Thursday, June 12, 2008

Party All Over The World!

We’re on day four of my Simon Pulse Blog Gala and still going strong! First off, the prerequisite pitch for my book, Read My Lips… if you haven't picked up a copy of READ MY LIPS yet, you can find it here on Amazon.com or in your local bookstore. And if you just stumbled across my blog and are wondering what the fuss is all about, read an excerpt of my brand new YA novel, READ MY LIPS, here.

Okay, the winner of Melissa De La Cruz’s Sun-Kissed is Joanne Levy!

The winner of Niki Burnham’s Goddess Games is BookChic!

Congrats! I will be getting in touch with you shortly about your prize!

Don’t forget to leave a comment for your chance to win the Grand Prize… 15 fabulous Simon Pulse Books! You can check out the rules and see the prize, here.

And I have a heck of a surprise for you at the bottom of the post, so make sure to read all the way down through our fabulous guests!

Let’s move write on to the first guest author today, the incredible Lisa Schroeder, author of I Heart You, You Haunt Me!

Welcome Lisa!

Woo hoo – thanks for inviting me to your party, Teri! I loved your book, and I’m sure it’s going to be a huge success. Here, I brought you some lip-shaped sugar cookies for the occasion. I know, I know, they look more like blobs than lips, but they are de-lish!



When I started thinking about what to write for this guest blog post, I realized I have had my fair share of “fish out of water” moments. Like the time I was thirteen and went to horse camp and everyone knew what Preparation H was used for except me. I don’t know who decided that my lack of knowledge in pharmaceuticals made me a prime target for teasing the entire week, but they didn’t let up and they wouldn’t let me in on the joke. There was also the summer before my senior year, when I put my foot under the lawn mower and had to walk around with a humongous bandage on my big toe all summer. Yeah, so while the rest of my friends jumped into Foster Lake, I sat on the shore feeling sorry for myself. A fish out of water? Absolutely.

It’s human nature to want to belong. To feel like we fit in, like Serena so desperately wants to fit in at her new school. And yet, some of the people I admire the most are people who would be considered fish out of water. People like Ghandi, Leonardo Da Vinci, and yes, even my wonderful, brilliant, unique thirteen-year-old son. Almost every day he’s given a hard time by someone at school because he doesn’t “fit in.”

When I started writing I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME, it came out in verse. I wrote a few pages and then I stopped. I thought, what am I doing? I can’t do it this way. It’s too different. Too weird. I’d heard novels-in-verse were a tough sell. As if getting published wasn’t hard enough, I was now going to make it even harder? But ultimately, I knew I had to be true to the voice and to the story and tell it the way it wanted to be told.
Yes, my book is different. Some people aren’t going to like it. And that’s okay. I’m guessing there isn’t a single book out there that’s liked by every person who reads it. The more important thing to me is that there are kids who have e-mailed me and told me how they don’t usually like to read. But they read my book. And they want to read more like it.
So here’s what I think. A fish out of water shouldn’t look longingly at the water and cry. Instead, he should look at the birds in the sky, find his wings, and fly.

Thanks Lisa… I love flying fish!

Next up, we have another Lisa! The fabulous creator of the irrepressible Imogene of Project Paris and Accidentally Fabulous.

Welcome Lisa! (Didn’t I just say that?)



In life timing is everything. After three years of unconditional service, my devoted companion, (aka espresso maker), who’d seen me through a series of back-to-back book deadlines, finally kicked the bucket. I took that as a sign. (Then again I take everything as a sign.) With my final deadline dreamily fading to memory, not only was it time to shop for a new espresso maker, it was also time to put any recessive agoraphobic/reclusive tendencies to rest and get back into the world of the living. Unfortunately, I had no idea how to do that.

Enter BFF. Every girl needs a friend who will drag her to the opening of an envelope. As luck would have it, this envelope, was filled with two tickets to the designgawd of the century’s much coveted fall ’08 fashion show and reception. Naturally, news of this released a stream of complex chemicals within my brain, promising long life, the purest love, and eternal youth. It seemed just the thing to resuscitate my life. Yet one nagging question lingered in the back of my mind as I turned on the shower. What to wear?

I arrived to find the entire Greenwich fire department prying open the glass elevator door that lead to said designgawd’s in-store boutique. The elevator had obviously jammed itself between floors and the Jaws of Life had been employed to free its captives. All eyes were glued (not only on the hunky firemen, but) on the elevator, which looked like a cross between a giant fish tank and a Vogue fashion shoot. Trapped inside the glass elevator were a bevy of well-dressed, well-groomed women ala Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte.

I, conversely, was dressed head to toe in forced vintage. (You’ll understand better shortly.) I looked as if I’d just stepped out of a time machine. My pink lame Maud Frizon cone heel pumps circa 1985, (which I bought in 2003 at my fave vintage shop in L.A.), and an old Norma Kamali jersey number (the Ungaro, circa 1999, refused to slide over my hips, which had apparently gone on strike after the birth of my son, and to date have snubbed my repeated appeals to budge).

I scanned the crowd. No sign of BFF. Instead, I found a great spot to view the action, yet avoid the probing lens of the roving photographer, still bewildered as to the all-pervasive chic that emerged while I was away slaving in my little writer’s hovel. When did Carrie Bradshaw sprinkle her fairy dust over Greenwich? And why wasn’t I notified?? Someone with a shiny tray of sushi, danced past me as I declined her offer. (I was secretly hoping for truffle risotto and peach Jell-O shots but noo…). And then, just as someone shoved a Cosmopolitan into my hand (copy cats!), someone else shouted:
“Lee!”

It was Rene, my in-name only personal shopper, though I wondered if that status hadn’t changed a bit given the fact I hadn’t seen her in a while––do personal shoppers come with an expiration date?

Rene looked me over, employing her professional, p.s. eye. Unsurprisingly, her expression registered confusion, which quickly morphed to sympathy. I felt uncomfortable. I searched for a descriptive word to help me understand the distinct emotion bubbling up inside me. It finally hit me. I mean you don’t have to calculate square roots the long way to know that weird feeling we girls feel from time to time. It was shame. Clothes shame. I felt like a fish out of water, an alien in a strange and unfamiliar land. Laid bare was all the fear and insecurity reminiscent of adolescence. I mean, who knew that that was lurking inside me––hiding out like some weird virus of unknown origins. Shouldn’t I have outgrown those feelings by now? The firemen didn’t seem to have a problem with what they were wearing. I mean, I can’t remember when shoulder-to-toe rubber, and pointy brimmed Day-Glo hard hats were last in fashion.

“You know the big sale’s starting. You have to come in first thing Monday and I’ll fix you up … not to worry.” I’m worried.

An old friend—a parent from my son’s school appeared, hurling air kisses around my head, just as Rene’s client shrieked her name. I mumbled a good-bye and promised to come by next week.

“Ohmigod, Lee! Where have you been hiding?” she cooed. Her eyes traced my fine facial lines, no doubt in search of some message encrypted there as to whether or not my strange get up was a portent of an emerging new trend. “I loooove vintage. But my husband would just freak if I wore something like that out of the house…”

Ohgawd, what was I thinking!!

Finally, BFF appeared.

“What’s the matter with you?”

“I feel out of place.”

My statement needed no further explanation. She was after all, dressed to a Samantha tee.

“You don’t have to wear the latest and greatest. You’re creative.”

Eww (which, in point of fact, rhymes with boo-hoo)!

As the reception wore on, designgawd-dujour flitted from one fashion clique to the next, fielding questions from his clientele, while their personal shoppers scribbled down their selections. I managed to forget myself by placing my attention squarely on the Collection, and considered what purchasing one or two new pieces would do for my bruised fashion ego.

When I finally arrived back home. I ripped off my dress, kicked my shoes skyward, and swung through my walk-in closet, past the jungle weeds otherwise known as my wardrobe. I headed straight toward the big box I’d been saving for our upcoming move, and began throwing anything even remotely vintage into it. I wouldn’t rest until every last Gaultier bullet bra and Thierry Mugler shoulder pad was in that box.

Finally I was done. It was ten past twelve. I was still restless, which I attributed to a few rogue adrenaline molecules, still circulating through my bloodstream, so I mindlessly flipped on the TV and my computer. A TBS rerun of SATC was on. Great. (Sarcasm!) My email pinged, just as Carrie uttered the words:

“Vintage is the new black!”

Huh?

Before the implications of that quote could register. I double clicked on the one and only message in my in-box. It was a confirmation that my new espresso maker was shipped and would arrive in the morning––just in time for the start of another writing stint.

I un-taped the box I’d labeled SALVATION ARMY, still reeking of Sharpie fumes, and pulled out a fuchsia Thierry Mugler silk charmeuse dress with heart-shaped, keyhole neckline (circa 1989), and wriggled it over my head. Perfect timing.


Thanks Lisa… fabulous story!

Okay… now for my next surprise. When I first imagine becoming a published novelist, I knew I wanted to do something big to celebrate, I just wasn’t sure what. I wanted it to be something fairly monumental that would stay with me forever. So without further ado….




TADA! I know, the pix is blurry and the tattoo is a little red still... I guess it takes a couple of weeks to calm down... but isn't it purty?

See, it's like the book cover...

EDIT: IT'S ON MY ANKLE, PEOPLE!! MY ANKLE!

68 comments:

Lenore Appelhans said...

So where is the tattoo exactly?!

TJ Brown said...

LOL My Ankle!

Okay, I am writing that in!
Teri rushing off to clarify!

Anonymous said...

Cool beans! Imagine, you're whole body will be covered in book titles since, well, we know there's a whole bunch more to come! Woo hoo!

Joanne Levy said...

I LOVE the tattoo! Congratulations - your stokedness is contagious!

(p.s. yay - I won!)

dd said...

Awesome tatoo! Those were really cool posts by both lisa's too! =D

~Lucy D =)

Berta said...

I love your tattoo! Awesome idea, and very brave.

Keri Mikulski said...

Love it!!! What a great way to celebrate. :)

Anonymous said...

tattoo is awesome!

books-a-lishious said...

love the tattoo! it's so cute!

stephhale said...

Nice tat! :)

Jessica Burkhart said...

OMG, you got the tattoo!! Cool! Lisa, you're just the sweetest person to make cookies. They look tasty! :)

Alea said...

A tattoo! You are a braver person than I!

Angie Fox said...

OMG! That is the coolest thing ever. And Susan T. is right - you'd better start looking for new places for the rest of your book titles.

For a second, I thought, "I should do that too!" But alas, you are the brave one. :)

TJ Brown said...

Well, I was going to get one for each book, but after living through that one...um, maybe not!
Teri

Lindsay said...

I've always wanted a tattoo on my ankle, actually. Although, I want a butterfly but still....

Anonymous said...

Lisa Schroeder! Yay, I read your book. Nerdfighters!

Rachael Stein said...

great tattoo :D i love it!

Anonymous said...

hehe, i love the tat :D (not that i'd ever get one tho...)

Samantha
ssclarinet@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

You wild and crazy woman! I love it! I'll bet nobody else has one that's even close!

Unknown said...

Awesome tattoo!
(kate.wardwell (at) umit.maine.edu)

Liviania said...

Haha, love your defensive assertion of the tattoo's place. I think that's a good one - you aren't going to regret it in ten years.

Ow, Lisa's toe mishap makes me wince sympathetically. This is why I'm afraid of mowers.

Lexi said...

Great posts, Lisa and Lisa! Awesome tat, Teri! Congrats! It's perfect! (Hhmmm, you've just given me an idea for when I sell....)

paperxxflowers said...

oh wow. I'd never have the courage to get a tattoo.

Barrie said...

Teri--a tattoo!! Very cute! And brave of you!

Lisa Schroeder--Will you bake cookies for my launch party? Something to do with a mystery? Or how about a rhino?

Both Lisas: I really enjoyed your posts this a.m.

The (Mis)Adventures of a Single City Chick said...

Holy cow, Teri, you really did it! Good for you! And of all the reasons people get tattoos, I think yours was one of the best! :-)

Anonymous said...

Cute tattoo!

Katie
kt_shopsalot@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the tattoo, Teri! And I loved both Lisas' fish out of water stories today!

Elisabeth Naughton said...

OMG...that tattoo is freakin' awesome!!!!!!!!!!

That's been my plan for years...to get a tat to celebrate. I wanted to get one of the Furies from my book (from Greek myth). But after I sold and my hubby saw what they actually look like, he said, "Uh, no way. Those things are evil looking." LOL (They are, actually - the Furies are winged goddesses with snakes in their hair. In Greek myth they were the tormentors of evil-doers.) So I'm still trying to decide what I want to get.

I love it, Teri!!!

Unknown said...

oh wow. Crazy idea, and very brave. I bet it hurt.

Unknown said...

oh wow. Crazy idea, and very brave. I bet it hurt.

The Compulsive Reader said...

Wow! You are awesome. That's such a unique idea.

Loved both stories! Thanks for sharing!

Brooke Taylor said...

Congrats on the launch and the Tattoo--very pretty!

Delilah Marvelle said...

VERY hot!!! VERY appropriate. Dare I ask where it was placed? LOL. Congrats on your release AND your tat.

Kelsey said...

Wow, a tattoo! Yay! Great Posts!

Elainareads said...

Awesome Post!! Great Tattoo!

=D

Steph said...

Awww Teri, that is such a pretty tattoo! I adore it =) Very tasteful.

Steph

Sandra said...

Hey Teri ~

Congrats on the book release and WAY TO GO on your book launch party. So cool; very fun!

Our mutual friend Heidi alerted me to your new book, and I've been meaning to look you up to say WooHoo ... then today while researching markets for a YA author client I'm working with, I stopped in at your party (see, that's me over there my it's-June-for-God's-sake-and-I-refuse-to turn-up-the-heat sweater which I have worn every day since, I dunno, October!)

Anyway, I'd have dressed up for your party, but really, I didn't know I was stopping by. I was on my my way back from pubmktplce, amazon, and a quick stop at Lorree Burns' site when I saw all the hubbub and thought I'd just dash in to grab a cookie and say hello. But, now I don't really want to go back to work. I want to stay here and party with you.

What's that? I'm embarassing you hanging around in my slippers & pilly sweater.

Okay, okay ... I'll go now. I've got very important agenty things I should be doing anyway.

Hmmpphh! Wait ... can I have another cookie?

Congrats, Teri. And great tat!

Unknown said...

Those lip cookies look absolutely amazinggg. I wish I had some :)

Anonymous said...

Awesome Tat! Just bought your book today can't wait to read it!

Anonymous said...

Wow, you got a tattoo for this :D That's so cool and I love it

Anonymous said...

Awesome Tattoo! It's increidable!!! But it's gotta hurt!! :p When's the next one gonna be...lol :P

Anonymous said...

Wow, Teri! I love your tattoo! And thanks for having such a cool party. It's awesome.

Meredith said...

Great stories. Been waiting for the first Lisa's book to hit shelves so I can get my hands on it. I LOVE the second Lisa's story and her books! They are great!

Future OB/GYN said...

Sweet tattoo! Keep me entered in the contest!

Future OB/GYN said...

Sweet tattoo! Keep me entered in the contest!

tetewa said...

I enjoyed both posts today and really love the tattoo!

Hillary said...

Awesome tattoo.

Cool post today!

Khy said...

Very nice tattoo.

And great posts today!

Shannon McKelden said...

Love the tat, Teri!! I can see where you really did need to clarify where exactly it was placed. I could get a tattoo with my book title, too (VENUS ENVY), um, and depending on where it was, it could be taken pretty bad also! Ha! I'll let you do the tattooing, however. I'll just remain ink-free.

Great party!
Shannon

Breanna said...

Great guest posts today, and I love your tattoo! It's incredibly awesome. Did it hurt to get it? I've heard that your ankle is the worst place to get it because its mostly bone down there, ouch. It's very lovely though =)

-Breanna

Daryl said...

Oh, wow, that tattoo is awesome. I loved the stories today, too. And now I don't want to wait even longer to read your book. Stupid amazon taking forever to ship here.

Anonymous said...

omg!! a TATOO!! that's so cool! i love it

Grace L

Daniel said...

So cool...what a surprise!

Anonymous said...

wow that is sooo awesome!!

Anonymous said...

To complete the new you, you should get a motorcycle! =P

-Kelly
notbob43@aim.com

Shooting Stars Mag said...

Lisa 1: MMM...those cookies look good! And aw, I know how you feel...it's not cool to be left out of things and feel completely uncomfortable!

Lisa 2: I'm glad you decided to keep all your vintage stuff. it's good to just wear what you like..sorry about all the rude comments that night!

Teri: OH GOSH! You got the tattoo! how exciting. :)

-Lauren
Shooting Stars: Music, Books, MORE!

Elaine Weatherfield said...

Wow! A tattoo! (Does your daughter think it's weird?)

Anonymous said...

A tattoo. That's crazy cool!

Little Willow said...

Hi Lisa-Lisa!

Nikki said...

Thanks for the wonderful blog, I'm so excited about your online blog party. I was sad I arrived late, then I realized, I can just catch up on all the posts!! What other party can you be late too and still have all the same fun!!

Travis said...

Awesome tat!

Anonymous said...

Love the tattoo!

Liz said...

LOVE the tattoo! This is a fantastic party.

Tali said...

oh wow a tattoo...thats cool.
it really does look like the cover!

Anonymous said...

Cool! I love it when people get tatoos that actually have a deep personal meaning, and not just something they pick off the wall. :)

Amanda Ashby said...

Woot - you did it!!!!!! Nice!!!!

Kimberley Griffiths Little said...

Great interview with Scott, Teri! And it's been a great week-long party - you rock!!!
Wishing you all the best with your first book - and may there be many more!

Anonymous said...

lol, nice tattoo :)

-Emily
eavheart@yahoo.com