GREATEST COMIC STRIP EVER

Women's Wit Quotes 1/20 & 1/21

I believe I've mentioned before the cool quote-a-day calendar my man got me for Christmas. It's called Women's Wit, and so far it's quoted everyone from Anais Nin to Tina Turner to Bette Davis. I really liked yesterday's quote (from one of my all-time favorite actresses) and today's, too. So I will now share them with you.

Wed. 1/20

"I'm as ambitious as the next working woman. I'm not going to pretend that I don't want to be good at what I do and that I don't care a lot about it, because I do. But it doesn't define me." - Jennifer Garner.

I love Jennifer Garner. And I like this quote because it's exactly how I feel. Sometimes I feel guilty if I'm not spending ALL of my time on writing, or drumming up publicity or going to events to network (I HATE that word). But then I realize that if I want to spend time with my family and cook real food (which I love to do), and go to football games, and work out, and read books and HAVE A LIFE then I can't spend every single second stressing about my career. Because, while I've always been ambitious, that's never been ALL of who I am. It's nice to know that Jen is in the same boat. Although hers is much prettier, wealthier and more famous.

Thurs. 1/21

"I have witnessed the softening of the hardest of hearts by a simple smile." - Goldie Hawn

This is completely and totally true. The next time the person behind the counter at the drug store or the post office or wherever is being totally rude and gruff, give him a big smile and say "please" and "thank you" and "have a nice day." It not only makes you feel better, but it will remind that person that not everyone in the world is nasty and impatient like the people who came before you--who probably put him in that mood in the first place. :)

One Down, Nine to Go!

Last night I finished the first book from my 10 in '10 Teen Chick Lit Challenge list, THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY by Jenny Han! In case you don't know about the 10 in '10 Challenge, it's a reading challenge and contest being run by author and blogger Kay Cassidy (www.kaycassidy.com) and teen book blogger Jessica of www.chicklitteens.com All you have to do to be a part of it is come up with ten teen chick lit books you'd like to read this year, link to your list through Kay's site and start reading! You'll have an opportunity to share the books you've read, chat with authors online and win prizes, too!

I'm guessing I'm not eligible for prizes, but I'm doing it anyway. Because hey, I just like to read.

So back to the book.



THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY is the story of a soon-to-be-sixteen-year-old girl named Belly, who goes to the beach every summer with her mom, her brother Steven, her mom's best friend Susannah, and Susannah's sons Conrad and Jeremiah. Belly has spent every minute of every summer with them, so they're basically her summer family. She's had a huge crush on Conrad since she was eleven, and Jeremiah has been her best friend since forever. Every summer is the same--late night swims in the pool, hanging at the boardwalk with the boys (who either ignore her or tease her) and eating, playing games and watching movies together in the big old summer house. But this year, everything's different. Because this year, Belly is a lot more grown up . . . pretty even . . . and her relationship with both Conrad and Jeremiah is about to change.

I absolutely loved this book. It's driven by Belly's complex connections with the various characters, all of which are beautifully drawn and realistically portrayed. The setting is fully realized and detailed, without banging you over the head with those details. I felt like I was right there at the beach with Belly, feeling the roasting sun, watching the waves roll in, smelling the musty saltiness of the house. It so made me long for summer--and for adorable summer boys--you have no idea. I highly recommend checking it out! And even better, it's got a sequel coming out in April called IT'S NOT SUMMER WITHOUT YOU.



Can't wait to read it!

Are YOU participating in the 10 in '10 Teen Chick Lit Challenge? If so, let me know! I'd love to hear about what you're reading!

My Favorite Moment of the Golden Globes

A brief transcript of my conversation with my husband while watching the Golden Globes last night.

HIM: Who's THAT guy?
ME: Taylor Lautner.
HIM: What's a Taylor Lautner?
(pause)
ME: We live in very different worlds.

Cupcake Success!

I know you were all waiting on the edge of your seats to see how my cupcakes came out. (If you're new to the blog, or catching this on amazon, go to http://kieran-scott.blogspot.com and click on the Me and Martha post to get caught up.) Well, i didn't get to them on Thursday, but I DID get to them in Saturday and they were . . .

FANTASTIC!

Here's a badly lit photo for reference:



They are vanilla buttermilk cupcakes with fluffy vanilla frosting (also made from scratch) and even though they took me two hours to complete (Do you KNOW how long it takes to sift five cups of flour and then four cups of powdered sugar with a squeeze-activated sifter? Felt like a lifetime.), they were totally worth it. Especially when B took a bite and grinned in happiness with sprinkles hanging off his chin. PRICELESS!

Next week, I shall tackle the chocolate marble cupcakes . . . with my new sifter from Williams Sonoma.

Quote of the Day

I have this quote of the day calendar called "Women's Wit" which my lovely husband--I mean Santa--left in my Christmas stocking this year. I LOVE it SO much, you have no idea. Especially today's quote:

"I've always believed that one woman's success can only help another woman's success." - Gloria Vanderbilt

Which is SO TRUE! And from what I've learned of the YA author community over the past few years, it's a maxim that is also taken to heart by my fellow authors. I mean, what other community promotes their competition as much as we do? I always feel so supported by people who, technically, could hate me just because I might steal a sale from them or vice versa.

So I just wanted to give a big shout-out to people like Kay Cassidy, Stephanie Hale, Courtney Scheinmel, Lynn Weingarten, Micol Ostow, Elizabeth Scott and all the other kick-ass chick lit writers who have been so supportive over the past few months and years!

Okay. I'm done with my sappiness now.

The Incredible Flying Toddler Incident

Okay, so I'm trying to put B down for a nap today (for those of you who don't know, "B" is my almost-two-year-old son), and he's resisting. He wants his milk. He wants more muffin. He's whining and crying and throwing his stuffed animals out of the crib. I lost my patience and got mad and yelled at him. Said it was nap time and he'd better go to sleep. After I said "goodnight" and walked out, he kept saying "Mommy, come back!" Not sad or whiny. Almost like he was laughing. Like he KNEW he could get under my skin. And now I'm standing in my bedroom listening to this and laughing to myself, because, my G_d he's 23 months and he's MANIPULATIVE! How brilliant is that?

So I went back in and, this time kindly, said "B, it's nap time. Now lay down." (He did.) "Okay, good. Go to sleep now." I tucked him in and went downstairs to text his dad and as I'm texting I hear this cacophonous, house-shaking crash. Scared the living bejesus out of me. So I go running upstairs and he comes running out of his room over to the (thankfully closed) gate with tears in his eyes and he says,

"Mommy! Baby fall bed!" and points back at his room. (Sitting here now, that line is HILARIOUS. When it was happening, less so.)

Yeah. He launched himself out of the crib. I grabbed him and checked him all over, but he was fine. He just scared himself. But I think he scared me more. Suffice it to say I rocked him to sleep, trying not to cry, and tonight we're converting to a toddler bed.

Holy crapola people. Seriously? Almost had a heart attack. And of course felt REALLY guilty for losing my patience earlier. But I think he forgives me.

Sigh.

Here's today's quote from my "Women's Wit" daily calendar:

"You have to remember the value of your individuality; that you have something different to offer that no one else can."
--the words of the very wise, and bootylicious, Jennifer Lopez

The 10 in '10 Teen Chick Lit Challenge!

Have you heard about this exhilarating new challenge coming at you from awesome author Kay Cassidy (kaycassidy.com) and teen chick lit blogger Jessica (chicklitteens.com)?

Well, if you haven't, you should totally find out about it. Oh, wait. That's why I'm here. To TELL you about it!

Basically, the challenge is to read ten teen chicklit books within the year of 2010. (Like that's even a challenge for most of you. I bet some of you guys have already READ a couple and we're only seven days in.) You can go to Kay's blog on her website to link your list of ten books you intend to read this year and then check them off as you go. (You can also just put in a couple and add more as new stuff you like or hadn't heard about in advance comes out.) There will be opportunities to chat about the books you read, participate in live chats with supercool authors (like moi!) and, of course, win prizes. (Not that I think I'm supercool. Just, I'm sure there will be OTHER authors involved who are, in fact, supercool.)

Click this link to go directly to Kay's 10 in '10 blog page: KAY'S BLOG!

And might I suggest placing SHE'S SO DEAD TO US at the top of your list? :P

Here's my very own list, crafted with the help of YOUR suggestions (which some of you made way back during TEEN READ WEEK).

1. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
2. Sea Change - Aimee Friedman
3. The Demon's Lexicon - Sarah Rees Brennan
4. Dream Factory - Brad Barkley & Heather Hepler
5. Waiting For You - Susanne Colasanti
6. The Summer I Turned Pretty - Jenny Han
7. Something, Maybe - Elizabeth Scott
8. Hatie Big Sky - Kirby Lawson
9. An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
10. Looks - Madeline George

Now I can't wait to get started! And I can't wait to see what you're reading . . . and to chat with you soon!

Me and Martha

Did I mention that I love to bake? Cookies mostly. I'm sure some of you saw me talking about it on Facebook or Twitter over the holidays. I bake now and then throughout the year, but then Christmas comes and I go completely insane. I think I made a thousand cookies over the course of a week. Chocolate chip with walnuts (for me), chocolate chip without walnuts (for my man), chocolate lace, raspberry thumbprint, chocolate jumbles, double chocolate chip (are we sensing a theme yet?) and chocolate fudge. Which isn't really a cookie, but still. Actually, now that I think about it, I have no idea what happened to all that fudge. I brought it over to my in-law's for a party and when I left I left it there--at least 2/3 of the batch was left. I wonder if Mom and Dad V. actually ate it all . . . .

Anyway, then for Christmas, my husband bought me Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.

And now, I'm obsessed with cupcakes. You should SEE this book. It's completely gorgeous and INTENSE. I mean, blueberry cream cupcakes? Zucchini spice cupcakes? Tiramisu cupcakes? Oreo cheesecake CUPCAKES? Are you kidding me?

The next time you see me, I may weigh five-hundred pounds. Which could be okay because then I could go on The Biggest Loser, which I've always secretly thought would be kind of fun torture.

Or maybe not. Because I, my friends, am INTMIDATED by this book. I've already picked out the two easiest cupcakes. I've already gone out and purchased the ingredients (PS: until now, I didn't even know there was such a thing as non-self-rising cake flour. You learn something new every day.) But I can't seem to bring myself to actually try it. Because what if I put in all this effort and the cupcakes suck? (You may not know this about me, but patience is not my strong suit.) Or what if they're all sad and ugly? The pictures in this book are so freaking spectacular, you have no idea. Of course they are. It's MARTHA. I've always fancied that I could be an amazing cake decorator, but every time I try it, I can't even write HAPPY BIRTHDAY without it starting out all big and bold end finishing off all teeny and patehtic like the scribble at the very end of a detention chalkboard. It frustrates the living daylights out of me.

To put it simply, my friends, I am afraid of failure. Which, by the way, is so unlike me. Who's the girl who went back and tried out for cheerleading again after not making it the first time? Who auditioned for the famous all-girl's choir in college even though I hadn't sung a note in two years? Who, I ask you, got through like ten hours of labor before begging for the epidural, then went back to pilates three months later and kept going even though I couldn't hold tabletop for more than five seconds? If I can do that I can make Martha's cupcakes, right?

That's it. I'm going to try it. Tomorrow. No. Tomorrow I NEED to finish this outline. So Thursday. Thursday I will bake. Check back then to see if I'm fat, satisfied and cupcake stuffed, or pulling my hair out and eating Chips Ahoy.

The ARCs are HERE!

Not much to say today except . . .WHEEEEEEE! The ARCS of SHE'S SO DEAD TO US are here!

I only got two, though. No idea what's up with that. Must call someone. People keep asking me for these and I don't want to give away either of my two lovely little copies. Anyway, as promised, here's a pic of me, in my office, with my beautiful ARC!

Please excuse the lack of makeup. It's a work day. You're lucky I'm not wearing pajamas. :)

Less than FIVE MONTHS until the book hits stores! Can't wait!