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Greetings and welcome to a new week!
There are several reasons to be doing a happy dance this Monday, beyond the typical disbelief that I was up and at my desk by 10am.
While I admit that it is difficult to be in a particularly bad mood while surrounded by natural splendor (see pic above--Stone Hearth, the fall foliage season), there's the fact that we had a torrential downpour last night that was so violent that Miss Jones thought it best to growl menacingly at the thunder.
Needless to say, she seems to have shamed the storm into submission. Sunny skies ahead, at least for a few hours, which means that I get INTERNET, and can therefore feed Liz materials for our Bradford 2 launch!
Blissful peace and quiet of a near-empty house means that the writers' retreat marches on: this afternoon is all about LIES MY CELLPHONE TOLD ME, my forthcoming novel from Puffin. And hopefully by sundown I will be sufficiently creeped out to dive into my super-seekrit deep-dark experimental WIP that I first began in this desolate but beautiful farmland this time last year.

BUT FIRST, the fabu announcement, which is that Taylor Morris, former student/current friend/talented writer/she of shiny, shiny hair, HAS SOLD HER THIRD NOVEL TO SIMON AND SCHUSTER. It is a tween novel that tells tale of a BFF breakup, something which my Bradford girlies know ALL ABOUT. Scandalicious! Please join me in congratulating Taylor. Yay yay yay!

(I mean, I know looks aren't everything, but HOW CUTE IS SHE?)

Despite the political theme of my most recent release, y'all have surely noticed a lack of pontificating herein. That being said, after last night, I have to put it out there:

Oh, my.

I can't believe we did it. And while, inexplicably, I underestimated the power of this particular election at various points throughout, when they called it last night? I sobbed.

Here's a fab link from SparkNotes about good politically-themed books for young readers (yes, I'm in it, but I'm in some amazing company):

http://community.sparknotes.com/index.php/2008/11/04/rock-the-vote.

Full disclosure: Taylor Morris is a student of mine. But that only makes her MORE awesome.

And now, back to celebrating.
Oh, and deadlines. Did I mention the deadlines?
Eek.

Can it really be September 8th already? Then let's get down to it!
This week I'll be celebrating the release of my latest book, and I was lucky enough to wrangle some amazing kidlit folks into partying with me!

POPULAR VOTE tells the story of Erin Bright, First Daughter of her small town and long-time girlfriend of her student council president. Erin's life gets turned upside down when she decides to go head-to-head in the student election--and challenges her father's Mayoral candidacy in the process. This is party politics with a fun twist in the vein of "Legally Blonde" and "Election."

I asked all of our guest bloggers three questions:
1) What's the most outrageous/silliest/weirdest thing you've ever done for the sake of popularity?
2) Do you have any horror stories (or sweeping success stories) about participating in student government back when you were in school?
3) What's the most unexpected cause you've ever found yourself lobby behind?

Stop by each day to see different answers from different authors (and sometimes from their characters). Post a comment, and you just might win a prize. Every day I'll be giving away one copy of my book, and each of the guest authors will be giving away prizes as well.

The whole thing makes me feel awfully popular....

And now for today's authors:

TAYLOR MORRIS has this to say:
What's the most unexpected cause you ever found yourself lobbying behind?

I’ve never lobbied behind any unexpected causes—purely expected ones, like women’s rights. But I did try to volunteer once for a great cause—with disastrous results.

When I first left Texas and moved to San Diego, I spent a lot of timing trying to figure myself out. I decided that volunteering would be a good, productive way to fill up the many hours I spent alone with no new friends in my new city, so I answered an ad seeking volunteers at an AIDS clinic.

I was only 19 and had never been on a job interview. I was pretty naïve and wondered why I had to interview for something I was going to do for free. But I put on my best suit (a Charlotte Russe monstrosity), and took my sweaty-palmed self to the office.

It was a very formal interview, which threw me completely. But I maintained my composure and answered as best I could when the interview guy asked me this question: “What does the word confidentiality mean to you?”

I said, “It means to have faith in oneself. To believe that you can do whatever you want, whatever you set your mind to.”

I still remember the stunned look on his face. Silence for an excruciating moment. And then he said, “This is an AIDS clinic. Privacy is of most importance to us. Whoever comes through these doors needs to know that their visits here are completely private. Confidential.”

“Oh,” I said. “Right.”

He never called me back. And I never mistook the word confidentially for confidence ever again.

Taylor Morris is the author of Class Favorite and the September 2008 release, Total Knockout: Tale of an Ex-Class President, both published by Simon & Schuster. She is hard at work on her next novel, which she is keeping top secret—just in case it stinks. She has a terrible palate, is a horrible gift-giver, and thinks writing for teens and tweens is just about the best gig a girl could have. Visit her at www.taylormorris.com

In honor of her new novel, Total Knockout, she’s giving away a pair of Lucia Latham–approved pink boxing gloves.