Some Things...

Okay, so sometimes life comes at you full force. Last week was one of those weeks. In short:

Monday: Washing machine breaks down mid-cycle. I go to the laundromat. For any of you who have to do this regularly, my condolences. I realize how blessed and fortunate I've been for the past 15 years having my own washer and dryer.

Tuesday: Washing machine repairman says it'll cost $500 to fix the washer.

Also Tuesday: The ice maker goes on the fritz (again). Pull out fridge (I've actually cleaned behind it recently, so this isn't as disgusting as you might be thinking!), and inspect the line. Everything looks good, and things go well, if not a little wet because that water line wasn't all the way off...

Wednesday: Husband's car won't shift out of park. Watch YouTube videos. Go to automotive store and buy part. Begin drive home...

Then this:

Thursday/Friday: Talk to a billionty people about the car accident, the insurance, medical appointments, rental cars, etc. etc. We were in the car alone (no kids, thank goodness!), and we walked away. There's the normal aches and pains and stuff, but all in all, we are alive and healthy.

This week, we're going on vacation. I'm not quite ready for it because of the firestorm that was last week, but mentally, I'm already there. Ha!

Have you had weeks like this? And hey, isn't this what we do to our characters in our novels? "Hey, you think this is bad?? Just wait five more pages... *cackle*" I mean, seriously.

Randomosity

First, thanks for the great day yesterday! I enjoyed reading all your comment on Theresa's blog, and the excitement over the "Tag, You're It" contest was infectious.

Today, there are too. many. things.

1. MOONGLASS by Jessi Kirby is out today. You have to get this book. I'm doing a full Bookanistas review in a week or two, but I can't let today go by without mentioning MOONGLASS.

I *loved* this book. So go get a copy! You won't be sorry.

2. It is Dystopian Week on MTV's Hollywood Crush! I mean, what could be better? Oh, you want to know what my favorite dystopian reads are? Well, watch their blog--I'll be there at some point this week! (I know, I almost died too.)

3. Sarah Allen is giving me some blog space today. Go check it out! (This is not part of my official blog tour, but could be entertaining nonetheless. Who uses "nonetheless" in a sentence? And I totally spell out why you shouldn't start writing. Seriously. So click on over there.)

4. Have you iClued yet? You can win an iTouch with SIX NOVELS on it, including Beth Revis's Across the Universe and Lisa & Laura Roecker's The Liar Society. I totally know who Seth's secret admirer is...

5. I am out of sour patch kids. This is a tragedy, trust me.

6. The winner of the first ever Bookanistas Give Back event is: Jennifer Lamoureux.

Yay! Congrats! You won the Dystopian Trifecta of Awesome Books of Awesomeness from me. Email me your mailing address so I can get these in the mail. elanajohnson(at)gmail.com.

What's your random today?

Warning: I Am A Random Hugger

If there's one thing I've learned about myself over the past two weeks, it's that I'm a random hugger. When I'm in a group of people, it's the natural thing to do. When someone comes up to me and says something nice, I get all grateful inside. And what better way to say "Thank you" than hugging?

Um, there isn't a better way. Just sayin'.

So I thought I'd throw this warning out there. I know some of you have moved "Meet Elana" to the bottom of your list now.

I also wanted to give you a couple of highlights from the ANWA conference I just attended. I'm not really sure they're highlights, but maybe some facts and some tips? Yeah, sure, let's go with that.

1. Think before you speak. Not only did I make a fool of myself several times, I'm still thinking of the lame things I said.

2. Agents, editors, and authors are all people. True fact.

3. Barnes & Noble is "drastically changing" how they do business. I sat in on a class by one of their community relations managers and it was fascinating.

4. Writing dialog is really hard.

5. We should be writing what we love, no matter what the current trend is.

6. Common mistake children's authors make: trying to preach/teach a lesson with their books. Also, the whole mustache-twirling villain? Another mistake.

7. Imperfect rhyme in picture books is, well, imperfect. Fix it.

8. You can take what you know emotionally and translate it into your novel.

9. No matter how you get published, you'll have to do some of your own publicity and marketing.

10. I am a random hugger.

What have you learned about yourself recently?

Seven Mind-Blowing Things

1. This is fabulous:

2. And this is frawesome:

3. Then there's this that made me smile all over. It epitomizes my WiP:

4. And this sort of made me weepy:

5. This is freaking me out at Kayla Olson's house:

6. And this I loved more than I want to admit:

7. And finally, best of all, Beth Revis, author of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, debuted at #7 on the NYT list! Congrats Beth!

What things have you seen this week that blew your mind?

Things You Should Know

Oh, my heck. Where do I even start? While last week was the week of "What else can go wrong?" this week was the week of "Awesome!"

It's all about the ups and downs, you know?

So let's dive in.

1. I bought a new car. Okay, *I* didn't buy the new car, nor do I get to drive said car. But "we" got a Dodge Charger for my husband!

And I am jealous. But hey, he's been driving this for 5 years:

Complete with multiple dents.

He probably deserves to drive this:

Complete with racing stripes.

2. Teenagers are terrifying. Until they start laughing. Then they're just like normal people. Pretty much I made fun of myself (and vampires) and they let me keep talking. Good times. (And, yes, I'm planning to torture you with full details and tips for school visits. Patience, my pretties.)

3. If I worked near an In 'N Out Burger joint, I would eat a double-double every double-day. Holy double-yum.

4. I got a package from my wonderful friend, Christine. It was busted to bits.

Inside, it held three items she had mailed me, and three she had not. Veeeerrry interesting. Whoever was supposed to get these, I'm sorry.

5. As of Tuesday, I have now been married for 14 years. Yay me! (PS. We picked up the Charger on our anniversary. I totally counted it as my gift to my husband.)

6. My six-year-old daughter might be more excited about POSSESSION than I am. She told her kindergarten teacher that I'd written a book. Her teacher said that was exciting, and that Daughter could bring it in. So she begged me to let her take my ARC to school.

Did I do it?

Uh, yeah. I let her take the book in a large ziplock bag. Daughter showed the class. They talked about how many pages it had (404, said "forty-oh-four" if you're six and just learning that numbers go above say, 10). Then, in the words of my kidlet, "We made our own books. Mine had 5 pages."

7. Did you miss the Across the Universe giveaway on the blog yesterday? You wanna get on that, because I'm announcing the winner on Monday, and you have until 10 PM Sunday night to enter. Go buy AtU!

8. Let it be known that I steal blog ideas. You've been warned.

Got anything I need to know today? Lay it on me.

The Morning Report

Yeah, okay, so I watch a lot of Disney movies. There are worse things, people. Anyway, so today you're launching into my inner gray matter. I cannot be held responsible for whatever comes spewing out.

1. Meeting, listening to, and talking with Scott Westerfeld was awesome. In fact, there are not words to describe the awesomeness. But Heather has photos--and a contest. So go check that out, because she is awesome in ways I am not. (And yes, you'll see me in the pics. I really need new jeans.)

2. I like Miley Cyrus. Don't judge me.

3. I seriously considered posting a recipe today. No lie. That begs the question: What kind of lame blogger am I? And watch out for tomorrow, because I currently have nothing planned.

4. I hope you're excited for next July's blog posts, because I've already got a couple planned. Let's just say they involve the city of Cleveland. (You can never plan too far ahead.)

5. I'm regretting a decision I made a couple weeks ago and wishing there was a way out of it that wouldn't result in hurt feelings. Le sigh.

6. I'm going shopping this weekend. This is huge for me, because "Elana" and "shopping" never go together in the same sentence, unless we're listing Things That Cause Rashes. (And yes, outlining would be on that list too.)

7. I seriously want to kill every character in my WiP. They are not playing nice, and they've forgotten who breathes life into their pathetic existences. You hear that, Gunner?? *evil eye*

8. I've started two items in this post with "I seriously." My editor would tell me to fix the echo. I'm leaving it just because I can.

9. For the love, only eating 1200 calories a day makes me cranky. But I have to somehow squeeze myself into an airplane seat in April, and I'm determined to do it. But dude, if you even smell like bacon, you might die.

10. I survived Halloween, mostly because it rained and rained and rained. I have never been happier for bad weather.

11. I need a futuristic, dystopian name for a girl. I can't think of a single. freaking. thing. Help?

12. On the advice of those smarter than me, I have created a Facebook fanpage for Possession. But I have no idea what I'm doing. Creating pages on FB is like performing heart surgery in the dark, without scalpels or gauze. I wish I were kidding. If you want me to love you forever (which I already do, so this is useless), please like my pathetic page.

And that'll do, donkeys. (Dude, did you know that's spelled with a Y? I spelled it donkies the first time, and just sat there and stared, trying to figure out why blogger underlined it. Wow.)

What's been swirling around in your gray matter that you just have to spew out?

Hodge Podge of Goodness

Okay, I'm in outline hell, so I want everyone know that this post is stemming from that. So take off your judgement hats, okay? Okay.

First, one of my bloggy friends posted this about overpromotion yesterday. It was brilliant. So go read what Scott Tracey has to say. Consider what you're doing to make a name for yourself. Also, I blogged about something similar, though not nearly as punchy, back in January. Read this if you've forgotten or are new here.

As if that weren't enough, Tahereh Mafi pretty much blogged about the same thing. Even with the same words. It's just proof that we're like long-lost twins or something. Though I don't think she knows this... Anyway, go read her post too. It's good. (And maybe she'll design me a wicked cool badge or something, because now she knows we're long-lost sisters. Hey, a girl can hope.)

Rapid Topic Change: It's my son's birthday! Par-tay!

Rapid Topic Change with a Question: I got some photos taken. Are you in favor of telling me which one looks the nicest, say, sometime next week? Or is that in the arena of "Dude, we don't freaking care about you. Blog for us!" I'm okay with either, so yeah. Lemme know.

Name That Movie From This Quote: "And that's not even what they eat. That just falls off what they eat!!" and you can win a query critique from me. That's right. Just name the movie (in the comments).

Toldja today was random, but good. What's random-good in your life?

Holy Randomness

I know, I know. I said I wouldn't be around. But whatever.

Here's some random for you:

1. I am a volley whore. In tennis. I love to play the net, so I always get in the line that will get the volley feed.

2. Conversation at tennis: Friend: "Elana and I live in the ghetto."
Elana: "We do not live in the ghetto."
Friend: "We had the SWAT team and Hazmat van at our house."
Elana: "Okay, so we have a few drug dealers."
Other Friend: "Every neighborhood has a few drug dealers."

3. The email convo's about WriteOnCon are fabu. Exactly what every email addict needs. *salivates for more*

4. I'm being interviewed on the GotYA blog today. Go read about my FAIL. Good times.

5. I get to hear Mary Pearson speak this week. She wrote The Adoration of Jenna Fox. So I'll be able to die happy tomorrow night.

Got any random for me today? I'd love to hear it!

Random Importantness

Okay, so I've got to clear some of the clutter in my head. Here's what I've got going on in there.

1. I'm typing this on my work computer (hey, it's lunchtime) and the stupid scroll button on my mouse isn't working. So I have to go over to the scroll bar to move down or up. And do you know how much time that adds to my blog reading? Do you? Let's just say this: a lot.

Status: Annoyed.

2. I can't believe Pandora only allows me to listen for 40 hours a month. Yeah, my time was up on the 12th. The 12th people. So I spent 3+ hours on Sunday trying to get my iTunes from my old mac to my new HP. And yes, I have two email accounts on Pandora (cuz 80 hours ought to be enough, right?) but Pandora is smart and won't let me use a different account on the same computer.

Status: Grr...

3. So Pandora is on right now. And I've got all my blogs open for the afternoon reading time. Problem? Someone has music on their blog. And I can't hear my Glee song. I have to hit mute. And that annoys me.

Status: *When is Christmas vacation?*

4. It's my girl kidlet's birthday today. She's five, which is both good and bad. It's good because she's so fun now that I can understand everything she says and she can do so much for herself. It's bad because she's 6 1/2 years younger than my son (I only have two kidlets) and now that she's five people think they have the right to ask me if I'm going to have more. Um, you know what? None of your beeswax.

Status: Chocolate. I need chocolate. Cake will do. This is her birthday cake. I made it myself. Hours, people. It took hours.

5. While we're on the topic of blogs, I don't like the ones that surprise you with the word verification after you've typed your comment and hit "submit comment." Just when I think I'm done, no! I have to type another word. And that's precious seconds. So if you could change that on yours, I'd appreciate it. kthxbai.

Status: Chomping on cake.

6. I'm sick. And while I'm not as miserable as I've been at other times in my life, I wish I could lay in bed with Pirates of the Caribbean on all day and have someone bring me things to eat. Because there's nothing I love more than eating food someone else cooked off dishes someone else will clean up. Sadly, I'm the cook and the maid at my house.

Status: Is it Friday yet?

What have you got on your mind right this second that you need to unload? We know it's random. We know it's important. So just say it.

Hey There De-LILA-h

Okay, so while I love this song, it does nothing for the writer inside. Sorry. But it is a catchy tune, and it has some cool lyrics about how this guy's gonna pay his bills with his guitar, which somehow could be skewed to writing... Yeah, I'm not feeling it either. Maybe because I'm writing this at 4:30 in the morning, and I'm tired. Or something.

Anyway, today, this song is dedicated to Lisa and Laura Roecker, who not only ROECK, but they apparently rule the universe too. Because they're giving away a Kindle. Enter here.

And here's some lyrics just for them. Sing along. They, uh, mostly work.


Hey there D'LILA
What's it like in Cleaveland, Ohio?
I'm a thousand miles away
But girls, tonight you look so...reli-a-ble
Yes you do
My forehead doesn't shine as bright as you
I swear it's true

Hey there D'LILA
Don't you worry about your edits
I'm right here if you get suicidal
Give this blog post another gander
Close your eyes
Well, don't do that, cuz then you can't see
That I'm by your side

Oh, it's how you bag on celebrities
That has me at your mercy
Oh, the hope tank is emp-tee-e
At least here for me-e-e
At least here for me.

Hey there D'LILA
I know Kate is gonna rock
So just believe me, girls
Someday she'll show up on the NY Times list
You'll have it good
You'll have the writing career you should
Your book's that good

Hey there D'LILA
There's not much left to say
You've got your book deal and an extra kindle
You'll take our breath away
With London's Call
Even more in love with you we'll fall
Don't drop the ball

Oh, it's how you can somehow see
That same talent in me
Oh, it's how you're now fancy
Oh, with Dan and Sourcebooks-y


And...I'm gonna stop there. I'm no song-writer. But, seriously! Go enter to win the kindle (I think I should get like, a million entries for the song. I mean, come on. Who else wrote a song??). And Lisa and Laura do Roeck. And I do like this song.

Random thoughts today? Should I stay in bed when I can't sleep? Yeah, I think so too.