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Welcome summer! I know summer starts for a lot of you the day after school ends. Or after Memorial Day. But for me, summer always begins on the first day of summer. Which is the summer solstice. Which is tomorrow. I will try to focus on the happy fact that sunset is at 8:30 instead of getting that sinking feeling I always have when daylight hours start decreasing. We have the greatest amount of daylight hours all year on the summer solstice (about 15 hours in New York), which means that the day after tomorrow...nope. I will not think about that. I will think about getting my summer on.
Actually, I've already begun the funtivities. Section two of the High Line just opened. I was so there. As if more High Line in my life isn't enough, there's an outdoor art installation right at the end called Rainbow City with all these interactive balloons. Balloons! Plus more High Line! These are the days, yo.
You know how some offices have summer hours? Well, I'm the boss of a one-person corporation over here, and I say my only employee Susane gets to enjoy summer hours, too. Sort of. If it's a sunny morning that's not, like, a thousand degrees, I'm allowed to lay out on the beach volleyball pier instead of being online. It's this new thing at Hudson River Park where volleyball courts are fenced in on a pier - with sand! My entire floor is now covered with sand. Looks like summer. And, um, time to vacuum...
Normally, I would avoid such close proximity to balls zinging in all directions. But they have these cool curvy chairs to lay out on and a sweet summer breeze off the water and it's just too awesome to resist. I watched some fierce Chelsea boys playing a highly profesh game this weekend. It was good to desensitize myself. Back in junior high and high school, I was terrified of getting smacked in the head with any type of ball - baseball, kick ball, dodge ball, basketball, and especially volleyball. Because when you're playing volleyball, you are under attack from overhead. Scary much? Now that I'm (technically) a grownup, I think it's time to be a bit less afraid of volleyballs. So I sat right there and read my book and didn't get hit. Small steps, people. Small steps.
I have to say that I was shocked by how many people borrowed my sunblock. If you're going to be outside for a while, bring protection! One new product I'm loving is Neutrogena Wet Skin.
You know how when you're laying out and sweating and even if your sunblock is waterproof, it still comes off sometimes and you burn? And then you're furious because, hello, you spent half an hour putting on sunblock before you left and you even reapplied it and now look? Or is that just me? Well, if you can relate then you'll love Wet Skin. It's sweatproof, waterproof, and you can spray it right on wet skin. I'm using SPF 85 and loving it. This is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
In online news, The Guardian has come to my attention with this piece on authors' responses to that ridiculous WSJ article about how teen novels are all corrupt a few weeks ago. Then When It Happens got a sweet review. "It's like Twilight without the vampires!" I'll take it. Also, the Book Blog Experience is running a giveaway of So Much Closer to go with Add a Comment
1. The event I had at Anderson's Bookshop with Sarah Mlynowski and Maureen Johnson was off the hook. Sarah and Maureen are hilarious. There were so many enthusiastic readers! I did events at the other two Anderson's locations last year and really wanted to do one at their Naperville store. So I was pretty much stoked out of my mind for this. Lots of kindred spirits were in the house. I had no idea there were so many Container Store fans out there. There was much bonding over my organization stories. I was like, Yay, I'm not a total freak! Also awesome - I got to meet a few readers I'd been communicating with online for years. Lauren brought me cupcakes. And I could not get over the huge gift basket Cassidy put together for me. It had all these cool scrapbooking things like Jolee's Boutique NYC decorations and flower stickers and a peace sign stamp/stamp pad and even a calligraphy set. What blows my mind is how well she knows me just from reading my blog and stuff online. Thank you for the amazing gifts, Cassidy!
2. The Best Gift Basket Ever wasn't the only gift to be given. Katie brought Maureen a Maureen doll wearing - wait for it - the Pajants! As in the Pajants that have been circulating within the YA lit circle for the past few months. We all signed the Pajants after wearing them. Most of us added some artwork. So what did Katie do? She freaking went and made a mini replica of the Pajants. I could not get over the accuracy. She even used the same colors we did. I posted a close-up on the Twitterhood of the Butt Lifting Pajants page. Here's Maureen and Katie with the doll:
3. I'm honored that a second quote from When It Happens has been added to the English wing of Erica's high school. She selected the Mr. Potato Head line. Thanks for sharing this, Erica!
4. Author Turf interviewed me about the writing process. If you're an aspiring writer, you might want to check it out.
5. As you very well know by now if you've been reading my blog or ecstatic tweets for a while, Sprinkles opened here in New York last month. This is a Very Big Deal. Sprinkles cupcakes are the best. I had them last year in L.A. and immediately fell in love. So of course I had to gather my friends Elizabeth Eulberg and Courtney Sheinmel to check it out. Courtney is a purist. She likes vanilla cupcakes with chocolate icing. We agreed it would be a good idea for us to all get the same ones for the purpose of taste testing. But inside I was like, "LEMON COCONUT!" The verdict seems to be that their plain vanilla cupcakes are maybe not their forte. But when it comes to their more creative flavors, watch out for deliciosity.
I needed to return. I needed to experience the deliciosity.
Some old students of mine (aka vintage friendly neighbors) also love cupcakes. They were more than ready to try Sprinkles. So we all went last night for a friendly neighbor reunion. Was it wrong to have a cinnamon sugar cupcake, a frosting shot, and then half a strawberry cupcake? Good, I didn't think so. You can get these little cups of frosting in any flavor featured on the current cupcakes (most of their flavors change daily). I had a strawbe
Greetings, fellow tweeps! I'll be doing a Twitter Q&A tomorrow, April 28, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Random tweeters will be selected to win ARCs of So Much Closer. All questions and questioners are welcome! To join the Q&A:
2. Ask your question between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time with the hashtag #SoMuchCloser.
3. Random tweeters will be selected to win signed ARCs of So Much Closer.
A few other quick things going on...
Want to win a copy of Something Like Fate in paperback? My friend Melissa Walker is hosting a giveaway with her Cover Story.
I've already received so many awesome entries for my Fourth Annual Ginormous Contest! It's going to be really hard to select three winners. You guys are amazing.
Did you get my newsletter today? If not, you can read it here.
Finally, I'm stoked to share the Polish cover of When It Happens with you. The title is When the Time Comes. My friend Anton told me that in Russian the title would be Hoping for the Right Hour. It kind of looks like a vampire novel, but I love it anyway. So dramatic!
And here's the German cover of Waiting for You. I love that my German publisher is using the same flowers and happy clouds on all the covers.
Well, it's volunteer work time. Last week I got to clean and totally organize my client's desk. Cleaning and organizing people's desks is so fun for me I can't even tell you. Today I get to untangle a bunch of cords and then sort them with those color coding grippy things. Which, seriously, is so relaxing. I get very bothered when people have big, tangled bunches of wires showing. All wires should be hidden, IMHO. And even though I have a ton of work to do before my book tour starts next week, it's been warm and sunny here in New York. That's helping me keep it Zen. I even busted out my new flip-flops yesterday. Which means one thing - spring is officially here to stay. Yay!
Thanks to everyone who commented with suggestions for the When It Happens movie casting! I'll be forwarding all of your ideas to my agent. It will most likely be a really long time before I have any definite movie news to tell you, as these things tend to take way longer than we'd like. But as soon as I have some news to share, you will read it here first!
Speaking of When It Happens, do you remember how Tobey and Sara played Dots? Well, Dots is a real game that the boy who inspired Tobey's character showed me how to play when we were seniors. In case you were wondering if I ever use real-life experiences in my books, I absolutely do and Dots is one of them. Back then, we had to make our own Dots boards by taking regular notebook paper and filling the page with a dot grid. Those took forever. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to discover that Rhodia has a new Dot Pad!
It's totally ready to play Dots! Man, I could have really used one of these 20 years ago.
Little things like this make me happy. Because I am all about the little things. Especially when it gets dark ridiculously early. Seriously, it's like totally dark out and it's not even 4:30 yet.
So not cool.
It's official. The Hunker Down has begun. This is the time of year when daylight hours are the shortest. Lots of people think that daylight hours keep getting shorter throughout the winter. False. We get the least amount of daylight on the winter solstice, which is December 21 this year. After December 21, daylight hours start increasing by about two minutes a day (until June 21). This is good news! It may be butt fricking cold in February, but hey, at least we have more daylight. The Hunker Down is the best time to stay inside. It's dark and cold out. There's no quality fruit available. No one can come out to play. That's why the Hunker Down is the perfect time to write a new book! I'll be working on book six for the next three months. If you also have writing goals, the Hunker Down welcomes you.
Did 2010 zoom by or what? With only 1.5 months to go, I'm flabbergasted. It seems like just yesterday I was hanging on the edge of 2009 and having good feelings about 2010. I made a secret pact last December. I know this might seem crazy, but I don't care. My pact was...okay, announcing my pact may jinx it, but I am taking the risk. My pact was that I would not get sick in 2010. I was getting all these annoying colds last year and was just really sick of getting sick. I'm like the worst sick person ever. I am whiny. I am demanding. And I can never get comfortable. I also refuse to do any work when I'm sick. You know those people who manage to keep doing everything when they're sick? Yeah, I'm the total opposite. I pretty much just read and sleep the whole time. And complain about how sick I am.
So I thought, Hey, you know what would be fun? To not get sick in 2010! Irrational as it was, I was determined to reach this goal. It's actually working - 2010 has been free of sick. How am I doing it? A few new routines have helped. I always wash my hands right when I come home. I use my own pen to sign receipts in stores. I guess I'm just being more careful about what I touch. I'm sure I'll go back to being less obsessive in 2011 and will immediately get smacked down by a horrible cold. But at least I'll have my new Dot Pad, ready and waiting to play Dots. Then I'll just need to find someone who feels like playing Dots with a complaining sick person...
For now, though, I have begun the Hunker Down. Let prime writing time begin!
The pub date for So Much Closer has been finalized! It's May 3, 2011. I know that's a while from now, but Amazon already has a So Much Closer page and we're pretty sure the pub date won't change. When I'm allowed to share the cover, you'll see it here first. It's my favorite cover so far. I hope you'll love it as much as I do.
There's also some event news. I'm coming to Texas! I'll be at the Austin Teen Book Festival on October 2. I've been hearing how cool Austin is and I'm really looking forward to meeting those of you who live in the area. I'll post all of the event details here when I have them.
In a review of When It Happens, Just Read says, "Susane Colasanti never fails to give me faith in fate, soul mates, and love." That's what I'm here for.
I'm feeling that dystopia is the new vampires. Did you read this New Yorker article about why YA dystopia is so hot right now? I loved their point about how high school is a dystopia. Because everything is pretty much as bad as it can get in high school.
It's so funny when I meet grownups and they find out I'm a YA author and they're like, "Oh, I loved high school! I wish I could go back!" I'm like, Who are you? Seriously with the wanting to go back? I mean, yeah, I'd go back if I could have perfect skin and hair that did what I wanted it to and rich parents so I could fit in with all the other kids at my school instead of getting tormented every day. But let's keep it real. Anyone who says high school was the best time of their life was either physically and financially privileged back then or just forgets 98% of what happened.
This is actually good news. For those of you in middle school or high school, let me just tell you. Things do get better after this. Like, way better. And those kids who make your life miserable? Eventually, you won't even remember all their names. Or even that you knew them. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. So focus on you this year. Get stellar grades, learn new skills, and make good friends. It's a new year and it can totally be a new you if you make it happen. I'll be rooting for you all the way.
While I was at Whole Foods yesterday, I did a very grownup thing. Tazo makes this drink called Refresh Herbal Infusion. It is so minty and delicious I could drink one every day. When it gets warmer, I'm all about being refreshed. Fruit plays a big part in this because I enjoy making gorgeous fruit salads with lots of different colors in them. See, fruit and I have a very special relationship. I crave it all winter. Not the tired apples/oranges/bananas lineup you can get anytime. I'm talking berries and melons and cherries and plums and such. Every year when it gets warmer, it's like a big gong is slammed and I'm suddenly running around on a crazed mission to take in as much seasonal fruit as possible. This might seem like an easy goal to accomplish. But here in New York, grocery shopping is tricky. I walk everywhere. So when I walk 20 minutes to Whole Foods, I need to be able to carry whatever I buy on my 20-minute walk back. I can't just get a whole watermelon. Well, I guess I could lug in on the subway. Hm.
Right, so back to the Tazo Refresh Herbal Infusion. I generally only get two small bottles so my bag doesn't end up being too heavy. But then I was like, dude. I could order a whole case of these to be delivered to my place! There are people who use delivery services all the time, for everything from laundry to warm cookies. I am not one of these people. Except for yesterday, when I sort of was. I ordered two cases and felt like such a grownup. My Gram taught me the importance of being frugal. Without saving, there's no way I could have payed off my student loans or would even be living here right now. It seems like once I hit 35, I started allowing myself little luxuries here and there. I'm counting this as one of them.
In other food-related news, did you hear about the guy who got lockjaw while biting into a massive sandwich? While I was doing research for the revision I'm working on, I came across this. The thing is, that looks like a really good sandwich. I can see why he was so excited!
A reader sent me this photo a while ago that's really overdue for posting. You know how some high school English wings have quotes painted on them? Well, this quote from When It Happens is painted on the wall at her school:
Want to hear something wild? I don't remember writing that at all. Lots of times when I see quotes from my books on Twitter or Facebook, it's like I'm seeing them for the first time. Now I know what all those blank stares were about when my pre-author self would go to readings and ask authors about specific lines from their books.
Time to get back to work. And by "work" I mean trying to play Pac-Man at Google's home page without a joystick. Oh wait, one last thing - a reminder for those of you who haven't entered by ginormous contest yet. You only have until Sunday night to get your entry in. Good luck!
Recently, I posted my new paperback cover designs. Now I can share the spine art with you, which I'm really excited about. By the time Something Like Fate is released on May 18, all four of my books will have a matching look on the shelves. Each spine has pretty watercolor stripes that reflect the color scheme of the covers:
The new editions of When It Happens and Take Me There should be out around March. I can't wait to see them in bookstores!
Exciting news: My paperback covers have a fresh new look! The main images are the same, but the covers have new fonts, tag lines, and embossing! I am so excited to see these on the shelves. They should look gorgeous because the spines all have a new look, too - these sweet watercolor stripes. Although the new editions won't be out for a few months, I just had to share them with you. If you see these When It Happens or Take Me There covers out in the world and are inspired to document them for me, that would rock.
When Waiting for You comes out in paperback next spring it will share the look, which actually isn't much different from the hardcover edition.
I love how my covers have a uniform, matching look now! Organization makes me happy.
Happy First Moon Landing 40th Anniversary! How are you celebrating? I'm going for a Firecracker Popsicle later. Those are the ones that are red, white, and blue and look like rocket ships. They are just so refreshing. In fact, a box of Firecracker Popsicles is the first thing I'm going to put in my freezer when I move to a bigger apartment and get to have a refrigerator with a freezer. It's been a long six years with no freezer, particularly in the summer when you want something icy. Ah, the joys of NYC living. Location trumps frozen food.
Over the weekend, I did some volunteer work for President Obama. We collected over 1,000 signatures in support of his health care reform initiative. This freaking rocks. I am so sad and mad about all of the people who don't have health insurance because it's crazy expensive, all the kids who never go to the doctor because their parents can't afford to take them, everyone living with serious health issues who can't receive the care they need. And I'm horrified by the amount of older people who can't take their medication because it isn't covered by insurance. I really, really hope things change very soon.
A cool summer breeze flowed through my window that night, calming my rage. I woke up Sunday all excited to see that Waiting for You got a shout-out in The Philadelphia Inquirer. I have love for this newspaper since I lived in Philly when I went to Penn. I always love going back to visit Philly in that way where you have emotional ties to the places you've lived. Anyway, here's the feature with some other hot summer teen reads. More cool links: Running for Fiction reviewed When It Happens. And the review of Take Me There that was posted today gives you a good idea about how the book's plot lines are connected. It's hard to believe that Robby is only 14. He has skills like that. Also, Kristin recently established Teens Read, a Ning for teens who love to read. I swear, if sites like these and online book discussions and Facebook and other ways to interact with my fave authors all existed back in the day, I would have been ecstatic. This whole Internet thing rocks.
I checked in at my Goodreads page and saw that the pub date for Something Like Fate has been listed. It's May 13, 2010! I'm sort of freaking out that next year is 2010 already, but I'm more excited to see the pub date listed. I need things like this to make a new book feel real. At this point, the manuscript is in copyediting. I'm finishing my acknowledgments today. And then, you know. Getting that Firecracker Popsicle. Astronauts rule.
Some author videos promoting the May 14 release of Waiting for You are out. I definitely haven't overcome my voice phobia, but I did put it aside long enough to watch these. I'd feel better about them if my voice didn't sound so weird out there in the world. It sounds okay in my head.
Here's one about soul mates that Penguin's using on its sites. Note: When I'm talking about the boy who inspired the character of Tobey in When It Happens and my mortifying junior prom picture is shown, that's not him. But it's the only photo with a boy I have from high school that I can actually look at.
The Amazon video discusses how I came up with the title for Waiting for You. In the Barnes & Noble video, I talk about creating your ideal life.
All of these videos were filmed and created by the wonderful Lauren Saffa. She is just so sweet and easy to work with you can't even believe it. It's not easy to tell a story in around three minutes. Lauren totally nailed it with her outstanding talent.
There's so much to tell you with all of this book release excitement, so I'll be blogging pretty much every day for the next few weeks. See you tomorrow!
As if I wasn't stoked enough about Waiting for You coming out on May 14, the friendly neighbors at Penguin have put together a Susane Sampler to get the party started. Woot! The sampler has a few chapters from all three of my books. So if you'd like a Waiting for You sneak peek or want to read a bit from When It Happens or Take Me There, you can check it out at Scribd.
A secret goal of mine was to have at least one of my books show up on YouTube in some way. And now, that goal has been achieved! Not that I had anything to do with it. This reviewer is an avid reader who is tearing it up in 2008, discussing the books she reads this year. Sweet!
The most awesome Compulsive Reader is also running a contest so you can win a copy of both books. How sweet is that? Just email your name, address, and email address to [email protected].
My mourning dove is hooing! And yesterday he was all fat and fluffy in the window. Life is good.
Even better: I am honored that When It Happens and Take Me There were both selected as the May Book(s) of the Month over at The Compulsive Reader! To kick things off, you can read Tirzah's reviews of both books. Every Thursday for the rest of May, a new feature relating to these books will dazzle and entertain. Sweet!
You only have two more days to enter Elizabeth Scott's Perfect You contest, where you could win some serious gift certificate action. Dude, you could win a freaking iPod! Get your butt over there yesterday!
On a related note, has anyone noticed that 2008 is like 1/3 over? When did that happen?
Today is May Day. May Day is my birthday. And what an awesome birthday gift: When It Happens is out in paperback today!
As a bonus gift, I can officially announce my exciting Barnes & Noble news. Barnes & Noble is doing national floor displays of Take Me There and When It Happens! The floor displays should be out on June 10, but Take Me There will be in stores on May 29.
You may have noticed two slightly different covers for Take Me There kicking around. That's because Barnes & Noble requested a few changes to the cover. Below, the original cover is on the left and the final cover is on the right.
Fun creative visualization factoid: My LJ username is windowlight, because I'm all about the natural light in big windows. Nice cover, right?
In When It Happens, Joe Zedepski is this dude who always has to put his ginormous calculator right at the edge of his desk. His huge, annoying calculator which he has out even on the first day of school when you don't need it yet, teetering on the edge, just waiting to fall off.
A very special reader gets how funny this is. She and her friend were totally cracking up when they found out about Joe. She even drew Joe's calculator:
Love that! And Joe would have loved yesterday's blog post.
When It Happens comes out in paperback on May 1, which is also my birthday. I love it when the universe consolidates gifts like that.
We just got back from San Diego.
The whole time I was there, I had Dr. Seuss-itis.
We were less than 20 miles away from where Dr. Seuss lived in La Jolla.
I had planned on going to La Jolla and hopefully finding the tower where Dr. Seuss lived, but on the day we had planned to go, there was a landslide in La Jolla and we thought it was best we stay away from all the hubbub.
Anyway....I
1 Comments on Natural Influences, last added: 10/9/2007
Thanks, Stacy.I have been to San Diego a few times and it's true. Almost anything will grow there. A friend even said that you can grow Mangoes there in certain parts of town, (although I would have to see it to believe it.) Cool photos. Great reference stuff. -Wes
Thanks, Stacy.I have been to San Diego a few times and it's true. Almost anything will grow there. A friend even said that you can grow Mangoes there in certain parts of town, (although I would have to see it to believe it.) Cool photos. Great reference stuff. -Wes