I'm so excited, because THE GIVENCHY CODE won the National Readers' Choice Award in the "mainstream" category!

The physical award is an awesome monument that looks like it's made out of granite and has my name, the name of the book, and my editor's name inscribed. It's beautiful! And I'm pretty sure it's the reason the TSA opened my luggage on the way home! And it's also the reason for the headline. All the winners "rock"!!
 

Be sure to check out Golden by Jennifer Lynn Barnes ... looks fab!!



At Emory High, there are two kinds of people: those who matter, and those who don’t.

When Lissy James moves from California to Oklahoma, she finds herself in the middle of a teenage nightmare: a social scene to rival a Hollywood movie. And if understanding the hierarchy of the Goldens vs. the Nons isn’t hard enough, Lissy’s ever growing Aura Vision is getting harder and harder to hide, and if she’s not careful, she’s going to become a Non faster than you can say “freak.”

But it’s becoming clear that Emory High has a few secrets of its own. Around the halls, the term “special powers” goes way beyond one’s ability to attract the opposite sex, and there may be something more evil than the A-crowd lurking in the classrooms. Lissy can see a lot more than the average girl, but she’s about to learn the hard way that things aren’t always as they appear and you can’t always judge a girl by her lip gloss.

****

Here are Jennifer's answers to my questions!


HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR TYPICAL ?WRITING DAY??
My typically writing day usually starts about two in the morning. I'm
definitely a late night writer, and since I was in college during pretty much
the entire process for GOLDEN, late at night was the best time for me to write
without missing out on anything else going on in the dorms. Typically, I sit
down, read through the last chapter I wrote, and then just start writing, and
don't stop until I've finished a chapter (usually somewhere around 2500 words).
At the beginning of a book, or the very end, I'll sometimes do an all-day
writing day, just because I get really involved in it, but for the most part, I
make it through my books a chapter a night.

DO YOU RECALL THE KERNEL OF INSPIRATION FOR THIS BOOK?
I knew I wanted to write about a teenage girl who could see auras, so I took a
few minutes to think about what kind of situation that power would be the most
helpful (and the most mortifying) in, and remembered my own experiences
transferring schools at the start of the ninth grade. Once I'd decided that my
aura seer was going to be navigating the clique scene at a new high school, I
just started writing, and the rest of the story kind of evolved from there.

PICK A CHARACTER IN THE BOOK AND TELL US WHAT TRAIT YOU SHARE (OR COME CLOSEST
TO SHARING) WITH THAT CHARACTER.
My narrator, Lissy, and I share a decently large number of traits- most
specifically, thick, slightly frizzy hair, and an inner voice that's much more
sarcastic than anything we actually say out loud.

IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND, WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE A MAGICAL TRUNK
THAT GAVE YOU LIMITLESS BOOKS TO READ, OR A LIMITLESS SUPPLY OF PAPER ON WHICH
TO WRITE?
This may be the hardest question I've ever had to answer, but I think I'd have
to go with the paper. I get pretty twitchy if I go without writing for too
long.

BEER OR WINE?
Actually, neither. I'm mildly allergic to wine and can't take the taste of
beer.

CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA?
Vanilla. I'm one of those strange people who really dislikes the taste of
chocolate.

WHAT?S YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE BOOK?
Probably Matilda by Roald Dahl- it's the perfect mix of humor, character, and
the fantastical, which are my three favorite things to find in any book.

****

What People Are Saying About The Book:

“…A well-balanced blend of fast-moving fantasy and light, playful chick lit.”
–Kirkus Reviews

“Golden glows with the spot-on 
insights and pitch-perfect prose of someone whose knowledge of adolescence is absolutely fresh… Golden is a captivating mix of everyday teen terrors and supernatural suspense."
-Borders Online, July Newsletter

Bio:

A Native Oklahoman, Jennifer Lynn Barnes is a recent graduate of Yale University, where she studied cognitive science (the study of the brain and thought). Her research on animal and child cognition has been featured on ABC’s World News Tonight, Animal Planet, and The New York Times, and Jennifer will be spending the 2006/2007 school year abroad, doing autism research at the University of Cambridge.

Jennifer wrote Golden at the age of nineteen, and her second book, Tattoo, will be available in January of 2007.
 

Don't miss REALITY CHICK by Lauren Barnholdt ... this one looks fab!



Here's more scoop on the book:

REALITY CHICK by Lauren Barnholdt


All hour study fests.....all-night parties....

Going away to college means total independence and freedom. Unless of
course your freshman year is taped and televised for all the world to
watch. On uncensored cable.

Sweet and normal Ally Cavanaugh is one of five freshpeople shacking up
on In the House, a reality show filmed on her college campus. (As if
school isn't panic-inducing enough!) The cameras stalk her like
paparazzi, but they also capture the fun that is new friends, old
crushes, and learning to live on your own. Sure, the camera adds ten
pounds, but with the freshman fifteen a given anyway, who cares?

Ally's got bigger issues -- like how her long-distance bf can watch her
loopy late-night "episode" with a certain housemate...

Freshman year on film.
It's outrageous.
It's juicy.
And like all good reality TV, it's impossible to turn off.


Lauren Barnholdt is a twenty-six-year-old writer who was born and raised in Syracuse, NY. Her articles and short stories have appeared in Elements Magazine, Girls Life, and on mensclick.com. Her first book for young adults, REALITY CHICK, is in stores now.

Here are her answers to my GCC questions:

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR TYPICAL “WRITING DAY”? I tend to do better if I get an early start, so lately I've been trying to get up on the early side. I usually write with Diet coke with Lime, or chocolate coffee. Caffeine keeps me inspired ;) Also, sometimes I let myself watch one episode of Sex and the City or some other show on DVD after I write a certain number of words.
DO YOU RECALL THE KERNEL OF INSPIRATION FOR THIS BOOK? I tried out for THE REAL WORLD once. I didn't make it, and all my friends were like, "It's because you're too normal!" And I was like, "That's exactly why they should pick me!" I thought it would be cool to see how a "normal" person does on one of those shows. So I decided to write a book about it.

PICK A CHARACTER IN THE BOOK AND TELL US WHAT TRAIT YOU SHARE (OR COME CLOSEST TO SHARING) WITH THAT CHARACTER. My main character, Ally, tends to obsess about and overthink things. I definitely have a tendency to do that.

IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND, WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE A MAGICAL TRUNK THAT GAVE YOU LIMITLESS BOOKS TO READ, OR A LIMITLESS SUPPLY OF PAPER ON WHICH TO WRITE? Ooh, that's a hard one. I'm going to have to say books to read.

BEER OR WINE? Wine

CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? Definitely vanilla.

WHAT’S YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE BOOK? CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger.

Lauren also teaches a popular online course called How to Write and Sell the YA Chick-lit Novel. She is currently at work on her next YA book, which will be out next summer. Lauren now resides in Central Connecticut, and when she’s not writing, she watches a lot of reality TV.

Visit her website at www.laurenbarnholdt.com
 

Julie Kenner's California Demon. The Eternal Night Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Web Site - check it out!
 

I read Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson well before I "met" her on line. Actually, I listened to it in audio, having noticed the book on the shelf at one of my own signings. I listened to it straight through, and absolutley loved the voice, the narrator, and the mystery.

I haven't yet had the chance to read Between, Georgia , but I absolutely can't wait. Here's a bit more about the book!



Joshilyn Jackson burst onto the scene with her first bestselling novel, gods in Alabama, which was the #1 Book Sense Pick when it was released. Now, to the delight of her growing fans everywhere, she returns with another novel set in the eccentric South of her own invention – her second #1 Book Sense Pick in a row - BETWEEN, GEORGIA (Warner Books Hardcover; July 3, 2006; $22.99).

Nonny Frett understands the meaning of the phrase “in between a rock and a hard place” better than any woman alive. She’s got two mothers, “one deaf-blind and the other four baby steps from flat crazy.” She’s got two men: a husband who’s easing out the back door; and a best friend, who’s laying siege to her heart in the her front yard. And she has two families: the Fretts, who stole her and raised her right; and the Crabtrees, who lost her and won’t forget how they were done wrong.

Now, in BETWEEN, GEORGIA, population 90, a feud is escalating, and random act of violence is about to ignite a stash of family secrets. Ironically, it might be just what the town needs…if only Nonny weren’t stuck in between.

About the Author
Joshilyn Jackson is the bestselling author of gods in Alabama, a native of the Deep South, a former actor and award-winning teacher, and now a mother of two. Her work has previously appeared in TriQuarterly and Calyx, as well as the anothology ChickLit II. Jackson lives with her family outside of Atlanta, Georgia.

The Questions
Here are Joshilyn's answers to my questions for the GCC touring authors:

Step 1) Sit at comp and hose around on the internet for a minute or two, playing in e-mail.

Step 2) Get called by a child with a need. Go fill child’s need.

Step 3) Sit back down at comp and read or write a blog.

Step 4) Get called by a child who wants to be played with. Play with child.

Step 5) Sit down at my comp and revise two sentences I wrote the last time my husband took the kids out of town for a weekend so I had two family free days to BLAST out 10,000 really bad crappy rough drafty words.

Step 6) Get called by a child who needs a food. Provide child with a food.

Repeat 900 times each and every day.

When all 10,000 words have been revised so they are worth reading and I am beginning to understand these characters and see where my plot is going, kick family out for a weekend and write 10,000 more rough ones.


DO YOU RECALL THE KERNEL OF INSPIRATION FOR THIS BOOK?

Yes. The actual town of BETWEEN, GEORGIA lies on highway 78 between Athens and Atlanta. I became intrigued by the idea of a town with no identity, named solely for its location in proximity to other, more important and larger places. It took almost 20 years from the time I first saw the road sign for Between (something very like, “Exit here to visit Beautiful Between, Georgia, population 91”) and the time I understood the story I wanted to tell in that town.

Nonny Frett, my narrator, is very much like the town, and the town itself is in many ways a character. I write southern fiction, so of course a sense of place is important to me, but never more so than in this book about nature v/s nurture and how we discover or decide our own identities.


PICK A CHARACTER IN THE BOOK AND TELL US WHAT TRAIT YOU SHARE (OR COME CLOSEST TO SHARING) WITH THAT CHARACTER.

There’s a character in the book named Bernese Frett Baxter who is described as a “pragmatist savant.” This is me. I am pragmatic to the point of mental illness.

Here is a SAMPLE CONVERSATION BETWEEN ME AND A FRIEND

Her: I had awful parents. They left a hole in my heart. And at dinner, this guy was saying how he would give so much to have just five minutes of conversation with his parents, and I will never experience that. I don’t miss them. I never had that relationship. It’s like a hole a hole that can never be filled.

Me: Well yes. But. On the other hand, he has a hole where he MISSES them.

Her: I don’t see your point…

Me: Well, good parents, bad parents…either way, you end up with a hole. He just didn’t get his hole until after they died.*shrug*

Her: I am going to get you a coupon for 50% off on SOME THERAPY.

Pragmatic so often comes across as heartless, and I truly am not heartless. I genuinely FELT for her, I was sad that she was sad, but at the same time…well EITHER WAY YOU DO GET A HOLE IN THE END. THAT’S JUST COMMON SENSE.

See? See how I am?


IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND, WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE A MAGICAL TRUNK THAT GAVE YOU LIMITLESS BOOKS TO READ, OR A LIMITLESS SUPPLY OF PAPER ON WHICH TO WRITE?

I hate that question SO much. Just thinking about it gives me hives. I want both. And then I start trying to imagine how it would be with one, or how it would be with the other, and then I realize that when I DO get trapped on an island I probably won’t have EITHER, and also no internet, and then the hives come up.

Books. And then I would use my blood to write in the margins. Because I am a giant cheater and want both. Also, can I have the internet and a monstrously good laptop configured for maximum gaming pleasure on the island?


BEER OR WINE? Wine. Red, Please. Australian Shiraz if you want to be extra pretty to me.

CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? Dark Bitter Black Chcolate. With the Shiraz please.

WHAT’S YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE BOOK? Hard one…probably To Kill a Mockingbird.
 

Well, I actually meant to post that last post under my other blog, but, hey, it's worth celebrating here, too!

Yay!!
 

We received our LID today: It's June 19, which is actually a full week earlier than I'd guessed!

The "average" wait from LID to TA for those of us DTC after LOI seems to be about 77 days, which puts us in early September. Wow!

I've included this link to a Map of China with all the province names on it (it's interactive!). Here's a picture with Anhui highlighted. So far I haven't found the cool software that lets you put a little star or arrow on a map, but this will do:


 

Lately C has taken to playing in the backyard (and independently, too!). Today she was out there until the last possible minute, begging "just five more minutes!" off her dad every five minutes until the sun was disappearing behind the trees. At one point, I decided to go check on her, and found that she'd been plucking flowers and leaves off our various plants. This is a normal state of affairs around our house ... D and I are convinced she has a future career in horticulture!

At any rate, we moved her Little Tykes kitchen outside at the beginning of summer, and these bits of plant are usually part of some fabulous new "dish" she's making, so I asked if she was cooking something. She said no, and very excitedly urged me over to look at what she'd done. A circle of bits of petals, leaves, sticks and more. "What is that?" I asked. "Magic," she said. "To bring my sister home faster."

I swear, I teared up!

I can't wait to see my two little girls playing together!

(And by the by, I've added quite a few updates to my adoption blog, including pics of Isabella now that we have our Pre-Approval. If anyone wants a peek, just visit Red Thread Chronicles)
 

Did a booksigning at Barnes & Noble in San Antonio today, and the wonderful Betty Cox (who does some awesome reviews!) came along with family and took some pictures! Here's the one of me and Pamela Morsi and Julia London



And here's another of the three of us with Betty, too!


 

Meet Sophie Katz, everyone's new favorite heroine. She's sassy, hip, intelligent and unapologetically obsessed with Starbucks. As a biracial woman living in San Francisco she is inherently tolerant of the alternative lifestyle choices of those around her but she draws the line at murder.


(Click the image for more info!)

I'm happy to host Kyra this week on the GCC bloggin' book tour!

Here's the scoop on this sequel to SEX, MURDER AND A DOUBLE LATTE

Sophie Katz has just offered a man $12,000 for his services…is she desperate of just meshugeneh?

Considering the kind of disasters that usually befall the half-black, half Jewish mystery writer, probably both. Because the last time Sophie saw sexy P.I. Anatoly Darinsky, he practically danced a jig when she waved goodbye-a normal reaction for a man who’d nearly bought the farm due to her misguided attempts at vigilante justice. What are the chances he’d agree to take incriminating pictures of her sister’s philandering husband? Or that he’d let her tag along-you know…for research?

But when her brother-in-law turns up dead and her sister becomes the prime suspect Sophie’s priority is finding the real killer. With or without Anatoly’s help. Her brother-in-law’s secret life yields plenty of suspects, but the San Francisco police aren’t taking any of them seriously. So Sophie does what comes naturally to her: she stirs up trouble (to lure the killer out, of course).

But if her crazy plan works will everybody survive the outcome?

In the rollicking follow-up to Sex, Murder And A Double Latte, Sophie hones her irreverent humor and sleuthing skills to a sharp edge. Fans of Stephanie Plum or Kinsey Millhone will no doubt love Sophie and find her snappy comebacks and quirky cohorts as addictive as good coffee and a sexy dye job (okay, let’s stick with the caffeine).

My questions ...

Kyra graciously answered my standard list o' questions:

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR TYPICAL “WRITING DAY”?

Sadly, I’m no where near organized enough to have a regular schedule plus I’m a single parent of a young child who I am temporarily (please God, let this be temporary) homeschooling which is another way of saying that my days are packed and chaotic. So basically I write after my son goes to sleep, during the 3-4 hour spans of time my son spends with my mother and/or stepbrother three days a week and during Animal Planet’s Planet’s Funniest Animals marathons.


DO YOU RECALL THE KERNEL OF INSPIRATION FOR THIS BOOK?
When I was three quarters of the way through Sex, Murder And A Double Latte it occurred to me that the book could be the beginning of a series. Since I had spent most of the first novel exploring Sophie’s relations with her crazy friends I figured that it would be fun to use the next book to explore her relations with her even crazier family. Having her sister Leah’s husband threaten divorce (and then wind up dead) seemed like a natural segue for a comical women’s murder mystery.

PICK A CHARACTER IN THE BOOK AND TELL US WHAT TRAIT YOU SHARE (OR COME CLOSEST TO SHARING) WITH THAT CHARACTER.
Sophie and I share a serious Starbucks addiction. We also both have a thing for dark chocolate and men with strong hands…

IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND, WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE A MAGICAL TRUNK THAT GAVE YOU LIMITLESS BOOKS TO READ, OR A LIMITLESS SUPPLY OF PAPER ON WHICH TO WRITE?

Oh geez, that’s a hard one. I’m going to go with books to read because if I were to write something I’d eventually want to share it and if I wasn’t able to I’d start swimming through those shark-infested waters in a desperate attempt to find an island with a few human inhabitants. Even if the inhabitants were hostile there would always be a chance that they’d read my stuff during my eulogy after burning me at the stake.

BEER OR WINE?
WINE!

CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA?
Chocolate if it’s dark (that means at least 65% rich) and Vanilla if it’s not (particularly if it’s French vanilla)

WHAT’S YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE BOOK?
That’s kind of like asking a mother which one of her offspring she favors the most. There are so many books that could make the favorite list it’s pretty much impossible for me to honestly pick just one but since you’re holding a gun to my head I guess I’ll say Edith Wharton’s House Of Mirth. It’s been years since I last re-read it but I still continue to mentally reference it while stumbling through my day to day life. But there really are other books that I love just as much; just in different ways (is that a mom thing to say or what?)

You can read more about Kyra, her books and her thoughts at: Kyra's Web Log