Posts for category ‘story of a girl’

(“Occasional” is one of those words I never spell correctly on the first try. And often not on the second try, neitha.)

A tiny break from the deep thoughts! Gotta save ‘em up for some other writing today and tomorrow. It’s Friday, after all, and people in publishing are only working half the day, Matt de la Pena is writing shirtless, and there’s a good chance an ice cream truck will drive by your house any second now. So let’s lighten things up a bit.

1. I was very pleased with the outcomes of MasterChef and So You Think You Can Dance. Yeah, I bet you thought that the Sara who wrote those last three posts wasn’t the type to spend six hours a week watching reality shows. Think again! As for MC, I know it’s popular to hate on Christian, but of all the contestants I found Suzy most odious. And: what do professional, working dancers think of SYTYCD? This NYT piece reveals all. (Or at least a few opinions.)

2. A German YA video blogger reviewed Zicke–the German version of Story of a Girl. Although I can’t understand what she’s saying (though I learned by commenting that she likes it!) this is one of my favorite videos of all time, because it makes real the amazing fact that PEOPLE IN OTHER COUNTRIES ARE READING MY BOOKS. IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE. That is just cool, and I hope I’m never jaded enough to think otherwise.

3. If you missed it: a couple of weeks ago the NYT had a great piece by Tom Gilbert, on Madelyn Pugh Davis, one of the few female TV writers of ’50s. If you’re an I Love Lucy fan, especially, you must read it.

4. Speaking of inspiring female writers, my Aunt Betty Lou has always been an inspiration to me. It was at her farmhouse in rural North Carolina where I first sat at a typewriter and felt a strange restlessness I’d never felt before. Like, “I don’t just want to type something. I want to write something.” I knew that she did something mysterious at that typewriter. She wrote a number of children’s books, but dedicated her life to supporting my Uncle Ed and the work of the farm, raising a bunch of Rhodes Scholars, and being a wonderful aunt and grandmother. Now, a few of those books are available through Amazon’s Kindle publishing program. Congratulations, Aunt Betty Lou!

5. Randomly: I saw three popcorn movies this summer: Super 8, Cowboys & Aliens, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Though there were things I liked about all of them, APES WIN. One of the most satisfying H-wood movies I’ve seen in awhile. What was your favorite summer flick (big or small)?

1. The story of the Story of a Girl cover is now up on Melissa Walker’s blog for her Cover Story series. Witness the original photo and how it has been used since! Leave a comment and perhaps win a copy of Sweethearts!

2. Yesterday while driving my application for the screenwriting workshop over to the film society office, I realized that I really did not want to set up another deadline situation in my life right now, and as part of the workshop involves completing a screenplay that would be exactly what I was doing. So I drove back home and tossed the app. Maybe next year. I am, however, going to rock that clarinet like nobody’s business. Maybe I will even find the arrangement of Foreigner’s “Hot Blooded” that my sixth grade band teacher did…

3. How much did I love last night’s 30 Rock? This much. (I’m holding my arms far, far apart.) A Sims reference, a Johnny Ray reference, a Rob Base reference, a shout out to underappreciated writers, and Alan Alda, all rolled into one. For me, 30 Rock is the first and only comedy since the Simpsons that completely clicks with my sense of humor and the funny comes so fast that you hardly have time to appreciate each joke. Love.

4. I am also into Southland. Or I should say, we are into Southland, which makes me happy, because G. and I haven’t had a favorite show to watch together since losing interest in House awhile back, Hugh Laurie’s hotness notwithstanding.

5. Neither dark chocolate nor peanut M&Ms raise my blood sugar into bad ranges. Please join me in a chorus of hallelujahs, then go have yourself a good weekend!

This, believe it or not, is the Korean edition of Story of a Girl. Though Deanna Lambert in Pacifica would never wear that dress, the Korean Deanna very well might, and I love the hand gesture and expression on her face—I can see it pretty clearly, having a physical copy of the book in my hand right now, which is really great quality from Sallim Books in their Friends line. And, oopsie-doodle, it looks like they made it into a National Book Award winner instead of finalist. Who am I to complain? (Sorry, Sherman! Surely you will not begrudge me Korea.) Actually the hard copy of the book does not have the little medal decal on it like the electronic image does.

In case you’ve been away from the Interwebs all day, this is Buy Indie Day or Shop Indie Day or some such. I didn’t run out and buy anything today, but I try to shop and buy indie pretty much all the time. Here are some reasons why.

My favorite thing on the twitter today: Sara Ryan posted a link to this video of some guys in Mexico who have already written a Decemberists-esque folk song about the swine flu. For some reason I find it endlessly entertaining.

On that note, have a great weekend!

I saw 17 Again yesterday. I didn’t really get the Zac Efron hysteria before, but now I do. He is completely adorable, and actually a really good actor. I laughed, I cried, I admired his skin. But, if he wants to really transform his career from hearthtrob to actor with longevity, a la Johnny Depp, I have an idea: he should play Tommy in the Story of a Girl movie. We could de-cute him a little bit, add a scar, leave him unwashed for a couple of days. It would be brilliant. Zac! Have your people call my people!

Doesn’t he look a little Tommy-esque here?

Earth Day. I don’t know how I feel about it, as a day, which mostly feels like yet another opportunity for capitalism to taint what should be common sense. But, here are a few of the major though easy things I’ve done in the last couple of years. 1) I really, really, really try to avoid buying bottled water. For one thing, good, drinkable water should be free. Like air. For another thing, when I realized how many bottles I was tossing into recycling bins (when available, and they aren’t always), not to mention how much money I was spending, I felt lame. Recyclable doesn’t necessarily equate with desirable. All that recyclable stuff still has to be processed. 2) Re-usable cloth grocery shopping bags. They’re like 99 cents each. And who doesn’t want to stop the reproduction of plastic bags under the kitchen sink? I keep a couple in my car for spontaneous shopping trips, or in case I forget to take them from the house (happens all the time). 3) Flushing only when necessary. Enough said. 4) I air dry a lot of my laundry. I live in a very dry climate, so most articles of clothing that aren’t really heavy will dry in a day. 5) I’m obsessive about going around and turning off lights. Ask my husband. Next step: turning off the power strips when the things attached to it are not in use.

Someone on twitter posted the following from the Association of American Publishers: February publishing stats: adult hc down 0/9% in Feb, 17.7% YTD; adult pb down 38.8% for Feb, 29.5% YTD; mm down 18.3% for Feb, 14.7% YTD. Childrens/YA hc up 62.1% for Feb, 46.4% YTD; childrens/YA pb up 13.4% for Feb, 17.4% YTD. Ebooks up 131% for Feb and 177.2% for year ($6.7m) Very interesting. I certainly do not want to see any stats down, but jeez, seeing any segment of the economy grow at an over 50% rate right now is incredible, and makes me grateful I’m in the business I’m in. (That’s only one of the many things I’m grateful for lately.)

Everyone have a great day!

We had some incredibly gorgeous and life-giving spring weather last week. Windows were open. Porches were sat upon. Spring cleaning plans were made. And then…another dump of freezing cold and snow. Boo. I’m so over it. I have things to do, people! And I can’t possibly be expected to do them when it’s so gray. Bah.

On the up side, I just found out that Story of a Girl made the International Reading Association’s Young Adult Choices list, which is pretty great. Thank you, IRA! And I got my first fanmail for a foreign edition – a girl in Belgium wrote to me about the French translation. Between that and the IRA, I’m feeling very international today. If only I could be in a foreign country right now. A warm one.

Over at the Teen Fiction Cafe, we’re blogging about fashion this week. Today I posted about my love/hate relationship with What Not to Wear.

It is now time to curl up with some tea and a movie.