Take 1

(No I haven’t quit using the treadmill desk… I’m just trying to keep it from being the centerpiece of every blog, tweet, and Facebook update I post.)

Take 2

I’m writing this post Thursday night because tomorrow I’m going to SCBWI-LA, the international conference of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. There are some interesting workshops I’m going to try to attend, and some people I want to meet and hang out with–other than that I anticipate a fairly loose schedule. What does one do at these things? I’ll find out and let you know.

Take 3

I feel like I’m beating not just a dead horse but a dead wooden horse that nobody cared about in the first place, but I have to say it: So You Think You Can Dance is just not doing it for me this season. I totally blame the stage. It takes the dancers away from the audience, so instead of performing smaller routines with more heart, the dancers are given these huge, acrobatic routines to do. Is it any wonder there have been 3 dancers out because of injuries? Bring back the old stage. And the old judging panel, while we’re at it.

Take 4

Those of you who met me through my sewing blog might remember Mary Sue, my fashion-aware friend, the angel on my shoulder when I go shopping. (Unfortunately, Target provides you with a devil for your other shoulder as you enter the store.) Anyway, she came over the other day and we went through my closets. And I mean we went through them the way Winston would go through a bowl of Cheerios. Fast and brutal. She would pull clothes off the hanger while I was still whinily trying to justify them. I ended up taking 5 giant bags of stuff to Goodwill. And it feels so good! Everything that we took out was stuff I either didn’t wear or shouldn’t wear.

I was inspired to do it by Six Items or Less, a 30-day experiment a bunch of people did in which they tried to wear only six items of (non-undergarment) clothes. Now, six seems a little extreme to me. But being down out of the 200s is probably a good thing.

Take 5

There’s a new AuthorMix up today! It’s a Speed Round, a quick shot of goofiness. Check it out here! (And if you enjoy the AuthorMix videos, please consider blogging, tweeting, or otherwise spreading the word about them.)

Take 6

While cleaning out my closet, we removed a box from the lowest cubby in a corner, leaving an open cubbyhole at ground level. I decided to see what would happen if I put Winston’s blanket in there. He instantly climbed in and fell asleep. For some reason I think it’s hilarious that my dog is in the closet. Except earlier today, I slid the doors over to find something to wear, and a couple of minutes later, Winston comes pushing his way out through all my clothes. Oops!

Take 7

The other day, I went to breakfast with Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, who are two of my guests in AuthorMix and the authors of Beautiful Creatures, which was one of Amazon.com’s top 10 books for 2009; and Vania, a book blogger-turned-book trailer producer. It was so fun and I got the best cupcake ever. Mostly, I was enthralled and inspired by Margie and Kami’s utter passion for books. These are two women you want in your corner, believe you me. They could get their own house at Hogwarts. I don’t know what it would be called but it would be awesome.

Cheerio, all! Happy weekend!

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2. Gloomy Sunday
3. My Dog Rules

Come on by and check out our first video!

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1. Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.
2. The ones that got away.
3. Cry for help, non-betrayal pledge, circus dogs.

My guests include authors Melissa de la Cruz, Cecil Castellucci, Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia, and… me! It was so much fun to get together and just chat about different topics, like high school, publication, our favorite books, writing… I wanted to share that with all of our readers!

My second bit of news is that Book 2 has a title!

Ready?

The sequel to Bad Girls Don’t Die is called From Bad to Cursed!

The book is due out next spring and I must say I had a complete ball writing it. Oh, sure, there were the deadlines that kept me up through the wee hours of the morning, but overall it was so great to continue my characters’ journey… and now we’re on to Book 3!

(Please leave comments at the original post!)

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1. A big news day!
2. I’m going to finish this draft if I have to step on a hundred leprechauns to do it.
3. A verdict! And wish me luck…

(If you prefer not to watch the video, you can read the news in text form right here!)

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1. Multitasking schmultitasking.
2. Harry Potter fun stuff… (no spoilers on this page)
3. Cry for help, non-betrayal pledge, circus dogs.

Take, the First
So. Treadmill desk. I believe that as of yesterday I have walked 20 miles this week. It’s going swimmingly (walkingly?). The only thing I find I can’t do very well on the treadmill is anything graphics or design-based. It’s like that part of my brain is needed for walking and can’t be spared to manipulate graphics. Plus, it’s hard to be precise with a mouse when you’re moving. But writing, blogging, tweeting, Facebook, reading other people’s blogs… those can all be done very easily. In fact, if I’m in passive mode–Facebook, for instance–I amp up the speed a little. I haven’t gone more than 2 mph yet (which is pretty slow–if I were on the treadmill without the computer I would typically be walking at 4 mph), but I don’t think I will as long as my laptop is wedged into the keyboard tray.

I know that I for one was very interested in seeing actual data from people who use treadmill desks, so at some point I will gather some together in case anyone is curious.

This post, ironically, I am writing from my desktop. Why, you ask? No good reason. *grumble, grumble* Fine! I’ll go get on the treadmill. *sigh*

Take, the Second
(Yes, I’m on the treadmill now.) I am SO excited, because I am very close to being able to announce the title of Book 2! I just need to register the domain name first, because that’s how life is these days. But any minute now, I’ll be popping out with it.

Take, the Third
How excited am I about Mad Men? VERY! I love that show. It’s like a waterfall of soothing elevator music that just flows over you in a wash of lazy hipness… unlike the other show I love, Big Love, which is starting to feel like a waterfall of crazy lemonade poured on your head while you sleep.

Take, the Fourth
I am working very hard on another Semi-Secret project that I will probably unveil over the weekend. It’s something very exciting that I have been planning for a while, and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do! So stay tuned for a post about it tomorrow or Sunday.

Take, the Fifth
July is turning out to be a DISMAL reading month. Not because of the books I’m reading, which are not dismal, but because of how few of them there are. I read 13 books in May, and I’ll be lucky to make it to five in July. Yikes. I think it’s because I’m trying to read about six at once. So maybe within the first week of August I will have finished six books.

I just have a really hard time prioritizing, you know? Certain library books can’t be renewed, so those are at the top of the list. And then there’s my philosophy of not reading the same genre/category all in a row, which has kind of gone out the window (I’m thinking of adopting the term “JulYA” so it seems like I planned it). Plus, I have tons of great books on my bookshelves, but I feel guilty reading those if I have library books. But every time I go to the library I get more books.

And don’t even get me started on the audiobook backlog!

Take, the Sixth
Anyone going to the SCBWI-LA conference? I am! I have no idea what to expect. I was just told that it will be fun, and I hate being on Twitter and seeing hashtags for something I’m not attending when it’s a ten minute drive from my house.

If you are going, you are hereby ordered to say hi to me and be my friend, because I will be wandering around like a lost goat in the mountainside.

Take, the Seventh
For years, Winston has been trying to eat dead bees and getting stung in his mouth. This is not just a heartbreaking habit but a costly one. I’ve often wondered what it would take for him to actually LEARN from the experience–”dead bee = pain”–but Winston is not the most intuitive fellow and the lessons have gone unheeded.

Until now… kind of.

The other day, just as he was getting ready to go up the stairs to the street, he picked up a dead bee (which I had ignored, thinking it was a dead beetle) and got stung (a little sting, I think, because the stinger didn’t leave the bee). “Will he ever learn?” I once again wondered. This time, the answer is YES! He learned! He ate a dead bee and got stung and now… he is afraid of the stairs.

Happy Friday!

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Lately I’ve had some crazy dreams. A couple of nights ago, I was so aware of being completely bored and disgruntled by my dreams. Usually they’re at least sort of intriguing, so a night full of boredom and dullness really made me mad. I woke up in the middle of the night thinking, “Thank God! I can start a new dream!”

But last night’s was probably the funniest (or weirdest?) dream-awareness I’ve ever had. And I’m pretty sure I can say that it comes directly from my waking life these days.

There was some situation in progress–I can’t for the life of me remember what it was. But as the dream went on, I gained an overarching awareness that there was no logical conclusion to this dream.

“What can the third act be?” I thought. “There’s no possible way for this to wrap up that is satisfying and interesting.”

Yes, my subconscious self was analyzing the narrative drive of my dream.

Is it any wonder I need a nap every day lately? (And no, there is not a “secret” reason for me to need naps. Mom.)

The simple fact is, thinking up stories makes me so tired. All of the dog training books tell you that a great way to “exercise” your dog is to spend a half hour training and working on tricks. This, the books say, tires out their little walnut-brains to the point where they will just collapse into bed.

This is me! Thinking up twists and turns and trying to connect them all is very taxing to my little walnut brain. In wake AND in sleep, apparently.

But it’s still the best job in the world! (And yes, I’m still on the treadmill!)

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3. Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

Flash forward (mumble mumble) years. I have a treadmill. And I try to use it. Because I need exercise. It’s so weird, because I really enjoy the treadmill when I’m actually on it. Kind of. I crank up some music from my “current project” playlist and do all sorts of focused daydreaming about my characters and story. The biggest problem is forcing myself to actually get ON the treadmill.

One day, as I tweeted whinily about this topic, my friend and “little sister” Debutante, Joelle Anthony, tweeted me back about her treadmill desk. She sent me a link to a blog post about it and I looked in cynical awe at her workstation: a computer mounted above her treadmill. Awe, because who can do such a thing? Cynicism because, well, I can’t.

But lately the idea has been nagging at me. I am really bad about getting all the exercise I need, and really good about getting more than enough calories during the day. I work out on a semi-regular basis and I’m in decent shape. But why not take it further? And why not get out of the chair so my chiropractor can stop giving me those “but you know you totally asked for this” looks?

So this morning I rigged something up for myself. It’s really hideous and hilariously treacherous looking. I’m sure my laptop is screaming silently.

But it kind of works! As of now, I’ve walked 54 minutes and burned 150 calories. Aside from some technical issues (getting the keyboard up high enough for comfort, getting the monitor close enough to see, wondering if I will have to invest in a new “work” wardrobe of very lightweight walking clothes, accidentally turning the speed up to five that one time), it’s going very well indeed.

I do have some questions. Such as, when am I going to shower? Do I get to wear workout clothes all day? How bad am I going to smell when the UPS man comes?

Overall, though, pretty cool. I know my speed (around 1.5 mph, sometimes a little faster) isn’t going to win me any awards, but it’s definitely better than slumping in my desk chair all day. And it gives me a place to wear my Reebok Easytones, so hopefully I can use them up and replace them with the much smaller and more fashionable ones I found about four seconds after I’d ordered the Large White Whale versions.

Typing doesn’t seem to be a problem. And the weird thing is, I took a break for lunch and thought, “Well, gee, I don’t want to eat too much, since I have to get back on the treadmill.” And then I thought, “I probably shouldn’t drink a Diet Coke now, since I have to get back on the treadmill.” So I’m drinking (gasp!) water!

The cons include the fact that the whole time I’m on the treadmill, I have this vague urge to go do something else (i.e., go slump in my desk chair and surf Facebook). Also, the setup is currently pretty giant and ugly and precludes more intense use of the treadmill.

But the pros… they could be very pro indeed! I am looking forward to finding out.

Just for fun, here is my temporary setup. This is a small wooden bar with a footstool on top of it, with a photo storage box on top of that, with a board on it, balanced on the top of the treadmill, with my laptop sitting on the board. The keyboard and mouse are on a metal shelf (actually a very good fit) that is zip-tied to the treadmill. Then there is a memory foam pillow with a bolt of flannel on it supporting the keyboard and another photo storage box under the wireless mouse.

Add it all up and you get what we call “pure class”!

Cheers!

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2. Shaken, not stirred.
3. The good (minus the bad and the ugly).

Came across this little ditty, which I wrote when I was about eight or nine. I remember, for some reason, taking it to Sunday school and singing it for everyone, which in retrospect might not have been the ideal setting.

Nobody tells me what I do!

Swinging on the sailboat sails
Hanging on the monkey tails
Nobody tells me what I do!
Refrain: Nobody does, Nobody does
Nobody tells me what I do!
Climing up the telephone poles
Throwing apples into holes
Nobody tells me what I do!
Refrain

Sort of odd that I thought throwing apples into holes was a type of rebellion. The other offenses seem more serious.

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You can find it here: The Darkroom.

I have met so many amazing people in forums and message boards over the years that I thought it would be very fun to have one where I could interact with my readers.

It’s a little on the quiet side right now, but maybe in time it will pick up steam and become a nice little community! Please drop by and (if it looks like your cup of tea) say hello and join in the discussions!

Happy Thursday!

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3. Tagged!

Once I have a playlist, I listen to it over and over again, until I can hear a song and immediately think of the scene or section of a story it represents.

Inevitably, one or two songs begin to stand out as a kind of theme for the whole book. For Bad Girls Don’t Die, it was “Girl Next Door” by Saving Jane and “Walking on Air” by Kerli.

I can’t figure out whether this is spoilerish or not, but for Book 2, it was “I Know What I Am” by Band of Skulls and “Anthem for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl” by Broken Social Scene. (Amazing how much I feel like I’m giving away just by listing songs!)

I can’t share for Book 3, mostly because I’m still putting my playlist together.

But I did come across one special category of song in my music collection: Music that totally gives me the heebie-jeebies. It’s not that I don’t like these songs, but they send chills up my spine and give me the weirdest, most disconnected feeling. My ultimate heebie-jeebie song is “Pure Imagination” from the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie, and another one (what actually inspired me to write this blog post) is Butterfly by The Hollies. Eeeeeeesh!

Do you have heebie-jeebie songs? Share, share!

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3. Girl power!!

I decided “what the hey” and decided to choose two winners!

(drumroll…)

Tracy and Danielle!

I have been so swamped that I forgot how much I like giving things away. So stick around, because I’ll be doing more contests in the future!

Happy Saturday! I am planning to get some exercise (imagine that) and then I’m going to try to do some work on an outline for Book 3. I have soooooo many ideas, and I’m in that “mom from pageant child reality show” mode where I’m like, “You are the BEST idea and the PRETTIEST idea and no other idea in the world is as SPECIAL as you and you are the center of my universe and go pour Mommy another glass of wine while she just watches you practice your pageant walk.”

Very exciting! It has put me in an insanely cheery mood.

k.

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1. Writing Retreat, Part 2: Set Yourself Up to Succeed!!
2. Dog show!
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Happy Friday, everyone!

— 1 —
Don’t forget to enter my contest! You could win not one but TWO signed copies of Bad Girls Don’t Die, one for you and one for a friend! Plus an eye pillow in festive shades of red, white, and blue. It’s so easy, all you have to do is comment!

— 2 —
Yesterday, Book 2 officially went off to copyedits! This is a big YAY because it means we’re one step closer to having a cover, a title, reader copies, and a BOOK!

— 3 —
Copyeditors are the people who read everything with a fine-toothed, uh, eyeball and send the manuscript back to you with tons of notes along the lines of, “Why did you say Sparkle is a magical RED pony on page 26 and a magical PURPLE pony on page 40? Which is it, hmm?” and “You are so wrong about the wedding gift customs of the Tupapali peoples of Indonesia, they would NEVER send cash as the marshlands there are full of moths who eat Tupapalian paper money like potato chips.”

— 4 —
One of the stressful things about being a writer is that when you finish some major step, like sending your books into copyedits, your first instinct is to be all, “Hurray! Now I can relax and catch up on 5 months’ worth of reality TV!” But in actuality, your first week will be spent cleaning your house and doing laundry in order that one may sit on the couch and see all the way across the room to the TV without having to look around piles of junk. Also, clean undies.

— 5 —
I always assumed Winston got hot easily. I mean, he wears a fur coat. But now that summer is here and the sunshine is peeking through the windows, more often than not I will find Winston dozing in the sun. Believe me when I say it is insanely cute. Right now, for instance, he is in his bed next to my desk with his face thrust forward to catch a spot of sunshine on his nose. You can’t make this stuff up.

— 6 —
Happy 4th of July! If you are in the USA or celebrating US holidays, Happy Independence Day! We are celebrating by having family come to see us and probably barbecuing. We have been woefully deficient at barbecuing this year. Shame, shame!

— 7 —
One of the most exciting things about sending Book 2 off to copyedits is that this means we’re off and running on Book 3! I love to savor the moments before starting a project, knowing that what is now just a germ of an idea will soon be a big old book with a life of its own. It’s like watching the Oscars–my favorite part is, at the end of the show, thinking, “I wonder what movies will be winning Oscars next year!” It’s so wondrous and fun that there’s so much coming that I’m not aware of right now!

Happy weekend! Have a great and safe one!

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Here’s the scoop:

1) When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead: Useful Stories from a Persuasive Man by Jerry Weintraub
If you enjoy old Hollywood or show business memoirs or music business memoirs, this book will probably please you. I know I enjoyed it. It was one of those books where every chapter brings a new anecdote I’m dying to tell the husb (but I refrain because he immediately starts chanting, “SPOILERS!”). Jerry Weintraub began his career as a concert promoter and is best known currently as the producer of the Oceans 11, 12 and 13 movies. The best part about this book is his storytelling about some of the very famous stars of years past (Sinatra, Elvis). The worst part is the weird section at the end where he describes his permanent non-monogamous situation. (Which reads a lot like what it is–a man who has become used to getting what he wants justifying getting what he wants.) But you can always skip that part.

2) Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need by Blake Snyder
I’d seen this around the internets, and I finally decided to give it a look-see. I must say, it really might be the last book I ever need. (I’m not a screenwriter, but I do enjoy books about writing.) It was really a great book with a very concrete and simple explanation of story structure. Highly recommend.

3) Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink
A dark and spooky YA about a pair of twins whose destiny is tied to an ancient prophecy. The first in a series.

4) Diane: A Signature Life by Diane Von Furstenberg
This memoir started strong for me and ended a little on the dry side. I guess I wasn’t aware that DVF was such a force in the 1970s. I always just associated her with the wrap dresses. Still a fairly interesting read about a woman who had a lot of connections and resources and used them to find success (which is more than can be said about today’s young celebutantes).

5) The Likeness by Tana French
I listened to the audiobook of In the Woods a couple of years ago and found that it ranged from excellent to maddening. I love French’s writing; it’s her plotting that can make you want to tear your hair out. There always seems to be a point about 2/3 of the way through where you want to chuck the book (or iPod) at the wall. (I wouldn’t normally say anything critical about another author’s work; the only reason I do is that for all of that, I’ll still gladly read whatever she writes.) Also, as a writer of mystery-style thrillers, I can relate very much to the problems and challenges of structuring a story that needs to unfold piece by piece.

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It’s that time of year again! The results of the 2010 Bulwer-Lytton contest are in! If you’ve never heard of it, it’s a “writing” contest where people submit worst first lines of imaginary novels.

It actually takes a lot of skill to write so badly and well all at the same time. Here are my two favorites, both from the “Miscellaneous Dishonorable Mentions” section:

His chest glistened like a pumpkin seed, either one fresh out of the pumpkin but with all the orange strands of pumpkin flesh removed, or one straight out of the oven after being coated in just the right amount of oil and then baked; the point is that it was smooth, fairly shiny, and that color.

Jesse Kolman
Phoenix, AZ

Leaning back comfortably in a plush old chair, feet up, fingers laced behind his head, Tom Chambers inventoried his life and with a satisfied grin mused, “Ah, marlin fishing off the coast of Majorca, a bronze star for that rescue mission in Jamir, the unmatched fragrance of pastries fresh out of the oven at Café Legrande, two sons who would make any father proud . . . I’ve never done any of that.”

Ernie Santilli
Drexel Hill PA

Find the whole shebang right here.

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You can win TWO signed copies of Bad Girls Don’t Die (the Scholastic paperback edition) — one for you and one for a friend! And I’ll throw in a cheerfully patriotic red, white, and blue eye pillow to help you rest your eyes after all that reading!

HOW: Just comment on this post! That’s all! One entry per person (and please don’t enter as your mom, your grandmother, your dog, the duck that lives in that pond you went to once…).

Although if you’re feeling shrewd, you could make a deal with a friend and both of you could enter and if one of you wins, the other would get the second book.

WHEN: Starting… NOW! … and ending at 11:59 PM Friday July 2.

Go! Go! You can do it!

PS – If I get more than 100 comments, I will choose TWO winners! So spread the word!

(Open to US and Canada… Don’t forget to read my contest guidelines for more useful info.)

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3. (reply to Kristy’s comment)

So here it is, a sneak peek of something that will not be in Book 2. You are the first ones to not-read it this non-excerpt, aren’t you lucky?

Non-Excerpt

Dad pointed at me. “Behave.”

“But that would really interfere with my plan to be an unwed teen mother,” I said, and Dad pantomimed a heart attack.

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Or have you just not bought it yet and the guilt is starting to gnaw at you from the inside out?

Or do you have a hardcover and your cat wants something to chew on?

Or were you hoping to get your hands on a version of the cover you could easily cut off and add to your latest collage?

Do you need something to smack flies with?

Do you want to own my book but not want to be bothered with looking at my author photo?

Are you so environmentally conscious that you only buy products with recyclable-sounding names (PAPERback books)?

Are you thinking, “Enough with the jokes, Katie, if you can call them jokes”?

Good news!

Bad Girls Don’t Die is available in paperback today!

You can get it…

here at Amazon
or here at Barnes & Noble
or here at Borders
or here at Indiebound

!!!!

Don’t go crazy, though; please don’t buy one from EACH establishment. (Although if you do I will give you a gold star. I’m just saying.)

Okay, I am in the thick of final revisions on Book 2. In the coming weeks I hope to be able to share many exciting things, like a title, and maybe a release date, and my Spanish cover, which is amazing…

Happy Tuesday!

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2. Oh, by the way: I read a BOOK!
3. Conflicted.

We’ve been all over town, to MOMA (where you’re walking along and look to your left and, oops, there’s Van Gogh’s Starry Night and oh, hey, here’s Dali’s Persistence of Memory (which is a very tiny painting! Much smaller than dorm room posters would have you believe).

We’re staying in SoHo, which means we’re surrounded by shopping, which is very dangerous for me. The hotel is really nice with a staff who are somehow both supermodelesque AND effective (unlike The Standard, where we stayed last year, when a doorman literally wouldn’t come out into the rain to open the door for us).

Every time we come to NYC, we try to stay in a different neighborhood. We try to stake out hotels in advance so we aren’t surprised when we get there!

Yesterday morning, I had “breakfast” with the Delightful Editor (the quotes are due to the fact that neither of us ate anything during the encounter). BGDD2 is coming right along, and I am so excited! We’re on the very last wave of revisions and then it’s into copyedits! Which means that relatively soon we’ll have a title. Yay!

There is so much to see and do here. A lot of our friends from high school and college ended up moving here when we moved to LA, and I even have some family! Not to mention the neverending possibilities for sightseeing and museums and all that stuff (and maybe even a little shopping–though I shouldn’t, I know I shouldn’t).

The one dark spot on the trip is the fact that I did a very bad job of packing! And somehow managed to bring all the wrong clothes. So I’ve just been wearing the same pair of jeans every day. You know, if I packed the way I actually dressed, I swear I could just bring all of my stuff in a plastic grocery sack. Instead, I have a suitcase full of clothes I’m not wearing, for one reason or another, and I always feel like I’m wearing slightly the wrong thing. And the shoe situation… don’t even get me started on that.

Oh, well! I’m here in New York and I am loving it as always. You really do feel like you’re in the middle of everything. You can see how this city attracts people from all over the world.

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She notes that she’s sported big, bold hairstyles, fashion and makeup since 2001’s “Lady Marmalade” and says this of the 24-year-old Gaga: “I’ve always done what I’ve done as far as push boundaries and take risks. … I think now more than ever, it’s being accepted to do those kinds of things. So more power to her. And she’s obviously a hard-working, focused young woman. And I have nothing but respect for that work ethic.”

“I’m no stranger to comparisons in this business and being pit(ted) up against other female artists unfairly,” Aguilera adds. She says the two haven’t met “but I’m sure that we would get along.”

I love it when people call out the media for trying to stir up drama!

I have never been a huge fan of her work, but I was blown away by her performance on the American Idol finale, where she basically sent everyone else back to singing school:

You can’t deny that she has a Voice with a capital V!

I wonder if the lack of interest is because she refuses to self-destruct and isn’t sorry about it.

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We use the stuff you put on the dog’s neck; I guess he got too many baths, because it didn’t take. It had been almost three weeks so I gave him another dose (he’s at the very top of the weight range, so it’s not a megadose to begin with)… and it helped (as in, now he has five fleas and not fifty), but it didn’t solve our problems. Five fleas can make a dog plenty itchy.

I’ve been spraying him and myself with anti-itch spray and keeping him on a low, constant supply of Benadryl, because if he’s left to scratch as much as he wants, he’ll do more damage to himself than the fleas do.

Seeking a solution, I went to the natural pet food store and bought a spray to go on the dog, a homeopathic anti-itch remedy to go IN the dog, and diatomaceous earth to go on the floors and the dog bedding (and in the vacuum cleaner). The anti-itch stuff is its own adventure as it has to be dropped into his mouth with a medicine dropper. But I’ve come up with a decent system: hold a treat and let him mouth it, then squirt the stuff into his mouth slowly while he tries to gnaw my fingers off.

I feel like a mother whose child has chicken pox. (Do kids even get chicken pox anymore?) The worst part is, every time he goes outside (and he has to, seeing as how he’s a dog and all), he gets more fleas.

Up til now, every year we would have a “day” of fleas. Like, “Oops, there’s a flea on the dog, oops, there are twenty, and look! They’re biting me, too. Better get the flea stuff,” and then the fleas all die and the problem is solved for a whole ‘nother year.

Not anymore. 2010 is apparently the year of the bionic flea. I feel like my house and dog and legs/feet are some sort of battleground… wish me luck.

Related posts:

1. Fellow blogger book release! Pat Wood’s LOTTERY…
2. First day off.
3. Devil in disguise.

Lauren is one of those writers of whom I stand in awe, because she has the ability to write book after book in approximately the time it takes me to think up a character name.

Case in point, she is celebrating the release of two books right now:

To promote her releases, instead of answering the same interview questions on multiple blogs, she is answering one question each from a bunch of blogs! So you get to learn all about her thanks to… (drumroll)…

THE ONE-QUESTION INTERVIEW BLOG TOUR!

Katie: I recently celebrated my birthday (no numerical disclosure), so I have birthdays on the brain. Tell me about your favorite or best birthday!

Lauren: Nah, I think I’d rather tell you about my favorite birthday that was someone else’s. When my husband turned 30, I planned a big surprise party for him, invited 20 people which was a lot for the small place we lived at the time. Everyone said they could come. But the day of the party proved to be a perfect storm of bad timing. Eighteen people called with the most original reasons for not being able to make it imaginable, ranging from “I was injured and just put on medication today that’s making me too loopy to drive” to “My inlaws called from the airport to say they’ve surprised us with a visit from Czechoslovakia and I have to go pick them up.” I don’t think anyone was making these things up. I mean, it’s not like the party was for me, someone it’s easy to picture people blowing off. Anyway, that night my husband comes home all excited because he knew there was something up; you can’t hide beer and food for 20 in such a small place. There are exactly two people there. He’s looking behind doors, looking in the attic, sure people are hiding. We had to explain we were it. It was so depressing, the four of us just left the beer and food, and walked down to the local pub to shoot pool.

Five years later, on his 35th birthday, I’m stupid enough to try it again. This time, bigger place, I invite 25 people. I give each person a food or beverage assignment so there won’t be any giveaway of what I’m up to, plus so it won’t be depressing if people can’t make it. No one on the list is notably injury-prone and no one has Czechoslovakian in-laws so I figure I’m safe. I also give people different times to arrive. The night of the party comes and he has no idea. Then, every 15 minutes, the doorbell rings with different people arriving. Every time he thinks that’s it, more people arrive. This time, everyone comes. He sits at the table all night with a huge smile on his face. Best Someone Else’s Birthday Pary Ever. Well, except for birthday parties for my daughter, but that’s another story.

Katie: Ha! I threw a very similar party for a high-school friend of mine. Except she didn’t catch on for the longest time. She just thought all of our friends happened to be stopping by at the same time, LOL.

Visit Lauren at her website, LaurenBaratzLogsted.com, for more info!

Want to read more on the tour? Here’s where Lauren was yesterday and here’s where she’ll be June 7!

Here are her books… be sure to check them out!

THE SISTERS EIGHT BOOK 5: MARCIA’S MADNESS, the fifth in the series for young readers aged 6-10 that she created with her novelist husband Greg Logsted and their 10-year-old daughter Jackie, which was released May 3.

And YA novel THE EDUCATION OF BET, which is set in Victorian England, and due out July 12.

When Will and Bet were four, tragic circumstances brought them to the same house, to be raised by a wealthy gentleman as brother and sister. Now sixteen, they’ve both enjoyed a privileged upbringing thus far. But not all is well in their household. Because she’s a girl, Bet’s world is contained within the walls of their grand home, her education limited to the rudiments of reading, writing, arithmetic, and sewing. Will’s world is much larger. He is allowed—forced, in his case—to go to school. Neither is happy.

So Bet comes up with a plan and persuades Will to give it a try: They’ll switch places. She’ll go to school as Will. Will can live as he chooses. But once Bet gets to school, she soon realizes living as a boy is going to be much more difficult than she imagined.

Related posts:

1. 71,550
2. How to bring out the worst in people…
3. 5 things you shouldn’t say to a newly published author

1. Nothing Like You by Lauren Strasnick (whom I met at the LA Times Festival of Books, and she is very nice!)
2. An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott
3. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
4. Perfect Nightmare by John Saul
5. The Dark Divine by Bree Despain
6. Time of My Life by Allison Winn Scotch
7. Rampant by Diana Peterfreund
8. Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
9. Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott
10. Milagros, Girl From Away by Meg Medina
11. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
12. Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block

What made this such a bookful month? Well, sending off a draft always leaves one with extra time on the old hands. Plus a trip to Hawaii with an immediate injury that forces one to sit in a deck chair for three solid days…

BREAKDOWN
5 YA (1,5,7,10,12–two paranormal (5,7), one magical realism (10), two “straight” (1,12))
2 classics (2,9)
2 very popular recent fiction releases (3,6)
1 sci-fi/war (8)
1 thriller (4)
1 non-fiction action/memoir (11)

This brings my total for 2010 to 42! That’s two more than my goal for the whole year, after 2009’s dismal 26 books.

NOTABLE:
* I read both Alcott books and the John Saul on my Kindle. I don’t love buying e-books because of the DRM, because I usually think of at least one person I want to share a book with when I’m done with it. But the classics are usually about a dollar (or free!) and you can’t beat that with a stick. Now I’m going to try to read more on the Kindle, although the age-old problem remains: I can’t go four days without losing the charge cord.

* I bought the John Saul book because I read an article about him in the Hawaiian Airlines magazine. The book was a little icky for my taste, but I’ve since read lots of reviews that say his earlier stuff is better. So I may give him another try at some point… but I can’t say I recommend the one I read.

* The Art of Racing in the Rain is narrated by a dog, who understands everything going on around him. I read this in Hawaii and ended up crying into my mai-tai at the end. Then when I came home, I sat down next to Winston and told him that I know he understands everything we say and I’m sorry that sometimes we treat him like he doesn’t. At which point he started scratching himself vigorously to show me he understood.

* I was very excited to read Milagros, Girl From Away, because the author, Meg Medina, was my creative writing teacher in high school! In the span of two weeks, I reconnected with two of my favorite high school teachers online and learned that one of them is an author! It was totally neat. The book is lovely–on the younger side of YA, a magical realism story about a girl who loses her paradise home and finds a new life in a new place. I recommend checking it out!

* I tried to read Jon Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven a few years ago and gave up on it as too inflammatory to be enjoyed as a non-fiction account. But Into Thin Air is his first-person account of climbing Mount Everest in the deadliest season since the mountain was first scaled. I found the book absolutely riveting; when I finished, I was surprised to see that a lot of reviewers find it boring and that many people consider it just as inflammatory and non-balanced as I found the other book. Made me think–but didn’t lessen the page-turniness for me.

Related posts:

1. Why is it so hard to read lately?
2. Oh, by the way: I read a BOOK!
3. Fall reading lists

Today’s craft is another brick-style baby quilt. I started this basically at the exact same time I started Emmy’s quilt, but I only finished it a few weeks ago. Why, you might ask?

I don’t know! I guess I’m lazy or I have a mental block or something.

This baby quilt is called “Jillian.” (Jillian is my second cousin-in-law once removed.)

I grew up with dozens and dozens of first cousins, so I don’t even really know my second cousins. But the husb’s family is very close, even the extended ones, so I spent a lot of time looking at this chart on Wikipedia to figure out how Jillian and I were related.

Jillian was born in November, so this ended up being a “Happy six months old!” quilt instead of a birth quilt. But I doubt she minds. The family lives in the Pacific Northwest and her parents got married on a beautiful farm with fields full of pumpkins and sunflowers, so I was feeling rainy and green and flowery when I laid this one out. I was also very happy to have a chance to use the rainboots and raincoats fabrics I bought a couple of years ago and have been holding onto, waiting for the right project to come along.

(Click for a larger view.)

The back is pieced, because it was wider than my fabric, but I like the way it looks. I ended up quilting this in big arcs, which is MUCH harder than you would think. I could have rigged something with a string and a chalk marker but I kind of ended up improvising. The batting is bamboo, so it wrinkled up a little when I washed it, and you can’t tell (as much) where my arcs went a little flat. (You may be able to see them in the larger images.)

Jillian’s parents were very sweet and proved that they are worthy quilt recipients by immediately sending a picture of the baby quilt on the floor with a baby on it. YAY for putting quilts on the floor and dragging them around and using them up until they are nothing but a memory (and a blog entry)!

Happy Monday and happy Memorial Day, everyone!

Related posts:

1. Baby quilt: "Teagan"
2. Quilty goodness… "Julia," a baby quilt
3. Baby quilt: "Adelaide’s Birds"

IN:
* The American Idol finale. Especially Christina Aguilera! Way to show ‘em, Christie! I mean, seriously, she took over the stage.
* The So You Think You Can Dance premiere. YAYAYAYAYAY! Love that show so much.
* Sneaking over to Pinkberry when you go to the grocery store.
* The video game “Plants vs. Zombies.” Completely addictive.
* Reading, reading, reading–always reading!
* Running into friends at the fabric store.
* Finally finding a taker for my overstimulating baby quilts.

OUT:
* Little Sis running down a mountain hiking trail and ganking up her ankles.
* The rude lady in our neighborhood who still drives WAY too fast, even when everyone asks her not to.
* Books that have tons of weird, forced metaphors (“His voice was like a half-peeled banana”).
* Bullying parents fundraising for the local school by threatening to boycott local businesses.
* Alice Cooper and Paul Abdul on the Idol finale… just so wrong.
* Getting barked at incessantly.
* Being late for everything (including right now, when I am supposed to be getting ready to go).

Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone!

Related posts:

1. In which I discuss today’s events.
2. How To Be a Better Person
3. It’s true what they say, I’m more interesting now.

I have handwriting performance anxiety.

Ever since I read this article at Slate, I’ve been mildly obsessed with my handwriting. The article links to some images of an italic style writing and gives a basic explanation. That was enough to set me off and running.

I have decent handwriting. Well, that’s partly true. My printing is tiny and perfect and so slow it would bore a sloth to tears. My script is messy and crazy and missing letters all over the place. If I try really hard and pay very close attention, it’s better, but then it looks forced, somehow.

Italics, I thought, would be my answer.

And it was, kind of.

The biggest change is in my journal. The first few entries, written before I read that article, are in my old, precise block print. Then the italics take over. And I have to say–I love writing that way. I love the way it looks, and how fast it is, and how much more accurate it is than my cursive writing.

BUT I CAN’T DO IT IN PUBLIC! I seriously can’t! I have probably signed ten books since I started working on my penmanship, but I can never get up the nerve to use my new, pretty italic writing. It’s EASIER. It’s FASTER. It’s totally natural to me, when I write in a private document. But I just can’t do it!

I don’t understand! It’s not fair.

So anyway, next time you ask me to sign a book and I get a really weird look on my face and my knuckles turn white from grabbing the pen so hard, don’t worry. I’m not freaking out.

I’m just trying to get up the nerve to write pretty for you.

So how’s your handwriting these days? Beautiful? Abysmal? Somewhere in between? Would your first-grade teacher dash off to sob in the bathroom after seeing it?

Related posts:

1. Writing and other forms of torture.
2. Breaking point?
3. Friday!