so. i decided to head up to the LATFoB mainly because
i wanted to see megan. she had been shortlisted for
the LA Times book prize in young adult for A Conspiracy of Kings–
and WON! congrats, megan, so well deserved!!

so despite the fact that the diversity tour starts
the following weekend and i’d be gone for three weekends
in a row (with BEA thrown in!) i simply had to go up to say
HI to megan.

well, it wound up being a FOUR hour drive up to usc
opposed to the two it was meant to be. augh. the fact of
the matter is, i’m horrifically directionally challenged
(in fact, i flunked the map reading portion of my proficiencies
in 8th grade) and i absolutely loathe driving in los angeles.
so not only did i get lost, my gps on my iphone refused to
find a signal, but i was stuck trying to get off the exit for
a good twenty minutes.

thankfully, i wasn’t late to my signing! but i was late
to megan’s 12.30 panel, and instead of being able to
hang out for an hour or so and catch up and argue and
gossip about novels like we like to do–i barely got to
see her for five minutes. wah! but i’m still glad i went.

me and megan!
(i’m wearing three inch wedges therefore the tallness.)
foto courtesy of katie at bookyurt.

me and ai ling! =D

one of the first groups to show was ai ling and
her best friend catrina. i knew something was up
when catrina was very literally prodding ai ling in line
and saying “tell her!” (haha, don’t you love best friends?)
and ai ing confessed they read my novels because she
shared the same name as my heroine. what fun! i also
remember catrina’s husband (?) showing up at my OC
signing at BN and telling me the same, when he picked
up Silver Phoenix for ai ling (again from catrina’s
prodding–awesome!). *waves*

the good news is, they actually love the books too.
woohoo!

(i’m made myself shorter for this foto. =)

i didn’t realize until after i was able to get a
signing through the wonderful Mysterious Galaxy that
one of my favorite editors, juliet, would be there, along
with her author stuart neville (The Ghosts of Belfast and
Collusion). we were able to have a fantastic dinner together
and an adventure navigating the three miles from usc campus
to LA Live.

stuart: do the numbered streets run east west?
me: uh what? i have no idea. i’m just the driver.
juliet: there’s a reason i’m sitting in the back seat.
stuart: being that i’m not even from this country, maybe
i should stop trying to direct you.
me: so how do we get there, stuart?

haha!

in the end, stuart, the author from ireland, DID manage
to get us there. hoorah! and stuart and i were blog buddies
from back before either of us even had agents, and we
blogged very consistently about our novel writing process.
it’s been probably three years now and it’s amazing how much
has happened to both of us in our writing careers. it was a
pleasure to finally meet him as he’s super smart and nice
and we three had great discussions and laughs. =D

his novels are crime thrillers and critically acclaimed, so definitely
check them out!

and omg, the Diversity Tour kicks off in san francisco
this saturday. i can’t believe it’s finally here! (and it along
with many other things i’ve been wrangling with has been
the reason for my blog silence.) hope to see many of you
at our sf, austin, chicago, cambridge and nyc stops!

congrats to simone in austria who won the Supernaturally
and Misfit arcs!

also, check out this awesome Fury release giveaway entry
by the lovely alison–she is always so creative. this made
me smile and laugh!

will post one more time before i hit the road,
lovely readers! wish me luck–i’m so excited!!

currently reading:

Deerskin by robin mckinley

*i spent the first night escaping the disney all star
sports resort (motel). it was a nightmare and the sports
theme was totally wasted on me. it might as well have
been the All Star House of Clowns or something. but i
was only there for one night. and i also was able to go to
a lovely dinner with many of the debs that were attending.
alas, we didn’t take a foto for some reason! and i love fotos!

after, i wandered around shopping with sydney
salter and suzanne morgan williams. i was trying to find
a gift for sweet pea and munchkin–and it was really hard.
suzanne and sydney were kind enough to follow me around
as i searched.

here, sydney models a princess robe. very cute! =)

*on monday, i was lucky enough to join holly black
and megan whalen turner for lunch at the buffet type
cafe in the conference hotel.

i really miss megan since she moved back to ohio.
but we had a really fun year while she was in san diego
and it went by so fast! she’s clever, funny and smart, as
well as evasive when she needs to be. which always reminds
me that she’s the creator of eugenides!

i only met holly in october at sirens and she is
super nice and hilarious. prone to a lot of laughter
(often at self) which only makes me want to laugh with
her. i love people who laugh a lot!

the conversation meandered from sailing to books
(of course) and the stories we create and who and how
and what may have influenced us. i mostly chewed on penne
and kept my ears perked. haha! i hadn’t had the chance
to read Holly’s White Cat yet (just finished it, loved!) but
this foto was taken right after megan complimented holly
on her books. i love holly’s smile here! =) hoorah for
fantastic books and lunch with authors i admire.

*speaking of being fans of books and authors.
i had taken the liberty of reading sarwat’s The Devil’s Kiss
as well as cinda’s The Demon King and The Exiled Queen
before our panel together at ALAN. enjoyed both of them
thoroughly. after lunch, i had at least two hours to kill and
in ambled sarwat and we had a great discussion about young
adult novels, diversity in young adult and middle grade fiction
and everything recently published authors gab about.

sarwat hadn’t prepared a speech and we decided he could
run on charm and his british accent alone. ha! and it worked.
he spoke for seven minutes very eloquently–i could never
without um’ing my way through it!

then cinda joined us and i had to fangirl her as i absolutely
loved The Exiled Queen–a wonderful YA high fantasy. and
we discussed more of the same very animatedly. cinda’s speech
was great as well. i honestly can’t think of two authors i would
rather have been on my first ALAN panel with. it was such a pleasure
to meet them and an honor to present with them.

*my view from the stage.

as for my speech, well, i think i got through it okay.
as i mentioned in the previous entry, my voice was pretty
hoarse by the end of the first night. and i only proceeded
to yak more on the second day (how could i not in the company
i was with?!) so i was just grateful i presented without a
coughing fit. i also speak too fast when i’m nervous, but i don’t
think i went too fast. i could have slowed a little perhaps?

after was signing Silver Phoenix copies which was a lot of fun.

and finally, i stayed for the final part of the schedule
which was kristin cashore accepting the Walden award for
Fire. i’m a big fan (as many of us are) and i had been trying
to spot her all weekend. no luck! but i queued up like everyone
else after and was able to get a copy of Fire signed and take
a foto with her. her speech was very well done and she’s so sweet
and gracious in person. i didn’t have any time except to say it
was so good to finally meet her and congratulate her on her success.
of course, i had to get a foto in, i apologize for the bad lighting.

so there you have it, i was at ALAN for two full days and
what two full days they were! i’ll leave you with some links
of interest that are ALAN related!

fotos from the greenwillow blog including one of megan
getting a mickey mouse birthday cake! =D

i was lucky enough to get peeped by lisa yee!
i feel so famous! i’m excited to read Warp Speed, her
next MG novel. have heard fantastic things!

*i was so happy to run into ruta sepetys at the reception.
i can’t wait to read her debut, Between Shades of Gray. also,
thrilled to meet jackie dolamore for the first time. i really
enjoyed Magic Under Glass and am looking forward to Magic
Under Stone.

*i was able to chat with alyson noel for a bit. she
is always saying such lovely things about Silver Phoenix. <3
there are two things you can be certain of when you
meet alyson: 1. she is one of the nicest sweetest people
you will ever meet. 2. she WILL be wearing awesome shoes.

*one of my favorite people, david macinnis gill!
he’s so cool he doesn’t even have to have his eyes open! =D
seriously tho, i always have fun with david–cause he’s
got a quirky sense of humor, like me. ha! (and by quirky,
i mean weird. =)

right after the ALAN reception was the harpercollins
family dinner. thank goodness for laura (a foodie, and
in charge of booking) who got us a wonderful table and
delicious meal at cat cora’s kouzzina. YUM!

*cindy in a genius sandwich! alas, i’m not the genius part.
that would be our fantabulous editor, virginia, and megan
whalen turner.

*appetizers included grilled prawns, lamb meatballs,
various dips and spanich pie with feta, leeks and dill.

*i chose the fisherman’s stew with scallops, fish, shellfish,
fennel, grilled bread and ouzo butter. it was divine!

*i chose the loukoumades, freshly made greek doughnuts
drizzled with warm honey and cinnamon for dessert. i was
so full i had to leave two! =(

the meal was so delicious and the company made it
that much the better. i had so much fun chatting and
laughing i sort of lost my voice by the end of the night.
whoops!

so what do you think so far? that was just the first afternoon
and evening!!

currently reading:

white cat by holly black

i’m sick as a dog and on antibiotic horse pills to boot!
(i’m a Big Whiny Baby when i’m sick. =)

but things that make me feel better :

1. working on Secret Project of World Domination.

2. reading gail carriger’s Blameless.

3. seeing the fotos of megan teaching me how to
“surf” for the first time over at the greenwillow blog.
i miss my author friend!

we immediately went to the harpercollins booth
together! i’m supposed to be a “pirate queen”. i’d
be a pirate wench if i were more curvaceous. haha!
and let me just say straight up that corsets are no
joke. i nearly died trying to cinch myself into that
thing and it is for my 29″ waist.

no wonder those ladies fainted all the time.

megan and i were wandering around and she
took the place of sarah rees brennan as my
“comic-con boyfriend” this year. (megan named
it, ha!) tho megan got the much easier job. chun
li was so popular. i enjoyed the anonymity this
year. we were looking at gene yang’s graphic
novels when this chap tapped me on the shoulder
and asked for a foto. we were like pirate soul mates.
he let me hold his gun. ha! cause i appeared
weaponless, but i actually had a dagger in my right
boot. (i take my costuming very seriously. =)
you can just see it’s silver tip in the above foto!

then megan and i went All the Way to the
other side of the con world to artist’s alley in search
of gene yang for a signature. (he was signing on saturday
but i wasn’t crazy enough to venture to con then.)
the crowds were insane. but megan blazed a trail for us!

gene was super sweet and fun to chat with.
i found out later that day he won the eisner with
derek kim for “Urgent Request” from The Eternal Smile.
congrats guys!!

i actually “bumped” into quite a few people i knew
just by walking around. amazing considering how huge
the con is. here is senfaye with her adorable little sister!

and here’s khy, one of my favorite teen book
bloggers! =D i was super early for kami and
margie’s arc signing of Beautiful Darkness but
my schedule got switched around meeting with
friends from michigan so i wasn’t able to see them
then. or hang with many of the other book bloggers
that were there. sorry i missed you guys!!

*margie, kami, heather, me and heather’s son.
foto taken by the lovely vania!

i did get to hang out with kami and margie at
penguin’s “fangfest” party with heather brewer.
nancy holder showed up a little later too. that
was a very fancy party with an invite list, velvet
ropes and everything. had fun eating yummy food
and chatting with writerly friends.

another SDCCI post to follow this week
and also an awesome surprise. =D xo

i survived my first try at “surfing” with
megan as my coach. she was really great
and i had a blast! more soon… =)
i did eat well after, yum!

congrats to becky who won the tgifbm!
extravaganza giveaway! there will be another
big giveaway soon, san diego comic-con international
style! don’t forget, i’ll be moderating a panel
on sunday at noon.

SUNDAY, JULY 25, 2010
noon – 1pm in Room 24ABC
Blood, Sweat and Tears: Teen Angst in Young Adult Fiction
Panelists: Nancy Holder, D.J. MacHale, James Owen, Christopher Pike,
Kathy Reichs, Emily Drake, Neal Shusterman and Michael Spradlin
Moderated by Cindy Pon

hope to see you at the con!! =)

my prize is a full drawing by natalie.
i really enjoy her art and drawings so i’m
very very excited about this. i’ve asked for
a drawing of ai ling and chen yong together.
*beams*

*this is a drawing natalie was kind enough to
do for me of chen yong last year. =DD

just finishing up this batch of line edits this morn
(and reading the prose aloud) when i got an
email from megan whalen turner inviting me to
go surfing. and i actually agreed. only for you,
megan! i really hate the sea and almost never get
into it. i hope i survive. and i’m already fantasizing
about the bagel and mocha i’ll have after.
food fantasizing always helps in difficult
situations. haha!

the discussions continue on the Fury cover.
i’ve had more than one person ask me whether
or not Silver Phoenix has been remaindered. and the
happy news is that it hasn’t! the paperback with new,
darker cover will release 2/1/2011. Fury of the Phoenix
is out 3/29/2011! thank you so much
to everyone who has supported my books in his/her own
way. it means a lot to me.

and don’t forget i’m giving back the love with
the latest tgifbm! seven fantastic YA novels all
featuring protagonists of color, and the winner
TAKES ALL! i’ll be selecting the lucky person
at random some time tomorrow!! xo

i had a really interesting discussion with megan
the last time we met about Wolf Hall, which i had
just begun. if you didn’t know, i’m absolutely fascinated
by the tudor period. so much so i’ll actually read non-fiction
novels on the time and people--which i don’t do often.
i’m almost strictly a fiction kind of reader--other than
novel research.

my favorite “characters” has to be anne boleyn
and her daughter, elizabeth I. you truly couldn’t
write their lives and make it more tension filled,
passionate, dangerous, exciting and tragic as they
actually lived it.

*anne boleyn.

we’re not even quite certain how anne looked.
given all the various portraits supposedly attributed
to her. she is often portrayed as very devious, chasing
after power and seducing henry VIII. but i was reading
a new biography which decided to present her as a
reluctant maiden, a virgin that garnered the king’s
attentions and although trying to deflect it, could
not deny him in the end. (how do you deny a king?)
she finally accepted her fate as an opportunity to
support the protestant cause.

how does one historian come up with this
interpretation and others call her a temptress
and whore, willing to do anything to become queen?

*cromwell by holbein.

since i had just started reading Wolf Hall, megan said
that it portrays thomas more in a poor light. and makes
thomas cromwell sympathetic. and she was reluctant
to read it because she liked thomas more, and was afraid
reading this will taint her opinion and view of more.

well, i’m nearing the end of Wolf Hall and i have to admit,
it certainly does portray cromwell as very sympathetic.
very human, with vices and foibles--but a character
incredibly well drawn by mantel. as a writer, you should
read it to see how real and alive an author can render
a person long gone. a true portrayal? we won’t ever
know--but certainly a compelling one. but more is definitely
put in an unfavorable light.

how can you possibly know which portrayal is true?
or the truest? is it possible to know? can we tell anything
about a person by another’s assessment of her
or him? is it possible that this is an unbiased view? and
even if not biased, could it not be one of the many masks
we wear to show the public, depending on the situation
we’re in? i think people are fascinating because we can
be so very contradictory. impossible to peg down even.
i think we all have multiple-personalities.

can we judge a person’s personality by the letters s/he
wrote? love letters? can someone who is cruel and violent
not write beautiful love letters? what about henry, who
hacked off wives’ heads one by one with (what may seem)
little remorse. but he was king. does that mean he lived
by different rules? of course. is that fair? no. but it is. it’s
impossible to believe that henry behaved or thought like
us. how could he?

it really made me think of my own characters.
they say that action speaks louder than words.
perhaps for people as well as the characters that
we write. but what meaning in action when we don’t
have the motivations behind them? murder to protect
someone you love, for vengeance or for mere blood thirst?
altruism to better the world, or to ingratiate, to salvage
a damaged reputation?

i think people--or the human condition--is so
complex. so complicated.
and i love it when it’s reflected in writing.
i don’t believe i’m a very character driven
writer. i’m much more comfortable with action
and situations, but Fury has definitely required me
to think much more about character (with my editor’s
gentle--or not!--prodding), which is exactly what
i wanted for the sequel.

and i’ll leave you with another song for chen yong
and ai ling by faye wong this time! lyric translations here.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8CQxuLRmuo

congrats to mike jung who incredibly won the third book
by megan. (he had won the first two too.) i swear it’s
not rigged!

other than le guin’s earthsea series, this is one
of my favorites. A Conspiracy of Kings is a New York Times
Bestseller AND was also chosen by American Library Association’s
Booklist as one of the Top Ten Fantasy/Science Fiction Novels for
Youth in 2010! i’m delighted to offer a signed copy for tgifbm!

i also have an impromptu interview with megan whalen
turner. these were questions i had posed to the authors
of the summer reading panel at mysterious galaxy a few
weeks back.

if you could live the life of one of the characters you’ve written,
which would it be and why?

[This] makes me wish I’d written a story about a nice
middle aged woman living in a charming hillside town with a great
veiw and central heating, where the villagers revere her for no particular
reason and bring her food three times a day and otherwise don’t
bother her much. : )

See, you didn’t ask which person I’d like to be, you asked whose
life I’d like to take on. I think I’d have a nervous breakdown if I had
to deal like any of my characters. So, I think I’ll go with the narrator–Aunt
Charlotte, in my story “Aunt Charlotte and the Portraits at the NGA.”
Sure, she had some absent parents and some childhood isolation
going there at the beginning, but by the time she’s telling her story,
she’s all grown up and it’s clear she’s got her life well in hand.
Ooh, or possibly I’d be the Selkie in that story. That would be okay.

(megan did admit at the panel to admiring eddis and it might
be neat to be her. but not so much living her very
stressful life as a queen.)

name a favorite book that you wish you had written
yourself. why do you love this read?

Just lately, I’ve been thinking that if
I were Frances Harding and I’d written The Lost Conspiracy,
I’d be darned proud of myself. But the problem is that
if your *write* the book, you don’t get to be the reader of it. Given a choice,
I’d rather someone else wrote books *for* me.

If you could magically implant your idea in someone else’s head and
get *them* to think it through and make a story out of it,
who would you pick?

megan’s sly like that and turns the table on you! ;*)
well, i’d be really interested in how you’d write Silver Phoenix,
megan. and i’d be curious to see how neil gaiman would
write it as well. because you are both authors i admire and
write and think so differently than i do.

…

okay, lovely blog readers! you know the drill!
tweet, fb status, blog or LJ about this contest with
a link back to the post AND comment here with
your link to enter!! i’ll select a random winner some
time on wednesday, june 16th! this contest is open
to all!! good luck!

i don’t know what to do with myself now
that i’m waiting on my editor’s comments.
any writer knows what it’s like to be obsessively
immersed in the world and then to be forced
to leave it.

thankfully, megan whalen turner was kind enough
to meet and “play” in celebration of completing
round two. we always get into interesting rambling
all over the place discussions about anything and
everything. but a lot about publishing and books,
of course!

we also had the YA panel together to launch the
summer reading celebrations at mysterious galaxy.
i was hostess and we had a great time!

*our audience. we did have them laughing, promise!

*was so happy to meet online friend helen
and her sister tiffany. helen’s also a mwt fan and
started giggling a lot when she went up to her. it
was really cute!

*greg van eekhout (Kid versus Squid), barrie summy
(I So Don’t Do Mysteries series), richard harland (Worldshaker)
megan whalen turner (The Thief series)

all of us are local authors with the exception of
richard who flew in from australia on his united
states tour! and mysterious galaxy is so so good
to its local authors. those stacks are getting signed
by us and they always make sure our books are carried
when they are gone from chains within 3 – 6 months
of release usually!

anyway, i had the high perch on the right that
you can see and for some (bad and wrong) reason
pet megan on the head several times during the
panel. haha! sorry megan!
richard did a very dramatic reading from
Worldshaker (steam punk which i just read and
enjoyed) and all the authors answered a few fun
questions that i posed as well as some great and
interesting ones from the audience.

my next event will be at the local RWA chapter
meeting with fellow YA authors and signing to follow.
SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 2010
10am – noon
“Writing for YA. It’s just like writing for adults. Only different.”
Panel : Barrie Summy, Laura Preble, Cindy Pon, Debbie Garfinkle
411 Hotel Circle South, San Diego 92108

congrats to madeleine on winning
Candor and Lips Touch Three Times, my last
tgifbm give away!

i’ve also joined a fabulous new group composed
of adult and YA harpercollins paranormal authors
called supernatural underground. we just launched
our blog yesterday and we’re doing fantastic
book give aways all month. so please check it out!

we’re also on facebook. like us! =D