First PROM response from a real reader

Samantha writes: OMG! I just wanted to tell you that I bought Prom today and have already read it! I loved it so much!  I love your books, you are such a great writer! Are you working on a new novel anytime soon?I hope so!

*author dances around apartment in slippers*

THANK YOU, SAMANTHA!!! Waiting to get feedback from “real readers” (i.e. teenagers who are not related to me or dating one my kids) is nerve-wracking at best. I am so excited that you liked the book!!!

*more dancing*

And yes, I’m working on a new YA. I hope it will come out next year. More details when I finish it.

My school visit was canceled after all, so I’m back at work cutting out all the boring junk in my picture book manuscript in search of the stray interesting tidbits. Wish me luck.

Waiting for Da-snow (apologies to Beckett)

I’m waiting, waiting, waiting… waiting to see if school is canceled in the Spring-Ford school district today on account of the snowstorm blowing its way up the coast. I am supposed to speak at every elementary school in the district this week. Right now, I’d say there is a 75% chance I’m staying home today.

Yesterday wound up being a family day instead of a writing day. Mer, Stef, Greg (their dad) and I met for brunch at Billy’s diner in Bethlehem. It’s been a long time since just the four of us sat down for a meal and it was very nice. After brunch, Mer and I tried to squeeze in some power-shopping, but my hunting skills are rusty and we did not find our prey. Next stop was Moravian College, where Stef and her friend Amy were directors of that school’s performance of The Vagina Monologues. Great job, ladies! After the drive home, we tried hunting again and bagged the white shirts Mer needs for her new job. And then we went to the grocery store. We hung out, ate dinner, and I talked to the BH on the phone for almost an hour before crashing. I tried to watch the Oscars but since I haven’t seen any of the nominated movies it was boring. Pretty dresses, though. I lasted ten minutes.

So if they call a snow day, I have plenty of work to do. My historical non-fiction picture book is as bloated as humanly possible. I am embarrassed to admit how long it is. I need to take a period-appropriate broadsword to the pages. If school is canceled, that’s what I’ll do.

(later) The witching hour of 5:30am has come and gone and still no call on the bat phone. I’ll get ready for the visit and call the reading specialist at today’s school before I head out the door.

Although PROM does not officially arrive in stores until Wednesday, some people have been able to buy it. Last night I received the first true fan email from a real live reader (as opposed to a friend, relative, or reviewer). I’ll post it here later.

Dreaming in Danish & Red Light Rant

I dreamed last night I was back in Denmark. (I lived there for a year when I was 16.) I love having Denmark dreams. They are like cheap vacations. I get to hear the language, try to speak it, buy Danish newspapers, see old friends, and eat all my favorite foods. In the past couple of weeks I have run across a couple Danes at school visits (Dav, Anne, hvordan gaar det?) and that probably triggered the dream. It was kind of a bummer to wake up.

I stayed up too late watching the first part of the original Rocky movie. It is the perfect Philly film. I want it on DVD for Mother’s Day.

In other Philadelphia news, the first camera installed at a notoriously bad intersection caught 525 drivers running red lights in the first 48 hours. You read that right: 525 morons who thought they were more important than anyone else on the road blazed through a red light in ONE intersection in 48 hours. Stupid, dangerous, pig-headed, criminal, selfish morons. Running red lights is an epidemic in this area. Do not do this. It gives you bad karma and will bring evil deeds to the next four generations of your family. Red means stop.

Yesterday I finally got in touch with a historian I’ve been calling for a month. She was very nice, but did not say what I wanted her to say. A crucial piece of historical information that I really, really, really wanted to use in the book I’m finishing up cannot be verified. (Insert temper tantrum here.) I am broken-hearted about this. I have one more person to call, another researcher, but chances are slim and none that she’ll have a miraculous primary source that no one else knows about.

The rest of today will be devoted to rewrites and verifying historical things. Not a bad way to spend a cold Saturday.

This morning’s mood score:
Happy stuff – Danish dream, Rocky movie, red-lighted-running jerks busted, working on history = +4
Sad stuff – having to cut out favorite section of book due to lack of primary sources = -2
Score = +2 It’s going to be a good day.

WHAT THE #$%&?????

Attention all Philly-area lovers of rock and roll:

Y100 is dead. They killed one of the best radio stations ever. Y100 goes off the air tonight.

ARGH!!!!! How can do this? What are they thinking?? And who are THEY??? I want their numbers. I want them to call me up and sing to me when I am writing. No, I want them to pay Dave Matthews to sing to me when I’m writing. OMG – how am I going to write without Y100???

(off to sob uncontrollably)

Go here to vent and mourn and sign the petition to bring THEM to their senses!

Rally, troops, rally. We will beat the corporate fiends back into their holes! I want my Y100!!