Hahaha!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

My friend, Maria, posted this on her Facebook wall and I just had to share. What would the caption underneath this image be?

Couple Things

First, a hearty and happy blog-a-versary to Ari at Reading in Color!! She's giving away a copy of His Own Where by June Jordan, so go over there and do what needs to be done to get it.

Second, my apologies for being a sh*tty blog host. I am not doing much blogging, but I am getting a ton of research done (LOVE RESEARCH), so it kinda evens out in the end. And fear not, I have been busy and you will soon see evidence of this in the form of links and outpourings and whatnot.

In the meantime, think: women warriors. And air conditioning.

SYTYCD

Okay, I'm a huge fan of So You Think You Can Dance. It's one of the few shows on television that has lots of talented PoC on it. I have my favourite choreographers (Sonya!) and it was the first show that did a massive, mainstream Bollywood number (Katee and Joshua ROCKED) that had me out of my seat and jumping around like a fool.

I've had my problems with the way Mia Michaels handles some of her criticism (the two times I've taken exception happen to both be when she was critiquing the performances of black dancers), to be sure. At the same time, I have to admit she is a brilliant choreographer. And Nigel definitely grates on my last nerve with his ancient gender crap.

But I'm so excited about this season because there are so many dancers to love! Alex Wong, Jose Ruiz, Cristina Santana, and Robert Roldan, just to name a few of the ones I'm on the edge of my seat for. Here's one of my favourite pieces from last night, featuring some of my all-time fave SYTYCD dancers:

What's Coming Up

This weekend I'll be on a panel with YA authors Rita Williams-Garcia and Marina Budhos, then two school visits next week including one with Kavitha Rajagopalan, a class trip with my six-year-old, and supporting my mentee's reading performance at the Chapters' Reading Series for Girls Write Now. After that, writing to a deadline. Writing, writing, writing. Then the Hudson Children's Book Fest and we're on to May!

Gosh. These months are passing like wisps of smoke. <-- See that? Writerly stuff. Real proof that I can right. :D

Writers Say...

Great notes from writers (taken from these top ten lists):

"Don't sit down in the middle of the woods. If you're lost in the plot or blocked, retrace your steps to where you went wrong. Then take the other road. And/or change the person. Change the tense. Change the opening page." -- Margaret Atwood

"Never worry about the commercial possibilities of a project. That stuff is for agents and editors to fret over – or not. Conversation with my American publisher. Me: "I'm writing a book so boring, of such limited commercial appeal, that if you publish it, it will probably cost you your job." Publisher: "That's exactly what makes me want to stay in my job." -- Geoff Dyer

"Have regrets. They are fuel. On the page they flare into desire." -- Geoff Dyer

"Do it every day. Make a habit of putting your observations into words and gradually this will become instinct. This is the most important rule of all and, naturally, I don't follow it." -- Geoff Dyer

"Never ride a bike with the brakes on. If something is proving too difficult, give up and do something else. Try to live without resort to per­severance. But writing is all about ­perseverance. You've got to stick at it. In my 30s I used to go to the gym even though I hated it. The purpose of ­going to the gym was to postpone the day when I would stop going. That's what writing is to me: a way of ­postponing the day when I won't do it any more, the day when I will sink into a depression so profound it will be indistinguishable from perfect bliss." -- Geoff Dyer

"The first 12 years are the worst." -- Anne Enright

"Write whatever way you like. Fiction is made of words on a page; reality is made of something else. It doesn't matter how "real" your story is, or how "made up": what matters is its necessity." -- Anne Enright

"Description is hard. Remember that all description is an opinion about the world. Find a place to stand." -- Anne Enright

"Imagine that you are dying. If you had a terminal disease would you ­finish this book? Why not? The thing that annoys this 10-weeks-to-live self is the thing that is wrong with the book. So change it. Stop arguing with yourself. Change it. See? Easy. And no one had to die." -- Anne Enright

"Try to think of others' good luck as encouragement to yourself." -- Richard Ford

"Fiction that isn't an author's personal adventure into the frightening or the unknown isn't worth writing for anything but money." -- Jonathan Franzen

"It's doubtful that anyone with an internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction." -- Jonathan Franzen

"The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you're allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it's definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it ­honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter." -- Neil Gaiman

All the top ten lists are worth a read. Some are just laugh-out-loud hilarious :D. Check 'em out.

Snow Day!

Last week, there was great talk of a snowpocalypse in NYC and not a flurry was seen from Staten Island to the Bronx. Yesterday, Chancellor Klein called a school closing in all of NYC today because of "inclement weather conditions" and I guffawed. "Ha! What do these dopplers know of Mother Nature?!"

This was the scene outside my window this morning:

I've never been as crazy about snow days as some, but I have to admit--it is quite cozy having nothing to do but sit around in my fuzzy slippers with the kids and catch up on movies.

Do you have images of snow days? Please share your link in the comments!

Humour; Links

Here's a blog I discovered late last night. Diana is one of my more recent followers, and she describes her blog as being "entirely about myself. I might pick up the occasional issue and argue it weakly, but other than that, it's ALL ABOUT ME." I was cackling out loud, even when I climbed into bed. Particularly over the post about the "Ass pastries," and the one called "Tan." THANK YOU, Diana.

Canadian blogger, Niranjana Iyer, has a wonderful review of SHINE here. I love that she caught so many of the layers I consciously incorporated into the text. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing, Niranjana!

And author Melissa C. Walker posted about the cover for SHINE here. I believe Melissa is the first blogger to ask me whether *I* liked my cover. I know I must not have been asked about this before, because I really scrunched up my face when I was answering. Most people want to know the story behind the cover, but rarely do I get asked how I feel about it. Thank you, Melissa, for giving me the opportunity to put it into words :).

Dragging Butt to Finish Line

I am going to have an entire day to myself this weekend. After two weeks of being with the kiddies 24/7 on my own, I am. SO. Looking forward to breaking out for a bit.

Whatever will I do with ALL that time?? Don't worry. That's a rhetorical question. I have a list *grin*.

Have a great weekend, all!

Future Posts & Random Musings

It is raining and gray and I have a steaming mug of coffee. Perfection. So, obviously, I am thinking of future blog posts. Here is the tentative line-up:

* a long one with my thoughts on what to do, and what not to do, when writing characters who are "other" to one's own experience, particularly characters of colour

* a contest. I'm still fleshing this one out, but it will be a contest in collaboration with one or two other bloggers. The prize will be a cash prize (in the form of a gift card) + (of course,) books + whatever signed Gossip Girl (and other Hollywood stars) paraphernalia that I can snag from insiders who work on shows and films.

Also, in other news:

I am feeling slightly in love with my Canadian publicist. She is gorgeous; has done the impossible (gotten a deadline extended for an award so that we could submit my book--long after said deadline had passed); and returned an email on a SATURDAY.
*SIGH* I shall continue to ply her with chocolate and liquor.

I realized that this year I managed to accomplish two things I never thought I could:
(1) Write a paranormal novel featuring strong, multicultural female characters; and, even more challenging,
(2) wear black nail polish.

Next year, I shall run for president and wear a bikini (one where the top actually matches the bottom). Though I probably will not do those at the same time.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, all!

Author Definitions: Sweet-and-Sour

I think I am going to start a series (I'm liking the series) called Author Definitions. These are words and phrases that have a commonly accepted meaning in the world at large, but to authors (or maybe just to myself) they mean something entirely different. Today, we kick it off with . . .

Sweet-and-Sour: receiving requests for translation/audio/film rights to a debut novel, yet having no agent to negotiate said requests should they morph into offers.

SIGH.

Have a great weekend, everyone!