Friday, June 13, 2008

Last Chance to Party!

I can’t believe my party is almost over. What a fabulous week it’s been for me and I hope you all have enjoyed it, as well.

A couple of Tat things before we get started—


1. MY ANKLE!
2. Yes, it did hurt a lot.
3. My daughter loves it and my son said it made my hip factor go up by 90%
4. My husband wanted me to get a tramp stamp on my back. My children vehemently vetoed that.

Moving on…

The winner of I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder is The Compulsive Reader!
The winner of an Imogene book by Lisa Barham is Melissa Walker!

YAY! I will be in touch with you shortly!

Have you bought Read My Lips yet? A friend had to write and remind me early in the week that my book was what the party was all about and I should mention it every once in a while! You can buy it here, or read an excerpt here. Remember, my little girl wants to go to Cabo! (I just want to fix the flagstone patio in the front, but hey, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.)

And remember, today is the last day to enter for the grand prize, so be sure to comment! I will announce the winner of the fabulous box of Simon Pulse books tomorrow. EDIT: I am taking off for a cozy B&B with the hubby and then have a signing tomorrow. So the winner won't be announced till the afternoon.
I have some fabulous guest authors today and a really big surprise! What? You want the surprise first? Okay! Okay!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the supreme pleasure of being interviewed today by the one and only Scott Westerfeld, also known as Scott-la by his minions. And yes, he has minions.

Teri: Scott! Thanks so much for agreeing to interview me! I saw you were interviewed on TV a couple days ago. Congrats. I have to tell you though, that your hair… it was looking kinda … puffy. Can you comment on that before we get started?

Scott: (Clearing throat) Television is, as Marshall McLuhan famously said, a cool medium. And I'm afraid my hair is just too damn hot.

Teri: ????? Let’s just get right to the interview…

Scott: (Nodding sagely) Can you read lips?
Teri: Yes. And I read minds too. (laughing) No, actually I don’t. But if I did, I would use it for good and not evil. I think.

Scott: What were writerly challenges of creating the POV of a deaf person?
Teri: I wanted to really amp up the other senses, so I had to be aware of what was going on around my character all the time.

Scott: In your research on deafness, what did you learn that surprised you
most?
Teri: A lot of deaf people have residual hearing and thanks to technology, can hear some things with hearing aids. But when you see someone with hearing aids you just assume they hear what you hear. They don’t. I watched some movies that illustrated what a deaf person with hearing aids might hear and I was astonished at how different it is. I am just super impressed at how deaf people take that and put it together with body language and lips reading and communicate.

Scott: "Read My Lips" is about eavesdropping. Have you ever gotten in trouble
for spying on someone or divulging a confidence?
Teri: Actually, no. But I did use a gossip for my own ends once. My best friend and I had a spat that women sometimes do…I don’t even remember what it was about. But we hadn’t spoke for about four years or something. (Shaddup, sometimes women are like that!) Anyway, I was seriously ill and needed to tell her I would be going under the knife. But when I saw the local gossip, I used her to communicate with my friend. I told her about the illness and sure enough, my BFF called me that afternoon. I answered with uproarious laughter. So you see, gossip can be a useful method of communication!

Scott: Was there a secret sorority at your school?
Teri: No, but we had a bunch of cowboys/rednecks. Does that count?

Scott: Do you remember that scene in 2001 where Hal reads the astronaut's
lips, and then KILLS THEM? Just thought I'd mention it.
Teri: ?????


Thanks Scott for agreeing to interview me! Next up, a fabulous writer who is successful across all genres, the multi-talented author of Angel’s Choice and Secrets of My Suburban Life, Lauren Baratz Logsted!

Thanks Lauren!


Thanks for having me, Teri! I'm thrilled to be a part of your launch!"

Fiction, for both adults and teens, is loaded with characters who are fish out of water. Jay Gatsby? Fish out of water, even if he is a self-made millionaire. Boo Radley? Fish our of water, or I guess you could also say recluse in house. Even Harry Potter begins his journey as - you guessed it! - a fish out of water: first living with his awful relatives and then trying to get adjusted to wizardry and Hogwarts. There's a reason why the theme is so universal in fiction and that's because it's so universal in life. We have all had times when we've felt alienated, like we don't fit in. Even the quarterback of the football team has felt this way. He just doesn't show it the way the rest of us do, but believe me, he has felt it.

In my latest YA novel SECRETS OF MY SUBURBAN LIFE, Ren D'Arc is a fish out of water geographically, socially and culturally. After Ren's novelist mother dies, having been crushed to death by a stack of Harry Potter books, Ren's father decides to escape the painful memories by moving with Ren from New York City to Danbury, CT. There's just one problem (or one of many): neither of them know how to drive. And the process of learning to drive terrifies Ren, who's been transported all her life in trains, cabs and subways. So Ren resorts to what she knows: she steps outside her house and raises her hand to hail a cab. Unfortunately, Danbury, considered to be a small city, looks more like the suburbs in its residential neighborhoods. So there's Ren, on that grassy lawn, waiting for a cab to just happen on by. Do you think one ever will? Not a chance. So Ren begins using a taxi service where her rotation includes an African American named George, a Middle Eastern man named Mohammed and an American Amazon woman named Blue. Before long, these cabdrivers are as much Ren's posse and saviors as they are her form of transportation.

Please leave a comment below for a chance to win a signed copy of SECRETS OF MY SUBURBAN LIFE and feel free to visit me at www.laurenbaratzlogsted.com.

Happy Launch Day, Teri!

Thanks Lauren!

Next up (pausing for total fan girl gushing) We have the amazing fabulous, needs no introduction, author of a gazillion amazing books for teens, Kate Brian!


First of all, Teri, thank you so much for inviting me to la soiree de blog! I'm SO one of the cool kids now!

So I was thinking about this whole "fish-out-of-water" thing and trying to relate it to my own life when I suddenly realized that . . . OMG . . . I've NEVER been a true fish-out-of-water. I am a total Jersey girl. Grew up in Jersey, went to college in Jersey (go Rutgers!), lived in Hoboken after college, and still live in NJ today. Everywhere I went, there were a lot of other people like me. So what was I going to blog about? When have I ever been the odd girl out? And then, I remembered.
Los Angeles.

I traveled to LA a few years back to see if I wanted to move there and try to break into TV and film writing. I have never been so supremely uncomfortable in my entire life. Why? Well,
A) Everyone drives everywhere. I am a walker. One day I was strolling along a street full of shops and I was literally the only person on either sidewalk. (Talking point: why do they even have sidewalks in LA?) Were they filming one of those movies where everyone on earth is destroyed by some renegade comet and I was the only person left? No. I knew this because the outdoor café I walked by was packed with gorgeous people staring me down like I had some freakish communicable disease—just because I was walking! Totally weirded me out.
B) Every single person I met had written a screenplay. Or was writing a screenplay. Or wanted to produce so-and-so's screenplay. I know I'm a writer, so I should have fit in, but I occasionally like to talk about other things! No one there seemed to talk about anything else! At a party I finally met a girl who was an architect and I sucked to the poor chica all night long like she was the last source of oxygen on planet Earth.
C) I am not about image. On the streets of NYC I get an occasional appreciative glance. In LA all I got were grossed-out sneers. I felt like Shrek or something, just because I wasn't fully made up and carrying the latest bag. So not my scene.

So that was my big fish-out-of-water experience. I packed my bags, came home and stuck to novel writing. Good thing, too, because otherwise I may never have written Private—which is, of course, a fish-out-of-water story. See how it all comes full circle? J

Good luck with the book! I can't wait to read it!
xoxo
Kieran Scott (who writes Alloy Entertainment books under the pseudonym Kate Brian)


Thanks Kieran! (I call her Kieran cause her and I … we’re like that (crossing fingers) .

Wow! What a wonderful week you all have given me! I hope you enjoyed my party and I will see you all around once in a while. Drop me a line and tell me if you liked Read My Lips!

Hugs!

51 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have a really cool Blog, lots of interesting Authors.

Emily Marshall said...

Okay, how on earth didn't I know that Kieran Scott and Kate Brian were the same person? Interesting...

Anyway, congrats again on the release, Teri. I'm really excited to read it.

books-a-lishious said...

loved the interviews! and your son is right, a tattoo totally ups the hipness. I've got to get my mom to get one!

Brooke Taylor said...

Can't wait to see your tat is San Fran!!

Great party--the cleanup is going to be killer!

Lenore Appelhans said...

Utter awesomeness - thank you.

Tasha said...

As you know I loved Read My Lips, so that's my little tidbit on whether I liked it or not!!

OMG that interview with Scott was awesome!!

Wow!! Never knew Kate Brian and Kieran Scott were the same people...way cool as I love both (I guess It's just her) books!!

Anonymous said...

Came to see the tat, stayed for the party! Both were great. What a wonderful celebration of Read My Lips! Looking forward to meeting you in SF. Laurel

Unknown said...

I've loved your posts this week-- thank you!

Lexi said...

I haven't found Lips yet, but I'm venturing out this weekend again to the bookstore. I'll let you know when I've got it in my hot little hands.

Lauren's book sounds interesting!

Kate/ Kieran's adventures make me glad I've never been to LA.

Anonymous said...

I FINALLY GOT THE BOOK!!!! YAY!!! I'm soo excited!! I'm only in like page 67 but so far it's awesome!!! I love it :) Great job on it!! Well, I see the party is coming to a close :( *tear* You should do it again sometime and I enjoyed reading all the interviews and stories!!

Liviania said...

Happy last party day!

The interview was hilarious, if only for the ????s.

SECRETS OF MY SUBURBAN LIFE sounds like a fun novel, and I am surprised to learn Kieran and Kate were the same person (like several others).

Now I need to go to the bookstore and get a copy of READ MY LIPS.

Anonymous said...

I just finished "Secrets of My Suburban Life" and am now reading "Pretties" so today's party gathering was *extra* cool. Thanks, Teri!

Keri Mikulski said...

Amazing party, Teri! :)

Alea said...

Wow what a way to end the party! Lauren's book sounds amazing! I hope I don't get crushed by a stack of books! Driving terrifies me too. I do it but I don't like it!

Happy Book Release!!!

Anonymous said...

oh!! I love Kieran/kate, and Scott. Cant wait to buy your booK!!!

Anonymous said...

This party was sooo cool! I loved all the fish-out-of-water stories, and will have to pick up a copy of Read My Lips. After summer reading (Watership Downs- ugh).

One little question- When you were writing your book, and you hit one of those tough spots where you knew where you wanted to start and end but not how to get there, what did you do? Or did that even happen? It seems to be happening to me. Alot.
Thanks!

My email is sarah@girlzplace.com if you have time to answer my question! :)

Kelsey said...

Oh, I can't believe the party is over. So sad.

That interview was awesome. I had Laurens book on be TBR pile for awhile, but I think I'll have to go out and look for it in the library or bookstore now. It sounds awesome. And, yeay, I didn't know Kate was Kieran either. Interesting.

I hope I can get READ MY LIPS soooooon. Happy end to the launch party! Thanks for hosting!

Kimberley Griffiths Little said...

Well, I posted on yesterday's instead of today's . . . my eyes are crossing.

Loved all your posts all week, Teri - and once again wishing you much success!

Test said...

I loved your posts this week, they where awsome!!

Jessica Burkhart said...

Great interviews! I'd have to fight you over imaginary BFF status with Kate, though, LOL. ;)

Hillary said...

Wow, cool post today.

I think I'm getting Read My Lips either today or tomorrow. I can't wait to read it!

That Kate Brian/Kieran Scott thing is really cool. I had no idea they were the same person. That's really cool though.

Khy said...

Great post today. The Scott interview was awesome.

Anonymous said...

I love both these authors. this has been a great week even if I didn't win anything I had a ton of fun.

Elainareads said...

Great Last day of partying!! I'm really sad its ending.

The interview with Scott W. was awesome!! Kieran Scott is one of my fav authors.

I can't wait to read Read My Lips!

=D

Anonymous said...

The tat is cool and yeah definitely no tramp stamp, your kids have good taste. definitely enter me for this one. - Ryan

The Compulsive Reader said...

Liked Read My Lips? I LOVED it! Very, very cool. I posted the review on my blog, too.

Haha, the tramp stamp part reminded me of something my best friend and I did at camp the summer before our junior year...the night before parent's day, we went to the rec room and bought the ugliest fake tattoos ever and put them on our backs a la tramp stamps. Our parents were horrified. It was great.

This is such an awesome party! Keep on rocking!

Anonymous said...

This was so fun! Thanks. =)

-Kelly
notbob43@aim.com

Anonymous said...

GREAT posts!!

Grace L

Anonymous said...

Again, have to say that I L.O.V.E the tat.

I've just started 'Read My Lips' and I can't put it down
*runs off to go read*

Unknown said...

all the interviews were great- it was an amazing blog party! can't wait to read your book!!

Rachael Stein said...

i had no freakin idea Kieran Scott and Kate Brian were the same person. AHHH!!!! it's like two awesome authors combined into one...freaky.

Anonymous said...

scott is so funny :D. i didnt know kieran and kate were one and the same...how interesting :D

Samantha
ssclarinet@hotmail.com

Unknown said...

Your party was so much fun.

Now I need to go to the bookstore and get a copy of READ MY LIPS.

Dominique said...

Loved the interviews! :D
This was a really cool release party! Congrats on your release & thanks for all the awesome contests!

Lexi said...

Wow- I'm so jealous that you got to have such a strange chat with Scott Westerfeld! And the Kate Brian thing is a total surprise- to echo other posters, I had no idea...
Great posts!

Meredith said...

Those were some good stories. I love Kieran/Kate's books! I cannot wait to read Lauren's book. I SOOO cannot believe you got Scott to interview you! Although, that last thing was wierd...
Good luck with your book, I cannot wait to read it!

Book Sp(l)ot said...

I am going to have so, so many books to read...*tries to hold off on reading the posts I've missed so I don't go completely broke just yet* :D

Daryl said...

Wonderful interview and I loved both of the guests. This is such great fun. It's a shame it's going to end.

Elaine Weatherfield said...

I liked Scott's interview.

Daniel said...

This has been so much fun. I wish it could go on forever...

paperxxflowers said...

These fish-out-of-water guest blogs were so interesting! Such a cute idea :]

Breanna said...

This was such a great party! Congrats again on your release. I can't wait to read Read My Lips.

I bet that was fun being interviewed by Scott Westerfeld.

I loved the fish-out-of-water topic that everyone wrote on too, it was great.

-Breanna

Anonymous said...

Scott-la! *is clearly a minion*

I only caught the tail end of this party, but I've enjoyed my stay--this is a very cool way to advertise a book release, and it's piqued my interest, so mission accomplished!

Anonymous said...

Can't believe I haven't read any of these books yet! After reading this post (and especially the interviews) I am going to have to revisit my library and check out some of these books. Thanks for "introducing" me to some good reads.

Liv said...

Oh my good golly gosh, you are completely my favorite person now. Not only because you wrote a super cool book which I loved, but because you have Boten Anna by Basshunter on your playlist! OMG! I thought that no one knew about that song (which is totally sad because it is an outrageous and truly amazing song) but now I know I was wrong because you have it on your playlist! I love you!
*takes a deep breath* And congrats on the release! :P

Little Willow said...

Best wishes with your signing!

Andy said...

aww... I found out too late about the party

Shooting Stars Mag said...

aw yay for your book party! it's sad that it's over though...

No need to enter me for Lauren's book..I own it..but it was an amazing book, so whoever wins it should really enjoy it. :)

Love the fish out of water blog posts, especially the ones today.
I don't think i'd like LA very much. HAH. I would def. NOT fit in.

I hope a tonnnn of people bought Read My Lips. I plan on getting it as soon as i can...:)

Lauren
Shooting Stars: Music, Books, MORE

Anonymous said...

omg, I just read the excerpt of your new book, and I cannot wait to read it!!! :)

-Emily
eavheart@yahoo.com

Tali said...

so cool so cool!
you just interviewed some great authors!! (as I'm sure you are too-- although i havent read you're book...yet!)

who knew that Kate Brian was a pen name...not me!

Unknown said...

Okay, so i'm only finally catching up on my blog reading and am glad these kinds of parties can continue to rage even when they're technically over. :) The exchange w/Scott about his hair was just priceless. What a rockin' party. WOO! Hey, where did everyone go...?

Anyway, HUGE congrats on everything. Going to go buy your book now. I'm sure I'll love it. There are few things I enjoy more in books than mean girls, gossip...and eavesdropping on conversations! Does that make me a bad person? :-O XO

PS: Thanks for all your lovely comments recently. They were very much appreciated.