falling in love

My German publisher, Arena Verlag, has done it again. They’ve designed an absolutely adorable cover for the German edition of When It Happens. How much do I love this? And where can I get those pants? WANT.

The title was changed to Falling in Love because When It Happens would have been lost in translation. I’ve already fallen in love with the pretty flowers and butterflies. Those design elements are on all four of my German covers and I freaking love them.

The tagline is: Love happens when you least expect it. Right on, Germany. Right on.

cover boy

Readers often ask about the models on my book covers. Do I get to choose the models? Not at all. Do I get to go to the photo shoots? I wish! Do I at least get to know what they look like from the front? Only because my fabulous editor shares behind-the-scenes pics with me. I posted my fave pics from the Keep Holding On photo shoot for you here. That last one still makes my record skip. Don’t you love how he leans? A total Jordan Catalano moment.

You can imagine how thrilled I was when he emailed me. Not only do I know his name and number (for reals), but now I can show you what he looks like. Score.

Ryan Haagen is our cover boy. He was so sweet to get in touch with me. I know you guys really wanted to see what he looked like, so I asked for some pics. Well hello:

Ryan also shared these memories from the photo shoot:

The shoot was an absolute blast and I loved working with my friend from high school Deana! She was great to work with and did a unreal job with this cover! Getting ready for the shoot, I had to get a my haircut but nothing crazy. We worked hard on getting the right picture for the cover in hopes that you would totally love it! The photographer was a blast and she was so nice which just made this even more fun! Me and Deana ended up laughing a bunch, and I wanted to thank you for the opportunity to do this cover and I truly hope you love it in every way!!! 

Affirmative on the love, Ryan. Thanks for bringing this cover to life!

update

Congrats to my summer reading giveaway winners Tameka Y. and Mary N.! And thanks to everyone who entered. Your comments were beyond impressive. I couldn’t get over all of the amazing things you guys have done this summer. You made me feel lazy in the best possible way.

One thing I did this summer that’s almost as impressive as the good work you’re doing was getting to see Jonathan Tropper again. He always starts his book tours here in New York. So naturally I was all over his pub day event for One Last Thing Before I Go like the fangirl I am:

How awesome was JT for letting me come around the table? He rules.

I just wanted to give you a quick update from Renovations Central. You know I can’t wait to share photos of my new place with you – and I love that you’re excited to see them! As everyone kept telling me before the renovations started, they took twice as long and cost twice as much as expected. Actually, they’re taking more than twice as long. They’re taking forever. I’m still waiting for the front closet doors. They are supposed to be magnificent. They’re these kind of floating doors with hinges on the ceiling, no frame, and hidden doorknobs. The floors need to be refinished. A small piece of kitchen countertop needs to be made to fit around my new stove. Then will we finally be done? Dude. I think so.

Speaking of the new stove, you will be amused to hear that the Stove Situation rages on. Remember how the oven turns on but doesn’t turn off? Which of course happened at the dot of 5:30 on a Friday when all the repair shops were closed for the weekend? And how the repair guys ordered a new part for the oven, which was supposed to take like three days to come in? And how that part never arrived? Yeah, it won’t be arriving until the middle of September. If I’m lucky. Guess that freezer full of Quorn will have to stay packed.

On the positive side, the stove really is beautiful. And at least the burners work. You know I must really love it to put up with all of its issues. Just like with any relationship. When you love someone, you love them unconditionally. Even when they can’t cook everything you want.

Have a spectacular summer weekend 🙂

memory lane

What I’m about to say might sound so 2008, but I’ve been slowly uploading photos to my blog archives here on WordPress that were still being hosted by LiveJournal (aka the ex BF who cheated, lied, and basically made my life miserable). I am aware that everyone’s moved on to Tumblr and other bloglite forms of communicating in smaller snippets. The thing is, I love this blog. I love being able to share news about my books and cupcakes and whatever quirky stuff I want to without having to cram it all into 140 characters. Plus I’ve been using tags since I started this blog five years ago. That makes it way easier for you guys to find info that will hopefully be helpful to you in some way.

It would have been awesome if the photos transferred along with my blog posts when I imported this blog to WordPress last summer. But the world doesn’t work that way. Yet. I had two options: Upload each photo individually to WP or lose all of the old photos when I deleted my LJ account. As someone who hopes you might enjoy the archives, I went for option one. Going back through all those old entries was actually pretty fun. There were random things I’d forgotten about, epic events to relive, meltdowns and milestones. A walk down memory lane always brings clarity.

In case you’re interested in revisiting the highlights, here are some of my fave posts:

Hot gossip – In which I go fangirl on Steve Martin, Gossip Girl style.

John Mayer, front row center 2.25.10 – In which I score front row center seats at Madison Square Garden for John Mayer’s Battle Studies tour. A huge dream come true. One of the best nights of my life.

Kiefer is a friendly neighbor – In which I meet up with Kiefer Sutherland in our neighborhood. Yeah, we’re tight like that.

Copy that and Kiefer’s other GF – Sequels to above.

David Duchovny on my block – In which David Duchovny films an ep of Californication right outside my door. Literally. Right outside my door.

Jon Stewart is my BFF – In which Jon Stewart is my BFF.

Jeremy P. and me sitting in a tree – In which I kick back with Ari Gold, Entourage style.

Book tour, part one – In which I meet Wilson from Cast Away.

Santorini, finally – In which I visit Santorini, the most beautiful place on Earth.

It will be interesting to see where social media takes us five years from now. Until then, I will keep posting. Thanks so much for reading!

summer reading giveaway

Is it just me, or is this summer zipping by at an alarming rate? I mean the summer always flies. But this is ridiculous. Middle of August? Really? And don’t get me started on the Halloween displays that are already up. There should be a law about at least waiting until after Labor Day for those.

In an attempt to keep clinging to summer, I’m busting out a ginormous summer reading giveaway with some of my faves! I cannot rave enough about these books. And if you search for them here on my blog, you will see that I totally have.

Entering is super easy. Just leave a comment telling me one awesome thing you did this summer or one awesome thing you’re looking forward to. Here’s what you can win:

          

          

The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

Take a Bow by Elizabeth Eulberg

My Life in Black and White by Natasha Friend

The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker

Two winners will be randomly selected. Winner one gets to pick three of these books. Winner two gets the other three. That’s hot. Plus both winners will receive signed copies of Keep Holding On.

To enter:

1. Leave a comment telling me one awesome thing you did this summer or one awesome thing you’re looking forward to. Include your first name and email address.

2. Earn one extra entry each for following me on Twitter and/or liking my Facebook. Please let me know which you did with your comment.

Giveaway rules:

1. Entries must be received by Tuesday, August 21, 2012 at 11:11 pm.

2. This giveaway is open to US residents only. However, if you live abroad and have a contact in the States who can receive the prize for you, it can be sent to their address.

Topic: summertime is fun time. Discuss!

upcoming events

Isn’t it funny how habits you didn’t even know were habits can become such a huge part of your lifestyle without you realizing it? It’s been five years since I resigned from teaching, but every year still runs on an academic schedule for me. That plus being an old-school enthusiast equals getting a new academic day planner every August. My preferred brand is Letts. Their day planners have everything I want: cool designs, tabbed sections in the back, a few pockets. What’s really cool about Letts is how they improve their day planners every year. Can I just tell you how much their recent improvements blew me away? Not only have they extended the calendar to the end of 2013, but their new designs are so gorgeous it was hard to choose just one. It was down to these three in the stationery store:

The choice was not easy. Since I have a thing for paint pigment, I went with the one on the left. We are very happy together. Will I eventually switch over to some kind of paperless calendar? Maybe. For now, I’m enjoying the low-key nostalgia. And yay, my day planner already has some super fun upcoming book events! Here’s where you can find me:

September 20, 2012 – 6:30 pm
RJ Julia
768 Boston Post Road
Madison, CT  06443
Panel discussion, Q&A, and signing

September 23, 2012 – time TBA
Brooklyn Book Festival
Brooklyn Borough Hall and Plaza
209 Joralemon Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201

October 20, 2012 – 2:00-3:00 pm
NYPL 42nd Street Branch
476 5th Avenue (at 42nd Street)
New York, NY  10018
Bullying in Books for Youth literary salon

May 18, 2013 – 9:00 am-5:00 pm
Rochester Teen Book Festival
Nazareth College
4245 East Avenue
Rochester, NY  14618
Panel, breakout sessions, and signing

Speaking of events, the Perseid meteor shower is tomorrow, August 11. This is a good one. Every year when the Earth reaches a point in its orbit where it’s revolving through debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle, we observe some of that comet matter burning up when it enters our atmosphere. What looks like falling stars are actually meteors (the light streaks caused by comet bits burning). Now is your chance to wish on a falling star. Or lots of them. You can see about one meteor per minute after 11:00 pm. Just recline and watch overhead. It’s supposed to be rainy here, so please have extra fun for me if you’re watching. Let’s hope for clear skies!

gone

Five weeks, four days, and two meltdowns later, it looks like things are wrapping up here at Renovations Central. I’m just waiting for the front closet doors to be made. And for some lighting fixtures to come in. Plus we need to do some painting touchups. Oh, and the floor guy has to come over to polish. But we’re getting there. I’m hoping to share photos with you in a couple weeks. Which is way later than I thought I’d be sharing photos with you. That’s cool. Hopefully you will agree that they were worth the wait!

I always thought that the day my team of Hungarian contractors packed up their materials and left my apartment, I would celebrate. I would celebrate having things like privacy and time back in my life again. Pretty much every day they were here I worked right along with them. Except for a few days before my deadline when I was scrambling to get a revision done. Still not sure how I pulled that off! It was one long day after another. We were all exhausted. I kept telling myself to keep holding on, looking forward to the day the major part of the work would be done. The day my apartment would really become my own.

That day was Friday. After weeks of boys here every day making my apartment beautiful, now they’re just…gone. It was weird when they packed up and left. For some reason I felt sad. And nervous. Maybe because, with all of the construction drama out of the way, it finally hit me that I’m a homeowner. Reality came crashing in. I had to run out to the gym and the Container Store before I could calm down. That last day when the skim coating guy was finishing up the ceiling, “In Your Eyes” came on my mix. I wanted to whip out my Say Anything poster of Lloyd Dobler holding that boom box over his head and explain about the song. But I didn’t know how to translate “most amazing movie scene in the history of ever.”

This weekend made me happy. I could finally unpack my fragile objects. All of those little things that turn an apartment into a home. It was feeling kind of like a hotel around here. A hotel where I happened to be staying at with all my stuff. By the time I unpacked the last box, that anxious feeling was completely gone.

Did you know that today is the dividing point of summer? I cannot even believe that summer is half gone. But we still have a whole half of summer left, filled with possibility. Of course, those of you going back to school at the end of August aren’t feeling that way. Do not fret. You might want to check out my back-to-school article in this month’s issue of Justine magazine. I gave some advice about making this your best year ever.

So yeah. I’m getting back to normal life. Copyedits for book seven will be coming in soon. My new gym schedule is being established. I’m starting to have a social life again. And I’ll actually be able to read my email! It’s been a wild ride, but it’s all working out. Waking up this morning to the sounds of a mourning dove hooing was reassuring. It sounded like he followed me from my old place. Good to know he’s not gone.