The Truth About THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

My mom read THE FAULT IN OUR STARS first. Then she demanded that we read it. Laura read it next and then finally it was my turn.

I finished it Saturday night. Sobbing.

I think you should read this book, but even if you decide not to read it you should read this quote:

"Grief does not change you...It reveals you."

I know this to be true. And it terrifies me. Because what will grief someday reveal about me? I have no way of knowing. Not really.

But I'm so glad I read THE FAULT IN OUR STARS. Because even though it's fiction (the Author's Note made that fact abundently clear), I have no doubt that there is truth in John Green's words. And strength. And beauty. And, yes, even hope.

Child Rearing Advice Goop Style

Gwyneth Paltrow discussed some of her best parenting advice in a recent In Style article, including this little nugget of wisdom:

“I only let [Apple and Moses] watch TV in French or Spanish. When I’m in France, I go to [Boulevard] Beaumarchais and buy all their cartoons.”

Well, I guess we now know who to blame for the rampant use of casual French in our culture. If I tried this with my kids I'm guessing it would manifest into something like this:

Why We Can't Shut Up About the Get Real Book Tour

Ok, so I know you're probably SO sick of us right now. Come see us on our book tour! Buy our book! Look at our crazy hair! LiLa! LiLa! LiLa! (Yeah, you're totally chanelling Jan Brady. It's ok. Own your inner Jan. It's easier that way. Trust me. We've all got her in there somewhere.)

But here's the truth, we can't stop talking about this stuff because we can't believe it's actually happening. Sourcebooks is sending us on a national book tour. They're investing in us, investing in The Liar Society. And we're floored. FLOORED.

Back when The Liar Society was released in March 2011 our publicist told us that we'd be lucky to be stocked at Barnes and Noble for a month. He said we had one month to sell a lot of books to keep our book stocked and the way he said it made it pretty clear that he thought we'd all be eating ice cream in hell before that happened. Of course that was right after he admitted to not having time to read our book. To go from having a publicist who never read our book to a 9 city book tour is kind of insane. And we're grateful and excited and overwhelmed and terrified that no one is going to show up. Which is why we haven't been able to shut up about it.

So, yeah. Sorry. We suck. We're obnoxious. But we also have pretty new bookmarks!

If we send you one will you maybe consider forgiving us for being so promotion-y and come see us when we embark on this crazy adventure? Because there's no doubt in our minds that we'd never have made it this far with out YOU, loyal blog readers (Especially our Grandma, because she's awesome! You get as many bookmarks as you want, Grandma! You too, Kim J.!) Anyone who reads our day-to-day ramblings on a regular basis should have something to show for it.

So comment if you want a bookmark and we'll email you for your address. Thanks for putting up with us!

Real Talk With LiLa: Solange

Lisa: I feel so bad for Solange.

Laura: Who the hell is Solange?

Lisa: Exactly.

The Maghic Wisard by Jack

I was cleaning out Jack's backpack tonight and at the very bottom squashed between a crumpled Nutrigrain Bar wrapper and an old apple was this:

Jack's first story!!!! As a writer this was a huge moment for me. A chance to finally see what stories were churning around in my 7-year-old's brain. I was not disappointed.

Here's the text of THE MAGHIC WISARD in its entirety:

The Wisard was working on his new magic tric.

Boom! Bam!

No! No!

Wat happened?

He called 911.

Move over Harry Potter.

Coming Soon to a City Near You...

The dates for the Get Real tour are finally finalized and we could not be more excited!!! Well, excited and terrified. I have this vision of us stopping at bookstores and seeing lines out the door for the crazy talented Janet Gurtler and Miranda Kenneally while Laura and I sit at a table alone eating Twizzlers.

So, um, you guys will come see us, right? Because we will be so happy to see some friendly faces in all of these new cities. This marks a lot of firsts for us:

1. First national book tour.

2. First time away from our kids and husbands for more than a long weekend.

3. First time visiting Seattle, Phoenix and Minneapolis.

4. First time we've spent 10 consecutive days together since 1997.

5. First signing of a finished copy of THE LIES THAT BIND.

Now that I've successfully made us sound like long lost members of the Duggar family, please click here to see a full list of tour stops and be sure to let us know if you're planning on attending one of the events. We'll save you a pearl bracelet and a Twizzler! And, if you aren't able to make it to any of the tour stops you can always order a signed copy of THE LIAR SOCIETY or THE LIES THAT BIND from The Learned Owl.

The incredible Sourcebooks team has a ton of events and promotions around the tour and the book launch planned for the next couple of months, so stay tuned for contests, vlogs and assorted randomness.

Can't wait to see all of you in November! We'll be the ones sitting alone at the table with neon colored hair and pearls!We're so excited, we're so excited, we're so...scared.

The Third Roecker

Stacey has the thankless job of being the most talented Roecker sister. Not only is she the best swimmer, best tennis player and the only Roecker with rhythm, she also owns her own design company where she single handedly creates gorgeous paper confections on a daily basis.

Because of her bottomless talents she gets stuck doing crap jobs for her bossy older sisters. As you might remember, one of those jobs was taking our new author photos. The fact that Stacey managed to make us look like people who shower on a regular basis speaks volumes about her talent.

Well, Stacey, as a thank you, we really wanted to give something back to you. Something special....

TA DA!

Ok, ok, all kidding aside, as soon as you pop that baby out, let's take some real sister pics, ok? Normal hair, no bellies, lots of laughing. Think Mike Roecker is up for the task?

P.S.
I know in my heart of hearts that someday Laura is going to write a picture book and Stacey is going to illustrate it and they'll both be on the Today Show while I sit on the couch at home sobbing and reading this blog post. Thanks for nothing, Sisters. I'm pissed at you already.

Win One of FIVE Signed Copies of THE LIES THAT BIND

Our super amazing publisher is giving away five signed copies of THE LIES THAT BIND on Goodreads! Click here to enter to win immediately. Please?


And...check out the final cover. Gorge, right? I will never, ever get sick of Kate with blue hair.

Honestly, we can't believe that it's almost November 1st. We are so excited for you guys to read the next installment of Kate's adventures. She's got a LOT going on. Including a new love interest (Sorry, Liam fans...) and a whole new mystery to solve. And a whole lot of randomness because it's a Roecker book and the Roeckers love the random.

Stay tuned for our officially official tour schedule, blog tour deets and lots of fun contests to celebrate our book birthday.

P.S.
If any of you are interested in going blue for the launch, just send us your profile pic and we'll doctor it up for you. You know you're dying to go blue (pun SO intended), so send us a pic!

Conversations with LiLa - Fashion Fail

Lisa: Omigod, have you seen the latest Lands End catalogue?

Laura: You get the Lands End catalogue?

Lisa: Sure do. And their stuff is so cute lately!

Laura: Really?

Lisa: I know, they've like rebranded or something. Remember when we used to make fun of Mom for wearing Lands End stuff? I just placed a huge order. Can't wait...

Laura: Uh, you realize that Lands End hasn't really changed at all?

Lisa: Oh no, they totally have, I used to think their clothes were for moms.

Laura: Right. They are for moms. They have the exact same stuff. You're getting old. You probably just ordered mom jeans! *cackles with glee*

Lisa: *quietly hangs up phone* *cancels order* *weeps*

Tell the Truth Tuesday

1. I've watched every episode of Gallery Girls at least three times. Chantal scares the crap out of me. If some poor hipster and Freddie Krueger had a baby, slapped some red lipstick on her and then raised her to have a really bad work ethic, the product would be Chantal. I can't stop watching. Can't. Stop.

The fabulous Joy Preble said it far better than I ever could: "Chantal scares the pee out of me. I want to drag her to the suburbs & force her to eat at Olive Garden, non-ironically."

Yup, that about sums it up.

2. Stacey took new author pictures of us. They're pretty amazing. The best thing about having your sister take your pictures is that she tells you when you need to suck in your stomach or if you're making that wonky face you always make when you smile. Sadly, the one that best depicts our personality and relationship isn't exactly book jacket friendly.

I'm pretty sure that's how I look almost all of the time (minus the photoshopped hair) which makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time.

3. Laura has decided that our blog tour for The Lies That Bind should be exclusively vlog content. I wasn't on board until she promised that we could make an opening sequence that involved her doing a calypso jump.

4.  I keep debating about whether or not to keep my bangs (or as the fabulous Loretta Nyhan calls them "fringe"). Stacey and Laura are both in favor of them, but I'm worried it's some kind of conspiracy theory. Yes, this is the kind of thing that keeps me up at night.

5. I loved the Newsroom. I don't care if people think it's unrealistic. I'd watch the news way more if it was written by Aaron Sorkin.

6. The Regulator is watching the kids for us over the weekend which involves an overnight stay at my house. I'm kind of terrified. She's never stayed at my house unattended before. What is she going to say about my junk drawer? What if she notices that I haven't cleaned the blades of my fans, EVER? I have Xanax for the plane ride, but I think it will be much more useful to keep Regulator anxiety at bay.

7. Our house is officially ready to go back on the market, sadly I think we're the only people who care. But look how pretty it is! My real truth is that sometimes I don't want to leave...

And feel free to judge me for the ginormous TV. I don't mind. Really. I'm a television whore. TV is a very real priority in my life. Sabrina Soto can take her "no visible TV when selling a house rule" and suck it.

Ok, spill. What's your truth this Tuesday? Tell us everything in the comments.

Maybe someone needs this today. WE DID.

Amy over at Chasing the Crazies recently asked us the following question:

Was there ever a time you thought about giving up on your writing dream? If so, what motivated you to keep writing?

 

Here's a sneak peek at our answer:

 

 

Many, many times. Just last night Lisa called me and said she wanted to give up. When I asked her why, she said she felt like we could never be good enough. We commiserated for approximately 2 hours (our standard phone call length) and hung up with a renewed sense of hope. Yes, there are incredible, fantastic, award-winning, we-bow-down-to-you-genius-writer books out there. Books that make you want to hold the delete button, slam your laptop shut and GIVE UP. Will our books be amongst them? Maybe? Never? Definitely? In our dreams? Who knows! The beauty is in the trying. If you give up, you'll never know if you could have gotten there! One of the best parts about writing is that there is no race. People will always need books to read. As a result, people count on us to get better (or something like that). None of our books will ever be as perfect as we want them to be. In fact, we have a pact to NEVER read a final copy of the published book. There's just no way we wouldn't want to change something and that would kill us in a very slow and painful way. So we write. And we delete. And we re-write. And we complain. But at the end of the day we hope. Because you just never know. That next big book could be right around the corner. And I don't know about you, but I want to be a part of it.