Laini Taylor's blog

Eye Candy Breakfast: Weird Animal Heads

2012-02-22T09:15:00.003-08:00

love this; looks like a movie. Anyone know if it is?

Since I started using Pinterest, I've seen a few categories of interest emerge, and one of them is weird photos of people with animal heads or animal masks. Kinda chimaera, kinda just funky-arty. Anyway, I thought I would bring them together here. I wish the resolution of some of them was better, but so it goes. Enjoy!

I think this one wins the award for Most Creepy ...

Cheers!

Andre Norton Award nomination!!!!

2012-02-20T09:54:00.000-08:00

(How cool would it be to have THAT on the cover of your book?)

Oh, I've been a sparse blogger lately, but it's just a matter of time to DO IT because there are always many things to tell and share! This one demands an immediate post. Such a thrill! Daughter of Smoke and Bone has been nominated for the Andre Norton Award, which is the award given by the SFWA (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America) to a young adult book. It's the YA counterpart of the Nebula Award, which is one of those height-of-acheivement-in-the-field awards that one dreams of. Making the short list is such a thrill, and it is a daunting list of competitors, including the stunning Chime that I raved about right here. Here are the rest:

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and FantasyBook

Akata Witch, Nnedi Okorafor (Viking Juvenile)
Chime, Franny Billingsley (Dial Books; Bloomsbury)
Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Taylor (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Hodder & Stoughton)
Everybody Sees the Ants, A.S. King (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
The Boy at the End of the World, Greg van Eekhout (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
The Freedom Maze, Delia Sherman (Big Mouth House)
The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Rae Carson (Greenwillow Books)
Ultraviolet, R.J. Anderson (Orchard Books; Carolrhoda Lab)

And here's the full list of SFWA awards nominees for this year.

YAY!!!!! Thank you so much, SFWA! It is such an incredible honor. I really can't say enough what a huge thing awards recognition is, and this one is so cool because it is a peer-given award, and to feel that fellow writers are holding up my work in this way is just a very, very wonderful thing.

THANK YOU!!!

***

But while I have you here, surely there are other things I've been meaning to say. Well, there is an event I'm doing soon that is going to be a LOT of fun, if you live in the Portland area. I will give it its own blog post, but for now, here's the quick spiel: I will be co-hosting the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival at the Portland Central Library alongside author and founder James Kennedy.

This is going to be so much fun, you guys. COME!

MARCH 3, Central Library, 801 S.W. 10th Avenue, Portland, Oregon, 3-5 pm

***

Also, I really must relate the conversation that Jim just texted to me, between himself and Clementine. Man, I have been looking forward to the age of kid-speech in which she begins to say the weird and wonderful things of small children (while simultaneously wanting to keep her tiny, and tucked in a baby sling against my heart), and we have arrived.

Clementine (aged exactly 2.5): I don't need to be afraid of monsters because Papa will mess them up.

Jim: Right. No one will ever hurt you with Papa and Mama around.

Clementine: Because Papa is strong.

Jim: Yes.

Clementine: Mama is strong too. But she has a teeeeeeeeny nose.

What? I do? *touches nose* Hm. I never realized. I guess my nose is kind of small ...

Ha ha! Also, we took Clementine to the traveling Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast last night, which was fabulous, and a big hit, though we will have to work to keep it from being a Disney Princess gateway drug, because we're not ready for that! Anyway, Clementine's astute assessment at the end was: "The beast broke into a prince!" Ha ha. Love that.

We had read the book with her so she wouldn't be alarmed by the change. I recall when the movie first came out years ago, the young child in front of me in hysterics at the end who didn't understand what had become of the beast. But Clementine understood magically. "Outside he's a monster, but inside he's a prince." Yes, darling child. Exactly right.

Okay, that had better be that for now. Have a wonderful day and week. I will try to be back more regularly than once a week!

Pure by Julianna Baggott

2012-02-14T00:00:00.001-08:00

This will be quick. Must go to bed. But not before I say that I LOVED THIS BOOK!

At ALA last summer, the ARC of Pure was put into my hands by Victoria Stapleton, trusted source at Little Brown, who happens to somehow read EVERYTHING. All she told me was, "The main character has a baby doll head for a hand." And really, do you need to hear more? I could stop talking right now and you would want to read this book, right? Well, it worked on me. Easiest pitch ever. Oh yeah, and it's a post-apocalyptic coming-of-age story. By an author who has been known up till now for literary fiction and poetry. So, you know, she writes pretty. And does Julianna Baggott have a craaaaazy imagination to boot. My stars.

Am I selling it? Okay, another anecdote. A few weeks ago Clementine was sick with a cough, the upshot of which was I found myself having to hold her upright to sleep for the first few hours of every evening to keep the coughing at bay. We were back in the glider that I don't think we'd been in since she was really little, and it was kind of ... nice. Nice to just rock and hold my little girl, and nice because it was the perfect excuse not to write for several evenings, but to READ instead. Ha! I ripped through Pure. Loved it. And when I was done I paged through and discarded another three books that didn't catch. Such was the spell of Pure.

Okay, okay. So what is it ABOUT? It is the story of Pressia (of the baby doll head fist) who is approaching 16 in her ravaged post-nuclear city (the age at which they come for you), and it is the story of Partridge, a teenager living in the safety of "the Dome," a self-sustaining bubble-city whose citizens were spared the devastation of the Detonations. Events set these two on a collision course down the gnarliest rabbit hole ever: suburban California (right?) seven years after the apocalypse. You can't even imagine the residents of this world, people fused to whatever (and *shudder* whoever) they were standing near when the blasts hit. And worse and weirder than that. Oh, Julianna Baggott. Ick. But I have a fairly average threshold for ick, I think, and it wasn't overdone. I was more wondering at the strange than throwing up in my mouth. So don't worry about that. Ven

I didn't know what to expect really, but maybe the baby doll head thing made me think it would be about a kind of Tank Girl bad-ass mutant chick, but the reality is so much more tender and beautifully realized. The fact is, Pressia was a little girl holding her baby doll when the blasts hit, and now the baby doll is forever part of her. And what really got me was the way she tries to hide it with a sock, it just broke my heart. Here she lives in this wild word of terribly damaged people and she is still ashamed of that hand. Really, this book runs the full emotional gamut of any work of literary fiction, but against a savage and wildly inventive post-apocalyptic backdrop that makes it Much. More. Fun.

And ooh, there's romance. Not what you expect, and pretty sweet and wonderful.

And a thriller of a plot, a Dickensian cast of characters, suspense, a twist, and more.

And tell me that the introduction of Ingership and his wife is not the mind-strummingest WTF you have ever read.

Are you beginning to see why I don't write book reviews? Incoherent adulation does not a review make. Here is what I can do. I can do what Victoria Stapleton did.

I can say:

READ PURE.

THE HEROINE HAS A BABY DOLL HEAD FOR A HAND.

Or.

Here's what the publisher says:

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . .

Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . .

There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it's his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her. When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

Also, Julianna Baggott has a blog, which makes me want to be her friend. (Hi Julianna Baggott. *shy wave*) Don't tell her.

Let me know what you think!

Pinterest finally sucks me in

2012-02-08T22:58:00.000-08:00

Ok, fine, internet, you win. I will join another social networking site!

Because I HAVE SO MUCH TIME FOR THAT! :-)

Ah well. Moderation, right? You know Pinterest? It's this site for collecting and sharing images and inspiration. Very cool. For some time now I have known it would get me, I was just staving off the inevitable, and now it has happened. A few days in, I see it is dangerous in ways I hadn't even guessed. I got that it would be totally addictive. I didn't realize it would also make me want to BUY THINGS. Agh! I have not succumbed to that, but I have started some boards, including a Daughter of Smoke and Bone board! It is small now, but I think it will eventually be very cool and full of wonderful weird and beautiful images. If you want to take a peek, it is here. If you start your own Daughter of Smoke and Bone board (there were a few cool ones preceding mine), please let me know so I can follow you and snitch your cool stuff! :-)

Here's a sampling:

a blue-haired marionette, maybe Zuzana made it?

dreamy Prague

doll Zuzana!

gorgeous Karou

a chimaera!

Fun! If you're there already, let me know so I can find you. I have no Pinterest friends :-(

(#firstworldproblems)

Like a Shoomp

2012-01-31T08:58:00.000-08:00

One of the care-and-feeding-of-Clementine tricks that has evolved over the past two years is the toothbrushing strategy. It's no longer strategy, just routine. As soon as toothbrushing time rolls around, the question is: "What do you want to brush your teeth like tonight?" and she has to decide. It's kind of a bypass to any fussing about the question of whether or not teeth will be brushed. Of course they will; the only question is: how, exactly?

Like a monkey? An otter? Like a dinosaur? However she wants. In the early days, she only knew a few words, and it was mostly going to be elephant or monkey or dinosaur. But as she gets older, it's getting more fun. Clementine Pie has brushed her teeth "like a tulip," "like a Beatle," and "like a drummer," among others. (Sensing a musical theme? Just wait.)

A few months ago Clementine brushed her teeth "like a south-bound train," (from the Old Crow Medicine Show song "Wagon Wheel": "Rock me mama like the wind and the rain/Rock me mama like a south-bound train/Hey mama rock me") which was my favorite until the other night, when the answer to the question "How do you want to brush your teeth tonight?" was ...

C: "Like a shoomp."

Me: "A shoomp? What's a shoomp?"

At which point she proceeded to sing the refrain to "Come Together" by The Beatles, complete with the "shoomp" sound effect and drum beats and high hat tat-a-tat.

That was pretty freaking awesome.

I should clarify that when it comes to the actual act of toothbrushing, there is verrry little difference between the way a south-bound train brushes its teeth, for example, and a monkey. It's all in the lead-up. In case you're wondering.

I guess this is all part of an overall strategy to get Clementine using her imagination as much as possible, which is going well so far. Her toys all have awesome names that are not cartoon-derivatives (we don't do TV or movies or anything on a screen yet), like the mouse named Chickenbock, the gorilla Georgepop, the slutty pink mini-Barbie fairy Hoo-Shoo and her pink dragon Hee-Han (which were a sick-bribe on a pharmacy run), and the rabbit whose glorious, glorious name is [RASPBERRY SOUND]. Ha!

Have a lovely Tuesday, all! And if you haven't yet, you have a few days left to donate to Worldbuilders and put some of your dough in this fabulous pot that is nearing $200,000 (WOW!) all to be miraculously turned into life-changing livestock for people in poor and developing countries. This is so amazing, be part of it. Bonus is THE PRIZES. Read THIS POST to catch up. Fun Neil Gaiman stuff. Come on, be a Worldbuilder!

And the new title IS ...

2012-01-27T06:11:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Thanks for coming by the title unveiling ceremony for the sequel to Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I'm really really excited to let even the tiniest bit of this book out into the world. Whew. Nervous though! You may remember the false alarm of last month. Sorry about that. Ahem. Ha ha.

Anyway, earlier this week I got the official go-ahead from Little, Brown to tell you the real title, and to give you this wee teaser too. I should say that this book is unedited and unfinished. It is not a book at all. It is a manuscript, a work in progress. Bear all that in mind.

Okay.

Here's the teaser. Ready?

I'm nervous.

Here it is ...

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a new way of living—one without massacres and torn throats and bonfires of the fallen, without revenants or bastard armies or children ripped from their mothers’ arms to take their turn in the killing and dying.

Once, the lovers lay entwined in the moon’s secret temple and dreamed of a world that was a like a jewel-box without a jewel—a paradise waiting for them to find it and fill it with their happiness.

This was not that world.

There! I hope you like it. I love it. Love love love.

Feel free to drag and drop the above title treatment to your blog or Twitter or wherever; it is courtesy of Little, Brown, on the quick. (It felt so unceremonious to just type it out. Heavens forfend!)

Days of Blood and Starlight, slated for Fall 2012 release. Thank you for coming over here to celebrate the title with me. I can't wait until this book is A BOOK!

Happy Friday!

Carson Ellis -- Eye Candy Breakfast

2012-01-25T07:31:00.000-08:00

Good morning! So I've loved Carson Ellis's illustration for a long time, but last Saturday we took Clementine to a kid's concert by local musician Laura Veirs (awesome) and scored the above poster, which happened to fit a large unoccupied square shadowbox frame from IKEA perfectly and is now sitting looking beautiful on my writing room floor. So I have Carson Ellis on the brain.

I love rickshaws. And I love badgers. So I love Carson Ellis for creating rickshaw badger!

(I want a rickshaw in my living room.)

(No, a rickshaw would not fit in my living room.)

So here's some quick random Carson Ellis stuff. She lives in Portland like us, with her husband Colin Meloy of the Decembrists, for whom she has created gorgeous album and poster art, like this:

Gorgeous or what?

They also wrote/illustrated this children's novel together, Wildwood, and it is beautiful! (It is also cool that the real "wildwood" is our wilderness park, Forest Park, in Portland, at the fringes of which my parents live, along with many owls and flying squirrels and coyotes and tree nymphs and wandering chihuahuas*.

Even if you didn't know you knew her, you must recognize her style from oodles of book covers.

Here's a picture book she illustrated that I love, it's an awesome Gorey-esque revenge tale,

as you will glean from the cover and title!

Random, don't know what it's from:

And found this on her blog, a proclamation on picture books:

Love. Good day!

*chihuahuas: my parents were beset by a marauding feral chihuahua in a pink collar just before the last cold snap ... okay, really it was very timid and desperate and not feral at all; they couldn't imagine what it was doing in the woods and they took her in and eventually located the owner -- who had been in a head-on collision on the nearest road, during which the dog (and another who was recovered on scene) was thrown from the car! Poor pooch. She's back with her people now and her name was Chica.

More Movies!!

2012-01-23T09:14:00.000-08:00

I forgot a few last time!

Any others?

Look: movies!

2012-01-21T07:45:00.000-08:00

Hi there! Hope you're well and lovely. Look. Movies!

What other movies are you excited about this year?

Possible?

2012-01-19T09:15:00.000-08:00

(It is NOT done.

Yet.

But it will be.

If I could visit future-me with a time machine,

I would find it done.

Therefore, I can do it.)

In the future, I already have.

:-)

Not all feet touch the earth

2012-01-16T07:58:00.000-08:00

all photos yowayowa

Happy Monday!

May you float through the week

seeing things other people don't

stroking imaginary cats

smiling secret smiles

in your sneaky red shoes

Aren't these magical? They are the daily levitations of yowayowa camera woman,

Tokyo photographer Natsumi Hayashi

who explains yowayowa as:

a Japanese term meaning "weak" or "feeble."

and:

Since I'm yowayowa, it's really heavy to carry SLR cameras around.

HA!

Love these. They make me think of the scene in Daughter where the tourists in Prague catch sight of ... something improbable, and, wondering if perhaps they have strayed into a pocket of the world where flying is possible, discreetly scull their arms about to see if they can't do it too :-)

Bare-Chested Slovak Akiva

2012-01-13T09:37:00.000-08:00

I made the mistake of tweeting the existence of a bare-chested Slovak Akiva this morning, thinking, ehh, I'll do the blog post later, but then I got sucked into the excitement of the thing and thought I would take a few minutes out from writing -- which OKAY I have not yet actually begun beyond an ill-fated attempt to put the date at the top of my working doc ... Did you know it is September today? Ahem. So I'm giving my brain a few more minutes to warm up.

And look! Foreign editions! I love foreign editions! I loved seeing the translator of the Latin American version of the Spanish edition on twitter this morning, and getting a Turkish inquiry in my inbox. I love answering translator questions. And I loOoOoOoOove getting foreign editions in the mail! My first foreign Daughter came this week, not counting UK/Aus/NZ. I thought the German edition would arrive first, as they have been in touch (lovely cover squee!!!) but it was the SLOVAK. And they even altered my name to Laini Taylorova, ha ha, how cool is that? I am an honorary Slovak!

I will be so curious to see other covers as they come in (we're up to 25 editions sold now, WOW). I wonder if any others will feature Akiva? Anyway, here it is: bare-chested Slovak Akiva!

Fun! It's been a good week for boxes of books from abroad. Also arrived, Italian Lips Touch:

(know what's crazy? They didn't include THE ART!!! Whuuut?)

And ... Portuguese Blackbringer!

Hi pretty books :-)

The new library is still in a mess, but we have a special spot staked out for foreign editions, "the shelf" being a major component of my life-long writer dream. It strikes me that if one had a large office (which I don't, mine is a sun porch), it would be cool to have a high picture ledge all the way around it for facing out various editions.

Okay. I think my brain has reached full function. Or close enough. Thank you, coffee. Now back to the manuscript!

GOOD THING FOR GOOD PEOPLE

2012-01-11T13:11:00.000-08:00

Here is a GOOD THING for GOOD PEOPLE who also happen to like to WIN STUFF. I've been meaning to post this foreverandever, and here it is before it's too late!

Do you follow Pat Rothfuss's blog? (If not, you should. So smart and hilarious and informative and do-gooding in the bad-assest of ways.) Do you know of Worldbuilders? Yes. Good. No? Also good. Because I get to tell you!

Pat Rothfuss is an amazing author of epic fantasy, and ... an unusually good person. I can't think of anyone who has done so much good with their own good fortune (Maybe John Green). Over the past several years, Pat has raised money for Heifer International to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, many of those dollars from his own pockets.

And. AND. If it's not awesome enough to help provide llamas and goats and ducks and cows for families trying to pull themselves out of hunger and poverty, THERE ARE PRIZES. For YOU. The best kind of prizes. BOOKS.

(Including a fat stack of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, varying editions and audiobooks.)

Scene Stuff

2012-01-05T00:21:00.000-08:00

Quick hello! So at a birthday party the other day it emerged that my writer friend April Henry has a deadline when I do, and that our friend Holly Westlund, who was the birthday girl, is shooting for finishing her w.i.p. also at the same time. So we've been sending each other pep talk emails for the last couple of days, and today April sent a list of prompts and things to think about while writing and this one particularly struck me. It's really close to what I do, with an important step I've been conveniently neglecting, but need to get back to! And with my next scene, I will. Can you guess which one it is?

GENERAL SCENE QUESTIONS

What needs to happen?
Who needs to be there?
Where could it take place? How make it interesting? What activity could characters be doing?
What’s the most surprising thing that could happen? Brainstorm three different ways it could begin.
Play it on the movie screen in your head.
Write a scribble version - five minutes to get the bare minimum down.
Write the full scene.

(April said she drew this list from HERE, posted by screenwriter John August. His list is longer and more detailed and relates more specifically to screenplays.)

What do you think? Super helpful, no? There's so much that resonates with me.

I like question (3) -- it is the equivalent of my own "What is the coolest way this plot thing might happen?" or "What is the coolest way this information might be revealed?" or whatever.

And I do make myself brainstorm multiple ways, like in question (4). Rarely is the first way the way the best!

I don't really do (5), but it's an interesting idea. Do you do it? Maybe I'll try it.

Question (6) is what I've been neglecting! Going to get back to it though.

Hope these are helpful to you too!

And ... how about some random signage, because why not?

HA HA HA!!! Bacon. *wipes away single laughter tear*

SKIWI!

Hee hee. There's a church in our neighborhood that has a drive-by prayer box (what IS that anyway?) that some helpful bypasser has converted to a prayer Xbox, ha ha!

Hoo.

Okay. Back to work!

Oh hello 2012. YOU'RE EARLY.

2012-01-02T09:15:00.000-08:00

[persistent, inhuman, perfect rhythmic knocking]

Me: [cracks open door] Oh. 2012. It's you.

2012: [Says nothing, just looms there, all unnerving and clad in deadlines.]

Me: Um. To be honest, I'm not quite ready for you. If you wouldn't mind waiting on the porch while I finish, um, doing my hair? Thanks.

2012: [Doesn't move a freaking muscle.]

Me: Okay OKAY. You've got me. It's not my hair. It's my book! I'm still working on it! But it's getting there. If you'll just WAIT. What's your rush? Maybe, um, maybe you and 2011 could just hang out and chat for a few weeks? He can give you some pointers on how to be a completely spectacular year? Because seriously, 2012, I do not know HOW you are going to top 2011.

2012: [Makes the slightest of movements, just enough to set deadlines rustling.]

Me: OKAY OKAY FINE. Come in. But I am NOT getting you coffee.

[Ten seconds later]

Me: [Meek.] I was just kidding. Can I get you coffee? I have this awesome new espresso maker. My agent gave it to me for Christmas. I think it's her way of telling me to sleep less and work more? Heh heh. And I only sleep like five hours a night! You'll see! I am working my A-- OFF! Don't look at me like that!

2012: [Leans against the wall and crosses arms.]

Okay. So. I'm still working, and I am totally down to the wire. I need to update online info, since I've been getting a lot of emails asking when the sequel to Daughter is coming out and the answer is this fall, but I will not be here much in the coming weeks. I will leave this portrait of me here so you can imagine me at work:

Happy happy happiest new year!

See you soon!

(Peek back, though, I probably won't be able to resist little posts. I would miss you!)

[PEEK!]

A little belated Christmas post

2011-12-30T00:08:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas so much!

I love baking for Christmas. I love Christmas music. I love Christmas shopping. I love Christmas wrapping. Perhaps most of all I love Christmas decorating. So much so that both times we have house-hunted, last year and eleven years ago, my first thought stepping in the door was: perfect spot for a Christmas tree! Like that is the most important consideration when house-hunting, lol. (Both times happened to be in the fall, incidentally, holidays on the brain and all, but still.)

Our new [127-year-old] house has a picture-perfect Christmas tree spot! See:

Not to say the picture is perfect, but that window! I love it so. I do think it looks a little austere here. I kept meaning to get some fat pink silk ribbon to make a kind of garland in the niche, to frame the top of the tree, but it didn't happen. Next year! Also, there weren't presents out yet. That helped a lot :-)

The snowmen which were vintage finds from Stars Antique Mall. (The one on the left is Dr. Snowman, quite a skilled snow physician!)

We didn't used to be into the 1950s stuff, and in general we don't really care for mid-century decor or architecture, but for Christmas, ahh. Shiny Brights were my gateway drug. Sigh.

Is anything prettier?

(oops! stockings not yet hung by the chimney with care!)
(Also, note how Dr. Snowman and the basket of pink balls keep migrating :-)

If you visit this blog much you'll know it's been a hectic year and we haven't been able to fully nest, and it being our first year in this house, we didn't have a plan already figured out, so we were pretty much winging it, taking mental notes for next year. The mantle ended up looking like this (though the stocking did get hung eventually):

An old Anthropologie garland, some thrifted picture frames painted white but not yet filled with pictures, a pair of pink IKEA vases with greenery, some red velvet reindeer and Shiny Brights, and a few silver platters ... and I couldn't FIND the rest of our small collection of thrifted silver platters! Probably in the basement, who knows, or maybe snitched by goblins for the conveyance of donuts and toadstools to their king. Lights of course. How I love the twinklies.

A dining room is something we didn't have in the old house, and was a huge selling point for this one.

I love having a big table!

That's my grandmother's old Christmas village. I think she won it in a contest?

On the kitchen ledge. And no, that's not snow. Just a dirty window :-(

MORE HAPPIES!

Do you remember my accidental "happy" collection?

It's growing!

The Most Happy Fella! This is the score to a musical, thrifted and framed. *love*

At last, presents appear!

Having a child in the house makes Christmas morning INFINITELY MORE AWESOME.

This was our first "Santa came!" year, our first late-night elfing, you know, nudge nudge, getting things all ready for Santa to come down the chimney? I do not know HOW he fit the horsey down, that's his trade secret ...

More vintage, incidentally! The new bouncy horses are atrocities of ugliness. Santa found this one, twenty years old, much loved but in GREAT condition, and awesome as he is, Santa PAINTED HIM. I LOVE the pink mane! Makes me think maybe he's meant for me, not Clementine.

Then again, maybe not ...

XO :-)

Title of the new book!

2011-12-28T14:32:00.000-08:00

Hi there! I've gotten a lot of questions about the sequel to Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and I assure you I am hard at work on it! It is slated for Fall 2012, and I am happy to tell you THE TITLE!

But first, a clue ...

A mysterious image ...

photo by Clementine Pie

Hm. What is that? (Clementine has been playing with mama's iphone.)
Let's pan back a little ...

photo by Clementine Pie

Kind of love that photo. Can you guess what it is?

How about now ...

photo by Clementine Pie

[drumroll, please]

It is my pleasure to introduce ...

YETI OF SMOKE AND BONE!

photo by mama pie

Okay, okay. I kid. There IS a title, which I *think* is final. But I have to ask if I can reveal it!

Stay tuned :-)

Santa came!

2011-12-25T10:53:00.000-08:00

Santa came!

Meet Twist! Santa found him previously loved and did some rehab. Of course, some pink was in order.

Well done, Santa!

With a two-year-old, it was our first real Santa Christmas, and oh.

So much fun!

So little sleep!

A lovely lovely holiday to all!

I'm a chimaera!

2011-12-22T16:30:00.000-08:00

So It's my birthday today, and it's a birthday with a "0" in it, eeeeeep! So it goes. *shrug*

And look what Jim made for me!

A giant portrait of me and Clementine as chimaera!

Clementine added for scale :-)

HOLY, is it not gorgeous???

Wow wow wow. It's so beautiful, and it's so nice and big for our empty walls.

I'll post a clearer picture of it later--these are with my phone.

But now ... off to eat crab and coconut cake with my family.

XO XO

Anatomy of a sick day

2011-12-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

Some days you wake up, kiss your husband, tickle your child, maybe start off the day reading Frosty the Snowman in bed, then make breakfast, put your hair in the blandest ponytail that pink hair has ever seen and trundle off to the cafe to write. Tra la la.

Other days begin at midnight with a sick child who will not sleep. You spend hours tracing ABCs and secret messages on her back with your fingertip, reading books, peeling clementines, droppering children's Tylenol, playing the Chipmunks Christmas or Mr. Ben or the Beatles on the iphone ("Oh bla dee, please,"), then finally doze a little around 4 am before the day gets rolling at 7 with some truly spectacular whining. Also, the woeful phrase "I don't feeeeel good," repeated about 638 times, each time more heartbreaking than the last.

There would be no cafe today, no writing--except for a verrry quick interview response for Dagbladet, the Norwegian newspaper, executed with a lapful of miserable toddler. Then, a day of whine-management and cuddling, a much-too-short nap, and having to cancel my hair appointment, thus ensuring black roots in all holiday photos--unless I wear a Santa hat all the time, and hey, maybe I will!

Germs, feel my wrath!

So. We stayed home today. Here is some of what we did:

We started to paint some twigs with craft paint. Attention cooled quickly.
Bathy for C; sadly, no shower for mama. Showers are the first thing to go. Well, work is the first thing to go. Then showers.
We played Dr. Snowman, a game in which, as you may have guessed, the doctor is a snowman.
We played "patients" in which Dr. Clementine (who is very medically inclined, a fact that has been duly noted by Santa) visits all her patients on the library floor, looks in their ears, and prescribes 39 doses of medicine per day. To which the patients are expected to shout mutinously, "39 times a day!?!!" (which was originated by papa and is always funny).
We danced to a loop of Oh bla dee until one of us finally fell asleep.
We read bookies with papa, the three of us squeezed in C's little beddy.
We wrapped presents. If you don't know, two-year-olds are awesome gift-wrappers.
A text came in from the stealth fairy godmother alerting us that there was a feller at the front door, in case we hadn't heard his wee fists knocking, and he turned out to be an M&M, or as C says: a hm hm. And he was promptly opened and plundered and eaten, proving chocolate can find its way around a lack of appetite.
Pizza for dinner; C barely touched hers, a sign that she really isn't herself!

And now she is asleep, and twice since I began this post she's stirred and cried and I've gone in and lay down with her. She sleeps much better when I'm cuddling her. Usually when she gets sick I just go with it and go to be early, spoon her tiny self and read for a few hours. The reading part is a rare luxury, of course, but the cuddling is something pretty awesome too. Her fierce little perfect self, she is a marvel, I don't even know how to describe the wonder of holding one's sleeping child, the way they quiet and curl into you, like you are a place of perfect safety. It's ... not too bad.

A snapshot from yesterday: when my parents brought her home from making gingerbread men with nonna, and she dashed toward me, her face alight with eagerness, baggie of decorated cookies held up to show me, most of them broken by the time she reached me.

There's a quote I used once on a Laini's Lady, before I was a parent, and I love it even more now than I did then:

To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.

On days like this.

Yeah, I didn't get any work done. Yeah, all the whining my have affected my blood pressure a little, but cuddling up to that little sleeping creature at the end of the day, listening to her breathing while sneaking in some quality reading time ... Why am I still blogging? I'm sneaking back to bed ... :-)

Something has happened ...

2011-12-15T22:19:00.000-08:00

You guys.

You GUYS.

YOU GUYS!!!!!

(that is the biggest font available, fyi)

watch this:

I just got chills.

BECAUSE UNIVERSAL PICTURES HAS OPTIONED

DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE!!!!

(Yep, still the biggest font.)

*flails, pops champagne, throws confetti, gets confused and throws champagne while drinking confetti, which by the way, does not go down easy. Kack.*

[a little silent space ...]

Honestly, I do not know what to say or how to say it. I feel dream-drunk, like so many good things are piling up that my life has become this surrealist landscape -- and now the Universal globe is part of my landscape. Part of my life. [*tremor of spastic glee*] I came up with an official statement and stuff, and it's been extremely odd seeing it crop up here and there like I am somebody to quote, and maybe I should be careful what I say and try to sound professional and not like somebody who accidentally drinks imaginary confetti on her blog, but really. (Pretty please don't anyone quote me sounding dorky.)

I. Am so. Excited.

(I am also holding-my-breath relieved, because Clementine has a little cough and is so far sleeping pretty well, unlike last night, so wish us luck!)

But back to excitement. Okay. A few years ago my whole family went to the Grand Canyon. My sister was getting her PhD in Arizona so we were all there together and it was a perfect opportunity. And when I stood at the edge of the Grand Canyon and looked out ... it was weird. It didn't look real at all. Like, the depth ... My eyes and my brain were having this argument that went something like this:

Eyes: It's real.
Brain: I really don't think so ...
Eyes: Yeah. It is.
Brain: I remain unconvinced.
Eyes: Trust me. I'm standing right here.
Brain: But it looks like a painting.
Eyes: I'M STANDING RIGHT HERE.
Brain: Definitely a painting. A really big painting.
Eyes: IT'S REAL!
Brain: Nah.

And so on. Anyway, I kind of feel like that right now, trying to process the hugeness, and also having this experience of meeting studio executives for the first time in my life and discovering that not only are they real people, they are really really nice down-to-earth people with really really cool creative jobs that they love. At least, that was my impression, a wonderful impression. In fact, when I was at Book Soup in West Hollywood on my book tour, one of the Universal executives was in the front row and had such a warm, friendly face that I found myself addressing her a lot as I talked. Of course, I had no idea then who she was, and it was very cool to find out!

This is all new to me, so I don't know what happens now, but I will let you know!

Meanwhile, here is the official press release from Entertainment Weekly's Shelf Life:

Thank you, Entertainment Weekly!

And thank you, MTV's Hollywood Crush for the totally awesome announcement!

(If you want to see their early ideas for Karou, it's HERE.

Of course, it's way too early to be playing this game, but it's a fun game :-)

Of course: THANK YOU, UNIVERSAL PICTURES!

At the end of the day, the biggest imaginable thanks are for my wonderful agent, Jane Putch, who is not a typical literary agent, but also my manager, life-changer and friend. THANK YOU!

So there it is. Whew. Man o man. Incidentally, my birthday is one week from today. Could there be a better present?? :-)

(Eee, and there's Clementine coughing :-(. *hits publish; dashes away*)

* * * * * * *

Oh hi, I'm back. C is sleeping again, and I remembered something:

PLEASE VOTE FOR KAROU

IN THE TOURNAMENT OF HEROINES!

Voting ends 12:01 am Dec 17, so you have 24 hours. #TEAMKAROU!

(Thank you!)

Something Good & Adorable, part I (also: total eye candy breakfast)

2011-12-14T08:47:00.000-08:00

If you're feeling a holiday itch to do some good, I have a couple of ideas for you, both of which happen to involve adorableness, bonus! Here's the first one, and it's from Swedish illustrator Camilla Engman. I've been vaguely familiar with her work but hadn't seen her blog until recently and I love it. I love it all--she is one of those people that turns absolutely everything into art, you know those people? Like, a lemon in a coffee cup becomes a little creature with a face, like that? But specifically, right now, I'm in love with the Morran Book Project.

Morran was Camilla's little dog and the star of her blog, so sadly recently passed away, but this book as far as I can tell was well underway before then, just out of the cult following that Morran had developed over the years. What the book is is a collection of portraits of Morran from artists all over the world, and they are so varied and awesome. I can't stop looking through the flip-through.

Look (all images from Camilla Engman's blog):

And so much more ...

I must have one. And it's so nice that all proceeds go to the WSPA -- the World Society for the Protection of Animals. If there is a dog-lover or an illustration lover in your life, this would make a great gift! I couldn't help thinking it made a great resource for art directors too, looking for illustrators for projects. So many wonderful unique styles!

BUY IT HERE.

Or, just peruse Camilla Engman's artful life.

Cheers!

(Next, another--bigger--idea for do-gooding with adorable repercussions!)

And the winners are ...

2011-12-11T23:19:00.000-08:00

Oh my GOODNESS you guys, 646 entries???

(meet surprised monkey)

Wow! That is incredibly awesome. Thank you! I loved reading the comments so much!

Ahem, that number of entries poses a wee problem to figuring out WHO WON. You see, what I had thought I would do is print out the comments, cut them up and put them in a punch bowl, film the whole thing so I wouldn't be tempted to just cheat and tell you my favorite comments were the winners, mwahaha, but ... 646 comments! If I could just hit "print comments" then I would be happy to use the paper and ink, but I think I'd have to format each page to print, and that would take forever, and blah blah blah, so I took the suggestion of using random.org and coming up with numbers, and ... drumroll please ...

Here they are!

However. Who are they? Except for "1" (yay!), I don't know.

There are a lot of surprised monkeys on google.

I googled tutorials on getting my comments to come up numbered in blogger, and I did what it said, but there are still no numbers! Razzlefratzen. And when I tried to actually count through and figure out which comments match these numbers, I kept messing up. Apparently my brain isn't capable of tricksy procedures like counting right now.

So ... can you do it? Please?

Tell you what. For the first two people who post the winning names here ... the accurate winning names, meaning they corroborate each other, I will throw in an additional prize ... Hm. *strums lip* What will it be? *looks idly around room for likely shwag*

Hungarian edition of Lips Touch? No? Ha ha. How about a paperback book to be determined later (when I can see what I have): most likely either Blackbringer or the Australia/NZ ed of Daughter (same as the UK, only trade paperback).

Yay! Advance thank you, county-brains! Now, let's just hope that none of the winning numbers turn out to match any of the comments that are like, "I've never heard of you before but what the hell? Free stuff is free stuff." Ha!

More surprised monkeys.

This one looks more disgusted, really.

Kind of guilty shock?

Yeah, this guy did come up under "surprised monkeys". *shrug*

Alright. Sorry for the spasticity. Thanks in advance for the help! Winner NAMES coming soon!

UPDATED:

Okay, it's the end of the day and I've just peeled myself out of bed after falling asleep in the process of getting Clementine to sleep, and it's 11 pm, dangitall, and I feel like my brain is on sideways, all slurry and dopey, so to be brief:

Thank you for the county help, we have accord! The winners of the giveaway are, thanks to random.org:

1. #1 Angela: "My gosh! I hope I'd win these. They are amazing. I'm from Indonesia and I've recently fallen in love with Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Keep on spinning those lovely stories! And can't wait for the sequel!"

2. #222: The Geek Bride: "Yay! Thank you so much for the opportunity to win. Your writing brings magic to this world & should be read by all."

3. #331: Allison: "Oooh, exciting giveaway! I've been wanting to read Daughter of Smoke and Bone for a while now (SO MANY people are saying AWESOME things about it!), but I've been busy trying to graduate college. Semester's almost over, though, so this is the PERFECT time :D And all the cool stuff that comes with each package looks super nifty/gorgeous/fantastic. Yaaay!"

4. #572: Anonymous: (Ana) "Thank you for an amazingly fantastic giveaway!!! The artwork for Daughter's graphic sampler is so beautiful!! I wish I could draw like that. :D ~Ana~ (The #1 Brownie Lover) :)"

And for being the first to count them up, the extra TBD prizes go to Candace and almeldiel. Thank you! Everyone -- well, not everyone, but the six of you -- please email me your mailing addresses -- and please put CONTEST WINNER as the subject line. YAY! Thank you for playing!

*wanders in an incomplete circle, slumps against door jam, and falls asleep*

BIG FAT HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY!

2011-12-07T23:22:00.000-08:00

Hello! I've been meaning to do this for ages, and here at last: a reader appreciation giveaway! Because I loOoOoOoOoOoOove people who read books, especially my books :-), and I want to give you stuff. Hurray! There are some things here that are a) hard to find, and b) truly rare and [potentially] collectible. There are two each of two sets of shwag.

Ready?

1.) DREAMDARK BOOKS!

2 sets of ...

1 signed (by author and illustrator) hardcover of Blackbringer
1 signed (by author and illustrator) hardcover of Silksinger
1 Laini's Ladies Christmas ornament

Now, Silksinger, you may know, is hard to find. It's out of print and costs upwards of $70 on Amazon for a used copy. So this is a good way to get it -- two chances!

As for the ornament, it reads "Merry Christmas nearly everyone!" and is one of my favorite LL holiday ornaments, though it never sold well because apparently people didn't "get" it ... Really? Is it really just me with this little mean place in my heart, or are there just not a few people you truly hope do not have a merry Christmas? Maybe it is just me ...

2.) Daughter of Smoke & Bone super shwag pack!

2 sets of ...

1 signed hardcover copy Daughter of Smoke and Bone, UK edition
1 complete audiobook on CD, US edition
1 signed (by illustrator) extremely limited edition graphic sampler, produced & dist. in the UK
1 very cool 4-chapter sampler/party invitation (party has already happened, sorry!)
2 sets of hamsa temporary tattoos
1 vivid blue feather carnival mask to match US cover

Here's some photos of some of the stuff.

The UK hardcover. So pretty:

The back is gorgeous too ...

The graphic sampler (l) and the party invitation (r):

The graphic sampler was a convention giveaway in the UK, and is eight pages of graphic artwork by my talented husband/collaborator, Jim Di Bartolo, depicting a small section of the book (from Karou and Zuzana at Poison to Karou going through the portal). Here's what it looks like:

Gorgeous! And this really isn't something you're going to find anywhere else. I don't think.

As for the sampler/party invitation, this was the ingenious package sent out in advance of the pre-launch party at ALA in New Orleans this summer. It's just such a cool thing, made to look like Karou's sketchbook, with this awesome sticker on the cover, which you might recall from the book:

Love the coffee ring :-)

SO, HOW DO YOU ENTER?

Alas, I was trying to find a free contest widget so I wouldn't have to enter every name in a hat later, but I couldn't find anything, so we'll do this the old-fashioned way! Leave a comment to this post. That is all. I will announce winners here, at which time I will ask that you email me your address -- but wait until you win :-)

Deadline to enter: midnight PST, Saturday, December 10. I will pick the four winning names on Sunday; which prizes go to who will just be by order of choosing, with Dreamdarks first and Daughters second.

Ok. That's all. Comment away! Tell your friends. Smooooooooooooch!

From the desk drawer: More alternate Lips Touch art!

2011-12-06T11:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I showed the original concept art for Lips Touch, back when its working title was Goblin Fruit & Other Stories About Kissing, and we hadn't sold it to a publisher yet. Well, once we did sell it, to Scholastic, that art style was out and Jim experimented with some color pieces in a more dreamy and romantic style. Here are those samples. They go to "Spicy Little Curses Such As These," the middle story, set in Raj-era India.

The garden party, when James is listening to the gossip and also to Anamique's playing,

and hasn't turned around yet to look at her. Great gossip face behind him, no?

Portrait of Anamique; see the bird cage? Her voice is described as a caged bird.

Pranjivan, factotum to "the old bitch." All the rumors about him represented:

that he can talk to tigers, has a tail he wears tucked down one trouser leg (the left),

and has been seen without his shadow (it's out on a kite string behind him).

And lastly, this piece was done late in the game, after all the artwork that is in the book,

and was an alternate cover choice at the last minute.

I was reallllly pulling for it, but it didn't happen.

Aren't those so so sooooo beautiful? Love.

Jim has updated his website recently, by the way, if you want to peek.

Cheers!

P.S. You can order Lips Touch here :-)

From the desk drawer: Alternate Goblin Fruit art!!

2011-12-05T11:46:00.000-08:00

Morning!

The other day I showed some stuff I found while cleaning out a desk drawer. Here is some more stuff that was in there: alternate art for Goblin Fruit, the first story in Lips Touch!

Hopefully you have seen the final art in the actual book. It is gorgeous beyond anything. That artist is just so talented! (If you are new around here, that artist is my husband, Jim Di Bartolo! And also, Lips Touch is my last book before Daughter of Smoke and Bone; it is fully illustrated and makes a great gift, hint hint :-)

But it is so fun to see this, the very first stab Jim took at it, with which we pitched the book to the publisher. As you can see, it is more whimsical and stylized than the book ended up, plus which we had not yet hit on the concept of "prequel art." Originally we imagined a traditional illustrated book, with art plopped in wherever we felt like it. And there is nothing wrong with that, of course, but I think the way it ended up is so cool and unique.

Still, I really love this art.

Title page:

Kizzy:

The hair! The anvil! The billy goat! The peacock! The ax!

Another version of the same scene as above, naughty girl is smoking:

Kizzy's weird family. I love this. Loooooooove.

See the pouch around her father's neck with his finger bones in it?

And the aunts smoking pipes, and the children racing around?

So good.

Look at these faces! The text description was, I think:

"lots of hairy blue-eyed uncles with old beautiful guitars."

Something like that.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

Writers should marry illustrators. They're so handy. And in Jim's case, also cute.

Next time I'll show you yet another stash of unused Lips Touch art,

for Spicy Little Curses, in yet another style.

Cheerio!

Christmas at Stars

2011-12-01T21:51:00.000-08:00

(I kind of want to use that as my Christmas card this year,

except that I never manage to send Christmas cards. Never mind. Small detail.)

Hi! In my last post I said I had a hankering to hit the antique mall for armloads of vintage mercury ornaments, and I guess I meant it, because we went to Stars this afternoon!

I do love Christmas at the antique mall.

Look at these guys:

I imagine them singing, in super menacing wee psychopath voices,

"You better watch out/You better not cry." Eek!

More creepiness:

Peekaboo!

We came home with some ornaments and indulgences, like a couple of new family members; I'll show you later. We also had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants: Jade Bistro in Sellwood. Vermicelli bowl and Vietnamese meatball sandwich, barbeque pork hum bao (could eat that every day), sesame balls, and because we were celebrating (oh yeah we were!), we had wine and a slice of bright green Vietnamese wedding cake:

Pretty.

It was a very good day. A very very good day :-)

Happy December!

2011-12-01T11:39:00.000-08:00

Merry December!

Can you believe it's December? I can't. Seriously? Already? Phooooom, there goes another month whooshing past. Time to decorate!

These pictures are from a past tree. Had no tree last year since we went to Italy instead. As wonderful as that was, we decided on the spot that we didn't want to be away from home on actual Christmas day again. It just lacked the magic, the traditions. We didn't even have stockings, but used these antique pottery crocks in the rental house! (The hardship :-)

I haven't taken pictures of this year's tree yet. We finished decorating it at about two in the morning. We had begun the other evening, and I just didn't like it. We'd gotten colored lights and they were kind of garish, and the tree is so much bigger than we are used to (9 feet; our old house only had 7-foot ceilings!) that there is just more of everything and it needed ... something. It needed cohesiveness, like a garland, like a design plan. So I took everything off -- Jim humored me -- and started over.

(Perfectionist not only in writing!)

Sooo much happier now. I got pink lights to go with the white, and some silver garland, and I think it is lovely lovely! I have a hankering to hit the antiques mall for armloads more vintage mercury balls. You can just never have too many. I think I could fit 800 mercury balls on a tree. You would barely be able to see the greenery. Ha! And they shouldn't be confined to the tree. A pretty bowl of scratched up vintage mercury ornaments? Love.

I [heart] Christmas. Hope you're having fun too!

From the desk drawer: MORE Tiny Stories

2011-11-30T09:03:00.000-08:00

Hi! A couple more Tiny Stories found in the desk drawer!

(HERE are the others :-)

Have a lovely day!

From the desk drawer: Tiny Stories

2011-11-29T01:02:00.000-08:00

Hi! Happy Tuesday!

I was clearing out my desk drawer the other day because I got a new desk and needed to make the swap, and I didn't have time to go through the mass of stuff in that drawer so I plopped it all in a box to go over one day while watching Cranford which I've finally bought off itunes but have not yet had the leisure to watch. But a few things in there caught my eye and made me think: must put on blog!

Here are some. From the archives of Laini's Ladies* that never were, a couple of Tiny Stories. I did these back in '06. Had such fun. Love them. Hope you like. More will soon follow. Cheers!

*Laini's Ladies: if you've never heard me talk about this and don't know what they are, for the past five years, until just the last few months, I created a licensed gift product line called Laini's Ladies. They were primarily ornaments and greeting cards, with other fun things thrown in, candles and notepads, stuff like that. The line has been retired now; all Laini's Ladies in the world have become "collectible" :-) It was a hugely important phase in my creative life, the shift from making art by hand to having it made and sold in mass. It enabled me to write nearly full time and finish my first novel. Not to mention that it was fun and fulfilling in its own right. At its peak, we were sold in some 5000 stores across the country and in a smattering of other countries. The above line, the Tiny Stories, were never produced. You may guess by the roundness, I envisioned these as dessert plates. I wish they were. I would love to have these plates!

Some before-and-afters

2011-11-26T08:42:00.000-08:00

The last few days have sort of been lost in a black hole. The day before Thanksgiving -- Thanksgiving at which we were hosting 14 people -- Clementine came down with a stomach virus. Which made prep interesting, but guests were bringing many of the side dishes so we didn't have to do everything, and we managed, and Clementine got to feeling a little better, off and on. Thanksgiving was lovely, I was fairly useless owing to having an under-the-weather Clementine attached to my side, but Jim and my mother and our friend Andrew pulled off the cooking marvelously. Yum yum. And then, shortly after our last guests left, I started feeling ill. With, as it turned out, the same stomach virus. And then a few hours later: Jim got it too. So all of yesterday was a fugue. Clementine was now fully recovered, and Jim and I played "vomit tag" -- one of us would sleep, the other would watch Clementine until they barfed, and then we'd switch. Ha ha! And she was such a good kid all day, taking it easy on us, content to lounge, giving us lots of kisses to make us better, and asking us, "Are you okay?" in her precious, concerned little voice. Until, phew, around 6 pm when my parents and brother and niece came to fetch her for pizza and a sleepover, after which Jim and I slept for about twelve hours. And are now feeling much better. And still have Thanksgiving mess to clean up. Oy.

Anyway, you know how having guests always spurs a bit of housework, we had managed to pull some things together over here at the work-in-progress, so I thought I'd show you some before-and-afters. Fun!

DINING ROOM -- BEFORE

Love that pea green!

This was the first or second time we looked at the house. Our poor patient realtor brought us over at least a half dozen times as we tried to decide if we could really do it -- really do all this work.

DINING ROOM -- AFTER

We've only just begun to put things on the walls; there's a lot blank yet. But we have hung some pieces by our favorite abstract artist, Clementine Pie:

LIVING ROOM -- BEFORE

This one's the real doozy. The wallpaper, the carpet, the knotty pine!

LIVING ROOM -- AFTER

And now I'd better stop avoiding cleaning the kitchen ...

Cheers, and happy weekend!

New York Times Notable Book!

2011-11-21T23:48:00.000-08:00

Starry eyed ...

Yeeeeeeep! Such a thrill :-)

Daughter of Smoke and Bone has been chosen as a New York Times Notable Children's Book of 2011, one of only five young adult novels on the list. Thank you, New York Times!!!

I really ... I just want to say ... I don't really know what to say. So many wonderful things have happened with this book, the reception that it has gotten is mind-blowing and constantly amazing and I feel grateful all the time, every moment. Grateful to my fabulous publishers, Little, Brown and Hodder. To my best-anywhere-ever agent Jane Putch. To readers, for the emails, the tweets, the Amazon and GoodReads reviews, and for coming to signings so I don't have to be all embarrassed and pretend like it's not a big deal if nobody shows up (which, bless you all, never happened!).

And Clementine, aged two, who climbed into a seatless dining chair today, standing right in the little hole in the middle, declared it her "writing room" and began to pretend-type. And who, later, hearing the staple gun from upstairs, raced to the stair railing to call out in defense of her new writing room: "No papa fix chair!" Ha ha. So, whoever gets the seatless chair on Thanksgiving, it's Clementine's fault. Dude, it's her writing room. Get off.

Have a good night. Smiling in my sleep :-)

Some color around the house

2011-11-21T09:44:00.000-08:00

There has been progress around the house. Here and there, bits and pieces.

Some library shelves arranged. By color. By a lunatic. *ahem*

Picture rails! I know, I know. Shut up about the picture rails, Laini.

(Ribba, from IKEA.)

Here's the one in my work-in-progress writing room:

(That carved wooden drawer piece was acquired at Cargo, to balance out the IKEA blah.

I plan to commit the atrocity of, um, painting it. Aqua. The one I wanted was blue already,

the most gorgeous blue, the most excellent antique lacquer finish! But was realllly $$. So.)

(Adorable paper animal sculptures by Djeco.)

Ah. And the living room, finally, ART ON THE WALL!

This is just a random collection of stuff put up in a hurry, but I like it for now.

I love the idea of books as wall art! And it will be so fun to change this up.

Also, a little project whose completion was spurred by Thanksgiving,

and the need for places for our guests to place their posteriors.

Chairs!

I eeeeched to a halt one day when I spotted these guys on the sidewalk.

And this one.

Jim painted them some time ago, but they have remained seatless until now. Yay!

My dad helped out with tools; Jim cut the plywood bottoms.
A trip to Fabric Depot for foam and fabric, and some angst with the corner folds.
And voila. Sitting accomplished :-)

That's all for now. Hopefully more to show soon.

When that pesky book gets itself written ...

German Daughter of Smoke and Bone!

2011-11-18T07:38:00.000-08:00

This comes by way of my German publisher, Fischer Verlage, this morning. So cool to see! And that notebook, which was a promotion. Love it. And I think the catalog cover is very handsome too :-) German release is February 23; notify all your German friends :-)

Meanwhile, writing writing. My parents had Clementine overnight, which makes for a) all-afternoon, all-evening and late-into-the-night writing, and b) a sound night's sleep, c) morning coffee + writing right here at home. Yay, parents! Miss the little smeagol ferociously though.

Also, have been enjoying a newly de-disastrified writing room, which I finally took the time to clear boxes out of and neaten up a bit. It's still a work in progress, I shall show pictures soon, but oh, how I love it. It has carved out this little calm place in my mind. I've put up some IKEA Digitnet wires for clipping up completed chapters all in a nice row, for satisfaction and gloating. My head was needing visual confirmation of efforts accomplished! Also, first picture rail is up, and I love it; I sense that it will be the first of many in the house.

The long and short is that I wish I didn't have to skedaddle to cafes to write anymore. I just want to hunker in my lovely writing room with all of my things close at hand, with the radiator under my desk making it so cozy, with my chapters strung up like ornaments, and never have to get out of my pajamas. Alas, the situation remains unchanged: Clementine not conducive to writerly productivity. I shall use my space at night, after she is asleep. And also right now. Toodle-oo!

A Flight of Angels -- SIMPLY GORGEOUS

2011-11-17T10:01:00.000-08:00

BOOK RECOMMENDATION!

Do you like art? Do you like stories? Then here you go, A Flight of Angels, a graphic novel from Vertigo Comics, written by Holly Black and four other authors, illustrated by the incredibly talented Rebecca Guay. Oh man, is this book beautiful. I wrote a blurb for it, and it is this:

“An angel falls to earth, and capricious fae argue his fate. A Flight of Angels is a dark and delectable weaving of folklore, enigma, romance, and suspense, and so beautiful I want to put it on my wall in a hundred picture frames.”

The jacket copy can tell you more:

Angels:

Guardians. Messengers.

Warriors. Fallen.

In A Flight of Angels, all these angelic aspects and more are explored in a riveting tale beautifully told in the tradition of The Decameron and The Canterbury Tales.

A mysterious angel plummets to Earth and lands deep in a dark forest, where his dying body is found by the mystical denizens of this strange place. As the gathered fauns, fairies, hags and hobgoblins debate what to do with him, each tells a different story of who they imagine this celestial creature to be -- a hero, a lover, a protector or a killer. Once all the stories have been told, a final verdict is rendered and the outcome will leave you breathless.

I wish I could scan some pages to post here, but I have to make do with what I can scavenge on the net -- unfortunately not all of my favorite pages, but you can get an idea of how lovely this book is. Look at these, then imagine even more gorgeous, and page after page of it.

One of the coolest things about the art is that for each tale, Guay alters her style to reflect the time, place, feel of the story. You've got to see it.

For what I understand, Holly Black conceived and wrote the "frame story" of the angel falling to Earth, plus one of the tales, and the four other authors contributed the other tales, and the variety is really cool. I love the idea of a supernatural Canterbury Tales type collection. That Holly Black, always coming up with some new awesome thing. Have you heard about her forthcoming novel (with my publisher, Little, Brown, and my editor, Alvina Ling)? I'm so excited about this one. It's called The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, which is such a great title. Here's the press release:

NEW YORK, NY [October 5, 2011]—The vampire genre receives a refreshing and inventive new twist through the master storytelling of renowned contemporary fantasy author Holly Black. The bestselling and critically acclaimed author of Tithe and the hugely popular The Spiderwick Chronicles series, will publish her upcoming young adult title, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, with Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, it was announced today by Megan Tingley, the division’s Senior Vice President and Publisher. Acquired in a heated, five-house auction by Fiction Editorial Director Alvina Ling, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown will be edited by Ling and release in Fall 2013 as the first in a two-book deal for world English, electronic, and audio rights negotiated with Barry Goldblatt of Barry Goldblatt Literary. Already eagerly anticipated abroad, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown will simultaneously release in the UK from sister company Orion in print, electronic, and audio editions.

Conceived of and originally published to great acclaim as a short story, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is set in the not-so-distant future, where the vampire population has surged, resulting in the establishment of Coldtowns, quarantined cities of vampires and humans where predator and prey coexist in a never-ending blood party of revelry. These isolated meccas of debauchery are the pillars of pop culture, with vlogs, live feeds, and YouTube videos constantly streaming from the endless parties at vampire mansions. Drawn into this bizarre and dangerous world is Tana, who willingly enters Coldtown with an infected ex-boyfriend on the brink of turning and a mysterious vampire with a tortured past intent on seeking revenge. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original vampire story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing.

Holly Black! Vampires! YAY!

You can read the original story HERE!

And here's Holly's blog announcement, with Q & A.

She's also working on a middle grade called Doll Bones, another completely awesome title. This output. Seriously makes me want to up my game.

Remember: A Flight of Angels, a nice idea for a holiday gift perhaps?

Cast your vote?

2011-11-14T21:47:00.000-08:00

Hello there! I have never done this before, but here we go. I feel a little like I'm in the hallway at school handing out campaign buttons (except that I never ran for office in school, but never mind!) Anyway, I am thrilled that Daughter of Smoke and Bone has been shortlisted for Goodreads Favorite Book of 2011 and Favorite YA Fantasy & Sci Fi! Thank you Goodreads! Goodreaders?

Thank you!

If you would care to vote for Daughter, please go HERE and HERE.

Voting for the semi-finals goes until November 20, at which time there will be a culling down to ten titles, and then another voting period. Of which I will remind you :-)

Thanks again!

(How awesome would it be to be the Goodreads Favorite Book of the Year?????)

Might I introduce you to the God of Cake?

2011-11-14T09:46:00.000-08:00

No. No. No, Chewbacca is not the God of Cake.

Why would you even think that? Sheesh.

THIS is the God of Cake.

It has nothing to do with Chewbacca, nothing at all.
I just needed an image so the link-within box for this post won't pop up empty,
and hey, the message is good. READ!!

Enjoy :-)

(Do you know Hyperbole and a Half? Genius.)

(Chewbacca image from Casa Grande High School library in Petaluma CA,

one of the best school visits of the tour. Which I *do* plan to tell more about!)

Congratulations, Christopher Paolini!

2011-11-11T09:11:00.000-08:00

You guys. How awesome is this?
Christopher Paolini typing THE END at the end of the Inheritance Cycle:

A huge congratulations to him.

YAY, Christopher Paolini!

He looks sort of dazed, doesn't he? Dazed with joy to have completed something so epic, and I imagine there must be sadness too, to say goodbye to characters he has lived with for so long.

On tour, in my school presentations, I talked about THE END, and how the first time I typed those words for the first time (at the end of Blackbringer), even though I'd known they were coming and thought I was ready ... when I saw them in black and white, I burst into tears. And I am not a cryer. Jim calls me a robot for not crying in movies and stuff :-) But that was a big moment, something I'd wanted to do my whole life: FINISH A BOOK! And to finish a series is even more extraordinary.

I'm not quite there on the current book (or series, obviously), but seeing this video, I thought it was very sweet, and bittersweet, wonderful and sad and complicated. And that this journey began for him so young! Crazy. If you don't know, Christopher Paolini published Eragon when he was a teenager; he's 27 or 28 now. Can you imagine having accomplished something like this by that age?

I wonder what comes next. Big things, I bet. More big things, that is :-)

Just thinking about picture ledges

2011-11-10T08:47:00.000-08:00

Yeah. Just thinking. We moved into our house in May, but have not yet put a single nail hole in the walls. Weird? Yes. But the stark bare walls kind of go with the cardboard boxes in the corners look, which apparently is our design aesthetic: "move-in chic". Har har. One of these days we will have time to nest!

In the meantime, daydreaming. I keep seeing pictures of picture rails, mostly these plain Ribba ones from IKEA, and I kind of love the idea. Nice and clean, and super easy to change stuff out and rearrange, books faced out alongside pictures, little oddities.

I love the look of a whole wall of picture books. Or a smaller section:

Or magazines:

Or pictures, of course:

(I like this idea maybe for my writing room, with the line beneath for loose bits of inspiration.)

Also, look how cute. This is in a spot behind a kitchen door where a deep shelf wouldn't fit:

Or for a simple spice rack:

Here's another simple idea from the IKEA Family Live site (love) and the blogger Yvestown, using a simple IKEA spice rack for cookbook display and a splash of easy-to-change kitchen color:

She, in turn, got the idea here:

So yeah, just thinking about walls. And, apparently, pimping IKEA :-)

LISTS! LISTS! + Manuscript Awesome-izing

2011-11-09T09:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a mixed bag. On the one hand, Clementine and I were sick and I had to miss the Neil Gaiman/Amanda Palmer show Jim and I had tickets for. Boo.

On the other hand, and compleeeeeeeeeetely compensating for any amount of headaches (and then some), Amazon's Best Books of 2011 were announced, and ...

Daughter of Smoke and Bone made the

AMAZON TOP TEN BOOKS OF 2011!!!!!!

The above image is slightly deceptive. Daughter is #6 on the list, not #1. There's a previous screen I've already scrolled past. But you guys. NUMBER SIX. The only YA book in the top 10! I am totally swooning with joy! It means a lot to get on the teen list too. A LOT. But to get on the BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR LIST is the kind of crazy I never even wasted any time hoping for.

THANK YOU AMAZON!!!

(You can see the full list, and the category lists, HERE.)

And speaking of the teen list, Daughter did not just make the list.

Ulp.

It made #1.

This is so amazing. I want to just stare at these screens.

Also, I want to say thank you to the readers who have posted reviews to Amazon. That is one of those things I try not to look at too much but I can't help it, and I really really appreciate them. Saying that is a reminder to me to get busy and post some reviews for books I have loved lately like Chime and The Red Glove.

Okay. I feel like I'm gloating, but I have another awesome list to tell you about.

Daughter also made Publisher's Weekly

Best Books of 2011, Children's Fiction:

THANK YOU, PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY!!

It's an amazing list of books, and includes Chime and another of my favorite books of the year, from months back, Where She Went by Gayle Foreman, and also How To Save a Life and Beauty Queens by my Little, Brown sistren Sara Zarr and Libba Bray, which I have not read yet but will soon, as I love love love their books.

I will also be taking a look at that sci fi/fantasy list. I'm sorry to say I'm not familiar with any of them. I feel like an ostrich these days. A reading ostrich. Randomly, look at this cover from that list. Love it:

Isn't that fun?

Well. I'm well enough today to get back to work, so back to work I shall get immediately. I have actually been ... rearranging the furniture ... in the new novel, which is something I do all along the way as I discover bit by bit what the book is *really* about. In the best of worlds, the pieces will reform without me having to ditch whole chapters, but only rewrite lightly, kind of like ... dusting. And that IS what is happening, thankfully.

I was emailing with a writing friend the other day who has a similar process as me, and we both confessed to not really discovering what a book is "about" until it is almost done. I sometimes think of this as finding the "axis," the pivot point around which the whole story turns. At which point it must be revised, restructured. This might sound drastic and terrible but it is not. I have done it with every book and story, and it is actually a fun and comfortable procedure for me, the "embettering" of the manuscript, once the light switches on in my attic. I mean, the pieces are mostly there, but they need jiggering. The suspense threads need tightening, the character arcs need tweaking, the whole thing could stand a general awesome-izing. Which is kind of a fun name for a procedure.

I'm going to the salon to have my hair awesome-ized.

That bit of dialogue could stand some awesome-izing.

Ha, add another excellent technical term to my lexicon, along with my go-to: "cool."

Cheers!

Eye Candy Breakfast -- Let's go swimming with cool clothes on

2011-11-07T08:55:00.000-08:00

I happened upon some underwater images last night and got mesmerized and thought:

Time for Eye Candy Breakfast!

LOOK AT THIS. AIEEEEE! SWIM FASTER!

A lot of these are from a photographer named Elena Kalis. It's her thang.

YA readers, does that look familiar? Wonder if it's the same photo shoot as this ...

Which became this ...

I haven't read it yet, but mean to. Ditto this next new YA also with an underwater cover:

Really love this too, from photographer Zena Holloway:

And here:

Random:

And last, from a real underwater sculpture garden, I think it's in the Caribbean:

Cool!

:-)

Chime by Franny Billingsley: just read it

2011-11-05T09:57:00.000-07:00

Hi! So, I haven't quite finished reading this yet, and you know I don't do real book reviews anyway but just strong recommendations, so here is a verrrry strrrrrrrong rrrrrrrecommendation:

READ CHIME BY FRANNY BILLINGSLEY

It is a thing of beauty. A marvel of unique prose-craft, unusual characters, odd voice, carefully constructed storytelling. It makes me want to hug it, and a little bit it makes me want to hide it because I am haunted by the gorgeous gorgeous writing and I kind of wish it were mine.

Here's Amazon's description, but honestly, the description alone isn't what made me pick this up. It was the buzz, the look of nearly religious fervor in the eyes of the bookseller who put it in my hands. When booksellers get that look, you listen.

Before Briony's stepmother died, she made sure Briony blamed herself for all the family's hardships. Now Briony has worn her guilt for so long it's become a second skin. She often escapes to the swamp, where she tells stories to the Old Ones, the spirits who haunt the marshes. But only witches can see the Old Ones, and in her village, witches are sentenced to death. Briony lives in fear her secret will be found out, even as she believes she deserves the worst kind of punishment.

Then Eldric comes along with his golden lion eyes and mane of tawny hair. He's as natural as the sun, and treats her as if she's extraordinary. And everything starts to change. As many secrets as Briony has been holding, there are secrets even she doesn't know.

Accurate that may be, but some books are about so much more than the nutshell, and this is one of them. Really. Really really. Read it. Here's another link for you if you don't feel like scrolling up. Or hey, it's Saturday. Go to your local indie bookstore, have some coffee, buy this book. It'll be fun, and then you don't have to wait to start reading it.

Okay, so you may have heard the terrible kerfuffle about the National Book Awards nominations this year, and Chime has the misfortune to be caught up in that mess. I actually just wrote a recap here and then deleted it because I don't even want to muddy up this recommendation with that debacle. The only thing that matters is this book highly deserves the nomination (which is not to say Shine does not; it isn't a competition between the two books, merely a big mistake), and though I haven't read the other nominees, I can't help but really pull for it to get the gold. (Go fantasy!)

And one other thing: it irks me that the publisher hasn't updated the Amazon page with the NBA seal and more editorial reviews. They can do that, if they want to. Come on, Dial! How about some love for your awesome book! (Ahem. In fact, the publisher of Lips Touch never updated the cover image to include the silver seal. Sigh. Maybe some publishers don't know how to do it? Little, Brown has been great about updating the Daughter Amazon page with new reviews, etc. Dunno.)

UPDATE (Sunday):

Finished it. Loved it. Might even read it again right away for more luxurious enjoyment of the language. You know when you want to know what happens next, sometimes you race a little bit? Also, since I shouldn't really be reading right now, having a deadline to attend to, if I'm reading something I've already read I'll be less likely to dilly dally with it when I should be writing :-)

If I do reread right now, I'll flag favorite bits, which I did not do the first time. I have a feeling there will be a lot. Also: the relationship in this book unfolds so richly, which such detail and delightful interactions, it really is a rarity. The characters are so fully drawn, from the narrator to Rose (I LOVE Rose) to Eldric. And the name Tiddy Rex. And the magical world ... And the setting ... And the brownie and the dead hand and on and on.

Love.

Some Karou sightings ...

2011-11-02T22:14:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Happy belated Halloween! I thought I would share some Karou sightings. She's been popping up all over ...

From her hamsas (below from various events on tour) ...

hand-drawn! :-)

To her hair ...

Little, Brown sent blue wigs and other shwag to all the bookstores where I had events, and some booksellers were game to wear them (above, University Bookstore, Seattle) others not so much. Of those who did (thank you!), many looked SO GOOD WITH BLUE HAIR!

A Chicago-area Barnes & Noble, on publication day!

Foreground left, at Powell's, here in Portland:

Denver's Tattered Cover, such a good look!

And this chap (at left) from Redondo Beach's Mysterious Galaxy (at right is my editor's fiance :-)

There were more. Oh, booksellers, you were such good sports. And gorgeous :-)

But wait! There are masks too!

And ... full costumes. So awesome.

(Above) This is so awesome. Look: it's Karou and Lola (from Lola and the Boy Next Door), together! These two beautiful ladies work at HarperCollins, I *think*. Ha ha, infiltration of other publishing houses!

And here, this gorgeous Karou is a Scholastic editor. The details!

Aaaaand, at Little, Brown. Look, a Karou, a Laini (ha! Or just a coincidence?), a devil, and ...

YES, that IS marionette Zuzana. How awesome is that costume???

Here she is again (Faye Bi, a publicity asst. at LB), in Vail at the Sirens conference:

And now for something completely different. Are you ready?

Ho. Lee. Sh**.

How great is this??!!??

She's got the hamsas, the "true" and "story", the tooth necklace, bullet scars,
sketchbook, scorched handprint ...

Swoon!

:-)

find Nataloons on flickr

If you have other Karou or Daughter-related photos to share, please send! I love it!

BBC 2: Monday!

2011-10-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

Hi there and Happy Halloween! I'm home, I'm home, book tour is over and it was such an amazing experience -- thank you so very deeply to all those who came out to bookstores to support me and Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and thanks to the teachers and librarians who welcomed me to their schools, and of course the amazing booksellers, and the media escorts, and to the wonderful crew at Little, Brown.

I want to tell you much more about it, but right now I am busy fretting about my LIVE INTERVIEW ON BBC 2 TOMORROW! If you're in BBC territory, I hope you will tune into the Simon Mayo show to listen in. The format sounds very interesting; it's a huge honor to be selected for the Radio 2 Book Club. I'll be on at 18:00, and you can live chat with other readers during -- and, I believe afterward with me as well (I'll be in a studio in Oregon, not in the UK, though I do wish I could have been there in person!). Free extract from Daughter for download HERE.

Now ... off to fret some more ...

:-)

Hi! Quick dispatch from L.A.!

2011-10-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

OK this bike was in London but I have no pictures to post!

Hi all! So nice to see that last post resonated! I'm hastily typing this in my hotel room in West Hollywood before heading out for another very full day of schools and meetings and stock signings and then a drive down to Huntington Beach for a bookstore event. Whew. Yesterday was nonstop and awesome, as was the day before. Thank you Los Angeles area people, and Mysterious Galaxy Books, and Book Soup, and various high schools (especially Venice High and awesome librarian Caroline Gill) for making this such a great and energizing leg of the tour. Also, of course: getting to hang out with my wonderful agent Jane and even my also wonderful editor Alvina, who happened to be in town with her brand new fiance! And big thanks to my sweetest ever Auntie Joyce who came to both events and is also coming tonight! *heart*

Late tonight I fly to San Francisco for two final days of tour! This has been quite an amazing month, seeing Daughter of Smoke and Bone in the hands of readers, trying to sway teenagers to read it :-), meeting other authors, lots of wonderful booksellers, school librarians, bloggers and other book evangelists, doing interviews, reading reviews, WOW. Wow wow. And through all of it I've been keeping the thread of the *new* book alive mostly with thinking and note-taking, and I cannot WAIT to dive back into the story when I get home. Oh man. Breaks are a great way to create new enthusiasm for work. I am hungry-thirsty-eager, even desperate, to return to writing. Sooooooon! (But first come see me in California! :-)

Creating Your Life

2011-10-22T22:49:00.000-07:00

Laini art from a couple of years ago :-)

Hi there! Before I head back out on the road for one last little bit (final leg of the tour = California), I want to talk about creating your life. There’s a quote I love, from the poet Mary Oliver, that goes:

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

I so clearly remember what it was like, being young and always in the grip of some big fat daydream. I wanted to be a writer always, but more than that, I wanted to have an extraordinary life. I’m sure I dreamed it a million different ways, and that plenty of them were ridiculous, but I think the daydreams were training for writing, and I also think they spurred me to pursue my dreams for real.

Daydreaming, however awesome it is, is passive. It happens in your head. Learning to make dreams real is another matter, and I think it should be the work of your life. Everyone’s life, whatever their dream (unless their dream is to be an axe murderer or something.)

It took me a while to finish a book. Too long. And you know, it doesn’t matter how good a writer you are unless you finish what you start! I think this is the hardest part for most people who want to write. I was in my mid-30s before I figured it out. The brain plays tricks. You can be convinced you’re following your dream, or that you’re going to start tomorrow, and years can pass like that. Years.

The thing is, there will be pressure to adjust your expectations, always shrinking them, shrinking, shrinking, until they fit in your pocket like a folded slip of paper, and you know what happens to folded slips of paper in your pocket. They go through the wash and get ruined. Don’t ever put your dream in your pocket. If you have to put it somewhere, get one of those holsters for your belt, like my dad has for his phone, so you can whip it out at any moment.

Hello there, dream.

Also, don’t be realistic. The word “realistic” is poison. Who decides?

And “backup plan” is code for, “Give up on your dreams,” and everyone I know who put any energy into a backup plan is now living that backup plan instead of their dream. Put all your energy into your dream. That’s the only way it will ever become real.

The world at large has this attitude, “What makes you so special that you think you deserve an extraordinary life?”

Personally, I think the passion for an extraordinary life, and the courage to pursue it, is what makes us special. And I don’t even think of it as an “extraordinary life” anymore so much as simple happiness. It’s rarer than it should be, and I believe it comes from creating a life that fits you perfectly, not taking what’s already there, but making your own from scratch.

You can let life happen to you, or you can happen to life. It’s harder, but so much better.

(that's all :-)

Random sweet idea:

And, from Geninne's Art Blog, a favorite of mine,

always makes me want to drop everything and paint:

Cheers! Come see me in the Los Angeles area and San Francisco area!

Now, I must go and pack.(Which, after having totally nailed the packing for the last

-- and longer -- leg of travels, will be EASY!)

P.S. The quote on the art at the top is:

EVER SINCE HAPPINESS HEARD YOUR NAME,

IT HAS BEEN RUNNING THROUGH THE STREETS

TRYING TO FIND YOU.

-Hafiz

*love it*

You need a banana!

2011-10-19T23:00:00.000-07:00

from Bookish.com thing; see below

I really don't mean for this blog to become all about my book mybookmybookmybook lookit read my book blah blah blah. I'm just a bit all-consumed right now. Sorry for the lack of content! In fascinating non-book news, today was a day of bleh: assembling IKEA cabinets to increase kitchen storage, and then failing utterly to mount them on the wall (they have to go high up, over a window). It was quite comical. Envision: Jim is standing on a step ladder holding aloft a heavy cabinet while I, on a different step ladder, try to line up the screw holes to the hanging thingamy. We're both cursing under our breaths, and Clementine is trying to get us to play store with her. She has all these fake fruits and vegetables set out in a delectable array, and while Jim and I mutter and grumble and probably grunt unbecomingly, Clementine is calling out, "You need a banana!" And she'll say the same thing over and over until she gets a response, so ... "You need a banana! You need a banana!"

Hell. Maybe she was right. Maybe a banana was exactly what we needed right at that moment.

In any case, the cabinets remain solidly on the floor, the room messier than ever, oy. OY, I say! *wails for order and cleanliness*

Maybe the IKEA fairy will come in the night and we will awaken to installed cabinets? Someone on Twitter said you just need to leave out Swedish meatballs overnight ... Ugh. Meatballs. Ate too much tonight, and that thought is not a pretty one.

So, there is my fascinating non-book anecdote, aaaaaaaand ... now back to book blab! *groan*

Bookish.com has put up a photo diary of a typical Laini work day. HERE.
Daughter was reviewed on MTV's Hollywood Crush site today! Yay! HERE.
A video! At the start of the London launch party, I was interviewed by Sugarscape.com; you can hear the party noise all around. That party was such fun. English book bloggers and booksellers! And one Welsh blogger, at least, who'd taken the train all the way :-)

with the lovely interviewer; photo by my dear friend Lori who came from Amsterdam for the party!

Quickly, on the subject of London, this was awesome. The YA bookseller at Waterstones Picadilly, the BIGGEST BOOKSTORE IN EUROPE (a beauty!) keeps a display of American YA titles that she imports, that are not published in the UK. Her name is Nicole, and she has really great taste in books. Check this out!

Anna and the French Kiss, right on top. Yay, Steph! Also, John Green, Daisy Whitney, Libba Bray, and more. A very good shelf, don't you think?

Okay, I think I've heard the IKEA fairy won't come so long as you're awake, so I'm off to bed to read. READ! (The Red Glove, by Holly Black!) I'm so so so so so SO behind on books, I keep meaning to take a picture of the most pressing stack, but it's so depressing. Please someone, is there no way to STOP TIME? So I can READ??? Preferably in a hammock in a private tropical cove? In the shade? With spearfishing interludes, and swimming with a knife strapped to my thigh? And frolicking, and watching Clementine frolic. Frolic. What a word.

With that, good night!

AWESOME AMAZING WONDERFUL THINGS!

2011-10-17T16:06:00.000-07:00

Lovely display from the Boulder Bookstore.

Hi! I'm briefly home in Portland before the final leg of my tour (California! Come see me :-), and it is so nice to be here, even in the midst of the still-not-unpacked house mess. Such an unreal few weeks this has been, kind of feels like someone took scissors and snipped around it and it is just outside of and apart from real life entirely. Being on book tour. Weird. I am working on a longer post, but for now I just want to post the AWESOME that is happening!

AWESOME AMAZING WONDERFUL THINGS!

I mentioned I was interviewed live on the Woman's Hour on BBC 4 Radio while in London. That was scary and fabulous. Here's THE LINK if you want to listen; it's not long. And so I didn't get to feeling it was too serious or anything, the next segment is on making fish pie, ha ha :-) (Another BBC spot upcoming later this month; more on that later!
HOLY SMOKES! ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY! As if the Must List wasn't enough, a review! An A-!! Thank you so much, Entertainment Weekly, I love you!

And, um, still processing this one. THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW. They liked it!

Now, off to pizza and kid's music with mah bebbies. Cheers!