The Chicago Manual of Style: ; ) Issues

So, last night Steph, Hot Stuff, and I were talking about the usage rules behind emoticons. You know, those little smiley or frowny faces you make with punctuation to let people know that you are, well, smiling or frowning along with what you're typing. They're like the picturades-version of "lol".

We decided it was high time there were usage rules for emoticons, contacted The Chicago Manual of Style, and are very, very pleased that our entry is making the next edition*.

EXPRESSIVE PUNCTUATION

6.99 Emoticons. Expressive punctuation to denote happiness, friendliness, teasing, anger, or sadness is communicated using a variety of letters, numbers, and symbols. Although experts are still undecided on the inclusion of noses, for example :-) versus :) or even : ) (and the less common and far more polarizing use of the "bubble nose" such as :o) or the aggravatingly off-center :0) and their ilk), most agree that, used in the correct circumstances, emoticons are an acceptable substitute for more accurate and expressive language. These circumstances are only in the most informal of written communication. For example, within a blog post or an original tweet, an emoticon should never be used. The writer should be able to express themselves adequately without resorting to an angry face >: (. However, when responding to personalized tweets or comments on the blog post in question, an emoticon as emotional shorthand is perfectly acceptable.

The other day my downstairs neighbor made the trip up to inform me that my children's habit of walking on her ceiling was simply unacceptable. Needless to say, I was a little pissed off.

Note: no emoticons were necessary or appropriate in the post itself. But an acceptable comment would be:

Mean people suck : (

To which the original poster could then reply:

I know, right? ; )

The use of the "winking" face indicates that the commenter is no longer angry and has a playful sense of humor about the whole thing, and is much easier than saying, "I know, right? But don't worry, I am no longer angry and have a playful sense of humor about the whole thing now."

Note: Emoticons are especially useful when delivering short "thank you" tweets, making them seem friendlier and less formal. Emoticons are also highly valued when delivered in the margins of an editorially reviewed manuscript.

So there you have it. Usage rules for emoticons!

I know. You wish you could sleepover and my house, too! Tomorrow night I might write an entry on the most effective uses of "Dude."

Dude.

*That's not actually true. But it ought to be.

IT IS A REAL BOOK

ACRONYM, GUYS, IT'S A REAL BOOK.

And it's beautiful. And it's real. And I still can't quite believe it. And it's real. And I knew this day would come, but somehow it's still a shock. And now I need to go hold it some more and marvel at what a miraculous thing a book can be.

Because, guys? IT'S REAL.

**Update: For those who are new/have asked, it is officially released on August 31st, and you are more than welcome to pre-order it. Encouraged, even! Thank you for asking!

**Further Update: IT IS STILL REAL. I have been checking.

Supernatural Summer

Oh, HI, internet. Guess what? Today I get her:

Steph, that is. Not Anna. But I love Steph more, because without her, there would be no Anna.

And I am very happy about this. And after I get her and we eat cookies and cupcakes and buy everything at Trader Joe's, we are going to the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators annual conference up in L.A. Will you be there? (Also, yes, I will report on everything I learn. And bring lots of nail polish for manicures. And have treats on me at any given time, so if you ARE there, you should try and sit by me during lectures/classes.)

So in lieu of a post today I probably ought to get cleaning; fresh cookies on the table can only get me out of so much. (I'm figuring fresh cookies = pass on cleaning my bedroom and the kids' rooms, which still leaves the family room, kitchen, and bathroom.) (Were I to make fresh cookies AND offer a surprise HBM*, that would be a different story. Alas, I am plum out of HBMs.)

If you want to read something by me, hop on over to HarperTeen's fun blog, Supernatural Summer, where I guest posted on summer crushes. (They also have lots of polls and fun extras from their books, as well as contests--very awesome for teens, if you happen to be one. And if you aren't, it may make you wish you were.)

Otherwise, please come help me clean.

*HBM = Hot British Male, as defined by Stephanie herself. She's rather a connoisseur of them.

A Very Special Post

I know. I wish he would guest post every day, too.

And the Winners Are...

Let me preface this with the fact that you are all winners.

No, seriously. You are awesome. Everyone who entered the contest made me smile--many made me laugh--and if I had enough ARCs I would send one to each and every entrant. But I don't have that many ARCs. And seriously, picking the winners? NOT. EASY. Now I remember why I always do random drawing contests. It hurts my heart not to reward everyone who took the time to participate.

Alas. That is the nature of contests.

First, we have our honorable mentions, who do not get a prize but distinguished themselves most nobly:

• The lovely Madeleine, for writing a letter to Evie and mentioning the TMNT. (Leonardo is TOTALLY the cute one. I had a crush on him when I was in kindergarten.)
• The brave and talented Katrina, for writing a song about Evie, singing it, and posting the whole thing on YouTube.
• The multi-media whiz, JP, for creating his own Paranormalcy book trailer.
• And finally, Magan Vernon, for creating a radio ad for Paranormalcy, complete with sound effects. (Magan, I didn't see it posted on your blog and will post the link as soon as it's up!)

If I were being honest, every single entry would have made the honorable mentions, but alas, my head hurts and I can't link to that many people or it'd take all night. There were poems, photographs, jewelry, videos, you name it. And they were all awesome. Thank you!

And now, onto our first prize winners! Thanks to my generous and clever editor, I am getting three extra ARCs! The winners of a signed Paranormalcy ARC are...

Debbie (aka NerdGoddess) who not only recreated Evie's dress for a Barbie, but also made her a miniature Taser:

The dress from the cover! On a Barbie! WITH A TASER.

Guess which part my six-year-old daughter wanted to play with?

Yup. The Taser.

Angela Cason, who made an adorable trailer but won for this beautiful jewelry:

She makes stained-glass jewelry--how cool is that?? And of course the pink-and-black to match the cover!

And last but not least, Annie Cechini, who made the first non-sucky diorama in the history of dioramas!

And now, for the Grand Prize Winner, who wins a signed ARC of Paranormalcy, along with ARCs of Matched, Firelight, and Before I Fall, not to mention the Very Pink Prize Pack...

Kim Walus!

I really worried about picking a grand prize winner, but I think it's pretty obvious why she won.

Holy crap. I mean, really, just holy crap.

They even took a picture of it in the "W" section at the bookstore!

Now I need to buy a house with an office for the sole purpose of having a wall to hang that up on. (Seriously, it almost made me cry. I'm going to treasure it forever!) To see closer up details (along with her other designs), please visit Kim's blog. The woman is an artist! Amazing.

Thank you to EVERYONE who entered--all of your entries made me so happy! And don't despair if you didn't win--Paranormalcy comes out in just a few weeks. EEK.

Public Persona of a Private Life

Something weird happened to me this week.

I was at In-N-Out (no, that isn't the weird part, I live in Southern California--of course I was at In-N-Out) with my kids. It was crazy crowded (also not the weird part, again, In-N-Out, of course it was crowded) with the lunchtime rush. After finishing, I stood up from my table to refill my soda (also not the weird part, of course I was drinking Dr Pepper) when I walked past a man I'd never seen before and he said, "Is your name Kiersten?"

It's not unusual for people I don't recognize to know me. My mother-in-law knows pretty much the entire state, and people I have no memory of attended my reception, or taught my husband in scouts, or recognize that I'm a member of his family simply because my kids are dead-ringers for him and his sisters.

But...

Weird number one: He knew my first name, not my last.

Weird number two: He pronounced it correctly. (There are some people I have known for YEARS who still do not say it Keer-sten, but rather Curse-ten.)

So I smiled and said, "Umm, yes?"

And then he smiled and said, "I read your blog."

Now, this is the part where, if I were a horror writer, things would start going very, very badly. But I don't write horror, so it's all good. Turns out his name is James and he's a graphic novelist who was on his way to Comic-Con. (Hi James! Hope you're having fun and loads of people are appropriately awed by your graphic novel of awesomeness.) I was caught off guard, of course, and said something really clever like, "Wow. This has never happened to me before."

And that was pretty much that. We chatted for a few seconds, then he went on his way, I went on mine.

But when I got to the car I thought, wait a second. I didn't say anything clever. Not a single clever thing! I was so caught off-guard by being recognized at random, there wasn't a witticism for miles! And the make-up, or lack thereof...I'm not an especially vain person, but my pictures on the blog are very pretty, aren't they? And how weird was I behaving while eating with my kids and unaware someone was actually noticing me? Did I sing any songs? Because sometimes I do that. And it's weird. But my kids think it's funny. Except when they yell at me to stop. But of course I can't remember just how strange I might have been behaving, which could have been anywhere on a vast continuum of strange, because I am a stay-at-home mom to two small children and trust me, we get strange.

So suddenly I'm thinking, great, someone who reads my blog and then sees me in the wild is going to think, "Hrm. Kiersten isn't nearly as clever or pretty in person. How disappointing."

And then I thought, at least he knows I'm really this short. That fact is a constant, on- or offline.

Just kidding.

Kind of.

But it was a strange thing, unexpectedly meeting someone I don't know who could potentially know quite a bit about me. And it's got me thinking about this platform, this business of creating a public persona for oneself. I highly recommend reading Natalie's recent posts on behaving online (both very, very helpful and insightful).

Because truth is, I am not always cheerful and perky. (GASP. I KNOW!) I am not always funny. (I use it all up on you, my beloved readers. Hot Stuff can testify I am a dull as a rock come the end of the day.) I am not always kind. (Which is why I have to quickly backtrack and tell my kids that yes, it was wrong of me to yell, "IDIOT DRIVER!" at the car that nearly sideswiped me.) I do not actually speak with a lot of parenthetical statements. (Although I do interrupt myself a lot.) And I am not always as cute as my author photos have captured on film. (The hair is good, but sometimes I have bad face days.)

On the other hand, the me you see on here, while only a portion of me (because really, you don't want to hear me whine like I do to Natalie and Steph. I am an EXPERT whiner. Like, Olympic level. The competitive whining circuits have been trying to recruit me for ages, but it's just not a challenge anymore.) is still genuine. That's the most important part of having an online presence, I think. You can only fake it for so long; sooner or later the real you will out.

The secret is to pick the parts of you that translate best into writing and use those. The rest you can save for real life. (Unless you guys want me to start stressing out/obsessing to you, in which case get ready for EPICALLY long posts with very circular patterns. You'll want a more comfortable chair. And some snacks. Also, maybe a babysitter, because your kids won't see you for a while once I get going.)

So now you know. I don't wear much makeup most of the time. I call other drivers idiots. I may or may not behave strangely to entertain my kids in restaurants. I am, I hope, clever and witty on occasion, but I'm also just plain tired a lot of the time. I always try to see the bright or at least the funny side of things, but sometimes even I get worn out and discouraged.

If you ever meet me, though, you can count on one thing: I am definitely short.

Back to the Beginning

I broke a book.

Well, I didn't break it. But I royally screwed it up. I took a great premise, an engaging voice, an awesome narrator and...did nothing with them. I ended up with 100 pages of meandering. Conversations. Haircuts. Watching paint dry. (Okay, not watching it dry, but putting it on the walls. No, I'm not kidding.) Nothing much happening at all.

I knew I was completely tanking this idea, so I quit. And I thought about it. And I didn't think about it. And then I thought about it some more. That's when I knew that I had to go back. I don't have any problem abandoning ideas--I've got three, or four, or five started-but-never-finished novels that I feel no compulsion whatsoever to return to. I don't even know how many story starts and characters are in my Word graveyard, because they don't talk to me anymore. They're dead.

But this character refused to die. She kept talking to me. She let me know that I butchered her voice--she isn't nearly that sullen! She'd never react that way! And I didn't even get her taste in music right. But Character, I said, I don't know what to do with you! It wasn't working! My idea didn't work, and I don't know what to do to fix it! I have all of these awesome scenes in mind, but I don't know how to get from where I started you to where those scenes are.

Character was not happy with me.

Neither was my crit partner Natalie. She kept asking about Character. I kept hemming and hawing. Finally, Natalie said, "What if in the beginning instead of X you had Y?"

And then it all clicked. I had shot Character in the foot from the very beginning by taking what I thought to be the natural plot path. That plot progression lacked any sort of narrative tension whatsoever. It was an idiot move. A complete idiot move. Six completed novels under my belt and I can still doom a manuscript within the first twenty pages!

That, my friends, is talent.

Actually, that, my friends, is writing. Sometimes we mess up. This is the worst I've ever messed up. Last night I deleted twenty-THOUSAND words. It used to be that would make my heart hurt with lost effort. Now, however, I'm excited. Those twenty-thousand words didn't work. But now I've got words building up and screaming to get out that will.

And that's also why I have an alpha reader--someone who reads my things as I write them. Because otherwise I wouldn't have had someone nagging me, someone who knew what I had and why it wasn't working. Someone to suggest just the thing to spark the idea for how it all could work.

Three cheers for Natalie!

I know not everyone uses alphas, but I can't recommend them enough. Sometimes we get so stuck in the path of how our stories "need" to be that we don't see what they can be if we'd only let them. I knew something was wrong with the story--had known from about 10k words in--but it took me to 25k to admit that it was too wrong, that nothing was going to fix it. And it took a wonderful crit partner to help me see what I needed to do to get Character back on the plot she needed to tell her story.

Character is happy. Natalie is happy. Agent Michelle is happy. I am happy and excited about a project for the first time in a what feels like a very long time.

Writing is hard, and it's very easy to mess up (I never make the same mistake twice--I come up with new and innovative ways to screw up every time!), but that's the glory of first drafts--the delete key can be our very best friend. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go argue with Character about why, exactly, she is forcing me to listen to The Cure and Passion Pit.

Contest and YAY

Don't forget you have until Saturday to enter the contest for my last ARC! Although...surprise! Thanks to the generosity of HarperTeen and the fabulous intervention of Editor Erica, I can now award more than one winner! That's right. Get those creative juices flowing!

Other than that, I can finally let you in on a little secret...

I'm going on a national book tour! YAY! And even better, I'm touring with the lovely and charming Sophie Jordan, which means it'll be that much more fun. And, even BETTER, we're meeting up with Aprilynne Pike in Phoenix and Claudia Gray in Chicago!

(Yes, you can picture me alternately laughing and shaking my head, wide-eyed with wonder that this is my life.)

We have scheduled stops in San Francisco, Phoenix, Chicago, and Allen and Austin TX. In addition to those I'll be signing in Salt Lake City UT (September 11th) and San Diego/La Mesa CA (October 6th). I'm also considering heading up to L.A. for a signing, but we'll see. I'm also also considering stopping for a signing in Las Vegas on my way to Utah, but there would have to be a lot of demand to incentivize driving to Utah instead of flying. (And, uh, someone to help with my kids who will be with me and will not be entertained by me talking at a bookstore when they want to be at Grandma White's house NOW.)

I will post official details (times and places) when they are all officialized, but we're looking at the last weekend of September and the first weekend of October for most of the national dates. (And no, I didn't pick the places and I can't change them [other than the ones I'm scheduling on my own], so I'm truly sorry if you can't get to them!)

And yes, I am dying of The Awesome. And I hope I can meet you. And speaking of official things, this Officially Calls for a New Wardrobe.

Coming tomorrow: Bad news or a sad story, even if I have to make it up, just so I don't keep pummeling you with the Awesome that HarperTeen insists on giving me.

Oh, HI. It's ME! Again!

Today I have a special treat! Remember last October when I went to New York and was able to meet Amazing Editor Erica (ahem, sorry, I mean Amazing Senior Editor Erica--she got promoted! YAY ERICA) and Utterly Fabulous Agent Michelle (who also promoted herself to CEO and Queen of Wolfson Literary Agency) (or if she didn't, she should immediately, and print new business cards)? While there I filmed an interview. And...here it is!

Paranormalcy ARC: Wait.

Kiersten: Umm, hey, Paranormalcy. What's up?

PA: No offense, but you've been talking about me a LOT lately.

K: Oh. I guess I have, haven't I?

PA: Yeah. And as flattering as it is, isn't your blog about more than just me?

K: Of course it is! But HarperTeen is releasing all of these cool multi-media things, the trailer, the podcast, and now the interview. It's really exciting and I want to share them with people!

PA: Is that the only reason?

K: ...yes...

PA: Really?

K: Okay, fine, I'm exhausted and lazy and these make for easy posts. I'm letting HarperTeen do my job for me.

PA: I'm glad you're admitting as much.

K: Speaking of confessing things, weren't you hanging out around my computer the other day? And why do I suddenly have 53 pre-orders for Anna and the French Kiss on my Amazon account?

PA: You should totally post that video now! Your sweater looks awesome.

K: Mmm hmmmm. We'll talk about your access to my credit cards after. With no further ado, I give you my Author Video!

PA: Umm, you aren't going to cancel those orders, are you?

K: I already have it ordered. We only need one.

PA: Are you REALLY going to share Etienne St. Clair with me?

K: Okay, maybe we need two.

PA: I love you.

K: I love you, too.

PA: I'm glad they only filmed you waist-up, though. This way no one knows your feet hung four inches above the ground!

K: Or at least they didn't until now.

PA: Remember how I love you?

Monday Morning Chatfest

Good morning, internet! How are you this lovely gray day? I didn't get to see Inception this weekend, but I did get a haircut and read a really fun book, so my weekend was a success. I hope yours was, too.

This morning I have a treat for you. Unless you hate the sound of my voice and getting a sneak peek into Paranormalcy, in which case, this morning I have sheer torture for you. I recorded a podcast for the lovely people at HarperTeen! Over the phone! And I wasn't nervous at all! If by "wasn't nervous at all" I mean "totally freaking out," but that's just a matter of semantics.

Please go to http://www.harperteen.com/contests/podcast/ to find it--I'm the third one from the top. I talk a little bit about writing paranormal young adult novels, my thoughts about Paranormalcy itself, and then read a passage that you've never heard/seen before! You can listen to it directly from that page or download it to put on your own computer or mp3 player. There are also a lot of other super fun podcasts on there, and it's an excellent way to waste time at work. I mean, to enrich your knowledge about favorite authors and find new favorite authors to read.

Goals

(GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLS! [insert that annoying angry-mob-of-bees-sound-here])

There is nothing quite so annoying as sitting down with a teacher/guidance counselor/employer and having them ask you what your goals are.

Examples:

High school goal: To get out of this place alive, with my sanity intact, and get into a college where no one knows me or cares how smart I am. Also where there are a lot more boys to flirt with.*

Pointless job in college goal: To make enough money so that my husband and I will be able to eat out once a week, then graduate and forget I ever worked here except when the same calling center calls me asking for donations, and then laugh and wax nostalgic at the fact I'll never have to do that again and agree to donate.

But today I'm going to ask you to sit down with me (umm, metaphorically or imaginarily, because I am sitting in a rocking chair and there is definitely not room for both of us. Also, I am still in my pajamas, so I would not open the door if you knocked) and think about what your goals are as a writer. Or as a person in general if you aren't a writer. Because you don't have to be a writer. (For the record, being a writer is AWESOME. It is also really hard, and there are a lot of other awesome things to be. Like a pastry chef. And if your goal is to become the world's best pastry chef, my new goal is to live next door to you.)

A while back the luminous Aprilynne Pike posted on what her goals as a writer were. She didn't specifically say what hers were, the point being that you simply had to know what yours were. It's very easy in this industry to catch the "not enoughs." Because in a way it will never be enough. Someone is always going to get agented faster than you. Someone is always going to have a bigger deal that you. Someone is always going to have cooler opportunities, or more marketing and publicity, or more buzz. Someone is always going to have a better cover. (Fortunately that's one area I've never had to be jealous of anyone else in. Love, love, love my cover designers!) Someone is always going to win more awards and be higher regarded. Someone is always going to make more money.

If you never know what your goals are, it will never, ever, EVER be enough. I promise. So decide now what your benchmarks for success are.

I have several. One of them is sales-related, and I'm not going to talk about that one. (Although I am doing everything I can to do my part to make it happen, I try not to focus on it.)

But my other goals I'm willing to share.

1) Be someone publishers want to work with. I always try to be professional, I try to do everything I can to make my publishers' jobs easier, and I always, always make my deadlines. Along with this comes writing the highest quality books I can so that we can both be proud of this product we've made together. I also make sure that my online presence is never something that would embarrass my publisher, and that I only speak of them in the highest terms of praise. Which isn't hard, because HarperTeen has been nothing but an absolute joy to work with. They make that part really easy.

2) Be someone people want to read. I write fairly commercial books--I want them to appeal to as many people as possible. I have no issues with this. Someday I will write a crazy, niche book that most people will not want to read, but for now my goal is to find the biggest audience I can and make them happy.

3) Create a sustainable career. This goes along with the first two. I love what I do. I'm amazed on a daily basis that I get to do it and get paid for it. It's so incredible it almost doesn't seem fair. With that in mind, I want to do this for the rest of my life. I try to plan beyond what's happening right now to make sure that I always have something else in the works, that my fabulous agent and I have an action plan for at least a year in advance, and that I'm continuing to learn and grow as a writer so I'll be able to continue to write things that I enjoy writing and you will (hopefully) enjoy reading.

4) Be someone's favorite author. This one's a little different. I want someone--anyone--out there (hopefully a teenage girl) to love my book so much that when someone asks her what her favorite book is, she'll say without hesitation, "Paranormalcy!" That's all. It doesn't have to be thousands or even hundreds or even dozens of people. Just one person. I think that'd make my whole career worth it.

5) See someone reading my book on the beach. This probably falls more under the realm of daydream than goal, but every time I go to the beach and see people reading, this little flutter in my stomach starts and I think, "How amazing would that be, to see someone reading something I wrote?" And then I would run over to them, but I'd accidentally kick sand on them so they'd be annoyed, and then I'd start babbling about their book and how I wrote it and I'd probably start crying I'd be so happy, and they'd think, "This crazy woman in board shorts, ugly beach hair, and sunburned skin looks nothing like the polished, pristine woman in the author photo." And then they'd get scared and start screaming and the lifeguards would come over and I'd probably get tased.

Which, given Evie's weapon of choice, would be poetically hilarious.

What? You don't have daydreams where you accidentally terrify people and are attacked with a Taser? Huh. Maybe your goal should be to get a better imagination, because nothing says Author Daydream like being violently electrocuted.

Anyway. Those are my main goals. (Except the Taser part. I don't really want that to happen. Promise. Please don't tase me in the name of making my dreams come true, because I would totally prosecute you and we would not be friends.)

And, for the most part, they are things that are up to me. That's important in setting goals--make sure they are things YOU control. You can't control sales. You can't control being nominated for or winning awards. You can control what you do and what you write to make those things more likely to happen, though. So focus on what you can control, decide what your goals as an author (aspiring author/pastry chef/world's foremost expert on rare evolution type Pokemon/professional beach Taser operator) are, and then figure out what you can do to make them happen.

As for me, my newest goal is to think of an author daydream in which I do not end up twitching on the sand.

*This goal of being a massive flirt lasted until I met Hot Stuff seven days after I moved to college, at which point my only goal became: GET HIM TO DATE ME. Nine years later and I am still succeeding.

Titles and Trailers and...Some Other Third Thing that Starts with T

I was trying to think of some clever preamble, but really, JUST WATCH:

The awesomeness! The awesomeness! And I can say that without being arrogant because I had nothing to do with this video (other than writing the book, of course). It was all the genius team at HarperTeen!

I'll wait while you watch it again.

And now you take a turn waiting while I watch it again.

Wasn't that fun? Gosh, how cool is my life? Don't answer that. It was rhetorical. But if it weren't rhetorical, we would hold hands and jump up and down shrieking, "OH MY GOSH SO COOL AAAAAAAAAAAH!" and it would scare the children, which is why we will leave it as a rhetorical question.

In other OH MY GOSH SO COOL AAAAAAAAAAH news, remember that book that comes after Paranormalcy? The one I've been ever-so-cleverly referring to as The Sequel?

It has a title.

I give you:

SUPERNATURALLY

Life's never fair when faeries are involved. Coming in Fall 2011!

Okay, screw rhetorical answers and please jump up and down with me! For some reason having an Official Title makes it feel so much more real than it was before. I'd like to thank Editor Extraordinaire Erica and also my fabulous design team, as this was very much a joint effort. My last edit of Supernaturally (AH! I don't have to call it The Sequel anymore!) had an old title with a subtitle of "Or some other, better title" beneath. Thank heavens we can now take that off.

And a huge bonus: since my titles are, well, LONG, I often refer to Paranormalcy as Para. Which means Supernaturally will be shortened to Super. Which will be very good for my self-esteem to constantly refer to my book as Super.

So, I hope you have a SUPER DAY. And that you don't feel too awkward now that we've held hands and jumped up and down screaming together.

Annoying

I have to be an adult today.

You know those adult things--setting up appointments, dealing with insurance, registering the car, going to the bank, applying for things, taxes.

I'm not a fan.

And since I'm being an adult today, I also have to wear a nice, button-up shirt, and slacks, and heels. No tie-dye tee and flip flops. But you know what?

I'm keeping the blue fingernails.

After all, I'm an adult, but I'm also an author. Which, the way I see it, is a license to be at least a little quirky, right? Right. So tell me: if you're an adult, what's your least favorite adult thing to do? And what's one non-adult thing you refuse to give up?

Real Life Versus Imaginary Characters

Last night I went and saw Knight and Day. For a little context, the last week-and-a-half it's taken me an hour-and-a-half (AN HOUR-AND-A-HALF) each night, lying silently on the floor next to my son, for him to go to sleep. Which meant that I'd be stumbling (fuming mad and incredibly annoyed and frustrated) out of his room around ten to type out some interviews and then go to bed.

Which, let's be frank, sucks.

So yesterday I was done. We got new beds, we discussed at length the fact that he was going to have to start going to sleep without me in there, and then...

I left.

Yup, I left Hot Stuff alone to deal with bedtime all on his own, because I am a wonderful wife like that and he is a sweet husband like that. He stayed home and did the bedtime thing (which, of course, went well since I wasn't here), and I went to a movie with a friend.

So, I could have been going to see Trolls 2 and enjoyed it.

However, I didn't expect to enjoy Knight and Day as much as I did. I'm not a real Tom Cruise fan. His shenanigans a few years ago left a bad taste in my mouth, and I find him at best kooky and at worst incredibly annoying. But say what you will about the man in real life (except please don't bag on his religion, because I can sympathize with belonging to a misunderstood and maligned religion, since, hello, Mormon), he can still carry a movie.

I don't know what it is about him, but get him on camera and give him a role and he nails it. He seems especially good at capturing slightly manic characters, which played very well into this role (and, in retrospect, seems almost humorously self-referential, although I never felt that way while watching).

Which got me thinking about being able to separate people from their craft. There is an author whose books I love. Her writing is quirky and hilarious and adorable, and it makes you want to be her best friend. Except...I've heard that in real life she's downright cold. (I have never talked about this author on my blog, and no, you don't know who I'm talking about.) Does that make her writing any less best-friend-worthy?

Nope.

Just like someone could be the most freaking-holy-crap-I-want-to-be-around-you-forever-and-can-I-please-marry-or-adopt-you awesome person alive and write a really terrible book that you don't want to read, or create characters that you absolutely loathe.

What it comes down to is this: I am not my characters. I'm not even my writing. I've been thinking about this a lot lately as I've been answering interviews (and interviews...and interviews...), and questions about Evie's obsession with the color pink have popped up a couple of times. You know what? I don't really like pink. I never have. Evie, however, can't get enough of the color. Why?

Because she's not me and I'm not her.

The only scene I had to completely change in Paranormalcy while writing the first draft was the one scene in which I wrote myself--how I would have reacted to what Evie was going through. And it was wrong. Completely out-of-character, needing to be edited out immediately and replaced with how she would respond.

Sometimes authors' real life personalities benefit and help promote their writing--take my author crush, Neil Gaiman, as the ultimate example--and sometimes they don't. But I try to enjoy (or not enjoy) books independent of who wrote them, just like I could enjoy Tom Cruise's character independent of Tom himself.

How about you--have you ever been so distracted by the actual author as a person that you couldn't separate enough to enjoy their book? Or have you picked up a book just because you liked the author? It's an interesting problem for those of us who make ourselves more accessible through blogs, twitter, vlogging, etc.

Household Memos

Dear Cookie Dough,

You are, by far, my favorite of the major food groups. And that thing you do, where you turn into cookies when baked? Genius! Thank you.

Health Consciously Yours,

Kiersten

Dear Sun,

So, what, you think you can be gone for two weeks and then just show up here like nothing has changed? Like we're supposed to welcome you back with open arms? We aren't the ones who forgot it was July! Where were you, huh? Focusing all of your love on the Northeast? Well, here's news for you: they didn't even like it!

Anyway. Yes, we will visit you at the beach today, thank you for asking.

Converted Southern Californianly Yours,

Kiersten

Dear Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol,

Releasing a new side project? Yay! Releasing that new side project in the UK two months before I can get it here? BOO.

Don't make me break up with your music, Gary.

Fumingly Yours,

Kiersten

PS Okay, fine, we both know I won't break up with your music. But I'm totally cheating on it with Ingrid Michaelson and Muse, just to teach you a lesson. And I'm going to switch my Pandora station to Hellogoodbye UNTIL YOU LET ME GET YOUR NEW CD. Don't make me take you out of my acknowledgments...

Jerk.

Dear Followers,

Hi! I can't quite believe how many of you there are now. We've hit 915, which means I'm tantalizingly close to my goal: 1,525,780,302! I figure all I have to do now is somehow convince China's government that they should make following my blog mandatory for all of their citizens, and then I'm set!

But I will always love you (my first, my bravest, my truest, my other-hyperbolic-adjective-that-ends-in-st) the most, even after I've converted another billion-and-a-half readers to my daily nonsense.

Completely Rationally Affectionately Yours,

Kiersten