First thing’s first: did you know you can buy the paperback of TENTH GRADE BLEEDS starting today??? GO DO IT!!! RIGHT NOW!!!

And now…my hair is awesome. I think we all know that. I mean, just look at my inbox – literally dozens of emails a day that comment on how much my hair rules. And it does. It’s totally not even egotistical to admit your hair rocks. It’s called “high self-esteem” (or maybe “hair self-esteem” – what do ya think, Minions?). But…what you’re all wondering is who does my hair/where I get my dye/how I do it. The answers to these questions are simple:

1. I do my own hair (kinda).

2. Online.

3. Carefully.

Shall I explain? I mean, for those of you who cannot resist the urge to dye your hair funky colors, you’ve gotta want answers, and Auntie Heather is not one to disappoint her Minion Horde.

1. I do my own hair (kinda).

I do. Really. I used to dye the black at home, but it’s so time consuming to touch up roots every three or four weeks, and the black dye gets EVERYWHERE, so now I go to an amazing stylist, who touches up my roots and cuts my hair and is generally all around brilliant. But the purple…that’s all me, and I’ll explain more about that in #2. Speaking of which…

2. Online.

That’s where I buy my purple dye. It’s a brand called Special Effects. While most funky color dyes (like the dreaded, pillowcase discoloring manic Panic) will fade and bleed out very quickly, Special Effects stays bright until I re-dye. Oh sure, it gradually changes from purple to fuchsia to a weird pink, but it’s the best funky dye out there. TRUST ME ON THIS. Auntie Heather has been doing this stuff for years.

I buy Special Effects Pimpin’ Purple online (usually Amazon, because it’s way cheap and sometimes I get free shipping), as well as White Out hair bleach (which I get at Hot Topic – again, the best I’ve found).

3. Carefully.

It’s not hard to get your hair to look like mine. Now, when I first dyed it, I had to bleach out my bangs (bleaching makes it so the funky dye will turn out brighter on your hair), but now I just re-bleach the roots. Once bleached (follow those instructions carefully!), I put dye in my bangs, clip them away from my face and leave it in all day. That’s right, as long as I possibly can (minimum 3.5 hours), before rinsing. The longer you leave it, the better it’ll look.

Oh, and if you’re under 18, you should probably ask your parents. But if you don’t, don’t tell them Auntie Heather told you how.

So…that’s how I get my hair to look the way it looks. I like it for now, but eventually, I’ll change it. I’m kinda like that.

Now, onto some BLOODBOUND bits. As you all know (or should, if you follow this blog regularly), in Fall of 2011, I have a new series starting called BLOODBOUND. There’s a brief description on this page. (if you haven’t, you should go read that now. Go on…we’ll wait…).

Back? Oh good! As I was saying, BLOODBOUND is a bit of a mystery, but as I’m just finishing up the edits for TWELFTH GRADE KILLS and I’m now writing BLOODBOUND, my head is there, so I want to talk about it some.

The main character in BLOODBOUND is a 16-year-old girl named Kaya. Now, in Kaya’s world, there are three classes of people: Barrons (a naturally-skilled warrior race), Healers (those with the ability to heal others), and the Unskilled (which are regular folks who have no special talents). Whenever a Barron is born in the world, somewhere, at the exact moment, his/her Healer is born. They are Bloodbound. When Bloodbound, a Healer can heal his/her Barron with a single touch. Cool, huh?

Kaya has been raised amongst the Unskilled, because her parents are both Barrons (that’s a big no-no–Healers and Barrons can be couples, but Healers and Healers or Barrons and Barrons cannot). So imagine her surprise when she receives a letter from the Headmaster of Shadow Academy, stating that her Barron is dead and she must report to the school immediately to be Bound to another Barron. (Being Bound isn’t as strong as being Bloodbound, but she will be able to heal her Barron–being Bloodbound is kinda like being soul mates)

Now, Kaya wants nothing to do with the Headmaster, the Barron she’s supposed to be Bound to, or any of that crap, but…she has no choice. The Headmaster insinuates that if she doesn’t come, he’ll bring the law down on her parents and have them killed.

Bummer, right?

So Kaya goes to this hidden school and learns that Healers are looked down upon, treated like pretty objects to be cherished, not people who can defend themselves. She learns that, despite the fact they are involved in a huge war, Healers are not allowed to learn how to fight or defend themselves. That’s the Barron’s job.

This doesn’t sit well with Kaya–not at all. So she trains in secrecy….which leads to all sorts of things I can’t tell you about.

But what I can tell you is that there are two boys that are hugely important to Kaya’s story. Trayton (the tall, dark, and handsome boy to whom she’ll be Bound) and Darius (the gorgeous, tan, silver-haired boy who trains her in secrecy).

So…any thoughts? Questions?

I’m all ears (and awesome hair).