Ladies and Gentleman...Dona Sarkar!

The crowd goes WILD for Dona Sarkar!



And why not? Her second novel, SHRINK TO FIT is out and available for purchase. We're so proud of our Buzz Girl, Dona, and all of her accomplishments.

I met Dona in 2004 at the RWA Conference in Dallas, Texas. She won me over with her enthusiasm and dedication to her writing. I was tickled pink when she sold her first book, HOW TO SALSA IN A SARI.

Here she is with fellow Buzz Girl, Heather Davis, during our Buzz in YA panel at Nationals in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago:



And a writer's gotta eat, you know! Here's Heather, Dona, and Tera Lynn at our lunch at The Thai King. (Has anyone blogged out the robbery we witnessed? let me tell you, Buzz Girls are something to be reckoned with when apprehending a suspect! LOL!!)



Dona stopped my table at the Literacy Signing to visit:



Doesn't Dona look stunning in her electric blue cocktail dress during the Ritas?



Why would anyone even attempt to stand next to Dona in a picture? LOL!



All this is to say that I'm proud to call Dona a friend and I'm so thrilled about her new book, SHRINK TO FIT. I hope everyone goes out and gets it as it's a really strong story that will resonate with teens.

And to spice things up, I'm going to give away a copy of Dona's book to one lucky winner! Just post a comment in the message trail about what you love about teen books. Feel free to enter as many times as you'd like. Winner will be announced next week.



Congrats, Dona!

Hugs,
Marley = )

SORORITY 101: Zeta or Omega? (Available Now! Puffin Books)
SORORITY 101: The New Sisters (Available Now! Puffin Books)
GHOST HUNTRESS Series (Coming May 2009, Houghton Mifflin)

Shrinky Dinks

I'm sure this isn't the most appropriate discussion to follow Dona's wonderful post on eating disorder and how they relate to her new novel, SHRINK TO FIT. (Congratulations, Dona!) But when I started thinking about the title my mind immediately went to a childhood standby: Shrinky Dinks.

You know, those cool little sheets of plastic where you could trace line drawings of your favorite cartoon characters that you could color in and then bake into ... well, smaller, colored in drawings of your favorite cartoon characters. If you need a more visual reminder, here goes.



But, apparently, the post-80s generation has taken Shrinky Dinks to a whole new level. Here are some awesome Shrinky Dinks designs I found online:

Some very cool bracelets that would cost a fortune at Anthropologie.

Funky cool earrings. You could make a pair to go with every outfit.

These are way better looking that plain old sewing pins.

There's even a Shrinky Dinks website. Ah... takes me right back to my youth. What 80s (or 90s or 70s or whatever) memorabilia takes you back?

Hugs,
TLC

OH. MY. GODS. (available now!)
GODDESS BOOT CAMP (coming May 2009)
http://teralynnchilds.com

SHRINK TO FIT Week!

Hello lovely readers!

Here it is, the launch week for my second novel from Kimani Tru called SHRINK TO FIT! A few of you would have received copies from me over the past few weeks and I look forward to what you think about the book!


SHRINK TO FIT is the story of Leah Mandeville, a beautiful African-American athlete who is convinced she needs to slim down to fit into her mother's glittering world of modeling....as well as to catch the attention of the boy next door.


When a tragedy strikes Leah's disillusioned world, will she realize that she's taking her weight loss plan too far? Or will her desire to shrink to fit lead to a tragedy of her own?


This story was very interesting for me to write, not just because of the subject matter (anorexia and bulimia) but also because I have never had an eating disorder. All the research for SHRINK TO FIT came from the University of Washington Medical Center and from real people who I've known to have these disorders.

Did you know:

• Eating disorders are not due to a failure of will or behavior; rather, they are real, treatable medical illnesses in which certain maladaptive patterns of eating take on a life of their own.



• Eating disorders frequently co-occur with other psychiatric disorders such as depression, substance abuse, and anxiety disorders.



• People who suffer from eating disorders can experience a wide range of physical health complications, including serious heart conditions and kidney failure which may lead to death.

Did you know there are entire sites devoted to "Ana" the pro-anorexia movement. These teenagers treat anorexia as a friend who they nickname "Ana" and devote blogs and forums to encourage keeping Ana alive. They discuss ways to keep their calorie count to under 250/day and discuss "Thinspirations", girls like Posh Spice, Lindsey Lohan and Mary Kate Olsen who glamorize "skinny-chic" in the media.

The images are way too disturbing to post on this blog, but if you're interested just type, "Thinspiration" into your search engine of choice.

I was scared as hell when I read all this and that's how I got the inspiration to write SHRINK TO FIT. As for the African-American twist? Eating disorders have long been known to be a "white girl's disease."

THIS IS NOT TRUE.

With thin "ethnic" celebrities like Rhianna, Eva Longoria Parker and Aishwarya Rai being touted as having "perfect bodies", girls from all over the world are experiencing the same insecurities as the traditional cheerleader types we associate with eating disorders.

To win a signed copy of SHRINK TO FIT, please leave a comment in the comments section.
---------------------------------------
Dona Sarkar-Mishra
HOW TO SALSA IN A SARI - out now!
SHRINK TO FIT - also out now!

TLC's SF Recap

Since I actually left the conference hotel this time (before, during, and after the conference) I'm going to share some of my favorite pics from my days in the Bay Area. Enjoy.

My CP Sharie Kohler (aka Sophie Jordan) and me on our first day out.


Our first Cable Car ride ... where the passengers had to get out and push (yes push) the car back on track. Why? Because we had no brakes. Details.


The statue of someone famous at the base of Coit Tower.


A very cool starfish at the Bay Aquarium (which was way awesome because you go through two tunnels where leopard sharks, schools of tiny silver fish, and other scary things swim right over you).


My parents and me on the boat to cruise the Bay. It was free-ee-eezing!


The cruise actually went under the Golden Gate Bridge. Not that we could see the bridge, thanks to all the fog.


My parents and I drove down the coast hunting for a swimable beach (impossible) and tidepools (success!). This trip sadly ended with me getting attacked by waves twice, leaving me with wet pants and soaked sneakers.


We also did the obligatory night in Chinatown. This was somehow more awesome than usual, though, considering the Beijing Olympics were set to open within days.

All in all I had an awesome time in San Francisco. And I can't wait to get out of the hotel again--what are conferences for if not sightseeing?

Hugs,
TLC

OH. MY. GODS. (available now!)
GODDESS BOOT CAMP (coming May 2009)
http://teralynnchilds.com

Pics, pics, pics...and your opinion!

It was soooooo wonderful hanging out with my fellow Buzz Girls at the RWA National Conference in San Francisco. We certainly missed having Tina and Stephanie with us, but you were there in spirit. Thanks to everyone who came to our panel discussion. We will get to that Q&A we promised.

Here are a few more pictures from the conference:

The Buzz Girls with fellow YA writers, Sara Hantz and Wendy Toliver:



My first RWA Book Signing!



With my "neighbor," New York Times bestseller, Rachel Gibson:



At the Chick Lit Party with my lovely critique partner, Wendy Toliver



More from the Chick Lit Party with Aussies Kandy Shepherd and Carla Molina



My "Gossip Girls" panel with the fabulous Elaine Spencer of The Knight Agency:



At The Knight Agency party with my amazing agent, Deidre Knight, and my mentor and fellow TKA sistah, Jessica Andersen:



With my darling Kristen Painter at the TKA party:



And my darling Louisa Edwards White:



At the Ritas with the gorgeous Amazon, Kristen (check out my bling!)



And with my BFF Kwana Jackson:



Nadine Dejani, looking fashionable, as always:



Here I am with the amazing Victoria Dahl, historical author:



Cindy Gerard welcomed me to the RWA signing table with open arms



Also, I had my author picture photography session with Faith Dugan in Newport, Rhode Island. She's a total doll and does amazing work. I'm posting a few here and would love your opinion on which photo I should use for my GHOST HUNTRESS book covers, as well as for my website. I appreciate your weighing in!

Image #1:



Image #2:



Image #3:



Image #4:



Image #5:



Image #6:



(If you're wondering why I have a video camera, we use it in our ghost investigations.)

Image #7:



Image #8:



Please weigh in with your vote in the comments section. Most appreciate!

Hugs,
Marley = )

SORORITY 101: Zeta or Omega? (Available Now! Puffin Books)
SORORITY 101: The New Sisters (Available Now! Puffin Books)
GHOST HUNTRESS Series (Coming May 2009, Houghton Mifflin)

Buzz Panel, Zingari and Harlequin Party --Dona's Conference Highlights

I will have more pictures, I swear. I just have to upload them off my camera. I am going to "lift" pictures from the Buzz Girls and Christina Arbini to tell about my conference highlights!

I spent the first four days in SFO with my best friend from college, Krish Amin (now Dalal). We've known each other for over 10 years now and we did what we do best: gossip and shop. Together we hit every single store you can think of: Macys, GAP, Zara, H&M, etc etc etc....all the while catching up on the latest news and gossip from both of our lives.

Fun!

The conference took off with a bang with the attending Buzz Girls (me, Heather, Marley, Simone and Tera) having an impromptu pow-wow with the gorgeous Wendy Toliver at the Librarians Tea to discuss strategy for our panel. Happily this discussion took all of five minutes before we resumed our usual Buzz Girl topics: gossip, food, shopping, boys.....(are we seeing a pattern here?)

Then it was time for my VERY FIRST Literacy Booksigning. I had tons of friends stop by to say hi, including the lovely Nadine Dajani, Anne Van, Heather Davis, and many many others. It was SUCH an honor to be signing books in a room with authors I adore and respect like the Buzz Girls, Nora, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Jane Porter...the list goes on.

The next morning, I arrived at the hotel bright and early and attended some workshops and the Welcome Lunch with some rather quesitonable looking chicken. I instantly trade up for the veggie option (lasagna....yummy!).

Then came the highlight of the whole trip: The Buzz Girls "Building Buzz in YA" panel. All the Buzz Girls spoke about our experiences with marketing our books with Wendy Toliver moderating. I had a BLAST. We always have such a good time together and this was no exception. The hour just flew by as we dished about the industry, sex in YA (pretty intense stuff), age ranges, marketing techniques (blogs, school visits, book launches, etc).

I think the panel was a huge success with over 70 guests and quesitons until the end. We also did giveaways of ALL of our books, with Heather Davis doing a "gift certificate" of her April 2009 release of NEVER CRY WEREWOLF. Fun!

I then attended the workshop of Marley Gibson and the lovely Elaine Spencer of the Knight Agency where they dished about agent/client communications. Great stuff!

That night was the PASIC reception where Heather and I attended and scmoozed with some old friends like Caridad Ferrer and the unflappable Jennifer Jackson.

We met up with the Tiaras of Seattle (Christina, Kelli, Shannon, Serena, Carolynn, and Erin) and then it was time to crash for the night.

Friday was a day of workshops-workshops-more workshops. I learned a ton of stuff about character building, plot strenghtening and at the end of the day, I was ready to stop with the learning. I attended a fantastic dinner @ Zingari with the Chicago North Girls to celebrate Simone Elkeles's RITA Nom. We were laughing so loudly people from OTHER tables were coming over to ask to join our party....awesome!

I then attended the Harlequin Party where I got a chance to see the lovely Nora, Brenda Novak, Tera Lynn Childs, Marley Gibson and many many others. Above is the dessert buffet, Tera doing her thing, and post-party where I am grabbing my bag and heading back to Krish's place for the night.

Saturday was Blake Synder's SAVE THE CAT talk (my favorite of the conference) where I learned just HOW much work I have left to to on my current WIP URBAN MYTHOLOGY.

We had our Buzz Girl Lunch at the fantastic King of Thai (cheap and FAST!) and then rushed back for the Agent Cartel workshop. That evening we did a dinner with the Tiaras of Seattle at Mel's Diner before everyone retreated to their rooms to get pretty for...

The GH/RITA Award ceremony. It was a gorgeous ceremony with the extremely elegant Heather Davis presenting the GH for Best YA book.

So, that is a very short version of my conference highlights. I look forward to hearing everyone else's conference stories and seeing pictures (that I can steal!)

-------------------------------------

Dona Sarkar-Mishra

http://donasarkarmishra.com/

HOW TO SALSA IN A SARI

SHRINK TO FIT

both out now!

Nationals Wrap Up

Thousands of writers will soon be descending upon the San Francisco airport. They will hug their friends one last time and mentally calculate the hours until the Washington D.C. conference as they walk to their gates to begin their journey home. Even though I couldn't be there physically this year, I was sent so many pictures and text messages that I feel like I didn't miss a thing.

Here are some final pics.

Tera and Marley all dolled up for the RITA/GH ceremony.

Heather presenting with Ruth Kaufman looking on.

Simone and Kelly looking fabulous!

Simone hanging with her Chicago peeps.

I hope you have enjoyed the Buzz Girls glimpse of Nationals. We hope to see you in D.C. next year!

xo,

Stephanie

www.stephaniehale.com

More San Fran pics..

Happy Saturday, everybody! I've got some more fabu pics from Nationals to post. Enjoy!


Here are all the Buzz Girls (except me and Tina) at lunch today. This place looks swanky with its purple walls and fancy stools. I'm so jealous!



Here are Heather and Dona at the Pasic reception at Neiman Marcus. Isn't the decor (and the bees, of course) beautiful?




Here is some exciting stuff I found out. That the RITA/GH Ceremony is going to be broadcast live on the Internet tonight at 8pm Pacific time. Yeah, I'll be able to kind of be there to cheer on my favorites while wearing my pj's and eating ice cream! Go to http://www.rwanational.org/ for more details. Also on the RWA homepage is a link to a blog written at Nationals by several authors, including the BBG's own Simone Elkeles (who is up for a RITA tonight!)



I also found this, which gave me goosebumps. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25966976#25966976



Enjoy!

xo,

Stephanie

http://www.stephaniehale.com/