. One of my new faves is the first in a series by Amanda Marrone and edited by Editor K. It's called THE MAGIC REPAIR SHOP: THE MULTIPLYING MENACE.

I read it and loooved it. So, I think you guys might, too! It doesn't come out until August 24, so yay for an early copy!

Since we had serious problems with comments last time, I'll have to screen them all. So your comment will *not* be posted until I've reviewed it and then I'll let it go through. Just comment once, like usual, and when I can, I'll read it and post it. If you'd like to be entered to win an early copy of the book, just leave a comment. :)

It's a really, really fun book and I love it!

You have until Monday, May 10th at midnight to enter. I'll post the winner that week and you'll have your book soon after. :) Be sure to check back to see if you've won so I can give you info about how to contact me. If I don't hear from you, I can't mail your prize! (US addresses only)

PS: If you sent me a book to sign, it WILL be coming to you. I've been out of town a lot and am just getting back to reader mail.

Congratulations, Kate!

(Note: this is NOT a real gun--it's a stunt gun used for a Nancy Drew cover shoot. Also, please note her signature Diet Coke in the background...)

This lovely editor, aka Kate Angelella, was promoted to Associate Editor at Simon & Schuster's Aladdin. In addition to being my editor, Kate also edits the sparkly Lauren Barnholdt and the amazing Kekla Magoon among other awesome authors. I'm superproud and thrilled that Kate was promoted. She's an amazing editor AND writer who has both a commercial and literary eye. That's hard to find--no doubt.

Congratulations, Kate! We're all so, so proud! :)

Oklahoma City conference update

It's day three (well, two and a half) in Oklahoma City. Kate's taking pitches so I hijacked her Mac (this is saying something cuz I'm a PC girl and it usually takes prodding to get me to use her computer.) But! We did our editor/author panel yesterday and I think it went well. :) I had a speech early this morning and Kate's is this afternoon. Don't know yet what the rest of our schedule is, but we've barely seen the inside of our very nice room. (Thanks, Embassy Suites!)

Our flight leaves...hmmm...don't know when tomorrow and I've got to run down to the biz center and print our boarding passes. I love that I got pulled aside at LaGuardia (I was scaaared!) and had my suitcase searched. The item that set off the detectors? A book in my suitcase. Yes, really. TSA...*shakes head*

But we've met a lot of lovely people and it's been sooo warm and nice here. Everyone's superfriendly and the conference has been a blast.