I’ll help you be popular!
You’ll hang with the right cohorts,
You’ll be good at sports,
Know the slang you’ve got to know…

Sorry, channeling Kristin Chenoweth in Wicked.

Just wanted to remind you all to check out Micol Ostow’s blog for the cyber-launch party of her latest book, Popular Vote.

I mentioned in my last post that there’d be prizes, right? Prizes every day. Well, tomorrow (Friday, September 12th) the prizes include signed copies of all four of the DRAMA! books. All you have to do is post a comment under my little section of her blog. Could it get any easier?

In case the link doesn’t work for some odd reason, cut and paste this address into your browser and I’ll see you there: http://micolz.livejournal.com/

Back to school sales. The Fall TV season. The Olympic Torch doused.

Looks like it’s the end of the summer.

As you head back to class, I’d like to share with you 10 of the things I learned this summer … over at the Ro Com Blog. (Now under the snappy, new, shorter url: pulserocom.com.)

So, here I always thought that my mom was the only person was reading this blog … when she’s not out buying multiple copies of my books, that is. Then I go and announce that DRAMA! has come to an end and the letters come FLOODING in! Okay, by “flood” I mean “handful” but it was quite the wonderful handful to receive. And now I feel horrible for not blogging more … and updating my website … and generally not being so great about the … you know … communication.

Thank you to everyone who wrote in. I know I don’t make it easy what with my aversion to email and all, but quite frankly the internet frightens me more than the time my high school gym teacher / choreographer tried to force me into a pair of WWII era soldier’s uniform pants that were four sizes too small. Seriously. Big, scary woman shoving me into teeny tiny pants. Still gives me shivers. But your letters have helped me face those nightmares.

I’d also like to thank all of you out there who stop by to visit but haven’t written in. Quite frankly, I’m with you guys. I’ve never sent letters to any writers, actors, singers, or network presidents to save my favorite TV shows no matter how much I wanted to keep Veronica Mars on the air. Nope. Not still bitter over that one. Not. At. All.

Now that I do know you’re all out there I promise I will never desert you again. After DRAMA! I’ll write another book and another. You see, this is my life. It will always be. Just books and writing and you wonderful people … out there … in the … um … dark. Oh wait, I’m channeling Norma Desmond. Must stop that! (Sorry. Sunset Boulevard reference. Definitely a classic movie you all should check out if you haven’t already.)

For all of you who are bold enough to write or prefer simply to read, I hereby solemnly swear that I will stop by my own site more often with news, reviews and all kinds of things. And I’ll be adding book bits about Show, Don’t Tell and Entrances and Exits any year now … day now … I mean day … or week … hopefully by next month.

Until then, most of those who wrote in were quite content with how DRAMA! wrapped up—aside from the whole vampire baby part, I mean. But many of you wanted to know what happens AFTER. Well, I’m not telling. And it’s not because I don’t know. I had a plan for the series to continue on forever and I know exactly what happens to Bryan, Sam, Hope, and even Electra (which, if you’re well versed in theatre you might guess on your own what THAT chapter might be titled.) But I figure YOU probably think you know what happens to the cast of DRAMA! too. And who am I to tell you that you’re wrong? So I won’t. Tell you, that is.

Well, okay, I will let you in on one thing. I never was good at keeping secrets. Here are the main cast lists for the Spring Theatrical Productions (Warning: Spoilers ahead … what? I can hope.):

Junior / Freshman Production of Wicked
Directed by: Bryan Stark (spelled correctly)
Starring:
Madison Wu as Elphaba
Some Girl You’ve Never Heard of as Glinda
Gary McNulty as The Wizard of Oz
And Others…

Senior / Sophomore Production of Wicked
Starring:
Jason MacMillan as Fiyero
Hope Rivera as Madame Morrible
Holly Mayflower as Elphaba
Sam Lawson as Glinda

And no, I didn’t accidentally switch those last two names.

With DRAMA! gone, you might be wondering what I’m working on next. Good question. I’ve got some crazy cool projects in the planning stages. I’m just waiting for someone to see the brilliance of the ideas and give me gobs of money to publish them. Not that I’ve ever gotten a gob of money. How many dollars are in a gob anyway? Either way, I’m out there pitching my little heart out. When I’m ready for my next big announcement, I’ll be making it here … unless I have to make it somewhere else for some reason. But I promise to come here right after and share it with all of you.

Scott Westerfeld recently posted a blog entry about the first lines of his books … which naturally got me thinking of my first lines from the DRAMA! series. They go a little something like this…

The Four Dorothys
It was a drag queen’s worst nightmare.

Everyone’s a Critic
“SOMETIMES I JUST WANT TO RIP YOUR HEAD OFF, DISEMBOWELL YOU, AND FEED YOU TO THE SHARKS!”

Show, Don’t Tell
“Where did those come from?”

And finally … the book due out on Tuesday…

Entrances and Exits
Sam took the stage as I’d seen her do many times before.

As you can see from the first three first lines, I like to start things off with a BANG: a strong (hopefully) funny line that pulls you right into the story. The first line of Entrances and Exits doesn’t have quite the same BANG because it’s written to lead up to the BANG, which takes place on page 2. But it is there. And it’s one of my favorite BANGS in the series. Just as this is one of my favorite books in the series. And that’s all I’m going to say about that … except that the way I BEGIN the book isn’t the only difference in this story.

The television writers’ strike is over and we’re about to get four whole weeks of new television … before everything disappears for the summer. Not that original TV totally disappears anymore. There were some really great shows airing during the drought of the past few months—like Jericho and Eli Stone—and some truly awesome ones the will be starting up for the summer soon … Oh, how I have missed you, So You Think You Can Dance?

But television isn’t the only thing coming back. Bryan and his Orion Academy friends return on Tuesday with the release of DRAMA! book 3: Show, Don’t Tell. This time, they’re taking the show on the road and visiting a traveling Renaissance Faire, which is about as fun for Bryan as you’d expect it to be. But Sam and Hope are way stoked to get their Huzzah on. In honor of the release of Show, Don’t Tell, I promise to blog every day for the next seven to make up for my long absence. (I figure with a promise like that, I can probably make it three out of the seven days. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.)

First off, why have I been so scarce around here lately? Well, the thing about being a writer is, sometimes people expect you to write. And meet deadlines. Incredibly tight deadlines in some cases. And I had two biggies in the past two months.

The first was for DRAMA! book 4: Entrances and Exits. Not only did I turn that manuscript in, but my amazing editor turned it around so fast that it’s already been through edits, copyedits, and I just looked over the first pass pages (that’s when I get to see the book laid out in its almost final form). I am incredibly happy with how these next two books in the series came out and can’t wait for everyone to read them.

The other reason I’ve been MIA is that in the past couple months I accepted a book offer, researched the book, interviewed people for it, wrote it, turned it in, got my edits, and am finalizing the second draft right now. It’s a super fun, super exciting book project for a very popular TV show unlike any other I’ve written books on before. This new book is taking me to someplace I never though I’d go and I’m getting to meet people I never dreamed I’d meet. (Don’t get too excited. I haven’t left the L.A. area). Can’t say anything more since the book hasn’t been announced yet, but considering it’ll be out this fall, I should be able to share some more soon. And maybe I’ll drop a hint or two as my week of blogging continues. Who knows?

While you wait for my seven day blog-a-thon to continue, you can check out my friend, Randi Reisfeld’s new web site.

Be back soon!

I promise!

(I hope.)

My old high school made NATIONAL NEWS today because a group of (presumably) students let loose dozens of chickens throughout the school. Considering the school once held the Guiness World Record for Largest Simultaneous Whoopee Sit (yes, that’s the entire student body–and FACULTY–all sitting on Whoopee Cushions at once), it should not be much of a surprise.

If you head on over to the Simon Pulse Ro Com Blog (and scroll to February 8th, if necessary) you’ll find another exciting tale from my time working as a tour guide as a motion picture and TV studio.

Enjoy!

That’s “Publication” Day. I’m not going on any pub crawls or anything like that.

Today is the official release day for Love, Hollywood Style, my first (and, hopefully, not last) entry in the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies book line. Although the book is in no way autobiographical, it was inspired by the job that led me to the job that ultimately led me to my writing career. After college, I moved to Hollywood and got work as a tour guide at a major motion picture and TV studio. Can’t you just picture me stepping off the bus with bags in my hands, a naive expression on my face, and a dream in my heart? (Except, I took a plane to get here.) To read one of my favorite tales from my days as a tour guide, check out my latest post on the Simon Pulse Ro Com blog.

But while you’re still here, I’d like to take a moment to share some thanks. A couple months back, I found myself with some extra copies of my final Charmed book, Leo Rising. Since the Charmed fan site, TheCharmedOnes.com, has always been very kind to me, I offered the books to them to give away. And thus, the contest mentioned previously in this blog, was born. Little did I know that they would ask the fans to write in with their thoughts on the Charmed books and my books in particular. There was no need to have read any of my books to enter the contest, but if they had read the books and wanted to share their thoughts, it was encouraged. And they did. And then the site shared those words with me. It was some of the nicest and most thoughtful messages I’ve ever received. Such a nice way to start off the new year! (In addition to the fun first weekend of 2008 I spent watching all of Veronica Mars season 1 on DVD.) So, thanks, Charmed Ones and Charmed fans. And congratulations to all the contest winners.

Is there a better way to start off a new year than by winning a prize? Okay, I can think of several better ways to start off a new year, but I can only help you with the prize part. TheCharmedOnes.com has posted a contest with little old me as the prize. Well, my books, that is. Check it out! The grand prize is a set of my Charmed novels. Signed. (And I threw in the first two DRAMA! books as well just because it’s the season of giving … and self-promotion.)

But the really exciting news is that there are TWO DOZEN first prizes of signed copies of Leo Rising. So much better odds than a weekend in Vegas. (Okay, that would be one better way to start out the new year.)

All you have to do is send a simple email. That’s it. No essays to write. No hoops to jump through. A simple email.

How can you not?

Looks like I’ve gone and disappeared from my own blog again. But I do have a good excuse. Actually, a couple good excuses. I was, once again, in the wonderfully awful position of having deadlines backing up against each other. All the work is a good thing. All the people expecting stuff from me in a timely manner? Not so good.

The most important among those deadlines was turning in the manuscript for DRAMA! Book 3: Show, Don’t Tell (unless my editor on another project is reading this and, of course, that was the most important deadline). Now, the thing about deadlines is they’re kind of like potato chips. You can’t just have one. Only a few weeks after I turned in Show, Don’t Tell, my editor returned it to me all marked up with edits and a new deadline … Of yesterday … Which I met. Yay, me! Now, I’m starting work on Book 4, Entrances and Exits, but I’ve got some time before that one is due.

Getting notes on a manuscript is another wonderfully awful thing about being a writer. I clearly turned in the best piece of writing in the world when I sent in the manuscript the first time. How could there possibly be anything to change? Every word is gold. Fool’s Gold, but gold nonetheless.

Even worse than getting notes is getting good notes. You see, when an editor gives you bad notes with comments that make no sense, questions that are just plain silly … those you can simply ignore. Well, okay, you can’t ignore them, but you can debate them. But when you get good notes, when all the edits are totally understandable and obvious, well, you kind of feel like an idiot. Like, “Why in the world didn’t I notice that in the first place?”

My notes were of the good variety. The really good variety. The “I couldn’t argue with any of them” variety. Not a one. Which is kind of annoying when you think about it. And I’m not just saying that to suck up to my editor. (Particularly since I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have time to be reading my silly little blog.) Thankfully, the notes were fairly minor and now the book is absolutely perfect … until the copyeditor says otherwise … and I get another deadline.

Meanwhile, in random business…

Check out my latest post at the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies site for some tips on how to survive the holiday shopping season. (You’re probably going to have to scroll down to November 27 to read it.)

Speaking of links … if you’re bored, here’s an interview with me for Bones: The Official Companion.

And, finally, congratulations to Kristi and Lauren! They both won copies of DRAMA! The Four Dorothys and Everyone’s a Critic in the monthly book contest hosted by teensreadtoo.com. Check out the site every month for more contests with a variety of authors. I’m sure I’ll be doing more with them in the future.

I promise to try to blog more before the year ends. (Notice how I promised “to try” rather than promised “to.”)

Until then … have a Happy Holiday Season!