Greetings and Salutations!

Sorry for the week-long absence from blogging ... between revisions and travel, life was a little upside down. Last weekend I was in Portland for roller derby, where the Boston Massacre played 3 games in 3 days (we only won 1 of them, but we're feeling really strong about our performance as a team, so no sad faces!).

I fell in love with Portland IMMIDIATELY. Food trucks? Voodoo Doughtnuts? POWELL'S BOOKS?! Oh hell yes. Powell's was my number one must-see location for the entire trip, and I managed to hit it on the first day. I picked up a tee shirt (of course), and then bee-lined for the massive YA section. I was NOT disappointed. I decided to buy a copy of Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, because I didn't finish my library copy, and I think I want to take my time with it. There's a lot going on there (Libba Bray does NOT write for dummies). And then the find of all finds: an 80s-era copy of Just As Long As We're Together by Judy Blume! It was my FAVORITE book as a kid. I read it a million times, and it was the book that made me think maybe I'd like to write books for a living. Sadly, my mom accidentally donated it after I left for college. I bought another copy, but it had some modern, redesigned cover. Boo. But at Powell's, the used books are integrated in with the new editions, so I was able to find the original cover! I swear, as soon as I pulled it off the shelf, I started to tear up...

Here's a little photo tour of my awesome adventure in Portland:

A gorgeous latte from Stumptown Coffee

I visited the spot in Powell's kickin' YA section where Meant to Be will live!

Found a copy of my favorite book, with the cover I remember from my childhood

My total haul from Powell's ... I could have spent all the money in my bank account EASY

The Boston Massacre with our custom lobster doughnut from Voodoo Doughnuts!

Other than that, revisions are done and sent, and it looks like we're ready to move on to the next book of my 2-book contract (yay!). This means you'll be seeing a lot more posts about drafting (I'll try not to whine too much...).

Oh, and one other fun thing. There's a new contemporary blog on the block! A couple of ravenous contemporary readers have started For the Love of Contemporary, which launches on September 1. I, for one, can't wait! It's no secret that while I'll read a paranormal or dystopian from time to time, my one true love is contemporary. I read it, I write it, I love it. Can't wait to see what's what over there!

May: What in the hell happened to me?

I feel like I've just been spit out of a tornado... I spent pretty much all of May on this never ending roller coaster of travel and commitments, and it's all done now! I survived! Here's what happened:

It all started with my first trip to Asbury Park, NJ, where the Boston B Party (my team) took on the Jersey Shore All Stars. We got our butts royally handed to us, but I still had an excellent time. 

Me (left, star-spangled booty shorts) and my teammate Kitty Twister 

blocking the Jersey Shore jammer

photo from Dezdemona Lott of Jersey Shore

On the road again...

Two trips down, three to go.

 

Me, chasing down the Jersey Shore Jammer ... don't I look scary?!

photo by Sergio Keith Abe

Both my bout weekends ended in losses (100 points to Jersey Shore, 90 points to Philly), but that's ok. Both weekends were epically awesome. Some of the Philly skaters took us to the dance club to end all hipster dance clubs, and we shook our booties until the wee hours of the morning. Oh, and then we stopped at a ritzy hot dog truck, where I got a dog with provolone, parmesan, and asparagus. Seriously, best hot dog I've ever eaten, and just what I needed after four hours of dancing!

Tomorrow I set off for four days in my hometown of Maryville, TN. As I mentioned before, my lil sister is graduating from high school, and I have to be there to see it.

 

Isn't my sister's prom ensemble TO DIE FOR?!

Love that headband, and she wore pretty gold flats!

 
I fly out tomorrow (connecting in DC), and my plan is to get through my entire manuscript on paper. All 278 pages (84k+ words). That will give me all of next week to put my edits into the actual Word doc (a task I plan to finish on my flight to Chicago). If Meant to Be isn't the most well-traveled novel in the history of YA novels ... well, I just don't know what to think. I guess it's appropriate, since MTB is all about travel and exploring London.  And Maryville, TN and London have quite a lot in common ... um, ok. That was a stretch...

My revisions are due just before my epic trip to Las Vegas, so maybe I'll have to work on my shiny new idea during that trip ... it's a roller derby YA, folks!

Going to be writing on the road through May

Tomorrow marks the start of five straight weekends of travel. This also means I'll be spending five straight weekends writing on the road. I wrote quite a lot of Meant to Be while traveling, so I'm hoping all these trips will get my creative juices flowing on my shiny new project (that currently only has one completed chapter).

So what's on the slate?

Tomorrow I'll be driving south to hit Asbury Park with the Boston B Party to take on the Jersey Shore Rollergirls.

The bout is at the amazing Asbury Park Convention Center RIGHT. ON. THE. BEACH. It's going to be a good one (also, probably crazy tough... I'll update tomorrow night with the score!) 

UPDATE: We lost pretty big... the final score was 198 to 87. But that was ok, because the Jersey Shore Roller Girls were AWESOME hosts. We had such a great time playing them in Asbury Park. I'd go back and do it again in a heartbeat!

Next weekend is another hard-hitting derby weekend, when the Boston B Party travels to Philadelphia to take on the Independence Dolls. This one is FOR. SURE. going to be a really tough game. Philly is a notoriously tough team. I hope I'm not hobbled when it's over!

The following weekend I'm off to Tennessee to see my little sister graduate from high school, a fact I can hardly believe. Her graduation from Maryville High School means my own graduation was TEN YEARS AGO. Oh man...

I got her graduation announcement in the mail today, along with the invite to her open house ... look what my mom did to her! Poor Claire ... she was pretty cute, though, huh? You can't see it in the picture, but her prom dress was gorgeous, and I might try to steal it from her for my trip the following weekend... So here's the question ... should I try to find her a super cool gift, or do I just follow tradition and give her cash? Which would you prefer if you were 18 and getting ready to head off to the University of Tennessee?

The weekend after THAT I'm flying to Chicago to see one of my best buddies and favorite couples get hitched.

Kathleen and I circa 2005, acting like goobers on the steps of

the Wisconsin capital.

Kathleen just finished medical school and will be getting hitched and moving to Milwaukee to start her residency. Her soon-to-be husband's name is Joh, though he does go by another name sometimes:

John "Hayward" Williams is a totally amazing folk/Americana singer/songwriter, and if you're into that kind of music I recommend you check him out right away. I'm not just saying this because we've been friends for five years now and he's marrying one of my favorite people.

And in my last crazy trip of a long five weekends, I'll be flying to Las Vegas to represent the Boston Derby Dames at the Women's Flat Track Derby Association Annual Meeting. It'll be my first time in Las Vegas, and while it was never on my list of gotta-visit cities, I'm pretty psyched to be going with my friends (some other BDD WFTDA reps) to hang out with rollergirls from all over the world and geek out over roller derby.

And after that, I get to come home a stay for quite some time. I don't know how May always ends up quite so busy, but it seems like every year it fills to the brim with excitement. I'm hoping to use all the flight time to really crank on my shiny new project. I've been mulling it over and making notes for about a month now, and I think now it's ready to come pouring out. And once I get a good chunk written, maybe I can start sharing some of the secrets of the shiny new project and maybe even some teasers!