CATCH SCARLETT FEVER!

When I wrote about the LONDON GATHERING yesterday, I said that my next blog would be an advice blog. But I didn’t know that when I woke up this morning, the advance uncorrected proofs of Scarlett Fever would be READY TO GO. It was a huge shock.

I have them here.

Scarlett Fever, as you may or may not know, is the sequel to Suite Scarlett. These Scarlett Fevers could not be ANY HOTTER OFF THE PRESSES. No one has these. Reviewers don’t have them. MY AGENT doesn’t even have hers yet. And I just finished going over the corrections and page proofs YESTERDAY.

I am offering COPY #1. A hot ticket indeed!

And what do you have to do to SCORE THIS AMAZING PRIZE?

Well, I am going to have a little contest. I need you to make some GUESSES about what happens in this book and e-mail them to me.

“What do you mean?” you may be asking, because you are always asking clever questions.

I mean, take what you know about Suite Scarlett, and TAKE A FEW STABS AT WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN NEXT. I will choose the MOST AWESOME GUESS.



Unlikely things may happen.

“Wait,” you are probably saying, because you are also very good at choosing moment when I should pause and clarify. “Define awesome. Do you mean crazy? Do you mean accurate? EXPLAIN YOURSELF.”

I mean awesome. Awesome may mean that you guess correctly. Awesome may also mean that you’ve just cooked up the most insane thing I’ve ever heard. Awesome may mean that you’ve written a scene you think should be in the book, and that scene turns out to be awesome. Or maybe, you will DRAW what happens. Or make a video. I do not know what YOU will do because YOU are full of wonders. All I can say is, you must make some kind of guess, and do it in whatever format you want, and make sure I get it by THURSDAY (the 11th) at 8PM, NYC time.

That's:

1AM in the UK
5PM in California and PARTS WEST
6PM in Denver, where my agent is
7PM in MIDDLE US
8PM in New York City, where I AM

I will then REVIEW the submissions and give the book to one of you.



How will I choose?

Copies of the book are currently rare, but I will give away some more as the summer goes on. But only one copy can be copy #1. Just imagine that. The very first one.



People will covet what you have.

“One more question,” you say, because you are nothing if not thorough. “Do I have to have read Suite Scarlett to enter?”

Well, technically no. But the book will mean more if you have, because it’s a sequel. And your guesses will probably make more sense, because you’ll know who the characters are. If you haven’t read it, you can do so NOW.



Why not read the book now?

The next blog, I promise, will be AN ADVICE BLOG. Now, GET TO IT!

A TYPICAL DAY IN THE LIFE OF A FABULOUS AUTHOR

In reading through the comments on my last post, I saw this:

anonymous said...
Maureen -- I was wondering how you get to be just an author (with no day job) who lives a fabulous life between NYC and London?? Economic crisis aside, don't you have to be JK Rowling to do that? Is it all because of money from your books, or is it also because of speaking visits and stuff like that? I'd really love to know...since my dream in life is to be a full time writer!!!

Well, anonymous, be careful what you wish for! Let me tell you about a typical day of working on my new book, Scarlett Fever.

7:30: Wake. Do yogic finger exercises to prepare for the day’s writing. Shower, dress.

8:00: Breakfast of Coco Puffs and Juicy Juice at desk while answering e-mails and reading news.

8:27: Examine board of perfectly organized story notes. Congratulate self on way that book never gets off track in any way. Writing process is like well-oiled machine.

8:33: Have second helping of Coco Puffs and Juicy Juice as way of recognizing own achievements, as loving yourself is very important psychologically.

8:57: Realize have been Googling “dog on surfboard” images for some time. Cannot remember why, as dogs on surfboards have no role in book.

8:58: Roll up sleeves, get to writing.

8:59-9:22: Writing.

9:23: Finish off Coco Puffs. There were just a few left. Easier just to eat them.

9:50-10:21: Writing.

10:22: Official mj magician gets in touch with new trick developed for Let It Snow:



10:27-11:01: Writing.

11:02 AM: Angelina Jolie on phone. Question: “Do my lips look big in this picture?” Answer: “Yes.” I assume that she will take this as a compliment, as everyone loves her big lips, but she does not. I panic a bit and ad-lib: “Know what would make them look smaller? Adopting another baby.” This does not go down as hoped. She hangs up. She is very sensitive.

11:03-11:26: Writing

11:27: Emergency phone meeting with creators of Doctor Who. They are stuck on a scene and need my help. They haven’t even started explaining the plot of the episode when I am struck with the answer: “The bad aliens all have pets that look like rabbits, but it turns out the rabbits are actually in charge and the aliens are slaves. The Doctor frees the aliens through carrot-trickery and sends the evil rabbits back to their home planet. Make jokes about Easter Eggs. More TARDIS.” I hear someone say, “Genius!” but pretend I do not, as acknowledging this is bad form. In background, David Tennant realizes I am on phone and tried to run over in time, but I hang up. Have lost seven minutes of precious writing time. But if it gets them through the episode, it was worth it.

11:33: Peanut butter snack.

11:40-11:56: Writing.

11:57: Angelina Jolie on phone again. Apologizes for hanging up earlier. Wants to know if I was serious about the adopting a child as a way of reducing perceived lip size thing. I say no. She says that is what she thought. Obviously needs affirmation about her lips, so I tell her they are great, like two flesh-pillows on a bed of perfect skin. Realize too late that this is creepy, but she does not seem to mind. Remember that Angelina is herself kind of creepy, what with the collecting knives and wearing former husband’s blood around neck in jar. Brad says hi in background.

11:58-12:14: Writing.

12:15 PM: Leave for lunch meeting with creators of High School Musical. Think this is just friendly lunch, but they are soon pumping for ideas for the fourth movie in not so subtle way by asking questions like, “What rhymes with prom?” and “Do you want to play a game? It’s called, “Fill in the blank lines in this script!”” Excuse myself and leave after appetizers. Cannot believe they are so undignified. Flip over table as I go and throw breadbasket at one producer’s head for good measure.

1:02: Peanut butter snack, this time while squatting under footbridge in Central Park to keep it real.

1:24: Write four pages in my “Magick Dreams Sticker Journal.” Strictly private.

1:32-2:14: Writing. (Of book.)

2:15: Off to some committee meeting. Not even sure for what. I am on so many, I cannot keep track. Something about giving swans to orphans. Or bears. Not giving bears to orphans (or the other way around, LOL!), just bears. Actually, I think was about giving books . . . to someone. Possibly swans, bears, or orphans. In any case, this is the kind of thing I support wholeheartedly so write check for a cool ten grand and get my afternoon back to get some more writing done.

2:46-3:05: Writing.

3:06: Cheese snack.

3:12: Off to a theater downtown to consult on a production of Woyzeck, the classic German tragedy in 29 scenes first produced in 1879. I am somewhat out of ideas at this point, having exhausted most of them in my “Magick Dreams Sticker Journal” but try to bluff my way through by suggesting all-ABBA soundtrack, focusing on the heart-wrenching “One of Us.” Point them to the strangely compelling video that is based entirely on Agnetha taking things out of boxes, putting things on shelves, and hanging wallpaper. Leave through back while they are watching video on Youtube, but can tell that they like it.

3:57: While leaving theater through back door, spot J.K. Rowling lingering across street. Get in cab to make escape and almost succeed, but am spotted at last moment. She gets in cab to chase me.

3:58-4:11: Cab chase through Manhattan.

4:12: Shake her loose in traffic. Have cab take me to Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier’s house. Once there, continue writing in safety, after reflecting on experience in “Magick Dreams Sticker Journal.”

4:55: Am just cracking a difficult scene in book when phone rings. Angelina Jolie AGAIN. Am seriously regretting ever giving her my number, assigning her that “My Humps” ringtone. Ignore.

4:57: FIVE VOICEMAILS??? Angelina does not get that writers need quiet time to think. Also, do not understand how she has so much time to call me while maintaining status as world’s sexiest woman and top movie star while raising six small children and Brad Pitt. When “My Humps” plays again, throw phone out window. Wanted new model iPhone anyway.

4:58: Justine wants to know why I am throwing phones out of her window. Explain Angelina Jolie, big lips, “My Humps” situation. Justine chastises me for associating with Hollywood types. Says I am not keeping it real. Assure her I am, show her reflections I recorded earlier in “Magick Dreams Sticker Journal” while squatting under footbridge (will occasionally show small portions to certain people). Justine takes statement back, gives me cheese snack.

5:15: Leave for disco lesson.



6:17: Have just enough time to get to cocktails at the Famous Authors Club. Everyone is there. Too many names to list. Would sound like namedropping.

6:48: Libba Bray wants to know why J.K. Rowling has been calling her from my phone. Says all she did was some deep breathing, shout “I WROTE HARRY POTTER,” and hang up. Find out that this has been happening to EVERYONE in the last hour! J.K. Rowling found my phone! Disaster, disaster, disaster.

7:14: Emergency appointment at Genius Bar at Fifth Avenue Apple Store. Explain Angelina Jolie/lips/”My Humps”/J.K.Rowling situation. Genius explains that there is nothing Apple can do if I throw my phone out of a window into the waiting hands of the world’s best-selling author. I tell Genius that it is bad form to go around calling himself that. Purchase new iPhone, but not without a certain amount of indignation.

7:28: Glumly eat candy snack at candy counter of F.A.O Schwartz toy store while reprogramming new iPhone. Regret the way I treated the Apple Genius. Purchase him a four foot high stuffed giraffe as apology, but find when I go back to the store that he has gone home for the day.

7:49: Walk to literary landmark Algonquin Hotel with four foot high stuffed giraffe for second cocktail party of the night. Am refused entry, not because of giraffe, but because of calls made from my phone.

7:51: Very traumatic session with “Magick Dreams Sticker Journal” at Times Square Olive Garden, alone with endless breadsticks, salad, and pasta bowl.

8:27: Cancellation of old number/processing of new number complete. Immediately get 19 angry voice mails. Fast forward through most of them, pausing only to listen to the one about how I gave ten thousand dollars to an organization that forces orphans to make books about swans for bears. Wonder how this organization could ever come into existence and how I managed to join it. Last message is from Doctor Who people telling me that my idea has resulted in David Tennant being rushed to hospital after suffering a serious and never-before-experienced allergy attack while holding a rabbit. Angelina seems undeterred. Day looking to be total failure.

9:03: Back on street with giraffe, now called Barney, slogging along under bright lights of Broadway.

9:23: Stop at Starbucks to regroup. Decide to pour today’s experiences in Scarlett Fever instead of putting them into “Magick Dreams Sticker Journal.” Write like a crazy person, ignoring ringing phone, stares of other customers. Am in the world of the characters now, running around the Hopewell Hotel with Scarlett and Spencer and Lola and Marlene.

11:00: Thrown out of Starbucks. Have written an entire chapter. Feel good about this. Get in cab with Barney. Listen to messages. Have been forgiven by other Famous Authors, asked to come back to the club. Also, David Tennant, though gravely ill, has given a hopeful thumbs up.

11:12: Direct cab driver to secret disco club, where they only play ABBA. Cast of Woyzeck is there. Disco dancing until dawn. Well, 12:15. Tomorrow’s a work day!

I hope this helps provide some perspective. If you have any other writing questions, leave them below!

MY LITTLE HAMMER

I just got to England. I’m sitting here now with my tea. I Twittered about my plane, which was called the Dancing Queen, and the fact that they played Abba on the Dancing Queen, and then the Dancing Queen got stuck on the runway for about three hours because Air Force One had just been at JFK and all the planes were backed up.

Just in case you think I make these things up, I took a picture:



Click the photo to make it bigger. SEE? I DID NOT MAKE THIS UP!

In the last few weeks, MANY things have happened that I need to tell you about. So many things, in fact, that I need to spread them out over a few posts.

Let’s do the most serious news first. I think you know what I am talking about.

No. Not the fact that all the money is broken and Wall Street fell over sideways. I barely noticed that in the face of the REAL NEWS.

The morning I read the REAL NEWS, I had just made myself a smoothie . . . one of my favorite smoothies, in fact. I had all of this great fruit and I had just GONE for it, smoothie-wise. You know when you just GO for it, smoothie-wise? You put it ALL in and you pretty much guarantee yourself a great day? Well, I had done that. And then I sat down and read this.

Dear ABBA lovers! We hereby announce the sad news that it won’t be possible to open the ABBA museum in Stockholm in 2009. The reasons are that the premises where the museum was to be built will not be ready in time and that the project in several respects has become more complex than we had counted on. This is very sad for everyone involved and especially for all the fans the world over who are longing for the day when the museum opens. But please keep a bright outlook on the future – there will be an ABBA museum . . .

About an hour later, when I could lift my head from the desk, I took a sip of my now warm and separated smoothie. It tasted like metal. I mean, a lot like metal. So much like metal that I went and checked the blades on the blender to see if they were still there. They were, but I suspected that I had gotten just a hint-o-blade in my drink. So I poured it down the sink, then I took down my disco ball and peeled off the glass tiles one by one and flicked them against the wall. I was in a funk, and not a good funk, like one that Boostie Collins might drop in on.

I tried listening to “Tiger” and “Does Your Mother Know?” and “Take a Chance on Me”, but nothing worked. Finally, I decided that I had to stop moping and fix my blender and disco ball. And for that, I needed a little hammer. (I have a caveman’s instinct for tools and believe most issues can be resolved with a little hammer, or, if things are VERY serious, my little drill.)

So I went to the subway to go to the store to buy myself a little hammer. On my way there, I saw this newspaper:



WHAT DOES THIS HEADLINE MEAN?

“The world has gone insane,” I mumbled.

So I got my hammer from the Little Hammer Shop and got another subway back home. As I slumped dejectedly in the seat, watching the stations snap past, I saw that the guy next to me was reading “My First Five Husbands” by former Golden Girl Rue McClanahan. I moved closer to him, seat by seat, on the sly.

“You seem sensible,” I said. “What do you think I should do?”

He jumped, startled by my sudden appearance.

“About what?” he asked.

“The Abba Museum,” I explained. “It’s been delayed. They say they have all the costumes and everything to go in it, but the building is taking longer than they thought. I don’t know why it’s so complicated to put up a building. People put up buildings all the time. And I realize this is a VERY IMPORTANT building, but you would think they would use every resource available and . . .”

I guess I took my little hammer out of the bag at some point in all of this and started waving it around in agitation. He moved away a little, very slowly.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“Well, what would Rue McClanahan do?”

“I don’t know. Marry someone?”

“That’s not going to help,” I said, in disgust.

“Why don’t you go there,” he added quickly. “You could help them. With that, um, hammer.”

Friends, it was like the sun came out from between the clouds.

“You’re right,” I said. “The Swedes are a very proud people. They didn’t want to ask for my help, even though they needed it! You, sir, are a genius.”

I hurried home and called my beloved agent, Daphne Unfeasible.

“Listen,” I said. “Abba needs my help. It’s urgent. I have to get to Stockholm with my little hammer immediately.”

“Of course they do,” she said. “You and your hammer. Got it.”

“I’ve got to get on a fast plane,” I said, throwing some clothes in a suitcase and gathering up the mirror tiles from my disco ball. “There’s no time to waste.”

“One question,” Daphne said. “Scarlett Fever . . . you know, the book you’re working on?”

“I CAN DO BOTH.”

“Of course you can. But I just need you to know . . .”

“Look,” I said, “I am a professional writer. I can balance my life. I can help build the Abba Museum with a little hammer and write a book at the same time. I can do lots of things at the same time! Remember that time I made you an origami butterfly while summarizing . . . well, not so much summarizing as explaining in detail . . . the entire plot of the movie Xanadu?”

“All too well. The thing is . . .”

“Why can’t you just have FAITH in me?” I demanded.

“I was just talking to your editor, Emma Lollipop, and she was thinking that maybe instead of releasing Scarlett Fever next May, we should wait until just after Christmas. That way we can have a huge summer celebration for the paperback.”

I almost dropped my little hammer in surprise.

“That sounds like a good plan,” I said. “That way lots of people will be able to read the first book before the second comes out!”

“Well, exactly. Now, about this going to Sweden thing . . .”

But I had already dropped the phone. I had packing to do.

So that’s the Scarlett Fever news. I know next Christmas seems CRAZY FAR AWAY, but there will be LOADS going on between now and then. You won’t even NOTICE. Also! Let It Snow, a book I wrote with John Green and Lauren Myracle, is coming out in just over a week! It will be available on October 2nd!

Like I said, I am now in London. I’m here working on Scarlett Fever and YA for Obama . . . because both of those have to get finished before I can bust my way on to the building site in Stockholm.

Actually, I have other reasons for being here as well. And I have THE NAMES OF THE WINNERS OF THE SUITE SCARLETT SWEEPSTAKES!

When will I tell more sekrits? When will I reveal the winners?

TOMORROW.

REALLY, THIS TIME.

COME BACK AND SEE FOR YOURSELF.

(Just a note about YA for Obama . . . I want to thank the readers who aren’t Obama supporters, but still left very nice comments. You guys are awesome! I happen to be very pro-Obama, but I got lots of love in my heart for McCain supporters too. Like my dad, for instance, who is mega-Republican and sent me a nice note just this morning saying he NEEDS John McCain to win, but is still very proud in a dadlike way that I made the Obama site. We may support different people in the election, but we can all be friends! And to all of you who signed up . . . HOORAY! WELCOME!)

ALSO!

I couldn't finish off today's post without an Abba video. This one may be my new favorite. It's for Tiger, and it features Abba! Driving around in a car! Nothing else really happens, but they look fabulous, and I can't stop looking at Anni-Frid's headband! Proof, once again, that Abba can be the most amazing thing in the room without doing ANYTHING AT ALL. (If nothing else, watch at least the first twenty seconds to see "the dance move." Magnificent.)

GIMME GIMME GIMME A BOOK DEADLINE

Has it really been twelve days since I posted? Because it feels like ten minutes. That is because I have been working on Suite Scarlett 2, and when you are on deadline, time gets all funny. Weekday, weekend, day, night . . . it all gets blurry.

Have you noticed something on many YA author blogs recently? Many of us are on deadline. That is because it is book planting season! We are hard at work on the YA farm, making the books. Summer is for planting. Fall is for harvesting! That means fall is for FINAL DRAFTS, which are infinitely worse than first drafts.

To give you some idea of what it’s been like, here is a sample exchange between me and my beloved agent, Daphne Unfeasible. Note how things progress as we approach the deadline.

May, 2008

ME
Things are going really well with the book. I really have a grip on this one.

DAPHNE
I am glad to hear it. I assume you will be having your normal meltdown in a few weeks, though, when you get closer to the deadline.

ME
I’m not that predictable, you know.

DAPHNE
Yes you are. You always have it under control, and you always have the meltdown anyway. I look forward to your meltdown. It’s like the first snowfall of the season.

ME
I can’t believe you are saying this! I am not going to have a meltdown!

Late June, 2008

DAPHNE
How is the book coming, beloved client?

ME
Go away.

DAPHNE
What’s wrong?

ME
Everything. Nothing. Stop pressuring me.

DAPHNE
You were happy a few weeks ago. You said it was all under control, and I said you would have your normal meltdown.

ME
This is not a meltdown. Do I sound unreasonable? Do I sound crazy?

DAPHNE
No, but you sound a bit grouchy. This is how the meltdown always starts.

ME
Stop talking about this “meltdown”! Maybe that happened, like, once, with the first book.

DAPHNE
Would you like me to send some e-mails from the past? The 13 Little Blue Envelopes ones are among my favorites. But those 3AM phone calls from Devilish were also good.

ME
I don’t remember any of that. This book is different.

DAPHNE
I’m only telling you this so when the panic DOES hit, you’ll remember that you have done this before, and you always make it.

ME
Lies!

DAPHNE
You documented it!

ME
As a JOKE. My blog readers are so much smarter than that! They know that’s not true!


July 2nd

DAPHNE
How is the writing going today?

ME
Great! I went to the zoo!

DAPHNE
What? Why? Your book has nothing to do with the zoo.

ME
It’s all part of the process!

DAPHNE
I feel like you are stalling. The book is due in two weeks, you know.

ME
You understand NOTHING about writing. Writing is a super-magical process that only writers understand and no one else does and mine involves going to the zoo and seeing ALL THE MONKEYS. It’s where I meet my muse.

DAPHNE
I thought you were staunchly anti-muse. I thought you believed that writing is a craft that you learn through practice and devotion and it’s counterproductive and actually insulting to suggest that imaginary creatures have anything to do with it.

ME
Fine. I just need the monkeys.

DAPHNE
You’re sure you’re not just procrastinating because it’s getting hard?

ME
Leave me alone! You are destroying the aura I’ve created! YOU ARE MAKING THE MONKEYS ANGRY!


July 7th

ME
As my legal representative in all things literary on earth, I command you to come to my house and kill me with a brick.

DAPHNE
You know I love to oblige your every whim, but I fear I cannot help you. Looking forward to reading the book!

ME
YOU NEVER HELP ME WHEN I NEED YOU.

DAPHNE
There, there. Why don’t you Swifter around your desk for a little while? That usually relaxes you.

ME
I feel better. The book is not so bad.


July 9th

ME
I AM GOING TO GO INTO OUTER SPACE AND NEVER COME BACK.

DAPHNE
I’m not worried. You would never go into space. You won’t even wade into four feet of ocean. Finish your book.

ME
Untrue! Untrue! I once jumped off a boat and swam to an island! I am a very good swimmer!

DAPHNE
This is not a discussion about your swimming ability. It’s a discussion about your cowardice. You jumped off that boat because the man running it pulled out a net and said it was for catching jellyfish and that he already had a bunch of them in a bucket, and then he opened that bucket to show you, and you jumped off and swam to shore . . . which, if I remember correctly, you said was about thirty feet away.

Actually, this is a discussion about your writing. Finish your book.

ME
I really don’t think the distance from the shore makes any difference.

DAPHNE
You’re right. It doesn’t. Finish your book.


July 11th

ME
I am baking you a cake! It’s in the oven RIGHT NOW!

DAPHNE
Thank you for the cake. You are a very good baker, and I certainly appreciate it. But perhaps this week I can just go and buy myself a cake, and you and I can eat it when you FINISH YOUR BOOK.

ME
It’s not the same if it comes from a store. My cake is made with love.

DAPHNE
I know you love me. As you should. But if you really wanted to show it, you would give me a book.

ME
I don’t think you are showing me proper respect. I am an AUTHOR. I am THE TALENT. Why aren’t you GROVELING MORE? Maybe I will throw a huge tantrum and never show you my book! DO NOT MAKE THE TALENT GO ALL DIVA ON YOU!

DAPHNE
Yes, yes, little pineapple. Grovel, grovel.

ME
That was totally sarcastic and not at all groveling! You have it so easy! I could be throwing cell phones at staff members in airports and wandering around the streets in a drug-induced haze, you know. I could shave off all my hair in public and make videos where I talk to baby mice. I could make you bail me out of jail at four in the morning. You could have it a lot worse! You should count your lucky stars that I am so EASY TO DEAL WITH!

DAPHNE
I count them every day.


July 15th

ME
lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol

DAPHNE
What are you laughing at?

ME
A juicebox!



July 17th

ME
Here you go. Scarlett Fever.

DAPHNE
How are you?

ME
Fine. Why?

Yes! The first draft of the book is in! And did you see that? I just slipped the title in there. The second Scarlett book is called Scarlett Fever!

SCARLETT FEVER! There’s even a version of the cover all ready to go! (Sekrit. Cannot show you yet.) There’s still loads of work to do yet. This was just a first draft. But the book is coming your way soon, and it’s bigger and more insane than the first. Spencer, in particular, goes through the wringer in this one. I wish I could tell you all about it, but I cannot give spoilers. But there are BIG THINGS AFOOT!

Okay, one spoiler. There’s a dance number. And amazingly, many of you have been suggesting things about Spencer that you were probably joking about but actually happen! Think FOOD.

Now, MANY of you have been asking—not reasonably—if I am excited for the Mamma Mia movie.

Am I excited about the Mamma Mia movie. . . .

In my mind, it is NO CONICIDENCE that Mamma Mia is coming out JUST AS THE BOOK IS DUE. And I don’t want to be all “I told you so,” but I have been expounding the virtues of Abba forever, and now everyone is all Abba, Abba, Abba. I do not resent this. I am glad that everyone is catching on!

IN FACT . . . when I was at the Gay Pride Parade here in NYC a few weeks ago (when I was in the parade, riding at the top of the Google double-decker bus), the very first person I ran into walked up to me reached into a bag and said, “Would you like a Mamma Mia, Gimme Gimme Gimme A Man After Midnight fan to beat the heat?”

And I said, “Marry me.”

He said, “Alas, I cannot. I am gay. But I will do a dance with you.”

And we did a dance.



My Mamma Mia fan.

In fact, I am so excited to see Mamma Mia that I invite ALL OF YOU to come! I am going tomorrow night. Now, I know a lot of you are not in New York. That is upsetting. The quickest way to fix this is by hitting the banner just to the right and entering the Suite Scarlett Sweepstakes! Win that trip to NYC and we will meet and do ABBA DANCES together!

To get us all ready, here is the trailer!



Even better . . . here is Abba performing the title song! Notice the filming techniques taken right from fellow Swede Ingmar Bergman! Notice the dancing that even I can do!



You know what I am thinking, actually? I am thinking I should write to the people who run the Abba Museum or Her Serene Highness Princess Anni-Frid Reuss, Countess of Plauen to ask if I could be made the official Abba YA ambassador for the United States. (Which is something I just made up but think I would be very good at. If I did so, would you support me? What do you guys think?)

Okay, book time. The winner of today’s book is Chelsea! Also, the winner of the contest for guessing the title of the new book was cweed105. So both of you . . . drop me a line for your PRIZES!

I will be blogging MUCH MORE this week, so get those comments in, because I am still giving away books!