My fellow Tenner, the endlessly energetic Jen Nadol (whose name, smushed together in her Twitter profile, looks attractively like Jenna dol), featured me on her Book Briefs feature.   (Thanks, Jen!)  You can check it out here, and read more about her book, the gorgeously attired The Mark, here.

And if you’ve come here because you were there and you’re like, “Double-dipping–what’s the point?” I’ve got a cookie for you.  There are currently 94 days (94!) until the release of Nice and Mean.  So I’m going to give you a little glimpse of what happens on p. 94 (::opening advance copy and hoping it doesn’t contain a major spoiler::)

Okay, here you go.  Sachi, the most un-trendy of characters, has to make a video about the subject of trends.  (Don’t ask.  Just read the book.)  But she kind of gets into it, interviewing a friend, and thinks,

Lainey was one of the only people in our grade who wore Converse hi-tops, but they didn’t look dorky, like Priyanka’s old reeboks.  I really wanted to find out how people knew when originality was cool and when it was doomed. 

Don’t forget–four days til the Nice and Mean swag giveaway!

(And now I really need to post something not about Nice and Mean.  I’m making myself Nice and Sick.)

You know I gots this poll, right?  I loves my polls, but sometimes the readers, they forgets about them, and then it’s sad because my highly scientific research attempts must go unfulfilled.  So hey!  Don’t you want to tell me

What did you think of your parents in seventh grade?

(Yeah, it’s not necessarily a pretty question, but there are some funny choices on there, I promise.) 

The poll will change next Monday, so today is your last chance.  (wait, what?  Noo, today is Thursday.)  Let’s make that–today may be your last chance!  It’s like the US Census: Stand up and be counted!  (Except this one, you can do sitting down!)

Look who’s reading Nice and Mean!  My nephew–and he’s not even 10 months old yet!  He’s really pretty advanced for his age.  Must be all those books his dad reads to him. 

Okay…careful viewers have probably figured out that it’s not the book, it’s just a postcard, and he can’t really read yet.  (How did you all get so clever?)  But you have to admit: that’s one cute baby, and his adorable argyles make me want to kiss his feet.

And okay…since you asked, I’m going to attach another picture.  Gah!  The things I have to do to keep you people happy! 

According to my snazzy new Countdown Widget, there are now 97 days until the release of Nice and Mean.

Which can only mean one thing: Nice and Mean swag must be….Given away!

Giveaway giveaway giveaway giveaway

Yes!  You saw correctly, Pat–those are Nice and Mean bookmarks, next to Dr. Pepper Lip Gloss (Marina’s fave) and, not pictured, some Indian scarves that give Sachi a bit of pizzaz. 

Mavie, who runs the  very cool blog, The Bookologist, will be running the show. It’s next Tues, March 8th, which will be THREE SHORT MONTHS from N&M’s release.   If you find Mavie on Twitter (@TheBookologist), or find me there, too (@JessicaLeader), you’ll be up on the details and the chance to

Win!

Valuable! 

Prizes! 

This message was brought to you by the letters N and M, and by the punctuation mark !

Several very cool things happened this weekend.

First, fellow Louisville author, fellow Tenner, nifty gal Julie Kagawa released her young-adult novel THE IRON KING, which has been getting great buzz all over the internets.  (It’s on my TBR pile.)  Congrats, Julie!

(That’s Julie looking writerly next to her trademark Mountain Dew.)

Second, I went to the party with Kelly Creagh, fellow Louisville author, fellow Tenner, author of NEVERMORE, coming out in September.  (Are you seeing a theme?  It’s cool to be a debut YA author from Louisville!) 

  Here’s Kelly looking glamorous with these amazing bouncy-balls from Borders, which not only contain sparkly glitter–they light up if you bounce them the right way!  (Well.  They lit up when Kelly bounced them the right way.  As for me…I pretty much just admired hers.)  (And apologies for all the white space.  I seem to have issues arranging photos tonight.)

The third great thing was that three completely awesome book-bloggers were there, two of whom I’d been corresponding with about hosting my blog tour in June–The Story Siren (aka Kristi), The Page Flipper (aka Chelsea) and Wastepaper Prose (aka Susan, who took pictures cuter than mine and you can see them on her blog.  I’m showing you these so you can get the alternate perspective.  Top row Susan, Julie, me, Kelly; Bottom row, Chelsea, Kristi, ladder.)

It was great to celebrate with Julie and hang out with Kelly, whom I briefly shared a writer’s group with two years ago and who I’d always remembered for her kick-ass writing.  She has a YA set in Santa Land (hope that’s okay to reveal!) that is so original and hilarious and will take the world by storm one day.  I must say that while I occasionally dislike writing that everybody else enjoys, a surprisingly large percentage of the writing I think is great goes on to some kind of fame.  So if I think you’re great–you will be!  (Yes!  It works just like that!)

The final amazing thing, though, was the dedication of the bloggers.  Between them, I think they drove 6 or 7 hours to attend the signing!  Blook boggers (ha, I mean book bloggers) are inspiring in their dedication.  They read and write reviews of more books in a week than I might in a month.  They’re more on top of what’s being released than most writers I know, and they’re so generous about using their powers to help promote authors, no matter how new and humble we may be. I felt lucky to be able to spot these rare creatures in the wild, to chat with them a little, and to revel in the booky goodness of it all.  In fact, I’m adding a new tag just for you: Book Blogger Lovin’.  May it get used frequently!