New website!
My new website is up!
http://heidirkling.com/
What do you think?
You can even send me comments on the handy dandy comment form.
;)
Diablo Cody + Sweet Valley High = WIN
Whether you read the Sweet Valley High’s in this original version like a certain person who is writing this post:
Or in this version:
The fact that the scribe of this gem:
is writing the screenplay for the motion picture! (Or 130 motion pictures?) ;)
AND she’s hinting on Twitter that she’s going to keep it in its original 1980′s glory which is certain win-win all around.
http://www.heatvisionblog.com/2009/09/diablo-cody-adapts-sweet-valley-high.html
I haven’t read the books since 6th grade, but I remember each one clearly.
And Diablo’s reimagining the books sounds 1Bruce1-tastic!
Take Home Messages
After a rigorous day of sickie kidlets and responsibilities and blah blah blah, I settled in for the Emmy’s. Not because I particularly cared who took home what, but because I was exhausted and wanted some mindless entertainment.
What happened was inspiration.
How about this guy?
Note to the Academy? Book him now for the Oscars.
And her?
Proving women can be hilarious, smart, talented, driven and sexy all at the same time. *gasp* Imagine that? ;)
ALL HAIL QUEEN TINA!
I’ve never seen The Mentalist–but on the red carpet with that accent and those glasses? Swoon.
But really I was most impressed by the writers. The writers were hilarious during those pre-taped video clips. They were entertaining on the stage, and when Glenn Close thanked the writers first and foremost I cheered.
Most important take-home message?
The Arts have lost too many this year.
We’re so lucky to be in the entertainment business
It’s so hard to get here, even harder to last for an entire career–it’s important to take risks, stir things up (I’m not talking to YOU, Kanye).
Pay attention to the turn of the tides.
Remember the people who helped you find the road.
Never forget how vastly rewarding it is to be living your dream.
Oh and apparently I need to start watching this:
What was your Emmy highlight?
Cancer Sucks
I just found out Patrick Swayze died.
I’m so sad.
This is the first celebrity death since Heath Ledger that I’m sincerely sad about. Heart sad.
See, for those of you who did not come of age in the late 80′s he was the star of this movie:
Dirty Dancing. Les Sigh.
It was like our Twilight.
Baby was relatable to the average girl like me. She was awkward, not beautiful, and had a giant crush on this God-like creature…Johnny aka: Patrick Swayze, the misunderstood guy from the wrong side of the tracks with the hottest body ever. And moves. Did he have moves. Whoa.
I saw it at least five times at the theatre.
Replayed the cassette tape of the soundtrack till the ribbon broke. (Yes, cassette tape.)
“No one puts baby in the corner,” was his classic line.
We cut off our jeans and rolled them up at the knee.
We permed our hair (not a good idea for some of us read=me)
We fell in love with Johnny right along side Baby.
As an adult, what I liked most about Patrick was that he was a wonderful person.
He was madly in love with his dancer wife, Lisa, and stayed loyal and in love with her even as when he was the It Guy. He was on SNL. He had a good sense of humor about his dancing.
He was Outsiders and Red Dawn and Roadhouse.
He was one half of the scene that made pottery hot.
He was Unchained Melody.
No one will ever watch the end of Ghost the same way.
A couple months ago our good friend lost his wife to stage four breast cancer.
She was my age.
She left behind our friend and a six year old son.
Our friend is in his mid-thirties and he’s a widower.
I haven’t talked about it much because I still can’t quite believe its true.
That this unbelievable tragedy happened to him and his boy.
My little sister survived ovarian cancer when she was only thirteen.
This weekend, ironically, she celebrated her 20th Anniversary of being cancer free.
I don’t talk about my sister’s cancer much either. The cancer that tore up her tween years and wreaked havoc on our family. But hers at least had a Happy Ending. She is fine. She is here. She was lucky.
But cancer still sucks.
And I hate it.
So goodbye, Patrick.
I hope wherever you are it is beautiful.
The Deliciousness of New Books
I’m so behind in my reading.
So. Behind. I have stacks and stacks of TBR hardcovers. At least three ARC’s. Two WIPs on my computer.
Yet I keep buying books.
One day I won’t have two little ones nipping at my boots.
One day I won’t be on deadline for this or that.
One day I won’t be so easily distracted by Twitter (Yum!) and Fall TV (Double Yum) and my charming husband. (Well, I hope I’ll always be charmed by hubby’s company…)
Point is, I love my Indy stores Book’s Inc. and Kepler’s Books and I love supporting my friends and YA authors so even though I’m not reading as much as I should/could/would I keep buying.
In today’s shopping cart?
Retelling of Cinderella by one of the 2009 Debutantes. An enchanting cover plus an intriguing retelling of a classic story plus positive reviews make this a must-read.
A story about the life-changing event of teen pregnancy (and I imagine any pregnancy) by the lovely jbknowles the cover is terrific and a bit sad (with the empty swing next to the girl) and I’m sure it’s wonderful.
AND
RAMPANT
I wish I bought this for some deep reason. But alas, I didn’t.
I bought this for two words: Killer Unicorns.
And I can’t wait to dig in! (One day)
What are you reading these days?
Saved by the…Vampire?
So it would seem to the average viewer that “The Vampire Diaries” was a rip-off on Twilight.
Sullen human girl, mysterious boy appears at school dressed in black and leather (read=HOT), boring, small town, HOT boy lives with his “uncle” in the woods, nice human boy has crush on sullen human girl–she doesn’t like him back in “that way” it’s just not as “passionate.”
BUT
“The Vampire Diaries” came out way BEFORE Twilight.
So rip-off this is not.
I never read the books, so correct me if I’m wrong in comments.
But the vegetarian vampire etc. etc. is nearly identical to Twilight save an intriguing back story revolving possible past-lives and the diary element.
And with “Dawson’s Creek” scribe steering this ship, I must say, I loved Vampire Diaries.
One can’t help comparing it to Twilight, but I found the human girl, Elena’s, predicament (her parents died in a car accident, she lived) to be genuinely sad. Her loved for her drugged-out brother real and her relationship with her best friend endearing.
The “fog” appearing on the set= “Vampire Alert!” was a bit cheesy, but other than that I thought it was a strong pilot with a good set-up and decent character development in such a short time.
Then he showed up:
Nothing too original about his Being-Evil-Entertains-Me character drive, but come on, it’s this guy from LOST!
And his charisma, I must say, was top notch as EV-IL Damon.
Verdict: Game on.
Though I was left with this troubling question. Are these two actors one in the same?
The Saved by the Bell shirtless blond boy on the left
And our latest “I only eat squirrels” Vampire hero?
What did you guys think of the new CW show?
Thankful Thursday–a Montage of Thanks
1. So you’ve noticed my blog design is different, eh? I wish I could take the credit, but the gorgeous header is thanks to the fabulous artist/author/musician Ms. Maggie Stiefvater m_stiefvaterwho whipped this out in a matter of hours. I know. She has more talent in her left butt cheek than most people do in their entire bodies. She was one of the awesome friends I mentioned the other day. AWESOME. FRIEND. Big thanks goes also to Ms. Jackson Pearce author (AS YOU WISH out now!) and vlogger extraordinaire. She came in and rearranged my journal so it would match and look awesome and stream-lined. AWESOME. FRIEND. How did I get so lucky?
2. I got my first two reviews. Both from Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park, California. Both awesome.
They are going to post on their cool blog http://thebookbind.blogspot.com/2009/09/in-my-mailbox.html
soon but I’m so overwhelmed and happy. Also, if you click on the link you’ll see this cute story about how Vivian chose to read SEA first out of a group of books because her family loved the first line!
If you click the post before, she highlighted SEA in her Teaser Tuesday post—*includes a never before bit of dialog from the book* Thanks for all the love, Kepler’s!
3. FALL TV. Schools back in session, the evenings are cooling down AND…GLEE! LOVE this show. I liked the second episode which aired last night even more that the pilot. The teacher is so cute. The dialog is fresh and funny and satirical, yet it still has a lot of heart. I love it. And tonight? VAMPIRE DIARIES. They say it’s a cross between Dawson’s Creek and Twilight, which means I’m there.
4. Husband gave the final version of SEA two enthusiastic thumbs up. You think Of Course He Did He’s Your Husband. Um, not quite. I mean he liked it for reals. He hasn’t read at all since I sold to Putnam and I was afraid when he re-read it would be like the old “You got a haircut? Really?” You know how husbands (Warning: Generalization!) are sort of unable to notice changes? I figured he’d read and not notice all the edits–all the hours and hours and hours of revision and be like, “What were you doing that whole time? It’s the same!” But he didn’t. He said he was blown away. That it was so cleaned up. So much stronger. He was like, “It was good before but now it’s great. For reals.” (He said more but I don’t want to get all mushy.)
Anyways, I was so happy. And I’ll forgive him next time he doesn’t notice my hair cut.
5. Mostly, I’m thankful for the sleeping baby girl on the floor next to me. (6:00 a.m. wake-up=mid-morning CRASH) My big first-grader at school. The non-leaky roof over my head, fresh food in my fridge, and all the big-hearted people in my life.
So much to look forward to and so much to enjoy today.
Have a great one, everybody!
The talented cast of GLEE!
SEA of Thanks
I’ve fallen into one.
Seriously.
Last week I got my first two blurbs, both of which knocked my socks off AND made me cry. (Because like I said before this waiting for blurbs has been Will-Someone-Ask-Me-To-Prom scary.)
Then, yesterday, within five minutes of each other, two of my friends did the most overwhelmingly awesome things for me.
These weren’t simply favors, or wrapped-up birthday presents, they were such generous surprising gifts that just came out of nowhere.
You know that expression jaw-dropped? You read it in books and you roll your eyes like ‘yeah right’ whose jaw literally drops? You know whose does? Mine. Happened to me THREE TIMES in ONE DAY.
Anyway, since I can’t fill you in on those surprise details just yet, I will share these with you: My first three blurbs.
So jaw-dropping and generous and beautifully written.
I’m eternally grateful for the lovely people that took the time out of their busy days to read my story.
If more come in, I will certainly share. Without further adieu:
Heartbreaking but always hopeful; achingly romantic but never sappy– SEA is simply luminous. What a remarkable debut! – Jennifer Laughran, “Not Your Mother’s Book Club” Books Inc., San Francisco
SEA is a richly woven story as turbulent and beautiful as the sea itself, plunging us headlong into the depths of loss, devastation, compassion, and hope. A touching and romantic debut about the redemptive power of altruism and the heart’s capacity for love. –Sarah Ockler, author of TWENTY BOY SUMMER
What limits are there to what people who have lost everything are willing to risk to heal the one they love? SEA takes us on a journey to an unfamiliar geography, but where we all recognize the emotional vocabulary of loss and grief, of attraction and love. And we long to speak the language. –Vivian Leal, Kepler’s Books
SURF MULES winners!
Sorry for the delay in announcing.
The two winning entries are as followed:
The winner of the audio book is the author of this line: “As I walked off the plank all I could hope for was that a passing surf mule would save me!” anidorikiladra
Winner of the novel: “That poster of the zombicorn was so funny I surfed mules out of my nose when I first saw it.” The Forest of Hands and Teeth and the upcoming The Dead-Tossed Waves author Carrie Ryan! Congratulations to you both. Winners: please message me your addresses and gneri will send you your winnings. Thanks to everyone for entering!