RoleMommy at the Ritz

On Saturday morning, I headed to Battery Park on a blustery winter day to take part in the RoleMommy at the Ritz mother/daughter brunch. The event was hosted by publicist extraordinaire Beth Feldman, who runs the RoleMommy.com blog. There was a great group of people in attendance - moms, daughters, bloggers, other authors and even a troupe of children's performers. We mixed and mingled and ate a delicious brunch. I talked about my book, Gamer Girl, and why I wrote on the subjects of bullyinig and girl gaming.

I met some great people - a woman running a site called Fortune Girls - an amazing site for tweens - you so have to check it out. Barbara was so dynamic, her enthusiasm was catchy! I only wish I could have met her daughter, who designed the fortune girls themselves. She's very talented, as you will see.

I also met the owner of another tween style site called Sophie, designed for girls from 13-17. She also had a lot of amazing ideas. I look forward to speaking with her further in the future.

I did a Podcast with Manic Mommies, which you can find on their website, though I'm embarassed cause I hate the sound of my voice. They were really cool though. The one who interviewed me is a gamer girl herself and a lover of vampires. My soul mate! :)

Here are a few photos from the event!



Beth doing her introductions.


Junior Reporter on the case!


Me, talking to the group. I really love that dress and wear it whenever I can. I actually wore it on my very first date with Jacob so I consider it lucky, too! (But I digress!)


Me, Beth and a wonderful tween named Angelica. I gave her a copy of my book cause she was so cute.


All in all, it was a great event and I'm glad I had the chance to participate. It's also led to some great future opportunities that I will be talking about soon!

Marianne

Quick Pick Reluctant Readers!

I'm psyched! Just found out today that GAMER GIRL made the American Library Association's Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers list. w00t! I actually made the list a few years ago for Boys that Bite and it was my favorite honor to receive. I love the idea that my book is working to inspire tweens and teens to start reading!

Here's the complete list, in case you're curious about who else made it.

MARI

Dog LOLz

For you dog lovers out there!

Killington Pics

Sorry I've been a blog slacker - but I've been using every free writing moment to work on my actual books, which is definitely time well spent. I passed in my new draft of The Camelot Code to my agent today - can't wait to hear what she thinks of it!

As I mentioned, this past week I went up to Killington, Vermont to shoot a bunch of ski/snowboard related stories for Better TV. It was a lot of work - and COLD! - but also a lot of fun. Here are a few pics.





I hadn't actually snowboarded for a couple years - having moved into the city and all - so it was great to get back on a board. I thought I'd be rusty, but I totally wasn't. Definitely like riding a bike! Now I want to go back and do it more - when I'm not stuck working.





Mike shooting some ski school. We did a segment on what to expect your first time out on the snow. I was the pupil for the mock lesson. Mike said I looked too good and made me fake fall on camera a few times so it'd be more realistic. :)







Being on the bunny slope was such a tease! Luckily, after that, we got to go up to the new terrain park "The Stash". It's one of the only all-natural terrain parks in the world and was really cool. All wood, no metal at all. I didn't take photos cause it was so darn cold up there. But you'll eventually see the video.

One of the most fun things we did was go snowmobiling! I'd never been before and had no idea how much fun it is to do! I'm addicted now and can't wait to try it again. It's sort of like jet-skiing on snow. And you can go really fast! We went up and down an old mountain's ski trails. You could still see the abandoned lifts. Supposedly the chairs are buried just over the cliff.















All in all - a fun trip - though very busy! I'd love to go back when I'm not working though - it was kind of a tease to be there, but not be able to just go off and have fun. :) Hopefully sometime in March I can get up for a weekend. That's one thing I definitely miss about New England - it's so easy and close to go up to the mountains for a day! It took like 5 + hours to get there from NYC!

Marianne

Up at Killington

Doing ski related stories for Better TV this week. It's sooo freaking cold! What was I thinking? Next time I need to pitch a week's worth of tropical island segments instead!!!

I forgot my camera cord AGAIN so I can't post pics until I get back. However, I will post this one that I found off Facebook. A lot of my friends are posting old high school pics on their Facebook pages lately. I LOVE this because, as most of you know, I had that house fire and lost not only all my pics, but my family's photo albums as well. So I have very few pics older than three and a half years. (Wow, was the fire really that long ago?!)

Anyway, here's an eighth grade play I was in which appears to be a weird mix of Wizard of Oz and Christmas. I'm Dorothy, with the blue dress and basket. Look at the hair!! :P





Marianne

Coldness

It's snowing today and slightly warmer than it has been. Meaning it's like 30 degrees. Jacob hates the cold - he's a Texas boy after all - and is always amazed how my hands/body stay warm when he's a total icicle. I just tell him that I have thick, hearty, New England blood to keep me warm. He doesn't believe there's such a thing as "New England blood" but he's wrong. To prove it, I dug up an old joke and thought I'd share.

It's the New England Temperature Conversion Joke.

60° F:
Southern Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in New England sunbathe.

50° F:
New Yorkers try to turn on the heat.
People in New England plant gardens.

40° F:
Italian & English cars won't start.
People in New England drive with the windows down.

32° F:
Distilled water freezes.
Maine's Moose head Lake's water gets thicker.

20° F:
Floridians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats.
People in New England throw on a flannel shirt.

15° F:
New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in New England have the last cookout before it gets cold.

0° F:
All the people in Miami die.
New Englanders close the windows.

10° below zero:
Californians fly away to Mexico.
The Girl Scouts in New England are selling cookies door to door.

25° below zero:
Hollywood disintegrates.
People in New England get out their winter coats.

40° below zero:
Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in New England let the dogs sleep indoors.

100° below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
New Englanders get frustrated because they can't start their "kahs."

460° below zero:
All atomic motion stops (absolute zero on the Kelvin scale).
People in New England start saying, "cold 'nuff for ya?"!

500° below zero:
Hell freezes over.
The Red Sox win the World Series!

Friday!

I have been working like crazy on my Camelot Code manuscript this week, writing every free second I can find. Which means I've only gotten like six hours of sleep a night - writing until midnight then waking up at six am to squeeze 2 1/2 hours of writing in before work. It's not a schedule that I would recommend. In fact, it's a good way to get burnt out. That said, I've got a TON accomplished and I'm really proud at how the book is shaping up.

I got the most amazing (writing related) news yesterday. I guess I can't say anything public yet, but it's what I've been dreaming about happening for about a year and a half now. And it's happening in the best way possible. It's like a dream come true! Okay, I won't tease anymore until I can spill.

I did a segment with Mary Rambin of NonSociety today. She's a sweetheart and very good on camera, too. I don't care what all those rebloggers have to say, I like her.

Won't be doing much this weekend (though I am going out to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse tonight - yum!) but that's not a bad thing. I feel like I've been on-the-go a lot and will very much enjoy staying home. Plus I still have a lot of writing to get done.

That's all I got for now! I'll leave you with a photo of where my toes still wish I was. Ah, Cozumel. I miss you so. Especially today, when it's about 11 degrees out.






Marianne

Boys are still biting

Sorry I've been a bit of a blog slacker. I've been hard at work whipping my book into shape so I'm putting effort in where it counts! Problem is, when I'm writing every night that means I'm not doing anything else and therefore have very little to blog about!

I did find out today that Berkley, being the wonderful publisher that they are, has been busy reprinting my vampire series. They did the fourth printing of Boys that Bite back in August and have a new printing of Stake That! scheduled for February of this year. This is wonderful news! It means that these books will stay in print and be available for the forseeable future! Yay Berkley!

Speaking of the series, the German version of Girls that Growl was just released this month. The cover is sure a lot different than the American version! I love the little bat though - he's been on every cover of the series in different poses.





But I think the Stake That! bat is my favorite. Cause he looks all secretive.





I also recently got a copy of the Japanese version of Stake That! I really need to scan in the photos so you can see the amazing manga pictures they did inside the book. Girls that Growl comes out there in February.

That's all I've got for now. Talk soon!

Marianne

Cozumel Pics

Back to reality. Cry! But I thought I'd share some pics from our Cozumel Mexico adventure. :) I'm kind of exhausted, so the pics will have to be worth a thousand words for now.

Our hotel, the Aura Wyndham, was awesome. I highly recommend it. The swim-up rooms were the coolest thing ever.






It was an all-inclusive place, which meant all you can eat and drink. And you could sit on the beach to do it.






Some kind of weird floaty iceburg thing off the coast of Senor Frog's, a few beaches over. We didn't swim out to it, but it does look fun!




The hotel staff was wonderful! They suprised us a bottle of champagne the first evening.







The view of the resort from the pier and the pier from the resort.







In town...










I like this picture of Jacob.





Liz likes to joke that everywhere I go, I order a cheeseburger. This one's for her.





The sunsets were amazing!










We watched them from the beach.







Once (okay twice!) more with feeling.







Hammock!






This was the park we went to to swim with dolphins. (Dolphin pics have to be scanned, so will have to wait.)







We spent hours trying to locate this hidden dining gem! Mostly because the guidebook had a freaking ERROR in it. Grrr. The fajitas were worth it when we finally got there though.









There was this big Hawaiian shirted tour group from Minnesota at the next table who were more than a few drinks in...





One of them came up to our table and handed me a rubber chicken and said it was to remind us to "have fun." Reminded me of Liz and my old conference chicken days. :)





When we got back to the room, the staff had decorated. I LOVE towel swans!!




And that's about it! Our four days in sunny, wonderful Cozumel!
MARI