RT Booklovers Convention 2014

Last week the Hubs and I attended the RT Booklovers Convention in New Orleans. I found this conference last summer when it was in Kansas City. I was able to attend one day and I sat in on several panels that all impressed me. The one that made the biggest impact on me was a group of YA authors that included Veronica Roth, Kami Garcia, and Melissa Marr. I was so impressed because they were so supportive of one other. I was also thrilled, because they were incredibly generous with their writing and publishing and marketing knowledge for the rest of us. I learned so much that day from every session I attended. I decided that no matter where RT went the following year, I'd go and I'd bring the Hubs. The agenda is massive and there are tons of great presentations, so I thought it would be best to divide and conquer.

We spent six days learning from authors, librarians, book sellers, book bloggers, and readers about how to write and market a best selling book. Oh and you get free books. It was like I won the lottery. The Hubs laughed, but I brought an empty suitcase with me just to bring home all of my free books.

My New Cover is Here!!!

You guys! I am grinning from ear to ear like an idiot, because today I get to share something really special with you: the cover for my BRAND NEW BOOK!!!

That's right, mark your calendars, folks, because People I Want to Punch in the Throat: Competitive Crafters, Drop-Off Despots, and Other Suburban Scourges is coming!

I am so excited for and proud of this book! I've been working on it with my editor at Random House for a year now! It feels like forever, but it's finally here. Yaaaaaaay. This book is a hilarious collection of stories about living with the Hubs, Gomer, and Adolpha in suburbia with overachieving moms, douchey dads, and other annoying types you find in every cul-de-sac of America. 

The book will be available September 9th, but if you think you might be too busy that day to get it, you should go ahead and pre-order it now. Then you can just mark that off your to-do list.

Me - For Eavesdropping on a 13 Year Old's Date

I am so glad I am not 13 anymore.  I would hate to be 13 again.  I hated 13 so much that I am not looking forward to my kids being 13.

Today I was working in a public place when I was suddenly surrounded by a gaggle of giggy 13 year old girls.  Pretty soon, a couple of surly 13 year old boys joined the gaggle and they became a full on group.

Call for Submissions

Have you figured out yet that I like publishing anthologies? Well, I do! I think anthologies are awesome, because I can put the book down and come back in a week and not have to remember which two fellas our plucky heroine is waffling between. I think anthologies are a terrific way to discover a new writer that I didn't know about before. I'm never bored reading an anthology because each chapter is a totally different voice from the one before it or the one after it. 

So. Because I love publishing anthologies so much I've decided to publish another one. Nope. Scratch that. I've decided to publish two at once! 

Live Free (and Compost) or Die

Today Mary and her kids showed me around the great state of New Hampshire.  I've only ever driven through New Hampshire on my way to the outlets in Kittery, Maine so it was nice to see what treasures lurk just off the highway.

Mary's kids are on Spring Break (Winter Break?  I don't know.  Some break the whole state has off.)  We decided we go to Dover to a children's museum her kids like.

We got to the museum and I fit right in.  New Hampshire are my people.  I've said before I dress/look like a plus sized model in an Eddie Bauer catalog - pg. 92 to be exact.  The moms in New Hampshire look just like me.  I was welcomed into a cocoon of fleece and canvas and sturdy, practical shoes today.  It was like coming home.  Ahhhh....no over achievers, right?

Open Letter to Rob Lowe

Rob Lowe has an interview in the New York Times Magazine titled Rob Lowe on the Problems With Being Pretty. Rob feels like no one took him seriously when he was a young heartthrob because he was too pretty and I don't think that was the case at all. I've written him a letter.

Conscious Uncoupling

I woke up this morning and learned a new phrase: "Conscious Uncoupling."

Do you know what that means? For the rest of us plebeians it means "divorce." However, for my favorite tree bark indulger, Gwyneth Paltrow, it also means divorce. But because she's Gwyneth, she has to call it something deep and spiritual and meaningful. She's not just getting a divorce like the rest of you, pond scum. She's Gwyneth and she does everything in her life with purpose and integrity ... and a PR team and a hair and make up person.


I'm never surprised when a celebrity splits. I always assume they will divorce at some point. I'm just surprised in the way it's done. I was riveted when Katie escaped her gilded cage while Tom was on a remote movie location and I was fascinated by Kim Kardashian's marriage that didn't even last long enough for her to receive the first sponsorship check from her elaborate wedding.

And today it's like Christmas. Today I awoke to find the Goop site completely crashed, but luckily, the Hubs had woken earlier than me and was holding me a spot, so I got to see this conscious uncoupling up close and personal.

"I'd tap that," Chris Martin.

When you first hit Goop to read Gwyneth's statement, you're met with a pop up box encouraging you to subscribe to her site so she can sell you things like a $900 throw that your kids will surely ruin with spilled juice. Hey, I don't blame her for that. She's going to be a single mom now and she needs to make some dollars to pay for her brick pizza oven.