- I finally watched Happy-Go-Lucky and loved it. Mike Leigh has such a distinct point of view as a filmmaker, and truly understands the power of comedy. Laughter is a razor-sharp tool in his hands. If you’re a Netflix subscriber, this one is available as a watch instantly.

- Speaking of a distinct point of view, if you feel like every realistic YA novel you pick up sounds the same and you’re tired of it, read Bennett Madison’s The Blonde of the Joke.  It reminded me somehow of The Virgin Suicides, though it’s been so many years since I read that book I can’t say exactly why.

- And speaking of the deadly knife-edge of humor, Jon Stewart needs a special Emmy for these eight-plus minutes that amount to a TKO of Glenn Beck.

- A.O. Scott has an article in the Sunday Times about children’s movies, mostly, but really all of his (very insightful) observations apply to YA and kid books as well (and the contrast between them and entertainment for adults). Among other things, he writes:

Sometimes we make too much of the division between generations, which is after all not a gap but a continuum. Every adult is a former child, just as every child is an incipient adult, and at their best, children’s film and literature (which of course are almost never made by children themselves) is an attempt to communicate across this distance. Young viewers may see a premonition of what lies ahead as well as a sympathetic rendering of what they already know, whereas adults may find pleasure in recalling old hurts and relief that they are not at the mercy of them.

- Of all the public radio podcasts I download week after week, the one that most often moves me intellectually, and emotionally, is To the Best Of Our Knowledge. The current episode on war and the theme “Esprit de Corps” is particularly moving and relevant to the news of the week.

- As a writer and reader of the “small” and “domestic,” I give Lizzie Skurnick a big, fat thank you for her response to the now-infamous woman-free Publishers Weekly Top Ten of 2009.

- In case you missed the news, my brilliant agent is moving to L.A. to open up a West Coast office for Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. I am very excited about this for business reasons, and selfishly happy that Michael will be 1500 miles closer.

There you go. One link for each day until I’ll be back to write a legit post. Yes, I know some of you are eagerly awaiting my What I Love About Boredom and Loneliness post, and yes, perhaps I’m stalling. Until then!

1. I love conspiracy theories – especially the ones that aren’t really about anything that important. For instance: the real origin of Suri Cruise, Elvis/Amelia Earhart/DB Cooper didn’t really die, we didn’t really land on the moon, etc.

2. The other day I mentioned on my Facebook status how much I loved Tori Spelling’s memoir, sTori Telling. A whole bunch of people thought I was kidding. No! I really loved it! I love pop culture. And if you don’t know that about me, then you don’t really know me at all.

3. I love breakfast, especially going out for breakfast. Even at home, though, I always eat a hearty one. Outside of breakfast meats, I’m practically a vegetarian, but I could never really give up bacon.

4. I’ve never been off the continent. I mean, I’ve been to Alaska and Hawaii, but I don’t count those.

5. As most of you know, I don’t have kids. This is not because I’m unable to (as far as I know), but because neither my husband nor I want to. As far as we know. Even in 2009, this is apparently a rare position to take. Especially where I live in Utah, and also especially among fellow followers of Judeo-Christian-based faiths. There seems to be a belief in a mandate to pro-create. I figure if God so urgently wants us to have kids, he’ll let us know.

6. I never really liked beer until I moved to Utah and discovered microbrews for the first time. Which is kind of ironic, since Utah is known for its crazy liquor laws and mostly non-drinking population. But we have some wonderful breweries here! My favorites are Squatters and Wasatch and Desert Edge.

7. Still, I don’t drink much, because I’ve got alcoholism and depression on both sides of my family, and though I don’t have a problem drinking moderately, I do struggle with depression off and on—biology and experience say the two don’t mix all that well.

8. Readers of this blog might get the impression that I have a rock solid Christian faith. While I do go to church nearly every week, teach Sunday school, go to small groups, and sing in the choir, most of the time I’m at least conflicted and sometimes I’m more than conflicted, I’m disgruntled and confused and kind of angry. But I always believe. Which makes it all a little difficult.

9. Other things I’m sometimes conflicted about: living in Utah, marriage (hi honey, I love you!), being a writer, whether I want peanut butter or eggs on my toast any given morning, if I prefer my nails polished or natural, if I should have a bunionectomy or leave well enough alone, if I should get cable again, if we should keep the couch, if our next car should be all-wheel drive. Et cetera.

10. I get migraines. Once-a-month guaranteed because of hormones, and also usually when I fly, or my sleep pattern gets messed up, or I wait too long between meals, or don’t drink enough water. My new favorite drug for these is Axert.

11. I didn’t “always know” I wanted to be a writer. And sometimes I think I won’t always be one. I’m always reluctant to say that because it feels like a betrayal of what A Writer is supposed to be/feel.

12. I’ve seriously thought about going back to school to become a registered dietitian. I love food and after using my own body as an experiment for a decade, am amazed at food’s power to cure a lot of what ills you—physically and psychologically. I also have a lot of empathy and sympathy for people who struggle with weight and eating disorders. And it seems like the need for RD’s will only continue to grow. So, for real, I might do it. I’ve always thought it would be smart to invest writing income back into myself for future options.

13. I have an eating disorder, and am a recovering dieter. Before I open my dietitian practice and start charging, here’s a free tip and the best tip: stop dieting. Once I committed to stop measuring, weighing, judging, and restricting, I saw an immediate improvement in health and happiness and self-esteem. If you want to know more, Google “size acceptance,” read In Defense of Food, and read Intuitive Eating.

14. I’m not a very good housekeeper. I mean, we don’t live in filth or anything, but cleaning is boring and hard. I’ve thought about paying someone, but that seems so bourgeois. Some of my friends have cleaners come in, but all of them are working mothers so it seems justifiable. I feel like I have no justification.

15. Now that I (mostly) don’t binge on food, I still sometimes binge on other things that aren’t good for me: celebrity gossip, shopping, The Sims.

16. For me, the hardest thing in life is balance. Work/relaxation, alone time/social time, faith/doubt, moderation/indulgence, family/friends, self/spouse, healthy self-love/ego, healthy self-assessment/guilt.

17. I’m the world’s pickiest reader, and I’m also slow. Basically, I am a reluctant reader, and that seems somehow shameful for a writer to say.

18. I hate goodbyes and I hate the end of things. If we’re friends, don’t ever go away without saying goodbye. That’s the only thing I can’t handle. I have abandonment issues.

19. When it comes to other people, I am a weird mix of trust and mistrust. Sometimes I give loyalty too easily, but on the other hand have trouble trusting the people who have proven that they’ll be there for me no matter what. I’m a good listener and supporter, but not great at asking to be supported or listened to. [See #18, abandonment issues.]

20. Though I lived in San Francisco until age 30, Salt Lake is where I feel I grew up and have made my best friends. As much as I’m sometimes clawing my eyes out to escape here, it would be so hard to leave.

21. Things I want to accomplish over the next 5 years: go to Europe, sell a screenplay, acquire a cat, read one of those giant classics I’ve been avoiding (like War & Peace or Moby Dick), act in a play again.

22. I was in a bunch of school plays, and several community/little theater productions when we lived in SF. I met my husband doing community theater! Once my writing took off, I got away from theater and acting.

23. I’m a closet poet, and a bad one.

24. I am highly suspicious of good news, and not good at celebrating. I’ve been trying to change that, but it’s hard!

25. I love you, I mean it. I feel a real connection to my blog readers and online community, but not in a sick, sad way (i.e. I have an offline life, too). Kisses!

Mette Ivie Harrison has been blogging this week about writery stuff. I especially like the ten best things and ten mistakes she’s done/made as a writer. 

In an interview at Cynsations, Justine Larbalestier reveals the best solution ever to the problem of being overwhelmed by household duties when your whole household is under deadline. I would like to move us into a hotel during the two weeks leading up to G.’s opening night (which comes at least twice a year).

If you’ve been thinking about YA for Obama but have not joined in the discussion, now is a good time. There are prizes to be had and a difference to be made.

I’m very much enjoying the song that iTunes party shuffle is playing right this second: Frog Holler’s One Last Time. Party shuffle! (Note: I have never actually used this feature at a party. Probably because I don’t have parties. And also if I did the party would have to be in the 2×3 space in our house that holds the computer. Where would we put the chips and dip?)

Almost done with the Kathleen Norris. I think it is the best nonfiction book I have read in years. Here’s an extended interview with her at Sojourners online.

Public Service Announcement: I’m no expert when it comes to grammar, and I’m fairly certain this very blog post has style errors. But I do feel pretty confident about my its and my it’s. More and more I am seeing misuse of its and it’s, from church bulletins to web sites and blog posts and Twitter updates to print advertising to T-shirts. I know the rule doesn’t seem to make logical sense, but once you take a few minutes to learn it you will never forget. If you like knowing how to use their/they’re and then/than, and you mock those afflicted with Random capitalization Disorder, and you take pride in knowing your former from your latter, you should take the time to learn its/it’s, thereby completing your general correctness about most things. Lately this all feels a little “save the spotted owl”ish, because it seems that many people who care about other language issues don’t care about the difference between its and it’s, and if this goes on we might one day see them both as accepted usage. And, I have to admit, that bothers me. (In the interest of staying humble, here are some words I can never spell correctly unless I look them up: privilege, occur, occasion, desperately. There are lots more. I am also shaky on split infinitives. And I love to start sentences with “and” or “but,” as you may have noticed.)

Don’t forget about the Utah Humanities Book Festival!

Why is Jessica Alba one of the hosts of AFI’s 10 Top 10? Why? What has she been in that was good? (Is it my imagination, or does The Love Guru look like one of the worst movies in the history of movies?) At least It Happened One Night got props. You’ve seen that, right? If not, you must run, not walk, to your Netflix queue right now. Michael J. Fox. Sigh. The effects of Parkinsons are really starting to show, and I wonder, what kinds of roles would he be playing now if it weren’t for the disease? I’ve always admired him, and now that he’s finally starting to look his age it would be great to see him playing against his type and trying new things.

I’m sorry. This is what happens when I blog while watching TV and after sharing a pitcher of Hefeweizen. (Did the dingo eat Meryl Streep’s baby or not?) (I hope The Caine Mutiny makes it onto the Courtroom Drama list. Seriously, we are to #2 and they haven’t named it yet. Hmm, it didn’t make it. Who decides these things? Jessica Alba?)

I really do not care for these Charmin commercials with the cartoon bears. I don’t want to think about pieces of toilet paper being “left behind” and the relative absorption of bear fecal matter. What was so wrong with “please don’t squeeze”? If it ain’t broke…

Okay, one more day. One more day in Salt Lake and then we are loading up the parakeet and a whole lot of books and on our way outa town for eight weeks to continue G.’s edumacation. So we are puttering around listening to music and packing in a disorganized fashion, because how else can you pack when it’s 79 degrees in the house? Don’t answer that.

Randomly:

The Colts/Chargers game was a stunner.

Thanks for all your great comments on my last post (at the LJ version). I like hearing about what other people want out of their professional lives. Gives me stuff to think about.

I noticed (entirely by accident, of course!) that the Sweethearts Amazon page no longer says that the item is not yet published. Apparently it is “in stock.” And the Cincinnati Library TeenSpace online has a great summary of the book without giving too much away—seriously, sometimes blog reviewers write the best little blurbies and it makes me want to hire them when it is time for me to write a synopsis or help with jacket copy! And by the way, how cool is it that you can request a hold of the books right from the Teen Space site with just one click and your name and library card number? Way to go, Cincinnati!

The Motivated Writer interviewed me a little while ago, and it is now up.  They got me for their “casting couch” section and had me talking more about craft and process (particularly character development) than I usually do so if you’re into that, check it out.

Tomorrow: fun things that came in the mail last week!

Do you ever feel like winter will never be over? That your best attempts at doing the right thing only make things worse? Is that what the Old Testament writer meant when he said that our human righteousness is like filthy rags compared to the way things should work? Right now I have the lyrics to Pierce Pettis’s “Crying Ground” in my head. Pierce is my singing therapist. Remember that ANTM episode where the girls have to contort their way through lasers and not touch anything in order to get a prize? And be graceful and pretty while they do it? Of course you do! That’s how I feel about life right now. Like it would be nice to put on a silver body suit and weave your way oh-so-carefully through it without ever touching anything that will leave a mark or hurt you or hurt someone else, and you’ll look fantastic doing it and have everyone applaud and say wow, look at how she handled that! Such grace! Such wisdom! Perfect decisions at every turn! What a champ! Instead I’m Renee, who keeps running into the lasers over and over and not only has to hear the buzzer going off every three seconds, but has the added humiliation of going back to go back to the start each time and none of the progress she’s made counts. Forunately, life is not ANTM and the story arc goes on and on and is not contained in a 13-week season.

Next time someone asks me what famous person I’d like to meet, remind me to say Gwen Ifill. Is there an Ifill biography for young readers? There should be. You should write one!

I’ve been going to a spinning class at my gym. It is actually pretty fun, except for the part where the bicycle seat is stabbing you in the uterus. I did buy appropriate butt-attire, but I figured out at the last class that one row of bikes has wider, softer seats while another row has pointy, stabby seats, and even with the $70 bike shorts the pointy seats still hurt. So it’s all about choosing the right bike.

Lastly, I successfully secured my wireless modem. I always wanted to be one of those socialist-minded people who left an open connection for the world to use, but I’ve been having a lot of stability issues with my connection so now it is all sewn up. Sorry, world!

A Good vs. Evil Picnic actually sounds like it might be fun. I spent way too much pondering whether I would be Good or Evil.

As much as I’d love to one day participate in the making of a movie, this probably isn’t the one to start with. Yeah, it’s the quote marks.

I am so, so glad I’m not single. (This actually sounds like a good opening premise for a Hollywood romance, or better yet a horror movie, called Before Summer Is Over.)

If there comes a day that I am really, really desperate for a change of pace or an Xbox, I would still not do this.

2. Speaking of alcoholic parents, I picked up a copy of Natasha Friend’s Lush while I was signing some stock at Barnes & Noble. The title grabbed me, and when I read the inside flap I thought, oh, that sounds exactly like my childhood! You know I love a good YA about alcoholic parents (like Mary Pearson’s A Room On Lorelei Street). 

3. Speaking of signing stock, if you’re in SLC you can now find signed copies of Story of a Girl at Barnes & Noble (Gateway and Sugarhouse), Sam Weller (only 1 left!), and of course King’s English. When I was signing the copies at Sugarhouse, I peeked inside and found copies from both the second and third printing, which is exciting because it means they’ve re-ordered a couple times. Yay!

4. Speaking of buying books, I also picked up Tim Farrington’s The Monk Upstairs. Years ago, a friend recommended Farrington’s The Monk Downstairs, and I just absolutely loved it and had no idea there was a sequel in the works. I grabbed it, and trust it will be a satisfying read.

5. Speaking of satisfying reads, I re-read Freak the Mighty and Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack! this weekend for the purpose of capsule reviewing for The Ultimate Teen Book Guide, coming from Walker Books next year. There’s a reason these books have endured. I laughed, I cried, I envied and admired.

Okay, I gotta run and embark on the Winds of Change, IV, about which I’ll be posting soon. Have a great day!

Sarah Dessen, Ann Marie Michaels, and famous bookseller literaticat all own Crocs. While Ann Marie doesn’t give a damn if anyone thinks they’re ugly, Sarah and ‘cat don’t wear them outside the boundaries of their homes and property. Coe Booth and Lauren Barnholdt admit to being drawn to Crocs or Croc-like products. Kim has two pair. It was stated that they are great for the pregnant among us, and all agree they look cute on kids. Regular users of Crocs assure us all that your feet don’t sweat. Several readers (fondly and not-so-fondly) remembered jelly shoes of the eighties. Lisa and Debbi are basically appalled by the whole thing. Anonymous pointed out that they are “man made, contain no animal products … and are anti-microbial and odor resistant, and many contain no pressure points because they are supposed to be worn loose fitting.” Well, that’s good enough for me, because in all honesty I have participated in ugly shoe wearing myself, in the form of Birkenstocks, and let me tell you they were definitely not anti-microbial or odor resistant. Next time you see me I may be wearing a pair of Crocs.
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I saw Year of the Dog yesterday and vehemently disagree with my friend Sarah’s hatred of it. I pretty much love all things Mike White and this was no exception. (Mike? Are you out there? Reading this via a Google Alert? Let’s be friends! We can be friends, right? I won’t be creepy about it, I promise. And if there’s one thing you know about, it’s creepy friends, and come to think of it this could give you a chance to be Chuck to my Buck. Or whatever. See, I’m getting creepy already!) But, you know, I can appreciate that Mike White isn’t for everyone. Which is good, because that means more Mike White for me.
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Caught the last hour of the national spelling bee and, damn, I felt sorry for the kid who got “pepysian”. He was so not ready for that. The funny thing is, I was just thinking the other day how I want my journal (my written journal) to be more pepysian, more like a log of what I do every day instead of feelings and fears and hopes and dreams and all the thing that make me not write in it most of the time. So now my entries will start with things like “up and to the office” just like good old Sam Pepys. (Boy, he gets kind of personal in his May entries. Sounds like the plumbing wasn’t all it could be.)

[Care to comment? Due to spam problems here, you’ll have to go over to the LiveJournal version.]

What started it all – the Croc:

Unholy union of Crocs and ballet flats:

Lands End knock-offs:

Skechers makes them cool:

Marc Jacobs makes them expensive:

Do you own a pair? I want to see pictures. Of your feet in rubber shoes.

*Usually when I say this, there’s a 50/50 chance that in a few months I will be sporting said trend.

[Care to comment? You’ll have to go over to the LiveJournal version. I have surrendered to the spammers at sarazarr.com and have closed comments.]