My Personal Lifetime Movie... and Our Next Author Interview

Good morrow, yon readers! (See, I told you the writing conference worked.)

Bree Despain finally gets to show off her new book cover for The Dark Divine, so check it out!

Contest Status: Okay, so since the contest officially ended at midnight last night, that left me with no time to procure Smokey the Hairless Cat to pick the winner, so I will announce the winners Wednesday. Cool? Cool.

Again a big thank you to all the people who participated. The procreating bunnies didn't stand a chance. In fact, their latest batch of bunnies were born sterile, so, way to be intimidating, blog readers! We're sterilizing bunnies in our quest to take over the world! (Although I don't think that should be made into a bumper sticker or anything...)

And to those who thought about participating, but at the last minute didn't, because you think I can be temperamental and ornery (for some reason, I had to spellcheck both of those last words) I have the following to say to you:



Shannon Hale status: I finally met Shannon Hale in person; she was signing books at The King's English independent booksellers. (I've exchanged emails with her before- my agent Ted works at the same agency as hers). Also (Did you noticed how I used a semicolon?) My punctuation (rocks!)

Back to Shannon, what a cool girl. To kick off the signing, she and her husband sang "Islands in the Stream" karaoke in front of the crowd. Talk about not letting fame and fortune get to her head.

BLOG FART
My sis-in-law E said to me at lunch on Saturday, "I have no idea how you keep coming up with stuff to talk about on your blog." I laughed and shooed away the idea with a wave of my hand.

But then I thought about it. And thought about it. Hmm.... I have no idea either. Is this a problem most people face? Staring at the computer on blog day with nothing to talk about? Absolutely nothing?

And then I let it get to me. The fear. What if I run out of things to say? What if I can't think of anything funny? What if I'll never be funny again? Was I ever in the first place? (Don't answer that.)

You can probably guess what happened next: performance anxiety. This morning, I sat at my computer, with absolutely nothing of interest to say. Zip. Zero. It reminded me of that Garfield comic strip, where Jon informs Garfield that cats can't walk on their hind legs.
















I didn't know it was hard until someone told me. And now, FACE-SPLAT. I have nothing to say. I will never have anything more to say. I've blogged everything.

On that note, it's time for another author interview. Emily Wing Smith (author of The Way He Lived) has kindly agreed to answer our burning questions. Emily is one of the nicest people I have ever met, but that's not the only reason I love her book.

The Way He Lived is about Joel Espen, who died of dehydration after giving away his water during a badly planned Boy Scout expedition.
The book starts after his death.

So, did Joel purposely give up his water? Did he want to? And why would someone want to?

I have to say I really love her book. From a writing perspective, it is a Master's Class on how to write several different voices.

There's an aspect of the book that not every reader picks up on, which I think is another interesting facet. So if you get a chance, read it. (You can also click on the picture to order it from Amazon). It got a starred review on Publisher's Weekly, which is pretty cool.

So, to make a long story short (too late) I'll send her a list of ?'s, but if any of you would like to ask a question, just add it to the comments. And I know for a fact many of you have read this little gem, so I expect questions. Sky. Anne C. Writer peeps.

And to sweeten the pot...
Since I just obtained some autographed copies of Shannon Hale's new book The Actor and The Housewife, and Shannon recently said Emily's book was one of her favorites, I think we'll give both books away. Cool? Cool. Ask a question for Emily, get entered in a drawing for Emily's book and Shannon's book.

Be sure to ask Emily about "bad hand". She cracks me up.

Holy cow. I really am single-handedly keeping the publishing industry afloat with my giveaways. Sam just got mad at me, but I told him to talk to the finger. He's so not getting entered into the contest.

Shickety-brickets. I'm at the end of the blog, and I didn't even get a chance to start my actual blog post, which was "Thing About Me #16". And it was a doozy. I'll save it for Wednesday. That is, if I don't run out of blog ideas.

For now I will end with the TOP FIVE STUPIDEST TITLES OF LIFETIME MOVIES:

5. The Advocate's Devil

4. She Woke Up Pregnant

3. My Stepson, My Lover

2. Crowned and Dangerous

and my personal favorite...

1. Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?

Wanna know my own personal Lifetime Movie Title? (Courtesy of Lifetime Title Generator):

Not Without My Dead Husband: The Brodi Ashton Story

I prefer:

Sterilizing Bunnies on her Quest to Take Over the World: The Brodi Ashton Story

So, what are y'all doing this week?