Thanks to Reading in Color for featuring Nice and Mean as a WoW (Waiting on Wednesday) pick!  Reading in Color led the campaign against the whitewashing of covers in the publishing industry.  (Whitewashing: when a character of color is shown on the cover as being white so that white folks won’t get alienated and buy a different novel.  Read more about it here.)  Ari, who runs the blog, astounds me for being so widely read in books new and classic, featuring original and vital memes like Male Monday and Throwback Thursday.  It is truly an honor to be included as a WoW pick.  Thank you, Ari!

I might also add that, frankly, I am waiting, too–not On Wednesday, but On June 8, when Nice and Mean will finally be released.  Into the wild!  For readers to read!  It’s been a 17-month-long wait.  Let the lovin’ begin! 

In the meantime, though, it sure is nice to see others are waiting excitedly along with me.  Now, go to Reading in Color and check out some other books you should be reading!

ps That is not me up there in the photo.  It is some marketer in New York.  I actually had to do two searches to find an image with “WOW,” because all the original results featured World of Warcraft!

[That's my answer.  A picture's worth a thousand words, and while this post is only half that, you don't need to read it to provide your answer.  You will, however, miss an amazing coincidence unless you read!]

Right around Thursday is when I run out of steam with the work-week and start posting questions on Facebook like, “What pipe-dream profession do you wish you could have?” or “What were the favorite foods of your misspent youth?”  The answers are always great–etiquette consultant!  spy!  Lick-em-ade!  Hot pockets!–and add a real boost to my productivity.  Some people work best when they are totally unplugged, but I find that as the week wears on, I work best when I have frequent, fun, brief distractions. 

Today, I’m going to try a little experiment: putting the question on my blog.  I’m excited to hear answers to the question,

What movie are you embarrassed to love?

I ask because of a funny coincidence.  Fellow Tenner Jenn Hubbard and I were both psyched to be on the Summer Blast Blog Tour, she on Writing and Ruminating and I on Shaken and Stirred.  Amazingly, we both referenced the incredible Hugh Grant-Drew Barrymore movie, Music and Lyrics.  (Is anybody else noticing the conjunctive titles here?  “Writing and Ruminating”–”Shaken and Stirred”–”Music and Lyrics”–”Nice and Mean”…  I tigress.) 

Anyway, I had to laugh, because while Jenn relates to the youths of today (I haven’t read her book, The Secret Year, just yet, but I’m dying to), she has a very thoughtful blog, and I’m basically kind of an entertainment snob, so the fact that we both have a thing for this goofy, kind of predictable movie was quite a surprise. 

But I even cringe to dismiss the movie, because it is so great!  First of all, it start out with a dead-on-the-nose (if that’s not from the redundancy department of redunancy) spoof of an 80s video, featuring Hugh Grant’s character, called “Pop! Goes My Heart”:

. 

A movie that can put that together knows what it’s doing, right?  Plus there are incredibly charming scenes of the songwriting collaboration:

And Hugh Grant is funny, right?  Sarcastic but also suave.  You’ve got to be observant to pull that off, too.  There’s a wicked parody of a Brittney Spears type (I’ve given you enough YouTube links to last the lunch break, but just put in “Buddha’s Delight + Music and Lyrics), a legitimate backstory for our creative collaborators…Darn it, I’m not going to be ashamed anymore:  I love Musis and Lyrics!  I think it’s great.  It’s charming and real and has New York City in the background and Hugh Grant in the foreground, and Drew Barrymore is pretty cute, too.

And now I want to know–

which movies are you

kind of

sort of

embarrassed to love?

I’m giving away the milk for free!  Head on over to GoodReads to win yourself a copy of Nice and Mean before the release date!  Contest open to USA’ians, closing June 5th. 

This message was brought to you by the dairy council, and by girls who have trouble deciding who to be.  Which is many of them.  I hope you win!  Yes, you!

Edited to add: GoodReads needs another 48 hour to approve this, so the giveaway hasn’t started yet.  But soon it will be approved and shiny and you can go say hi!

I didn’t like a word I’d used yesterday in my chapter, “swath.”  It’s the kind of word that would turn me off if I was reading–too studied–and, in fact, when I got to the paragraph with the offending swath, I skimmed over it.  Bad sign!  I needed a replacement.

Only thesaurus.com didn’t have any suggestions at all!  I suspect that thesaurus.com is not the most sophisticated website for thesaurily endeavors, but I didn’t have the time to search for a better one, so I thought, “Okay, what’s the closest I can come to providing a synonym, even one I wouldn’t use, and seeing where that leads me…How about ‘blob’?  Yes, let’s try blob.”

The ‘blob’ entry had many gross medical synonyms that I won’t name, but it also had, on the sidebar, a list of what I can only assume are frequently used terms involving blob.  They’re so intriguing, I had to share:

It’s a blast–a summer blog blast tour!  As a fan of America’s Next Top Model (yes, you can judge me now), I can’t help but think of New Cover Girl Lash-Blast Mascara when I hear the words “Summer Blog Blast Tour.”  But I should really put some new association to those words, because on Wed-niz-day, I am going to appear on said tour!  Yep.  That’s right.  Writer nirvana. 

The Summer blog blast tour consists of some of kidlit’s most thoughtful, provocative bloggers interviewing writers.  I’m pasting the line-up below so you can see that I mean what I say: some serious pith will be offered up.  

The cherry on the sundae–the lengthen of the lashes–is that I got to answer interview questions from my much-esteemed grad school friend Gwenda of Shaken and Stirred fame.  (Doesn’t her blog have the best name?  I wish I had a cool last name so I could give this blog something equally rich, but sadly, there’s nothing cool about–oh, wait.  I do have an extremely cool last name.  But all cognates–Leader of the Pack; Follow the Leader–sound obnoxious when applied to myself.) 

I so digress!  My point is, I hope you’ll stop by these blogs and read the interviews throughout the week.  And for goodness’ sake, don’t be a lurker!  Comment to show the love!  And thanks to Gwenda for looping me in on the coolness.  I can feel my eyelashes growing longer and thicker already!  

Monday, May 17 

Kate Milford @ Chasing Ray

Mac Barnett @ Fuse #8/ School Library Journal

Hazardous Players @ Finding Wonderland

Malinda Lo @ Shelf Elf

Barbara Dee @ Little Willow

Tuesday, May 18

Mary Jane Beaufrand at The Ya, Ya, Yas
Rita Williams-Garcia at Fuse Number 8
Jennifer Hubbard at Writing & Ruminating
Charise Mericle Harper at Shelf Elf
Holly Schindler at Little Willow

 Wednesday, May 19

 Michael Trinklein at Chasing Ray
Nick Burd at Fuse Number 8
Sarah Darer Littman at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Tom Siddell at Finding Wonderland
Jessica Leader (that’s me!) at Shaken & Stirred

 Thursday, May 20

 Matthew Reinhart at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Jenny Boylan at Fuse Number 8
Lisa Mantchev at Writing & Ruminating
Tara Kelly at Shaken & Stirred
Donna Freitas at Little Willow

Friday May 21

Julia Hoban at Chasing Ray
Stacy Kramer at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Nancy Bo Flood at Finding Wonderland
Paolo Bacigalupi at Shaken & Stirred
Sarah Kuhn at Little Willow

I know I need to write about Good Old Reliable Nathan, Part II, but I had to link to this article about using the game Second Life in schools to give kids lessons in government negotiations.  There are potentially things to say about bringing role-playing games in school, but as usual, what I loved was what the kids actually said. 

If they forgot a vendor’s name or a meeting location, the mayor’s assistant gave them a hard time. The mayor herself had an attitude, telling avatars in jeans and sneakers not to come back until they were properly attired.

“[The mayor] just yelled at me,” said Nina-C’mone Helms, 18, staring at her computer in disbelief last month. “She got smart with me because I chose the wrong person. My feelings are hurt, but it deals with real life because people really do talk to people like that.”

Talk about real life–I love that this girl talked about the mayor getting smart with her.  That is just so classic.  It actually reminds me of that show on the CW, where that one kid talked about someone getting smart with him.  Do you know which kid I’m talking about? 

Good old reliable Nathan–Nathan, Nathan, Nathan Detroit!

Boo-ya!  Didn’t see it coming, did you?

Why, it’s good old reliable Nathan –Nathan, Nathan, Nathan Detroit!

– Guys and Dolls

I have a long history with that song.  An excellent history!  It all started on a very slow cab ride to a play called, ironically enough, Full Gallop.  I had the number, “Good Old Reliable Nathan” in my head, and I kept sort of bursting into song.  My dad was mildly amused, but you know, it’s never a total joy when someone keeps bursting into song next to you.  Until I turned it into a game…

“Oh my gosh,” I said, ”guess who called me out of the blue?”

“Who?” my dad asked.

And I started vamping: “Good old reliable Nathan–Nathan, Nathan, Nathan Detroit!”

Chuckles!  Score one for Jess.  I should clarify that there’s nothing inherently anything about Good Old Reliable Nathan.  He’s the guy who runs the Oldest Established Permanent Floating Crap Game in New York–the gambler who never makes good on his promise to wed his fiancee (hence another famous song from Guys and Dolls, “Miss Adelaide’s Lament.”)  I don’t really care about crap games or gangsters; I wouldn’t even name Guys and Dolls as one of my favorite musicals.  But that song just has a great swing to it, and I really loved singing it.  So a game to give me the chance–well.  Too good to be true.

Once the game was established, though (and the cab was still inching its way across West 45th Street), my dad and couldn’t carry on a real conversation. He would venture, “Hey, do you know who I — ” Sputter, sputter, sputter.  We both kept veering into the obvious, and we both knew it.

He got me good at intermission, though, coming back from the bathroom.  “Oh my gosh,” he said, settling into his seat.  “Do you know who the assistant director is on this show?”

I was pretty knowledgeable about people in the theatre scene, and I was very curious to know who my dad thought was an interesting AD for the show.  “Who?” I asked.

No!  Walked right into it!  “Good old reliable Nathan–Nathan, Nathan, Nathan Detroit!” 

Fortunately, that was not the end of the game.  Well–my dad and I didn’t play much after that.  But a few months later, when I was a camp counselor, Good Old Reliable Nathan struck big-time.

That’s all we have time for today.  Stay tuned for more GORN and the real pay-off, the thing that made me start this post in the first place — how a line from this storied song found its way into an RSVP for my book party.