I Tweet Therefore I Am

Well actually, I'm not so sure about that. Truth is, the Twitterverse and I are still warming up to each other. Or rather, I'm still warming up to it. It doesn't seem to care one way or another. Or maybe it does. I'd like to hope that while I'm sleeping, hordes of tweeters are bemoaning my absence. Hash marking my name. RT ing their endless tweets of angst that I am not responding. Saying, in 140 characters or less that yes they know I don't have a shtick yet. I missed out on the *hello Twitter. taps on glass* that Maureen Johnson uses. That they have caught on and realize that I am alternately whiny and bitter and petulant when I realize that not only has half the world already read some tweet worthy publishing news tidbit and tweeted about it before I did, but 10,000 other people have retweeted it and I am now left with a lame "me too" which is noteworthy only in that it assures that I won't overtweet my character limit. That I am not an NYC hipster living in a loft but a middle of the road Texan English teacher who is at the moment wearing khaki capri pants from Anne Taylor Loft outlet and a t shirt that says ORHS Greenout which the environmental club at the school at which I teach made up as a fundraiser for their recycling efforts without even one whit of irony that they were hurting the freakin' environment more by making the tshirts. But I digress.

We argue about this, publicist Paul and I. (The tweeting, that is. Not the digressing) Or rather, he nags. I listen. He says encouraging things such as that my follower list is growing. (I hear him sighing underneath this. I know he thinks I am being purposely stubborn. Sometimes he digresses, too, and tells me how his parents are going on an Alaskan cruise and secretly I wonder if this is code for possibly you are too old to get it, Joy. In moments like this, when there is that ominous dead silence on the phone, I interject a question or two about his new puppy. I, after all, live in Texas. We may have given you George Bush, but we know how to be polite.)

But I hang in there. That is another thing about me. I am nothing but dogged in my determination. I am after all, the woman who beat every odd out there and whose book is being published in less than a month. (Dreaming Anastasia. At stores. Near you. Soon. It rocks. I tweet about that regularly but obviously at times that only I am reading. Okay, me and my 52 followers. I had more but I had to block a few because they kept tweeting about how they wanted me to click on their adult pictures. I declined. Btw, if you block someone on Twitter, you do get asked by the Twitter folk if you really mean to do this or if what you really think after your initial blocking impulse is 'nah, we're cool' which I think is rather enjoyable.)

That I guess is what the Twitterverse does not yet know about me. That in my little world here in suburbia, I am already a rock star. I am the one in line at Central Market with corn tortillas and milk and baby arugula and that new Snapple green ice tea I like so much in her cart who is nonetheless going to storm the world on 9/1. I am funny and wry and sarcastic and goofy and I've got an endless taste for kitsch and irony. If I can have both at once, I'm the happiest. (like when I imagine that those little wristbands some people like to wear really stand for What Would Joy Do? the answer to which is bitch and moan and eventually get to work) My agent says she loves me because I make her laugh. I say tell that to a certain nagging someone who thinks I should just get with the program. And then she tells me that an attitude like that won't get me that new couch I've been eyeing at Pottery Barn.

Twitterverse! Are you listening? As I just tweeted a few seconds ago, if I tweet my barbaric yawp into the Twitterverse and no one answers, have I still tweeted? We will see my little Tweets. We will see.

Til next time...

After all this time, it's almost here

That's what's popping through my head this morning. That September 1st is really almost here and Dreaming Anastasia will be on the shelves. Okay, other things are banging around my brain, too - like how proud I am that I did indeed force myself to clean the bathrooms right now and even windex the mirrors! And wow, these Rainer cherries I'm eating are really tasty. And crap, I think my sinus infection might not be fully gone. And of course, hey, I really better finish the WIP before 9/1 - is that really a possibility?

Have updated http://www.joypreble.com/ so if you go to News, you can see the events/appearances that I've got set, with more to come. Particularly thrilled to announce that beyond my launch event at The Woodlands Barnes and Noble north of Houston on 9/12, I'll be signing at the absolutely delightful Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston on 10/20 at 7 PM! And we're in the planning stages for Chicago, which is where Dreaming Anastasia is set, so yes, some time in the fall I will be back. Will announce where and when once that's all inked. Plus some book festivals and conferences. Check out the link and see for yourself!

Speaking of the launch, I'm pondering swag! Those rubber bracelets (you know - the livestrong type)? Pins? Magnets? I want something cool and fun to give away beyond bookmarks and cake and Starbucks beverages. If you've got any thoughts on this, I would love to hear them! Everyone likes a good giveaway, don't they? But I want it to be snazzy and not lame...

Getting geared up for SCBWI LA. Am totally jazzed to get to hear Sherman Alexie, Holly Black, Ingrid Law, Richard Peck and more. Plus! My favorite cowgirl and agent extraordinaire, Jen Rofe is on staff this year, presenting with fellow ABLA agent Jamie Weiss Chilton.

Speaking of Jen - check out the http://www.classof2k9.com/ blog later this week, when Kathryn Fitzmaurice (The Year the Swallows Came Early), Lauren Strasnick(Nothing Like You, October 2009) and I present our four way interview with mutual agent Jen! You will learn exciting secrets!Crafty tricks of the trade! What Jen is looking for!

My little twitter following is growing. Okay, I will never be Ashton Kutcher (who am I totally following and who should really follow me back if he knew what was good for him), but if you want the up to the second updates (until I'm back in the classroom and my up to the moment updates would begin to consist of "Got Madison to put her cell phone away." "School cop just took ____ out with his backpack. Hmm" and other scintillating tidbits that I honestly couldn't really post without being sued) come follow me at @joypreble Yes! Be one of the cool kids. @joypreble Did you get that?

And finally - just finished Sarah Dessen's Along for the Ride and once again, I'm in love with your world, Sarah D!! Your characters are perfectly and utterly real. If Auden (the MC of Along for the Ride) walked up to me on the street, I would totally know it was her. (it was she?) I've been completely sucked in as Auden stretches and grows and learns that there's more to life than academics, that snap judgments of people aren't always accurate, that maybe she's braver than she thought. And as she falls in love with handsome and enigmatic Eli Stock. If I am some day even a teensy bit as skilled at this craft as you are Sarah Dessen, I would a lucky girl.

Til next time...

To Tweet or not to Tweet?

Well, actually, it's no longer a question. Publicist Paul (do ya like the alliteration?) has twisted my little girlie arm and as of yesterday, I've jumped on the Twitter train. (There was something about how four people in Slovenia had now read my 2k9 "You Know You're a Debut Author When" post http://community.livejournal.com/classof2k9/23137.html and other peer pressure of that sort) So if you want to follow me, you can find me @joypreble in Twitter land. Pretty quiet out there right now - me and a couple of writer friends, my Sourcebooks peeps and okay, Ashton Kutcher. Why? Because I could.

And if anyone reading this could tell me in 160 characters or less (or whatever the tweet count is; I'm a newbie so I don't remember) why you like or dislike tweets, I would be every so happy.

Til next time...
(and check out the 2k9 post link!)