On Chocolate.

I was going to do a really deep post on subjectivity. I even started writing it. But then I realized I had something more pressing to discuss. CHOCOLATE.

Laugh if you will, but chocolate plays a big role in my writing. If you ever saw my very first YA Rebels vlog, I showed the world (or at least the 7 people watching the YAR that first week) my chocolate DRAWER.

The chocolate is strong in this one (I hope I got that line right, I have only seen Star Wars twice).

I made a comment about my chocolate love on Twitter last night. Apparently, others feel the same. I never expected to get so much sugary support at 12:15 on a Saturday night.

But then people say, HOW can you always be eating sugar???

And this is where the third factor in my writing triangle comes in. Thankfully, writing and exercise (not EDITING and exercise mind you; during editing I turn into a slug) are really intertwined as well. I've told people, only half in jest, that I tell my stories first to the stripe on the swimming pool floor.

So. Writing. Chocolate. Exercise. It makes a good triangle. But back to the CHOCOLATE.

Oh chocolate
Bitter and yet sweet
You tweak my words to make them richer
You make my book complete
Taken late night from the drawer
Snagged in cupcake, bar or cookie
I am always wanting more
And sugarfied I sit awake
And ponder that last chapter
The rhythm, plot, mistake
The line before, that scene right after
Chocolate smooths the moments out
And makes the scenes all sweeter
Oh chocolate
You make my book and me complete...r.*

That's about as far as I got before I realized this blog idea seemed MUCH better late last night.

But the moral is simple. Chocolate is important. As Jocelyn Davies and I agreed last night, chocolate is necessary for revisions. And drafting, and plotting, and musing, and editing, and percolating, and wondering, and formulating, and thinking, and reading...

*That was not intended as a serious attempt. Please don't judge me :p

PS. I love that I already had a post tag for chocolate.

Bright Lights, Big City, 18 Miles of Books, and 14 Bars of Chocolate!

I'm home! Wow, what a trip.

So, my week in NYC was a crazy mix of work and fun and awesome and a little stress and a TON of sugar!! I was lucky enough to be there with three of my closest writing buds, Tiffany Schmidt, Susan Adrian, and Emily Hainsworth.



There was much play, from the Empire State Building at 1am, to Dylan's Candy Bar, to fun lunches and drinks night, and cocktails with pub friends, to Hitchcock and Rainbow Brite viewings, and converting the closet into a phone booth, complete with chair. We even kidnapped the wonderful author Nova Ren Suma, and made her signed books in there!



I was also lucky enough to have an incredible high tea with a friend who is fast becoming one of my favorite people. And I got to meet Alex Bracken, who is ADORABLE! I also met Sonia Gensler, Shana Silver, Kim Harrington, Jen Hayley, and many, many others!

And after SCWBI, my mom flew up and we played for a few days. We took morning walks in Central Par, ate most of NYC's sushi, drank pear martinis, went to the Tim Burton exhibit, and saw West Side Story on Broadway!

And I got to see my agent, Amy! AND my editor, Abby! I call these two my A Team, and they've totally earned the title. Neither has a Mohawk, or a giant silver chain, but they rock just as hard. I am so incredibly lucky to have them. And they put up with my constant sugar high speak, which is admirable :p

NYC by the numbers!

Cupcakes consumed: 4 (+ 3 mini ones)
Times to Dylan's: 2
Chocolate bars bought: 14
Times to the Strand: 3
Books amassed: 12 (9 bought, two given by editor, one given by tea friend)
Times I saw agent: 2!
Times I saw editor: 1! <--first time!
# of hot chocolates consumed with said editor: 1
Pieces of news to share: 1



So, my little piece of news isn't terribly exciting, but I found out my pub date. I can't give you the date yet, but I needed to make a correction. I had said before I was a WINTER 2011 debut, and I am now a SUMMER 2011 debut. Originally I believed Winter to be at the BEGINNING of Hyperion's year, but actually it was at the end, so I wasn't pushed back, I was bumped up! Anyway, wanted to clarify.

My mom jokingly said "You've finally found your people," in reference to all the wonderful bookish people I got to see and share my time with, and I couldn't agree more.

So now I'm home, and trying to detox and not think about how much I'd love to still be there, in the city, sipping cocoa and walking for hours and finding new worlds within slices of city. At a time in my life where I feel very much up in the air, where I feel like I could just change or morph or wander off at a moment's notice, it was hard to leave. I am sure that the city's strange gravity will draw me back.

Heading to the big city!

First of all, thanks everyone for making my website launch so wonderful!

So, in case you didn't know, I'm going to New York this week! I leave on Wednesday, and I'll be there for a whole week. I am VERY excited.

So far my schedule includes...

1. High tea at Lady Mendl's
2. Cupcake party
3. The Strand, MoMa, and other appropriately touristy yet fun things
4. SCBWI!
5. Kidlit drinks
6. Blueboarders dinner party
7. Cupcakes (yes, again!) with my awesome agent, Amy, her fiancée, and another one of her authors, Marci.
8. Hot chocolate (see a sugary theme?) with ZOMG MY EDITOR AND MY AGENT. Together.
9. West Side Story on Broadway with the mother (she's flying up to play for a couple days)

Sound like an expedition MADE OF AWESOME?

So anyway, now I'm just chipping away at my most recent edits, packing wayyyy too many shoes, and waiting for Wednesday :)