:: Tomorrow is the first day of school. The first day of school is two hours long. This is ridiculous. What is the point, other than to muck up my schedule?
:: My house is under siege from box elder bugs. Judging from their behavior, they've been listening to a lot of Barry White, if you know what I mean. (And I think that you do.) My cats are too dumb and lazy to do anything about it. Before I call an exterminator, any advice?
:: I am getting super-excited about my group signing at Anderson's Bookshop. (August 30th! 7 pm! With Leigh Bardugo, Susan Dennard, Dan Krokos, and Veronica Roth!) I am also getting nervous, because I have no idea what to wear. Can I get away with wearing jeans? Suggestions?
:: On the topic of fashion...if one were to buy short cowgirl boots because one has a gift certificate burning a hole in one's pocket, what color should one get? Turquoise? Red? Green? Tan?
:: Not a question, but I thought you should know that this is what $350 in school supplies gets you.
Questions for me? Hit the comments, or this handy "Ask" feature over on my Tumblr. (I've been reblogging things that remind me of DISSONANCE over there, btw, if you're curious about the story.)
More exciting news -- my friend and partner in Thai food, Julie Cross, (author of the amazing YA time-travel TEMPEST, has invited me to participate in her teamTeenauthor group! Once a month, I'll be blogging on the same topic as the rest of the members, as opposed to my usual Doctor Who-centric rambling and talk of CSAs. Even better, once every three months, I'll be participating in a truth-or-dare situation. The next one is coming up in October, I believe, and you'll have ample opportunity for mockery, I assure you.
This month, the topic at hand is Olympic Dreams, since the Games just wound up and we're all feeling inspired, and perhaps a little flames-of-rage-ish at NBC's coverage. I didn't watch a ton of coverage -- mostly the late-night events, which exposed me to two events I've never seen before. Track bicycling, which takes place indoor, in a building called the Velodrome, and is both insanely cool and insane. They ride bikes with no brakes at 40 mph, with about 4 inches between riders. I also watched the Steeplechase, which is a track event involving leaping over three regular hurdles and one hurdle in a puddle. No lie. They run through water. Why? I don't know, but it was fun. It also led to the most hideous victory dance I've ever seen. Even the announcers were horrified. "That's...oh, wow. That's really...wow. Just...yeah."
Witness:
(I will point out here that, in his home country, the gold medalist is accused of stabbing a woman. And while I am in favor of the "innocent until proven otherwise" approach, I have some issues with his presence at the Games. Nevertheless, the Steeplechase itself is fun to watch.)
As for my own dreams, I have never really aspired to Olympic greatness. I am neither coordinated enough nor disciplined enough to be a competetive athlete. On the other hand, there are some things I am really, really good at. Where my drive and my talent combine to make me a contender for some sort of medal. Witness:
I can fold a t-shirt worthy of a Gap display without a clipboard to guide me.
I can sleep anywhere at any time, regardless of noise, location, or position.
I can organize closets and filing cabinets so beautifully, even Martha Stewart would approve.
I am an expert furniture assembler. Give me an allan wrench and a Phillips-head screwdriver, and I am pretty much unstoppable.
These days, of course, my dreams are more writing-focused than anything else, and while I think it's a stretch to say that writing a novel is like training for the Olympics, I think achieving your dreams in any field comes down to this:
Know your strengths. (Very short athletes are better suited for gymnastics than the long jump. Writers who write dark, edgy stories should probably steer clear of chapter books.)
Know exactly what you want. (Swimming fast vs. Swimming 100 meters in less than a minute. Being a writer vs. finishing a manuscript.)
Practice, practice, practice. (Even when you don't feel like it. Especially when you don't feel like it.)
Nobody's guaranteed a gold medal, and nobody's guaranteed a career in publishing. The best you can do is exactly that: your best. So get to work!
I am not a huge fan of the word epic. Unless you are talking about, say, The Odyssey or The Illiad or the original Star Wars trilogy. So I won't say epic when I tell you about my upcoming signing. I'll say this, instead -- I'll be signing at my favorite bookstore in the entire world, with some of my favorite authors in the entire world. You might recognize them...
! Congratulations, Sabine! I'll be emailing you later today to get your mailing address! If you didn't win, take a moment and have a cookie to console yourself. Then, head on over to All Things Urban Fantasy, where Luc is giving a tour of New Orleans as part of their Deadly Destinations series! You've got a chance to win one book from the Torn Trilogy, plus swag, and you'll see some of the real-life locations I used in the books.
Thanks again for participating in the Scavenger Hunt, and good luck to those of you entering the Deadly Destinations giveaway! I'm off to polish up another bonus scene for an amazing event later this month.
You guys! Thanks so much for participating in the YA Summer Scavenger Hunt! The contest is over now, so Denise Jaden's bonus content has been taken down, and I'll be announcing the winner of my individual contest tomorrow afternoon.
I'm thrilled so many of you joined in -- I hope you enjoyed all the awesome extras you found along the way, and stay tuned here for more giveaways throughout the rest of summer -- and odds are good that more bonus content will be available on Facebook soon!
About Erica
Author of the TORN (available now), TANGLED (Feb 2012) and BOUND (Fall 2012), from KTeen/Kensington Books. Mob, magic, murder. And cute boys. Always with the cute boys.
