Happiest Place on Earth
Disneyland. What a perfect place to host ALA.
I told my family that if I ever become an eccentric millionaire with long twisted fingernails, I’m moving to the Disneyland Resort. D’land Hotel will be my home. I’ll live in a suite overlooking Downtown Disney, mosey over to the bookstore in the morning, hit some rides, get a Jamba Juice, then I’d catch a matinee movie. Eat dinner at a theme restaurant, hit some more rides, and end each day watching the fireworks rain pixie dust onto Main Street.
Can you guess that we had SUCH a great time this weekend? We were all so bummed coming home and I really should have booked the trip for a week. It just wasn’t long enough for us Disney junkies.
Super E and I agree Big Thunder Mountain is the best ride evah. We went on it three times in a row. Flying on Dumbo at night with him was another highlight, as was hitting Indiana Jones with my hub while our friend watched the kidlets. We hoped to have our anniversary dinner at Blue Bayou the chinese lantern lit restaurant overlooking misty Pirates of the Caribbean, but we were having to much fun riding rides to take a break.
BB loved wandering (read: being carried) through the ALA booths and smiling at the lovely librarians, authors and publishers who went ga-ga over her. She was so easy to travel with and at only 7 weeks old! The Penguin booth was great, everyone was so nice and I’m most excited for the Nancy Werlin’s novel IMPOSSIBLE.
Sadly, I missed most of the signings I hoped to attend. It’s not so easy arriving on time to things with E-man’s Grizzly White Water Rapids obsession and BB’s, well, her baby schedule. I got some lovely signed picture books for BB and Super E, which I’ll post about later. I did pick up a copy of Coe Booth’s ARC KENDRA (yay!) and met one of my favorite YA author’s, David Levithan.
So Disney: yes, the giant pickles cost $2.50 (I saw this more than once) and the Vitamin waters are $3.25. The lines are ridiculously long, it’s hot as hell and the rides dump out into souvenir shops. But spending three days at the park with my family, JUST HAVING FUN, and watching so many other families have the best time, was just incredible.
It’s easy to get cynical in this unpredictable world: gas prices soaring, a seemingly un-ending war, the economy in the toilet. We commented more than once just how happy people seemed to be away from all of that, away from their day-to-day worries, just to be walking around in Mouse Ears with their wonder-eyed child clutching tightly to their hand. Thank goodness people still believe, and want to believe in fairy tales, good winning over evil, and against-all-odds love stories. If they didn’t, us writers would be out of work…
So thanks Walt for fueling so many imaginations and reminding kids (and big kids) to believe in magic.
Even if you do charge $4.00 for a churro.
Our Tenth Wedding Anniversary!
Today!
Can’t believe how fast time flies. I have such an awesome life partner, and after all this time we still genuinely like, as well as love, each other. In this crazy world, that’s a lucky thing.
We’re going to celebrate this weekend at Disneyland with the kidlets…I’m taking him somewhere cool and our friend is coming along to help with the wee ones.
I got a bit of disappointing news yesterday, so some Mickey Mouse Mayhem may be just what I need.
Happy weekend, all.
Protected: ALA
Random Fun Facts and a Hair Cut
1. I got my hair cut. This was v. fun for two reasons. Reason one: I got to sit and read v. trashy celeb magazines (and got to find out whose bodies are beach worthy and whose aren’t—I would fall into category two…lol…and reason 2: my hair no longer looks scary.
2. My mom visited and loved BB like whoa. They had so much fun together. My mom thinks she’s “more beautiful than Shilo Bragelina” (this is a direct quote), and BB had fun being held while she slept (nearly the entire day!)
3. I made it to page 50 of the urban fantasy trilogy AND wrote three synopsis. This is fun for two reasons:
1) I can’t believe I actual managed to write while I was cradling BB in one arm, and typing with the other.
2) I managed to tie my friend and Fellow Feast of Awesomer Jackson Pearce watchmebe in a little contest we were having.
4. My back and neck are now suffering because of this multitasking technique, this is not fun, and I wouldn’t recommend, the rocking BB/writing combo, but the truth is, when I have a BIG HUGE Idea and the juices are flowing (which sometimes happens at inopportune times in my life), I just HAVE to get it out on paper (computer screen) otherwise all of it may evaporate into the cosmos and I may never find it again. Does this happen to you guys? It’s like Yoda says, “Do or do not, there is no try.” So I do. Or else I’ll cry.
The grand finale, wanna see my haircut??
Look below.
If you hate it, please don’t leave that in the comments.
New mommies need lots of love and validation. It’s true, it’s right there in the book. I can show it to you in you want. =D
Friday FIve
1. Buddha Baby turns 6 weeks today (technically, tonight). I can’t believe how fast it’s flown by. She’s so big, chubby little thighs, and she’s smiling! She has a big old open-mouthed smile. I got all nostalgic because her 1-3 months clothes are getting too tight…and I can’t stop kissing those chubby cheeks.
I had my six week OB appointment this morning and brought my wonderful doc a birth announcement for her Wall ‘O Fame. I was sad saying goodbye to her, and she gave me a big old hug. I mean, I’m a girl, I’ll probably see her again, but not for anything as exciting as bringing BB into this world.
2. It’s roasting here today. I’m thankful it’s not flooding like in some parts of the country, but it is damn hot.
3. My agent is designing a website and blog for her clients. I think this is a way cool idea and she asked for title suggestions. I thought of one while taking care of the baby this morning and sent it to her. It’s one of those ‘so obvious it just might work things’ I’ll post when it’s up and ready for action.
4. I’m on page 39 of the WIP. Still on page 39. It’s hard to write while juggling the two—my mom’s coming tomorrow, so I may be able to get a bit more done while she jumps onto diaper duty for a bit.
5. Did I mention BB’s smiling now? If there’s something more perfect than a baby’s smile, I sure haven’t seen it.
Happy Weekend, All!!
My Must List
It just cost me $92.06 to fill up my gas tank.
Must buy Hybrid.
We fed our dog a gourmet meal last night of Cheerios/left-over pesto pasta
Must buy dog food.
Super E told announced this morning that Daddy’s much better at getting him to sports camp on time.
Must be better at getting him to sports camp on time.
Urban Fantasy Novel Update
*Crazy sleep-deprived me sent Ms. Fabulous Agent the first twenty pages of Said Fantasy Book yesterday. Usually I’m not as spontaneous as this with Said Agent, like usually my work isn’t this Fresh off the Press, but I felt like if I was floating up loonie creek with backwards paddles I should know before continuing to work so…
*This morning I woke up to an email from my agent, saying she read it last night and wants to “talk” about it (which we all know talking to 212 is usually a good thing).
*So we talked and ALL SYSTEMS ARE GO!
She loves the voice and the world I’m creating, gave me a few notes and voila! She wants fifty pages ASAP.
I’m on p. 39 now so that won’t be too hard.
The moral of my story? If you haven’t written anything new in awhile, I recommend this formula: have a baby, feed her continually throughout the night until you have no idea what time it is or what planet you live on and during the day watch your wild five year old boy engage in kung-fu fights with invisible enemies when he gets home from sports camp and…*ideas and words shall flow*
Into the Realm of Fantasy
It was only a matter of time.
When I was younger I wrote fantasy a lot, in college I veered into contemporary, and my first two books are in that genre, but I’ve been hanging out with these wild debut authors http://www.feastofawesome.com. Well you may not know this, but many of them are fantasy writers and reading bits here and there and hearing about their made up worlds intrigued me.
So lately I’ve been thinking, I should try it. I can do this. So I did! I wrote 20 new pages last night of a modern fantasy book, and it was fun. Too fun, really. I just cranked it out and neglected to make my hubby a Father’s Day dinner (Bad, Heidi, bad!)
Now some of my debut2009 buds are reading it to make sure I’m not totally out of my mind.
I can’t tell you the topic, because I want to keep it husher husher, but wow, stepping out of my writing genre is exhilarating (well, especially when much of my day consists of being spit up on).
And speaking of writing, there’s big some BIG BIG news on lj this week!! Congrats to you all and your awesome contracts! Whoo hoo!
Happy Father’s Day
Now that my husband is a father, father’s day is much more about him then my own dad. This morning we made him breakfast, E-man made him a map of all the Places they will Go with free state stickers that came in the mail. BB bought him a card with an infant holding the hand of her dad that says, “I’ll never let go,” and I pep-talked E into announcing this morning that my husband can do “whatever he wants today.” My husband chose the beach, E-man chose Raging Waters…the boy still doesn’t get the idea of whatever my HUSBAND wants to do. =D
I feel so blessed to have a husband who is such an awesome dad. My kids are lucky, I’m lucky.
To all you father’s out there, happy father’s day—it’s the toughest job around to be the kind of parent your kids love and look up to, so cheers to you!
How I Live Now (in deep admiration of this book)
I started Meg Rosoff’s Printz winning novel a year ago. Stopped around page 60, not because I didn’t like it, but because I LOVED it and didn’t want to zip through it in one sitting like I knew I would. So this past week I picked it up again savoring a few pages of the richly romantic writing before falling asleep each night. I finally finished it last night. I am so glad I waited. The story, about a damaged girl who is caught up in an “occupation” while visiting cousins in England, is all the more relevant today as so many people on our planet are damaged from violence and wars.
As writers we are often told to “find our voice” and once we do to “keep it consistent.”
If you are looking for a pitch perfect example of one of those raw, rare voices and consistency of that same tragic, yet hopeful voice, read this book. If you’re looking for an incredibly daring story of triumph over adversity, read this book…you get my point, just read it. You won’t be sorry.
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