Behold!

I'm feeling particularly brilliant today, my Minions. And for once, I have reason to! A) I had major change of thought process for DEVON'S PLAYGROUND last night (note to Minions: characters who suffer are more interesting), and B) I wrote a thousand words for MISS ELIZABETH'S FINISHING SCHOOL FOR GIRLS! (And no, I can't tell you what either is about just yet...but with any luck, I'll give you a glimpse soon)

And that's not all.

A few days ago, I bought my plane ticket for the best conference ever (it must be...I'm on a panel--and with the amazing Barb Ferrer, who wrote ADIOS TO MY OLD LIFE as Caridad Ferrer!), and yesterday I noticed that the fangtastic cover of EIGHTH GRADE BITES is now on Amazon--too cool! Aaaaand now that NINTH GRADE SUCKS has been accepted by my wonderful editor, my mind is racing with all sorts of thoughts on future books. Yay!

However...*insert forlorn sigh here...actually, wait, it's bigger than that...better make it fivelorn* I have a problem. Vlad is the laziest blogger on the planet. Lazier, even, than yours truly. So here's what I'm wondering, my faithful Minion Horde: what would you like to see on Vlad's blog? Or should I chuck the whole thing and put in an appearances page?

And remember, if there's something you want to read about, if you have any questons at all, I'm just an email (or a post reply) away.

the current bane of my existence -or- the outline from hell

Outlines. Yeesh. A chapter by chapter description of a book that shows all major plot points in an interesting and organized matter. Sounds easy, right?

For some, it is. For me...not so much. I can do interesting. I can do organized. I just can't do them together in outline form.

Strike that. I can. I just have to work hard at it. Eventually, something will pop into place and I'll see the light. Right? ....RIGHT?!

But, despite how much I'm focusing on DEVON'S PLAYGROUND and its outline, despite being super busy planning my big vampire school dance launch party, despite making plans to hit NYC in May (where I'll be on a conference panel!), despite the happy distraction of some truly excellent personal/family news, I'm still managing to let self-doubt creep in. What if no one buys EIGHTH GRADE BITES? What if I never really go on to publish again? What if I'm a one book wonder, a hack, a nobody?

But that's silly, isn't it? I'm a fairly talented writer. I have the will, the drive to succeed. I'm never giving up. So that should mean that I might possibly be minorly successful, right? ...RIGHT?!

I blame all my insecurities on outlining.

Seriously.

Y'know why? Because I KNOW how much I suck at it, so even when I'm facing it, and not doing too bad of a job at it, I convince myself that I can't do it...which is stupid. Because I can do anything I put my mind to. I've proven that to myself time and time again.

So...what do you Minions blame your insecurities on? Or am I the only one filled with occasional dread?

A Quick Post

I thought you Minions might get a kick out of what the entire book jacket will look like.

Revisions=a good thing

I know. Just typing that made me feel a bit sick in the tummy. But it's true. Revisions are a good thing. Stories improve when we take a good, honest look at them and make the appropriate tweaks. Take, for instance, NINTH GRADE SUCKS. Last night, I learned that my editor has accepted the revised manuscript (WOOHOOO!!!) and she even called it a "strong and exciting sequel" and a "skillful and smart revision". *faints* So, revising? Good. Trust me.

With any luck, this will ease my sleeping troubles. Cross you fingers, Minions.

Happy Mail and the Party of Doom

Good morning/afternoon/evening/what-have-you, Minions! I have a couple of tidbits for you today. First, I'm terrible at checking my P.O. box, but when I remembered to a couple days ago, I was rewarded with the most amazing gift--a big envelope stuffed with letters from the students of Ms. Levandoski's Books Fall Open class (I visited with them in December). The letters brought tears to my eyes--their comments ranged from how EIGHTH GRADE BITES is sure to be a top seller (Are you paying attention, NY Times? Because this is inside info here, from the most important reviewers there are! Call me, we'll do lunch) to how I inspired one student to change their mind about giving up their dream to be a writer. All in all, I think they had a good time. So did I. Funny how I could love spending time at school now, when I hated it soooooo much at their age. (Of course, I don't have algebra coming up next period and can go home whenever I want) Anyway, I look forward to more classroom visits. They rawk muchly.

Secondly, I wanted to talk a bit about launch parties. I received an email from a curious writer, wondering where/when/how you're "supposed" to hold a party, celebrating a publication. But I'm afraid the answer isn't going to make them happy. The answer, of course, is that it depends. It depends how many guests you'll have, what activities you want to do, how much money you want to spend, etc. A launch celebration can be as simple as dropping by your local bookstore to snap a picture of your book, then retiring to your cozy home with a nice bottle of wine (or blood, depending on your vampire status). Or it can be as complex as...well, as what I'm doing. I'm renting a banquet facility, decorating it in black and red and hosting an hors d'voeures/drinks reception with a vampire school dance theme for about 150 people. Why? Because I can. Because I want to. Because I celebrate every little success in life, and damn it, I'm celebrating this big one too. There are naysayers, people that beg me to reconsider, that perhaps I should use that money sensibly toward other book-related stuff. But to them I say "Nanny nanny boo boo--It's Vlad's party and he'll bite if I want him too."

As you can se, I'm totally mature.

The thing is, no matter how/when/where you host your celebration, absolutely celebrate. There are so many downs in this business and so few ups...we have to grab those ups while we can.

Speaking of ups, you have ten weeks to win cool stuff.

Ooooh....Shiny....

Guess what Auntie Heather has? Go on! Guess!

Nope.

It's a laptop. Which means that I can write about all sorts of things in all sorts of places! (Hmmm, I wonder how the Red Cross would feel about me writing about Vlad at a Blood Drive...) Anyhoo, it's seriously cool. I've never had one before, so I'm very easily entertained by it. (Ooooh! What's this button do? Huh. Okay. Oooh, what about this one??)

HeatherLand has been pretty quiet lately. I've learned to latch on to the quiet times and write, write, write, so that's what I'm doing. DEVON"S PLAYGROUND (and to all those who have emailed and asked, I really can't say anything about it just yet, but trust me...it's scary) is looking really good. I have a first draft outline, a killer description (thank you, brilliant CP!), and the first half of the first draft of the actual story finished. This one took me a while to find out what it was really about. I killed three versions (and A LOT of pages) before finding my way home. But this is it. I can feel it. Every time I nail a story, I get goosebumps...and there they are, so I must be doing something right. (I'm sure my agent will be thrilled, I've been taking FOREVER to work on DP--but of course, I have the the most patient, understanding, wonderful agent on the planet)

I've recently been in touch with a very dear friend of mine that I've missed greatly (Hi, Christopher!), found some time to read, and I'm gearing up for blechy, stupid tax time.

And I got a laptop.

A shiny, new laptop.

Have I mentioned it?

What about you, Minions? What's up on your side of the cemetery?

The Laziest Blogger EVER

Geez, you'd think I'd forgotten how to blog, what with all this non-blogging I've been doing.

Bad Heather. No cookie.

On the writing front, I've finished my first draft of the first half of DEVON'S PLAYGROUND, and I'm about a quarter of the way through my first draft of the outline for DP. I can't wait for you to meet Devon! (And Stephen--after all, Stephen is the main character) I turned over to my wonderful editor my revised version of NINTH GRADE SUCKS...and I'm not gnawing my fingers down to the bone waiting to hear anything. Nope. I'm calm as a clam (assuming, of course, that clams are calm). It's weird to have Vlad resting quietly in the back of my mind while I deal with Stephen and Devon...but he's content to do so.

In happy WEEEEEE-lookie-what-I-got news...I'm the proud new owner of THE HARROWING by Alexandra Sokoloff, a dear friend of mine (and fellow lover of scaring the pants off of people). I'm a quarter of the way into the book so far and loving it. Absolutely loving it. You will too, when you go buy it.

Things here have been oddly quiet. And, strangely enough (though I love all the craziness of this business), I'm welcoming the calm. It gives me time to focus and do what I love to do. Write. Just write.

But I'll blog more. I owe you that much. I also owe you free stuff. (Because bribing you for your love and affection is what I do!)

As "Tasty" as AB Negative, Baby!

Vlad and I are pretty stoked. See, it looks like one of my favorite bloggers ever (no, really, before she mentioned me even I adored Fuse #8) mentioned EIGHTH GRADE BITES and my fabulous new cover. How cool is that??? I'm geeked. Could this be...buzz? Maybe? A lil bit?

Okay, so for some reason, EGB keeps getting labeled as a spring 2007 book, but it's not. Sadly, we have to wait until August for this puppy to debut. (Well...not me...I've read it already) Many thanks to the lovely Natalie or at Verlakay for pointing this out!

In other news, I've been hard at work on DEVON'S PLAYGROUND. Most of my work? Deleting all the crap. And oddly enough, it's not helping my wordcount go up (ignore the bar to the right--it LIES to you). But, DP is going to be fabulous, deliciously dark, and deep. But...if I don't get back to it, it'll never be finished, so...

The World's Going to Hell...

...and it's going to look great in heels. Jackie Kessler's HELL'S BELLES hits stores today!!!
Big congrats, Jax! Now, Minions, go forth and buy it!!

Have a Bloody New Year!

Oh, and uhhh, P.S. I was taking a week off.

So, what did the Minion Horde accomplish over the holiday break? Your fearsome leader managed to map out Devon's Playground (and add some wordage--it's looking seriously freaky now), develop an idea for another book (I need to clone myself so I have enough time to write them all), and took a little Me Time to relax and center myself.

Plus I got a new corset top. It rawks muchly.

So, look to 2007 with eyes brimming full of hope, my Minions. And then get back to work. You're not being paid to believe in the power of your dreams. ;)