Bad beginnings

(Psst! HEY! Did you enter my contest? You could win a signed copy of Bad Girls Don’t Die for you AND a friend! All you have to do is comment!)

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.

June 30th, 2010

Contest time! Win a signed copy of Bad Girls Don’t Die!

Hi, everyone! Well, it’s been a while since I had a contest. So here’s the deal:

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.)

25 comments June 28th, 2010

Book 2 – a non-excerpt

In my BGDD2 working files, I found a file called “Darlings – Feb 2010″. Based on that bit of advice about having to “murder your darlings” as a writer. Apparently I found the process of cutting material painful and held onto the hope that I would be able to bring a few back to life. Not the case here.

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.

1 comment June 24th, 2010

Bad Girls Don’t Die in paperback!

Are hardcover books too hard for you? Do you long for something soft and floppy to carry around? Do you prefer a book with a slightly smaller overall size? Or are you just an obsessive collector of Bad Girls Don’t Die and want to own every single edition under the sun?

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!

2 comments June 22nd, 2010

New York, New York, what a wonderful town.

I love this city! There’s something magical about it. Just being here feels like you’re doing something.

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.

3 comments June 12th, 2010

Amen, sister!

From this article about Christina Aguilera’s new album and comparisons to Lady Gaga:

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.

June 7th, 2010

Scratchscratchscratch. Scratchscratchscratch.

Well, Winston and I get the same hayfever, and now it is apparent that we both have the same honey-flavored blood. Our house is under flea attack, going on four or five days now, and it’s downright exhausting trying to keep them off the dog, off me, out of the carpet, and on top of all that, keep Winston from chewing holes in his legs.

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.

6 comments June 6th, 2010

A guest! Author Lauren Baratz-Logsted in the house.

I am so excited to have a chance to introduce you to one of my author friends, Lauren Baratz-Logsted. When I first sold my book, Lauren was one of the first authors I met, and she was so nice and cool to me, even though she was under no obligation to be!

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.

2 comments June 4th, 2010

2010 reading update: May

Well, May was a pretty productive reading month! Here’s the lineup:

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.

June 1st, 2010