SPRING UPDATE! B-Fest, Kirkus Reviews, and $1.99 Deal on SUMMER!

Heads up! Spring is flying too fast. And there is way too much to do!

Here's some bookish stuff that's going on . . .

For starters, early reviews for THE MEMORY OF THINGS are coming in and they are pretty wonderfully good.

Booklist calls it, 

"...a touching look at the power of selflessness, memory, and hope in the face of tragedy." 

And Kirkus Reviews says:

"A love letter to the New Yorkers who rallied together. . .Detailed and well-researched, it's sure to make young readers curious about those unforgettable days after the twin towers fell."

Then there's YABooksCentral that says it, "Leaves a small mark on your heart," and calls it one of the Buzzworthy Books of the Summer. 

There happens to be a Goodreads giveaway going on for the galley copy right now, if you want to throw your reading cap in the ring!



As for summer. . . I mean, SUMMER, as in THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO, I will be at both the East Northport, NY and Lake Grove, NY Barnes and Nobles this weekend (June 10 - 12) as part of B-Fest, the first-ever national teen book festival and I can't wait!

Join me, Selene Castrovilla (MELT & SIGNS OF LIFE), Lisa Amowitz (UNTIL BETH) and Laura Burns (SANCTUARY BAY) at the East Northport location (June 10 at 7:30 pm) for a 90-Second Read Event followed by signings...

and join me Saturday at the East Northport location for some writing workshop fun AND a sneak read from THE MEMORY OF THINGS! I'll be giving away a signed manuscript, too!

Also, if you haven't read THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO yet, it's a Kindle deal right now at $1.99! 

Oops, sorry. Yeah, I shouted that. Forgive me. I've never been a $1.99 Kindle deal before.

On June 22nd, I'll be at Books of Wonder, NYC, with an amazing panel of authors talking diverse books and what that even means, and celebrating the launch of pal Selene Castrovilla's SIGNS OF LIFE! You should join us!

Last but not least, I'll be heading to #nErDcampMI in July with pal Nora Raleigh Baskin to share a super exciting presentation on our sister 9/11 books, NINE, TEN: A September 11 Story and THE MEMORY OF THINGS. We've been working hard to share the hows and whys of our books and our stories, and I'm so lucky to be sharing a huge part of this journey with Nora. She's a huge talent and one of the bright gems of friendship in my life.

Other than that, the usual family stuff (on super speed and super-need!), plus the open water season is now open for full business, and before you know it, it's going to be August, and I'm going to be calling for Spring again.

Blissfully in the salt with Fairy Pod Mother
of the West Neck Pod, Carol Moore.

 xox (keep reading!)

gae

Summer is coming; It's time to let go.

For me, summer is such an incredible time of letting go, and of bliss.

It wasn't always that way for me. If you asked kid/teen me my least favorite season, it was probably summer, or at least summer played a close second to winter in that regard.

I'm not sure why, but the summer held angst for me, rather than allure.

It wasn't until I became a real swimmer in my early 40's -- and an open water swimmer -- that summer turned into something else entirely. A time of power, a time of regeneration and healing, a time of bravery, and, yes, a time of relaxation and bliss.

Now, each dark, weary winter, I remind myself I just need make it to summer and the restoration will begin.

Don't get me wrong. I love spring too, with its endless buds and promise. And for me, that is when the open water season now readily begins. I was out with my Pod this past weekend, and it was glorious -- cold (about 45- 48) but "doable" and therefore, EVERYTHING.

me, last weekend, with my Podmates, before. . .

and after our amazing 45-minute open water swim...

As a Podmate watched me stand at the water's edge and breathe deeply in, he said to me, you really need to write a book about the water.

Oh, Tony, I have! I said. I promise you I have.

And while it's surely a theme I return to again and again, my book about water is THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO -- a book about the fury and power of water to take away, as well as its power to heal and help us forgive.

One of my favorite early reader reviews contained this sentence, "It's as if the water itself is a character in the story." I wept when I read that review as it is exactly what I set out to do.

I know that the book has been characterized as "YA" and of that I am proud. But I also want my readers to know that I try to write books that will be loved by any age, 12 - 102. Yes, my published works are stories set at a particular time of youth, but, I hope, they are inhabited by characters and themes that will appeal to the most sophisticated and savvy reader among us. Think To Kill a Mockingbird or Huck Finn, or A Separate Peace or the many, many wonderful novels for all ages populated by teenaged kids.

The truth is, most YA writers today will tell you that. We write for everyone.

We write for you.

At any rate, as SUMMER turns 2 (!!) next month, and I hope you'll add it to your reading list if you haven't read it yet. If you've read and loved it, I hope you'll share your review on line, and word of mouth with a friend.

And, last but not least, for those who don't know, I wrote an essay HERE for my publisher about why I wrote THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO, and I hope it might move you, if you haven't read it yet.

Here's to spring, and the bliss soon to come.

xox gae

In Which I Talk Like a Truckdriver (sort of ) about Added and Deleted Pools and Neglected Blog Posts

in my pool...

I refuse to look at the last time I blogged... it's not pretty.

I know I tossed a Friday Feedback about how to not write query letters up here completely pointlessly  not too long ago, but how did it get to be the end of October?

Forgive me. Life's been busy.

There's the boy we sent off to college.

this is me with said boy this weekend during Parents Weekend.

And the furry, 8-week old child we got for our other boy to replace help mask the daily loss of his brother in our household.

this is him. He's 16 weeks now. His name is Charlie.
He's a fucktonne of work, but we like him.

There's been the effort to soak in the last open water swims before the water freezes my metaphorical balls off turns way too cold...

Me last week, with my dear friend and "Polar Pod"
cohort, Annmarie.

and the effort to find a new yoga/Pilates studio, even though I effing hate struggle through yoga these days, because I know, just know, it is good for me and I should.

There's, of course, still my part-time "lawyer" work, plus the constant effort to just freaking finish it would you?!?! write a "right" next book that my editor might fricking-for-the-love-of-God-please-just-take love, now that THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO is on the verge of release.

Purdy, right?

(In case you haven't seen it starting to pop up around the web, there it is... well, in the Advance Review softcover version... the actual March release will be in hardcover. Btw, it's getting some Holy-balls! Amazing awesome early reviews. If you want to check them out, you can find them HERE. Also, my uber wonderful new publisher, Algonquin Young Readers, is looking for blogger and reviewer readers to provide feedback on the four of five Spring 2014 AYR books that are now up on NetGalley.

THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO is there by request.

Also, while you're here and in case you haven't, "like" the AYR facebook page and follow them on twitter!)

Anyway, that's some of what's going on... there's my other son's basketball and social life to work around, my husband's singing to listen to and support, and, and, and, and well, yeah, I'm just rattling off lame excuses.

Anyway, last night, after missing several days of open water swimming, I took my first plunge of the season back into the stupid effing  indoor pool. 

I was dreading it, but then ended up loving it. I'll grow bored with it soon enough, and pine for the open water (which I will still manage at least a few more ball-curdling swims in), but last night it was peaceful and soothing and, yet somehow, also invigorating.

As most of you know who follow me here, I do my best writing IN THE WATER. The trick being to remember what I wrote in my head while swimming, and make it translate as brilliantly when I ultimately make it back to dry land. Something that rarely happens.

Anyway, while I was swimming, I was thinking of all the story line fixes, character enhancements, and other writing keys that have come to me while swimming. The original germ of the idea for THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO came to me in the pool, and most my manuscripts have some element of story that revolves around the water.

Not a drop of water in THE PULL OF GRAVITY
but there almost was... ? 

BUT, THE PULL OF GRAVITY is different. It's my land book -- maybe partly because I wrote it back when I had just started to swim obsessively again. While swimming last night, I suddenly remembered that after the book sold, I decided to try to sneak a water scene in. Luckily, I thought better of it, and deleted it before I turned revisions in to my editor. But I decided to see if I could find it, dig it out and humiliate myself. So, here it is. This is in the hotel in Rochester after Jaycee has fallen deep into the fever. :) 

She falls back to sleep, and I pace the room, trying to come up with something useful, some sort of idea or plan. Then I think about what Jaycee said, about how useless plans usually are.  It makes me laugh to think of it.  I mean, look how right she was. I am pacing like this when Jaycee suddenly jumps up and starts to put on her shoes.

“Hey, where you going?” I call. She looks past me, walks with ghost eyes in a hurry. I know the look. It’s the look that will lead you to a water tower.

“I’m going to find him,” she says. “Before Scooter dies.”

It kills me. It makes me want to cry.

“It’s not time yet, Jaycee.” I put my hands on her shoulders and shake her a little. I can tell she’s cooled down some, that there’s been at least a little break in her fever. This alone sometimes sets off the hallucinations.

I shake her some more, but she’s caught in the delirium of it, yanks away from me and pulls her Converse on, tripping and stuff, as she heads out the hotel room door.

I race after her. At first I’m just worried, but then, honestly, I’m a little curious. Besides, I’m watching her, so I won’t let her get into too much trouble.

She takes the stairwell, two at a time, toward the lobby, and heads out. She blows past the closed gift shop and concierge desk which is still empty at this early hour, then turns and heads back through the lobby toward the exercise room and the pool. She yanks the door to the pool open and walks in. I run after her.

There’s a lifeguard behind a counter sorting and stacking a huge pile of white towels into a bin. He glances up and says, “Morning, early swim?” but you can tell he’s too tired and doesn’t really care.

“Yeah,” I call, picking up my pace because I’m pretty sure she’s going to jump in.

At the edge of the pool, she stops though, takes off her sneakers, and starts to wade down the steps of the shallow end. The water seeps up the bottom of her Marshall J. Freeman sweats, darkening the green to black as she makes her way down each step.

“Jaycee!” I yell. Then louder, “Jaycee!”

At the same time, the lifeguard dude sees and rushes over. “Hey, kid, you can’t go in there in your clothes!”

Jaycee must hear the strange voice or something, stops and turns, looks at me, then him, then me again. And then it registers, I can see it, her eyes scanning, finally taking the reality in.

See? It once existed but never saw the light of day. I promise you, it's not in there. 

Smart move deleting, right? 

Now if only I'd deleted this post.

xoxo gae

Where I've Been

Thanks to Carol Moore of the Water-Blog for the photo.

So, yeah, I've been a tiny bit MIA from my blog(s) here. Apologies.


Here are just a few of the reasons why:

• I am STRUGGLING with revisions on my possible next YA. Yes, in all caps and an angry red font;

• I have had a few medical weirdo things happen which have kept me running to doctors, including an allergic reaction to Cipro that covered my body scalp to toe in itchy rashy red hives, and, you know, the other part where I thought I was having a *coughs* heart attack (but thank goodness wasn't);

• It is the end of the school year which is a notoriously busy time for my (all) kids and I have been running them places, helping them with final papers, getting son one set for college (?!?!) and driving son two to and from friends', golf, etc.

• I have been trying to devote myself to some anti-bullying work which feels important and right to me, but has taken up a decent chunk of my free time. Most of it I have done through participating as a mentor/support on this amazing Stand for the Silent facebook page started by the incredible whirlwind of a man named Kirk Smalley whose son killed himself at age 11 after being bullied insufferably for too long. 

• I have been dealing with the next phases of my next YA, THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO, including obtaining clearances, copy edits and early marketing stuff (author photos, Q&A, author essay, etc.) and, YES, I've seen a sneak peek at a possible cover! EXCITING!!!

and, last but not least. . .

THE OPEN WATER SEASON has started with a bang, or at least with some rocking and rolling water conditions. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151944021590299&set=vb.128827940504281&type=2&theater

So, there you have it. Ima busy. But, any day now, I'll be back here with a vengeance, since Teachers Write! is about to start and I'm bringing back Friday Feedback, so stay tuned!

xox gae

p.s. this is a pretty extraordinary review of THE PULL OF GRAVITY by a librarian now working in Hong Kong. If this Top 15 list doesn't make you want to read my book if you haven't, I don't know what will.

Snow-covered, Windblown, and Busy

Windblown me.

I was in Florida last week with my family. 

We got a whopping two days of sun :( out of the five we were there, one during which the winds whipped 30 miles per hour.

Still, I lay at the pool, 

grateful to soak in the sun and relax 

dreaming of the open water swim season that is 

just around the corner.

Right?

It IS just around the corner?!?!

I mean, you guys know that I need two things:

water and sun.

And, instead, THIS is what I had left behind in New York:

my husband's car is under there somewhere.

Yes, indeed. The New York weather gods had the good graces to dump nearly 3 feet of snow on us the week before.

Anyway, I'm back now, and behind and have a sh*tload of writing stuff on my plate.

"Frankie Sky" is finally on it's way to copy edits (btw, my new publishing home Algonquin Young Readers has a lovely new website and facebook page (as does my TPoG publisher, Farrar Strauss Giroux Books for Young Readers, finally!) and I am in the throes of doing all the behind-the-scenes stuff on that one -- getting permissions, fretting over my author photo ;\ , and mulling over new titles (not sure if I'm allowed to share the front runners here. Maybe next time).

Next will come cover ideas and the dreaded, dreaded jacket copy. How can that be so hard?

In the meantime, I had submitted a potential option book -- if you follow me here, you've seen bits of it, called In Sight of Stars, and while my editor says she liked a lot of things about it, she didn't think it was a best "next" book (she gave me some reasons and I must begrudgingly admit she might be right) so that one's going to simmer on a back burner.

Which means -- horror of horrors -- I need to get going on another book. I do have another completed rough ms that I haven't picked up in two years... and my agent is looking at that, but I think that may suffer the same issues as Stars, making it not a good NEXT book. Also have another one in the works that might be better, but all it is right now is a big old pile of mush. :\

In the midst of this all, I've started work on a high-concept YA collaboration with another writer friend which is a HUGE departure for me, and will probably be something I work on in between projects, AND also got a bit of a bite on a piece of my beloved women's fiction which is requiring me to try to do a rewrite. 

So, my writing plate is full and let me just say that, THIS WRITING GIG IS HARD WORK!!!

As far as The Pull of Gravity goes, it is now out EVERYWHERE in paperback and I would surely love you to go out and grab a copy from Barnes & Noble or your local indie bookstore. It's also got a spiffy new trailer that was made by a 15-year-old kid, Jude Bourke.

He's the son of a friend and his dad, Karl, did the amazing original drawings. If you like it, leave him a note, and please, please, please pass it on. 

Anyway, that's it for now. 

Back soon!

xox gae

A Few of My Totally Random Favorite Things (in NO particular order)...

So, I think I may have talked about how fickle I am before. *rolls eyes*

Not so much with people (thank goodness... i am a pretty loyal soul) but with things. Objects. Books. Art. Music. Entertainment. Clothing. Oh, lord, clothing. What was I thinking when I bought that last year?!

My tastes can change from moment to moment; what appealed to me so much last winter, this winter not so much.

So instead of doing any sort of year end list of new things I love, I thought I'd just do a top ten list of totally random things I constantly love. Never get sick of. Find myself craving, day after week, after year. . .

Why? No reason. It just occurred to me as I was updating my private facebook page* with the photo you see above and a wonderful cover photo that I illegally lifted, but totally credited to, the stupendous Maira Kalman:

Maira Kalman: New York, Grand Central Station, 1999

Oh, how I love Maira Kalman.
By love I mean, covet.
As in, wish I could be her.
Wish I had written her books.
Wish I could spend many hours of every day reading her books.
Wish I could... well, you get the gist.



Maira Kalman: What Pete Ate From A - Z
we read this so many times aloud. . .  

My younger son, especially, and I would spend hours reading her picture books together. The whimsy and sophistication never ceased to entertain, and still don't. There's just something about her art and prose that fill my soul.

So, Maira Kalman is #1 of Things I Don't Get Sick of (TiDGSo); 


While we're at it, #2: birds. Birds and Botanicals. Botanical, aviary-type birds. And their cages. I love pretty bird cages, too.

Like the birds I put on my photo up there. Or, say, these (notice the botanicals on my chairs and table! I never get sick of my table. You should see how pretty my table is... if you bug me to, I'll go take a photo...):



yep, see, birds. . .

 



Oh, don't fail me, YMI jeans...

#3 YMI jeans. Cheap and well-fitted.




Need I say more about that?

 

#4 listening to my husband sing...



and play his shakers and guiros! :)


And, while we're stating the obvious #5 Water in general,

and open water swimming... in particular. . .

photo credit: Carol Moore

#6  Cherry blossoms...

And, some more obvious, but, oh, so true:

#7 Listening to Sam play guitar:

          or, #8 watching Holden play basketball:

photo: courtesy Rick Kopstein

 #9. This store, Heartichoke, in Northport, NY... (ah, the baubles and trinkets... even lots of birds and botanicals ;))

and,

come on, guys, the number one

(or, um, #10)

totally random (shiny) thing I (almost) never get sick of... even when I wish that I would?

facebook!

oh, how you distract me with your blue and white hypnosis. . .

That's it. My totally random, highly incomplete, no-order top ten list for all time and/or 2012.

Hope you're all having wonderful holidays. See you for some resolutions or wishes in the New Year.

xox gae

* if you are a lovely, wonderful YA reader and want to follow me on fb, please follow me HERE and not there. :)

Friday Feedback: *Looks Around*

Um. Friday Feedback. Right. That post was just here.

*looks frantically around*


Er, I may be on serious project overload.


First, there was the whole my-back-went-out fiasco that knocked me off track for a week (don't panic, I have finally returned, as of yesterday, to the open water);




Yesterday, at the Dix Hills Diner....

Then there was the movie script that arrived in my email box Monday (?! Tuesday?!) that needed fast reading (at 97 pages, taking notes, took many hours...);



and, the "quick" Blogger Appreciation Week post that took me almost 4 hours  *coughs* (so, please, hang on its every word and visit every link!)



and, um, of course, there was the unexpected hour lost when my son, not immediately finding the correct dishwasher detergent,

Brady-Bunched the dishwasher...

That is my hubby scooping suds out with a plastic pitcher...

Anyway, I promise you, next week, we're back on track with a lovely guest-blogger you won't want to miss, but for this week,

we go all loosey-goosey again with a
Friday Feedback free-for-all.

In fact, you don't even need to read any of my crap this week; I'll just read yours. ;)

Go ahead, you know you want to.

Here are the RULES:

Please post between 3 -5 paragraphs, and no more -- 3 if the paragraphs are longer, no more than 5 if they are short.

If there's more, I reserve the right not to read.** I will offer some very basic feedback -- the only reasonable feedback that can actually be given from a brief excerpt:

• Does the piece "hook" me enough to make me want to keep reading;

• What else works for me and/or what doesn't;

• If you're super lucky (or super unlucky?) I may be moved to do a superspeed flash edit -- I will never change your words... only omit unneeded ones and/or change tenses to show how even a small edit like that can truly make a piece shine. As Orwell once said, "If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out." I believe this is mostly true.

Happy Friday. Happy writing. Hop to it.

- gae

Swimming Book to Book

That's me, mid-photo far right behind the blue paddleboard, at about mile 2

As many (most? all?) of you know, when I'm not writing, I'm usually swimming, and, indeed, while I'm swimming, I'm often writing in my head.

Last weekend was a milestone in my open-water swim career:

At 48, I swam my first 5-mile swim.

Honestly, it amazed me, even though I wasn't surprised.

I've done several 3-mile swims this summer (having done my first official 5K two summers ago), and knew I'd have no problem -- absent some major unforseen occurrence -- making it.

Still, 5 miles is a lot more than 3-miles (well, 2 more, to be exact -- see, I can do maths!) and, the morning of, missing one of my two usual swim cohorts, I arrived at the beach with an abundance of butterflies in my stomach.

Did I make it? Yes.

Was it harder than I thought? Yes.

Do I plan to do it again soon? Hell, yes! I can't wait to try longer than that.

If you're interested, here's my quiet, spare account of the swim on my other blog. And here's a more detailed account on the blog of our West Neck "Fairy Pod Mother," The Water-blog.

In the meantime, the morning temps are dropping here in NY, and I've got lots of swimming left to do before the winter sets in.

The beach at around 11:30 am on 8/25/12, after my 5-mile swim.
The resident (un) friendly swans were waiting for me when I got back to home base.

xox gae

Friday Feedback: Free-4-All

Me, and a bunch of TPoG things...

Um.

I forgot it was Friday.

Or remembered, but forgot about Feedback.

Or remembered, but was too busy swimming.

And writing.

And parenting.

And working.

And playing* Settlers of Catan.



After weeks of lamenting, it's here: it's truly the last two weeks of summer here in NY.

My older son enters his senior year of high school. My younger his first year.

I'm having a hard time fathoming that.

And tomorrow I attempt my first-ever five mile swim.

So, yeah, I'm a bit distracted. ;) But, I'm here, it's just a bit of a free-for-all! So, do what you want in the comments, though follow the RULES if you're new (Just don't be that guy who posts how he hates American women. Because YOU I will delete. ;))

Otherwise, post a snippet. Ask a question. Tell me your favorite book.
 
Here's a still-rough bit from the part of the ms I'm working on now called (before John Green's last book came out) In Sight of Stars (bite me, John Green, I'm not changing it).
 
 

 
 
 
            As we head through the park, she’s still holding my hand.

I keep waiting for her to extract her fingers, to realize she’s made some mistake, being with me here, this way. But she doesn’t. She keeps it there, squeezes her fingers in mine.

At Bethesda Terrace, I lead her over to the winged sculpture, Angel of the Waters.  It’s my favorite place in the city.

As the mist falls on our faces, I explain how the angel is supposed to represent the purification of the city’s water supply, and how there’s a guy whose job it is to clean out the coins from the bottom of the fountain every day.

“It’s kind of crazy how you know all this stuff. Good crazy, not bad crazy. But still, crazy.” She smiles, which kills me, then she walks, trawling her fingers along the edge of the fountain’s coping. I follow her, watching the spray catch in her hair like tiny crystals.

At the far side, she stops, sits on the coping, and leans so far over the edge, I’m sure she’s going to fall in. “Hey, Klee,” she says, over her shoulder, “all those wishes, how many of them do you think actually come true?” I hold to the corner of her sweater, but she ignores me, leans further, pushes her sleeve up and reaches in. She swishes her hand in the water. “I mean, there must be thousands of coins in there, right? I sure hope some of them come true.”

- gae

p.s. the next two Fridays as summer wraps, my kids go back to school, and my revisions are due to my editor will also be free-for-alls. I'll return to some structure September 8!  xox to all

* losing

Ack! Swimming & Spacey = Friday Feedback Fail

Me, emerging from the water yesterday. . .

So, um, I had this busy thing,
and then this other paid-work thing, and also this other cool book thing, and then another cool book thing,

and then the weather was nice
and my Pod friends lured me
out for a swim and,

well,

I totally forgot all about Friday Feedback.

Yep. That's it.

Mea culpa. I forgot.

I've got nothing better to offer than that. *hangs head in shame.*

*Glances sideways to check swim weather for next Friday... ;)*

- gae

Dear Teen & Future Me (plus TPoG giveaway!)

So, two of my favorite, funny, adorable virtual writer peeps, Amy Sonnichsen, still aspiring - but, oh, she will, she will! - and Christa Desir, with her first YA book deal just secured for TRAINWRECK, Simon Pulse, 2013, are hosting me on their blogs today, and they're giving away a copy of THE PULL OF GRAVITY.

So, of course, those of you who follow me know that I don't usually do my own blog post to highlight a guest post, but the one they asked me to write, really resonated.

It was actually very hard to write.

Indeed, it was so hard, that I panicked, and went back to them and offered to do a (pantsless) vlog instead. I mean, what's more entertaining than vlogging pantsless? And, I'm all about the entertaining here.

But, alas, they pushed me, and we ended up with these:

Christa's Blog: Dear Teen Gae;

and

Amy's Blog: Letter to My Future Self.

I love and admire both these women AND their blogs, so if you stop by, please take a few minutes to look around, and leave a comment (bloggers LOVE comments). How bout maybe a brief note to your teen or future self?

- gae

Pantslessness and Other Minor Excitement

FML, it's the end of January already.

How the eff did that happen?

I know, I know, this is my YA blog, the one where I behave, and don't say the f word, and act all teen-author appropriate. But, really, sometimes you just have to let it all go.

I've been in a mood lately. A bit silly. A bit depressed. A bit manic. A bit adventurous. A bit lazy.
And, go ahead and sue me, a bit pantsless.

(Don't panic. I'm not really pantsless. That part is all in my head.)

There's just something funny about not wearing pants. Or at least pretending not to. Although, for the life of me, I'm not sure what it is.

Here. I'll show you. This is me last fall when I forgot my pants after a swim:

Posterized for propriety's sake.

See? Funny.

Why?

No pants.

I mean, even though I was at the beach (where it is a perfectly acceptable social norm to be without pants), and had a plain old, sporty, unsexy bathing suit on under my sweatshirt, it was still somehow funny (and scandalous) that I had no pants when I needed them. 

So, yeah. With all the angst that's been going on with my (damned) manuscript STILL (endlessly) out on  submission, a health scare with my kid (mostly resolved, phew!) and a few other minor dramas and traumas, is it any wonder I'm seeking some comic relief?

But here's the thing: Now that I've found it in pantslessness, I seem sort of stuck on the theme.

For instance, take my rather important Skype visit the other day with some (movie) guys in LA.* Here I am right before it, set on remaining (fake) pantsless:

Or, take the perfectly nice blogger lady who asked me if I was willing to write a sweet and sentimental author post and I answered by suggesting instead a pantsless Vlog. . .

. . . and then tweeted accordingly:

"Is it wrong that I'm actually contemplating whether a pantsless Vlog would help or hurt my reputation?"

Hurt, Gae, hurt, geesh!

And, yet . . .

I must admit, I'm hardpressed to believe the whole world won't share my endless amusement over faking that I'm not wearing pants.

If this is wrong, I don't want to be pants'ed up and right.

Anyway, there you have it. What I've been up to, with or without pants.

Now then, carry on. I'd better go shave my legs and lotion them.

- gae

* yes, yes, I just slipped that (movie) thing past you to see if you were paying attention. Eyes up here, people. Not on my naked legs. ;)

Proyeto Sobrecarga

What? I studied Spanish. I can speak Spanish if I want to.

It's my damned blog.

Me muerde.

(hahahahaha!) It seems like that says I'm dead in Spanish, but it doesn't. Whatever.

So, it's a new year and, yes, I am still &^$%#!!&!?ing upside down for those of you who know what that means -- for those that don't, sorry, you'll have to follow me a bit more closely... ;) and I am seriously on project overload (yes, yes, people, that is what the title says, Project Overload. And, no, I didn't remember how to say "overload" in Spanish even though I took it right through college (maybe I never knew), I just googled the translation. I did remember how to say "project" though, so, yeah. *curtseys*)

Anyway, some of the project overload is self-induced. For example after failed physical therapy on my blasted old-lady hip for the past six weeks, I've decided to add hot yoga back into my routine (yep, just in time for that stupid New York Times article telling us that yoga is going to kill us all... for a great retort, check out my friend Lori's blog post, Does Yoga Hurt More Than it Heals on technorati.)

Anyway, the yoga is another big time investment, but my body seems mostly happy to be back to it. And, add to that to my usual swim routine, and I'm already in the  hole.

As for swimming news (see, I should switch back to Spanish, because this blog post suddenly sounds like one of those chain Christmas letters), I think our open water season is finally (heartbreakingly) over, but what a freaking hugely fantastic exhilarating magnificent season it was. End o' May to January 7th.

Here's my friend Annmarie and I right before we swam on
January 7, 2012. I believe we may have set a Pod record.
And, yes, I added the snow. The air was actually unseasonably warm
but the water was $*&%&$^% cold (maybe 36 degrees).

So, it's back to the pool with me until, hmmm, late? April?

Plus, there's the usual mom/taxi stuff, and trying to get my sixteen year old to do all the things he's supposed to be doing (like getting his permit, and studying for the SAT's), and running from my almost 14-yr olds basketball game to basketball game (both school and travel teams).

Plus, there's my writer stuff: promoting The Pull of Gravity (did you hear it's going to Paperback?), e.g. getting in contact with the several schools that are about to launch into their units that teach it (!) to set up dates to either Skype or make an in-person visit, doing guest blog posts (I'm here on Nerdy Book Club today talking about the books that shaped me as a kid and will be on TeachingBooks.net on January 24, to name just a few) and just keep trying to get the word out there -- seriously, it's a full time job.

And, then, there's my mediation practice. A new client this week, plus a six-way on one of my bigger cases (not as sexy as it sounds, means the clients' separate counsel comes into things to try to resolve some sticky issues), plus a separation agreement that has been taking me days to draft...

Finally, I have my first book club appearance ever tonight with some somewhat local book club, not even a friend's book club that felt sorry for me and invited me in. These are a bunch of twenty-somethings I don't know. At all. I hope they liked it and don't throw tomatoes at me.

The moderator apparently chose my book because several places have compared it to John Green's Paper Towns and he's a fan (honestly, I read that book and other than the road trip don't really see it, but still, I'm flattered. And, btw, how weird is it that I get compared to John Green and his new book, out today, is called The Fault of Our Stars, when the manuscript I'm working on right this second is called In Sight of Stars. Wonder if I'll have to change it... hmmm... he's way more famous than I am).

And, the last thing (I know, I know, I said finally, then tricked you and slipped in another last thing), next week I'm flying to Tacoma, WA for my friend Megan's book launch. Here's Megan, being totally adorable as she talks about jealousy for the YA Rebels, and how she handles it,

and here's the link to her shiny debut, Never Eighteen. http://www.amazon.com/Never-Eighteen-Megan-Bostic/dp/0547550766. You should totally buy it and read it, and tell your local library to order it in (I even helped her to revise an early draft. I've not read the final version yet, but I'm excited to).

I'm not that thrilled about the flying part (and the leaving my hubby and kids part) but I am totally excited that my friend Annmarie is coming with me (thanks, sweetie!) and excited that I'm going to finally meet a bunch of friends I only know through facebook and email! That means you, Katie and Brent, and you, Peachy, and, and, and...! I wonder what I should wear... maybe the companion piece I have to this shirt I wore on New Year's Eve?

Come on! That's one fun shirt!

So, that's it. You're all caught up. Both in Spanish and in English.I'm not spellchecking this puppy or reading it over for nice order or proper grammar. I'm so freaking busy, I shouldn't have been writing it in the first place.

But I love you, dear readers, for coming here to check on new posts, so I didn't want to leave you hanging.

If I haven't said it before, Happy New Year! If I did, well, I wish you one again.

*blows kisses, throws leftover, slightly walked-on confetti*

Now, get on it. Already January 10! And miles to go before we sleep.

- gae