I thought I was the only one!

My deadline is looming and I still have half a book to write. Sweat is forming on my brow. My throat is dry. I’ll never make this deadline! I’ll have to write 52 pages every day for the next two weeks if I hope to finish.

Wait. Let me check my Twitter account.

Yeah, does this happen to you? I thought I was the only one that suffered from internet addiction while writing. Turns out, I’m not! In fact, I’d say it’s an epidemic among authors and artists. I wonder if it has to do with the isolation of writing and art—the time spent staring at screen, while just at the bottom, just one click away, is a never-ending party with all the cool people you know!

It’s like they never sleep! There is always someone around to talk to! But then… there’s that deadline…

So in the interest of meeting deadlines (or even for NaNo) author Nova Ren Suma and I decided to make next week a Twitter-free environment. From November 1st to November 7th, we will not Twitter or Facebook. Why? Because we have a problem and we’re not afraid to admit it.

Would you like to join this Twittercation? Do it! You can! I know you’re strong enough. Sure, will the yahoo headlines still tempt you? Will blogs somehow become your only lifeline to the outside world? Maybe. But you can beat them. You can beat the internet beast and finish your work!!!

If you’d like to join, find us on Twitter and feel free (pun intended) to blog about it! This is going to be the most productive week ever. I might even have time to clean my house!!!

Comment if you're in!!!

A Halloweeny Blog Post!

Happy Halloween!!!

We went to the zoo and the Lion exhibit was open. YAY!

But while we were in the swamp... it started to rain. I thought we could run for it.

And once we dried off, we finished carving up those pumpkins!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, everyone!!!

Halloween Eve!!!

Tomorrow's the big day, but tonight we went to a "fantasy trail." Yes, I know that sounds dirty. But it wasn't! It was adorable. Anyways, here are some pictures from our haunted adventure!

Lost in a pirate maze:

Locked in jail for being TOO AWESOME!

Oh, yeah. They had a boogiedown room. She did the Monster Mash....

Joey's favorite joke of the night. He HAD to get a picture with it.

Win THE NAUGHTY LIST T-shirt and signed ARC!

So.... today I received my Naughty List T-shirts! Yay!! So I've decided to start my giveaway! The winner will be announced November 4th--exactly 3 months before TNL hits stores. I remember thinking that it was a year away. But now: 3 MONTHS!!!!! *faints

I have a signed copy of THE NAUGHTY LIST and one large woman's babydoll T-shirt to give away! The shirt seems to run a bit small. I tried it on:

But the headless one is not me.

But now it can be ALL YOURS!!!!! Wanna know more about The Naughty List? Check out some of the reviews on my side panel! Each point gets an entry in the drawing!

Here are the rules: Comment on this post: 1point (enter as many times as you like)

Tweet this contest: 2 points per tweet (@suzanne_young if you want to become twitter friends )

Blog post: 10 points (be sure to tell me the link to your blog!)

Edited to say: For each point you get, you'll get that many entries in the pumpkin for Sophie to pull from. It seems more fair that way. The contest ends on November 1st! Winners announced November 4th!!!

Have an awesomely wonderful day!!!

Suz

Sign up for SCBWI NY!!!!! Today!

I just signed up for this year's SCBWI Annual Winter Conference! Have you heard about it? You can register HERE. I'll be live blogging it with Team Blog--and just to prepare, I got a makeover. Well, sort of. I'm going back to blonde, but since I'd colored my hair so dark, it's a process. What color will it be at conference time? You should come and find out! Kidding. I'm sure it'll be on the blog.

Anyway, there are some really interesting speakers to look forward too! Like Libba Bray! And Ben Schrank--president of Razorbill. Razorbill's nice. :-) To read more about the lineup, click HERE.

Also they have these amazing intensives before the conference that I'm really looking forward to.

And if nothing else, NYC!! In January? I mean, what better time?? haha. (On a sidenote, I left NY when I turned 21 because I couldn't stand being cold. Welcome home.) Plus The Naughty List comes out on February 4th, but I'm going to try to get early copies. Shh! Don't tell anyone.

So register today HERE!!!! And I'll see you there! Oh, and here's my hair so far: (Remember, a work in progress)

Don't forget to enter my contest to win a signed ARC of The Naughty List and a Naughty List T-shirt! You'll look so Strawberry Smoothie in it!

Book Signing: Starring Jay Asher

Best selling author Jay Asher spoke today at the Eugene Public Library--a pretty impressive establishment. The turnout was amazing! My friend and kid's former babysitter, Jessica, happens to be a HUGE fan of Jay so she and I decided to stop by and check it out!!!

His speeches were inspiring, sometimes funny. But the best part for me had nothing to do with Jay's presentation (sorry!) As I was signing an ARC of THE NAUGHTY LIST for Jessica, the girl next to me said, "Did you write THE NAUGHTY LIST?"

She knew the name!! Just by the cover, she knew the name. I was all, "Um... yes." And she told me that she'd seen it online and was dying for it!!! My first random in-person comment! I was giddy!!! So I signed a copy for her.

After Jay's signing (oh, yeah. Was that why I was there?) he was kind enough to give out a few copies of my book to his fans!!! As you can see, he was happy to promote it!

Thanks, Jay! And of course if you haven't seen him give a speech before, you really should check it out. It's great for writers and fans!

On a sidenote, my husband forgot to give me the ipod thingy for my car, so I only had one CD. It was a live Pearl Jam CD from 1998. However, it solidified the fact that I need to write Eddie Vedder a fan letter. I'm going to draft one up. If I get a response, I will post it!

Announcing Team Blog - 2010 SCBWI Annual Winter Conference

It's getting to be that time of year again! SCBWI is having their Annual Winter Conference in NYC!!!!!! And if you can't be there in person, you can be there virtually!!! SCBWI's Team Blog will be live blogging and tweeting from the floor of the conference.

The Official SCBWI TEAM BLOG is back and bloggier than ever! Let's meet the team:

Alice Pope

Suzanne Young

Lee Wind

Jolie Stekly

Jamie Tamairik

The conference runs from January 29th-31st in NYC. All the information and details can be found on the SCBWI website. Registration begins October 28th HERE!

I'm so excited to be back with the crew and I'm dedicated to bringing you all the advice, interviews and yes, SHENANIGANS that you can handle!

All of the up-to-the-minute action will be found on the official Live Conference Blog

Go, Team Blog!!!

For meee????

I was so excited the other day when my friend over at The Compulsive Reader tweeted to let me know that she stumbled across an ad for The Naughty List. Wait. What???? Where???

My little heart beat quickly. She tweeted me a picture! And OMG! It is! It's an ad for The Naughty List in the back of someone else's book! Isn't that so weird and AWESOME???

I'm dying of excitement. The book is a Razorbill title called The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove by Lauren Kate. And in the back... yep! Me!

*faints

*wakes up!

It's the little things... Oh, and an important announcement coming soon.....

Book Signing: Starring Jeff Kinney!!!!!

So when Jeff Kinney--author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series--comes to town, people show up. Weird, right??

Hundreds of people. HUNDREDS! And a big, giant Wimpy bus later, we got our books signed. And even though I only got to talk with him for a few minutes, Jeff Kinney seems like a rockin' guy. We had like fifteen books with us and he didn't even bat an eyelash.

My only regret? The picture the employee took of me and Jeff didn't come out. Imagaine how bummed out I was!! My camera=sucky. Sigh.

Book Signing: Starring LK Madigan

WHAT AN AWESOME DAY!!!! Today, friend and local author LK Madigan had a fantastic book signing!!!! Her book FLASH BURNOUT (omg, it's so good you have to read it!) is out now and SOLD OUT the entire stock in Powell's. The place was packed, like over fifty people packed!



LK started out with an amazing speech. In fact, she had me and Lisa Schroeder in tears. It was so touching, thoughtful, sweet. She told us about her journey, offered advice and threw chocolate at us!


Not just any chocolates. Chocolates with her book cover on them from A1wrappers!!!!! I NEED to do that!



Then she had a teenager (totally handsome, readers!) who came up and read from the book. We were roaring with laughter.



So many amazing writers, illustrators and artists in attendence. In fact, we even got a view as to what Clementine Pie will look like when she gets older! I think Laini and Jim will be proud. :-)



Well, it was an awesome book signing with awesome friends and I cannot WAIT for everyone to get FLASH BURNOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!