MCBF15 and Fifteen Minutes of Fame

One of the most enjoyable parts of the author biz is getting to hang out with readers and librarians and other authors at festivals and conferences and trade shows and the like. Nothing beats the excitement of talking to readers and answering their questions. And nothing beats the time spent with other authors who all 'get it' and share the wild and crazy ups and downs of what is mostly a dream profession and some days like a perpetual heart attack.

Plus this weekend of the Montgomery County Book Festival (MoCo Texas, that is) had the extra added  thrill of getting to be interviewed for three solid minutes on live TV on the ABC Houston morning show! Yes, author Kim O'Brien and I headed down to ABC got our three minutes of fame. It was surreal and fun and honestly not at all terrifying. Partly this was due to the fact that just as I might have gotten nervous, the troupe of Chinese New Year dancers, complete with a multi part dragon, finished their segment and trouped through the ABC lobby where we were waiting. This was so mezmerizing  that I forgot to be nervous when the producer came to get us seconds later. After that, it goes quickly and we were miked up and sat down and boom there we went, prompters scrolling for the news anchor and us chatting away as he asked questions.

And then it was back to the festival with a brilliant and heartfelt keynote by my friend and mentor, the ever awesome Ellen Hopkins and a closing keynote by the equally brilliant Andrew Smith, who never fails to make me both laugh and cry and whose writing blows me away just as his philosophy of public education makes me want to give speeches of solidarity!

I'm on a deadline right now and I honestly need to walk the dog before the ice creeps down from Dallas -- as they say it will-- so a few quick pics for you from both!
And a heartfelt thank you to librarian Natasha Benway and to MCBF board member and TV anchor Tom Abrahams for asking us to do this!

in front of ABC at 7:45 AM

In the ABC lobby after it was all over.

Chatting with Chauncy Glover

It's Paris on TV!

Our Can I Get A Witness panel: Meg Gardiner, me, Kim O'Brien

Five for Friday

Did you know next week is Valentine's Day? Already?!

And with that out of the way, the Friday five:

1. Huge congrats and awesome sparkly things to my friend and amazing author Crystal Allen, who was chosen as the Thurber House Writer in Residence for this coming summer! This is a huge honor and Crystal is wonderful writing coach and teacher, as well as the author of lovely MG/tween-ish titles HOW LAMAR's BAD PRANK WON HIM A BUBBA-SIZED TROPHY and THE LAURA LINE, both from our mutual publisher, Balzer and Bray/Harper Collins. Read more about it HERE

2. Author lunches. With cake. And industry talk. Went to one yesterday and I'm feeling recharged and focused. And not just because of the cake. Writing is such a solitary activity. It's easy to be neurotic some days. Most days. Well, maybe that's just me, but I don't think so. Anyway, it's always a true gift to hang out with other people who are battling the same battles.

3. Okay, so maybe possibly Scandal has jumped the shark for me with this new #saveOlivia plot. Because seriously? The most powerful man in the world is afraid of the VP and all his crazy machinations? Not working for me. Not even as over the top satire, which I don't think Shonda Rimes means it to be. If you do, Shonda, then, okay. Cool. Your dialogue is still stunning. But the plot is the kind of thing that I fear my editors would toss back at me and say, really? I was, however, relieved that Olivia was able to get a clean outfit and have her hair blown out. Although honestly, I like Olivia's hair when it's gone rogue. Just clean it up and it's just fine. But I know that's not Olivia. Which is a whole interesting discussion of its own, perhaps for another day.

4. So excited for two other author friends! The very kind and very talented Michael Northrop has a new series out, TOMB QUEST, from Scholastic. And book one, Book of Dead, just debuted on the NYTimes Bestseller's List! Hooray!!! You can grab a copy at your favorite bookstore. Or one of my favorites, Blue Willow: http://www.bluewillowbookshop.com/node/76350

And the delightful Cory Oakes from Austin has a new middle grade out from Sourcebooks, DINOSAUR BOY! http://www.bluewillowbookshop.com/node/77457

5. Getting excited for two upcoming book festivals: Montgomery County Book Festival, north of Houston in The Woodlands will be 2/21. I get to hang out with a bunch of my favorite authors and bloggers and readers and librarians. And the two keynotes are both authors I admire so greatly: Ellen Hopkins and Andrew Smith. So hooray for that! Then on 2/28, it's off to Corpus Christi for the first ever Teen Book Fest by the Bay!

And now that I just spilled my coffee, I'd say it's time to go.
Happy Friday.

Five for Friday plus Nathan Fillion

Happy Friday! Happy Spring!
Here in Houston we're trying for spring. My azaeleas are blooming and it's no longer dipping into the 30s or below, but it still feels half-hearted with cold fronts still pouring through. (Yes, I know. Some of you are still getting snow. I grew up in Chicago. Once we had a full on blizzard on April Fool's Day.

To the five!

1. YA books I'm currently obsessed with!

• Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith --- Brilliant! Funny! Giant praying mantises taking over the US in apocalyptic fashion, with ground zero, so to speak, in Ealing, Iowa. A sixteen year old boy named Austin Szerba. It's about science gone bad, and middle America and sex and love and teenage boys...It defies description actually-- in the best of ways--  so I'll let this review from the NYTimes speak for me: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/books/review/grasshopper-jungle-by-andrew-smith.html?_r=0
• This Song Will Save Your Life, by Leila Sales-- sad, funny, lovely. I love Elise Dembowski, who is smart and funny and wry and different and incapable (mostly for all the best reasons) of fitting in at high school. But she loves music and stumbles into DJing at this pop up dance club… and finds herself in the process. I'm loving this book and Elise's voice so much. (My one quibble comes from the very broad strokes it paints of the high school experience. In my personal teacher experience, rarely are the bullies so obvious as they are in fictional treatments. But no matter. I LOVE THIS book.

2. Finally got to see Frozen! Yes, I'm woefully behind. So behind that I knew most of the soundtrack but hadn't seen the actual movie. Loved it. Princess Elsa! Princess Anna! And mostly Olaf and Sven. Olaf's song and dance about summer? I could watch that dimwitted little snowman a million times over.

3. In my own book news, THE A-WORD is almost here. Launch party is now planned at Blue Willow Bookshop on 5/17 at 2 PM. There's a link in the Events/Appearances page of this blog. I am so thrilled to bring this book into the world. So happy to be making books with Soho Press. And I'm almost, almost done with the last of the revisions for FINDING PARIS. (Balzer and Bray/Harper Collins). Two sisters. A crazy scavenger hunt road trip. A very cute boy. Las Vegas! LA! And some dark and twisty secrets. And some new projects and other stuff that I can't quite say yet… Yeah. It's been busy.

4. Real Housewives of NYC is back! I'm definitely team Carole these days. And in other TV obsessions: Blacklist! It's not perfect but James Spader as Reddington makes up for every moment where this show can't quite decide if it's this carefully plotted character driven mystery or a procedural. But omg, I love this show. I love that we know that black ops agent Lizzy's husband is a Russian spy and she doesn't! Although Lizzy! Red keeps telling you not to trust him… As for Castle, well, Nathan Fillion, I would watch you read a grocery list. I really would. But the show is losing my attention. Much better? The Americans on FX, which, come to think of it, seems to have loaned a bit of its plot lines over to Blacklist… And Vampire Diaries. Damon. 'Nuff said.

5. Also Tina on Bob's Burgers. My friend Beth made me watch. "You will love Tina," she said. Beth always knows! So yeah. Tina's horrible. I absolutely adore her.

And since now I'm thinking about Nathan Fillion and wishing that Castle was still holding my attention the way it used to, I'll leave you with this, also pointed out to me by pal Beth. 90's Nathan! You are welcome.