Oh, Hey 2014!

*Blows dust off blog* Hello there!

It's been awhile since I posted anything here, and when I look at the date of my last entry (February 16), I remember that as far as excuses go, it's honestly not been a "the dog ate my homework" kind of year.

Around the time I last hit publish, I found out I was pregnant. Pregnant! As in, hey, you better dust the sour patch kids off your face because you are about to become a mom.

Two weeks later, my sweetheart and I closed on our first house. I've been an apartment dweller my entire life, so this was pretty huge. We found a sweet brick colonial in a writerly suburb of NYC that has an amazing library... and as an added bonus, the village is also haunted, at least in the literary sense.

We decided to do major renovations before moving in, which required a lot of time and energy, all while I was fantastically nauseous.

And since I hit two major life events, I decided to go for a hat trick and accepted a job offer a few months later. The week after moving into our half-renovated home, I started my first day, with a new role, new boss, new new new.

Home ownership. Renovations. Nine months of pregnancy. New desk at work. It's been a hell of a year for sure!

My son Max was born in late October, and now one month in, I'm finally getting the hang of infant care. Though every time I think that, the little monster throws me for a loop :)

Fox-themed story time on Max's first night home

And even though Max came early, even though we still need to hang curtains and paint some rooms, and even though I sometimes don't brush my teeth until after noon, this tornado of a year has given me so much to be thankful for. And a big fat one is the shiny love, support, motivation, and hope I find in my kidlit community.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my writer friends -- amidst the whirlwind this year has brought on, you've been my constant! I've loved reading your blogs, your books, finding out about your book deals, and typing alongside you whenever I've had a free moment!

Hope you have more than one slice of pie and a few days of holiday bliss.

Instagram #PhotoADay: October

Confession: I'm a bit of a social media lurker. By nature, I'm an undersharer -- so some social sites elude me completely (I'm looking at you, Facebook).

But I find Twitter and Instagram fun, and I love catching up on people's clever (or not) updates -- even though I rarely post tweets and photos myself.

But that's about to change on Instagram. This month I'm attempting to post one daily photo. And three days in, sharing random pictures has been much easier than I suspected. In fact, I think it's reminding me to appreciate some of the small things I'd pass by without thinking twice about.

Take yesterday, for instance. While walking down Lexington Avenue on my way to work, I encountered a film crew that spanned a block and a half. This is a fairly common sight in NYC, but instead of rolling my eyes at the detour to my subway stop, I snapped a photo:

They are filming parts of the new "Annie" movie starring Quvenzhané Wallis in Harlem, and I spied the adorable actress getting her nose powdered between shots.

I'm glad I stopped and checked out Lex with fresh eyes rather than raced by to catch a train. It's not every day the street's packed with expensive camera equipment and a busy crew. And now I'll definitely be looking out for this scene and my familiar neighborhood sites when I watch the movie.

Are you on Instagram? Let me know - I'd love to connect and check out your feed! And you can find my profile here. After four months, it's about to get a lot less boring -- I promise!

I'm Totally Opening a Store Called "Thai Food and Sleds" in My Neighborhood

Central Park, Frozen-style

 You may have heard, a blizzard hit the northeast this weekend.

Before the snow turned into black mush, I had a keen idea today. How about some sledding in Central Park? My apartment is a few blocks away from a  hill that was made for sledding.

As someone who hasn't owned a sled since third grade, buying one ended up being more complicated than I imagined. My neighborhood lacks many things, like produce that doesn't look disease-ridden. And Thai restaurants. And sleds, I discovered today.

The Scientist and I ducked into about eight all purpose dollar-type stores, and even a Rite-Aid. They had suitcases, organizing bins, yoga mats, floor cleaner, toy lawn mowers.  But when we asked about sleds, we were met with confusion, and in every instance, derision.

 "Sleds? No."

Eyebrows were raised, eyeballs were rolled, and I'm almost positive someone did the cuckoo finger twirl as we left one store. It felt strange, like we were asking for illegal piranhas, or beach shovels in February. But one store did have beach shovels. In February!

My point is, if you're looking for a peach-scented candle or a pair of pink undies with the word "heartbreaker" written above the crotch in my 5-block radius, you're good. Sleds, no such luck.

We ended up going to the park anyway, and along the way we found a freshly thrown out cardboard box sitting in a snow heap. I've never been more delighted by litter in my life! We tore off pieces big enough to sit on, and The Sci even got to use the knife he keeps on his key chain to break apart a seam.

Everyone in the park had real sleds, of course. Plastic pinks and blues and greens zipped down the hill, along with giant tubes that could double as water floats. One kid road down on a giant goldfish.  I'm not sure where they got them, but our cardboard seats flew us down the hills too, despite being homemade. Or, trash-made. Whatever. There was a lot of falling over. S hit a tree once (for the record, the tree hit him back). And some snow went down my pants. But we laughed the whole time.

Some things that you do as a kid never lose their magic. Even if you're the kid with the crappy sled.

I'll be back next Monday with a MMGM pick. It's been awhile since I posted one, but I've read my butt off in the last month, and got through a few from my 2012 list. Can't wait to share my favorites!

What Day Is It Again?

Also, is it really October? Scratch that -- the MIDDLE of October?!?

Hey darlings! The loudest thing happening on my blog as of late has been the sound of crickets. Since I last posted, a new job opportunity pranced into my life out of nowhere (literally -- it was something I hadn't even applied for), and it has since taken over my life a bit. All that free writing and freelance time I had disappeared, so I've got my butt in the chair most nights after work and on weekends.

And now that I'm two months into my new job, I did what any good new employee would do and went on vacation. Well, not really. The Scientist and I planned on driving a car from California back to NYC for months now, and we're currently on the road. So far we've breezed through Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. We did a cross-country road trip back in 2008, and kept up our tradition of taking photos at each state sign.

I'll be pretty busy up until the elections. Wait... who am I kidding? I'll be pretty busy up until forever. But hopefully I'll be back up and blogging after we get our car back to Harlem. I've been stacking up my MMGM reads, and even went to a book blogging conference that got ideas whirling in my noggin.

See you back in NYC! And yes -- since we've been on the road, I really don't know what day it is... Let me go check now.

This Really Happened Today

Look, it's me with my new buddy, Captain Underpants:

If only I had known the dress code was so lax at BEA :O)  Will post more on the expo once my schedule is back to normal.

Back to School

Ten years is such a long time, yet I can still remember scrambling to get in my last Chaucer paper, scribbling pencil into those little blue final books till my hands ached, and the feeling of elation when it was all finally over.

At Smith, where I spent my college years, there's this fantastic tradition during the reading period before finals. Just around that point in studying when you feel like your head is about to fall off, each student abandons her books and computers, goes out into the quiet Northampton night, and screams her head off. The feeling of catharsis is unbelievable - something I wished to repeat after my last finals as a senior.

This weekend I'm going back to school for my ten-year reunion. I can't wait to see old friends, visit old haunts, remember all the quirky rituals, smell all those musky books in the library. There's a terrific literary tradition at Smith - with alumnae like Madeleine L'Engle, Sylvia Plath, Ann M Martin (of Baby Sitter's Club fame), and Jane Yolen. Knowing this as a student always inspired me to write. And now that I'm on the brink of submitting my first completed manuscript, the timing of going back feels oddly perfect.

Do you have a reunion or graduation to attend this year? Along with my own milestone, I have a niece graduating high school next month -which means she's quickly leaving her YA years behind! Unfortunate for me, since she is one of my informants for contemporary high school information!

Is It Too Late for a Friday Five?

Let's just pretend it's west coast time! My week in five photos:

1.) 

My sweetheart surprised me with a writing gift - this book on craft written by Ursula K. Le Guin. So sweet, and it was even wrapped up in flowery brown paper!

2.) 

On Tuesday, I attended an SCBWI Metro talk by author Nora Raleigh Baskin on turning fact into fiction. Like a good student, I took lots of notes.

3.)

At work I shot an interview with Cherie Blair, human rights lawyer and wife to the former prime minister, at the Council on Foreign Relations building in NYC.

4.)

I broke this fortune out of a cookie.

5.)

And I left my office at Chelsea Market today carrying two of my favorite things: cupcakes and a big old bouquet of flowers.

How was this week for you all? Happy Friday!!

World Book Night Recap

World Book Night - I can't even.

On Monday, I joined thousands of people across the world in handing out free books. I decided to go the random route and give my copies of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian to young adults in my neighborhood. I was the Santa Claus of books for under two hours, and hot damn did I like it.

The first book I gave away was right outside my apartment. A backpack-wearing guy was walking by at that moment, and I offered him a copy of my book. He accepted it shyly, then as he walked away, he started reading it. He was literally read-walking. I watched him do it for an entire block!

This is what 'read-walking' looks like

And things only went up from there. Everyone that I met and handed out books to was so gracious and excited. During my walk, I made a stop at my local parks and rec center - otherwise known as the place I run on the treadmill while listening to podcasts and the GNR song Night Train on repeat. They have a great teen program, so I dropped off a few copies for them:

Then finally swung by the part of Central Park near my house and handed off the last few copies to unsuspecting young adults. And because finding free stuff is fun, I left two copies on benches in the Harlem Meer with notes tucked inside:

This was an awesome experience on so many levels, and I can't wait to do it again next year. Anyone else have WBN stories to share?

Here's a post from Barbara Watson, who gave out copies of Because of Winn-Dixie this WBN.

20 Absolutely True Diaries of a Part-Time Indian

You know what's fun? Heaving a box of books onto a train and across Harlem. Okay, maybe not. But since I get to hand out these copies of Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian on Monday, it was worth it:

To backtrack, a few months ago I signed up for World Book Night. Also known as the best idea ever. The basic premise is, to encourage reading, participants will take to the streets and hand out free books to strangers (bonus points if you pass your bounty on to reluctant readers).

As a giver, I got to choose from a fantastic list of books, but ultimately went with Alexie's National Book Award winner so that I would have an excuse to talk to NYC teenagers about YA. Will let you know how it goes on Monday! Any other World Book Night givers out there?

This Is Me Right Now

No, seriously - here I am:

Which is why I went on an unexpected blogging break :)

Aside from being buried in books, writing, and freelance work, in the last two weeks I took a trip to visit our neighbors to the north. In Toronto, I gobbled up lots of confections of the strawberry-rhubarb sort at a favorite writing spot, Wanda's Pie in the Sky.

And then I took another trip south of the border to meet up with a pal in Tulum.

Luckily, my pending 100th blog post did not escape my attention amidst all this craziness. 100 posts! Hopefully I'm making up for the lameness of this entry with photos of pie and tropical locations. And since I'm on my way to blogging 100 times without getting into any trouble, I'm drumming up some kind of giveaway. Stay tuned!

Wigs, Ponchos, & Dystopia at the New York Public Library

Last night I went to one of the Teen Author Festival events going on this week in NYC. This particular reading and discussion was on world building and destroying, and it was held at the main branch of the NY Public Library.

Chris Shoemaker hosted the event in a Capitolesque blue wig (right on), and eight authors read from their works. On the roster were: Anna Carey, Sarah Beth Durst, Anne Heltzel, Jeff Hirsch, Andy Marino, Lauren McLaughlin, Lissa Price, and Jon Skovron.

 I've been to a few Teen Author readings, but this one was the most hilarious. In between books, we played dystopian themed Wheel of Misfortune and Family Feud. And somewhere out there is an embarrassing clip of me winning a poncho to survive a future dystopian world by guessing the most survey answers on how to survive a zombie bite.

If you are in the New York area this weekend, I definitely recommend checking out the rest of the Teen Author Festival! The schedule is packed with great discussions and great authors and book signings. I'm going to be in Toronto, so I'll miss it. But if you go, let me know how it was!

Box Office on Fire

Tonight, after waiting ever so patiently, I'm going to see The Hunger Games.

!!!!!!

I'm trying to keep my expectations in line, but it's proving to be a teensy bit difficult.

There are so many reasons I'm rooting for this movie's success. First, there are the books. For obvious reasons, I devoured the series within a week. This tumblr post pretty much nails how that happens. Fans can only hope that the movie will live up to the story's greatness.

Then, there's Jennifer Lawrence. After watching Winter's Bone, I could completely picture her as Katniss. It wasn't her stature or her facade - it was the gritty, raw emotion she brought to her character. Her acting abilities are no joke. Whenever I see the clip where she's volunteering as tribute, I get crazy chills.

But the reason I'm most excited about The Hunger Games kicking butt has to do with Hollywood itself. Hollywood, where the Bechdel Test is constantly being failed. Where wrinkles and cellulite are only acceptable when spackled on by a makeup crew. Where women are shoehorned into minor roles, and are usually defined by the men around them.

Here, we have a film with a female lead who isn't being showcased for her zany dating life. Guys are showing up to the film. To watch a movie starring a woman. Is it really the end of the world? Mayans, is this the apocalypse you spoke of?

Yesterday I read that the film franchise is on its way to becoming a blockbuster hit. It pulled in over $150 million smackers in the US alone over opening weekend. Maybe the money will speak for itself. I don't expect this film to spark a sudden feminist revolution (or to even be perfectly executed for that matter). But I do hope it will prove that women can play diverse roles and rake in the cash.

What did you think of the film? Did it exceed your expectations? Were you disappointed? Did you want to stuff Peeta into an Easy Bake Bread Oven?

And for getting this far down the page, I reward you with a dorktastic photo of me playing tribute at an archery class in Queens (it was SO fun, and way harder than it looks).

Shhh... I'm Writing

Over the weekend, I had the chance to spend three yummy nights here:

With these  three  ladies. I somehow managed to bring my quiet productivity back from the cabin to bumping Harlem. Now that I'm on the verge of finishing up another draft, I am going to sneak away from the Internet again, and keep tapping away on my keyboard. Will be back soon!

Off to the Woods!

After work I'm going on my very first writer retreat just a couple hours away in the Poconos. There will be a cabin. There will be tea. There will be walks in the woods. And there will be four writers ready to put hours and hours into their manuscripts. I believe it will get goofy.

I plan on writing (something new) and revising (something old). Or, a little bit of this, and a little bit of that:

Let the muses loose, and see you on the other side.

Where She Went

Hello! I've been on a bit of a blogging hiatus for several reasons, all that popped up in the span of a week.

First:

 

After six years, two promotions, and a zillion emails, I packed up my desk at my job. This was not an easy task - I pretty much needed a suitcase to clear out just my tea. Leaving was bittersweet, but there are many exciting things to come, including more time to write and work on my own projects. 

Second:

 

I took a small hiatus to Boston and New Hampshire to visit family and friends. That's my new teensy elf niece*, who is just over one month old.      
*Objects in photo are larger than they appear.

And Third:

I started up at my new fantastic job! We had a day-long shoot on my first day that ended with a Jersey 'poof.' Check out the video behind this photo here.


The dust has somewhat settled because I've been preparing for this transition for awhile. Hopefully I'll be a little more blogtastic in the coming days. What's been up with you all?

Wedding Cake and Art

Every week I go to the MET. And then I eat a cupcake. This week in Cupcakes and Art:
 

I haven't written about my love affair with the MET in awhile. Since this summer, my trips down 5th Avenue have dwindled down to a monthly visit. But our blistering winter is going to unpack her luggage any day now, so I plan to take advantage of the museum more - not only for inspiration, but also as a very hoity gym (the MET is 1/4 mile long, and over 2 million square feet of heated walking space!).

Among my recent museum and confection adventures was a surprise cultural experience. This fall, the Scientist and I attended a gorgeous wedding in Delaware at the Winterthur Garden, Museum, and Library. The ceremony was outside in the gardens, and the reception was inside... THE MUSEUM! Which meant we could roam certain exhibits between busting a move to Beyonce and doing the chicken dance.

One of the neatest pieces I saw as I teetered along in my heels was a two-shaft loom dating back to the 1700s. I snapped some photos in case a loom ever makes it into one of my books.

 

When I encounter something out of the ordinary, I often wonder if it will end up in a future story, so I try to take as much in as possible (or at least snap some photos). Do you typically observe new experiences, interesting objects, and people through the lens of a writer?

I usually end my trips to the MET with cupcakes - but I was luckier than usual in Delaware. I got to have a wedge of this flower-decked bad boy! There was some chocolate. There was some vanilla. There was some fruit on the inside. And it was yummy.

Reunited and It Feels So Luna-Lovegooood

Three months ago I went to the Anderson Cooper show, and freaked when I found out that the special guest was the boy who lived. But hanging with Daniel Radcliffe is such old news now. I barely screamed my head off when he got on stage for his muggle performance in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying last night.

The entire cast was amazing, and Radcliffe didn't just keep up with the best of Broadway. He completely shone. In fact, I'm surprised he didn't show off some of those sweet dance moves during the Yule Ball in the fourth Harry Potter film.

His run in this production is coming to a close, but if you can - go see this play.

Gladiators and Tributes

What does it say about a person if one of her travel dream destinations is a place where people gathered to watch public executions in the form of charades, wild animals ripping each other apart, and fights to the death for entertainment? 

Don't get me wrong - I can barely sit through an episode of The Jersey Shore without feeling icky. Schadenfreude isn't really my thing. But the Colosseum has been an item of mystique for me since I was a youngin'. The size, the structure, the history… the way you can be walking down the street in a major modern city, and then boom, it's there.

Cleopatra: A Life, got me amped up to see some of Rome's ancient sites, especially the Forum. It also prepared me for the brutality of its stories. Whatever happened in the Colosseum was yawn-worthy compared to the carnage in the pharaoh's Ptolemaic family history. By the time I passed the gates into the great arena, I was rather freshened up on how sadistic we humans can be.

 

One thing I learned on the audio tour was how theatrical the events were. Many of the fights were staged as famous battles, and the arena was even flooded for mock sea combat. During the inaugural games, 9,000 exotic animals from around the kingdom - bears, ostriches, elephants, lions - were slaughtered. And one time, after a whale beached on a coastal town near Rome and became a national point of intrigue, organizers of the games constructed an enormous fake whale with a mechanical mouth. When the mouth opened, 50 ferocious bears poured out of it. Timely and fun!

Love those Roman bookshops!

Of course the extravagance mixed with bloodlust made me think about The Hunger Games - not surprising since Suzanne Collins cites ancient Rome's favorite pastime as a significant influence to the trilogy. From the stands where spectators sat to watch gladiators bludgeon each other for days, it wasn’t difficult to imagine that the people of Panem would tune in to see teens do the same. Unless they got mauled by a cheetah first.

On my last day in Rome, The Scientist and I happened to walk by the Colosseum again during sunset, when the light hits it in such a soft, magical way. I did a little digging, and found a fantastic Smithsonian article that makes my audio tour feel like a rip-off. Read it! All four pages, plus the photo gallery. If you liked The Hunger Games, it's pretty amazing/ insane stuff.

Italy by the Numbers

I'm back! And still glowing from a wonderful trip to Italia!!  Or is that just relief from not trudging around with a suitcase any longer?

Some sums from my vacation:

days in italy: 16
flavors of gelato tasted: 25
most miles walked in a single day: 12
major cities visited: 8
books read: 1 (hey, it was DENSE non-fiction!)
pictures taken: 500
miles driven: 495 (or 825 kilometers)
hotels: 4 (one was a farm that had 55 beehives and 7,000 olive trees)
train rides: 16
meals cooked: 3
trips to laundromat: 1
deceased writers' homes visited: 2
number of Galileo's fingers seen: 2 (plus one tooth)
visits to Pizzeria Da Michele in Naples: 2

Will post some highlights and writer-ly things of interest once I recover from jetlag, unpack, and sort through those 800+ work emails waiting for me ;)

Hey Venice, Where Are My Pants?

Because you seem to have charmed them right off of me...

Ciao from Italia!  I am smack in the middle of an amazing Italy trip. It's been fun and inspiring, as well as relaxing - the perfect kind of break for a hectic year. Internet has been scarce (hooray!), but I have some Wifi and will start dripping the posts I meant to plan out before I took off for Europe.

There seems to be two general views on Venice from travelers – heart-palpitating love and sour loathing. Before my trip to Italia, I heard passionate tales from both camps. I’m officially on team love. It took about 5 minutes of rolling my wheely suitcase to my hotel down the twisty streets to decide.

Sure, it’s pricy, and tourists are everywhere, and people are dying to rip you off, but that’s nothing new to a New Yorker. I'm enchanted by the windows. The windows! And the door knockers. And sitting by canals with gelato. And the sweet bridges. Even better, it's more magical at night.

And even better, better - it's the Biennale! Art and gelato posts coming up once I get back to the States.