I Touched a Rita!!!

Hello Honorary Bees!

Well, Conference Memories week continues...

So much happened in Dallas. First of all, if you've been reading the blog lately, you've enjoyed Marley Gibson's Fabulous Dallas Adventure. Marley was everywhere.

Next year, if someone can't make it -- God forbid it's me! -- I vote that we get a life-size cutout. Maybe Jessica Alba will have a new DVD release and we can steal her cardboard body from Blockbuster and paste a Buzz Girl face on? I'm just sayin.... This stand-in idea could blossom...

Okay, some personal highlights from the week....

Here I am with my beautiful partner in crime, Dona Sarkar, with our "First Sale" ribbons. If you haven't been to RWA national, these are the pink flags you get to stick on your name tag when you finally sell a book. All week long, people ask you the name of your book and when it's coming out... so it's pretty cool... And it's kinda good promotion, too.

Here I am on Wednesday with YA Uber Goddess Nic Burnham at the charity booksigning. Nic is so sweet and a great writer. She serves on the National RWA board and just kicks butt in general.

I went all around the event snapping photos and then waited in the gi-normous line to buy my books. It was so hot and humid in there, I about fainted. Luckily, some girls were passing out jelly beans.

Not that they will save you from fainting, they are just delicious...

On Thurday night after the Buzz Girl dinner at the top of the world, Marley accompanied us to the Golden Network party. It was fun and look, I got a certificate to frame!

Here's a picture with my good friend and mentor Pat White. She's like a big sister to me. I look a little scared in the picture because I'm trying hard not to mess up my smile. I'm always the girl blinking or talking in photos, people. This shot took some work.

You can almost see my dress -- I was channeling Audrey Hepburn that week and this was the Roman Holiday look. You'll see me working the Breakfast at Tiffany's look later in the week...

Okay, on Friday night, the people at Avon actually let us HarperCollins Teen authors come to the big family dinner! My first publisher party! (Cue choirs of angels...)

They had buses which took us from the Hyatt to the beautiful Hotel Zaza and get this... SUSAN ELIZABETH PHILLIPS sat next to me on the bus and talked about Harry Potter and the new Harper YA book Wicked Lovely with me and Mary Castillo and Ann Mallery. Yep, Melissa Marr (author of Wicked Lovely) and I have the same editor. She's a genius so I'm in good hands..

Here I am with Julie Blattberg, Harper's online guru, and Terri Clark, Harperteen author of Sleepless Summer, which comes out next uh... summer. Duh! Terri is a sweetheart. Friend her on myspace if you haven't already.

The food was awesome at the Hotel Zaza. Yummy appetizers like chicken on skewers (what do you do with the skewers after!) veggie fresh rolls, and little potstickers.

Dinner was salmon or steak, delicious mashed taters, grilled veggies and then yummy strawberry shortcake. I was gonna take a picture of the food, but I didn't want to be too geeky... I did shout out the name of my book when they introduced me. (And people laughed at the title! Yay!)

Also, Avon gave us totes of great stuff, including an audio book of the complete works of Dorothy Parker. Love her! Can't wait to listen to that. Chatted with nice folks like Lynda Sandoval and also, Jacquie D'Allesandro introduced me to her stuffed animal alligator purse. So cute! On the bus home I sat with Tera's friend Sophie Jordan, who was just lovely. Good people over there at Avon.

I was too tired to go out to Dona's HQ party, so I just had a fangirl moment with the fabulous Rachel Gibson and then went to bed.

Saturday... had a dinner meeting with my "wonder"ful agent. He'd been surrounded by Buzz Girls since the moment he landed -- heaven help him! -- but he took it all in stride. Maybe he's our honorary Buzz Boy?

Anyway, we had a great dinner away from the hotel and then made it back in time to join the Buzz Girls section at the Golden Hearts/Ritas. It was my agent's first time at nationals, so he wasn't sure to expect.

During the awards program he leaned over and said, "Hey, this is kind of a big deal." I was like, "Duh." ;) (See he didn't know because he's sheltered from the glitz and glamour of the RWA -- but no longer!)

Oh, I ransacked Dona's bag of M & M's (mooched from the Harelquin party which I'm sure she'll tell us all about) during the Awards and then we all shmoozed and chatted and ate lots of nummy desserts.

I captured this next photo late in the evening -- the adorable Mari Mancusi trying to snag YA author Caridad Ferrer's Rita for Best Contemporary Romance.

Ladies! There will be a YA category next year! Mari, your time will come.

We chatted in the bar with new friend Shannon Greenland and old friend Delilah Ahrendt and hubby -- and then Dona and I hit our respective hays.



Finally, exhausted and nearly broke from the hotel bill, Dona and I headed for the airport on Sunday... Only to find Rita winner JULIA QUINN and her bestselling buddies Elizabeth Boyle and Jane Porter.

So where do giant authors hang out? In the airport bookstore/cafe of course! They were so sweet--- and all were on the same flight as us, since they are NW girls too.

And then... Julia let us touch her Rita! It (or is it SHE?) was traveling in her Coach bag, of course.

Then, we had Texas airport barbecue with those romance giants 'cuz that's how we Buzz Girls roll...

(Acutally, they really did invite us! When I'm that famous, I'm so going to invite little YA authors to lunch in airports. It's just good karma, dontcha think?)

Hope you all had fun on my adventure!

Hugs,

Heather

Heather Davis is the author of

Never Cry Werewolf

Coming in 2008 from HarperCollins

Marley is on her way back to Boston

First of all, sorry to all of you living vicariously through the blog that I didn't get to post on Saturday. My internet service ran out...blah...blah...was having a blast....blah...couldn't force myself to post after getting home at 11pm last night! So here are a few memories that I missed. The conference was so wonderful. I met so many amazing authors and I consider myself lucky to call them not only collegues, but friends.

Here is Marley helping Heather with her moderator responsibilities at the YA workshop, It's Not Cheating If It's With A Younger Guy. The speakers were our very own Buzz Girl, Simone Elkeles (who was hilarious, as usual), Stephen Barbara from The Donald Maass Agency, and the adorable Shannon Greenland(author of the Model Spy books).

Heather & her agent, Stephen Barbara at the Golden Pen party where Heather got the boot for selling her first book, Never Cry Werewolf. We ate the most delicious warm brownie dessert and watched a fun skit. The theme was A View to a Sale.


The champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries that my awesome bookclub sent!



Marley reading her Rita/Golden Heart program. Note the lady glancing suspiciously at us. We got that a lot!


Me & Dona.


The Queen of Teen Fiction: Caridad "Barb" Ferrer

Everyone is so proud of Barb. I got goosebumps & still do when I heard her name called. She was so poised. I felt so honored to know her when she got up and took "her" moment of glory to help other young adult authors in the future. I have no doubt that there will be a YA RITA category next year! Thanks, Barb!
Me & Tina. She's doing that weird thing with her arm so you don't see her glass of wine. Busted, Tina.

All the Buzz Girls looking fancy!

Dallas was the bomb but San Fran is going to ROCK! :)

xo,

Steph

Marley's Friday Adventures

Today was a busy day filled with workshops, Steph's first Berkley booksigning (she sat six seats away from Nora Roberts and feared for her life when they opened the doors and hundreds of women practically destroyed everything in their path to get to her)! Here's Marley being silly with a fresh tulip in her mouth.


Here is me (steph) with my fabulous editor, Cindy Hwang. I stick these in because I can and none of the buzz girls can stop me! (insert evil giggle here).

This is what Tera does when she is supposed to be mingling with important Penguin people.

The Knight Agency babes partying at the Penguin/NAL cocktail party. Marley enjoyed a Buzz Girl Bomb(a special cocktail that we forced the bartender to make in her honor. Okay, not really, this is fiction people).

Marley had way too many special cocktails and proceeded to make out with an unidentified male at the party. Sorry, Mike. We tried to stop her. Rumor has it he is a powerful force on the NYC publishing scene. Rumor also has it that he promised her a six figure deal on her next series so maybe the infidelity was excusable.

Stephanie's amazing book club (Chix N' Lil) sent her a bottle of champagne (which is nearly empty as I type) and chocolate-covered strawberries. They are the freaking bomb!

DISCLAIMER: THE BUZZ GIRLS DO NOT ENCOURAGE DRINKING ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES UNTIL YOU REACH THE AGE OF 21, UNLESS YOU LIVE IN GERMANY. ALCOHOL SHOULD ONLY BE CONSUMED IN MODERATION. NONE OF THE BUZZ GIRLS EVER DRANK BEFORE TURNING 21.
WE RESUME YOU TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING NOW.

Marley got sloshed and tried to jump into the gorgeous hotel water fountain. Tera sacrificed herself to save her cuz that's how the buzz girls buzz. :) See ya tomorrow!

Marley's Adventures Continued....

Marley spent the day catching up on her sleep because Steph & Tera kept her up until 2am gabbing. When she finally decided to get up, she had dinner at Antares (Marley, we didn't have cell reception to call you!). Antares is a fancy, schmancy restaurant fifty stories in the air. The restaurant rotates while you are eating dinner. Unfortunately, Tina has vertigo and Steph didn't know this when she booked the reservation, but it turned out fabulously.

Marley started out with a glass of pinot grigio.

Had a little bread and butter.

Cheesed it with Tera & Simone.

Then she moved on to the Golden Network Dessert Reception where Heather and Marley's cp, Wendy Toliver, got booted out because of their first sales! It was fun. Marley even got to meet Heather's agent, Stephen Barbara, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Fred Savage. Seriously smoking, folks. We kept telling Marley to stop drooling.

The Buzz Girls wore Marley out so she's in for the night, chillin in her cowboy hat, reading her free Meg Cabot book. Could there be four more beautiful words? FREE MEG CABOT BOOKS! Unfortunately, she's not here this year, probably because she knew Marley couldn't come either. Good night, Marley, we miss you!

Your friendly BEE-OTCHES!

This picture has nothing to do with Marley, but it's just so cool that I just had to post it!

The Adventures of Marley at 2007 RWA Nationals/Dallas

The Buzz Girls figured if Marley couldn't come to Dallas, that we would bring Dallas to her, and all of you. So our little Marley will be taking some adventures this week. We hope you have as much fun reading about them as she did taking them. Marley spent most of the evening at the 2007 RWA "Readers for Life" Literacy Book Signing. Let's check out who she schmoozed with.

Here is Marley with her awesome agent, Deidre Knight. She was so happy to see you, Marley.


Here Marley is with buzz girls, Tera, me, and Tina. Don't we look fabulous??

Marley getting some love from another Knight Agency super-agent, Elaine Spencer. How cute is that?

Dona, Heather, Tina, and Heather showing Marley off.

Marley's off to the Chick Lit party now! See ya tomorrow!

xo,

Steph~

New words!

Merriam-Webster's has added over 100 words this year to the dictionary, including the word that combines "gigantic" and "enormous" -- a total YA word:



Younger, hipper, more urban terms are turning up in the new edition such as "crunk" and "speed dating" and the craze of "sudoku." Not everyone thinks this is a good idea, but here's what the president of Merriam-Webster had to say:

"There will be linguistic conservatives who will turn their nose up at a word like `ginormous,'" said John Morse, Merriam-Webster's president. "But it's become a part of our language. It's used by professional writers in mainstream publications. It clearly has staying power."

What words would you like to see in the mainstream dictionary next time? What word or phrase would you make up of your own that you'd like to see go down in history as a great catch phrase?

And for the record...Merriam-Webster traces ginormous back to 1948, when it appeared in a British dictionary of military slang.

Let's hear what you think!

Beach Reads

Don't you love this time of year when you can sit by the pool/beach, out on the porch or just splay out in a lawn chair, curl up in the sunshine and read a good book? Beach reads are definitely the best!

What are you reading this summer? Any great books to share? Let us know!



Buzz Girls

WE HAVE A WINNER!

Thanks to everyone who left a comment/entry to win a copy of Jennifer Echols' new YA book THE BOYS NEXT DOOR. I'm about half-way through it and I just love it!

Without further ado, the winner is...

~*~*~*~* Kiki!!! *~*~*~*~

Congratulations! You've won a copy of THE BOYS NEXT DOOR!

Please e-mail me offline at marley_gibson @ yahoo.com (no spaces) and provide me with your mailing address so I can get it off to you ASAP!

For those of you headed to Dallas for the Romance Writers of America Conference, have a wonderful time and look for the Buzz Girls!

Marley = )
Sorority Rush Begins - May 2008!
Rush - A Sisterhood Novel
Pledge Class - A Sisterhood Novel
Puffin Books

Homecoming!

Homecoming at my high school was always a big production -- and to be honest, I didn't really get into it until my junior year. That year, I helped on the committee and designed some of the "bleacher" decorations we made -- winning the junior class first place, I might add. :)

But the Homecoming dances were always a bit of a disaster. The worst was that same junior year when the guy I took to Homecoming (he was a friend, or so I thought) argued with me over dinner (about the politics of vegetarianism -- he was NOT on the veggie side like I was) and then, when we said goodnight on my porch and I offered him a chaste kiss on the cheek, he was all, "That's it?"

"Uh... we're friends. What did you expect?" was my pithy reply.

So, yeah... not the most romantic date or ending.

My dress did rock that year, though. It was a vintage late fifties cocktail dress of black jaquard material with a hidden pink silk flap that you saw when I walked and it had accents of pink piping that matched. It was very Audrey. I came across that dress in preparing to move to the big city last summer and bemoaned the fact I could no longer fit into that swank little number.

Oh, well. So, hooray for Steph's book release!! I can't wait to read about Aspen and her escapades. I'm so proud of you Steph!

Hugs!

Heather

Heather Davis is the author of
Never Cry Werewolf
coming in 2008 from HarperCollins!

Homecoming Rulz!!

I always loved Homecoming in high school. The time of year. The school spirit in the air. Everyone buying their Homecoming outfits, scrambling for a date, and wondering who would be named Homecoming Queen.



Every school does it differently. Some have queens and princesses. Others have a king and queen.



My school had attendants and the queen. The attendants each representated one of the high school classes and the queen came from the senior class.

Some school have their ceremony on the football field during the game, with either an escort by the winner's father or her boyfriend.



Some even have the football players escort the court.



There are banners, crowns, maybe a ceptor or two, but always a big, bubbly radiant smile from the winner.



Face it, it's the pinnacle of a high school career...getting the rhinestone crown placed on your head! How that must feel!



But, it's almost as fun to see a good friend or a friendly person win the title and share in her joy.



And imagine the smile on my face this morning when I received my shipment from Amazon.com with our fabulous Stephanie Hale's debut, REVENGE OF THE HOMECOMING QUEEN! I can't wait for the weekend to start so I can delve into this book!



Happy Homecoming week to all!

Marley = )
Sorority Rush Begins - May 2008!
Rush - A Sisterhood Novel
Pledge Class - A Sisterhood Novel
Puffin Books

What I'm reading...THE BOYS NEXT DOOR by Jenn Echols (which I'll announce the winner of a copy of it on Monday, July 9th!)

Homecoming Buzz Continues...

I am thrilled to be participating in Homecoming Week, honoring our wonderful Stephanie Hale’s first release, REVENGE OF THE HOMECOMING QUEEN.

My high school didn’t do much in the way of Homecoming (or if they did, they did it without me), but I’ve been a fly-on-the-wall at celebrations at my kids’ schools. Some of you may have already heard the following story, but since I’m writing this from Hawaii and my brain is a bit sun-soaked, it seems right to me to bear repeating…

Last year, I did publicity for my son’s high school, and one of my assignments was to do a write-up on the crowning of the Homecoming Queen for submission to the local newspapers.

The afternoon of the game, my younger son asked if he had baseball practice later. “Yes,” I told him. “But Dad’s going to take you. I have to go cover Homecoming for the papers.”

My son got real silent, and when I looked over at him, his face was contorted with worry. "Mom?” he said tentatively. “Don't you think they should find someone, you know, who actually understands football, to do that?"

It took me a moment to realize he thought I had meant the game coverage. And I could just imagine what had been charging through his head, that I’d write something like:

“Omigod, so the hottie in the white helmet did a body slam against some bruiser on the other team, and can you buh-LEEVE he grabbed the ball from the guy's hands? I mean, people, someone could get hurt here...”

After I assured him that the actual game would be covered by a sports professional--and that I was perfectly capable of writing news copy on the crowning--we got a good laugh out of it…

Which brings me right back to REVENGE OF THE HOMECOMING QUEEN, a book I know will bring you laughs, and delight you on many levels. So be like a Buzz Girl and fly to your nearest bookseller and buy a copy today!

Review: Revenge of the Homecoming Queen

Every high school has one. A girl you love to hate. A girl who has everything handed to her on a silver platter, complete with linen napkin and fresh ground pepper. She dates the most popular guy, wears the most fashionable clothes, and has no doubt where the homecoming queen tiara is going to land--on her head. Aspen Brooks is that girl.

Only, from the opening pages, her perfectly aligned life begins to go off track. The tiara goes to arch-rival cheerleader Angel Ives, the kingship goes to uber-geek Rand Bachrach, and she suspects her super-jock boyfriend is somehow behind the whole mess. Everything Aspen thought she knew is about to be tossed aside like last season’s Dooney when she realizes that maybe--just maybe--there are some things that are more important that the right shoes, the right friends, and the right boyfriend. (But not the right bag--nothing is more important than toting the perfect purse.)

You might think you want to hate Aspen, but there is something naïve and honest about her that you can’t help but love. She is everything you hope the popular girl is really like on the inside. You realize--right along with Aspen--that no one has a perfect life and there are always surprises that come out of nowhere to shake everything up.

Revenge of the Homecoming Queen by Stephanie Hale is delightfully clever, laugh-out-loud funny, and touching in ways you won’t expect. In her debut novel, Hale manages to address everyday issues of teen life and major social problems with equally sensitivity, and with a wry, witty humor the constantly surprises. This one is going to be on many a keeper shelf, so get your copy today.

Hugs and happy reading,
TLC
OH. MY. GODS, Summer 2008 Dutton Children's Books

what I'm reading ... THE STAND by Stephen King (I know, you're shocked that I haven't finished yet, right?)

Homecoming Week with the Buzz Girls

In celebration of the release of my book, Revenge of the Homecoming Queen, tomorrow (can you believe it?????), the buzz girls are going to be chatting about homecoming this week.

When I was in school, homecoming always fell on a Saturday in October. The day would start with a parade through town where the football players would try to see how many people they could fatally wound by throwing candy off the fire engines. Yours truly was always thrilled (not) to be marching with the band and pretending to play all the songs she refused to memorize out of spite (sorry, Mr. Brennan).

After the parade was the football game. Most years our school was paired with a local rival who would always slaughter us. Once again, I would strut my stuff out on the football field with my clarinet. We would wear these giant yellow mums on our uniforms that had tiny gold footballs stuck in them. None of the girls ever cared about the game so we would spend most of the time gossiping about our outfits/dates/other people's dates for the dance.

On homecoming my freshman year, a friend ran home with me to change out of my band uniform. They were these awful black wool uniforms with tacky cumberbunds and ruffles and I wanted back in my fashionable civilian clothes. I didn't want to chance seeing my crush in my band uniform. So we ran back to my house where I already had all my clothes laying out on the bed.

I proceeded to start stripping, noticing that my legs were kind of itchy. I'd scratch at them a bit then as I tossed my uniform aside. I noticed my friend's eyes kind of glaze over as she pointed at me in horror. I looked down at my legs and they were the size of an XXXL sumo wrestler. They had these red puffed up bumps on them and I looked like I had been attacked by giant mosquitos. I think I screamed.

My mom rushed me to the hospital where I think they gave me a shot of something in a butt cheek. I just knew there was no way I could fit into my new homecoming slacks. I was devastated. It was my first grown up dance and I was going to have to miss it because of some freak wool allergy. I was seriously bummed.


My mom said all the right things like this wouldn't be the only dance this year, my crush would spend the whole night wondering where I was, eventually my legs would fit back in pants, etc. But it didn't matter. Life as I knew it was over. I was going to miss my first homecoming dance.

Mom made me go home and take a nap. The horror. I was fourteen. What fourteen-year-old takes a nap? I was sure I would die of humiliation even though no one knew.

When I woke up from my nap I felt different. My jumbo thighs were gone. Everything was normal sized and looking! It was a miracle. I begged my mom to let me go to the dance, which she did, because she knew I would just drive her crazy if I didn't. I had a blast dancing the night away with my friends. And from then on, I never wore my wool band pants without pantyhose underneath!

This is us with our guy friend, Chad. I'm the one squatting with my arm on his knee. Those legs are normal sized, right?

So what horror stories do you have about a special event?

What I'm reading....The Time Traveler's Wife..still..I know it' s getting pathetic....

xo,

Steph

Revenge of the Homecoming Queen, coming TOMORROW!!!!

http://www.stephaniehale.com/

Live and Learn

Howdy conference go-ers! Wrapping up conference week is one topic that's truly dear to my heart---workshops!

I have to admit: I love conferences. Networking, food, chilling with writer friends, coming up with new book ideas...and mastering the craft. This opportunity to pick up tips and tricks from the best in the biz is like Christmas for me.

As soon as the workshop booklet arrives on my doorstep. that's my cue to work out the workshop schedule I plan to follow.

Priority Queue
-------
- Workshops relating to what I write. Example: I write multi-cutural YA fiction, so I would go through the booklet and find classes on YA writing as well as ethnic/multi-cultural writing. This year, both of my friends Simone Elkeles and Nadine Dajani are giving workshops on these sessions and these are my number one pri 1s!

- Workshops that look interesting that will NOT be recorded. In general, after the conference, I make sure to go order all the sessions on DVD so I can review them at home. I confess, there are years and years worth of DVDs that I haven't *quite* gotten around to perusing...but it's like an addiction.

- Workshops relating to where I am in my career. Three years ago, I attened every workshop I could find on plotting and dialog. Those were issues I was struggling with. Last year, I hit up every workshop on characterization such as GMC and Motivation by Shrek. After selling earlier this year, I realized I have no idea how to market a book. This year, I plan to hit all the marketing and branding sessions.

- Workshops on things that I might not be interested in, but the speaker sounds great. I attended a talk on screenwriting and while that wasn't something I was interested at the time, I picked up some real gems in terms of how to write a good character through their actions and dialog and how to write movement in a scene.

So that' s my methodology for choosing what to go to. I recommend the usual tips.
-For classes with high-profile speakers like Deb Dixon and Jenny Cruisie GET THERE EARLY.
-For classes you may or may not be interested in, sit in the back and slip out of it doesn't fulfil your needs.
- If you can't make a workshop because you met some really cool people and you're just hanging and having a great time...enjoy it! The best things I've learnt about writing were from doing and from listening to my friends.

I'll be the one dressed predocminantly in red with a huge smile on my face.
Come say Hi! This year, my goal is to make as many new friends and possible :)

Happy conferenceing!
-------------------------
Dona Sarkar-Mishra
http://donasarkarmishra.com
HOW TO SALSA IN A SARI - January 2008 from Harlequin's Kimani Tru