Hopped up on iced coffee

...with lots to say. Bear with me, I've been cooped up under deadlines. It's been a while since I've "talked" to anyone other than the dog.

Spring has finally sprung here in NYC (note jaunty sunglasses), of which the doggie keeps reminding me by insisting on taking her breakfast to the patio. She's such a diva, but seeing as how she's been sick over the weekend, I'm just pleased to see her eating again.

It's been a shockingly hectic (but pleasantly so) few weeks for the Ostow-Jones-Harlan clan. GETTIN' LUCKY released, and I got to read from the book at the latest Teen Author Reading Night, whilst sitting next to the lovely, sweet, snarky, and brilliantly talented Cassandra Claire (CITY OF BONES), aka my newest girl crush.

EMILY GOLDBERG was inaugurated into the NYPL's Books for the Teen Age, which was shockingly flattering, since it means she will be keeping company with works by the likes of Scott Westerfeld, David Levithan, Maureen Johnson, and other masters of the craft. Oh, and the paperback cover is girly and hilarious. Viva los Razorbills!

An unexpected by-product of the listing has been several invitations to speak to high school students at various outposts of the NYPL. I must confess, preternaturally literate teenagers terrify me. But I guess I'll have to wing it.

Mr. Harlan has been having a pretty good run of things of late himself. He and a group of investors recently acquired an internet marketing company that will bring in a fair amount of "passive income" (since when are we old enough to use terms like "passive income?" Gross), and will free him up to pursue his film projects without fear of bouncing the rent checks. We have also learned that his latest film production, Tehilim (Psalms), will be premiering at Cannes as an official selection In Competition. This is a big deal. It will be up against movies by Gus Van Sant, Michael Moore, and the Coen brothers. This greatly increases our chances of finding US distribution, as well as funding for future projects.

Oh--and he finally started writing his screenplay. Which, when I type it, sounds gross and phony and Hollywood-esque, but I assure you is the real deal: super interesting and thought-provoking. It seems his writer's block has finally lifted. Yahoo!

And since springtime is of course synonymous with change, Miss J and I will soon be relocating permanently down to 60 Leroy. We will miss our girl's nights of slasher films and white zinfandel up at studio 1211, but the downtown apt is much better appointed for my working, anyway. Oh--and it comes with that cute roommate-boy, too.

My mother is feeling much better since her health scare a few months ago; alas, we can't seem to convince her that smoking + previous pulmonary embolism = bad, bad news. My brother caught her sneaking a cig early one morning last week and FLIPPED. Which is, I suppose, one of the good things about him still living at home....For Mothers' Day I'm going to buy her a Costco-sized box of chewing gum.

And speaking of my brother...it looks as though the two of us have indeed sold our graphic novel hybrid project, currently titled I'M WITH THE TRIBE. My fantabulous agent is working out the deats so I shall refrain from any officialities, but stay tuned.

In the meantime, CRUSH DU JOUR is finally put to bed, my newest proposal is making the rounds among my brutally honest, but completely irreplaceable first readers, and I'm winding down on the Penguin project that I've been working on with Noah. It's a rare few weeks of peace and quiet before I have to dive into TRIBE. But that project has been percolating for so long, and is so personal to me, that I'm truly looking forward to getting started.

This week is Birthday Week for Noah and myself; April 26th and the 29th, respectively. Due to our abundance of parental-types, there will be festive dinners galore, culminating in a fiesta (complete with pinatas and door prizes) at 60 Leroy on Friday the 27th. In the NYC area? You should stop by.

Vermont College has posted its final faculty roster for the summer residency, and my classmates and I are all abuzz. I must say, I'm eager to get back. My phone check-in with adviser Kathi Appelt was inspiring and invigorating. She is the rockingest.

It's prom season, as well, and the New York Teen Author Prom actually made Gawker's hit list last week. If you missed their coverage, check it out. YES, we are all victims of arrested development. But if immaturity and adolescent angst are wrong, I don't want to be right.

The beautiful weather has made me feel guilty about not-running. So I'm thinking of taking up running again. Of course, I'm thinking about it from the sunny, sunny patio, with a cocktail in hand, but yes--the thought is there. I'm excited for cotton sundresses--all of the the comfort of loungewear, but the appearance of having gotten dressed in the morning. Perfection.

Apologies for the massive babble; as I say, I've just emerged from Deadlineland and my eyes are still adjusting to the sunlight.

Happy, lazy Sundays to us all....

Let's re-rethink this "athlete" thing

I just picked up my T-shirt and number for the 15K I'm running tomorrow. Imagine my surprise and chagrin that the T-shirt boldly proclaims, "THE SOUTH'S TOUGHEST 15K." Was I notified of this? I think not. What does it mean? Is it uphill both ways? Will the other runners try to knock me down with their elbows like in the roller derby? Isn't it bad enough that it's a 15K in the first place??? I think I will drive the course this afternoon and make sure no one's passed out on the side of the road.

Saturday morning update: I can't do it. I've been sick. I finally went to the doctor yesterday. I hoped against hope I'd be well enough to run this morning, but alas. Now I'm coming to terms with the fact that if you're committed to anything over the long haul, sometimes it won't work out, and you have to try again. Check back here for the triumphant return of Iron Jenn. *cough*

Research: Can it be fun?

Hi everybody! I’m so excited to be included on this blog, in the company of such amazing authors. Since this is my first post, I wanted to very briefly introduce myself. My name is Wendy Toliver, and my first Simon Pulse Romantic Comedy, The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren, is coming out this December.

In the meantime, I’m busy working on a new book, and I’ve run into a few things I need to research.

Research. The word conjures up all sorts of images, and most of them are unpleasant. Sitting in a dusty library surrounded by walls of books, cooped up in your room surfing the Internet and hoping what you find is factual and not someone’s prank to the world, making phone calls to other parts of the country when you’d rather be chatting with your BFF.

So I do everything in my power to make my research actually fun. For example, if a character is going to do something I’ve never done before, I try it out. In one of my books, a character of mine takes snowboarding lessons. So, just to make sure everything was totally legit, I learned how to snowboard. Another fun way to research is to go somewhere, like on a vacation. Many authors do this to get the right feeling of a place they recreate in their books. One of my stories takes place in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I’ve been there a million times, but once I started writing about it, it was amazing how many details started popping out at me. Another way I make research fun is talking to people in the know. This came in very handy with The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren when I needed my neighbor who’s a nurse to help me realistically create a hospital-based scene.

And what about watching TV, movies, or reading novels for research? That’s not so terrible, now is it?

So my question for you today is this: What do you do to make research ( for a book, a school report, an article, etc.) fun? Have you ever learned something that has contributed to the project you’re researching AND something else in your life?

Doing the Cannes-Cannes

I've definitely done my fair share of traveling this winter, from Palm Beach to Vermont to Lake Placid and Williamstown (phew!). Yup, being a writer sure is a flexible job! All I need is a wireless network, an electrical outlet, and a fresh cup of coffee....

Now that I'm home, though, the past month or so has been spent happily planted in New York City, not-so-patiently waiting out the leonine ides of March (and April. Seriously: snow in *April?*). And as much as I love, love, love my job, bumming around the house in my pajamas while the weather rages outside? Is starting to get old.

Thankfully, there is a light at the end of the tunnel; Boyfriend Noah's most recent film was selected to premiere in competition at the Cannes film festival (that's my man behind the camera in the above photo). Not only will I get to spend a week in the South of France hobnobbing with international indie filmmakers, but I'll even be walking the red carpet at the premiere!

It's a far cry from pajamas, for sure. Have laptop (um, and deadlines, of course), will travel. I can't wait!

KCAs and Celebrities!

Pardon the huge delay in blogging, but I have been in Los Angeles at the Kids Choice Awards! The picture here is really, really blurry because it was taken with my cell phone, but that's ME AT THE KIDS CHOICE AWARDS! I am thirty years old (ack, let's call it twenty-ten), and I have dreamed for two-thirds of them of going to the KCAs. Finally, this year, thanks to my good old "day job", I got to go.

The best part of all, though, is that working for Nickelodeon got me into the super-fun after-party. Rock-climbing, dancing, catering by swanky chefs and not-as-swanky-but-still-very-yummy Burger King, and celebrities milling about (a few I remember: The Naked Bros. Band, Devon Werkheiser, Emma Roberts, Nelly, Chris Tucker, and a whole bunch of tween/teen-types on Disney shows like Hannah Montana, etc., that I don't watch).

So yes, I had a lot of celeb-sightings last weekend. In fact, the entire Houston Rockets basketball team was staying in my hotel (hellloooooo up there, Yao Ming).

I am definitely not an L.A. person, but every once in a while, the brush with fame so close to Hollywood feels mighty fine. I guess that's what inspired me to write Dancing Queen. Liv, too, is a little celebri-obsessed and gets a little too close to fame for comfort.

Now that I'm back in New York, I have to go back to pretending that I don't care when I see superstars on the street (it's what we do in New York...I don't know why, but it always cracks me up). Who do you wish you could see on the street? Any dream celeb-sightings?

Later,
E.

Let’s rethink this “athlete” thing...

On April 21 I’m running in the Statue to Statue 15-K (that’s almost 10 miles, yo) here in Birmingham. The starting point is the statue of Vulcan, the second-largest statue in the United States (after the Statue of Liberty) and the world’s largest iron statue. I’m fond of Vulcan. One of my earliest memories is of coming to Birmingham from the small town where I grew up and riding my tricycle around the base of the statue. Later I realized Vulcan has a naked fanny, and that’s just funny. A few years ago Vulcan was in disrepair, and people became afraid his finger or shoulder or the odd buttcheek would come crashing down upon the tourists below. So Robinson Iron from my old hometown was paid to restore him. (When I was a teenager, I babysat for the Robinsons’ children and Great Danes.)

The finish line for the race is the Statue of Liberty. I’ll bet you thought we didn’t have one of these! She used to decorate the Liberty National Insurance building downtown. A few years ago the statue was moved and the suburb of Liberty Park was built around her. I used to live out there, so seeing the statue at the end of the race would probably feel like coming home to me—if it weren’t for the ten miles of hills between Ms. Liberty and Vulcan. When I see her crown glinting in the morning sun, I will probably not be thinking, “Homecoming!” I will be thinking, “I need to sit down.”

See, my personal best is 7 miles, a week and a half ago. Then I pooped out, and caught a cold, and then there were a lot of Cadbury Creme Eggs. So I’m not sure I can make 10 miles. But I’m going back to my training regimen tomorrow. And I keep reminding myself that hard as running a 15-K may be, it’s not as hard as writing a novel. Once you’ve finished writing a novel, you really can’t tell yourself you’re not capable of accomplishing the impossible.

Roman Holiday!

I'm back from a FAB trip to Rome, Italy. Spent $$ buying purses (because naturally, that's why EVERYONE goes to Italy!) Ate a ton of gelato, went through the Borghese Gallery (for the second time in two years, because it ROCKS), watched the Rome Marathon from inside the Colosseum, went out along the Appian Way to check out the ancient Christian catacombs, and listened to happy Irishmen singing at a bar while watching their rugby team play Italy.

The cool thing about travel for me is that, in addition to learning about how others live, you see things you don't expect, like singing Irishmen in Rome. Or, for instance:



(Hint: If you click on it, you'll get to see the enlarged, full-on view, including pig detail!)

This is a panini (sandwich) stand located just outside the ancient walls of Rome, near the Appian Way. It had great looking sandwiches in the case, as well as freshly-cooked "humburgers", fries, and soda. What the chick on top is doing...well, I'm sure it's great for sales. As was the music blaring from two monster speakers located right over where you have to stand to place your order and pay. See what I mean, though? Unexpected.

In a few weeks, I'm heading to London, and I'll be keeping my eyes open for more of the unexpected. In the meantime--what surprising things have YOU encountered on a trip? An odd event? A store that wasn't what you imagined, judging from the outside? A tour guide with a strange habit?

The unexpected is the stuff of good stories!

Snow Day!

There is a high school senior in my home who is very happy today (despite the fact that it is his '89 Volvo buried under the foot of snow). Yes, it is April here. But today we get to stay home and play one more time before the chance of snow days disappear. Best of all, for my senior, he will not have to make up the snow day at the end of the year -- he's graduating!

I have also realized that this may be my last 'official' snow day. As a writer who works from home, snow days are just days when I absolutely cannot escape to the grocery store for a few moments of distraction. The real magic comes from a day when the kids wake up to find out they don't have to go to school and they are free (well, after the shoveling and snowblowing...and this year, trekking to the local pizza place on foot to bring back two large pepperoni, extra crispy). The joy lies over the house in the same way as the fluffy blanket of snow.

Ah well. I'm going to relish it while I can.

Those of you with flowers and budding trees -- enjoy! But I don't envy you. I'll get my flowers by late May. There's something about a surprise April snow day that cannot be explained to those who have never experienced it.

Kelly

Stick a fork in it

...the revised CRUSH DU JOUR manuscript is done, done, done. For now, at least. I think we have one more round of edits to go.

The changes were pretty substantial re: set up and characterization; I sort of wished they weren't valid (especially at 3am when my brain started to dribble out of my ears), so that I could blow my editor off and just go to sleep. But my editor, she is a wise one, and so ignoring her was out of the question.

She's also the one who pays me, so....

I slept ALL morning (sometimes it's especially great to be self-employed). It's gray and rainy and completely miserable in NYC, but I still feel celebratory. Tonight I'm reading at the Teen Author Night over at the Tompkin's Square NYPL. Not sure about the attendance given the weather, and people off spending Passover with their families. But what can you do? Still I forbear.

My favorite news of all, however, is that now I get to turn my attentions to my next Vermont College packet. Which involves snuggling up in bed and reading YA for the next few days. This is school? This is learning? I am too, too lucky.

Book signing photo!

It's all about the shoes.

signs of spring

In my last post, I moaned about winter. Someone must have heard my griping, because in the past few days the weather in NYC has been a dream. And I've been doing lots to celebrate.

First order of business: Shake Shack. For those of you who don't yet know about this divine place, you must discover it. Shake Shack was dreamed up by fancy chef Danny Meyer, so the food is delicious, but it's designed to look and feel like a roadside or beach-side food shack in the summertime (and it's pretty cheap). It's a little hut in the middle of lovely Madison Square Park, which is only open seasonally (March through October, I believe), serving the yummiest burgers, hot dogs, fries, shakes, ice cream, and "concretes" (frozen custard with mix-ins like Oreo cookies). You take your food to one of the many little tables or benches and enjoy eating either beneath a cloudless blue sky or, as I did with my boyfriend the other night, an array of twinkling nights. Springtime perfection...

I also did my first round of spring shopping: for SHOES! As anyone who knows me can attest, I have a real thing for shoes. And because I love shoes so much I tend to wear mine to death, so I need to start over with a fresh batch every season (at least, that's what I tell myself). Yesterday I purchased round-toed polka-dot cork wedges (white with black polka dots), gold ballet flats with suede-tipped toes, and red flats with white polka dots (can you tell I'm going to be very much about polka dots this summer?). I find there are few things more satisfying in life than arriving home with a big bag full of new shoes, knowing that in (hopefully) a few weeks time, the weather will graciously allow you to wear them.

The other reason for all this reckless behavior (burgers! shoes!) is that I've handed in the first draft of my manuscript (woo-hoo!) so I now have a mini-break while I wait for my editor to get back to me. As soon as she does, I'll have to return to the grind for a little bit, so I feel I better soak up this freedom while I can. It's kind of like nice weather in New York: you know it can't be forever, so you try to enjoy every moment.

Back to Brooklyn!

I was born in Brooklyn. That's more than a statement--it's kind of a badge of honor. Brooklyn may be one of the five boroughs, but it's a world of its own, with its special neighborhoods, foods, and even its own unique language. (And it also has our fearless editor, Michelle now!) It's a unique place in the universe, and even though my family moved away when I was just nine, I still have an attachment to the place. Maybe it's because I was the third generation Brooklynite in my family! With roots like that, I guess you could say my family Tree Grows in Brooklyn --one of my fave books, of course!
I've been living in Manhattan for so long now, though, that I'd sort of forgotten where those roots were. So I was really glad to go to Bay RIdge Brooklyn this weekend for a signing at a store called The Bookmark Shoppe. Sure it was an hour on the R train each way, but it was worth it. The minute I went above ground, I was greeted by the smell of the best pizza I've ever eaten (South Beach diet be damned!) and some of the nicest people I've ever met. This store is not part of a chain. It's a neighborhood bookstore where the owners literally know all of their customers by name. And even more importantly, they know books! Kids came in with their moms to talk about my Katie Kazoo books for younger kids, and some young teens stopped by to pick up copies of She's Got the Beat amd talk about . . .books! We had a blast. In short, they made me feel at home. Which is where I was, sort of, I guess.. .

Simon Pulse Ro-Com Mini-Event!

I'll be signing MAJOR CRUSH on Saturday, March 31 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Wynfrey Hotel at the Galleria in Birmingham. As for Simon Pulse Ro-Com authors, it'll be just lil' old me. But YA author Caridad Ferrer will be signing too, as well as lots of authors of adult romances: Linda Howard, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and 25 others. So bring your mom!

Don't be afraid. If Jennifer misspells her own name while signing your book, she'll buy you a new one! And that's a promise.

Jean

Ack, we found out over the weekend that my mother-in-law Jean has a bad form of cancer, and it's really thrown us for a loop. The worse assessment only gives her three months. She's really terrific and has never really been sick before. She's in her eighties, so it's not the tragedy it is with a younger person. I should mention that I've been married 25 years, so Jean is a big part of my life. Flying out in shifts, tough work ahead.

CG

Speaking of pets...

So, it turns out that Bridget Jones has doggie separation anxiety.

This is not a joke.
After the umpteenth time coming home to find my mail shredded and my bed turned inside out (NO. idea. How she does that.), Noah decided it was time to be proactive. While I slumped over on the couch, managing only a weak, rueful shake of the head, Noah hit Google. Her symptoms, such as they are, only seem to take place when we are not at home. Tendency to bite or chew? Yes. Tendency to have "accidents" inside, even after housebreaking? Check. Becoming overly excited when we come home? Well, yeah, but that one's really cute so it doesn't bother me that much.

If your dog has one or more of those symptoms, he/she has clinical anxiety disorder.

My dog has ALL of those symptoms.

Since the treatment seems to be either doggie Prozac (which...no. Just...no.) or behavior modification, I now find myself staging elaborate "practice leaving" sessions wherein I zip myself up in my parka and perch down on the couch. I'm also not allowed to make a big fuss when I leave or when I return. It's all about playing hard to get with Miss Jones.

Have I mentioned that my grandfather was a fairly esteemed psychoanalyst (in as much as an analyst *can* be "esteemed;" I mean, he wasn't Freud), and that seventy-five percent of my family members are either therapists or extremely well-therapized? So I guess it's only natural that I'd end up with the most neurotic pooch in the Tri-state area.

Obviously I adore her anyway.

Does that mean I'm an "enabler?"

The Great Pet Hunt

First--Jen, you amaze me. I am so computer-fixated that I think I've forgotten how to write longhand. (Seriously. No one can read my writing unless I s..l..o..w....w..a..y.....d..o..w..n. And I'm too impatient for that!)

Here, I'm on what my husband is now referring to as the Great Pet Hunt. I recently lost my dear baby, a cat named Quincy. I've had The Mighty Quinn for twelve years, ever since I got out of school (in other words, the pet came before the husband, a fact of which the cat was WELL aware.) It's been hard not having him around the house. How can it not affect your daily life when you're constantly being attacked by a twenty pound, completely blind Siamese cat with a yowl that stops traffic? I thought, at first, that it'd be a long, long time before I got another pet, because I loved MY SPECIFIC cat.

But...now I want the pitter patter of little animal feet around my house again. My cat was my writing buddy--he'd crash on my knees and occasionally take swipes at the laptop. He also knew to howl for food, which was good because it got me off the couch every once in awhile. And I am ready at this point to find a new writing buddy. One who needs to find a home and lots of love.

This brings me to the Great Pet Hunt. I'm going to make a confession: I'm addicted to cruising Petfinder.com. It's the best site in the world for those who want to adopt a pet. You can search rescue centers and humane societies in your local area for all kinds of pets in need of love. But just "cruising" Petfinder is torture. I want to adopt ALL of them! Of course, that's impossible. Plus, I'm going on a trip next week, and another in April, and I think it'd be unfair to a pet to adopt them and go on two vacations right away. So Not Cool. But can I keep myself off of Petfinder? NO.

So when I'm not here, and I'm not writing...chances are, I'm going to be Pet Finding. Wish me luck!

Just call me low-tech Echols

When I was a teen reading YA novels, I pictured Lois Duncan and Paula Danziger starting on page 1 and happily typing all the way through to page 300. My own writing process has not turned out this neatly. I tend to start on page 1, jump to 300, muddle about in the 200s, and write a clean final draft of pages 59 to 94 before finally making it back to 2. Also, I write everything out longhand before I type it in.

My longhand habit began with my first novel. I started this novel in a creative writing class at Auburn University and finished it at my first job after college, as a copyeditor for the Montgomery newspaper. Every day on my dinner hour, I would walk a few blocks to sit on the steps of the Alabama state capitol building, eat a peanut butter sandwich I’d brought from home, and write. I didn’t buy my first computer until revising this novel on a typewriter nearly drove me insane.

Now I have a laptop, but I still feel much more comfortable writing longhand. For instance, here’s a page from THE BOYS NEXT DOOR, coming out in early summer. Pink, red, and purple ink on one page--I change ink colors when I get stuck, so this must have been a bad day.

Here’s a good day--pages and pages and pages of orange.

Uh-oh, heart doodles! This means I was stuck in the second degree.

Third-degree stuck: star doodles! Something in the book didn't make sense to me logically, so I drew nice neat five-point stars and hoped my brain would follow.

And this? Wow. A psychologist would have a field day.

A braggy-pantsy moment...

...if you'll indulge me. I have been informed by my lovely Penguin editor that EMILY GOLDBERG has been named a NYPL 2007 Books for the Teen Age Selection.

I do love those teen agers (and the librarians who voted, as well)!

California Dreamin'

This is where I was last night. I could have been slipping on ice after a snow/sleet storm. But I wasn't. I was on Mission Beach, with the dh. And we got to see this.

Sometimes other people are handy, you know. My dh was interested in seeing a sunset in the West. Me? I just like the beach and didn't know what he was yadda-yadda-ing about.

Now I know.

I'm so lucky he wanted to see this sunset, because now I got to see it (and I have the pictures to prove it, thanks to him, too :-)

These are the kind of moments that make it into our books, when we're authors, too, not just our memories. You know the moments I mean: the ones that sneak up on you, the ones you weren't expecting, the ones you'll never forget.

Oh well. On to San Juan Capistrano and then to L.A., San Francisco and back here, to San Diego. Three weeks of fun, work, surprises.

We've already planned to spend another evening at the beach, watching the sun set.

What's your best 'surprise' memory?

Kelly

Book Release Obsession

Okay, people, Erin Downing here and this is the last time I'll talk about my new book for a while. But since February 20-something was, officially, Prom Crashers' in-store release date, I've decided I need one more post for self-promotion. So here it is:

PROM CRASHERS IS OUT IN STORES!!! NOW!! THIS WEEK... TODAY...TOMORROW...GO!

Whew. I feel better. It's relaxing to write in all CAPS. It feels as comforting as shouting, which, let's all be honest, is pretty fun to do. HOLLER! YELL! My new book is out in stores! Rumor has it that a few of the big book chains have some pretty nifty prom-themed tables and endcaps up in store, so it should be pretty easy to find.

I wrote this book in just a few short months last year, which means I spent countless hours with a big iced coffee and my Mac and grew really close to the characters - I sort of slipped into their world and didn't come back out until the first draft was emailed to my editor. I really enjoyed writing it, mostly because I loved my own prom (if you read the bio at the back of Prom Crashers, you'll find out that I have been to a number of school formals in my lifetime...it was a bit of an addiction for me in high school). But real life could never compare to the proms that Emily and her friends crash in the book. They meet some serious crazies...

I hope you enjoy the book - if you have something to say, please review it somewhere. Authors love to hear what their readers think, so speak your mind.

Later,
E.