The Snarky Question-Maker gives an Introduction to my Blog

Hey y'all. How goes it?

I thought since we have a few new visitors (Hi! new people!) today could be an introduction post. So I've awakened that sleeping giant, the great Question-Maker (who lives in the void between rainbows and shooting stars) to interview me.

Question-Maker: yawn, stretch, crick. "Hey, every- whoa. A lotta new faces around here. What happened?"

me: "Well, dear Question-Maker-"

QM: "That's Mr. Question-Maker to you."

me: "But we've known each other for years! We should be on a first name basis. What do you call me?"

QM: "A nickname I only use on special occasions."

me: "What occasions?"

QM: "Right after you've left a room." snort

me: "..."

QM: "..."

me: "Okay, so we have some new faces I think because of the EVERNEATH cover reveal, and I think because of the ARC."

QM: "What's an ARC?"

me: "An Advanced Reader Copy of my book. I got them last week. Wanna see a pic?

The cover makes my hand look even uglier.

I love it so much."

QM: "You know the rule about loving your ARC?"

me: "No."

QM: "You can love your ARC, just don't love your ARC."

me: "I would never-"

QM: "That means no petting."

me: "Dang!"

QM: "So, for the new people around here (and I really don't know why they would want to spend time here)-"

me: "Stop with the asides!"

QM: "Sorry, that was supposed to be an internal aside. So, for the new people - and welcome, you smart people - tell us a little about your blog."

me: "Okay. I blog every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I blog about writing and books, but even more I blog about random stuff."

QM: "Like that time you got stuck in a bathroom on Venice Beach?" snicker snicker

me: "... and I blog about other things too."

QM: "Like that time you shouted 'belly boobs!' to an elevator full of strangers?"

me: "That was not my fault! ... It was the fault of the shirt I was wearing."

QM: "I think those are great examples about what you can expect on the blog."

me: "I also blog about this guy a lot:"

Rafa Nadal, celebrating right after he heard he would be featured on my blog.

"He's playing in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon today."

QM: "What's Wimbledon?"

me: "It's only like the most important tennis tournament in the world."

QM: "What's tennis?"

me: "Seriously, do you even read my blog?"

QM: "I thought you already knew the answer to that question."

me: "And... that's it for the Question Maker! Thank you for your help."

QM: "I'm not done yet-"

me: "Thanks so much for stopping by!"

QM: "But I still have more-"

me: "Have I described Rafa's hip dents to you lately?"

They are defined, and pointy.

QM: "You're right. Look at the time. See y'all next time!"

Okay, so that was the Question Maker! If you would like to run a question through the Question-Maker, and have me answer it, you can leave it in the comments.

And if you're new here, take a moment. Introduce yourself. We're very nice around here, and we only bite on special occasions. Like Tuesdays.

I'll even give you a question form you can use:
1. Name
2. A little bit about yourself
3. How would you describe Rafa's hip dents?

How my Blog Dressed to Match my Cover, and Some Other Covers I Love.

Hey y'all!

Do you notice anything different around here?

No, I haven't lost weight. But thank you.

It's my blog! After the big Cover Reveal last Friday, I received a lot of suggestions that I should dress to match my book:

Since there's no way I could rock that dress, or even squeeze into that dress, I decided to dress up my blog to match. What do you think?

Also, I have to give a big shout out to the world wide web for all of their support over the cover. And let me tell you, that cover took a lot of work. First, I had to find the girl. Then, I had to shop at JC Penny for the dress. Then - this was the hardest part - I had to search the world for some smoke/cloud/fog action...

Okay, I had nothing to do with the cover. Huge thanks for the cover team at HarperCollins. Did you know there are graphic design guys that specialize in smoke?

Anyway, since I've sort of been cover-obsessed this past week, I'd love to share with you some of my favorite covers of recent and upcoming books:

First up, IMAGINARY GIRLS by Nova Ren Suma:

I think Nova should totally dress to match.

It's so darn lovely. And mysterious.

Next up, and keeping with the water theme, THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER by Michelle Hodkin. 

Some guys are hot enough that you wouldn't mind being pulled under with them.

Seriously, I don't know what it is about underwater shots, but they are so awesome!

And, now, we have an upcoming book, INCARNATE by Jodi Meadows:

Um... you have something on your face... near your eyes...

I think this cover is so different than anything I've seen lately! I love the colors, and I have to know why her eyes have wings!!

And, in keeping with the "winged creatures on the face" theme, here is another one I love, LUMINOUS, by Dawn Metcalf:

It says something good about a person when butterflies love her.

Oh, man. So so pretty!

This is why I love hardcover books so much. They are works of art! So, what are some covers you love? 

Also, a reminder that if you'd like a chance to win an arc of EVERNEATH, stop by CranberryFries and Windy's blogs. All you have to do is assemble the right phrase to tweet. It's sort of like a treasure hunt, and who doesn't love a treasure hunt?

Happy EVERNEATH Cover Reveal Day!

Hey y'all! 


Happy Friday! Or as I like to call it, Happy EVERNEATH Cover Reveal Day! (Oh yeah, and Happy Birthday Mom. It really is her birthday.)


Anywho, there are some awesome things going on today, but on other blogs. So today, we have linky soup. 


First off is the official cover release at the Pageturners blog. So, if you want to see my cover, and possibly leave a comment as to how beautiful you think it is, but only if you do think it's beautiful, click here.


Your Chance to Win an ARC of EVERNEATH!


And, would you like to have a chance to win an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy, available now!) of EVERNEATH? 


Then head over to Debbie CranberryFries' blog at 10:00 a.m. Mountain Standard Time (You know, the other one in the middle!) for some exclusivey Everneath stuff and directions on how to enter the contest! 


I believe the entries involve tweeting something. So Debbie's blog will have the first half of the tweet, and then Windy (Like the Weather)'s blog will have the second half. 


Then all you need to do is figure out the function of X using a Pythagorean theorem, and voila!


Kidding. All you need to do is tweet on the Tweeter!


So, head on out. And thank you for joining me in this crazy journey. Today is another one of those milestones, and thanks for celebrating with me!


I love everyone. Especially you.

Info on my First ARC giveaway, and the Plan to Reveal the Cover of Everneath

Sorry so late, y'all. Blogger was a beast this morning.

So, I got something awesome in the mail yesterday. That sentence reminds me of Cold Comfort Farm, where the matriarch repeats over and over, "I saw something nasty in the woodshed," but we never find out what exactly she saw.

Well, that is not going to happen here. I can't divulge certain things, but I will give you some hints.

Hint #1:

It's rectangular

Hint #2:

As Hamlet would say, it is filled with "Words, words... words."

Hint #3:

It's something I wrote.

Hint #4:

It's a book.

Okay, maybe I'm being a little obvious. But I'm used to playing Hangman with Kid C, and I'm finding my hints are not cutting it.

Poor man on the rope didn't stand a chance.

Maybe you have already guessed, but if you haven't, here is one final clue:

Hint #5: It starts with an E and ends with a VERNEATH.

Give up? Okay, it's my ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) of EVERNEATH! I can't show you the actual book yet, because the awesome Pageturners Blog is hosting a BIG REVEAL on Friday of the final cover, which I haven't even seen yet.

But I can show you the breadth of my work. And by breadth, I mean width.

Maybe an inch and a half? Two?

And I can show you what it's like to flip through the pages:

As I said, the Pageturners Blog is revealing the cover on Friday. And that's not all! Would you like to know how you can win a signed ARC, among other EVERNEATH goodies? 

Windy (Like the Weather) and Debbie (CranberryFries) are hosting exclusive interviews with me on Friday as well, and between their two blogs, you will be able to find out how to enter to win the ARC! 

So... plan on Friday. Stop by Pageturners and let me know what you think of the cover, and then pop on over to Windy and Debbie to enter the contest. 

It's my first ARC giveaway! Woo Hoo!

Any theories on what the cover will look like?

Why I let out a Blood-Curdling Scream Saturday Morning. Did you hear it?

So, Saturday morning, I wake up. 

Sam comes in my room and is all, "We can't find Kid C's iTouch. Can you help me?"

He looks at me, I look at him, as we do most mornings. 

me: "Sure, honey."

I go downstairs and start looking while Sam looks upstairs. After a few minutes, he calls down to me. I stand at the bottom of the stairs, he is at the top, and he tells me he found the iTouch. All the while, he is looking at me.

I come back upstairs, and go to the sink to brush my teeth. As I'm putting toothpaste on my toothbrush, Sam appears behind me. I turn around, and naturally, we look at each other. He says, "I'm off to work. See ya later."

I'm all, "Okay! See ya soon!"

He leaves and I turn back around to start brushing my teeth. I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. And I scream.

On top of my head, nestled in my hair, is a giant brown spider. 

Hi Brodi! I love your hair.

So, the spider and I calmly have a conversation about my split ends, and he insists I shouldn't have been able to see him because he was deeply entrenched in my dark roots. 

Just kidding. There was no conversation. Unless you count my screaming and running outside, yelling for Sam. 

Me: "Sam! There's a spider on my head!"

He takes one look, and I see it on his face that he has indeed seen the spider. 

me: "Get it out! Get it out!"

Summoning up a buttload of courage, he digs his fingers under the spider, and flings it across the porch, along with only a few strands of my hair. 

Two things bother me about this whole situation:

First - no surprise - there was a spider in my hair. Not a small spider. A giant brown spider. This has resulted in more than one dream about spider eggs being laid on my scalp. For the rest of the day, about every five minutes, I would involuntarily scream and scrape my fingers through my hair.

Second, Sam talked to me three times. Three times! Face to face. And he didn't see the spider. 

Whereas, when I glanced in the mirror, it was the first thing I saw. I don't have a picture of me with the spider on my head, but I had to look something like this:

Sam was all, "Nice hair. So I have to go to work now. See ya."

And he didn't notice. 

I'm trying to rein in my anger, but when you have a spider on your head all morning, all you can think about is that there has to be someone to blame. 

And I blame Sam.

How about y'all? Anyone ever had a spider on their head? 

I can tell you this much: I'll never be the same again.

What do a door in L.A.'s Griffith Observatory and the Publishing Industry have in common?

Just when you think you've found a way in... you get this:

This picture is not a picture.

It's okay, though. That door was subjective. We queried another entrance and it turned out to be an actual entrance.

On the other hand, once you're "in" the publishing industry, you might run into this:

The restroom of doom in Venice Beach

I got locked in here. And the rest of my party had already started down the boardwalk. And trust me when I say the last place you want to be randomly pounding on a door, screaming like a crackhead, from inside the toilet, is Venice Beach. 

In the end, a nice man, with dreadlocks coming out of his armpits and an odor that had me writing home to mom, helped me out of my predicament.

He then proceeded to try to sell me his CD of reggae music. Which I of course bought. After I explained to him that he was white. I will buy anything from a stranger who breaks me out of the john.

That's my mission statement.

I have one more day of the WIFYR conference. I plan to have a wrap-up of all the awesome nuggets of wisdom for next week. 

So, what's everyone up to? Anyone else get trapped in a bathroom in Venice Beach? Or worse, anyone else querying right now? 

Happy Birthday Dad... May Your Chemo be Strong and your Hands Blister-Free

Today is my dad's birthday, and boy am I happy he's here.


It's his third birthday since being diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer the first time, and the fact that he's still here and going strong is a miracle.


The other day, at a soccer field on the top of the Laguna Hills, my nephews were looking for a goalie.


Boldly, my dad volunteered. He is literally half the man he used to be, and he made the large soccer net look even bigger.

No, that's not a pole in the center. That's my dad.

My sister warned the boys - one 12 and one 10 years old - to take it easy on my dad. But it's hard to rein it in when you're a young kid and your whole life has been soccer.

My younger nephew, Josh, started slow, but as Grandpa blocked shot after shot, he increased the power. Finally, he wound up and sent a zinger that he was sure would go in.

My dad reflected it. 

Josh stared at him, mouth agape. Then, with a hand on his hip, he said, "Grandpa, are you sure you have cancer?"

Last Saturday night, my dad's pediatric practice - which he started from the ground up -held a retirement party for my dad. We were a little worried the scene would turn emotional. Thankfully, my dad placated our fears by donning a superman t-shirt and a visor complete with a full head of gray hair sticking out.

He bought the ensemble at Venice Beach.

My dad at his retirement party. Never was known for his fashion sense.

He said Pediatricians don't retire. They simply morph into their superhero alter-egos permanently. 


Recently I watched him conquer a full week with six grandkids, neverending games of beach smash ball and topsy-turvy rides at Disneyland. Knowing how the chemo ravages both his innards and outards with equal ferocity, I couldn't help but think he's already a superhero. 


Happy Birthday Dad. Here's to many more.