Friends, the reports are not exaggerated…I did indeed get to hang out with Meg Cabot! And she is just as cool and hilarious and down-to-earth as you’d expect. We had a great conversation about all sorts of things while I tried mightily not to fangirl out in too obvious of a fashion.
In addition to the fact I just plain adore her books, Meg is also one of my writerly inspirations. I first met her at a Queen of Babble signing in Chicago exactly three days before I sat down and began to write Band Geek Love, which I am fairly convinced is not a coincidence. So to hang out with Meg, years later, and be able to tell her in person that she’s part of the reason I’m a writer was just…awesome. I feel very lucky!
So, that’s probably the most exciting thing that’s happened to me since I last wrote here, but I’ve also been crazy busy with non-hanging-out-with-heroes business. There was the election, of course (WOOT!), and I had a great visit at Edgewood High School in nearby Ellettsville, Indiana, where one reader informed me that I had obviously “scanned her brain” to write Band Geek Love (my response: “Dang, I was hoping you wouldn’t figure it out!”).
I’ve also been doing lots of theater stuff, including getting ready for this big event on Friday which involves me writing a whole play IN ONE NIGHT. Yeah, I’m not sure what I think I’m doing either. But I’ve been told that it’s fun! Like a 12 hour playwriting version of NaNoWriMo, I suppose. (Except I don’t get to quietly shut it in a drawer for future revision when I’m finished…the play will be performed on Saturday night!)
And soon I’ll be diving headfirst into the final Band Geeked Out revisions, and writing the next book, and and and. More soon!
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!
Guys, my first official-like book signing is next Sunday! It’s happening in my hometown of Lansing, Michigan, at a lovely bookstore in the spiffy new mall that they built right after I had graduated and moved away (which I try not to be bitter about, even though my friends and I would have really appreciated that mall when we were in high school and looking for stuff to do).
My dad and stepmom stopped in and snapped some pictures of the preparations:
!!!
I’m going to sign books and everyone is going to eat pizza. You should totally come by if you’re in the area!
Back-To-School Pizza Party with Band Geek Love by Josie Bloss
Sunday. September 21. 3 p.m.
Join us in celebrating the release of Band Geek Love, the debut young adult novel by East Lansing native Josie Bloss! This charming, geeky love story stars trumpet section leader Ellie Snow, who thinks she’s got it all figured out until hunky trumpet player Collin Higgins shows up and throws her world upside down.
Schuler Books & Music
2820 Towne Center Blvd.
Lansing, MI 48912
Phone: 517 316 7495
Fortune Telling…Wikipedia-style
Date: Friday September 5, 2008Posted in: Band Geek Love!, Cool Stuff
Check out this awesome review of Band Geek Love by Abby (the) Librarian! I especially liked the part where she admired my use of sarcastic humor. Some people (like my parents and ex-boyfriends and former teachers) have told me that sarcasm wouldn’t get me anywhere, that it’s the lowest form of humor or whatever, and to them I say psssht. Obviously you guys TOTALLY knew what you were talking about, huh? (/sarcasm) (also, I’m just joking).
Thanks Abby! Cool blog, too!
I’ve discovered the fun and highly productive habit of telling my own fortune through clicking on “random article” on Wikipedia. Recently, for an important personal question that I was pondering (let’s just pretend that the question was “Should I open this bag of Haribo gummy bears even though it is likely I’ll end up eating the whole thing?”), the article that came back was this one:
Viratanagari was the capital of king Virata of Matsya Kingdom. It was here that the Pandavas spent their 1 year (out of 13 years) of exile. The modern name of this city is Bairat.
Which…didn’t help at all, actually. I’m pretty sure they didn’t have Haribo gummy bears in ancient India.
So I tried again!
The Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) is a large salamander, native to North America, which inhabits large, swiftly flowing streams with rocky bottoms. Vernacular names include “snot otter”, “devil dog”, and “Allegheny alligator”.
Which was slightly more instructive, considering that at least gummy bears and salamanders are animals. Well, one is a candy, but it looks like an animal…a delicious animal (the gummy bear, that is. Please don’t try and snack on a Hellbender.)
Also, “snot otter” might be the most hilarious juxtaposition of words I have ever seen. It is also my new all-purpose insult (”Stop being such a snot otter!”) So that was worth it right there.
But I figured I should give it one more shot, just in case, and got this:
“Hänschen klein“, has been a traditional 19th century German folk song telling of a boy who ventures to the world and returns a man to his family. It is the theme song of Cross of Iron. The title translates to English as “Little Hans”.
Which settled it. Haribo gummy bears ARE from Germany after all.
Clearly that was permission to eat the whole bag, too.
Band Geeked Out, the sequel to Band Geek Love, is officially up on Amazon for pre-order and I am very excited to share the cover.
BEHOLD:
Hi! I’m Ellie and I am FREAKING OUT.
I think it captures the essence of the story quite well (which is pretty cool, considering it was designed before I had even fully finished it) and, did you notice? It’s the same girl! That’s some awesome continuity, and major props to the fine designers at Flux (who just received a well-deserved shout-out in Publishers Weekly!) Thanks for the lovely cover.
Also, I sort of want that girl’s hair. And her lipstick.
While I was fleeing from bears in the Upper Peninsula, I missed out on a very important marching band event that took place here in the town I live. The Drum Corps International World Championship! Bad timing, because I totally would have gone to bask in the band geekiness and general awesomeness.
Fortunately, a friend of mine took a whole bunch of lovely photos and collected the eyewitness quote “It’s marching band on steroids”. Looking at the pictures, I think I’d have to agree!
Drum Corps International World Championship Pictures
I have returned from the wilds of northern Michigan! It was a great trip, and the fact that my email took at least five minutes to load made it a little easier to concentrate on revising Band Geeked Out (a draft of which I sent it yesterday! Huzzah!).
Things that didn’t make it easier to concentrate on revising included playing Apples to Apples with my extended family, eating pesto, kayaking, singing folk songs, walking out to the lighthouse and…hmm…there was something else. Oh, that’s right -
BEING TERRORIZED BY A BEAR!
Hard to tell from this picture, but the bear was, like, two seconds from eating our faces off.
Well, technically the bear was not much bigger than a large dog. And it was in the water, scared out of its mind. And we were in a sizable boat 15 feet away. But that still counts as being terrorized, right? RIGHT? (The bear was okay, by the way…it swam across the channel and jumped right out of the water and ran into the woods.)
Other than that, though, it was a relaxing vacation. I’m glad to be back to my precious internet and the Olympics and some downtime to read a few books off the top of my reading pile. And, of course, there are always new books to write…
Whew, guys, I have been BUSY. Not only am I finishing up a draft of Band Geeked Out (I like to think that I’m in the “herding cats” stage, trying to tie all these disparate elements together into something that makes sense which sometimes feels as easy as…well…herding cats), but I’m ALSO in a play that’s opening tomorrow night. It’s a hilarious piece (I play a perky telemarketer who loves her job a little too much), and the whole thing has been a ton of fun, but my time management skillz have been put to the test.
Fortunately, on Sunday I’m off to a yearly family reunion in the farthest remote reaches of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where they do not believe in internet or plays or telemarketers. The U.P. is one of my most favorite places on the planet and the area I’m headed looks something like this:
Actually, it looks exactly like this.
I plan to do nothing else but revise, eat pancakes, revise, walk to the lighthouse, revise, canoe around the bay, revise, sing some songs by the campfire, and then revise some more. With perhaps a few breaks to make my family read the Band Geeked Out draft and give me their opinions. And they are good at giving opinions, let me tell you. On just about anything. They are totally up for the job.
I’ll be back soon to report the excellent news that I’ve turned in Band Geeked Out!
Hope you all are having wonderful summers!
