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

Woohoo! Title news! (**my April Fools joke**)

Now that it’s April 2, I will confess in advance that this was my 2010 April Fools joke! I had such a good time and everybody was a great sport about it.

Okay, well, we’ve all been waiting with bated breath (or at least I have… if you haven’t, no need to tell me…) to figure out what we would be calling Book 2.

As many people know, the title for Book 1, Bad Girls Don’t Die, came about as a bit of a fluke. My agent, editor, and I had spent weeks making exhaustive lists of every possible word or title that had anything to do with ghosts, girls, bad behavior, dying, etc. Feeling a bit bogged down by the whole thing, I added in the middle of one of my lists, “Bad Girls Don’t Die (sung to the tune of…)”

Imagine my surprise when they loved it! After a small period of adjusting my brain, I came to love it, too, and one of the biggest challenges with Book 2 (aside from, you know, writing it) has been trying to come up with a suitable title that complements the first one. We considered other song titles (my Twitter followers will possibly recall “Die, Die, Miss American Pie”?), variations using “Good Girls,” etc.

But we finally came up with a scheme that is both “different” enough and “same” enough… And luckily, it covers the title for Book 3, too, which saves me, oh, another year of critical thought (which makes me tired).

So, without further ado…

Book 2 is to be called Don’t Bad Girls Die?

And Book 3 is Don’t Die, Bad Girls

The best part is, this leaves room for a Book 4 if we want one (Girls Don’t Die Bad).

Edited to add:
Yay! My editor gave me permission to post the first draft of the cover! Link: DGBD_covertest_31Mar10.gif

Hurray! Happy Thursday! Now off to do some more revising.

20 comments April 1st, 2010

Lovely, lovely

I’ve just spent the past 24 or so hours completely entranced by the novel Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. I’d heard of it mentioned in passing over the years, but I never really knew what the story was or anything else about it (such as that it won the veddy veddy prestigious Orange Prize).

I saw it on the shelf at the library a few weeks and scooped it up, since I was feeling naughty and going against my “read what’s on the shelves at home first” policy. Then it sat in the library-book-bag, sad and untouched, while I removed and read or rejected other books. When I went online to see when everything was due, I offhandedly renewed it. Then it waited at home while I returned its siblings and picked up a fresh load.

But yesterday I picked it up.

[What follows is just my opinion. I gather there are people out there who didn't like this book, just as there are books out there that I don't like, and I look at the 5-star reviews and think, "What the heck am I missing?" If you didn't like this book, just pretend it is some book you do love, and come along with me.]

Oh, I got lost in this book. I got lost in the language, in the sentences. I felt that every phrase was like a down comforter I wanted to curl up under. The characters were so gentle, the action portrayed with such beautiful plainness, just what was necessary and no more. The pacing served the story perfectly. The book seemed to me like some perfect, regal thing. All dignity and beauty and music.

I am reeling from this book and sort of struck by that, “Why would I bother trying to write anything?” feeling while at the same time feeling inspired and driven.

Is there anything more delicious than finding a piece of art that will stay with you? Feeling your affection for something unfold like a flower blooming?

9 comments March 17th, 2010

Book parties, Beautiful Creatures, and the calm before the storm.

I’m sitting at the dining room table. I was up at 6 a.m., because my body seems to like waking up early these days. I could toss and turn in bed for an extra half hour, but what’s the point?

We brought a rolling chair out here for my mother to use while she was here, and sitting in it reminds me why we don’t have rolling chairs in this room: the floor is slightly tilted. If you roll back from the table, you get the very odd feeling that you’re going to roll all the way down to the window (although you don’t).

Last night, I went to the Beautiful Creatures launch party at Diesel Books in Brentwood. I got to meet (authors) Kami Garcia and Margie Stohl, got my book signed, got my picture took, and met some very nice people. Kami and Margie are Very Special for many reasons, but one clear signal was that they had two of the top three contestants from HGTV’s “Design Star” show decorating for their party! This was very exciting to me, although in my excitement, I thought they were from Bravo’s “Top Design” and told someone so. But the people I told don’t watch TV (!!!) so they will probably never know the difference.

There was a great turnout–I spent some time talking to women who’d braved the LA traffic all the way from Orange County to be there! I also looked around for some of my Twitter friends, but ended up somehow–sadly–missing them. I did buy three books that I’m very excited about–Super Freakonomics, Garden Anywhere, and Snoop, which examines how the things we own and display convey who we are and how we wish to be seen. It sounds fascinating and I’m super excited to get into it.

I also left with Beautiful Creatures, which, if you’re looking for a gift for a teen in your life and *cough*cough* have already bought said teen Bad Girls Don’t Die, could be the perfect gift. It is h-o-t-t–Amazon’s #1 teen book of 2009 and #5 overall!–and very well-reviewed–and just got optioned by Warner Bros.–and besides that, the authoresses are wonderful people with very fun parties.

Well, in just over a week, I’ll be heading to Long Beach for the big dog show! If you’re in the Los Angeles area, you should go check it out. It’s very fun and there are going to be SO many dogs this year.

Just yesterday, I dropped my sewing machine off at a repair shop near my office. I’d been waiting to get a chance to take it back to the place we bought it from, but they only pick up/drop off once a week, and this way is not only cheaper but also easily accessible as soon as the machine is fixed. Once that’s done, I’ll finally choose a winner for my November contest. I’ve waited, because I figured if one person were waiting for her prize (or his, I suppose), that would be far more difficult than many people waiting to find out the contest results. And I haven’t forgotten that I owe Vania and Nathalie their stuff!

Happy Wednesday! And happy December!

2 comments December 2nd, 2009

The butt of the earth?

Is that where you end up when you fall off the face of the earth?

Anyway, the reason I’ve been so out of touch is that I have been working my fingers to the bone revising Book 2. But before you weep for my bony fingers, rejoice! For revising this book has reminded me how much I absolutely adore the process of revising.

I think I even blogged about it a couple of years ago, how much I enjoy the rewriting part of writing. But somehow, even though I’d put it out there on the internet, I forgot it in my brain (sort of like how I forgot that I used to be really afraid of earthquakes! so weird!). But going through the past few weeks of arduous revising has refreshed my mindgrapes. And so there it is: I love revising!

I’d been totally confused by the fact that writing the first draft feels like having my fingernails pulled off but I will happily sit at the computer rewriting it until my eyeballs dry up and fall out. But now the mystery is solved.

Last night, I sent off the draft of Book 2 to the Delightful Editor. So perhaps even now, she is reading this and thinking, “It’s a darn good thing you like revising, Alender.” But we aren’t going to worry about that. Or that fact that I misspelled the word “horror” and discovered it approximately 4 milliseconds after hitting send. (Everybody loves a good horro movie, right?)

Now that it’s sent off, I can attend to other exciting things like choosing a winner for my November contest and sewing stuff that I still owe from October. Oops, and mailing something I was supposed to mail last week. D’oh!

In other news, I have had a very fun and exciting day full of the happies. Here is my Joy List, in bullet-point format.

* My mommy is here visiting! This is very good news indeed.

* Through a totally spur-of-the-moment arrangement, my baby sister is also coming to visit for the weekend! She will be here tomorrow. I am super psyched about this. She’s never even met Winston!

* The holiday season is upon us! First Thanksgiving, then Christmas, or whatever you celebrate. This makes me tremendously cheerful. Almost unbearably so, depending on who you ask. I got out my USB Christmas tree today! It is very beautiful and classy.

* And lastly, I’m pysched about this latest Muppet video! The width might throw off my sidebar, but by gum, it’s worth it.

2 comments November 24th, 2009

October!

Pardon my exclamation marks, but OCTOBER!!!! You know what that means? It’s Fall! Really and truly Fall!

I know it’s a horrible way to look at things, but every year, as it gets warmer and warmer and late winter edges toward early spring and that deteriorates into late spring and then LORD NO here come the ravages of summer–I hold one precious concept in the back of my head.

October!!!

And as the summer starts to gasp and give itself over into the luscious bosom of autumn, my heart starts to sing.

I honestly end every summer with the thought: “I made it!”

Like I said, I hate that I spend so much of the year in a vague sense of unease, just because of the word on the calendar. In these days of air conditioning and garaged cars, it’s not like I ever have to be uncomfortably hot for more than four minutes at a time or so.

But still… October!

It’s here!

October is also a big month for me.

October is when I got married.
October is when Bad Girls Don’t Die takes place.
October is the best!

Because it means that soon the weather will be cool (after the stupid old Santa Ana winds finish blowing), and it means that soon it will be Thanksgiving, and then it is December, which is tied with October as my favorite month, because I get to change my ringtone to a Christmas carol and I get to decorate my house and sit around thinking happy thoughts and eating cookies with icing on them.

October!

PS – New contest announced tomorrow!

6 comments October 1st, 2009

My (current) favorite blogs

You know how, when you log on to your computer in the morning, there’s that one blog you always look forward to checking? (Obviously we’re not counting KatieAlender.com, because this is your homepage, right?)

It changes for me depending on where my interest and discipline levels lie at any given moment. For a long time, it was dear old Miss Snark, the take-no-prisoners literary agent. Then there was a period where the first thing I wanted to catch up on was lolcats.

Right now, for me, it’s blogs about minimalism. Here are three I’ve been hooked on lately:
Unclutterer
Becoming Minimalist
Zen Habits

Being a repentant packrat and a semi-repentant procrastinator, I’m always in the mood for a little motivation toward a simpler and more efficient lifestyle.

What are your “Good morning!” blogs? Please share them in the comments!

PS – My September contest entries are closed; I’ll announce the winner soon. And hurray for Kate, who gets five extra entries for guessing my obsession du jour–learning Japanese!

4 comments September 12th, 2009

So You Think You Can Dance – my top nine routines (spoiler-free)

(Did you enter my contest yet?)

I’m a HUGE fan of Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance. If you’ve never seen it, you probably have a picture in your head that’s something like Dancing With the Stars, but it’s so much more than football players slurking their way through sambas.

SYTYCD is a competition show that starts with twenty young dancers, in male-female pairings, and each week, the couples are assigned a new style of choreography and a new choreographer to work with. I don’t have any statistics, but I can only imagine what the show has done for the appreciation of dance in the USA (and across the world, via the international versions).

When was the last time you saw a teenager (or a, um, 32-year-old) get excited about a Viennese Waltz? When was the last time you saw a hip-hop dancer do a quickstep? The show incorporates world dance styles, like Bollywood, African dance, and the Argentine Tango. It’s broadening people’s minds and putting a spotlight on true artistry and skill.

One of my favorite things the show has brought to light is that street dancing–like hip hop, breakdancing, and popping and locking–really IS dance and does have tons of musicality. The best evidence of this is how the dancers who “come from” those styles often adopt other dance styles effortlessly. (The winner of season 4 was a hip-hop dancer.) It’s really about breaking down boundaries.

And the dances are amazing!

Now that Season 5 has ended, here’s my list of my top nine routines from the year. (Yes, I decided to stop at nine. Sue me.)

Warning: some of these videos may be removed by the copyright holders, which I understand but don’t understand. It;s kind of like not letting someone paint your house for you because it’s YOUR paintbrush. But whatever.

#1 – “Addiction” by Kayla and Kupono
What can I say? This is #1 by about a million miles. Kupono plays the addiction, and the brilliant Kayla plays the addict. By the end of this dance, the dancers are crying, the choreographer is crying, and I’m a blubbering mess. It’s just brilliant.

#2 – “Crash Test Dummies” by Ashley and Kupono
This was on the first top-20 show of the season, which was an incredible show. In my experience, people run hot and cold on this dance. I found it absolutely mesmerizing. Ashley was voted off the show pretty early, but in this dance, she is gorgeous and adorable.

#3 – “The Butt Dance” by Evan and Randi
Evan is a Broadway-style dancer who, in my opinion, will reach his potential after he spends a little time at the gym lifting weights and developing his muscles, so he can hit a little harder (he’s often compared to Gene Kelly, but Gene Kelly was never unintentionally soft in his entire career). (The dancing starts at about 2:25.)

#4 – “If It Kills Me” by Jeanine and Jason
This was choreographed by the guy who came in second in season 2, Travis Wall. It’s a very emotional and strong dance, and the first dance to really show off Jason well.

#5 – “Hot Like Wow” by Kayla and Max
This dance reminds me of the Disney movie “Aladdin,” which my little sister watched approximately 500 times as a child. (The dance starts at 1:58.)

#6 – “Viennese Waltz” by Kayla and Kupono
This dance is just beautiful. Kupono’s grace and elegance really served the routine well. And Kayla, as always, is amazing.

#7 – “Paso Doble” by Brandon and Jeanine
In the paso doble, the man is meant to be the matador and the woman represents the cape. This is the first paso doble all season to get even close to that. There was a good one last season, but this one is just incredible.

#8 – “The Thief Dance” by Janette and Brandon
This was my favorite original couple, before they started mixing and matching dancers five weeks in. (The dance starts at about 1:27.)

#9 – “Waltz” by Asuka and Vittolio
This was just another very pretty routine. I really liked Vittolio, but he never really took off on the show. A lot of people disliked Asuka from the start, based on her “sexy” image.

10 comments August 8th, 2009

It was a dark and stormy… CONTEST!

Ah, it’s that time of year! Bulwer-Lytton Worst First Line contest results are out (CLICK HERE to read them all)! This is a contest held every year in which entrants try to write the worst possible first line to a novel. A Paperback Writer had the link posted over yonder on her blog. I have to say, maybe I’m not in a laugh out loud mood today, but usually there are at least three or four that make me snort. This year, not so much.

Here are a few of my favorites from this year’s list of winners (…and keep reading for THE CONTEST!):

The serrated butter knife tossed capriciously onto the 38th Street sidewalk amid the detritus of Salem cigarette butts and a Mentos box was devoid of zero trans fat margarine, but glinted invitingly in the sunlight nonetheless, poised for the opportunity to be repurposed to cut up a Snuggie, and Vladimir took it.
Amy E. Gross
Fair Lawn, NJ

After quickly scrutinizing the two dangerously buff men coming toward her in the dark and wondering whether she could take them both out, P.I. Velma Plusch mentally inventoried her arsenal-two pistols, two stiletto-clad feet, two leather-gloved hands, two each eyes, ears, lips, and breasts-and decided that she could.
Donna Kain, Ph.D.
Greenville, NC

She walked into my office on legs as long as one of those long-legged birds that you see in Florida – the pink ones, not the white ones – except that she was standing on both of them, not just one of them, like those birds, the pink ones, and she wasn’t wearing pink, but I knew right away that she was trouble, which those birds usually aren’t.
Eric Rice
Sun Prairie, WI

So… CONTEST TIME!

Let’s talk LAST LINES. Or, to be more general, endings. To enter this contest, do one of the following things:

(1) In the style of the Bulwer-Lytton contest, hit me with your worst LAST line for a book; or

(2) Tell me about a book ending that really resonated with you (bonus points if it’s mine–HA, just kidding)

WHAT YOU WIN: An autographed copy of BAD GIRLS DON’T DIE, an eye pillow and a tote bag, which I will custom make based on your taste in fabrics. If you already have any portion of these items, you can angel them to someone else. Won’t that be fun? Aren’t you such a generous person!

HOW TO WIN: Everyone who comments with one of the two entry styles above will be entered in a drawing. One entry per person. Writing a worst last line gives you a chance to be shouted-out and glorified in front of everyone else, though.

THE DEETS: The contest ends at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Friday, July 10. Unfortunately, only folks in the U.S. and Canada can win the actual prizes… but if you’re international, how about entering anyway and gifting your prize to somebody Stateside?

Please come play! Hurray!

29 comments July 2nd, 2009

One of those things you say that no one ever lets you forget.

To learn of my most memorable phrase, like, EVER, you are going to have to come see me a the Debutante Ball! Ha ha, see how I did that. Seduction.

Anyhoo, YAY! Beaker won the Webby People’s Voice Award! w00t! So I may be going to NYC in June, we’ll just have to see. But YAY! Thanks to everybody who voted! And if you’re sitting there feeling guilty because you didn’t vote (but relieved because we won anyway), I hereby exonerate you. I totally understand.

Double YAY–for some strange, universe-defying reason, BAD GIRLS is tearing up the charts over at Barnes & Noble.com. I mean, it’s no “Twilight,” but it’s doing really well (to my untrained eye, at least). So all I can say to that is YAY!

Triple YAY–my little cousin is coming to visit me from Ohio. She’s coming to work with me for a school project, one of those year-long ones where you’re supposed to solve some big life mystery, I think. Well, I can safely say that staying here with us for a few days will probably raise more mysteries than it solves. Ha. But good ones! Mysteries such as, “Is this really what people do for a living?” and “Why does the dog rule the house with an iron paw and no one seems to acknowledge it?”

All right. I have to go, because to prepare my home for visitors is like a 12-hour job. And I have two hours.

Happy Tuesday, my friends!

k.

PS – I went out this weekend and bought a new vacuum. I can’t even tell you how much it blows Winston’s mind to have two such nemeses in the house. On the plus side, my carpet is actually clean for the first time in two years.

9 comments May 5th, 2009