The Scarlet Letterman

So Alex said...

Do you have any idea when the sequel to Wuthering High is going to be out?! I just read it and I LOVED IT! I also want to be a writer and I just loved how you brought all of the classics into the mix!

First of all, thank you, Alex! I might not be tech savvy (see my blunder in misreading a chatroom and missing the fact I'd won an award), but I do love praise. And yes, there will be a sequel to "Wuthering High," and it's called "The Scarlet Letterman" - I have to give a shout-out to my fabulously creative (and did I mention incredibly smart) friend Bethie, who came up with that name.

"The Scarlet Letterman" will be out in January 2007, which sounds like a long way off, but believe me, it's just around the corner. And worry not, I'll be giving away a few advanced copies, so stay tuned!

Also, speaking of contests, I've got a new one posted on www.bardacademy.com. Enter to win a shopping spree at Hollister. Okay, so it's not a shopping spree, but it is a $100 gift certificate, and in some circles I think that qualifies as a "spree." In my book, anything that's free is a spree.

click here to enter!

Psyche! I am a winner!

Okay, it's well known that I'm a big goof ball, but it seems that I was premature in declaring myself a loser this week. Turns out, I DID win the Reviewer's Choice award, along with several other winners of the Cata Network.

Maybe the person I thought took my place actually had to be disqualified because of a spread in Playboy, like a former Miss America, but I won't speculate. I think it's more likely that I'm just a big fat dork and my attention span is just too short to actually properly read message boards! It wouldn't be the first time technology has been my downfall. I am the one, after all, who nearly offered my wireless internet hub a voodoo chicken sacrifice the other day if it would only just PLEASE WORK in the air conditioned part of my condo. I'm convinced that, and the pleading and begging, helped it to work properly.

But worry not, Get Juicy! contestant runners-up, I still sent the consolation prizes this week. After all, I'm prety sure there's not that much space between a loser and a dork. We're still living in the same zip code.

Losing gracefully

Okay, so I didn't win the reviewer's choice award on Friday, but that's okay. I'm dealing with the rejection by trying to concentrate on the positives. Thankfully, the contest was online, so it's not like at a televised awards ceremony where the losers are in a split-screen with the winners, and have to put on their "oh, yeah, it's great that other girl won instead of me" face. And then, as if that's not humiliatng enough, through the winners' long acceptance speech, the camera keeps flipping back to the losers.

I don't know why they do this. Maybe they're hoping to see one of the losers actually break down in hysterics. Or mouth profanties at the winners. Or, during that disingenious part of the winner speech where she claims to be amazed she won because she was in such good company, see one of the losers flip her the bird. Now THAT would be an Academy Awards ceremony worth staying up until one a.m. to see.

Anyway, now that I'm officially a loser, er, I mean, stuck in the crowd of "it's just an honor to be nominated" folks, I have an extra empathy for my fellow losers. That's why this week I'm mailing the losers of the Get Juicy! Contest (the ones who correctly answered the trivia question about the book) free Wuthering High pens as a consolation prize. We losers have to stick together!

In other news, I'll be in my agent's chat room tomorrow night at 9 p.m. EST (for more information head to the knight agency blog, or directly to the chatroom. Drop by to say hello!

I'm Headed to the Pink Carpet

Okay, so I wasn't nominated for an Oscar (which I think would be the coolest thing ever, next to say running into Keanu Reeves in the produce section of my local grocery store or winning the Powerball lotto). But I have been nominated for Best Book of 2006 (So Far) by the incredibly intelligent and unbelievably wise reviewers of the Cata Network Readers Lounge.

I'm not sure if sucking up helps my chances of winning or not, but I'm willing to give it a shot. Besides, I'm pretty sure that recently scientists discovered that some of the most intelligent, witty and terrifically skinny women posted reviews on the Cata Network.

Winners are going to be picked tomorrow by the super models of the Cata Network, and I feel like I ought to have my hair done and buy a designer gown. Of course, I can actually wear sweatpants to this awards ceremony since it'll be held online (ah, the beauty of modern technology). But I think I might just get a pedicure anyway. Sure, you can't see my toes, but I can, and they're in sore need of some pampering.

You're all invited to the ceremony, if you'd like to pop in. I think it's going to be a kind of chat room, although I'm not sure. And fabulous people (like me and did I mention the ridiculously good-looking book reviewers of the Cata Network?) will be there.

Check out your official invite here.

Festivities, I'm told, start at 9 p.m. EST. Also, you can check out the original review (5 stars!) that lead me to where I am today (a nominee! I've always wanted to say that. So far, my only "nomination" that I've ever had is to be president of my Condo Board, and believe me, that's no honor).

We have winners!

I just love picking contest winners. Granted, I've only done it this once, but it was a lot of fun. And since I've never won anything in my life (except some shoelaces from a box of Captain Crunch once), I like spreading the joy. Congratulations to the Bard Academy Get Juicy Winners!

1st prize, Juicy Couture Wristlet:
Jennifer Grass from Endicott, NY

2nd prize: Juicy Couture Bracelet:
Tara Luterbach from Calgary, Alberta, Canada

3rd prize: Juicy Couture ipod Case:
Anita Yancey from Hampton, GA

Winners of Signed Books:

Tiffany Sullivan North Carolina; Sarah Peterson from Arizona; Kristen Lau from California; Cathy Meyer from Arizona; and Gail Gunter from Tennessee.

And many thanks to everyone who entered. For those of you who correctly answered the trivia question and didn't win, you'll be getting a special consolation prize in the mail. I promise it's cheap, but I think it's better than yellow Captain Crunch shoelaces like the ones I won when I was ten.

And by the way, for those of you who entered and didn't win, never fear. I'm going to have another contest soon. Keep checking www.bardacademy.com for more fabulous prizes. Oh, and if you just can't get enough of moi (and really, who can?) check out this new online interview:

http://www.alan-ya.org/

Girl Fight, continues

So I've mentioned the brewing literary fight between the girls who don't mind writing entertaining fiction (even if they call it chick lit) and those who are desperately trying to be Taken Seriously. There are two short story anthologies that get to the heart of this battle. One (the better one naturally, because I'm in it) is "This is Chick Lit." The other is "This is NOT Chick Lit" where basically the foreward reads like someone desperately trying to get respect at their high school reunion. The editor of said anthology actually declares that the authors within are the best women writers today. You know, so much for Toni Morrison. Someone tell her that Jennifer Weiner just dethroned her.

Not that I have anything against Jennifer Weiner. Or any of the other authors included in the "This is NOT Chick Lit" book. Most of them are charming, talented writers.

But here's the thing. My feeling is anyone who goes around shouting "I'm a serious author! I'm literary!" is protesting a wee bit too much. It's a lot like standing up at the gym and shouting "I have a really small butt!"

Let's face it, if you have one, people already know you do. If you don't, well, shouting about the fact that you do isn't going to change the fact that you wear size XXXXXXXL pants.

But, read more about "This is Chick Lit" on the brand new site:

www.thisischicklit.com.

And in completely frivilous news, don't forget that you just have two days to enter the Get Juicy! Contest. Drawing is Tuesday!