When you're a writer, you periodically get to enjoy these strange and uncomfortable slices of time when you're "between projects." In the regular world, these chunks of nothing-to-do-ness are called vacation.

Right this very moment, I have one finished YA novel that is slipping on its prettiest shoes and getting ready to head out into the world to find a funny and smart editor-friend. I have also written and revised my Spring 2013 middle grade novel (THE QUIRKS), and am awaiting another round of edits from my editor at Bloomsbury - they should come any day now, at which point I will be trapped back inside my deadline cave. So one might think this would be a nice chance to take a few days off, enjoy a book, watch some TV. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I remember how vacation works anymore.

I've spent the week: meeting with a personal trainer (I tend to get pretty lumpy and lazy when I'm finishing books and then I slog through back-to-back workouts to try to make up for it), cleaning the bathrooms, hosting playdates, and pacing around the house - snacking on Cadbury Creme Eggs. I have a book project I've been working on, for fun, between other projects and all I want to do is write just a tiny bit of it, but I feel guilty for thinking about work when I'm supposed to be relaxing. Working for myself is sometimes the pits, because it turns out I'm a rather pushy and mean boss.

I do have a bunch of books lined up that I want to read in the next few weeks, though. I am currently wrapping up the first-pass pages of Jennifer Echols' sexy summer book - SUCH A RUSH. Also, I've finally started WHY WE BROKE UP by Daniel Handler. My book club picked Mindy Kaling's IS EVERYONE HANGING OUT WITHOUT ME? - and I'm psyched about that. I'm also hoping to read THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT (sounds like my style).

But maybe first I'll eat another Cadbury Creme Egg. Gotta fuel up for my trainer tomorrow.

Okay, I'm not actually a *bad writer*, but a bad blog author - it turns out, I sort of despise updating this blog. So I don't do it much. But that's partly because I've been busy writing other things! Since I haven't posted anything here in quite some time, I figured it's time for a round-up of updates. What's been going on since spring? A lot!

1) I wrote a funny middle-grade novel, the first in a series of books about a quirky, crazy, magical, misfit family that will be coming out in a little over a year (Bloomsbury).

2) It's now been more than a year since I left my day job - I haven't had one moment of regret about leaving the comfort of a career and a paycheck. I took most of the summer to swim, swing, and walk with my kids - and really enjoyed spending days outside, instead of in a stuffy office.

3) I also finished my first novel for grown-up kids (aka: adults). I wrote this book for a change of pace, for the fun of writing for a new group of (mostly) ladies, and I just love it. I don't yet know if anyone other than my mom and agent and critique partners will ever get to read it - we'll see!

4) I am officially immersed in my next teen novel! I'm first-drafting quickly, and hope to finish a full draft this year. So not a lot of blogging to come, since I have character-kissing to attend to.

5) I've been reading like crazy. I'm all over the place - reading adult ro-coms, middle-grade girly stuff, a ton of YA. It's so nice to have time to read, but now reading is on hold since I can never read (much) when I'm actively writing.

6) Yesterday, I ran my second 10-mile race ever! This is me (in the purple and pants), looking perkier than I felt. Oh, I hurt today.

 




 










Happy fall. Later,
E.

 I haven't blogged in almost three months. And now, I'm back with an especially random post.

Okay, so on to the random amusements from this week.
Later,
E.

I've read a lot of books this year. Way more than I thought I would, given that I had a full-time job most of the year, I had/have full-time kids, and met two big writing deadlines. But even in a busy year, I find that I go in spurts, sometimes reading nothing for months (usually while I'm in the midst of writing a first draft) and sometimes reading four books in a week (when I finish a first draft). This year was that kind of year. I read some real duds (in fact, for the first time in my life, I closed up a few books after only a few chapters), but I also read a few superstars. These were the most notable highlights of my year - I may be forgetting some great ones, but these are the books that really stand out:

Perfect Chemistry - Simone Elkeles
This was recommended to me by readers of my own books, and I'm so glad I took the advice to read it. Perfect Chemistry is one of my favorite books of all time. I wrote a blog post about it here.

The DUFF - Kody Keplinger
With the abundance of paranormal teen fiction, I haven't been reading as much contemporary realistic fiction and this book arrived on my night stand just when I needed it the most. I'd been reading too much un-funny paranormal whining, and this book about a smart, sassy girl and her perfectly ordinary (no superpowers) romance saved me from dying a humorless paranormal death.

Before I Fall - Lauren Oliver
This book was gorgeous. I loved the real characters, beautiful imagery, and exceptional plotting. Books never live up to the hype for me, but this one did and then some.

Dirty Little Secrets - CJ Omololu
This book had me hooked like no other book has in a long, long time. The story was so touching and shocking and riveting that I stayed up way too late to finish it.

Hex Hall - Rachel Hawkins
Hilarious, silly, and flirty. Rachel Hawkins is "amazeballs."

On the Jellicoe Road - Melina Marchetta
This is the kind of book that really intimidates you as an author. It's such a well-written, intricate story with amazing emotional depth - there was sometimes a little too much angst, but the romance was so touching that I overlooked it.

I also read the first-draft of Robin Wasserman's Book of Blood and Shadow, which will make the 2012 best-of list. And sometime before the year is out I will buy and read Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, and suspect it will make this list as well, but for now, these are my 2010 highlights. What am I missing??

Later,
E.

I am so thrilled to finally be able to announce my new book deal...a SERIES for younger readers called THE QUIRKS. Here are the details, as reported by Publisher's Marketplace yesterday:

Children's: Middle Grade        
Erin Soderberg's first two books in The Quirks series, about a most unusual and magical family who move to Normal, USA - and the daughter who desperately wants to fit in, to Michelle Nagler at Bloomsbury Children's, by Michael Bourret at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (World).

The first book in this series has been in the works for a while - it took me a very long time to get the voice, the silly magic, and the crazy earnestness of this fantastic family down. But finally it all worked and clicked and felt right - so a few weeks ago my agent sent it out to the wider world. And now, I'm over-the-moon excited that my very first editor, the incredible Michelle Nagler, bought the books for Bloomsbury Children's to publish! Michelle was my editor at Simon & Schuster, but then left me (in Anica Rissi's incredible hands) and I have been desperate to work with Michelle again someday. Someday is finally here!

I'll be writing this series under my maiden name, Erin Soderberg, to ensure that readers can differentiate between my older teen fiction and this younger series - it's very, very different from everything I've done before and I don't want any seventeen-year-olds to be disappointed! But if anyone has younger siblings that like funny, silly, family stories - this will make a great gift in 2012 or 2013!

YAY!
Later,
E.

Today is my birthday! I'm a sucker for birthdays - they're sort of a big deal to me, and I'll admit that I like having all the attention that comes with the big day. Last night, three of my friends took me out for drinks to celebrate turning 34. As I was on my way to meet them, I realized I was going out with the exact same girlfriends I'd celebrated with on my 17th birthday (one of whom was there for my 10th birthday, too!). That's crazy. I mean, how likely is it that you'll still be good friends with the same three girls you were friends with at 17? Not likely. I am lucky. While I considered this, I couldn't help but think about how much has changed since high school, too.

And the truth is, it does get better. Not just for LGBT kids, or those dealing with awful divorces, or bullying, or any of the other million things that tend to creep in and make high school even harder, but for everyone. Now that I'm solidly in my 30s, I am finally realizing how much has changed since high school and just how much better it gets. Take, for example, perspective on cliques and popularity. To steal a line I wrote my work-in-progress: "Cliques don't fizzle. They just shift." And it's true, sadly. Mean girls still exist. Cliques exist everywhere - preschool mom groups, PTA, college dorms, corporations, writing groups - but when you're not squeezed between the same four walls with the same 50, 100, 500 people everyday, they just don't matter as much. Phew.

Some other things that have changed: My hair (not always for the better), my body image (I'd love to have the "fat thighs" I had in high school), my self-respect (I admit that I will never remember the state capitols, but I know I rock at giving smart guy advice...and I feel good knowing that's way more important in real life), my self-confidence (I'm a full time novelist, for god's sake...that isn't an easy choice!).

It's spending time with my friends from high school that reminds me of how much I've changed, but also how much of me has remained intact...it's just that I respect who I am much more than I did back then. I've always been quirky (aka weird), too loud/brash/dorky/awkward (insert any other low-self-confidence word here) for my own good, gangly, and inappropriate in conversation. Also, I never could--and still can't--dance without looking like a fool. In high school, those were major hurdles to conformity. Now, I see those same hurdles as major assets. It took me a while to figure that out, though.

Happy birthday to unique, outspoken, skinny-enough, always-honest me! (This picture is me, today, showing off my shiny new nose ring. It's been pierced for 13 years, but I finally nerved up and got a ring instead of a bland ol' stud!)

Later,
E.

I finally finished the first full draft of my new novel.

It is on paper and has been sent off (even if only a small chunk of words make it through revisions, this step is satisfying!). Wow. That took a LOT longer than I thought it would. Not that I haven't loved and cared about and enjoyed all of my books up until now, but this one really made me take the time to sit and soak and mull and fret far more than I ever have on a first draft before. Truth be told, I have been working on this book -- almost exclusively -- for almost a year and a half. (I say almost because I had to finish KISS IT edits last summer, and I wrote and rewrote the first bit of a silly and -- I think -- hilariously fun middle-grade novel a bunch of times while I was "fasting" from the other book.) A year and a half is a long freaking time for me. Which is why I deserved these as a present for finishing -- this will be my first pair of Fluevogs, and my golly, they are hot:

They have not arrived yet, so perhaps my calves will not actually squeeze inside them, but I'm hoping. I also need some charming skirts to accompany them, or perhaps those dreaded skinny jeans people have been flaunting. Maybe -- maybe! -- I'll even get the kind with the zippers running up the sides, just for funsies. On second thought, I looked ridiculous in those the first time around, so I will leave zippered jeans to other, more-daring souls.

You will find me flitting about town in my new boots while I try really hard to take a bitty little vacation from writing. Maybe just for a week, but I think I deserve it!

Later,
E.

I've totally dropped off the face of the blogging earth to try to finish writing the first draft of my next book. Now, I usually don't read while I'm writing a first draft--it messes with my mind, and, if it's a good book, makes me worry that I can't actually write a good book myself. Well...I made a big mistake, and took my readers' advice: I read Perfect Chemistry. Finally. People! My dear readers! Why didn't you tell me I shouldn't have read this book while I was trying to finish writing my own! I got totally sidetracked, and stayed up until 2 AM to finish it last night. Today, I'm trying to write the final scenes in my book, and all I can think about is how much I love Alex Fuentes. I mean, I LOVE Alex Fuentes. I dated a few bad boys in my life, but none like this one. Oh, he is perfect.

Okay, enough gushing and back to the first draft. Hopefully next week this time, I'll be done and revising and trying to polish a book that can compare to Perfect Chemistry. But in the meantime, I'll just sit here and swoon during all my writing breaks. Would it be a weird change of course to have my white-bread romantic lead turn into a Latino gang member? Yeah, probably. But it's tempting.

(Oh, and there's NO WAY I'm getting Rules of Attraction until I finish my draft...now that is incentive to finish.)

Later,
E.

I'm a little late in awarding winners in my Kiss It contest....here's the excuse: I spent the whole weekend floating on a lake, reading ARCs of upcoming books from my new publisher. Sob - poor me. Anyhoo, here's the scoop. I stretched the entries out just a wee bit to get to THREE winners - there weren't actually 51+ official entries before June 30, but I'll pretend there were. And wow, you guys, there were some awesome book recommendations - I feel like I've been a really lazy reader. I'm so excited to read some of these recommendations. The KISS IT winners (chosen by random.org) are....

Bailey the Bookworm
Haley
Pirate Penguin Reads

Also, I have a BONUS winner...I'm going to send a signed copy of both Kiss It and Drive Me Crazy to "Babybear" (no clue what your real name is, but I'm pulling this fun fake name from your email address). "Babybear" convinced me to read Perfect Chemistry with her well-written response (this book has actually been on my to-read list for a while, but this write-up made me want to read it NOW). I thought that deserved a prize, even though Random.org did not choose you.

Here's "Babybear"'s description:

Perfect Chemistry has become one of my favorite books. It's touches the subject of sex, drugs, alcohol and the idea of being perfect or putting on a show for others to prevent seeing the real you. I liked that this book was entertaining yet touched subjects that made the book more realistic. This book was hard to read with the idea of gangs and death of a character. It changed my idea of everything, and how even the best of people who intended the best for someone else could lose their life. It was hard to think of how one persons life could change the life of a whole group of people. And the idea of never knowing whether the love was real or not. Even with all this i love that this book had a happy ending.

Later,
E.

Anyone who has heard me talking about books knows how much I love Jennifer Echols. She's hilarious, romantic, and writes stories about chicks I love. Also, her kissing scenes are steamy, steamy hot. Jenn has also been an awesome friend-I've-never-really-met...she's always on the other end of a freak-out email with some snarky remark or a funny anecdote.

And now, she's asked me some questions about KISS IT! Please head on over to her blog to check it out.

KISS IT is showing up in stores this weekend and next week--release day next Tuesday. Squee!