Early Christmas Present

Santa Claus came early to my house today, disguised in the form of a FedEx man. Yup - a big box of real, actual copies of Dirty Little Secrets. They are as awesome in real life as they look in this photo:



New Book Word Count: 21,336
Line of the Day: My door opened and a brown bag came sailing in just a few seconds before Rayne appeared, her pink hair blazingly bright for so early in the morning.

With the arrival of the DLS copies, I really want to finish at least a crappy first draft of the new book. It's a bit like having a newborn and a toddler at the same time - it's hard to have the time to focus properly on either one. If I have one draft done, revisions are much easier for me and I can turn my complete attention to DLS when it launches in early Feb. Back to work!

On this date: In 1968, Apollo 8 leaves for the moon.

20K

Word Count: 20,085
Line of the day: It's not about coincidence. It's about leaving yourself open to possibility. (Okay, I cheated, that was two.)
Google searches: Average life span in 1400 & the trailer for Harold and Maude

Whew! I'm up to 20k on the new book. I don't know why that is such a big deal for me, but it's always a big landmark. Sort of like this is going to be an actual book and not just a jumble of ideas that aren't going anywhere. Still does not have a title, but it is going really well and I'm having a blast writing it. Agent E has the first several chapters so we'll have to see if she likes it as much as I do.

Starting to make travel plans for 2010. Until Dirty Little Secrets comes out, I won't know how much people will care where I am, but here it goes. In February, I'm going to Monterey to the wonderful and amazing Asilomar writer's conference - totally can't wait! Then in the beginning of April, I'm going to be in New York and at the end of April in Chicago for the annual Agent E. client retreat. I've never been to Chicago so I'm particularly excited about that one. Plus, Agent E rocks and I haven't seen her for awhile. In August, I'm going to go to the annual SCBWI National conference in LA - I've never been to one of the nationals so this should be quite a trip. If you're anywhere near any of these places, let me know and we can have coffee or something. Bring a book and I'll even sign it for you!

On this date: In 1775, Jane Austen was born.

Apologies in Advance...

Too cute not to share.

Not Just Smoke and Mirrors

New Book Word Count: 12,806
Line of the Day: "If you're talking about him at all, it means you're thinking about him a lot."

Zipping right along on the new book that still remains sadly untitled. I'm starting to get a few ideas that don't totally stink, so we might be in the process of narrowing it down. As I'm writing, it's always amazing to me how the process works - and I can say that because honestly I feel like I can't take credit for any of it. Okay, I know that sounds crazy (Robin), but I really do feel that I'm just the conduit for great ideas that are already floating around out there.

Case in point - I had absolutely NO idea how my two MCs were going to meet back up again once she comes home from vacation (I realize that probably makes no sense, but bear with me). And as I'm writing the last scene at the Tower of London it just happens - of course! He has a friend with him who ends up liking her sister. They exchange numbers and there you go. And why did she want to go upstairs to look at her father's photos of the trip? Of course - he's in one of them (and not where he's supposed to be either)! And the villain of the story? The one who I knew existed but wasn't sure who it was? The villain has been there all the time - right under our literal noses. Don't know why I didn't realize that before.

I often find myself saying "Dang, I wish I'd thought of that" when a particularly sticky plot problem just works itself out, because I honestly don't feel like I did. I'll often read over chapters that I've written days before and be totally surprised because I don't remember writing parts of them.

There's only one possible explanation - it's magic.

On this date: In 1941, Pearl Harbor was bombed.

John Green on Twilight

T (from other room): Mom, what are you laughing about?
Me: John Green's being funny.
T: John Green's always funny.

Why yes, he is.

Win a Copy of Dirty Little Secrets

Want to read Dirty Little Secrets before everyone else? The publisher's ARCs are gone, but there is an ARC giveaway on Authors Now! that is running through December 8th. Just comment on the post and you can win an Advanced Reader's Copy for your very own!

New Book Word Count: 8,061
Line of the Day: According to their plan, I'd be at Julliard or at least the San Francisco Conservatory of Music by now instead of wasting my life by actually having one.

So how's the new book going? Pretty good - I lost a little bit of momentum over Thanksgiving, (I'm blaming the tryptophan), but now I'm on a roll and the scenes are coming faster than I can find time to type them. Still title-less, but I'm getting a lot more firm on the main character names. Thank goodness for Google - I needed to see what was on a bus route in San Francisco and Google maps let me see the whole way at street level. Don't know what I'd do without the Internet - I'd have to actually go there!

I'll keep ya posted.

On this date: In 1955, Rosa Parks ignited the Montgomery bus boycott.

Hoarders on A&E

Welcome back to real life (at least for the next three weeks) - hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and didn't gain more than the pumpkin-turtle pie was worth.

After the family togetherness and eating (and some online shopping - I hate crowds), I spent the free time catching up on Tivo'd episodes of Hoarders on A&E. No matter how many times I see stories on compulsive hoarding, they never fail to break my heart. There was one episode in particular that left me shaken in Hoarders, Patty/Bill in season one. If you haven't seen it, they have a very short clip if you click on the link, click on the 1 next to the word Season and then choose Patty/Bill (for some reason, the link won't go right to the episode). Listen carefully to Patty as she is talking about the house - you'll hear the phrase that made me sit up and take notice. In the other story in the episode (which they don't show in the clip), Bill has a daughter who lives in a spotless bedroom in the middle of the hoarded home - exactly like my character Lucy in Dirty Little Secrets. His daughter was so much like my character it was scary.

I'm glad that I wrote the book in late 2007, because otherwise I'd be accused of blatantly ripping off episodes of this series. There are so many details that are in Hoarders that are in the book that it is really astounding. Its amazing that so many people who have no contact with each other, behave in such similar ways.

On this date: In 1948 Kukla, Fran and Ollie debuted.