good signs

Have you entered my audiobook giveaway on Twitter yet? If not, no worries – you have one more day. Here’s how to enter.

Okay, writing that just now made me think how weird it is that we use the word “enter” for giveaways. I’m picturing the giveaway as a room in which people automatically appear once they’ve entered with a popping sound effect. “Look, so-and-so has entered the giveaway!” Guess I’m in one of those bizarre word moods. Next I’ll be saying “purple” a bunch of times until it doesn’t sound like a word anymore.

I’ve been known to get like this after visits to the doctor where they take blood.  I do not do needles. Not at all. I have so much respect for everyone in the health profession, especially people who take blood. Sensitive people like me are a pain. The nurse did an awesome job of distracting me while I was taking deep breaths and not looking at the blood. She talked about how fresh the fruit is in Jamaica. Dude. How did she know I’m obsessed with fruit? She’s that good! She’s so good that now I want to go to Jamaica and eat the fresh fruit.

Speaking of fresh fruit, I finally hooked up with some real tomatoes (as opposed to the impostor tomatoes that are currently taking over supermarkets nationwide). Yes, I was so happy to see them in the midst of our tomato crisis that I almost made out with a bunch of New England vine ripe ones right there in Whole Foods. I am not opposed to PDA. “A Day in the Life” came on and I was transported back to the Paul McCartney concert, waving my arms to the “ah-ah-ahhhh” part. At the concert, not at Whole Foods. Then I came home, made a tomato and muenster cheese sandwich with mayo on rye, and enjoyed the classic taste of summer. It’s a good sign that these tomatoes taste like tomatoes. Hope is alive.

Without hope, it’s hard to stay positive. We have to keep hoping that our dreams will become reality. Like how I hope When It Happens will be made into a movie soon. You guys have told me how the book played like a movie when you read it. Which makes total sense. As I was writing it, I pictured every scene like a movie. I had a Knowing from the start that it was meant to be a movie. Back then, the book was actually called Trust. My initial plan was to do one-word titles. My friend Jim and I used to walk down Central Park West on warm nights, summer breeze and city lights all around us, visualizing Trust becoming a movie.

Then Trust became a movie.

As if I didn’t already heart Ross enough, David Schwimmer busted out with this absolutely gripping film that just blows you away. I’m taking it as a good sign for When It Happens. And if Liana Liberato wanted to play Sara, I would be one happy girl.

Best of all, I have my peaceful homelife back. I forgot how quiet facing our little courtyard in the back was until the construction work ended. And I finally remembered to look up (as John Dalton advises) and notice that our building’s exterior is gorgeous. I’m not sure the constant noise was worth it, but this place is all sparkly happy now. I’m taking that as a good sign, too.

best font ever

When I saw how radical the designer of You Are My Heart and Other Stories was, I had to document the copyright page for you.

Whether Garamond is the best font ever isn’t really the point. The point is that this is freaking awesome.

Rock on, thinkers outside the box. Rock on.

audiobook giveaway

Good news for audiobook listeners! When It Happens, Take Me There, and Waiting for You are all out on audiobook. And my copies have arrived:

That’s right, friendly neighbors. It’s giveaway time! You can win your choice of any two of these audiobooks on CD or MP3.

Here’s how to enter:

1. Follow me on Twitter. If you’re already following, proceed to step two.

2. Tweet this:

Win audiobooks by Susane Colasanti on CD or MP3! Follow @susanecolasanti and RT to enter. Giveaway info here: http://tinyurl.com/4xrev94

Giveaway rules:

1. All entries must be completed by Saturday, July 30 at 11:11 pm.

2. Only one RT per entrant will be counted.

3. I will announce the winner on Twitter on Monday, August 1.

4. The winner will have two days to email me (susanecolasanti[at]gmail[dot]com) their full name and mailing address. If a response is not received in time, an alternate winner will be selected.

5. The winning mailing address must be located in the United States.

I got to approve the narrators for each of these recordings. They are all amazing. It’s so important to select the right narrator for audiobooks, and Brilliance Audio did an incredible job. You will enjoy!

P.S. The Something Like Fate audiobook came out last year. It rocks as hard as these, just so you know.

 

one day

You know when you start a new book and by the second paragraph it’s obvious that you won’t be able to put it down? That happened with me and The Hunger Games. I wasn’t even expecting to like that book. I only started reading it because of peer pressure. Next thing I know, I’m glued to the page at four in the morning, eyes burning out of my head, not even caring how exhausted I was going to be the next day.

Most books don’t grab me so dramatically. Which made it even more thrilling to discover One Day.

First off, have I been living under a rock or something? David Nicholls has written two other books. Must. Obtain them. Immediately. I love his writing style. He’s so eloquent and hilarious and insightful and relatable…I can’t say enough good things about his phenomenal talent. Books that deal with time in unusual ways have always fascinated me. One Day tells the story of Em and Dex, Dex and Em, on July 15 every year for 20 years. It’s an amazing technique to pull off, and Nicholls does it expertly.

Fave quote: “It’s Helmut Lang.”

I could not be more excited for this movie. I’ve been avoiding the trailer because I want to be surprised by this one. Not that I’ll be surprised by what happens. But I want to wait to see how all the details translate to screen. I’m dreading the ending, though. NO SPOILERS – I will attempt vagueness. At first, I could not figure out why Nicholls chose to end the book that way. But now I think I do. It was a way of maintaining the goodness of their relationship. After that point, it didn’t sound like things would have stayed as happy.

Naturally, I had to spaz out with the movie poster. Since I’m in the movie and all.

Which books are YOU spazzing out over this summer?

connections

One thing I love about the cover of Waiting for You is the whole Dawson’s Creek tone. Marisa and Nash sitting out on their pier, enjoying the Now just like Dawson and Joey always struggled to do. So I was happy to see that the Indonesian cover of Waiting for You has the same theme:

Way to go, Indonesia!

If you are even a fraction as obsessed with Dawson’s Creek as I am, you know what tone I’m talking about. Longing for your soul mate to find you. Nostalgia for times you’ve never experienced. A sense of belonging and home and friends and just everything that’s shaping you into the person you will become.

Felicity has that same tone. Maybe that’s why it’s one of my all-time fave shows.

Some readers have said that So Much Closer reminds them of Felicity. Heck yeah it does! Forever YA even asked me to weigh in on their raging Ben vs. Noel debate (Noel, duh). Of course, So Much Closer was inspired by my own experiences growing up in New Jersey and feeling the pull of New York City, having the Knowing that New York was my true home. It’s all explained in this 99-cents store, garage sale, discount author video I whipped together for you. And speaking of getting closer, here’s a recent review from My Ever Expanding Library.

Can I just say how happy it makes me that So Much Closer readers are now giving out warm fuzzies? I love your comments and emails about the warm fuzzies you’re making for people. The idea of warm fuzzies actually came from my camp counseling days. One of the camps I was a counselor at was for kids living with HIV/AIDS. All of the counselors were volunteers, so the camp was only for a week. We tried to fit in as much as we could during that short time. Making warm fuzzies for one another was a way to strengthen connections over one week instead of two months. And as the Arts & Crafts Director, I made sure we had lots of warm fuzzy supplies ready to go. Putting out positive energy makes the world a better place, and warm fuzzies are an excellent form of positive energy. Keep spreading the love, you guys!

So Felicity. It’s not just the tone that mellows me out. The dialogue could not be more perfect.  Like when Felicity rents that skanky apartment at the beginning of season three – and the whole time you’re like, “Don’t do it!” – and Ben fills a glass with brown tap water and goes, “There’s like activity in the water.” Or when Javier is ranting how his crazy cousin brainwashed Noel (in his Leon days) all like, “Not to mention that you’re married to someone with a police record. And I’m not talking about Zenyatta Mondatta.” Does it get any more brill than that?

It’s fun to watch all the seasons of fave shows over again. Sometimes I’ll bust out an Office marathon and watch all the eps right from the beginning. But I’m mostly searching for new things to watch with Netflix. As if I didn’t already love Josh Radnor enough from How I Met Your Mother, his movie Happythankyoumoreplease is freaking awesome. The title refers to Universal abundance. To experience more, give thanks and ask for more. That totally resonated with me. Part of my daily creative visualization practice is to give thanks to the Universe. There is an infinite amount of happiness in the world. The connection is clear – thanking the Universe for manifesting my heart’s desires is just like giving thanks and asking for more happiness. Rock on with your fine self, Josh. And thanks for returning my yellow umbrella without even knowing.

Some little things are making me happy today. Like waking up on my own instead of being jolted awake by the Construction Worker Coffee Klatch. After months of crazy noise, I think they might actually be…done? Plus, there is a big fresh chopped salad in my lunch future. What’s better than chopped salad for lunch when it’s scorching out? Other than, say, a vat of ice? I plan on tossing about ten different vegetables in mine. Cheers, everybody.

maybe i’m beyond amazed

I was a weird kid. I wrote song lyrics all over my sneakers way before people wrote on their sneakers. I quoted quirky David Letterman lines at my teachers, who responded with odd looks. And I was into music people 20 or 30 years older liked. One of my obsessions was The Beatles.

My ma was a hippie. She went around in her poncho, carrying her guitar everywhere. She worshipped The Beatles. I grew up worshipping them, too. I thought everyone did. Two of my good friends in high school were also into music no one else was. One of them worshipped Billy Joel, the other worshipped Fleetwood Mac, and I worshipped Paul Simon. And we all naturally loved The Beatles. So it was a Monumental Night when we went to Paul McCartney’s concert at Giants Stadium in July 1990. Elton John may or may not have been there. It’s all kind of a blur. We had nosebleed seats and didn’t even care (which says a lot, given that I was a maniac about getting as close as possible to the front row even back then). We were 17, obsessed, and freaking out.

Fast-forward 21 years.

My good friend and fellow YA author, Elizabeth Eulberg, asked if I wanted to go see Paul McCartney at Yankee Stadium. Um, yeah I did! How cool is it to be friends with another Beatles fan? Especially one who wrote a whole flippin book about The Beatles! The first time I saw the cover of The Lonely Hearts Club, I was like, “I have to meet her.” And then there we were on July 15, going to see Paul McCartney. The seats were much better this time. The Universe totally intervened. Excellent seats, full moon, and it was Elizabeth’s birthday. How perfect was that? I promised Elizabeth that if Sir Paul didn’t sing “Birthday” for her, I would.

Elizabeth has already done an amazing job of describing the concert here – including a cute pic with her shiny Sgt. Pepper’s shirt and the birthday tiara I gave her. So I’ll just share a few intense parts.

The most intense one has to be “Maybe I’m Amazed.” Paul wrote that song for Linda as a tribute to her being such an amazing support when The Beatles were breaking up. It’s one of those songs that always makes me verklempt, no matter how many times I hear it.

When Paul played the first notes of “Maybe I’m Amazed,” I was ecstatic. And then I started singing “maybe I’m” and that was it. My throat got all tight, the tears poured in, and I was reaching for the pack of tissues I had ready by my water. I was like calm down you cannot be a sobbing wreck through this whole song you’ve been waiting to hear live again for 21 years this is it stop crying chill calm DOWN.

You can’t take me anywhere.

Intense in an entirely different way: “A Day in the Life.” When the part that goes “ah-ah-ahhhhh” started, it was like I was 13 again, back in my room with my red tape player blaring the same part, back when a day in my life felt like a year, wishing that one day I’d be living a better life. And the full moon glowed over the stage and we waved our arms in that way you do when you’re worshipping at the altar of your musical religion and it was one of the most transcendental moments of my life.

At one point, Paul took a moment to “take it all in.” Of course he understands about enjoying the Now. What else. Oh, “The Night Before” hasn’t stopped playing in my head. And Paul ended the concert with the most perfect lyrics ever:

And in the end the love you take

is equal to the love you make.

We kept spazzing that Paul was going to sing “Birthday” because Elizabeth said he played it at another concert she went to a while ago. But he didn’t. Not that this made up for it in any way, but after the concert we stayed in our seats and I sang “Birthday” to Elizabeth. I had choreography. Did you know the Hand Jive goes perfectly?  Well, it does.

So. Thank you Paul McCartney for being such a rock star after all these years. Thank you Elizabeth Eulberg for sharing that beyond amazing experience with me. I’m already looking forward to remembering it 21 years from now. And When I’m Sixty-Four.

it’s the little things

Ladybug.

Landed on my arm.

Happiness.

heated

Congrats to Alex M. and Paige S.! They’re the winners of my Shiny New Giveaway. Thanks to everyone who entered. It was super fun reading all of your sweet summer plans.

Congrats to my building! The scaffolding that had been covering the front for the past six months was taken down. Which I thought meant that the construction work would finally be over. They were repointing the bricks on the building’s exterior. I’ve learned that this process involves incessant hammering, drilling, banging, clanging, and random smashing every single weekday. It also requires construction workers to suspend themselves right in front of every single window of my apartment. You know, just to make sure I’m hearing all of that noise. And to make showering extra challenging. My little bathroom window has a screen that I never needed to cover. People aren’t usually climbing the walls Spidey style back there. Ah, the many uses of aluminum foil.

So the scaffolding came down on Friday and I was stoked to be woken up by my alarm clock instead of the Construction Worker Coffee Klatch. They had gotten into the habit of gathering in the little courtyard in back of the building at 7:30 and just, like, yelling. For no reason. The only time I want to be awake at 7:30 in the morning is if I’m about to drop some science knowledge on some sleepy students. Facing the back used to be a good thing. It made my place so quiet. I cannot wait to have the quiet back. Supposedly, they have three more weeks…

But that’s not even what I’m most heated about. The thing that’s really pissing me off? Is the sorry state of supermarket tomatoes.

Have you noticed that supermarket tomatoes have no taste anymore? Even the ones from organic/specialty/gourmet places? Last summer is when I started noticing that even the vine tomatoes didn’t have their usual flavor. The tomato industry is in crisis. Most supermarket tomatoes are now grown in Florida. Tomatoes have no business being grown in Florida. The soil doesn’t contain sufficient nutrients to give tomatoes the taste we know and love. And get this – these tomatoes are picked when they’re green. Green. Then they’re exposed to ethylene, a gas that turns them a perfect shade of red. That’s why most supermarket tomatoes look so pretty, but taste like styrofoam.

Beware.

They are not real tomatoes. They are impostor tomatoes.

As a vegetarian, I rely heavily on tomatoes in the summer. Mainly for salads and pasta. I love making pasta with chopped tomatoes, fresh basil and garlic, and shredded Pecorino Romano. Such a simple, delicious dish. But I haven’t been able to find decent tomatoes. There’s a local farmer’s market I need to visit. And a friendly neighbor on Twitter told me that Trader Joe’s has good ones. So I’ll investigate. I refuse to give up.

Well. Thanks for putting up with my rant. I tend to get heated when it’s hot out. Obvs. I will now go enjoy this watermelon/raspberry/strawberry medley I made to counteract the effects of one less red summer food in my life. We need to work with what we have, right?

fangirl in the nabe

When I found out Meg Cabot was having her pub day event for Overbite right here in my neighborhood, I immediately planned my entire life around attending. First off, Meg is so freaking adorable you could watch her for hours. Also:

1. She always wears cute dresses with pretty shoes.

2. She has lots of pep and zing.

3. She sparkles like a princess.

Another thing I like about Meg is that she’s not shy about wearing her glasses. Smart chicks know that glasses are cool. Right when I went up to Meg she said, “I was noticing your glasses.” And I was like, “I was noticing your glasses.” Then we took a moment to admire our matching glasses. And of course document. See how Meg sparkles?

Yes, that is Meg Cabot holding my book. Why? Because I gave her an acknowledgment and wanted her to have a copy. I asked Meg to sign Boy Meets Girl. If you haven’t read it, you need to get right on that.

As if getting to see Meg and her fabulous presentation and gorgeous wardrobe weren’t enough, something else happened. The girl who was sitting to my right (hey, Samantha!) saw the copy of So Much Closer I brought for Meg. She goes, “I like her books.” So naturally I’m thinking she’s talking about Meg’s books. But she was looking at my book. So I was like, “Oh, you mean…thanks. That’s, um, me.” I couldn’t process what was happening. And then – you’re not even going to believe this. A group of girls sitting to my left had all read my books, too. They totally knew who I was! I was at a Meg Cabot event with people who’d read my books! How wild is that?

Then I was walking home and someone yelled, “Ms. Colasanti!” I was not surprised an old student was calling me. I’ve run into tons of old students in my nabe. Which at first was really strange because the West Village is pretty far from the South Bronx. Now I’m just used to it. It would have been even more awesome to hear him yell, “Mrs. Krasinski!” like the old days. But, you know. It’s all good. He turned out to be this kid Raul who I was just taking about with some other old students at Sprinkles. Raul used to say that I looked like “the Princess Diaries girl.” And now here he was years later on the street, right after Meg’s reading. Full circle.

Yesterday was exciting, too. I had lunch with Kiefer Sutherland:

Okay. That’s not really me. That’s Kiefer’s girlfriend. But does she not totally look like me?! I know! The first time I saw this pic I was like, “When did I have lunch with Jack Bauer?” And when I posted it on my blog a while ago, people were commenting that they thought it was me before they read the post. There’s a rumor going around that they broke up. And I do look a lot like her. Kiefer and I have a mutual friend who says every time he sees her, he does a double-take. And Kiefer is my neighbor. Hmmm…

Kiefer’s not even here, though. He’s in LA filming a pilot. So when my friend Jim and I (aka the biggest 24 fans in the history of the world) were walking by his house, I didn’t feel like too much of a crazy stalker sitting on his stoop for a minute. How cool is his bienvenue mat? When you are Canadian, it is appropriate to welcome people in French. Clearly, I felt welcomed enough to document Jack Bauer’s stoop for you:

Now I must go secure the perimeter. We have a visual on the suspect. Actually, I must go secure this draft because I have a visual on my deadline. Copy that.

summer of reinvention

Was it just me, or were the fireworks extra bright and shimmery last night? I’m still smiling over the smiley face ones. Those are my faves along with the hearts (totally saw them) and peace signs (think I saw them, but that could have been wishful thinking). Something Like Fate readers might remember that Lani also enjoyed the smiley face ones. Which is a good example of how real life sneaks into my books!

If you’re on summer vacay, you ideally have two whole months to relax. Enjoy and recharge! But if you’re like me, you’re probably thinking about how you can reinvent yourself this summer. That was my goal every year. The first day of summer vacay, I would strategize how to be a whole new person when I went back to school. Not that my attempts were ever successful. I’d get swept up in hot, lazy days of reading and watching TV and going down the shore, and before I knew it school would be starting again. The only time I actually made any progress was the summer before college. That’s when I started working out (old-school aerobics – hello, 1991!) and shifting towards being a vegetarian. But until that summer, it was like reinvention FAIL.

Please do not be as lame as I was. If you want a summer of reinvention, the time to start is now. This is your chance to make some big changes in your life. Not necessarily the big changes everyone else insists you should be making the rest of the year. Summertime is your time. It’s your time to step back, take a few deep breaths, and reflect on what’s most important to you. Decide what your #1 goal is for this summer. Then take a step towards that goal every day. Starting today.

The hardest part of reinvention is breaking bad habits. Or even just breaking habits. I’m a fan of routine. It’s really hard to get me to walk down a block I normally don’t. But the other night I was taking a walk with my neighbor and he wanted to walk down this one street I hadn’t walked down in a while. So we did…and guess what? There’s a new tea house! With like 20 kinds of green tea! And did I mention it’s two blocks from my place?

Or get this. Friends were visiting a few days ago. I wanted to take them to Westville for brunch, but it was closed. So we were wandering around figuring out where to go and ended up walking in a circle. Except the circle was one block higher than I normally walk. And guess what we found one block up from my gym?

A shiny new place dedicated to sno-balls! It’s called Imperial Woodpecker, it’s so freaking cute you can’t believe it, and they have the most delicious flavors ever. What’s better than shaved ice in the summertime? And it’s just one block up from a place I go three or four times a week. Just one block up and I probably would have never found it if we hadn’t been wandering around that day. I had a birthday cake sno-ball. Dude, it tasted exactly like birthday cake. How do they do that? I do not know. All I know is that I will be living there this summer. So many flavors to try.

I hope you’ll be enjoying some sno-balls, too. And if you’ve been thinking about making this a summer of reinvention, I’d love to know how it goes. Please keep me posted. We can work together. While I’m not exactly reinventing myself this summer, I am polishing my new book. So we’ll be working on making things shiny and new together. Ready? Let your colors burst!