I'm getting ready to leave for Mepham High School in Bellmore L.I. to deliver a keynote speech to the National English Honor Society Inductees.

I know!

So excited.  I'm into my speech and might post it here when I'm done.

What a weekend!  There was the One Story Debutante Ball with Tara Altebrando as my delightful escort and our stalking of Andrew McCarthy and my drag queen with a vagina makeup. So fun! So Exhausting! A night surely worth an elaborate post.

And then there was the NJ house hunting which was great but sad because I fell in love with a house that we are probably not going to buy... AGAIN.

And then there was little league T-Ball (!) at 8:45 am (!) the next day followed up with 8 hours of laundry and then a glamorous book launch for my pal Hannah Moskowitz's amazing book GONE GONE GONE which I trudged to in the pouring rain but was totally worth it. Lucas Klauss was there and Robin Wasserman, and Anica Rissi, and we talked about my kids and the biz and the genius of H. Moskowitz.

Watched the tail end of Girls, (which I like, ok?) and then the re-run of Game of Thrones (which I love/hate) and then I was so freaked out by the demon, smoke, devil baby that came out of the red haired devil lady that I couldn't fall asleep.

As soon as I get pictures I will post and share and etc.  And I figured out what to do with my book (the new one I'm working on diligently) thanks to one Amelia Kahaney.

Yesterday I was mildly depressed and exhausted all day. But I worked on my speech, finished GOOD GIRLS DON'T DIE (which was great and fun) and etc.

OK.  Are we caught up?  And can I name drop SOME MORE?  Jeeze.

Photos soon...

xoxo

INVINCIBLE SUMMER: FTW

“Engrossing, messy, complex, and real. Moskowitz's writing is raw and so right." –Lauren Strasnick, author of Nothing Like You

"An intense, bittersweet novel about how people come together and how they break apart, set over four summers. A powerful story that will stay with you." --Jennifer Hubbard, author of The Secret Year

“It’s clear that the author cares deeply about her characters, and she gives their lines density and, frequently, a heavy nostalgic feeling. Teens will welcome the unfiltered dialogue….Chase is a sympathetic protagonist who, like many teens, is on a quest for connection and understanding….Readers will…embrace Moskowitz’s introspective characters and the dramatic situations in which they find themselves.” –SLJ

“The dreamy alternate world of summer vacations provides the backdrop for this soulful look at the growing pains of a single, outwardly normal family....In four sections, each one year apart, Moskowitz delivers a series of scenes--some so brief and spare you'd almost have to call them 'moments'--that communicate Chase's aching awareness of the passage of valuable time....Coming off the edgy Break, this is surprisingly breezy, and you have to commend Moskowitz for her commitment to writing sensitive books with male protagonists." –Booklist

There is a writer I know who has had a huge impact on me during this whole YA escapade.

Her name is Hannah Moskowitz. Perhaps you have heard of her? If I had been pregnant in high school, I am technically old enough to be her mother but I am not her mother- I am her acolyte.

We had the same agent and then we moved to the same agent in a good way, for exactly the same reasons. And we have the same publisher. WHAT ARE THE FREAKING ODDS?

She was crazy emotionally supportive of me and my effed up ego fear writing hangups early on, not by like, addressing them with me over coffee via Skype, but by leading by example.

She is just awesome and deals with that on a daily basis.

And she writes her ass off.

And she is so talented and insightful that I am constantly whipping out my notebook to jot down the bits of wisdom that flutter down from the master.

And her amazing and beautiful book INVINCIBLE SUMMER is out TODAY TODAY TODAY!

Run, don't walk, as the kids say. Available at fine booksellers everywhere.

And thank you Hannah Moskowitz for everything...

xx

BONSAI!!!!

I am doing it. I am going to write a novel in 30 days. Hannah Moskowitz made me do it. And my life made me do it, too. I have three ideas for another book and I'm the kind of writer that needs to be threatened, whipped, cajoled, shamed, dared, challenged, tricked, peer pressured etc. into producing words. I think I would be more productive if I would stop self editing at every opportunity and use the bonsai approach- just vomit out 50,000 words and then prune, trim, hack away until I like the deformed little tree that remains.

I have mocked the NaNoWriMo in the past as a gimmicky exercise in futility but have seen the light. I need to get started. I'm going to just write my guts out: EVERY DAY. For one month straight. Wish me luck. I'll keep you posted. I think I'm going to try and expand my favorite and most successful short story "Buying the Farm" into a novel ala the great Meg Mullins.

I'm getting my literacy charity links together and they are good ones. If you have any suggestions, let me know!