CALL FOR PICTURES!!!

As I’ve posted before, I’m on the SCBWI Team Blogger for the LA Conference 2009. I’m crazy excited about this! So in preparation for the Best. Conference. Ever. I’m going to be posting The Friday Temptation… my way of convincing you to fly down to LA to hang out with us!!

This Friday I’ll have some feedback from recent conference attendees and in the Fridays to come, more fun and interesting things for you to look forward to!

Now, let’s talk costumes…

The LA SCBWI Summer Conference is all around fabulous, glamorous, and oh yeah, informative. But there is one very special event that happens on Saturday night of the conference… a costume ball.

If you haven’t been there before you might think I’m joking. I assure you, I’m not. These are CHILDREN’S BOOK WRITERS AND ILLUSTRATORS!!!! It’s a wild bunch.

So every year there is a poolside costume ball to which you can or cannot dress up. Last year I chose to dress as Fabulous and not in a costume (Rookie mistake. Apparently you don’t win anything for fabulous).

Those of you that did attend, can I have some pictures??? Inspire the rest of us uncreative souls!! If you’ve dressed up for the conference (any year) and would like to share a photo, I would love to post it on the blog!! Just email them to roskoebaby@yahoo.com and look for your mug on an upcoming The Friday Temptation!

Time to get down to business

I have a few things going on. Things like... moving, revising, raising children and bad dogs. I also have a wonderful SCBWI conference coming up in a few weeks. In fact, this is the first time I'd dare say... I'm busy! All that time I sat around, staring at the wall and wishing for things to do. Yeah. I got 'em!

See you when I come up for air!

Yay! Laura's Review Book Shelf has put The Naughty List up for her Waiting on Wednesday blog post! Thanks!!!!! Click here!

You're moving AGAIN???

Why yes, I am. I know that I just moved. And before that, just moved. But this time, I think we'll stay put for at least a few months. I think the moral of the story is, don't move from a house to an apartment with two kids, two dogs and an insomniac writer (I never sleep). It's best to keep the same amount of space.

So... I'm going to have a CRAZY week. Moving, revising, and explaining to my mother why I'm moving again. But I'll be back soon!!!

Have a great week!

Suz

Oh, say can you see?

Last night my husband and I were in the living room when we heard my son yell out from his room, “Save me!” He was SCREAMING!

So we ran in there to find him huddled under his blankets, sobbing. “What’s wrong?” my husband asked, turning on the light. My son pulled back the covers, his face bright red and wet with tears.

“He was standing right there,” my son said, pointing to the foot of his bed.

Goosebumps went up on my arms. “Who?”

My son sniffled and started to cry again. Then he whispered, “Abraham Lincoln.”

“What? Abe Lincoln?” I laughed, but then suddenly, I pictured Honest Abe. And if that tall, lanky dude was standing at the end of my bed, I would have screamed too! I sat next to my son. “Yeah, actually that does sound kinda scary.”

He nodded. “So I changed my mind,” he said. “I don’t want to be a ghost hunter anymore.”

I looked up at my husband and he shrugged. “Oh, okay, dude,” he said. “Maybe you can be a doctor instead.”

“Yeah,” my son answered, lying back down. “A doctor.”

As we left the room, my husband turned to me. “See that, I just saved us years of disappointment.”

A ghost hunter? Honestly, I think that’d be cooler than a doctor, but then again, I heart zombies.

THE NAUGHTY LIST COVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, here it is! The cover for the first book in my YA series, The Naughty List. Now for those of you not familiar with it, here’s a quick blurb about the book:

Junior class president Tessa Crimson is the captain of the Smitten Kittens—the Wildcats cheerleading squad. But when Washington High experiences a break-out of make-outs, Tessa and her girls create a secret snooping society to catch the cheaters in the act.

The Naughty List. Is your boyfriend on it?

Are you ready??? (I’m super nervous!!) Here’s the cover that’ll be on shelves February 4th, 2010!! (But you can preorder it)

Tomorrow.... My Cover!!!

Tomorrow I'm going to share my cover! I finally got the go ahead from my wonderful, beautiful, super smart editor (nice, huh?) to show the (mostly) finished cover. There may be small tweaks down the line, but this is it!!!

Tomorrow, The Naughty List cover!

See you then!!!

Swapping Spit

This morning we were going through the normal routine and I told my daughter to go brush her teeth before school. She shrugged and then said that she wanted to use my bathroom. Honestly, I was too tired to care.

So a few minutes later I walked in to find her diligently brushing her teeth. With MY toothbrush!

“What are you doing?” I asked, staring at her.
“Brushing.” Toothpastey drool dripped out.
“With my toothbrush?”
“Yep. I like it better.”

It was then that I realized that for the past few weeks, my daughter has been using my toothbrush. And maybe for some people, that’s not a big deal. But I’m the kind of girl who when my friends take a sip of my drink, I tell them they can finish it. Not because I’m super generous. But because it grosses me out. I don’t share drinks, gum or lollipops. And I definitely don’t share toothbrushes!!!!

Ew.

Coming up... tulips

Today we went to a birthday party and after it was over, I was determined to not waste the sunny day--especially because the rain is coming back for next weekend. So we headed down to the tulip festival. We weren't all that excited when we were stuck in traffic for about an hour and only went two miles. In fact, when the people behind us actually got out of their car and started walking, I nearly lost it (they beat us there).

But when we saw how beautiful the flowers were, the aggravation melted away. Oh, and they had elephant ears. Fried dough with sugar on it can always make me feel better. Here are some pics. And since the sun will stay out until around Wednesday, I'll be out living and not writing. I know! So weird....

Another Sophie car conversation:

"Mom, I'm really sad."

"Why?"

"I'm thinking about puppies dying."

I turned around and looked at her, totally confused.

"It'll be okay," my son said from next to her. "Just think of something nice. Like the commercial for Sham Wow."

Yes. He said Sham Wow.

Girl's Day Out

Sophie and I had a girl's day today. We spent a couple of hours at the beach where she played in the sand while I tried to finish reading a book, but I kept getting distracted by her yelling at the at the sand (because it wasn't packing right for her castles). Then we walked to go have ice cream and elephant ears. Took a few pictures to post, but still haven't finished reading that book!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

PS. We also got into a long conversation about why people kill animals and stuff them to hang on their walls. She thinks it's very sad and that bears and elks are nice people that shouldn't be killed. Aw....

I HEART ZOMBIES!!!

Okay, after a couple of glasses of wine, I turned to my husband and said, "I want to watch a zombie movie." We checked the Ondemand free movies and found a winner!

I'm serious, I NEED this director to shoot my zombie book, Rules to Dating a Teenage Zombie. This is so freaking awesome!!!!!! It even used the phrase, "He is such a tool. That makes you a tool by association."

Omg. It really was the best zombie movie ever and it's my style and omg, I need this guy to direct all of my movies!!!! haha.

It's called, DANCE OF THE DEAD! hahahahaahaha. Awesome!

You can check out the trailer here! It is so Suz. http://danceofthedeadmovie.com/

Devil in the blue leotard

So I met with the trainer again. (I'm also curled up in ball crying from muscle spasms as I write this)

In three weeks, I've lost 3 % body fat, which she assures me is good. I've lost inches in my thighs, hips and even my neck. My neck? Uh, great. That should look great in the neck modeling I'd been planning this summer.

But yeah, 3%. I'm pretty happy about that. Of course, once she realized how I'd been taking to the workout, she added in extra lunges, push-ups and ab exercises. Hm. Maybe I should just go for it. Get all crazy muscular. Why not? Oh, right. Because I hate exercise. Never mind.

On the writing front, I'm falling in love with one of my old manuscripts. It's called Ginger Snaps! and it's... um... well, kinda edgy. But I think it's pretty good and if I can tone down some of the language, take out a few... scenes, it might just be appropriate!

Either way, it's kind of fun to read it again. Reminds me of good times. Good times when I just talked to Heather and wrote about food fights in the kitchens of Mexican Restaurants. Manuel's Forever!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!!!

Interviews-Funniest Soon-to-be Published Authors

If the publishing world were a high school and I was in the graduating class of 2010, these are three crazy cats I’d love to hang with. They are easily funnier than I could ever be, but luckily we’re in the same crew so I can be considered funny by association.

Here are a few Tenners I’d love for you to meet:

Christy Raedeke

Josh Berk

Lindsey Leavitt

Thanks for being here! (cyberly speaking) I feel really cool just being able to ask you stuff!

Christy: If you were really my friend you would have group-interviewed me with authors of math textbooks so I could really shine. I can’t compete with Berk and Leavitt!

*cracks knuckles. Okay, first question. If this really were high school, which senior superlative would you score?

Christy: Okay, first of all I have to admit I was totally stumped by this question and I had to Google “senior superlative” to find out what the hell you were talking about. In Ye Olde Days (class of ’84 rocks!) we just called it the “Most Likely To…” thing. You kids and your fancy terms.

Back to the superlative. While I realize this makes me sound like a bit of a scumbag, I’d have to admit my superlative would probably be: Most likely to cheat until caught and then lie. I was (am?) always the one trying to get away with something while looking utterly innocent.

Josh: In high school I actually did win "best hair." (See picture below.) These days my hair is not that exciting, but I am very proud that I still have hair at all. So if this were high school I'd be "Still Has Hair." I consider it my greatest achievement in life.

Lindsey: So actually, I won two senior superlatives. One was class clown, but now after Suz’s big FUNNY PEOPLE HERE!! intro, I’m feeling super-stressed to prove my funniness, and I guess admitting to the class clown thing only makes it worse, like when someone is a model and you squint super hard and say… meh, she’s not THAT pretty. So instead, I’ll just humiliate myself and tell you the other title I won.

Biggest Mooch.

First off, who came up with this superlative? Someone who obviously had been plotting payback against me after three years of ride-bumming. Oh, that Lindsey, always swigging my from diet coke. I’ll show her!Some girl got prettiest hair, and I’m just the she-will-gank-your-french-fries girl. That’s my legacy.

What is one thing you wish you would have done when you were younger? For me, it’s that I never studied abroad. How about you?

Christy: Honestly, I wish I hadn’t cheated my way through typing class. Back then I seriously believed I’d have a secretary that would type up anything I needed, much like Darren Stevens did in Bewitched. Remember, I’m really Olde, this whole personal computer thing bloomed once I hit college and at that point my patented Hunt-n-Peck method had stuck.

Josh: I did travel a lot when I was younger – Central America, Africa, Amsterdam for a few days. Or was it a week? I might have been in Amsterdam for a month, but that's the thing about Amsterdam: if you do it right you have no idea how long you were there. .. What was the question? What else do I wish I did when I was younger? Less drugs, apparently …

Lindsey: I wish I took some time off to wander a little. Maybe backpacked through Europe or lived on the beach or traveled with a band or something that wasn’t a resume builder. I’m a total accomplishmentaholic, and I always was racing to get everything done at the youngest age possible. Which is great, but you can’t go backwards and do that beach job after you have kids and a mortgage. I mean, you could if you were in some angsty middle-aged literary novel where aging is a metaphor to capitalism, but I’m pretty sure I’m not.

Now here’s the self-promotion part: Can I have a one-sentence blurb about your book and when it’s coming out?? Because I have some serious preordering to do!

Christy: I’m really bad at this. Like exceptionally bad. Twenty years in marketing and I can’t even sum up my own book in a sentence! Here’s a shot: Prophecy of Days Book One: The Daykeeper’s Grimoire is a story about a girl who finds herself mixed up in a power struggle between the Mayan prophecy of 2012 and the elite shadow government that must squelch it in order to hold onto their power and keep the masses oppressed. (It’s really hard for me to not follow a description of my book with, “It’s kinda weird, you probably wouldn’t like it.” I guess I should look into breaking that habit.) For a less lame description you can check out: www.prophecyofdays.com

Josh: THE DARK DAYS OF HAMBURGER HALPIN comes out January 10, 2010 from Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers. (Not available for pre-order yet, but soon! I suggest you check www.joshberkbooks.com every minute of every day to find out when it is available.)

The book tells the story of Will Halpin, an overweight deaf teen who spends his first year at a mainstream high school looking for love, failing Algebra, unraveling the school's social scene, trying to get invited to the greatest party ever … and, oh yeah, solving a murder.


Lindsey: Princess for Hire is about tween girl's humorous adventures when she substitutes for vacationing princesses - and unexpectedly finds her very own prince (thank you publishers marketplace).


My book drops on March 16, baby. Mark that calendar (if you have a 2010 calendar. I do, but only so I can mark March 16 on it). You can keep up to date by visiting me at http://www.lindseyleavitt.com/


So, say your book just got picked up for a movie (congratulations!) Who’s playing your MC?

Christy: At the risk of box-office sales, I’d love for all my teen characters to be unknowns. I think it would be really strange to have people I’ve seen in other things play my young characters. With the parents I don’t have as much of a problem, and I’ve always sort of pictured the mom quirky like Parker Posey and the dad funny/smart like Ron Livingston.

Josh: Probably Jonah Hill. I love that guy. Definitely someone fat and funny. Although I guess Mr. Hill would be like 30 by the time this fictional movie about high school would exist. But it's a moot point. My book will never be made into a movie and in fact was written as an example of a story that could only be told via the written word and would be impossible to adapt to other media. Why? (A) I'm a literary purist or (B) I'm an idiot. You choose.

Lindsey: Ah man, I’m awful at this question. Um… you interested, Suz? You’re cute and fresh looking. You might need to take some growth hormones, but I’m definitely sticking you on the short list.

If you could take one literary character to prom, who would it be, and why??

Christy: Maybe the teen version of Billy Coleman from Where the Red Fern Grows because I’m still feeing bad about Old Dan and Little Ann dying. Plus he’s handy with an axe and from the looks of YA lit, the Zombie Apocalypse is upon us and we all know Prom is prime feasting grounds for that kind of thing. But if it weren’t a pity date, I’d probably choose the mysterious Max Demian from Herman Hesse’s Demian. Part puppet master, part mind reader, part guru, I think he’d be an interesting date.


(A night to remember!)


Josh: I'm going to say Ophelia from Hamlet. Say what you will: I bet that chick knew how to party. Or Gretchen from HAIRSTYLES OF THE DAMNED. Do you know that book? It rules. She is 100% the kind of girl I would have hung out with in high school.
(And aw... he married his prom date!)


Lindsey: OK, let’s just get Edward out of the way first. Forget the hotness, you know a guy (vampire, whatever) like that isn’t going to escort his one true love in a pick-up. So I’d ditch him at the dance for the MUCH HOTTER WEREWOLF, but only after stealing the keys to his vroom vroom car.

Then, when things with the werewolf fizzled, I’d go for Wes in Sarah Dessen’s THE TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER because he is human and caring and smart and… HUMAN. I just have a thing for that type.
(Lindsey and her prom date... who became her husband! Take that, Josh!)

And finally, since all of the other questions were so serious… What do you hope teens take away from your book?

Christy: Nearly half the people on the planet now are under the age of 20—the largest youth generation in history. I hope kids read my book and realize that they have the power to be the power.

Josh: This is actually my serious answer to the other question: I wish I learned earlier that as long as you are cool with who you are (and hopefully have a couple of like-minded freaks to roll with) it really doesn't matter at all what other people think of you. My book doesn't hit you over the head with that message. It is certainly (I hope) more fun and exciting than heavy-handed with the "be happy with who you are" stuff, but I think everyone can stand being reminded of that message once in a while.

Lindsey: I hope they feel optimistic, and know they matter. My MC starts off calling herself vapor, and so much of the book involves her realizing how stupid it is to think like that. Don’t think that. You’re great! I like you, especially after buying my book, not that it hinges on that, but doesn’t hurt.


Thank you!!! You all rock and are fabulous and this blog interview is going to give you SOOOOO much exposure! Expect these three to be on the Best Sellers list! (Although they would have gotten there anyway because they are awesome)

Need more of Christy, Lindsey and Josh? They all can be found on facebook and are looking forward to making friends with you! I swear! It won't be weird at all, promise....



-Suz

Author interviews coming soon! Don't miss it!

I have looked far and wide to find the funniest authors in the world, well, soon to be published authors. I dare say, I have found them. I mean, FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!


I sometimes consider myself humorous, but now, I realize that I'm incredibily lame. But that's okay... my kids find me hilarious!


So author interviews coming soon!!!!

I'm Available!

Out of the blue I decided to search my book title, THE NAUGHTY LIST. And guess what? It's available for preorder!! It was there, with my little name next to it! I mean, ALL it had was my name and stuff, but whatever!!! I'm available!!!!!!!!!

Click me!!! (I'm ridiculously excited by this!)

Hoppy Easter!

We redid our eggs and had a very happy Easter. Well, other than my husband falling while walking the dogs and twisting his ankle. So I've had a really good time cooking, cleaning, and enjoying Easter... while he chills on the couch. :-)

But hey, at least he didn't go to the hospitial. Hope you all had a great day too!

Easter Eve Eggsaster!!

For the past three days, there has been only one thing occupying my daughter's mind. Coloring Easter eggs. So today, we spent about two hours making the most beautiful multi-colored eggs ever. Wrote little sayings on them, put stickers and holders on them. Made a special egg for each of us.

Then we went to the grocery store.

When we got home, we found this:

My dog ate ALL OF THE EGGS!! 14 beautiful, multi-color, special eggs. My daughter went hysterical!!! At one point I had to say, "Sophie, please don't hit the dog." To which she responded,

"I'm not gonna hit him. I'm gonna kill him."

Here's the rest of the Easter Eggsaster:

So now I'm boiling eggs as my husband goes out to frantically search for a place that still has egg dye. At 9:00 at night. On Easter Eve.

And we were thinking, this might not be a great night for my dog. 14 EGGS!!!!!!!!! Gross.

Going to the dark side...

What do you think??? Better blondish? or dark?? I think I'll keep it dark for a little bit. My husband seems to like it, thinks he's dating someone new and exciting. I've told him to call me Mona. Not sure why, but I feel like with this hair, I'd be a Mona.






Have a good day!

More Dinner Theatre

While out to dinner at Old Chicago, my daugher bit into her pizza then said, "Mom, who's the boss of this town, Santa or God?"

I stared at her until my son groaned from across the table. "Duh, Soph! Santa is the boss of the North Pole, not Oregon. And God is like, the boss of angels."

"Yeah," she said. "And God is super giant."

My husband choked on his Dr. Pepper, then added. "The question is, what is the Easter Bunny in charge of?"

"Duh," my daughter said in the same voice her brother had used ealier. "The Easter Bunny is the boss of eggs. Silly, Dad."

Sigh. My kids are so wicked smart.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blogpost…

To say that I'm taking a blogcation. I have some stuff to deal with, but I'll be back next week, hopefully with my cover or other awesome, exciting news. If not, I'll put up something funny!

Be good!

I am soooo lost

Really. I picked up my daughter at the bus stop today and decided to go shopping at the outdoor mall. It's so cute! And I had two secret reward cards from Victoria's Secret that I was itching to spend.

Anyway, we start driving, chatting away when I tried to turn on my husband's GPS. (I'm still sort of new in town, so I couldn't remember exactly where it was) Only... the battery was dead. Next thing I know, I look around and recoginize NOTHING! There were farms with horses and sheep and I was so confused!!!!!!

My daughter was in the backseat saying, "Daddy is so dead when I get home! He should have fixed the lady!" (the lady is the voice from the GPS)

We drove for about an hour when I finally recognized a sign!! I eventually tracked down the cute little mall, a little frazzled, but still grateful to be there. We walked around, bought lip gloss and body spray, pizza and gelato. After we were done, I needed to stop and get some flip flops. Only once I got out of Target, I had no idea how to get home!!

I called my husband, hot, tired, and a bit peeved. He didn't answer!!!!!! So me and Sophie drove around for an hour trying to find our place. When we got home, I handed my husband a box.

"What's this?"

"It's my new GPS. Hook it up." (I bought one at Target, only I couldn't use it to get home because I needed scissors to open it and I didn't have any!)

So now my ride is hooked up with a brand new GPS system. YAY!!! I'll never be lost again!!

Playing Hooky

I woke up this morning and looked outside to see another incredible day. Really, this hasn't happened in so long! So I called my kids into school, scooped up some towels and headed to the beach. Bad mom? Maybe. But did my children and I have the best day ever? Possibly.

I learned a lot. For instance, if I buy my kids a shovel and let them dig a hole, it'll keep them occupied for hours! While they tried to dig to the center of the earth I read from Evermore by Allison Noel. (almost done!)

After that, my husband called as he got home and I coaxed out to the beach too. We ran from the waves, ate fudge while the kids digged some more, and then decided to drive down to Cannon Beach. Cool rocks, huh? Goonies?

I am sunburnt. REALLY sunburnt. But you know, I can't remember the last time I hurt this good. lol.

Have a great day everyone!!!

Weekend pictures!

Since I talked about my little adventure in the last post, I figured I'd follow it with pictures on this one!

We saw a waterfall on the side of the road and stopped for a pic:

The Flavel House:

Sophie being all model:

The Trolley!

Talk about mixed signals!

Sophie's sand art. She is so talented!

You could DRIVE on the beach!

Yeah, I swear, I wasn't letting my children play with trash.

Oh, sun! Don't leave! Don't LEAVE!!!!!!

Btw, shout out to my friend Lynny. :-) I'm trying to get tickets!!!

-Suz

ADVENTURE!!!

The sun came out today! It was... beautiful. So we treated today like it was the last bit of sunshine we'd see for another year. We drove up to Astoria and visited the Flavel House. I LOVE stuff like this. If you're ever there, you should check it out. Look how cool it is!








Then we went down toward the Columbia River and rode the Trolley. We even saw the houses used in THE GOONIES and the school used in KINDERGARTEN COP. AWE to the SOME!



After that, we weren't ready to go home. We decided to check out a Fort! Only it was closed. Sad. So we drove down to Seaside. The weather was BEAUTFIUL! We made sand castles on the beach, ate elephant ears, and walked around the arcade.



One last stop. This crazy cool restaurant called Camp18. The door handle was an axe! An AXE!






I took tons of my own pictures, but man... I am TIRED!! Taking the rest of the night off, and maybe tomorrow too! Can't wait until camping season starts!

Have a great weekend!

-Suz

My chicken tastes like PUKE?

Tonight at dinner with me, husband, 8-year-old son, and 6-year-old daughter:

Me: Eat your dinner, Sophia.
Daughter: I don't want to.
Me: Eat your chicken.
Daughter: Chicken tastes like puke.
*Son laughs
Husband: Does not. Just eat it.
Daughter: I could throw this corn at you? Do you want that?
*Son laughs
Husband: Don't talk like that!
Daughter: Well, I will. Because you smell like fruit punch and coconut mixed together. You stink.
*Son laughs
Husband: I do not stink. I really don't like your attitude!
Daughter: Well, I don't like YOUR attitude
Me: I'm going to write a blog post now. *leaves


Ah.... 6 going on 16. Just great.

The Devil Wears Spandex

Ouch. Ow! Wait, no, OUCH!!!

Yes, that's me today. My personal trainer (aka: Satan) worked me out. Now, I can't get myself into a sitting position without assistance. I can't bend down to pick up the dirty socks. And I can't even THINK about lifting my arms over my head.

See, I'm not a worker-outer. I'm soft. Weak. And very happy with that. But for Operation:Supermodel, I must get in shape by August. "We must, we must, we must decrease that bust!"

So today, I'm done. Hiding out. Whining about getting tough and pushing though the pain. But if you see in me in LA this summer, you'd better have a candy bar, cuz I'll frisk for it!

Have a great day!

-Suz