Monday, December 7, 2009

Beautiful Creatures Launch Party

Sorry so late today! I spent the morning driving home from my writer's retreat through a blizzard...

1. So, Free Query/First Page Friday was a huge success. I received more entries than I thought I would, and I can’t wait to read them all. Early trends: fantasy.


I thought it would be fun to share some tidbits from the samples in the next few weeks. (Don’t worry... if you sent me something I won’t share anything without permission).


Here’s the first line from Jenilyn Tolley’s page:

“I used to believe that my real mom was a stripper.”

I remember reading her first page at BYU over the summer, and I thought, Why would someone think that? Made me read on.

2. We went to the launch party for Beautiful Creatures the other night. The book is getting great reviews, and it’s already been optioned for a movie.

I’m about halfway through and savoring the gothic southern tale.

What makes it even better is that the two authors, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, are two of the coolest women around. I first met them when they recruited me to participate in a Writing Partners project where we exchange writing samples with a 4th grade elementary class.
(Kami, Margie, Me)

Other shenanigans at the party:

*In a unanimous vote, nobody thought my newly-darkened hair is brunette, so I vowed to show them. Show them all. (We played with color at my writer's retreat. I will unveil the new hair on Wednesday. Please don’t tell my mom I used store coloring kits without adult supervision. She’d kill me.)

*We met a book blogger of Tongan heritage. Emily Wing Smith said she knew Kika was Tongan because she was wearing flip-flops. (Emily is a friend of the Tongans, and has learned this little secret.)
(Sara Zarr, Valynne, Emily, Me, Bree, James Dashner, Kika, Kika's Friend)

*When Kika said she was an accounting major, I accidentally said, "Oh, that's great. If accounting were actually fun, I'd like it." Sorry Kika. And all of you accounting majors.

*Sara accused Emily of making sweeping generalizations about Tongan footwear, to which Emily responded by swiping her with my Pashmina shawl.

*We met Robbie the "boy with books" blogger. He told me that during a “which Glee character are you?” discussion, he was voted most like Rachel. He also gave Beautiful Creatures 5 stars.

(Emily, Sara Z., Heather Gardner, me, and blanket of Robbie)

*We went to dinner with Utah’s number one book blogger, Natasha Maw. She ate the last appetizer, even though I made her aware of my diabolical plan to steal it. It was like I told her, she shrugged and reached across the table to grab it and eat it.

*We discovered that Sara Zarr’s happy face looks the same as Sara Zarr’s annoyed face, except for a slight arch in the eyebrows.
(Sara Z. happy, and Heather Gardner)

*Apparently we all need hearing aids. When Emily told us she bought Sara Z. "Jesus Pens", I heard "Jesus Pets". I was a little surprised Emily would purchase a Jesus-themed Chia Pet.

*When I told Bree and Valynne they had "Thick boots on", they heard "thick boobs on." For some reason, they didn't question me about it. Apparently, That sounds just like something I would say.

*At dinner, when the waitress commented on my cool phone cover, I told her I bought it to match my brunette hair, and she didn't bat an eye. (Is it bat an eye, or an eyelash?) Anyway, so she totally thought I was brunette. And I trust random waitress girl over writer chicas.


*Somebody at the party kept spontaneously forcing his 2-year old to do pushups.

*Okay, it was James.



So, I dyed my hair twice last night at our writer's retreat, despite Bree Despain's best efforts to convince me Hair is a Many Splendored Thing.

I will say this: the hair resists brown. It does, however, prefer red. Can't wait to show you all the pictures. It's a good thing my mom doesn't read my blog...

20 comments:

  1. Wow! Can't wait to see how it turned out. And I may have to look into Beautiful Creatures. Thanks for the heads up on that.

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  2. Haha, sounds like an exciting weekend! I can't wait to see your hair!

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  3. Good thing that I love red heads! Welcome home. Sorry about the broken dishes, food all over the counter, laundry in the tv room, the unmade beds, etc.

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  4. I was quoted! I feel so cool!

    The launch party sounds like it was fun. I'll have to read the book, especially given the hook on their website.

    A friend and I experimented with her hair colors when we were teenagers. She was a natural blond and has never been the same since. Good times! Anyway, I look forward to seeing the new color.

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  5. Nikki- I still cringe when I look in the mirror. Hopefully by Wednesday I'll be ready to out the 'do.

    Lulabell- It was very exciting. As in "dye your hair, regret it, dye it again, regret it even more, learn to live with it" exciting.

    Sam- I have nothing snarky to say to you today. My hair will be snark enough when you see it.

    Jenilyn- I'm a natural blond too, which means after age 22, my hair resembled the color of dirt. But I did discover this weekend that it's not as easy as you'd think to get those stubborn light pieces to go dark. Not easy at all...

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  6. I was a natural blond until my gold locks decide to turn dirty dishwater blond. My hair is still considered blond, but it's a very dark blond and a lot of people mistake it for light brown (including my hubby). For some reason, my hair has never found being dyed difficult. I can go light blond, dark brown almost black, fire engine red, coppery red, maroon red, etc. And yes, those are all colors I've tried. ;)

    I can't wait to see your hair, even though I kind of got a preview on Facebook. :)

    Thanks for the fun post! Guess what? I'm going back to school on January 4. I'm taking some writing classes too! Woo hoo!

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  7. I am currently reading Beautiful Creatures. Great book! I have writer's envy. Here in Georgia we don't have many get togethers.

    Can't wait to see the hair. I do believe you're supposed to go dark gradually if you're a blonde. How do I know this? I talked my mother-in-law into getting her hair colored. She has white hair and has had white hair since she was 30. I don't want to go into too much detail. (Her therapist said a few more sessions and she'll be over the trauma.) Needless to say, I have not offered any more advice when it comes to her hair.

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  8. Jenni- the preview on Facebook was the before. Just wait until you see the after.

    Nicole- So, blonds are supposed to go dark gradually? A piece of information that would have been useful yesterday.

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  9. Haha! Love it. If you click on the close ups of us we all have demon eyes. I can fix those for you :) Send them over (the photos, not the eyes) I can't get the one fo Sara and I to come up. What a fun night.

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  10. What fun!

    Beautiful Creatures looks great!

    I used to highlight my hair. I'm a dishwater blond and it would naturally lighten to blond in the sun. However, now that I'm an adult, working, indoors, I'm dishwater blond. I stopped coloring it only because I wanted to remember what my real hair color was. At the moment, I like it and probably keep it natural until I get bored or something.

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  11. Accountants rock and it is the most exhilirating profession there is. Nothing beats trying to make up ways to improve you books within legal limits and find ways to balance your debits and your credits without actually having to post a debit. Plus, to have the power of a "Write Off" at your finger tips is better than....well...a good old fashioned high school NCMO.

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  12. Wha . . ?! You don't like the hair?! Or are you just joking around? I've seen it for myself. I like it.

    Glad you didn't die on your way home today. Let's have our next writing weekend in July. In Arizona.

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  13. Heather- it was all I could do just to download them from my camera and upload them to my blog. I feel like I should get a medal for that.

    Una- I think those around me are wishing I would stop coloring my hair too.

    Cam- Wow. Way to pull out the NCMO reference. With all of your accounting phrases in there, NCMO was the only one I understood. I will say, though, you make the profession sound exotic.

    Kim- I love my hair. I'm just counting the days til it washes out for Bree's sake.

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  14. You win a medal :)thanks for posting them.

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  15. It all looks so fun. I'm so jealous that you get to hang with all those awesome writers. Dashner and Sara Zarr - so cool.

    Hope I get to see your hair in person.
    I once dyed my friends hair red and it all fell out. I'm not sure if that was my fault though. She died her hair a lot and think my dye job was the last straw. I hope that was the case anyway.

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  16. Mary- I can only hope my hair falls out.

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  17. I hope James new the kid he kept encouraging to do pushups. Haha.

    Are the girls of Beautiful Creatures from here in Utah or did they just know how to throw a good party? I'm just curious because Utah seems to be the new....well whatever is the coolest place to be from for writers is. Space?

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  18. Debbie- Kami has family ties here, and wrote part of the book while she was staying in Park City. So, yeah, they are part of the whole Utah YA Author Connection Thingee.

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  19. LOL Brodi! it was sooo awesome meeting you! haha all of you were such a hoot! and no offense taken about the accounting remark LOL things can get a bit drab ;)

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  20. Kika- So good to meet you too! I really love accountants. Some of my best friends are accountants. Thanks for finding me on Facebook.

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