Books! Glorious Books!

Was WriteOnCon awesome or what? I was preparing for and having a garage sale during the days of the conference, but made sure I took the time to participate in most of the live panels and read most of the posts so far. I came away so informed and so inspired. I thought I was about done with my middle grade manuscript, but the conference (and critiques) taught me that there is still so much work to be done! I'm looking forward to using my new knowledge and energy to tackle it full force when the kids go back to school soon.

THANK YOU to all of the wonderful organizers and contributors. It was amazing.

See that pile of books in the left hand corner? I bought those this weekend! Most are gifts (some for my childrens' upcoming bdays, shhhh. Happy eighth birthday to my daughter today!), but I bought a few for myself and to pass along to my mom and sister. I have been dying to read Fat Vampire by Adam Rex and Linger by Maggie Stiefvater. And now I have them! Woo hoo!! I just started reading Fat Vampire and I already laughed out loud twice at the first page of the first chapter. I kid you not, people.

The best part about these books? I bought them with a gift card that I won!

When my mom, sister and I went to Printer's Row Fest in Chicago, I entered a contest. There was a Hyundai filled with paperbacks, and you wrote down your info and your estimate of how many books were in there. Guess who was closest in all of the Chicago participants??? Little ole me! I won a $100 gift card! The funny thing about it was that my original guess was 350 or something and my mom looked at it and said, "Kelly! There's more than that!" I looked at her guess and my sister's guess. Their guesses were over 700. I then entered a new guess, 692. So, thanks Mom! She's an avid reader and will definitely benefit from my winnings. I still have about $20 left that I'll save for future birthday gifts (or I should say gift, hardcover books are expensive!).

Speaking of awesome books, a big THANK YOU to Patricia at Simplicity in Volumes. I won third place in her Writing Triathlon and the upcoming release, The Duff. Another book I am looking forward to reading!

What new books are you excited about?

Three Things for Thursday

1. I'm back from another family vacay to my dad's cabin in northern Wisconsin. I love to watch my children catch (and release) frogs and fish at the same place I did as a kid. Good old fashioned family fun (but now with internet access!). We also saw Despicable Me while we were there- cute movie, it made me tear up at the end!

2. Thank you so much to my critique buddy Sharon Mayhew! I received some fun, random goodies in the mail after entering her (and Jackee's)Random Contest last week!
Thank you also to Lisa and Laura at Lisa and Laura Write! I won a query critique at their blog, and they gave me a rockin' critique! Great advice, ladies!

More crazy cool contests!
*Lovely Lola is having a contest that includes perfume, Stephen King and surprises! Enter at her Sharp Pen/Dull Sword blog!

*Win Rena Jones' third picture book The Marshmallow Man at her blog! Contest ends tomorrow!

*Win a copy of Alex Cavanaugh's upcoming sci-fi book CassaStar at his blog! Enter by August 8!

*Sara McClung is giving away lots of cool ARCs at her blog Babbling Flow. Check 'em out!

*Have you heard about Holly Cupala's book Tell Me a Secret?! Join her at her launch party and win cool TMAS stuff! First, check out the trailer...and enter to win, it ends today!




3. Thank you to all of you who are posting your stories and expertise from last weekend's SCBWI LA conference! I'm so jealous of all of you, but I am glad you are sharing your experiences with us! Suzanne Casamento emailed me after she spotted Anna Paquin (Sookie!) in LA (and I totally appreciated living vicariously through her!). I hope to attend the conference one day!!
I'm sad I didn't go to LA, but I am super excited about attending WriteOnCon next week! Click here to see what is ahead for the registrants. Day One is posted and looks packed with awesome agent/author/editor panels and workshops. The day starts with author Josh Berk and ends with agent Mark McVeigh! I can't wait!

Gone Batty

Bats freak me out. They really do.

I know they are good for mosquito eatin'. I know they are just flying mammals. I see them frequently, and yet they still give me the heebie-jeebies. They live in our shutters on the outside of our house. We even have a bat box on the side of the house for them. They fly freely around my inlaws' vacation home and near my dad's cabin. They still freak me out.

I think my fear started when they swooped at my head as a child while out night fishing with my dad. There was also one in our cabin, and my dad caught it with a fishing net as I hid under the covers. Also there's the rabies thing. If you get bit by a bat and it has rabies, you get rabies. And if you don't get treatment, you die. I have a (rational? irrational?) fear that my kids will get bitten by a rabid bat and not realize it and not get the treatment they need. Am I batty?


Last week a bat was trapped in our fireplace. I put the kids to bed and came downstairs to hear a flutter from the fireplace. We've had squirrels in there before, but put a cap on our fireplace to keep critters out. Apparently not all critters.


I went downstairs and told my husband (he said I had an angry expression), "There is a bat in our fireplace!" I went upstairs and closed all the bedroom and bathroom doors in case the bat escaped. I googled how to catch and release a bat and paced and shouted the same unusable directions twenty times ("Spray it with Lysol!"). My hubby informed me that the bat was probably the vampire Eric Northman from True Blood. That prompted me to put on lipstick and fix my hair, but on further observation, I noticed the bat did not have six pack abs, so it couldn't be Eric after all. Thankfully my Knight in Shining Adidas Shorts rid our fireplace of the bat. The place got a little crazy with a fluttering bat being captured. I admit I cried a little over the whole traumatic ordeal (my husband said I was hysterical. I don't remember it quite that way).


Now I am in northern Wisconsin at my dad's cabin where bats are aplenty. I had to take my dog out at 5 am for a little potty break one morning. Yep. Swooping bats. At my head! I whimpered and ducked and ran in with my dog. No matter how many times I have encountered bats, they still freak me out. Bats. Why does it have to be bats?


What freaks you out? What freaks out your main character?

Happy Camper

Howdy, peoples! I'm back from yet another traveling adventure. This blog has been more of a travel blog than writing blog lately! Though I did happen to write 2000 words in my MG and read four middle grade books while on the road in the RV!

Where in the heck did I go this time? I went from a city slicker in New York to a country bumpkin exploring campgrounds and monuments in South Dakota and Wyoming. We started in Wisconsin at my inlaws' vacation home where we spent the fourth of July weekend with lots of family. Then my inlaws, hubby, three children headed west in an RV. I've never camped before, but I was a trooper in the campgrounds - public showers/restrooms and all! Of course some of you may argue that a motor home is not camping, a tent is! But an RV is as far as I'll go camping! No tent for this gal!

Here are some of the fun sights we explored as a family.

The Badlands and Wall Drug, SD How could we not go to Wall Drug after all of those signs?! Here are the bbbbadlands...

Mount Rushmore, SD My youngest was so excited to finally see it in person!

Custer State Park, SD We saw a buffalo and deer while driving through. We also drove along Needles Highway in a long, winding trek through the Black Hills. Beautiful scenery!

Crazy Horse Memorial, SD My daughter, hubby and inlaws rode in a van up to the arm of Crazy Horse and saw it up close! Here is my daughter next to the face.

The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD We saw actual mammoth skeletons and workers excavating more right in front of us.

Bear Country, USA, SD We drove through a wildlife park in the Black Hills encountering bears, elk, wolves and more! We were OMGing the whole ride through! Bears walked right up to our car! The baby bears were adorable, too. It was much safer than Anita's recent bear experience!

Deadwood, SD My mother-in-law went next door to a casino while waiting for our lunch to arrive and came back in five minutes with $1000 winnings!

Devil's Tower, WY was my favorite stop of the trip. We camped where Close Encounters of the Third Kind was filmed. We hiked around the tower, and watched the movie in our RV one night!

A former campground in Minnesota that my husband's grandparents used to own and run. It's no longer there, but cool to see the lake where they vacationed!

Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America, MN which had awesome rides for all ages! My oldest and I went on this and more!

Best quotes of the trip from my 7 yr old daughter: "Mom! I just saw a hillbilly!" and "Mom, could you just act normal for once in your life?"

I was away from my house for two whole weeks, which is a very long time for this homebody! We made lots of fun memories, but as always, it's good to be home.

How are you spending your summer?

I Heart NY

Fabulous. My trip to NYC was absolutely fabulous. Last week I traveled to the Big Apple with my mother-in-law and hubby's cousin for a week and stayed in Times Square.
Here is our adventure in pictures.


Gray's Papaya hot dogs. Had to try one!

I met literary agent, Mark McVeigh, for coffee (well, I had iced tea) in Chelsea. We had a great visit talking shop and everything else. He's so easy to talk to! Mark will be one of the agents featured in WriteOnCon in August!

The next day I visited Douglas Florian at his art studio in Hell's Kitchen. He was kind enough to sign and give my children one of his many wonderful poetry books, Monster Motel. His newest poetry book is Poetrees! He's such a clever and talented man.

Us girls went to the musical, Billy Elliot. Those kids are so amazing and talented! We walked around Times Square afterwards. Who, me, smile?

On Thursday morning, my mother-in-law and I walked to Rockefeller Center to check out the Today show. I told my hubby to tape it and we were on it! I mouthed, "Happy Anniversary, Chris" to the camera for my husband as it was our 15 year anniversary that day (We celebrated over the weekend with a bottle of champagne and True Blood. We're crazy like that.).
Then the three of us took a pedicab tour of Central Park. It's so beautiful. Our pedicab driver, Akmal, was so informative, telling us all kind of cool facts about the surrounding buildings. He pedaled us around in 93 degree weather!
Here I am in Strawberry Fields near the building where John Lennon once lived.

Bethesda Fountain. Isn't it gorgeous? We also saw the famous "Friends" fountain, too.

Shopping. Shopping. More Shopping. My mother-in-law knew all the great spots to go to.

Cousin Anna and I featured on the huge American Eagle billboard in Times Square.

Our last night in NYC. And my first alcoholic beverage of the week! It was so hot, I drank so much water throughout the week! The week flew by. It was an awesome break from the norm, but it's great to be back home with the kids.

So, what have you been up to while I was gone?

Three Things for Thursday

1. Thanks everyone for humoring me in my love for everything vampire! The winner of the random drawing for the Charlaine Harris books is Suzanne Casamento! Congrats, Suzanne ! Please email me with your address (email on my profile), and I'll send Bill, Eric, and Sookie on their vampy way! And you all go check out Suz's Question of the Day blog!

2. Guess where I am going next week? New York City! For the very first time! I am going to the Big Apple with my mother-in-law and hubby's cousin. I am very excited to explore the city, catch a Broadway show, maybe hit a talk show here or there. Of course I have a few writerly things planned as well. Don't worry I will be back to air kiss you all in a NY minute (or in a week)!


3. Have you heard what is going down in August?! The most amazing internet conference ever...and it's free! WriteOnCon is happening August 10-12. Check out their website to find out more. I am so in! Are you?

Bloody Good Contest

Guess what was on last night? The season premiere of True Blood! My husband and I sipped our O positive Tru Blood blood orange beverage while we watched our favorite show. It was fangtastic!

A few weeks ago I attended the True Blood Ultimate Fan Experience with my mother-in-law and hubby's aunt Beth. We are fans of True Blood on Facebook and registered to receive passes to the event. The fan experience was at 11pm on June 1 across the USA in fifty cities. A late night event, but we are Truebies so we were giddy to go. We arrived at the movie theater and received a free pop (my choice, Coke of course), bought some popcorn, walked the red carpet, and sat in the packed theater to view the finale of True Blood Season Two. Then there was a live via satellite Question/Answer session with the cast. When we left we all got a free swag bag.

I didn't get home til 2am! But it was worth the yawning the next day. Very cool HBO offered that for the fans!

Since I've been a lucky winner in so many generous blog contests (my latest, thank you to Candace Granger for the $25 Amazon gift certificate, and you must check out to see who's dancing at Carol's Prints for her recent contest), I've decided to hold another contest here - True Blood style!

CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST!

You can win not one, not two, but three of the books that the True Blood HBO series is based on. I am giving away the first three books in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. Each season of True Blood is based on a book in the series. They also add lots of awesome plots on their own as well in the series. All you need to do to be entered in the contest is be a follower and tell me your favorite vampire (literary, movie, TV, whatever!).

WIN THIS!

Speaking of vampires (you know I love them), my mom, sister and I went to Printer's Row Lit Fest in Chicago yesterday. I met Norm Cowie, author of YA book Fang Face. I bought the book and am looking forward to reading it. If it's anything like Norm, it is sure to be a hoot and a holler! Check out the Fang Face website!

Here's Norm, Fang Face, and me.

Contest closes at 10pm CST on Tuesday! Now, who's your favorite vamp? Can anyone guess mine?