Don't know just what to do with myself...

OK, I'm going CRAZY over here. Our revisions are done and we're just...waiting.

I forgot how much waiting sucks.

I tried to distract myself by creating a fancy new website to promote our work, but I'm WAITING for the freaking customer support people to call me back.

Not cool.

And sure we have other stuff we could be doing. Like refining our synopsis for Book 2, but we'd like to know what Major Agent thinks of our revised version first. No sense wasting our time if she hates our new version, right? Right.

Plus, I'd rather be refreshing our e-mail. You know, just in case we hear something...

I've also spent an inordinate amount of time analyzing e-mails from Major Agent to try to get some sort of psychic feeling about whether or not she's going to like the revised version. I mean, who knows what she meant when she said she said she can't wait to read it. What? You think she just meant that she's looking forward to reading it? No way. It's bigger than that and as soon as I decipher the many layers of meaning in that sentence, I'll totally enlighten you guys.

Anyways, this song expresses my feeling perfectly. Initially I had set it up to play the video via YouTube, but it features Kate Moss doing a strip tease and my Grandma reads this blog daily (Hi Gram!), so that seemed a little inappropriate. Although, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be that scandalized considering some of the dirty jokes she used to send me via e-mail. By all accounts she's pretty much the coolest, hippest Grandma out there, but I figured it's probably best not to push my luck with Kate Moss on a stripper pole.

Whew, glad I got that off my chest. If you have any suggestions about how we should be passing the time, please feel free to leave them in the comments. I'm game as long as it doesn't involve scrapbooking or doing actual work for my actual job.

I give you...the happy newlyweds...

I've typed and deleted, typed and deleted, trying to come up with an appropriate response to the above picture. But, there are no words.

Breaking curfew...

Well, if you look at the time stamp on this post you'll know that I'm up way past my husband-imposed curfew of midnight (sorry dear!), but I started reading our final version of the manuscript this morning and I just couldn't stop until I finished.

And obviously, I'm completely biased and totally narcissistic for saying this, but it rocked. Well, at least I think it rocked. Oh god, who am I kidding, it could be a complete nightmare, but whatever, I loved it. When I read our new version I couldn't even remember what the old version looked like, so, I'm hoping that's a good thing.

Sorry guys, but that's all I've got energy for tonight. Tomorrow it's going to be Laura's turn to have one last crack at it. Hopefully she likes it as much as I do and we'll have this over to Major Agent very, very soon. Squee!

Oh my god, did I just "squee" on the blog. I'm sorry, it's late and I'm a little overexcited. See, there's a good reason why I shouldn't be allowed to post anything past midnight.

One Enchanted Evening...

I'm currently feeling trés virtuous because I just did a whole bunch of real work for my real job. I know, it's a little easy to forget I actually have a job, but I totally do. Well, I do at least for now...rumors of imminent layoffs make me wonder if I'll be gainfully employed a month from now, but not much I can do about that.

Anyways, I had an ulterior motive for all of my Sunday night industriousness because Laura sent me the quasi-final version of the manuscript this morning and I'm going to do everything in my power to spend Monday and Tuesday with our favorite girl detective, Kate Lowry.

Good times.

The one fabulous perk of me doing work for my actual job is that it's monkey work that rarely requires much concentration from yours truly. So, tonight while I was assembling a PowerPoint presentation with lots of meaningless statistics about the current state of our economic crisis (that will ultimately probably contribute to my job's eventual demise, talk about irony...), I watched the movie Enchanted.

Ok, so the movie itself is pretty entertaining and I sort of can't wait till my kids are old enough to watch it. I mean, seriously, who doesn't want to meet a real-live fairy tale princess? But the writer in me appreciated Enchanted on a whole different level. The writer (or writers?) who wrote and developed this film took one of the oldest stories in the world, a princess meets her prince charming and lives happily ever after, and created something completely new and fresh.

And in a way, we're trying to do the same thing with our book. We've created a modern day Nancy Drew and given her a thoroughly modern mystery. I hope Kate and her cohorts are as fun and charming as Enchanted. We'll see...

Weekend!

Big news on our end, our first round of revisions are done! Laura is doing some final revisions on the last 50 pages this weekend and then next week we'll be re-reading the new version and making our final edits before sending to Major Agent. I'm really excited to take a little break and I can't wait to read the entire manuscript with fresh eyes come Monday.

Over the past few weeks we added almost 20,000 words to the book, whew! It's actually a little shocking. Let's just hope that they're GOOD words.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Oh the places you'll go...

How many questions can one picture inspire?

Why is Audrina so skinny?
Why is Audrina wearing such a big backpack?
Where are they going?
Why is Justin-Bobby wearing overalls?
Why is Justin-Bobby wearing overalls without a shirt underneath?
Where does one even buy overalls?
What does Justin-Bobby’s ID bracelet say?
Justin or Bobby or both?
Why is the motorcycle so big?
What does the whole thing look like?
Why are they riding so low?
Why? Why? Why?

Feel free to add any pressing questions that may arise after viewing.

Happy Birthday Lydia!

Laura's daughter Lydia is celebrating her first birthday today. I had a fun post planned, but as soon as I saw this video I scratched it.

These boys did a much better job than I ever could have!



We love you Lydia!

God, I love our readers...

All 22 of you.

I give you this anonymous comment on our post about the much anticipated NYC Prep:

The bios of the cast online is to die for(http://www.bravotv.com/nyc-prep/season-1) for your convenience...absolutely amazing

i can already guess who I'm going to like the most...
little overview:
taylor-public school dancer
sebastian-french cutie
pc-popular wealthy i-do-what-i-want
kelli-independent singer
jessica-type a 'bitch'
camille-very studious but a trouble-maker (seems like most situations will revolve around her)- like the new LC?

IM SETTING MY DVRS NOWHOPE ITS IN HD!

Anonymous commenter, I don't know who you are, but I sincerely hope that we are friends both on the blogosphere and in real life. I'm thinking that we need to have some sort of virtual chat for the premier of this trainwreck. Who's in?

Two Cent Tuesday: Is it just me?

Or do you sometimes feel like your some kind of jedi-plagarizer? I've been listening to E. Lockheart's Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, and it's fantastic. Since I've had so little time to read lately with all of the editing and such, I've been checking books on CD out from the library.

Here's where it gets weird. There are four or five very small details in her book that also play a role in our book. Now, I've never read any of her other books and I'd never even read a blurb about Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks until I started listening to the book last week. The only reason I even checked the audio version out of the library is because I read that few bloggers had listed it as one of their fave YA books of 2008, so I figured I should give it a read (or in my case, a listen).

Do you think it's possible that she's our long lost sister or something? Or maybe I can just read her mind? Or maybe I've subconciously read all of her books and sent her fan mail in my sleep? I guess the good news is that so far, the similarities don't really add up to much, they're really just little details that no one else would notice except me, but in my mind that almost makes it more weird. I mean, how could she have had the exact same random thoughts as us only a few years earlier? And if there are little similarities between our book and another book, who's to say that there aren't MAJOR similarities between our book and some other book that I've never even heard of? Or maybe hasn't even been published yet? It's terrifying, I tell you.

Anyways, my big question of the day is as follows: Does this ever happen to you as a writer? Do you ever put something as random as pineapple pizza in your book and then find that another author has done the very same thing BEFORE you and BETTER than you?

And look, for the record, pineapple pizza is only in the book because it's my favorite pizza topping of all time and Ken never lets me order it. He read the book and his first critique was, "Pineapple pizza, seriously? That's going to gross people out." Thank you, Ken for that insightful feedback.

I'm really interested to hear what you guys have to say on this one.

I'm an idiot, but my friends ROCK

Ok, so it turns out that Emile Hirsch and Jim Sturgess are two different people, and it was, *ahem* Jim who was in both 21 and Across the Universe. Who knew?


I give you Emile...




And Jim...



I'm an idiot.

Anyways, the good news is that I've managed to surround myself with really kickass, talented people, who are decidedly not idiots such as...

• The fabulously talented Katie (of SkatieFrancis fame) just won the one sentence pitch contest over at Query Tracker. Her fabulosity has landed her a full manuscript request from uber agent Joanna Stampfel-Volpe. Laura and I have a girl crush on Joanna, so this is all very exciting. And big shout out to ElanaJ for compiling over 500 pitches and also to Joanna for reading every. single. one.

• Next up we've got the kickass Sara and Katie (man, this girl is having an amazing Monday!) who just got honorable mentions in Miss Snark's First Victim's Secret Agent Contest! The agent was Kate Schafer Testerman this time around and she was TOUGH. And beta reader extraordinaire ElanaJ...drumroll please....got runner up, see all that work she does on the Query Tracker blog is good karma. Congratulations guys!
  
  
• I'll keep this one anonymous but we have a certain writer friend who just got a full request from a certain agent and we're certainly very, very excited for her. Our fingers are crossed! Although, I'm still sort of pissed that she gets to watch Gossip Girl a full day before I do. Damn Canadians.

• And finally, thank you Alea, queen of things all pop culture, for knowing that Jim and Emile are two distinct human beings. I'd like to blame that whole snafu on sleep deprivation, but I would be lying. I really thought they were the same person and for that I am ashamed.

Ok, I'm off to go renew my subscription to US Weekly in an effort to avoid any further egregious celebrity errors.

Floating heads and frenemies...

I haven't felt very inspired by celebrity pictures lately. And trust me, to come up with these rhymes, one needs some divine inspiration. Perhaps it's because whenever I go to write a poem, I think back to "Bitch, please" and realize that I'm that girl! Anyways, here are a few pics I've been gathering over the weeks.

Jenni, the black turtleneck is often a good choice, or so I’ve read,
but in this case you look like one sad floating head.

Audrina, what’s your secret? You look different, more sleek.
Head transplant? New eyes? I’ve got it! Different cheeks?

Katie, I know the importance of dress down days. Yoga pants? Highly recommend.
But cuffed jean shorts, furry sandals and a flannel shirt? Not a good look, my friend.

Speidi, I suppose there’s no limit to your self-promoting ways,
I just wish we could get there without seeing butt cheeks, mmmkay?

When I read Gwyneth’s GOOP, I thought, “who is this saboteur?”

After learning it was sticky fingers Ryder, I realized I have better frenemies than her.

These rhymes are exhausting and it’s not even noon,
back to my edits, we’ll meet again soon.