The Lucky 7 Game!

When I’m mad at my dear, dear friend Scott Tracey, I call him Scottopher. It has more heft as a lecture name, don’t you think? “Scottopher Tracey, get down here this minute! And no dessert for you!
Well, Scottopher is getting All The Looks this morning & I’m not mailing him any of the cinnamon buns I made this week. What was he thinking tagging me in a writer chain letter? He knows how I feel about luck.*
My debut novel, Send Me a Sign, is ABOUT superstition— if I break the chain, that’s probably like spitting on a black cat or playing paintball in a funhouse mirror room.
So here are the rules (copied straight from Scott’s post)
Open your most recent novel or work-in-progress.

Turn to page 7 or page 77.

Count 7 lines down.

Copy (or read aloud in a vlog post) the next 7 sentences…in their entirety.
No cheating or editing!!!

Then tag 7 more authors!
And here is my snippet — it’s an email my MC (Della) receives early in the book. And it’s exactly seven sentences.
Della. I’m sorry. So sorry. I never meant for this to get out. I know I promised I’d delete it. I’m so sorry. So sorry.
This is from my current contemp WIP. Codename: Full Nuder**
Oh. And my seven people:
*Scottopher, I’m not really mad. In case you were worried, which you weren’t because my anger is about as scary as a rage-filled cupcake.
** Yes, this does make me gigglefit EVERY time.

*** Remember that book I was raving about in my last post, The Archived? She’s sharing from THAT!

Feeling Apocalyptic

I was lucky enough to spend the moment 2011 gave way to 2012 at a wedding surrounded by friends and in formal wear. I’d almost, almost made it to 12 o’clock in my heels.

But when the countdown hit one and people cheered and toasted and kissed, the moment felt extra, extra exciting. And not just because of St.Matt’s midnight kiss.

It’s 2012.

Twenty-twelve!*

SEND ME A SIGN comes out in October 2012. So, this means it’s FINALLY my publication year.  How could that not add an extra sizzle to the ball-drop countdown?

Yesterday, when The Schmidtlets woke us up after not nearly enough sleep—5 a.m., really? Couldn’t they tell we only got to bed at 2?—I had another  moment of IT’S MY YEAR.

In which The Wild Imp says: Who needs sleep? And check out my cute Apocalypsie shirt? Auntie Em gave it to me.

I know that realistically, 1/1/2012 is only ONE day nearer to October than 12/31/2011, but it feels so much closer. And I’ve always valued feelings more than facts.**

So, Happy Twenty-Twelve!

And while you’re waiting for October, do what I plan to do — keep yourself distracted by reading fabulous books by all the other Apocalypsies.

In which The Pip Squeak says: Go read Apocalypsie books RIGHT NOW!

What a fabulous year it’s going to be!

In which The Schmidtlets demonstrate how 2012 has shoved 2011 out of the way and The Wild Imp goes splat.

*This is what we’ve agreed to call it, right? Not Two Thousand and Twelve?
**Much to the dismay of my sainted engineer.

I’d Like To Thank The Academy…

When I can’t sleep at night, or when I’m waiting in line at the grocery store, or on hold with the cell phone company I mentally compose acknowledgement pages. I assume that actors write practice Oscar speeches in much the same way.
It occurred to me the other night – while pacing our bedroom at 1 AM with a teething and not sleeping Baby A – that soon I’ll get to write an acknowledgements page for real. And the thought might have made me emit a wee-squee and squeeze him a bit too tight, thus waking him all-the-way up and adding another twenty minutes to my rocking him to sleep.
Of course I spent the time mentally drafting thank yous.
You’ll have to wait until next fall (and buy the book) to read my for real acknowledgements with the scores of people who helped me get this far. (I love you all!) BUT – my gratitude-meter from the past seven days is currently tipped to overflowing – I need to acknowledge some of my lovelies or I’ll implode from appreciation.
Thank you to:

* Everyone who offered support and congratulations – I did a little dance each time my phone buzzed with a tweet or email or phone call or Facebook post. If I could send you each a cookie and a hug, I would.

* St. Matt!

* Tiffany Emerick – librarian extraordinaire – who had my book on GoodReads within minutes of hearing the news. Thank you for accompanying me to a zillion book events over the past few years and telling me after each one That’s going to be you some day.

* Scott Tracey & Courtney Summers – for being my sanity throughout this crazy process and reading countless drafts of my synopsis and bio.

* Emily Hainsworth – For… everything: wearing your lucky shamrock pj’s, dog grooming whilst listening to me chatterbox, and the daily refrains of I can’t wait until you’re an Apocalypsie too.

* And to the Apocalypsies for being so welcoming.

* Team Sparkle for always filling my inbox full of ~*~’s and !!!’s

* Always, always to Joe Monti – the maker of dreams-come-true. Thank you for not putting me in time out for asking Can I announce yet? twelve million and two times.

* … finally, to the Schmidtlets for being ever-ready to participate in celebration dance parties, and for taking an hour-long nap so I had time to write this.

Have you heard?

I love fairy tales, believe dreams come true, and the sign above my writing desk reads And they lived happily ever after.
Last night I watched Enchanted… again. Today I get to see a fairy tale unfold in the life of one of my very most favorite people.
It started Once Upon A Time, back on November 16th, 2010.
The same day my dreams were coming true and I was becoming a momma for the first and second time, my crit partner and one of my best friends was offered representation by her dream agent.
Have you heard what resulted from the twins’ Auntie Em, aka Emily Hainsworth, signing with Mary Kole?
I could not be more thrilled! Through to You is one of the most unique and haunting stories I’ve read –- it wouldn’t be fair if you were deprived of the opportunity to say the same.
And, if you’ll permit me to stretch this theme just a tad further, this isn’t Emily‘s happily ever after.
This is just the start of her adventure, her Once Upon A Time.
I can’t wait to see the rest of her journey.

How to Eat A Cupcake – Team Sparkle Style

The SCBWI winter conference was last week in New York. I was there, as were fellow Team Sparklers: Susan Adrian, Emily Hainsworth and Victoria Schwab… and more than a thousand other writer-people.

It was wonderful.

Just ask Susan:

Victoria:

Emily:

Or Nova Ren Suma, who we dragged away from her deadline to come conferencing with us.

In fact, because they’ve already done a fabulous job summarizing and describing all the wonderful people, books, laughter, wisdom, and hijinks we discovered, I don’t feel the need to re-state it. Procrastination WIN! I will just add this:

How to Eat A Cupcake – Team Sparkle Style.

…because it is a widely accepted fact that all the best writing is fueled by sugar.

If you’ve never tried my less-mess sandwich technique, you’re missing out. Run, don’t walk, to the nearest bakery and procure yourself a cupcake.

Then, once the sugar-jitters have faded, sit down and write some sparkly words.

You can thank me later.