10+ ways in which a casual observer might know I'm deep in drafting mode . . .

1. My drink pile looks like this. By 10am.

2. I spend two minutes throwing away my empties before my husband gets home and am IMMENSELY proud of myself for getting so much cleaning done for the day.

3. I have to think about it when asked the last time I showered.

4. But am quite pleased with myself for having brushed my teeth within at least the past 20 hours. What? Cavities? Pshh. That's what I have a dentist for. And my breath? DUH. Gum.*

5. I can't tell you what happened on the last Vampire Diaries episode.

6. My Google search history reveals phrases including (but not limited to) "what does burning flesh smell like," and "how to avoid reporting a death," and "grocery delivery services."

7. On the EXTREMELY rare occasion I can be pried from my laptop, I have a pen and composition book pretty much glued to my hands. Even when I pee. Just in case. (Really, you never know.)

8. Instead of doing laundry only when I run out of clean undies (which, let's be honest, is the usual way I do laundry) I take the MUCH faster quarter mile of a ride to my mall and raid Victoria's Secret. Dude, 5 for $25. That's practically a whole 'nother week. They only look at me slightly strangely when I stop to furiously scribble down some random WIP-related thought in my notebook while leaning against their panty table.

9. Quite often, my husband can be found kissing me goodnight as he's heading out the door for work in the morning. And good morning when he gets home at night.

10. I, on the other hand, can frequently be found eating the WEIRDEST THINGS EVER for meals. Like hotdog buns with melted cheese, ketchup and mustard. (Don’t knock it til you try it.)

And, just for good measure, how about one more . . . 

11. My face is twisted into this sort of expression. At almost all times. (Completely unrelated to my writing eating habits.)

~S

*Okay, number 4 is kind of a stretch. But only because I promised my dentist to floss daily. And it's become kind of an addiction. 

MAJOR HAPPY DANCE BEGINNING IN 3. . . 2 . . . 1!!!

EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! <---how Sara sounds when she's SUPER EXCITED TO SHARE SOME AWESOME NEWS

And this awesome news has had such a LONG TIME coming to you!

GUESS WHICH IMMENSELY TALENTED AUTHOR HAS ANOTHER BOOK DEAL?????

Seriously. Even Jason Bateman wants to know!

Well, Jason Bateman, I can FINALLY tell you and the rest of the world that it's THIS GIRL!! 

SHANNON MESSENGER!!

You guys all know about my abso-freaking-amazing CP Shannon's deal for her MG series, starting with Keeper of the Lost Cities, announced in October. (Which, for the record, I am *still* happy dancing about!) (And have you seen the awesomesauce cover for it???)

BUT SHE ALSO SOLD HER YOUNG ADULT SERIES!! A two-book deal, starting with Let the Sky Fall. 

I want to tell you all about it, but I like to let Shannon do that herself--it is her news, after all. (Check out her blog post here!) I *will* however, tell you this:

Dude, it's. so. freaking. good. 

Like, steal-the-wind-from-your-lungs-when-you-read-it good. 

(Pun intended!) 

(Ba-doom-ching.)

I was going to film myself doing a happy dance for her, but this guy pretty much sums it up:

♥♥Congratulations, Shannon! I truly couldn't be happier for your SUPER DUPER DESERVED success. I can't wait for this book to sweep the world away with it's moving story, amazing characters, and gorgeous prose. ♥♥

Dude. What are you still doing here? Head over to her blog to check it all out!!!!

ALA MIDWINTER!

ALA MIDWINTER IS NEXT WEEK. And in case you can't tell by my all caps, I'M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT IT.

The ALAs are some of my favorite and most anticipated events each year. I come home SO motivated every time. How could I not be after spending days surrounded by BOOKS. And writing buddies? And industry chat? And everything else awesome in-between? I have a feeling this trip will be no exception.

Are you going? If so, I want to hang out!! Let me know :)

If not, I promise to come back with a full recap for you. And maybe some books.

xo

Hunger Games MANIA. I'm sooooo into it.

I've been tweeting so much about Hunger Games recently, I figured I should make a blog post out of it.

FIRST:

Dude. You guys know how I am about nail polish. (And just in case you're new here, Sara = total NP junkie.) There was some controversy over whether or not there actually would be a polish collection tied to the movie, and for a while it looked like a no-go. BUT:

The controversy is over. After weeks of back and forth about whether the collection would ever see the light of day, fans of The Hunger Games can rest assured that they will be able to cover their digits in the gold of Cinna's eyeliner. The nail polish collection is, once and for all, confirmed.  

source: bellasugar.com.au

And last week China Glaze released a swatch of planned colors from their upcoming "Colours from the Capitol" collection! *happy dances*

SOURCE

Which ones are your faves? (Mine are are listed in my tweet.)

SECOND:

Eleven different designers played around and created Katniss's fire dress. 

Awesome.Sauce. 

Awesome-dot-sauce. 

I mean, is there really any other way to say it? How much FUN are these designs??? 

Tadashi Shoji's is my fave: 

SOURCE: stylecaster.com

But I LOVE the cape in Christian Siriano's: 

SOURCE: stylecaster.com 

Which ones are YOUR faves?

THIRD:

Okay, this one is allllll thanks to Cristin Terrill. She discovered this spoof of the trailer, and tweeted about it. But I couldn't NOT include it in my post :) But still, all the credit goes to her. (Well, and the peeps who made the trailer . . . )

Hilarious.

FOURTH:

AND of course you've already seen this (unless you're living in a box buried under sand under the deepest depths of the ocean) but who DOESN'T want to watch it at least once a day? Or, okay, confession? MORE THAN ONCE.

The official Hunger Games trailer.

Yep. I got chills for the millionth time watching the trailer again before embedding it in this post. I am SO CISED for this movie. 

I will be at the midnight showing. 

Who's with me?

Well hello, stranger. (With pictures!) (And winners!)

Holy guacamole, you guys. I feel like it's still early November. HOW is it that Christmas is basically knocking at the door? Jeez. Seriously.

Wait.

I mean...

YAY!

Because I love Christmas. I love this entire season. It's just . . . it's flown by! I haven't updated here in forever. (Which, okay, is really only twenty days. But STILL. I've missed you.) The past few months have been jam-packed. Don't get me wrong, I've been having fun. BUT I'm still sitting here scratching my head, wondering where all the time went.

So. Here are the things I've been up to:

1. WRITING. This WIP. Ohmygoshiloveitsomuch. But it. is. killing. me. My characters are a little out of control, and they keep forcing me in directions I didn't want to go in. But, you know, I follow them just to see what they think will make this story good. And usually they're right. Except I keep having to make changes and cut away HUGE chunks and rewrite. And I'm only drafting at this stage. But seriously? I'm LOVING EVERY SECOND. Because these characters are just. so. special to me.

2. I went to Jamaica for Thanksgiving!! I got bronchitis while there (ugh it lasted FIVE days), but it was still the best vacay I've ever been on. (Plus, the bronchitis helped me to quit smoking. Three weeks down and going strong, baby!)

Swimming with dolphins? Freaking awesome experience.

We saw this nurse shark while snorkeling. Honestly. Scared the &%^$ out of me.

The sunsets? Yeah, pretty much out of this world. 

This is just for the few of you who don't believe I have naturally curly hair :)

3. I had my 3 year wedding anniversary! And with my vast three years of marriage knowledge, I can say this: Marriage is amazing and difficult and complete happiness and always evolving with high highs and low lows and takes a ridiculous amount of work. And it is the most fun I've ever had in my entire life. Especially these days.

The past three years have been a crazy, stomach-dropping, exhilarating ride.
I can't catch my breath, and I love it.

4. WORK. I've been working a lot at my (usually part-time) day job. It's an awesome place to work, everyone there is for serious awesomesauce. But dang does a full day's work take toll on my creativity. Mad props (oh yeah, I totally did just use that expression) to everyone who writes and works full-time. Respect.

ALSO. I need to pick winners for my Tangled Tides giveaway! I'm so sorry I dropped the ball on this. In fact, to make it up to you guys, I'm going to give away three copies instead of two.

Aaaaaand the winners are:

Katie

Krispy

Linda G

Congratulations! You should have an email from me asking for your mailing address, so send it to me, and I'll get the FABULOUS books out to you ASAP!

I hope everyone's doing well and enjoying the holiday season! Or the winter season. Or whatever! I'll be back soon(ish). 

xo