What're you doing this weekend?

I'm BURSTING with AWESOME news to share with you guys!!! It's probably going to be a little while before I can reveal it but, man, it's sooo hard not to tell! *lowers voice to a whisper . . . I wish I could and have my editor not know . . .* :)

This weekend, I'm set to writing like a crazy person at Kate's late great uncle's apartment. Initiation is gonna be GOOD. It's so, so addictive for me and I want to write all the time. I think I'll have to make some cuts or it'll be looong.

Tonight, we have dinner with a dear from of Allen's (Kate's great uncle).

Right now, we're on in the living room watching The Voice and I'm writing.

What's everyone up to? Spill!

What's everyone up to this weekend?

Happy Saturday, Team Canterwood!

What's everyone up to? Fall is in the air--that's for sure! And the weathers been, well, interesting. Brooklyn had a tornado a couple of days ago and my suburb got hit, but luckily there wasn't any damage on my street.

Got a fun weekend planned. Kate introduced me to SUPERNATURAL, so we're watching the 5th season on DVD. (She is v v v excited, lol) ;)

And we're relaxing and chilling for the weekend. I'm also working on Canterwood and as soon as the manuscript is done, I'm writing an agent query and sending them out. I've got a list started and am excited to be agented again after taking a break for about a year.

Let me know what you're all up to! :) Happy weekend!

Catching up on a busy Monday

Wow, so many of you have entered the contests--that's awesome! Keep checking last week's posts and be sure you've entered all of the giveaways. It was a great week to celebrate the release of BEST ENEMIES. Yaaay!

I wanted to share a new interview with pix and a vlog. Check here at the Girlz Like Me Website. Thanks so much to Taylor for conducting a fun, professional interview.

I spent the weekend in Balto with K, R and A and we had sooo much fun! We were at a wedding for our awesome friend and the reception was at a super cool comics museum. I was seated at the Strawberry Shortcake table--so cute!

The next couple of weeks are going to be insanely busy as I finish the draft of HOME SWEET DRAMA and start editing it. I've also got several speaking gigs, so I've got to make extra time for those and check over my presentations. As soon as I get the draft finished and turned in, I'll start responding to reader girl e-mails as they've come in. :)

Last, check out the all new Aladdin MIX site. It's adorable and I love it!

PS-Someone emailed me and said she's going as Sasha for Halloween. She asked if Sasha would wear orange nail polish. ABSOLUTELY! :)

Another Canterwood Crest photo shoot pic

I wanted to share my fave pic from the Canterwood shoot on Wednesday. I'm posing with this lovely bay horse and the famous Editor Kate. Now if you see her on the street and you want an early copy of Canterwood--chase her down. She'll love it. ;)

So. Glad. It's. Friday. But it's gonna be a working weekend. Like, crazy-working. But I'm just happy to be home and not on a plane or at an airport. I'm trying to respond to reader email (I've, um, got 15 pages of new messages to go through), but I'm working on it. You guys have been sooo patient and I really appreciate it! :) Also, if you sent me a book to sign, I mailed back a couple of them yesterday as well as responded to a couple of snail mail letters, so be on the look out for those. :) Special shout out to an awesome reader who sent me tiny plastic horses in the mail. <3 them!! Thank you!

What's everyone else doing this weekend?

Weekend plans

I've got the weekend planned in a very crazy list-like way. Okay, more like an obsessive way, but moving on...My list looks something like this:



(Hee! Funny, right?! Although, I'm totally not into Jasper, but it's cute.)

* Barnes & Noble run. I'm going out of town soon and need a sparkly plane book. I'll take the book and will leave it in my suitcase until the trip. No reading of book until the trip.

At B&N, maybe they'll have copies of Triple Fault to sign. If not, perhaps copies of the other books that I signed have sold and there are new ones. If not? Devastation, LOL. Imagine if every single copy I signed a while ago is still there. Hmmm...maybe I don't want to know! :)

* Write a *massive* chunk of Rival Revenge. Like, a supercrazy word count goal that will have a reward at the end if I hit it. Reward? Undecided. Suggestions are welcome.

* Finish Crank. My first Ellen Hopkins book and I'm in love with her writing. Plus, if you follow her on Twitter, she's the NICEST person ever. Seriously.

* Walk around the park. Haven't done that in a while. Kinda thinking walking to the subway or friends' apartment doesn't count as exercise. Sad. But I'm already making excuses as to why I won't do this because I'm, you know, on a deadline and have to work. That makes it okay.

* Start and finish final edits on Little White Lies.

* Hardcore apartment cleaning.

* Judge more entries for Girls' Horse Club fiction contest.

* Reply to reader email.

And that's some of the list. What about you guys?

Weekend plans

Friday at last! :) I've been in my apartment for exactly a week now. Wow. Kinda shocking. I'm still not used to it.

As I mentioned, I'm veeerry excited to be hanging out with Nova on Saturday at a very cool cafe in Brooklyn. I went there before with Kassie and Roy and enjoyed the vibe. It's super cute. But before I meet Nova, I plan to get up super early and:

* edit, edit, edit BEST ENEMIES to send to to EK on Monday
* drop off laundry and hope I get the right clothes back ;)
* order posters for room decoration
* something that's not yet boring--clean the apt. It's actually still fun because I keep going, "Oh, cool. Cleaning my apt." That'll wear off, I know.

I'm also dying to curl up with a superfantasticexciting ARC that I got. *sparkly ARC* I've been saving it as an end of revisions treat. Perhaps that's why I've been working so much this week...

Sunday, I've got:

* the bunch with supercool A. I'm already hyped up for Belgian waffles and sparkly drinks.
* vlogging. I am without my tripod, so it'll be interesting...it might come out very Blair Witch like.
* hopefully, if I have time, taking some pics of my fave local hang out spots.
* more editing and salivating over sparkly ARC.
* replying to fan mail. Sorry, guys! Responses are coming! Thank you, though, soo very much for emailing me. I appreciate it!
* researching local schools for visits in the fall.

Post up at Teen Fiction Cafe

Today is my day at Teen Fiction Cafe! Yay! I posted about going to see 17 Again with Zac Efron. I had SO much fun. Head on over and leave a comment! :)

Weekend movies

Saturday was busy—I was adjusting to getting back home after my trip and editing. That night, I decided okay, I’m going to watch The Golden Compass since I completely missed it in theaters and *know* I’ll love it. I was super-happy that I finally had time to watch it. Very excited about my fav actress and the dashing Daniel Craig.

I get to an hour and forty minutes in and they start to play the “this is the end of the movie, get ready to exit the theater music.” I freaking jump out of my recliner and scream (thereby scaring parents and brother who almost dropped his soda) at the TV. Oh. My. Goddess. Was that the worst moving ending ever?! Plot and camera shots were just WEIRD. The last shot of lovely NK we see is of the back of her head, we wonder if Lyra will make it to her dad in time and did the poor kids get their daemons back? Sure, we know all of this from reading the books but I want to S-E-E it on film.

I Googled The Subtle Knife and it’s *supposed* to come out in 2009, but I’m not sure if that’ll happen with Nicole’s baby on the way and the domestic box office figures. Argh.

My brother was like, “Dude, it’s just a movie, calm down.” But I was pissed. Still am, actually. (He’d be mad, too, if he read the book.)

Then I watched one of my favorite comedies with Josh Duhamel and Kate Bosworth—Win a Date with Tad Hamilton. Silly, I know, I know. But I love it. Plus, if you watch the extras, Josh moons the camera. :) Maybe rent it just for that…

Top Ten Literary Cities

In yesterday's USA Today, the book section of the paper rated the top ten literary cities. Can you guess?

Here they are in order:

Minneapolis
Seattle
St. Paul
Denver
Washington, DC
St. Louis
San Fran
Atlanta
Pittsburgh
Boston

Is your city on the list? I was a bit surprised by a couple of these, but some like San Fran and Boston were obvious to me. I read an article a few weeks ago that said San Fran was one of the fastest growing literary cities.

TGIF! What are your weekend plans? I'm revising CB and reading a new book that I got yesterday--Guerrilla PR. Next week, I'm going to review Donald Maass' The Breakout Novel, so stay tuned for that.