Books!

It's book week on TFC, though it has been rather quiet around here. Perhaps my fellow authors are hiding away writing like I have been!

I have always been huge into books. I'd guess that most authors loved reading from an early age. My parents are both big readers and definitely encouraged that love. We spent a lot of time at the library. We didn't have cable until I was ten and I don't think we had a regular video membership until I was eight or nine because we just got movies from the library. I always did the summer reading challenges at the library growing up and usually won them.

I started drifting away from the library a bit when I got into high school because I didn't feel like there was much there for teens. I was definitely reading adult books at that time because there were only a couple YA books that reflected me and my life (Weetzie Bat and the other books by Francesca Lia Block and Girl by Blake Nelson). I've gotta say I'm jealous of teenagers now who have a much wider variety of books to choose from! Then again, part of the reason I started writing about teen characters is because I wanted to create those characters I thought were missing from literature.

People ask me all the time if I think I'll write something other than YA someday and I'm sure I will. I would love to write urban fantasy, but most of all I would love to write a pirate story. Yeah, you heard me right. Pirates. Why? Because the first story I was ever obsessed with as a kid was "Peter Pan." I was four years old. I made my mom read it to me over and over. But who was my favorite character? Not Peter. Not Wendy, the main female character. I loved Captain Hook and the pirates. And I told my mom that I wanted to read more pirate stories, preferably with girl pirates. My mom sighes heavily whenever she tells this story and says, "Stephanie, do you know how hard it was to find pirate stories appropriate for a four year old? Let alone girl pirates?" Yeah, I pity my mom and the librarians she employed to help her with this task. Ultimately Mom just had to keep reading "Peter Pan," which was fine with me fortunately. But I guess it is no wonder why I'm obsessed with the Pirates of the Caribbean movies now and especially love it when Elizabeth Swan is out there on the seas kicking butt. It fills a void that I'd had for twenty-some years. And now I'm sure there are more pirate books out there, even for four year-old girls. But don't be surprised if I write a pirate story one day. I'm just waiting for the right idea to strike...

So what about you? What was the first book or story you were totally obsessed with?

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Heavy Metal

So, as you’ve probably already gathered from the previous posts, this is embarrassing moments week. And as a person who’s suffered (and continues to suffer) such moments, I was really debating just which personal humiliation I’d be willing to share. I mean, which of the many horrifying events, (the landmarks of my life!), would I not just foist on you, dear reader, but also send out to the blogosphere where it can live on, indefinitely . . .

And it didn’t take long for me to decide that I wasn’t about to spill any of them. I mean, for years now I’ve denied those moments so successfully, there’s no use taking ownership of them now.

But then, right after I thought that, yet another embarrassing moment came to mind—one that I happen to relive on a daily basis. Or at least whenever I attempt to eat a sandwich, bite into a taco, or make headway on a sushi roll—out in the open—where everyone can see. And since this particular dirty little secret is becoming impossible to hide, I figured I might as well come clean with it now.

So here goes:

I, Alyson Noël, have an open bite.

Which means my top front teeth don’t make nice with my bottom front teeth.

Which also means they can’t tear food or successfully aid in the ingestion of any of the above items without the aid of a knife and fork. (Yes, I actually cut my tacos into small manageable pieces like you do with a toddler!). And just in case you don’t think this is embarrassing enough, I ask you when was the last time a tuna sandwich ended up on your chin, shirt, lap, and pretty much everywhere but your digestive track?

If by this point you’re thinking: Big deal! Just avoid these things and you’re golden! Well, you’d be right. But the thing is (oh, I also pronounce the word thing like theen not sure if this is open bite related?) sometimes I forget. Either that or I convince myself that this time will be different. Or I miscalculate the size of the petit four, thinking surely I can fit the entire theen into my mouth, only to find once it’s wedged half in-half out and refusing to go any further, that I can’t.

So after years of dealing with this, after years of talking about getting it fixed, I recently visited an orthodontist who told me I’ll need to wear braces for a year and a half, and possibly have jaw surgery in between that!

Yup, metal, rubber bands, and excruciating discomfort—all so I can eat a piece of pizza without suffering the shame of public humiliation.

Is it worth it? I haven’t decided. There are more consultations to come. But one thing is sure, a year’s worth of braces at my age is bound to bring on a whole new set of humiliating experiences, so at least I’ll have something to write about next time this topic comes around!

What about you? Did you ever wear braces? And if so, did you do it for food?

PS- WARNING!!! Shameless self promotion ahead!!! If this sort of thing sickens you, turn away now before it's too late!! Otherwise, read on . . .

It's Teens Read Week, which means it's time to vote for your favorite YA reads in YALSA's annual Teen's Top Ten Award and I'm happy to say that SAVING ZOE is nominated!!! If you read it and liked it and feel like voting, well, all you have to do is click HERE!

Thanks for indulging me!

Alyson- XOXO

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Which way to the restroom??????

Embarrassing moments..... hmm.... there have certainly been a few over the years. But there's one, that's not only embarrassing, but I've repeated on more than one occasion. WTF!!!! I'm sure you're wondering how embarrassing it can be if I'm stupid enough to repeat it over and over again. Well, see for yourself..... after I tell you about the first time.....

Many years ago when at college, I just had enough time between lectures to pop to the restroom. It wasn't one I'd visited before, and immediate first impressions of decor, smell, and funny silver 'thing' running alongside one wall, made me momentarily decide that I probably wouldn't visit again. Anyway, needs must, so I went into the cubicle, of which there was only one (with hindsight, also weird considering the size of the restroom). Several minutes later I emerged, poised to wash my hands before leaving, and I'm greeted with a room FULL OF MEN!!! OMG I nearly died on the spot. But did what any self-respecting girl would do under the circumstances..... looked forward, clutched the handle of the bag on my shoulder and marched outside.... complete with heart pounding so loud in my ears I swear they could hear it 5 miles down the road.

And as I mentioned, on several occasions since I have ended up in the men's restroom by mistake..... WHY???? Am I unable to read the signs on the door? Or am I unable to distinguish between the figure of a man or woman they put up there...... I guess it could be that...... I never wear my glasses when I'm out (only wear them for TV and driving)..... okay, so I'm grappling for excuses here...

So, is it me.... or have any of you ever done this?????

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The snake that came to stay

This week the topic is about embarrassing moments and while I've had plenty of those, most of them have been buried deep in denial land and I've been advised not to go in there without medical supervision (and gloves)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, as I glossed over all the stupid things I've done I suddenly recalled a little adventure my husband and I had about fifteen years ago when we were still living in Australia. The house we were in was on a small island that overlooked the water but was surrounded by bush. So one day when we went upstairs for lunch there was a rustling noise and we both looked over to see a small brown snake slithering across the room.

I immediately started to scream (not before jumping onto the closest table) and then as I racked my brain for everything I knew about snakes, I suddenly remembered that brown snakes were poisonous. The minute I told my non-snake-experienced English husband this, he jumped on the table next to me as the snake continued to slink along our carpet.

Now some people like to say that snakes are just as scared of us as we are of them, but I can assure you this is NOT the case and after standing on the table for about fifteen minutes, my husband realized he was going to have be a man and try and get it out of the house. For moral support I crept behind him, clutching at his shoulders and screaming every time the snake so much as stuck out its tongue.

Eventually he managed to hustle the snake to the back of the kitchen. I seem to recall the thinking was that we could then try and get it to go out the window. Unfortunately, the snake, obviously not liking this idea (it was a second storey window so I suppose I can see its point) decided to go toward the fridge instead and then proceeded to wrap itself around all the wiring at the back -it was an old fridge.

Anyway, the more my husband tried to get it off, the more it stuck - not helped by my continual screaming and arm flaying. After about an hour of complete panic, the snake was still there and since this was before the days of computers and google we ended up ringing the museum to try and find out what to do with this highly poisonous creature.

I was thinking they would need to send some sort of snake removal expert over in a helicopter at the very least and after I stopped hyperventilating, I finally managed to describe the snake.

Which was when the poor person on the other end of the phone had to inform me that it wasn't a brown snake but rather a completely harmless grass snake and that we should just leave open the windows and doors and wait for it to leave.

Okay, so perhaps it wasn't poisonous but it still looked pretty scary and there was no way in the world we were just going to calmly wait for it to leave, so I made my husband help me drag our very old, very heavy fridge outside onto the deck and wait until the thing finally untangled itself and went away.

The whole incident took about five hours and after the snake finally left, our closet neighbour appeared and when we explained what had happened they blinked at us like we were crazy and said that we should've just called them and they would've picked it up for us. What? And miss out on all that humiliation and screaming? Never...

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Fan Girls and Affordable Housing

I started a new job last week. As any young adult/middle grade writer will tell you, it's important to stay current. Not so much on the trends, which come and go, but with what teens and tweens are thinking and feeling. Some of it is universal and timeless. Check out Judy Blooms books if you don't believe me. Many of them written over twenty years ago still capture the thoughts and feelings of youth. But some things are new. For instance, we are now dealing with a post 911 generation. It's... different.

Anyway, in my desire to stay current and work in a field I believe in, I took a job with Community Partners for Affordable Housing. I help run an afterschool program for young people and children in poverty. It's a rewarding job and a blast because kids... well, they're fun.

Yesterday, a group of teens who have graduated from the program, came by and the director introduced me and told them about my book, Read My Lips. One of the girls had seen it on display at the library and was out of her mind with excitement. (She's a big reader, too.) She would call me over to the table while I was working with the little ones to ask questions. I heard her ask the other two, "Am I the only one so excited about this?" Then she asked me how much input authors had on their covers. I launched into a speil on it and one of the other girls said, "Wait! You wrote this?"

Classic moment.

So if you have a moment, check out CPAH's mission. I'm going to be collecting books for the library in the community center and am especially in need of books that have main characters of color.

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PROMO WEEK: NOT MY BOOK!

By the end of this year, I will have had five books come out in 2008: Secrets of My Suburban Life (YA, Jan); Me, In Between (tween, Mar); Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes (adult, Sep); and the first two volumes in The Sisters Eight series, Annie's Adventures and Durinda's Dangers, written with my husband Greg Logsted and our eight-year-old daughter Jackie (young readers, Dec).

As you can see, I've been a busy beaver, but since this is Promo Week here at TFC and it's October, and I have no books out in October or next month, then I might as well plug someone else's book. And who better to plug than my husband?

SOMETHING HAPPENED, by Greg Logsted, is scheduled to be published by Simon Pulse on Tuesday, November 4. The nice thing about that date is however the election goes here in the United States, for it will indeed be Election Day here, we'll have something to celebrate.

The official description on Amazon for SOMETHING HAPPENED is:

Five months after his dad's unexpected death, Billy Romero is still struggling with the loss. Billy's mom spends more time talking to her Bluetooth than to him, and his best friend, Ziggy, just doesn't get it. There's no one who understands how alone Billy feels...except his new English teacher, the young and beautiful Miss Gate.

Miss Gate offers support and friendship, even giving Billy extra help with his writing outside of school. Billy isn't really sure how he feels about spending so much time with his teacher. It's a little weird, but it's also kind of exciting that someone like Miss Gate wants to hang out with him. But the closer they get, the more Billy wonders what kind of friendship this really is...

SOMETHING HAPPENED is a wonderful book, even if I am admittedly biased. So, everybody, go here to preorder your copy of SOMETHING HAPPENED!

And, since I'm incapable of posting even a promo blog as monologue, preferring dialogue whenever I can get it, here's the question of the day:

I'VE JUST TOLD YOU WHICH BOOK YOU NEED TO GO OUR AND BUY - NOW IT'S YOUR TURN: WHICH BOOK DO I NEED TO GO OUT AND BUY?

Be well. Don't forget to write.

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crushes: are you my daddy?

When it comes to the topic of crushes, there are a million different stories I could tell. Most of them are extremely embarrassing and many are perhaps inappropriate. Let's just say I fall easily and hard. And you might ask - but aren't you happily married? Yes! That has nothing to do with it! The part of you that gets crushes is not amputated on your wedding day.

Now, I'm going to focus on some of my childhood crushes that could be categorized as Famous Men I Wished Were My Father.

Exhibit A: Bill Bixby. You'd think that I mean the BB of The Courtship of Eddie's Father, but no, I crushed on Bill as Dr. David Banner, aka The Incredible Hulk. He just seemed so...sad! And angry! Kind of like a certain man who lived in my house but was not available by simply turning on the TV, and was at a less safe distance.

Exhibit B: Danny Kaye and Gene Kelly, i.e. The Men of PBS Movie Night. I grew up before the time of cable TV and VCRs in every home, but thank God for Channel 9, our local public TV station, which showed lots of old movies. Such as Singin' in the Rain and The Five Pennies.

In The Five Pennies, Danny Kaye plays a talented jazz musician who gives up his career when his daughter contracts polio. Of course he'd do it again but you can't deny he's depressed and bitter. Then! When she's a teen, daughter finds out about dad's musical past and makes him open a club and then it's all sad until Louis Armstrong saves the day. My dad had a musical past, too, and since I already had a co-dependent savior complex this movie pushed my little nine-year-old buttons. And Gene Kelly was just...swoon.

Exhibit C: Captain James T. Kirk. I don't know. It's hard to explain this one except I must have been watching Star Trek at a time when William Shatner's bare chest and my blossoming man issues and my imagination all collided into a brilliant outer space explosion. I had this recurring fantasy that I was a stowaway on the Enterprise and Captain Kirk found me in the hold (or something) and took me under his wing and brought me to the bridge and I became part of the crew/family. [See also: Captains Von Trapp and Steubing.]

Exhibit D: Pa Ingalls. Covered wagons, leather boots, and good honest sweat. Pa would do anything for Laura, including climbing a mountain or belting Almanzo. Who doesn't want that kind of father?

There were others, but I think I've said enough.

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Book Boy Crushes

Today, I'm talking about CRUSHES! Instead of real-life guys I've crushed on or even movie star crushes, I wanted to talk about fictional crushes!

I've always crushed on guys in books. When I was a kid, I looooved Tom Sawyer. (And it didn't help when Jonathon Taylor Thomas played Tom in the Disney movie version!) Tom was H-O-T because he had awesome adventures like rafting and fishing, played pranks on Aunt Polly and was BFFs with another hot guy--Huck. But Tom crushed on that pesky Becky... Yeah, I wanted her to disappear.

Then, I went through an "I Heart Edward Cullen" phase. OMG. Is there a hotter YA character than Edward? (Silence, Team Jacob.) ;) My Edward love died a little during Breaking Dawn, but when the Twilight movies hits screens, I'm sure it'll come back in full force.

Now, my book boy crush is...Luke from Maggie Stiefvater's Lament. Luke is charming, mysterious, insanely attractive and...magical. *sighs*

So, who's your fictional guy crush? Spill!

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CRUSHES: STARS!

The last time I wrote about crushes here, I probably wrote about boys from school, those crushes that at least have the potential of being requited, however poorly they may turn out. Well, today I'm going to write about that most elusive of crush: the star crush.

Like most females, I had a series of star crushes growing up: the guy who played Don West on "Lost in Space", the guy who played Willie on "The Rookies", Don Johnson (specifically the episode where, at around age 18, he played a bad guy on "The Rookies" - OK, I had a "Rookies" fetish), Mick Jagger. And, like most females, I had some pret-ty elaborate fantasies about how things would go down if I ever got my Big Chance.

All I can say is, thank God it never worked out! I haven't seen the guys who played Don West or Willie in recent years, so for all I know maybe they've held up. But have you seen Don Johnson lately? Like I need that in my life? And Mick Jagger? Actually, given how much exercise he gets, he's probably in better shape than I am. But the dude's old enough to be my (young) father!

Speaking of The Rolling Stones, when I was 12, one of my best girlfriends and I both had Stone fixations. I had 300 pictures of them collaged on one of my bedroom walls. Not because they were my favorite band or my biggest crush - they weren't - but rather, because it was a lot easier to get pictures of them than any other of my crush objects, plus it looked really cool. In terms of the band, I favored Mick, or Bill Wyman. For my friend's part, she was strictly a Keith Richards girl all the way. Now, lest you think "Euww!" at the idea of Keith as a crush object, let me point out that 30 or so years ago he was quite the hottie. One of the best pictures on my Wall Of Stones was one of Keith semi-passed out in a folding chair, guitar across his smooth naked chest, wearing skin-tight jeans that had a strategically placed embroidered strawberry. His face? Angelic, almost pretty, unlined - in short, nothing like the map of the world (and not in a good way) that constitutes his face now.

Speaking of that map of the world face, that's the problem with crushes: they seem like such a good idea at the time, but give them a decade or two or three, and you have to ask yourself, "What was I thinking of???" So Mick Jagger, wherever you are, I say to you now, "Thank you for never noticing my existence in this world"; and to Keith Richards, on behalf of my friend, "Thank you for never asking her to marry you, much as she thought she wanted that. Really, it's all turned out for the best."

Star crushes: the thing is, particularly when you're a teenager, they tend to be so much older than you are, even if you don't notice that in the moment. And by the time you're grown, they're *old*! That's why crushes, by virtue of definition, are transient things; as a rule - which can certainly be broken in special cases - they're of the moment, and not for all time.

That's not to say that a person should give up on crushes entirely, but rather, just enjoy them for what they are. Me, I may have mentioned this guy before? Ooh, darn! I can never insert images properly here, so you'll have to look at the upper lefthand corner of the blog. Anyway, the actor's name is Julian McMahon, that's him playing demon Cole Turner on "Charmed", he currently plays a badboy doctor on "Nip & Tuck" where I am hoping to see him naked soon, and I just Wiki-ed him: Woo-hoo! He's six years younger than I am, meaning a decade or two or three from now, he's unlikely to look like my father; at the very least, he should look no worse than I do. "Hey, Julian, baby! There's a chance for us!"

QUESTION OF THE DAY: WHO WERE YOUR EARLIER STAR CRUSHES THAT YOU'RE NOW THANKFUL WENT UNREQUITED? AND/OR, WHO ARE YOUR JULIAN MCMAHONS OF TODAY?

Be well. Don't forget to write.

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Anything Goes: TGIF!

No, I don't mean Thank Goodness It's Friday, I mean Thank Goodness It's Fall!!!

Since it's Anything Goes week here on TFC. I thought I'd take the time to celebrate the beginning of my favorite season! Now there are a lot of things I like about summer, like vacations and gardening and beaches, but I'm not a big fan of extremely hot and humid days. Growing up in the Midwest, I've come to loathe winter (every year I swear I'll be in a warmer locale the next year) and spring just doesn't cut it after those long winter months. Fall is just the one for me.

For one, fall weather is my kind of weather. Hoodies and boots, I missed you and am so happy to wear you again! And maybe I'm a freak, but since I kinda liked school and learning, fall seems to motivate me to get more reading and writing done. And the air just smells so good! And harvest! And changing leaves! And, best of all, Halloween!!!

One of my dearest friends/former roommate was in town at the beginning of the week and we wanted to celebrate the first full day of fall by going to a farm with a pumpkin patch and a corn maze that we'd discovered a few years back. So I thought I was going to have all kinds of cool fall pictures to share with you, but alas... They don't open until next week!

So instead, here are some photos from my last adventure to the pumpkin patch and corn maze:
Yeah, we went late in the season, the patch was a little picked over, but there was plenty to buy!

I know the Corn Maze looks pretty basic, but we actually got kind of lost in there and a little bit freaked out!And most important, the bounty of pumpkins and gourds:

And a fall blog would not be complete without one embarrassing childhood Halloween photo:
This was taken in fifth grade. I'm the chick in the box (See how I was way tiny back then! Shorter than all my friends and even my little brother! I hated it!). I'm supposed to be a TV. I tended toward costumes that involved either boxes or posterboard back then. I was a playing card (the Queen of Hearts of course) in 4th grade, a dye (as in dice, but singular!) in sixth grade (and I think we reused the same box as the TV). My costumes may not have been masterpieces, but I was creative! Clearly my little brother (who is all the way to the right) also liked using cardboard for his costumes. He's supposed to be a ketchup bottle. It was hard to walk in that costume for him and at one point he tipped right over. I'm ashamed to admit that I was an awful big sister and me and my friends laughed at him for a minute before helping him up.

But today I'm making it up to him by publically embarrassing him in another way: I want to share how proud I am of that little ketchup bottle.... err my brother Dan, who passed his Bar exam in the state of Missouri and was officially recognized (or licensed or however that works...) in a ceremony today as a lawyer! So yay, Dan!!!!

Everyone congratulate my brother and share your favorite things about fall, past Halloween costumes, and future Halloween plans (I think I'm going to be a roller derby girl this year!).

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Running!

I love the anything goes topic… it means I can talk about whatever's on my mind and whatever I’m doing. As a nonfiction writer, I’m usually given topics, so being able to write whatever I want is priceless! So today what I want to write about is running!

I have a very checkered relationship with running. When I was in junior high, I hated it so much that I almost got expelled for refusing to run in PE. I came up with a lot of excuses not to run, so when the teacher finally got fed up and ordered me to, I told her to bugger off. (I was very ballsy for a twelve year old and very into English novels at the time.) I walked and ended up in the vice principals office. Now Mrs. Northrup and I went back a long way… like the time she swatted me for chewing gum in the classroom, and the time she kicked me out of school for writing inflammatory poetry about a substitute government teacher. (I was busted after one of the other students threw it back to me when the sub tried to take it and I ate the whole missive when she was coming after me.) I hated the injustice of it… after all, they had no proof— I was digesting it—and didn’t understand how they could kick me out without evidence. But I digress. When the PE teacher sent me to the office, I knew I was toast. And I was. Mrs. Northrup, (Think the Principal McGee of Grease), gave me a three day suspension.
So no, I’ve never been a runner.

But six months ago, I took a good long look at my health and decided I had better do something about it. So I decided I would be a runner even though I hated to run. It’s worked. I’ve dropped a bunch of weight and last Sunday I ran the Race for the Cure. That’s 5k people, 3.1 miles. And I ran the whole thing without stopping.
It was a great first race to run. Over 45,000 people showed up for the runs and walks and they had bands and cheerleaders every few blocks. The energy was amazing! I don’t know if I have ever been so proud of myself as when I finished that run.

Do I love running now? Not really. There are times when I’m bored out of my mind and times when I have to force myself to go out and do it. But I love how I feel afterwards and that makes it worth it!

See, you can be a runner and hate running!

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Sunday Afternoon Sightings

This week's topic is "Anything Goes" so I decided to take my camera with me for an hour and post some pix for you all to see. I live in a beautiful valley, and today I drove down the canyon to run some errands. The autumn colors are just starting to pop out. I think in a week or so they'll be at their most brilliant. Aren't the clouds pretty today? I started decorating for Halloween and am taking a break to watch the Broncos-Saints NFL game. Marshall was sweet enough to catch Cutler's pass and make a TD right as my camera went off. Thanks, guys! If the Broncos win, I think this just might be a perfect day.

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