Have you ever had one of those ideas that hover somewhere between slightly derivative and insanely weird? And you write right up to the point where you have to pull the trigger and write out the idea and then you just can’t decide if it’s insanely derivative or slightly weird? So you stop. You go back and perfect what you’ve written to that point, revising right up to the point where again you have to write out the idea. And then you just stop. Argggh! This is never going anywhere unless I just go with this crazy idea.  

Somebody tell me to COMMIT ALREADY.

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Introducing….

THE REALITY CHICK BUZZ THE BOOK contest!

The PRIZES:

(1) Your choice of either an iPod Shuffle, OR a fifty dollar Amazon.com gift certificate
(2) An autographed copy of REALITY CHICK by Lauren Barnholdt
(3) A copy of the August issue of Teen People, which lists REALITY CHICK as a Can’t-Miss Pick for August
(4) Free tuition to a session of Lauren’s YA writing class

THE CONTEST:

STEP ONE: Simply copy and paste this whole message (including the info about the contest) into any blog, message board, email list, or myspace bulletin.

REALITY CHICK by Lauren Barnholdt is NOW IN STORES!

Going away to college means total independence and freedom. Unless of
course your freshman year is taped and televised for all the world to
watch. On uncensored cable.

Sweet and normal Ally Cavanaugh is one of five freshpeople shacking up
on In the House, a reality show filmed on her college campus. (As if
school isn’t panic-inducing enough!) The cameras stalk her like
paparazzi, but they also capture the fun that is new friends, old
crushes, and learning to live on your own.

Sure, the camera adds ten pounds, but with the freshman fifteen a given anyway, who cares?
Ally’s got bigger issues — like how her long-distance bf can watch her
loopy late-night “episode” with a certain housemate…

Freshman year on film.
It’s outrageous.
It’s juicy.
And like all good reality TV, it’s impossible to turn off.

IN STORES NOW!

Check out Lauren on the web at http://www.laurenbarnholdt.com or on her myspace at http://www.myspace.com/laurenbarnholdt

STEP TWO — Email Lauren at lauren (at) laurenbarnholdt.com and let her know you’ve posted about the contest and the book, and you’ll be entered to win the prize pack! The winner will be picked at random on September 1st. The more places you post, the more entries you get. Have fun and good luck!!!

Okay, so yes, I’ve been fairly absent. Since our last conversation:

* I fell off a horse while riding with a child (not my own child) and succeeded in keeping us both from getting hurt. Mostly. At least nothing was broken.

* Received my first agented sub rejection. 😦

* Traveled exactly one million and twenty miles (okay, I know. That’s a slight exaggeration) and hit exactly four million and three pot holes on Brazilian roads (and that is not an exaggeration.)

* VIsited a sugarcane whiskey (Brazilian Cachaça) distillery. It’s was fascinating, smelled incredible and they make something called cachaçolate which is like a chocolate liqueur. Mmmm.

* Unsuccessfully tried to “relocate” a dislocated fibula for a friend before she got to the hospital because she was in so much pain. No, I’m not a doctor but I sometimes pretend that I am.

* Finished a pb and started a chapter book. Not exactly breakneck speed but this is a busy season of life. 

Sure seems like other exciting things happened but my easily excitable brain is overdosing at the moment on my 3 children singing Barbie karaoke to Oops, I did it Again. Some things just take precedence over memory.

Happy Fourth, everyone. Independence Day always makes me grateful for freedom and wistful for home. It’s odd for it to be a normal day here in Brazil. No eating watermelon and hot dogs. No jumping into the swimming pool. No fireworks display. No big family get-together. 
But we’re celebrating with all of America in our hearts. 

(And we had watermelon for lunch. 🙂 )

*CLAP*CLAP*CLAP*CLAP*

Viva a Franca! They earned a very deserved win today against Brasil. 

Now to go console the entire country I live in….

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