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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ONE

Seriously, people. It’s headed up by Bono.

How much cooler can you get?

     If I can stop one heart from breaking
          I shall not live in vain;
     If I can ease one life the aching
         Or cool one pain,
     Or help one fainting robin
          Unto his nest again,
     I shall not live in vain.
 
                                  –Emily Dickinson

Do you realize…

…a BILLION people around the world live on less that ONE dollar a day?

…more than 38 million people around the world are infected by HIV/AIDS? 25 million of them are in Africa alone.

…Increasing international assistance by an amount equal to just ONE percent of the U.S. budget will:

• Prevent 10 million children from becoming AIDS orphans
• Help get 104 million children into grade school
• Provide water to almost 900 million people around the globe.
• Save almost 6.5 million children under 5 from preventable deaths
• Build a better, safer world for all.

(Information taken from the ONE site.)

You can help make a difference by visiting the site and signing the petition for America to keep the promises it made at last year’s G8 meeting. Go here for details.

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Who do you think you are? I didn’t ask for a new character, a new book, a new project. I have plenty going on as it is, ya big bully. You’ll just have to wait your turn. See that line there in the dirt? Don’t cross it. Stay on your side until I give you permission to cross. 

No? 

Sigh.

Okay, then. Spill your guts quickly, because I don’t have time to play around and figure you out. 

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I’ve spent the day going from one task to another, mostly household tasks with a few writing tasks thrown in to break up the monotony. It’s unbelievable to me how long it can take to fold and put away all the laundry. When you add in helping small children pick up and put away the things they were playing with (but did not put away before they moved on to something else) it can be an endless cyclical process.

Luckily, writing-wise, I was just working on short, quick bursts of picture book stanzas. I fiddled with UP, UP, HOORAY (which yes, is currently submitted to my crit group but I can’t stop fiddling even when I’m waiting for feedback), wrote 3 new stanzas in MINI-RACER, wracked my brain trying to come up with a new ending for SURFER CHICK (no such luck but maybe it will appear when I least expect it) and quickly typed out two stanzas in THE DADDY WAY with two of our three children hanging from my back. (The third child was outside climbing a palm tree… yes, you read that right. Remember, we live in Brazil. My children climb palm trees.) It was a hodge-podge, mish-mash, back and forth kind of day. 

The most interesting, surprising, exhilirating part of the day had to be the letter we received from the IRS informing us that we had done our taxes incorrectly and we are now due a refund. I double checked the law, the math and the address on the letter. They’re right. And we desperately need the money.  So all in all, I’d say that makes for a good day. 🙂

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Okay, USA. This is it. Your game starts now. It’s you and Italy. They’re good. They’re tough. Everyone in your section has won one game now. Lose this and you go no further. You can do it. We believe in you. This could be one for the history books. Be there.

USA vs. Italy — World Cup Soccer — RIGHT NOW. 3pm EST June 17

Big breath everyone. This one could hurt.

UPDATE FINAL SCORE! USA 1 Italy 1; USA isn’t out of the CUP yet. It’ll take a big game against Ghana but it’s possible. Details to follow.

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