in which I show kody keplinger california

I love my beautiful California, but sometimes I take it for granted. That's why I adore it when an out-of-stater comes to visit, and I'm reminded about the sun and sea and why I need to get out of this office chair more often. My pubtwin Kody Keplinger, author of THE DUFF (Poppy, Sept 2010) is visiting San Diego for spring break, and today I got to document her walking into the Pacific Ocean for the very first time!!

How cute is she? That's Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach, San Diego's most popular beach. Next, we stopped by my house and cuddled my dog Sky, who liked Kody very much:


and then we had a photo shoot in front of my backyard canyon:

and then we went to Mission Bay with coffee/chai and discussed why contemporary YA is SO UNBELIEVABLE HOT RIGHT NOW, which is a topic we are TOTALLY objective about. And then the sun set on a perfect California day.
So who's visiting me next? You're all invited!

five things that make me happy

five things that have made me happy this week...

1) Nutrition/food ethics is a HUGE passion of mine. And I am just loving Food Rules by Michael Pollan. It's a tiny, $5 book that breaks down nutrition into easy-to-remember mnemonics (the most famous being this delicate darling: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.) I'll write more about this book later. Another book of his, The Omnivore's Dilemma, was the catalyst behind one of my major epiphanies -- basically, that food is food, and processed, Westernized food isn't. So simple. So obvious. And yet, inexplicably, so controversial!

2) My girl Lee Bross just signed with YA author/agent extraordinaire & member of the exclusive Hubbard clan, Mandy Hubbard -- and is already on submission.

3) I'm half-done with implementing my last round of WIP revisions before I release my book to the beta clan. Wild!

4) It very much looks like I'm going to Peru and maybe even Bolivia in late June/early July. And then comes Comic-Con. And then, SCBWI LA, during which my entire coterie of writers will descend upon my neck of the woods -- unbelievable!! Forecast: togas.

5) During my Wednesday art class, which entailed staring at a model and then drawing the pose entirely from memory -- which is holy shit near-impossible -- my art teacher shook his head and told me I so have what it takes, and if I took it seriously, I would kick some serious ass. This ambiguous statement means more than you could ever know. I informed him not to hold back in pressuring the shit out of me. And you, too. You can pressure me, too.

Have a great weekend! As for me... taxes tomorrow morning. Hold me.

updates

I failed at Road Trip Wednesday again, but for three good reasons.

1) The other YA Highwayers posted such great links, they didn't need me. Right? Right, YA Highwayers?

2) I was finishing THE RISEN, an epic dystopian novel by writer bestie Kristin Miller -- about to go on sub. Editors, watch out!

3) I printed out my second book, a backpacker romance called WANDERLOVE, and read it. Cover to cover. Could not stop. Was totally addicted. To my own book. Tomorrow and Friday, I'll administer the handwritten changes, and then I'll release it to my critique partners. So exciting! Eek! Another book!

I'd like to say I've been working on my taxes too, but unfortunately, I just remembered those. ACK. My appointment's Saturday. And while I've been a full-time freelance writer for a few years now, and know aaaallll about deductions, 2009 was the first year I received a book advance. Which means I made significantly more than other years. Which means taxes will be a very, very scary animal.

Like this one:


In other news, I think I'm going to attempt a little more scheduling on this blog of mine. Loose scheduling. Kick-your-shoes-off-&-put-up-your-feet scheduling. I like the idea of Travel Tuesday, in which I'l share some kind of hilarious or terrifying or preposterous story from my travels. Also, I love other bloggers' Friday Fives, which I never really understood completely (want to explain it to me?), but in my case, I'd like to share five noteworthy things from my week. Wednesdays are still for Road Trips, and Thursdays are for baby animals.

And of course, if I feel like tossing my schedule into the wind and posting something completely random, so be it. Because I'm crazy like that. And like him:

fun with food

I was going to blog about synopsis writing, but Kaitlin beat me to it on YA Highway. So instead, I'm blogging about Kale.

Kale was alien to me, until today. You will not BELIEVE how much kale you can eat if you:

1) rip a head of kale into bite-sized pieces

2) spray with olive oil & sprinkle with seasoned salt

3) spread on cookie sheet & bake 10-15 min at 350, until edges brown

Crispy salty leafy goodness!
I realize this recipe requires some trust. So, TRUST ME. Kale is yum. These are better than potato chips.

baby animal of the week: baby badgers

I have a particular love for animals who naturally look like cartoons. Like these baby badger twins...

So pretend they're your baby badger twins. What would you name them?

And how could I forget. Thanks, Abby!

like mandarin cover love & road trip wednesday: let's put the whole thing off

Wow! You guys, your outpouring of LIKE MANDARIN cover love made the last two days sing and dance. Awaiting a cover is a scary thing -- although my wonderful publisher allowed me some say, the process was still 90% out of my hands. And truth be told, good covers are critical. A good cover won't save a bad book (though it'll sell it, before the reviews come in!), but a good cover on a good book (which I hope mine is) is a one-two punch.

I think my cover is a great one. I can say that without sounding braggy, right? I mean, I didn't design it! I am just the lucky girl who wrote the book with the beautiful, stare-you-down cover. I hope all your covers are equally beautiful.

In particular, a special thanks to a few of my girls who blogged about my cover on their own: Leila Austin, Kaitlin Ward, and Kristin Otts, whose post seriously made me tear up. Kate Hart put up the sweetest post on YA Highway. And teen book blogger Kelsey at The Book Scout posted about it as well. Among my efforts to plaster the whole internet with it, I got to be the first-ever cover featured on our 2011 debuts group livejournal, The Elevensies.

Whew!

Thanks, everyone who commented, tweeted, or blogged about LIKE MANDARIN's cover! I love you times infinity.

And now, on to Road Trip Wednesday!

On YA Highway, we've started a weekly Road Trip Wednesday, where we ask a writing/reading question and all the contributors answer on our personal blogs. If you want to participate on your own blog, just post the link in the comments section of YAH and we'll check it out.

How do you procrastinate writing?

Who, me? I don't procrastinate writing! Hey Michelle, look over there!

Okay, now that the coast is clear, I'll tell the truth. Procrastination. It's an affliction almost as bad as my migraines.

Ways I procrastinate:

• standing up and walking around the house and into the backyard and back around the house

• brushing my dog and also trimming him like a topiary hedge. I have turned him into a dolphin, an elephant, and a brontosaurus.

• haphazard house cleaning. However, I'd usually rather power through writer's block than clean, so this only works in lopsided spurts.

• the number one evil procrastimonster, of course, is the internet. For me, that means wikipedia, jezebel, cnn, all the blogs I subscribe to on google reader, twitter, facebook, the absolute write forums, and when I'm feeling really, really low, failbooking, failblog and rarely, thank god, oh no they didn't. (oh yes I did)

• last but not least: the worst internet offender is metafilter/ask metafilter/metatalk. Whenever anyone wonders at all the random crap I know, I point them to these sites. Not only because they're where I get all that random knowledge in the first place, but also because they are packed with thousands of people who know way, way more than I do. They are the best of the internet. Seriously -- that's their whole point. If you're a metafilter virgin, try askme first. (and make sure to follow the rules.)

• look how I procrastinated the rest of this post by discussing metafilter!

• participating in endless threads of hilarious conversation/debate/unabashed flirtation with my writing group

• finding news songs on rhapsody for my various book-writing playlists.

• staring into space.

So how do you procrastinate? Share your methods of madness on your own blog, and link to it in the comments on YA Highway!

MY COVER

GUESS WHAT??

I have been granted permission to share the cover of LIKE MANDARIN!!!!

wait for it...

wait for it......

I LOVE IT!!!

Even better, the inside flaps will be the same lime green as "Like", and the wood wraps all the way around the back of the book. It'll be a matte finish, with spot gloss on the title.

I'm just so in love with it. I love the way she's staring at you so intensely, and the cleanliness of the layout, and the streaming sunlight, and the way the title & my name stand out against the white background. Yes, that's my name! On the cover of my book! Can you believe it??

More about LIKE MANDARIN. You can also find it on Goodreads.