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Still struggling to catch up after being gone from ALA, so this post will probably be pretty random. But hey, it's a Friday Five--it's supposed to be random, right?

Bliss #1
I've embarked on a journey of looking back at high school, pulling back as many memories as I can. I'm trying to remember more of that conflicted teen that I was so I can carry that into one of the current WIP novels. What I find in my memories is a mix of bittersweet. The bliss is in being able to notice this and move on.

Bliss #2
I've had so much fun working on this little art project. It's made me happy to paint and glue and doodle. Here's just one page.



If you haven't seen them on FB you can click over to Flickr to see some more. I decided this small size will be perfect for a new journal of my favorite positive words. For someone who never did art as a child, someone who never even liked to color, this new art adventure feels like I woke up in the morning learning how to talk to animals. It is so wonderfully strangely perfectly me.

Bliss #3
Having so many books in my home library that I can choose to read and reread again and again. Each night I grab a couple to take upstairs, devour them, fill them with little Post-it flags and think how lucky I am to have them at my disposal for any time day or night. I can choose from writing books or art books or history or fiction or so much more. Lucky, blissful me.

Bliss #4
I rarely read the newspaper except for things that catch my eye as I pick it up to put in the recycling. Today I actually turned a page and right there was an article that totally fits into the major plot point of another WIP (Max's story.) I had had a feeling I was on the right track and boom, there was the anger-making, very sad, proof. Bliss!

Bliss #5
When we yanked out the lawns a few years ago and put in the native garden I saw an immediate increase in bugs and bees and birds. But what I didn't see were butterflies. Today there has been a pair of Swallowtails flitting around the yard, from verbena to verbena. The blossoms aren't the typical landing pads that butterflies prefer but it doesn't seem to slow these two down. Sitting at my art desk, painting pages in a new journal, Cassie at my feet, birds playing in water at the bubbling rock, and Swallowtails dancing across the yard. Pure and utter bliss for me.

Here's to a blissful weekend all around.

1. I climbed in bed last night and turned on my TV. One of my favorite shows happened to be doing an arc where the mom dies of cancer. My heart couldn’t take it. I turned out the lights, my chest a silent night. All was calm in there. All was lost in there. Last week ended on a terribly sad note and this week began with the funeral. Death is like a thief in the night and it is the most depleting experience in the world.

Because of this I fell asleep thinking, “I can’t handle any more. So tired of death. So tired of destruction. ” I actually took the time to ponder why we can’t just quit on this part of life. Just lie down and say, “I’m not doing this one anymore. You go on and grieve without me this time. I’ll try to catch up later.”

As I fell asleep my subconscious plopped an ugly misshapen cherry on top of my weary mind. In my dreams I battled every enemy I ever had.

It’s no wonder when I woke and read the earthquake and tsunami news on my Yahoo page it took a few moments for me to understand I wasn’t still in the throes of my nightmare world.

2. I wish I’d had more time to blog this week. The only post I got up was one I wrote last weekend. I’m sorry.

3. But we finished the kitchen floor and most of our backsplash. We’re waiting on some more things that are on order before I take the final pics and post them. I <3 my new kitchen. It’s just amazing.

4. I’m going to try to sit my rear down this coming week and do some writing and reading. I’m doing a beta read for a friend right now and it is a wonderful story.

5. My heart and prayers go out to all in the path of this earthquake and tsunami.

1. Lost in my fiction world and remodeling, I completely forgot to pay my internet bill.  Okay, actually, that's not true. I tried to pay it last week, but AT&T had major issues with their website so I couldn't get through.  Then I got busy writing and forgot.  So this morning I woke up to suspended email accounts. Oops. Before I even had my coffee down I fired up their pay-by-phone thing. I hate that system. I mean, like, despise it. I kept yelling "Pay my bill!" and it kept going back to the same menu option: "Please say, 'pay my bill.'"  Then I said, "Oh my God."  And it said, "I think you said,'Other'".  I wanted to pitch my phone across the room. But I didn't.  Instead I took a large gulp of my coffee and when I tried again my "smart" phone changed screens to tell me my email password was incorrect and it couldn't collect my emails. I had to slide that card off the screen and pull up my phone screen where AT&T had been put on hold. It took forever to pay that stinkin' bill and they still haven't reinstated my email accounts.  Word to the wise, don't let your husband sweet talk you into paying the bills while you're in the writing zone.

2. At around 9 o'clock this morning I became the proud owner of a workable kitchen sink again!  And a dishwasher!  Totally worth several loud and obnoxious SQUEES!  We have boards as counters though, because we're still waiting on our tile order to come in. 

3. Tornado warnings and severe thunderstorms completely ruined my Vampire Diaries viewing last night.  I watched it off Amazon this morning though and OHMYGOD!  2 episodes back I got a little irritated with the "protect" Elana story line that has gone on for waaaay too long.  But they twisted the whole thing once again in a very good way. So I'm happy!  What I'm not happy about is last week my husband caught the show before I did. Since he couldn't keep quiet about it he went on and on. As he reached the big twist I guessed what happened before he could tell me. He looked shocked at my psychic abilities and confused over my obvious disappointment regarding the whole thing.  I took him to my PA file and read that exact twist in my book that I had written two days before. :-( Bummer. Bummer. This morning while I was watching, another plot thing happened that I wrote yesterday in PA.  As I'm well aware that there is no new idea under the sun, it still doesn't stop me from being bummed when this sort of thing happens. It also reminds me of the anger I felt when some dummy made a remark about True Blood stealing things from Twilight.  Because as we all know, Charlaine was pounding out her vampire books long before Stephenie ever even dreamed her Twilight Saga.  But I digress.

4. My little man showed off his new toy to his daddy this morning.  It's a John Deere cotton picker.  As I helped him get loaded in the SUV, he told me about his friend who has a green bean picker. Hmm... Since I've never heard of a green bean picker I'm awfully curious about how it looks. 

5. I checked out my Yahoo news feed yesterday while taking a break from the "writing zone".  Bad idea. That thing is depressing.  Oil prices are going sky high and the housing prices are dropping.  Tiger Woods did something and got mad.  Lindsay Lohan got in trouble at her hearing and Charlie Sheen is being Charlie.  It appears, I didn't miss much in my week-long absence.  Same as always.  I then popped over to FB to say hi to everyone, read a few updates on my home page, and happily returned to my book world.

Continuing with my idea to use the Friday Five as a way to look back at my week. . .

1. Loved hosting my weekly CAPS (Creative Action Planning Support) group at my house on Monday. Hubby and I are introverted homebodies so actually USING the house to entertain and enjoying every minute of it, is great progress for me. The Monday session overflowed into an art lesson for a couple of the members and that meant that the house was filled with that much more creative energy. What I love is that ever after people have gone, some of their creative energy remains.

2. I had lunch with a friend, a great Skype chat with my Wednesday Women group, and a nice day at the art studio with friends, all reminding me that connection with other people is very important to me. I'm not super good at it, but I am trying.

3. Hubby and I are doing a pretty good job of maintaining an uncluttered house in the main living space. Every time we do this for a while, I'm amazed at how much it affects my mood.

4. I came up with the idea for a new weekly poetry feature for my blog (to launch next week) and I was able to put together all the pieces to get it up and running ASAP. Considering that I'm often big on ideas and less big on follow-through, this felt good.

5. K, one of the main characters in my WIP, came to life the other night. B is still a bit out of focus but K, as soon as I heard her cry, I knew her. I mean I knew her the kind of way I know I would recognize her walking down the street. I had a feeling she would be the one to come to life first but I hope B isn't too much farther behind her. This book, being written in two voices (and maybe 3 more to be added) actually has me considering Scrivener for PC. Perhaps when I am ready for the next draft.

I've been dealing with some health stuff this week so it has been an unproductive week which makes the Friday Five a bit more difficult. But I'm going to give it a shot.

1. I am hit and miss with my 2 poems a day. More hit than miss so that's good.

2. I hit Zero In-Box with my emails. This was huge because while all the house stuff was going on and my hard drive was dying I wasn't using my Outlook mail. I just left everything in Gmail which really got to be a pain because I'm addicted to sorting my mail into folders. When I was finally able to download all my old mails and then added them to what had been in Outlook before, well I had 12,000 of them to process. I still have about 100 in my "follow-up" folder but hitting zero felt great!

3. I have confirmed in my head that my office needs to be painted green. It might be a year before I get to it and I have no idea which green because the green I used in the rest of the house reads brown in my office, but just picking the color family felt pretty darn good.

4. Our family lost a childhood friend this week, a young man, only a few years older than my son. He lived across the street from us, the oldest of three sisters and he played big brother to my son through-out his childhood. I remember him best with a skateboard under his arm. My son wrote a moving post about it here.

5.I added a new habit to nightly routine - reading a poem a night and recording what I read. I chose index cards to record the name of the poem, the book it was from, what I liked it about, any favorite parts and how it makes me feel. I haven't read enough poetry and I want to read and try to understand more of it. I keep thinking of some kind of blogging poetry community, something apart from Poetry Friday, where we could discuss poems we read because there is just so much I don't understand. I began with Billy Collins and the second poem of his I read was called Monday and spoke to the vision of the poet who is always looking out the window because there is always something there to see. I loved it until the last two stanzas but then it lost me and I wish I could talk about the poem with someone and understand what I have missed.

If you're looking for the Poetry Friday round-up, please visit A Teaching Life.

1. It is a fact that if you inhale Early American Oak stain for too long you'll get high.  For this reason I recommend wearing a mask even if it itches and makes you feel like you can't breathe at all.

2. Deliveries suck this year. I've been sleeping on an air-mattress for two weeks now. Also for two weeks, I've been told my bed will arrive today. They lie, people! They lie.

3. I've realized this week that I can, in fact, still write. It just requires that I yell at myself often.

4. My husband has completed all of our top cabinets. :-) You have no idea how pleased that makes me.

5. I'm going to leave off with a sample of my accomplishments this week because having the space and peace to write is a wonderful thing.

Excerpt from Panthan's Abyss. Laura starts us off with the first line of dialogue. Micah is her partner in this conversation.

“I have all this power but I can’t touch her. I’m beneath her.”

“No, you’re out of her league.”

“That’s funny. When I look in the mirror, I still see the same me.”

“But you’re not. You far beyond anything she can understand. Come home. Grayson needs you.”

She backed down slowly.  "I'm fine there being the golden girl. But when I come back it hits me. I had a life here.  A life that can no longer have any part of me."

Five things I'm pondering today:

1. Friends. I'm still thinking about the many sides of friendships and especially how they have changed with the advent of email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.  Why it is easier for some people to make and keep friends, what makes a friendship stick for the long term, how you outgrow some friends and not others.

2. Paint. I'm taking an online class with Julie Pritchard on painting layered backgrounds for my collage projects. I've checked all the local stores for Golden paints but none of them come close in price to what I can get them for at DickBlick so now I am waiting for them to come in. (Impatiently waiting.) I am also eyeing the wall you first see when you come in the house (long wall from living room to dining room for those who have been here) and thinking about painting it red. But the library is red which means you'd see red and then red and I can't decide if that is good or if it will lessen the impact of the red library. So I'm pondering.

3. Heat. I'm wondering how long I will last before I turn on the AC. I'm thinking it might be this weekend. I SO don't do heat.

4. Water. I'm addicted to water features in the yard and I'm trying to decide where I could put in "just one more".

5. My office. Wondering if this would be the weekend that it is finally clean. Note, clean is not the same as done as I am still looking for new bookcases and a few other things.

What are you pondering today?

#1   What it means to be a friend.
#2   What it means to be a caretaker of the earth.
#3   What it means to be a poet.
#4   What it means to be a success.
#5   What it means to be me.

How about you? Pick one or all of the above and tell me what it means to YOU!

It's been a busy week, so I'm sneaking in under the wire with five quick things on a Friday...

1. SeaMonsters...  I had a phone conference this week with the editor for SEAMONSTER'S FIRST DAY, one of my picture books with Chronicle.  We talked about the illustrator sketches, which are so funny and awesome they make me bounce up and down a little every time I see them. Also, I love that my job involves having serious conversations about what a sea monster's belly ought to look like.

2. Tractors...  I'm reading Marina Lewycka's A SHORT HISTORY OF TRACTORS IN UKRAINIAN, which is a book I probably would never have picked up on my own (because, really... tractors?) but the band director at my school recommended it.  That's enough for me, since he is also the person who told me about Elizabeth Kostova's THE HISTORIAN, Jean Hegland's INTO THE FOREST, and another book, the title of which has eluded me, but it was gorgeous, rich, full of longing, and set in a circus in Venice.  Anyway, TRACTORS is turning out to be not about tractors so much as family and forgiveness, our weaknesses as human beings, and our strengths.  It's making me laugh, too.

3. Audio Books... Confession: I am kind of an audio-book failure. I start listening with the best intentions, but Inevitably, I end up drifting off somewhere else in my mind, only to tune back in after several minutes have passed and I am hopelessly lost.  Until this week, when I popped in this CD during my drive to a couple school visits.

1. Words I never in a million years thought I hear myself say: "I'm so happy to be back on my diet!"
But after eight days of eating matzo, the cement of the digestive system, it feels really good to be eating mean and lean again. Of course, this will not be lasting long because tomorrow:

2. WE'RE GOING TO FLORIDA!! The Webmeister's niece is getting married and we're hitting Universal and DISNEY. I'm just majorly bummed that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal isn't open yet. They said "Spring". Spring is April, dudes, not "late June". And I was looking forward to that SO MUCH. :-((( Oh well. Will just have to go back.

3. Blog reviews are starting to come in for LIFE, AFTER, You can read them here and here and "here. I'm so happy that so far readers seem to be loving this book as much as I do. And based on the great idea from Sarah at The Reading Zone, I'm going to be printing up some posters of the beautiful cover designed by Becky Terhune for a contest to be announced at a later date. STAY TUNED FOR DETAILS.

4. My daughter is back from her school trip to Washington, DC. She had to keep a journal. I was reading it last night and it's clear I'm not the only writer in the family. My favorite part was where she wrote a note to future 8th grade students telling them that everything they heard about all the drama that takes place on the dinner cruise on the Potomac is true.

Then right underneath she wrote "To the teachers: The dinner cruise was fun. The pizza was yummy."

Yep. There's so much drama going on beneath the surface, behind that "It was fun." And that's our job as tween and YA writers. To get to that place.

5. My WIP is kind of like my kids. It amazes me every day with the new places it takes me.

It started with an idea here:



and here:



Now being more of a "pantser" than a plotter, especially with this idea, I just plunged into writing. But around the 15K word mark, I hit a plateau (which wasn't helped by both kids being in plays the same week followed by Passover). This can be seen by the extremely geeky word count graph I did the other day.



Then I had made a connection that took me here:

From Blogpics

Okay, I haven't done a Friday 5 for a while so let's give this a shot.

1. Today is the next to the last session with my group of incarcerated teen poets. I'm sorry I haven't managed daily updates with the visits but I will do a few posts about them soon. Monday is the last day and there is so much to do (like typing in all their work so I have copies for the  exhibit)) before then. But today we paint. They collaged some canvases last week as backgrounds for the display and today we'll do another layer with paint and textures. Fingers crossed that it's another good art day. I have hot Cheetos in my backpack as a bribe reward.

2. I fell off the blogging wagon. I think part of it is the intensity of this teaching I am doing lately. It's a lot of prep and a lot of recovery time for me. And part of it is adding new things to my life without letting go of any old things and come to find out, there really are only 24 hours in a day.

3. I haven't even been reading blogs, just a quick scan of the feeds on Facebook which means I haven't been commenting and I feel bad about that because so many people have been so supportive of my blog over the years. There are some exciting things going on with various people and I do cheer them on, I just don't seem to be able to pause long enough to make an insightful comments.

4. I think about blogging a lot more than I have actually done it this month. I think, oh, I have ten minutes I could whip out a little blog post and then I think that everything I have to write about at that moment feels either too slight or too personal so I stare at the page for too long and finally decide that it is conceited of me to think that people want to read all that kind of stuff so I don't post. What I think is happening is that I am having a shift of identity which is all good but it fits me differently and I need to figure out how it fits into the rest of my world. I did catch a great post by sarazarr that deals with this a little bit.

5. I've committed to writing an original poem a day (and blogging it) every day in April for National Poetry Month. Last year I posted a new haiku a day based on my native plant garden. I'm not sure what form or topic I will use this year but I do promise one new poem a day.

Happy Friday, all. I'm off to see my young poets.

Spring seems to be the busiest time for author visits, and since I'm both a coordinator of visits for my school and an author who visits other schools, I thought a special Friday Five was in order...

1. My students were lucky enough to have not one but two great author events this week!  The first one was a live-and-in-person visit from Rebecca Stead, the author of WHEN YOU REACH ME, winner of this year's Newbery Medal. Here's Rebecca talking with our seventh graders. 



She was lovely and wonderful, and I'm actually in the process of putting together a much more in-depth blog about everything an author can learn about school visits from watching her go through her day. 

2. Yesterday, our advanced creative writing class had a Skype visit with Deva Fagan, the author of FORTUNE'S FOLLY and the forthcoming THE MAGICAL MISADVENTURES OF PRUNELLA BOGTHISTLE.  (She showed us an early copy of that one!)





We talked with Deva about books and writing in general, but with a special focus on beginnings.  The kids in our group are in the early stages of new projects right now and loved having the chance to ask about outlining and brainstorming and those stops and starts that often go along with starting something new. Deva compared it to making soup...the gathering together of lots of ideas that start out looking like a big mess but eventually simmer into a lovely, coherent stew. I like that.

3. On the author end of school visits, I've had a few requests for in-person events lately and should probably announce officially that I can't book any more visits for this school year.  In May, I'll start scheduling next year, so if your school is interested, just drop me an email from my website contact page any time between now and then, and I'll be send out a note when I'm beginning to schedule 2010-2011.

4. I'm still doing Skype chats with classes and book clubs that have read THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. and those are much easier to schedule, so I'll be continuing through the school year.

5.  Here's where I'll be over the next few months:

School Visits:

1. I didn't get a poem up for Poetry Friday but I've been darting all over the place reading great poems. This week's Poetry Round-up is at Wild Rose Reader. Favorite stops for me today were kellyrfineman who is one of a special group of poets who were challenged (and who rose to that challenge) to write villanelles as they were challenged to by the ever inspirational, liz_scanlon whose own villanelle makes me turn off the computer and try this villanelle stuff my own. Other villanelles can be found with Sara Lewis Holmes , Tanita Davis and Andromeda Jazmon. Another favorite stop was with laurasalas (one of the talented villanelle poets) not just to read her villanelle but to check out the poems from Thursday's 15 Words or Less challenge. And then over to The Miss Rumphius Effect (to read HER villanelle) and to check out this week's poetry stretch which was all about mythical creatures.

2. Which means this is possibly a good time to mention that next year I will be starting something call Poetry Push that I think will run on Tuesdays.

3. Recently I had the pleasure of reading my picture book, Oliver's Must-do List for the local television show Willow Glen in Motion. You can watch it with a child on your lap.

4. We have lists, lists, and more lists. At Chicken Spaghetti you can read a constantly evolving master list of "best children's books" lists!
and then MotherReader shares 105 Ways to Give a Book and Abby the Librarian gives us

Okay, I haven't blogged in over a week. Even missed my dogs and writing Wednesday. So I thought I would at least just pop over for a quick Friday Five.

#1 Today is the last day to vote for which books will land in a box of Cheerios. They will pick 5 from this list and I have two friends I would love you to vote for: Toni Buzzeo and No T Rex in the Library and Liz Scalon for All the http://promo.simonandschuster.com/cheerios-poll/poll.php You have to page through the poll to see all the books listed.

#2 The reason I haven't been blogging is because I am bogged down but bogged down in life goodness. I am taking a class via Media Bistro online with the wonderful editor Jill Santapolo. My classmates are sharp, savvy, excellent writers and everyone is turning in 10 pages a week.

#3 The reason I am bogged down is because I have to WRITE 10 new pages a week. I'm working on Flyboy. The feedback from Jill and my smart and talented classmates is pushing me farther into the story than I've ever been which is good, even if is turning me upside down and inside out.

#4  And after I write those 10 new pages a week I need to critque my classmates new 10 pages and there are 15 of us in the class. Uhm, yes, that means I should be reading and critiquing 140 pages a week. I am behind.

#5  As a result of all this  I am trying to write an outline for Flyboy. I ahve never written an outline for a novel in my life. I am sure it is a good thing because it is showing me how messed up my middle is. On top of THAT, this book is turning into a mystery and I am having a really hard time planting clues and misdirections. REALLY HARD TIME.

Bonus #6

I have now reached the point where I am really confused as to what my book is about anymore. Sigh.

Happy Friday, everyone.

My heart goes out to all involved for 911.

Here are my fav marketing posts for the week:

Know your genre and market trends - The question on genre and trends comes down to this: as a first-time author, should I write based on what genres or styles are popular now, or should I create something original and hope it appeals to a large audience?

Are you/your book findable online? Consider that again: Smart consumers these days trust what they find -- or discover -- on their own first and foremost! These are the ways you should be found.

Make sure more people (than your mom) read your blog - A few examples of ways that you can do it - and in the process hopefully grow your readership beyond your immediate family (not that there’s anything wrong with Mom reading your blog).

Twitter's New terms of Service - these are the basic rules that go along with using Twitter.

13 things to do on twitter besides tweet - Tired of delivering the typical stream of status updates on Twitter? Why not try some of the following ideas for other things you can do with the service?

54 blog posts to read about blogging before you blog - This list includes beginner tips, making money through blogging, thoughts on Twitter, how to produce content – and many other subjects in the world of blogging.


Have a great weekend!

http://feeds.feedburner.com/Faeriality?alt=rss

Friday Five

1) Schedule Schmedule - My first week on a new schedule stinks. I have to get up at 6, wake daughter up at 6:30, get her breakfast and packed for school. Wake son up at 7. Drop daughter off at 7:30. come back and get son breakfast. take him to school at 9. 9:30 - 12:30 my time (of course that means laundry, cleaning, paying bills, blogging) 12:45 pick up son. Stretch him until 2 so I can pick up my daughter. come home and get son down by 2:30 for nap. 2:30 - 3:00 quiet time for daughter. 3-3:30 one on one time with daughter. 4:00 wake up son. play until 5 when dinner gets started. By the time 7:30 comes and kids are down - I'm exhausted (and I this doesn't eveninclude my work, writing, hubby or self time.)

2) Take 3 - Yes I am back to the drawing board on my book. Spent hour with Super Agent this morning and it was very productive. I have until Sept 18th to work out some character issues, line edits and other minor fixes. I like my agent because she says things like: gusto, whole hog, and bravo. We are hoping this is the last round before we go to submission. So far, my agent has several editors interested in reading it so that makes me even more anxious to get this thing done and out. I do trust her however and she is very picky and pushes me which I like. I know when the book goes out, it will be the best it can be at this point.

3) I'm not a day over 25! This weekend is my bday (23rd). Yes it is. I wont say how old (you can guess as long as you don't go over 25 :). Its always awkward on my bday. I don't' know why but when you spend time with family, you feel the same age you did when you were 16. As if time stopped. Or maybe its just my family :) Do they have to still sing? Do I have to still wear a bday hat? (Feel free to email me if you have any bday presents you want to snail mail my way. I may be too old for hats and singing but never too old for gifts :)

4) To defriend or not to defriend. This week was my first experience with "defriending" someone. It was all but necessary since the person insisted on posting vulgar/mean posts on my Facebook page. Yes on my public forum. I tried to reason with this person who is mad at me - for reasons I am still not sure about - but I can only apologize so many times (especially when I don't really think I did anything wrong.) Anyway, I tried to call and work it out but at some point, you have to just let people be mad and go their own way. It's sad b/c after 20 years, you'd think one argument wouldn't break the friendship. Anyway, It sucks to sit in front of FB screen and read the note "Are you sure you want to defriend this person?" And then you have to hit "yes". I mean people come and go in your life but there is never a definitive question or sentence that completely ends it. Needless to say, I cried that night. I am such a softy! Honestly, it was either that or continue to be cussed out (as well as my family!) and berated on my (PUBLIC!!!) Facebook page. I mean send me an email for god sakes, you can cuss me out all you want. I can take it. But on my Facebook Wall? Tacky?- yes, immature? double yes. heartbreaking - no matter who it is - my answer is yes. Even though I dont want to be upset, I can't help it. Not to mention, after talking to many people, I think it was all so undeserved. And hey, I am one to take a hit for the team. I am one to apologize even when I shouldn't. But at some point, I guess you have to draw your line in the sand. Right? *sniff - though I am sad*

5) Another award? Really? I am almost putting myself to sleep typing this, you mean you guys don't use my blog as night reading to shut your brains down during the day? who knew? Anyway, thank you to Lauren over at Book in the Oven (isn't that the cutest name!) for the Humane Award (obviously she gave it to me before knowing I am probably the only person who just DEFRIENDED someone!) While this award is traditionally used to represent nature friendly bloggers, the writing community has embraced it as celebrating those who encourage other writer. So I will say five bloggers who have been encouraging me in my writing. My critique group deserves one fbut none of them blog anymore :(

1) Meg Cabot (not that she will even know right?) But I love her books, especially Princess Diaries. Her writing is similar in style to mine and she gave me inspiration to write (not personally, just her books. Though that woudl be really cool huh!)

2) Katie Andersen (Plot This) who spends hours brainstorming ideas for me. I just gave their blog an award but I could not do this award without mentioning Katie. It would not be right :)

3) Lindsey Leavitt - she is the one who got me back into blogging and on my path to getting an agent. Without her, (and she may not even know this. I don't know if I told her) I would not have gotten this far. Not only is she a fab person and good friend, but she rocks as a writer.

4) Suzanne Young - (She knows why!) Basically, she gave me a HUGE break that got me to where I am today (with an agent). With that said, Suzanne didn't even know me! She just reached out to me on Facebook because she read my blog. So thoughtful. (That's all I will say!)

5) Teen Fiction Cafe - Because it is run by a bunch of great writers all at different stages in their careers.

Rules: Link to back to the awarder, list 5 people who have inspired you in your writing, and then just let them know about their award ;)

Here are my marketing favs for the week:

1) An interview with publicist Suzanne Pfefferle of Pelican Publishing Company. With the ever changing market, it is nice to hear from the brain of the house publicist.
Check it out!

2) Came across twitip.com - the site focuses on providing great tips on how to best use twitter. This article is on how to be follow-worthy!

3) 2009 pulse of social media industry. About this time last year, a survey was done with bloggers/content providers, brand and agency marketers for their insights about one aspect of social media .. Blogger Relations. As is typical in our industry people generously offered their insights and we learned together how to create win-win-win strategies. 2008 Pulse of the Industry Blogger Relations . There is a survey for 2009 if you want to take it.

4) Of course my friends (Robin and Mary) over at Shrinking Promotions ran an article on tweeting this week. Tweeting for introverts that is. :) Just as I am starting to tweet more on marketing/branding tips, they are dedicated to tweeting on "daily tips, reminders, affirmations, and suggestions for caring for your introverted self." I will be doing a guest post for them in October! yay!

5) If you missed my interview with Molly O'Neil, check it out! (oh goodness, that was a shameless plug!) It was a HUGE success. I think about 1500 people came to my blog that day alone. And all for Molly's fabulous advice.

6) Writers Digest lists out the best tweets of the week - some great marketing, blogging, etc nuggets in here.

ON a side note, Cynthea Liu (Writing for Teens) is starting a series of interviews on "Authors on the verge". Today's is Kate Messner. They cover rejections, agent process and publication journey. :)

Have a great weekend!!!!

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My thoughts

1. Hair today, gone tomorrow. I cut the worst hair cut yesterday. I don't know what I was thinking. Here's what I said "I want some bangs, a couple inches off and to go a bit darker. So why did I want to look like Janeane Garafalo. *sigh* (I used to have long curly hair like Julia Roberts! Keep in mind i said her HAIR, by no means do I look like her!) Why did I want so much of a change right before LA. (so suzanne young if you read this - i guess you and I will be hanging out together drinking and sobbing over our hair issues :) I will say - its what I asked for. It's a cute doo, I just went a little crazy and want my long hair back. Just wait until I go red in the fall!
   
2. Got to have a J.O.B! I've been working like a dog so my goal is to get revisions back to Secret Agent (who really isn't a secret, its just fun to call her that) before I leave for LA. Ive been working like a dog and am so happy with how it is turning out. I don't have time to waste - I need to bring in some cash off this gig.
3. Mama don't let your babies grow up! My little girl starts Kindergarten in less than 2 weeks. She's all grown up and is already trying to tell me what kind of hair cut she wants for school. And so it begins. I am just glad I got alot of time to spend with her up until this point. :( I need to hurry and get this book done so I don't have a baby instead :) (JK honey!)
   
4. You are what you eat? We just found out my little boy has a sensitivity to wheat and cows milk. I will repeat that for those who may be stunned - wheat and cows milk. Changing over to rice milk is not that big of a deal but wheat? Not even all gluten free stuff is wheat free. Anyway, we are transitioning/changing his foods and he won't eat. Now he has lost weight - so much I can now see his ribs and it is stressing me out!!! he's happy but he won't eat. I know I shouldn't but you can't help but wonder if kids can waste away.
5. Oh Lover boy - Ah I thought Jill and mankini wearing Ed were so cute on bachelorette this week. I actually think he came across better at the Dish session. I mean he was funny! He was kinda all serious and gooby on the show. The outtakes of them were so cute. I totally would have gone for him too had they shown that side of him. I think I could look past the green mankini (That is if I wasn't married to a hotty myself :)

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1. I've scheduled two more classes in social media for authors. Info can be found here: http://susantaylorbrown.com/classes.html I'd love it if you could help me get the word out by posting it to other lists you might be on. Or the BlueBoard if you post there. Please?

1. I'm Skyping with a before-school book club in Vermont this morning!  Five avid fifth grade readers are meeting me on the computer in a little while to talk about THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z.  They read the ARC to help me with a special project, and I'm looking forward to our chat.  

2. Gianna Z has her own Facebook page now.  Won't you stop by and be her friend?

3. One of my FB and real life friends, author Mitali Perkins, has a fascinating discussion about race and class in THE HUNGER GAMES up on her blog now.  

4. Have I mentioned that I only have 10 days of school left, counting today?  As bittersweet as it is to say goodbye to this year's crew of 7th graders, I'm so looking forward to a summer that includes a retreat with some wonderful writer friends, a trip to NY to meet with my Walker publicist and editor and my editors at Scholastic, and my first ALA Conference.  Yay!

5.  It is raining today, which is...well...I've had about enough of the rain, even though my garden has probably enjoyed it.  I'm hoping this afternoon might bring one of these...



Hope your day is full of colors.  Have a great weekend!

1. Thank you so much to everyone who answered my plea for advice for a plunge-in sort of writer working on a project that demands an outline.  The fact that I can post a note asking for help here and have so many wise and wonderful writers respond with just the kinds of encouragement and ideas I needed...well, that's just awesome. Thank you.  And if anyone else is looking for advice about outlining, click here to get to the post - then skip my ramblings and proceed to the wise, wonderful comments.

2. Based on #1, I have taken the plunge and downloaded Scrivener, a writing/organizing/drafting program for Mac people.  As much as I feel a little overwhelmed about learning a new software program right now, the arguments were there.  I like technology.  I am a Mac girl.  And sarazarr  dropped me a note with information about "the Scriv" as she calls it, and told me she used it when she was working on ONCE WAS LOST. (October 2010, Little Brown).   I read my ARC of this book  in a single sitting on the porch this week while I was home sick; it's truly one of the best, most beautifully crafted books I've ever read (and you know I read a lot.)  I'm not expecting Scrivener to turn me into Sara, but if it helped her to keep all those amazing characters and plot threads organized, that's a good reason to give it a try.  I'll let you know how it goes.

3. Speaking of ARCs, if you'd like to be entered to win an ARC of my upcoming middle grade novel, THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z, you still have time to click here and leave a comment telling me what kind of tree you'd be if you were a tree. It's fun, really...  Deadline is 11pm EST.

4. My list of Authors Who Skype with Book Clubs has grown by leaps & bounds this week and somehow ended up with a link on a librarians' listserv.  I've gotten a  handful of notes from librarians in different states saying they're excited to help their reading groups connect with authors for book discussions, so I'm tickled to know that folks are finding the resource to be helpful.  If you'd like to check out the list, it's here, along with a link to some helpful information about Skype visits.

5. Including today, I have eight regular teaching days left, and then eight days of final exams, and then it is SUMMER!  Not that I'm keeping track or anything...but I'm kind of excited to have more time for bike riding and hiking and reading and writing and Scrivenering.  What are you most looking forward to this summer?

1. I continue to see bits and pieces of Cassie's personality returning as we taper her off the steroids however she seems to be in the 2% group that suffers from lethargy as a side-effect from the Atopica. She sleeps all day long and on walks she just lays down and doesn't want to go any further. Not sure what the solution is going to be since Atopica is the drug of choice for life long treatment.

2. It is supposed to be raining but instead the clouds are spitting down on us every now and then but not much else. Come on, rain.

3. LitChat today on Twitter was tons of fun. Thank you to all who came out.

4. Oliver has been invited to Illinois! I'm so excited because he hasn't been anywhere for a very long time. I need to go get his backpack ready to go. Is your school a must-see school? 
 
5.I was really hoping this was going to be a wise and witty list so that anyone newly discovering my blog would be impressed with my wise and witty self. Guess I need to practice channeling my inner carriejones and lisayee .

Here are my top marketing posts for the week!

Don't forget: Ingrid Law (Author of Newberry winning novel, Savvy) will be with us Monday as our Marvelous Marketer)

Have a good weekend!

Top 10 reasons why your Content Marketing strategy fails - Content marketing is when you create great content that attracts customers and prospects, educates them, and potentially engages them in a conversation with you. Here are the reasons that this strategy can fail.

Platform what if I'm shy? - I would guesstimate that the majority of writers consider themselves shy or introverts. How do you do a platform?

Inexpensive platform development strategies for writers - Platform development shouldn’t break the bank

The Blog Factor - Everything you need to know to start blogging - today!

Befriend Amazon for Promotion - There's a whole world of book promotion potential of Amazon that lies beneath the bookseller's surface.

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Day 5: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 101

So you have a web site now. That's great as long as people can find it and come to it.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is when you improve the volume and quality of traffic through various search engines.

So how do you do that?

1) Pick a good domain and design it simple - try not to use too much flash. Any words in flash do not come up in searches.

2) Register your site with search engines/directories. For example, the 3 main ones are:

A few of the irons in my writing fires:

1. Working on Flyboy, the YA novel, with a personal deadline of 2/28 to get the next two 2 chapters written, the first 5 chapters revised and the synopsis done.

2. Looking around for more work-for-hire projects. I'm basically searching online because it feels awkward to ask friends about it when I know they are scrambling for their work.

3. Working on short stories for magazines. Actually recycling and revising old stuff that I am now writer enough to improve.

4. Playing around with essays which is where much of my writing starting way back when writing essays for the parenting market.

5. Exploring the possibilities of teaching an online class which means exploring the various topics I might teach. Nothing definite in my head yet but I'm open to suggestions.