Band Geeked Out Release Date and Conversations with Spam Queues!
Date: Monday October 27, 2008Posted in: Band Geeked Out!, Cool Stuff
So, Band Geeked Out will be out on April 1st, 2009! Doesn’t that seem really, really soon? I am very excited about this sequel, I have to say. It was one of those stories that sort of took on a life of its own and stubbornly refused to stick to my carefully plotted synopsis and I think turned out much more interesting and maybe a bit surprising as a result…I mean, I was interested and surprised as I wrote it, which seems like a good sign.
And if there’s one thing that I know about Ellie Snow, it’s that she needs to do a lot more veering spectacularly off-script. Which certainly happens in Band Geeked Out.
You can pre-order it already and everything!
If I ever want to introduce more veering off-script into future stories, I can always consult my comment spam queue for ideas. Seriously. The spambots have gotten strangely wordy, and I’ve noticed a definite downtick in helpful links to what the Supreme Court would call “prurient interests” and a whole lot more random, G-rated story telling.
And the stories almost make sense! Like my spam queue is trying to tell me something in code!
“Custard knows was fading pontoon pedal boat death wasn’t what’s never odd or even eyed confidence bet resentful,” my spam queue says.
“Oh really?” I reply. “Please tell me more.”
“Traveler away john deere 650 hay rake our day dropped money at a gas station known she fruit punch orange sherbet seven up companion,” it says, I imagine with a knowing look.
“That sounds important!” I say. “I wish I knew what you meant!”
“Vampires stands between baccarat wheels wholesale had three dog has low red blood count ticking!”
“WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL ME?” I demand.
“Tears glittered does either paulsen 500 poker chip set his car overgrown,” the spam queue sighs.
“That’s it, you’re getting deleted.”
But that threat doesn’t seem to bother it much. We both know it’ll be back with 50 comments tomorrow.
Have you seen Shorpy.com?
It’s a blog of high-definition vintage photographs from the beginning of photography through the 1950’s and I think it’s pretty awesome. There are all sorts of shots of people, places and things from every era during that period, and it’s always like a history lesson in a picture.
I especially love the site because it allows me to indulge in my recently acquired obsession: old photographs of women who look familiar and/or like they could be related to me. I’m not sure where this obsession came from, because it’s not like I don’t have access to old photographs of people who actually ARE familiar and/or related to me (my all-time favorite vintage picture is of my great grandmother giving a tea party when she was four). But if I find myself in a thrift shop, I can’t help but search. Randomly finding a picture of someone who might be a long lost family member is just too good of a story to pass up.
Probably related to me.
I’ve only found a few such photos so far, plus received a set as a gift from an indulgent friend. But I’ve put them up on my wall and given them all names and histories.
This, for example, is my pretend Great Aunt Dora. She had a very fabulous life. I’m not sure how she ended up in an antique store in Florida, though.
You can buy prints of the photos on Shorpy, which is almost impossible for me to resist (I especially love this one, though I guess I can’t tell if she looks familiar because you can’t see her face!). I’ve already found at least five that would qualify for my obsession.
Take a look! Maybe you’ll see someone familiar!
Things That Happened, Including Alpacas
Date: Tuesday October 7, 2008Posted in: Band Geek Love!, Cool Stuff, Real Writer
Hello! I am a very terrible blogger. I apologize.
This sort of feels like when I was keeping a journal as a kid, and I’d forget to write for a couple of days and then feel guilty, and more time would pass and I’d feel guiltier. And all the stuff that had happened in my life that I would normally file away on a journal page would end up piled in my brain until I couldn’t take it anymore and I’d spend hours writing a big long summary just to get some peace in my head.
Get out of my head, Stuff!
1.) My signing at Schuler Books and visit to Haslett High School up in Michigan went very well. I wasn’t even that nervous because everyone was so nice and reassuring! I just said “I’m very nervous about this” and they all said “Oh, don’t be, it’s going to be fine” and I believed them and it really was fine.
It was so awesome to meet some readers (many of whom were band geeks!) and hear what they thought about the book and how they identified with Ellie and the story. I put faces to the teenagers who I write for, and that was very cool.
Here is a bad camera phone picture proving it happened -
Missing: One snifter of brandy.
2.) My new editor put up a funny post about Band I Mean Banned books…
3.) I was cast in a new set of plays, one of which I wrote!, that will be performed right around the election. I am somewhat of a political junkie (it was my major in college, after all) especially around elections, (YA for Obama!), so to combine three of my favorite hobbies (writing plays, politics and acting) has been a total blast.
I recommend combining favorite hobbies whenever possible, unless your favorite hobbies happen to be sleeping, downhill skiing and archery. Or cooking, knitting and base jumping. Or…well, you get it.
4.) I accidentally ended up in an entire building full of alpacas! They are, seriously, the most adorably unlikely animals this side of a platypus. They are cute and furry and you just want to squeeze them, but alpacas are very suspicious and don’t especially like it when you look at them, let alone touch them. Convincing an alpaca to eat some treats out of my hand was a major victory.
I would like an entire alpaca herd, please. Except I’d spend all my time trying to befriend them and wouldn’t get any writing done.
Alpaca: “Why are you looking at me? Please stop.”
And…well, that’s pretty much it. Busy busy but I shall try and be a better blogger from here on out!
