This writing gig? A complete pain in the butt, sometimes. But there are moments that make it soooooo worthwhile. Like last night when I yelled, “OMG!!! I KNOW WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT!!!” while I was working on DEVON’S PLAYGROUND (which, you’ll notice, is over 13,000 words today–go me!) and had to put my shades on because the Lightbulb of Inspiration was glowly so brightly over my head. And like when I looked over at my bookshelf after emailing an EIGHTH GRADE BITES tidbit to my wonderful editor and thought, “WHOA! I’m soon going to have a real live book with a cover and pages and my NAME on it!” Good moments, both. Strange, but good.

It’s a surreal thing to go through this process. I keep forgetting that an actual, physical book is coming. Sometimes it just feels like this intangible thing that we all talk about, but will never really happen. An actual book? Psshaw! Vlad is just a dream, isn’t he? Just a really neat story that’s floating around in my brain and it will never really come to fruition…will it? But yes. It will.

Freaky.

Even more freaky is the fact that I had an autograph request for the first time last week…and that I’m planning to write another solid 3,000 words today and every day until DEVON’S PLAYGROUND is finished.

But I may work in some time to convince myself I’m being published.

I (heart) my agent. Absolutely. He has my back. He has faith in me. Plus, he’s funny. As in “Can you finish DEVON in two weeks?” funny. AHAHAHAHAHAHA–yeah, I think I can. = I mean, after all, beginning of yesterday, I had like 6,400 words. This morning, over 10,000. I can do it. I know I can. I just need to focus.

So bear with me, my minions. Blogging may be sparse here for a bit.

But there’s always time to hail another member of the Minion Horde! Ewoh gets an award for most creative placement of Minion Bling. Plus, he looks a little evil. I like that in a person.

Sometimes a nice loooooooong sleep can do wonders for a cold (or allergies, still not sure) and it can do even more wonders for a Work-in-Progress.

Last night I hammered out some gasp-inducing details for DEVON’S PLAYGROUND and I had the pleasure of revisiting EIGHTH GRADE BITES once again this morning to tweak a certain detail in the last chapter (my editor is so smart, it’s scary sometimes). Now, of course, to me, the things I came up with are brilliant. But I am medicated right now….so for all I know, there may be drool on my monitor and the words “save the asparagus!” typed all through my manuscripts. But, y’know, whatever works.

Thanks to Bookshelves of Doom I have a dire need for one of these. How COOL are those?! Must. Have.

And today I’m going to write until my fingers fall off.

Then I’ll use my nose.

But first, I want to thank my minion, Tim, for being all minion-y! (if you look closely, you’ll see Tim is sporting Minion Bling 2.0 too)

And not in the good “How sick is that?” way. No, more in the “Somebody promise to drag my body outside before I start to decay” way.

Okay, I may be exaggerating. But still…me no feela da healthy right now.

I’m starting to make ground on DEVON’S PLAYGROUND (does that sentence look weird to you, too, minions?). Not a lot, but some and I’ll take what I can get. Between that, entertaining family this last week, and getting an obnoxious bug (it could be allergies…in fact, it likely is), I should be happy with my progress. But I’m not. But I’m trying to act like I am. So let’s all play along while Auntie Heather deludes herself, darlings.

Ooooh, my new website is on its way (thanks, Shelley!). Other than that, the world is pretty quiet here. I chat up everyone I meet about EIGHTH GRADE BITES and have given more Minion Bling away than I could likely count. And now…I may nap.

Here’s an odd thing…why do I work best in jammies, but the moment I’m fully clothed, I feel like napping? Oh yeah, that whole sick thing…if I’m not up in an hour, somebody poke me with a stick, make sure I’m still amongst the living.

What could be cooler than a bookstore dedicated to SciFi, Fantasy, and Horror for kids? Not a damn thing, as far as I’m concerned.

Spookytown is a great new site focusing on just that. The owner, Steve, tells me they’re saving up pennies for a brick-and-mortar store in Detroit in the next two years. So get over there, check out what they have to offer, and help them with those pennies, because dude…we need more stores like these!

Not much time (nor drive) to talk today, minions. So I’ll direct you to something all writers need to know.

Yours in Eternity,
Heather

It’s not enough to write about people, minions. Oh no. I wish it were, but you see, that’s what makes the difference between a mediocre story…and a good one. You have to find your characters. That is, you have to really know them, get inside their heads, understand their motives, and speak in their voice. It’s tough. For me, it’s the toughest part of writing a new book.

The main character in DEVON’S PLAYGROUND is Stephen (I know you thought it would be Devon, but there you go). Stephen’s a good kid. He’s got problems (of course…who doesn’t have problems?), but he’s doing his best to work past them. I like him. He’s a smart kid, funny, troubled. But I’m still finding him. Unfortunately, this doesn’t tend to happen for me until the second draft…and as I’m still in the first draft, it makes me quite mopey.

I wish I were one of those authors who could spin gold their first try. But oh no, not me. First I spin crap, then I spin yellow crap, then I spin gold. Grr.

So how do we find our characters? The answer seems easy–spend time with them. Thus, a big reason for the blog nothingness as of late. I’m finding Stephen (who’s named after my idol, Stephen King–I know, what kind of a dork am I?). So far, it’s like a sick game of hide-n-seek, where the hider is invisible and I’m the seeker. Double grr.

But enough moping. I’ve got to go check under the bed.

Okay, minions, listen up. And you might want to grab a pen, because it’s note-taking time.

First off, I checked with my wonderful editor and yes, August 16th, 2007 is the official release date for EIGHTH GRADE BITES. So…yay! Big day, mark your calendar, don’t send me flowers, just buy my book. (In fact, my birthday is coming up in a few weeks on September 21st–as a present, I want you to pre-order my book for you or a friend. That, as far as I’m concerned, is the best present you can give an author.)

Secondly…dude…my book is available at Target. YAY! Like big time major covered in happy cobwebs YAY! I love Target, shop there all the time. They rawk. And now, of course, they rawk even harder…because they love me. =

To the girl I met yesterday just outside the mall, near the race tracks:

Thank you. You talked to me about everyday things, like your dad and boys and why oh why are they so competitive. You sat with me, listened to me tell you about only having lived here for a year now, and then, when I asked you what grade you were in and you said seventh, you listened to me prattle on about my book. What’s more, you asked where you could buy it. I happily passed on some Minion Bling (and Minion Bling 2.0) and your dad shook my hand (once he and your brother got done on the track). And for all of this, I wanted to say thank you. Because you reminded me with that curious glint in your eye and friendly conversation exactly why I do this. You really made my day.

Thank you.